Chapter 136
I was tired, so drowsiness was creeping in.
The perfect balance between the cold air conditioning and Yang Juhee's warm body temperature as she snuggled into my side was making my eyes close.
The problem was that whenever I tried to sleep like that, Yang Juhee would pry my eyes open with her hands to wake me up.
"...You can't sleep!"
"......"
I was really exhausted, but I had no choice. Yang Juhee got up from her spot entirely.
"There's a mosquito! We have to catch the mosquito!"
"...You want to catch mosquitoes at five in the morning?"
I had to get up at five in the morning to catch mosquitoes. I was incredibly sleepy and my energy was drained, but I had no choice.
It was largely my responsibility that Yang Juhee had ended up like this.
"I can't sleep unless I catch the mosquito!"
"...Mosquito..."
I looked around everywhere to find a mosquito.
Since it's summer, there might be one or two mosquitoes. But no matter how much I looked, there were no mosquitoes.
"Juhee, there are no mosquitoes. Let's lie down and sleep now."
"...Hng..."
To be honest, lying under the same blanket with a pretty girl like Yang Juhee was thrilling enough to make my heart race in many ways. Especially if we were close enough for our skin to touch.
But right now, I didn't have the luxury to think about such things.
"Spider! There's a spider!"
Whenever I tried to fall asleep even a little, Yang Juhee would have a fit. This had already repeated several times, and I was getting a bit tired and worn out.
"Where's the spider?"
But I couldn't just say "Let's get some sleep!" to Yang Juhee. I had at least that much decency.
In my opinion, Yang Juhee was now like a scared child. Is this how it would be if I had a five-year-old female cousin?
"A spider got into my clothes! A spider got into my clothes!"
Yang Juhee started taking off her clothes.
I was flustered, but Yang Juhee seemed to be in such a panic that she was breaking out in a cold sweat.
"Catch the spider! Spider!"
I opened my eyes very narrowly. So narrowly that my vision was blurry and hazy.
This was my own way of being considerate.
"There's no spider."
"No! There is! I'm telling you there's a spider! Look properly!"
If it's come to this...
I opened my eyes and looked at Yang Juhee. Every nook and cranny to find the spider.
Of course, there was no spider, and Yang Juhee was still struggling.
"There's a spider! We have to catch the spider!"
How do I catch a non-existent spider?
In this truly awkward moment, a good idea came to mind.
Swish-
I got up, opened the window, and pretended to clap my hands. Then I told Yang Juhee.
"I caught the spider and let it out."
"Really?"
"Really. It was a tiny spider, as small as a pinky nail. Now that I've caught the spider, you shouldn't feel itchy anymore."
"Liar! I know you're pretending to have caught the spider to fool me! Because I'm annoying you!"
...Is this for real?
She seems out of her mind, but her intuition is still spot on. Now Yang Juhee was crying buckets and getting angry at me.
"Liar! Ha Young-won, you're a liar!"
"No, what lie did I tell?"
"On April Fool's Day too! You lied! I hate lies more than anything in the world!"
April Fool's Day-
You're bringing that up now?
Yeah, that was definitely my fault back then. But I thought I had paid dearly for that lie since then.
"You've been bullying me since then. Taking my things! Hitting me! Making me run errands!"
"I didn't!"
"What do you mean you didn't!"
"I said I didn't!"
Yang Juhee clenched her fists and lunged at me. Then she started hitting me repeatedly, and it really hurt a lot.
"Ow! Hey! Wait! You hit my bone! Ouch! Ow!"
If this continued, I might die from Yang Juhee's beating. Should I call Jung-seok?
Thinking I had to survive somehow, I tried to subdue Yang Juhee.
Grab-!
The best method was to hug Yang Juhee so she couldn't move.
I hugged Yang Juhee tightly.
Even in this situation, a high school girl's body was softer and smelled better than I expected. And it was surprising.
Unlike my shoulders or arms that I often touched, Yang Juhee's body had many delicate parts like thin grass or a swan's neck.
I hadn't noticed because she always took the lead and seemed dependable. But maybe Yang Juhee was actually afraid of many things too?
"I didn't bully you!"
Yang Juhee was still insisting she hadn't bullied me while struggling.
Whether she bullied me or not - at this point, that wasn't important to me anymore.
"Okay. You're right. I lied."
I decided to admit my fault readily. Then Yang Juhee, who had been struggling, became very docile.
"I still think there's a spider. In my ear!"
The problem was that the spider talk started again.
Solve one problem, and another pops up somewhere else. Solve that one, and another appears here.
Swish-
I looked into Yang Juhee's ear as she lay with her head on my lap. It was too dark to see anything.
"Is there a spider?"
"No."
"Look carefully!"
Is this how guys feel when dealing with a whiny girlfriend?
I had vaguely longed for romance, but this moment made me realize that actual dating is quite tough and difficult.
I wondered if this was how Yang Juhee usually looked at me. Still, I didn't dislike or resent Yang Juhee.
"You know, you give me the courage to believe I can do it."
Yang Juhee made me feel secure. A lot had happened, but the reason I'd been able to come this far was because Yang Juhee had been a solid support.
Watching Yang Juhee made me feel like I could do it too. So, seeing Yang Juhee struggling like this made me a bit sad too.
"Status window."
"No! If you turn back time... I, I can endure..."
Yang Juhee was trying to fight herself.
Watching her, I thought I should fight myself too. This was the path I had chosen.
『Do you want to use 100 points to enhance the common-grade trait 《Sacrificial Virgin》?』
『Enhancement success rate 10%』
『If successful, trait will change to 《???》』
Yang Juhee was suffering because of the 《Sacrificial Virgin》 trait.
It wasn't a quirk, so it couldn't be treated, but with my newly acquired trait enhancement, I could change it.
Success rate was 10%. 100P consumed per enhancement attempt.
It was a big gamble, but... I decided to fight against the odds with myself.
Could I do it?
In movies, you sometimes see gamblers touching a woman for luck before gambling. I gently rubbed Yang Juhee's side as she struggled.
"Eek! Spider! There's a five-legged spider on my side!"
『Do you want to use 100 points to enhance the common-grade trait 《Sacrificial Virgin》?』
『Enhancement success rate 10%』
『If successful, trait will change to 《???》』
***
To cut to the chase, it took 500P and succeeded on the fifth try.
I was lucky.
Rubbing Yang Juhee's side seemed to have worked. From now on, I should rub Yang Juhee's side when enhancing or drawing gacha.
Yang Juhee's new trait acquired this way.
《Sacrificial Virgin》 changed to 《Surviving Virgin》.
The characteristics of 《Surviving Virgin》 are as follows.
『《Surviving Virgin》. The fear of sacrifice no longer binds the virgin. The virgin always survives. Over the corpses of the fool, the delinquent, the whore, the know-it-all...』
I didn't know exactly what it meant, but it said the virgin survived. Yang Juhee's condition also noticeably improved.
"I'm sleepy."
Yang Juhee, who had been causing a ruckus until just now, closed her eyes as if she had calmed down.
She didn't seem to mind when I closed the office door, and she didn't even care when I turned off the lights.
Snore-
Yang Juhee fell asleep as if everything that happened in the early morning was a lie. The problem was that the thrilling excitement of the probability enhancement chased away my sleep.
"I'm screwed."
With that feeling, the next day, we all gathered at the secret base.
Yang Juhee was still snoring away. Ms. Hong Mi-ri looked at her drawer with narrowed eyes.
"Why did you take out my underwear? Young-won, did you put it on Juhee?"
"Don't tell me you two...!"
Kwon Sua's face turned bright red.
Soon, Bong Ji-yeon also made a fuss, saying "Oh, what's this, what's this-."
I was extremely embarrassed, but fortunately, Dahee took my side.
"Young-won wouldn't do such a shameless thing to a girl who was out of her mind."
Dahee's trust in me was indeed impressive.
On the other hand, that trust also weighed heavily on my shoulders. After all, Dahee had trusted me enough to commit suicide for me.
"This is what happened."
Chatter chatter chatter-
I used my hidden trait 《Summarize Situation》, which I had been honing, to explain what happened last night.
Of course, I left out the embarrassing parts like bathing and gave only a brief account.
"So you're saying you used 500P to enhance a trait."
Jung-seok, the quickest to understand among us, nodded as if he got it. I felt a bit self-conscious about using 500P, but Jung-seok surprisingly approved.
"To succeed with a 10% probability on the fifth try, you were lucky. And it's fortunate that Juhee's condition improved. Juhee is our core personnel, so she needs to maintain her condition at all times."
As expected of our pirate crew's vice-captain. Our minds are in sync. Then Kwon Sua, who had been listening, asked.
"But what's with 《Surviving Virgin》? Why such a trait? What does it mean to survive over the corpses of the fool, the delinquent, the whore, the know-it-all? It's creepy."
She seemed concerned about the description of the new trait.
I was concerned too, but Jung-seok, who knows a lot about these things, spoke up.
"It seems to be referring to foreign horror movie clichés? In foreign horror movies, young couples always go to a countryside villa for fun. They meet frowning old men at a gas station they happen to visit, saying 'You're going to that villa?' In the end, they all die meeting a killer or monster at the villa."
Jung-seok's explanation painted a whole foreign horror movie in my head.
"The 'whore' usually refers to the girl responsible for the suggestive developments early in horror movies. The 'fool' is literally someone who dies doing something stupid. The 'delinquent' is the strong one who ends up dying anyway."
"And the 'know-it-all' is the role that acts smart and seems like they'll solve the problem but ends up dying, right? In the end, only one girl survives!"
Kwon Sua, who likes games and knows about various content, nodded as if she understood. Soon, Kwon Sua looked at the sleeping Yang Juhee and said.
"So Juhee is the virgin role. Then Jung-seok seems like the know-it-all role. The delinquent is... Ji-yeon? If Young-won is the fool... then for the wh... girl, only Dahee and I are left."
Did she really want to match those roles?
Actually, the role of the blonde woman showing service scenes didn't suit Dahee.
Come to think of it, isn't Kwon Sua, being an idol, closer to that role? In terms of being attractive.
Everyone seemed to think so and looked at Kwon Sua, who blushed as if realizing something.
"...I've never even had a boyfriend...!"
That seems to be the case.
Anyway, I was glad things worked out well. I was a bit tired from not sleeping at all last night, but I could manage somehow.
Thinking about last night, I had learned a lot. Before those thoughts evaporated due to sleepiness, I spoke to everyone.
"Guys. Let's all survive together. Don't even think about dying for someone else. We're all going to survive together, for all of us. Definitely!"
I didn't make the selfish request of asking them to die for me.
We're all going to survive together.
It was the epitome of group selfishness.