I had simply introduced him to a decent place to relax. I figured he might get bored if he was cooped up in his room all day. Yura suggested to Baek Seohan that they go to G Sector.
At least there, he could focus on something.
Yura, too, often came here to unwind when her thoughts grew muddled. The place had originally been built for employee welfare, but what did that matter now? With everyone likely already dead, the arcade machines here were practically no different from Yura's personal property.
Every single one was an expensive item, at that.
If sold, they’d probably be worth several billion at minimum, but such calculations were meaningless now. Still, they clearly demonstrated the financial power this place had once wielded.
He’s cute…
Watching a happy Seohan, she felt a strange, heavy pang in her chest. Was it okay for a person to be that defenseless? Even with a woman right in front of him?
But then again, look at where they were.
If he were like any other man, he would’ve frowned and told her to get lost before she even got close.
Was it because he was special?
She’d felt it since the first time she saw him, but he was remarkably different from ordinary men. He knew how to be humble and mind his manners. A man who used honorifics? Extremely rare. Normally, they’d start by hurling curses right to your face…
The very creature called man was one who’d slap your cheek first if he didn’t like you.
Moreover, the better-looking they were, the worse the symptoms…
Especially the ones who knew they were handsome—every last one of them had no manners. They’d probably never even received a proper human education.
At that level, he was practically nobility… no, close to an angel.
Perhaps the extreme situations brought about by the Aberration Phenomenon had changed him, but.
She wanted to know…
She wanted to know more about this man.
Seohan focused on the game. Yura took that chance to sneak up beside him.
She didn’t know. All she knew was that he gave off a strangely pleasant scent. Did all men smell like this? Then she could understand. Why women prostrated themselves like dogs in heat, offering tribute. She could understand why women changed the moment they met a man.
It wasn’t simply a phenomenon created by an extreme gender ratio, but a fundamental desire, an instinct engraved in one’s very genes.
Even though faint thoughts of disgust and loathing for men always lingered at the base of her mind, an animalistic sixth sense suppressed all of it.
The desire to breed…
“Ms. Yura?”
“Uh, huh?”
Her mind, which had drifted away at the man’s low, beautiful voice, returned. They were close enough that their bodies were nearly touching. Since when?
She hadn’t realized the distance had closed this much.
Yura hurriedly leaned back to put space between them. She answered his call awkwardly.
“Uh, what?”
“You seemed to just be watching. You should play too, Ms. Yura.”
“N-not really… I’ve already played them all.”
Play together? Wasn’t he too defenseless? Did he have any idea what she might do? Right now, her lower half was itching like crazy…
Did he have no basic sense of caution?
If he smiled at her so brightly like that, she would get the wrong idea.
[Beep beep— Administrator’s current respiration and heart rate are highly unstable. Adrenaline levels are rapidly—]
*Pat—!*
She shut off the chattering drone beside her. If left alone, it looked ready to say things that shouldn’t be said, so she sealed the thing’s mouth before Seohan could hear.
Useless words…
Did it need to announce to the world that “this person is excited”? For the first time, she thought about dismantling the drones.
Anyway, since Seohan said he was bored playing alone, she turned on a multiplayer game. A fighting game people used to play often in the past. To think she was playing a game where you exchanged blows like this with a man…
Was this ethically okay? No, was it okay to hit a man? It was just a game, but…
She felt strange. It felt like she had done something she shouldn’t.
“Um…”
“What is it?”
“I was wondering, why are you sitting so far away?”
“…”
Why was she sitting far away? No, how could she sit close… If she was right beside him, she felt like she’d forget how to breathe. This was the minimum distance required to keep her sanity.
“Can you see the screen from that far away?”
“I-I can see it fine…”
How strange. She had definitely coaxed him here first, eager to play…
Was it because they were in such a narrow space? She couldn’t calm down. His body scent brushing the tip of her nose, the lines of his curves visible from her precarious position…
Hoo…
Her eyes were glued to his precariously visible chest and wouldn’t fall away.
She shook her head and forced her mind to focus on the game. Had she ever exerted this much concentration in her life? She had started with the intention of losing on purpose, but when she came to her senses, she had won all five rounds.
“You’re good at this game.”
“R-really? I haven’t played much because I’ve been busy…”
Damn it, what are you doing, you stupid woman! Winning against a man.
If she’d lost moderately, it might have been fine. But she had gone and won every single round, completely killing the mood.
*Clack—*
Seohan set down the joystick and stretched. And the belly peeking out as his shirt rode up.
Damn… h-hold on, that’s too lewd. That ambiguous, invisible boundary line was driving her crazy.
“You must have been bored alone. You said you’ve been trapped here this whole time.”
At the sudden serious topic, Yura let out a cough. Even though she’d been blatantly stealing glances every now and then, Seohan remained completely oblivious.
“Uh, um… yeah. There were no people. I was stuck between cold chunks of metal… but I don’t think you’re one to talk…”
“Me?”
“You came from outside. You must’ve suffered more than me. Didn’t you almost die, too? You really have a pitiful fate. A man who should have grown up surrounded by love, how did you end up…”
She genuinely felt sorry for him. However, despite her concern, Seohan simply wore an expression of indifference. Rather, he grabbed the joystick as if he was used to such things.
“I’ve been through so many absurd things that it’s not even surprising anymore. I’m just grateful I didn’t die. Thanks to that, I can just play and eat like this.”
“…”
“It can’t be helped.”
This kid really… what should she call him. Was he some mutant from another place?
It might be a strange thing to say, but… how could a man think like that? Maybe he’d spent too much time immersed in the comms? The image of men she knew was nothing like this. They were always cranky, materialistic, and greedy. A violent species that would hit first when things didn’t go their way.
She could count on one hand the times she’d actually spoken with men in her life, but she’d heard plenty of testimonies from those around her. He didn’t match any of the information she’d known until now.
Then why did everyone say men were so difficult and exhausting to deal with?
When he was this kind and innocent…
He would brighten up with sparkling eyes just from being given food…
Hoo…
Calm down. Her breathing was growing rough again.
Couldn’t the world just stay ruined like this forever?
Then she could live with someone like him for the rest of her life.
Just the two of them under one roof…
She wanted to suddenly hug him from behind. She wanted to press her nose into the nape of his neck, skin against skin, and inhale deeply.
Such indecent thoughts kept sprouting up.
The small shred of conscience still remaining in Yura’s heart.
She clenched her sweat-soaked hands tightly.
“If you’re bored with nothing to do, eat and play here. Don’t wander around everywhere for no reason. There are a few danger zones you don’t know about. It’s always better to be careful.”
“Hmm… still… is it okay for me to just keep receiving like this? I want to be of some help, too…”
“What could a man possibly help with? The AI does most of the hard work anyway. Men are meant to grow up well in the shade of women.”
“…”
She knew he was kind, but what could he do with those frail, powerless arms? Here, it was a blessing as long as he didn’t get hurt. If by any chance—though there was absolutely no way it would happen—but if he went to C Sector or L Sector, it could get truly dangerous.
Because contrary to appearances, this facility itself wasn’t safe.
Without proper management, it would become no different from the outside in an instant.
“Ahem…”
This won’t do. She needed to go back and devise a plan.
If possible, she needed to raise the security levels and reconfigure the system itself so that Seohan couldn’t access the danger zones.
She would set him a simple route. Where he went and where he was each day. It seemed better to monitor and manage him thoroughly, day by day.
***
After spending about three or four hours in G Sector, I was dragged by Yura’s hand to T (Therapy) Sector to check my health condition, having relieved stress for the first time in a while.
As before, they checked the degree of erosion on my arm and performed a precise procedure that erased the wounds with some nano-regeneration thing.
Normally, there would be no treatment or medicine for this, and one would just have to accept death, but in less than ten minutes, they had removed most of the remaining erosion.
“Move your arm up and down a bit. Does it still sting?”
“No. It’s not that bad anymore…”
“Even if you think you’re fully healed, you need to check periodically. The Aberrations’ saliva is poisonous, so once it takes root, it takes a long time to remove.”
“Kuk…”
“See, it hurts. It’s still inside.”
Yura, who had been operating the mechanical arm, approached me. She knelt down as she was and placed her hand on my scarred arm.
I blankly stared at her for a moment.
She really is pretty up close…
Maybe because she doesn’t get any sunlight and only does research all day? Her skin was fair and luminous.
Soft pink hair with a grayish tint visible under the lights.
She layered a thin cloth over my wound so that it wouldn’t split open.