Chapter 107
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 107
Upon returning home, Dokyun saw Eun-byeol, who had already changed into comfortable clothes, and spoke.
“Are you going back in tomorrow?”
“Hm?”
Eun-byeol tilted her head at his question before a playful smile spread across her face.
“Why? Are you tired of me already?”
“You know that’s not what I mean…” he replied with a deep sigh.
Chuckling, Eun-byeol scrunched up her face and pretended to cry.
“So you really do hate me. Eun-byeol is so sad she could cry~.”
She whined, but the corners of her mouth were still twitching upward.
Dokyun felt his eyes narrow. It seemed she was in the mood for more games. He let out another heavy sigh and shook his head.
“Never mind. It was my mistake for asking.”
When she was always this playful, the one asking the questions was the one who got stressed out. As that thought crossed his mind, Eun-byeol burst into loud laughter, came over, and sat right next to him.
“Why are you so cute even when you’re pouting?”
Here came the flattery again. Dokyun felt a throb in his head, yet he was surprised to find himself already growing accustomed to her compliments.
As expected, humans were creatures of adaptation.
“I’m not pouting. I was just asking because it’s better for me to know in advance if you’re leaving.”
It was necessary to avoid any needless trouble. At his words, Eun-byeol giggled and nodded.
“If it were up to me, I’d want to stay with you longer… but I can’t be out for long this time. Unni will probably be out tomorrow.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“Oh my, look at your face light up.”
Dokyun flinched at her comment.
“No, it’s not…”
“Don’t deny it.”
Another laugh escaped her. Dokyun rubbed his face, trying to compose his expression.
Of all the personalities, Eun-seol was the one he could be around most comfortably, so he must have let his guard down and his relief show on his face.
As he was wrestling with his awkwardness, Eun-byeol spoke again.
“By the way.”
“Yes?”
“How long are you going to keep speaking so formally to me?”
It was the same question she’d asked that morning. When Dokyun looked at her, she was watching him with her signature playful smile.
“I think we’ve gotten a little closer… Are you still uncomfortable around me?”
Her words were thick with amusement. Dokyun let out a small groan, his discomfort obvious.
Truthfully, there was no reason he couldn’t. He had no obligation to speak formally to her.
The only problem was the awkwardness. That was it.
It was something one often encountered in life.
You meet someone, you speak to them formally, and then one day you both decide to drop the formalities, and the atmosphere suddenly becomes intensely awkward. He had been sticking to formal speech precisely because he hated that feeling, so having her put him on the spot like this was just plain difficult.
As Dokyun fell silent, at a loss for words, Eun-byeol, her face full of mischief, placed her index finger on his thigh.
“Or…”
Her voice was suggestive. Then, she began to tickle her own thigh as she continued.
“Are you the type to only drop the formalities in bed?”
Flinch.
Her words made his body jolt, and her laughter deepened.
Dokyun stared at Eun-byeol, whose tone was brimming with provocation. A surge of defiance rose within him, and he grabbed her hand.
“…What makes you so confident?”
“Huh?”
Eun-byeol’s fingertips twitched as he grabbed her. Seeing this, Dokyun felt he had found her weakness and let a smile bloom on his face.
“What would you do if I really did pounce on you? Could you handle it?”
Her body twitched and trembled again. A sense of satisfaction washed over Dokyun as he watched her reveal a hint of panic.
“Th-that…”
Her pupils trembled as if shaken by an earthquake. Her words trailed off.
She must not have expected this reaction. She had probably gotten carried away because he had been letting her have her way.
However, when it came to their nights together, he held the overwhelming advantage. She had dug her own grave.
No matter that she was a different personality, as long as she was in Eun-ah’s body, she shouldn’t be joking with him about the bedroom.
Feeling a sense of triumph at having finally struck back at the woman who had been constantly putting him on the spot, Dokyun let out a smirk, released her hand, and spoke.
“Don’t play jokes like that. Why start something you can’t finish?”
“…Okay.”
She pressed her lips together firmly and nodded. Dokyun felt another smile break out and stood up.
“Let’s go to bed. I’m dead tired from running around all day.”
“R-right. Should we?”
Dokyun watched Eun-byeol awkwardly get to her feet to follow him, shook his head, and walked into the bedroom.
Perhaps it was because they had been in a crowded place, but he felt completely drained.
I’ll sleep soundly tonight, Dokyun thought as he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.
Just then, he felt Eun-byeol, who had entered the bedroom after him, lie down beside him. He cracked his eyes open slightly and saw her perched precariously on the very edge of the bed, stealing glances at him.
“…What are you doing?”
What is she up to? he wondered. At his question, Eun-byeol’s body flinched, and she looked away, feigning innocence.
“Hm? Oh, it’s nothing…”
A smile appeared on her face, but unlike before, it was steeped in an endless awkwardness.
Dokyun wondered why she was acting like that, but then he recalled their earlier exchange and understood.
A grin crept onto his face. He looked at Eun-byeol, whose entire body was stiff as a board, and said, “I’m not going to touch you, so just sleep. It’s not like I’m some monkey in heat.”
He had not the slightest intention of touching her.
As a firm believer in pure, devoted love, Dokyun had decided not to engage in any sexual contact with the other personalities, even if they shared Eun-ah’s body.
As Dokyun stared at her, his resolve clear, Eun-byeol continued to feign ignorance.
“Wh-what are you talking about…? I’m just more comfortable sleeping like this…”
Her words held zero conviction, given how tense she was, but Dokyun figured there was no point in pressing the issue. He simply accepted it and closed his eyes again.
A moment later, disturbed by a constant rustling, Dokyun opened his eyes again and looked at Eun-byeol.
Their eyes met instantly.
Eun-byeol hadn't fallen asleep; she had been watching him the whole time.
A question formed on Dokyun’s face. Eun-byeol flinched and quickly turned her head away again.
“G-good night!”
With that, she squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the blanket over her head.
Silence followed. Dokyun narrowed his eyes and glared in the direction of her head. Eun-byeol slowly lowered the blanket, saw him staring, and immediately pulled it back over her head.
“…Is there something you want to say?”
“Huh?”
“You keep staring.”
After his question, the blanket slowly descended, and Eun-byeol’s head popped out. She watched him for a moment before finally asking a question.
“So, um… you do it pretty rough, huh?”
The atmosphere and her expression were so blatant that asking ‘do what?’ was unnecessary.
Dokyun watched Eun-byeol, her face a mixture of curiosity and anticipation, and felt his body twitch.
How in the world does she know? The thought flashed through his mind, but then he considered Eun-seol’s case and concluded it wasn’t so strange for her to know as well. Then, a detail he had overlooked finally surfaced in his mind.
Could it be that Eun-ji and Eun-sam also knew about his sex life?
At that thought, a chill ran down his spine. He turned the question back on Eun-byeol.
“By any chance… do, uh… do Eun-ji or Eun-sam know?”
“Huh?”
“You know… that…”
He didn’t specify the subject. It was partly because he was too embarrassed to say it out loud, and partly because his head was hot with shame.
Did she get the meaning? Dokyun wondered as he stared at her. Thankfully, Eun-byeol immediately understood and shook her head.
“They don’t know… Unni hides it from them…”
“Ah, I see…!”
A sigh of relief escaped him. Dokyun felt a wave of gratitude for Eun-seol wash over him. He didn’t have the confidence to endure the looks those two would give him if they knew.
“Th-that’s a relief.”
“Yeah…”
The sudden question made the atmosphere awkward. Dokyun felt his whole body squirm.
Why? We were getting along fine, and then suddenly, of all places, we’re having this conversation in bed?
As that miserable thought filled his mind, Eun-byeol cleared her throat and asked another question.
“So, um… is your taste… is that what everyone’s like…?”
Another question. Dokyun squeezed his eyes shut. Can’t she just let this go? Why is she being so persistent?
Resentment welled up, and a sense of misery enveloped him. But as he faced Eun-byeol’s piercing curiosity, he finally remembered something he hadn’t considered before.
Eun-byeol was one of Eun-ah’s alternate personalities. Things Eun-ah hadn’t done, Eun-byeol hadn’t done either.
In other words, she had no sexual experience.
Her sly, flirtatious attitude had made him completely overlook that fact. The realization hit him, and he was filled with despair.
The curiosity and anticipation directed at him were just too humiliating.
He wished she would stop being curious. He wished she would respect their separate domains. But she clearly had no intention of doing so, her hands gripping the edge of the blanket as she stared at him.
Social butterfly, my ass…!
She was just a lucky Go Eun-sam. A more evolved version of Go Eun-sam. They were cut from the same cloth.
She might not be spouting nonsense about demonic erections, but the way she got more serious talking about lewd topics than anything else all day was exactly like a teenage boy.
“H-huh? Can’t you just tell me…? I mean, we’re at an age where we know everything there is to know…”
Those were the words of someone who knew nothing.
A small sigh escaped Dokyun’s lips.
It seemed she had no intention of letting him sleep until he told her. I should have just quietly put up with her teasing earlier, he thought with regret, and answered in a sorrowful tone.
“Not everyone is like that, I suppose…”
“R-really…?”
Her question was filled with growing heat. She revealed her burgeoning curiosity even more openly as she continued.
“Right? I mean, it’s a bit much, isn’t it? The thought of other people also saying things like ‘personal broodmare’ in bed… it just feels a little…”
The raw word made Dokyun squeeze his eyes shut.
A filter, please…!
Unlike when he was swept up in the heat of the moment, hearing it in a sober state of mind was accompanied by a brutal, soul-crushing shame.
“No, it’s not that I don’t know, it’s just…”
He had no idea what kind of pride she was trying to protect, but it was obvious she didn’t know anything, and he desperately wished she would stop.
“It’s true, right…? It’s not like other people have a size difference like you and Eun-ah… and, um, they probably don’t do things like lifting someone up and slamming them down, right…?”
“N-no, I suppose not…?”
His voice trembled. This was too agonizing.
“And, um… you’re a really nice person… but is everyone like that? Do people just… change when they do… that?”
The excitement in her tone was growing stronger. It was so blatant that Dokyun knew she wasn’t teasing him anymore but asking out of genuine curiosity.
A continuous stream of torturous moments.
Amidst her questions, Dokyun couldn’t help but recall the thought that had haunted him all last winter.
The theory of inherent evil was correct. Purity was evil.