Translator: Nox

Chapter 69

“You didn’t dislike it?”

The voice that drifted out with the cigarette smoke was as acrid and low as the haze itself.

“You didn’t dislike it?”

Was he testing her?

Oscar turned toward Seo-ah. The smile that usually sat on his face like a habit had vanished completely; he looked like a god who presided over the underworld. Shrouded in the pale grey smoke, he was staring at her with eyes that seemed to be passing judgment on a sinner.

“Is that so?”

“…….”

Watching her as if delivering a sentence, Oscar brought the cigarette held between his long fingers to his lips. After taking a deep drag, he flicked the white ash into an ashtray and threw out a comment.

“I find that hard to believe.”

Having tossed out words embedded with suspicion and distrust, he seemed to sink back into a deep silence. The darkness of the windowless reception room felt as though it were radiating outward from him.

After exhaling a few more plumes of smoke, he reached a conclusion. He spoke to Seo-ah, who was standing there like a stray weed, lost and unsure of what to do.

“Then.”

“…….”

“That thing you didn’t dislike.”

The man, who looked as if he were sculpted from the shadows, whispered within the crimson-tinged gloom.

“Do it.”

He shook the woman even harder—the woman who had dared to try and shake him.

“That’s the only way I’ll believe you, isn’t it?”

The acrid darkness emanating from the master of the manor seeped into the stranger.

Seo-ah felt as if she were standing in the middle of a foggy forest where she couldn't see an inch ahead, let alone find her bearings. If she tried to go back, a white darkness blocked her path, and if she tried to move to the side, she had no sense of where it led. In this vast, daunting darkness, the only visible light was the small ember producing the acrid smoke and black ash.

The single point of light glowing in the dark was like a will-o’-the-wisp.

The fox-fires that were said to appear in graveyards were one of the ghost stories that had kept her awake as a child.

「Teacher, do you know about will-o’-the-wisps? Did they have things like that where you lived? They say those fires bewitch people and eat them. You must never follow them.」

Her teacher had only shrugged, as she usually did. On nights when that story came to mind, Seo-ah would toss and turn, unable to sleep, before eventually seeking out her cold mentor’s room. Her teacher was like a personification of iron, yet she never turned away the girl who came to her in the middle of the night.

The girl who had once earnestly warned her teacher never to follow a will-o’-the-wisp was now forced to take a step toward a flame she knew was more dangerous than any ghost light.

The space between them felt packed with something invisible. With every step she took, she met a resistance as fierce as pushing through a storm. But that was not a reason to stop.

One step, then another.

The closer she got, the more the very flow of the air surrounding them seemed to freeze. The smoke that had been drifting from Oscar’s lips stopped the moment she moved.

One step, and one more.

Her footsteps, though hesitant and lingering, did not stop or retreat until she was barely two paces away from him.

When she finally came to a halt before him, Seo-ah caught her breath, feeling as though the man standing there was about to spill over her.

His voice shook her heart once again.

That thing you didn’t dislike, do it again.

The things she didn’t dislike.

She was forced to summon the memories she had pushed aside, trying not to think of them.

The first thing that came to mind was the cold air against her skin. Goosebumps had risen, but only for a fleeting moment; soon after, the sensation of his firm, hot body had surged over her like a tidal wave.

Everything had been a first. There wasn't a single thing that happened last night that hadn't been a new experience.

If all of that is to be something I didn't dislike—if I have to prove that to you.

Then what on earth am I supposed to do, and how?

To make it so I didn't dislike those things, I...

I...

The pain that had stirred her insides so intensely she forgot her own shame; the hot, damp sensation of him persistently touching the tips of her breasts, which she had never even touched consciously herself; those things that were so secret and so private...

Suddenly, a scene from a night walk with her teacher flashed through her mind.

It was perhaps a year before her coming-of-age ceremony. It was around the time when marriage prospects were being decided one after another for her cousins of similar age. Her grandfather, whose health was poor back then, would sometimes come to see her, staring at her silently before leaving. She simply knew that he felt deeply sorry about her own marriage, which could never be realized.

To feel sorry for her—there was no reason for that. Wasn't it only natural? Seo-ah was only concerned for his health.

The only moment she had ever spared a thought for the idea of marriage was the day she saw a pair of lovers standing under a willow tree in the moonlight.

Under the willow bathed in the thin light of the moon, the faces of the two people gazing at each other held smiles that made her heart flutter just by looking at them. Standing there, the two had drawn closer with extreme care.

Like a fragile willow branch draped in moonlight. As if afraid they might cause a wound, or that the other might pull away. They had leaned toward each other so very gently and then stopped.

She remembered thinking that having no marriage meant such a scene would never exist in her own life.

And in this moment, the reason those two people—who had looked as if they cherished one another beyond measure—came to mind was because they were the only example of lovers she had ever witnessed.

She felt an unbearable self-loathing for trying to use someone else's precious moment like this, but she could think of nothing else. For her, who had to do something, there was no other alternative.

Like those lovers swaying under the willow branches that hung like an awning that day...

Seo-ah stepped toward Oscar with agonizing care.

With one step, the tips of her feet met his polished black shoes. With the next, the boundaries of another person completely collapsed. The acrid smoke seeped into her shallow, trembling breath first, followed by the scent of damp wood that felt warm against her nose.

She could feel a shimmering warmth radiating from his body, like the chill that hovers over ice. At such a terrifyingly close distance, she didn't dare look up at him.

She had only one wish.

Seo-ah closed her eyes and prayed in her heart.

Please, just...

As if afraid she might get hurt, as if fearing he might pull away—like a slender willow branch swaying in a thin breeze.

Seo-ah’s cheek came to rest over Oscar’s heart.

The world narrowed once again. In this small world, even time stopped its march.

“…….”

“…….”

The frantic thumping of a heart in her ear was likely her own.

Thump, thump, thump.

What if he hears it...

That foolish thought didn't last long.

“Ha.”

A hot breath seemed to ruffle her hair. Perhaps because all her senses were heightened and focused on him, Seo-ah reflexively looked up at Oscar.

He was staring at the ceiling.

She could see a blue vein pulsing in his tilted neck. It looked as if he were holding something back.

Without warning, Oscar’s head dropped. Before she could even think to look away, her eyes met his blue ones, his expression set in a hardened, angry mask.

“……!”

It felt as if a freezing, white gale had swept through her from head to toe in an instant.

If one were to face the master of a temple after trespassing without knowing one's place, would it feel like this?

His deep blue gaze seemed to be filled with contempt, disillusionment, and mockery.

Cold sweat broke out where the icy wind had clawed at her. Seo-ah quickly tried to take a step back from him. Or rather, she intended to.

“Ah!”

Oscar grabbed her wrist ruthlessly as she tried to retreat. Beyond his gaze, a blue flame that felt biting cold was flickering, and Seo-ah hastily lowered her eyes.

The man’s gaze remained fixed on the woman’s downcast face with obsessive intensity.

He glared at her as if to pierce her through before finally putting the cigarette back to his lips. The cigarette held between his long, straight fingers glowed red, producing more smoke.

Oscar realized for the first time in a while that he couldn't taste the tobacco. He couldn't feel the acridity of the smoke swirling in his lungs, nor the sharp tang at the tip of his nose. He felt nothing.

Finally, Oscar slowly rubbed his eyes with the hand holding the cigarette. He stayed like that, his eyes covered.

“…….”

He could feel the damnably slender hand in his grip, trembling uncontrollably.