Chapter 119
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: Overnight at the Love Hotel
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Not day use, but an outright overnight stay—we booked the room for the full night.
The moment I opened the door and stepped inside, Oh Hana, who I'd figured would be lounging around all day, hopped down from the bed and immediately started stripping off her clothes in a fit of irritation. In an instant, she was down to her underwear. A pricey-looking black lace set, top and bottom.
Still in that state, she dove onto the bed and thrashed about. There was a cute pang pang sound.
"Uwaaaang! Shit! Uwaang! Fuck!"
I quickly shut the door behind me so no one else could catch a glimpse of Oh Hana like this. Well, I could see where she was coming from. Totally understandable.
If it were me, and a plan I'd built up all day around collapsed like that—especially in such a shitty way—my mental state would shatter too. Holding it together to this extent was actually impressive.
'Man, seeing her like this brings back memories of our first meeting.'
I'd realized right away, even without much conversation, that Oh Hana was a great girl all around. But at first, she came off a bit prickly... and given her looks, I'd wondered if she might be some scary type.
'Hey!! You're in there, right?!'
'Open up quick! Ah, it's freezing to death out here.'
Thinking back now, it probably really was that cold.
And maybe...
"Hana."
"What."
"You were especially prickly when we first met. What was that about?"
Oh Hana, who'd buried her face in the bed, lifted her head just a bit to reply.
"I'm about to live under the same roof as some guy I don't know. Can't exactly open my heart wide right from the start."
"That's fair, but you warmed up pretty fast."
I couldn't forget it even if I tried.
This girl straight-up called me "mister" out of nowhere, asked me to carry her suitcase, then suddenly burrowed into the electric blanket where I'd been lying, like a hermit crab. From that point on, I could feel her tension melting away.
"That was because..."
Whatever it was, she looked embarrassed as hell.
She covered her face with both hands as she said it.
"...your face looked so nice and kind."
Yeah, the store manager had said stuff like that to me sometimes. Something about my face being easy to approach. Oh, and Jeong Hyejeong, who hooked me up with the study cafe gig, had said the same.
Honestly, I got it. Even I sometimes looked in the mirror and thought the same.
At the same time, I knew what that phrasing really implied.
"That's the nice way of putting it. The harsh way?"
"The harsh way? You really wanna hear it? You might regret it... seriously, better not."
She fidgeted like she couldn't bring herself to lie, and I said,
"I wanna hear it, so spill."
"Whoa. Your tastes are weird. Fine, um! ...Like total pushover bait? Virgin loser for sure. The kind where nothing makes your heart race?"
"..."
Puck!
I immediately kicked Oh Hana's ass. Pretty hard.
"Hyang! No fair! You told me to say it!"
"You fucking bitch. That was too harsh."
"Ugh! I'm Oh Hana. When I say I'll do it, I do it, you know?!"
Looking back now, that prickliness at first wasn't the only reason. And the same went for why she'd chosen this studio apartment.
'Jeez.'
I'd imagined every wild reason under the sun. Not a single one of my dozens of delusions hit the mark.
Absurd. I smacked my lips and gave Oh Hana's ass a few sharp smack smacks. Felt good in my hand, and her ass was just too damn pretty not to hit.
"Hyang! Why keep hitting me? Seriously!"
She yelped like a kitten but didn't really resist. That's the kind of girl Oh Hana was. Just like she'd told her ex earlier.
She always gave her all to do her best. Putting me ahead of her own feelings like that already made her S-tier character. Still, thinking about that ex of hers pissed me off for no reason.
'Didn't think it'd get me this heated. For real.'
Sure, I'd been into girls before, but I'd never once mustered the guts to confess. So when they ended up with someone else, I'd just shrugged it off. Secretly banking on some naive hope that a girl who'd only have eyes for me would drop from the sky someday.
Thinking about it now, it was just pathetic shut-in coward shit. Fuck. Like girls rain from the heavens if you sit still. What, a meteor?
'...Well, something did drop.'
Thanks to the quests, I'd hooked up with three girls—Oh Hana included—without even trying. Talk about a golden opportunity from above.
So no way was I letting this slip through my fingers. No confidence I'd just shrug it off anyway.
Funny part? All that talk about empathizing with a heartbroken ex. Truth is, Oh Hana and I were never official.
But we'd acted like a couple, no doubt. If what happened between us could happen between total strangers, it'd shatter the world beyond culture shock.
'Am I overreacting, getting sensitive about an ex when we weren't even dating?'
The way my grip tightened on her ass said otherwise.
"Hwaang! My ass is gonna flatten, my ass!"
"What about now?"
"Huh?"
I flinched at her puzzled look. It took real guts to ask. Cringy, scary, embarrassing...
"How do I look now? Still like that... pushover virgin loser who doesn't make your heart race?"
"Well, uw aaang!"
Unable to answer, she buried her face in the pillow again, and heat rushed to my cheeks.
"...W-wait. Timeout! I can't do this. I'm struggling here."
"Hey."
"Booze! Let's drink first and talk! Alright, Kim Hyunwoo squad! Stash seven bottles of soju in the fridge. Execute!"
Jeez...
"Execute. Execute."
I nodded and neatly stocked the fridge with soju bottles one by one. Meanwhile, Oh Hana set up popcorn snacks, potato chips, and dumplings on the motel's table.
She opened just the centers, laying them out perfectly for easy snacking—not her first or second rodeo.
"..."
She'd probably done this with her ex too.
...That thought popped up again. Driving me nuts. I knew linking every little action to her ex was pathetic and childish, but stopping it wasn't easy.
At the same time, it was a fact that the jealousy amped up my heartbeat more than usual. ...Should I see a doctor? Get tested for perversion or something. Felt like I wasn't right in the head.
My body was hot. Sure, the room was warmer than outside, but beyond that, heat kept surging through me. Jealousy, nerves, excitement, anticipation... all jumbled up, blood boiling.
A bit dizzy too? Everything felt so new, that was probably why.
First time and all.
'Fear of these unknowns always made me more passive.'
Didn't know, so it scared me.
Job hunting was similar. Never had a real job, so applying terrified me. Might've shown in interviews.
Then I'd given my all, failed, shrunk back further, got more cowardly.
At some point, I was just bitching about the world, letting problem sets gather dust, avoiding new challenges, sinking deeper into depression.
Then Oh Hana, Han Aebom, and Yoon Sua showed up.
All in uncharted territory, fumbling through trial and error, adapting and succeeding—watching them built my confidence.
'No one's experienced everything in this world.'
Even stars shining on big stages now had their tense, mistake-filled, awkward phases.
I knew it logically but hadn't internalized it.
Not anymore.
Even if I heard,
'That's it. Good work, everyone.'
...that cold dismissal,
I could reply,
'I'll do better next time! Thank you!'
...with the right mindset. Same for Oh Hana's situation.
What did a virgin loser know?
Right moves? Words? Attitude in this scenario?
Clueless. Gotta experience it to know. But one thing was sure. No pathetic excuses like "I don't know how to hold onto her" or "I'm scared."
No acting like an idiot over that.
"Hey! We're drinking till we drop tonight!"
I yelled that as I stripped off my clothes in one go.
"Oh my, what a disgrace... what're you doing?"
"What? You stripped first."
"True, fair point?"
Me in just boxers. Her in bra and panties.
We faced each other in our underwear.
Oh Hana stared blankly at me, mumbling unconsciously.
"Damn, your body's insane..."
"Yeah?"
"Eep! Oh god, shit... did I just say that thought out loud?"
"You said my body looks good."
"Kwaaang! I must be off my game today!"
She clutched her head in a frenzy one second, then calmed and started giggling the next. Finally lost it?
"Eh, whatever! Let's enjoy it to the fullest! Life's short! Oppa, hold still there."
"...Okay."
Dazed, I nodded, and now Oh Hana was snapping photos of me like crazy. Demanding poses too. Mostly bodybuilding ones.
Front double bi... or whatever.
"Whoa! Oppa, your muscles... what the hell? Damn, should've taken pics when we first met. Am I misremembering or what?"
"What."
"You seem like a different person."
I got it. Quest rewards already bumped Agility +1, Strength +3, Virility +5, Stamina +7—my body had changed without me noticing.
Used to find six 1.5L water bottles heavy; now they felt light.
If my supposedly unchanging dick got thicker and longer, no way the rest stayed the same. Body changes with exercise alone if ordinary.
"Wow, nice..."
Poking my abs, chest, arms, drooling—watching her was surreal. She really into this?
As a guy, I got the thrill of eyeing her hot body. But mine? Felt weird.
"Above all, this spot's gotta be the jackpot, right?"
"..."
I glanced where she pointed and blushed faintly.
My dick.
We'd done everything, but direct hits like this still brought unstoppable embarrassment. This girl... damn, unreal.
"You think so too, right oppa?"
"Think what."
"Don't you feel like your little buddy's status has leveled up compared to before?"
More like, who else asks this?
Now poking my dick with her index finger. The stimulation made it swell, peeking out of my boxers. She burst into laughter.
"Whoa, cute but gross. And somehow lovable."
I was dumbfounded. My dick heard what I'd been dying to first.