“You don’t mean… right now?”
Park Shinui’s lips trembled faintly. With an expression mixing bewilderment and wariness, he carefully asked back toward the earphone.
“Just staying like this now… seems like it would be fine. Or isn’t there another way?”
— There isn’t. In the current situation, that’s the fastest and most certain method.
Park Shinui blinked rapidly. He could dismiss entering the novel and becoming Park Shinui as fate.
But he had no intention of ending up as the protagonist’s ‘human tranquilizer.’ Since he’d jumped directly into the story, his name needed to be right in the middle of that development of exterminating the monsters.
— Shinui-ya, what are you doing? What’s the big deal about a kiss that you’re hesitating so much? Just close your eyes and do it.
What’s the big deal about a kiss. How could that be nothing? Of course, from the moment he’d stepped into the bunker, he’d anticipated something like this might happen. But to Park Shinui, a kiss was never a light matter. Moreover, he’d never dreamed he’d be doing it as a live broadcast beyond a monitor with someone watching.
“……”
Park Shinui swallowed dry saliva and just bit his lips, unable to do one thing or another. He knew well enough that the current situation wasn’t something that would be resolved just by enduring. Looking at Kang Taejun’s condition, he understood in his head that attempting mucous membrane guiding right now was the only way to achieve even a little stability.
But… he just couldn’t build up confidence. Even if this was a novel and a dream, it was never an easy thing.
Should I just go ‘whatever’ and just press my lips briefly and pull away? But mucous membranes weren’t called mucous membranes for nothing. Surely tongues would have to be involved.
— Shinui-ya.
“……I understand.”
He answered but his body still didn’t budge. Why on earth does a fantasy action novel need this kind of setting? Park Shinui grumbled internally as he looked down at Kang Taejun’s face with a troubled expression.
Though better than at first, he was still gasping roughly and staring this way with an agonized expression. His distorted brow and bloodshot red pupils clearly showed he still hadn’t grasped the thread of reason.
“Noona, you’re watching me right now, aren’t you?”
Park Shinui quietly let out a sigh and steeled his resolve. Right, let’s do it. It’s not like I haven’t done it at the bonding ceremony. Even now, it’s no different.
— Yeah, I’m watching. We’re keeping watch continuously, so don’t worry. Thanks to you, Esper Kang Taejun’s contamination level has dropped to 92%.
‘We’… are? Did she just say ‘we’?
“Don’t tell me there are other people there with you right now besides you, Noona?”
— People? Ah, the researchers?
“Yes.”
— Of course they’re here together. If a dangerous situation arises, we need to respond immediately, so espers are on standby too.
“……”
Does that mean who knows how many people are watching Kang Taejun and me?
“Earlier you said you wouldn’t interfere.”
Park Shinui muttered lowly as he squeezed his eyes shut then opened them.
— Huh?
“When I entered here, you said you’d cut off external connections.”
— Ah, that?
“Yes, that. Can’t you do that?”
— Huh?
“Turn off the screen you’re watching here and block all transmission.”
Silence flowed through the receiver for a moment. Soon Lee Haneul continued as if absurd.
— Shinui-ya, what I said earlier meant I’d block external entry… not that I’d cut off the monitoring screen.
“……”
— Don’t tell me you’re doing this because you’re embarrassed? Ashamed to do something in front of us watching?
Struck right on the mark, Park Shinui bit his lips tightly without a word. Now that he’d heard it said outright, unbearable embarrassment rushed over him like a tidal wave.
— …….
Lee Haneul fell silent as if momentarily at a loss for words. But soon she continued in a voice tinged with playfulness.
— Alright. I’ll turn it off. Actually, from our position, it’s enough if we can just check the numbers.
“……”
Soon after, along with a ‘click’ of a mechanical sound, the sound of something being cut off was heard.
— It’s off. We can’t see now.
“……”
— No wait. Instead of that, should I have all the researchers leave too?
“That’s going too far……”
— No, it’d be better to send them out.
The sound of murmuring was heard for a moment.
— Everyone, I’m sorry but could you please clear the area for a moment?
“N-Noona.”
— I sent everyone out too. Now it’s really just the two of us.
Park Shinui was at a loss for words at Lee Haneul’s quick execution ability. He was the one who’d asked, but now that it was done, he was in an even more difficult position.
Now it really was just the two of them. Somehow his face seemed to be heating up more and more.
— Do I need to leave too?
“No. That’s……”
— Yeah, actually someone needs to continuously check Esper Kang Taejun’s condition. It’d be better in many ways if I stay. But just in case, I’ll turn off the communication. I shouldn’t interrupt at such an important moment, right?
“Noona……”
— Shinui-ya, if you can just lower Esper Kang Taejun’s contamination numbers, this level of request is nothing.
“……”
— We’ll do whatever we can. So you just do your best in guiding Esper Kang Taejun. This isn’t simply about one individual’s safety, but about protecting this entire country… please.
What more could I possibly add to someone who’s speaking so earnestly while even bringing up a noble cause? Park Shinui finally answered as if resigned.
“……Yes.”
— Then, I’ll completely cut off my communication now too.
The moment Lee Haneul’s voice disappeared, even the faint mechanical noise that had been circling his ears vanished as if washed away. Inside the huge bunker, now only the entangled breathing sounds of himself and Kang Taejun remained. In the space cleared of artificial noise, all of Park Shinui’s senses began to stand on edge to an abnormal degree.
Park Shinui held his breath then exhaled briefly. The sound of his heartbeat echoed all the way inside his ears.
Then he slowly lowered his head toward Kang Taejun. As the distance narrowed enough for their breaths to mix, the sound of rattling metal came from the restraints binding Kang Taejun’s wrists. That sound was heard strangely loudly. Is it because it’s too quiet, or because I’m too tense?
Park Shinui suddenly thought about what mindset he’d been approaching this story with. Lee Haneul’s words—that guiding Kang Taejun wasn’t for one individual but was about protecting everyone—pressed suffocatingly on a corner of his heart.
The thought washed over him that while this entire situation was merely part of a novel to him, to the people here it was a desperate reality where lives were at stake. It seems I’ve been observing it with too light a heart. If I’ve entered into the story, I should fully embrace even the emotions and situations the characters inside feel.
“……So now snap out of it already, Kang Taejun.”
Murmuring softly, Park Shinui lowered his lips. The touching skin was surprisingly soft. The man whose entire body is no different from a weapon is hard wherever you touch, but it seems his lips are an exception.
Park Shinui rubbed the touching lips slowly and carefully. Then a tingling current dug into his entire body from the tips of his lips. Rejection didn’t exist from the start. Rather, his head went mushy enough to make him want to scratch somewhere with his fingertips.
‘Is this how I’m supposed to do it? Since it’s mucous membrane… mucous membrane guiding, do I need to use my tongue?’
Park Shinui slightly parted his lips and carefully extended his tongue, licking down the cotton-soft surface of the lips. The skin touching his tongue tip was hot like a fireball. As if that heat had transferred, even his own body felt burning hot.
Just as he was licking around the lips, lapping like a puppy licking a palm—the gap in Kang Taejun’s tightly closed lips parted, and a wet mass slipped out. Then it coiled around Park Shinui’s clumsily extended tongue as if hooking it, and pulled it in one breath deep into his mouth.
“Mmph……!”
Flinching, startled Park Shinui unconsciously gripped Kang Taejun’s shoulders tightly and trembled. The heavily coiling tongue began to move ferociously, wandering through the slick and sticky inside of his mouth. Stuck like a suction cup to lips that had frozen, unable to do one thing or another, it roughly ravaged his palate and tender flesh indiscriminately. Could this even be called a kiss? Rather than exchanging intimacy, it feels more like being devoured.
Kang Taejun’s lips were relentless. They persistently dug into the tender inner flesh and greedily sucked, then as if that still wasn’t enough, raised his jaw fully and pressed in even more deeply.
‘Crazy… stop… I can’t breathe.’
Park Shinui panted as he felt his vision flashing white. An indescribable hot heat spread throughout his entire body through his blood vessels.
Was it simply because of the urgency the situation gave, or was it because of the resonance created by Kang Taejun and Park Shinui’s matching rate? His mood was becoming strange. The wall of reason he’d firmly erected crumbled, and his mind grew hazy at the sensation of another person’s existence deeply invading inside him. He could no longer tell whether he wanted to separate their lips or whether he wanted to press them together more.
