Episode 93: First Experience (6)
For a long time, Bom gazed at Yu Jitae with deeply immersed eyes that anyone could tell. She expressed her trust in Yu Jitae, talked about her happiness and lastly, she naturally fed him food.
Not a single expression among that process was explicit but was enough to widen the eyes of the onlookers. Anyone could make a guess after seeing her attitude.
‘Oh my, oh my…’
‘Are those two, in that sort of relationship?’
The relationship between the two of them had always been one of the big questions inside the Association.
Prophet Season, who suddenly appeared at the Association and violently jolted the executives, and later appeared like an omnipotent god, and the young and beautiful Soothsayer Haru that was brought by him.
They came at different times of the day but were always together when going off work, and they were more than often riding in the same car.
None of them dared to ask them about their relationship but everyone could still guess that they were very close. Some of them exercised their imaginations and likened them to a princess and a bodyguard that frequently appeared in fairy tales.
Their doubts that had been gradually increasing in size were finally answered.
‘Uwah… what did I see just then?’
‘Maybe they really are lovers…’
That was when Yu Jitae modified his mana into a very thin and secretive string and shot it towards Bom. It was a mimicry of the long-distance communication skill [Silent Noise].
He transmitted his thoughts.
‘Bom. What are you doing.’
‘You called me selfish didn’t you…’
Her reply brought up some of his memories. Back when things happened with Carrot Girl, Yu Jitae consoled Bom but also reprimanded her for being selfish.
Bom’s emotions had gotten the best of her, and she ended up ruining a lot of things. It was similar to a child’s rapid change in mood and was considerably violent as well. A selfishness at that level could harm other people and could be poisonous to her in the future so he wholeheartedly rebuked her by calling her selfish.
What was her response back then?
– …You, are making me selfish.
Through the string, Bom explained. She said she wanted to chase ‘certain women’ out of the Association but couldn’t so, so she befriended everyone.
‘Sorry oppa. I can fix everything else, but this is something I cannot change.’
And in front of the eyes of such ‘friends’, she furtively announced that Season was hers.
‘Maybe I really am selfish…’
Yu Jitae was inwardly quite amazed.
He knew Bom was skilled at social interactions, but he hadn’t expected it to be at this level. For better or for worse, the news would now spread and people would remind each other of their relationship, and discourage anyone from approaching him.
There probably wouldn’t have been any woman approaching Yu Jitae already, but this would give Bom the certainty. Besides, her actions just then were extremely exquisite and stuck to the level that wouldn’t cost her any authority.
Despite her jealousy, Bom managed to perfectly control her emotions and the situation to get what she wanted.
It was remarkably well-organised, but there were also concerning points in this situation.
‘Bom. I asked you before whether you were doing something behind my back or not. You told me there was none.’
‘I was just, trying to make friends…’
In the end, it was true that she wasn’t intentionally hiding it from him nor trying to deceive him.
‘That’s not a friend in the true meaning of the word is it. You should’ve let me know at least if this was what you were going to do, and ask for permission beforehand. One mistake and all your authority that we had excruciatingly built up could have crumbled.’
‘Yes…’
‘However you did pull it off without a problem. You probably know yourself so I’ll stop with the nagging.’
Bom nodded. With drooping eyes, she silently gazed at the reddish-black wine inside her glass.
‘But what pushed you into doing something like this. That’s what I’m curious about.’
She replied with a gloomy look on her face.
‘Sorry. I can’t tell you that…’
For some reason, she had a very melancholic look on her face so he stopped asking her questions.
In any case, since things were already in this state, Yu Jitae decided to play along Bom’s strategy. Bom was sullenly lowering her head but that made her look as if she was dozing off on the outside. People were still throwing glances at them so Yu Jitae gently laid his hand on her small head, slowly pulled her head towards him and allowed her to rest on his shoulder.
Startled, Bom’s heart pulsed out loud.
*
In fact, Yu Jitae had connections to other female superhumans as well. It was common for him to meet Jeanie Inssirem for matters related to the Tower of Mages and also sometimes conversed with the new chief aide of Chaliovan, ‘Armin’.
However, there was one reason why Bom only got close to Kang Ahjin and Zhuge Haiyan.
Most of the Asians had black hair.
*
Time passed as more alcohol entered the systems of the attendees.
Bom pretended to be asleep for a little before getting up. Her eyes after waking up were evidently brighter than before.
After that, she shared a conversation with him regarding how she spent time at the Association, and fed him canapé, cheese and crackers whenever she had the opportunity.
Her two eyes were fixed on Yu Jitae and her ears only listened to his words.
And after sensing that Yu Jitae wanted to spend some time alone, she stood up and moved back to her seat but constantly thought about Yu Jitae on the way.
After dropping all the complex thoughts, Yu Jitae felt a strange emotion during his chat with Bom. It felt as if the 1 square metre of space between them was Unit 301.
He pondered on what it could be and realised that it was probably ‘comfort’. It was intriguing because he had never felt comfortable just by being around certain people before.
It might have been more obvious due to a comparison with the exceptionally uncomfortable time he spent with Myu in the morning.
Meanwhile, something interesting happened on the other side. After going back to her seat, Bom joined into the conversation of the 5th command room females that she had gotten close to. The women’s ages ranged from late 20s to 40s and their conversation topics were something else.
“Huh? Miss Ahjin. You’ve never kissed before?”
“Ah, yes…! Not yet.”
“That’s because you are always in the office working. Shouldn’t you meet some men while you’re young?”
“Is that how it is? I… am quite ambitious you see. So I feel going for romance on top of that is being overly ambitious? Or something like that.”
“What’s your ambition?”
“I want to become the future chairman of the Association!”
‘Hahaha. You’re crazy!’ They laughed.
Up till that point was fine and even Bom was gently smiling in the mix. It was part of her plan to get close to the people.
But the problem was… that they had gotten too close. To the point that they could comfortably share conversations about male and female relationships.
The conversation that started off with ‘kiss’ naturally became more and more blunt.
“I’m telling you my first experience was horrendous.”
“Why?”
“My husband was 24 years old back then. And that must have been his first time as well. He didn’t know where was where, you know?”
“Oh my, really?” “That’s so innocent and cute!”
“No it is not! Do you know how much I…”
Although Yu Jitae wasn’t interested in listening to others’ experiences, Bom being flustered in frank conversations like that was an amusing sight. So he decided to listen a little bit more.
“Right. We were newlyweds back then. And he, would jump at me during breakfast, and jump at me at night after coming back from work…”
“Oh my oh my…!” “Aigo, good times…”
They continued with such unrestrained conversations. With a blank look on her face, Bom was only half-listening to the conversations and her vacant eyes were off focus. But that was when the arrowhead shifted towards her direction.
“Um, hmm hmm.” “So, umm…”
Hesitantly, they asked.
“Haru. Can we ask you something?”
“…Yes?”
“Aye. Linda. Stop. Why would you ask something like that? She’s still too young!”
“What? No she’s not that young. She said she’s turning 24 this year. That’s old enough to know everything these days!”
“Eeng? Reallyy~?”
An old Grade 4 agent who was a little bit more drunk than others asked with a knowing smile on her face.
“Miss Soothsayer.”
“Y, yes?”
“Could you… tell us ‘that’, by any chance?”
“Hmm, by that you mean…?”
“Actually, there were a lot; a lot of people who were very curious until yesterday.”
“About which?”
“…About the relationship between Sir Prophet and Miss Soothsayer.”
‘Yes,’ ‘Right, right’. People nearby nodded in agreement. They appeared excited after just confirming it today.
“Hmm, Those things, I don’t really know much about…”
Questions flooded her the moment she shook her hands.
“Ey, I don’t think so,” “Since you’re not denying it entirely… that means something did happen right?”
“Hmm, umm… that…”
Yu Jitae thought to himself.
Whenever conversations like this were brought up in Unit 301 (because of Yeorum), Bom tended to ignore it. Why? It was because it was embarrassing since she had yet to build tolerance for such conversations.
“I think Miss Haru is a master at romance.”
“Right. I saw her giving a lot of tips to Director Haiyan.”
“Really?”
“I mean… she’s so pretty so how many men would she have around her…?”
“…I, I have none.”
Bom, who had instigated such conversations in order to comprehend the concurrent relationships of the people inside the Association, was instead put in an awkward spot in those conversations.
She had fallen into her own trap.
“No. But you always go off work together so I thought something must have happened already!”
“There’s nothing…”
“I thought so too. You two look amazing together by the way!”
“Ah, thank y…”
“So so so! Have you held hands? Wait, actually! You were leaning on him before so… have you kissed?”
“Hmm, hmm…”
“Aye. Of course she has. Didn’t you see how they were lovey-dovey before?” “Right.” “Maybe Season is unexpectedly extremely sweet when they’re alone?” “Oh my oh my…”
“…”
One of them even whispered to her by using mana.
‘How are things at night…?’
Bom was startled. Not knowing what to do, she fidgeted and was at the brink of tears.
Yu Jitae felt amused seeing a fox fall into its own trap.
Meanwhile, the women laughed after seeing the embarrassed Bom but did not cross the line. They did not cross the line that Bom had drawn which meant that her authority was growing stronger despite them being relaxed around her.
Soon, Bom gave him the SOS sign. She tapped her watch, and it seemed that she had sent him a message.
His watch soon vibrated but he did not bother checking it. When Bom sometimes glared at him, he looked away and later even turned off the watch because of all the constant vibrations.
“Excuse me, let me head to the bathroom…”
“Ah. I wanted to go as well. Let’s go together!”
“Sorry? Ah…”
Her plan to escape failed. Even after coming back from the bathroom, they continued on a similar topic. Only when it was becoming pitiful to watch did Yu Jitae interject and pull Bom out of the mix to go back.
*
They teleported and headed straight to the residential area of Lair.
On the way back,
“Your watch must be broken.”
Bom, who had been silently forming a pout, suddenly began mumbling.
“It’s perfectly fine.”
“Then my messages must have evaporated…”
Feeling amused, Yu Jitae closed his mouth but Bom continued reproaching him.
“Like, why didn’t you help me? You were listening the whole time.”
“No I wasn’t.”
“I know you were. It’s too much… Here I’m so embarrassed I feel like dying and yet you’re just watching from the side. It was impossible for me to leave by myself in that situation you know…”
Bom was sincerely grumbling which was quite a rare sight. Thinking that a kid was still a kid, he asked.
“How is it embarrassing.”
“You really don’t know…?”
“Just ignore it. You’re good at it aren’t you?”
“But…”
She stopped talking so he turned and looked at her.
Bom’s expression was as remarkable as a piece of art. She glared at Yu Jitae with a resentful gaze before widening her eyes into circles and bending her eyebrows into the shape of the character ‘eight’ (八). She clenched her lips and faintly dropped her head.
Soon, she reopened her mouth with a sigh.
“It makes me visualise it in my mind…”
Of course.
It seemed that visualising the candid personal matters of others that she didn’t even want to know about, was a burdensome thing to do.
After that, Bom walked a few steps behind him and focused her gaze on the watch. She seemed quite sulky and didn’t say a single word until they arrived back at home.
Walking alone, Yu Jitae did not smile.
He had never smiled when alone but throughout the entire way back, he was amused.
*
“…Please, help me with this homework.”
“Alright.”
After returning to Unit 301 and while helping Gyeoul with her homework, he looked at his watch and finally checked the messages that he hadn’t seen before. Seeing the messages made him feel amused yet again.
[Yu Bom: Oppa]
[Yu Bom: Oppppa]
[Yu Bom: #Ahjussi #Oppa #Yu Jitae]
[Yu Bom: Please save me]
[Yu Bom: Let me out]
[Yu Bom: Help mee]
[Yu Bom: Please T.T]
[Yu Bom: Why aren’t you reading my messages]
[Yu Bom: Helppp]
He could sense the urgency from her messages.
But underneath that, he saw more messages that were sent at a different time. They were sent several minutes ago, meaning that Bom had sent further messages on their way back.
[Yu Bom: Just letting you know, I’m not a naughty child]
[Yu Bom: I really wasn’t thinking about anything weird]
[Yu Bom: T.T]
What did this ‘naughty child’ here mean? Yu Jitae belatedly sent a reply.
[Me: Think about what]
[Yu Bom: I don’t know. Don’t talk to me today…]
He immediately received the reply message.
He thought she must be sincerely upset, but that was when he suddenly remembered her words from before.
– It makes me visualise it in my mind…
…
…?