CH 33

Having barely finished a bowl of porridge in the midst of a heavy silence, I jumped to my feet. I wanted to escape this hellish silence as soon as possible, even if it was only for a second.

“Is there a place to wash?”

Ha Tae-heon, who got up from his seat, opened the door on the right side of the bed and showed me the bathroom.

“Put your clothes in the basket, and there are the towels in the cabinet.”

“Okay.”

Without looking back, I went into the bathroom and closed the door. I looked at myself in the mirror and sighed.

“How did I end up like this…”

Even though I just woke up, I was very tired. Were we already starting the attacks on my psyche*…?

As I slowly took off my hospital clothes, I looked down at my lower body and my eyes widened. I couldn’t see the underwear I was supposed to be wearing.

What is this? Why aren’t I wearing underwear?

At that moment, Ha Tae-heon’s face, who proudly declared that he had changed my clothes, flashed through my head.

I thought he changed my outer clothes, but…

‘Damn it.’

I tightly closed my eyes and swallowed back swear words.

No, but isn’t it kind of weird to take off my underwear? If it was just my outer garments, I could understand, but to take off all my clothes…!

“Enough. Let’s stop thinking.”

As soon as I left the bathroom, I felt like I was going to grab Ha Tae-heon by the collar.

Son of bitch. Even if it wasn’t for the fact he was the main character…

I tried to find my composure under the cold water pouring over my head.

Let’s think positively. It was incredibly embarrassing, but once the conversation with Cha Soo-yeon was over, I’ll run away quickly.

After finally gaining peace of mind, I finished taking a shower and took out a towel from the cabinet. Now all I had to do was put on my new clothes and go out.

‘Oh? Wait.’

New clothes? Did I bring those in?

“Hell.”

I rushed into the bathroom to escape from Ha Tae-heon, so I couldn’t bring any clothes to change into. I sighed once again, putting the towel on my wet head.

I had no choice but to pick up the hospital clothes I took off. Even though I wanted to wear this, I sweated so much because of the weird dream, so it’d be uncomfortable to wear it again.

After staring at the hospital clothes for a long time, I gritted my teeth and wrapped a towel around my lower body.

‘First, let’s open the door slightly and check the room. If Ha Tae-heon is there, I’ll ask him for some clothes. If not, I’ll run out and pick up the clothes on the bed and wear them.’

It wasn’t a bad plan. As expected, I was a genius. I sighed and opened the bathroom door slightly as I praised myself. Ha Tae-heon was nowhere to be seen. I opened the door a little more to check it out. The room was empty.

“Ha Tae-heon-ssi?”

I called his name just in case, but there was no answer. I guess he really went out.

I inwardly celebrated and rushed to the bed. First off, pick up the pants and wear them.

The moment I reached out to my jeans on the bed.

Thud—

“……”

“……”

Ha Tae-heon was back.

I hurriedly crossed my arms and covered my upper body, uttering abusive language inside. It was an act of instinct rather than reason.

Ha Tae-heon looked at me from head to toe with a calm expression. Drip, drip. The sound of water dripping echoed through the quiet room.

“I was just… the clothes…”

“……”

“I forgot… to take them with me…”

My face was bleached white. My voice, stuttering and spitting out excuses, shook wildly.

“Hmm…”

Ha Tae-heon, who had been staring at me for a long time, gave me a low-key response, which made my face crumple.

“What are you looking at?”

“You need this.”

Ha Tae-heon, who approached me without hesitation, held out what he was holding in his hand. It was brand new underwear wrapped in a thin wrapper.

He went out to buy underwear. Looking up, I saw Ha Tae-heon who had an indifferent expression as usual.

‘…am I being too prickly?’

I couldn’t even imagine that he would even take off my underwear, so I guess I became sensitive without realizing it.

I said, stroking the tips of my damp hair awkwardly, “Thank you…”

“Is this right?”

Thud!

As Ha Tae-heon came in, the tightly closed door suddenly opened wide. My eyes and Ha Tae-heon’s eyes turned to the door at the same time.

“Oh…?”

“……”

“……”

It was a beautiful woman, red hair neatly tied up.

Cha Soo-yeon looked at Ha Tae-heon, her eyes widening.

“Oh, uh…?”

“……”

“……”

I dropped the underwear I was holding. Cha Soo-yeon’s gaze turned to the men’s underwear that had fallen on the floor. Her eyes shook wildly.

“Wait, don’t tell me, the two of you are like that…?”

Damn it!

“Absolutely not.”

“Cha Soo-yeon-ssi,” Ha Tae-heon calmly said, hiding the terrified me behind his back. “As you can see, please leave for a moment.”

Wait, what’s with this situation? Explain it properly! And you get out, too!

“Tae-heon-ssi…”

Cha Soo-yeon looked at Ha Tae-heon and said in a trembling voice, “When you said you didn’t want a girlfriend, did you mean this…?”

What? When did you two have such a conversation?

Rather than that, shouldn’t you leave?

I hurriedly pulled the hem of Ha Tae-heon’s clothes. “Ha Tae-heon-ssi.”

Take Cha Soo-yeon with you and leave. Ha Tae-heon nodded his head as if he understood my earnest eyes.

“I don’t think this is the right place to talk about that.”

Cha Soo-yeon covered her mouth with a pale face. “T-that’s right. There are other people here, but I… I’m sorry.”

What kind of bullshit was this?

I covered my eyes, lowering my head. I don’t know what kind of conversation this was. Meanwhile, Cha Soo-yeon continued to talk without paying attention to the atmosphere.

“To be honest, I’m very disappointed, but… it’s okay. If Tae-heon-ssi is happy, I can cheer you on.”

“…Cha Soo-yeon-ssi.”

“I don’t have a bias against it, either. Well, I’m surprised that your inclinations lie that way, but…”

Ha Tae-heon made a subtle expression. I couldn’t stand it any longer and said in a weary voice, “Please stop talking and leave.”

* * *

“I’m so sorry!”

Cha Soo-yeo, like she didn’t know what to do, apologized. I only just got my clothes on. I looked at her blankly.

“Well, I’m a little bad with directions… I went to the wrong room several times, so I thought this would be another empty room and opened it without knocking! I never intended…”

“Okay. I understand,” I cut her off abruptly. It felt like 10 years had passed in a matter of seconds. “First of all, the reason I called Cha Soo-yeon-ssi…”

I put my backpack on the table and began to explain, but I stopped. I asked Ha Tae-heon, who was looking at me and Cha Soo-yeon, “I’d like to talk to Cha Soo-yeon-ssi—can’t I?”

“Do you think that’s going to work?”

I didn’t think so either. I shifted my gaze to Cha Soo-yeon. If you have a conscience, do something.

As I stared at her persistently, Cha Soo-yeon broke out in a cold sweat and spoke in an awkward tone, “Tae—Tae-heon-ssi. Could you leave?”

“Cha Soo-yeon-ssi.”

“He kept his promise with Tae-heon-ssi and I don’t think it’ll take long.”

“It could be dangerous.”

“I’m not that weak.”

Cha Soo-yeon and I were of the same rank A. If either side tried to attack, there would definitely be a big commotion. Ha Tae-heon had the same thoughts while looking at me and Cha Soo-yeon alternately.

“You just have to wait 10 minutes outside the door.”

When I added a word, Ha Tae-heon finally nodded his head.

“I’ll be back in exactly ten minutes.”

Ha Tae-heon checked the current time on his watch and went out. As soon as I heard the door click, I pulled out an inventory item from my backpack.

“As I promised, here’s the inventory item. I got it directly from Li Wei.”

“Hhh, really?”

Cha Soo-yeon held the inventory item in her hand. After carefully examining the energy, she smiled brightly.

“Really? How did you get it?”

“It’s a trade secret.”

When I first met Cha Soo-yeon and asked for cooperation in kidnapping, this was the condition I put forward. ‘If you help me with the plan, I’ll get you an inventory item that Li Wei made.’

Cha Soo-yeon has a strong elemental ability to handle fire, but she had one big flaw.

Although she could control the fire she created herself, it was impossible to control the fire that spread from it.

That was the reason why I took Cha Soo-yeon to a tree-filled forest to try to negotiate. Cha Soo-yeon’s ability was too risky to use anywhere other than a gate.

So, in addition to items that increased her firepower, she also wore items related to water all the time just in case. The problem was that the items were too cumbersome and heavy.

There was a limit to carrying it in a normal bag, so Cha Soo-yeon naturally coveted inventory items. The idea came to my mind in the car because there was no other way.

As for Cha Soo-yeon, there was no reason to refuse.

“It’s very expensive… Is it really okay to have it?”

“You can have it. Instead, please do me a favour,” I said, pointing to an inventory item. “It’s an inventory that can hold 100 items of any size, no matter how heavy. Please save me only three spaces for me.”

“What are the three for?”

“First of all, this.”

I took out the things I had carefully placed deep in my backpack. Seeing the object in my hand, Cha Soo-yeon widened her eyes.

“Isn’t that the necklace back then?”

“Yes.”

The cheap necklace that was trampled by Ha Tae-heon breaking the jewelry. I looked at it and said quietly, “I heard that if you put it in your inventory, you can store it safely without risk of breakage.”

“Y-yeah…”

“Please keep the necklace for me. I’m not in a position to take good care of it.”

Cha Soo-yeon hesitated to take the necklace.

“I’ll ask for the other two later.”

The necklace went into the inventory item in front of me. The whole time I looked at the necklace, I felt the corner of my chest that had been stuffy relieved a little.

“That… you know.” Cha Soo-yeon, who looked at me with a hesitant expression, struggled to open her mouth. “This necklace is important, isn’t it?”

“It’s important…”

Would it be okay if I told Cha Soo-yeon? After thinking for a while, I answered, “I bought it for my little sister.”

“What? Your gift is ruined, then?”

“Yes. But it doesn’t matter. She’s dead.”

Cha Soo-yeon’s complexion turned white.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why is Cha Soo-yeon-ssi apologizing?”

Someone else should be apologizing. I tilted my head with a faint smile.

‘No, now that too is…’

I wasn’t sure. In the current situation, nothing was for sure.

“Since I gave you the item, so I’ll be on my way.”

“What? Are you going?”

I got up and put on my backpack. Cha Soo-yeon stood up at the same time with a bewildered face.

“Did you really call me for this?”

“Of course.”

You ask all sorts of weird questions. I opened the window and said to Cha Soo-yeon, “When Ha Tae-heon-ssi comes in, please tell him that I left.”

“Are you going without telling him?”

“I think that would be good…”

For my mental health.

I slowly raised my ability. Hwiiing, a gentle wind wrapped around my legs and came up.

I unexpectedly fainted, but after a good rest, the amount of energy in my heart was quite large.

“See you next time, Cha Soo-yeon-ssi.”

“Huh? Okay…” Cha Soo-yeon, who was half dazed, replied blankly.

Cha Soo-yeon also had a very dynamic day today, so it was understandable. I felt a sense of unity with her.

Without delay, I exited the window. I exhaled worriedly as I raised the altitude to avoid attracting the public’s attention.

I didn’t know what excuse I should say when I went back.  I wasn’t confident.