episode_0153

After finishing my part-time job at a meat restaurant.

Ji-eun, who had been working with me, suddenly handed me a box.

“What is this?”

“Just… well. A gift I give because it’s you.”

“So, no matter what this is.”

“Well, what do you mean? Why do you ask that? All you have to do is open it yourself.”

Is that really true?

All you need to do is open the packaged box.

“Now, I need to go to the bathroom for a moment!”

“Uh huh. Yes.”

After hearing that, I immediately untied the string and checked what was inside.

Inside, brown objects with various shapes were giving off a sweet scent.

“…is it chocolate?”

The moment I realized that what was inside was chocolate.

I heard some sharp words coming from the back of my head.

“Has something happened to your eyes?”

“…Ha. really. I don’t understand.”

“Is this a true story? I made a few dashes during that time.”

When I see you full of dissatisfaction, I hear it, but it seems like it’s being said to me… Why are you angry?

Even if it were chocolate, it wouldn’t be any different from the ones sold on the market.

‘I don’t know. I should just return it or something.’

The moment you try to cover the box again.

“Hey! Minhyuk, what are you doing now?”

Just then Jieun came rushing over and stopped my actions.

“Well, what are you doing? Why are you covering it? I gave it to you to eat!”

“I don’t really like sweet things.”

“What?”

Ji-eun looks at me as if she is shocked.

“Hey. Still, out of sincerity, I guess I’ll eat at least one!”

“That’s it. I think there are guys out there who like sweets. Either give it to them.”

I said that while pointing with my thumb at the other male part-time workers who were spewing out mysterious, barbed remarks behind me.

Then Ji-eun asked me as if I was dumbfounded.

“You… don’t you know what day it is today?”

“What?”

“February 14th. Don’t you know what day it is?”

“February 14th is February 14th, what kind of new day is it? It’s not a red day because it’s something I do after school. Aren’t weekdays just part-time work days?”

“…”

Ji-eun scratched his forehead in silence.

“Yeah… you’re not that kind of person… ugh.”

I sighed while saying something incomprehensible.

I didn’t say anything wrong, though.

Then, as he looked at me trying to close the box again, he pouted his lips little by little.

I opened the box again and popped a piece of chocolate into my mouth.

“billion.”

“It’s not made that sweet, is it? Would you please eat some out of sincerity?”

I can sense some kind of pressure from the tone of voice.

If you spit this out, saying you don’t want to eat it, your back will tingle or your feet will get a spicy taste.

‘…I can’t spit out what I’m eating.’

Is it possible? I chewed the chocolate, sweating profusely.

“When I tried it, it wasn’t that sweet and it was okay, right? Do I have to eat everything in there? If you throw it away or give it to someone, you will die.”

I realized it was chocolate after I actually tried it, but as Ji-eun said, it wasn’t as sweet as I thought.

Only then did Ji-eun, whose grim expression disappeared, seem to be muttering something quietly.

Somehow I heard… I don’t know what they said later.

…It doesn’t really matter, right?

I did as I was told.

I thought the pressure had gone away, but Jieun didn’t let me go even after that.

“Minhyuk, when is your birthday?”

“What?”

“When is your birthday?”

“Why is it a birthday all of a sudden?”

“Well…”

She says, avoiding eye contact and fiddling with her hands.

“Second, chocolate gifts don’t seem like a good idea! I’m just saying that because I wanted to give you a real gift!”

When I think about my birthday, only bad things come to mind, so I answered half-heartedly.

There is no need to know.

Then Ji-eun… made me lie down on a chair.

“billion! Hey, hey! Why are you laying me down!”

“I won’t let you go until you say something. You should answer meekly, right? Huh?”

“No, hey! Where is that kind of force…! Whoop, whoop whoop!”

“Tell me your birthday quickly!!”

“Wooow!!”

She forced me to lie down on her lap and asked me to tell her my birthday.

Thanks to her, I learned how scary it is to be buried in a human body.

That feeling…

I felt like I was being blocked by something soft and my breathing was being blocked.

okay. Just like now.

…

…what?

“Whoop, whoop!”

When I opened my eyes, something huge was blocking my vision.

No, how can this happen twice!

It’s the same feeling as when I was buried in the soft, soft skin of someone and felt my life in danger!

“Whoop, whoop!!”

Instinctively struggling, I pulled out the arm holding my face like I did then and lifted my shoulders with both arms to escape the threat.

“Lord, I thought I was going to die…”

I never thought I would experience this twice.

No, you never thought you would experience this even in a game…?

Either way, it seemed clear that it was abnormal.

-Tiring!

▶Status abnormality: Stage 3 of inability to breathe disappears.◀

▶Status Abnormality: Stage 2 of asphyxiation disappears.◀

“This is absurd. Even during this time, are you reporting any abnormalities?”

It wasn’t in the game, but it seems like there are absurd deaths like this because it’s reality.

Now I think that’s the case too.

Rather… I never thought I would have fallen asleep without realizing it.

I said I would never sleep, but it seems like the time I spent sleeping on my lap was quite long.

“Uhm…? Carcein?”

Meanwhile, Harnier stood up, rubbing his eyes.

She covered her mouth and yawned softly, looking back and forth between Bo-ok and me and nodding.

“Originally, you wouldn’t have been able to get up from my lap due to the power of the gem, but seeing you get up like this, it looks like you were sleeping upright.”

“…”

“Oh, actually, I’m too sleepy to just wait. I fell asleep.”

“Are you able to sleep in this situation? I want to argue, yes?”, but… I think it would be better to argue the other way.

“Harnier. Looks like you need to be more alert.”

“You wake up and suddenly say something stupid?”

“You must know that it is dangerous. Don’t you think the situation you’re in right now is dangerous?”

Harnier, whose eyes were twitching at those words, covered his mouth and chuckled.

“What is dangerous? With you?”

“Isn’t it obvious.”

“Ahahaha.”

Then Harnier laughed out loud.

“Really. You might attack me, so be careful now?”

what. It’s not like I didn’t understand.

“You’re going to pounce on me while I’m sleeping. Ugh.”

“…I am also a man, right?”

“If it had been another man, I would have been wary of course. But, if it’s you, Karssein, it’s okay.”

She lowered her hand as if she was laughing sheepishly and added calmly.

“I don’t know about you, but if someone is going to attack me, on the other hand, I’ll look into it right away. I can feel your gaze right away.”

“Your gaze?”

“Yes. Like my lips or the nape of my neck. Sometimes we see breasts or bare shoulders. Those people are already looking at it from there.”

“If that’s the view, I’m the same man, no different from them.”

“Yes?”

“How could you not see it? It’s natural to look at a pretty person’s entire body.”

To be honest, when we first met, I thought it was a risk, but after signing the contract, I couldn’t help but notice it.

How can there be such a pretty person? And that’s it.

Nevertheless, Harnier smiled again and answered.

“So you are different. Karsein. Because you are the kind of person who speaks so honestly.”

“It seems a bit contradictory to what I just said, right?”

“Those people only show their sexual desires towards me, so they don’t even speak honestly like this. He deliberately pretends not to see it, and even when I tell him where he is looking, he acts like a fool. Do you understand what this means?”

“…”

“Disgustingly, they use all kinds of rhetoric about my beauty and try to hide it as if they never did it, but in reality, they just spit it out from their dirty mouths. But what about you? There are no lies in the eyes or lies in the mouth, right? Are you and those people, Karsein, really the same people?”

That statement was a trap to test me, I guess.

You got this right.

“If you were going to attack me in the first place, you had several chances. From our first meeting, I knew that Karssein Bagland did not lie to me like that.”

There is a way to distinguish them.

It is your own sense that can detect those gazes and lies.

So, you don’t have to worry.

Harnier boasted like that.

but. She must have been on high alert in her own way.

Didn’t you say that I was your first fiancé? Although it was vague, she had that sense, so she was never deceived by men and was prepared for danger.

Still, I have to say this.

“The fact that I am also the same man remains the same. Be equally vigilant.”

Then Harnier answered softly, covered her mouth, and asked again.

“True. When is your birthday?”

“…”

“Carcein?”

What a coincidence.

Even in my dream, I saw Ji-eun asking about my birthday, and even when I woke up, Harnier was asking about my birthday.

An even stranger coincidence was that Karssein and I had exactly the same birthday.

Thanks to this, I didn’t have to worry about asking when my birthday was.

“It’s December 31st.”

When told that December 31st was my birthday, Harnier made a fuss, saying, “Then that means it’s already passed!”.

It’s my birthday and it just passes by, so why do I want to do that?

Even then.

“…Let’s send it together next time.”

With that, I put an end to this story.

***

“Hey. Carcein?”

“Ah, yes.”

“I have to leave quickly. You’re not going to sleep at the party, right?”

“…Yes. I have to go out.”

-Tiring!

▶The schedule at the party hall has been completed.◀

▶ Calculate the achievement level. ◀

As if the status window wasn’t popping up for no reason, a lot of time had already passed.

‘…I can’t believe I slept for 4 hours.’

I never thought I would have spent so much time sleeping.

It’s amazing that nothing happened in there.

But what was more concerning was the failure to complete the penalty in this episode.

‘Why isn’t Arina coming?’

It was definitely time to come.

As there was a clear penalty, Arina would find Karssein wherever he was at this point.

It’s only natural that options pop up on this terrace.

‘What is it? ‘Did I miss something?’

When I left the party with Harnier, I was skeptical.

Arina was walking towards us from the first floor lobby.

“Carcein.”

Harnier looked worried, but I nodded as if it was okay.

After a while, Harnier left the place and Arina cried out.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Something like that happened.”

…what?

I don’t think this was the question originally?