episode_0010

The interior facilities were cleaner than I expected.

The pink sign was still a bit jarring, but the narrow and cozy space gave a sense of stability.

Inside, even a faint scent of acacia wafted through the air, and the windows were coated to prevent any peeping from outside.

…No, that’s not the issue.

The reason I became docile and quiet upon coming here wasn’t for such trivial reasons.

Squirm!

“Ugh…!”

My thumb pressing against my tense body.

As I waited anxiously, wondering where and when the next touch would come, Jiwoo found an unexpected gap and slipped in.

Lying face down on the plush massage bed.

In this vulnerable state, offering even my vulnerable spots, it was truly a rare and special occasion to expose myself to potential danger, even risking a square bite.

The touch that freely entered my body.

Daring to subdue my physical form, I grit my teeth and allow it.

I endure even the roughness of my breath.

“You’re such a fool, a fool in sheep’s clothing!”

Because it’s Jiwoo.

This is something only allowed by one person.

“Come on, relax a bit.”

“I-I am relaxing…! I’ve told you how many times that I am relaxed!”

“But if you stay tense, I can’t penetrate with my strength. Your body is always tense, like a rock…”

“Shut up!”

“Hmm… Maybe it’ll change as time goes by. Do you like it here? If you want to make noise, feel free to do so.”

“There’s no way I’m going to do that, you blockhead!”

I swallowed my last words.

I almost let out a girlish giggle.

“By the way, I never thought I’d be giving you a massage, Lin.”

“….”

“I already knew, but there hasn’t been much direct contact between us. How long has it been since we met… So, a little over 10 years—”

“12 years!”

I corrected firmly as he tried to vaguely mention it.

Upon hearing that, I could feel Jiwoo’s unique impatience behind my head.

“Y-Yeah!

It’s been 12 years… I didn’t know back then that we’d become friends for so long.”

“….”

“Do you remember that time, Lin? It came to mind when I mentioned it.”

I simply affirmed with silence.

There’s no way I could forget.

Even if I close my eyelids and reminisce quietly, the fleeting memories of that time pass by.

Eun Jiwoo.

Jiwoo was the first kind person to me.

Apart from my family, he was the first to approach me kindly, the first friend I made.

In my hometown, I was just a mountain weed.

Born in a backward facility where even the family tree of the Black Sea tribe couldn’t be raised, my mother passed away three days after giving birth to me, leaving me with the label of a cursed child who killed his mother.

As soon as I was born, the people of my hometown denied and stigmatized my life as they pleased.

As I grew up, their disdain only grew stronger.

As my abnormality, mutation, manifested, they persecuted me even more.

As I grew stronger, they worried that I would harm them and pushed me away forcefully.

When an abnormal mutation manifests in a human, there are only two possibilities.

Will they become a hero who saves the world, or a villain who harbors resentment towards society and plunges into darkness.

If things continued as they were, it was a predictable sequence that I would become the latter.

However, my father wanted to save me somehow.

As he resisted them more and wielded his strength, thinking that the enemies would increase, my father finally managed to scrape together endless money and decided to escape with me to settle in a different land.

In a new land, he planned to start anew, pretending to be someone else.

But ultimately, it was all in vain.

“Hey! The transfer student is a mutant!”

“Don’t you know how to speak our language?”

– Are they really living off of whatever they can scavenge and mooch off of every day?

– You’re saying you’re a mutant and living off the money the association gave you? Do you know that money is from our parents?

It was the same everywhere.

Even in the new land and school, I was treated like a weirdo, and they threw stones at me, telling me to go back to my hometown.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

– Freak, you monster!

– I’m going to report you right now!

Every time they scolded me, but as my father said, it never ended.

No matter how much I tried to please them, the people who hated me kept increasing.

My father had to rush from his daily job to the school and bow his head, and I was treated like a nuisance at school.

Only my mutant nature was protecting me.

Being treated like a monster in my hometown, in other words, my potential to become a great power for the country, helped me passively.

But I couldn’t take it anymore.

Despite trying to endure it because of my father’s efforts, my heart had already turned pitch black with hatred for the world.

I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to take action.

“Wow, this is complicated. Do you read this as Byukrin?”

A kid who was peeking at my notebook and stealing my name.

Since I was still not good at Korean, I had written it in Chinese characters, and when he saw my crooked writing, he tried to copy it with his hands.

I glared at him sternly from my desk.

“What, you want a beating too?”

“No, I don’t want a beating, I just think the name is cool.”

“…?”

“Hey, can you teach me how to write this? I want to come up with a cool hero name like this too!”

“…???”

A kid smaller than his peers.

Eyes that shone brighter than stars.

That was my first encounter with Jiwu.

To put it simply, he was a strange kid.

He bought me food for the first time after I taught him Chinese characters, and he even showed me around the arcade where everyone else went.

As time passed, he invited me to his house, and eventually confessed that he was also a mutant.

Since then, we naturally stuck together.

After that, going to school became fun for the first time. We snacked together, visited each other’s homes. Jiwu liked my shabby house, calling it a hideout.

Spending time with the non-judgmental kid, I─

“By the way, Lin was really nice to me.”

“Huh?! What, what…?!”

Thinking back to that day, my body involuntarily relaxed.

I was melting under Jiwu’s pleasant touch that deeply penetrated my skin.

But his next words made me stiffen again.

“Back then, while the others were all avoiding me, Lin was kind to me.”

“…What?”

“Even though the others hated being touched by me, I found it fascinating that you didn’t mind. When we studied Chinese characters together, you even held my hand to show me.”

Grr!

Listening quietly, I felt angry.

I almost clenched the massage bed and burst it.

What a fool.

Does he really still not know?

Is this clueless half-wit still unaware!

“It was because it was you, you idiot!!!”

I shouted inwardly.

Frustrated, I screamed internally.

It was the first kindness I had ever received.

It was the first emotion I had ever experienced.

It was inevitable that it led to special feelings.

“You fool, idiot! It was because I liked you…!”

Squirming!

Of course, I didn’t have the courage to shout it out loud.

In fact, when you think about it, it’s understandable.

After all, I never confessed until the end.

As the days passed, I developed a strange pride in Jiwoo’s indifferent attitude, and I held out until he spoke first.

That was 12 years.

For 12 years, we have been what the world defines as ‘friends.’

“Wait… does this mean that if I work as a masseuse like this, I’ll be touching other women too!?”

As I lay down, massaging my teeth, even such a ridiculous thought crossed my mind.

Jiu can’t stand the thought of this woman and that woman being touched by those gentle hands.

“Hey, Rin… did your body stiffen up again?”

“……”

Gogo gogo gogo gogo!

But still, unable to muster the courage to voice his true feelings, he keeps them bottled up inside.

Unable to bear it any longer, he suddenly stands up.

“I, I’m leaving now!”

“Already? There’s still an advanced course left.”

“An advanced course?! Are you saying there’s something more intense than this?!”

He erupts in anger.

Burning with rage, he clenches his lips tightly, not wanting to shout out loud with his flushed face.

“I’m out of here!”

“Uh, uh!”

Angry, he quickly strides outside.

Honestly, the feeling of receiving a massage for the first time, especially in a place like this, lacks any sense of mood.

But he doesn’t want to cause even more trouble and earn Jiu’s resentment.

“Why did Jiu really leave the Hero Association? Is there something more to it?”

The nagging suspicion that the old master’s words hinted at.

Thinking hard about it, his head starts to heat up and he shouts out.

“Argh, I’m so irritated!”

Thud thud thud thud!

He rushes out.

Running straight ahead to cool off.

It feels uncomfortable.

But now that it’s come to this, he’ll expose that unlucky fox and find out the truth.

He’ll establish a reason for Jiu to return to the association, and make her listen even if he has to beat some sense into her before she touches more women!

“Hahaha, you insignificant humans, this Protein King will lead a new evolution─”

“Shut up!”

Boom!

Kicking the monster as soon as it appears.

He didn’t go back home that day.

Every time he saw a monster or criminal that seemed to trigger his outburst, he destroyed them all.

Of course, there was no mercy.