Companion

The next morning, when I opened my eyes, the first thing that filled my vision was a landscape both familiar and strange.

Soft white skin, and rising above it two gently swelling hills. Yet they were different from yesterday morning—far fuller, far more luscious in shape.

Yang Jin-ju was using my arm as a pillow, breathing in even, peaceful rhythm, sunk deep in sleep.

“My god…”

But something else was pulling my gaze harder than her face right now.

How could a sight this violent even exist?

Soft… soft…

In the bright morning light I was seeing her breasts for the first time. Afraid of waking her, I carefully—so carefully—reached out and laid ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my hand on them.

A fullness that overflowed a single palm. I stared at the red marks I had left across her white chest the night before.

Scattered like flower petals on snow, those marks looked unbearably lewd—and I had made them! Lost in admiration of that lewdness, I kneaded her breasts for a long, mindless stretch of time.

“…Hey.”

Right then I felt a gaze looking down at me from above my head.

I slowly lifted my eyes. And there was Yang Jin-ju’s face—already awake, still half-asleep, wearing an expression of pure, helpless awkwardness. My heart nearly stopped from the shock.

“…G-good morning.”

That awkward greeting was all I could manage.

When everyone gathered for breakfast, a heavy silence hung over the table.

Unlike the time with Yeong-ju, both Yang Jin-ju and I had woken early enough not to be late for the meal. Nam Jin-ju, however, had watched her same-age friend—who had been missing from the bed beside her all night—finally emerge from another man’s room that morning. Shock and curiosity warred on her face as she kept glancing back and forth between Yang Jin-ju and me.

And Yeong-ju… with her sharp senses and even sharper instincts, she had already pieced everything together without needing an explanation. She said nothing, just prodding her salad with a fork, but no one could guess what emotions were boiling beneath that blank ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠expression.

In the end the four of us ate in complete silence, as if we had all agreed to it beforehand. Only the sounds of chewing and clinking utensils filled the awkward quiet.

I could barely stand the suffocating atmosphere, yet I kept my head down and focused on the food as best I could.

Last night’s events had clearly happened under Seo Yeong-ju’s permission—or rather, her order. But the strange tension that followed was entirely mine to bear.

After the silent breakfast ended and everyone was nursing coffee or drinks through the awkward stretch of time, Yeong-ju finally spoke.

“So?”

She asked without even looking at me, coffee cup still in hand.

“How was it?”

The words came out of nowhere, yet both Yang Jin-ju and I instantly understood what she meant. It was a purely practical question: Did the Companion registration go through?

“Ah, uh… I’ll check right now.”

I hurriedly tried to open the system window. But Yeong-ju’s next words froze me in place.

“Ohhh? You’re checking now?”

She slowly turned her head toward me with that trademark sullen look. Her eyes carried a clear warning: You messing with me right now? Yang Jin-ju and I both stiffened at the chill in her voice.

I had to clear up this dangerous misunderstanding somehow.

“N-no! That’s not it! I just woke up early so we wouldn’t be late for breakfast and never got around to checking…”

My pathetic excuse only made her brow furrow deeper.

“Until breakfast? You two were stuck together all night and you didn’t even have time to check that?”

Her voice grew colder by the second. I was practically on the verge of tears as I blurted out whatever came to mind.

“No, that’s not—! I just woke up way too early…”

The moment the words trailed off I realized I’d dug my own grave. I clamped my mouth shut, but it was already too late.

Yeong-ju closed her eyes tightly, crossed her arms, and began tapping her finger against her arm. Tap. Tap. Tap. The most dangerous signal of all—the one that appeared whenever she was thinking too hard.

“Hey, Yang Jin-ju, you say something—”

I looked to her for help, but she was already beyond rescue.

“So! What happened last night? Just the two of you with Oppa! Huh? Huh?”

Nam Jin-ju had glued herself to Yang Jin-ju’s side and was relentlessly interrogating her. Yang Jin-ju’s face had gone bright red; she could only hang her head, with zero capacity left to save me.

Yeong-ju’s tap, tap, tap sounded like the second hand of a clock counting down to my execution, squeezing my heart. At this rate my solar plexus wasn’t going to survive…

The explosive atmosphere began to deflate like a lie the moment Yang Jin-ju spoke one quiet word.

“…Unni.”

Even under Nam Jin-ju’s relentless questioning, Yang Jin-ju found the courage to call out to Yeong-ju. …Unni? Wait, Unni?

“…We really just woke up and came out almost right away. And if this is an excuse… well, it is an excuse, but…”

Her voice was so small it seemed ready to crawl into the floor, yet the content was painfully honest.

“…It was my first time, so Yeong-chan Oppa had to be careful about a lot of things… That’s probably why we never got around to checking…”

Nam Jin-ju’s eyes went round as saucers; her mouth fell open as she looked back and forth between Yang Jin-ju and Yeong-ju. Her pure little mind clearly could not process the situation at all.

Yeong-ju also looked startled for a moment. Her eyes widened slightly and her always tightly closed lips parted just a fraction. She stared at Yang Jin-ju in silence for a beat, then the murderous rage that had covered her face melted away like spring snow. She let out a short sigh and, as if nothing had happened, offered a soft smile.

“…Ah, so that’s what it was.”

Yeong-ju uncrossed her arms and scratched her head sheepishly.

“I was being way too mean. Sorry.”

The sudden apology left Nam Jin-ju and me staring in blank confusion. The Yeong-ju who had looked ready to devour me moments ago was gone; in her place sat something like an older sister gently understanding her clumsy little sister’s first experience.

“So how’s the Companion status?”

With the tension broken, Yeong-ju asked again in a much more relaxed voice. She had already pulled her chair over beside me and was staring at the empty air with curious eyes, waiting for the system window.

With a pounding heart I opened the Companion tab. Please, please…!

And there, as if answering my desperate wish, clear letters floated into view.

The instant I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠confirmed those letters I shot up from my seat with an involuntary cheer.

“It’s there! Yang Jin-ju’s name is on the Companion list! It worked!”

Joy flooded the air inside the dining room.

“Really? Thank goodness…”

Yeong-ju smiled with genuine relief, and Yang Jin-ju’s face brightened as if a heavy weight had finally been lifted from her shoulders. It was the most relaxed expression I had ever seen on her.

“Good for you, Yang Jin-ju.”

“…Thank you, Unni.”

The two of them looked at each other and exchanged a conversation full of the complicated, subtle emotions only women share.

Right then, from within that happy atmosphere, a very small, lonely voice drifted out.

“…Then… am I the only one left out now?”

It was Nam Jin-ju. She was fiddling with her cup, murmuring blankly to herself.

At that single sentence every movement in the dining room stopped. As if on cue, everyone turned to look at her.

She lifted her head and stared at me with a face that looked ready to burst into tears at any second.

“Oppa… does that mean I’m the only one who’s not a real member of this Shelter now?”

In the process of solving one person’s problem, we had unintentionally left another person out in the cold.

“Absolutely not! You’re just as much a Shelter member as the rest of us!”

I answered immediately and firmly. I couldn’t let her feel left out alone.

My sincerity must have gotten through; Nam Jin-ju smiled a little more at ease and said, “Thank you, Oppa…” yet a shadow of anxiety still lingered on her face.

I was about to say more to reassure her when Yeong-ju tapped my shoulder and spoke to Nam Jin-ju herself.

“Nam Jin-ju.”

Her voice was unusually soft and warm.

“Of course you’re a Shelter member too. Yang Jin-ju just became a Companion first, that’s all. You’ll be one soon enough, so don’t worry too much.”

She paused, looking straight into Nam Jin-ju’s eyes.

“Want to talk with me for a bit? Just the two of us? Go wait for me in the multipurpose room first, okay?”

At those words Nam Jin-ju’s face lit up instantly. She must have remembered what had happened between Yang Jin-ju and Yeong-ju yesterday. Looking as if a special opportunity had just been handed to her as well, she answered excitedly.

“Yes! Unni! I’ll go wait right now!”

She declared it boldly and left the dining room with light steps.

Watching her go, Yang Jin-ju and I both let out simultaneous sighs of relief.

“Whew…”

Yeong-ju looked at us and said, “No time,” then jerked her chin toward Yang Jin-ju.

“Hurry up and register Yang Jin-ju as a Shelter resident first. Then we need to check how the Shelter level-up conditions have changed.”

I immediately executed the resident registration.

The moment I pressed the [YES] button, a blue light briefly flared around Yang Jin-ju’s body—just like it had with Yeong-ju—then faded away.

“…She’s registered.”

With a trembling heart I opened the Shelter Management tab and checked the level-up conditions.

And there, completely different from before, clear text floated into view.

The three question marks had vanished; the condition was now displayed with perfect clarity. Our guess had been exactly right.

“…Now there’s really only one left. Nam Jin-ju.”

Yeong-ju murmured quietly, gazing toward the dining room door.

The moment the level-up condition became clear, an air of relief and hope filled the dining room. Now, if we could just register the last person—Nam Jin-ju—as a Companion, we could advance the Shelter one more step.

But right then Yang Jin-ju, who had only just been registered as a resident and could now see the system window herself, tilted her head and asked,

“Um… Unni? Oppa?”

She looked back and forth between Yeong-ju and me with pure curiosity in her voice.

“What… exactly is this ‘SlurpSlurpBoobies’? Why isn’t the Master’s name… Seo Yeong-chan?”

That single sentence shattered the peaceful air in the dining room into a million pieces. I felt the most horrific black history I had desperately tried to forget rising back to the surface, and I sank into despair.

“Aaaargh!”

I clutched my head and collapsed onto the table.

“Ah! That!”

Using my scream as background music, Yeong-ju grabbed her stomach and burst into peals of laughter.

“This idiot bastard! He’s always loved boobs so much he went and named himself something that perverted, huh? Right? SlurpSlurpBoobies!”

She cheerfully tormented me, laughing all the way out of the dining room toward the multipurpose room. Now only Yang Jin-ju and I remained.

I still couldn’t lift my head when a quiet voice reached me.

“Th-that’s why this morning too…!”

I slowly raised my face. Yang Jin-ju had wrapped her arms around herself and was staring at me with a very strange look—half contempt, half curiosity.

“It was just a childish mistake from when I was young! I swear!”

I desperately tried to explain, but it was already too late. Under that gaze of hers I was sinking even deeper into the pit of despair.