Chapter 7
After the unexpected incident the previous day, when I nearly ended up rolling around on a bed with Baek Seol-ah.
The reason this frustratingly complicated state of mind wouldn't settle down.
‘Obviously.’
I actually knew. I might have been deliberately ignoring it under the vague pretext of being dazed, but how could I not know what was in my own heart?
It had already been a year since I took up residence in ‘Han Taeyang’s’ body.
I was aware that my personality had changed somewhat during that time.
It was probably because, after possessing Han Taeyang's body, I had retained all of his memories as well.
Put another way, perhaps I should say that the character Han Taeyang from the NTR novel and my personality as the possessor had mixed to some extent, giving birth to a new self.
‘Of course, it wasn't anything that dramatic…….’
At most, I should consider it as though ten to twenty percent of Han Taeyang had been added to ‘me.’
Whether our personalities had mixed or not, the point was that my fundamental nature itself had not changed.
It was simply undeniable that my behavior and way of thinking had come to resemble Han Taeyang's in certain respects.
And what sort of thought could the version of me who had changed that way harbor after what happened with Baek Seol-ah last night?
As I said, it was fairly obvious.
I silently looked at Baek Seol-ah as she touched the tips of her ears, which had turned red as if she were slightly embarrassed.
……There had been a line I once thought I had firmly drawn. A line I wanted to uphold as the blonde tanned bastard from an NTR novel, and as the possessor inhabiting that body.
It was simple.
-I shouldn't live like that.
I didn't particularly consider myself a good person, nor was I especially devoted to morality.
Even so, I wasn't such a scumbag that I'd harass people who were dating perfectly well for no reason.
Although I had become Han Taeyang, I had once vowed to live a life different from his.
Until now, it hadn't been particularly difficult, either.
All I had to do was get through school life by behaving like a reasonably typical punk, without becoming needlessly entangled with the original story's heroines.
I had kept that promise perfectly well until yesterday.
-T-Taeyang. Could you sleep with my girlfriend?
It had started with Lee Hyunseong, who had suddenly thrust his lover at me as if some kind of causality had affected him.
-Is there something you want from me?
And now even Baek Seol-ah, whom I had considered relatively normal, had said something that left me dumbfounded.
I knew, of course, that a considerable degree of perversion lay dormant inside Baek Seol-ah, since I knew the original story.
‘Something I want……?’
But I truly had never imagined that she would suddenly hand me a wish ticket as an apology, despite the fact that we usually spent our time snarling at each other.
It was something I really hadn't expected. I looked at Baek Seol-ah while reluctantly letting out a hollow laugh.
“……Ahem, ahem.”
She had been perfectly composed when she sat down beside me, yet now that I was staring silently at her, she seemed to find it awkward and began clearing her throat.
Watching Baek Seol-ah like that, I fell into a brief reverie. More precisely, I took a look at my true feelings.
I was the one who had decided to take a path different from the original because stealing another man's woman felt like something I shouldn't do.
And yet, when the other side made the first proposal, I was also the one who had snatched it up without much hesitation.
I decided to face those true feelings of mine properly, without being bound by Han Taeyang's instincts.
And the conclusion?
‘Hmm.’
I arrived at it much more quickly than expected.
To be honest.
I looked at Baek Seol-ah with an inscrutable gaze. I looked at the woman in front of me, and at the woman who had collapsed onto my bed last night.
The undeniable fact was that this girl, the heroine of a novel and my nemesis in real life—Baek Seol-ah—
was a better woman than any woman I had ever held, beyond comparison.
Put simply, she was incredibly attractive.
Whether as a bed partner……
Or as the object of romantic feelings.
It might have been a bad thought.
‘I want her.’
Wasn't it perhaps perfectly natural for me to want to take her away from Lee Hyunseong's arms and make her entirely mine?
I reached that final conclusion and was just about to break the silence, brief or long as it had been.
“W-Well, it's nothing else.”
Perhaps she had misinterpreted the look I had been silently sending her in some way, because Baek Seol-ah added a more detailed explanation.
“For example, you know? Y-You aren't very good at your theory grades, so. Ahem, if you don't mind, I was thinking I could tutor you separately over the weekend…….”
“…….”
“Or you can just ask for something tangible. I can even buy you a meal up to three times. What do you think? Pretty good, right?”
“…….”
“……Han Taeyang?”
Naturally, every example she offered was completely unlike what I had expected.
I had to close my half-open mouth again, feeling a complicated mixture of emotions for a moment.
Baek Seol-ah wanted to repay her debt in a far more wholesome way(?) than I had expected, while I had naturally inflated my fantasies by imagining all sorts of unwholesome things in response to her question.
It wasn't strange, in a way, considering that I had already had sex with this woman yesterday.
“……A-Are three times too few? Should I make it four? I can't buy anything too expensive, though…….”
“…….”
Watching Baek Seol-ah look flustered, as if wondering whether she had said something wrong, I felt something well up inside me.
‘I feel a sense of self-loathing.’
I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling as though I had become a truly filthy person.
I kept my lips pressed into a straight line and thought deeply for a moment before making a decision and opening my mouth.
“Right, you want to repay me.”
“Y-Yeah? Ah, yeah. To repay you. Because I feel sorry…….”
“Just that?”
“……Huh?”
Of course, that was one thing, though.
“Isn't the obvious way to make up for a mistake made in bed to do it in bed? Baek Seolgi.”
“W-What……? What are you talking about?”
Nevertheless, I still had to do what had to be done, didn't I?
I quickly erased the complicated feeling that had briefly surfaced and tilted my head toward Baek Seol-ah.
Then, leaning close to her ear as she stared at me with her eyes wide and an utterly incredulous expression, I whispered a rather petty line.
“Forget the meals. Five handjobs. You'll meet me and give me one whenever I want.”
“……?!”
“Ah, naturally, you'll do it behind Lee Hyunseong's back.”
I had whispered in a voice quiet enough that no one else could hear, but this was still a classroom, with plenty of other students around.
I wondered how those words, which I had uttered without the slightest embarrassment, had sounded to Baek Seol-ah.
“Y-You, y-you, you're crazy……?! What are you saying!”
Baek Seol-ah was incredibly easy to read.
Her intense reaction burst out immediately.
She froze for an instant at my words, then jolted in surprise, went bright red as a radish, and recoiled in horror.
Then, apparently conscious of everyone else's attention, she reduced her volume as much as possible and desperately let out a shrill ‘Eek!’
Of course, it wasn't threatening in the slightest.
I chuckled and instead reached out to lightly brush Baek Seol-ah's cheek with a ‘tap’.
“What, are you embarrassed all of a sudden? After doing all sorts of things in my room yesterday?”
“Hey, you! Can't you keep your voice down? What if the others hear you……!”
“You're cute, anyway.”
“……?!!”
No matter how sharply she yelped, to me it felt like a kitten raising its tail high and trying to threaten me.
In other words, not frightening at all.
So, with a brazen chuckle, I tossed back a remark, and Baek Seol-ah's face turned even redder.
“……W-What are you talking about.”
It was a flush quite different from the one she had worn just moments earlier.
You could say it had a different quality.
For some reason, I thought I liked this blush a little more.
Smiling with satisfaction, I took my hand away from Baek Seol-ah's cheek.
“Anyway, then it's a promise. If you change your story later, I'll hit you.”
“Hey……! When did I ever promise…….”
Baek Seol-ah's eyes blazed with anger at my unilateral use of the wish ticket, but unfortunately, the timing was bad.
Bang!
Just before Baek Seol-ah could confront me in a voice seething with anger, the classroom's front door flew open.
“I'm sorry, was I a little late? We'll start class right away.”
A teacher had entered: an adorably petite little girl with bright blonde hair and a conical hat.
Though she looked young on the outside, she was actually a veteran mage who had spent years on the front lines.
She was Jeong So-yul, an S-rank Awakened who taught magic as well as liberal arts.
This class was the latter.
“……Ah.”
Anyway, at the teacher's appearance, model student Baek Seol-ah naturally flinched and shut her mouth, while I openly snickered at her.
Her face was bright red, both fists clenched as she trembled like crazy.
‘Ah.’
I really shouldn't have thoughts like this under ordinary circumstances.
As I said before, though, it was a truly cute sight.
*****
[Baek Seolgi: No matter how I think about it, five times is impossible]
[Baek Seolgi: That's too many]
[Baek Seolgi: I'll compromise too, so make it exactly three times, no more and no less]
Ding! Ding!
After class ended, my smartphone rang like crazy as I left the classroom without even looking back.
I glanced at the screen and saw the messenger app's notifications updating one after another.
I typed a reply with a light chuckle.
[Han Taeyang: Five times]
A firm single sentence.
That was enough.
[Baek Seolgi: I told you, that's too many]
[Baek Seolgi: You want me to meet you separately five times? And keep it secret from Hyunseong, too?]
[Baek Seolgi: You're seriously crazy]
[Han Taeyang: Five times]
[Baek Seolgi: Don't be like that. Come on, compromise]
[Baek Seolgi: I'll try hard too, okay?]
[Han Taeyang: Five times]
‘Hmm.’
I felt like the protagonist at Panmunjom calling out for a neutral country.
Had Baek Seol-ah finally given up, faced with my consistent replies that left not even the slightest room for compromise?
No reply came from Baek Seol-ah for a while.
Just as I was about to put my smartphone back in my pocket, once again.
Ding!
[Baek Seolgi: Die die die die die die die die die die die die]
“Pfft.”
I burst out laughing aloud without realizing it. It was an unbelievably adorable message.
I stopped in the middle of the hallway, my shoulders shaking, and naturally didn't reply.
I had known for a long time that teasing Baek Seol-ah was tremendous fun, but it was also true that I had implicitly avoided her until now.
Exchanging messages with her this earnestly—and seeing a more honest reaction from her, like that last message—might well have been a first for me.
I wore a deeply satisfied smile.
And then.
“Hey! Han Taeyang.”
“……”
It wasn't Baek Seol-ah's voice, but it was every bit as familiar.
I blinked once and turned around.