Ch.58Doyoung’s Favorite Random Game (5)

‘Let’s go to my house.’

This line, which could be quite an event in a relationship between the opposite sexes, probably didn’t strike Do Hamin as particularly dramatic.

From the first-floor dojang used for kendo lessons to the second-floor living room and kitchen where he had been taught how to make rolled omelets,

To Hamin, Ban Doyoung’s house wasn’t some mysterious space surrounded by fantasy. It was more like a familiar meeting place he had already visited several times.

So while Hamin was surprised to hear his name from my lips, he didn’t show much reaction to the invitation itself.

Well, it would be funny to gape and look around a place where you’ve already been showing up almost daily for weeks.

“Ah, Hamin, welcome. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been grateful for your help.”

“Ah, hello, Master.”

“I bought plenty of snacks and drinks for you two since you’re helping Doyoung study for her exams today. Feel free to help yourselves. Just let me know if you need anything.”

“M-Master, you didn’t have to go that far… I’m doing this because I want to.”

“That’s exactly what makes it so appreciated. What else would I be thankful for? I don’t care if her test scores aren’t great, but please at least teach our Doyoung how to sit still and study properly this time. I’m counting on you.”

“Dad, you got the zero lime soda too, right?”

“Tsk. Dad’s talking with Hamin right now. I bought them in bottles, so pour it yourself.”

See that?

From the moment the heroine invited the protagonist to her home,

The parents’ reaction was already somewhat twisted.

“What’s with this treatment? Don’t normal dads glare daggers at boys their daughters bring home? Why is he looking at me that way instead of Hamin?”

“Don’t drink straight from the bottle. I told you to pour it into a cup.”

“It’s an industry standard!”

When a daughter brings a boy home to study for exams,

Isn’t it standard procedure for normal dads to eye the boy suspiciously?

Using the excuse of bringing snacks during study breaks to enter the room,

Checking if anything strange happened while he was gone, or if the boy brought condoms in his wallet.

Getting kicked out after searching everywhere with snake eyes,

Then watching vigilantly through the door crack, hoping to catch them doing something—isn’t that the royal road?

“Doyoung, you better study properly, exactly as Hamin tells you to. Got it?”

“…”

But Dad’s eyes when looking at Hamin were incredibly warm and friendly.

I, who was possessing his daughter, wondered if even the real Ban Doyoung had ever seen her father look at her that way.

That’s how striking the difference was.

“Hamin, if this girl doesn’t study as she’s told and tries to mess around with you instead, come downstairs and tell me right away.”

“Ah, yes, Master.”

“Excuse me, I’m Ban Doyoung? That guy is the dick who’s about to be alone with me in my room. I’m telling you I’ll be studying alone with that dick in the same room, aren’t you concerned?”

“Doyoung, when have you ever seen Hamin as a man to say such things?”

Having already become familiar with both Mom and Dad,

And being the catalyst that got their daughter back into kendo and studying after she had given up on both,

It was impossible to make them feel wary of Hamin now.

“Alright, go on up to the room. The living room on the second floor might be too noisy for studying because of the dojang classes.”

“Th-thank you, Master.”

Perhaps because even the greatest guardian of the heroine’s house—her father—had fallen for Hamin,

He stepped into our house with surprising naturalness, taking off his shoes at the entrance.

Though they say humans are creatures of adaptation,

To think that a certified loner like Hamin in this world

Would not even blink at entering the house of the world’s greatest beauty.

Should I admire my own bulldozer-like ability to advance the story this far in less than a month,

Or should I lament having already milked the prime romantic comedy material of “visiting the heroine’s house” to the point where it’s become as flavorless as overboiled bone broth?

“But, will he still react the same way here?”

While it was disappointing that Hamin had adapted to the heroine’s house, it wasn’t a problem.

I still had a secret weapon hidden away to see his true reaction.

“Let’s go up, Hamin. My room is the second door upstairs.”

“…The third floor. I-I’ve never been up there before.”

“Right? I was running late this morning so I left without making my bed. I even threw my pajamas on the bed after wearing them this morning.”

“W-what’s that got to do with anything?”

“Just… saying.”

Yes, my real weapon was still hidden.

Ban Doyoung’s personal space that Hamin had never entered before.

“Go in. This is my room. Don’t sniff around too much.”

“What are you suddenly saying?”

“I didn’t air it out because I was in a rush this morning.”

“I-I don’t care about that sort of thing. Not airing out for one day is fine, right?”

“Do you know what I might have been doing alone in my room last night…?”

“…”

Hamin frowned without responding.

Like completing a daily quest twice a day, I now had a rough estimate of how much teasing it would take before his accumulated frustration would burst out in his voice.

These moments when he glared at me with trembling eyes

Were precisely the threshold right before he would speak up,

Like the calm night before a storm hits.

“Heheh, look at you getting all serious. Alright, I was wrong, just go in. Put down your bag and make yourself comfortable.”

<Doyoung’s Room>

A white door with a nameplate reading “Doyoung’s Room” tilted slightly to the right.

I opened that door and let Hamin in.

“…Excuse me then.”

“Sure, have a seat. I’ll go down to the second floor to get drinks. Dad bought mango juice too, want some?”

“…You’re having mango? Not zero lime?”

“When a tutor comes to teach me, of course I should serve what the teacher wants. Dad also said I should do whatever you tell me to, right?”

“…”

“Besides, I dislike mango-flavored cola, not mango itself.”

“Then… I’ll have mango juice.”

“Okay, wait right there!”

I threw my bag into the room,

Leaving Hamin alone there as I went down to the second floor.

Right now, rather than continuing to provoke his anger that had reached its threshold,

I needed to take a step back and exercise restraint.

Anger that erupts can sometimes lead to unexpected situations.

If I pushed too far and he suddenly said “I’m not doing this anymore” and went back to school, that would be bad, right?

And well, from the moment he stepped into Ban Doyoung’s room,

There was no need to tease him anymore.

“What’s this, Ban Doyoung? Why are you back downstairs already?”

“Getting mango juice.”

“That’s unusual. Looking for something other than cola.”

“Oh? So the original Ban Doyoung’s favorite was also zero cola? I thought she’d be the type to order something like a pepe-ro papi-pu-pe-po frappuccino with tapioca pearls, tall size, at Starbucks.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Anyway, I’m craving mango today! Today’s mood is mango!”

“At least pronounce it correctly, you brat.”

*Gulp*

I poured 100% mango juice from the refrigerator into a cup and took a big sip.

Indeed, mango tastes better as juice, not as cola flavor.

Lime is the opposite.

“Now, what will our protagonist do when left alone in the heroine’s room?”

Right now, Ban Doyoung’s room was filled with traces of the heroine that would stimulate the protagonist from all directions.

Even without me deliberately teasing him, even without me being in the room, just entering that space would have the same effect as being under my constant provocation.

“What are you doing with your fingers?”

“Domain Expansion – Virgin Room First-Timer.”

“What?”

I wonder if you can maintain that calm reaction even in there.

Being left ‘alone’ in a room that wasn’t properly tidied due to lateness, with the heroine’s traces of daily life and scent still lingering.

**

“Phew… I feel tired already, and we haven’t even started studying for the exam.”

After Doyoung went downstairs to get drinks,

Hamin was left alone in her room.

After putting his bag down next to Doyoung’s,

Since there was only one desk chair, Hamin sat on the floor using the bed as a backrest.

He couldn’t bring himself to sit on the bedding where Doyoung’s scent still lingered.

“So this is her room…”

It seemed her claim about rushing out in the morning was true.

While not exactly messy, the room had a somewhat disheveled atmosphere.

Though she said she hadn’t aired it out, there wasn’t any particular strange smell.

No, rather, there was a pleasant scent.

Probably from cosmetics that women often use.

The rumpled, unmade bed, with a light blue pajama top lying haphazardly across it.

Judging by the color and size, that pajama seemed to be designed for men.

Perhaps women’s pajamas had various constraints like height or build that made them uncomfortable for Doyoung.

If so, those pajamas might belong to her father, Ban Doche, or her brother who was in the military.

It was possible. He’d heard that girls with male siblings often wore their brothers’ or younger brothers’ boxer shorts as casual shorts.

“W-what am I doing? Why am I staring? This is rude.”

Realizing he was absentmindedly staring at a girl’s bed where she had slept, Hamin tapped his head and forcibly turned his gaze away.

“Ah, awards.”

Turning away from the bed,

The next thing that caught his eye were certificates and medals with Doyoung’s name displayed on the drawer.

“Wow… amazing. These must all be from kendo competitions. Well, she did say she was called a kendo prodigy since childhood.”

Seeing someone’s shining talent and the fruits of their painful efforts naturally brought a lump to one’s throat.

Especially for Hamin, who was about to teach Doyoung the path of studying that she had long neglected,

The brilliant traces of Doyoung’s past achievements seemed even more meaningful.

These awards with Doyoung’s name clearly written on them seemed to tell Hamin:

Surely Doyoung can do it. She’s a child who worked this hard and turned that effort into actual results.

Unlike himself, who ran away to an unknown school after failing to get into his desired high school.

“Wow, there’s at least one award for each year. Really impressive. Ah, this is…”

A familiar young girl in a photo frame next to the certificates.

It was a childhood image of Doyoung crying in her mother Joonsook’s arms after losing a kendo competition.

Having seen photos of Doyoung’s elementary school days before, this picture felt familiar despite being his first time seeing it.

“So she had times when she cried so bitterly too… hehe.”

Cute.

Hamin unconsciously let out a laugh.

Learning something new about Doyoung made his lips curl up involuntarily.

“Gah, this isn’t right! Giggling while calling a classmate’s elementary school days cute!”

*Bang*

Once again losing his composure, Hamin hit his own temple with his fist to scold himself.

If he could erase the memory of chuckling at Doyoung’s childhood this way, he would.

“Enough… I’m looking at unnecessary things. Let’s prepare for the exam. So I won’t get distracted when she comes back.”

Hamin gathered his resolve and spread out workbooks and writing utensils on the small round table in Doyoung’s room.

“I wonder if it’s okay to let her use my pens and stationery…”

He hesitated to lend Doyoung his writing tools.

It was because of the “in-pen” memory from the mock exam.

The problem wasn’t whether it was good or bad, but that he couldn’t concentrate.

A pen with such a history would inevitably bring back those memories.

“Since we’re studying for exams, I guess it’s okay to borrow a pen from her desk…”

With that thought, Hamin stood up to get a pen from Doyoung’s desk.

“There’s a photo here too.”

On the desk was a framed photo of young Doyoung having a party with her friends.

She looked about the same age as in the kendo center photo, around 3rd or 4th grade in elementary school.

Seeing that these kinds of photos were predominant, this period must have been the happiest time in Doyoung’s life.

“Sahyang and Hyerang. They were best friends even in elementary school.”

Though they were much younger in the photo,

It was easy to tell that the children next to Doyoung were Sahyang and Hyerang.

Both had grown up properly while maintaining their childhood appearances.

Of course, in Sahyang’s case, some unnecessary parts remained exactly the same as in childhood.

“Oh, party hats and cake… could this be.”

20xx/09/06/

[Congratulations on beloved Doyoung’s 10th birthday.]

Orange digital numbers written below the photo.

It was taken with a film camera that recorded the date of the photo.

“…Ah, I see. Her birthday.”

It was the moment he unintentionally discovered Doyoung’s birthday that she had kept hidden.

Hamin reflexively took a picture of the date on the frame with his phone, then quickly returned to his seat.

He could hear Doyoung’s footsteps coming up the stairs.

.

.

.

“I’m back. Nothing happened while I was gone?”

“No…”

“Really? That’s a bit disappointing. Anyway, here you go. The mango juice you wanted.”

“Th-thanks.”

Hamin received the juice from Doyoung and pretended to be calm as he took a sip.

“How is it? The 100% ‘concentrated’ mango flavor you were looking for.”

“Pffft-!”

“Hey, why are you suddenly spitting it out! I said mango, not ‘mang-go’!”

“Cough! Cough!”

Doyoung and Hamin finally started studying for the exam

After cleaning up the mango-sticky floor.