Chapter 18: Trapped Between Sibling Antics

As soon as I closed my eyes and opened them again, it was already the next day.

Without even being able to enjoy the comfort of a rest after work, I had to go back to work again. How terrible.

“Ughhh.”

I didn’t actually cry, but I made a crying sound. If I didn’t, I felt like I might really start crying.

Sitting on the bed with such a hollow feeling, suddenly, thud!

Someone opened the door and came in.

‘Huh?’

Startled, I turned my head towards the door, and there stood Jinhyang.

I was wondering why Jinhyang was here, but then she spoke to me.

“Are you back to your senses?”

“…?”

What senses?

I didn’t know what she was talking about, so I could only stand there looking puzzled.

Seeing me like that must have made her feel pitiful, as Jinhyang shook her head.

“Guess you’re still not back.”

What does she mean by that?

Did I lose my mind or something?

I definitely escaped the dungeon, met Jinhyang, and then… my head hurt…

After that, I don’t remember anything.

‘…Did Jinhyang hit my head or something?’

No way.

Even though it’s Jinhyang, she wouldn’t just hit someone like that.

…Probably not.

As I was racking my brain trying to figure out what had happened, Jinhyang came closer and said,

“You’re really a lot of work.”

With that, she slid her hands under my armpits.

I looked at her, slightly bewildered, as my body slowly started to rise.

She was lifting me up.

‘Huh…?’

It took a while for me to understand what was happening to me.

The idea of Jinhyang picking me up didn’t make any sense.

‘What…?’

There’s no way this is an affectionate gesture.

I must have done something wrong.

‘Is it because of the dungeon?’

I didn’t know the reason, but I figured I should apologize.

Jinhyang acting like this was scarier than any horror dungeon.

“I’m sorry.”

“…?”

When I apologized, Jinhyang’s eyes widened slightly.

If I hadn’t been paying close attention, I would have missed it.

“…!”

Jinhyang straightened her arm, still holding me up.

She stared into my eyes for a few seconds.

Then, whoosh!

Suddenly, she threw me onto the bed.

“Ah!”

Thud, thud. I bounced a couple of times on the bed.

Thanks to the soft blanket and mattress, it didn’t hurt, but the shock of being thrown was still intense.

“W-why are you doing this?”

What did I do wrong to deserve such rough treatment?

I grabbed a pillow and held it up between us as a barrier.

“…Why are you acting like you lost your mind?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“You cried like a baby earlier.”

Is she talking about when I pretended to cry?

That was just me being frustrated and acting out a bit.

“I didn’t even get to rest, and when I opened my eyes, it was time for work again.”

“You’re that upset about it?”

“…”

I couldn’t exactly say yes with confidence, so I just watched Jinhyang’s expression closely.

Her gaze suddenly turned cold, stabbing into me.

Unable to do anything else, I silently nodded.

“Then just take the day off and rest.”

Clicking her tongue, Jinhyang left the room.

It didn’t seem likely, but for some reason, it felt like she was making a hasty retreat.

I often felt like that whenever I was leaving her office.

‘What was that about?’

It was the first time I’d seen Jinhyang back down like that, and I felt confused.

‘Something definitely happened yesterday.’

But I couldn’t remember what.

Curiosity gnawed at me.

I had to find out.

With that thought, I followed Jinhyang out.

I needed to find someone who could tell me what had happened.

I left the room and headed into the living room.

The place where I had played games with Raxy Bora.

‘Is no one here?’

As I looked around, I spotted Raxy Bora approaching from afar.

“Harang!”

Raxy Bora called out my name and ran over to me.

I raised my hand, ready to call her name back, when—

Smack!

Before I knew it, she was right in front of me, rubbing her cheek against mine.

Her plump, springy cheeks squished up and down, making my eyes blink open and closed repeatedly.

‘…This feels weird.’

Raxy Bora’s affection seemed unusually intense today.

To the point of making me feel awkward.

“R-Raxy, what’s going on?”

“Huh? Harang, you’re back to normal?”

Raxy Bora blinked in surprise.

‘Back to normal?’

With Jinhyang saying something similar earlier, it was clear that something had happened yesterday.

“Raxy, I can’t remember what happened yesterday. Did something happen?”

“…Huh?”

Raxy Bora thought for a moment before flashing a mischievous grin and saying, “It was pretty much the same as usual.”

“R-really?”

If it was the same as usual, then it meant nothing happened. But it didn’t seem like that was the case.

Jinhyang’s attitude toward me had been strange.

‘Something’s definitely up.’

Both Jinhyang and Raxy Bora were hiding something.

Something they couldn’t tell me.

What could it be? As I was lost in thought, Raxy Bora leaned in close to my neck, sniffing.

“Did you put on perfume, Harang?”

“Huh? No?”

“You smell kind of nice, though.”

“Smell? Me?”

I lifted my hand and sniffed it.

Just the regular scent of skin.

“…And you’re looking prettier, too.”

“It’s… just your imagination.”

What good was it to look pretty when I used to be a guy? It was just miserable.

‘Ugh.’

As I sighed internally, Raxy Bora suddenly scooped me up.

“R-Raxy?!”

“This is strange, I can’t hold back anymore.”

Raxy Bora jumped onto the sofa, holding me tight like a girl hugging a pillow.

‘Can’t… breathe…!’

She hugged me so tightly that I felt like I was going to be crushed by her strength.

“R-Raxy, let me go.”

I was going to die like this.

I placed my hands on her shoulders.

Tap tap.

I tapped her shoulder in surrender, but Raxy Bora didn’t respond.

‘W-what’s going on?’

I lifted my head to check on her.

Her chest was rising and falling steadily, and she was breathing softly.

It seemed like she had fallen asleep.

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, it was time for Raxy Bora to sleep.

Just like I had been earlier, her day and night were flipped.

“Ugh.”

I twisted and squirmed, trying to free myself from her sleeping grasp.

But she wouldn’t budge.

‘What do I do now?’

From experience, Raxy Bora had strength similar to Yoon Bora.

No matter what I did, there was no way I could escape.

However, I couldn’t just stay trapped in her arms like a pillow until she woke up.

I had to push past my limits right now.

“Ugh!”

I pushed Raxy Bora away, like doing a push-up.

My trembling arms managed to lift my body just a few centimeters.

‘It’s… working!’

They say hunters get stronger after clearing dungeons. Maybe that miracle had come for me too?

Just as I was getting my hopes up—

“Mmm…”

Swoosh!

Like the recoil of a rubber band, Raxy Bora’s arms pulled me back.

“Argh!”

Caught off guard, I fell face-first.

But pain didn’t follow.

Raxy Bora’s chest cushioned my face like a soft pillow.

“Ugh, seriously.”

Who was I kidding, thinking I’d gotten stronger?

I couldn’t even beat a sleeping Raxy Bora.

‘This is bad.’

I thought to myself, my face buried in her chest.

I might be stuck here for hours.

Just as I was sinking into despair, I felt the sofa sink lightly at my feet.

I twisted my head as much as I could to look down, and there was Jinhyang.

“H-hey.”

When I called out to her, she slowly turned her head toward me, as if asking me to speak.

“Can… you help me out of here?”

“…Why don’t you just stay like that?”

“Huh?”

Really?

What’s with the attitude this time?

I hadn’t even done anything wrong.

But I didn’t say it out loud.

I needed her help right now.

A drowning person doesn’t curse the one they’re asking to save them.

“You cried earlier, saying you didn’t want to go to work. So just stay there.”

She was leaving out way too much of the story.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go to work, it was that I had woken up only to realize I had to go again.

And I didn’t actually cry.

“I-I’ll go to work. Just get me out of here.”

Going to work seemed better than suffocating or having my back bent out of shape.

I looked at Jinhyang with a pleading expression.

“Hmph.”

Jinhyang stood up from the sofa and approached me.

She was going to help me out.

Smiling widely, I looked up at her.

More accurately, I looked at her stomach.

I couldn’t tilt my neck any further up.

So, there I was, grinning at her stomach, but for some reason, she just stood there.

“Uh, hello?”

“You seem… different, don’t you think?”

“Huh?”

Suddenly, she grabbed my cheek and pulled it gently.

“Did you put on perfume?”

“N-no.”

Raxy Bora had said the same thing earlier.

Did I smell bad?

I thought about sniffing myself, but since I was still buried in Raxy Bora’s chest, I couldn’t.

If I started sniffing here, it would definitely look perverted.

“Hmmm…”

“Uh, could you please help me out first?”

I looked up at Jinhyang with desperate eyes.

But she ignored my plea and simply returned to her seat.

“Hello?”

Jinhyang sat back down on the sofa and pulled out a book.

She didn’t even care about me anymore.

“Jinhyang?”

“Can you be quiet? I’m trying to read.”

“Yes…”

So cold.

I had no choice but to stay trapped in Raxy Bora’s arms.

The only thing I could move were my feet, which I wiggled up and down.

“Such a nuisance.”

Even that got stopped when Jinhyang grabbed my feet to stop me from moving.


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Null
Null
3 months ago

This is so adorable lol

ChouchPotato
ChouchPotato
3 months ago

Tftc!

Pe551
Pe551
1 month ago

MC now smell good