Ch.15I’ll Buy You Tonkatsu Later (5)

I actually knew it.

That Do Hamin hadn’t slept properly yesterday.

‘Those are definitely the eyes of someone who was on night duty and then made to come in for morning shift without proper rest.’

Damn, those were eyes commonly seen in military bases with personnel shortages.

Even without experiencing it firsthand, I could tell just by looking that his condition was different from usual.

But I deliberately pretended not to notice.

Only Do Hamin’s blood could get us into the theater.

I wondered if easing my guilt by offering to buy him tonkatsu was any different

from those asshole bosses who think a company dinner erases all their previous abuse of power.

Am I gradually becoming like those bosses now that I’m in a position of power?

If so, perhaps I should reflect on myself a bit.

“Are… are you sleeping…?”

“…”

And now,

I was being punished for carelessly abusing my main heroine privileges.

“Oh… wow…”

Do Hamin, having reached his physical limit, fell asleep with his face buried in my chest.

‘Lucky pervert,’ isn’t that what they call it?

Those thrilling moments between men and women that happen unintentionally in youth romance webtoons.

Like falling down and accidentally seeing the heroine’s panties,

or touching something in the dark that turns out to be the heroine’s chest—those somewhat old-fashioned manga scenes.

A technique that creates tension in otherwise dry relationships through unintended skinship.

It was a common direction in manga and novels until censorship became stricter, as it also provided service scenes that satisfied readers.

To demonstrate this through action as soon as he fell asleep.

As expected of a protagonist.

“H-hey, there’s a battle scene coming up soon. You should watch this, right?”

I tried to wake Do Hamin by slightly twisting my body.

I thought a small stimulus would wake him up quickly.

After all, during all our classes together, I’d never seen him doze off

or look exhausted.

“…”

But Do Hamin showed no signs of waking up.

Rather, as if satisfied with his newfound pillow, he buried his head deeper into my chest.

“…He’s really sound asleep.”

I could feel something damp through my blouse.

The smell of amylase. Evidence of deep sleep.

Even if I somehow managed to wake him up,

in this state, he’d likely fall back asleep immediately.

“Still, I can’t leave things like this.”

Do Hamin might be shorter than me, but his head wasn’t that small.

It was big enough to block part of the screen as soon as he dropped it on my chest.

I could forgive him using my chest as a pillow.

As long as your head doesn’t block the subtitles at the bottom.

“Miss Ban Do-young’s chest isn’t a pillow. Not yet, anyway.”

I raised the armrest between Do Hamin and me,

then grabbed his shoulders and pulled him toward my lap.

After removing the armrest that had been keeping us apart,

his tilted head fell right onto my lap.

“Don’t worry, I’ll wake you up for the most important scenes.”

I let Do Hamin’s head rest on my lap and focused back on the movie.

I roughly wiped the drool on my left chest with his hoodie.

[マリナちゃん、大丈夫？!]

[Marina-chan! Are you okay?!]

[これくらいではびくともしない。私は戦うよ。 私たちの自由のために！]

[This much is nothing. I’ll fight, for our freedom!]

The movie had already reached the lavish battle scene where budget and manpower had been poured in.

The exquisite and thrilling scenes that felt like entering a fantasy world, featuring the double protagonists—Pure Marina, the magical girl of hallucination, and Pure Hwarina, the magical girl of addiction.

I couldn’t help but marvel at how they had imagined such direction from text-only source material—the scene where Marina’s bullets and Hwarina’s arrows collide and fly toward the enemy army as they fight against the Black Witch, the movie’s boss who tries to steal the protagonists’ powers.

It was such an excellent film that I almost forgot it was a fictional creation within the webtoon world.

Yes, this is worth paying money to see.

“Oh, this is that illustration scene from the end of volume 10.”

I knew because I had thoroughly read the original novel.

The novel hidden in Do Hamin’s bag contained the story of this theatrical version we were watching.

The scene he most wanted to see was approaching.

Of course, he probably already knew the story and ending since it followed the original work.

But seeing the scenes you’ve only read about

come to life in gorgeous moving images feels completely different.

[ありがとう。マリーナちゃん。 私と一緒にいてくれて。]

[Thank you, Marina-chan. For being with me.]

The movie’s ending scene after all the fighting was over.

The film concluded with the image of the two magical girls smiling as they greeted the morning sun after defeating the Black Witch.

“…Mmm.”

“Oh, waking up at this timing? Impressive.”

The final ending scene.

Did he have some kind of great scene radar?

Do Hamin started showing signs of waking up just as the scene he probably wanted to see most was about to appear.

“Huh? Why is it half dark and half bright?”

“Half your view is blocked, so it can’t be helped.”

“Uwaah!”

Do Hamin got up from my lap with a shriek.

It was a scream that could have gotten us kicked out of the theater if there had been more people.

“Are you awake?”

“Why, why am I… When did I fall asleep?”

“Since the opening. You really had no awareness at all.”

“Aah… I had no idea. But I’m sure the armrest was in place… How did I end up over there?”

“Oh, I removed it.”

“…Huh?”

Do Hamin tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand.

“Why, why…?”

“Because you kept burying your face in my chest and I couldn’t see the subtitles. My blood circulation was getting cut off too.”

“R-really…?”

“I almost lost the ability to breastfeed on the left side in the future.”

“I-I’m sorry…!”

Normally he would have been startled by such a teasing comment, but he just bowed his head without any retort.

He must have been quite embarrassed.

“I’m really sorry, I didn’t know that I—”

“It’s fine, just focus on the movie. This is the most important scene, you know.”

There’s no fun in teasing someone who gets serious instead of playing along.

I tilted Do Hamin’s head, which was bowed in apology, back toward the screen.

The scene he probably wanted to see most was just about to start.

“This is what you wanted to see, right? This scene.”

“…”

Two magical girls appearing in the rising mist.

Do Hamin’s face turned red along with the reddish lighting that subtly shone through the mist.

[これからもよろしくね。 あいぼう。]

[Please take care of me from now on too, partner.]

[こちらこそよろしく。これからもずっと。]

[Likewise. Forever from now on.]

The scene where the two magical girls promise each other a future

while alone together in a hot spring after all the fighting is over.

The two magical girls, with only towels covering their bodies, were playing and healing their wounds in the mist rising from the hot spring.

“Ugh… Hwarina-chan is super kawaii.”

It worked well as a simple ending,

but it was also an excellent service scene for fans who had followed the story to the end.

Scenes that fulfilled the desires of fans that couldn’t be satisfied with just the TV anime broadcast.

Yes, this is what makes it “truly” worth paying money to see.

“Kya, Marina-chan’s bust morphing was insane too, right?”

“…”

“Hm? What’s wrong? Wasn’t this what you wanted to see? Marina-chan and Hwarina-chan playing in the hot spring at the end of volume 10.”

“N-no! That wasn’t my purpose!”

“Ah, perhaps Marina-chan’s size no longer satisfies you? I guess once you’ve used something better as a pillow…”

“S-stop it…!”

“Hey, keep it down over there! Did you rent out the whole theater?”

Hmm, it seems that Do Hamin and I had different rankings for what constituted a great scene.

.

.

.

“Ah, that was fun.”

After the movie ended, we left the theater.

It was quite a satisfying film.

Who knew I could enjoy such cultural activities in the webtoon world.

“How was it for you? Oh, I guess you don’t remember much besides the ending? Heheh.”

“I-I’m sorry for falling asleep earlier…”

Do Hamin, now fully awake, apologized for what he couldn’t say earlier about shouting in the theater.

“Falling asleep first and then shouting like that earlier… I’m really sorry.”

“Exactly. At this rate, even if I just talk about the movie, I’ll be a spoiler. And if I tell other people, they’ll just call me a ‘weeb.'”

“Ugh….”

“Sigh, can’t be helped.”

*pat*

I patted Do Hamin’s back and straightened his hunched body.

“We’ll just have to watch together again next time.”

“…Huh? Next time?”

“I’m hungry, let’s go get something to eat.”

I took Do Hamin and headed down toward the restaurant area.