Wild Imagination [2/7 Undetermined]

It was obvious what that meant. In short, it was telling us to take the photos again.

“What the hell. Can I open my eyes now?”

“…Just a second.”

Jian stayed crouched down, burying her face in her knees. She clearly wanted to scream every curse word she knew, but since she couldn’t swear in front of her grandmother, she could only let out a long, frustrated sigh. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to collect herself, then stood up and quickly pulled her pants back on.

“You can ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠open your eyes.”

“…What happened? Is something wrong?”

I opened my eyes and looked around. My gaze instinctively drifted to the whiteboard behind Jian. It made sense—there, still displayed on the board, was the second photo I’d just taken. The focus was blurry and her figure wasn’t captured clearly, but you could still see what mattered. Like her panties, for example.

“Hey, hey! What are you looking at?! Don’t look at the phone either!”

“I-I wasn’t looking! You were blocking it anyway, so I couldn’t see anything properly!”

It was a lie, but I had no choice but to say it. This was already our fourth mission, yet the two of us still didn’t quite fit together. That didn’t mean we weren’t giving it our all, though. I’d been racking my brain, trying my best in my own way.

I sat down and looked at Jian.

“…I think it’d be fine if you just sit and I take the pictures. If I fix the angle, I can probably keep my eyes closed for the rest.”

“Fine. Let’s try that again.”

First, we checked the exact spot where she needed to stand. We adjusted the framing so her entire body would fit perfectly inside the phone screen. We didn’t necessarily need her face in the shots, but full-body photos were easier to take, so we had no choice. Besides, it wasn’t like we were showing them to anyone.

Once we were ready, I closed my eyes again. Jian took off her tracksuit pants once more. Since this was the second time, she did it quickly. Covering her panties with her hands, she muttered, “Okay… take it now.”

Click.

The photo was taken immediately. At the same time, the second photo that had been on the whiteboard disappeared, replaced by the one we’d just taken.

“Haa… finally…”

It was an incredibly embarrassing photo. I felt like I was being forcibly injected with the fact that the girl standing there in nothing but a hoodie and gray panties, legs awkwardly pressed together and face flushed bright red, was none other ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠than Seo Jian herself.

“Now we only need five more.”

“…Hey, Kim Hanbin.”

What did he mean, only five? There were still five left. Jian spoke to me in a voice laced with irritation.

“What? Need something else?”

“You. Keep your eyes closed until we’re done, got it? When I tell you to take the picture, just tap the screen without moving. Understand? Remember that. You absolutely cannot open your eyes, okay?”

“…Yeah, yeah. Let’s just hurry up and finish this. It’s hard for me to sit here with my eyes closed the whole time too.”

“Crybaby. You wanna trade places and take your clothes off instead?”

When she came at me like that, I had nothing to say. I did have things I could say, but since I knew exactly where she was sensitive, I figured it was better not to. Who would want to see a guy’s body like mine anyway? Supply only exists where there’s demand. And the flip side of that was that plenty of people would want to see Jian’s body… but I kept that thought strictly inside my head.

Anyway, Jian didn’t care what I was thinking while I sat there quietly. She checked the list of cases she’d written down again.

Case 9) Top + Bottom + Bra

Easy. I want to think it’s easy.

‘I have to take my panties off in front of Kim Hanbin?’

It was enough to drive a person insane. The one small mercy was that it was no-panties only—she could still wear pants.

“Hey, you absolutely cannot open your eyes, okay? If you do, you’re dead. For real?”

“…I feel like I’ve heard that line a hundred times today already.”

“……”

Jian deliberately walked behind me before sliding her panties down. Maybe she was worried I’d imagine something if she did it in front. She took them off incredibly slowly and silently. The empty, breezy feeling was mortifying. She immediately pulled her pants back on. The awkward sensation of going commando lingered, but she could endure at least this much. Steel yourself, she told herself, then walked back in front of the whiteboard.

“Hoo. Take it now.”

The moment she spoke—click!

She immediately spun around to check the whiteboard. But once again, the moment she saw the result, she let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.

“…Fuck.”

The curse slipped out before she could stop it. At that moment, Jian instinctively realized something. In the end, she was probably going to have to take off either her panties or her bra—something—for every remaining shot.

[ 01 : 31 ]

Let’s organize the situation. With about an hour and a half left on the timer, we’d only managed to complete two valid photos. The third one had been rejected for being a duplicate. Which meant we had to go back and review all sixteen cases we’d listed earlier.

“…Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Jian had basically turned into a walking profanity machine. I got it, though. I was the one who ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only had to take pictures, while she was the one going through all kinds of hell. As long as she didn’t take it out on me, I wasn’t going to complain. The only problem was that she’d been like this for nearly ten minutes now.

I stood up. By the way, I’d opened my eyes again. I walked over to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and spoke.

“Jian. I reorganized all the possibilities. Want to hear them?”

“……”

“Just listen comfortably. Well… maybe ‘comfortably’ is asking too much. Just listen, okay?”

The whiteboard was covered with mission details, but there was still plenty of empty space. I neatly listed all sixteen cases in that space, then created a new category underneath.

1) Top + Bottom : Cases 1, 9, 12, 14

2) Top + Panties : Cases 6, 13

3) Top only : Cases 7, 8

4) Bra + Bottom : Cases 2, 10

5) Bottom only : Cases 11, 16

6) Bra + Panties : Case 3

7) Bra only : Case 15

8) Panties only : Case 4

9) Case 5

In the end, we could narrow it down to these nine possibilities. The point was this: no matter what she wore underneath, the final photo couldn’t look the same as any previous one. Since our original choices had been cases 1, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, and 14, it effectively boiled down to three categories: Top + Bottom, Top + Panties, and Bra + Bottom.

Jian suddenly lifted her head.

“…So what you’re saying is, I have to pick four more from those?”

“Mm. I don’t really want to tell you what to do. Just pick whatever’s easiest for you. If you want to fail the mission, we can do that too. In a way, this all happened because you were helping me study.”

“Ugh… seriously… failing… sounds even worse.”

Jian slammed her forehead onto the table as she spoke. Then, in a muffled voice, she continued.

“You son of a bitch. If you say it like that, what does that make me…? I was the one who offered to teach you in the first place. And there are rewards too… it says it’ll improve your dad’s health. So be a little greedy. Just a little.”

“……”

I was genuinely surprised. I hadn’t expected Jian to care about my father’s health. I hadn’t even been paying much attention to the rewards on her side. For some reason, it made me feel strangely good. If she was going that far, then I had to cooperate as much as I could.

“If you’re embarrassed because of me, I could tear up some paper and make a blindfold or something.”

“…We really end up doing every weird thing together, don’t we?”

Jian stood up and walked over to the whiteboard. She took the marker from me and started scribbling.

“For now… let’s do these four more.”

The seven cases she chose were as follows:

Case A) Top + Bottom (Completed)

Case B) Top + Panties (Completed)

Case C) Bra + Bottom

Case D) Top only

Case E) Bottom only

Case F) Bra + Panties

Case G) Panties only

The remaining possibilities she hadn’t chosen were… wearing only a bra, or wearing nothing at all. She had left only the absolute worst options.

“Want me to make that blindfold?”

“…Forget it. I’m not going that far. Just keep your eyes closed. But seriously, do not open them, okay?!”

“You’re saying the same thing again. I got it.”

I shrugged and returned to my seat. I turned the camera app back on, adjusted the phone angle, placed my finger over the shutter button, and closed my eyes.

…And then I heard the soft rustle of clothes being removed.

“Don’t open your eyes…”

“……”

I wasn’t deliberately trying to remember it, but the third case was ‘Bra + Bottom.’ Which meant Jian was currently standing in front of me wearing only a bra on top. Don’t think about anything. Don’t think about anything. Don’t think about anything. Don’t think about anything. Don’t think about anything. Don’t think about anything. Don’t think about anything… I couldn’t risk getting hard like last time.

“…Take it.”

I swallowed hard and tapped the screen. I must have hit it perfectly because the shutter sound went off immediately.

“Did it work this time?”

“…Yeah. It says third photo complete.”

“……”

“Then should we do the next one right away?”

When I nodded, I immediately heard the sound of clothes being adjusted. Jian was changing right in front of me. Unless I was a eunuch, there was no way my imagination wouldn’t run wild. One sheep, two sheep… Even when I tried to think of other things, my brain kept picturing Jian completely naked. The sound of thin fabric sliding across skin kept echoing in my ears.

Case D) Top only

The rustling stopped. It sounded like she’d taken her panties off too.

“…Hurry up and take it.”

I didn’t say anything this time and just tapped the screen. But the shutter didn’t go off right away. I frowned and tapped around the area five or six times before—click!

“…It says take it again.”

The phone angle must have been off.

“I think I need to adjust the angle again.”

“Hold on.”

She walked toward me. Even with my eyes closed, I could tell. Jian touched my hand and said,

“I left your finger right in front of the camera button. Just press it like this.”

“…Got it.”

Then I heard her move away again.

“Take it.”

This time it worked immediately.

“Good?”

“Yeah. Fourth photo complete.”

After that, our conversation dropped off sharply. The only words that passed between me and Jian were a single “Take it.” Jian changed clothes multiple times in front of me, and I kept pressing the shutter button. We still needed three more photos, but because of several mistakes, we actually ended up taking five more. It was the first time I’d ever heard the sound of a girl unfastening her bra hook. Jian would probably be horrified if she knew, but I imagined a lot of things. Honestly, I think it was unavoidable. People naturally use their imagination more for what they can’t see than for what they can.

Jian standing braless in front of me. One shot. Imagining Jian wearing only panties. Another shot. Imagining Jian in just her underwear top and bottom. One more shot.

“Haa, we’re done. Fuck.”

“…Is it over?”

“Yeah. Ah, but don’t open your eyes yet! I’m not dressed yet, okay? J-just wait a little longer!”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her flustered voice right until the end. It took about another minute before Jian finally told me I could open my eyes. And just as I expected, her face was redder than I’d ever seen it.

“W-what are you looking at?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking you worked really hard.”

“Whatever. Seriously.”

“Pfft…”

And so the fourth mission finally came to a close. As always, the result appeared on the whiteboard.

“Bullshit!”

We shouted it at the exact same time, with zero delay.