Chapter 24
I was momentarily stunned after hearing a somewhat shocking story, then sorted through the situation.
“Uh…. So, to sum it up…. Ms. Chaeyeon turned out to be a young lady from a wealthy family?”
The two cat girls standing in front of me were the wealthy young ladies behind this gathering….
On top of that, Ms. Chaeyeon was apparently their older cousin.
So that's why she knew so much about the gathering….
"What's this 'young lady' nonsense? It's just that my family has a little money."
However, Ms. Chaeyeon seemed embarrassed by being called a young lady, so she avoided my eyes and fidgeted with her tail as she spoke.
But a family that could throw a party on this scale probably didn't merely have a little money….
"Don't treat me like a young lady. Just treat me the way you did before. Being treated like a young lady for no reason gives me the creeps."
“Right, right. You can treat us casually too, Snow Woman unnie!”
“...Could we…. be friends…?”
The cat sisters apparently didn't like being treated as young ladies either, because they approached me and told me to treat them casually.
I didn't mind treating them casually, but couldn't they drop the title unnie….
“Hey, hey, Snow Woman unnie! You can use superpowers too, like Chaeyeon unnie, right?”
"Ice attribute…! Thump-thump…."
"Superpowers…? Well, I can use something, I guess…."
The two cats pressed even closer to me, their eyes sparkling as they swished their tails and spoke.
“Could you show us? If possible, make it really, really cool!”
“Sounds fun…."
“Uh…. Show you…? What, and how…."
Flustered by the sudden request, I looked around helplessly—and saw Ms. Chaeyeon beckoning me over.
“Seolhwa, come here for a moment. You two, wait just a second.”
At Ms. Chaeyeon's words, the sisters looked disappointed and moved away from me. Only then was I finally able to walk over to her.
When I approached Ms. Chaeyeon with a slightly weary expression, she spoke with an apologetic look on her face.
“I'm sorry, Seolhwa…. Could you play with them for a little while? I'm already exhausted…."
“Play with them…? Those girls?”
I looked at Ms. Chaeyeon in confusion when she suddenly asked me to play with the high school girls, and she spoke as though she felt terribly sorry about it too.
“Maybe it's because they like manga? They absolutely love seeing your cold-based special ability, you know?”
“It looks that way.”
I thought of the two cats who had approached me with excited eyes and wagging tails the moment they saw me.
“So…. Whenever I meet them, I entertain them with electricity. Sigh…. No matter how much I play with them, they never seem to get enough…."
Ms. Chaeyeon's tail and ears drooped as she spoke, as though all her energy had drained away.
Aha…. So that's why she was tired after playing with them just now….
Well, high school girls do have a lot of stamina….
“They'd love it if you made whatever they wanted out of ice…. Could you do that?”
As she spoke, Ms. Chaeyeon took my hand and placed something paper-like in it.
When I carefully opened my hand, I saw an orange-colored banknote in my palm.
“Don't worry. I'll take responsibility for keeping them entertained.”
“Thanks. You'll save me…."
When I confidently said I would play with them, Ms. Chaeyeon finally relaxed and sank heavily into her seat.
Hehe…. Getting paid to play with high school girls by making ice for them…. What a cushy gig, wasn't it?
It was perfect timing, too. I'd eaten a lot of cold food, so cold had built up in my body.
Besides, since Ms. Chaeyeon had already entertained them, they must have used up some of their energy. If I made a few ice sculptures, they'd be satisfied in no time.
So what could possibly go wrong?
======
“Unnie, unnie! Can you make this? It's an ice palace…."
“W-wait…. Let me rest a little…."
Naturally, my prediction was completely wrong yet again.
Unlike what I expected, the more the cat sisters watched my ability, the more excited they became, and there was no sign of their stamina waning at all.
At first, they only asked me to make small ice sculptures, but
their requests grew in scale until they were asking me to make things I couldn't create.
This…. Fifty thousand won doesn't seem like enough for this part-time job….
“Ugh…. I'm dizzy…."
Eventually, I must have used up all the cold inside my body. No matter how hard I tried to summon my strength, no ice came out, and the strength gradually drained out of me until I had no choice but to collapse where I stood.
Ah…. So that's why Ms. Chaeyeon got tired….
“...Unnie…? Are you okay?”
When I was about to collapse from exhaustion, Yuri came over, supported me, and looked at me worriedly.
Ah…. Thank goodness. At least you're kind….
“...This.”
Just then, Yuri suddenly showed me her smartphone screen and spoke.
“...Eternal Blizzard Fencer Dragon…. Can you make it…?”
I was wrong.
Far from being kind, she apparently intended to work me to death.
“Save me…."
Right now, I felt like I was fighting a nephew-Saiyan powered up by a Chuseok holiday buff.
I'd clearly played with them enough, but they weren't getting tired at all….
“What? Tired already? Sooner than I expected.”
I was on the verge of passing out from using too much cold.
Hyeonwoo, who had disappeared at some point, had returned with a slushie.
“Drink this. You'll feel a little better.”
With trembling hands, I barely managed to take the slushie from him, then squeezed out the last of my strength to suck it down my throat.
The cold ice crystals slid down my esophagus and replenished the cold I'd lost.
And the strawberry flavor in my mouth brought my brain back to life.
Hweee…. I feel like I'm going to live….
“......”
As I replenished my cold by drinking the refreshing slushie, I realized that Hyeonwoo was staring at me without a word.
“Huh? What's wrong? Is there something on me…. Eek?!”
Hyeonwoo suddenly started fiddling with my cheek, startling me into making a strange sound.
Tsk…. That bastard, Lee Hyeonwoo…!
“Sorry, I meant to hold back today, but you looked so soft.”
“If you were going to hold back, then hold back all the way!”
As I scolded Hyeonwoo for touching my cheek again, I suddenly felt a gaze from behind me. When I turned around, the cat sisters were staring blankly at me.
What's wrong…?
"Hey, hey, there's something I'm curious about…."
"That oppa…. Is he your boyfriend….?"
"......What?"
The question was so far beyond all reason that my brain momentarily stopped working.
Who said he was my boyfriend? Him? No, more importantly, what kind of nonsense was this about a boyfriend?
Well, I hadn't had a chance to tell them that I'd once been a man because the timing was bad, so I suppose I could let the boyfriend part slide….
Him? Mine? No way….
"Absolutely not. He's just a longtime friend of mine, not anything like what you're thinking…."
"But, but you look really close…. And he openly touches you, too."
"...A man and a woman…. Friends…. Impossible…."
"No, I mean, that's…."
Apparently, to these innocent high school girls, the way the two of us acted made us look like a couple.
Clearly, casually touching someone of the opposite sex on the cheek was more something a lover would do than a friend….
But people of every age and gender had already touched my cheeks….
Even your cousin started pawing at my cheeks from the moment we met….
“Hey, say something too. You're going to give them the wrong idea….”
While Hyeonwoo remained strangely quiet, I nudged him and urged him to say something; for some reason, he was pondering with an unusually serious expression.
...What's with him?
“Maybe we're not just ordinary friends, as you said.”
Then he opened his mouth and delivered a shocking declaration.
What…. Don't tell me you…?
“I'm something like her guardian, you see.”
“Guardian?!”
I was so shocked by the answer that I shouted before I could stop myself.
No, a guardian…. What was he talking about….
“Am I a child? Why would I need a guardian!”
“But judging by your size, you do need a guardian…."
“I don't!!”
To punish Hyeonwoo for giving such a ridiculous answer, I kicked him in the calf.
However, Hyeonwoo simply stood there without changing his expression, as though it tickled him.
“Tsk…. If only I had enough cold…."
The weakness of my physical attacks was painfully clear, and I vowed that someday I would definitely beat Hyeonwoo.
======
While Seolhwa was angrily scolding Hyeonwoo for teasing her,
the cat sisters began conferring in voices too quiet for the two of them to hear.
“Yuri, Yuri. What do you think of those two?”
“...Not yet…. I don't think they're dating…. But…."
Yuri perked up her ears and continued speaking.
“I heard childhood friends…. usually end up dating after acting like that…. In manga…."
The sisters had always liked the childhood-friend setup, so seeing these two childhood friends—a boy and a girl—in real life filled them with tremendous interest.
“Right, right? I think so too. Surely that Snow Woman unnie is a tsundere, so they haven't made any progress.”
On top of that, unaware that Seolhwa had once been a man, the two decided entirely on their own that these were childhood friends who liked each other but couldn't confess their feelings.
“So I have a plan that sounds like it could be fun. Want to hear it?”
“What is it…?”
Yeri moved even closer to Yuri and whispered softly in her ear.
“Let's be Cupids who bring those two together! Doesn't that sound fun?”
“Childhood friends…. Making them a couple…. Sounds fun…!”
Like high school girls who got fired up over romance, the two cat girls took an unnecessary interest in the pair's love life and decided to meddle for no reason.
Apparently, the sisters' next game would be bringing the childhood friends together.
“Hey, hey, Snow Woman unnie!”
“Hmm? What's wrong?”
Once they had devised their plan, Yeri called out to Seolhwa.
“We'd like to thank you for showing us such a fun ice show. Would that be okay?”
“A gift…. Please accept it…."
“Huh? Ah, no, even if it's just a thank-you…."
Having already been paid in advance for entertaining them, Seolhwa felt guilty and tried to refuse the gift, but the cat sisters paid no attention and continued.
“Would you like to go to an amusement park next week?”