What Are They Thinking? (4)
Being hit doesn't matter. It's just that you get used to it.
Once night fully fell and numerous night lights were turned on, the ski resort had become as bright as daytime. Since it was a Saturday night, there were no thoughts of fewer people; hundreds of people were enjoying skiing.
And I...
Legs bent in a J shape, hips pushed back, arms pressed tightly against the sides. Holding poles in both hands, I gathered the front of the ski plates into an A shape.
Slipping down the beginner course in this awkward posture, people who looked a bit better than me passed by with laughter and mockery.
"...Ugh."
"There are no experts from the start. Once you get used to it, then you start showing off."
Hwayeon, wearing thick ski gear with a mask pulled up and rainbow-glittering goggles covering her face, was teaching me how to ski while soothing me from the side.
Splash!
Darky was bouncing on Hwayeon's shoulders, as if cheering her on to try harder. ...Even as a slime, it moves well in the cold!
"See, by putting your weight on the center of the ski plates and tilting your body, you can rotate in the direction you're tilting."
Hwayeon demonstrated. Gathering the plates into an A shape, tilting her body to the left, she smoothly rotated in an arc. But I...
"Eh!"
I almost fell into a 180-degree rotation but, with superhuman reflexes, I braced myself with the poles. Just as I was about to fall, Hwayeon, who had silently approached, extended her arm to correct my posture.
Hey, since Hwayeon is coaching from the side, I'm learning but it's not fun at all. Annoyed, I pulled down the goggles and mask and sighed deeply. Hwayeon also pulled up her goggles and patted my shoulder.
I wonder where Han Go-eun and the others are. Looking with spatial perception, they were riding the lift up to the highest advanced course.
The slope of the advanced course is about 32 degrees. Compared to that, the place I'm at is barely 10 degrees.
"...Life is real."
"What?"
Hwayeon, who looked surprised at my words, I pulled her waist and used space leap to the top of the advanced course slope.
There was a rest area at the top, with a few people gathered, but whether they saw or not, it didn't matter!
Seeing me and Hwayeon suddenly appear at the top, people who were resting while drinking warm drinks looked up in surprise. Whether they saw or not, I looked down at the brightly lit slope with night lights, behind those people...
"Is this 32 degrees? It feels almost 60 degrees?"
"It does look steep, but it seems around 30 degrees."
"..."
...I hesitated for a moment, and Hwayeon looked at my expression and asked if it was okay.
"Really going to ski here? Since you have abilities, you won't get hurt even if you fall, but if you're not used to it..."
"It's fine. I'm a real fighter type. This isn't that scary."
Really. I have experience flying and jumping from more than ten kilometers above after hitting the wall of space, so would I be scared of this?
What I'm worried about is that if I fall here, my pride and self-esteem might take a bit of a hit... um.
The sun had completely set and it was night, but with the night lights, skiing wasn't a problem. When I gripped the poles tightly while watching other skiers zooming down quickly, Han Go-eun and Su Yu-ri, who got off the gondola, looked at me in surprise and jumped over with "Kkangkkang!"
"Eh! Seoha~! When did you get up~?!"
"......Just now."
"You said skiing was your first time? You've already gotten used to it enough to ski on the advanced course?"
"Uwo. No matter what ability users, they're different! I'm a beginner on the advanced course today!"
"Wow. Seoha-ssi seems like there's nothing he can't do!"
The group arrived one after another, chattering noisily, and I felt like a failure. ...I can't back down now! There's male pride!
"No. I only learned from Hwayeon for the last 30 minutes. I can't ski well."
Only then did the guys who noticed that the person with mask and goggles covering her face was Hwayeon bow and greet.
"Eh? Ah, hello!"
"Hello!"
"Got it."
Hwayeon, who greeted with a blunt voice, looked at me with worry, her face hidden behind goggles and mask.
"Then we'll go first!"
"Uwaa~!"
"Kya~!"
Watching Han Go-eun's group descend with screams that were almost like screams, I also started moving, and Hwayeon followed beside me, asking if I should change my mind.
"Seoha. This is the advanced course, so the slope is steep and there are curves, it's dangerous. There's a slope with 21 degrees right next to it, so let's go together on that..."
"Hmph! Men are real fighters!"
Hearing that, how could I back down!!
I observed the posture of the person going down ahead using spatial perception to memorize every movement, and jumped down to the slope!
Swoosh swoosh swoosh.
The faster the speed, the stronger the feeling of the ski plates scraping the soles as passing moguls.
The speed was much less than when I ran at full power hitting the wall of space, and the thrill was so low that if I thought of sliding down a slide from the sky, I'd yawn.
But why is this feeling so tense!
While imitating the movements of the person ahead and sliding down, Hwayeon chased after me quickly from behind and shouted with a voice mixed with admiration.
"You're good! You had such skill but why did you say you couldn't ski!?"
The face hidden by goggles and mask was really a face of admiration. Because of the strong wind sound rushing past my ears, I also raised my voice and shouted.
"Life is real from the start!"
I never said I was imitating the person ahead.
Han Go-eun's group was spreading their S-shaped short hair to adjust speed and descending slowly, but I was going straight down, so I overtook them in an instant.
Hwayeon watched my figure and started gliding even faster than me. There, jumping in downhill!
Upon thinking about it, compared to the person I was using as a model, Hwayeon was descending the slope with smoother and more fluid movements.
I need to change the copy target!
After a couple of times, I observed Hwayeon's posture on the advanced course with spatial perception, memorized the responses for each course, and replicated it, gradually getting used to descending.
Compared to the extreme sports that ability users enjoy, skiing, which belongs to natural sports, can never match the speed feeling or extreme thrill I feel when jumping around the wall of space.
But skiing had its own advantages and fun.
After descending to the end of the slope, waiting for Han Go-eun's group to finish coming down, without taking time for the lift, I used space leap to move to the top, descended again, leaped again, descended again...
For two hours, I was happily playing until the sound of "Surrender!" came from Han Go-eun's group.
When I returned to the pension house with the tired panting group, the warm air melted the cold bodies.
The group who came back with red noses and ears from the cold giggling entered the wide entrance, shook off the snow on their clothes and ski gear, entered the living room, and made a fuss.
"Haaaa~. My soles are numb~."
"It really feels like I've been skiing nonstop!"
"Yeah yeah! It's the first time I've skied without stopping!"
"Space leap is really awesome! When you come to the ski resort, you have to wait for the lift and go up, but by skipping that, it's totally cool!"
"Really. It's the first time I've skied so happily. Thank you, Seoha-ssi!"
"Completely thank you!"
"Thank you!"
Receiving the kids' greetings by waving my hand, Choi Soohan came over and took the ski gear from me and Hwayeon. Then she pointed inside the living room and said.
"I have prepared baths in the first floor bathroom. Go wash up."
Hearing that, looking at the girls, since it was night, they had no masks but only goggles, and their noses, ears, and cheeks were red from the cold.
Kim Chang-hyun, seeing that, took off his ski hat and goggles and said to the girls.
"Have the girls wash first."
"No. We take a long time to wash, so have the boys wash first."
Seeing them pushing each other to wash first, I opened my mouth.
"If you're not going to show off your red noses like drunks, wash first. We can shower on the upper floor."
Lydia, hearing my words, checked her face in the mirror, "Aah!" and burst into shock, covering her nose and ran to the bathroom like the wind.
"......Eh! Me too!"
"Hiiing!"
All the girls ran into the bathroom, and seeing the boys trying to go to the second floor, Hwayeon, who was also there, grabbed my hand and led me to the third floor.
In the empty room on the third floor, washing together with Hwayeon and entering the large room, a strong alcohol smell blew in.
"What? You guys have been drinking alcohol the whole time?"
Perhaps because of the alcohol's power, the older sister's stern expression also softened a lot, and even though she looked at me, she didn't avoid my gaze but glared at me with an angry expression. Why is she glaring?
The older sister with a red face from drinking a lot took a deep sigh full of alcohol smell, then muttered "......Choi. ...I... will give... " and collapsed on the bed.
What the hell.
Looking at the older sister collapsed on one of the three twin-size beds, spilling incomprehensible babble that couldn't be understood, I asked Franc and Yeongeun.
"How much alcohol did you guys give her?"
There were only nine empty wine bottles on the table, and at least thirty beer and soju bottles rolling on the floor. Since Choi Soohan made the side dishes, there were also remnants of leftover fruit side dishes filling the table.
"You didn't give her much. About two bottles of whiskey, five beers, and one bottle of soju?"
"Instead, because Shia's sister was trying to drink too much, we were scolded for stopping her."
Is that not drinking much? Franc and Yeongeun, who didn't show me drinking alcohol in front of me, turned out to be alcoholics.
Yeongeun, whose cheeks were slightly flushed, shook the On the Rock whiskey glass in her hand and drank the remaining half in one gulp. Then "Huuung." and exhaled, and opened her mouth again.
"Obviously, you need to put alcohol in your stomach for the sadness inside to naturally flow out, right? Ufufu. Our Seoha is still young so probably doesn't know~?"
Yeongeun was also drunk. Upon closer look, between the empty bottles, several broken alcohol additive ampoules for physical enhancement users were visible. That was the pure enhancement alcohol that makes even physical enhancement users drunk.
Stumbling, Yeongeun came over, hugged me tightly, and started nibbling my earlobes while blowing alcohol smell all over. Perhaps because the alcohol suddenly rose, she mumbled with slurred speech.
"Our Seoha is really a bad man, right? How is he able to hold such a creature~!"
"You drunkard. What are you saying?"
Pulling my neck, pecking my cheek, the breath full of alcohol smell mixed with cherry scent gave a strange smell. In this sight, Franc, who was startled, quickly flew over and blocked Yeongeun's mouth, pulling her to the bed.
"Ah, ah! Ugh! That's why I told you to drink moderately, but your tongue is all twisted! Yeong-eun! Stop it and come to bed! Hwayeon, help too!"
"Uuuung~!"
While resisting, Yeongeun was soon suppressed by Hwayeon and thrown onto the bed.
What the...?
Looking at Franc with a somewhat bustling feeling, I called Choi Soohan to clear the alcohol table, then looked at Yeongeun and the older sister who were thrown on the bed.
"She passed out."
Splash~.
At that moment, Darky, who had been hiding inside my clothes until then, peeked out his body, bounced, and fell on Yeongeun's chest above the gray sweater, starting to move around on it.
What is he trying to do? Watching, I saw him pull out two tentacles from his body and press them on Yeongeun's chest.
Choi Soohan, who was putting empty bottles and fruit side dish plates on a cart, flinched at Darky but, since I was there, quickly ignored it, activated the indoor ventilation system, and pushed the cart out.
Franc and Hwayeon, watching what Darky was doing, turned to me and asked.
"What is that kid doing now?"
"She's checking the touch and elasticity of the breasts."
"Isn't that dangerous?"
"No. I don't know why, but she seems to be trying to make her own body exactly like the breast touch."
"......What?"
"What?"
After telling them about the incident where Franc bathed with the older sister in the morning, the two looked at Darky with dumbfounded faces.
Splash splash! Splash!
After the investigation, Darky put away his tentacles and started bouncing up and down in the valley of Yeongeun's chest. The sight looked like she had three breasts.
Watching Yeongeun, who was sleeping deeply without waking even though Darky was bouncing on her own chest, I picked up the Darky kid.
"Wow. The touch is now completely the same as breasts. But why are you so obsessed with breasts."
"Purr?"
To Franc, who was looking at Darky with curious eyes, I handed over Darky and approached the older sister sleeping in a disheveled state.
"Wow?! Really the same as Yeong-eun's breast touch!"
"......Really."
"Why did you change for this reason?"
"Purrr~."
"Perhaps unconsciously realizing that Seoha likes breasts. If I listen to Hiarid's interpretation, Darky's intelligence seems quite high."
"Ah, that could be."
While exchanging such stories, Franc and Hwayeon were looking at me like beasts.
Hmph. They are perverted girls who look for beasts every night.
Ignoring the gazes of the two girls, I recalled what the older sister had muttered earlier. What was the older sister muttering? Choi is... dumb? What was the word after that?
"Huuu..."
Even though she couldn't drink alcohol well, why was she angry and drank strong whiskey? Drink it. Pressing the older sister's cheek, which was making a sound from being angry, she frowned. Was she not asleep?
Watching Franc and Hwayeon fiddling with the bouncing Darky, I said.
"If you ask what they talked about while drinking alcohol... they won't tell you, right?"
"Huhu. Not yet."
Tsk. I should have tried to steal the conversation with mind-reading while not focusing on skiing. Since the past can't be helped, I thought, picked up the older sister and tried to go out of the room, but Hwayeon, who had handed Darky to Franc, looked back.
"Where are you going?"
"To lay her in the small room next door."
"It's a twin bed, so do you need to? Just sleep together."
"Is it okay? You two can't sleep if there's no beast at night."
"......"
With my one-liner, Franc and Hwayeon's faces turned red and they couldn't say anything.
Well, since it's a bit too much to share love tonight, I don't need to divide the rooms on purpose. While listening to the noisy sound of Han Go-eun's group playing in the first floor living room from the open door, I laid the older sister on the bed and covered her with a blanket.
Yeongeun, whose sweater was rolled up exposing her belly, I also covered with a blanket and asked.
"Even with physical enhancement ability and disease resistance, can you get drunk from pouring alcohol?"
Touching Yeongeun's chest, who had passed out from drinking, I turned and asked, and Hwayeon showed the small broken ampoule lying on the floor.
"It's an additive that refines the image energy again to raise the alcohol's strength. If you put this in and drink, even a physical enhancement user will get drunk."
Receiving the ampoule from Hwayeon, smelling the strong smell that seemed to tear the nose, it reached the brain!!
"Ugh!"
Hurry, I used healing touch to wipe my face, and Hwayeon giggled.
"Uuu, I knew this would happen!"
"Knng. Leave the two drunks alone and let's go down to eat dinner."
Wiping the tears that came out from the strong smell with my sleeve, turning off the light, I came out of the room. Since the ventilation and air purification system was running from the ceiling, the smell would disappear quickly.
"So, I want to date you!"
......What kind of words are these?
Walking down the stairs, Kim Chang-hyun's loud voice came into my ears. It seemed like something interesting was about to happen!
After briefly meeting eyes with Franc and Hwayeon, I hurriedly jumped down to the first floor, and in the living room on the carpet, the kids were gathered sitting, and among them, Kim Chang-hyun with a red face was looking down at Han Go-eun sitting like a girl.
Kim Chang-hyun with slightly rough breathing and red face. And Han Go-eun with eyes wide open and frozen.
Perhaps because they washed up, Kim Chang-hyun had his hair neatly combed, and Han Go-eun had combed her slightly wet hair with a comb and was frozen in a pose looking up at Kim Chang-hyun.
The others were secretly watching the two with faces that seemed to want to die from fun, but Kim Chang-hyun, with a face as ripe as a tomato, squatted in front of Han Go-eun and opened his mouth again.
"I've liked you for a long time. I wanted to hide it, but since you forced me to listen, answer me."
"Ooh? Kim Chang-hyun, that guy, liked Han Go-eun after all."
Han Go-eun, at the sudden confession, her face started blushing more, and she lowered her head deeply. The ears revealed between the flowing black hair turned red.
"W, w, what are you saying all of a sudden, you pervert Kim..."
"I like you!"
"Nuuu..."
"My ideal type is a girl who expresses herself clearly and carefully like you!"
"Aaah..."
Since Han Go-eun couldn't answer properly with her red face, Kim Chang-hyun started shouting like a person bursting with excitement.
"I! Kim Chang-hyun! Love! Han Go-eun!!"
"Wow. That guy is half bursting from shame and embarrassment."
Han Go-eun, not knowing what to do with Kim Chang-hyun's out-of-the-blue spirit, was trying to back away slowly but Kim Chang-hyun, as if not wanting to see her run away, stretched both hands to grab Han Go-eun's shoulders.
Han Go-eun, grabbed by the shoulders, flinched in surprise, looked up at Kim Chang-hyun with a panicked and slightly scared eye, but Kim Chang-hyun, with a rough breath, opened his mouth.
"Huff, hok. Now it's your turn."
"Uu. Wh, what..."
"Answer!"
"Ugh."
"If you can't speak, just nod. Nod for yes, shake for no!"
With a face full of sullenness that was always so confident, Han Go-eun turned to Su Yu-ri, Lydia, and Kang So-ra for help but, who was that? The enemy of women is women.
Kang So-ra with a fun expression, Lydia with sparkling eyes with interest. And Su Yu-ri, her close friend, was encouraging "Confess! Confess!"
Kang Ju-chan, who was being held by Miho, was also watching the confession scene while smiling continuously while doing lemon hunting, and Cho Min-ho was smiling while watching.
Even Choi Soohan was slightly smiling, but it seemed only Miho and Hiarid didn't understand the situation.
Realizing there was no place to escape, Han Go-eun looked at Kim Chang-hyun with a face as red as hers. Kim Chang-hyun's heart was beating so fast that it seemed like it might burst.
Kim Chang-hyun, swallowing saliva, opened his mouth with a trembling voice.
"I, do you hate me...?"
"No, no."
"Then, then I like you?!"
"......Nod."
"U, aaah! Kyaahhooooo!!"
The guy who confirmed that Han Go-eun was faintly nodding his head was making a face as if he was about to fly, and he jumped up and down excitedly.
"Today is day 1?! It's day 1?! No turning back!!"
"Kruu."
Watching the sour confession scene of 18-year-old youths live, I felt goosebumps all over my body and my limbs shriveling with excitement. ...It's an exciting feeling but Franc and Hwayeon were laughing with a mix of envy and fun.
While laughing, why are they looking at me?