Chapter 82
Chapter 82
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Wait Until Next Week...♡
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"Huh? Why that all of a sudden...?"
"Answer first. Quickly."
It was the complete opposite of her honey-dripping appearance last night.
This was the first time I'd seen Shin Ayoung with such a scary expression.
To the point where I doubted if it was even the same person.
"178."
"Then what about your weight?"
"Why are you curious about that? Weren't you going to ask me a problem?"
"Just curious. And you can answer something like that, right?"
"...Around 72kg."
If I didn't answer, she looked ready to measure me by force.
More than that, these were the questions from the notebook the other time.
No matter how I looked at it, she seemed to suspect I was the ghost.
"I see? And you said you exercise—can I touch your arm?"
Shin Ayoung was making increasingly bold demands.
Should I refuse, or go along to avoid suspicion?
After endless agonizing, I decided to allow it.
There was no way I'd get caught just from my arm muscles.
"Sure. Go ahead and touch."
I stretched my arm out in front of me.
Shin Ayoung immediately grabbed my wrist and started kneading it.
She pressed it bit by bit with both hands, slowly working her way up my forearm, then slightly stood from her chair and groped my shoulder.
"Could you flex it once?"
"Ah, sure."
There were a lot of orders, but I had no choice.
If I didn't do it properly or acted weird, it would only fuel her suspicions more.
I just handed over my arm and prayed it would end quickly.
Knead, knead...
The longer she touched, the greater my inner anxiety grew.
I kept glancing out the window and sneaking peeks at her expression, until finally her hand pulled away.
A meaningful look on her face.
She still seemed unsatisfied and kept firing questions.
"By any chance, what did you do last night?"
"Just studied and fell asleep, but mosquitoes kept waking me up over and over."
"Really?"
"Really. You saw the mosquito bite on my neck earlier."
I pointed to my neck and declared confidently.
Then Shin Ayoung covered her mouth and let out a slight laugh.
"Pfft..."
This reaction was completely unexpected.
Had I made some mistake? I unnecessarily touched my neck.
"Do mosquitoes these days wear lip tint or something?"
"Huh...?"
Her out-of-nowhere comment made me reflexively question back.
Lip tint...?
Why was that coming up all of a sudden?
As I sat there with a dumbfounded look, Shin Ayoung pulled a pouch from her bag.
She rummaged for a moment, then handed me a small hand mirror.
"Check it yourself. You must not have looked in the mirror this morning since you were busy."
Sensing something off, I took the mirror and shone it on my neck.
There was a faint tooth mark along with a light kiss mark.
And as a bonus, a tiny bit had rubbed off onto the finger I'd just touched it with.
My head buzzed in an instant.
Jang Minhyuk had definitely said it was a mosquito bite...
And I'd proudly thrust my neck forward to show it off without knowing.
"He definitely said it was a mosquito bite..."
"Anyone could see it wasn't a mosquito bite, but the guys didn't want to ruin the mood, so they phrased it indirectly. You're the only one who didn't notice, team leader."
I stayed silent.
One wrong word here, and I'd be done for.
I needed to find a way to slip out slowly.
Start with an apology.
"Sorry for lying. But what's the big deal about this mark?"
"Are you really asking because you don't know?"
"I was hanging out with my girlfriend the night before, so it must've happened without me realizing."
Shin Ayoung's face went blank for a moment at my words.
But she quickly made a face like she was holding back a laugh again.
"Hey, do you know?"
"Know what?"
"That tint color... it's the exact same as the one I use."
"So what? My girlfriend uses the same one. That can happen."
"Hmm..."
This was getting dangerous.
The escape routes were closing one by one.
As I kept racking my brain for excuses, Shin Ayoung spoke first.
"Then can you at least show me a photo of your girlfriend?"
"We've only been dating a short time, so that's inconvenient."
"So you're just gonna keep dodging?"
"I don't know exactly what you're getting at, but why are you prying so much?"
"Ha...!"
She let out a sigh of frustration.
She only had circumstantial evidence—no hard proof.
Silence enveloped us, and I stared out the window pretending to be distracted.
Shin Ayoung started tapping the table with her index and middle fingers.
She looked deep in thought.
After maintaining that for a bit, she spoke again in a calm voice.
"Fine. Then how about a story from an acquaintance of mine? You can hear that much, right?"
"Sure. Go ahead."
"My friend met someone online. She hated him at first, but they started talking, he helped with her studies, and she gradually grew fond of him."
"That's nice."
"Their personalities clicked well, so her feelings deepened. She got proactive... and guess what happened next?"
"They started dating?"
"No, not that. They ended up opening up sexually. Sex, of course. Sex."
Shin Ayoung emphasized the word sex.
Hearing it straight from her mouth in real life felt strangely thrilling.
She kept staring at my face as she continued.
"They did all sorts of perverted stuff. Outdoor exposure, anal, you name it. Isn't that weird?"
"Well, it could happen."
"You think so? Anyway, the guy's stamina was great—apparently he came 10 times in one day—and his manners were decent too. So I asked if it was a lie."
"What'd your friend say?"
"All true. But the funniest part—do you know what it was?"
"What?"
The moment I asked...
She took a few gulps of her half-remaining coffee like her throat was parched.
She chewed on the inside of her mouth as if organizing her thoughts, then swallowed.
She looked back at me and answered.
"She doesn't even know the guy's face. Not even his voice. All she knows is his body build and the size down there."
"That's pretty strange."
"I think so too. But what can you do? She said she's already fallen deep. No turning back."
"It's her personal freedom, so nothing to say."
"I think the same. So I asked how she could do all that with a guy whose face and voice she doesn't know."
"And?"
"She said it's even more enjoyable that way. Since she knows nothing, she can unleash all her sexual fantasies. She's totally satisfied."
"That makes sense."
"Right? So what do you think of this friend?"
Her face was full of anticipation.
She'd basically already decided I was the ghost.
Should I reveal my identity...?
I agonized more seriously than ever.
From what she was saying, she didn't seem to think badly of the real me.
It was the biggest dilemma of my life.
If I revealed it, she probably wouldn't suddenly flip out...
But what scared me most was our current relationship falling apart.
It was like an item reinforcement with over 70% success rate—but if it failed, it'd shatter completely.
I bowed my head, unsure how to respond.
My future would change drastically depending on my answer.
"Well, I wasn't expecting you to confess right away anyway."
She propped her chin on her hand with an 'I knew it' expression.
She sipped her coffee and spoke seriously, like she was lecturing me.
"Anyway, aren't you curious about what happened next? How my friend acted?"
"Yeah, I am. Is there more?"
"After getting into a relationship beyond lovers, she suddenly felt something was off."
"In what way?"
"Guys similar to that man started showing up around her."
"How'd she notice?"
"She's not an idiot. She thought about what he likes, his features, and coincidentally spotted it. A woman's intuition is sneakily scary."
Slurp.
She took another sip of coffee.
And continued.
"For example, height over a certain amount, weight around this much. Repeated behaviors. Third-year engineering major or higher. Things like that."
"Hmm..."
"She got suspicious and started comparing features one by one. And she got an amazing result. What do you think it was?"
"No idea."
"It matched her own daily routine area perfectly. Obvious in hindsight, but the proverb 'the darkest place is under the lamp' fit exactly."
"Coincidence?"
"No way. So she started checking every little detail. Handwriting, k.i.s.s m.a.r.k.s, stuff like that?"
At the last words...
She grinned and said them slowly in a sweet voice.
That's when it all clicked for me completely.
I was totally caught.
This mark on my neck was definitely left on purpose yesterday.
She'd known all along and played along.
At this point...
No more excuses.
Just be honest and beg for forgiveness, I guess.
As I thought that and was about to open my mouth...
She stood up from her seat.
"Ah, of course, it's still just circumstantial—no solid proof yet. The kiss mark could be from a real girlfriend, after all. Can't leave even a tiny possibility."
With that, she pushed her chair under the table.
"So she's going to secure perfect, undeniable evidence. Completely cut off any excuses. And she's already got the whole plan laid out."
"That's kinda scary."
I meant it sincerely.
Of course, she seemed to take it half-jokingly.
"They say a long tail gets caught, right? That's exactly it."
"Then should she cut the tail and run?"
Shin Ayoung shot me another scary look.
"Absolutely not. Team leader's smart, got a great body, kiss marks, good at it—you get all that, right?"
"...."
"Next week... if you run, it's over. Don't be late. Come on time. Got it? Ah, the group meeting, obviously. Don't misunderstand."
"Of course..."
"Good, you understand. I'll head out then. Kinda tired from overdoing it yesterday. You too, right?"
"No idea. Take care."
"Yeah. You too."
She finished packing her things and turned her back to me.
I watched every single one of her movements.
Shin Ayoung walked out the cafe entrance, and even her shadow vanished.
I flopped face-down on the table and stared blankly out the window.
I tried imagining what would happen next, but nothing came to mind.
Might as well go home and sleep, I thought, stretching my arms as I stood up.
That's when...
Shin Ayoung appeared outside the window.
Standing right in front of me, staring, moving her mouth wide.
Of course, no sound reached me.
But I could guess.
She closed her mouth, then swiped her finger.
And vanished from my view.
"Jeez..."
An involuntary chuckle escaped as I mouthed the shape of her words to remember.
Afraid I'd forget, I jotted it down in my notebook too.
And I got chills looking at what I'd written.
G.h.o.s.t. W.a.i.t.i.n.g f.o.r y.o.u ♡