Peeping is Bad
Mail order these days is incredibly fast. I never imagined the item I ordered last night would arrive the very next day.
“Oppa, what’s that?”
It was Saturday, so Aju was home. She eyed the package I’d just received with curiosity. Truthfully, I’d bought it for her sake, but there was no need to mention that right now.
That said, there was no reason to hide what it was either.
“It’s a GPS tracker for Hahu. Last time I noticed she kept sneaking outside.”
“Ah… Maybe she feels uneasy because this isn’t her original home.”
“It’s not that. Don’t worry.”
From Aju’s perspective, my words had no basis, but since I knew Hahu’s true identity (?), I could say that with certainty.
“More importantly, how do you even use this? I’ve never seen one before…”
“Hmm, just a second.”
Aju crouched down beside me on the living room floor and examined the box containing the tracker. She pulled out the instruction manual inside.
“Maybe there’s something written in here?”
“Oh, right. I didn’t even think of reading the manual.”
“Now that I think about it, Riha oppa never reads manuals…”
“You figure things out as you go. That’s how guys do it—pure grit.”
Aju gave me a complicated look before opening the manual and starting to read. She stopped at a certain section.
“Oppa, it says here you download the dedicated app, scan the QR code, and connect it.”
“Ooh! The manual really is useful! Let’s see… What’s the app called?”
“It’s written in the manual too.”
“The manual really is the best!”
“…You’re still not going to read it?”
“Guys use grit.”
“…”
“…”
Aju was staring at me intently… and the silence between us felt heavy. In times like this—
“Hah!”
“…Ugh… Not again…”
I reached out with both hands and pinched Aju’s cheeks as she stared at me. I didn’t pinch hard—just enough to feel the softness of her skin.
“Hehe, I’m gonna keep going until all the baby fat’s gone~”
“…You’re being a perv…”
A pervert?! Wanting to touch Aju’s cheeks was just basic human instinct!
“More importantly, we should connect the app first…”
“Oh, right.”
I’d completely forgotten the original goal because of Aju’s cheeks. My bad.
Let’s see… Just like Aju said… Ah, there it is. I’ll install this.
Scan the QR code… Ah.
“Done.”
“Wow, can I see too?”
As she spoke, Aju leaned closer. The scent of her shampoo and body wash after her shower tickled my nose, and I could feel the light, soft weight of her leaning against me.
“It shows up on the map like this.”
“Yeah, it does.”
After fifteen years together, this kind of skinship felt completely natural. Even though Aju was wearing thin, comfortable clothes and I could feel her body heat through the contact, I didn’t think anything of it.
“…”
“Riha oppa?”
“Ah, yeah… It says it can record video too.”
“Video too? Do we really need that?”
“Just in case. If the GPS doesn’t work, we can use the recording.”
“Ah~”
Luckily, Aju took my words at face value. Still, it was impressive that such a small device had both tracking and recording functions.
With that thought, I flicked the tracker into the air and caught it again.
“Riha oppa, you’ll break it if you drop it.”
“Haha, I’m not a kid. That won’t happen.”
“Ugh… I’m worried.”
Even so, she seemed uneasy about me handling the electronic device so carelessly. I figured there was no helping it and tried to catch the tracker as it bounced back up.
Thud.
“…Huh?”
I thought I’d timed it perfectly, but the tracker bounced off my fingers and flew somewhere unexpected.
And that somewhere was—
“Kyaa.”
Inside Aju’s oversized T-shirt.
At that moment—
I’ll be honest. Even I didn’t know why I did what I did next. The second I realized it had gone inside her shirt… the first thing I did was—
“…”
Look at my phone.
The very phone with the app open that could check the footage the tracker was recording. I’ll say it again: I didn’t do it with any sneaky intentions.
It was just… an accidental action? Not instinct, but something that moved on its own? That kind of feeling made me turn my head.
What I saw on the screen was—
Aju’s pale skin and the white underwear partially covering it.
“Hah.”
Only after confirming that did I realize how weird my action was. I immediately looked away from the phone. This time, my head turned toward Aju by accident, and our eyes met.
“…” / “…”
An awkward silence followed. Still looking at me, Aju’s eyes flicked to the footage displayed on my phone.
“…!”
Her face turned bright red in an instant. She turned her back to me, slipped her hand inside her shirt, and pulled out the tracker.
Then she looked back at me.
“…You saw, didn’t you?”
“…”
“Why did you look?”
“…”
“Riha oppa…”
“Sorry.”
I couldn’t lie to Aju. So I couldn’t say “I didn’t see it,” but I also couldn’t bring myself to admit I’d seen it clearly. In the end, all I could do was apologize.
“Uuu!”
Thud thud thud.
Face flushed, cheeks puffed out, and eyes slightly teary, Aju started hitting me with her little fists. It didn’t hurt… Actually, it was more ticklish than anything, which made it cute.
“Sorry.”
“Uuu…”
Unable to show how I really felt, I just kept apologizing.
Ah, seriously… Why did I do that earlier?!
After some time and a bit of calming down thanks to the tracker incident, Aju returned to studying at the living room table. To avoid disturbing her—and to escape the awkward atmosphere—I went into my room.
<>
Daeho must’ve just woken up. What a carefree guy…
“Yeah. Oh, this arrived.”
<>
“Yeah…”
No matter how hard I tried, the footage from earlier kept flashing back in my mind. Even if it was an accident (?), I’d still done something wrong to Aju, so guilt weighed on me.
<>
“W-What!? Why would my face be red…”
<>
“…I don’t know.”
I must’ve been pretty shocked myself. I’d done all sorts of things with the girls I’d dated before, so seeing a girl’s body shouldn’t make my heart race anymore.
Plus, it wasn’t even her body I saw—just a glimpse of skin and underwear. There’s no way something like that would embarrass me.
It was just… surprising. Because Aju and I had never had that kind of atmosphere between us before.
“Ahem. More importantly, I’ll put the collar on you first, then attach this. Should I do it now?”
<<…If possible, let’s put the collar on the same day. No matter what, I don’t want to get used to it this early.>>
“Yeah, I get that…”
If someone tried to put a dog collar on me, I’d refuse too. Even if we were mortal enemies, I had to respect that part.
“Also, you… Even if you’re a cat now, don’t go anywhere weird while wearing this.”
<>
“…Because peeping is bad.”
Thinking something like earlier could happen again made me newly aware of how dangerous peeping could be.
<>
“So we only use it on bad people.”
Ah, of course I wasn’t saying we wouldn’t use it.
Like the saying “an eye for an eye.” Bad deeds have always suited bad people. Honestly, even if I saw those girls naked, I was confident I could spend ten years in the same space without touching them.
“Then starting tomorrow, wear this and investigate for me. Oh, and if you press the button on the bottom of the tracker, it’ll contact me. Press it if you need help.”
Since it could record by default, if I opened the app and played the live feed, I could even hear Daeho’s voice.
Depending on the situation, I might be able to help somehow.
<>
“120,000 won.”
<>
“You’ve made it big. Being a cat sounds nice.”
<>
“Let’s talk with the claws retracted first.”
Just as I was thinking we’d gotten pretty used to joking like this—
Knock knock.
I heard a knock on my door. The only “people” in this house were me and Aju, so the owner of that sound had to be Aju.
“Yeah, come in.”
“Okay.”
Hearing my answer, Aju slowly opened the door and stepped inside.
“…” / “…”
<>
Because of what happened earlier, Aju and I exchanged awkward glances. Seeing that, Daeho tilted his head. Well, there was no need for him to know anyway…
“What’s up?”
“Ah… I was going to make lunch. What do you want, Riha oppa?”
“Anything you make is fine. If I had to choose, something energizing. Like meat.”
“Meat. Okay, got it. Wait thirty minutes.”
“Yeah.”
After hearing my answer, Aju approached Daeho before leaving the room and naturally patted his head.
“You like meat too, right, Hahu? Just wait a bit. I’ll make something delicious for you.”
<<…Who’s calling herself noona?>>
“Pfft, Hahu’s lucky. Having such a good noona.”
<>
“Hehe, somehow it feels like Hahu just said ‘yeah.’”
<>
For once, I wanted to let Aju hear what Daeho was saying. This sitcom was something else.
“Then I’ll go prepare.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Aju was about to leave the room to prepare the meal. Freed from her presence, Daeho let out a sigh.
<>
While sighing, Daeho wagged the tail that hadn’t existed on his original body. Unfortunately, that tail smacked right into the tracker I’d placed on the desk earlier.
And the tracker… rolled right under Aju’s feet.
Incidentally, Aju was wearing dolphin shorts right now. In other words, if the tracker was under her feet… its camera could see underneath.
“!!!”
Aju jumped back exaggeratedly and grabbed her shorts. Then she looked straight at me.
Of course, I didn’t make the same mistake as before. I didn’t even take out my phone—trying to open the app and check the footage in that moment would’ve just made me a lunatic.
“…” / “…”
We both knew that, but the awkward atmosphere returned anyway. I felt my face growing hot for some reason as I looked at the blushing Aju.
“…I’m leaving.”
“Ah…”
Unable to bear the mood, Aju pressed down on her shorts and left the room. I scratched my cheek, feeling embarrassed.
<>
“Not really… It’s just… peeping is bad.”
<>
Daeho scratched his cheek with his front paw like a cat, unable to understand. I desperately tried to erase the image of Aju’s skin and underwear replaying in my head.
…Honestly, I wasn’t trying that hard.