Chapter 24
The Cheongwoon Academy campus had many buildings, and among them were numerous lounges that saw little use.
Their intended purpose was to serve the resident staff, but……. Students in the know often abused them for their own purposes.
“……Achoo!”
“Hah, I knew this would happen.”
After bringing her into one of those rooms, I sat Seo Ahyeon down on a cot, then fetched a clean towel from the bathroom and wiped her body all over.
By the time I was carefully drying that black hair, which had gotten the wettest of all, she sneezed.
It was easy to predict. She had been caught in a downpour as heavy as monsoon rain, after all.
It might have been different when she was mentally exhausted, but by now it was only natural for her body to start reacting, too.
Seo Ahyeon hunched her small body a little further and began trembling violently in the shoulders.
“H-Han Taeyang……. I’m cold…….”
“……Haa.”
It felt strangely as though I had ended up taking care of a child. Maybe her mental age had dropped unusually low after bawling her eyes out earlier. Good grief.
Seo Ahyeon looked back at me with a pitiful expression, and I reluctantly picked up the remote.
Beep-
Only after I turned on the heating did Seo Ahyeon’s trembling subside somewhat.
Feeling an unnecessary twinge of guilt, I had no choice but to smack my lips.
‘If we get caught, a mere scolding won’t be the end of it.’
It was one of the lounges scattered around campus that all the students in the know were aware of, something resembling a hideout.
Even so, if we used the water or electricity too recklessly, the staff might come down on us with a ‘You little—!’
It was Friday, right before the weekend, so I could only hope the staff would patrol a little less diligently with their guard down.
It was even raining, after all. They were human too, so I had no doubt they’d do a cursory job.
Anyway.
“There, all done.”
“……”
After drying Seo Ahyeon’s hair completely, I went a step further and neatly tied up her black hair as well.
The result might have been somewhat less polished than when Seo Ahyeon did it herself, as usual.
Still, it was far better than when she had wandered around with it hanging loose in every direction like someone out of her mind.
I wore a reasonably satisfied expression as I swept Seo Ahyeon’s ponytail over the front of her shoulder, and she fingered the strands while moving her lips restlessly.
“……You’re pretty good at this, Han Taeyang. Do you have a sister or something?”
“Huh? No, I don’t.”
“……”
Around then, I was towel-drying my own wet hair with a new towel and answered without much thought.
What did she mean, a sister? As far as I knew, ‘Han Taeyang’ had no family of his own. He had been an orphan from birth.
‘That makes us alike.’
Perhaps that was one of the reasons I had been able to adapt to this body better than expected.
With that thought occurring to me, I tossed the towels I had finished using into the laundry hamper.
“……”
“……What’s with that insolent look?”
For some utterly inexplicable reason, Seo Ahyeon was looking at me with prim, sulky eyes, as if she were pouting.
I asked in a baffled voice, but Seo Ahyeon didn’t answer my question.
“……Hmph.”
“Huh?”
She merely gave an inexplicable scoff and sharply turned her head away.
Even when I arched one eyebrow, she still looked deeply dissatisfied.
‘What’s with her all of a sudden? Again.’
I thought over the cause for a moment, but before long decided there was no reason for me to know that, either, and neatly abandoned the matter.
Then, rather than bring up such a trivial and inconsequential issue, I mentioned the matter right in front of us.
“Anyway……. Seo Ahyeon, stay here for a while today. I hear that bastard Kim Minjun knows your dorm password too?”
“……”
“You seem to have calmed down for now, but there’s still nothing to gain from running into him carelessly. Put off sorting things out with that bastard until later…….”
Although my shock therapy seemed to have worked reasonably well, there was no way it had solved everything.
I didn’t underestimate Seo Ahyeon. I mean this one-of-a-kind coward, this little red panda.
Honestly, how could her attitude toward me—someone with whom she had maintained a fairly equal relationship—be the same as her attitude toward the man with whom she had spent nearly a year in a thoroughly submissive relationship?
Naturally, it would be far more difficult for her to hit Kim Minjun than it was to hit me.
“Anyway, Seo Ahyeon, your personality is the problem. I’ve always told you, haven’t I? You need to fix that as soon as possible if you want to live without suffering losses in the future.”
That was why, after that, I seemed to do nothing but nag Seo Ahyeon.
Whether any of it was useful was beside the point.
I talked about the problems I had always seen in Seo Ahyeon, directions in which she might at least try to improve, practical advice for the immediate future, and so on.
I said it all inside the lounge, which was gradually warming up as the heater ran.
“There, you understand everything, right? If you just do that, you can evolve from a red panda into a honey badger……. Hey, are you listening to me?”
I was simply so immersed in my grand speech that I noticed it a little late.
Seo Ahyeon somehow seemed to be letting my words go in one ear and out the other.
Just as I was about to frown at the sight of the girl, whose attitude was rather irritating, yet whose bright, sparkling eyes remained fixed on me—
“Yes, I’m listening. I’ll do everything the way you said, Han Taeyang. I think that’s the right thing for me to do from now on, too.”
Seo Ahyeon answered in a matter-of-fact tone, completely unbothered by my piercing stare.
I paused for a moment, then narrowed my eyes.
“……You really were listening properly, right?”
“I told you, I heard it all. But in exchange.”
“?”
Then Seo Ahyeon looked up at me with an uncharacteristically calm and tranquil air and added:
“There’s a condition. If you grant it, I’ll try living exactly as you tell me from now on, too.”
“……What the hell?”
But that added remark was so absurd from my perspective that—
I let out a hollow laugh with an utterly dumbfounded expression. What did she mean, a condition?
“Hey, everything I’m saying is for your own good, and you’re setting conditions? You’ve got some nerve, you—”
“Hold me.”
“……?”
I had just started winding up to fire off a few harsh words at her.
Even though she must have seen my expression growing sterner, Seo Ahyeon casually added another sentence.
For a moment, I could only picture a question mark above my head, unable to continue.
How should I put it? It felt as though I had momentarily forgotten what I was about to say because I was thinking, ‘What did I just hear?’
I stared blankly and stood there dazed for a moment, then forced myself to recover and asked:
“……Uh, you want me to hold you? You mean a hug? No, I held you plenty earlier.”
“……”
“If you mean you want me to keep holding you longer, that’s a bit much. Honestly, I’m not exactly your counselor…….”
“You know what I mean. Why are you pretending you don’t?”
“……”
Before long, I was at a loss for words again.
Seo Ahyeon looked up at me calmly and said:
“Hold me. Not some soft little hug—hold me like a man, tightly.”
“……Hey, Seo Ahyeon.”
“Should I put it more directly? I’m telling you to have sex with me.”
I pressed my lips tightly together and put a hand to my forehead.
I felt dizzy. What kind of conversation was this?
Then a suspicion occurred to me, and I narrowed my eyes as I asked:
“……Don’t tell me you still intend to do whatever Kim Minjun tells you.”
“No, you idiot.”
Whack! Seo Ahyeon, who had been sitting on the bed, abruptly thrust out her foot and kicked me in the shin with an angry expression.
I had no choice but to take a step back, letting out a short groan of ‘Ugh’ at the sudden blow.
Seo Ahyeon continued, shooting me a somewhat sullen look:
“With Minjun……. I’m going to break up with him. Like you said, I need to come to my senses soon, too.”
“……Really? No, but then why?”
To be honest, it was a welcome answer. Judging by her unwavering eyes, Seo Ahyeon didn’t seem to be saying it casually, either.
But quite apart from that, if so, I understood even less why she was asking me to have sex with her.
I asked with an expression that still retained some unease, and Seo Ahyeon crossed her legs leisurely with a ‘Hmm’ before answering a moment later.
“I guess I’m still a little afraid, after all. I wish someone would give me a little push from behind. And as it happens, you’re right in front of me.”
“……”
“That’s a perfectly good excuse……. I mean, motivation, isn’t it? All right, then? Now hold me.”
“Did you just call it an excuse?”
“What are you talking about? You must have misheard, Han Taeyang.”
It was an unexpected variable. Perhaps the backlash from Seo Ahyeon coming to her senses thanks to my shock therapy had also multiplied her shamelessness.
I rubbed my eyelids as Seo Ahyeon nonchalantly lay down on the bed and cast a sidelong glance at me.
……To be honest, it was true that I had wanted to encourage some degree of change in Seo Ahyeon.
But I hadn’t wanted such a radical change, or some development this unexpected.
‘This is driving me crazy. Seriously.’
There was another problem on top of that. As you know, Seo Ahyeon had just been drenched from head to toe in the rain and had only just come inside to warm herself up.
Even though I had wiped away as much of the moisture as possible with a towel, there was no way her clothes could have dried completely.
In other words, her current appearance was, in several ways, so lewd that it was difficult to put into words.
Her school-uniform blouse was thoroughly soaked, making it utterly useless as clothing,
and beyond it, my eyes were drawn to the bra—whose color, inconveniently, resembled her violet eyes.
I tried one last resistance, doing my best not to look in that direction.
“……Seo Ahyeon. A lot has happened today, hasn’t it? Yes, it must have been terribly shocking for you to say something so out of the blue to me. I understand.”
“……”
“But you might seriously regret this later. If you don’t want to kick some innocent blankets for no reason, you should get a good night’s sleep even now…….”
“Ah, I don’t know. You’re noisy, so hurry up and hold me.”
It didn’t seem to have much effect. Far from being persuaded by my words, Seo Ahyeon doubled down and flopped onto the bed.
With both arms stretched out to the sides, she began flapping her whole body like a child throwing a tantrum.
“Hold me. Hurry up and hold me. Until you do it with me, I’m never breaking up with Kim Minjun.”
“……What the hell, you little—?”
“Why are you backing out? Am I unattractive? Is it because my breasts are small? My face is pretty, at least, isn’t it? Or what, are you impotent? Pathetic? Do you come too fast?”
It was a dizzying barrage of questions, enough to make it difficult to remain in my right mind. Seo Ahyeon kept spewing out words, dealing me one mental blow after another.
I had no choice but to press my fingers to my temple at the childish, bratty tantrum Seo Ahyeon was throwing, one that practically forced a sigh from me.
“Let me ask you the opposite. Why should I sleep with you? What exactly do I get out of it?”
Even though I knew it probably wouldn’t accomplish much, I reluctantly offered up that tired old question.
It was an obvious exchange. She would probably answer something like, ‘Because I’m pretty.’
To be honest, I didn’t think I could bring myself to deny that answer, either.
Seo Ahyeon really was a beautiful girl, after all.
Even now, she was soaked enough for every curve to show through her clothes, and the fact that I kept averting my gaze because I couldn’t bring myself to look directly at her proved as much.
Anyone could tell I was doing my best not to lose my reason.
Paradoxically, that was precisely why I had asked the obvious question: to buy time.
To think of a brilliant way out of this situation while trading back-and-forth questions like some kind of WWE match.
That was the best response I could come up with right then.
But.
“Hmm……. What do you get out of it?”
Seo Ahyeon didn’t give the obvious answer I’d expected to that painfully obvious question.
She merely brought her index finger to her chin and pondered it seriously for a moment.
Then, perhaps she had thought of something, because she spoke softly with a strangely bashful blush:
“Um, something like my love……?”
“……”
Oh.
Oh…….
It was an answer I hadn’t expected in the slightest, and precisely for that reason, it might have been the most devastating answer for me right now.
Seo Ahyeon had just spoken those very words aloud, and—
‘I’m screwed.’
I knew it instinctively.
“……Ah.”
I wouldn’t be able to hold out any longer.
Sure enough.
Perhaps embarrassed by her own words, Seo Ahyeon’s face flushed hotly,
and she fixed those violet eyes on my lower body.
She seemed to have noticed the change that had taken place there.
She let out a foolish, pleased giggle, and by the time I came to my senses, I was already on the bed with Seo Ahyeon, who was lying there.