The Defeated Heroine
Back when we were younger, Jiyoung noona once said something to me when it was just the two of us.
“Namhyuk, look at this. My tongue is super long.”
With that, she suddenly opened her mouth wide and stuck out her pink tongue. It was wet and glistening, a pretty shade of pink.
Sure enough, the tip of her tongue actually reached all the way down to her chin.
I scrunched up my face in disgust.
“Ugh, what the hell are you doing all of a sudden? That’s gross as fuck…”
“Hehe, you try it too. Let’s have a tongue-length contest.”
“No way, what kind of stupid contest is that…”
“Come on, just do it~~ Pleeease~~”
When she shoved her tongue right up in my face, I felt my cheeks heat up and had no choice but to turn my head away.
“I said stop it… We’re not kids anymore, what are you doing…”
“Aww~~ Just once~~ Pretty please~~”
“Sigh… Fine. Just once.”
I quickly poked the tip of my tongue out at her.
Even if I’d stretched it out as far as it could go, there was no way I could have beaten her. It wasn’t normal—her tongue was ridiculously long, like a snake’s.
For a moment, the two of us sat there face-to-face with our tongues sticking out.
What if we accidentally touched?
Or worse… what if we ended up kissing?
Her tongue was so long and soft. It would probably feel amazing, right?
Wait, what the hell am I thinking? This is Jiyoung noona, not some random girl…
The thought flashed through my mind so fast I quickly turned my head again, hiding my burning face.
“…Heh, I win.”
From behind me, noona muttered in a slightly lower voice than usual. An awkward silence settled between us for a while.
Dammit, why did she have to pull that weird stunt and make things awkward? Honestly…
I let out a long sigh and slowly turned back to face her.
In the sunlight streaming through the window, noona was blushing faintly, smiling shyly.
…That happened almost three years ago.
Back then I still saw her as a woman to some degree, which was why something like that could even happen.
If she tried the same lame stunt now—sticking her tongue out while spouting nonsense—I’d flick her forehead and tell her to stop talking crap.
…So why was that memory coming back to me right now?
Because I was currently kissing her, obviously.
My eyes flew wide open as I stared at Jiyoung noona, who was pressing her lips against mine.
Her eyes were squeezed shut, mouth sealed to mine.
She had pushed that long tongue of hers deep inside.
It was soft. Warm. Wet.
Every time the tip brushed against the roof of my mouth or grazed my gums, a strange tickling shiver ran through me.
“…Mmph…”
Am I dreaming some perverted dream right now?
The way her quick, hot breaths kept flowing into my mouth. The sticky saliva. The way our noses kept bumping because the kiss was so clumsy. The way her bangs tickled my forehead.
None of it felt real.
The kiss lasted nearly five minutes in complete silence before she finally slowly pulled her lips away.
“…So? Isn’t my tongue really long?”
She must have been remembering the exact same moment from back then, because that was the first thing she asked.
I wiped her saliva from my lips and muttered under my breath.
“…What the hell are you doing, seriously…”
“Hehe. How was it?”
“How was what?”
“Kissing me. Was it good? Better than with other girls?”
“Bullshit. Good? It was gross…
…And I haven’t even kissed anyone before.”
“What? Namhyuk, are you impotent or something? You’ve never even kissed? Are you sure you’re a guy?”
“You’re one to talk, you damn loser who’s never dated either… The audacity…”
Grumbling, I turned my back to her and sat with my arms crossed.
Noona giggled and leaned forward, pressing her chest against my back as she whispered in my ear.
“…So this was your first kiss, huh, Namhyuk? Hehe…”
‘It’s not like it’s with some other woman. It’s just… it’s noona.’
That’s right. At the end of the day, Jiyoung noona was still just Jiyoung noona.
Despite her beautiful face, she was the kind of person who had stayed single all this time—completely uninterested in romance, almost indifferent.
The laid-back, friendly girl next door who treated me like a little brother.
Because she was that kind of person, I had completely given up on any romantic feelings for her ages ago.
But today, she was the one who suddenly crossed the line first.
“…Ugh, get off me. Why are you so clingy? You’re like a damn leech.”
“Hehe, why~~ I wanna stay stuck to you~~”
“God, seriously…!”
I tried to shake her off as she kept gluing herself to my back, but our eyes met again.
I don’t know what my face looked like to her, but it was probably a mess—cheeks flushed red, expression painfully awkward.
But her face wasn’t any better.
“…Noona, did you drink before I got here?”
“Huh? Why?”
“Your face is bright red… Be honest. You’ve been pounding beers, haven’t you?”
Her eyes widened and she quickly covered both cheeks with her hands.
Then she suddenly lowered her head and scooted back a little.
“…Sigh. Of course. I was wondering why you were acting so weird all of a sudden. You were drinking alone in the middle of the day again, weren’t you…”
“…Yeah, I had a little earlier…”
“Jeez… Cut back a bit. You’re going to give yourself gout at this rate.”
Jiyoung noona was a serious beer lover. She practically had one in her hand at all times.
Calling her an enthusiast was generous—she was basically an alcoholic. If you opened her fridge, there were usually more beer cans than bottles of water.
She drank like it was juice—one after showering, one while hanging out, one with dinner, one before bed.
I’d warned her countless times that she was going to drink herself into an early grave, but she never listened.
Well, she was a grown woman. Once I realized nothing I said would change her, I eventually gave up.
She must have gotten plastered by herself again before I arrived, and in her drunken state, she’d done what she just did.
I shook my head and stood up.
“If you’ve been drinking, go wash up and get some sleep. I’m heading out.”
“…You’re leaving already? Can’t you stay a little longer?”
“No can do. I’ve got assignments. Thanks for dinner, noona.”
“Mmm.”
She followed me all the way to the front door. Her face was still faintly flushed.
She scratched her butt and waved a little sheepishly.
Sigh. How is this hopeless woman three years older than me…?
I reached out and ruffled her hair.
“Stop drinking so much and study a little. Weren’t you supposed to be preparing for job hunting?”
“Yessir. Hehe…”
“Ugh… See you later.”
I waved goodbye and stepped out the door.
Noona kept waving until the door closed completely, watching my back the entire time.
“…Ha Namhyuk, are you a fucking idiot?”
“Whoa, why are you suddenly attacking me? I’m trying to talk to you…”
“Sigh… I should’ve known when you asked me for dating advice right after I got rejected by you…”
“Th-that was a long time ago. Anyway, just hear me out. What’s the problem?”
“What’s the problem…? Dude, don’t even ask—just do what I tell you. Cut things off with that noona right now. Got it?”
The girl sitting across from me in the café, scowling fiercely, was Kim Hyejung.
She was a classmate I got along with pretty well.
Hyejung was the one who confessed to me during our freshman year and got turned down.
After that, she’d cried and asked if we could at least stay good friends, so we’d managed to keep things from getting awkward.
The reason I rejected her back then was obviously because of Jiyoung noona.
At the time, my heart had been so full of feelings for noona that there wasn’t any room left for Hyejung.
Now a lot of time had passed. I’d given up on my feelings for Jiyoung noona, and Hyejung had given up on hers for me.
In a way, we’d both ended up as something like defeated heroines.
If this were a dating sim, it would be the absolute worst bad ending imaginable.
But reality isn’t a dating sim. Things like this probably happen all the time.
“…What? Why?”
“Sigh. You’re seriously asking why…?”
“Yeah. Why do I have to cut ties with Jiyoung noona…?”
Hyejung looked at me like I was beyond saving.
Even though her mouth was crude, she had given me a lot of sincere advice for my own good before. So I decided to listen carefully.
“Hey, you dumbass.”
“What.”
“That girl next door—you said she’s like an actual sister to you. That she has zero interest in romance.”
“Right.”
“…So what do you think she was thinking when she did that to you?”
“…Well, she was drunk, so…”
“You idiot. It means she doesn’t see you as a man!”
“…She doesn’t see me as a man…?”
Hyejung nodded firmly.
“Exactly. She just sees you as a convenient toy to play with. Sigh…
There are women like that. The kind who toy with a guy’s heart to satisfy some twisted need for control.”
“…No way. You think noona would do that to me…”
“Ugh, you’re so dense… Look, if you don’t believe me, go do exactly what I tell you today.
Go to her and say you’ve got someone you like now and want advice.
I guarantee her attitude will flip instantly and she’ll turn ice-cold. Because she doesn’t actually care about you like a little brother—she just sees you as a convenient toy to keep around and mess with.
It’s obvious. That’s how those kinds of women think…”
“……”
I took a loud sip of my coffee and fell into deep thought.
Tell noona I have someone I like?
It would be a lie, of course…
Normally I would never do something like that.
I could already picture her making that mischievous face, grinning like crazy while she teased me.
Still… did I really need to go that far just to see how she truly felt…?
But if Hyejung was even a little bit right…
If Jiyoung noona really had just been playing with me…
Hmm.
Fine. I’d give it a shot.
I gave Hyejung a small nod.