#29. Heeeung
#29. Heeeung
"Give me your ID card. Na-eun-ah."
"...My ID?"
"Yeah. I'll give you mine too."
I held out my resident registration card to her and said.
"And pull up your Illust World account's my page."
"...Oppa. That's a bit..."
"Hey. I don't know how serious you are about this contract, but I'm really. Fucking. Desperate."
Even ten insurances wouldn't be enough for my current situation.
I needed a surefire way to shut Na-eun up completely.
Me. Lee Min-ho. Erotic Novelist.
I was relentlessly plotting scenarios in my head without a break.
I had to find a world line where she wouldn't report me, I could graduate safely, and we could say bye-bye.
My opponent was an unpredictable bundle of variables itself.
To me right now, she was no different from the 'Crawling Chaos' in the Cthulhu Mythos.
To confront an absolute being I couldn't possibly beat, I had to prepare just as thoroughly.
"Okay..."
Na-eun obediently handed over her ID and passed me her screen with her Illust World account open.
I captured her screen and sent it to myself, then saved it multiple times in email and cloud under different names.
Na-eun looked at me with a pathetic expression.
"All done?"
"Yeah. You don't need my Novel World account?"
Na-eun snickered.
"Oppa. If you break the contract, all I need is this one thing."
Her index finger pointed to her own nape.
And in that same pose, Na-eun mimed screaming "Kya!"
But her silent scream surprisingly landed a critical hit on me.
The moment Na-eun screamed here and shouted, 'This bastard raped me!'
The PE students next to us in their gym clothes would snap my spine in half on the spot.
If a beauty like Na-eun claimed she was raped, the guys would punish me no matter what it took.
...Fuck. Shit.
Just thinking about getting beaten like a dog, handcuffed, and dragged to the police station made me dizzy already.
"Then, Oppa. Take good care of me. You have to man up and take. Proper. Responsibility?"
Na-eun held out her hand to me.
"Yeah. Sure. Take care of you too."
I smiled brightly and shook her hand.
Right now, she had no idea what nonsense she was spouting.
If she learned how Jin-seong takes responsibility, Na-eun would probably cling to my pant leg and beg me to cancel.
If I reenacted the novel exactly, Na-eun would end up...
As a brainless slut with nothing but my dick on her mind.
"Then let's go. We gotta check the site before the sun sets."
She was right.
If we were too late, it'd be hard to gauge how light would enter the building's spot or the daytime foot traffic, so we'd have to go again.
Leaving the College of Architecture building, we stood side by side at the bus stop again to catch a bus.
Lately, it felt like I was riding the bus with Na-eun a lot...
I used to always go home alone as my daily routine, but who knew I'd be going back and forth so frequently with the department's top beauty.
"Hey. Na-eun-ah."
"Yeah?"
"You... ever read my novel?"
She suddenly flinched.
Just say no if you haven't.
Her bugged-out reaction kinda hurt my feelings for no reason.
"No! I told you last time too!"
Her openly contemptuous glare made me clear my throat.
"Ahem... Ahem! You keep bringing up my novel, so I wondered if you'd read something and were talking shit."
Thinking about it, Na-eun brought up my novel way too often.
Like when teasing me: Does the protagonist in your novel act like that?
Or all erotic novelists are basement-dwelling virgins, shit like that.
Even just now with the contract, she cornered me like: Does the protagonist in your novel who deflowers a virgin take responsibility with money?
Hmm... There was something slightly suspicious, but I decided to let it slide for now.
Honestly, a pretty girl like Na-eun reading my erotic novels would be the more absurd thing.
"Then I'll ask a question too."
"Go ahead."
Na-eun's mouth corner twitched; it was obvious at a glance she was already full of ideas to tease me.
"Oppa... Have you... jerked off to my drawings?"
...So like asking if I've jerked off to my novel covers. Got it.
Before, I'd have lied or changed the subject, but not anymore.
To take responsibility for her, I needed the same boldness and audacity as before.
And a mental leash that was way too loose.
"Hmm~ I think at least two shots per drawing?"
I answered her as calmly as if she asked what I had for lunch.
Come on. Shoot me that contemptuous look again like before.
I'm unfazed. Bring it. Han Na-eun.
"...Heuung."
...Heuung?
Her completely unexpected reaction made me blink at her for a moment.
With an expression like I needed to draw hearts in her eyes, she let out that weird sound.
But maybe a second after she said it, Na-eun yelled at me.
"Why say that so loudly!"
Na-eun smacked my back with her cute little palm, pang pang.
It didn't hurt, but my mind was stunned.
Am I... lately... mentally weak or something?
My brain keeps glitching and showing me weird scenes.
"Ah. Sorry."
Less than a minute into maintaining my bold concept, I automatically apologized.
"Seriously..."
Na-eun whipped her head away and boarded the bus that arrived just then.
It was a bit crowded, so no seats for two.
Only single seats left.
I nodded at Na-eun to go sit.
"Oppa, you sit."
"It's fine. Go on."
"Ooh~ Acting all mannerly when you're a Mosol~"
If my life were a comic, there'd be a huge ppakjik over my head right now.
On a bus full of kids from our school heading home, did you have to say that? You.
"Thanks."
I still said a proper short thanks, so I gotta hold it in.
With a deep sigh, I stood in front of the seated Na-eun and pulled out my phone.
Before I became a writer, I used to enjoy reading web novels on the bus all the time, but after becoming one, I hardly touched them.
When reading stuff like [Succubus Only Eats Virgins!], I was tense countless times worrying the person next to me might peek at my screen...
But back then, the novels were so fun I read them anytime, anywhere.
There were still 50 chapters left, so why hold back?
These days, I comfortably read webtoons a lot instead.
They were fine for daily serialization, and good for mindless viewing.
After binge-reading all Friday webtoons, I glanced down to see what Na-eun was so into.
Just SNS, huh...
Well, girls are always glued to that.
I only made an SNS account because Hwi-min nagged me, but I never posted anything.
Absentmindedly looking at Na-eun's screen, she closed the window, and a familiar app caught my eye on her wallpaper.
...Novel World? That's it.
No matter how mentally weak I was, I could spot the Novel World app instantly.
It was my workplace.
I clicked it dozens of times a day; no way I'd miss it.
Unable to resist curiosity, I tapped her shoulder twice.
"Why?"
She pulled out her earphones and looked up at me.
"You reading web novels?"
"No? Why would I?"
"But why do you have Novel World installed?"
Not many people keep unused apps on their home screen.
"That's..."
She suddenly hemmed and hawed, not answering.
Oh ho. This girl. She's actually my reader, isn't she?
"If you confess honestly now, I'll understand. You're my reader, right?"
"Ah! Stop! Don't say crazy shit! I don't read yours!"
...So she reads other novels but not mine?
I figured that could be.
Even though my works dominated the top rankings, not every Novel World reader read mine.
"...Then what do you read?"
This felt like an interesting topic.
What does Han Na-eun read on Novel World?
Just fantasy? Or women-oriented novels?
But Novel World's main audience is guys, so not much women-oriented stuff...
Recalling recent hit works in the rankings, I waited for her answer.
"[Childhood Friend High School Classmate and Senior.]"
"What...?"
"I'm reading [Childhood Friend High School Classmate and Senior.]"
"Fuck, no way! Na-eun-ah!"
Even on the bus, I yelled at her a bit loudly.
...Why of all things that bastard's work.
Why that fucking trash novel!!!!!
Looks like Na-eun was a fan of the work that corrupted me as a writer.