Chapter 35: Just Partners Doing the Mission
After you. I'll send my sister right away~
Seo Jihyun smiled sweetly as she saw off Hanbin. He nodded awkwardly and left the front door right away. His expression looked a bit dazed, but thinking of the bomb announcement Seo Jian had just made, it was natural.
Clack.
As soon as the door closed, Jihyun grabbed her sister's wrist tightly and dragged her into the room.
"Hey, hey, hey! It hurts!"
"Wait a minute, let's talk."
"Ugh..."
Unlike Seo Jian's dull room, Seo Jihyun's room had a vibe that screamed "girl's room" from the overall atmosphere. There were several cute character dolls piled on the bed.
The two sat side by side on the bed.
Jihyun held her sister's hand tightly.
"Really?"
"... What do you mean really?"
"Meaning, such a relationship."
The words carried a lot of meaning.
If I summarize the implications:
Dating.
Going out.
Or, partners.
Jihyun probably meant the first or second. She wouldn't think they were doing that without even dating or anything. Especially if it was for some reward?
Strictly speaking,
Kim Hanbin and Seo Jian were close to being mission partners.
Since I couldn't tell her the inside story.
Seo Jian faked it.
It was embarrassing, but what could I do. I've already shown too much in front of my younger sister, so this much embarrassment I could handle.
"Wha, just hang out. She got confused because she was being weird and made up some excuse. Well, it's not like forced or anything. Anyway."
"If that's the case, then it's good."
"......"
"......"
A moment of silence.
The warmth from the clasped hands relieved the anxious feeling. Somehow, I felt my younger sister's sincere worry, so the embarrassing thing I showed earlier was almost forgotten.
Worrying that my younger sister would look at me weirdly...
Thinking I had a needless worry, I was about to sigh in relief, but Seo Jihyun, seeing her sister's expression, lifted the corner of her mouth and asked.
"By the way, how far did you get?"
"... What?"
"Meaning, if they shower together, they must have kissed, right? Or did you...?"
"I didn't! I didn't do it!"
I shook off her hand and jumped off the bed!
"Anyway! It was just because there was another reason, so we ended up showering together!"
"I heard that strong denial is strong affirmation."
"Want me to hit you for real after a long time?"
"Pfft! Okay, okay. Just believe me. Between me and oppa, we have enough chemistry to shower together, but we didn't go beyond that. No kiss, no hand holding. Right?"
Jihyun started laughing, holding her stomach.
Truly, I almost thanked her.
Clearly, in her mind, she was imagining how far I went.
Jian sighed and said.
"... Don't tell mom."
"I won't. I won't. I just asked because I wanted to see my sister."
"See?"
"Yeah. I think it's good to see my sister looking energetic and adapting well. What. If mom hears that sister got a boyfriend, she'll be relieved of one worry, right?"
"I'm not a boyfriend, am I?!"
"Yeah yeah. You will be."
Then she got up from the bed and slapped her sister's butt with her palm. The sound of the slap was crisp, as if it fit perfectly in the palm.
"Hey!"
"I think the current sister is much better than the old oppa who only pretended to be cool."
"... What? When did I ever..."
"The embarrassed expression looks good too. That oppa must have endured a lot, right?"
It felt like my weak point was caught.
So, I couldn't go hard on my younger sister.
If I did, I'd only get dragged in.
Thinking that, I hurried to the front door.
While picking up the bag thrown by the door and putting on shoes,
Jihyun's mischievous voice came again.
"Don't ruin your college entrance exam this year by only dating~"
"Wow, you really kill me?!"
While saying that,
I couldn't do anything but run away.
===
"What? Were you waiting?"
As I descended to the first floor on the elevator, there was Hanbin sitting on the landing just in front of the stairs.
Hearing her voice, Hanbin looked up.
"Why are you going alone? It didn't seem like it would take long."
Saying that, he handed me the canned drink he was holding.
It wasn't taken out long ago, so it felt cold enough to make fingertips numb.
"Wha, what? How was it with your sister?"
"... Why did I say that? If it wasn't good, I would have run to see you right after you left."
"My fault?"
"You suddenly forced me to talk, so I covered for you. No, why did you say that there?"
"......"
Hanbin smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck.
She sighed heavily and sat beside him.
"Anyway, I told mom to keep quiet."
"That's good."
"You don't have to go to the police station either."
"... Could I have gone?"
I took a sip of the drink and slapped Hanbin's shoulder with a face mixed with irritation.
"If I nodded to what you said, would Jihyun have stayed put? You idiot."
If I look back at the start of the incident,
The problem was that I asked to shower together before getting caught, but I decided to completely erase what happened then from my mind without thinking too much.
I didn't have time to care because I was distracted earlier, but while going down in the elevator, I thought carefully and finally realized what I had done.
Being hugged naked in a man's arms...
From memory, it seemed like I rubbed my body all over. Hips touched, chest touched too. Moreover,
'... I got my dick hard.'
The sensation of poking my butt.
Clearly, under my pants, I was extremely hard.
'Thank god I was wearing underwear.'
If I showed that to Hanbin, I'd have to erase the memory by force, like kill or be killed. So, in that sense, I vowed to always wear underwear when doing missions.
I gulped down the drink,
and crushed the aluminum can with all my strength after drinking it all.
"And."
While glancing at Hanbin's expression that seemed to be thinking something,
" You're not mistaken, right?"
"Mistaken?"
"Our relationship."
"Ah. That thing earlier."
Hanbin said with a smirk.
"I wouldn't mistake that for something."
"... Wha, what?"
The words that sound good naturally stick in the ears.
Jian felt relieved inwardly and let her shoulders droop.
"Between you and me, we're just partners doing the mission."
"That's a really funny relationship."
It really was.
Partners doing the mission.
As the saying goes, we both implicitly thought 'we'll do the mission again soon'. There was never a word like 'let's stop' after that incident.
It seemed Seo Jian needed money,
and as me, I could take care of family health, and I had some money, and I hoped to do various things with Seo Jian.
There was no reason not to do it.
Moreover, the bonus mission reward I got while enduring that was something that required completing the mission to settle, so even if it was unfair, I had to do the next mission.
'Partners'.
It was enough now, and it was convenient for me.
So we returned to our usual repeat student life.
Without bringing up what happened that day, like nothing happened, we studied together like normal friends on Monday lunch.
Suddenly, the phone rang with a "wing".
Both my phone and Seo Jian's phone rang almost simultaneously.
[ Hello, this is XX Academy Daechi Branch Office. ]
[ The application for the organic reading comprehension special lecture on Korean reading/literature for current high school 3rd year and repeat students has been completed normally. ]
[ This special lecture aims to deeply understand the essence of the Korean section in the CSAT and provide core compression summaries of EBS-linked literature. ]
[ Time: Every Monday evening 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM (4-week intensive course) ]
[ Location: Daechi XX Academy Main Building 301 Classroom (Recommend arriving 20 minutes before the lecture starts due to many students. ) ]
[ Instructor: Lee Hyunju T ]
[ Preparation: Individual writing utensils and notebooks (The self-made textbook for the special lecture will be distributed at the entrance of the lecture hall after checking the attendance certificate. ) ]
[ Caution: This lecture has a very large number of waiting applicants, so if you skip, the attendance rights will automatically transfer to the waiters, so please be careful with attendance. ]
"What?"
"Ah, right. There was this."
It was definitely the common reward from the previous mission.
The reward was really out of the blue, and since it came right after finishing the mission, I had forgotten it.
"Jian, did you apply?"
"No. If I did, I wouldn't have applied for you too. How much is this?"
"... It's expensive?"
"Of course it's expensive. You can't just listen and get it."
Surprisingly, even though I hadn't applied, it was registered.
How was that possible.
Since we've experienced so many unbelievable things together so far, we quickly understood. I asked with my eyes 'Shall we go?', and Jian replied with her eyes 'Of course we have to go'.
"Interesting. In the end, thousands of millions of won entering the account?"
"... Can that happen? If you get a lot of money, taxes would be complicated."
Seo Jian asked with an ambiguous expression.
Meanwhile, the corners of her mouth were lifting up, so it seemed she was expecting it while saying that.
"Somehow, he'll do it. That one."
"......"
I gestured with my chin to the whiteboard in the corner of the lounge.
Seo Jian stared at the whiteboard quietly, then spat out one word.
"By the way. Slowly, shall we do the mission...?"
While not looking at my eyes but only at the whiteboard, glancing sideways. I wasn't fast at reading the atmosphere, but those actions were obvious.
"It's this evening at 7 o'clock."
"Then, to have dinner, let's go at 5:30."
"Um."
Did it look like I was hesitating?
Actually, my crotch was throbbing with blood, about to burst.
If I got up from the seat, it would show too obviously that I was hard, so I just sat quietly.
Seo Jian added one line.
"Among partners doing the mission, doing the mission... isn't that strange?"
"I don't care either."
"... Good. Then."
Seo Jian got up from the seat.
And immediately went to the door and clack.
"......"
"......"
"You know what I'm going to say, right?"
"Only the mission. The moment I go out, like nothing happened. This?"
"You know well."
Then, returning and sitting face to face at the table, the mission on the whiteboard was newly updated.
[ Bonus Mission Cleared! ]
[ Bonus Mission Clear Reward: Common - 300,000 Won ]
[ ROOM MISSION ]
[ Mission: Congratulations on becoming 'Partners'! However, it is necessary to prove that you have become such partners. To prove it, the two of you must kiss sincerely without stopping for 10 minutes. ]
[ Time Limit: None (Cannot open until cleared) ]
[ Bonus Mission: Will be revealed when this mission is cleared. ]
[ Clear Reward: Common - Problem-solving judgment improves significantly. Each receives 1,500,000 won. ]
[ Participants: Kim Hanbin, Seo Jian ]
"... Kiss?"
Seo Jian with a dazed expression.
Yes. Kim Hanbin and Seo Jian were trapped in a room from which they couldn't escape without kissing. Failure was impossible. The only way out was to kiss without stopping for 10 minutes.