8. Get Used to It (6)
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"Wow, this place is nice. Tastes good."
"..."
We’d set a tuna box between us and were eating tonkatsu.
I’d wanted the tuna.
But I only ate halfheartedly, more or less without really tasting anything.
Nothing seemed to go down properly.
My chest just wouldn’t settle.
As soon as the warmth that had been wrapping around my body vanished, my body started feeling lonely.
This was stressful. More than food, what I needed was warmth. In truth, because of the Blessing, my body wasn’t even the kind that needed meals that much.
Maybe my body was simply recognizing that feeling warmth mattered more than eating.
Whether he knew how I felt or not, Kang Juhyuk seemed to be enjoying the delivered tonkatsu as if it were the best thing he’d ever eaten.
Just a moment ago he’d been holding my hand, lying down with me, wrapped around me.
And now, with no sex talk, no talk of being held or anything like that, he was just sitting there stuffing his face.
He was so irritating I could choke. The way he could forget what had happened a second ago and focus only on whatever came next was seriously something else.
Like a dog—if you’re playing and then a snack comes out, they snap their head toward it right away. He was exactly that.
"...Eat the tuna too."
"Is that okay?"
"If I wanted to eat alone, I wouldn’t have ordered your tonkatsu."
I could eat if I wanted to, but I just didn’t have the appetite.
And if I didn’t want to eat, I didn’t have to, so I simply didn’t.
By the time I’d gotten through half the tonkatsu, I didn’t want it anymore. I only managed about a third of the tuna too.
In the end, I shoved everything that was left over to Kang Juhyuk.
"Nuna, you don’t eat much."
It’s because of you.
I wanted to tell him to hurry up and finish so we could start again already.
But saying that would have bruised my pride, so I just sat there in silence.
Juhyuk didn’t care one way or another and kept his attention on the food.
He didn’t eat much rice, but he was sure eating a lot of tonkatsu. Protein-heavy, huh?
"I’ve never had tuna before. It’s kind of oily. No... really oily."
"That’s chutoro."
"Chutoro?"
"Middle belly. Dip it in soy sauce and wrap it in seaweed. Wasabi’s good too."
Whether he really was trying it for the first time or not, the way he picked up a slice of sashimi and looked around for the chili sauce was honestly funny.
He was a little annoying, but if he was eating well, then fine. Watching him eat, I almost understood the appeal of mukbang streams.
If I ate, I probably wouldn’t look nearly that delicious doing it.
He was really putting away a pretty big amount.
"Thanks for the meal."
"...You ate all of it."
"It’d be a waste to leave any. You bought it, Nuna."
He actually did finish everything. He had a big appetite too.
Out in the Gate, he had to make do with preserved rations, so I always wondered how he managed to hold up.
Personally, I’d ordered chutoro rather than otoro because I liked it better, but now I was curious whether he’d eat otoro well too.
It was a fattier cut, so it usually got tiring faster. Maybe I should let him try some later.
The bulge pushing out under his T-shirt was so full it was obvious even to the eye that his upper belly was packed.
It was so ridiculous I poked it with a finger. It sank in softly. His once-firm stomach had puffed out only here.
I was messing around, poking him a few times, when—
"Nuna."
"Mm? Huh—?!" Kang Juhyuk’s two hands suddenly shoved into my belly with a rough, greedy motion.
One hand grabbed my waist while the other began kneading my stomach.
W-what. Hot. No, not hot. Hot meant sensitive.
This was stranger than that. It felt... weird. This...
"...Wow, I was teasing you, but Nuna, your stomach isn’t full at all?"
Well, because I stopped eating halfway.
I’d lost my appetite. This body would probably show it if I ate too much too.
Anyway, Juhyuk seemed bothered by the fact that I’d poked his stomach a few times.
He reached over my dress and started fussing at my stomach, tracing the shape with his hands.
I had almost no extra fat, but instead of being taut with muscle, my stomach was soft.
A body that, if it didn’t have mana, wouldn’t be able to exert any real strength at all.
With a man touching my body, my sensitivity rose again.
How dare he put his hands on me so freely. Insolent. But this had been the bet we were in the middle of.
Food delivery had come, and that had awkwardly interrupted us. That was all.
We were going to do it anyway, and I wanted to do it anyway, so fine. It was because of you that I wanted it, so you had to take responsibility.
I didn’t want to be thrown around like this, but after today we wouldn’t see each other for a few days. Until my desire built up again, I could just forget about it for a while.
Let’s just hold out until today is over.
Warmth.
By someone’s hand.
Because it was warm.
Because my body wanted it.
"Nuna?"
"..."
Thinking that, I grabbed Kang Juhyuk by the waist.
Now we were each holding the other by the waist.
Then I slowly stepped backward. Since he was stronger, Juhyuk was dragged along with me.
And when I let my knees catch on the bed and tipped backward, he followed my pull and fell over me as if collapsing on top of me.
We fell until our eyes were roughly level, his body pressing down over mine.
An overwhelming weight that somehow made me feel good. It wasn’t as if I’d wanted to see his face in particular. I just wanted to be done with this.
But because we’d fallen at almost the same height, my face ended up right close to his.
The heartbeat thudding in Kang Juhyuk’s chest flowed into mine.
Looks like the excitement that had settled down for a moment because of the meal was starting back up again.
Yeah... almost time.
We’ve eaten, so that’s enough. Soon...
Anyway, you already said you wanted it. You lost.
So admit it and let’s finish this...
"N-Nuna. Um... we still haven’t brushed our teeth."
"We can wash up after."
We’re not even kissing... it doesn’t matter.
Because he’d fallen over, Juhyuk slowly lifted his upper body off my stomach and waist, then used one arm to raise himself slightly while the other hand caressed my cheek.
Creepy. No, not creepy, but it should be creepy.
"And... I’m not planning to have sex."
"You know I told you to prove it, so I guess you’re just being stubborn. You already said you wanted it... that means you lost. So..."
"Even if I lose, it’s fine. I do want to go on a trip with you... but I don’t think making promises like this is the right way to do it. I’m really happy right now, though. Not sex, just being alone together in the room, eating, hugging. Like a little apartment date."
"That’s not a date."
"Right... it isn’t. You suddenly told me to make a bet, and now we’re doing this because of that. Still, I like it. I like it, but..."
Juhyuk paused for a moment.
Then, looking straight into my eyes, he asked,
"Nuna, do you want to?"
"...It’s because of you."
Because you wanted it,
so that’s why.
"If Nuna wants to, I’ll do it. That’s my role."
"No, so..."
Don’t say it like you’re doing me some huge favor. How arrogant.
It was because of you that I wanted it. If anything, I was the one getting dragged along by you, and you were the one giving in and going along with it.
I glared up at Juhyuk with irritated eyes.
But he only kept kneading my cheek as if I were cute. Annoying. Unpleasant. Disgusting, and arrogant.
"Don’t get the wrong idea. If I’m this aroused, it’s entirely because of you..."
"Me?"
"I told you before. Because of the curse, if someone around me gets aroused... I get aroused too. So it must be that you got horny, and that made me want it too. It’s your fault."
Kang Juhyuk made a face like he’d never considered that before.
Unbelievable. I hadn’t exactly underlined it as a warning before, and I’d said I’d explain it properly, but still.
I’d mentioned it in passing, hadn’t I? It wasn’t like he’d never heard any of this.
"So don’t do this kind of thing anymore. You need to know how to hold back... so I can stay sane too. I’ll let it slide this time, so hurry up and finish..."
"I did know you’d become like this, but... even so. Nuna, like I said earlier... I’d rather just lie here hugging you and talk than have sex."
"Quit acting innocent."
"I’m serious... I do want to have sex, but we’ve done it a ton at the Great Rift, and we’ve been doing it a lot lately... right now I just want to hold you. I think the sound of Nuna’s heartbeat is cute too. I want to whisper in your ear. How about we play a whispering word chain game?"
He was really...
Digging in his heels.
Of course, with this body, even just being held like that would make me want it.
Just having a man’s body brush against mine would do that. If that was why I got turned on, then maybe it was my fault for letting his hands stay on me in the first place.
But I’d already started getting aroused the moment he sat down beside me on the bed.
From that moment on, Kang Juhyuk had probably already been hard, already thinking about putting his hard cock inside me. That’s why I’d gotten aroused too.
So this wasn’t my fault. It was entirely Kang Juhyuk’s fault. That was what I wanted to say.
"You bastard... You’re stalling on purpose until I ask you to do it myself. Because you want to go on a trip with me."
"Nuna."
"Hurry up and admit it, then pounce. I’m horny right now because of you. It’s your fault. Your fault... not mine."
Grab.
Kang Juhyuk pulled me into a fierce hug.
Trapped in that intense scent, I forgot my words for a moment.
My pounding chest, the sound of my heartbeat. Thinking I wasn’t making sense, Juhyuk held me even tighter.
No, that wasn’t it. The opposite.
"I understand, Nuna. I lost. I want to. Honestly, I was going to do it."
"Kk... See? I knew it. Because of you. It’s because of you."
"Yes. Because of me. Nuna’s not weird. It’s because of the curse, because I wanted it, that you wanted it too. There’s nothing to be scared of. Nuna’s feelings are normal."
"Right... because of you, because of you... I, I’m fine. I am."
And then, as if...
Juhyuk seemed to know exactly what I wanted to hear.
Holding me in his arms, he slowly said it.
That he’d lost, that it wasn’t my fault.
Like he’d noticed, like he was yielding to me. That was how he spoke.
As if spoon-feeding me the words.
Arrogantly.
And what he was saying was true.
It was really true.
He was just a rapist, trash, despicable, someone who only acted to his own advantage.
A bastard who’d try to cross the line the second the mood got a little good.
And still, he was soothing me like I was a child.
Just like that.
Don’t be ridiculous.
Don’t make me feel at ease.
What were you going to do, holding me like this and taming me?
What, trying to possess me like this, trying to take me... so arrogantly, with no idea of your place.
"Say it."
"Uh... say what?"
Juhyuk leaned to my ear and whispered.
A chill ran down my skin. It was a chill, but not one that felt repulsive.
Something a little different... something like that.
"What do you think I was going to do? You imagined it, didn’t you? Getting turned on because of me. While pretending to behave, what you thought I was going to do to Eunha nuna..."
"You, you..."
Huh?
Imagine it?
No, I hadn’t imagined that.
I’d just thought we were going to have sex. That he was going to fuck me. I was sure that’s what he’d been thinking.
So I’d just... been getting wet for him.
But then.
Imagine.
How, imagine?
That shameless bastard, holding out until the very last moment.
Now that I’d said everything in my head, only now was he admitting it.
If he was a greedy, overreaching D-class piece of trash rapist who wanted to have me—
"I, I’d tie your hands up. So you couldn’t move. So you couldn’t run away. Then I’d take off your clothes, and do whatever I wanted... play with you...? Since you’d be too turned on... to resist."
"Ah, um."
W-well.
That was right, wasn’t it?
If it were you, that’s what you’d do, wouldn’t you?
You were imagining that, weren’t you?
"Y-yes. Right. That’s what I would’ve done. Yes."
Uh, a string? Is there a string...?
Saying that, Kang Juhyuk wandered over toward the clothes rack and came back with a red ribbon tie.
Then he slowly gathered my two hands together, looped the ribbon loosely around my wrists, tied a knot, and...
bound my arms so I couldn’t move.
T-Tied up.
Pathetically, but tied up all the same.
If I used my Blessing, I could tear through it like paper.
But with my body’s own strength, there was no way I could break it.
Then he went on and unfastened the buttons of my top—the black shirt-dress I was wearing.
Slowly, he stripped me halfway, taking it off. Since it slid down below my shoulders and couldn’t be pulled all the way off my arms...
Only halfway.
My bra was exposed.
My body was slowly laid bare before Kang Juhyuk.
"And then what? What do you think I would’ve done next?"
"I’d... take off your bra. Unhook it in the back... and reveal your bare chest."
It was a plain bra.
But not a sports bra.
A regular one with hooks.
"Ah... um."
Just as I expected, Juhyuk reached behind my back and tried to unhook it... but couldn’t.
Tsk. He’d only thought about it, never actually tried it. Idiot. Because it was his first time.
Though to be fair, my chest was so large that the bra had two rows of three hooks, so it wasn’t exactly easy to remove.
Hm. He was tense.
Never done this before, have you? A loser like you probably never even unhooked a woman’s bra properly.
So stop acting so cocky and just do what I tell you—ugh.
While I was thinking that, Juhyuk finally clicked the hooks free with both hands, then released the shoulder clasps too.
And with a simple tug, my bra slipped right off my body.
My breasts were exposed.
My bare breasts, my nipples, pressed and trapped between my bound arms, my chest feeling stifled.
There weren’t any milk beads showing, but these breasts were so full of milk that a bite and a little sucking would make it spill right out.
Kang Juhyuk was lying over me, looking down at them.
His gaze fell on my chest.
Under that gaze, the nipples at the ends of my breasts slowly stiffened. Hardened. They rose little by little.
Huff, huff, huff.
His rough breathing tickled my chest.
At last, the mask came off. With a face full of arousal, Kang Juhyuk stared fixedly at my breasts.
Yeah. Start already.
This is the start, isn’t it?
Touch me already. Touch me...
Show me that shitty side of you fast.
But Kang Juhyuk didn’t touch me.
He only looked at me, my chest bared to him, slowly, silently.
He did nothing. Even though he was aroused and breathing hard.
...What?
What is it?
This is weird.
This is weird.
"W-wait a second!"
I turned my body away.
With my arms still bound, I raised them to my chest and covered my breasts.
Something was wrong. It was like I was just being looked at.
And yet, for some reason, incredibly, unbelievably, it felt...
"Don’t just stare—hurry up and do it...!"
I couldn’t even put it into words.