Narae seemed to believe me, because she released my collar. Phew, I thought I was going to die. This was all Saehee’s fault. I was about to give Saehee a piece of my mind for giving such a distorted version of the truth, but Narae must have been more bothered by her than me.
“Saehee, don’t word things like that again. Did you really think you could goad me into doing something like that?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea what you are talking about, Narae-nim. Unless you speak plainly and clearly about what and how you would be doing whatever it is you are referring to, I cannot understand you.”
Narae ground her teeth in frustration. I was so scared that I was nearly quivering.
“You know what I’m saying.”
“To quote a certain cat, ‘I don’ know everything. I only know what I know.'” (tn: Reference to Hanekawa Tsubasa from Bakaemonogatari.)
…So cats can talk now? I mean, Baduk can talk, so it’s not out of the question for a cat to talk.
“Though that was quite unexpected. I was already well aware that the Young Master was secretly overjoyed at this opportunity, and would feign refusal spouting a number of excuses…”
That was shocking. How did she know that? My bewilderment at Saehee revealing the truth hidden deep in the recesses of my mind kept me from stopping her.
And she continued speaking, saying,
“But I never imagined that Narae-nim would say she can’t do this. Even though this is merely acting, something not even recorded on camera. I had thought that you would do this willingly for the Master’s and the Young Master’s sakes, but I see that you are so selfish as to refuse even something so simple.”
Saehee just said something that must absolutely never be said to Narae. Absolutely never.
“…Did you just say I’m selfish?”
There it is.
“When did I say I wouldn’t do it?”
I could see magma roiling from within her chest and glowing like fiery embers in her eyes. That magma exploded, blowing apart any vestiges of rationality within Narae.
“I can do it! I can do something like that with one arm tied behind my back! Maybe not to someone else, but it’s just to Sunghoon, so what does that matter?! We’ve taken baths together totally naked when we were kids, and I even played with Sunghoon’s p-penis once!!”
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!”
I screamed.
Narae completely lost it. She’s gone off the deep end! Wait, but she still remembers that? That was back when we were first graders!! Saehee looked at me and sneered derisively as I was in a complete and utter panic. A completely obvious sneer. She played us. This was her plan all along! How the heck did she know all that?!
“See?! I can do something like that easily with Sunghoon!”
Now wasn’t the time to think about Saehee. Narae walked towards me, her face burning red.
“Wait, Narae! Calm down! You have to calm down!!”
“I’m calmer than ever!”
After saying something completely ridiculous, she hugged me tightly from behind. My mind flew off to high heaven after I felt that ineffable sensation pushing hard against my back.
No, stop! You can’t fly away; I need you! If I let myself enjoy that feeling on my back, Narae will kill me the instant she comes back to her senses! Actually, I would consider myself lucky in that scenario. She would tie me up and leave me hanging from a tree. When I was a kid, I once said to her, “Go die, you cow!” and she did just that. Not again! I’m seriously traumatized!
“Wait, Narae!”
I tried to move away from Narae’s chest, but, oh crap. During that brief pause while I was thinking, she had wrapped her arms around my chest, holding me to her. Because of her hold on me, I rocked backwards.
“At least don’t squeeze so tight.”
D-Dear Lord. What should I do? And God spoke to me. God said that I should just give up. But that would mean giving up my life as well. When God spoke to me again, He told me to empty myself of everything. So I decided to follow His instructions.
The body is emptiness, and emptiness is the body. In short, by emptying oneself of all that is within, that emptiness itself is indistinguishable from one’s body. With this emptiness, there is no birth nor death, no increasing nor decreasing, no foolishness nor perception, no defilement nor purity. And it is by overcoming these trials that one can achieve true enlightenment—yeah right!! (tn: a reference to the heart sutra)
“Understood, Narae-nim. You have accepted your role, and I pray you continue to help us in this endeavor. Even if only for the Master’s and the Young Master’s sakes.”
“You didn’t have to add that last bit!”
I-I can feel your breath on the back of my neck. Please be a little more careful.
“Then I shall take my leave now. I pray you you have an intimate time together.”
Saehee bowed respectfully to us, then opened the door and closed it, all the while walking backwards. Normally she just suddenly appears and disappears like a jump scare, but why didn’t she do that this time? And also, you coward! Take responsibility for the trouble you stirred up! You’re just going to run away?!
“Hmph!”
But with Saehee’s departure, Narae seemed to have relaxed a little.
“If I set my mind to it, I can do this much, no problem.”
“I-I think setting your mind on those things can wait until later.”
And I just added oil to the fire.
“Are you kidding? Aren’t you upset, after she said that to me?”
What I’m worried about is that your anger at Saehee will end up redirected at me.
“She called me selfish. What, did you think I wouldn’t get mad after she said that? You know that already.”
Yeah, the problem is that I know all too well. To someone else, this will just seem like some spat between kids. But for us, the ones directly involved in that incident, those memories are unforgettable. I especially won’t forget until the day I die. Because I started it. After that day, Narae, who used to be incredibly selfish, began being nice to others…anyway, that isn’t the issue right now. If things keep proceeding like this, I’ll end up attacking Narae like a wolf, and Narae will likely teach me physically that a wolf can never stand up to a bear. I need to calm Narae down first.
“I know you’re not like that, so there’s no need to be so upset.”
“…Tch.”
Narae leaned forward, resting her head on my shoulder.
“You only act cool in times like this.”
Thank goodness. I guess I said the right thing. Yeah. This is the time. If I don’t do this now, then I won’t be able to break free from this wonderful prison.
“Um, just one thing.”
“What?”
Narae looked up at me. She hadn’t realized. I was pretty sure she hadn’t realized what she had been doing to me. Though I was scared of what she would do, I worked up the courage to speak.
“C-Could you p-please let me go now?”
She didn’t speak. Seconds pass, and then,
“…Ah.”
She realized what she was doing. That she was hugging me from behind to keep me from running away, and that she had her head against my shoulder.
“D-Don’t get the wrong idea!! I-I didn’t do this because I wanted to!”
Panicking, Narae released her hands and took a step back. I took a step forward, and looked behind…
“Don’t look!”
Crack.
“Guaaaagh!”
I just heard a sound that a neck shouldn’t even be able to make!
“D-Don’t turn around! Get out! Now!”
Narae’s voice was several times louder than normal, and I was forced to leave without even a single protest.
“O-Okay.”
I didn’t hear Narae’s response. I closed the door behind me, when I heard something.
“Kyaaaah! What did I do?!”
Her scream was slighly muffled, as if she were screaming into a blanket.
…I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that. When someone’s been caught up in the moment and did something that makes her want to die from embarrassment, it’s best to just leave her alone. I was in her shoes once, after all. I leaned forward at the waist and walked to my room with large, lumbering steps.