Stay With Me Tonight
"How are you feeling? Does it hurt a lot?"
"Well... actually, I think the pain that had settled after yesterday's heal suddenly came crashing back all at once last night and I passed out. This is just between us, Donggeul... Ugh! R-right now, my right hand is in incredible pain..."
"A-are you okay? I'm sorry. Because of me..."
Lee Donggeul startled and tried to pull her hand free from mine.
But I held on and refused to let go.
"I'm fine. Don't worry. It's not your fault, Donggeul. The truth is... this right hand was injured by an Awoken. That's probably why..."
The moment I said another Awoken had hurt me, she began rubbing my hand with the careful reverence of someone handling a glass that might shatter at any second.
That delicate touch was enough to raise goosebumps along my skin.
"Are you really okay?"
"Of course. Especially after receiving your recovery magic—it's much better. But..."
"What is it?"
"If that kind of pain comes again tonight, being alone is... well... frightening. I don't know any other healers, and this pain isn't something a regular hospital can treat..."
I already knew the answer I wanted to hear.
Then I'll stay with you.
But that was nothing more than my own wishful thinking. No matter how airheaded she might be, no woman would fall for something that transparent.
"That's a real problem. But the reason you're telling me this... are you asking for my help? Exactly how should I help you? Do you want me to heal you? I still have one left for today..."
Even in the dungeon today, no situation had forced her to use a heal.
Well, it had only been an F-rank dungeon.
The single time she had used one was when I ordered her to practice on the tank while we took down the final Red Devil leader. Just once. I had wanted to test whether she could properly target an ally from range.
For someone who had at least graduated from the Academy, I couldn't find any glaring mistakes.
The real problem remained the same: she only had two casts a day.
I looked straight into the eyes fixed so intently on me and spoke without any pretense.
"Would you stay with me tonight?"
I still held her hand. I didn't look away either.
The flush spreading across Lee Donggeul's face was impossible to miss.
"Th-that... where..."
"My place."
This time she tried to pull her hand free, but I gripped it firmly and refused to release her.
She looked flustered for a moment, then seemed to give up; the strength drained from her fingers.
Her gaze, however, quickly darted elsewhere, and the red tint on her cheeks became unmistakable.
"D-do you live alone?"
"Of course."
"I... I've never..."
Suddenly?
Was she this quick on the uptake?
Coming out with it so bluntly?
"It's fine."
"Whaat? No, that's not what I meant. I mean I've never been to a guy's place before..."
"I know. And if that's what you mean, then what...?"
I had held the initiative from the start, so I could roughly sense what she was thinking.
At twenty years old she was hardly some clueless child who knew nothing.
These days it was more surprising for someone her age to still be a virgin.
No—assuming she was a virgin just because she had never been to a man's house was ridiculous too.
Whatever. It didn't matter.
The only thing that mattered was whether she would come to my place tonight or refuse.
If I had still been completely inexperienced with relationships, I would never have noticed the tiny shifts in her expression or the way she spoke.
Barely two years ago I had been a total softie, and back then Shin Haneul had always held the reins between us.
I had always been the one being led around, and she had acted like a mother.
Even after we started living together, nothing changed.
Now the positions were reversed. Even though I had no intention of starting a real relationship with the Lee Donggeul in front of me, I was deliberately giving off mixed signals.
If I had a little sister, I would tell her never to get involved with a man like me. But from my own perspective, there was nothing I could do about it.
She was sitting in the perfect position to be used.
That didn't mean I planned to use her and throw her away.
The only person who made me feel like doing something that trashy was Kim Isol.
That devil of a woman.
I knew I was rationalizing, but I was no saint either.
A golden opportunity had fallen into my lap—why shouldn't I enjoy it fully?
"I'm really begging you. If something like last night happens again and I'm alone... I might actually die..."
"Whaat? D-die?"
"I don't know. But if you're beside me, Donggeul, I think I'll feel safe. Even last night when I passed out, your healing spell was the only thing that warmed my heart."
What the hell was I even doing right now?
I never imagined those cringeworthy words would come out of my own mouth.
Once I got deep into the lie, unexpected lines just kept spilling out.
I needed to calm down a little.
I studied her expression carefully.
Just because I held the upper hand didn't mean I could read every single emotion on her face, so I decided to be more cautious.
"Um... I..."
"Don't worry. This will be our little secret... no, if anything, I'm the one begging you to keep it secret. Please don't refuse me."
I deliberately lowered myself, aiming to stir her maternal instincts.
"I'm sorry. Today I... well... I haven't even showered..."
"You can shower at my place."
Her face was bright red as she kept floundering in embarrassment.
Her reactions were so cute and entertaining that I kept wanting to tease her more.
By now she had probably figured out my real goal, right?
Lee Donggeul still hadn't directly refused, but she also wasn't giving any positive answer.
It looked like tonight was going to be impossible after all.
But there was no need to feel defeated.
I had only been pulling the string taut this whole time; now it was time to suddenly let it go slack.
"I understand. I asked for too much."
"......"
Honestly, I didn't absolutely need to take her home tonight.
If she came along, great. If not, it didn't matter.
I had already laid down more than enough groundwork.
I had used words like "secret," "favor," and "please" while persuading her.
I had shown enough desperate sincerity that refusing felt awkward.
By making her feel as if she had coldly rejected that plea, she would walk away with the illusion that she owed me a huge debt.
And since we would keep running into each other, she would never be able to refuse my next request past a certain point.
"I'm really sorry. If it just wasn't today..."
If it just wasn't today?
Things were going even more smoothly than I had expected.
But snapping it up right now would backfire.
If I locked in a next date here, all the groundwork I had laid would become useless.
So today had to end with her having refused me.
"It's fine."
I gently loosened the grip of my right hand that had been holding hers.
The information window that had been floating before my eyes vanished, and she kept wearing that apologetic expression.
"I'll be going now. I already paid for everything, so you can pack up the leftovers or finish them here—whatever you want."
I stood up.
She jumped up after me in surprise.
"You're leaving already?"
"Yes. I need to prepare for the worst, after all."
The moment she heard "the worst," her face took on the look of someone who had committed a crime.
I drove the wedge in deep.
From now on, every time she thought of me she would feel an uncomfortable weight.
I walked out of the café without looking back.
I thought I heard her calling after me, but today this was enough.
I'm looking forward to next time.
And "next time" would only take a day or two.
I had no intention of dragging this out any longer.
I left the café and turned the corner.
No car, so the way home was the subway.
"Whoa—!"
Someone suddenly yanked my clothes, and for a second I was airborne before I landed again.
The only consolation was that I didn't end up sprawled on the ground.
That monstrous strength.
Definitely an Awoken.
"Wh-who is it?"
We were on a busy main street.
Even an Awoken wouldn't casually attack a civilian in a place like this—not if they didn't want their face plastered all over the internet.
Wondering which bastard it was, I immediately checked the face.
Ah... fuck...
Standing right in front of me was that devil of a woman.
"What do you think you're doing, Kim Isol?"
Kim Isol didn't answer. She just grabbed my arm and started dragging me.
I couldn't resist at all and was hauled along like a sack.
The fact that my arm stayed in its socket was the only silver lining.
The place she dragged me to was the underground parking garage of some large building.
Plenty of lights kept it from being dark, but not a single person was in sight.
Only the occasional distant screech of brakes reached us.
This was genuinely bad.
Should I have screamed as loud as I could while being dragged?
This was the perfect spot to get the shit beaten out of you in secret.
"What the hell are you doing? Let go."
"Did you really think... I'd just... leave you alone?"
She was clearly furious.
She had been quiet all day, so I thought she had forgotten—my mistake, apparently.
Then again, it wasn't the kind of thing anyone would forget easily.
The image of that plastic bottle and her stream was still burned into my brain...
"What exactly are you planning to do to me?"
"What should I do to you? Hmm?"
"You were so quiet in the dungeon I thought you'd magnanimously let it go."
"Would you just let it go if you were me? That... that... humiliating..."
Thud—
She punched one of the parking garage pillars. The impact sounded like someone had swung a heavy club into it.
I couldn't help shrinking back, feeling as if that pillar had become me.
This devil of a woman. She had spent the whole morning clearing a dungeon and still had plenty of mana left.
But there was no need to panic.
Just like a moment ago, I knew Kim Isol couldn't actually attack me directly.
She would just keep kicking some random pillar.
"Don't do that. If you crack the pillar, we'll be in real trouble. Let's talk this out."
"Talk? What? Talk? Are you serious right now?"
"Then what are you planning to do? I'm a civilian. If an Awoken hits me, I die. Are you going to kill me? We haven't even submitted the dungeon clear report to the company yet."
Kim Isol didn't bother hiding her irritation.
What I had said must have sounded almost like a threat to her.
Touch me and your social life is fucked from day one—be ready for that.
"Let's just move past it. Nobody got hurt, nobody took any real damage, right?"
"Are you serious? I got hurt. My heart got hurt! Isn't that damage? Showing that... that shameful sight to a bastard like you—how is that not damage?!"
Even as she said it out loud, she was feeling the humiliation all over again.
If she had just erased it from her memory she wouldn't be like this.
Or was she enjoying it? This perverted woman.
I decided to push a little harder.
I already had my trump card ready, after all.
I openly fixed my gaze on her rear.
"You... you. Where the hell are you looking right now, you bastard!"
Ow, my ears.
Her voice was so high and loud it echoed through the wide underground garage.
I lifted my eyes from below and locked them onto her slightly sharp pair of eyes.
She is pretty, though.
Among the three women on our team, she was the most my type.
Long black hair kept neat and beautiful, a genuine pretty girl.
That description fit Kim Isol perfectly.
But the words coming out of those pretty lips were just...
"What exactly did I look at that has you this angry? I simply happened to meet your eyes for a brief moment. I didn't see anything else at all."
"Don't lie."
She clenched her teeth and glared at me as if she wanted to devour me.
"You're really difficult, you know that? What do you want me to do? Should I pee into a plastic bottle right in front of you, Kim Isol?"
"Hey!!!!"
Ah, later I should check whether my eardrums are still intact...
I had expected that reaction when I said it, but still.
Thanks to it, though, I no longer felt flustered.
Watching Kim Isol get so violently worked up in front of me actually helped me stay calm and cold.
"Look, I know this is rude to say to a lady, but I'm twenty-two. I just broke up not long ago, but I lived with my girlfriend, and I've watched more than enough porn of women's private parts. Something like that didn't give me any thrill at all. So how about we just... yeah? Forget it?"
As I talked I ended up needling her a little, but that was all her own karma.
She had pulled that shit on me, so of course I started sniping back without thinking.
At first she had been trembling with rage at my sarcasm, but then I saw a faint droplet form at the corner of her eye.
Aigoo, how adorable.
I was dying to know exactly how she was going to speak to me next.
"I'll kill—"
"Sorry? Kill me? Me?"
"Someday I will definitely kill you. Remember that."
As she threatened to murder me, the droplet that had gathered in one eye rolled down her cheek.
"So not right now, then? In that case, I'll be going?"
I gave a casual little wave and turned around.
Whew. I had finally managed to escape the tiger's den.
But this devil of a woman wouldn't allow even that.
She grabbed the back of my shirt as I tried to leave.
I worked hard not to show any panic as I asked,
"What is it? Do you still have something left to say?"
Ah, please just let me go already.
I was begging her in my heart when Kim Isol spoke from behind me in a trembling voice.
"Fuck... I can't take it... You too, in front of me..."