Somi's First Kiss
"Thank you so much!"
Somi admired the necklace she'd picked out and tucked herself against my left arm. Another extra girl had already claimed my right, so I ended up looking like some loaded gangster with a girl hanging off each side.
The accessories the kids had chosen weren't the kind of prices a student could casually afford. To me, of course, it was pocket change.
Wooju watched Somi clinging to my arm with a sour look on his face. He clearly wasn't happy about any of this. Whether Somi noticed or not, she kept thanking me over and over.
"So, where to next?"
"Karaoke!"
After killing a reasonable amount of time at the department store, we headed to karaoke.
Somi loved to sing. Among girls, ones who actually disliked karaoke were few and far between. Wooju, on the other hand, didn't seem particularly at home with it. He trailed after us with an uncomfortable expression — whether because he didn't care for karaoke, or because he resented the way Somi kept smiling so freely at me, I couldn't tell.
Somi sang quite well. The other girls held their own too. I wasn't much of a singer myself, but they clapped and hyped me up anyway. They were obviously buttering up the guy footing the bill, but it still felt good.
After me, it was Wooju's turn.
Wooju couldn't sing. More precisely, he was about on my level. He barely made it through the song, then set the mic down with a deeply embarrassed look and scratched the back of his head.
"Haha~ What's that? Wooju, you can't sing."
Unlike the way they'd treated me, the girls teased him. It wasn't meant to sting — just a bit of play now that the mood had warmed up. But Wooju, sensitive adolescent that he was, seemed thoroughly ashamed.
"Come on, I thought he sang just fine."
Kind-hearted Somi said that, and Wooju's face lit up in an instant. What a transparent little shit. We went around like that, taking turns at the mic.
"Teach! Wanna do a duet with me!?"
One of the girls plastered herself against my side. I sang a duet with her. She rubbed herself against me far more than the song required, belting it out with obvious delight.
I glanced at Somi between lines. She looked envious of the other girl, scrolling through the machine for a duet of her own. Wooju, for his part, looked just as envious of me singing with someone.
He kept stealing glances at Somi as she searched for a song. Mine ended.
"S-So… Somi."
"Teacher! Sing with me too."
Wooju had been about to say something, but Somi paid him no attention at all and spoke straight to me. The courage he'd finally scraped together deflated all over again.
I sang a duet with Somi. After that, Wooju tried several more times to ask her for one of his own, but karaoke hour ended with nothing to show for it. I'd sung so many songs my throat was raw.
"Want something to drink?"
"I'd love that!"
We went to a nearby cafe.
It had been a pretty enjoyable day. Hanging around with a pack of young girls was fun in its own right, but more than anything, watching Shin Wooju's face overflowing with inferiority was a delight.
"I'll have an Americano, like a grown-up!"
"Don't even try. It's bitter — you won't get it down. Just drink cocoa."
"I can drink it!"
I ordered an Americano for myself and cocoa for the kids. I let the one who'd so boldly called for an Americano take a sip of mine. After that, she quietly drank her cocoa.
The girls chattered and laughed, going over everything we'd done today. It was a rare stretch of girl talk, and Wooju and I were promptly relegated to fifth-wheel status.
I casually turned to him.
"Did you have fun today?"
"Ah, Teacher. Yes. It was fun."
That was what he said, but his expression looked uncomfortable somehow. He kept glancing sideways at Somi.
"Is Somi on your mind?"
The question hit the bullseye. Wooju fumbled for an excuse.
"Ah, no! It's just… Somi and I are only childhood friends."
Ordinary childhood friends. A truly ambiguous kind of relationship. In a romantic comedy, the childhood friend was the heroine destined to lose.
Well, Magical Girl Carol Muse wasn't a romantic comedy — but this bastard Wooju didn't end up with Somi in the original either. The original was a magical girl show, so there were barely any proper romance lines to begin with.
"Childhood friends, huh. You don't have feelings for Somi, do you?"
Asked that directly, Wooju avoided my eyes.
"O-of course not. We're still students, after all."
A dishonest answer. Then again, it wasn't easy to boldly declare you liked someone in front of a school teacher.
"Is that so? I see."
The girls' conversation wound down around then. The clock read five. It wasn't particularly late, but they seemed to have decided it was time to part ways.
"Today was so much fun. Thank you, Teach~!"
"Study hard at school."
"Yes~ I'll keep that in mind."
We all stood. At the clock tower where we'd gathered, the girls scattered in their own directions.
That left me, Somi, and Wooju. He looked like he had something he wanted to say to her, but my presence kept his mouth shut. Somi and I started walking together.
"We should get going too, Somi. I'll walk you home."
"Thank you~"
"Wooju. Shouldn't you be heading home yourself by now?"
"Ah… I'm going this way too."
Wooju followed us with a lie so transparent it was almost impressive.
Somi walked beside me, chattering away about everything that had happened today. Anyone watching might have mistaken us for a couple — the age gap notwithstanding.
Wooju kept a step behind. I could feel his burning gaze on my back.
"Hmm? Wooju. Come to think of it, your house is in the opposite direction, isn't it?"
Somi called back to him as he trailed after us. He flustered.
"Uh, uh… You can get there this way too! Ah, I should split off here. See you tomorrow~!"
He hurried down a side street. Somi watched him go and laughed. "He's such a scatterbrain." Then it was just the two of us on the road.
This little shit Wooju. He's tailing us.
He hadn't actually left. He was watching us from behind a utility pole. I didn't let on that I knew. Somi, apparently not noticing him at all, pressed herself against my side.
I observed him through the Watching Eye as he tailed us.
"Hehe! It's just the two of us now."
Somi closed her eyes and leaned into my arm. I could feel the warmth of her body.
We walked along, talking quietly. I found myself wondering what Somi actually thought of Wooju.
There was no chance she liked him as a man. In the original, she hadn't harbored any romantic feelings for him either.
"Somi. What do you think of Wooju?"
"Wooju? Hmm… He's a good friend. I've known him since we were little."
"That's all? You don't want to date him as a boyfriend or… anything like that?"
I said it loud enough for our tail to hear. Somi waved her hands.
"A boyfriend? He's just a good friend, that's all."
Wooju's look of horror was captured perfectly by the Watching Eye. Judging by that face, this kid had been seriously deluding himself.
I rested my hand on Somi's waist. The rage on Wooju's face was quite a show.
"Even good friends can become a couple if things develop, right?"
"Ehh~ Me and Wooju dating? I couldn't even imagine that."
She said it like a declaration. It wasn't meant unkindly — more that he was such a familiar friend the idea simply didn't register.
But the same words sound different depending on who's listening.
Wooju's face hardened like stone. The color drained from it until he was as pale as paper, cold sweat beading on his skin. Anyone watching would have thought he'd just been handed a terminal diagnosis.
He'd just been dumped without ever getting the chance to confess — a truly one-of-a-kind experience. To fan the flames a little more, I tossed Somi another question.
"Then what's your type, Somi?"
"Hmm… Someone manly, generous, and refreshing!"
"What? Are you confessing to me?"
Somi and I burst into giggles. Wooju followed us, biting his nails. His eyes looked bloodshot.
Before we knew it, we'd arrived at her door.
"Somi. How was today?"
"It was the best! It was so much fun. This necklace too."
She held up the teardrop pendant as she said it.
I gently laid my hand over hers. Somi looked up at me. Her cheeks, flushed a deep red, looked unbearably cute. I leaned in.
"Teacher…"
Her voice was thicker, stickier than usual. We slowly closed the distance.
She rose onto her tiptoes. She came to me of her own will.
The atmosphere was perfect. Somi closed her eyes and offered her lips. Behind us, Wooju bit down on his own lip and squeezed his eyes shut.
He looked like a man facing a nightmare. And for Wooju, that was exactly what this was.
Our lips met.
I could have kissed her more fiercely, but I kept it light out of consideration for Somi. Even so, it was unmistakably a kiss — mouth to mouth.
The shopping bag slipped from Wooju's hands.
Still kissing her, I took Somi by the nape of her neck and flicked my eyes toward our peeping tom. The moment our gazes met, Wooju landed on his ass. Then, his face drained of all color, he scrambled away. The fact that he didn't even stop to grab the shopping bag he'd dropped was almost too funny.
A new item has been added to the shop:
Random Item Coupon (B-Rank)
I cleared the quest with Somi's kiss still on my mouth. I felt fantastic.
Our kiss lasted nearly three minutes.
"I'll go in now. You be careful on your way too, Teacher."
After we broke apart, Somi seemed a little embarrassed and hurried inside. I watched her go.
"Alright. I've pretty much done everything I came to do. Time to head back."
And with that, I returned to reality. This trip had been a profitable one too. The instant I arrived, I went looking for a woman. When I stepped out into the living room, I found Lina having a drink of water.
"Lina. Pussy."
"Huh!? W-wait! That's way too sudden."
Even as she said it, Lina pressed herself against me. I pulled her into my arms.