Chapter 30
“Hwaah…. So sleepy….”
After finishing every last bite of the fried rice Hyeonwoo had made for me.
I was enjoying my usual idle freedom, the same as any other day.
“Infinite Challenge is so much fun.”
Sprawled comfortably on the sofa, phone in hand, receiving the blessing of the air conditioner descending from the wall, I found myself grinning like an idiot without meaning to.
My stomach's full, the air conditioner's keeping me cool…. And there are snacks within arm's reach. This is heaven, plain and simple….
While luxuriating in that extravagant treatment, I reached for the snacks beside me, only for some man's hand to appear out of nowhere and carry them off.
“Eats, lies straight down, and now snacks on top of it…. What are you, a cow?”
“Not a cow, a Snow Woman…. Owww!”
Apparently the master of the house wasn't fond of the sight of me lounging around, because Hyeonwoo confiscated my snacks and resorted to force.
Ugh…. You could have just said something….
“Keep living like that and you'll get fat.”
“Hmph. I'm a Snow Woman, so my figure is locked in exactly as it is, you know?”
A fact my senior had told me a while back.
She'd said that once a Snow Woman's figure is set, it doesn't change except under special circumstances.
So no matter how much I eat and lie down or snack between meals, my figure will absolutely never change!
...Though my height won't grow either.
When I said that while rolling back and forth across my conquered sofa, Hyeonwoo made a faintly contemptuous face and murmured under his breath.
“...Was what I saw that day an illusion, then.”
“Hmm? What was an illusion?”
“Nothing at all, nothing. Forget it, go wash the dishes or something.”
“Fine, fine.”
If I pushed my luck any further I risked being labeled a freeloader and thrown out, so I decided to at least do the dishes as the bare minimum of labor.
I sprang off the sofa like a released spring—boing!—and pattered off toward the kitchen to get to work.
Luckily, there was nothing in the sink beyond the dishes for two that we'd just used.
“At this rate I'll be done in no time.”
Thrilled at the thought of finishing fast and getting back to lying down and playing games, I turned on the tap at once and started scrubbing.
Vweeeeeeen—
And then came the sucking roar of a vacuum cleaner from the living room.
Apparently, now that I'd vacated the sofa, Hyeonwoo had started cleaning.
A man running the vacuum in the living room and a woman washing dishes in the kitchen….
Put like that, we're kind of like a married couple….
“...And just what am I thinking!”
Hastily realizing how strange a thought I'd just had, I got so flustered that I nearly dropped the plate I was washing.
A married couple, what on earth am I thinking…. My brain's been going funny lately. Maybe I should go get my senior to run some tests….
Sure, we'd been together long enough that there was a certain family-like comfort to it, but Hyeonwoo was a friend, first and last.
On top of which, even if we're opposite sexes now, this is someone who used to be the same sex as me….
“What were you thinking about, exactly?”
“Hiik!?”
Just then the very subject of my imagination popped up out of nowhere and spoke to me, startling me so badly that I really did almost drop the plate.
Aaagh…. That was close….
“N-nothing at all…. Ahaha….”
Not wanting to be caught having had such a weird thought, I fudged an answer and sent Hyeonwoo on his way.
If he ever found out I'd thought that, I'd be a laughingstock for life….
======
“Haah…. Haah…. I…. went again….”
In a darkened room with the lights off, the breathing of a man and a woman echoed back and forth.
“Seolhwa…. How many times is that already? Aren't you getting way too quick about it?”
“But... buuut….”
“At this rate I can't even enjoy myself.”
“Ngh…. S-sorry about that….”
Hyeonwoo looked down at me with an unsatisfied expression.
And having brought this situation about, all I could do was lower my eyes and apologize.
“This won't do. Let's go one more round.”
“Wh-what…. Y-you intend to toy with me even more than this…?”
I was already worn out to my limit, but Hyeonwoo, on the grounds that he wasn't satisfied, pressed the next one on me.
“But if you don't like it, you can just resist, can't you? With your own two hands.”
“Ngh…!”
It was impossible.
No matter how I resisted, Hyeonwoo's signature handiwork reduced every last one of my efforts to nothing.
Whatever means I tried, whatever approach I took, before that hand of his I was utterly powerless.
And that tongue of his, making the offer while knowing all that, was nothing short of a devil's.
“Here I come, then, Seolhwa…!”
“O-okay….”
And so the next round began.
This time Hyeonwoo seemed intent on properly enjoying himself, because he came at me roughly right from the start.
“Ngaah…! N-not like that from the very beginning…!”
“Then you should have been good at this from the start.”
Hyeonwoo, declaring that this whole situation was my own fault.
I wanted to argue, but he wasn't wrong, so all I could do was helplessly admire his technique.
“All right, then…. With this…. it's over…!”
“Ngh…! N-no…. no way... hwaaaaaah—!”
[GAME SET—! WINNER, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!]
“Urgh…. I lost again….”
“I keep telling you Kirby's bad because his reach is short. Why are you so stubborn about it?”
“But he's cuuute….”
After I finished the dishes, I'd wound up playing games with Hyeonwoo, who had time to kill before heading to campus.
I'd sworn that today would be the day I avenged myself, and challenged him across a whole lineup of different games, but….
“What am I supposed to do when you're just too strong….”
The result was a total rout.
The game had changed, but the outcome hadn't changed in the slightest.
...If anything, it might have gotten worse.
“Ah, now that I think about it, that reminds me.”
While I was staring blankly at the defeat screen with a hollow laugh, Hyeonwoo spoke as if something had just come back to him.
“You lost that ice cream bet yesterday, didn't you?”
“Ngh…. So you remembered….”
Of all the things to resurface, it had to be yesterday's ice cream bet.
I'd been quietly relieved thinking he'd forgotten, but sadly it seemed he remembered it perfectly well.
“All that gaming just now put me in the mood for one. Go buy me one, right now.”
“Uh…. Does it have to be right now?”
“I'm leaving for school soon. I'd like to savor a winner's leisure while eating one on the way.”
“Tch….”
Wearing a victor's smile, Hyeonwoo waved a hand at me as if to say hurry up and go.
If you're heading to school soon, you could at least play with me until then….
“Fine…. Wait here, I'll go get it.”
But the loser had no right of protest.
With no other choice, I found myself heading outside.
======
“Ugh…. It's hot….”
The moment I stepped outside, the warm sun beat down on me and turned my stomach.
It really is brutal this year…. I'd better hurry there and back.
Cooling myself nonstop with a mini fan, I walked along scanning for anywhere nearby that sold ice cream, and eventually spotted a discount ice cream shop off in the distance.
“There it is!”
Captivated by the word discount, I went sprinting straight for the shop—pat-pat-pat—threw the door open and went inside.
The moment I stepped in, tens of thousands of assorted ice creams sat waiting for me inside the freezers.
Drip
Wiping away the drool that threatened to spill over, I swept my eyes rapidly across the selection, scanning the varieties.
If it weren't my own money, I'd buy as much as I wanted, but sadly my bank balance was far too thin for that.
Cheap and good value…. Cheap and plentiful…. Plentiful and sweet….
“...That's the one!”
Midway through my scan.
I discovered the one ice cream perfectly suited to this exact situation.
Behold—the Twin Bar!
A wonderfully efficient product with two ice creams inside a single package.
Buy one of these and split it with Hyeonwoo, and for the price of a single ice cream I get to carry out my penalty and eat some myself!
I'm a brainy Snow Woman, heh heh heh….
Having thus acquired the key item for my ice cream quest, I smiled to myself and confidently popped one half of the Twin Bar into my mouth.
A sweet grape fragrance spreading through my whole mouth, sweet to the taste.
Ice cream…. Truly the best.
With the remaining half of the Twin Bar safely tucked into the bag, I headed back to Hyeonwoo's place to clear the quest.
Retracing my steps, I arrived at the door of Hyeonwoo's place.
The firmly shut steel door gave off the sense of a will determined not to admit anyone it didn't know.
“So the passcode is…. 462….”
Well, that's a story for people it doesn't know.
Since Hyeonwoo had told me the passcode, I simply punched it in like anyone else would.
Beep-boop-beep—
A crisp chime sounded as if to welcome me in, and the locked door began to open.
“I have returned…! Except there's nobody here.”
And so I was back at Hyeonwoo's place.
But Hyeonwoo wasn't in it.
He said he was going to school—did he leave already?
“And after I went to all the trouble of buying it….”
It was a shame I couldn't hand it over right away, but there was nothing for it, so I put the remaining Twin Bar half in the freezer.
“Right, time to go wash my hands.”
When you've been outside, the first order of business is always washing your hands.
Without a single thought in my head, I walked over to the bathroom and opened the door—
“Huh…? Seolhwa….”
“Eh…?”
—and locked eyes with Hyeonwoo, who was drying himself off after a shower.
In that instant, as though time itself had stopped, neither of us could process the situation, and we both stood rooted there in a daze for a solid five seconds.
Hyeonwoo was the first to come to his senses.
“Wh-what are you staring at?! Get out!”
“S-sorryyy!”
At Hyeonwoo's shout, thick with embarrassment, I snapped out of it too, slammed the door shut with a bang, and sank to the floor right where I stood.
“Uwaah…. The timing is insane….”
Fanning my flushed, overheated face with my hand, I cursed this miraculous piece of timing.
If I'd come back even slightly later or slightly earlier, I'd never have ended up seeing Hyeonwoo's body at all.
At times like this I resented the god of timing with my whole heart.
Right now I felt exactly like the protagonist of a romantic comedy.
With the genders reversed, admittedly.
“Still, he's in seriously good shape….”
I'd known he worked out as a hobby, but seeing it firsthand, I could definitely tell he took care of himself.
It wasn't that his muscles were enormously developed, but the lean definition showing here and there actually looked rather ni—
“...And there I go thinking something strange again….”
For no good reason, that scene from earlier kept circling in front of my eyes and tormenting me.
Picturing the body of a friend of the same sex is nothing but an eyesore, so why won't it go away….
In the end, I couldn't look Hyeonwoo properly in the face for the rest of that day.