Translator: Nox

How to Survive the Horror Novel I Wrote

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

There is a lyric in one of my favorite pop songs: Good boys go to heaven, but bad boys bring heaven to you.

I finally understood what that meant. Heaven existed on the tip of Ugeum’s tongue.

Every time his firm, searing tongue swept over delicate mucous membranes and probed tender flesh, intense pleasure washed my vision white. My toes curled at the dizzying sensation.

Something was collapsing. Whether it was the world or the floor beneath me… whatever had been supporting me was crumbling, and I felt as though I were tumbling into a paradise-like abyss.

“Ji-an-ah, I love you. I love you. I like you so much.”

Whispered sweetly in the fleeting spaces between our parting lips, his words welled like soothing moisture into the deep, hollow void inside me.

Stop it. Don’t love me.

Opposite my resisting reason, my emotions desperately demanded otherwise.

Keep going. Please love me.

More.

Because no one had ever loved me, because Ugeum was giving me the love I had never received from anyone, and because it felt so good, I hesitated.

While my divided heart waged a fierce battle within, unable to push him away or embrace him, I gripped the smooth fabric of his jacket and stepped backward.

I wanted to escape Ugeum, yet at the same time, I wanted to remain entangled like this. I couldn’t even tell what I truly wanted.

Just then, Ugeum growled in a raspy voice.

“Don’t run away.”

My vision spun, and my back hit the wall. Pinning me against it, Ugeum added roughly,

“Because I’m not letting you go.”

My heart pounded painfully hard. My chest fluttered so violently that I couldn’t tell whether it was terror or excitement.

“I… I…”

Nor did I know what to say.

“You said you loved me,” Ugeum pressed, his eyes burning fiercely.

With my life on the line, I reflexively complied.

“I love you.”

At that, the fierce glare in his eyes softened noticeably. Pressed flush against me, Ugeum pecked my cheek and whispered,

“Then tell me. What do you like about me?”

His hot breath tickled my cheek. I needed to answer, but my brain refused to work properly. It felt as though the heat from our touching bodies had melted my mind completely.

I struggled to gather my scattering thoughts.

“Y-Your face?”

But it wasn’t easy.

“Just my face? What about my body?”

His low, inquiring voice soaked sticky against my ear.

Don’t answer. It’s a trap, my crumbling reason whispered like a tiny mosquito.

Yet I had no other choice.

“I like it…”

“That’s a relief.”

A wicked smile crossed Ugeum’s face. The moment I realized I had been played, he swallowed my lips.

His serpentine tongue expertly slid between my lips. With lewd mastery, Ugeum tangled with my tongue, pulling and sucking on it. As if feeding on blood, he drew in my saliva, my breath, and even my groans. It felt as though my very soul were being siphoned away.

While I was lost in his suction, an insidious hand slowly crept up my ribcage. The moment his fingertips reached beneath my breast, my senses snapped back.

I hurriedly grabbed his hand. But Ugeum tilted the back of my hand and laced his fingers through mine.

Slipping between my five fingers, his were thick and solid, just like the man himself. The heat radiating from his palm and the sheer strength of his grip inexplicably drained all the strength from my body.

Pinning my hand against the wall, Ugeum began sucking on my neck like a vampire.

Each time his hot, wet tongue licked up my neck, and each time his hard teeth lightly grazed and nipped at the tender skin… an electric current like nothing I had ever felt in my life spread through my veins like a spider’s web. My nipples tightened into hard points, and wetness pooled between my legs.

“Haa, ah…”

Between damp breaths slipped a moan so wanton I could hardly believe it had come from my own mouth. Buried against my neck, Ugeum let out a ragged groan.

The next moment, Ugeum’s knee nudged my legs apart, sliding between them. The dull, heavy pressure stole my breath. My entire body felt as if it had transformed into a single beating heart, burning and trembling. Beneath the amber light, I could see the massive bulge in the front of Ugeum’s trousers.

I gasped. Sudden terror seized me. I had no experience. Fear swiftly overtook curiosity, suppressing my arousal. No matter how good it felt, I didn’t want to go all the way.

I don’t love you. Besides, you aren’t real. How could I give you my body? Who knows what might happen?

“Wait, wait a second.”

Frantically, I pushed against Ugeum’s shoulders. In the scuffle, the light flicked on. Under the amber glow, Ugeum looked down at me, his face cast in shadow.

“I’m… not mentally prepared yet.”

My stammering voice trembled pathetically.

As if the heat that had sweltered around us just moments ago were a lie, a chilly silence fell over the room.

That brief moment felt like an eternity.

“…Can’t be helped, then,” Ugeum replied quietly.

What did he mean? That it couldn’t be helped and he’d continue anyway, or that it couldn’t be helped so he’d stop?

It was the latter. His knee withdrew from between my legs. Ugeum planted a soft kiss on the tip of my nose, tidied my disheveled clothes, and spoke in a gentle voice.

“I’ll wait.”

Then, with a smirk, he added,

“I’m good at waiting.”

* * *

I’m going crazy.

No. I’ve already lost my mind.

[Ji-an grew helplessly wet in Ugeum’s arms. As he sucked on her neck, she felt as though she were drowning. Her entire body felt thoroughly soaked, limp, and sinking. Intoxicated by ecstasy, ragged breaths burst from Ji-an’s lips.]

Seeing the scene where I was panting in Ugeum’s embrace in the Cursed Manuscript made me want to die of embarrassment.

And a sudden realization struck me hard over the head: whether I kissed Ju Ugeum or had se… xual sleep with him, this perverted manuscript would record every single detail.

Even with all the talk of a Cursed Keyboard and a Cursed Manuscript, I hadn’t realized. I hadn’t known it was such a horrifying curse.

[Ji-an obsessively repeated to herself: I don’t love you. Besides, you aren’t real. Because if she didn’t hold herself together like that, she felt she would succumb to Ugeum this very second.]

“Are you out of your damn mind?!”

I screamed without realizing it.

Give it an inch and this keyboard takes a mile, writing full-blown fanfiction! Who’s succumbing to whom?!

I said no! It’s not love, it’s not affection. I don’t have any feelings for Ugeum. Well, not that I have no feelings at all. I’m terrified of him. That’s all!

Fuming, I unplugged the Cursed Keyboard and shoved it into the trash can. Even though I knew it would return, it was for the sake of punishment.

As soon as I unplugged the keyboard, the manuscript displayed on the screen vanished as well, but my face still burned as if on fire.

This won’t do. From now on, whenever something like last night happens, I must skip the offending passages without reading them. Otherwise, I’ll literally die of embarrassment.

* * *

Ju Ugeum ruined my entire Sunday.

Whether I was showering, eating, reading a book, or watching TV, that explosive kiss at the front entryway kept flashing in my mind.

Whenever I came to my senses, I found myself retracing every sensation from that moment.

The rough panting battering my eardrums, the hot breath spilling down the nape of my neck, the texture of his tongue navigating inside my mouth.

I just wanted to forget, I didn’t want to think about it again, but I couldn’t stop myself from unconsciously ruminating on it. Like a broken machine, my head replayed Saturday night’s kiss on repeat.

Meanwhile, Ugeum, after doing all those things to me, was busy throwing himself entirely into tracking down Mun Seongwon. How thoroughly he drew the line between business and pleasure!

In a thoroughly foul mood, I faced Monday morning.

My first class on Monday was with Class 1-2. The moment I stepped into the classroom clutching my textbook, cheers erupted.

“Whoa! It’s Teacher Ji-an!”

“Teacher Ji-an, who saved a country in her past life!”

“Tell us about your boyfriend!”

Wildly excited students laughed, clapped, banged on their desks, and shouted.

Word travels fast in schools. It seemed news of Ugeum coming to the school last Friday had already spread everywhere.

<The kids are saying you keep a harem of rich men on the hook, Teacher.>

Recalling what Hojung had told me, a bitter smile crept onto my lips. From a gold-digging manipulator keeping a harem on the hook to a national hero who saved the country—should I consider that an upgrade?

Still, the ones I was dealing with were turbulent teenagers. If I let myself be tossed around by every high and low in this whirlwind, there would be no end to it.

I walked up to the podium and held my index finger to my lips.

“Shh, quiet down. It depends on your attitude during class. Roll call.”

The students, who had been booing and whining playfully, quickly hushed.

About halfway through the attendance roster, the Class President spoke up beforehand.

“Ahn Ondam is absent.”

“Really?”

As I casually asked and marked the absence, the Class President added unprompted,

“She hasn’t been coming since last Thursday.”

Then that meant it was already her third day. Since Class 1-2 only met on Mondays and Wednesdays, I hadn’t known.

“Did she say she was sick?”

“No idea. It’s an unexcused absence.”

My hand halted involuntarily. Ahn Ondam was a rather special student. Special enough that an unexcused absence of three days was more than enough cause for concern.