episode_0017

The izakaya I work at is located in an entertainment district with many bars, but it is located in a quiet alley.

Coincidentally, thanks to that, I was able to start from a location relatively close to where Yeonseo was.

[Jinhyun, I came out for a walk and started running, but I don’t know where I am…]

[Jinhyun, are you busy with work? I’ll go along the walking trail.]

[I don’t know where this is… If you happen to see it, please let me know.]

[Jinhyun, I’m so scared.]

[I miss you….]

The countless KakaoTalk messages you sent me with longing.

Yeonseo, who had tried to do something on her own but had gone in the wrong direction and was gradually starting to feel something was wrong, waited and waited for me to contact her.

“Why didn’t you call? You would have picked up right away!”

Feeling frustrated, I ended up asking in a harsh tone.

But I couldn’t hide my bitterness at the reply that came back on my smartphone.

“You’re working… How can I contact you while you’re working… It’s a nuisance.”

The kid is so kind.

However, since she came from Askria, Yeonseo was no longer a saint.

It was Kim Yeon-seo, no longer Prisrat.

You can live for yourself.

You can be a little more selfish.

Even what happened just now wasn’t selfish.

Raised the warrior’s strength.

I increased my speed by increasing my strength and body acuity and controlling my power.

If you use too much force, you can easily damage floor tiles or concrete just by kicking the ground and running.

I sped up to the upper limit of moderation, the limit, while quickly dodging people so they wouldn’t get hurt.

Somehow, it seems like I’ve been running since yesterday.

It took me about 20 minutes to reach the place where our saint was, even at this speed, walking along the stream path.

[Beerhop House]

Across the street, I saw a sign for the chicken restaurant Yeonseo had told me about.

And there she was, standing one block down the street from where I was standing.

She was wearing a black tracksuit with a ponytail, looking around with anxious eyes.

“Jinhyeon-ah, where are you…?”

Our saintess, holding onto her smartphone and looking for me pitifully.

My nose started to sting for no reason, so I shouted.

“Yeonseo!”

I ended up calling louder than I thought.

But it seems that it definitely reached Yeonseo because it was so big.

She spotted me as she was looking around louder.

The smartphone fell from Yeonseo’s ear.

She ran to me and hugged me.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I’m sorry for being stupid… .”

Yeonseo repeated her apology over and over again in my arms.

There was fear in his voice, as if he had expected to get in trouble.

In another world, Prislet had once said this.

It is said that anyone who did not follow the rules set by the monastery was severely punished without exception.

I patted her on the back like that.

“It’s okay. It’s really okay. I’m here.”

“Still… I’m sorry for making you worry.”

I pulled away from her slightly and got down to our eye level.

“Yeonseo.”

I looked into the eyes of our saint and smiled.

“Don’t worry. I can find you wherever you are. Today’s incident wasn’t that big of a deal. It was just a small incident.”

Yeonseo shut her mouth tightly.

Tears began to well up in her large eyes as she looked up at me with her head slightly bowed.

Eventually, a drop of water ran down my cheek.

Was it always this small and fragile?

The figure of the wealthy saint who always stood guard and healed in this world was nowhere to be found.

After all, Yeonseo was a young girl who had just turned twenty in Korean age.

I wiped away the tears that flowed down my face.

“If you need anything, call me right away.”

“But Jinhyeon is working… .”

“Yeonseo.”

And to reassure her, she smiled even wider.

I can confidently say that this smile was definitely not for business purposes.

“That little part-time job, nothing is more important to me than you.”

As he spoke, I completely froze.

Didn’t that comment just now seem too plot-heavy…?

Yeonseo must have felt the same way, as her eyes grew wide.

How do I fix this?

Yeonseo’s face was slowly turning red, perhaps because she was crying.

He was looking straight at me, his lips quivering, showing how embarrassed he was.

Even my breathing is somehow very rough.

That’s for sure.

Yeonseo was angry.

Come to think of it, we’re even hugging, right?

I was about to back away when a finger was stuck in the back of my neck.

what?!

Are you planning on grabbing the back of my neck to block my escape route and then kicking me in the side with a knee kick?!

“Hey, Yeonseo?”

The moment I called her urgently, Yeonseo’s lips came close to mine without giving me time to react.

Stand tall

Fortunately or unfortunately, the lips stopped right in front of me.

“Ahh… Huh… .”

Yeonseo opened and closed her lips several times with a faint moan.

Every time, he would hesitate and stop himself as he tried to approach my lips.

Even the country knows this.

This was a kiss.

It was invalid because it wasn’t touching, but it was an attempt at a kiss or a signal to court me.

No, no.

Haha, that can’t be true.

I?

I am a coward.

I am afraid of people.

Somehow I tried to avoid it.

To avoid touching her lips, he hugged her again and whispered in Yeonseo’s ear.

“You must have been very anxious.”

“… Huh?!”

But Yeonseo’s reaction was strange.

“Eung~~~!!!”

He was hugging me tighter and his body was trembling.

“Ha… Ha… !”

“Yeonseo, are you okay?”

“Stop it! Stop whispering!

Yeonseo pushed my face away and fell down completely.

As expected, that feeling just now was an illusion.

Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to crush a person’s face with your palm like this.

I thought my face was going to get wet.

That’s fortunate.

If you had done more there, I might have kissed you.

And it must have been a huge hit.

The letter just now was incredibly captivating.

“Let’s go home.”

Yeonseo nodded shyly at those words.

I was trying to move with confidence when my arm suddenly got caught.

Yeonseo was holding the end of my sleeve.

It seemed like he was still afraid of being alone.

I tried hard to muster up the courage.

“Do you want to hold my hand and go?”

Yeonseo quickly let go of her sleeve and stepped back.

He was waving his arms and talking nonsense.

“That… No! I’m not saying I don’t like it… It’s a bit dangerous right now. Very dangerous!”

Yeah, it looks dangerous because his face is still red.

There’s a good chance my ribs or chin will be in danger.

Let’s just do whatever Yeonseo says.

I decided that it would be a bad idea to make Yeonseo, who had been standing in one place for a long time, walk again.

I called a taxi and got into the back seat first, and Yeonseo sat next to me.

But there was a strange atmosphere between us the whole time we were riding in the taxi.

We don’t say anything to each other or look at each other, but why is this atmosphere flowing… Huh?

I ended up looking through the auxiliary mirror above the driver’s seat.

Yeonseo is just staring blankly at me.

I felt a little hot, so I straightened my back to make myself comfortable and put my arms down on the seat.

My eyes were still fixed on the mirror.

Yeonseo’s gaze slowly slid down.

After a while, I felt a small sensation on my little finger.

I glanced over and saw Yeonseo’s hand tightly holding my little finger.

I stealthily step away from the mirror and look at her.

Yeonseo slightly lowered her head and pursed her lips.

Yeonseo didn’t let go of my little finger until we arrived in front of the house.

—

When I got home, it was almost 3 in the morning.

The two of us were so surprised that we felt more tired than hungry.

We decided not to eat dinner and took turns showering.

While Yeonseo was showering, I checked KakaoTalk for a bit.

There was a message from Seyun.

What is this?

How does he know my KakaoTalk ID?

You don’t even know the phone number?

Not confirmed.

I’m not curious about the content, so I’ll just leave it unread.

Rather than that, I came home late after work, washed up, and lay down, so I was incredibly tired.

“I’m done washing. Dry my hair.”

“… … .”

Oh, this is work too.

I sat Yeonseo down on a chair and asked her while drying her hair with a hair dryer and gentle hands.

“Are you going to sleep in the bedroom today?”

“Yeah, I’m in bed.”

Dry your hair completely and comb it.

Because my hair was nice, it was combed smoothly without any tangles.

“Jinhyeon-ah.”

“Why?”

“Can’t we sleep together? I’m still scared to be alone.”

When I glanced at Yeonseo, the tips of her ears were red.

This must be rejected.

It’s right to refuse.

And there were plenty of reasons to refuse.

“Yeonseo.”

“You don’t have to do it if it’s burdensome. Sorry, I said something weird… .”

“The seat by the wall is mine!”

But I didn’t push it away.

I ran to the bedroom, making a loud noise on purpose, and dove into the innermost part.

“Huh? Huh?”

The sound of Yeonseo’s face burning could be heard from outside,

“Hey, honey!”

He followed me in, grumbling loudly.

“I like the wall side too!”

“No, it’s the landlord’s authority.”

“Then you’re stuck against the wall, you idiot!”

Yeonseo lay down next to me, giggling.

The two of them cover themselves with a blanket.

I felt embarrassed to face him like that, so I slowly turned my back to the wall… .

“Don’t turn your back. Do you hate me that much?”

“Absolutely not.”

It was put back in its original position.

“Put your arms out.”

Yeonseo grabbed my arm and lifted it towards the pillow.

And then, as if nothing happened, he lay down with his head between my armpit and shoulder.

How should I deal with this?

My whole body became stiff.

Instead, my eyes were wide open and I was losing sleep.

While I was thinking about whether or not to pull my arm out, Yeonseo spoke quietly.

“Thank you for saving me.”

After hearing those words, all the strength left my stiff body.

“It was nothing.”

“You always say it was nothing.”

Yeonseo yawned slightly and laid her head back down.

“But you don’t know how much that means to me?”

That was a truly unexpected answer.

“Good night Jinhyeon.”

Yeonseo, who had been hugged like a puppy, let out a ragged breath after a while.

As I listened to her breathing, my stiff arms naturally bent and wrapped themselves around her back.