The Third Mission
I never actually ended up going all the way to Seo Jian’s apartment. That was never going to happen. After her shower, she returned to the reading room about twenty minutes later without any fuss. I acted like nothing had happened either, closing my vocabulary book and setting it aside before casually speaking up.
“You’re back quicker than I expected?”
“…Were you seriously timing me?”
“No, it’s not like that. I just figured girls usually take longer in the shower. Add in the trip home and back, I thought it’d take even more time.”
But my offhand comment must have struck a nerve, because Jian’s face flushed bright red as she glared at me.
“Girls? What the hell! Do I really look like a girl to you?”
“Well… I’ve known you from before, so no.”
Seo Jian muttered that it was fine, then plopped down heavily in her chair. To be completely honest—and from a purely biological standpoint—the current Seo Jian looked unmistakably like a girl to anyone who saw her. The faint scent of shampoo that wafted in the moment she entered the rest area. The subtle curves that showed even under those oversized clothes. And that high-pitched voice she used when snapping at me. But I knew exactly how she’d react if I said any of that out loud. Just looking at the style she always wore made it obvious she wasn’t fond of anything too “girly.”
“Should we get started right away?”
I stood up, subtly avoiding her gaze. Jian gave a small nod in response. That left only one thing left to do—close the door. I walked straight over to the rest area entrance, kicked up the doorstop that was fixed to the floor, and pushed. The hinges let out a long creeeak. Right before it shut completely, I grabbed the handle and glanced back at her.
“I’m really closing it, okay?”
“…Do whatever you want. I already mentally prepared myself while I was showering and coming back here.”
Same here. Jian couldn’t exactly keep her eyes shut every time she showered, and it wasn’t easy for me either. She wasn’t some stranger—she was a friend I had to see every day. So today, we absolutely had to remove that penalty. There was no guarantee that clearing the mission would erase it, but we had no choice but to bet on it.
Click!
The door sealed perfectly into the frame. I twisted the handle in the opposite direction to double-check it was fully locked.
Click! Click!
“……”
“……”
It was completely sealed. I met Jian’s eyes and returned to my spot. The third mission would begin any second now. I could only hope it wouldn’t be too difficult.
And as if it had been waiting for this exact moment, letters began to appear on the whiteboard.
Mission: Hug each other sincerely for 10 minutes.
Time Limit: Unlimited (Door will not open until cleared)
Clear Reward: Visual Sharing Penalty Removed, ???
Penalty: ???
Participants: Kim Hanbin, Seo Jian
““A hug???””
The third mission was a hug.
===
Third Mission: Hug.
The moment Seo Jian saw the mission, her first thought was that they’d gotten lucky. Honestly, it didn’t look all that difficult. She’d been bracing herself the entire way to the reading room, secretly expecting something far worse. Compared to that, a hug was practically a blessing from the heavens. Of course, actually hugging that bastard Kim Hanbin was still disgusting, but that was purely a physiological reaction. As a friend, she genuinely liked the guy. Back in high school, they’d often roughhoused in the back of the classroom and ended up in tangled piles with their classmates. A hug between friends wasn’t exactly impossible. Probably.
And…
“There really is a penalty removal reward.”
“It means they knew we’d come back here again. I still don’t understand how any of this is possible.”
“…Fucking perverts. Do they really get off on this?”
Since removing the penalty was part of the reward, they had to clear it no matter what. For both Seo Jian and Kim Hanbin’s sake.
Jian stood up first. She gave her oversized white hoodie a couple of quick tugs, then spread her arms toward Kim Hanbin.
“Hey, let’s just get this over with.”
“……”
Don’t try to overthink the situation. Just keep repeating that in your head.
Kim Hanbin stared at her silently for a moment before slowly rising from his seat. Step by step, he closed the distance until they were close enough to embrace with just an outstretched hand.
“You’re really doing this?”
Jian frowned and snapped at him.
“What are you hesitating for all of a sudden? Don’t complicate it. Just close your eyes, hug me for ten minutes, and that shitty penalty disappears. Plus we get the reward. There’s no reason not to do it, right?”
“……!”
Then she reached out, grabbed his waist, and yanked him into a hug. Kim Hanbin was 181 centimeters tall. Seo Jian was currently 168 centimeters. Their bodies fit together perfectly. The one thing Jian hadn’t considered was that a hug wasn’t exactly an easy mission.
A hug was an act that let you feel the other person from zero centimeters away. Their breathing, heartbeat, body heat, scent, and every point of contact between their bodies.
===
…This mission isn’t easy at all.
Jian had her face buried against my neck. Thanks to her recent shower, the smell of shampoo kept tickling my nose. On top of that, I wasn’t sure if she was even aware of it, but her hair kept brushing against my chin. And then there was the other problem—
“Hup!”
“…Hey, that tickles my ear. Just shut your mouth and stay quiet for ten minutes. You watch the timer. I’ll stay like this.”
“……”
Easy for her to say. Jian seemed to have decided to bury her face completely in my shirt to endure this. As a result, her hug was surprisingly strong. Even through our clothes, I could feel the soft volume pressing against my chest… How was I supposed to not be aware of it? Maybe it was because I’d already seen her naked. No matter how hard I tried, I kept picturing the breasts that were currently pressed against me.
[ 09 : 32 ]
[ 09 : 31 ]
Still, time was passing steadily. That meant I just had to endure it. It was uncomfortable, but not impossible. Like she said, I just needed to last ten minutes. Jian had told me not to see her as a girl. The best thing to do was empty my mind and stay still. Relax my arms and just…
[ 09 : 24 ]
[ 09 : 23 ]
[ 09 : 22 ]
[ 09 : 22 ]
[ 09 : 22 ]
“…What the?”
“Why?”
“The timer suddenly stopped.”
My eyes were glued to the timer blinking on the whiteboard. Even while we were talking, it hadn’t moved at all.
“Huh?”
Jian lifted her head to look at the whiteboard.
“……”
“Weren’t we doing fine until just now?”
Gulp.
Did this girl have no sense of self-awareness? Looking up at me like that while we were hugging… It was an incredibly dangerous angle. Why did her lips look so close? I turned my eyes away slightly and answered.
“Uh… It was going fine and then it just stopped at twenty-two seconds.”
“Why?”
“…No idea.”
At least the timer had run for about thirty seconds, so the hug itself probably wasn’t wrong from the start. That meant there had to be another reason it suddenly froze. Jian stared hard at the whiteboard and muttered under her breath.
“…Hug each other sincerely for 10 minutes… We are hugging… Time has passed. What did we miss?”
“……”
I thought back to the previous missions.
Hold hands for 10 minutes.
Stare into each other’s eyes for 5 minutes. Blinking adds 5 seconds each time.
Every mission had been straightforward. You just had to do exactly what it said.
“Hug each other sincerely… Hug each other sincerely… Sincerely…”
“Hug each other sincerely…”
“Maybe… the ‘sincerely’ part actually means something?”
“?!”
Our eyes met at the same moment. She must have reached the same conclusion. The previous missions hadn’t used such vague wording. There had to be a reason they specifically added “sincerely.” Jian tightened her arms around my waist even more.
“Hey, that’s too tight…”
“Shut up!”
“……”
Fine. Let’s just do it.
Without hesitation, I placed my hands on Jian’s waist and pulled her in until our stomachs were pressed together. The timer that had been frozen immediately began moving again.
[ 09 : 21 ]
[ 09 : 20 ]
“…Don’t loosen up. Just endure for nine more minutes. Like this.”
“Got it…”
A sincere hug lasting roughly nine minutes. Now that we’d solved the problem, I thought things would go smoothly from here. But the next problem that arose was also entirely my fault.
[ 05 : 11 ]
[ 05 : 10 ]
When about five minutes remained, Jian spoke up.
“…Hey. What the hell are you thinking about right now?”
“N-nothing… I’m not thinking about anything?”
“Fuck. You’re hard right now!!! You’re definitely thinking dirty thoughts!”
“I-I can’t help it! We’ve been hugging this tight for five minutes already. That’s pretty impressive if you ask me!”
Once again, it was purely a physiological reaction. And unfortunately, we were both wearing tracksuit pants in a reading room. Tracksuit pants had the unfortunate tendency to make erections extremely obvious.