episode_0027

8. Aftercare (3)

I still feel a little reluctant to call Hyunseok ‘oppa’ because I still think of him as a man.

Of course, now, in many aspects such as speech and behavior, the image of a man has almost disappeared.

At least in my heart… at least in my mind, I still think I’m a man.

‘Yeah… I’m… a man… It’s just that my body became a woman’s… ‘

That’s why I felt reluctant to call him oppa, but it also felt like the final line before I gave up on myself as a man.

Of course, if that happens, there will be no one who remembers me and only a girl named ‘Charlotte’ will remain.

‘Ugh, but I didn’t know it would get that gloomy…’

If the day ever comes when I really become a woman… then it’ll be okay if you call me… right?

I think I’ll try singing it once just for practice

” Oh… oh… uh… so… oh… bro…? ”

“Ha! Our fire lady~ You said you didn’t like it, so what are you doing~? Are you practicing? Huh? ”

I slowly turned my head, my whole body shrinking as Yeonseo suddenly appeared from behind, hugging me. My shoulders rose up and I could hear Yeonseo practicing calling me oppa.

I could feel my face turning red at the thought of being caught, and Yeonseo’s breathing tickled my neck behind me.

” Did you… hear…? ”

” Huh~ What are you talking about? Huh? ”

Yeonseo wrapped her arms around my shoulders with an expression like a playful cat, hugged me from behind, and slowly began to move towards the bed.

” That… No! That’s not it! You know? Right? Just… That… That’s… ”

I was so embarrassed that I kept yelling at her to say no.

” Calm down. If someone saw you, would they think I was eating you? Were you that flustered? ”

My body, which had been trembling slightly, seemed to slowly calm down as Yeonseo sat on the bed hugging me and stroked my head with her hand.

Intoxicated by her warmth, he was now leaning against her.

” Ugh, it’s okay now, stop it… ”

” Really? That’s good. So you were practicing secretly? ”

” Oh, no… I said no… It’s just that you were so depressed. I was wondering what it would feel like if I ever sang it… Just once… ”

As I lowered my head in embarrassment, her soft, ice-cold fingers poked my cheeks, soft as a marshmallow, and soon

He started laughing, ‘Phew’, and at the sound of his laughter, I also started laughing, letting out shallow breaths.

I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve laughed like this with someone. When I was in the other world, I mostly just made faces, so I don’t remember laughing.

It was rare, but it wasn’t a big laugh with someone, it was just a hollow laugh that came out quietly while drinking.

Wherever you go there, all you hear is blood, screams, and heartbreaking cries, so laughing is something you can’t even think about.

I really enjoyed this time when I could laugh like this.

” Phew, it’s been a long time since I’ve laughed like this. Thank you. ”

When I turned my head and spoke to her with a smile, her eyes opened wide, but soon returned to their usual half-closed state.

” Really? By the way, Charlotte was a returnee too, right? What kind of world was it? ”

” Well, well, it was just a world that seemed like it came out of a fantasy novel.

However, it was a world filled only with sadness and despair, not a place where dreams and hopes existed… That was the kind of world it was. ”

He moved his body away from her embrace, climbed further up the bed, hugged the pillow, hugged his legs, leaned against the wall, and talked about that world again.

When I first felt like I was in another world, I thought it would be filled with only fun things, but soon I was chased by monsters and ran away to a cave, where I gained my current power.

After that, as I was talking about the various incidents and encounters I had while traveling here and there as an apostle of the goddess, before I knew it, Yeonseo was lying on the bed, propping her chin on both hands, listening to my story.

Of course, there were Polaroids and several photos of me that I didn’t know when they were taken lying around.

” Well, there were a lot of things going on, so I defeated the evil spirit and saved the world, and somehow I came back. Was it fun? ”

” Yeah, it was fun. And I understand that Charlotte had a hard time. Did you do well? ”

Yeonseo, who had been lying down, slowly crawled over to me, hugged me in her arms, stroked my head, and began to comfort me, telling me that I did well and that I did well.

Normally I would have just been indifferent, but after becoming a woman, it became difficult for me to control my emotions.

So what I mean is…

” Uh…yeah…I…did it…sigh, I wanted to come back…so I endured it…even though it hurt…even though I was sad…and endured it…so I came…I came…sob… ”

” Yeah, yeah. Charlotte worked hard, so it’s okay now. ”

In Yeonseo’s arms, he slowly let out all the emotions he had been holding back like a stream of water flowing from a river.

” Are you done crying now? ”

” Yeah…thank you… ”

” No, I’m more grateful because you took such great pictures! ”

At those words, I pulled away from her arms and looked around, and there were many more pictures of me that I didn’t know when they were taken.

” Hey…! Do you have to do this until it’s this touching? ”

” So all that’s left are the photos? Yeah! Later on, like before, should I make an album called ‘Charlotte Female Expression Collection! ‘? ”

” What…what! I don’t need that!! And what are you saying is that I made a…female expression…? ”

Before I could finish speaking, he thrust a photo of me into my hands with a movement faster than my eyes.

The way I looked in that photo… was a really alluring and lewd… expression on my face.

” What… is this…?! I… I… said this…?! That… can’t be! That’s… I… That’s why… ”

” What, are you so surprised? That’s normal when you’re in front of someone you like! ”

” What are you talking about?! You… like me… That’s not even true, and! Even if you’re with someone you like… you’re making this… expression. That’s ridiculous! ”

” Huh, so that’s how it’s supposed to come out? Alright, look forward to it! I’ll definitely make a collection and give it to you! ”

” No need…! ”

As Yeonseo and I were bickering like that, a picture on a shelf caught my eye.

” Is this…? Is that you, sir? ”

” That’s right, you’re the bandit. ”

” Hey, how long are you going to call me Bandit? ”

” But the girl next to her is… ”

Looking at the photo again after hearing Yeonseo’s words, I saw that Dosik looked quite middle-aged, with a shorter beard and slicked-back hair.

And the girl next to her had brown hair in a short bob with a slight perm at the ends.

Although his face didn’t look like that of the old man, he was a pretty cute puppy-like child.

Looking at the clothes he was wearing, it seemed like it was a photo taken at his high school entrance ceremony.

” This is the girl named ‘Ho-ryeong’, the daughter of the old man. ”

” Is this the kind of daughter that guy got? ”

” Yeah, he said that he was attacked by Han Jin-oh on his way to the settlement before and lost his daughter along with the people he came with. ”

” That’s such a sad story. ”

” That’s right, but I guess this camper van was where the man and his daughter stayed. ”

” Hmm, so that’s why the partitions and curtains were so well made. Hey, did I ask for this for nothing? I didn’t ask for a place like this. ”

” It’s okay. When I see the old man, I think he wants us to use it instead.

I think he wants to get rid of his regrets even more because of what happened today. That’s probably why he handed this over to us. ”

” Really? Then that’s good~ ”

Yeonseo soon lost interest and lay down on the bed, looking at me while operating the device, and then she hit the bed with a ‘bang, bang’ sound.

” Would you like to talk some more? I heard it too, so if there’s anything you want to hear, I’ll tell you. ”

” Really?! Then, about that summoner~ ”

So I sat next to Yeonseo and started listening to her story about how she gained her powers and the stories about her summoned creatures.

” That’s why I awakened my ability… Yeah, right around the time when the Awakened ones started to appear, I awakened too. It was pretty early on. There wasn’t any particular trigger, right?

It was just so hot outside that I thought I wanted to put some ice on my forehead, and then something suddenly appeared on my hand. At the time, I didn’t know the world would end up like this~ ”

” I see? Wasn’t it hard back then because there were no laws protecting the Awakened? There wasn’t even a ‘ranking system’, right? ”

” Right? But, you know, back then, there were a lot of guys who were acting like they were better than others with their abilities, so laws were created right away. As for me, I didn’t like other people’s attention, so I tried to hide it as much as possible. ”

” You must have had a hard time too. I may have been in another world anyway, but you must have seen the world change since then, right? ”

” That’s true, but don’t you know me to some extent by now? I’m the type of person who doesn’t really care what happens to me unless it’s something I’m interested in.

If I could just spend time with my sister, that would be enough for me. So now, I’m going around like this and helping my sister. ”

” Do you have a sister? What does she do? Does she do tower raids like you? ”

Yeonseo opened her mouth, tapping her chin with her index finger.

” Hmm, my sister is an Awakened like me, but she likes to decorate her settlement rather than conquer towers. She hates fighting and is also very scared. ”

” Aha, so you work in a settlement? ”

” That’s right! Now that I’m the leader of the settlement, I’m working even harder. Oh! The ability is the ability to promote plant growth.

So, in our ‘Garam’ settlement, we tend to grow them ourselves and trade them for resources from other settlements. ”

” What a great ability. Isn’t it an essential ability in this day and age? Being able to grow it yourself..! ”

However, Yeonseo’s appearance of turning her head and looking out the window without saying anything was a bit bitter.

” That’s right. So I get attacked a lot. There were a lot of guys who were after my sister. Because of that, there were some people who hated my sister.

But since my sister is a pretty important person in the settlement, there were guys who targeted me instead. Well, now I can’t even do that because I can protect my own body. ”

When I heard that, I remembered something similar that had happened to me in another world.

It was clearly an act of helping someone, but when that action actually ended up putting them in danger, people began to reject and become jealous of those who did such things.

I’ve had that happen to me too, but I niped it off before it happened, or rather, I yelled at them and asked what I did wrong.

” Yeonseo, you must have had a hard time too. You held on well. ”

I turned my head and touched Yeonseo’s blue and white hair, and offered her some words of comfort.

Then Yeonseo’s pure white skin gradually turned red like a carrot, and her ears also turned red, and she pushed my hand away.

” Hey, I said it’s okay~ ”

Also, Yeonseo’s cute appearance when she is praised like this makes me feel that she is not a cold child.

That’s why I felt it was cuter, so I kept petting it, and Yeonseo turned her head to look at me and put her hand on my body.

” Ah! Really~ This is it! ”

Her soft hands began to touch my chest, and soon I flinched at the sensation of her touch gently touching my flesh, and unconsciously covered my chest with both hands.

” Hey… Wait a minute, what are you doing! ”

Yeonseo suddenly pulled her hand away from me and started muttering while waving her hand in the air.

” What…what is it? Is it different from when I touched it secretly before…? No, it’s grown so much since then…? ”

” What the heck are you talking about… Whew! ”

Once again her hands began to knead my chest and her eyes were not the bright ones she had been talking about earlier.

It was as if it was sinking into an abyss, and its eyes had turned pitch black and terrifying, as if a whirlpool was swirling around them.

” You… betrayed… me…?! ”

What on earth is this guy talking about…!