The Lone Outsider Who Ignored a Suspected Crime Scene
Lee Narin, outfitted with white cat ears and a cat tail by Han Sia and Yu Somi.
Though the cat accessories Han Sia had bought were cheap-looking trinkets, when they were paired with Narin’s small frame and her annoyed expression, the whole thing looked strangely natural.
Apparently Narin herself was trying to protest with a sour face...
But perhaps she still hadn’t realized that her defiant expression only matched the image of a cat all the better, making her even cuter.
What’s more, Han Sia, whose sadistic streak and urge to dominate had been stirred by Narin’s prickly attitude, was already grinding her teeth as she tried to rein in the bad impulses threatening to spill over.
Yu Somi, meanwhile, had already scooped Narin into her arms and was busy rubbing her head.
And Song Changwon... was simply staring blankly at Narin.
Still, a set of animal ears... felt like something was missing.
Of course, Narin wearing cat ears and a tail was cute enough to be violent, but in truth animal ears weren’t an item that existed for cuteness alone.
When it came to animal ears, they were originally an item meant to help women who ought to have been proper and pure mimic vulgar beasts, allowing them to put on a more instinctive, more feral air.
Maybe that was why, even while I watched Narin in cat ears, I found myself imagining Han Sia and Yu Somi wearing them too.
Han Sia with black, sharply pointed wolf ears and a sleek black tail, its fur neatly groomed.
Yu Somi with the drooping golden ears of a golden retriever and a thick, fluffy golden tail.
As for their outfits... right. If I put them in the bikini I’d seen them wear at the pool last time...!
"Ian. What are you thinking about?"
"...Huh?"
I snapped back to my senses only to find Han Sia and Yu Somi, who had been fooling around by touching Narin, staring straight at me.
What was this? Had I messed up my expression? I’d thought I’d been keeping it under control...
"You just seemed to be staring a little... intensely today. N-not that I mean it in a bad way or anything!"
"You don’t need to look so stiff like you’ve committed a crime. Just relax a little, would you?"
Listening to what they said, it seemed I had failed at managing both my expression and my gaze.
In that case, it would be better to just apologize honestly and move on.
At least then I could keep hidden the fact that I’d been putting animal ears and bikinis on them in my imagination.
"Ah, sorry, girls. I was staring at you a little too hard."
After quickly running the numbers in my head, I offered Han Sia and Yu Somi a straightforward apology for my improper line of sight.
But after receiving my apology, the two of them exchanged a brief look... then grinned and whispered something to each other.
"I think I get the gist of it. Could you tell me where you bought this?"
"Hmm... If we’re going to do this, maybe it’d be better to get something of slightly better quality..."
.
.
.
Even after that, Yu Somi kept photographing Narin from various angles, then finally spoke in a slightly dissatisfied tone.
"Hmm... Everything’s fine and all, but if I’m taking pictures from behind, the clip holding the tail shows, and it kind of kills the mood. Do you have any other clothes, Narin?"
Right now, Narin was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and long pants.
But the cat tail accessory she was wearing was designed to be fixed to clothing with the clip attached at the end, so with the outfit she had on now, there was nothing for it but to clamp it roughly onto the back of her blouse.
That meant the clip holding the tail was blatantly exposed, and the wrinkles it created in the fabric were annoyingly obvious, too.
In particular, if they were going to shoot Narin lounging in the arms of a giant black bear plush, they would inevitably have to capture her back in the frame.
In that case, the tail accessory would only spoil the sense of immersion and make the whole effort pointless.
"Even so, changing clothes over something like this seems like overkill. Nyang."
Still, Narin didn’t seem to have any intention of cooperating further.
She’d already been forced to pose for Han Sia and Yu Somi for twenty minutes straight, so she was probably reaching her limit.
In the end, Narin used the plush giant bear as a substitute for a sofa and let herself sink into it.
"Huu... I’m tired from holding poses nonstop. Nyang. If I had my way, I’d like to go to my room and rest for a bit. Nyang."
"..."
"..."
But there was still desire gleaming in the eyes of Han Sia and Yu Somi.
The two girls silently exchanged a look, then smiled brightly at Narin.
"Ah, sorry, Narin! We really went too far, didn’t we? You look tired, so why don’t you go rest in your room for a bit?"
"Exactly. The plush is soft, but if you’re going to rest, it’s more efficient to do it properly on a bed. It’d be awkward to sprawl out in front of the boys, anyway."
Saying that, Han Sia and Yu Somi grabbed both of Narin’s arms as she rested atop the bear plush and led her into her room.
And as she closed the door, Han Sia said,
"Sorry, but we’ve got something we need to talk about privately for a bit, just girls together. So could you wait outside for a moment? No matter what you hear from inside, don’t even think about coming in."
.
.
.
"Wait!? What the hell are you digging around in on your own!"
"Mm-hm. Narin’s underwear tastes are cute, too."
"That’s not the point..! Eek!! Kyaaah!! Don’t take them off!"
Hearing the tragic screams of a girl coming from inside the room, Song Changwon and I exchanged a glance.
But... neither of us could bring ourselves to move.
"Ha... Those girls are taking forever. What are they even doing in there..."
"Right. The house must be well soundproofed, because I can’t hear a thing."
We mutually agreed that we had heard absolutely nothing coming from inside the room.
.
.
"By the way, Song Changwon, are you really okay with this? I’m on Han Sia’s side, if anything, so ignoring it is one thing, but you’re not. Aren’t you worried she’ll end up hating you?"
Thinking about how Song Changwon usually looked after Narin, or how he had stared at Narin with cat ears on like he’d lost his mind, it seemed clear he was interested in her to some degree.
If he had helped her now, he would have earned Narin’s favor, even if he drew Han Sia and Yu Somi’s anger.
But Song Changwon brushed off my concern.
"I’d like to get involved in all sorts of things, but I have a position to maintain."
"...?"
I looked at him, silently urging him to explain more, and he made a slightly bitter expression.
"Hmm... I don’t like speaking this way, because it probably makes me sound obnoxious, but I’d appreciate it if you listened without misunderstanding me."
Song Changwon leaned back against the chair and let out a small sigh. A moment later, he continued.
"As long as I’m a member of a chaebol family aiming for inheritance, I’m not in a free position when it comes to women. And thanks to my looks and my family background, there are piles of girls who mistake the meaning of even the slightest kindness and come rushing in."
"...Just hearing that is enough to make my blood boil, but... if I think about how many girls in our class refuse to back down even in the face of your obnoxious attitude, it’s hard to argue."
"I’m glad you understand. If a relationship can’t go anywhere anyway, it’s better not to give people a reason in the first place."
In other words, even though Song Changwon seemed to have some interest in Narin on the inside, he kept up his cold attitude because of the burdens of being from a chaebol family.
Come to think of it, seeing both Song Changwon and Han Sia bound by the complications of family money made me think that, from a child’s perspective, parents being too rich wasn’t automatically a good thing...
"Still, you seemed to care a lot about Narin in your own way... If you went that far and nothing came of it, then maybe you can stop worrying about getting dragged into some messy relationship problem with her?"
"Well, even if I don’t intend anything like that with Narin, she might not feel the same about me... Either way, I have to be careful."
To be honest... for someone claiming he needed to be careful, Song Changwon already seemed to be treating Narin as someone very special.
But maybe he still hadn’t realized that yet.
.
.
.
A little later, the firmly shut door opened, and the girls came back outside.
I didn’t know what had happened, but the smiles on Han Sia and Yu Somi’s faces were practically overflowing, so they must have been very satisfied with whatever had taken place inside.
Then I shifted my gaze to Narin, who came out after them, and noticed that she was now wearing a pure white dress instead of her previous clothes.
The white cat ears on her head were still there, but since her outfit had changed to a dress, the clip that had originally been visible outside her clothes to hold the cat tail had been hidden beneath the skirt and was no longer visible.
Of course, they couldn’t exactly cut a hole in a perfectly good dress just to pull out the cat tail accessory, so the tail was mostly covered by the dress skirt, with only the tip showing faintly.
Still, this felt natural in its own way, so it didn’t seem bad.
"Oh. Looks like you solved the cat tail attachment problem. How did you fasten it?"
"...Narin. Can I say it?"
"..."
"Hmm... If you keep your mouth shut like that, it might lead to the wrong idea. Is that okay?"
"...Uuugh..! I-it’s on my underwear! I clipped it to the strap on my underwear. Nyang..."
"Hehe... Cute... Should we start the photo shoot again?"
"....Please hurry up and finish this... nyang..."
I had no idea exactly what had happened inside the room, but it felt like Narin’s attitude had become a little more cooperative...
...
As for what had happened in that room, I felt sure of one thing.
I should never, ever be curious about it.
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