Waking Up in His Arms
I woke to the familiar chime of an alarm. Normally I’m up before it even goes off, but today I’d slept like the dead. My eyelids felt glued shut—proof that yesterday had taken more out of me than I’d realized. I reached out with my telekinesis, silenced the alarm, then drew in a deep breath.
A familiar scent flooded my lungs. Hmm… what is that smell? My mind was fogged over, thoughts refusing to connect. I hugged the fluffy blanket a few more times; the scent grew stronger, yet an even richer trace seemed to be coming from somewhere else. Warm… solid…
“Si-woo, it’s time to wake up… Oh my. In that case, sleep a little longer, dear.”
Something shifted against my chest. My eyes cracked open, hazy. For some reason I felt strangely refreshed, a sensation I hadn’t experienced in what felt like ages. Right—the academy.
I bolted upright. Whatever I’d been holding moved with me. Since when did body pillows squirm?
“...”
“...”
My gaze locked with the protagonist’s. His black hair stuck out in every direction like a typhoon had blown through it—hilarious, but what was he doing here? And if I was looking up at him, then the thing I’d been hugging was obviously… him. Both my arms were wrapped shamelessly around his broad torso.
The warmth felt nice, but something was very wrong. Was this some kind of mental attack?
I tapped my own head with the bat—bonk. Clarity returned at last.
“Uh… um…”
I quickly unwound my arms from his side and considered my options. My pajama top had ridden up during all the wriggling; I’d apparently slept with my stomach completely exposed. Should I flee right now? No. When cornered, the only correct move is to charge straight ahead.
“It was a mistake.”
“What kind of mistake looks like that?”
“It was a mistake, right?”
I poured telekinetic energy into the bat again. The pressure that radiated out was something any ability user would notice immediately. Once I’d gathered enough mana to wipe his memory if necessary, he finally answered.
“Yeah. It must have been a mistake.”
“Exactly. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to wash up first.”
I spun around, slammed the door behind me, and practically fled to the bathroom. I’d forgotten to grab clothes, so I doubled back—only to find Kim Si-woo still sitting awkwardly on the floor, frozen in the same spot.
The heating was on full blast. We’d been pressed together so tightly that the room felt like a sauna, yet he was clutching the blanket over his lower half. Had he actually been cold? I was sure the blanket had been flung halfway across the room earlier.
“Weren’t you… going to the bathroom?”
Without a word I snatched my dimensional bag with telekinesis and marched back out. That morning, the bathroom of a certain house echoed with silent screams.
After a furious scrub-down I returned to Kim Si-woo’s room in under five minutes. The big oaf was still sitting exactly where I’d left him.
“Are you trying to be late? I can give you a ride so you won’t miss the bell, but I won’t wait around for you.”
The distance from this house to the academy was considerable. Taking public transit now would mean more than simple tardiness—it would be legendary-level lateness.
“Yeah… just let me sit here a little longer.”
“Why? You don’t look sick…”
This was the same guy who casually leaped over two-lane roads and punched monsters with his bare hands. Orthostatic hypotension? Please. Ability users had ridiculous resistance to disease; he could probably sneeze away COVID like it was nothing.
“Do you have a fever?”
The moment my hand touched his forehead he flinched hard.
“No… that’s not helping at all.”
“This bag contains items that can solve nearly any problem on Earth. If I don’t have what you need, I can fetch it from the treasure vault. Just say the word.”
I was genuinely starting to worry. The hero who fearlessly charged monsters was acting strangely fragile.
“Just tell me. If it’s something I can help with, I will.”
“That’s… No! Absolutely not! This heals with time!”
“People who say that usually miss their window and end up worse.”
Leaving things alone because they’ll “get better on their own” is how minor issues become serious ones. Whether it’s a hospital or a dentist, the moment something feels off you go immediately.
“You can’t even stand. What’s going on?”
“I can stand… Actually no, I can’t get up! There!”
“Then I’ll write you a sick note. Let’s get you to a doctor.”
I hooked my hands under his armpits and pulled. He resisted with surprising stubbornness.
“Is now really the time for a strength contest?”
“For the sake of my pride, please just stay still!”
“You have all this strength! Why won’t you get up!”
Irritation flared. I activated body reinforcement and yanked. The sudden shift in mass sent him lurching upright. The blanket slipped from his grasp—but it didn’t fall to the floor. It hung precariously from his frame like laundry on a very embarrassed human coat rack, preserving a perilous mosaic of modesty.
But the size of what it was barely covering…
“Whoa.”
If I ever yielded Peony to this guy, the poor elf girl would die on the spot. Also, why was this room so hot? My ears and cheeks were burning—probably because it was a small, windowless space. Yes. That had to be it.
“I’m really, really sorry. It’s a perfectly natural morning physiological reaction… No, it’s entirely my fault…”
“It’s fine… Really, it’s okay…”
In the span of a single sentence Kim Si-woo had achieved enlightenment. Fortunately the root cause had been discovered and resolved almost instantly. As the blanket finally dropped to the floor, so did the last remnants of his self-respect.
“Accidents happen between friends, right?”
“Between guy friends it would’ve ended with some teasing… But the fact that you’re the one comforting me makes me feel like something inside me just died…”
“Then should I level the playing field and flash you too?”
If an apology wasn’t enough, action was required. An eye for an eye, right?
“If you did that, my dad would literally beat me to death… And I wouldn’t get anything out of it anyway…”
“That’s… true.”
The difference in social punishment between men and women in these matters was vast. Besides, my current body was still underage; the legal multiplier would be no joke. But no benefit at all?
“What do you mean you wouldn’t get anything out of it?”
“Ah, sorry. I’m just not interested in that sort of thing.”
The earlier chaos must have torn down the last barrier between us; Si-woo was speaking with surprising frankness. I glanced down. Below my chin there was the faintest hint of a curve before my gaze dropped straight to my feet.
“Haha… I guess that makes sense. I’m the complete opposite of Peony, after all.”
Obviously this was better. If forced to choose between a voluptuous figure and this flat, empty one, I’d pick the latter every time. It was far easier to protect the ultimate manly Haneul who still lived in my heart that way. Definitely…
“Sigh…”
For some reason there was only one perpetrator but two victims.
We arrived at the academy thirty minutes before the late-morning lecture that was basically lunch hour. After a leisurely breakfast, Si-woo’s mother had given me a meaningful look and said, “Please take good care of our Si-woo.” By my standards we were still early, but apparently it felt too soon for him.
“I knew it, but we really have way too much time left. Isn’t that ability kind of broken?”
“Just so you know, if I’m traveling alone I can get here in the literal blink of an eye.”
“This is discrimination. Give me back the two hours I waste commuting…”
After arriving at the academy in mere minutes he seemed to have entered a sage-time of sorts. At least he got to carpool home with me; that would have to be enough.
“Junior Haneul, can’t you just move into my house? I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“No thanks. I have zero desire to stay in the room of someone who carries around that kind of monstrosity.”
Our conversation had shed another layer of formality and grown increasingly crude when something bouncy came bounding toward us.
“Oh! Kim Si-woo and Lee Haneul spotted!”
“Peony!”
The pink-haired elf closed the distance with incredible speed, skidding to a halt right in front of us. Her eyes widened. She sniffed once, twice—her cute little nose wrinkling—then let out a tragic gasp.
“Why does Haneul smell like Kim Si-woo?”
“Huh…?”
“It’s unmistakable! My nose has never been wrong! I once stole the honey the elder had hidden away so well even he couldn’t find it!”
“We carpooled this morning, so…”
“No! That wouldn’t transfer a scent this strong!”
Peony’s shocking declaration rang out. Thankfully we were in a relatively secluded spot; no one was around to witness this love-triangle drama.
“Maybe we ran a gate together yesterday during our free time!”
“For a smell this intense… you’d have to be pressed together for hours… Don’t tell me…”
Peony’s gaze darted back and forth between us, growing more alarmed by the second. She seemed to be spiraling into dark delusions; her bright pink hair looked like it was losing saturation before my eyes. This was heading somewhere bad. I elbowed Si-woo in the ribs, urging him to say something, but his brain appeared to have blue-screened too.
Then inspiration struck.
“Oh! We had a pajama party yesterday!”
“Pajama… party…?”
“Yeah! It’s when close friends stay up all night playing games. One of the games must have transferred the scent.”
“Hmm… even then, that smell is awfully…”
“Exactly! Haneul’s right! There’s this game, look!”
Nice save! Si-woo quickly pulled up a video and showed it to Peony. On screen, men and women took turns spinning a wheel, then placed their hands and feet on the corresponding colored circles of a mat.
“Humans really do play the strangest games…”
“It’s actually pretty fun! So next time we have a pajama party, you should join us, Peony!”
“Um… Yes! It looks incredibly fun! I want to come next time!”
With a moment of quick thinking we somehow managed to stop Peony’s hair from turning completely black.