Laundry Room (2)
I stared at the woman with bewildered eyes.
A two-tone blend of black and blue.
The first thing that caught my attention was her blue-black hair.
Yesterday I'd been too flustered and it was too dark to notice, but now I could see it wasn't solid black—it was a deep blue-black overall, with bright blue streaks woven through the inner layers in a two-tone effect.
I was looking at her, but I subtly averted my gaze. Even on a second glance, the piercings studded all over and the sharp, thorn-like tattoos gave her an intimidating impression.
"Hello. Thank you for yesterday."
I started with gratitude. Thanks to her, Areum had been safe until I arrived.
The woman gave a vague nod and stared at me wordlessly.
...Why are you staring so hard? That's terrifying.
But when I looked closely, her gaze wasn't aimed at me—it was aimed at Areum, asleep beside me.
That's when it hit me, and I woke Areum up.
"Areum-ah, wake up."
"Mmn?"
"No, there's no need to wake her."
The woman said that, but Areum had already stirred awake at my gesture.
I pointed at the woman and lightly patted Areum's back.
"She helped you yesterday. She stayed and watched over you until I got there."
"Yesterday? Uh... Ah!"
As if the memory surfaced, Areum's eyes flew open and she sat up.
"Thank you, unni! You are unni, right?"
"...Probably, I think. Twenty?"
"Yes, I'm Pi Ah-reum, first-year in the Digital Content Department at Cheonggwang University!"
Areum said energetically, bending at the waist in a slight bow.
It was genuinely impressive how she could be that high-energy even right after waking up.
The woman seemed a little taken aback by that energy too. Then she returned the greeting with an awkward expression.
"Han Saebyeok. Third-year in Fashion Design."
"You're a sunbae! Thank you, sunbae-nim!"
"...We're not even in the same department. No need to be that formal."
"Then I'll call you unni! Saebyeok unni, let's follow each other on Outstar. I'll buy you a meal later to say thanks!"
"Do as you like."
Suddenly they started exchanging Outstar accounts. Every time I watched her do this, I thought it was seriously impressive. They were complete strangers, yet weirdly close with zero sense of distance. Was that what they called the popular-kid magic...?
I felt awkward just sitting there silently, so I introduced myself too.
"I'm also a first-year in Digital Content. Kang Cheol-jin."
"Oh."
"......"
Somehow the attitude she showed Areum and the attitude she showed me seemed very different. I'm sure I was imagining it, right?
'Well, I did already introduce myself in front of her before.'
I chose to believe she just felt awkward introducing herself twice.
...But why had she been speaking to me in banmal since yesterday?
Of course, I didn't have the guts to call her out on it, so I just sat back down quietly.
'Tattooed and pierced girl is terrifying...'
Han Saebyeok had come to retrieve her laundry that had finished washing. She followed Areum on Outstar, gathered up her things roughly, and left.
"Unni, I'll say hi if I see you on campus!"
"Sure."
Han Saebyeok replied curtly and opened the door.
Just then, our eyes suddenly met. This time it seemed like she was looking at me, not Areum... and her gaze was directed at my neck. Come to think of it, she'd stared there yesterday too.
I reflexively covered the nape of my neck with my hand and gave an awkward eye-smile greeting. Fortunately, I'd put on a cover sheet before coming out today.
Ttallang.
Soon Han Saebyeok was gone, and Areum made a fuss watching her retreating figure.
"She's such a cool unni. So stylish."
"Cool...?"
More than cool, she was just scary.
"Well, she did look cool."
I wasn't sure if that was the right word to use for a woman, but "cool" fit her better than it fit most guys. Her hair was on the short side, a bob cut that didn't reach her shoulders, and that dark blue-black color matched her cold impression well. The tattoos, apart from being scary, suited her well too.
'If she were a 2D female character, she'd be the type that gets insanely popular.'
She had every element that would make otaku types go 'step on me, nuna.' Anyway, she definitely had a strong presence.
I was lost in that very otaku-like delusion when—
"Kkangcheol-ah, can I ask you one thing?"
"Huh? What?"
Areum was staring intently at my hand. More precisely, at the hand I'd placed on the nape of my neck.
"I've been wondering for a while—is that a tattoo?"
She was pointing to the tattoo cover sheet. We'd been physically intimate multiple times by now, but I'd never once taken the cover sheet off.
"...It's not a tattoo."
I hesitated a moment, then pinched the edge of the cover sheet. Thinking back, it was surprising she'd never asked until now. She must have been tactfully letting it slide, with that popular-kid intuition.
Jjiik.
I gently peeled the cover sheet off. Maybe not with anyone else, but with Areum it'd be okay. We had a relationship where we were intimate at all hours—there was no way I could keep hiding it forever.
Jjiiik. Jjiik. Jjiiiiik—.
It wasn't just one or two cover sheets.
Several sheets, stretching from the nape of my neck down to my collarbone.
Each time I peeled off one of the long, connected cover sheets, Areum's eyes grew wider. Her large pupils trembled, unable to find a place to settle.
"Th-that..."
Her voice wavered.
Areum's words trailed off. Finally, as if in shock, she covered her mouth with her hand.
I spoke as calmly as I could.
"I told you, right? That I was bullied a lot back then. That's from back then."
"Th-that's not just a little! Oh no. Oh no..."
Areum said it with such anguish, her face looking like she was about to cry.
I smiled bitterly and tried to soothe her.
"It's fine now. It doesn't even hurt."
"What do you mean it's fine...!"
In the end, unable to hold back her tears, Areum wrapped her arms around my head and hugged me. With that tiny body of hers, she held me in her arms and sniffled.
"Hic. Hnnk. What do you mean it doesn't hurt? Of course it hurts..."
"It really doesn't hurt, though."
"Ssi. You idiot, your heart hurts!"
"...Areum, your chest is soft."
"You moron!"
I'd said it to lighten the mood, but I guess I still couldn't pull things off like a popular kid. Areum scolded me, calling me a moron, but even so, her emotions must have been overwhelming because she burst into tears and pulled me into an even tighter hug.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry..."
"What do you have to be sorry for?"
"For bringing it up for no reason. You probably didn't want to show it... I had a feeling you were deliberately hiding it..."
Areum carefully swept her hand over my neck. Her slender, trembling fingers gently caressed the scar.
A long burn scar stretching from the collarbone up to the area around the nape of the neck.
Sitting there like a dark birthmark, it was the mark of having been seared with a lit cigarette.
"This... can't you get it removed...?"
One drop, then a tear fell and traced a path down the burn scar. The sensation was strange because the skin there had lost so much sensitivity.
"They said it's hard because too much time has passed. I didn't think about getting it removed right away, you know."
At the time, I hadn't thought about erasing the scar. The psychological issues were more serious than the physical wounds, so I hadn't been able to pay it any attention. My parents, too, were only worried about me barricading myself in my room.
After hearing my story, Areum repeated in a tear-choked voice.
"Those bastards, those fucking bastards! They should be punished...!"
"Those bastards went to juvenile hall. No, juvenile prison."
"They should be punished more! Let them rot in there forever!"
Areum cursed them out on my behalf.
I was grateful for the sentiment, but on the other hand I was surprised at myself.
"...It's not as bad as I thought."
"Sniffle. What is?"
"Just. I feel kind of indifferent about it."
This scar, which I'd always been self-conscious about and kept hidden under a cover sheet, wasn't just a simple scar. It was directly tied to my trauma, so I hadn't expected to be able to reveal it this calmly.
Was it because it was Areum?
'If it had been anyone else...'
Just imagining it made my body shrink inward. Even as empty words, it wasn't a pretty picture. I didn't want cheap pity from people who didn't know my circumstances, and I didn't want to show an ugly scar like this.
But somehow it seemed okay to show Areum. I was grateful to her, crying more bitterly than I did, and it made my heart ache too.
I reached out and took hold of Areum's waist. I sat her on my lap and kissed her lips.
Jjok, jjo-ok.
I didn't intertwine our tongues. It wasn't a warm-up for sex—I just felt like kissing her. I realized this might be the first time I'd kissed Areum lightly like this.
Areum looked at me with a slightly surprised expression.
Feeling embarrassed for no reason, I blurted out.
"Don't go telling anyone."
"...Idiot, do I look like that kind of person?"
"I showed you because I know you're not. No one knows except you."
"......"
"Ah, except my family."
Excluding my family, it was the first time I'd shown this scar to anyone. Even Ahn Seong-hyeon, who knew about the incident to some extent, probably didn't know I had a scar like this.
I released Areum from my embrace. But she still didn't climb off me. She just kept caressing the scar as if she felt sorry for me.
Then she buried her face against my neck.
Jjok.
Lips softly traced the scar.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
She started kissing every part of the scar. Areum's lips nibbled gently at that spot with its dulled sensation.
"Jjok. I'm going to kiss the scar away."
"...Look here. There's no way that'll work."
"I don't care!"
Jjok!
"Ugh. It's starting to feel weird, so stop."
I forcibly pulled Areum away. She huffed and thrashed, but with her eyes and nose bright red, she looked utterly ridiculous.
"Your nose is running. Here, a tissue."
I tore open the tissue box on the table and handed her one.
Areum pressed it to her nose and went keung, and blew for her. No, I meant for you to blow it yourself.
But the tissue that caught her snot was about to tear through.
"Whoa! Hey, that much came out of your nose?! Ugh!"
As I snickered and showed her the tissue, Areum smacked my shoulder. Ugh, her cotton-bat fists stung a little more than usual today.
"Ssi! Give me more tissues."
"Blow it yourself, I said."
"You talk too much. Hurry up."
Ppaeng!
"Feel better?"
"Yeah..."
She'd blown her nose herself but was embarrassed, apparently. She snatched the tissue I was holding and went to throw it in the trash herself.
"Sleep a little more. There's still a long way to go before the laundry's done."
"Can't sleep. You woke me all the way up."
"If you close your eyes, you'll fall asleep again soon. Ah, that reminds me—did you contact your parents?"
"...I dunno."
"So you didn't."
Well, a girl who was too drunk to even be in her right mind would hardly have contacted them. I wondered if she was going to get grounded again.
Not long after.
Areum, with her head resting on my lap, fell asleep.
"Keo-eo-eo—."
The late winter, lingering longer than in previous years, had passed.
It was a spring day with the sunlight grown warm.