Chapter warning: this chapter contains scenes of sexual content. Please be warned before proceeding.
“Dodam, do you want to sleep in Noona’s room tonight?”
Tae-eun gently shook the dental chew in front of Dodam, luring him to her room. The dog obediently followed her, but as soon as he jumped onto her bed, he grabbed the chew and dashed off to the master bedroom.
“Hey, hey, don’t go!”
She helplessly watched the white fur fluttering in the air.
“Are you okay?”
Just as she had stepped out of the shower, her father peeked into her room. She pursed her lips and turned on the small bedside lamp.
“I wanted Dodam to sleep beside me tonight because I got my finger caught in scissors yesterday, but that rascal doesn’t want to be with me.”
“Got your finger caught? Wait a moment.”
Drying his hair with a towel, Song Ki-seok left for the kitchen. The sounds of rummaging in the kitchen and conversations between her mother and father drifted into the room.
When Song Ki-seok returned, he held a bowl in his hand. Inside was a large garlic bulb surrounded by piles of red beans.
“Is it okay if I leave this here for you to sleep?”
“Yeah. I won’t refuse anything now. Go to bed early.”
“Okay. Sleep well too.”
Tae-eun placed the bowl of garlic and beans on the bedside table. She didn’t believe in all superstitions, but listening to her father’s words, who had lived for decades longer than her, gave her some comfort.
There was the placebo effect, after all. If she believed that the garlic and beans had some effect, maybe she would sleep more comfortably.
And that night, she didn’t get her finger caught in scissors. She only had a strange dream.
Her dream began with climbing wooden stairs.
Realizing it was a dream as soon as it started, she looked around uncomfortably. There might suddenly appear a person behaving strangely like Director Ha Sung-joo, and she might be unable to move.
Being in an unfamiliar space unlike yesterday, she cautiously took a step forward. She caught a whiff of a familiar smell. A burning smell, rubbing harshly against her skin.
She gripped the wooden railing tightly. Holding her breath, she climbed the last step.
“Wow…”
The place she found herself in had no dividing walls, so wide that calling it a room felt awkward.
In the middle, there was a spacious bed, and on the left wall, there stood a large bookshelf filled with books. She approached and examined the letters on the spines.
But she couldn’t understand the contents. It was like the letters written on the blackboard she saw in her dream yesterday.
Suddenly, she felt a chill. Goosebumps rose on her arms, and she turned her head abruptly. On the other side of the bookshelf was a large glass window, taking up half of the wall. Beyond it, she could see Hajung Beach.
As she approached to take a closer look, the waves of the winter sea were constantly rolling like white snow. The sea during high tide had a scent similar to toothpaste and a color similar to blood. There was no one on the beach.
“Ha…”
Suddenly, a sigh from beside startled her, and she moved away from the window. Then she spotted a man lying on the bed in his underwear and forgot that it was a dream, shutting her mouth in shock.
The owner of Hajung Café 61, Ji Hyun-ho, was lying on the white sheet.
Tae-eun couldn’t move for a different reason than yesterday. It felt like the waves outside had swept away her thoughts. She felt so surprised that her heart seemed to stop for a moment.
“Hoo…”
The café owner, who was a friend of Song Min-jae’s, was lying there in just his underwear. Even that alone would have been enough to make her faint, but he was moaning. In her dream.
Hyun-ho’s broad chest rose and fell noticeably. Watching his Adam’s apple move up and down, she swallowed her saliva soundlessly. His fair skin was turning crimson.
His heels pushed down on the white sheet. Following the long calf and the sturdy thigh, her gaze moved, and she saw his member being stroked by his large hand.
Her pupils shook violently.
Swearing on her parents’ names, she had never had such a dream before. Even when she made her first friend in high school, she had only harbored innocent feelings, never even imagining a kiss.
Yet, such a grotesque dream. Moreover, with someone she had only seen twice.
She no longer felt the chill. Instead, she felt warm air brushing against her fingertips.
Hyun-ho leaned his head back. His hand stroking the bright red genitalia sped up. The sound of his pale hand and the moist flesh colliding was so obscene that she wanted to cover her ears.
“Ah… ugh…”
Thick semen poured out uncontrollably from between his large hands, unable to contain it all. The man closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.
Tae-eun couldn’t take her eyes off the sight of his firm member being continuously stroked by his damp hands. But before she could be caught by the man, she knew she had to get out of this dream.
It was when she hesitated and started to step back.
Ji Hyun-ho’s eyes snapped open. His amber eyes met her trembling ones head-on.
With that gaze, she woke up from the chaotic dream, drenched in sweat.
***
“Dodam, please just listen to Noona this once.”
Even with Tae-eun’s earnest plea, Dodam’s sharp eyes didn’t soften. The dog, who had been wandering around the neighborhood instead of going to the beach since the day before yesterday, stood firm, refusing to budge.
“We’ll go to the beach tomorrow.”
Dodam’s eyes looked at her, as if saying, “Talking nonsense!” but Tae-eun, who felt quite desperate, had no dignity left to pass by the café.
“Oh, isn’t that Tae-eun?”
“Hello.”
As she struggled with Dodam for a while, they encountered guests who had come to visit for the association election. Tae-eun bowed her head and stepped aside at the door, her gaze fixed on the ground.
“Are you feeling better since you quit your job due to illness?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“Going for a walk?”
“Yes, I am. Let’s go, Dodam.”
Even the affectionate greeting felt burdensome. She hastened her steps and left the front of the house. Thanks to her, Dodam had no choice but to head in the direction she wanted.
Tae-eun glanced at the white café as she crossed the street. Perhaps she harbored a futile hope that today might be a day off, but she peeked out, hoping not to catch any sight of blonde hair.
“Hello.”
But inevitably, a deep voice reached her ears.
Ji Hyun-ho was putting a box into the recycling bin. Dodam sniffed his leg, taking in his scent. Unable to meet people’s eyes well even without her dream three days ago, her gaze was glued to his leg like a puppy’s.
“Hi.”
“Been busy?”
The response to the greeting was quite peculiar. She raised her head in confusion, only to quickly avert her gaze from the unusually bright eyes of the man.
“You seemed to walk around here every day, but I haven’t seen you for a few days.”
“Oh… I was thinking of changing my route.”
“It didn’t go well, huh?”
“No.”
With her eyes fixed on his Adam’s apple, she could see the corners of his mouth curling up. Once again, the remnants of the dream flooded back.
“Would you like some tangerine tea today?”
“No, I’ll pay and leave!”
She exclaimed, extending her phone. She was determined that she would definitely pay and leave today. She felt guilty for making him the protagonist of such a bizarre dream, but if she kept taking advantage of him, she would truly become shameless.
Ji Hyun-ho covered his mouth with his hand. When she slowly raised her gaze, she saw his eyes squinting. It seemed like he was trying to hold back laughter.
“Alright, I’ll let you pay.”
They crossed the street together and entered the café. She looked around after tying Dodam’s leash to a large pole. But the sense of accomplishment seemed to have diminished a bit compared to the first day.
Or maybe she had become more numb.
As they entered the café, a familiar smell tickled her nose. Tae-eun took a deep breath. The unfamiliar scent pricked at her memories.
“It’s tangerine syrup I brewed last year.”
Ji Hyun-ho poured plenty of tangerine syrup into a mug instead of a paper cup. He said he had opened a café where people could eat and pay. She prepared to pay with her phone, ready to leave as soon as she was done.
“Taste it first and let me know if it’s too sweet.”
The man offered her a mug filled with warm water. She took a sip just enough to wet her lips. It was sweet and refreshing.
“It’s delicious. Please let me pay.”
Tae-eun handed him her phone resolutely. Eventually, he burst into laughter. With a low chuckle, the scent wafting from him became stronger.
Suddenly, she recognized what the smell was. She blinked quietly.
It was the smell of funeral homes. The scent she had smelled tirelessly in the past.
Her vision blurred, and forcibly suppressed memories tried to resurface. The days when she could only shed tears were trying to squeeze her heart again. She hurriedly raised her head.
The man in front of her was staring at her intently. His bright irises, which even absorbed the faint winter sunlight, captivated her.
At that moment, a realization made her fingertips tremble. Was this also the scent she smelled in her dream, the scent that brushed against her skin like a harsh wind?
Ji Hyun-ho handed her back her phone after finishing the payment. For some reason, an inexplicable fear rose up her ankles. If she stayed here any longer, she felt like she would be as helpless as when she was in her dreams.
“Um, sorry, but could you pour this into a paper cup? I have to take my dog for a walk…”
“Noona.”
At the sudden address, her mouth fell open. The man’s lips stretched into a gentle smile.
“Do you remember me?”
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T/N: 3 chapters in and we already have a…hmm, very interesting scene in her dreams. I wonder if I should just add the smut tag. The publisher didn’t include it in the tags so I wasn’t expecting for such a scene to appear in like what, the first 3 chapters XD But I will update the tags if I encounter more scenes like this. Updates will roll in regularly, I don’t have a fixed schedule yet but most probably it will be daily posting and then switch to 3 chapters per week. Thanks for reading!
