episode_0216

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The saying “no news is good news” feels quite outdated now.

It might have made sense in an era when people tied letters to pigeons’ ankles and struggled to hear updates about one another, but smartphones have long since become a staple of daily life.

So if anyone still quotes that phrase these days, they’re probably just lazy…

Or so thought the man as he let out a quiet sigh from the backseat of the smoothly moving car.

He had expected the contact to be sparse, but this silence was stretching too long.

Especially as he stared down at his phone, having just cleared all his notifications.

“Huu…”

If something good happened, he wanted to celebrate and encourage her.

If something sad happened, he wanted to ease her sorrow by helping however he could.

Like any parent with a child, Han Beom-hyeon—eldest son of the Hanseol Group’s chairman and its likely successor—felt much the same way.

No, if anything, his feelings ran even deeper.

What father would want to live completely estranged from his one and only precious daughter?

If it had been a son, he probably wouldn’t have been this concerned.

He might not even have remembered the exact age, just like his own father.

But well, they were family.

Siblings were bound to feel a bit awkward around each other anyway.

“…”

Beom-hyeon had been staring at his phone’s wallpaper—a perfectly captured shot of Han Sua (9 years old) making an embarrassed face after being told not to take pictures—but he turned off the screen before tears could well up. He hadn’t been like this before. Maybe age was making him more sentimental.

In any case, the point was this:

Was it really so hard, as a child, to occasionally check in with one’s parents?

Would making such a request of his daughter be tantamount to shackling her?

She didn’t seem to like school much, so he focused on private tutoring.

Studying didn’t suit her, so he suggested alternative paths to spare her the struggle.

To ensure she had the best mentor, he invited a renowned retired foreign awakened shapeshifter to teach her.

And since she seemed to enjoy comics, he made sure she never felt lacking by buying her as many as she wanted.

All he wanted was a measly ten seconds of her day—

“Nothing much happened today.”

Or, “Goodnight.”

Or, “I had lunch with a friend.”

Was it too much to ask for a simple text like that?

Was that parental greed?

He truly didn’t know…

“Vice President, traffic conditions are poor. We’ll likely arrive about ten minutes late.”

“…”

It had only been about two months since she started living on her own.

Yet this was how things stood. If this was how it was now, how was he supposed to endure until she graduated from the academy? Groaning internally, he did what he always did—contacted the person closest to his daughter.

If Sua found out, she’d probably be thoroughly creeped out, and Beom-hyeon knew that.

But in the end, it didn’t matter.

As long as the person in question never found out, it was fine.

– Hangovers aren’t good for you, so please take extra care. – Does she like bean sprout soup? …Ah, as long as she doesn’t dislike it, I guess… – Hangover remedies… From what I know, it’s better to take them before drinking, but even if it’s late, they’ll still help, so it’d be good to have some on hand. – So, the people who drank with Sua were… – Just one girl, you say? Okay. Okay.

The closest person was on his side—there was no way they’d confess to Sua.

After receiving updates about his daughter from the housekeeper, Beom-hyeon’s usual stern expression softened into a gentle smile.

Naturally, the same happened with the next call.

– Oh, really? …I’m glad she’s made so many friends.

His daughter, who had rushed through lunch right after waking up, had left the house saying she was going to meet a friend.

Hearing that, he was relieved her academy life was going smoothly and ended the call after asking to be informed if anything similar happened again.

“…”

She’d only said “friend.”

Surely it wasn’t a boy, right?

Lost in thought, he imagined the worst.

216

“Well… I do know where Seo-yeon lives, but…”

– Then, Yozora, you come with me too. I’ll ask Woojin—uh, the nurse—if he can spare a little time.

Excuse me.

That “nurse” is exactly why this is a bit awkward for me.

“If Seo-yeon said not to come even though she’s sick, wouldn’t it be polite to respect that…?”

– But there’s no reason not to go.

“You never know. What if she acts all neat outside but her place is a pigsty and she’s embarrassed…?”

– W-Well, I’m not great at cleaning either, so it’s fine…!

“Whether Sua-chan is okay with it isn’t the point…”

Of course, one option was to just give them the address and let the two of them go.

Unlike Sua-chan, who didn’t even know what was around the area, I knew exactly what was near her place, so I could just look up the address.

But even if I didn’t go, the idea of Seo-yeon and Woojin meeting alone felt… dangerous.

Rolled up like a kimbap in my blanket while on the phone, I “Ughh—” and furrowed my brows.

It was just a baseless woman’s intuition, but if those two met, something was 100% going to happen.

And for good reason—Seo-yeon might hide her fox-like nature from others, but she was undeniably a gumiho.

And gumihos are… perverts, right?

She might insist she’s not, but every single gumiho in history without exception has been a pervert.

If she so much as touches Woojin, won’t she suddenly get all hormonal—or pheromonal—and pounce on him?

Ah, does that mean I won’t be able to use the infirmary where Woojin is until graduation?

Half-asleep, I was lost in stupid thoughts when the voice on the other end snapped me out of it.

– Did you two break up on bad terms or something…?

“…”

Not entirely wrong.

But not something I should confirm.

If I had been dating Woojin and got tragically dumped, that is.

Mmm. It’s good that Sua-chan is trying to engage in conversation more actively than when we first met, but she still lacks tact in small ways…

I don’t want her to become the kind of rude girl who says things like “But it’s true, isn’t it?” and gets smacked for it…

Maybe I should feign a little anger here as a preventative measure…

But while I was groaning, having missed my usual timing for playful banter, Sua-chan continued.

– Then just give me the address. I’ll go alone or with the nurse—either way, I’m going.

“…”

…Too late for the preventative measure now.

What should I do? Switching to speakerphone, I rolled around on the bed, thinking.

The best option was still not to go.

No matter how sick Seo-yeon was, if I tagged along with those two, the atmosphere would undoubtedly get weird.

Woojin had gone as far as deleting the photos he’d taken to blackmail me before cutting me off…

The moment he saw my face, wouldn’t he make it painfully obvious how much he dislikes me?

Handsome, pitch-black inside, big dick—

Putting all that aside,

He’s just a 20-year-old boy two years younger than me.

Still too young to act mature—practically a high school senior.

Even just in terms of meals, I’ve eaten at least 700 more than him—I should be the one conceding.

And especially since I don’t want to see Sua-chan flustered, forgetting the whole point of the visit because of the tension between me and Woojin.

“Hmm.”

Logically, that was the right answer.

But another mischievous thought peeked in—What if I just showed up briefly?

Sua-chan struggling in an awkward situation wasn’t really my problem.

Because no matter what, Woojin would get pissed seeing my face.

Sure, him getting mad wouldn’t lead to him violently raping me, but it’d still build up his dislike, right?

“Why the hell is that bitch showing up next to Sua again…?”—that kind of thought?

Of course, I was better-looking than Woojin, bigger down there, a total sadist, and generally a trashy man who planned to mess with him somehow…

But having a backup plan in case things went wrong wouldn’t hurt. Yeah.

Absolutely not because the new Woojin-lookalike extreme fetish dildo I bought a few days ago was worse than the real thing, so I threw it in a disposable bag.

Really, truly, with everything I have—not because of that.

Finished with my thoughts, still rolled up like kimbap in my blanket, I reached for my phone and let out a sigh.

“…Seo-yeon’s place is near mine, so just come this way. I’ll call again after I wash up and get dressed. 30 minutes… no, 20.”

The physical state of someone suffering from a fever is like the shape of a pebble.

There’s a minimal semblance of order, but ultimately, it’s wildly inconsistent.

“…I slept for almost two hours, so why…”

Had my condition worsened since earlier?

Even after taking medicine and sleeping. Why?

“Huu…”

At the top of her phone screen, where the call had just ended,

Baek Seo-yeon weakly set her phone down after noticing the clock had already switched to afternoon.

She was exhausted from calming down Han Sua, who had panicked over a single escaped cough.

Apparently, Sua had asked Yozora for her number because she’d been unable to thank her properly last night.

Either way, it was fine.

Seo-yeon hadn’t even realized she hadn’t been thanked in the first place.

“Ugh…”

She pressed a hand to her forehead.

Her throat felt the same as before she’d slept, but her fever was raging.

Like her body was boiling.

She couldn’t remember ever burning up this badly before.

Her body was damp with sweat.

Yet she was shivering from chills—it was strange.

In any case, she’d made it clear to Sua that she wasn’t sick enough to warrant a visit, so it should be fine.

She’d feel bad if she passed her illness to someone she barely knew…

She’d have to check her condition tomorrow and possibly skip the academy…

Staring blankly at the ceiling, she pushed aside the nine pure white tails wrapped around her body and the blanket to grab another bottle of the cheap medicine she’d bought from the convenience store.

Stepping out of the warm blanket, her body shuddered more than expected.

For a moment, she wondered if the boiler was broken, but the warmth under her feet suggested otherwise.

Then why was she worse than when she’d woken up?

Her disjointed thoughts only stopped when the face of the vice-student council president she’d met at the convenience store resurfaced.

Stress.

The root of all illness.

“You damn pervert… Don’t think I don’t know you’re deliberately using the convenience stores near my place…”

Yoo Si-woo’s home was somewhat far from here.

Not so far that you couldn’t call it “living nearby,” but definitely not close enough to share convenience stores.

Yet she’d run into him earlier—

For a very obvious reason.

“Damn…”

Pressing the back of her hand to her burning forehead, Seo-yeon muttered every low-grade curse she’d never normally say as she walked out of her bedroom.

The cheap over-the-counter medicine—better than nothing.

Ignoring the instructions on the label (“Take 3 bottles daily after meals”), she returned to her room.

Thud. Using one of her tails to pull the door shut behind her, she dove straight back into bed.

Sliding under the blanket, she tucked her head in first, then each of her snow-white tails one by one.

“……”

…How much time had passed?

It felt like she’d only blinked a few times when—

Ding-dong.

Ding-dong.

Ding-ding-dong.

A noisy doorbell drilled into Seo-yeon’s ears as she lay curled up, hugging her pillow like a stuffed animal.

“……Who…”

Not that she needed to wonder.

The impatient, aggressive pressing made it obvious—it was that girl.

She’d have preferred a delivery person or courier who’d gotten the unit number wrong.

But of course, it had to be her, showing up right when Seo-yeon was sick and making a scene…

Ears flattening from the noise, Seo-yeon retracted them along with her tails and trudged to the front door.

“…Yozora, you damn— Didn’t I tell you not to ring the bell like a maniac—”

“Hii~”

“…”

The instant headache-inducing sight of Yozora at her doorstep.

“Ah, hello…”

“…”

“…”

And standing with her—Woojin and Han Sua.

Which, unsurprisingly, made her headache much worse.