Confusion (1)
Confusion (Part 1)
Bang! Bang! Bang...!
I close one eye and pull the trigger without hesitation, aiming at the small round target visible through the tiny sights.
The bullets, fired with a precise posture that showed no hesitation, cut through the wind just like in my prime when I was called the Sniper of Cheorwon, flying toward the target until all the target plates flipped over and disappeared from view through the sights, marking the end.
The BB gun, which only fired using spring tension without the large recoil of real firearms, didn't cause any issues for my fragile body while shooting.
"Alright~!! Perfect! See? See? This is me, Kang Cheol-nim, the Sniper of Cheorwon!"
As I confirmed that all targets were gone and the display board flashed "Perfect," I jumped up and down roaring. Selena, who had been watching from behind, muttered with a dumbfounded expression.
"I knew you were a military veteran, but what man is this good at shooting...?"
"Ahem! Enough with the compliments, just offer up your forehead. Loser~"
"Wait, one of my BB pellets was defective and broke before it even fired! If you exclude that one shot, I would've gotten a perfect score too!"
"Oh ho! Where does a grown woman get off making excuses after getting beaten by a man in shooting~! Isn't luck part of skill? Would you tell enemy soldiers 'My bullet misfired, could you wait a moment?' if there was a war? Come on, be a good sport and offer that forehead!"
With an expression full of unfairness, she finally sighed, swept back her golden blonde hair to reveal her smooth forehead, and bowed her head to bring her face close to mine.
I flinched momentarily at her suddenly approaching face, but only for a moment before delivering a satisfying flick to this insolent girl's pretty forehead.
Gentle my ass! Take this!
Flick!
"Kyaak?!"
"Ack!"
I was the one who hit, but there were two screams.
Damn this body...
Still, feeling satisfied at having gotten back at Selena who'd been tormenting me lately, I grinned while watching her rub her red, swelling forehead with a triumphant expression.
That's right.
The place she had "kidnapped" me to, calling it "a fun place," was none other than an amusement park.
Not a crowded amusement park like Lotte World or Everland that's packed even on weekdays, but a small amusement park operated just for her and me.
Just the two of us.
Of course, it was only small compared to Lotte World or Everland - it had Viking rides, carousels, and even the shooting range where we'd just had our flicking contest.
It had all the rides you'd expect at an amusement park...
"This is really fun..."
It was fun.
It felt like a dreamlike amusement park where what happened with my girlfriend Ye-rim this morning seemed like a lie.
At first, when she only told me the vague purpose of "a fun place" and we drove an hour from home into some remote mountains, I briefly worried "Not again~?!"
But after passing through tall trees and going deeper, I was astonished by the appearance of this amusement park.
'They said she's from a chaebol family, but this is insane...'
I hadn't known private amusement parks for chaebol families actually existed in reality, so I was amazed by the overwhelming scale, and simultaneously surprised that her promise not to touch me without permission was sincere.
"How cruel. You hit your friend's forehead and say it's fun?"
Though my flicking finger actually hurt more, I chuckled at Selena's reaction to my unconsciously muttered "This is fun" as she frowned.
Yeah, I know.
This too must be part of Selena's plan to seduce me.
While native men of this world who take being loved and treated well for granted might not notice, as a former world resident where men made all kinds of efforts to court women, I could see all her small considerations - like secretly preparing one defective BB pellet to put in her own magazine and pretending it was a mistake to lose our bet.
I wish I hadn't noticed.
I can feel my negative feelings toward Selena fading away one by one like being erased by an eraser because of her obvious small considerations.
'Ye-rim...'
The human heart is truly fickle.
Clearly, Selena is a bad woman who schemed to drive a wedge between Ye-rim and me, and though only once, roughly coveted my body.
Yet my heart shakes like this from just one act of kindness from Selena, who comforts the wounds from Ye-rim's harsh words...
Am I the bad person?
Is Ye-rim bad for being swayed by one scheme?
Is Selena bad for pulling tricks on a scale unimaginable to ordinary people to win love?
'Confusion'
Probably the word that best describes my current state of mind.
'But right now, I want to enjoy this moment.'
An amusement park I'd only seen through screens as a jaded office worker who called it childish when I became an adult, having been an orphan without money as a child.
Though Selena probably didn't know this about me when she brought me here, amusingly enough, her choice was sufficient to shake my wounded heart.
"Stop exaggerating and let's go ride other rides now!"
There were still many rides I hadn't tried.
Though my body had become smaller, had my mental age decreased too? The amusement park rides that had seemed childish now looked fun, and before I knew it, I found myself pulling Selena's hand like we were real "friends." She shook her head with a regretful expression.
"No. We should head home now, Kang Cheol."
"Huh? But there are so many rides we haven't tried yet?"
"I'm disappointed too and want to spend more time with you, but will it be okay for our Cinderella Kang Cheol's curfew?"
When I tilted my head at her mysterious words, she took out her smartphone and showed me the time.
[17:30]
Was it already this late...?
I'd been so absorbed in my first-ever visit to an amusement park that time seemed to have disappeared - it was already 5:30 PM.
"If we leave now, we'll arrive around 6:30. Will that be okay?"
It took about an hour to get here from home.
So the return trip would also take about an hour.
And what she wanted to say to me was probably this.
'Your girlfriend's broadcast ends at 7 PM - is it okay if we're late?'
This was something I should have been considering.
Even if something unpleasant happened with Ye-rim, she was still my girlfriend, and from Selena's perspective - who was showing me her phone with sad eyes pointing out the time - pretending not to notice would have been much more advantageous for her.
I'm confused.
Is this too part of Selena's scheme, or is she genuinely in love with me and patiently waiting for me to come to her?
Everything is confusing, and right now, this moment feels so precious that I find myself answering her like this without thinking.
"Then let's ride just one more thing before going back. We can still make it before 7 PM... right?"
That thing.
The carousel - the amusement park mascot that first comes to mind when thinking of amusement parks, despite being a ride that seems slow and not particularly fun.
Riding the carousel would only take about 5 minutes - wouldn't it be a shame to come to an amusement park and not ride it?
"The carousel...? Kang Cheol, you really are a man~ Kikikik."
"Ugh! What does gender have to do with carousels? I just haven't ridden one before..."
"Really? Then I'll be taking your first experience, Kang Cheol~?"
Thinking she never missed a chance to tease me, I followed her as she moved to the carousel and operated the control panel, climbing onto the outermost horse. After she finished operating the machine, the carousel began slowly rotating, and she climbed onto the horse right next to mine despite many available seats.
"Hey, go away!"
"Huhu~ Why? Feeling nervous having a beauty like me next to you~?"
"What nonsense..."
I eventually gave up as the carousel gradually picked up speed and turned my head toward the outside away from her. My face was probably flushed red in time with my pounding heart.
As I'd felt since our first meeting, Selena was a beautiful woman you'd believe was a Hollywood actress who tore through the screen, and as she said, having such a beauty riding beside me on a romantic ride like the carousel was newly burdensome.
'Damn it, heart, why are you doing this?! I have a girlfriend named Ye-rim!'
I shouldn't be like this, I shouldn't be feeling these emotions...
"Since we're riding together, are you just going to keep looking outside? Look over here just once."
With my emotions turbulent and becoming intoxicated by the beautiful sky gradually turning red as sunset began, I unconsciously turned my head toward her...
Peck...
I don't know when she got off her horse and stood beside me.
The eye level of me sitting on the horse and her standing matched perfectly due to our height difference, and as our eyes met, her red lips overlapped with mine.
Peck... peck... smooch...
At first it was light kisses, then seeing that I didn't resist, her lips that bloomed into a bright smile gradually turned into sticky kisses.
"Hhuut...♡ You said you wouldn't touch without permission last time..."
Her hands, which had somehow embraced me, began caressing my thighs and buttocks as if fondling them, and I trembled at their strange touch while speaking coyly.
"Huhu, is this also part of the kissing? Like a seasoning that makes kissing more delicious, perhaps? ...Do you dislike it?"
Honestly, I didn't dislike it. No, on the contrary, I liked it.
Her gestures for kissing rather than foreplay for sex were soft... and lewd.
"...Pervert."
"Huhu♡ ...Peck... peck... peck♡"
I opened my mouth and accepted her probing tongue.
It was our second kiss...
In the car on the way home.
"..."
"..."
We didn't exchange any words.
Just.
Shff
It was a secret that her right hand, not holding the steering wheel, was resting on top of my left hand...