150) Chapter 21. ......Huh? (9)
In the end, Saturday became a complete day off.
After that, there was absolutely no atmosphere for studying.
After Soi did that, Chae-yi immediately copied her and said,
“W-w-w-w-w-w-would you sleep with me?”
Of course, I normally sleep with Soi and Chae-yi anyway.
But since I had specifically said “manly,” asking someone to sleep together became a slightly sexual joke.
Still, the way she stammered so differently from usual made it feel completely lacking in intimidation.
To begin with, we already slept together all the time, and more importantly, because it was Chae-yi saying it, the mood completely shattered.
When I narrowed my eyes at her, Chae-yi quickly backed away.
In the end, I never managed to figure out what “manliness” was, having already become a girl myself.
Still, there was at least one thing gained from all this.
I learned that even when I ended up in a position that looked like I was being embraced by Soi and Chae-yi, having someone place a hand on my waist instead of wrapping their arms around my back didn’t trigger my trauma.
...Though I couldn’t imagine a situation where we would actually stand pressed together like that.
“......”
I looked toward Hyeonji, wondering if she had been thinking about something too.
Hyeonji turned her gaze away as though uncomfortable.
Ah, right.
I kept forgetting because she hadn’t brought it up lately, but she was a disciplinary committee member.
No matter what, maybe she felt awkward about placing a hand on another girl's waist herself. Especially since what Chae-yi had said could definitely be considered somewhat suggestive.
Hmm.
Everyone ended up feeling awkward, and after noisily settling into our seats, we eventually gave up on concentrating and decided to go to bed early.
As always, there was our usual hugging time.
Soi, Chae-yi, and Hyeonji all buried their faces in my chest without any trace of the awkward atmosphere from earlier.
Soi and Chae-yi even openly breathed heavily through their noses.
Hyeonji also seemed to be subtly inhaling.
“...You can't pass out, okay?”
“I-I’ll try to endure it.”
Jinwoo nodded with the expression of a hero heading off to fight the final boss.
Feeling somewhat strange, I hugged her tightly.
Just like before, her body trembled violently, so I quickly let her go. Fortunately, she didn’t get a nosebleed or faint.
Though she certainly looked like someone who could start bleeding from the nose at any moment.
And so, until I fell asleep wedged between Soi and Chae-yi as usual, nothing was any different from normal—
*
“...What are you doing?”
I opened my eyes because of a strange sensation around my stomach and saw the top of a head carefully wriggling its way upward.
Soi, Chae-yi, and Hyeonji all had long hair.
Naturally, among them, the only person with a small frame and short hair was Jinwoo.
“Uh, y-you’re awake?”
“If something’s wriggling around on top of my stomach, of course I’m awake.”
“I-I wasn’t wriggling.”
“Then what?”
“I-I wanted to hug you too.”
“...You?”
“S-Soi and Chae-yi do it, so...”
Jinwoo cautiously lifted her head.
Her eyes looked moist enough that even in the darkness of the room, they seemed to glisten.
“...Get down first.”
“O-okay.”
Jinwoo, who had completely shrunk in on herself, carefully climbed back down.
Judging by the fact that her hand had been resting on my stomach, she really had been telling the truth.
I told her to be more manly, and this was how she interpreted it?
No, this wasn’t manly. Was it childish?
Actually...
Hmm.
Was it affection deprivation?
Then again, when you’re between Soi and Chae-yi, there are times when it feels less like affection deprivation and more like affection overload to the point that your body's biological balance starts breaking down.
I skillfully twisted my body and got out of bed.
No matter how used you are to sleeping between these two, sometimes you still need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Since I had been sleeping pressed against Soi since childhood, I already knew how to get out without waking anyone.
Of course, that usually meant my hands ended up touching places they shouldn’t.
“Mmgh.”
“Mmh.”
I froze for a moment at the sounds from Soi and Chae-yi.
Then, carefully, carefully...
I finally managed to get out of bed.
“Haa...”
I looked at Jinwoo, who was hanging her head with an expression like she had committed a crime.
“Come out for a moment.”
I spoke quietly.
“Okay...”
Jinwoo answered weakly.
*
To be honest, I woke up more because I needed to use the bathroom than because of the sensation on my stomach.
Actually, now that I thought about it, maybe Jinwoo had been climbing on top of me and happened to press directly on my bladder.
Either way, it was kind of irritating.
Maybe I should just hug her until she passed out.
When I came out of the bathroom, I found Jinwoo sitting quietly on the living room sofa.
Apparently she had been waiting for me.
Hmm. Good.
Honestly, I hadn’t called her out because I had something I wanted to say.
Rather, I thought maybe she had something she wanted to tell me.
As soon as I sat down on the sofa, Jinwoo stiffened up again.
At this point, it wasn’t entirely my fault that I kept wanting to tease her.
Jinwoo simply looked like someone who naturally provoked sadistic impulses.
...No, wait.
Wasn’t that just the excuse bullies use?
I had called her out because I thought she might have something to say to me, but since she wasn’t saying anything, maybe she had simply wanted another hug.
Unlike the others, I couldn’t hug her all the time.
Perhaps the once-a-week hug wasn’t enough for her.
“Hey.”
“Huh?”
Hmm.
I started talking, but nothing immediately came to mind.
After a moment of thought—
Fine.
Since things had turned out this way, maybe I should ask her too.
“You know, that power of yours.”
“Uh, uhh?”
Why was she so startled when I brought up her power?
It wasn’t some forbidden ability no human should possess.
“What do you want to do with it?”
“Huh?”
“You know. Become a hero or something. Or do something else.”
Come to think of it, it was hard to imagine doing anything with Jinwoo’s power.
What could you even do by absorbing other people’s abilities?
If anything, it seemed like the sort of power that would make becoming a villain easy.
“I-I...”
Jinwoo thought for a moment.
“I’m not really sure, but... I want to help people.”
That was her answer.
Yeah.
I figured.
Even in the original story, Nam Jinwoo was a kind person.
A little too kind, honestly.
Kind enough to forgive the girl who tried to drop a flowerpot on her head and accept her as a heroine.
In another web novel, that girl would have gotten a proper lesson.
Honestly, I had hoped for that too.
“Why?”
So I asked.
“Huh?”
“No, just. Why do you want to help people?”
“Uh...”
Jinwoo thought for a moment.
“If I think carefully about it, couldn’t I do something with this power? It doesn’t just absorb abilities, does it?”
That was true.
Nam Jinwoo had used that power to save other heroines.
If someone was sick or badly injured, she could “absorb” the illness or injury.
Though she would suffer from it herself afterward.
Thinking about it that way, I could see why people would fall for her regardless of gender.
I would never use it like that, though.
“Can’t you absorb things like stamina too?”
“Uh, ah, I don’t think so?”
Jinwoo shook her head.
Maybe she didn’t know yet because she hadn’t fully awakened.
Or maybe she simply wanted to deny it.
“Anyway, you can steal other heroes’ abilities and use them. If you wanted money, you could probably find all kinds of profitable work.”
“B-but then...”
Jinwoo thought briefly before speaking.
“P-people would hate it.”
“Just because they’d hate it? Because you don’t want to be disliked? Then there’s no reason to go through all the trouble of becoming a hero.”
“Mmm...”
Jinwoo thought again.
“T-then if I did bad things, what about you, Rua? If I did bad things, would you still not hate me?”
“...No. Probably not.”
I’m not someone with some grand sense of justice.
But I still don’t like people who do bad things.
I hate them.
Because those bad things could affect the people I care about.
Even though I myself possess an ability that could destroy people if I wanted to.
That’s still how I think.
“T-then I won’t do it.”
“What? Because of me?”
“T-that’s one of the reasons.”
Hehe.
Jinwoo smiled.
......
I see.
She didn’t want to be hated.
Honestly, that was a pretty good reason.
I feel the same way.
I don’t want Soi or Chae-yi to hate me.
I don’t want Auntie Yujin or Uncle Dohyun to hate me either.
“Aren’t you sleeping?”
The sudden voice made me jump.
I looked toward the source and saw Auntie Yujin approaching us.
“W-we just happened to wake up and started talking for a bit...”
“Is that so?”
Auntie Yujin answered with a small yawn.
For some reason, the yawn felt playful.
“Then can Auntie join the conversation for a little while? It sounds like an interesting topic.”
“Uh...”
Would it be okay to tell Auntie Yujin?
Because she was already an incredible hero.
Wouldn’t the answer be obvious to someone like her?
More importantly, if we talked directly about her situation, I worried she might somehow suffer disadvantages because of it.
“Um...”
But refusing her felt awkward too.
So I cautiously explained.
“I was wondering why someone would choose to help people when they have a power like this.”
“I see.”
Fortunately, she didn’t criticize me.
“If you don’t want to do it, then you don’t have to.”
Auntie Yujin smiled as she spoke.
“So, in other words, Auntie does it because she wants to.”
Then she gently sat down beside me.
“You seem to have a lot on your mind.”
“Uh, no, um.”
I kept shifting my gaze around awkwardly, and Auntie Yujin smiled again.
Ugh.
At that point, hiding things felt a little difficult.
Especially since Jinwoo was sitting there beside us with sparkling eyes.
In the end, with all possible escape routes cut off, I could only fidget nervously.