NOVEL NEXT #063
#063
Which sub-protagonist gets washed by the main lead? And forcibly too! I pushed him away with all my might, and whether he felt sorry for me or not, Sun Woo didn’t insist any further and left.
While washing, I ruffled my hair roughly. Looking at my hair, which had absorbed the water and was sticking out in all directions, reflected in the mirror, I clenched my teeth tightly.
“I’ll never drink again.”
I feel like I should grab the author by the collar. Do the words sub-protagonist and alcoholic trash even go together? It’s as mismatched as making kimchi with durian.
In the midst of that, I wondered if my body odor was really that bad, so I washed thoroughly and meticulously. By the time I finished washing and came out, quite some time had passed, but Sun Woo was still standing exactly where I had pushed him, not budging an inch.
It’s a good thing I kept spare clothes in the bathroom. Otherwise, I would have had to show my naked body again. Ah, I already showed it. I was forcibly undressed.
“Why are you here?”
Instead of answering, Sun Woo approached me and buried his face in my neck again. Sniffing me, he laughed softly, seeming pleased.
“You don’t smell grossly anymore.”
Gross? You called it gross? Was my smell that bad?
I thought I washed well and kept myself clean. Did I have body odor? They say people often can’t smell their own scent well.
“I scrubbed really hard…”
As I exuded a gloomy aura, Sun Woo, as if trying to cheer me up, ruffled my hair. My wet hair swayed heavily with his touch.
“I’ll dry your hair for you.”
As I sat on the stool, entrusting my hair to his touch… I think I know what I’m being subjected to right now.
Yeah, this is it.
“A dog!”
When you take dogs for a walk and come back home, you wipe their paws, wash them, and dry them, right? Sun Woo is doing exactly that right now. People who read the webtoon kept calling Ha Jin a son of a bitch. I was literally being treated like a son of a bitch.
Ha Jin and the word dog, they went together quite well.
Sun Woo turned off the hairdryer that was blowing hot air towards me. As the noisy ‘whoosh’ sound stopped, only the occasional sound of fabric rubbing could be heard in the quiet space. Sun Woo’s hand stroked my chin and slowly moved up to fiddle with my lips.
“A dog?”
He must have heard me muttering to myself amid the noise of the hairdryer.
“I really feel like a dog right now.”
“Why?”
“Doesn’t this look like a dog that just came back from a walk?”
“A dog that doesn’t even know its owner was worried, and after being let off the leash, it happily runs around and even dares to come back with someone else’s scent on it?”
“…Just call me a dog. Why are there so many modifiers in front of it?”
His fingers were still fiddling with my lips. Looking at Sun Woo’s faint smile reflected in the mirror, my lips kept getting dry, making me want to lick them, but I held back, thinking it might lead to a rough situation.
Sun Woo clearly didn’t know what kind of expression he was making. That was definitely a seductive smile. It suited the protagonist who was born to make Ha Jin’s eyes roll back.
* * *
In the end, Grandma had to have a small part of her kidney removed. It was a surgery to prevent the cancer from spreading to other parts of her body. They said she didn’t need to undergo chemotherapy, so we all breathed a sigh of relief.
Grandma’s hospital room was always bustling with her three grandchildren. During the summer vacation, Grandma’s hospital room was like our gathering place and playground.
* * *
In the quiet private room of the restaurant, I repeatedly checked my phone while waiting for the person who hadn’t arrived yet. I was waiting for a call from Sun Woo, who said he was going to Grandma’s house.
“I told him to take the car, but he’s so stubborn.”
It would be more comfortable for Grandma to take the car than the bus. Sun Woo never accepted the car key I offered him. And he even insisted that he would pay the hospital bills. I thought he would let it go since the payment had already been processed. But he went to the accounting department, got the receipt, and said he would definitely pay it back. Of course, he could easily pay it back soon, but that’s a matter for later. It’s not just a small amount. It was quite a lot.
“Sun Woo was passive.”
In the webtoon, I mean.
He was the kind of protagonist who was dragged around helplessly.
I looked at the empty plate in front of me and the chopsticks across from it, then glanced at the clock. It was almost time for the appointment.
“He’ll be here.”
It was a meal to express gratitude to the hospital director who had put a lot of effort into Grandma’s treatment. A moment later, the door opened, and instead of the familiar hospital director, his son Sin Yeo-un entered with a smile on his face. What? Why?
“You’re here early.”
Seeing Sin Yeo-un naturally sitting across from me, I was quite flustered.
“Huh? I ordered meals for two people. Just a moment.”
“Two servings are enough.”
“What about the hospital director?”
“An emergency patient came, so my father was in the middle of discussing it at the hospital. He told me to come in his place.”
“We could have postponed the appointment.”
“It’s almost the appointed time. The food must be ready anyway. It would be rude to the restaurant.”
“…That’s true.”
As I nodded in agreement, Sin Yeo-un smiled brightly. His face was full of the freshness and innocence unique to his age, but there was also a strange mix of unexpected maturity that didn’t match his age.
“I really wanted to have a meal with you. I’m in such a great mood right now.”
“That time when I was drunk… We ate together at your house.”
“Just the two of us.”
What nonsense is he talking about? What reason would there be for me to have a meal with him alone? While I was inwardly displeased with his words, I just smiled awkwardly on the outside.
Sin Yeo-un looked at me with a smile that made even the onlookers feel at ease. He has a good personality too. Seeing him smiling brightly, a sigh naturally escaped from within me. He was a person of the light, and Ha Jin was a person of the shadows.
“Am I making you uncomfortable?”
You are. Sin Yeo-un spoke as if he could see right through me. But I couldn’t tell him the truth, even though he had taken care of me when I was drunk. He was a kind kid and someone who would be of great help to Sun Woo…
“It’s not like that.”
“My father has talked a lot about you since I was young. So I think I had a sense of closeness to you on my own. Is it burdensome for you when I act like this?”
“It’s not burdensome.”
In response to his question, I once again suppressed my true feelings and gave an answer full of social niceties. At the same time, I kept brainwashing myself that he was just a young brother, which seemed to make me feel more at ease.
“That’s a relief… Are you very busy these days?”
“Not really, since it’s summer vacation.”
“Really? Your replies to my messages were slow, so I thought you were busy.”
“I usually don’t check my phone much.”
“But you keep checking it right now.”
I must have been checking it unconsciously. At Sin Yeo-un’s words, I turned my phone face down on the table. Sun Woo will come, he’s not someone who won’t contact me. Well.
More than that, I had a slight headache at how Sin Yeo-un casually spoke informally to me. It was because scenes from the webtoon came to mind one by one.
Even though Sin Yeo-un was two years younger, he received great support from readers as the main lead, not only because of his appearance but also because of his occasional reversals like this. If he had been a character who was only kind, caring, and considerate, he might have been less attractive, but Sin Yeo-un showed the charm of reversals at just the right moments.
When he was in a bad mood. When he did this and that to Sun Woo.
Some said Sin Yeo-un’s behavior was cool, while others found it creepy.
But seeing him act like this to me too, is it just his personality? A bit rude?
“Do you like the business administration department?”
Sin Yeo-un asked while we were eating after the food was served. It was a question that required no further thought. Because for me, it was the worst.
“Not really.”
“But it must be bearable with Ha Jin there.”
I thought Sin Yeo-un had a really good personality for being so friendly. He was leading the conversation naturally with a bright smile without any awkwardness. Seeing myself responding naturally before I knew it, I couldn’t help but praise his sociability.
“There’s a senior at our school who is one of the top five in the entire school. He said he’s going to the business administration department.”
“Isn’t it B High School?”
“That’s right.”
B High School is famous for being a prestigious school, so the top 5 students should have no problem entering the medical department of A University. Why would they come to the business administration department? No, more importantly, a senior? How can there be a senior in the same grade as a third-year high school student? Did he repeat a year? I thought it was unusual for someone with those grades to choose the business administration department.
“Is he going to take over the family business?”
“I don’t think that’s the case. He’s just an ordinary kid.”
“Really?”
“So, about that, senior. Should I also go to the business administration department?”
“Cough.”
At his words, I choked on the water I was drinking. Sin Yeo-un, startled, came closer and patted my back.
“Are you okay?”
Only after coughing violently a few times did I finally calm down and ask the guy who had caught me off guard.
“The business administration department. Why?”
“Wouldn’t it be better if I became your direct junior?”
He was still patting my back with his palm, not erasing the worried expression on his face.
…He’s crazy, right? If the hospital director had been present, I wonder if he would have thrown the chopsticks he was eating with. Well, given the hospital director’s personality, he might not have thrown them.
Why are there so many crazy people in this webtoon?
I thought only Ha Jin was crazy. It’s not like there’s a law of conservation of craziness. Is it because I’m not doing crazy things, so the other leads are doing it instead?