Ch.206Side Story – I Became a Heroine with Only a Pure Love Ending (6)

“I ran all the way here and even lost my shirt… But I still ended up being too late… Achoo!”

While Hamin waited for Doyoung in the rain, tears mixing with sweat,

Perhaps it was because he too had been sprinting through the rain, with sweat and rainwater mingling together.

Doyoung let out a powerful sneeze as a chill ran through his body,

Without even having time to cover his mouth.

“A-are you okay…?”

Though Doyoung’s snot and saliva splattered onto Hamin’s face and chest, Hamin didn’t seem to mind.

Already soaked by the rain, it all felt the same anyway.

“I’m… I’m fide… Achoo…! Just a bit of shiverding…”

(I’m… I’m fine… Achoo! Just a bit of shivering…)

“W-why is your speech suddenly so weird…? Anyone can see you’re not okay! Even though it’s March, it’s still not the time to be running around in the rain! They even said there’d be cold snaps starting today!”

“That’s stradge… The men in my family were always fide even after rudding in this much raid…”

(That’s strange… The men in my family were always fine even after running in this much rain…)

Just as Doyoung’s expectation of an early discharge had crumbled spectacularly,

The male body he now inhabited wasn’t performing as efficiently as he had thought.

Unlike Doyoung who had trained his body through kendo since elementary school,

This world’s Doyoung was someone with ordinary physical abilities who had no special connection to exercise.

“Brrrr… It’s cold… I thought only women felt the cold… Aren’t you cold, Noona…?”

“I-I naturally have a lot of fat… I mean, heat in my body, so I don’t easily catch colds even if I get a bit wet! I-I did catch COVID once… but I recovered quickly!”

“I… I see. That’s good.”

The problem was that his basis for male comparison had been his semiconductor father who had devoted over 30 years to kendo,

And his brother who had inherited their father’s physical abilities.

Until now, Doyoung had thought all men were naturally resistant to cold.

Whenever Doyoung complained about the cold while walking with family in the middle of winter, her father or brother would always take off their coats and offer them to her.

Wasn’t this a common scene in dramas, movies, and the manga and novels on this world’s Doyoung’s bookshelf?

She thought it was a universal law that applied to all men regardless of country, world, or dimension.

So that wasn’t it.

They were all just as cold and uncomfortable, but willingly gave up their coats anyway.

Following his misconception about military service, this was the second misunderstanding about men that was being cleared up today.

“Ah… Your clothes are completely soaked… There’s no way we can go to the movies in this state.”

“I-I’m fide. This is nothidg.”

(I-I’m fine. This is nothing.)

Whoooosh.

The wind gusted, driving the rain diagonally into Doyoung’s body.

“Achoo!”

Snot sprayed from Doyoung’s face onto Hamin’s face.

Though there was a handkerchief in his pocket, it was already soaked, so Hamin just wiped away the thick saliva with his hand.

“…Let’s go.”

“W-where?”

Doyoung asked.

Because Hamin’s steps were heading somewhere other than the theater entrance.

“…My place. It’s close by. You can warm up there.”

“…What? But the movie.”

Doyoung tilted his head at the sudden invitation to Hamin’s home.

Snot dripped sideways along his tilted head.

“W-we can watch something on Netflix at my place. Maybe not the latest releases, but still.”

“…”

“I-I’ll give you something warm to drink too.”

“…Hehe.”

Bright.

A ray of sunshine peeked through the clouds, illuminating Doyoung’s beaming face.

“Do you have hot chocolate?”

Doyoung was excited about visiting the home of his first friend in this world.

.

.

.

The apartment where Hamin lived was, as she had said, not far from the downtown area where the theater was located.

Since she lived alone, the interior of the apartment felt somewhat empty and cold when they opened the door.

“I’ll heat up the room first. It’ll be warm soon, so please wait a bit.”

As soon as they entered, Hamin turned on both the lights and the living room boiler.

As mentioned earlier, because she had a lot of heat in her body rather than fat, she usually turned off all heating in her apartment around March, so turning on the heating at this time was quite unusual for Hamin.

“Here, a towel. Use this to dry yourself first.”

“Achoo… Brrrr… Thank you, Noona.”

Doyoung used the large towel from Hamin to wipe his wet hair and face.

Thanks to the warming room and the towel, his chilled body gradually began to thaw, and he started to regain his lost pronunciation.

“Fortunately, it seems your tongue is coming back too. I was worried about what to do since I don’t have any dry clothes for you to change into…”

After confirming that Doyoung’s condition was improving, Hamin sighed with relief and headed straight to the kitchen.

Following the gentle warmth rising from the floor, a sweet and soft aroma now reached Doyoung’s nose from the kitchen.

This thick, rich smell lingering in his nose.

It was the smell of milk being heated.

“Here you go, hot chocolate.”

“Wow, hot chocolate!”

“I put in two packets. A-and I added a marshmallow too.”

“Wow, you really know your stuff!”

A mug filled with thick, rich hot chocolate was placed in Doyoung’s hands.

“Phew… I feel alive again.”

Doyoung smiled contentedly as he drank Hamin’s hot chocolate.

He had fallen into this world without knowing why and had undergone training he didn’t need to receive.

He had slipped in puddles several times on the rainy street due to unfamiliar military boots, getting covered in mud.

Even though he couldn’t keep his promise with the first friend he’d made here and was making baby-like lisping sounds due to the chills,

Somehow that small mug full of hot chocolate and marshmallow made him feel like he had the whole world.

“Aren’t you drinking, Noona? Drink with me.”

“I-I’m fine. I’ll just have a soft drink. I still have some Zero Lime left from yesterday…”

“You got rained on but you’re drinking something cold? Noona, you’re really tough…!”

Doyoung wanted Hamin to join him, but she politely declined since she wasn’t as sensitive to cold as he was.

She also preferred iced coffee over hot even in the middle of winter.

It absolutely wasn’t because she was worried about the calories in two packets of hot chocolate with milk and marshmallow.

“Do you need anything else? Besides hot chocolate.”

“Hmm… *sip*”

At his friend Hamin’s question, Doyoung fell into thought for a moment.

Come to think of it, how did Hamin and I end up looking like drowned rats like this?

It made sense for him to be wet since he had rushed over after his reserve forces training and getting rained on wasn’t particularly strange, but Hamin’s case was different.

It was fortunate that he had quickly found his way to the theater after training ended;

If he had gotten lost or taken a wrong turn, even Hamin, who now claimed to be fine, might have been shivering in the cold like him.

And in his current state, he didn’t even have a coat to offer her.

That would have been very troublesome.

‘Ah, phone number. Did I ask Hamin Noona for it?’

Only then did Doyoung realize that after making plans with Hamin,

He hadn’t exchanged any means of contact with her.

Why hadn’t he asked for something so simple and instead made verbal plans?

Was it because of his habit of making verbal plans with friends he hung out with every day?

No, even when making verbal plans, they would later contact each other to coordinate specific times.

No matter how he thought about it, the problem didn’t seem to be with him.

‘Let’s just say it was the original Ban Doyoung who was thick-headed.’

Doyoung settled on the conclusion that made him feel better.

“Nothing else…? That you need?”

“Ah… there is.”

Yes, I should ask for Hamin’s number now.

That way we can avoid mishaps like today.

Doyoung wiped the hot chocolate cream from his lips and raised his body that had been shivering with chills to speak to her.

“Give me your number, Noona.”

“…What? Eeeek? W-what did you say?”

Huh. What’s this?

At Doyoung’s request for her number, Hamin showed a surprisingly startled reaction.

“A-are you serious?”

“Hmm…? What’s the big deal about asking for your number?”

“Why… are you suddenly making such a request…?”

“…Huh? Because I want to get closer to you, Noona.”

“…”

After listening to Doyoung’s words for a moment, Hamin seemed lost in thought before speaking with a trembling voice.

“Alright. I feel sorry too.”

“Sorry…?”

“But… can I take a shower first? I’m in quite a state right now…”

“Hmm…? That’s fine.”

Ah, I see. So Hamin was also shivering from the cold.

Seeing that her voice was trembling like his, Doyoung nodded at her urgent request to shower.

After getting soaked in the rain, of course she’d want to shower with warm water.

Doyoung sat in the living room, drinking the remaining hot chocolate while waiting for Hamin who had gone into the bathroom.

“Whew… My body’s finally warmed up. My tongue is back to normal too.”

About 30 minutes had passed.

Doyoung’s frozen body had returned to its original state.

-Clunk

Just then, the bathroom door opened, and steam that had been trapped inside wafted out.

It was a signal that Hamin had finished showering and was coming out.

“Sorry for the long wait.”

“Oh, it’s fine. I have plenty of time anyway. Did you dry off properly and change into fresh clothes…”

The sound of wet footsteps approached the living room.

From what Doyoung had seen when they entered the house, the closet containing Hamin’s clothes was next to the bathroom.

For some reason, those footsteps passed the closet, went through the kitchen, and headed toward Doyoung.

“Huh, Hamin Noona… Did you already change clothes? You’re faster than those guys changing at the military uniform rental place…”

“I did as Hamin said, I mean, as you said and came out naked. Is this what you wanted…?”

“…Eh.”

Standing before Doyoung, who had asked for her number,

Was a completely naked Hamin.