The Little Panties Jeong Ayeong Launched
Ugh… my head.
The same situation didn’t happen again.
A single glass of soju to begin with? At most two, if I remembered right. I was the type who got drunk easily, but my body wasn’t so wrecked that a hangover would flatten me. I was just congenitally frail, that was all.
The real problem lay elsewhere.
“Ugh…”
It hurt. My entire body was screaming. More precisely, my lower half.
I planted both hands on the floor and, trembling like a patient, finally managed to push myself upright. I never imagined the aftereffects of that hike would hit this hard. My legs shook worse than they had yesterday—beyond precarious, it was downright pathetic. Every step I took, the muscles howled. Still, I moved. I had to survive first.
The one silver lining, if you could call it that? The pain gradually eased as I walked. Stairs or the threshold of a door still brought moments of crisis, but I had to get home somehow, didn’t I?
Maybe because the bed had been unfamiliar, even after falling asleep late I still woke at the usual hour. I opened the door, crossed the wrecked living room, and stepped outside—where Jeong Ayeong was waiting.
“What are you doing?”
“…Reflecting.”
Her posture was a little strange. She stood with her back against the wall, both hands raised in the air, perfectly still. The word “reflecting” that slipped from her lips left me puzzled, but the reason followed immediately.
“I threw up last night…”
“Did you?”
Don’t tell me… she threw up while Kang Hyeona was looking after her? I pictured Ayeong lying quietly collapsed in the living room. So that was why.
“Hang in there.”
“Ow! That’s bruised.”
“So you got hit.”
I poked her shoulder without thinking and she yelped. Kang Hyeona must have had a rough time of it. Ayeong’s pouting face was both endearing and oddly funny. The black-knight act of a drunk Ayeong, and Hyeona who had not only looked after her but cleaned up the vomit as well—they were cute, and I was grateful. I wanted nothing more than to pull them into a tight hug, but the careful boundaries of friendship and feeling kept me from it.
“We should get going soon.”
“Yeah.”
Outside was quieter than expected. Everyone was still groaning. With an MT, people might arrive together, but the return trip usually splintered into individual departures. The whole vibe was “drink and play until you leave.” Of course a bus was scheduled, so I planned to take it. Ayeong would probably do the same.
Anyway.
I washed up and started packing to head home when a chilling aura prickled from somewhere.
“….”
Look at those eyes. Vicious. Downright vicious. Kim Hyeongmin’s gaze from afar carried a genuine cold that made me wonder if a person was even allowed to look that frigid. Recalling last night made it understandable, but the aftershock still felt a little frightening. He only sent those terrifying looks; he neither spoke nor moved. I wasn’t about to open my mouth first either, so I simply finished packing my bag and belongings.
The black plastic bag caught my eye, but I decided to leave it sealed for now. I’d sort it out properly at home. How was I supposed to pull out semen-stained panties here, of all places?
Time passed, and when the bus arrived I climbed aboard.
“Careful.”
“Ugh, thanks.”
Even the bus steps nearly made me fall. This was driving me insane. Without Ayeong I would have cracked the back of my skull.
“Haa.”
More empty seats than on the way out. Being Saturday, traffic was a little heavy. Might as well sleep. I closed my eyes and chased the rest I still needed. I just wanted to get home and rest. That thought alone must have shown how exhausted my body truly was, because sleep came crashing over me.
“Sein.”
“Mm…”
“Sein?”
“Yeah… yeah.”
“We’re here.”
Already? Outside the window the familiar scenery appeared. School. Which meant another forty-minute walk home.
“Haa…”
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m exhausted.”
“Sorry…”
“No, you go on ahead.”
Normally we would have walked partway together. Instead I sent Ayeong off first. I had a life-or-death decision to make.
“Taxi fare… five thousand won…”
From here to home by car wasn’t far. But spending money on a distance I usually walked felt painfully wasteful. Money was always short no matter how carefully I saved. I wrestled with it for about five minutes.
“Ugh…”
In the end I shoved my wallet back in. Fine. I’d walk. The moment I took a step, a groan slipped out on its own. If I’d been walking steadily it might have been different, but after sitting comfortably on the bus the pain came flooding back. Still, I couldn’t stop. Standing still wouldn’t shrink the distance. With the single-minded goal of getting home and collapsing, I forced my body forward.
“Yes, yes. Thank you, Team Leader.”
“Thank me? There’s no work, I told you!”
“Yes…”
“Come in tomorrow if you can. Today there’s nothing for you either way!”
The voice was sharp and booming. That rough, coarse tone made some people think she was angry. But Han Seyeon knew better. Rough manners or not, warmth lived inside them.
Had her expression looked that bad on Friday? The team leader had asked what was wrong. Seyeon couldn’t exactly say, “My little brother went on an MT and I can’t even wait for him properly, so I’m depressed.” She had only shaken her head.
They weren’t strangers who saw each other once or twice. Even though it was a busy stretch, the team leader ordered her to take a forced day off. Most workers got at least one day a week. Seyeon, however, worked straight through weekends. Normally the leader would have just clapped her on the back and told her to take it easy. But her face must have looked truly serious. Thanks to that, she had an entire Saturday free.
“….”
And so, at the usual hour, Han Seyeon found herself killing empty time. Ten in the morning. After finishing the housework with clumsy hands, she sat in a chair and stared blankly into space.
Truthfully, the chores hadn’t been that hard. On a rare day off she had meant to be lazy, but a house without Han Sein—already a little cramped for two—felt far too large. Loneliness crept in, and she needed something to focus on. Yet it finished too quickly. Not because the work was simple, but because there simply wasn’t enough mess left for a deep clean. She kept the place so tidy day to day that even when she looked for tasks, nothing caught her eye.
Once more loneliness wrapped around her. She sat there dazed until her head suddenly lifted. The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs—irregular, a little unsteady—but she knew at once who it was. The moment the door lock clicked open, Seyeon shot to her feet.
Should she greet him at the door? What was she supposed to say? She had wanted him home, yet she hadn’t decided on any words. Of course she hadn’t. All this fluster came purely from emotion. That was why she grew even more helpless in front of Han Sein. Her heart was full of the desire to welcome him, to see him, but from his perspective she would only look bewildered.
The short spiral of thought ended. Reality arrived while she was still fretting without answers.
“I-I’m home.”
“Welc— a-are you okay?”
Trembling legs. The backpack on his shoulders looked like an enormous burden; that wasn’t her imagination. Han Sein’s whole appearance was precarious. His breathing came out weak and irregular. The way he slowly stepped out of his shoes and came inside was as unsteady as a newborn giraffe. He swayed and fell straight into her arms.
“Haa, haa. Sorry… I pushed myself a little.”
“Mm…”
Pushed himself? At what? Seyeon couldn’t form a proper thought under the sudden situation. All she could do was drown in the warm heat against her chest and the scent that tickled the tip of her nose.
“Noona… is it your day off?”
“Y-yeah… day off.”
“Haa, haa. I see…”
The ragged breathing sounded strangely sensual. The voice whispering from inside her arms brushed against her heart, and she felt the soft, delicate male body unique to him.
“I’m kind of worn out… can I lie down?”
“O-of course. Lie down and rest. Just a second.”
Those shaking legs. What on earth had he done at the MT to be this exhausted? Anxiety rose from deep inside Seyeon’s chest. Her thoughts began tilting in a strange direction.
“Give me the bag.”
“Mm…”
“I’ll put everything away… just wait.”
Her movements were quick. She spread the blanket and set the pillow in place with practiced speed—possible only because everything was already tidy. Sein watched her and let out a low groan. The aftermath of a forty-minute forced march.
“Hnn… my back…”
“Did you… have fun?”
The words rose all the way to her throat before she swallowed them again. Seyeon calmed her growing unease and carefully chose what left her mouth.
“Sports day and the courage test, I guess…”
“I see…”
Normally she would have simply nodded. Why did Sein’s drawn-out answer make her so uneasy? She moved her body to hide her feelings.
“I’ll take care of the bag. Just rest.”
“Thanks, Noona…”
Seyeon turned her back. To organize the bag. And to steady her heart. Ignoring the soft moans of pain, she pulled the zipper open. One by one she took out the contents. Then, the moment she opened the tightly sealed black plastic bag—
“…!”
It wasn’t a familiar smell. Yet the scent that had once burned itself deep into her mind and turned her into a beast rose up with fierce intensity. Inside the black bag were used wet tissues and a pair of panties. And the identity of the smell that stabbed sharply at her nose needed no words.