BXBX NOVEL Chapter 55 - Suspicious people
"Hye-Rim, I\'m done. You should wash up to---"
"......!"
She made eye contact with Hye-Rim, who was just getting dressed.
Hye-Rim quickly covered her breasts and stomach with her hands. Yoo Seo-Eun didn\'t understand why girls should care about showing their nakedness to each other, but she was embarrassed to admit that she blushed at the sight of Hye-Rim\'s half-naked body.
Her skin was so white, and her flesh was so smooth. Her breasts were so large that one arm could barely cover them.
Even from the perspective of a woman, Hye-Rim\'s body was beautiful.
While Yoo Seo-Eun was mesmerized by the sight, Hye-Rim asked in a trembling voice.
"...Did you see?"
"Uh, what?"
Yoo Seo-Eun wondered what she was asking. Did she see her breasts?
Unfortunately... I mean, fortunately, Hye-Rim quickly covered herself, so she didn\'t get a good look.
"Don\'t worry. I didn\'t really see anything. Are you embarrassed to show your breasts like that?"
"......Breasts?"
Hye-Rim hesitated for a moment, then spoke again.
"Yeah. I\'m embarrassed, so can you please close the door quickly?"
"Oh, okay!"
Yoo Seo-Eun blushed and quickly closed the door as Hye-Rim begged her to do so.
"......"
After closing the door, Yoo Seo-Eun couldn\'t get Hye-Rim\'s image out of her head. It wasn\'t her body that surprised her, but her reaction.
Hye-Rim always acted tough, so Yoo Seo-Eun thought she wouldn\'t have any shame, but it was surprising to see her red up to her ears and covering herself.
"That\'s kind of cute."
Yoo Seo-Eun didn\'t think she\'d be able to get this out of her head for a while.
"Phew."
Only after Yoo Seo-Eun closed the door and walked out did I relax in relief. Judging by her reaction, she probably didn\'t get a good look at my body.
I covered my chest and stomach out of reflex, but I wonder if I overreacted. If we live together, it\'s natural that she\'ll see my body from time to time.
Still, it\'s better to cover up as much as possible.
"That\'s a relief."
I breathed a sigh of relief. It was really no big deal, but I didn\'t want anyone to see my stomach.
It\'s a sign of my weakness; I didn\'t want to see it either.
I gathered my clothes and left the room. I made eye contact with Yoo Seo-Eun, and she smiled awkwardly.
"Hye-Rim, I didn\'t expect you to be so shy. I\'ll be careful in the future."
"...No, it\'s okay; don\'t worry about it."
Scratching my cheek, I quickly walked into the shower.
After finishing my shower, I immediately put the snow crab in the steamer and started cooking it. Snow crab only needs to be steamed to eat, so now all I had to do was wait.
After 20 minutes, I took out the snow crab, cleaned it, and placed it on a plate. My mouth watered just looking at it, but first, I took a picture.
"I\'ll text Ha-Yeon to say thank you."
"Tell her thank you for me, too."
"Okay."
I switched the photo to selfie mode so that Yoo Seo-Eun and I were together with the snow crab. I texted her to say thank you and that we\'d enjoy our meal.
I was about to open one of the snow crab legs when I received a reply from Jung Ha-Yeon.
[I\'m glad you two enjoyed it. It was worth sending it to you.]
......Has it even been three seconds since I sent that text? You\'re checking and replying this quickly?
I didn\'t know modern people were so fast on their cell phones.
[Oh, by the way, Hye-Rim, do you mind if I bring Yoon-Seo to visit you tomorrow? Since tomorrow is Friday, I think it would be easier on you.]
As if she just remembered, she brought up the house-warming she mentioned earlier.
Tomorrow, huh? As Jung Ha-Yeon said, it\'s Friday, and it\'s easier to see her in the evening, so I think it\'s okay.
[Yeah, sure. Then come with Yoon-Seo tomorrow; we\'ll prepare the dinner.]
[...Okay, I\'ll see you tomorrow then.]
I ended the text with Jung Ha-Yeon and informed Yoo Seo-Eun.
"Ha-Yeon and her friend are coming over tomorrow. Do you mind preparing dinner for the occasion?"
"Of course not! It\'s about time I showed them my cooking skills."
Yoo Seo-Eun smiled smugly, asking to be left alone.
"Oh, by the way, if that Ha-Yeon is coming...... I\'ll have to make my own preparations."
"What kind of preparations?"
"No, well....don\'t worry about it. If I had to say, should I say that I\'m practicing not to say anything petty as much as possible?"
What are you even talking about?
"...\'We\' will prepare dinner, she said."
Jung Ha-Yeon received Hye-Rim\'s text and thought for a while. Hye-Rim already thought of Seo-Eun as one of her own and was saying, \'we.\'
It was natural and not a big deal, but it bothered her.
Looking at the pictures Hye-Rim sent of them together, living in the same house, and getting along very well, it was great, but Ha-Yeon kept thinking...
What if she was also there?
If only she were there.
"Ha-Yeon, you look scary..."
As Ha-Yeon was thinking to herself, Yoon-Seo put her hand on her shoulder. They were walking together in a nearby park after Yoon-Seo had been discharged from the hospital.
It was the first day she had been able to move freely since her rescue. They came to the park because Yoon-Seo wanted to walk.
"You\'re texting with Ms. Hye-Rim again, aren\'t you?"
"...Yeah. I told her I\'d come see her tomorrow."
"That\'s good. I also wanted to meet Ms. Hye-Rim in person as soon as possible, but... Ha-Yeon, can I ask you something?"
"What?"
"About the gift you sent to Ms. Hye-Rim, did you really get it?"
"......"
"You didn\'t want to find out Ms. Hye-Rim\'s address while sending her a gift, did you?"
Ha-Yeon couldn\'t answer Yoon-Seo\'s question right away because it was true.
"And you didn\'t book a room next door to Ms. Hye-Rim while you were looking for her address, did you?"
"......"
That was true, too. Just to be sure, she checked, and Ms. Hye-Rim\'s next-door neighbor was indeed vacant.
It was also time for her to move, and luckily, Ms. Hye-Rim\'s neighbor had a vacancy, so she impulsively signed a contract.
As Ha-Yeon remained silent, Yoon-Seo realized what she was thinking and sighed.
"Ha-Yeon, you\'ve always been the kind of girl who\'ll see something through once you\'ve set your mind to it."
"...That\'s not a bad thing."
"It is, but you\'re also stubborn in a weird way."
Well, it\'s better this way than being stubborn in some other way.
Yoon-Seo continued.
"Think about it. Someone like Ms. Hye-Rim is naturally popular, and from what I\'ve heard, Seo-Eun seems to like her, but there must be other people who like her too, like... Alice, for example. Doesn\'t she also like Ms. Hye-Rim?"
"...Of course not."
"I think she does. You said Ms. Hye-Rim tutored Alice, and afterward, they met up and hung out separately."
"Maybe they just became best friends."
"Do you really think so?"
"......"
Ha-Yeon\'s steps stopped. She also got a strange feeling from the way Alice looked at Hye-Rim.
"From what I\'ve seen, the competition for Ms. Hye-Rim is really tough, and I don\'t think you can do it without determination."
"How many times have I told you that I\'m not..."
"Okay, so you don\'t really have a crush on Hye-Rim? You keep saying that, so I don\'t know what else to say, but... just know this. I\'m certain that there\'s someone in the Awakened Crime Division who likes Hye-Rim as well."
Ha-Yeon\'s reflex was to say, \'There\'s no way.\' but she decided not to say anything more. Because honestly, she thought so too.
There were probably many people who liked someone like Ms. Hye-Rim. It was a little uncomfortable, but she guessed it couldn\'t be helped.
"Well, that\'s it. It\'s not good to worry too much about other people\'s business. I\'ll start preparing for my return as a Hero next week, and you can help me with that."
"Of course. You\'ve already been a Hero before, so the process should go smoothly."
As they left, Yoon-Seo and Ha-Yeon laughed while talking about Heroes. It wouldn\'t be long before Yoon-Seo would be able to return.
While eating snow crab and watching YouTube, a unique YouTube live broadcast caught my eye.
"What is this?"
"What?"
"It\'s a live stream from a real beastman. She\'s cosplaying as Zero-Two?"
"...... What are you talking about?"
It was a livestream by a cat beastman. A person with cat ears and a tail was cosplaying as Zero-Two in a sponsored stream.
Apparently, the ears and tail are real, not fake......
This beastman---I think I\'ve seen her a lot somewhere. Yes, she was among the victims of the Monster Association\'s experiments not long ago.
They said it was time for them to be discharged, but as soon as the girl was discharged, she started broadcasting on the Internet.
[Ah! Mr. \'I love cat-ears\'! Thanks for the million won donation!]
And she was getting donations in real time from people who suspiciously had a lot of money.
It\'s kind of weird to see someone who would\'ve been dead or an actual monster from the original manga doing this.