3. The Studio Apartment (2)
It didn't hurt anymore. Not one bit.
Hop, hop—even bouncing in place. A light jog was no different. The ankle that had been twisted and swollen fat had come back feeling absurdly good as new. Ordinarily an injury like that would have left me stuck for weeks, with nothing to do but throw myself into part-time shifts. This had taken less than three minutes.
...Thanks to Woojin.
Heh. Hmm.
As expected. He's definitely fallen for me.
A Healing Type Transcendent can name their own price, and yet he keeps patching me up for free, neat and quick, just like that? There is no plausible reason for it except that he has feelings for me. Right?
Right. No wonder. When I casually fished for an answer in front of the convenience store, he said pretty was good enough—whoever she was. He even brought up Jiyoon, and she's more popular than I am.
"...Hayun."
"......"
"Student Lee Hayun."
"...Ah. Ah, yes."
"Shall we stop here for today? You don't look well."
"No. I'm fine. I'll pull myself together."
Well, I'd nearly gotten into a traffic accident, and he'd made this dashing entrance and saved me, so falling for me at first sight was only natural. Jiyoon might be another story, but it wasn't as if I lost out on looks anywhere I went. Those posts you see online sometimes—How I Started Dating a Hero.txt—they all begin pretty much the same way, don't they?
But what are you going to do, Woojin. Noona isn't that easy.
That strange way he'd kissed me, making me gulp and gulp, swallowing hard. ...F-fondling my thigh until I was soaking wet down there. All of it, done in secret while Jiyoon was in the bathroom.
It hadn't affected me. Not really. I was only curious because it was my first time. A guy friend, maybe—but a boyfriend? I'd never had one. Nobody had ever taught me, that was all. At most, when my friends talked about what felt good and what didn't, I listened and made a mental note. That was the extent of it.
...Hmm?
But my thighs—I'd never even heard about those, and they felt good anyway. Really good. Why? Had the other girls never had their thighs touched? That couldn't be right. Or had it felt good because Woojin was the one touching me....
......
...Ugh. Why do I keep thinking about that....
"Let's see. I'll set the location back to a downtown street...."
I was tapping the right foot Woojin had healed against the ground when the floor beneath me changed, fast, into asphalt. City noise followed. The murmur of a crowd, blaring horns, the busy tap of footsteps, all of it mixing into the exhaust. Probably somewhere in Seoul, more or less. Whatever. It always just pulled a random image from somewhere and reproduced the place exactly as it was.
"This time, let's aim to subdue the villain while getting hurt as little as possible. Understood?"
"...I-I'm sorry about earlier...."
"It's all right. Injuries like that are common on the job. I was only a little surprised, since it's been a while."
...Okay. This time, focus. Don't mess up.
If I get hurt again, I'll have to look Woojin in the face. Then I'll have no choice but to stop by the infirmary in the main building. Then I'll have no choice but to get treated, just the two of us. Then the mood will have no choice but to turn strange.
...A kiss.
What if he does it again.
"Beginning now. Student Lee Hayun. I'll set the time limit at about five minutes."
"Yes, yes...."
Of course, I'm the n-noona, aren't I? If I set my mind to it, I can take the lead. It's just that there's always a what-if.
"All right. We'll start when the alarm sounds in thirty seconds."
...Hmm. Even if I get hurt, I should just pretend I'm not....
"Has it been ten minutes?"
"......"
I'm screwed.
"We meet again, Noona."
"......"
Seo Woojin.
He'd been sitting in an infirmary chair, tapping at a laptop, and now he broke into a wide grin as if the whole thing were hilarious. Why did some useless stray thought have to wedge itself in at the very last second.... If not for that, I wouldn't be back here seeing Woojin again after only ten minutes.
"And the teacher? When I saw him earlier, he was sporting a huge bruise from the hit you landed, Noona."
"This time I punched the building wall...."
"The building wall?"
"Yeah...."
"Then wouldn't it be better to use a weapon? There aren't many pure hand-to-hand fighters among heroes to begin with."
"...That all costs money too."
"Ah."
How was I supposed to just snap my fingers and come up with something that casually ran into the tens of thousands of dollars. A Healing Type probably didn't even know what weapons cost.
With my good hand I shut the infirmary door and stepped carefully inside.
"Your wrist this time?"
"...Yeah...."
"At least it isn't badly sprained. It isn't swollen up, from the look of it."
"......"
But Woojin didn't actually do anything. Calling it "doing anything" sounded strange even as I thought it, but anyway, the point was that he was quiet. When he'd walked toward me just now, bed right there, my shoulders had flinched at the thought that he might suddenly pounce. He only sat quietly beside me. When his hand came out, I squeezed my eyes shut, certain he was about to grab my chest. All he did was take my arm with care and lightly hold my slightly swollen wrist.
It felt like I was the only one being ridiculously sensitive. Like I was the only one still hung up on last night. I cleared my throat for no reason at all. Ahem. Ahem.
Don't tell me he'd forgotten last night? No, no. When I stopped by the infirmary this morning, he'd asked if I didn't remember a single thing that happened yesterday. ...Ah! Maybe he hadn't meant the kiss and the thigh at all, but the robbery? Except a robbery was a little big to treat like nothing special, wasn't it? ...Ah! Maybe, since my memory had cut out, he was pretending the robbery never happened so I'd feel safe? But I was pretty sure I'd already answered a little strangely.
I was cycling through it all by myself, complicated as a game of rock-paper-scissors with no one on the other side, and my head felt ready to burst.
Save me.
"Bear with it a moment. It doesn't hurt that much, does it?"
"...I-it hurts a lot, though...?"
"If you have the strength to talk, it doesn't hurt that much."
"......"
"I'll start, Noona."
"...Okay."
He hadn't done anything when I came into the infirmary. He hadn't done anything while I sat on the bed. So now he was really going to try something. Grab my chest, or kiss me like yesterday, or—well, something! Guys liked that sort of thing...!
As his noona. Right. As a bit of fan service. If he liked me, I could play along a little. Of course I'd stop him if he came at me like a beast off its leash.
The quiet infirmary, just the two of us. I'd steeled myself. I'd even thought through exactly how a proper noona ought to handle it if he really clung to me. Slightly on guard, I nodded.
"......"
"......"
But.
It was the same.
Nothing happened.
Judging by the atmosphere alone, it seemed like he might do something just like last night. He didn't do anything. The wrist that had swollen from the sprain simply went back to normal, little by little.
Why wasn't he doing anything? I-it wasn't that I wanted him to do something, but since he'd jumped straight to a kiss yesterday, couldn't he at least try a little skinship? If he touched my chest, I was going to stop him the way a proper noona should—This is the academy, so let's save that for later, when we meet on our own. And if he kissed me again like last night, I was going to ask, You like this? and then t-take the lead for a second and try mixing tongues...! I'd had it all planned....
"It's done."
"......"
"Noona. I said it's done."
"...Ah, I know. I'm listening."
The training center infirmary had two other teachers, so fine, that was one thing. But now it was just the two of us, the door shut tight, and he still wasn't doing it....
"......"
Could it be....
Am I—am I the only pervert...?
Don't tell me I'm the only one who keeps thinking about dirty things...?
Woojin has no intention of doing anything, because this is the academy...?
"I'm going. ...Thanks for treating me."
"Don't mention it. That's what I'm here for. If you get hurt again, come by. Don't worry about it."
...I want to die.
I must be delusional.
The hours I'd held the infirmary. Nine in the morning until six at night. The number of times I'd treated Lee Hayun in that stretch—four, if you counted taking off the cast.
I wasn't the type to hum, but today a light melody slipped out of me before I knew it. It wasn't exactly easy on the ears, but so what. Nobody here but me.
The first time Lee Hayun came of her own accord.
I could see plain as day that she was tense, afraid of being done to the way she had been last night, so I deliberately did nothing and let her go. When someone is braced at a full hundred percent, poking them carelessly only gets you a boring reaction. After the treatment ended, the look on her face—bewildered, then flushing vivid red as she fled—made quite the impression.
The second time Lee Hayun came of her own accord.
She'd hurt her ankle again and came in leaning on the shoulder of the combat instructor I'd seen earlier. Another man's scent clinging to her was unpleasant, but I let a thing like that pass easily enough. A teacher was right beside her, and since nothing had been done to her just a moment ago, she was sitting there quite unguarded—until I drew a little closer and she froze like a broken machine. I left her hanging on the edge of a touch, just enough to scramble her, then let her go.
After the treatment ended, she abandoned the instructor who'd been waiting with her and ran off. I was satisfied enough with the result not to mind.
The third time, before Lee Hayun could come to me, I went to her myself.
Four of her fingers were already broken, so I took them lightly in hand and went on with the treatment. Her face gave the whole thought away—I've been had twice, so this time I really won't think anything of it—but just having a boy holding her fingers seemed to tingle, and now and then her ears flushed a faint red.
And I got one promise out of Lee Hayun while she fidgeted with those fingers. It was nothing much of a promise, yet her answer came very late. Who knew what she was imagining.
Her answer was yes.
A yes, given with a thoroughly grudging nod.
"Hmm.... Ahem...."
Coffee always has to pass through a process called roasting. The aroma of a green coffee bean is rough and simple, the taste raw and fishy, and roasting is what it undergoes so it can take on a fragrance and a flavor that are varied and complex. Put simply, it is a pleasant process one absolutely has to go through if the coffee is to taste good.
What flavor would it yield. What aroma. All while adjusting the strength of the fire, the method, the time.
People were the same.
"...L-let's go, Woojin."
"Yes."
"So, daily necessities? You want me to help you pick them out?"
"Yes. I'm not very good with that sort of thing. I've got a hair dryer, a computer, water, and tissues.... I can't keep living on delivery forever, either."
"Your parents? Do you live alone?"
"I live alone nearby. Just a one-room studio—about three hundred and fifty square feet."
"...S-so you live alone. Hmm...."
Lee Hayun.
How long until she crumbled all on her own.
"The budget's generous, so feel free to pick whatever you like."
"We're going somewhere cheap anyway. Daiso, or Emart.... Homeplus is a bit far, but that's an option too."
"Daiso.... Ah, do I have to carry the bags again today?"
"What, you want me to carry them?"
"I'm joking. They're things I'll be using, so of course I should carry them."
"...I-I'll carry a little. Happy?"
"A little?"
"That's enough, isn't it...."
Click. The infirmary door shut.