Vacation is Almost Here # 1
Vacation is Almost Here # 1
That was the end of that heart-to-heart. I rubbed Si-hoo's back while she cried from the sheer emotion of it all. Between friends, what's a little secret like that?
"Anyway, let's eat. Si-hoo."
"Yeah... I should have something. I'm starving after all that fighting."
"Me too."
Nothing's going to change.
Si-hoo's a girl? That's a non-issue, nothing more. I raided the fridge with Si-hoo, whipped up a meat dish like always, and we ate. We didn't really talk during the meal. There was no need to talk about this today.
And once we finished eating, I sent Si-hoo home.
"Phew."
I did the dishes.
"Ah."
I took a shower.
The dangerous cohabitation with Si-hoo was over now.
I'd established it wasn't that dangerous a situation after all. So, in a sense, I basically lived with a girl long-term... How the hell did I not realize? It's not like I'm an idiot.
Sure, she hid it pretty thoroughly.
But still.
"That bastard Kitty!"
And doesn't Kitty just pop up whenever she feels like it? Actually, if she'd done her job, what happened with Si-hoo today wouldn't have happened at all. She's the root cause. The root cause. Why didn't she come help?
"..."
But Kitty wasn't appearing. Looked like she was planning to stay under until she needed something again. Even so, I had a lot of questions for Kitty.
What was that bizarre monster? What was the ability that made part of the ground two-dimensional? And why did she tell me to kill it? Next time, I'll ask her while giving her a good spanking.
—Squeeze.
I finished my shower, dried myself off with a towel, towel-dried my hair, and flopped onto my bed.
"That bastard Si-hoo... she really was a girl."
I was astonished.
Truly astonished.
Memories of living with Si-hoo flashed through my mind—fwip, fwip, fwip. Wait. What the hell was Si-hoo thinking while we lived together? Sure, she was pretending to be a guy... but still, what went through her head living with me? I mean, the situation was unavoidable back then, so it was fine, but I wondered.
"..."
That could be the case.
I tried to play it as cool as possible. I kept telling myself "that could be the case," doing my best mind control to not fixate on my friend's secret.
"Ack."
But once my thoughts hit a certain point, I simply could not suppress my convulsions!
"Fuck! Her thigh!"
That time at the training camp! When Si-hoo got bitten by a snake and I sucked the poison out of her thigh like a maniac!
"Insane! I'm losing it!"
At the time, it was a heroic decision to save a friend. But now, knowing she's a girl? It's pure degenerate shit! Lunatic! Sucking on a girl's thigh like that! That's not normal!
"Aaaaaargh!"
My body flushed with heat as a seizure hit!
—Thump! Thump! Thump!
I thrashed and pounded the bed. I simply could not endure this shame and embarrassment!
"Hang'u! Bring Hang'u!"
And on top of that, lying in bed made what I'd seen earlier flash back. Si-hoo standing in front of me, compressing her chest to hide it...! Those deft hands and squishing breasts!
Only Hang'u could handle this!
"Kh-heuk...!"
It would've been better if I'd never known!
* * *
"Haa."
A sigh escaped me involuntarily.
"That was a close call."
If Geun-cheol hadn't been the one to find out, it would've been a disaster. Good thing it was him. If someone else had discovered it, there would've been no way out.
The situation did blow up, but it's fine because Geun-cheol is a trustworthy friend. Geun-cheol wouldn't go blabbing a friend's secret. He's a bit of an idiot, but he's solid on stuff like that.
Honestly, how I would've dealt with it if it were anyone else... my head's still spinning.
"It's a relief. That it's Geun-cheol."
Not getting caught at all would've been best, but if I had to be found out, I'd rather it be a friend like Geun-cheol. Any other friend would probably have caused problems, one way or another.
Nevertheless.
"Ack...!"
Geun-cheol had seen me wrapping my bandages with my breasts completely exposed, and that fact wasn't going anywhere.
"Ugh!"
Lee Si-hoo covered her face with both hands and kicked at her bed. Shame and humiliation exploded inside her. No matter what, letting Geun-cheol see everything!
I'd thought I was okay, but it only lasted a moment. Whenever I remember it, the shame from that moment surges right back up!
"Aaah, seriously!"
Getting found out for nothing!
But can I really act normal around Geun-cheol going forward? I'm not worried about the secret. Above all, I'll keep his secrets too.
But other feelings are a separate matter.
Now that he knows I'm a girl... it'll be hard to act as casual as before. That's what bothered Lee Si-hoo.
"Mm."
Still, the fact that there's a guy who knows I'm a woman makes me feel a little strange.
At least Geun-cheol...
"He'll treat me like a girl, right?"
Now that I think about it, outwardly he'll probably act like it's nothing and treat me like a friend, but inside, he'll definitely be hyper-aware of it. Realizing that made me feel slightly more cheerful.
"Haa. Look at my life."
Sovereign Commander Kim Ik-su.
The most powerful Awakened in this country and its highest authority. A war hero. The superhuman who led the Dimension War to victory and built the current society.
An overwhelmingly dominant existence in every way.
I carry that man's blood.
"Not even once."
Though I carry his blood, I have never once exchanged a word with the Sovereign Commander. I've never even met him. I even doubt he knows I exist. I don't even know what my mother meant to the Sovereign Commander.
I only know that he's no ordinary being.
"..."
How irritating.
"That bastard Sovereign Commander."
It's because of this piece of shit that I can't live a normal life.
"Just step down already...!"
* * *
Morning.
I knocked on Si-hoo's door to walk to school together like always. After a brief scuffling sound, she opened the door.
"Ah, Geun-cheol."
"Uh, uhh... Si-hoo."
"Hm...?"
"Uh, nothing. Just."
Ah, fuck.
What do I say?
"Hi...?"
"Why are you greeting me all of a sudden... Ah."
When I said hi, Si-hoo tilted her head, then her mouth opened. She slid past me.
"L-let's go quickly, Geun-cheol. We can't be late."
"Heh, hehehe. Yeah. Can't be late, gotta go fast."
This is so fucking awkward...!
I tried to act like it was no big deal, but I am so goddamn aware of it!
"Ah."
My eyes drifted to Si-hoo's chest. Yeah. She'd been doing that suffocating thing again since this morning.
"Si-hoo, you bastard... you've been working hard since early, huh."
"Where exactly are you looking when you say that?"
Si-hoo's face went a little red. She covered her chest like a real girl and said it half-grumbling.
"Looking? I'm not looking. It just looked uncomfortable. To put it in Chu-Han Records terms, it's like being surrounded by Hang'u—"
"Please, enough with the Chu-Han Records jokes!"
Say breast, think Chu-Han Records.
Say Chu-Han Records, think breast.
It's inevitable.
"Hey, you bastard. Can't you see my effort? Do you not see me trying to break through this awkwardness?"
"You said it was fine then, so why are you being awkward now!"
"Then was then, and now is now!"
"Ack!"
The more I think about it, the more it gets to me, I'm telling you!
Anyway, bickering like that, Si-hoo and I headed to school. I never thought walking beside her could feel so awkward.
"But Geun-cheol."
"Yeah. What."
"Do I really seem like a guy?"
Was she trying to lighten the mood?
Si-hoo asked that.
"Pretty much."
"Pretty much?"
"Honestly, at the start of the semester, I thought you were a little effeminate. But I figured saying that would hit a complex, so I kept my mouth shut."
"I... I see..."
Si-hoo drooped her head.
"Anyway, so Si-hoo. When I saw that Hang'u—"
"You don't have to beat around the bush. If you need to say something, just say it."
"When I first saw your breast, I thought it was a bit grotesque."
"Grotesque?! Then what about the Doppelganger Slime time?"
"The breast was magnificent. But the fact that it's attached to you is the problem, you know? Can you even imagine it? Me, with a breast attached?"
"That's—!"
Even I think that's an extreme disgust trigger.
"Fucker, you're a same-sex friend! Of course it's insanely weird!"
"Thinking from your perspective, Geun-cheol, that does make sense! But still!"
Well, I understand why Si-hoo would object.
She's a girl. Obviously it'd feel weird if someone called her chest strange.
"Anyway, whatever. You're a girl, right? Thinking about it that way and mulling it over, it wasn't really that strange."
"Mulling it over?! Are you saying you've been mulling over what you saw back then?"
"Hey, quiet!"
"You've got some nerve saying that!"
Ugh, I really don't know how to act around her anymore.
Grumbling our way along, we arrived at school.
—Creak.
The moment I opened the door, I saw it.
"Kim Geun-cheol? Did you have fun with your orphanage friends?"
Leona's face, looking rather pleased!
"Leona!"
The moment I saw Leona, my troubled mind settled down!
"What?"
"I missed you!"
"Wha-what did you say?! Saying something like that first thing in the morning!"
"Euh-heuk!"
—Bam!
Leona smacked my shoulder with her palm, but it felt genuinely painless...! Is this the fabled Angel Touch? It hurts, but it's actually stabilizing me.
"Geh...! I couldn't go volunteer, could I? So, uh... my weekly quota for Leona's Countenance Viewing counter was all empty. So obviously I'd miss you—why'd you hit me..."
"You want to keep spouting nonsense! Hmph! Seems like missing one day without seeing my face leaves a thorn in your mouth!"
"Something like that!"
"Don't bullshit me!"
Even the way she folds her arms and turns her head away is beautiful.
"Whew, anyway, seeing how perky you are, looks like you had a good time. Even ditching your volunteering."
"Why are you saying it like you're sulking? I couldn't help it. Cut me some slack, c'mon."
"I'll think about it. So what did you do with your friend for fun?"
Uh? Well.
I think we had a pretty weird kind of fun.
"I just get the feeling you'd be the type to run around a hillside with your friends, screaming your head off, Kim Geun-cheol. Fufufu, tell me about it. What did you do for fun?"
Leona was looking at me with a smile and speaking gently, and I had to come up with some kind of excuse.