Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Rumor (2)
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Sweat-drenched throat. Collarbone, chest, abs, straight navel, even a hint of pubic bone peeking out.
"Slurp... gulp."
Not missing a single inch, Fuyuno Tsubaki dazedly licked her lips and swallowed the saliva pooling in her mouth as she stared at Yang Woo-bin's bronzed, insanely hot body.
"Tsubaki, water!"
"Y-yeah! O-okay! I'll grab it right now, Woo-bin!"
But her trance-like gaze on Yang Woo-bin's throat and collarbone lasted only a moment before Fuyuno Tsubaki snapped to at his urging and dashed out to fetch water.
With the girl who'd been partially shielding his body right beside him now gone, Yang Woo-bin's form was even more fully exposed.
"W-whoa... look at that body. Seriously, seriously lewd..."
"Never thought I'd see a guy with a body like that at the academy..."
"Slurp, gulp. Think he'd let me touch it just once?"
The cadets in the arena, who had planned to head straight to rest after the exhausting week-long survival culling, forgot all about fatigue as they feasted their eyes on Yang Woo-bin's physique.
In a superhuman society, where men supposedly held to notions of chastity and shame, Yang Woo-bin's bare upper body—on full shameless display—stirred such raw arousal in the female cadets that they felt invigorated without needing any rest.
"C-cover that up! What kind of indecent nonsense is this?!"
But Yang Woo-bin's half-naked show was cut short when Jin Se-jeong, her face flushed beet red, shrugged off her disciplinary committee leader's long coat and draped it over him.
The cadets, annoyed at Jin Se-jeong for rudely interrupting their eye candy, wanted to jeer but couldn't bring themselves to.
Because Jin Se-jeong was the untouchable top dog of the first-year Jincheon Class.
"There's no reason for everyone to be gathered here! Disperse!"
At Jin Se-jeong's command, the cadets slunk away dejectedly, leaving the now-empty training grounds with only her and the still-prone Yang Woo-bin.
"......"
"......"
Their last conversation had been a week ago—his "confession" about his "promiscuous past" (total BS)—so Jin Se-jeong found the sudden alone time excruciatingly awkward.
'I don't want it to be awkward... I want to feel comfortable around Woo-bin... Why did it turn out like this? Because of his sleazy past? Does that make Woo-bin feel gross to me now? No, no. If he did, I'd feel repulsed just being near him. But I don't. I don't hate being next to Woo-bin. It's not that he's gross. Just... um, a little awkward. Yeah, just a little.'
Saying something might break the silence and dispel the awkwardness, but Jin Se-jeong couldn't find the right words to start.
"......Hot."
Fwap.
Naturally, Yang Woo-bin was the first to speak, shattering the quiet.
He shoved aside the disciplinary coat Jin Se-jeong had draped over him.
"Eek!? G-gulp..."
Jin Se-jeong unconsciously swallowed at the sudden reveal of Yang Woo-bin's bronzed bare skin, muscles, chest, collarbone, abs, and navel.
But as disciplinary leader tasked with upholding Jincheon Class order, she shook her head vigorously to banish the thought 'I wanna lick Woo-bin's navel...' and pointed accusingly at him.
"I-I went to the trouble of covering you, and you just shove it off, you indecent jerk?!"
"Ow! I'm dying here! Can't you see I'm sweating buckets? I'm already compromising big time by not stripping off my pants and underwear too!"
"Wh-what the hell?!"
She'd spouted the sensible, righteous line expected of a disciplinary leader, only to get hit with utterly shameless backtalk.
"S-stripping off your underwear too...?"
"Yeah! But I'm holding back."
At Yang Woo-bin's words—'Actually, I wanna strip naked in front of you' (distorted)—Jin Se-jeong felt the pink desire she'd barely suppressed start creeping back into her mind.
And with the training hall empty save for the two of them, the dizzying intimacy amplified the invasion of that desire.
Her heart pounded, her head and face burned, her fingers and toes fidgeted uncontrollably.
"......Gulp."
Seven years since parting with Yang Woo-bin, she'd never felt this... no, it dwarfed the childish urges from their kid days. Just as she forgot her duties and nearly gave in to impulse—
Bang!
"Woo-bin! Got your water! With ice!"
Fuyuno Tsubaki burst in with iced water.
"Ah..."
"You're back? Hand it over quick."
The steamy, electric tension evaporated like she'd doused them with ice water.
'Three more minutes, and I could've done all sorts of stuff with Woo-bin... N-no, what indecent thoughts! Argh... Talking about Fuyuno Tsubaki and Woo-bin nonstop all week messed up my head! It's not even pent-up frustration, what's wrong with me?!'
Catching a pang of regret, Jin Se-jeong snapped back and stepped half a pace from Yang Woo-bin.
Fuyuno Tsubaki seized the opening, scampering to him like a well-trained pup and handing over the iced water.
"Thanks, Tsubaki."
"Hehe, no prob."
His throat parched like a desert from nonstop sweat, Yang Woo-bin was deeply grateful for the iced water.
"Out of everything since coming to Dabcheon, you're the best. Cheers."
"H-haa..."
His sincere thanks gripped and shook Fuyuno Tsubaki's heart effortlessly. Propping up his torso, he took the glass brimming with ice and chugged it down.
Siiiizzz—
The moment the ice-cold water hit his mouth, it hissed like ice on a sizzling pan.
"Hm? What's that sound?"
Too alien for a human body, Jin Se-jeong—grinding her teeth at Yang Woo-bin's flirting with Fuyuno Tsubaki—frowned and asked.
"Pwah! Ah... Feels good, but one glass isn't enough."
Yang Woo-bin ignored her question entirely.
"Hey. Kiddo, Tsubaki."
"Yeah?"
"Wh-what's up, Woo-bin?"
Instead, he called them over, sweating bullets, and said something else.
"I'm collapsing now. Take me to the infirmary—urk."
Thud.
His barely-risen body crumpled back to the floor, eyes rolling back as he passed out.
"Wha!? What the—?!"
"Uwaaaah?! I-infirmary! Infirmary!"
"Right, infirmary! I'll princess-carry him there, so you stay here, Fuyuno Tsubaki!"
"No way! He told me to take him too! I'm coming! And princess-carry? Why do that? Just piggyback him!"
"......It's my call, okay? I said I'm carrying him first, so deal. ...Hup."
"Ugh..."
Fuyuno Tsubaki glared at Jin Se-jeong, whose un-leader-like, desire-driven antics were blatantly obvious.
Even if desire-fueled, the act was about getting Yang Woo-bin to the infirmary, and lacking justification or strength to stop her, Fuyuno Tsubaki could only clench her fists behind.
"Ahem, alright, Woo-bin. G-gonna pick you up."
Though she'd declared a princess carry to Fuyuno Tsubaki like it was no big deal, facing Yang Woo-bin now made her shy.
The only time she'd ever held a guy was hugging 13-year-old Yang Woo-bin before they parted.
Princess-carrying a full-grown man—her topless, insanely hot, blond-tanned delinquent childhood friend, no less.
Mouthwatering just to imagine, but for virgin Jin Se-jeong, utterly immune to men, it was mortifying.
'No, get it together, Jin Se-jeong. This is first aid. As his childhood friend, it's my duty to save collapsed Woo-bin. If you hem and haw over embarrassment and something happens to him? And we'll do all sorts of stuff later anyway—can't chicken out over this!'
Knowing he was in dire straits, she steeled herself, slipped her arms under his neck and knees.
"Hot! Wh-what? Why's he so scorching?!"
The instant she touched him, Jin Se-jeong felt burn-like heat and reflexively mana-shielded her arms.
Far beyond human limits, it erased all her prior shyness, leaving only gravity.
"Wh-what? Why's Woo-bin...? Something bad?"
"He's burning up. Gotta get him to the infirmary fast. Hey, Fuyuno Tsubaki. Follow if you want, but don't lag."
Jin Se-jeong scooped him up princess-style, straightened her knees, and addressed Fuyuno Tsubaki.
"What? What do you—..."
Fuyuno Tsubaki blanked on her words at first, but the sight before her forced comprehension.
Boooom—!!!
Jin Se-jeong rocketed toward the infirmary at eye-blurring speed.
"......"
Left alone in the training hall, Fuyuno Tsubaki felt the overwhelming power gap and trudged after her toward the infirmary.