Chapter 179: The Reason for the Favor (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 179: The Reason for the Favor (1)
There were a few hiccups, but I’d managed to clear two pieces of long-overdue “homework” in a single day. Wasn’t that a pretty solid performance?
One might call me pathetic for running away like a coward, but I’d secured verbal commitments from both of them to become my allies. Even our Little Witch Professor would likely accept the next invitation, if only to satisfy her curiosity. All things considered, this really wasn’t bad at all.
I mean, finishing two assignments on the very first day of vacation is the definition of doing well, right?
So, if possible, I just wanted to do some training and then get some decent rest.
“The water isn’t running?”
“Yeah, I think the plumbing is busted. There was an announcement earlier.”
When I returned to the dormitory, I was greeted by the minor inconvenience of a water outage.
Wait, why already?
Actually, I knew about this incident. The pipes in this aging building bursting was a minor event that occurred in the original novel.
But this was supposed to happen in the winter.
In the original, the pipes burst during the winter, creating an event where students were forced to either go without washing or find somewhere outside to clean up. It was during this event—after several subtle hints—that Ha-ni’s identity as a girl was clearly revealed.
She had insisted she couldn’t go to a public bathhouse for “reasons” and ended up going to a valley stream in the middle of a freezing winter to wash.
For the record, in the original story, Lilac tried to follow her out of concern, got caught, and they had a massive fight. In my previous life before the regression, I had suggested a pipe inspection before winter just to avoid the hassle, effectively skipping the event.
But why on earth were the pipes bursting already?
“Ah, no wonder the water pressure felt weird lately.”
“Exactly. The other kids were complaining quite a bit… Ah.”
As I spoke, the cause became clear.
If there was one major change from the original, it was the number of first-year students. Since far more people had survived, the frequency of facility use had inevitably increased. This meant more strain on the aging infrastructure.
In short, the pipes simply couldn’t handle the heavy usage and broke down earlier than expected.
“Aw, man. What do I do? I’m covered in sweat from training.”
“If it were something that could be fixed in a day or two, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but a major overhaul would be a problem.”
“Yeah, they said it’ll take a week.”
Ha-ni kept glancing my way, clearly uncomfortable with the sweat on her skin.
“Hey.”
Well, if I were an ordinary cadet, I’d be stomping my feet in frustration too. But for things like this, there’s always an easy solution as long as you don’t panic.
However, the moment I took a step closer to tell her my brilliant plan, Ha-ni took two steps back.
“Hey, I smell like sweat. Don’t come closer.”
…What? I’m actually a little hurt. This is the first time someone’s complained about my smell since I worked manual labor before transmigrating. My heart actually stings a bit.
“No, your face… Ah! Hey! Not you! Me! I smell! I’m saying don’t come close because I’ll look bad compared to you!”
Oh, so that’s what she meant? I almost jumped out the window in a fit of misunderstanding.
But honestly, I’m the one who’s abnormal; it’s not like Ha-ni has a particularly strong body odor. In fact, she usually keeps herself very clean. Perhaps because she’d flushed all the impurities from her body recently, even when I got close, I only caught a strangely refreshing scent. It wasn’t unpleasant at all.
Still, I’m not Lilac. I’m not going to do something as idiotic as sniffing her and saying, “It’s okay! You don’t smell at all!”
The reality of the situation didn’t matter. Ha-ni was comparing herself to me and worrying that she might smell.
“I can’t really tell. I don’t think it’s that bad.”
That was a safe, standard response. Yep.
“Ugh, that’s just because it’s being neutralized by the scent around you, so you don’t notice.”
Unfortunately, it seemed our girl in disguise didn’t realize how considerate I was being. She started acting in a way that was anything but “standard.”
The moment she stepped closer, her uniquely refreshing scent wafted toward me. As her sweat-dampened face came into close proximity, her flawless, handsome features filled my vision.
It wasn’t unpleasant, but it certainly wasn’t good for my mental health.
“See? Now that I’m close, you can smell it right away, can’t you?”
It occurred to me then—the setting where she’d get angry if someone touched her without permission or failed to maintain a proper distance had vanished without a trace.
She didn’t just stop at getting close; she actually leaned in to sniff me, comparing my scent to hers.
“I’m jealous. How does your body even smell like this?”
What is this? I didn’t do anything wrong, so why am I the only one feeling embarrassed?
Unable to bear the awkwardness, I finally pulled away. Ha-ni looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“What?”
What do you mean, “what”? Have you lost your mind?
Fortunately, when I gave her a long, meaningful look, Ha-ni seemed to realize how her actions might be perceived. Her face flushed red as she backed away.
“Sorry.”
“No, well, it’s not really something to apologize for.”
Wait, is it? Is it something to apologize for? Come to think of it, if some grimy dude had done the same thing, I probably would have killed him.
Ha-ni seemed to realize this as well, and this time, she was the one giving me a suspicious look.
“Ah, whatever. Why are you looking at me like that? I was trying to be nice, and you’re making a scene.”
“Why are you reacting so intensely? It’s just that you usually take things so well, even when they might be annoying.”
She said that, but she didn’t drop her suspicious gaze.
I’d been feeling this for a while now, but lately, Ha-ni had been initiating skinship that “men definitely don’t do with each other.” I used to think these were just slips of the tongue or actions that leaked out because she couldn’t suppress her feelings, but maybe it was more than that. Maybe she was using these actions to confirm her suspicions.
Suspicions like… whether I’d realized she was a girl.
Thinking about it that way gave me the chills.
Had I ever vehemently rejected Ha-ni lately?
I felt like I’d just let most of the skinship slide.
When our eyes met, Ha-ni gave me a playful smirk.
“What?”
Yeah, she’s definitely a tease.
“No, it’s nothing. Anyway, what I was going to say is, let’s just go out to wash.”
“Ah, I have some circumstances, so I can’t really go to crowded places like public baths. So…”
“Do you think I don’t know that? I’m not suggesting we go to a bathhouse together, so don’t worry.”
Left to her own devices, she’d probably head to a valley stream to wash alone. It might be better than winter, but she’d still catch a cold. Besides, you can’t really get that clean in a stream anyway.
“Then what? Are you going to fix the pipes right now?”
I wish I could, but unfortunately, while I might be good at effectively breaking pipes on short notice, fixing them wasn’t exactly my specialty.
However, it wasn’t like the dormitory was the only place she could wash.
“No, we just need to find a private room where no one else is around, right?”
“I guess?”
“I’ll get us a room, so let’s go wash at a hotel.”
“…Huh?”
That’s right.
For better or worse, I was the youngest son of a chaebol family.
In plain terms, if I wanted to rent a room at one of my family’s hotels to let a friend wash up, what was my father going to say? Or I could just pay for it with the allowance my Noona sends me.
“Since the repairs are going to take a few days anyway, it’ll be better to just wash at our family’s hotel.”
I thought Ha-ni would prefer a hotel over shivering in a valley for a few days, but for some reason, she was looking at me with that strange gaze again.
Seriously, what part of this rational and perfect proposal was she unhappy with?
“What’s with that face? Does that mean you have a problem with it?”
“No, I don’t have a problem this time. Yeah. Right. You’re just saying we should wash, and I reacted too sensitively, didn’t I?”
…Wait, then what exactly were you imagining?
This girl is going to be the death of me.
* * *
The cascading warm water seemed to wash away the fatigue of the day.
“Phew…”
I’d resolved to hold back, thinking it might be rude, but I couldn’t resist once I was standing in front of a shower with hot water gushing out.
It really pays to have good friends.
Honestly, even though I knew my friend was the scion of a wealthy family, I never expected to borrow money or ask for help. I certainly never imagined he’d provide a free hotel room just so I could wash when the water went out.
If it weren’t for him, I might have endured it for a day or two, but eventually, I would have broken down and tried to wash in some secluded valley nearby. I wouldn’t have been able to relax like this either, since I’d have to be on constant guard in case someone showed up.
“It really is… strange.”
— Oh, this room doesn’t need any service. Don’t even knock. My friend is a bit sensitive, so I’ll tell them to call me directly if they need anything.
“How does he know exactly what I’m thinking? Does he really have a way to look into my heart?”
I lathered my body with scented wash, rinsed off under the shower, and then sank into the bathtub. The pleasant aroma made me feel like I was melting.
Wow, expensive places really are expensive for a reason.
While I felt a surge of gratitude toward him, a question naturally arose.
When I’d mentioned I avoided public baths, he had said this:
— Do you think I don’t know that?
…How did he know?
He’d answered as if it were an obvious fact, but it really wasn’t. Furthermore, I’d never really shown that side of myself to him.
Or rather, to be precise, it was more that he had been considerate without me even having to show it.
It was as if he knew exactly what I liked and disliked. Because he maintained such a perfect distance, I never felt the need to explain these things.
“…Does he really know I’m a girl? Would he really go this far for just a friend?”
In the first place, if I thought about how he treated his other male friends, the difference was stark.
When Lilac played pranks, he’d glare or get annoyed as if he were half-serious. With Cheon Yu-hak, he’d tease him, joke around, and speak quite bluntly.
But how did he treat me?
He was less guarded than when we first met, but that was only because he’d been excessively cautious back then. Even now that we were close, it didn’t feel like the typical distance between male friends.
I once thought it was just his personality, but if that were the case, shouldn’t he treat everyone the same way?
However, if I assumed he knew the secret I was hiding from everyone else—that I was a girl—then everything started to make sense.
Well, even considering that, he seemed a bit too terrified of me at the beginning, but I’m sure there was a reason for that too.
“Ah, seriously.”
If he knew, since when did he know? How did he find out? And why did he pretend not to know?
Given my family situation, there were mountains of things I should be asking him, but the most pressing question in her mind pushed everything else aside.
If he knew I was a girl, was the favor he’d shown me thus far a gesture of friendship or affection?
It felt too heavy to be mere friendship, yet there was a strange distance that kept it from feeling like pure affection.
“I never thought the day would come when I’d be agonizing over something like this.”
Honestly, my personality made me want to just ask him. To grab him and demand, “Did you know I was a girl?! Do you like me?!”
But what if? What if he really didn’t know anything and it was all in my head?
What if this relationship, built on friendship and consideration, became awkward?
“Ugh, seriously. I wasn’t the type to hesitate like this…”
Whenever I thought about him, I felt like I became a different person.
I wanted him to see me as a woman, yet I was terrified that his gaze might change.
“I wish I could just have two bodies, one male and one female. Ah, really… Hmm?”
In the midst of her impossible lament, a thought flashed through her mind.
Bodies.
Two bodies.
A different person?
A different person, huh.
Suddenly, a memory from that day surfaced. The promise they’d made on the day she’d first become conscious of the “woman” inside her through his gaze.
“Come to think of it, I promised to buy him dinner back then.”
I dried myself with a towel and stood before the mirror.
Was it because my chest had grown since that day, reaching a point where bandages could barely cover them? Or was it because my feminine curves were fully visible without the artifact’s effect?
Honestly, even like this, I didn’t think I looked like Kang Han-hee.
If I hid my face with a hat or something, and played my cards right, could I pass as an older sister? No, a sister would be too easy to see through. Maybe a relative? Couldn’t I insist I was a relative?
And then, what if I could subtly probe his true feelings?
That’s not bad. That way, I can show him my female form without getting caught.
Ding!
While I was lost in those fantasies, a text arrived. It was from him, telling me to come down for dinner.
“Hmm.”
Well, should I give it a shot?