City ​​of Witches 165

Chapter 165 – #35_Friendship(4)

#163

1.
It was as if time had stopped for a moment, and only her face was visible.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed, like when she had just come out of the shower, and her eyes wandered aimlessly, not knowing where to look.
Now I understand.
Sharon was just as awkward and embarrassed as Siwoo was right now.

“Can I ask you one more thing? It’s nothing big.”
“What is it?”

[Happy Halloween! I prepared a witch costume for you!]
[Oh, fudge!]

By the way, the actor in that movie has been having sex for almost five minutes.
They’re showing how the two of them had a good time together for a year through various special and comical events.
It’s just that it’s happening at this timing, so it’s driving me crazy.
Sharon swallowed hard and opened her mouth.

“In movies… they often naturally transition from kissing to sex, like in that movie.”
“That’s right.”

It’s almost a given that there’s a scene where a couple, heated up after a kiss, get intimate.
But Sharon’s words stopped there.
Siwoo, wondering if she hadn’t heard his answer properly, replied again.

“That’s right?”

After hesitating for a while, Sharon spoke hesitantly.

“But I feel like it might be rude to ask about this.”
“If we’re close, isn’t it okay?”
“Is that so?”
“Well… maybe?”

Still, he could roughly guess what she was going to ask, and he could answer that much without difficulty.

“Um… then, you’ve done it too, right? That.”

On the screen, Sharon’s slender finger pointed to a scene where a man was forcefully ejaculating inside his girlfriend.

“Yeah.”
“I see. You suddenly seem so grown-up.”

Sharon smiled knowingly, then laughed awkwardly.
Siwoo responded with a similarly ambiguous smile.

“Then, like with kissing, do you naturally feel the timing to move on to the next step?”

Somehow, he felt a strong sense of déjà vu.
It was just like when he was giving sex education to his twins, or was that just his imagination?
As soon as he became aware of that, his eyes were drawn to her cleavage as if being sucked into a black hole.
Her upper chest, which seemed more than enough to generously cover Siwoo’s member, reflected the dim light and had a subtle sheen.

“Uh… um… yeah.”

At that moment, Sharon’s eyes briefly followed Siwoo’s gaze down to her chest and then back up.
It was definitely just a fleeting moment, but she had been caught staring at her chest.
As he was wondering if he should apologize, Sharon casually returned her upper body, which had been leaning towards Siwoo, to its original position, without showing any sign of being bothered.

“I see…”

And so, not a single word was exchanged between the two of them for the rest of the movie.

2.
“Hmm…”

At a time when a normal person living a normal life would be asleep.
Sharon was sitting on the bed, tilting her body as she was deep in thought.

She hadn’t been awake from the beginning to ponder over various things.
Her main purpose was to replenish the magic in her empty brand after treating Siwoo after the battle with Della today.

Usually, the magic stored inside a witch’s brand is highly concentrated.
This highly concentrated magic has the property of attracting surrounding magic.
Using this property to draw in external magic into the brand and refine it for easy use is the ‘self-magnetization’ process.

Now that the brand was completely empty, the power to attract magic had weakened.
It would take about two weeks to fill it all up, if she took it easy.
Magic was essential for hunting homunculi, which was her biggest source of income, and since she had no means to replenish her magic, such as magic stones, Sharon’s situation was not good at all.
She was about to waste two weeks just sitting there blankly.

“Sigh… what should I do…”

Sharon sighed, making the mattress sink, as she thought that far.
It was all because of Della.
Even if she recovered her magic to some extent and went back to hunting homunculi, the area she had been hunting in had been taken over by Della.
Given that nasty woman’s temper, she would definitely hold onto the hunting grounds even if she didn’t need them, and would threaten Sharon every time she trespassed.

Moreover, not only had she tormented Sharon, but she had also made Siwoo look like that.
Just thinking about it made her fists tremble.
The most frustrating thing was her own helplessness, that even though she was so angry, she couldn’t go find her right away and say anything.

“Should I leave…”

Seoul was where Sharon had first settled down after wandering aimlessly when she first came to the modern world.
She didn’t know if she had grown attached to it, but there was no place where she was as used to living as here.
It would also take a lot of effort to find a new place, secure hunting grounds, and find a place to live.
During that time, her dues would be piling up, and the interest would snowball, and it might even become more than the amount Sharon had paid off so far.

And wouldn’t she have to live apart from Siwoo?
She didn’t have the nerve to ask him, who had already settled down well, to leave with her because of her debt.
But she was also reluctant to tell him everything, as it might seem like an implicit signal to ask him to pay off her debt instead.
Thinking about it made her feel a little lonely.

“I have no choice…”

First, she would have to somehow separate from Siwoo and hunt secretly.
If she got caught by Della…
It was frustrating, but.
It was really frustrating, but she would have no choice but to beg for mercy or accept the suspicious part-time job she had offered.

“Haa…”

Another deep sigh.
The spacious room felt too suffocating, so Sharon opened the door and went out.
And for some reason, she slipped into Siwoo’s room, which was right across from hers.

Strangely, whenever she did something with Siwoo, she could forget her troubles for a while.
Whether it was an aura around him or not, she could forget the complicated reality and be at ease.
So much so that she had neglected to prepare for this quarter’s payment while lazing around.

“Koo…”

He was sleeping peacefully.
The chair that Sharon had placed when she was nursing him was still there, so she carefully sat down on it, being careful not to wake him.
Siwoo’s chest rose and fell evenly, and she could hear his soft breathing.

“It’s a little better.”

Today had been a day of many thoughts.

She had been filled with guilt when she saw Siwoo collapsed after being messed up by Della.
Yet, she had cried with gratitude when she saw Siwoo lying for her.
When she thought of him while showering, she felt her heart pounding.
It was a strange, extremely heightened beat that was beyond words.

The strange pounding hadn’t stopped even when Sharon came back from work.
It had been beating a little faster than usual when he had thanked her, and it had been beating fast even when they were facing each other to eat.
Everything that had been familiar felt different, as if a camera filter had been changed.

For example…
She had known that Siwoo occasionally looked at her chest, but she hadn’t paid much attention to it.
It wasn’t like it would wear out just by looking, and it wasn’t a lecherous gaze either.
But today, she had felt embarrassed.
Wasn’t that why she had even worn a bra, which she usually disliked because it was uncomfortable?

“Come to think of it…”

Sharon recalled what Siwoo had said when she had asked him how kissing happened while watching the movie today.

‘My heart beats.’

Sharon silently placed her hand between her breasts.
Her heart was beating, thump-thump.
The beat that sent blood throughout her body was beating a little faster than usual.
And it was only because she had entered Siwoo’s room.

“It’s beating…”

Sharon looked down at Siwoo’s sleeping face.
Then, Siwoo had said this.

‘Then it just looks like your lips are magnified, or something? You feel like you want to kiss first, and then you just try it.’

Sharon’s gaze drifted to Siwoo’s lips.
He had a handsome face overall, but today, his slightly parted lips seemed particularly clear.

Little by little.
Her heart was beating faster.
Then, was she also feeling like she wanted to kiss him?

“…What would it feel like?”

She was already familiar with it from movies.
A touching or calm background music would play, and the female lead would stand on tiptoe, and the male lead would hold her waist.

The lighting would suddenly become stronger between the two people’s faces, which were close together, and the camera would move around.
Their lips would overlap at an angle, and then their tongues would twist like pretzels, going into each other’s mouths.
Sometimes they would suck on the upper or lower lip.

“……..”

Sharon unconsciously touched her own lips.
They were soft and squishy.
She moved her hand and touched the tip of her finger to Siwoo’s slightly parted lips.
They were a little thicker, but they were just as soft and plump.
It was hard to think of them as body parts.

Just once.
What if she just touched them very lightly?
Sharon leaned her upper body slightly.
Her heart was beating fast and loud with every moment their lips got closer.
With a trembling heart, Sharon, who was trying to kiss him secretly, stopped abruptly, leaving about 1cm of distance.

His breath lightly touched her lips, which had stopped.
Sharon felt her breath become rough as her heart pounded, making her head spin.
She hurriedly got up from her seat and left Siwoo’s room.

“Ugh, I feel even more confused for no reason.”

She had come to forget her real-world problems, but instead, she was confused by a strange impulse.
A secret kiss.
Kissing was an important act between a man and a woman.
It was a cowardly foul to do it unilaterally and secretly without his permission.
Had she watched too many romance movies and gone crazy?

“Good thoughts, good thoughts.”

She sat down roughly on the sofa where she had been watching the movie with him earlier.
Sharon calmed herself down and deliberately turned her thoughts in another direction.
Yes, this thought was good.

“Hmm… what should I do?”

Siwoo had worked hard for Sharon in many ways.
On the other hand, Sharon hadn’t even given Siwoo a proper reward.
Just the crab and the treatment.

She knew that Siwoo could order hundreds of crabs if he wanted to.
Sharon’s magic could only heal wounds on the body.
Wounds in the heart could not be healed by any magic.
She wanted to help him in any way she could, for the sake of him who had overdone it for her.

Therefore, she accessed the Akashic Record that existed in the modern world, Google, which contained the secrets of all things.

“Friend… how to… comfort…”

She searched with clumsy typing, and a list of results popped up.
Indeed, the science of the modern world was great.
Most things could be solved with just this one thing.

“Rather than trying to find special words, comfort them sincerely… consider the other person’s feelings before comforting them… check on and support the other person, and give them justification for the situation…”

She wasn’t an idiot, she knew that much.
The reason why it was difficult for Sharon to comfort Siwoo openly was because she had to comfort him without it being obvious.
If she wasn’t careful, she could cause secondary damage to his pride.

“How to comfort a boyfriend?”

While browsing the Akashic Record, which was only good in name, she belatedly discovered a related search term.
In Korea, a boyfriend meant a male lover, not literally a male friend.
Siwoo and Sharon were neither lovers nor anything else.
But since Siwoo was also a man, wouldn’t it be helpful to some extent?

“Let’s just take a look.”

Petting their head.
Hugging them.
Kissing them.
Acting cute.

As expected, they were things that were difficult to do unless you were lovers.
They might not be helpful right away, but they might be helpful someday.
She had already hugged him earlier today…

“Huh?”

At that moment, Sharon found a post on a question and consultation community.

The title was ‘My boyfriend is too depressed’.
To summarize the content, her boyfriend, who had failed the employment exam several times, was very upset, but he didn’t show it to the writer and forced himself to smile, so she couldn’t comfort him rashly for fear of hurting his pride.

It was exactly like the situation Sharon and Siwoo were in.

“This is it!”

Sharon shouted ‘Eureka’ in her mind and quickly looked at the replies.

[Let him touch your breasts. It’s a direct hit]

At the same time, she felt a fizzle of disappointment from her expectations.
Breasts, what breasts.

“Isn’t that stupid? If that worked, there wouldn’t be any men in the world who were worried.”

Well, it was called the Akashic Record, but the information found on the internet was often useful, but there was also a lot of useless and trashy information.
Sharon’s eyes widened as she scrolled down carelessly.

[Breasts are the best. When my boyfriend failed his college entrance exam, I said, ‘Should I let you touch my breasts?’ and he was so happy he could die]

Below that, there was another similar piece of advice.
Sharon read the various replies with a shocked look.

Just looking at breasts makes you feel better.
I tried it after seeing it on the internet, and it worked well.
It’s good to show them or let them touch them when you’re angry.
A woman’s breasts psychologically and biologically calm men.
And so on, countless praises for breasts followed.

The final finale was the writer’s reply.

[Thank you^^ I did as you all advised, and my boyfriend was very happy. I’m glad he seems to have cheered up. I’m going to support him for another year]

“Really? It works with just this?”

Sharon turned off her phone screen, dumbfounded.
Come to think of it, Siwoo had also been glancing at Sharon’s chest.
Would it really be comforting if she let him look at them or touch them openly?

Men were too difficult.