Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Zuni
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The door opened. The hotel room was quiet. But Jain checked the interior without letting her guard down. Once she confirmed no one was inside, she stepped back out and said,
"It's clear. You can come in."
Tora, who had been waiting in the hallway, wore a mischievous expression.
"Feels like I've become a princess."
"That's a statement that would make other princesses freak out."
Jain spoke expressionlessly, not giving Tora a chance to say more.
"Get some rest."
She shot him a cold glance and turned to leave the room.
"Could you grab something for me by any chance?"
Tora suddenly asked. Jain turned back, her face saying that if the other person were even slightly timid, they wouldn't dare make such a request.
"Do I look like an errand boy to you?"
Tora shrugged.
"I could go out myself, but I figured you wouldn't like that."
That was...
Jain turned away with a sigh.
"What do you need?"
Tora listed a few items that Jain thought were utterly unimportant. And at the end, he added,
"And durian juice."
"Durian juice?"
Jain looked at him without hiding her expression that screamed, *Who the hell drinks durian juice?*
"Do they even sell durian juice? I've never seen it."
"Is America's diversity that limited?"
"Diversity isn't the word for that. Anyway, got it."
She thought his tastes were peculiar but answered because dealing with him was getting annoying. Tora grinned and waved.
"See you later."
As Jain left the room, she couldn't help wondering how she'd ended up as a beverage shuttle, far from the image she'd envisioned when she first enlisted.
***
Jain scanned her surroundings. She checked meticulously around the hotel just in case, but there was no sign of a tail. The men from earlier that afternoon were nowhere in sight.
She entered the hotel, took the elevator up to the room, and as she stepped inside, said,
"I never imagined they'd actually sell durian juice..."
Tora and some woman were entangled on the bed. The woman was moaning as if she were on the verge of death, and Tora... she didn't even want to describe it. He was busy, to put it mildly.
"Fuck!"
Jain spat out a curse and spun around immediately. She even bumped into the doorframe in a clumsy mistake she'd never made before, finally managing to escape the room.
"Didn't you lock the door?"
Tora's voice came from inside, asking the woman.
"It locks automatically, right? Oh, but I think that guy had a key. Didn't realize that. Whatever, though."
Then, through the closing door crack, the woman's moans followed her out.
*What the hell... what the actual hell!*
Her heart pounded as she stomped down the hallway hard enough to crack the floor. Not because she was so innocent that the sight made her blood boil, but because she was furious.
Couldn't hold out for the short time it took to go to the mart and dragged a woman into the room?
Suddenly, Jain stopped. It was so absurd that a chuckle escaped her.
At least her side view had been obscured by the woman's thigh, so she hadn't seen them connected—that was small comfort.
***
Jain sat on the lobby sofa. She could have gone to her own room, but she didn't even want to be on the same floor. She rubbed her forehead with the hand draped over the armrest.
She really needed some aspirin.
Just then, the elevator across the way opened, and a familiar woman stepped out. The one who'd been under Tora earlier—no, precisely, under Tora.
The woman spotted Jain and passed by with a face full of inexplicable triumph—*why?*—before exiting the hotel. Jain, though extremely reluctant, finally got up and headed back to the room.
With the woman gone, she probably wouldn't walk in on anything scandalous again, but she rang the bell and waited anyway. The door opened, revealing Tora fresh out of the shower, his hair wet. Fortunately, he was properly dressed. He looked at Jain and smiled faintly.
"Your curse was pretty hot."
Jain kept her face as neutral as possible and asked,
"What if it had been someone suspicious?"
Tora shrugged.
"Suspicious or not, they wouldn't have teeth down there. No biting."
"They say men are most vulnerable in that moment."
"If they wanted to kill me, they would've stabbed before I started. And if they stabbed then, dying inside a woman would be pure ecstasy."
In the end, Jain couldn't hide her expression like she'd just seen a giant centipede. She hadn't thought she was one to show emotions easily, but disgust for this man was impossible to mask.
"Do you have a wife?"
It was her first time asking a surveillance target a personal question.
*If you do, I'll kill her,* was the implication.
"I don't make wives."
But Tora said it with an oddly serious tone. It felt meaningful, so Jain asked without thinking,
"Why not?"
Tora grinned.
"I'm every woman's."
Then, in a husky whisper that could make even a century-old nun leap from her seat, he added,
"If Jain wants, just say the word anytime."
Jain wasn't swayed in the slightest.
"I'm not sorry at all, but I'll pass."
Tora crossed his arms and declared confidently,
"No woman hates me."
Jain didn't drop her blank expression.
"First time for everything. Lucky you."
"Why?"
Tora asked almost like a child throwing a tantrum.
"The answer's in the question."
Jain didn't change her expression. Tora leaned forward, gripping the desk.
"Don't you think I'm beautiful?"
He was. Regardless of gender, you couldn't deny such a being was beautiful. That was exactly why the revulsion was stronger.
Jain replied in a voice devoid of any warmth.
"Standards of beauty vary by culture and individual."
"Wrong. Look closer."
He stood still then, as if inviting true appreciation.
If someone said they could buy him for money, what woman wouldn't offer her entire fortune?
Jain's brow twitched. Revulsion bubbled up in her chest.
"How long do I have to look?"
Tora couldn't believe it. Jain genuinely looked angry. Not jealousy, but pure repulsion pouring out.
"Give me a heads-up next time. I don't want to crash anyone's intimate moments."
Tora clutched his chest dramatically.
"So this is what it feels like to be rejected. Horrifying."
Jain turned to leave for her room, her face full of pity.
"Won't hurt to be rejected by someone like me, right?"
Tora grinned.
"I like Jain quite a bit. Strong people are cool."
Jain made a face like she'd been soiled by the words and left the room. The expression was so vivid that Tora burst out laughing. Then he slowly stopped, rubbing the back of his neck.
*Didn't mean to get caught.*
How could he have known she'd return at that exact moment? He'd even mixed in items from distant stores to buy time.
Curious how she'd gotten everything so quickly anyway, Tora opened the bag Jain had left on the table.
But a few hard-to-find items were missing.
*'Skip the hard-to-get stuff outright.'*
Must've been her thinking.
Tora laughed.
What a personality.
***
For Jain, who had enlisted right after high school graduation and lived as a soldier ever since, morning meant the start of another routine. Perfectly executing it brought considerable satisfaction. An artistic type might not understand, but in that regard, she believed she was born with the makings of a soldier.
But it had been a long time since she'd dreaded morning. Because she had to see Tora's face.
With the dread of a kid dragged to the dentist, she entered the room, but Tora was gone.
*Where...!*
She was about to rush out to search when the door suddenly opened and Tora walked in. Dressed in a white tee and jeans, looking like he'd stepped out of an ad.
"What're you doing?"
He asked her instead.
Jain scowled and demanded,
"Where were you?"
"Calm down. Just went to grab breakfast."
Tora set the bag of food on the table as he spoke.
They weren't here on vacation, so they didn't go down for the complimentary breakfast and expose their faces unnecessarily. Bringing breakfast was always Jain's job. Even if it wasn't...
"Was the Frose out?"
She knew damn well there was Frose in the fridge.
"I like eating real food."
Tora plopped down in a chair and said. Jain glanced back at him.
"Irony of fate. I'd love to live on Frose alone. Eating three meals a day takes serious effort and time."
"What's the fun in that? Eating's one of life's greatest pleasures."
With that, Tora pulled out a Greek yogurt with an eco-friendly label from the bag and peeled off the lid. Watching him, Jain said,
"Not everyone lives life just for fun."
"That's why you have no leisure."
Tora licked the yogurt off the lid. He was the kind of guy whose tongue looked oddly sensual.
Jain furrowed her brow.
"Me?"
"I didn't say Jain has no leisure. Wait, no—did I even say I live life just for fun?"
Jain stared at Tora silently. Normally, politeness would prevent her from outright agreeing, but...
"Yes. You did."
Against this man, she had no desire to be polite.
Tora chuckled lightly.
"Didn't know."
As if he didn't? What a slippery guy.
"Not eating?"
Tora pointed to the bag on the table. Food was innocent, at least, so Jain sat across from him.
"Keep personal outings to a minimum."
Tora just shrugged. As they ate in silence for a while, he lifted one hip, pulled a folded note from his back pocket, and handed it over.
"Got a contact."
"For what?"
Paper notes were rare these days, but Jain took it curiously and unfolded it.
"The woman Rato spent the night with."
Tora muttered,
"Weird, though. That guy doing a one-night stand."
"He's your twin—wouldn't put it past him."
Remembering yesterday, Jain couldn't hold back the sarcasm. Tora glanced at her and said,
"Rato's different from me."
Rather than believing it, Jain admitted her error in judging someone she hadn't met based on prejudice and changed the subject.
"Where'd you get this?"
"Rolla."
Rolla...
"So the chat with the cafe waiter yesterday?"
She recalled Tora bantering with the waiter.