Chapter 209
Chapter 209
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 209
Chapter Title: Stay Still, Joo Ji-tae (4)
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Bom returned with slow steps and sat back down in her spot.
She didn't even need to make eye contact like before. Now she was certain.
She could feel the blatant stare.
Yeoreum sized Bom up. When their eyes had briefly met, Bom's face had been as impassive as ever.
She didn't seem particularly angry. Bom rarely ever got mad, but when she'd slammed her laptop shut, her eyelids had trembled from the corners of her eyes.
The other signs were the same. If she were excited, a human body would show changes in pulse and breathing, but Bom's breathing was calm, and no heartbeat could be heard.
'What is it? Is she holding back? Or does she really not care?'
Yeoreum still couldn't tell the difference.
Maybe it had been a mistake to ask Bom from the start if she loved Yoo Ji-tae.
If she really did love him, then she was probably holding back right now.
And if that was truly the case, it actually felt a little fun. Playing the villainess had its appeals.
In the meantime, Yoo Ji-tae's cautious hands had moved past Yeoreum's knee to her thigh. Having been squeezed so harshly all over her body, her thigh was mottled with dark red bruises. Yoo Ji-tae carefully kneaded the tense, rigid muscles of Yeoreum's thigh.
Should she pull a bit more aggro...?
"Hey."
"Yeah."
"Do it harder. I can't feel a thing."
His touch, gentle like kneading a kitten, now became cautious like handling an adult cat.
"Mm. That's good..."
"A little more toward the inside of the thigh."
"Yeah, there. Yeah... Ah, that feels good."
To Yeoreum, it felt like hands tenderly treating an injured animal. They'd never seen each other as anything more than mentor and disciple, so this time between them felt perfectly natural and wholesome.
No, what kind of guy is this boring? she thought, but whatever. All that mattered was making the situation weird.
Then, suddenly, she noticed something strange.
Bom's breathing was calm, and no heartbeat could be heard?
...Why couldn't she hear a heartbeat?
"Huh?"
"What."
"Oh, no. Keep going."
"......"
No heartbeat.
It wasn't just faint like usual—it was completely absent. Bom had hidden her heartbeat.
Yeoreum glanced sideways at Bom again. Was hiding her heartbeat a sign of jealousy?
Even at that point, Yeoreum wasn't convinced.
A hatchling was young. She couldn't be numb to stimuli. Depending on how you looked at it, the skinship between herself and Yoo Ji-tae could come off as lewd. If she didn't care but it sounded sexy, her heart might race a little anyway. She could hide it. Even Yeoreum herself felt her heart speed up involuntarily at lewd or brutal sights without getting excited.
So she couldn't focus on the lewdness.
Yeoreum needed to focus more on 'love.'
Love?
The reason a Red Dragon hatchling read romance comics was just the thrill of getting to that juicy mating conclusion after all the back-and-forth. That's why kiss scenes pissed her off.
Of course she didn't know love. She had no interest.
Love...
It was hard. Dragon love, not human love, even more so. But thinking about it brought something to mind.
It was from Bom's novel.
She'd skimmed and dropped the horror story, but in the early part of From the Sin of Dawn, there was a short passage describing the heroine's love for her boyfriend she'd brought to the cabin—a snippet about 'love.'
What was it again?
Yeoreum closed her eyes and recalled the words.
"...It was merely the love of the flesh.
The love of the flesh fills the chest and makes the heart ache.
It mostly arises from sensory elements. She's a beauty to behold. Her scent is sweet. The sense that she'll guard you while you rest by the water, or keep your existence from fading—it arises in bodily relations. But it stops at being held. It dries up quickly. Anytime, something sweeter can fill it and make the heart ache again.
But the love of the spirit seeps into the belly and buoys the whole body.
It doesn't arise from senses; it grows from time spent together. Since it seeps in rather than being held, it can't be replaced. It settles between souls, forever embracing your body and mind in warmth.
This is fundamentally different from a fleeting chest flutter or ache. When you think quietly, the warmth spreading from the lower belly through veins across the body is, metaphorically, 'that one' filling the empty universe of 'me' and radiating cozy light.
She knew nothing of such love, however..."
Back then, she'd dismissed it as bullshit, but now she wondered if it reflected Bom's own thoughts.
The meaning was still hard to grasp, but one keyword stood out.
So when his hand moved past her thigh to her pelvis and finally touched her belly, Yeoreum made an unusual request.
"Hey."
"......"
"Hey?"
"What."
"My stomach hurts."
"Why."
"Dunno. Rub it."
As he placed his hand on her abdomen, Yeoreum grabbed it.
"Not there."
Then she naturally guided it a bit lower.
Her lower belly. Yoo Ji-tae pulled his hand away.
"Why does it hurt here."
"I don't know. It hurts."
"That's weird. It shouldn't."
"It really does?"
"...Enough. No more massage."
"Why?"
"No more physical training in the plan ahead, right? This is enough. Go recover in your room. From tomorrow, don't do anything I didn't tell you to."
"Aw, come on! You really won't?"
She threw a tantrum, but Yoo Ji-tae stood up without a word.
So Yeoreum clung desperately, grasping at straws.
"Ah, aaaah! You can't just stop like this! I really hurt all over..."
It hurts. Yeoreum didn't know those words touched a past memory in Yoo Ji-tae's mind. Not as a joke like now—but real pain, from a Red Dragon just like her who couldn't express it.
But the situation aligned perfectly anyway.
Yoo Ji-tae paused, looked into Yeoreum's eyes, then reluctantly lowered his hand again. As he slowly caressed her belly—
"Yeoreum."
Bom, who had been watching silently from the side, spoke up.
Her voice was a little sharp.
"Yeah?"
Yeoreum pretended not to know and looked at Bom.
Bom's eyelids were trembling faintly.
"How about we stop now?"
"What?"
"I've been watching, and you're acting weird today."
"Me? How?"
"You were off this morning too. It's worse now. You've been blatantly embarrassing Ajusshi since earlier."
This was a bite. No, not some half-hearted nibble like before.
She'd hooked her properly!
Now to reel her in more.
"When did I? Got proof?"
"Proof? Why moan during a massage?"
"'Cause it hurt?"
"No it didn't. You think I'm stupid?"
Her grass-green eyelids, those lashes, twitched again.
"You were there for massages before. You don't need to go that deep inside. The moans too—they're unnecessary. Right?"
"What a joke. So. If I moan?"
"What?"
"Whether I feel good from the massage or horny, what's it to you?"
"What are you even saying...?"
"Bottom line, whether I spread my legs here or not, your business? What do you have with Ajusshi?"
Just as Yoo Ji-tae was about to speak—
"Stay still, Joo Ji-tae, you little prick!"
Yeoreum yelled like she was seizing.
It was the first time Yeoreum had ever been this genuinely mad at him. Yoo Ji-tae's vision blurred.
What's with these two? Did they eat something weird? Why're they like this?
They'd all been fine until now, so this conflict was a first. He debated smacking the back of their heads with Knifehand Strike (D), but since it seemed serious between them, he decided to watch for now.
"Yoo Bom. Be honest. What I asked. It's true, right?"
"No."
"Your eyes are shaking like crazy—you're the only one who doesn't know. Same as when you threw your laptop. How wouldn't I know?"
"Yeoreum, you're rampaging out of nowhere, making Ajusshi uncomfortable. That's why I—"
"Ah, so the uncomfortable one just now was Ajusshi?"
"......"
"Cut the bullshit. Fine. Now I know for sure. I suspected, but this is ridiculous. What's wrong with you?"
"No. Stop. Please."
Bom's gaze dropped. She fidgeted with her small hands anxiously.
"Don't look away! Look me in the eye and say it straight! Don't you know I'm saying this out of worry for you? What's with your heart?"
"Yeoreum. Really, no. Whatever weird thing you ask Ajusshi. If it doesn't embarrass him, I wouldn't say anything."
Bom, head bowed, desperately enunciated each word. Yeoreum sneered.
"Ah, spreading legs is fine, but flipping up your shirt for belly rubs isn't? You crazy bitch, how far—"
"Hey."
Bom lifted her averted gaze and stared straight into Yeoreum's eyes.
Her throat clenched shut.
Beneath the blank expression, those grass-green pupils, the eyelids—they convulsed violently, like some tic disorder. Meeting her gaze made breathing hard.
That was when Yoo Ji-tae growled.
"What are you doing."
His voice was low but rang clear, freezing the whole scene. Startled, Yeoreum's eyes widened as she looked at Yoo Ji-tae.
Yoo Ji-tae was looking at Bom.
"Yoo Bom. Are you sane? Put that away."
Startled, Bom's eyes widened as she met Yoo Ji-tae's gaze.
Put what away? Yeoreum had no idea what he meant.
The next moment, Bom bit her lip. A faint rip... and blood seeped from her lower lip, trickling down her pale chin.
"Go to your room."
"......"
Yeoreum realized Bom's intent a beat later.
Invisible. Unfeelable. Yet Yoo Ji-tae warning like that meant Bom had moved 'something.' Something extremely dangerous. And aimed it at her.
She'd only done it out of concern. Was he reacting that extremely? The moment she faintly sensed Bom's 'something' beyond mere hostility—
Yeoreum couldn't control her emotions anymore.
"Hey. Hey, where you going."
Bom turned. Yeoreum splashed the coffee from the mug beside her onto Bom's face.
Splash—hot coffee poured over Bom's face. Bom grimaced and looked back at Yeoreum.
"Get over here, you fucking bitch."
Yeoreum suddenly lunged, fist clenched, shoving the table aside as she charged at Bom. It happened in a blink.
In that hair-trigger moment—
Yeoreum lost consciousness and crumpled to the floor. Yoo Ji-tae had struck her nape.
"......"
He turned to Bom.
Drenched in coffee out of nowhere, Bom trembled all over without even wiping it off. Her head shook wildly up, down, left, right.
"Go to your room."
Bom stood frozen, then slowly raised her hand. She wiped the coffee from her cheek with her palm.
As she wiped, something else came off too. No matter how much she wiped, it kept coming.
Tears.
Bom was on the verge of crying.
"I'm sorry..."
When he looked back at her, Bom avoided his eyes and murmured in a choked voice.
"I knew it would end up like this today."
A throat catch sounded. Gulps and sniffles too.
Bom sniffled for a while, then let out a hot sigh. She lifted her head slightly, then squeezed her eyes shut. Fresh tears welled and spilled.
"I knew this would happen..."
Swallowing her last words, Bom turned and went into her room.
Only then did Room 301 fall quiet.
"......"
Yoo Ji-tae glanced at Yeoreum sprawled on the floor and sighed.
It was a pitch-black space.
Looking up, nothing but pristine white tiles stretching endlessly far away.
There, Bom opened her eyes.
Her head was foggy. Her mind dizzy. Her vision blurry.
Amid that, the cold, hard feel of tiles pressed against her legs. Bom looked down at her legs through hazy eyes. Why? Her legs felt bare. She wore nothing. Right above her legs, the only visible clothing was an oversized dress shirt. It carried a very familiar scent. So big it didn't fit right. Even her fingers were buried in the sleeves.
Having worn it once before, Bom realized immediately.
This was Yoo Ji-tae's shirt.
Why am I like this? As Bom blankly peered into the shirt's sleeves, something yanked her neck.
"Eek...!"
Bom's neck twisted, slamming her face-down onto the floor. Only then did she realize something was tied around her neck. Like a dog collar.
Looking up, an iron chain linked from the collar stretched into the distant darkness.
Someone had pulled her.
Startled, Bom clawed at the collar. She strained to snap it. But the chain was too tough; it wouldn't break.
The next moment, someone began to emerge from the darkness.
Clearly the one holding the collar.
Bom looked up at it.
"......!"
In an instant, Bom jolted upright.
Her whole body was soaked in sweat.
Where...? The bed.
That just now? A dream?
But something felt off.
Suddenly her chest pounded. Suppressed emotions surged from deep within.
The world shook. The blanket. The bed. The chair. Even the ceiling light.
No. It wasn't the world shaking—it was her eyes.
Bad thoughts began fogging her mind like mist. Crimson mist. Her unstable gaze swept the room. When it snagged briefly on something, she saw a cutter knife, scissors, pen nibs. All sharp things.
"Yoo Bom."
That was when something called her.
The moment her eyes met the person looking down at her from beside the bed, the fog filling her head dispersed rapidly.
Her tensed body relaxed like magic. Her racing heart calmed.
Bom let out a collapsing sigh and leaned against the wall.
"Ajusshi..."
There stood Yoo Ji-tae.