Chapter 146: Race (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 146: Race (5)
After receiving the photos of Cheon Yeo-wool from Ha Sion.
Yoon Chae-ha had finally evolved in the direction Ha Sion wanted.
The one who sent the photos… her master, who had awakened a new sense within her.
Without even realizing it, she was becoming the spitting image of her new master, Ha Sion.
Well, she was a genius in that respect too—in ruminating on her sense of defeat.
For the first few days, she didn't leave her room.
Two photos were displayed on her watch screen.
A seductively smiling Cheon Yeo-wool, and a tense Jung Hae-in on a bed.
She looked at the photos again and again.
She analyzed them, and analyzed them again, but…
The conclusion Yoon Chae-ha reached about their relationship from those two photos was all too obvious.
Still, it didn't really… matter.
She didn't know. It was just that, after Bulgaram's Workshop, her feelings for Jung Hae-in were already overflowing, ready to explode.
So, it was as if she no longer cared which woman he was with, or how deep their relationship was.
Just… he himself had become more important.
‘When are you coming…’
Every morning, Yoon Chae-ha woke up waiting for his call.
But despite it all.
The call she waited for never came.
The first week was bearable.
She just figured he was busy.
He was an incredibly busy person, after all, and he sometimes gave her time to think on her own.
So, though she was a little disappointed, she waited.
But then came the next week.
And the week after that.
No call came.
Cracks slowly began to form in her once-composed heart.
“Chae-ha… um, are you not seeing that boy these days?”
As she was seething inside, Yoon Chae-ha’s mother asked cautiously.
Yoon Chae-ha perfectly concealed her expression and answered with complete nonchalance.
“Yeah… I guess he’s busy. Super busy.”
But that night, alone in her room, she broke down.
A single question had dragged a possibility she'd been trying to ignore to the surface.
Yoon Chae-ha thought.
‘Don't tell me… was I abandoned?’
She frantically replayed the video of the Association’s press conference.
—We’re not friends.
She had been so flustered then, so swept up in the moment, that she had just blurted it out.
She was aware of the kind of articles and consequences it had led to.
…Could it be that I made things difficult for him?
Did he start to hate me?
And so, she began to dig herself deeper and deeper into a hole.
“Hic… sob…”
As she lay on her bed, crying her eyes out, it happened.
[belief_]: Chae-ha
His first message in a month had arrived.
*
“Where are you right now?”
—Home…
Yoon Chae-ha’s voice added quietly.
—No one’s here right now…
Even though neither of us had said to come or go, I immediately got up and headed for Yoon Chae-ha’s house.
It felt right.
The distance from the Vanquisher dorms to Chae-ha’s house was quite short anyway.
Ding-dong.
I paused in front of the elegant door to her home, catching my breath.
My mind was a mess, wondering what I should say, but I couldn't hesitate any longer.
Click…
Not long after I rang the doorbell, the door opened automatically with a mechanical sound.
But there was no one there to greet me.
It seemed she had used a remote function to open the door.
I walked slowly down the familiar hallway toward Yoon Chae-ha’s room.
I knew where it was, since I’d been here before.
Knock, knock.
I tapped lightly on her door.
There was no answer from inside. But a moment later.
Creeak…
The door opened, very slowly.
And in the gap stood Yoon Chae-ha.
Yoon Chae-ha was dressed in a thin nightgown that was practically see-through.
One shoulder strap had slipped down precariously, exposing her skin.
But what caught my eye even more than that…
Were her swollen eyes.
They were puffy and red, as if she had been crying for a long time just moments before, and her fair cheeks were streaked with tears.
The orange eyes looking up at me trembled precariously.
“……”
I said nothing, just looked at Yoon Chae-ha.
But then.
Fwump.
Without a word, she was the first to move, burying her small face in my chest and hugging me.
Her body trembled faintly. I could feel her hot tears soaking into my shirt once more.
I, too, silently stroked the crown of her head.
Once, twice. With each stroke, her shoulders shuddered slightly.
A minute passed like that.
Her breathing evened out, as if she had calmed down a little.
Then, still in my arms, she very slowly reached a hand behind my back.
Creeak…
Click.
It was the sound of her closing and locking the door.
The lavender scent filling the room mixed with the sweet smell of shampoo from her hair, making my head spin.
“Chae-ha, are you okay?”
At my call, she simply looked up at me without a word.
I slowly tried to let her go.
But she only held on to my clothes tighter and shook her head.
Then, with her face still buried in my chest, she put her weight into it and began to push me.
“Wait…”
I was pushed back helplessly.
Still holding me, she turned and backed me toward the bed in her room.
Thump.
I fell back onto the bed, and Yoon Chae-ha tumbled down on top of me.
She kept her face pressed against my chest and mumbled like a child.
“You don’t hate me… do you?”
What reason would I have to hate Yoon Chae-ha?
She understood immediately when I spoke, she was smart and perceptive.
A girl who trusted me completely.
There was no reason to hate her.
She had clearly misunderstood something in a big way.
“Of course not.”
I denied it, stroking her soft hair.
At my gentle touch, she seemed to relax, burrowing deeper into my embrace.
“Ngh… Haa…”
Her sobs subsided, replaced by whimpering moans mixed with hot, wet breaths.
Like a young animal burrowing into its parent, she pressed deeper into my embrace, rubbing against me.
Through the thin nightgown, the soft curves of her body and her intense heat were vividly apparent.
As I continued to stroke her hair, Yoon Chae-ha’s eyes slowly began to glaze over.
I had reached a conclusion.
Yoon Chae-ha… was no different from the other women.
I accepted the situation calmly.
I had already resigned myself to it.
“Hh… Nn…”
She twisted her hips, wrapping her legs around mine.
Then she slowly lifted her head.
Her orange eyes, wet with tears and completely unfocused, met mine directly.
As if she had made up her mind, she lowered her head and brought her lips to my neck.
Peck.
Startled by her own action, she quickly lifted her head and watched my reaction.
As if to see if I would push her away.
When I didn't react, she seemed slightly relieved.
And then, this time, a little more boldly.
Peck.
She pressed her lips to my cheek.
When I still remained motionless, she seemed to take it as a form of permission and gave a tiny nod.
And then, very clumsily.
She slowly brought her lips to their final destination: mine.
Peck.
It was too ambiguous to even be called a kiss.
A shy press of the lips, with no tongue involved.
I gently patted her back, silently accepting her clumsy kisses.
For today, I decided to indulge all of this kitten’s whims.
Peck, peck.
And so, a few more pecks.
She pressed her lips to mine again and again, until she was satisfied.
Only after a long moment did her lips part from mine.
She took a slight breath and looked up at me.
An expression that seemed to ask, Is this really okay? lingered on her face.
But at the same time, there was also a look of pride, as if she had accomplished something.
Yoon Chae-ha murmured in a tiny voice.
“You… do it to me, too.”
I let out a small chuckle without realizing it.
Then I gently cupped her tear-stained cheek.
Instead of an answer.
I brought my lips to Yoon Chae-ha’s once more.
At first, I did as she had, just a soft press of our lips.
The moment she accepted my lips, seemingly relieved, I lightly sucked on her plump lower lip and gave it a gentle bite.
“Nngh?!”
Yoon Chae-ha’s lips parted slightly in surprise.
I didn’t miss the opening and pushed my tongue inside.
“Ah…!”
Her whole body stiffened as if in shock.
She seemed unsure how to react to the foreign sensation.
Her tongue recoiled, trying to push mine away.
I held her tighter so she couldn’t escape and, without rushing, gently…
…chased her tender tongue, enveloping it, stroking it.
“Haa… Mmph…”
I could feel the strength draining from Yoon Chae-ha’s body.
Her stiff body seemed to melt, going limp.
I immediately pulled my lips away.
‘That’s enough.’
Judging by her reactions so far, Yoon Chae-ha was quite innocent.
Therefore, a stronger stimulus would likely be overwhelming.
My guess was correct. When I pulled away.
Yoon Chae-ha already looked as if she’d lost her mind.
Her orange eyes were completely unfocused, glazed over with the lingering sensation.
Her lips were slightly swollen.
Leaning against me, she was only letting out short, ragged breaths.
Was that too much stimulation?
I feel like I might have gone too far.
…Compared to the Vatican, this was barely even a start.
But Yoon Chae-ha did have that side to her. A way of inviting you to tease her, perhaps.
With dazed eyes, she looked up at me and asked in a small voice.
“Wha… was that…”
Instead of answering, I stroked her hair gently once more.
Then I supported her back and carefully laid her down on the bed.
I brushed her tangled hair from her face and pulled the blanket up to her chin.
“If you want to know what that was,”
I said softly, looking down at her.
“you’ll have to grow up a little more, won’t you?”
I placed a very light kiss on her forehead.
Peck.
I may have opened several new worlds for Yoon Chae-ha.
But this world… seemed a little too soon for her.