Satisfaction. Or Moving Forward - 8
"Oppa!"
It had been a while since I'd stepped into my neighbor's place—Roa's house. Heea welcomed me with a beaming smile. She threw herself into my arms. I scooped up her tiny frame effortlessly and spun her around once.
"Ahahaha!"
She was so light. So soft. That pure, unblemished laughter filling my ears left me no choice but to laugh right along with her.
"Heeya, did you finish your homework?"
"I'll do it in a bit! Since Oppa's here!"
Roa's eyes met mine. I flashed an awkward smile, feeling like the clueless uncle barging in and disrupting a kid's studies.
"Go ahead. Sunwoo-ssi, you okay with that?"
"Sure."
Heea grabbed my hand with her little fingers and dragged me to her room. In an instant, she had me plopped down on the bed. Not sure what to do, I looked at her with an embarrassed gaze.
"Did you come to see me?"
"Of course."
After rescuing Heea, I hadn't had many chances for one-on-one talks with her. Sure, we'd crossed paths now and then, and we'd all eaten together at my place plenty of times. But moments like this, where we could chat slowly and leisurely? Not so much.
"R-Really...? You came to hang out? Not with Unnie? With me?"
"Yeah."
It was a strange sensation. Watching the people I'd saved, seeing them smile happily—it was something I savored. A hero had to keep moving endlessly. Ironically, the more cleanly and completely I saved a region, a country even, the less I'd cross paths with those people. They no longer needed me. There were always more important things than basking in the sight of their happy lives. At best, if luck was on my side, we'd bump into each other years later for a quick greeting. Otherwise, I'd hear through passing merchants that they were safe and sound. If fortune soured, I'd end up seeing their corpses later—or stepping into the ruins of wherever they'd lived.
Gazing at this girl I'd saved so leisurely, so relaxed like this? That alone was pure bliss.
"I-I didn't prepare or anything. Unnie said there's no hope for me anyway—"
"Hm?"
Heea's face flushed red. A chill ran down my spine.
"Wh-What do you mean by that?"
"She said Oppa's tastes run toward more mature women..."
"I-It'll grow! Just wait!"
"I-I'm not gonna grow..."
Heea looked up at me with wide eyes.
"Unnie's an amazing doctor, but my body's... a bit more serious than that."
I knew. From the moment we'd needed that precious item just to extend her life, it wouldn't have been strange if something had gone wrong with her body.
"It won't grow. To be precise, it didn't grow when it was supposed to. Not my chest, not my height."
Heea gazed at me sadly.
"You hate a body like this, right?"
"It's not that I hate it, but still..."
Maybe my words were pointless. In this world, men wouldn't fuss over a woman's age before embracing her. Outside the orphanage kids, being a "child" didn't guarantee protection or love.
"Still, wait a little longer for me."
I couldn't tell her she'd meet someone better. I knew too well how hollow that would ring.
Whether I wanted it or not, slave bond or none, I held power over her. A power dynamic. The pure, mutual love built on admiring each other's bodies and humanity like in my old modern world? That wouldn't happen here.
"When you're ready, I'll think about it seriously too."
I didn't want to adapt to this world. Even if the rules had lost meaning now, I wanted to hold onto them.
"...Fine. I wasn't expecting anything anyway. But you know I love you, right, Oppa?"
"Yeah, I know."
I pulled her into a light hug. Snuggled against my chest, Roa flicked out her tongue and licked my pecs.
"H-Hey, hold on—"
"But why'd you hug Haena?"
A little devil's smile played on her lips, but her voice dripped with sticky melancholy.
"Huh?"
"I got here first."
She pouted like she was genuinely wronged.
"I can understand the others. Sua-unnie and Seohee-unnie met you before me... And Roa-unnie's pretty and smart, so maybe she got to hug you first too."
Sua pinched my thigh lightly with her fingers. It tickled more than hurt, but I could tell she was sulking.
"But not Haena! S-Sure, I get that you can do whoever you like, but..."
She looked pained. Tears welled in her eyes.
"Still, you like me, right? No, that's gotta be real. So please, don't say stuff like you like my body."
"That's—"
"It just makes me hope for things..."
I'd misread her. In my world, she'd have gotten the hint even if I danced around it. But this world was different.
No helping it. I'd have to spell out why I couldn't embrace her.
"That's not what I meant by you being 'ready.' Haena's sweet too, of course, but I know how much you like me."
"Then what is it?"
"Your age..."
"That's total bullshit! You hugged Haena!"
"Huh?"
I tilted my head, realizing I'd never asked her the most obvious question.
"You know Haena's an adult, right?"
The world had changed, but the line between adult and child hadn't shifted much. Not some touchy-feely "protect the kids" vibe, but more like "you're half a person who can't handle adult shit."
"Obviously?"
"Then... wait, are you too?"
"Yeah! I'm an adult! A year older than Haena even!"
I let out a hollow chuckle and stroked her head.
"You don't have to say stuff like that. No need to rush."
No way. That couldn't be reality.
"It's true!"
"Then that's—"
"My body! It stopped growing after the injury!"
Heea's words hit me like enlightenment.
"Ah."
Thanks to the item I'd saved her with, Heea's condition had stabilized. No more insane meds or facilities to survive, no more hours bedridden. But even then, her body hadn't developed.
So it'd been stalled for quite a while. Long enough that judging her age by looks was impossible.
"Y-You mean all this time, even while you were fucking Unnie like a dog next door, you ignored me over that misunderstanding?!"
"Th-That's— Wait, how'd you even know? I checked you were asleep before going to Roa's room!"
"If you're doing it next door, of course I wake up! Press my ear to the wall and I can hear everything!"
"Ugh."
It wasn't a secret that I was sleeping with Roa, but I'd avoided explicit mentions to spare Heea the shock. Pointless effort. She was wilder, more mature than I'd thought.
"...Good thing I said it."
"Yeah."
If not for this chance misunderstanding and talk, I could've ignored her for months, years, no problem.
"See? People gotta talk to live! So much stays unknown if you don't say it out loud."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. You can chalk up not knowing others' feelings, but tons don't even know their own."
I tilted my head at Heea's words.
"Your own feelings?"
"Yep! Secret time—actually, Unnie..."
She leaned in close, whispering in my ear. A pleasant scent wafted over. Her tiny voice tickled.
"She didn't even realize she loved me."
"What?"
The unexpected bombshell had me bursting into laughter.
"Funny, right? Super funny! Hilarious!"
Perched on my lap, Heea laughed like a kid—or rather, as a kid should.
"Unnie thought it was just responsibility! Like, 'I did this to her, so of course I'd do anything for her.'"
Funny as it was now, it was no laughing matter back then.
"Doesn't make sense, right? If she didn't love me, she could've ignored me, responsibility or not."
She'd had an easy out. Running away.
"I love Unnie too. Mom loved her. That's why we tried to save her."
I couldn't laugh at that. I knew Roa's past was tragic, but not the details.
"People surprisingly often don't realize their own feelings. So talk a lot with your unnies, Oppa! And me too!"
I nodded with a smile. Heea scooted closer, whispering in my ear again.
"Don't you have some wrong ideas too, Oppa?"
A strange topic I hadn't even considered.