Chapter 135: ㄴㅇㄱ (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 135: ㄴㅇㄱ (2)
“Uh, well, it’s just…”
Her tone was so intense that I wondered if this was how a healer normally treated a patient, but I still explained in detail how it happened.
“I was experimenting with some ice magic and it went a little wrong.”
Of course, I kept the specific details to myself.
It was my trump card, after all, and there was nothing to be gained from revealing that I could use magic in such a way.
A look of bewilderment crossed her face as she listened.
“Just what kind of magic experiment were you doing to end up like this…?”
Her warm hand, still glowing with a faint light, fiddled with mine.
Was it just my imagination, or did her movements feel unusually persistent, almost clingy?
My skin had returned to its normal color, and it seemed like the feeling was coming back too…
“Hoo…”
She let out a short sigh, stood up, and grabbed a bandage from a shelf. She wrapped it around my hand and tied the knot tightly.
I could feel her strong will, as if she were telling me not to dare untie it.
“Alright, that’s all the treatment for today.”
“For today…?”
“It’s healing well, but we need to keep an eye on it for a few days.”
“Uh… but it feels completely fine now.”
If there was something wrong, there’s no way I wouldn’t feel it.
After living for decades as a Hunter without a single missing limb, how could I not know the state of my own body?
But that pride crumbled easily before her stern expression.
“Are you the healer?”
“…No.”
“Then stop talking back and listen. An injury is most dangerous when you think it’s all healed.”
“I-Is that so?”
“Yes. So you’ll listen to me, won’t you?”
“…Yep.”
I was utterly defeated.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Ju-yeon.
The thought of hurting her cheerful, selfless personality made me feel like I was committing a sin.
And maybe it was because she was the only one in my wife’s family—including my mother-in-law and father-in-law—who welcomed me warmly when the others didn’t approve of me.
Anyway.
What could I do when she put it like that?
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Ah, wait a minute!”
I was about to say goodbye and leave when Han Ju-yeon stopped me from behind.
Wondering what was up, I turned around to see her pulling her smartphone from her pocket and holding it out to me.
“Put your number in. It’d be a problem if you came looking for me after class and I wasn’t here, right?”
“…Couldn’t I just show it to another teacher then?”
“No way. I take full responsibility for my patients until the very end. That’s my creed.”
She said, winking one eye at me.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen that expression.
She used to make that face sometimes when she was talking.
My expression softened without me realizing it, and I typed my number into her phone and handed it back.
Ju-yeon took the phone back and, with meticulous care, pressed the call button right then and there to make sure my phone rang.
…Did she not trust me?
“Great, all set. Call me after class, okay? I’ll wait for you so I don’t miss you.”
“Okay, I will.”
“Don’t use your hand too much for a while, and that magic experiment is forbidden! Got it?”
“Yes.”
“And also…”
Please, stop….
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The bandage sent the peaceful household downstairs into an uproar.
“D-Do-jin! Why is your arm bandaged? Are you hurt?”
“Ah, well… I hurt it using magic incorrectly, but it’s fine now…”
“H-Hurt! How badly?! The hospital, did you go to the hospital?”
Ah, this is healing in its own way.
Such a dramatic reaction just from a bandage on my hand.
If I had a cast on my arm, she’d probably burst into tears.
“I got it all treated at the infirmary. They just wrapped it up to remind me not to use my hand too much, so you don’t have to worry.”
“R-Really? Phew… I was so worried.”
Jeong-hee finally relaxed after hearing I’d been to the infirmary.
I thought to myself that I’d certainly charmed this woman well.
“Sit down in the chair. I’ll have dinner ready in a minute.”
“Kay.”
Just as she said, I sat obediently at the dining table, smiling happily as I took in the savory smells from the kitchen, when I heard a door open behind me.
“You’re back?”
It was Shin Yu-jeong, emerging just in time for dinner.
She casually plopped down in the chair next to me, then her face suddenly scrunched up when she saw my bandaged arm.
“Hey, what’s with your arm? You hurt?”
“Yeah, a little, practicing magic.”
“Agh, you idiot! How bad is it? The hospital?”
“…”
Her tone is a bit rough, but she’s surprisingly a lot like Jeong-hee.
Hearing Shin Yu-jeong worry about me felt new and different in its own way.
“Aigoo, dear! Do-jin said he’s fine. He got treated at the infirmary, so don’t make such a fuss.”
Jeong-hee said, placing a stew in the center of the table.
It was a little funny hearing that from the person who was making the biggest fuss just a moment ago.
At Jeong-hee’s words, the agitation on Shin Yu-jeong’s face slowly subsided.
“Ah, you scared me! I thought you were seriously hurt! If you got it treated, why is it bandaged?”
“I think they wrapped it just in case, to keep me from using my hand too much for a while.”
“Really?”
Her gaze flickered downwards.
While Jeong-hee went to the kitchen to scoop some rice, the girl whispered sensuously in my ear.
“With your arm like that, you can’t even jerk off, can you?”
Has she been possessed by a lust demon or something?
As a Confucian boy with the deeply rooted ideals of the Republic of Korea, I had to give her a sharp retort.
“I haven’t jerked off once since I started having sex with you.”
Hah!
It’s been a long time since I learned the taste of true sex; how could I possibly waste my precious semen on masturbation!
Her face, having received a taste of her own medicine and then some, flushed pink.
“You pervert.”
“Yeah, right back at you.”
Look who’s talking.
You might as well curse at a mirror.
As we bickered with our childish, suggestive banter, Jeong-hee, who was moving back and forth from the kitchen, put an end to our squabble by placing rice bowls in front of us.
“Stop fighting and eat.”
“Yep.”
When I shut my mouth without another word, Shin Yu-jeong shot me a sharp glare.
What? Why? What.
You don’t talk back to the person who feeds you at the dinner table, kid.
Feeling hungry, I immediately picked up my spoon, but a small problem arose.
“Ah.”
My bandaged left hand was my dominant one.
Holding the spoon itself wasn’t a problem, but because the bandage was tied so tightly, the range of motion in my fingers was limited, making it difficult to use chopsticks.
Seeing this, Jeong-hee smiled and placed a side dish on top of my rice.
“If there’s a side dish you want, just tell me. Ajumma will put it on for you.”
“…Yep.”
If this is the kind of luxury I get, maybe getting hurt once or twice isn’t so bad.
Like a baby bird being fed by its mother, I got through the meal by moving only my spoon.
The side dishes were delicious to begin with, but they taste even better when someone puts them on your rice for you.
I was patting my full, satisfied stomach when Jeong-hee, who was clearing the table, asked me a question.
“If your hand’s like that, isn’t it hard to wash up, too?”
“Ah… I suppose it would be.”
Come to think of it, she’s right.
Judging by the state of my hand, it seems like it would be fine to take the bandage off, but…
“Then Ajumma will go up and…”
Just as she was about to offer her help, licking her lips as if entertaining some thought,
“I’ll do it!”
Shin Yu-jeong, who had been bustling around the kitchen helping her mom, cut her off with an urgent shout.
Oh, this is quite a peculiar picture.
Jeong-hee, perhaps realizing it would look strange to insist on doing it herself when her daughter was volunteering, let out a small sigh and took a step back.
“…Will you, then?”
“Yup, I’ll do it, so you can rest, Mom.”
“Ho ho… I don’t know when my daughter started being so considerate of her mother.”
…Is she going to get breakfast tomorrow, acting like that?
Whether she knew how her mother was feeling or not,
the girl grabbed my arm with a gleeful smile and pulled me to my feet.
“Let’s go, quickly.”
“Huh? Oh. Then we’ll be heading up!”
“Alright…”
Seeing Jeong-hee wave with a sullen look on her face pained my heart.
But then, looking at Shin Yu-jeong beside me, huffing excitedly and dragging me along, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of anticipation.
To be able to feel this way between a mother and daughter.
“It’s so thrilling…”
“What’s so thrilling?”
Oops.
I got excited again and said my thoughts out loud.
I was about to brush it off as nothing, but she grinned and pressed her body even closer against my arm.
“Why, are you already getting hard just because I said I’d wash you?”
“…”
Judging by your flushed face, which is plain to see even in the dark, you seem more excited than I am.
“Even so, you’re just going to help me wash my face and hair, right?”
“Nope?”
“…Then?”
“You need a shower. Did you sweat today or not?”
I was given a choice between two options.
To be honest, I hadn’t sweat a single drop.
The temperature in the practice room had dropped below freezing because of the ice magic; how could I have possibly sweat?
But regardless of the truth, my mouth gave an answer faithful to my desires.
“I did, a lot.”
I sweated.
I was so drenched that I couldn’t possibly sleep without showering because I’d feel too gross.
I kept hypnotizing myself so my acting wouldn’t be awkward.
At that, she grinned and asked me,
“You need a shower, right?”
I nodded, a dazed look on my face without even realizing it.
“…Yeah.”
I utterly sank the girl who had charged in so gallantly, vowing not to lose this time, right there in the bathroom.