159) Chapter 22. Because It’s Summer! (7)
People’s hearts are really funny things—normally, when you say someone is “wet,” doesn’t it only bring unpleasant thoughts?
Especially in the middle of summer like this, the first thing that comes to mind is being soaked in sweat, followed by the unpleasant smell and that subtle stickiness.
When the air conditioner isn’t on, it feels like anything you touch sticks to your hand.
And on the subway or bus, even brushing against someone else makes irritation surge up like it’s about to explode.
But if the person sticking to you isn’t a stranger—
Especially if it’s someone I really, really like—then the feeling changes a bit.
“Rua, over here, over here.”
Wearing something no different from underwear—no, in some ways, even less fabric than the underwear she normally wears—Soi clings to me.
Yes.
She clings to me like it’s nothing, casually placing her hand on my waist and pulling me toward her.
Soi and Chae-yi, who know very well the subtle rule of “hugging is not allowed,” have, at some point, begun developing increasingly crafty ways of sticking to me.
If hugging isn’t allowed, then sticking close is fine, right? That kind of feeling.
First, they wrapped themselves around my arm, then buried their faces in my chest.
If hugging isn’t allowed, then being the one who gets hugged is fine, right? It’s so simple it’s ridiculous, yet strangely effective.
They’d press me against a wall or sofa, then press their bodies against mine—not quite hugging, but still giving me that weird fluttery feeling of being held.
Like this—sticking to my side and placing a hand on my waist isn’t exactly a tight embrace, so it doesn’t trigger that rising fear.
Every single one of their actions is incredibly delicate, and—
And, and and and—
Ah.
My brain won’t work.
Because Soi is stuck right next to me.
We do wear clothes when we sleep. We often don’t wear underwear underneath, but pajamas still cover most of the skin.
But swimsuits aren’t like that, yeah.
In some ways, there’s nothing underneath. I mean, the coverage is basically the same as underwear.
So our waists touch.
And even though the front of the chest is covered, the sides aren’t, so our breasts end up touching too.
And on top of that, we’re both soaked in water, slippery and slick.
Click.
Soi’s camera, sealed in a waterproof pouch, snaps a picture of the two of us.
She lifts the camera high to make us look prettier, so the shot looks down on us from above.
Naturally, that angle emphasizes, well, the breasts. A lot.
Though if she took it from below, it would be emphasized in a different way.
“It came out pretty!”
Soi says with a deeply satisfied expression. She looks dazzling.
“H-hehet!?”
But I couldn’t answer properly.
Because someone suddenly pounced on me from behind.
The target this time is also my waist.
More precisely, a little above that—right under my chest, around the ribs.
Both sides grabbed firmly with two hands.
And from behind comes a hot, soft, squishy sensation pressing into me.
“Chae-chae-chae-chae-chae, Chae-yi!?”
“Mm? Why?”
Chae-yi rests her chin on my shoulder as she speaks. Naturally, her body presses even closer against mine.
Is this okay?
Is this allowed?
Isn’t this the kind of scene you’d see in a harem story, inserted just to show how suspiciously close the heroines are, the kind of illustration meant to make readers go “oh”?
But then again, this is a harem story.
Even if the actual harem protagonist is over there, away from us.
Wearing a tube-top bikini. Her pale white skin sparkling.
Is it even right to still call her the harem protagonist? Isn’t she just a heroine? She doesn’t have anyone to seduce, but from her background setting to her appearance, she looks exactly like a heroine, doesn’t she?
Jinwoo hesitates for a moment, then nods firmly as if saying “yeah,” and runs toward me.
Well, seeing the way she runs snaps me back to reality. It’s the ocean. Running while pushing through water is really hard.
If you try to run comfortably, you end up instinctively kicking your legs upward above the water.
And then you end up looking kind of… frog-like.
“Uwah!?”
See? She gets close and then slips again.
Water is heavier and more solid than you’d think, so of course if one leg loses strength—
Wait.
Wasn’t she right in front of me?
If she falls right in front of me, then Jinwoo’s face—
Smack!
A sound so loud that even people who had nothing to do with us turned to look.
Well, my breasts were only barely covered by a small piece of fabric.
If her cheek hit them, of course they would make that kind of sound.
And since we were both soaked, it made an even sharper, wetter sound.
“U-uh—!?”
Realizing a moment too late what was covering her entire face, Jinwoo jerks backward.
“Uwah!?”
And then she falls backward, splashing into the sea.
Hmm. How should I put it.
I didn’t expect her to act like a harem protagonist immediately after I said she looked like a heroine.
Anyway, is this the second time?
It’s nice that she doesn’t do this to the other heroines, but still—why does she always do it to me?
I wasn’t even a heroine at the start. I was basically trash.
“Uh, Jinwoo?”
Lost in thought, I only belatedly realized Jinwoo hadn’t come up for several seconds, and the three of us hurriedly pulled her unconscious body out of the water.
*
Even while everyone was gathered together having fun—including Jinwoo, who was either hopelessly shy or secretly cunning, I still couldn’t figure out which—there was one person whose presence was strangely faint.
Yeah. Hyeonji.
In the original story, Hyeonji had a strong presence in a different sense.
Whenever the protagonist, Nam Jinwoo, unintentionally did something perverted, she would pop out of nowhere and shout, “How shameless!” like a member of the disciplinary committee.
And of course, she always happened to appear in the most unfortunate places, so she’d end up being the victim of Jinwoo’s next accidental perverted act, turning bright red and yelling again. That was her role.
But in this world, well…
How should I put it? Maybe her sense of normalcy collapsed because of me, Soi, and Chae-yi. Or maybe because I hug her face every day, her confidence in her own standards has gotten a bit shaky.
Since she’d have to scream “Shameless!” nonstop every single day if she stayed strict, all that sharpness she had in the original has been completely worn down.
“Mm.”
Maybe that’s why she’s still standing far away, not knowing what to do.
Even though she’s wearing the most modest swimsuit among us, she keeps trying to cover herself, glancing nervously at the people around her.
Her expression looks like she’s not sure whether she’s allowed to be here or not.
…Well, that part is fine.
But because she keeps standing alone like that, she draws attention.
In my previous life—just an ordinary, unremarkable person living in Korea—I wasn’t a handsome enough guy for strangers to approach on the street to strike up a conversation, and I definitely wasn't a woman.
So I don’t really know how the world of extremely handsome and beautiful people works.
But from what I’ve heard, those kinds of people naturally gravitate toward each other. And apparently, it’s not unusual for someone to go somewhere alone, strike up a conversation with the person next to them, become friends, and even end up dating.
So maybe I’m overthinking this.
…But those people glancing at Hyeonji.
I can see some guys—maybe college students, maybe high schoolers—sneaking looks at her while she stands there, unsure of what to do.
It’s not like it’s bad.
She’s pretty, she has a great figure, and she looks lonely standing by herself. Of course people would look.
But still, it doesn’t feel good.
As I’ve said many times, I’m greedy and selfish.
The idea of the girls around me getting boyfriends makes me feel bad. Even though I’m not going to confess first or anything.
So I had no intention of leaving Hyeonji alone.
“H-Hyeonji!”
I shouted and waved at her.
Her eyes widened as she looked at me.
I ran toward her with full energy.
I was planning to grab her hand and bring her back to us.
“Hyat!?”
And then—thud.
My foot sank into the sand underwater.
Maybe a pile of sand collapsed on its own.
Or maybe the wave washed out the sand right under my foot at the worst possible moment.
Either way, I lost my balance right in front of Hyeonji.
“Ah.”
Before I could think or react—
Smack!
Both my cheeks hurt.
And then came a soft, squishy, warm, pleasant sensation.
When I lifted my gaze, Hyeonji’s dazed face—so stunned she forgot to blush—was right in front of mine.
“…!?”
I tried to jerk backward, but my foot slipped again.
Splash—into the water.
“Rua!?”
Hearing my four friends shout my name, I sank straight down into the sea.