Chapter 48
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 48
After a drive of about forty minutes, we arrived at our destination.
I don’t even know how I got here.
I was so focused on driving anxiously that before I knew it, we had arrived.
One scratch and I’m fucked.
That single thought dominated my mind as I drove, so I couldn’t pay any attention to things like the gut-rumbling speed or the roar of the exhaust.
My heart was pounding so hard. Despite driving so carefully, Dokyun was overcome with anxiety, and the first thing he did after getting out was check the car's condition.
'Wheels are fine, bumper's fine...'
After a meticulous, corner-to-corner inspection, Dokyun confirmed there wasn't a single speck of a scratch on the car. Only then did he let himself relax, letting out a huge breath.
“Haaaah...”
I thought I was going to die.
This was a car I couldn't afford even if I sold all my organs.
Sure, it was insured, but if that personality—the car's owner—demanded I pay for repairs, I had no confidence I could ever pay it back.
I probably would have had to sell all my organs or take out a loan from a shark.
Another deep sigh of relief escaped me.
As Dokyun was breathing his sigh of relief, Eun-seol's voice came from ahead.
“Stop dithering and get over here.”
Hearing her, Dokyun looked over with a pout.
Seeing her act as if it was none of her business, showing not a shred of interest in the car's condition, made my blood boil.
And on top of that.
She was... sleeping?
Before we arrived, I'd glanced over at her and seen her sleeping with her eyes closed.
The memory of her sleeping with such a peaceful look on her face was infuriating.
“I said, come on.”
She prompted me again.
My fists clenched, but I forced a smile onto my face and answered in the most cheerful tone I could muster.
“Coming...!”
Ugh, I’m grinding my teeth.
A moment later, as I walked up to stand beside her, I finally noticed something different.
It was a minor sense of unease, but it nagged at me. When I searched for the reason, the answer came immediately.
'Her height...'
She seemed taller than usual.
She, who usually didn't even reach my shoulder, was now tall enough to brush against my chin.
As Dokyun scanned her up and down with a puzzled expression, he finally understood why.
'Those heels are ridiculously high.'
The heels on the shoes she was wearing were incredibly high.
Won't her feet hurt in those?
As Dokyun stared at her in disbelief, a curse shot out from her.
“The fuck are you looking at?”
A very harsh tone.
I looked up and saw her glaring at me, her face scrunched into a deep frown.
Dokyun calmed his slightly startled heart, plastered a smile on his face, and spoke.
“Ah, it's nothing. I was just thinking how high your heels are.”
Flinch.
For a moment, her body trembled at his words.
When Dokyun gave her a questioning look, she twisted her face into another harsh scowl and spat out a curse.
“Cut the bullshit and follow me. We have a lot to do.”
Watching her back as she turned and walked away, Dokyun finally realized why she was being so irritable.
'So she's sensitive about being short.'
I've found a weakness.
The thought made the corners of his mouth twitch, but he quickly suppressed the rising smirk, thinking he'd probably get his ass kicked if he tried to pick a fight over it, and hurried after her.
“Hey, wait up!”
Honestly, that glare was a little scary.
*
As we left the underground parking garage, the city skyline spread out before Dokyun's eyes.
The chilly air of mid-December seeped into the tip of my nose and began to fill my lungs. It was probably no illusion that the exhaust fumes, which always mixed with the air and stung my insides, now felt strangely welcome.
The loud music piercing my ears made my heart race. The cacophony created by the clashing music from every storefront felt somewhat awkward, and I shifted uncomfortably before finally letting my gaze sweep over the city.
A forest of tall, greyish-white buildings, with cars and people passing between them.
Everyone on the street was bundled up in thick coats, and a cold frost clung to the bumpers of passing cars.
The streets, which had still clung to the last vestiges of autumn before my kidnapping, now wore the full colors of winter, showing me just how much time had passed in my absence.
I didn't feel any cynical thoughts like, 'So the world gets along just fine without me.'
Instead, just seeing society moving busily along, each person on their own path, made me finally realize that I was truly outside again, and a joyful feeling welled up inside me.
It was such a warm and welcome sight.
For a long while, I stood there blankly, my gaze captured by the scene, until a voice called to me.
“Hey.”
I turned my head and saw her huddled against the cold, her face scrunched up.
“Ah, yes.”
As Dokyun answered, she walked over to him and began rummaging through her coat pocket, pulling something out.
“Take these.”
I looked down at what she was holding out.
It was my wallet and smartphone.
“Ah.”
So she'd kept them. Only then did I remember they existed.
Even though they were things I'd carried with me my entire life, the situation had been so sudden that I'd completely forgotten about them.
As Dokyun took the wallet and smartphone, feeling a strange sense of unfamiliarity, her voice came again.
“Go wait in that café over there.”
I looked up in the direction she was pointing and saw a chain café across the street.
Reading the intention to act separately in her words, Dokyun looked at her and asked a question.
“Aren't you coming with me, Eun-seol?”
“I have something to take care of.”
“Oh.”
I'd assumed we would be moving together, but her answer was different from what I expected.
“You should take care of your own business in the meantime. I've already handled the company, so you don't need to worry about that.”
“What?”
Feeling a sense of confusion at her continued explanation, Dokyun let out a blank sound, and she added more details.
“I basically told them you were sick. You'll have to go back to work eventually, won't you?”
It was a completely unexpected remark.
'Eventually...'
She was talking about what would happen after all this was over.
Her matter-of-fact tone gave me a strange feeling, but another question surfaced first.
“How did you do it?”
That couldn't have been as easy as it sounded. My workplace wasn't some neighborhood corner store; it was a respectable mid-sized corporation.
If making up an excuse was that easy, I wouldn't have been so worried.
With that thought, I looked at her with a face full of doubt, and she answered in an indifferent tone.
“Money.”
“...What?”
“Is there anything money can't solve?”
Dokyun's jaw dropped at her answer.
“I had a doctor's note forged saying you were in a condition where it was difficult to be contacted. I know someone in that field.”
I stared at her, dumbfounded. Behind her glasses, her eyes looked bored. Her expression was nonchalant, as if this was nothing special.
“So just know that. Contact your personal acquaintances, and I'll be on my way.”
Was it just my imagination, or did she seem larger than life as she turned to leave?
She had only spoken a few words, but I could feel that she was clearly a person from a different world.
'My god...'
Just as Eun-ah had said, her sister was incredible.
*
I don't know how long I stood there in a daze. Feeling the chill start to seep into my body, Dokyun finally snapped out of it and headed into the café.
As I opened the door, a bell jingled, and a friendly greeting from an employee rang out.
“Welcome~”
I gave a quick nod in response and looked around. Despite it being a weekday afternoon, there were quite a few people sitting inside.
Feeling a little giddy from the human atmosphere I hadn't experienced in so long, Dokyun went straight to the counter, ordered a coffee, and found a seat by the window, thinking about what he needed to do.
First, as she'd said, I needed to contact the people in my life and sort things out.
Having made up his mind, Dokyun took out his smartphone and turned it on. A familiar wallpaper appeared, followed by the home screen.
The grey, glowing wallpaper and the icons arranged on it gave me a warm, nostalgic feeling that stirred something inside me.
As I was lost in sentiment, staring at my phone... 'This isn't the time for that.'
I suppressed the sentimentality. It was time to get things done.
As I thought that and started using the device, a pained groan suddenly escaped Dokyun's lips.
“Nngh...”
Was it because it had been nearly two weeks? The feeling of tapping the screen was completely awkward.
It felt like I couldn't control my strength. I thought I was tapping lightly, but my finger pressed down hard on the screen. It was so awkward.
'This is crazy.'
I felt like a caveman encountering civilization for the first time.
For a moment, I felt a sense of futility, wondering if a familiar object could really become this strange after just a few weeks of disuse. But my body, operating the device, must have recalled the familiar sensation, because it quickly adapted, erased the awkwardness, and opened my contacts.
A moment later, opening the screen to see the calls I'd missed, Dokyun felt a hollow laugh escape him.
'The only people who called were...'
My parents, my junior colleague Myeong-dae, my department head, and three friends.
A wave of depression washed over me, wondering if this was really all the people who had tried to contact me after I'd vanished for two weeks.
'...Then again, it's not like I'm the type to call first either.'
Dokyun thought about his own usual behavior and quickly erased the feeling, then started calling back the numbers one by one.
To me, it had been a long two weeks, but in the outside world, it must not have been that long. The voices on the other end of the line were filled more with pleasure at hearing from me than with worry.
My parents were healthy and well, and it seemed Bborongi had been neutered in the meantime.
Myeong-dae was the same as ever, whining from the very first word, and my department head, already thinking about drinks, managed to wrangle a promise out of me to go drinking with him.
Facing the time and people I thought I might never get back, a lump formed in my throat, but at the same time, I couldn't help but smile. It was a welcome feeling, to be filled with so many emotions.
A short while later, after quickly running through the calls and finishing the last one with a friend, Dokyun finally took a breath and shifted his gaze to stare blankly out the window.
'Now what?'
The calls were done. There probably wouldn't be any more problems related to that for a while.
There was nothing else I really needed to take care of.
Literally, all I had to do was get my personal affairs in order.
As he sat there blankly for a moment, Dokyun recalled how he usually spent his free time, and his eyes shot wide open.
'...Wait a minute.'
I'm alone right now. I have a smartphone in my hand. And she probably won't be back for quite some time.
My gaze, which had been fixed on the window, creaked down toward my hand.
'This is...'
Isn't this the perfect time to read novels?
The thought surfaced, and my body, understanding the situation before my brain did, began to react.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
My heart began to hammer violently. The corners of my mouth twitched, and my eyebrows trembled.
'Come to think of it...'
For nearly two weeks, I, who had never gone a single day without reading, hadn't looked at a single web novel.
Which meant.
'My backlog of novels...'
Was piled high.
“Hnngh...!”
A moan escaped me unconsciously. A pleasure that felt like it was shooting up my spine.
'Ah...'
The trembling wouldn't stop.
Now was the time for a destructive binge—in a café, outdoors, in public.
'I can do it, can't I...?'
A shiver ran through my entire body. A pleasant tremor born not of fear, but of ecstasy.
The sentimental feelings from moments before vanished without a trace, replaced by a thick layer of primal pleasure.
My fingers, moving on their own, impatiently tapped the golden, wing-shaped icon floating on the screen.
The screen loaded.
'Let's go... Let's go...!'
Finally letting the uncontrollable grin spread across his face, Dokyun stared at the main banner that appeared on the screen and felt his true nature, sealed away for so long, reawakening.
Now was the time. The time to endure the long period of humiliation and suffering and return as the 'Deep Sea Honeybee'.