Ch.19New Sex

# 19. Saex

“Hey.”

“Could you not say anything?”

Saex, who had enthusiastically shouted his character name, was now standing a few steps away with a flushed face, seemingly overcome with self-loathing in the eerie silence.

‘This is awkward.’

[Floor 1-2.]

Having automatically exited someone’s memory, we were now walking somewhere on Floor 1-2. This wasn’t the neutral zone the message had declared, which meant we could encounter danger anywhere at any time.

But with this atmosphere, nothing would get done.

So…

“SAEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“C-Captain?!”

“Oh my god!”

“SAEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Shout with me, Cutjugyeora!

“SAEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The two who had flinched at my sudden outburst.

Saex initially jumped in surprise at the sudden shout but soon began laughing “Puhahaha,” while Cutjugyeora looked at me bewilderedly as if wondering why I was acting this way. Only after I shouted three times while looking at her did she seem to understand, squeezing her eyes shut and…

“Sa, Sex!!!!!!!!!”

“Not Sex, it’s Saex!!!”

“Saex!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Sa, Saex!!!!!!!!!!!!”

We continued shouting “Saex” until our faces were about to burst.

“Haa, haa. Seriously, Captain, I think you’re crazy.”

“No crazier than you suddenly shouting ‘Saex.'”

“Puhah!”

“Really…”

What a relief. If the atmosphere had remained awkward after all that, I might have wanted to bite my tongue off and die from embarrassment.

“Well, Captain’s nickname is pretty weird too, isn’t it?”

“You’re not really one to talk…”

“Saex!”

“Enough with the nonsense!”

Unable to stand it anymore, Cutjugyeora covered Saex’s mouth. Having forgotten her initial frustration, Saex seemed to be enjoying herself, giggling and squirming. The embarrassment was all ours.

Still, the atmosphere had lightened considerably, so mission accomplished.

“How old are you? I know Cut is a college student and Captain works full-time.”

“I’m twenty-seven.”

“Twenty-one.”

“So you’re the youngest again.”

“Twenty?”

“Yep.”

So the intimidating, strong woman Saex was actually an adorable twenty-year-old freshman.

“Now that I know your age, I should call you ‘unni’ from now on, Cut.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Even if formal speech feels awkward, titles are fine, right? Don’t you think, unni?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Puhah. Why are you being so awkward? Come on, repeat after me. Yuri-ya—”

“Yuri-ya?”

“That’s right.”

Hmm, anyone would think Saex was the older one…

“As for Captain, well, you’re just Captain.”

“Why not?”

“What. Do you want me to call you ‘oppa’?”

“No, that’s fine.”

“Puhah, what’s with that?”

“Captain. Should I call you oppa?”

“That’s a misunderstanding. Why are you doing this too?”

I’d heard men go crazy for being called “oppa~,” but not me. Not because I was embarrassed or tsundere, but because I’d realized that when a woman approaches calling you “oppa~,” there’s a high probability she’s trying to dump some troublesome task on you or wants something material!

Anyway, now that introductions and titles were sorted out, I took out a suitable robe from my inventory and handed it to Saex.

“Huh?”

“You should cover up.”

Saex looked down at her body. She silently put on the robe and quickly moved away from me.

‘Wait, did she just now realize what state she was in?’

This Saex, I really can’t figure her out…

**

Of course, being Saex, she quickly shook off the second wave of embarrassment. We were now crossing through a forest.

“If we consider Edengard as Floor 1-0, then the Knight’s Trial appeared on Floor 1-1. The Knight’s Trial is a special dungeon in the field outside Edengard.”

“So is 1-2 something even further away than the Knight’s Trial? What was there again?”

“It could be something further away, but it could also be something in a field in a different direction.”

We walked in formation with me in the middle, Cutjugyeora ahead on the left, and Saex ahead on the right. Saex continued speaking while picking up and putting down the axe she said had been in her inventory from the beginning.

“Was it like this when entering Floor 1-1?”

“No. We didn’t walk this long, and there was no forest. Just looking at this, I can’t tell where we are. And there’s no message telling us what to do either.”

“Are there many similar-looking places?”

“Yeah. We need to see something distinctive to even make a guess. Simple forest paths like this are everywhere.”

Whether looking for patterns or anomalies, we needed more samples. Even using myself as a reference, I’d only passed through Floor 0, Floor 1, and Floor 1-1. Just three floors wasn’t enough to easily predict and prepare.

“Ugh— thinking about things we can’t figure out just gives me a headache.”

As Saex stretched, her robe rolled up, revealing her toned arms. Seriously, I’d probably lose to her in arm wrestling.

“Let’s camp here.”

“Camp? Here?”

“Yeah. This spot seems better than most.”

I’d never been camping, let alone done field survival. But I had some basic knowledge. At least this place was easy to monitor in all directions while still providing some cover for the campsite. Normally we’d need to consider water sources too, but we had enough supplies for now.

I leveled the ground, took out a tent from my inventory, set it up, and laid out blankets and pillows.

“Seyeon. Could you take out another tent?”

“Is that necessary?”

“Huh?”

“The three of us can sleep together in one, so why bother setting up two from the start? Oh right, we need to take turns keeping watch, right? So only two people will be sleeping at a time. I think it would be wasteful.”

She had a point, but…

Wait a minute.

“How can we all sleep in one tent?”

“We slept together in Edengard too, didn’t we?”

“Ohhh.”

“No, Seyeon, saying it like that will make her misunderstand!”

“Wow, already that kind of relationship?”

“It’s not like that!”

“It’s not like that!”

Saex, who had been gathering branches for the campfire, giggled as she used the ignition device I’d handed her.

“Oh, nice coordination.”

“A-Anyway, the tent isn’t that cramped, so I think it’s fine.”

Girls, if you keep this up, this ordinary office worker will get too awkward and flustered!

I sighed as I placed a pot of water on the fire Saex had started. As we’d planned before camping, Cutjugyeora prepared vegetables while I cut meat into appropriate sizes and made a marinade.

Saex, who had been keeping watch for potential attacks (more like just staring blankly), spoke to me.

“You’re a good cook?”

“Not really. Living alone, I can’t order food all the time, so I just know how to make a few dishes.”

“That’s still more than a lot of people these days.”

Was she surprised to see a man cooking?

Saex suddenly came over and crouched beside me. The sudden waft of a woman’s scent… *inhale*.

I could feel Cutjugyeora glancing over at us as she continued cutting vegetables.

Ignoring that, Saex brought over some dishes and dipped one into the marinade.

“Oh, this is delicious?”

“It’s not finished yet.”

“Really? Now I’m even more excited!”

“You’re making me nervous.”

“I mean it. Whatever it turns out to be, it’ll definitely taste better than plain chicken breast salad without dressing.”

After that, she silently watched for a while before returning to her spot. She was a woman whose sense of personal space I couldn’t figure out.

**

The meal was a huge hit. More precisely, I thought it was decent, Cutjugyeora said it was delicious, and then there was…

“I… I can die happy now. Seriously.”

“There’s more, so eat slowly. You’ll get indigestion.”

“Oppa, you’re the best!”

No exaggeration, Saex was literally eating with tears in her eyes. It was especially dramatic when she chewed the meat dripping with seasoning, broth, and fat.

Cutjugyeora, who had seemed slightly sulky for some reason, looked surprised as she wiped away Saex’s tears, and Saex laughed while crying.

*Crackle*

After finishing the meal and cleaning up, night had completely fallen.

The three of us gathered around the campfire, enjoying the drowsiness.

“I’ve been wondering, why are Captain and unni still speaking formally to each other?”

“Hmm, it just happened that way?”

Cutjugyeora tilted her head as she answered.

“I find socializing awkward and difficult in general. Even in real life, I don’t have a wide or great network of relationships. And somehow, I didn’t notice it while gaming, but seeing him in person, I can’t bring myself to speak casually.”

“Unni, you look like such a social butterfly though.”

I nodded, and Cutjugyeora sighed. Having glimpsed her memories, it seemed like a sigh of exasperation to me.

“What about me?”

“You… well, it just happened?”

“Puhah! What kind of answer is that?”

Saex, or Yuri, laughed easily. I thought she’d be irritable and angry from all the stress, but she wasn’t.

She genuinely seemed to be enjoying herself.

That made me want to ask something.

“Yuri-ssi.”

“Ugh. What’s that?”

But Saex was rubbing her arms and shuddering.

“What? Why?”

“What’s with ‘Yuri-ssi’? Ugh, it gives me goosebumps.”

“Then what should I call you? You asked me to use your name.”

“Just use my name normally!”

That’s a bit too high-level for me.

“Come on, repeat after me. Yu-ri-ya—”

“Yu-ri-ssi.”

“No! How can you speak casually but not call me by my name properly? Does that make any sense?”

“Please respect me, Yuri-ssi. Your Captain is a proper person. Understand?”

“What are you suddenly saying? I’ll use my wish token right here if you don’t!”

“Yuri-ya, you’re making the Captain uncomfortable.”

“I didn’t expect unni to take Captain’s side—”

*Rustle*

We who had been laughing and chatting excitedly fell silent.

Saex had already grabbed her axe and lowered her body, her eyes gleaming ominously.