Carelessness (4)
Only after the words left my mouth did I realize what I'd done. What the hell had I just said?
Still, it wasn't like I'd meant anything weird by it. As long as it stayed at the level of simply touching the horns, it shouldn't be a big deal—or so I optimistically told myself.
Junhyuk set down his glass and stared blankly at my horns. What was he thinking? If by any chance he was spinning some dangerous fantasy circuit, I'd have to slam the brakes on it.
"What do trusting you and my horns have to do with each other?"
"Huh?"
A startled little sound slipped out of me, completely blindsided by the unexpected question.
The way he sat there looking puzzled, brows faintly furrowed, as if to say I have no idea what you're talking about, was downright infuriating.
While I floundered in embarrassment, Junhyuk delivered the finishing blow.
"I mean, come on. Is there some special meaning to letting someone touch your horns?"
"Uh... no, it's not like that."
If you put it that way, what does that make me?
A crushing wave of mortification washed over me. I shot up from my seat and grabbed another bottle of wine from the wine fridge.
I didn't have enough strength; the corkscrew I'd driven into the cork wouldn't budge. As I grunted and pushed down on the opener, Junhyuk came over.
"I'll do it for you."
"I'm fine."
"It'd be done in a second if I did it."
"I can do it."
Right now, I really didn't want any help at all.
I forced it—practically putting my whole body weight into it—and finally managed to pull the cork free. With a pop, the wine bottle wobbled.
"Whoops."
Dangerous... I didn't even have time to say it.
Junhyuk's hand shot out and snatched the bottle just before it toppled.
"You okay?"
"...Thanks."
Treating me like a princess right to the end. I didn't like it.
Watching Junhyuk pour and drink the wine with a composed face, I was relieved that some of the loneliness seemed to have left him—but at the same time, a question rose up.
I'd offered the condition thinking Junhyuk would have some attachment to the horns too, after working up the courage for it. But his reaction had been so unexpected that I was the one left flustered.
Second. Absolutely do not grab the horns.
Why's that?
They're a sensitive spot. I don't like it when people touch them.
Of course I'd said that with my own mouth...
Does he really just think of them as a sensitive spot and nothing more?
He seemed to have no awareness at all that they were a switch that could stir up certain... feelings. But the Junhyuk I knew from Philin's route had known full well how to exploit the horns as a weak point...
Ah, right.
Come to think of it, that had been a setting from Philin's route.
This was a completely new route I'd never experienced in the game, so maybe some of the character settings had shifted a little.
If that were the case, then maybe Junhyuk's obsession with me wasn't for the sake of conquering or capturing me either?
Thoughts were chasing thoughts when—
"Forget the horns. Just do one thing I ask of you."
"What is it?"
"Lim Sowon."
I tilted my head as if to ask why that name all of a sudden, and Junhyuk filled his glass with the newly opened wine as he spoke.
"Don't put her in our group."
"Why?"
"Just because. I don't like it."
It was a condition I couldn't understand. Honestly, I still didn't get why he was so against her joining the group.
Surely not. I asked him in a suspicious tone.
"Are you... jealous of her?"
"Is that not allowed?"
Good grief. What a terrifying obsession. Not even a man—he couldn't even allow me to get close to another woman.
"I don't like it when you make eye contact and talk with anyone other than me."
"So watching me drink with Serena earlier must have been an eyesore, then."
"If she hadn't quietly made herself scarce, she wouldn't have gotten off unscathed either."
I was speechless. But having heard about the life he'd lived, I could vaguely understand the psychology behind it.
He wanted a "perfect ally" with zero possibility of betrayal. And I was the person who fit that condition best.
Maybe he'd felt displeased because he saw Sowon approaching me to hang out separately as an "invasion" of his exclusive territory.
I understood, but I couldn't respect that way of thinking.
"You can't think like that."
"Why not?"
"So does that mean I have to give up every human relationship because of you?"
"Is that not allowed?"
"Of course not!"
At my firm words, his expression twisted slightly. The look of disappointment made me a little scared, but I was confident I could explain it well enough, so I pressed on.
"Think about it. Even for this assignment, like it or not, four or five people have to team up. Are you going to throw away the midterms just because being with me is the best?"
Junhyuk searched for words for a moment, then clamped his mouth shut and hung his head.
"This time it stops at midterms, but going forward, when dealing with monsters, you'll have no choice but to form relationships and cooperate with countless people. Can you defeat every monster in this world all by yourself?"
Honestly, I didn't know all the types of monsters in the game, so I'd been worried he might answer "I could manage that much"—but fortunately, he shook his head with a stiff face.
Alright, enough scolding. Time to soothe him.
"Instead, no matter how many people end up around me, I'll always put you first."
At those words, Junhyuk, who had been looking grim, lifted his head again and looked at me.
So simple.
"I promise."
This was for Junhyuk's sake, but also for mine. If he built various human relationships, the odds of his obsession with me naturally decreasing were high. And that would be better for Junhyuk either way, wouldn't it?
Junhyuk quietly nodded, then slowly opened his mouth.
"I'll try, but it might take a lot of time."
"I like that you're honest. I never thought you could change overnight. It's fine."
He was basically a little kid.
Guiding someone was an extremely tiring job, but if through this I could eliminate Junhyuk's impulsive side, it was effort well worth investing in.
Only then did Junhyuk smile faintly. His eyes were a little unfocused—looked like the alcohol was getting to him too. I'd been sipping steadily myself, and now I was getting a bit sleepy.
I picked up my phone and checked the time. 10:50. Time to start wrapping things up.
"You should head home now."
"I'll sleep in the living room like last time."
"Why don't you just suggest we live together while you're at it?"
"That wouldn't be bad either."
"No. Go home already."
The way Junhyuk propped his chin on his hand with a listless face looked like a little kid, but unfortunately I was the type who disliked children. That wouldn't work on me.
I waved him off while sipping the wine still left in my glass.
"Go already."
"Come to think of it, not a single thing went the way I wanted."
"What are you talking about?"
"In the end, you're putting Lim Sowon in the group, and you're sending me home."
Junhyuk said that and stood up, walking over to me. Sitting at the table looking up at him, I really felt how big he was. As a large shadow fell over me from head to horns and down my whole body—
A slight unease crept over me.
"...So what?"
"But when you touch the horns, specifically how are they sensitive?"
"Huh?"
Just as I felt something ominous and tried to get up—
"You're being so cheeky, I think I should at least grab the horns."
"Wait...!"
"You said I could, didn't you?"
Junhyuk's hands got there first.
He firmly gripped both horns.
"......!!!"
My mouth fell open without my meaning to, and instead of a scream, drool spilled from it.
Like sparks flying from an outlet, a violent stimulation spread from Junhyuk's firm hands through the horns, as if electricity were being jammed directly into my brain.
As if flooring the accelerator, my whole body instantly burned hot, and every single cell became extremely sensitive and twitched.
My vision blurred, and at the same time strength rapidly drained from my entire body—
My consciousness faded away.
Junhyuk's voice shouting something buzzed like an echo.
When I opened my eyes again, I was in bed,
and Junhyuk was standing in front of the bed with a strange woman, looking down at me with a worried face.
"What...?"
"Are you conscious?"
When I asked in a cracked voice, Junhyuk carefully approached me and asked. The woman watching that scene pushed up her glasses and answered in his place.
"I came after receiving a report. You suddenly lost consciousness, I was told."
In a neat suit with a white coat over it, she looked every bit the doctor. Though the fact that she was a healer rather than an actual doctor was a bit different.
Her hands, still faintly glowing, were the proof. Healing-type magic.
"An unbearable, intense stimulation concentrated in a short moment and overloaded the body. You'll be fine if you rest and recover."
Junhyuk nodded as he listened to the doctor.
"Is there anything... we should be careful about?"
"Nothing in particular right now, but... hmm."
The doctor hesitated for a moment, then continuously adjusted her glasses and offered advice in a tone thick with complicated feelings.
"Going forward, when engaging in sexual relations, you should refrain from pursuing excessive stimulation."
"What?"
"Sex... what?"
Junhyuk and I both wore expressions like we'd been smacked in the back of the head as we stared at the doctor.
"Anything in excess becomes poison. The patient currently lost consciousness because she couldn't withstand the excessive pleasure that hit her in a short time."
"...Excessive pleasure?"
To Junhyuk, who wore an expression of utter disbelief, the doctor diligently continued her explanation.
"You'll need to make an effort to find satisfaction in normal sexual activity. If you're already in a state where ordinary sexual relations are difficult to find satisfaction in..."
The doctor took a business card case from her pocket and handed one to me.
"Please contact me with this card. I'll do my utmost to help you."
Why are you giving that card to me? And why are you smiling so unpleasantly like you're saying I understand everything, it's okay?
I had a lot I wanted to say, but the doctor didn't wait and opened the Portal that had been open behind her, then went inside.
Just before the Portal closed, the doctor poked her body out again.
"Please contact me with courage. I'll help you have a healthy and happy relationship."
She left those words and disappeared.
Junhyuk carefully asked me with a face full of bewilderment, not knowing what to do.
"Th-that sensitive thing... was it that kind of meaning?"
"Don't talk to me."
I quietly snapped at him and tore up the business card.
That damn doctor bastard... You're really horribly selfish.