Eye Training
Noona sat facing me directly, a bright smile lighting up her face.
“...What? Why are you staring at me like that? It’s giving me the creeps.”
“Hehe… Namhyuk-ssu, you’re all ready to grant my wish again today, right?”
Well, I suppose this was the usual pattern. I let out a sigh and shook my head.
“What is it this time?”
Despite my bored tone, my heart was quietly filling with a subtle surge of anticipation.
…To be honest, last time’s massage hadn’t felt like a penalty at all. If anything, it had been closer to a reward. If every penalty could be like that, I wouldn’t mind one bit…
Of course, it wasn’t always something nice—she sometimes made me wash the dishes—so I couldn’t let myself relax completely.
Noona tapped her lips a few times while she thought, then suddenly raised her hand as if a brilliant idea had struck her.
“…Since you lost the staring contest today, I’m going to make a special wish to train your eyes!”
“Train my eyes…? What kind of random nonsense is that?”
I stared at her with genuine confusion, having no idea what she was talking about.
She flashed me a mischievous grin, then abruptly changed position, kneeling in front of me and grabbing my cheeks with both hands.
“…From now on, you’re not allowed to close your eyes or look away until I say it’s okay. You have to keep staring at the same spot. Understand?”
Ah, so that’s what she meant? I clicked my tongue.
I frowned and shook my head. “Ugh… I really don’t want to. That’s straight-up old-fashioned torture.”
“No no, it’s not torture, it’s training. Okay, starting now—don’t move your eyes until I tell you to.”
“Ugh… This is seriously unfair. Do I really have to?”
“Yep. Begin!”
With that, Noona kept my cheeks firmly in her grasp and stared straight into my eyes.
…What is this? It’s no different from the staring contest we just had.
I couldn’t hide my bewilderment and scrunched up my face. Was she actually trying to train my eyes with this?
No way. No matter how quirky she was, she wouldn’t seriously make that her wish…
Just as that thought crossed my mind, Noona suddenly lowered the hand holding my cheek and slipped her fingers between mine.
“…?”
“Hehe. You’re not allowed to look away, remember?”
She gently guided our joined hands and placed them just below her navel.
“N-Noona…?”
“Hehe… You have to look at my eyes. Don’t look anywhere else.”
Noona slowly began moving my hand in circles across her stomach, guiding it up past her belly button, then back down again.
Her lower belly, slightly rounded and soft, felt warm and plush. Every time her heart beat, I could feel a faint vibration from inside, and it was oddly adorable.
The skin there was incredibly smooth and silky. Each time my fingers brushed over it, a shiver raced all the way up my spine.
I swallowed hard and kept my gaze locked with hers. Noona looked up at me with a faintly flushed face, smiling softly.
And then my hand moved lower. Even lower.
Just how far is this going…!
“…N-Noona!”
“Yes? Hehe…”
She grew bolder, sliding my hand downward until my fingertips reached the gentle rise of her pubic bone. She traced small circles there with my fingers, stroking the area, before moving even further down.
…As obvious as it was by now, Noona wasn’t wearing anything down there today either. In other words, the place where my hand was resting right now was Noona’s—
At this point I couldn’t endure it anymore. I had to see with my own eyes exactly where my hand was touching.
Noona quickly leaned her face in close, making sure that even if I looked down I would only see her smiling face.
“…Namhyuk-ssu… You’re not allowed to move your eyes. This is training, remember…?
You’re doing really well, though. You haven’t blinked even once yet…?”
How could I possibly blink in a situation like this? I could barely even breathe properly.
My fingertips were now mere millimeters away from her most intimate skin. I could feel the burning heat and the damp moisture radiating from her.
Even as Noona grinned and teased me from up close, every ounce of my attention was focused on the sensations at my fingertips. Nothing else registered.
If I just twitched my finger the tiniest bit, I would touch her. That place I had only ever seen before, never once made contact with…
This wasn’t eye training. This was endurance training. I was barely holding back with what felt like superhuman self-control.
Right then, something wet brushed against the tip of my hovering finger.
…Huh? What was that…? It felt like a single droplet had just fallen…
“…Okay, that’s it! You can close your eyes now!”
Noona immediately closed my bloodshot eyes for me with her own hands, then quickly pressed her thighs together to hide everything.
“…Hehe. So? Did your eyeballs get a good workout?”
“What the hell was that… Ow, my eyes hurt…”
My eyes were genuinely stinging. I rubbed them as tears welled up, grumbling. My mind, however, was completely occupied by the lingering sensation on my fingertips, so the pain barely registered.
Noona seemed to feel a little guilty watching me. She reached out to wipe my tears and apologized awkwardly.
“Hehe, sorry… Are you okay? Do they hurt a lot?”
“I-I’m fine…”
“Sorry… I won’t do it next time.”
Her voice had grown small and dejected. When I opened my stinging eyes to look at her, she was scratching her head with an extremely apologetic expression.
“Namhyuk-ssu, are you okay…? Want to borrow my eye drops?”
“No, it’s not that bad. Really, I’m fine…”
I jumped up from my seat and stopped her as she tried to rush off to find the drops, waving my hands. Then I let out a small laugh and muttered.
“I mean, we’re not kids… What’s the point of training your eyes anyway…”
“No no, if you master it you can intimidate strangers at first glance. I saw it on YouTube yesterday.”
“Oh boy, what are you even talking about…”
“Hehe… It’s true.”
I burst into helpless laughter. Only then did Noona seem relieved. She smiled brightly and plopped down right beside me, leaning her head against my shoulder.
She rubbed her cheek against me in a playful, affectionate way to lift my mood, then quickly changed the subject.
“…Namhyuk-ssu, you haven’t eaten yet, right? Want to order chicken?”
“Sure. Kyochon?”
“Hmm… Kyochon? How about Goobne?”
“Goobne works too. Order whatever you feel like, Noona.”
“Okay~~ Just wait a minute, I’ll order it.”
We sat close together in comfortable silence, each of us staring at our phones.
Then Noona suddenly lowered hers as if something had occurred to her.
“Namhyuk-ssu, I’m seriously going to start exercising now.”
“Exercising…? You…? Hmm…”
When I gave her a skeptical once-over, she puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.
“Why not! I can exercise too, you know…”
“Well… sure. If you want to. Want to bet on how long it lasts?”
“Tch… This time I’m really going to do it. Look, I even joined a club at school today.”
“A club…? What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know, it’s apparently a place where people with no athletic ability like me exercise together… I’ll try it once, and if it’s okay I’ll keep going.”
Noona, of all people, joining something like that? I was so shocked I couldn’t hide my disbelief.
The Noona I knew would never do this… The same person who skipped classes until she was on the verge of failing was now willingly going outside to do a type of exercise she had never liked…?
“…What’s with that look? It’s making me feel bad…”
“…Noona, are you really my Noona? An alien didn’t body-snatch you, did it?”
I grabbed her cheeks and stretched them while asking with a serious face. She glared at me and protested loudly.
“No, I’m not! It’s true. If I don’t force myself like this, I know I’ll never exercise if I’m alone at home, so I signed up…”
The Noona who spent every day lying around was suddenly showing this much determination…? It didn’t make sense.
Was this some kind of supernatural phenomenon? Had the genre secretly changed from romance to horror…?
Then, suddenly, something she had said last time flashed through my mind.
“…Namhyuk-ssu, you like girls who exercise, right…”
…Could she really be doing all this because of that? My face grew hot and I scratched my cheek.
For someone as homebound as Noona to decide to go outside, she must have needed an enormous amount of resolve. Especially when it was for a type of exercise she disliked…
The fact that she was doing it all to look good for me was almost impossible to believe.
In truth, I wasn’t interested in athletic girls at all, so it was a completely pointless effort. Even so, the intention behind it made me incredibly happy.
I glanced at her and said softly.
“…Yeah, well… do your best.”
“Okay! Hehe…”
She pushed her face close with a radiant smile. I pretended to be annoyed and pushed her away, but the truth was I was too embarrassed to meet her eyes.
After we finished the delivered chicken and sat around a little longer, it eventually got late. I stood up.
“…Noona, I’m heading home now.”
“Mmm, okay. Going home?”
She followed me all the way to the entrance, cheerfully scratching her butt. I chuckled and patted her head. She leaned into my hand and smiled like a happy idiot.
“See you tomorrow, Noona.”
“…Oh, right! Namhyuk-ssu, do you want to go to the shopping mall with me tomorrow?”
“The shopping mall? The one in front of the subway station?”
“Yes. I need to buy some workout clothes. The ones I bought before are way too old…”
“Really…? Okay. What time?”
“How about three o’clock? Heehee…”
“Sure. See you then.”
“Okay, byeee~~”
Noona waved brightly. I smiled and waved back, then stepped outside.
I returned to my own apartment right next door and thought while changing my clothes.
…Going out with Noona is such a rare event. It only happens about once a year.
Hmm, what should I wear tomorrow? I only ever wear tracksuits, so I don’t have anything decent.
It’s just the nearby shopping mall… Am I overthinking this? No, I should still show some basic courtesy. I’ll iron a shirt before bed.
Now where did I put my cologne? And the hair wax… Ah, forget it.
Lost in those thoughts, I busily prepared for our outing the next day.
That same night, the sound of Noona rummaging through her closet and pacing in and out of the bathroom continued without pause until dawn.
