Chapter 46
About a week had passed since I returned to the family home.
After dinner, I went into my old room.
My dear old room hadn't changed much since before I moved out on my own.
The only thing that had probably changed was that my men's clothes had been replaced by the women's clothes Mother bought.
“Time to dive onto the bed~!”
As soon as I entered the room, I leaped onto the bed.
When I surrendered my body to the soft bed, it seemed to suck me in as if trying to absorb me, and before long, we became one.
I built an overlay network with a soft, fluffy bed and an equally soft, fluffy me!
The Ultra-Fluffy Ice Bed is born-!
"...Pfft. What's an Ice Bed?"
I couldn't help laughing at how ridiculous the name I'd come up with was.
I laughed to myself over the name for a while, then eventually calmed down and lay comfortably on my back, staring at the ceiling before suddenly muttering,
"I'm bored…."
Counting the dots on the ceiling while lying comfortably in bed wasn't as bad as I had expected, but apparently it wasn't a game I could keep playing for long.
After laughing uproariously just moments ago, I suddenly became bored as if all that laughter had been a lie.
"Oof…."
The moment I realized I was bored, I rolled onto my side and checked the room for something to do.
The check revealed a game console, some manga, and various other things to play with, but right now I was the laziest and most bored girl—or rather, boy—on Earth.
I didn't have the energy to overcome my laziness and get up from this soft, fluffy bed.
"At least my smartphone is next to the bed…."
When I lowered my head, I saw my smartphone lying a short distance away from the bed.
It was the closest source of entertainment at hand, but whether I could grab it with my shortened arms was another question….
"I'll give it a try for now…!"
However, if I didn't grab it, I would probably die of boredom, so I stretched my arm as far as it would go, somehow trying to reach the smartphone.
Of course, I didn't get off the bed.
Because I didn't want to leave this soft bed!
"Nngh…!"
However, the smartphone was rolling just barely outside my reach, and I missed it by the width of a finger.
"Tch…. In that case…."
For some reason, I got stubborn about something I could easily solve by getting up, so I gathered cold air in the hand I had stretched toward the smartphone.
Then I condensed that cold air and turned it into an icicle shaped like a backscratcher.
"Heh heh heh…. Maybe this would have been a problem right after I became a Snow Woman, but it's no problem for me now…."
I used the ice backscratcher—frozen backscratcher for short—to pull the smartphone toward me and retrieve it with ease.
How do you like a brainy Snow Woman's power? Heh heh heh….
"Ngh…. It's cold…."
Of course, the frozen backscratcher was too cold to touch, so I removed it the moment it had served its purpose.
Come to think of it, last time, when I tried the umbrella, I dropped it as soon as I touched it, but this time I actually completed the job properly….
Can I touch ice for longer as I get used to it…?
Hmm…. I don't know. Whatever, at least I got my smartphone, so I can use it to….
The moment I looked at the smartphone I'd retrieved,
My thoughts ground to a complete halt.
"There's a scratch on the screen…. Aww…."
Maybe it was because I'd made the backscratcher out of hard, pointed ice.
The screen had been scratched during the retrieval process.
...Next time, I vowed to just get up and get it.
=======
I paid my respects to the scratched screen, then propped the smartphone against the wall so I could watch videos comfortably.
Then I lay back down on the bed and put on a YouTube video to soothe my boredom.
[Just one bowl of jjajangmyeon! Let me have just one bowl-aaaaah!!]
“......”
The YouTube video was definitely entertaining.
But apparently even this entertaining video couldn't fill the emptiness in my heart.
"Ugh…."
In the end, I turned off the YouTube video, rolled over again, and stared at the ceiling.
"......"
Once the noisy video was turned off, silence settled over my room again.
I could hear Mother and Big Brother watching TV outside and Father exercising, but even taking those sounds into account, it was still quiet.
"Ugh…. I'm bored…."
Even if I wanted to spend time with my family because I was bored, it was hard to go outside when Big Brother was out there gunning for my head and Father wanted to make me exercise.
So in the end, all I could do was lie on the bed and kick my feet.
Snow Women die when they're lonely... Somebody—anybody but my heartless family—come play with me….
“Hyeonwoo's been playing with me a lot lately…."
Of course, when I was staying at Hyeonwoo's house, I would pester him to play with me whenever I got bored.
Then Hyeonwoo would play with me without saying a word….
“I wonder how Hyeonwoo is doing…."
It had already been a week since I was summoned back to the family home, but I hadn't exchanged a single message with Hyeonwoo.
Normally, Hyeonwoo would have reached out first, but for some reason, he hadn't done so even once all week.
He hadn't even sent a text asking me to play a game, let alone asking how I was…. Could something have happened….
Since Hyeonwoo had never treated me so indifferently before, I began to feel a little anxious, and all sorts of thoughts started swirling through my mind.
Could he have gotten into an accident during the past week?
Or could his phone have broken?
Could he have lost interest in me…?
With not even a casual text from him, all sorts of thoughts began to spring up and run wild in my head.
“Aaaah…. Why am I agonizing over this when I can just text him first…."
Remembering that there was a simple answer, I immediately turned on my smartphone and went to text Hyeonwoo—
"...What should I send?"
I was about to text Hyeonwoo when I suddenly hesitated.
The reason I'd hesitated was the message itself.
After a week without contacting him, I found myself wondering what I should say.
Hmm…. [I'm home]…. That was a greeting a week late….
[How are you doing?] That made me sound like a clingy girlfriend obsessed with Hyeonwoo, so I didn't like it….
[Greetings. I wish to inquire after your well-being in the time since....] That sounded like some kind of spam message…. Rejected….
I kept writing and deleting, then writing and deleting.
I couldn't decide what text to send to start the conversation, so I just repeated the process of writing and deleting until finally—
“Aaaah!! What am I, some girl in love?!"
When my patience ran out, I threw my smartphone in a fit of frustration.
Why on earth was I acting like this?
I was clearly only trying to send him a casual greeting, but the moment I thought about asking Hyeonwoo, my fingers refused to move.
If it had been Juhyeok, I would've simply sent a casual [What are you doing?] and called it a day.
“...Hmph, whatever. Hyeonwoo's the one at fault for not sending even one text."
In the end, I concluded that all of this was Hyeonwoo's fault, then reluctantly dragged myself out of bed and went to play a game.
This is all Hyeonwoo's fault.
Even being this bored.
Even the fact that I got out of bed.
Even being kidnapped by Big Brother and summoned back to the family home….
It's all because Hyeonwoo couldn't even be bothered to send me a single check-in….
“...Let's play a game."
Thinking about Hyeonwoo had left me strangely unsettled, so I turned on a game to erase him from my thoughts.
When I started the game, I was greeted by graphics depicting the beautiful Nordic landscapes.
As expected of a Game of the Year winner, the graphics were on another level, and slicing through enemies was incredibly satisfying.
While playing a game like that,
“...This isn't fun."
For some reason, even while playing such an entertaining game, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing.
What on earth was wrong with me….
Bzzz-
“...Hyeonwoo?"
At that moment, an alarm rang from the smartphone I'd thrown into the distance.
The moment I heard it, I paused the game and ran straight to my smartphone to unlock the screen.
What...? A whole week had passed, and he was only texting me now—
“...It's spam."
However, the message I'd received was just spam, not the one I had expected.
“Damn it…."
I flung my smartphone away again with all my might, then buried my face in a nearby pillow.
Sigh…. Why am I acting like this over one lousy text?
I felt a little pathetic realizing how my mood was swinging back and forth over nothing more than a single text.
“Sigh…. This is all because Big Brother kept saying weird things…."
Since Big Brother had spent the whole week asking things like ‘Are you two dating? Did something happen?’, I had started thinking about Hyeonwoo a little, even though I didn't feel that way about him.
It was definitely because Big Brother had needlessly put that idea in my head that I was so bothered by not receiving a text from Hyeonwoo right now…. No, I was sure of it.
Big Brother really was no help at all….
“Ah…. I don't know…. I should go out for a bit…."
My head was so muddled that I felt I would go crazy if I stayed inside any longer, so I decided to go for a short walk.
Despite the sweltering weather these days, the night air after sunset was cool, making it perfect for a walk.
With that in mind, I opened the closet to change into something to go out in—
The countless women's outfits Mother had bought came into view.
“...Whatever. I'm only going out for a little while."
Since I was only going out by myself, I figured no one would see me and changed into a simple skirt and blouse.
“...It is more comfortable, though."
I had only put on the skirt because I didn't have any proper clothes to go out in, but it really was more comfortable for moving around.
...Maybe it would be okay to wear one sometimes.
Thinking that, I sneakily glanced at myself in the mirror.
Objectively speaking, the blouse's large ribbon suited my cute face, and paired with the slightly short skirt, the outfit created a pleasing synergy.
“...Not bad."
I murmured softly, grabbed my smartphone, and went out for a little while.