10. I'm Not Even Mentally Prepared, What Do You Mean Lay Eggs (2)
I resented Park Won for walking ahead without so much as looking back.
Here I was, clutching my aching stomach with a face like death.
Every single step sent a jolt through my lower belly that made me feel like I was dying, and the man who had supposedly come here in the capacity of my Partner....
"Please walk a little slower, Partner...!"
"Sorry, but we don't have time."
"I'm telling you it really hurts...! My stomach keeps throbbing...!"
This was not the kind of pain I could just grit my teeth and get through.
Anyone would do. Please, just make this pain go away.
That was what I kept muttering to myself.
Park Won came into view and stopped walking for a moment.
"I mean it.... It's because I'm struggling. I'm being sincere...."
Even that short walk made me sweat. The insides of my thighs were already damp.
I couldn't tell whether it was sweat or some unidentified fluid trickling down.
Without even the time to check, I leaned against the wall and let out a ragged breath.
Just as I was catching my breath, my body floated lightly up into the air.
Had my wings already sprouted...? No. That didn't seem to be it.
Why was my body getting closer and closer to Park Won?
"Partner...?! No, what are you doing...! Hic...?!"
"Stop being stubborn."
"That's not it..., it hurts so much, I feel like I'm losing my mind...."
"...."
"So I'm saying, I'm not throwing a tantrum...! Haa. Don't misunderstand...."
He'd understand if he were the one having to lay one.
Completely piggybacked on Park Won, I rode the elevator up.
I was on the verge of passing out from the pain, so I no longer had the wherewithal to argue about anything.
Half resigned, and afraid I might fall, I had no choice but to wrap my arms around Park Won's neck while on his back.
"Huu. Hic.... Ughk...!"
"...."
"How did I end up with a body like this...! I don't want to be whining, but it seriously hurts...!"
"I understand."
"What would you know...! Haaa. Even yelling is exhausting...."
The apology that slipped out without passing through my thoughts—I didn't bother taking it back.
It was true that I hated you enough to want to kill you.
But separate from that..., getting angry at the only person helping me right now was wrong.
So that I wouldn't have to feel guilty about being rude to you, I wished you were actually a bad person.
Thinking that, I furrowed my brow against the pain.
Led by him, as if drawn along, I went into the bathroom in the lodging and stood bracing myself against the wall.
He spread a towel on the floor, and when I wondered what he was doing, he told me to kneel on the towel and get on all fours.
Even just catching my breath was a struggle, so I couldn't get out a coherent sentence as I glared at Park Won.
"Hurry, I get it..., so help me. Right now you're the only one I have...."
"I'll ask for your understanding in advance."
"The, my bottoms. Do I really, really..., have to take them off...?"
"You have to take them off to give birth, don't you."
"Well, that's true, but...."
The space between my legs was bared in an instant.
He had only unbuttoned my dress shirt and left it draped over me—perhaps his idea of being considerate.
As the warm spray from the showerhead fell over my clothed body, I let out a long breath in a momentary haze.
"Haaa...."
Thank goodness. Only a little, but the pain had thinned.
It might have been that my brain, exhausted by the pain, had shut off its sensors. As long as the pain lessened, I didn't care either way.
Either way, it was better than before, so only then did I properly curl up, on the verge of tears.
"You, don't tell me.... Haa. It probably won't happen, but...."
"...."
"If you try anything weird.... I'll kill you. I'll definitely kill you...."
A murderous warning delivered in a voice exhausted out of all proportion to the words.
Park Won just nodded at what I said.
"You just hold out until the end. It won't take long."
"How exactly am I supposed to endure something like this... Ah, huk. Wait...!"
Soon after, I began to feel a touch on my lower belly.
The moment his palm pressed into the soft flesh, a breathless sound escaped me without my meaning it to.
From top to bottom. He pressed around the area, then returned to the top and worked downward again.
The feeling of the area below my navel being fiddled with and pressed by someone else's hand felt unfamiliar.
A pounding like someone beating a drum filled my ears.
Having weird thoughts about this is what's weird. If I had to insist, this was treatment—or something like emergency surgery.
Even as I tried to hypnotize myself with those words, I couldn't help that my face burned hot.
"It's throbbing, and it feels strange.... I'm dizzy. It hurts and it's suffocating."
Park Won said nothing. Through the sound of falling water, only his shallow breathing answered in place of words.
When the tip of his thumb slowly worked loose the spot that had been hurting especially badly, I felt a sudden surge, like something welling up.
My head dropped on its own, and a long thread of clear saliva stretched from my mouth.
"Hic..., huu.... Is it, is it over...?"
"No. That was just the pooled fluid coming out."
"How much longer am I supposed to do this...."
Each time his hand pressed down, my toes curled tight, then stretched out again with each exhale.
I just wanted him to finish it quickly.
I just wanted this time to pass quickly.
With that thought, as I let out ragged breaths, my lower belly gradually began to heave.
"Hut, hic.... My hips keep moving on their own.... Kh...!"
My fading consciousness began to lag behind, unable to keep up with reality.
If I got used to this kind of experience, something in me would break.
That ominous premonition chased frighteningly close behind.
Suddenly, Park Won placed a hand on my head.
Wait.... I should shake this off.
Putting a hand on my head when I'm this dizzy—isn't that kind of cheating...?
"Your hand..., move it...!"
"It'll be over soon."
"I said move it...! I don't even have the strength to shake it off, so..., I told you if you tried anything weird, I'd kill y—...!"
I couldn't put any strength into my voice. In the midst of that, when his hand mussed my hair, my body followed the touch.
I dug my nails in and grabbed Park Won's wrist with all my strength.
Because I felt like I neither wanted to shake him off, nor wanted to give in.
Overcome with shame, I ended up leaning against him and whimpering.
Something heavy began to settle downward.
"This is too much.... Haa, uh..., I didn't know it would hurt this much...!"
"...."
"I hate the Association, and I hate you too! I hate seeing your face! I hate that you smell like cigarettes...!"
"I'm not exactly happy about this either."
"Then stop and get out...! Don't look at me, and don't talk to me. Just, just...! Uk, huk...?! Haa...!"
In the end, I bit down hard on my lip and forced myself to hold back the sounds.
The towel had long since been soaked through with something—water or whatever it was.
As if by inertia, as if being pulled by something, the heaviness in my lower belly descended.
Along with all manner of wet, squelching sounds buried in the noise of the falling water, my lower belly surged upward.
"It hurts...! Because it hurts...! So don't let go, I feel like I'm going to collapse.... Hua, ahk...! It's, it's dangerous, wait. Please, stop, please just...!"
My vision flickered. I couldn't think a single thought anymore.
When my sight kept flashing and going white, I desperately gasped out ragged breaths and pulled Park Won's hand toward me.
I pressed the hand I'd pulled over my mouth, and my trembling hips thrashed against the final wave of pain.
A sensation I had never felt before—a sensation I never wanted to feel again, an indescribable sensation.
In that instant, I threw my head back and squeezed my eyes shut.
"──! ─...! ──...!!!"
After all those sounds were muffled and swallowed by Park Won's hand, a burning heat filled the empty space left behind.
A soft thud—the sound of something dropping onto the towel.
And the sound of the shower water eating away at the silence around us.
Louder than any of it, the sound of my heart pounding in my ears.
Thump.
Thump.
The beating sound seemed to fill the entire bathroom.
I slowly lowered my raised hips and leaned my body against Park Won.
Then the hand that had been covering my mouth moved toward my eyes.
"Better not to look."
"Haa. Haaa..., haa."
"Trust me."
Feeling like I couldn't miss this, I tried to push Park Won's hand away, but he firmly covered my eyes.
It was the roughest his touch had been this whole time.
"L-let go of this.... I'm saying it's suffocating...."
"Not this time."
"No, I.... No, I need to see. I feel like I have to...!"
"...."
"Why, why are you blocking me...! It's like, like something's wrong!"
"I'm sorry."
"Nothing's wrong, right...? Huh? Right...?"
"Nothing's wrong. If anything, you actually got through it safely."
"Then why..., why are you going this far...?"
"Because if you see it with your own eyes, you won't be able to forget it."
"Just, don't go anywhere..., haa. Stay right here."
"Rest. I'll handle the cleanup."
"I said don't go... when a person is talking to you, the least you could, hut. Huh..., is pretend to listen...."
With a soft sound, I felt Park Won's body sink down as well.
Soaked through with warm water, my body, held in his arms, sank down too.
My body and mind were both worn ragged with exhaustion. I scratched at Park Won's hand a couple more times before my strength gave out.
Right now, I didn't want to think about anything. I couldn't, even if I tried.
In my fading consciousness, I faintly heard the sound of a sigh.
I couldn't tell whose sigh it was, but it clearly sounded exhausted.
***
"Park Won?"
"Gi-yeon. I need some help. Send a collection team."
"Huh? What, you did it? Why didn't you come to the Association?!"
"There wasn't time."
"Impressive. But I guess class is permanent—how did you manage that all by yourself?"
Park Won said nothing.
He just went up to the rooftop, still soaked, and stood there with a cigarette clamped between his lips.
By the time he had tidied up the exhausted Peregrine and laid her in bed, it was already late evening.
"Anyway, please contact me before you arrive at Peregrine's lodging."
"Nice try changing the subject. But we still need to run tests. Bring her to the Association now. I'll get the examination team ready."
"Just send the collection team."
"Now, now, Peregrine is a strategic asset of the Association. Constant management, and more management!"
"You're one to talk."
"It must have been hard, but I'm glad it worked out! I was really worried, you know? Wondering when the wings would appear. How's her mental state? Is she all right?"
"Hey."
Park Won paused for a moment.
"Yes?"
"You talk too much."
"Why are you suddenly getting all serious? Who do you think you came back for?"
"The Association called me back because it needed me too."
"Exactly. You came back because you had something you wanted to do too, didn't you, Park Won? So you should cooperate."
"...."
"It's in the contract, isn't it?"
"You really are an unpleasant person."
Park Won said it quietly, exhaling smoke.
In a voice lower than usual, he flicked away the ash-covered end of his cigarette.
"Just listen to my request quietly."
"Yes, well. I do understand. But you will come in for the examination, right?"
"Huh? Can't hear you well."
"Hello? Excuse me? I know you can hear me just fine?!"
"Ah, geez. Rain, maybe. Coming. The signal keeps."
"It's completely clear out?! Aren't you getting a little too cocky just because of your reputation?!"
With a click, Park Won ended the call.
"...."
Three cigarette butts piled up already.
Park Won said nothing.
He quietly took another cigarette out of the pack.
Last one.
Park Won muttered to himself.