episode_0473

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Unsettling?

Or perhaps, stifling?

Hmm. The latter isn’t quite the right word to describe how I’m feeling, but I’m not sure how else to put it.

It’s definitely on the negative side, though. Far from irritation… Ugh…

“I don’t know, I don’t know…”

9 p.m.

After a long day, I returned home and collapsed onto my bed as if sinking into it.

Hugging the unruly blanket that refused to stay folded, I lay there listlessly.

In the end, I ended up filming that kind of video with Seo Woo-jin.

The location? A motel. At least it wasn’t a creampie video—I should probably be grateful for that.

We bickered back and forth while doing it, but up to that point, there wasn’t anything I particularly wanted to complain about.

After all, it was something Baek Ji-ho had hesitantly asked for, and Seo Woo-jin, who’d gotten roped into this netorare scenario, was just trying to keep our secret.

The only thing that bothered me was how pushy Woo-jin got when he was excited.

But even that was mostly overshadowed by the thought, Well, it felt really good, so isn’t that fine?—a somewhat wishy-washy justification. So, in the end, nothing really bothered me.

The problem was what came after.

“Ugh…”

After we finished and met up with Baek Ji-ho at the café where he’d been waiting, the three of us regrouped.

Some girls around us seemed to mistake me and Woo-jin for a couple, which irked me a little.

And then, when Ji-ho checked my phone to confirm the video was real, his expression… Well.

It wasn’t exactly pleasant to look at.

“…He looked like such a pervert.”

When I first heard Ji-ho had that kind of kink, I thought, Wouldn’t this just make it easier to openly have sex? And I wasn’t wrong, but…

Actually experiencing it in person was different from what I’d imagined.

Honestly, it wasn’t great.

Begging someone else to fuck your girlfriend and then getting that excited about it?

Unless I had the same kink, how could I possibly enjoy it?

If I were some perfect, devoted housewife type who thought, As long as Ji-ho’s happy, anything goes, maybe it’d be different, but…

“…Ugh.”

Anyway.

Because of that, my mood was a little dampened…

But it wasn’t like I could say anything to Ji-ho about it.

Just like how I’d thought, Wouldn’t this just make it easier to openly have sex?

I’d already done something I could never tell Ji-ho about.

At the pension, when I… saw it.

When I got too curious and dove in headfirst.

When I went to the adult shop and got unlucky enough to get caught.

When I ended up doing it half because I was pressured into it.

With that kind of past, how could I possibly ask Ji-ho,

Do you really enjoy watching your girlfriend with another guy?

…Wouldn’t it take a complete lack of shame to even say that out loud?

If I had even a shred of conscience?

“…Uuuugh.”

A boyfriend with an incredibly off-putting kink.

A girlfriend who dipped her toes into shady stuff out of sheer, filthy curiosity.

From an outsider’s perspective, we’d both be equally trashy, so I could only groan in silence for a while.

As I absentmindedly tapped the bed with my foot, my gaze drifted toward the wall beside me.

“…….”

So, around… 8 p.m., maybe?

About an hour ago, Ji-ho and I had come back together. Guys tend to shower faster than girls, so he was probably on the other side of the wall right now.

We’d even had dinner together because Woo-jin said, Noona, let’s make an alibi for Hayoon, so it wasn’t like he was eating separately.

That meant there was a 99% chance he was lying in bed on the other side of the wall right now…

Normally, I’d at least hear him chuckling while watching YouTube.

But today, it was dead silent.

Like there was no one there at all.

“…Hm.”

I said it calmly, but it wasn’t like I didn’t know the reason.

Where would he find the time to laugh at YouTube videos right now?

…He was probably jerking off to the video of me and Woo-jin.

As his girlfriend, maybe I should be helping with that, but I wasn’t sure.

If he needed me, he would’ve called me over, right…?

If he got off on being stolen from, then maybe it was better if I didn’t interfere at all…

“…….”

…It might be a little late,

but should I ask now?

“…Ahem.”

I let out a meaningless cough and then tapped the wall.

A light knock—similar to how we’d signaled each other since we were kids whenever we needed something.

But there was no response from the other side.

Wondering if he was too absorbed in that to hear me, I pressed my ear against the wall, but—thankfully?—that didn’t seem to be the case.

If I’d heard those kinds of wet, shameless sounds, it’d be one thing, but the other side was silent, as if no one was there at all.

Maybe he was holed up in the bathroom with his earbuds in?

Or…

Cutting off my wild guesses, I buried myself back into the bed.

“…Phew…”

…Whatever it was,

this was so fucking embarrassing.

Seriously…

“…Hey, is Yozora still all over you these days?”

“Huh?”

Ah, right—Dabin’s boyfriend came back yesterday.

They must be getting along really well. Long-distance is tough, they say.

Guess the three of them got close during that double date.

Hmm… Still, he doesn’t have to be that nice to Noona’s friends too…

After spending the evening indulging Lee Hayoon’s clinginess, it was already the quiet early hours of the morning.

At some point, she’d fallen asleep, her breathing steady and rhythmic—shhh, shhh—while on the other side, Lee Jiyoon’s hushed whisper reached my ears.

Carrying the name of a bomb I still couldn’t get used to—Yozora.

“I asked if Yozora’s still bothering you. Or is Korean too hard for you now?”

“Yozora, you mean…”

“That girl with the huge tits. …You know who I’m talking about. Why are you playing dumb? Got something to hide?”

“No, wait…”

Now that I thought about it, when was it?

A while back, Jiyoon had mentioned Yozora when she visited the infirmary and bonked me on the head.

Even if a pretty girl clings to you, you can’t just do whatever she says!—something like that, I think.

That was almost half a year ago, around early summer.

After Yozora took me to the manga café that day, she hadn’t done anything particularly noticeable.

Or maybe Jiyoon just didn’t know and was testing the waters.

After a brief pause—

Jiyoon kept poking my chin with her finger, so I pressed a finger to my lips, signaling her to stay quiet so Hayoon wouldn’t wake up.

“…Lately, no. She used to make things awkward before, though.”

“…Hmm…”

I gave a vague answer, but Jiyoon just stared at me with lukewarm skepticism.

No matter how positively I tried to spin it, she clearly didn’t believe me.

In that case, she must’ve seen or heard something…

…Come to think of it, Jiyoon’s in the same class as that idiot now, isn’t she?

Once that thought crossed my mind, I could guess why she’d suddenly brought up Yozora.

She must’ve stirred up trouble on purpose.

Given how much she dotes on the naive Han Sua and how she generally reacts well to things, she probably just wanted to tease me.

There was also a chance she wanted me to scold her.

After putting up with her for ten years, day and night, her every move was as transparent as glass.

…Honestly, I might know Yozora better than her own parents do.

With that idle thought, I turned to face Jiyoon.

“Why bring her up? Did something happen?”

“…….”

“…Is this about that time I did what she asked? That was a while ago.”

“…No, that’s old news.”

“Then?”

“…Sigh.”

A brief silence.

Then, Jiyoon pushed me over, rolling me onto my side, before speaking in a low voice.

Make sure you don’t wake Noona, she warned, jabbing the back of my head before continuing.

What followed was so short and concise that it didn’t even need summarizing.

‘Yozora’s been paying a lot of attention to you lately.’

After saying that, for some reason, she grabbed a fistful of my short hair and started tugging.

…Her actions were hard to understand, but the gist was that Yozora had been doing things that bothered Jiyoon.

Assuming this weird behavior was just her way of being cute, I whispered back.

“What’s she doing? Be specific.”

“…Just. She likes you.”

“And?”

“…That’s it.”

“That’s it?”

“For now, yeah… Hmm…”

“What? You said that’s it, but there’s more?”

“No… It’s just, of all people, it had to be you.”

Of all people, me.

Not quite understanding, I turned slightly—only for Jiyoon, who’d been leaning close, to mumble into my shoulder.

“First, you dated Noona but slept with me. You’re the type who’d go for any girl, so…”

“…….”

“With Yozora, it feels like only a matter of time.”

It was startling, but…

Honestly, I couldn’t deny it.

“…Tell me the truth. Back when you left that hickey on Yozora’s neck, were you thinking dirty thoughts?”

“…….”

“Sigh… Yeah. Yozora’s got big boobs. She’s friendly. And above all, she’s pretty… I get why guys lose their heads over her, but…”

Her chest is undeniably big.

“Friendly” is a stretch—she enjoys tormenting people and watching their reactions.

Pretty? …Well, yeah. If she’d just shut up, she’d be pretty.

I wanted to refute everything at first, but the only real counter I had was her personality.

Even that felt flimsy, so I stayed quiet—until Jiyoon inched closer and whispered.

“…Still. No.”

“…I know. Me too.”

As if she’d been thinking the same thing.

After a brief pause.