Chapter 74: Sinful Man (3)

Before the flustered feelings from oversleeping and flu symptoms could even settle, the presence of Kang Hye-eun appeared before my eyes.

While I was hesitating, wondering what on earth to say first, she started approaching me.

“Uh, Hye-eun….”

“What’s with that look the moment you woke up? Don’t tell me you put that washbasin from the desk on upside down?”

“Why are you, right now, at my house….”

“Anyway, your clothes are all wet, which means you have to change again. It hasn’t even been that long since I changed you out of your sweaty clothes.”

…Come to think of it, the clothes I’m wearing now seem a little different from the ones I wore before falling asleep yesterday.

More importantly, I think I had something I wanted to say to Hye-eun…

“Wait a moment, I’ll go downstairs and get a towel.”

“Hye-eun…”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep our promise to watch a movie…”

“Is that important right now?!”

I don’t know.

I don’t know at all what’s important.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Hye-eun…”

“Sigh, okay, just wait here for a moment.”

“Okay…”

Holding the empty washbasin, I stared endlessly at Kang Hye-eun’s retreating figure as she went downstairs, just sitting blankly on the floor until she returned.

---

“Lift your arms, so I can take off your clothes.”

“Okay…”

“I’ll wipe off the moisture too. Thanks to that, you probably won’t need a shower.”

“Yeah…”

“Anyway, wandering around somewhere and catching something like a cold and body aches…”

…I don’t know, as there isn’t just one or two places I suspect.

Whether I caught it inside the dungeon or came in having caught it outside.

Regardless, it was undeniable that this was an illness caught by overworking my body without me realizing it, ultimately the result of my greed to raise my Hunter rank.

All that remained were endless feelings of apology towards Kang Hye-eun, whose appointment was broken because of this. Coupled with my fatigue-induced hazy mental state, it became even harder to think distracting thoughts.

“Take off the bottom part too. I need to wipe off the wetness and change you.”

“Okay…”

Just silently following Kang Hye-eun’s instructions, my attire was changed into new indoor clothes before I knew it, and a new wet towel was placed on my forehead as I lay on the bed.

“If you weren’t feeling well, you should have said something last night.”

“I didn’t know either… I was fine until last night…”

“So that’s why you couldn’t send texts or make calls and were sleeping in bed until now?”

“Sorry… Did you wait long…?”

“…N-no, I didn’t wait that long. Since you weren’t answering calls or texts until the movie started, I just decided to stop by your house, thinking ‘what if’.”

“I see…”

For someone who said that, there were quite a few missed calls and texts piled up, though.

She probably answered like this to be considerate of me, so for now, I quietly pretended to believe her words.

“How are you feeling? Have you gotten a bit better?”

“I don’t know… It’s been throbbing continuously since I woke up, so I have no idea if I’m getting better or not…”

“Then rest more, at least until your body gets better.”

“Okay…”

The blanket covering me up to my neck, tucked in by Kang Hye-eun’s hand, felt strangely cozy, and my hot head gradually cooled down thanks to the newly replaced wet towel.

“Hye-eun, that…”

“Yeah?”

“Today, I… uh… had something I wanted to say to you…”

“You can say it later when you’re feeling better.”

“I think I’ll forget later on…”

“Then… what is it you want to say, Taekyung?”

In my hazy mind, my lips moved involuntarily, and just as I was about to confess one of the secrets I had agonized over whether to say or not…

-Sniff, sniff.

“……?”

The words I was about to utter faded away as if obscured by black smoke, due to the acrid smell rising up my nose.

“Hye-eun, that…”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t you smell something burning somewhere…?”

“…Huh?”

Kang Hye-eun’s expression, which had been listening to me tensely, slowly stiffened.

“Ah, Aaaah!! That’s right!!”

Kang Hye-eun suddenly sat bolt upright and darted out of the room in a hurry.

“Ah, I was right in the middle of making porridge! Just, wait a sec! I’ll be right back after going downstairs…!

“Okay…”

I thought I smelled something burning, so it seems she was using the kitchen behind my back after all.

It might be a bit sorry to say this to Hye-eun, who was making porridge for me, but considering her cooking skills, it was unavoidable to think that it being burnt was actually fortunate.

---

“Taekyung, the porridge delivery is here…”

Kang Hye-eun, who had made a fuss with loud screams from the kitchen area as soon as I mentioned smelling something burning.

About 30 minutes after that commotion, she returned to my room with a packaged franchise porridge container.

“I’m sorry, Taekyung, I burnt one of your house’s pots…”

“It’s okay, you didn’t burn it on purpose.”

“Why do I always do this whenever I go into the kitchen… I’m really like an idiot…”

“It’s okay, because your feelings were conveyed.”

As my honest feelings tell me, having eaten Kang Hye-eun’s homemade cooking many times since I was young, the best news was that only the ‘feelings’ were conveyed through her cooking.

“This time it was a properly made dish, but I even added chocolate and protein powder to make it delicious…”

“…I’ll just pretend I ate it deliciously.”

As there was no malice, even if it had entered my mouth, the Good Samaritan law would probably protect Kang Hye-eun. It was truly fortunate that her crime of causing injury through negligence was only attempted.

“Between beef porridge and tuna porridge, which do you prefer?”

“Tuna…”

Kang Hye-eun scooped up the contents from the square plastic container once with a spoon as soon as she heard my words.

Then, she carefully blew on it to cool it before pushing it towards my mouth.

“Taekyung, here. Say ‘Ah~’.”

“…”

“…Ah, T-Taekyung doesn’t really like this kind of thing, does he? Sorry, Taekyung…”

I had simply zoned out for a moment, mesmerized by Kang Hye-eun’s earnest gesture, and hadn’t reacted, but she pulled the spoon containing the cooled porridge away from my face, seeming embarrassed.

…Come to think of it, until now, I would always react with disgust and refuse whenever she did something like this.

“C-can you eat it by yourself? Should I cool it down a bit more and bring it?”

“Ah~.”

“Uh, huh?”

“…Weren’t you going to feed me?”

“Ah, yes! Just, wait a moment!”

Kang Hye-eun’s spoon, once pulled away from my face, entered my mouth again, and I savored the taste of the soft porridge she fed me, swallowing it down.

“How is it? Delicious?”

“Since it’s store-bought porridge, of course it’s delicious.”

“Th-that’s true, I guess.”

“But it seems even more delicious since you’re feeding me, Hye-eun.”

“…Uh, huh?”

Since I had decided to act spoiled just once, there was no need to deliberately hide my feelings with harsh words.

Anyway, I’m a patient right now, and Hye-eun seems like she wants to take care of me. If she felt even a little joy from taking care of me, going along with it was the best I could do, considering I was late for our appointment.

“Ah~.”

“Here, just a moment! I’ll cool it down right now!”

Compared to eating it myself by hand, the mealtime naturally took more than twice as long, but I didn’t mind. It felt like not just the hunger of an empty stomach, but something in my heart was being filled too.

---

After somehow finishing the meal Kang Hye-eun personally fed me, my body, which found it hard even to move an arm or a leg, was entering the recovery stage before I knew it.

Compared to my initial state where even speaking was difficult, the improvement was definitely evident.

It was an undeniable fact that Hye-eun’s nursing care was a great help in that process.

“You finished eating, right? Then I’ll clean this up and be right back.”

“Okay. Thank you, Hye-eun.”

After thanking Hye-eun as she took the empty porridge container and remaining food downstairs, I lay back down quietly on the bed and sank into quiet thought.

Although the originally planned date fell through, I instead spent more intimate time with her, and on top of that, a strong sense of satisfaction bloomed in my heart.

A feeling slightly different from sexual desire or the desire for recognition. Perhaps what I needed was someone to comfort me, who was psychologically overwhelmed.

For over ten years, focusing solely on awakening and enduring bullying and humiliation, I had strived to become a Hunter, so my heart was already heavily worn out in many ways long ago. Perhaps I was subconsciously thinking that sometimes I wanted to be comforted and cared for like this, for no reason.

Thinking I was past the age to act spoiled, the number of times I visited Hye-eun’s house had noticeably decreased. Memories of the past, when I got sulky over trivial conversations held elsewhere and treated her coldly, feel like they’re flashing by.

It was me, not Hye-eun, who pushed her away for trivial reasons and deepened my own emotional distance.

“Sigh, idiot…”

Thinking I had been acting foolishly until now, a sneer directed at myself naturally escaped my lips.

I certainly don’t intend to waste this unique talent I awakened in a male body, and my resolve to ensure no one dies by monsters hasn’t changed since 10 years ago. However, a sense of regret remained that I could have acted much more wisely in that process, rather than just foolishly rushing forward like I did.

…I guess I should call it fortunate that I realized it now.

“Taekyung, I’ve tidied up roughly. I put the remaining porridge in the fridge, so you can eat it tomorrow morning. Rest well today, and contact me when you’ve recovered from your cold.”

“Hye-eun.”

“Yeah?”

Calling Hye-eun’s name as she was about to leave with a greeting, as if she had finished her tasks, my mouth, before I knew it, was already confessing the truth I had hidden until now.

“I… I’ve awakened my Hunter abilities.”