After the Awakening (2)

I had come to the cafe due to a prior appointment with Ice Queen.

[Ice Queen]: Let’s meet, Maker?

[Me]: Excuse me?

A suddenly arranged appointment.

It was closer to a forced meeting than an actual appointment, but I accepted without much thought since I also had things to discuss with her.

Ding-a-ling-! Ding-a-ling-!

And so Ice Queen came to the cafe.

She came to see me as ordinary citizen Seo Yun-hee, not as a hero.

I welcomed her and prepared drinks and snacks.

Up to this point, everything was fine.

For a forcibly arranged appointment, we sat facing each other quite calmly.

“..First.”

“Ma…no, Mr. Kang Yi-an, please ask if you have questions first.”

She even comfortably offered me the first question.

I didn’t particularly refuse her consideration and asked directly.

“Then, what happened to Spark? That person?”

The woman who was Seo Yun-hee’s senior and became the final boss’s underling.

Thanks to the bait I threw, Ice Queen achieved the feat of capturing her, but after hearing that Ice Queen had caught her, I hadn’t heard any additional news.

Though I had a rough idea of the situation.

“..She was safely sent to prison.”

“I see.”

With her response, images of the slimy creatures in Tartarus flashed through my mind.

That was enough to ask her; her reaction alone allowed me to roughly infer the situation.

“I understand. Then it can’t be helped.”

“..Yes.”

As my question ended flatly, a moment of silence fell between us.

“Mr. Kang Yi-an.”

Seo Yun-hee called out to me.

“I’ll ask you directly.”

She suddenly opened her mouth.

“Phantom Luna’s awakening. Was that you again?”

“..Excuse me?”

No, that’s too direct.

I was both flustered and felt it was somewhat out of the blue.

“..So suddenly?”

“Please answer me.”

Despite my question, she maintained a serious expression as if it was important to her.

Seeing her somewhat scary face, one thought instinctively came to mind.

‘If I answer this wrong, I’m screwed.’

My head started spinning with a sense of crisis.

Seo Yun-hee’s eyes were frightening.

As if daring me to make excuses, it felt like she was questioning me after already identifying the culprit.

It was the expression of a wife who had caught her husband in the act of cheating.

“……”

Putting aside such silly thoughts, I calmly considered my response.

Then I slowly opened my mouth.

“I don’t know if her awakening was my fault, but I was indeed present at the scene.”

“As I thought.”

Hah…

She sighed.

Her face wrinkled severely.

Avoiding with an outrageous lie wouldn’t have been a good choice.

She likely wouldn’t believe it, and it would be like admitting I had something to hide.

‘So first I’ll state the facts and then take control of the conversation with a different stance.’

Simply put, my plan was this:

“But is that a problem?”

“..What did you say?”

It was essentially: Who do you think you are? Why are you mad at me?

“I was just present when Lady Phantom Luna awakened. That’s all, and I don’t understand why you’re so angry.”

“Mr. Kang Yi-an!!”

As she raised her voice in outburst, I merely blinked.

As if I genuinely didn’t understand, as if asking why she was so angry.

I cautiously voiced a thought that had occurred to me.

“Hmm… Could it be that Lady Phantom Luna and Ice Queen… I mean, Yun-hee, aren’t on good terms?”

It’s not like I even caused her awakening…

“That’s not it..!”

She glared at me while suddenly standing up.

Seo Yun-hee’s ability was unconsciously leaking out, changing her hair color.

Honestly, even if I spoke like this, she would just continue to be angry without being able to say anything in response.

‘Because strictly speaking, she and I are nothing to each other.’

Even though she had the expression of a wife who caught her husband cheating, our actual relationship was far less than that.

We weren’t dating.

A crush? It would be ridiculous to claim that from exchanging a few messages.

And it was also ambiguous to call us friends.

That in-between relationship was exactly what we had.

‘Seo Yun-hee might have thought we had a deeper relationship, or wanted such a relationship.’

But the fact was, we didn’t currently have one.

So she had no right to say anything to me.

“Is it such a great wrong to have been beside Lady Phantom Luna?”

“……”

I mean, it’s not like I had slept with Chise or rolled around in bed with her.

We did hug in the rain and share body heat, but that was strictly for survival.

In the end, I wasn’t in that kind of relationship with her, and I hadn’t even formed a special relationship or made physical contact with Chise.

Yet for her to show such angry or irritated reactions would seem confusing and strange to an outside observer.

‘Of course, I do somewhat understand her feelings.’

It might make me look like trash, but I had a clear conscience.

It couldn’t be helped for the sake of survival.

“..Ah.”

But I didn’t expect her to suddenly burst into tears.

At that sight, I couldn’t hide my surprised expression as I looked at Seo Yun-hee.

“..Yun-hee?”

“Th-that’s right. I-I. K-Kang Yi-an and I aren’t anything to each other..”

“……”

She was dripping tears.

Damn. I hadn’t intended to make her cry.

“Just..sniff..from the beginning, we were nothing..hiccup..just, I..liked you..sniff..got your number..huaaaaang..!!”

I’m really screwed now.

I hurriedly pulled out tissues from the dispenser next to me and handed them to her.

“Hwueeeeeeng-!!”

“..Come here.”

But she just held the tissues I gave her without wiping her tears.

Inevitably, I took out another tissue and gently dabbed her cheeks and around her eyes.

“Hiccup. Hiccup..”

You weren’t the type to show such cute reactions.

She did whine to me before when she awakened, but not to this extent.

She was showing tears as if truly heartbroken.

It was a sorrowful cry like someone experiencing their first heartbreak.

“……”

Well, it’s kind of similar.

‘But I feel wronged too.’

I had thought that instead of crying like this, she would realize the distance between us and either be careful or feel down, but quickly accept and understand it.

That was her personality.

But for her to cry like this…

“There, blow your nose.”

“Hiccup..! I don’t wanna..!!”

“Ah, my mistake. Having kids at home makes it a habit.”

Has she come to depend on me more than I thought?

Judging by her reactions to me, it might be beyond dependence and closer to obsession.

‘..I should try to comfort her first.’

I again gently patted her cheeks and around her eyes, bringing my face closer to hers.

“..Hiccup.”

As if I was so focused on wiping her tears that I didn’t think about the distance between us.

In reality, she gradually stopped crying and her face was turning red.

Seeing that she seemed to have calmed down a bit, I spoke.

“..Who says we’re nothing to each other?”

“Hiccup. What..?”

Of course, that’s what I had thought.

But the garbage-like Kang Yi-an from just now was dead.

All that remained now was the kind and gentle Kang Yi-an who felt sorry for her tears and was wiping them away.

“Why would the conversation go that far? I just happened to be there during Lady Phantom Luna’s awakening.”

“But.. but..”

I held her hand to prevent her from having stray thoughts.

“Hiccup..!”

Good effect.

I gently curved the corners of my eyes and showed a warm smile.

“Just calm down a little and think about it.”

“Yes..”

“I’m not saying you don’t have the right to be angry, but that there’s no reason to be angry.”

She slowly nodded.

It seemed her thinking had somewhat returned after shedding tears.

“I’ve been saying all along. It was nothing, I just happened to help because it looked dangerous.”

Seeing “as if by chance” appearing questionable on her face, I hurriedly continued.

“Are you planning to get angry every time there’s a woman beside me in the future? Just for being next to them?”

“……”

Seo Yun-hee pondered for a moment.

Realizing that even to her it seemed unreasonable, she shook her head.

“Lady Phantom Luna is exactly the same as the case I just mentioned.”

“..A completely useless and unrelated outsider?”

..Well, not quite to that extent.

“She’s a more familiar relationship than that, but I’m trying to say that there’s no need for you to be this angry.”

Honestly, no woman likes seeing the man she likes getting cozy with another woman.

And if that man had previously given her enough signals to suggest interest, it would be maddening.

While Seo Yun-hee’s case was a bit extreme, it wasn’t beyond understanding.

‘But even if I dismiss it now by saying there’s no need to be angry, there will eventually be limits.’

Seo Yun-hee isn’t a fool.

Awakening requires the right catalyst, event, and realization.

She, having experienced it directly, would be more aware of this.

It was obvious she would eventually realize that I had helped with her awakening.

So what I needed to do was…

“Do you understand now, Yun-hee?”

Put on the maximum performance of innocence.

She needs to naturally realize that it wasn’t my intention or manipulation.

‘That’s how I survive.’

Hiding these thoughts, I smiled at her.

And looking at my face, Seo Yun-hee opened her mouth.

“..Do I really have no reason to be angry?”

“That’s right.”

Swish.

Then she suddenly gestured to me.

While blushing, Seo Yun-hee said to me.

“..Then do that for me.”

“That, you mean.”

“Yes.. it helps calm me down..”

There was only one thing Seo Yun-hee wanted me to do.

I reached out my hand to her.

And.

Swish.

I placed my hand on her soft cheek.

Squish.

Her cheek was soft like a baby’s skin.

And perhaps because her skin was delicate, even a light touch left red marks on her snow-white skin, creating a strange sensation.

“..Eheh.”

As she seemed satisfied with my touch, it was a mutually beneficial relationship.

Just as I was not just holding but as Seo Yun-hee was taking my hand and rubbing it against her cheek.

Ding-a-ling-! Ding-a-ling-!!

The cafe door rang quite intensely.

Since we couldn’t hear the voice of the person who entered, we turned our gaze in that direction first.

Seo Yun-hee opened her mouth as she saw the familiar woman who had opened the door and entered.

“..Ms. Phantom Luna?”

Chise, who was quietly observing the scene between us two as if she didn’t understand the situation.

She also spoke with difficulty upon seeing Seo Yun-hee.

“Ice.. Queen?”

Chise looked back and forth between me and Seo Yun-hee.

And as her gaze eventually settled on my hand and Seo Yun-hee’s cheek.

“..Huh?”

Her face contorted severely.

The thought that I was screwed kept circling in my head.