Chapter 135 – #29_Finishing Up (5)
#133
1.
Time passed in the blink of an eye.
Siwoo quietly finished his preparations to leave Gehenna.
In truth, there wasn’t much for him to do.
He had no luggage to pack, and the only person he really needed to say goodbye to was Takasho.
Amelia was a given, and whether Count Geminai was strictly managing the twins or not, Odile and Odette couldn’t even show their faces.
“Odette must be very disappointed.”
At least Odile had made good memories with their night walks, but Odette’s timing was off, and they couldn’t even say goodbye to each other.
Considering they thought of each other as somewhat close, it was a bit of a shame.
He hoped they wouldn’t fight over this.
He was a little worried.
Anyway, with the situation like this, his daily routine couldn’t be very eventful.
At best, he would drink alone until it was time for Takasho to finish work, then he would saunter over to the academy to chat.
Days of stopping by Taro Town for a beer or some simple snacks.
For Siwoo, who was already branded and had become a spirit, food and sleep were secondary issues, but perhaps because of his habits from when he was alive, he still ate three meals a day and slept on schedule.
But was it because he spent all his waking hours drunk?
Every moment felt like it was happening in a daze.
The return to the living world that he had so longed for was approaching, but he felt nothing.
No excitement, no anticipation, just a feeling of numbness, as if his sense of reality had been paralyzed.
“Two days left.”
As he drifted through time, only two days remained until the date Count Geminai was supposed to return.
He was on his way back from the market in Taro Town, listlessly carrying a ham tied with a string in one hand.
“….Excuse me?”
At first, the voice was so small and timid that he wasn’t even sure if it was directed at him.
Siwoo continued walking until a hand poked him on the back, making him turn around.
There stood a woman he had never seen before.
Her hair was tied up in a messy bun, and she wore a comfortable-looking dress.
Over it, she had a brown cardigan.
With her large breasts, childbearing hips, gentle eyes, and big, round pupils, there was no denying that she was a great beauty.
“Are you talking to me?”
Siwoo pointed at himself with a puzzled look.
The woman stared at Siwoo’s face for a long time before smiling happily.
“You’re Shin Siwoo… right? Is your recovery complete?”
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, there was a witch who had healed Siwoo’s body, which had been in a near-ruined state.
According to Takasho, she was probably Korean.
The woman who was talking to him on the street, asking if his recovery was complete, was also East Asian, although her skin was completely white.
If that was the case…
“Are you perhaps the witch Smirna?”
“Yes, yes! That’s me.”
“Hello, I’ve heard a lot about you. I heard you went through a lot because of me, so thank you.”
“Oh, no! It wasn’t hard at all… I didn’t even fulfill my duty as a doctor…”
“It’s not true.”
All Smirna could do was turn Siwoo, who was practically a half-corpse, into a mindless magic machine.
After that, Siwoo blocked all healing attempts, so she couldn’t do anything.
Still, it was a new experience to see a patient she had once been in charge of walking around so healthy.
“……..”
“……..”
For Yebin, Siwoo was not only someone she had watched over for nearly 100 days, but also the first patient she had ever properly treated, and her first experience with intimacy, but Siwoo had no memory of that time.
He only knew that she had worked to save his life, and she was a complete stranger to him.
This ambiguous emotional gap summoned silence between the two.
“Um, well… it’s a connection, so would you like to come to my place for a cup of tea?”
“Ah… sure?”
In the end, it was Yebin who broke the ice.
Siwoo also thought it wouldn’t be right to refuse Yebin’s offer, since she had worked day and night to heal him, so he accepted her offer despite the awkwardness.
“Then, this way….”
“Ah, okay.”
With a suffocating awkwardness, the two headed towards the square of Taro Town.
2.
Yebin Smirna received citizenship in Gehenna as compensation for healing Siwoo (although she didn’t succeed perfectly).
Not only that, but Count Geminai also allowed her to set up residence wherever she wanted, and Yebin chose Taro Town.
It was the most populous town in Gehenna.
After realizing her limitations after failing to heal Siwoo, Yebin devoted herself to magical research, and at the same time, she opened a free clinic to help many citizens with her abilities.
The place Yebin brought Siwoo was also a two-story stone building.
The first floor was used as a clinic, and the second floor was where Yebin lived.
“It’s a bit messy, isn’t it?”
Yebin, who had entered the building after closing the door, tidied up things, looking embarrassed.
Just by looking around, you could tell what the space was for.
The faint smell of various medicines, as well as the stinging smell of alcohol, probably for disinfection, filled the air.
“Are you running a clinic?”
“Yes, I noticed that Gehenna’s medical infrastructure is very lacking. I’m not very good, but I wanted to help others…”
As she said that, Yebin turned red, feeling like she was bragging, and changed the subject.
“I’ll get some tea ready soon. Please wait there for a moment.”
Yebin disappeared somewhere.
Siwoo was lost in a new kind of emotion.
A witch who opens a clinic for others… it was quite different from the image of witches he had had.
Yebin, who had brewed tea in simple teaware, sat down with some plain Japanese sweets.
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you, Siwoo. Ah, you probably already know, but I’m Yebin Smirna.”
“Yebin? Could it be…”
“Ah, that’s right. We’re from the same hometown.”
He had thought there was a strangely familiar feeling, and now he knew why.
“I’m Shin Siwoo. I wanted to meet you, but it turns out you’re doing a very good thing.”
“Oh, no, it’s nothing like that.”
Yebin kept patting her head, looking embarrassed.
He had only seen witches using their abilities solely for themselves, so her actions of helping others without receiving anything in return left quite a good impression.
“You’re also a wonderful person, Siwoo. You stood up against the authorities to save the life of a novice witch, which is something not just anyone can do.”
“Oh, no, it’s nothing.”
It was Siwoo’s turn to feel awkward.
If it had been someone else’s story, he would have thought, ‘That’s amazing,’ but since it was his own story, even now, he only thought that he had done what he had to do.
“What did you do outside?”
After a brief period of mutual praise, the conversation began in earnest with Yebin’s question.
Was it because he had been living a sluggish life like a beached octopus for a while?
Or was it because the witch in front of him had an atmosphere that made others feel comfortable?
Siwoo found the conversation enjoyable after a long time.
Moreover, the fact that they were both from Korea and had missed their hometowns added to the liveliness of the conversation.
After all, conversations start from a shared sense of empathy.
“Ah, I really want to eat chicken and beer… Eating chicken as a late-night snack during all-nighters was the best.”
“I think that’s why I’m going back to the living world too. But if you have citizenship, can’t you go outside anytime?”
“That’s true, but… I don’t have much combat ability compared to my rank. I’m also worried about getting caught up in something outside… And more than anything, the clinic hasn’t really settled down yet, so I think I need to manage it a bit more.”
And other such trivial things.
“Do you remember those things they sold at the stationery store in the neighborhood?”
“Ah, you mean those small, round paper tokens? The ones with characters drawn on them!”
“Yes, that’s right! Those ones.”
“Do you know about this too? The water rockets we made every Science Day.”
“Wow, I’ve never succeeded in making one. They always broke no matter how I made them, you know?”
All the way to reminiscing about the pure days of stationery stores.
As they enjoyed the tingling old memories and nostalgia, two or three hours had passed in a flash.
It was a pleasant conversation and a healing time that had been a long time coming, enough to relieve his pent-up feelings.
So much so that he felt sad to see the sun setting.
Yebin seemed to feel the same way, as she looked at Siwoo checking the time with a hint of regret.
In fact, Yebin’s situation was not much different from Siwoo’s.
She had no choice but to leave Korea and had not been able to return home for a long time.
She seemed to feel a strange sense of kinship in that regard.
“I’ve kept you for too long. It was a pleasant conversation.”
“Yeah, it feels like we’ve had all the conversations we couldn’t have had before. It was really enjoyable.”
It felt like a trial run of returning to Korea.
Yebin smiled at the happy Siwoo and bent down to clear the table.
Even though he was a guest, Siwoo felt bad just sitting there, so he quickly helped.
“You could have just sat there.”
“Oh, come on, I have to have some conscience. How can I just eat and leave?”
“Then, there’s a utility room over there, so you can put them there.”
“Ah, I’ll do it.”
Perhaps because of their suddenly close proximity, a pleasant fragrance wafted from her.
It was a slightly sweet, powdery scent. It also smelled like milk…
It didn’t seem like she was wearing any perfume, but the sweet scent was seductively brushing against his nose.
“What’s wrong?”
He had an erection.
It was a full-blown erection, as if he had taken some kind of aphrodisiac.
What the hell is going on all of a sudden?
Siwoo quickly crossed his legs, suppressing the thing that was trying to break through his pants, and forced a smile.
“Ah, it’s nothing. Where should I put this?”
Siwoo’s pants were comfortable cotton pants, close to slacks.
Moreover, the angle of his erection was not good at all.
As a result of not being properly tucked up, Siwoo’s thing, with its blood rushing to it, was lifting his pants so much that the word “tent” was a perfect description.
The moment he left this table, Yebin would see this mess.
But he couldn’t send her away when he was the one who had offered to clean up first.
Well, an erection was a natural phenomenon, and it was a physiological phenomenon that could happen even when you weren’t thinking about anything, but there was no point in leaving any unnecessary suspicion.
As Siwoo was pondering a solution, he saw an escape route.
He naturally picked up the napkins that were under the table.
“I’ll clean up the napkins while I’m at it.”
“I’d appreciate that. I’ve been thinking since we started talking that you’re a very meticulous person.”
“I am a bit like that.”
Yebin didn’t seem to feel any discomfort, so now all he had to do was put the napkin under the plate to cover his thing and go.
Siwoo went to the utility room to put the dishes down without showing any sign.
“….Whew.”
Yebin glanced at the kitchen where Siwoo had disappeared and took a breath she had been holding in.
It must be, right?
It probably is, right?
In fact, she had hesitated whether to talk to Siwoo when she saw him by chance.
First of all, she was bothered by the fact that she had had sex with him without his permission, even if it was for treatment, and it was quite embarrassing.
Still, he was the first patient Yebin had treated, and she had wanted to talk to him, so she invited him to her house.
After carefully talking to him, it seemed that he had no memory of their secret relationship.
Then what was that?
The bulge in his pants.
The thing that was covered by the napkin he had picked up was probably… a big thing.
Could it be that he remembered everything but was pretending not to?
“No.”
She didn’t think he was that kind of shady person.
However, she remembered the time she had stayed at the Marigold Baron’s mansion and treated him.
The time she had been panting on top of him naked, and the time Siwoo had grabbed her hair and roughly violated her from behind.
The memories that made Yebin curl up on the bed every night.
At the time, she had thought it was unavoidable because of work and had vowed to forget everything…
But now that she was facing him, who was so healthy, her thoughts kept drifting in a lewd direction.
Moreover, his smiling face every time he spoke, the way he adjusted his sleeves, the way his Adam’s apple moved boldly every time he drank tea, and finally, even through his clothes, his impressive thing.
Every time she thought of his masculine figure, she was filled with lust.
“Ugh…. I’m going crazy.”
Yebin patted her burning face.
She knew she was a bit of a pervert, but she had never felt this way in front of a real person.
And then Siwoo came back.
“Thank you for the nice tea. I think I should head back now.”
The place Yebin had been watching was between Siwoo’s legs.
The area between his legs, which had been sticking out, was now sunken.
That meant that what she had seen earlier was not a mistake.
What should she do?
Should she just let him go like this?
As she was pondering, Yebin’s eyes quickly caught the ham he had placed on the table.
Yebin pointed at the ham with her hand and said.
“That would be good as a snack with alcohol, don’t you think?”
“Huh?”
