The Most Beautiful in This Universe (5)
The Most Beautiful in This Universe (5)
Just as sunlight traveling 150 million kilometers warmed Earth gently, in this Otherworld too, sunlight that had flown hundreds of millions of kilometers brightly illuminated the world.
Beneath that dazzlingly bright stream of light, I was feeling a more piercing atmosphere than anything else.
My hands and feet were numb, my head hurt, and an urge to pee was pressing.
A situation where all such obstacles felt like nothing. I slowly raised my body and checked her attire.
Her appearance, bundled up tightly no differently from when we went hunting yesterday, was clearly telling me that the kind of incident I had imagined last night hadn't happened.
"Umm... Dojin-ah?"
The girl who had been sleeping motionless like a doll seemed to feel the pressure pressing on her chest disappear, and carefully opened her eyes.
And with an expression no different from usual, she lightly offered a morning greeting.
"Good morning...."
"Uh, uh. Good morning......."
"Is your stomach okay? You seemed to drink a lot yesterday...."
"It's fine, fine."
Saying that, Eunha carefully pushed me away and sat up. Then after trembling her body briefly, she collapsed back onto the bed.
"Why, what's wrong?"
"......I got a cramp, so I can't move."
"Ah, really?"
Saying that, she stretched her body straight and silently stared at me. Then her lips moved slightly before she turned her head as if feeling too embarrassed to speak.
"Um, Dojin-ah...."
"Yeah?"
"I, uh... bathroom. I need to go."
"...Then go?"
"Well... my hands and feet won't move...."
I could quickly guess what she wanted me to do even without her saying it. Pressing my eyelids, I carefully asked.
"...Take you there?"
"...Yes."
Hearing that, I carefully slid my arm between the nape of her neck and the back of her knees. Whether it felt like an electric current just from that, she let out a shriek, Hyeat.
'Pain Immunity, but she feels this kind of thing just fine.'
Well, getting a cramp is more a phenomenon of muscles locally spasming than pain, so classifying that as pain has ambiguous aspects.
If something slightly uncomfortable is classified as pain and all of it is excluded. Then she wouldn't even be able to walk.
Life is pain, and living is a continuous struggle fighting against pain.
Carefully carrying her, I entered the bathroom, sat her on the toilet, turned my face away, and pulled down her pants and underwear without looking at her genitals.
How urgent must it have been, she didn't even ask me to leave and released her pee first. Jjoreureuk, I tried not to hear the sound of urine pouring into the toilet.
A moment later, after finishing her business, Eunha carefully opened her mouth.
"Um... I'm done."
"...I'll dress you."
"W, wait... Uh, I need to wipe...."
"...Still can't move?"
"Uh, yes. Must be because I was held by someone all night...."
"...Held by who?"
"Uh, by you, Dojin."
"Ah."
Without a word, I picked up the silk cloth placed nearby and brought it to her genitals. Wiping her wet genitals, I immediately wet the cloth in water and threw it into the laundry basket.
After wiping her lower abdomen and dressing her lower body, I carried her back to the bed just like when we entered the bathroom. Placing her gently on the bed, Eunha nodded.
"...Thank you."
"Don't mention it."
I never thought I'd be serving even her pee, but what can I do? Clearly my fault no matter who sees it.......
Gulping down the water on the bedside table, I asked her about what happened yesterday. Why exactly I was hugging her, why she couldn't resist....
She tilted her head and looked at me with an expression asking if I really couldn't remember that.
"Uh, you grabbed me tightly."
"Grabbed you."
"Hugged me, rubbing your head against my chest...."
"...Rubbing."
"Told me not to go anywhere, to stay still... I said I wanted to leave, but you kept saying no......."
Listening to her words alone, it sounded like a rape victim's statement. I couldn't even lift my head.
"I, it's okay. I was happy too...."
"...You were happy?"
"Uh, yes. You said you really needed me, that my value isn't determined by me but by yourself, to stop talking nonsense and just be used...."
Hearing that, I couldn't help but doubt what exactly I did last night, and whether she really had nothing happen with me.
But as if such a thing meant nothing to her, she rather looked at me as if pleased to have been used like that.
"If you ever need me again after drinking... you can call me anytime."
"...No, Eunha. Don't say that."
The more she says such things, the more miserable I feel.
Eunha chattered like that for quite a while, and after several tens of minutes, regained freedom in her limbs and headed to her own room.
The room she left was filled with a faint milky scent. The kind of smell you'd only catch from a baby's skin.
"Here! Take this!"
"......What is it?"
"You told me to write and bring a business plan!"
A week had passed since I told Ga-hee to write a proper plan if she wanted to become an idol.
I had completely forgotten of course, and only upon seeing the documents she thrust at me belatedly could I recall that such a thing happened.
I took the plan from her. Originally, this kind of thing isn't something idols do. Idols just need to sing and dance well. This is work for other staff.
Naturally, the plan written by her, who had neither experience nor training in such matters, was pitiful.
Ssskrt, as I tore up the paper she brought, Ga-hee shrieked as if going crazy.
"Wh, what are you doing!?"
"It's garbage. Poor readability, and the content isn't substantial either."
"Even so, tearing it...!"
"But, I'll acknowledge your passion alone."
The reason I told her to write and bring a plan wasn't because I truly expected her to bring a usable plan.
To check if she really wanted to become an idol. To confirm her passion for it.
"Go tell Deokgu. Say I approved. No, shall I go with you right now?"
"......Forget it. If I go tell him, he'll probably come find you once anyway."
Hearing that, Ga-hee immediately turned and left the room. Leaving behind a lingering sharp rose perfume scent, wherever she got it from.
Sniffing kkung-kkung and exhaling that scent, I realized it was time and left the mansion.
'Busy, so busy.'
What would Otherworld women like? Jewelry? Or self-defense weapons? On Earth, they liked flowers, letters, gifts and such.
Not knowing what they'd like, I lightly bought flowers and dessert, and headed to one of the city's few hospitals.
The reason hospitals existed despite there being priests who could heal all injuries and illnesses was simple. Either lacking money, or afflicted with a disease even their great Divine Power couldn't cure.
Arriving at the hospital ward that existed to treat ordinary soldiers' PTSD, I naturally headed to Ilone's room. Being one of the few female patients, she had been assigned a private room.
"Hoo! Hoo!"
Looking at Ilone, who had gotten down under the bed and was diligently doing push-ups on the floor, I lightly knocked on the hospital room door.
Hearing the sound, she slightly turned her eyes lying on the floor to look this way. Meeting my eyes, she startled and swiftly got up, wiping her sweat.
"Dojin? What brings you......."
"Visiting the patient. Is it okay for a patient to exercise like that?"
"It's rehabilitation exercise. The doctor recommended it too."
"Can't that amazing Divine Power even build muscles?"
"Maybe if you pray to the God of Muscles, he'll make some?"
Exchanging various jokes, I handed over the flowers and gift together. Ilone didn't even glance at the flowers, throwing them far away, but couldn't take her eyes off the dessert I brought.
"...That, from that place I know?"
"Yes. Limited edition dessert sold at a famous shop. Was hard to get."
"I'll enjoy it!"
She took the dessert without even fully wiping her sweat, then opened the box, immediately picking up the dessert inside.
Taking a light bite and setting it down, savoring the taste with an ecstatic expression, a second bite, third bite. After eating about half, perhaps remembering belatedly, she carefully offered the dessert to me.
"W, want some?"
"I'll have just a bit."
Not wanting to hurt her feelings, I took a really tiny bite and savored the taste. While I thought Otherworld food wasn't bad, desserts still couldn't match Earth's.
'Seems like something from a neighborhood bakery.......'
Recalling the dessert's price, realizing that converting that price to Korean money could buy dozens of the same dessert, I slightly choked.
For the price, it wasn't that enticing a taste. After one bite, when I refused saying I was full, she ate all the remaining dessert.
"Your leg okay?"
"Of course okay...... lately the numbness has almost completely healed."
"Not completely healed though."
"They said I might have to limp for life? This much is merciful."
Rather, she complained that because the leg numbness felt too good, she couldn't keep her underwear dry.
I responded to that fact with laughter. Feeling pleasure is better than feeling pain, I guess.
"Will you return to duty?"
"Need to make a living, of course. Or what, will you feed your noona for life?"
Ilone said that with a captivating expression. The sweat that had been cooling her body until just now had completely evaporated, and a female-specific pheromone tempted me.
I slowly grabbed her hand. It was hot. Looking at her face, it was as red as it was hot.
"Wh, what? Don't tell me you're really...."
"Sorry, that probably won't happen."
"...Scaring people."
"Well, since I'm here already. Shall we continue the treatment?"
"...The nurses' patrol time is soon."
"Will finish before then."
I smirked and pulled her. The thumping sound of her heartbeat reached here.
The treatment finished before the nurse arrived. The nurse, seeing the heated room, frowned, left a single word telling us to restrain ourselves, and disappeared.
On the way back to the mansion after the visit.
Though it's scenery I've been seeing for months already, I often feel my heart aching at this exotic backdrop completely different from Earth's scenery where I lived my whole life.
The only thing I consider better than Earth is the stars filling that night sky. A beautiful sight impossible to see again on Earth, polluted by environmental damage.
Gazing at the countless twinkling stars each asserting their presence, I sometimes find myself standing in the middle of the road, head tilted up without even realizing it.
"...Leader?"
"Ah, Orion."
"What are you doing here?"
"Stargazing."
"Stargazing...? Quite an unusual hobby."
Saying that, Orion lifted the bag in her hand. It was full of ingredients.
"Have you had dinner?"
"...No."
"Want to come to our place? I'll make you traditional Elf cuisine."
Tempted by the mention of traditional Elf cuisine, I followed her, trailing jollae-jollae behind.