Ch.259259. The Girl and the Winter Rain (2)

For a man raised in South Korea, a man indoctrinated with Confucian ideology, holding a woman’s body clad only in underwear is agonizing in itself.

The body heat transmitted from skin to skin.

The sensation of flesh pressing against flesh.

Even the breath that periodically touched my skin was nothing short of torment.

‘Really, this is perfect for misunderstanding.’

If someone were to find out that the moment I woke up, I was nearly naked, stripped and held by a senior I trusted without question… no excuse would suffice. It was obvious they would look at me with contempt and call me a pervert.

Anyone else would say the same thing.

What are you doing to Renias!

You pervert, get away from her!

Taking advantage of her because her clothes were wet!

And so on… I’d be cursed out before I could explain that it was a misunderstanding, that there was a reason for these measures. Oh, I’m getting used to being stuffed in sacks now. Can I start to see through them?

Sigh.

‘And why, of all times, am I remembering that incident now?’

When Senia conspired with Charlotte to create an ice patch in the middle of the road to make Renias fall. And then I touched her legs saying they needed to be massaged, only to end up tearing her stockings.

The sound of her hiccups from that day seems to echo in my ears.

All I can actually hear is the pitter-patter of falling rain, yet I can’t help but be conscious of it.

When I removed her clothes soaked with rain. When I moved Renias, now in her underwear, into the sleeping bag. And finally… when I got into this sleeping bag with her.

After becoming deeply conscious that Renias would surely have hiccupped like before if she were awake, the sound wouldn’t stop in my mind. As my inner guilt kept swelling, I unconsciously slipped my body away.

“Mmm… cold…”

“Ah.”

Then Renias squirmed and nestled right into my arms. I shouldn’t have moved away.

‘…This is really bad.’

The sensation of holding her delicate waist was already so vivid. I had been trying to forcibly clear my mind of the image of Renias in her underwear.

The soft, yielding touch against me was a major crisis for me as a man.

There’s an incredibly beautiful girl right in front of me. Close enough that our breaths touch each other’s faces. And she’s only in her underwear, with our skin touching!

What happens when she crawls into the arms of a stiff man? Those voluptuous parts inevitably make contact.

What else would you call that but a crisis?!

I’m screwed. That soft, warm, and tender sensation is making my blood rush in one direction.

‘I, I need to calm down. Damn…!’

The lewd thoughts in my head just won’t go away. And why do I keep hearing those hiccups? My inner guilt inflated like a balloon, and my heart started pounding as if it would burst at any moment.

What should I do? How… how do I drive away these lewd thoughts?!

Oh, right. The national anthem. The national anthem!

Thank goodness I’m Korean!

As long as the East Sea’s waters and Mount Baekdu remain───

One verse wasn’t nearly enough, so I had to recite all four verses multiple times before I could escape the crisis.

But what’s the use of escaping one crisis when another follows?

I’d seen her fall asleep like this a few times in the hospital. I wonder if Renias felt this way too?

Human body heat is truly formidable. Warmth and comfort naturally bring sleep. Especially when lying down, my eyelids began to close bit by bit.

I hadn’t noticed earlier because I was out of it, but I must have used up quite a bit of energy climbing to the cave, as fatigue suddenly washed over me.

‘I shouldn’t… fall asleep.’

My eyelids kept closing.

…I’ll just wake up before her, right?

Then…

Just for a moment, just a very brief moment, let me sleep.

***

It’s warm.

My cold, lonely, exhausted body feels like it’s melting away.

This feeling… as far as I know, it’s one of a kind in this world.

When I opened my eyes, the senior’s face I vaguely expected appeared.

“…It really is you, senior.”

My body, lifted up briskly, had no will to resist.

His touch already exuded tenderness, and my heavy body was already leaning to one side.

Through my blurry vision, past the raindrops, I could see the face of the person I had so longed to see.

-‘I’ll be right beside you. Get some sleep. Okay?’

Those were his words when he appeared just as I was forcing myself to get up, thinking I shouldn’t give up.

A single phrase that reached my ears when both my body and mind were broken. How I had wanted to hear those words.

Though I had resisted submitting, not wanting to be a burden, right now I couldn’t help but lean on him.

Foolishly, my brain, which had been commanding me to keep moving, stopped thinking and entered rest mode as soon as my eyelids fully closed.

I thought it might be a dream. But it’s definitely not a dream.

“Have you been holding me the whole time while I was asleep, senior?”

It’s not a question that needs an answer.

He offered one arm as a pillow and the other arm seemed to have held me tight even while sleeping—how could I not know that?

It was a reflexive comment born from sheer joy.

Really.

Appearing to save me in times of danger, like a prince from a fairy tale who magically appears.

How could anyone not fall for someone like this?

At this close distance where their breaths mingled, Renias found her body moving before she knew it.

Stretching out both arms to wrap around his neck, closing her eyes.

Approaching carefully, she didn’t hesitate to kiss the sleeping man.

“…This is all your fault, senior. Consider it punishment for making my heart flutter like this.”

Not even aware of what she was saying, Renias squirmed and buried Juhnon’s face against her chest.

She had hidden his face in case he might have awakened from the kiss just now.

To hide the blush that had spread across her face.

And because she needed more time before she could face him, out of embarrassment.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have awakened, as there was no reaction. Instead of a person’s voice, all that could be heard was the sound of breathing deep in sleep.

Although her silly hair stood on end as if she had become a criminal for secretly doing something bad(?) while he was asleep, it was okay. It’s a perfect crime as long as she doesn’t get caught.

At this close distance, caught up in the strangely blossoming atmosphere, the girl’s heart could only walk a straight path.

And so, after the perfect crime was complete.

The girl, looking at the sleeping boy’s face, realized something important.

“Huh…? Come to think of it, why are my clothes hanging over there?”

At the far corner, clothes hung on a branch as if drying after being washed—isn’t that strange?

And that’s not all.

“And why is senior…?”

Wrapping her arms around, she felt a person’s neck. There should have been at least a shirt there.

But why could she feel bare skin? Opening her eyes wide and looking, she saw that the man embracing her wasn’t wearing even a thin shirt.

And naturally, she realized that there were no clothes on her arms either, except for the sleeping bag spread on the ground.

Renias immediately checked her own condition. She now realized that she was wearing nothing but underwear.

“N-No way…”

Inside the sleeping bag, naked except for underwear?

They slept embracing each other in that state?

Heat rushed from her toes to her head in reverse.

And then.

“Kyaaaah!!!”

An even greater shame than before washed over her, causing her whole body to tense up.

***

“Kyaaaah!!!”

-Squeeeze.

“Kuhuk.”

Sleep completely vanishes. With the scream, my vision darkens and my breath is cut off. What’s going on?!

But somehow this feeling of suffocation seems familiar…?

‘Ah. Could this be.’

I got a clue from the soft sensation pressing against my face.

I remember experiencing this once before, not a headlock but… a new method of death? That’s what I recall.

I learned how terrifying human flesh can be. Just like what I’m experiencing now.

Yes… this is the method of dying by suffocation in someone’s embrace!

“Mmph, mmmmph!!”

Save me, Renias!

“S-Senior? Since when…! Since when have you…! Kyaaaah!!!”

No, don’t scream. Release this hold!

Otherwise, I’ll die! And my cause of death will ridiculously be a woman’s chest!

And at the very least, I should explain before dying… no, I shouldn’t die no matter what happens!

Alright, forget everything else.

If I don’t want to die multiple deaths from suffocation to social image, I need to focus first.

Focus. To prevent Renias from continuing to apply force with both arms…!

Here!

“Kyahahaha, i-it tickles…!”

“Puha!”

When I tickled her side, thankfully the strength left her arms. My eyes, which had been dark despite waking up, regained their vision.

Oh, has air always been this sweet? The air I tasted after making a hasty U-turn from the river of death was sweeter than sugar.

But I need to get my wits about me.

I may have detached Renias, but now what? I’m about to be socially buried with the label of pervert.

Sure enough, I can see my junior with a tearful expression, as if she’s about to hiccup.

“You see! That…”

I’m completely disoriented after waking up.

I’m sure I had prepared everything to say so Renias wouldn’t misunderstand, planning to sleep just a little and wake up, but I can’t remember any of it…!

What was it? I need to think of something, anything! Just say something!

“Renias, I didn’t sleep with you! Really!”

Ah.

You idiot. If you say it like that…

“Huaaang…!”

She’ll misunderstand even more!!!

You useless noodle-brained fool. How can you say you didn’t sleep with her when you’re both in your underwear?

“L-Look! You were soaked in the rain, so I had no choice but to take off your clothes to dry them…!”

“Y-You took off my… hic!”

Oh my God.

Now even I don’t know what I’m saying.

There’s only one thing left to do.

“I’m sorry…!”

Stop thinking.

And bow deeply.

Renias is such a kind person…? Even with this misunderstanding, she might be able to listen.

With her angelic personality, she’ll generously forgive…

“Sob…!”

Oh God.

Why is Renias crying?

Ah. Come to think of it, she was in her underwear…

…I’ll lower my head immediately.

From today, Renias is my only god.

I’ll stay bowed… until the goddess’s anger subsides.