Drunk on Her Scent (1)
The moment she stepped outside my sensory range, I could still track her position thanks to the Mimicry skill. But in thirty minutes, I would lose her completely.
'...Tsk. No choice, then.'
Thud—
The dull sound made me glance down. Only then did I realize I was wearing shoes. When I lifted my foot to check the sole, I saw it was already slightly worn, as if the shoes had been used for months. The level of detail was astonishing. Mimicry was clearly an incredible ability.
'First, let's get these shoes off.'
I slipped off the dress shoes and set them neatly by the front door. Unlike the elegant hands, my feet told the condensed story of my harsh life. The right foot was twisted and bent at an unnatural angle. It had been injured back when I was still F-grade, and because I couldn't get proper treatment in the dungeon, it had healed wrong. There was no problem walking or running, but it didn't look great.
Still, seeing my own body after so long stirred something fierce inside me.
Trait [Cold Reason] is...
'Yeah, yeah, I get it already.'
If I could discard just one ability after everything was over, Cold Reason would be at the very top of the list. It was incredibly useful for controlling negative emotions, but in a peaceful world, it would be completely useless.
Once I had calmed down again, I walked over to Yeonhee’s door.
......
Since I had deliberately made noise while walking, she must have already noticed I was close. Knock, knock, knock—
—Hik—!
She had already burrowed deep under the blankets, completely cutting herself off from the outside world. The way she belatedly clapped a hand over her mouth at the sound of my knocking was just so Yeonhee.
Was the male form really that repulsive to her, just as I had feared? Had I been too hasty? Should I have put it off somehow? All sorts of thoughts ran through my head, but there was nothing I could do except wait.
I sat down on the floor in front of her door so she could calm herself.
Crack— Crackle—
Even though most of my stats had dropped by fifty, I could still make skeleton bombs. I crafted them quietly while waiting for her to respond.
A few minutes passed like that.
Finally, Yeonhee spoke.
“...W-why are you in a man’s form?! Who the hell is that person?!”
It was exactly the first question I had expected. But if her reaction was this intense...
'What should I say... I’ll try claiming I don’t remember for now, but I doubt that’ll work.'
After shouting, when no answer came, she curled up even tighter inside the blanket like a frightened cat. Then she began muttering in an extremely small voice. She probably thought I couldn’t hear her, but with just a little focus, I could hear every word clearly.
“N-no way… It wasn’t No Hayun or Baek A-rin… it was a man… Why? I was sure it would be an orc or… some other woman… Was there a guy like that among the people we met in the last month and a half? No… It’s definitely someone I’ve never seen before… There’s no way I would forget a face like that…”
'Aha—so that’s what it was.'
I had no idea why she thought I would turn into an orc, but I could roughly understand the source of her anxiety. She had assumed the next person on my Mimicry list would be someone else, which was why she had pressured me so fiercely.
Hmm— Thanks to the memories we had shared through resonance, I could somewhat understand how she felt. To her, I was a rather special existence. For that special being—her absolutely controlled possession—to place someone else above her in priority must have been utterly unacceptable.
'It was nothing serious. I worried for no reason.'
It might have been a huge deal from Yeonhee’s perspective, but to me it was simply absurd. Me, interested in another woman? That would never happen. It had been a pointless worry.
Yeonhee kept muttering, listing the names of every woman we had met so far. Then at some point she started giggling.
“Hehe… It wasn’t. Hehehe… W-wait! Still, that man’s identity is still a mystery. Hmm… Could it be? Yeah, maybe…?”
'Huh? Did she just figure out my identity all by herself?!'
“Ilwol’s appearance before he died… or something like that…”
'Ooh? She’s getting really close.'
Well, if she saw a Korean man wearing a modern suit and didn’t reach that conclusion, there would be something wrong with her.
“Ilwol’s human form… That’s what he looked like…?”
She froze like ice for a moment, then jumped in shock and rushed to the door.
“I-Ilwol, are you there?”
“Auu—”
'Damn it, even in this form my pronunciation hasn’t improved at all!'
“That… um, by any chance… Is that form… what you looked like before you died?”
“......”
Instead of answering, I knocked on the door three times.
“Wow… So it really is… Then… do you also have all the memories from before you died…?”
After asking, her heartbeat suddenly raced like crazy.
'I have to answer this carefully…'
After thinking it over, I knocked on the door only twice this time.
“Ah… Y-you don’t have any memories… Yeah… I see…”
Her heartbeat quickly stabilized. She seemed greatly relieved that I had no memories.
Hmm— Why? I wasn’t sure. Maybe she was afraid I would want to run away following my past memories? If that was the case, I would have to casually let her know at the right moment that such worries were unnecessary.
'Phew… Anyway, I think I got through the first round.'
It was a relief that she hadn’t run away because she was extremely repulsed by men themselves.
Click—
She placed her hand on the doorknob. I took a light step back and waited for her to come out.
Creeeak—
She stuck her foot out, pulled it back in several times, then finally stepped outside with great difficulty. Her head was bowed deeply, but her gaze was fixed on the tips of my feet.
“...H-hello…?”
“Aeo?”
'Ugh… Can’t something be done about this pronunciation…'
I felt like tearing my hair out, but Yeonhee actually lifted her head at my clumsy greeting and met my eyes.
“Ah… How cute… Your pronunciation is still the same?”
“Auu…”
“Hehehehehe… I like it…”
“Uu…?”
Surprisingly, my awkward pronunciation seemed very effective at breaking down her wariness. I didn’t know why, but I would definitely make full use of it.
She didn’t approach me right away, but instead circled around me at a fixed distance, examining me carefully. It reminded me of our very first meeting.
“Ilwol, you were originally this tall… You look over 190 centimeters.”
'It’s 187. If I had eaten well as a child, I might have passed 190.'
“Your face… is really pale… And wearing a suit like that… Were you some rich family’s young master?”
“Uuu?”
“Fufu… Right. You said you don’t remember…”
She pressed the tips of both index fingers together, fidgeting as she stared intently at my face.
“Wow…”
“...Uu?”
“Ah, no… It’s nothing…”
Yeonhee’s face had turned a deep shade of red that spread all the way down her neck. Yeah, maybe this situation was so overwhelming that she didn’t know what to do.
A stranger who had suddenly appeared in her nest. That was more than enough reason. No matter how much she knew it was me using Mimicry, what her eyes saw was an adult male.
“Umm… So… um…”
That must have been why her reaction was completely different from when I had transformed into her own form. She kept starting to speak and then stopping, inching closer only to pull back again.
The ideal thing would be to calmly wait for her decision, but time was limited. Of course the opportunity came once a day, but still… there were things that simply had to be done today. Someone once said life is all about timing.
If I wanted to create a turning point between us, I had no choice but to take the lead. The initiative had tilted sharply in my favor yesterday. It was time to balance the scales again.
'Shall I help you a little…'
Step—
I took one step forward. She immediately took two steps back.
“W-wait! S-stay right there! I’m not ready yet—”
'Ready for what? Between us?'
I took several quick steps and closed the distance in an instant. When a startled Yeonhee spun around to run away, I grabbed her waist and hand and pulled her firmly into my arms.
“Kyaa!”
With her eyes squeezed shut, a small trembling creature that looked as if electricity was running through her body stood before me.
“Ugh… Why… D-don’t do this…”
Her face showed fear beyond mere embarrassment. But I knew that wasn’t a sign that this was wrong.
'So this little thing is what gave me such a hard time yesterday.'
“Aaaah… W-wait. Let go of me for now.”
She was more flustered than ever, floundering helplessly. Her eyes darted around anxiously like a lost child, and she kept trying to tilt her head as far back as possible to create distance.
'She’s really cute…'
I alternated my gaze between her moist lips and her mysterious purple eyes.
“Hng… Why… D-don’t… look at my lips like that…”
“Ah…”
When I was a skeleton, there had been no restrictions on where I looked, which was nice. But now she immediately noticed exactly where my eyes were focused. Add this to the list of one hundred and one downsides of becoming human.
My left hand remained wrapped around her waist while my right hand, which had been holding hers, gently brushed through her hair.
“Aah… Haa… I-Ilwol…”
'This would be the perfect moment to say something cool, but all I can manage is “auu”… The mood is completely ruined.'
Even so, staying like this wasn’t bad at all. Because I had pulled her so close, the soft fullness of her breasts pressed against me without any filtering. The sudden curve of her waist and hips fit perfectly in the circle of one arm.
'I’m going crazy… If it weren’t for [Cold Reason]…'
“Uuu… Ahn…”
Her body trembled like a baby bird, delicate beyond words. Her wet eyes, which looked like they might overflow at the slightest touch, sparkled brighter than any jewel.
As if possessed, I slowly leaned my face toward hers.
“Hng…”
Now our cheeks were brushing against each other. If I turned my head just a little, the pale, smooth line of her neck and the elegant curve of her collarbone would fill my vision.
“Haa— Haa… Hng…”
Even though she was completely trapped in my arms, she was still desperately trying not to reveal her emotions.
'You can show me everything. You’re just not used to it yet. Poor thing…'
A small, fragile child who wasn’t accustomed to showing her feelings to others. But that only lasted a moment. Before long, Yeonhee could no longer hide her increasingly ragged breathing.