This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 121

“That’s definitely the sound of Norwegian firewood.”

To think that I could send my Senior off to dreamland in an instant—what impressive performance!

It was almost as if my Senior had fallen asleep in a flash, and I couldn’t help but think that must mean she was extremely exhausted.

If I were to guess, she was probably nearing her limit.

Maybe that’s why I heard a rather cute sound escaping her lips as she leaned her head on my shoulder and sighed softly.

If she had just heard that?

She would surely have turned bright red in embarrassment.

No doubt about it.

My Senior is quite sensitive to such things.

‘Good grief…’

It would be nice if she could just worry a little less.

I had thought we had become rather close, but perhaps that wasn’t enough to make her feel at ease.

With regret and concern weighing on my heart, I was quietly licking my lips to keep from disturbing my peacefully sleeping Senior.

“Ugh…”

Unlike before, her sleep talk carried a hint of dissatisfaction that pricked my ears.

But the real surprise came next.

As if shifting from a discomforting position, my Senior wriggled around and turned to face me.

In the process, her forearm pressed down against me firmly—

“Whoa…!”

I couldn’t help but take an involuntary gulp at the sudden soft yet yielding sensation.

The issue was, that was just the beginning.

Even after adjusting her position, my Senior kept fidgeting as if she had yet to relieve some discomfort.

No, no matter how much I had decided to be her pillow, wasn’t this a bit too much of a trial?

What on earth could be making her so uncomfortable…?

‘Is it…’

Is the space too cramped for her?

Is that why she’s being so fidgety right now?

I tried to pull myself in closer, but it was all in vain.

Her body only tilted further my way, and the restlessness continued unabated.

‘If it’s not the cramped space, then what on earth…’

At that moment, as I muttered my confusion, my eyes caught sight of my Senior’s tightly closed eyelids, trembling as if they were about to flutter open at any moment.

‘…Ah.’

Only after seeing that did I realize what was happening.

This whole fuss was due to the sunlight pouring in through the window.

It had seemed fine when we set off, but when exactly had the direction changed toward my Senior’s side?

Anyway, I knew having her sleep while getting exposed to such blinding sunlight was one of the most annoying situations possible, so I reached out toward the window to try and pull the curtains.

I stretched out my hand, but for some reason, the curtain that should have been there was nowhere to be found.

So what could I do?

With no curtains in sight, I had no choice but to play that role myself.

Using my hand, which was the only one not trapped by my Senior, I moved to cover her eyes.

As soon as I did that, the blinding light disappeared, and I wondered if she felt a bit more comfortable now.

The fidgeting around her eyes gradually eased up, and at the same time, her mouth relaxed into a gentle smile.

“Hehe…”

With that satisfied expression, she made a sound that made me chuckle internally, careful not to let her notice.

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What was going on?

As if waking from a fog, my head felt cloudy.

It was hard to think clearly, but still, I forced my brain to move, since I should at least understand the situation.

‘Clearly…’

I fully remembered the feeling of exhaustion piling up over the last few days suddenly hitting me, making me drowsy and nod off… but what happened next?

‘Could it be…’

Did I really just fall asleep like that?

If so, that warm yet somewhat firm sensation I had was really suggesting this was a pillow… could it be…?

Even though I was well aware it would be too late now to do anything about all the fidgeting I’d done earlier, I was still hesitating from the anxiety.

As I stopped my actions in drowsiness and squeezed my tightly shut eyes harder, I suddenly heard—

“Um… Are you awake, Senior?”

It was a voice I absolutely didn’t want to hear at that moment, calling softly in my ear.

Maybe I had become conscious of those around me, but the voice was almost a whisper.

Still in the fuzzy aftermath of sleep, such a whisper made the moment feel incredibly… deadly.

‘Yikes…’

The sensation that it was burrowing into my ear sent chills down my spine, and I jerked in surprise.

In that moment, I realized.

Given the way I had reacted, pretending to be asleep from here on was going to be impossible.

“It seems we’re almost there… Shouldn’t you wake up now?”

“Ah… yeah… um, I guess so.”

This time, as the whisper reached me, I answered in a more compliant manner than before.

Finally, I opened my eyes, only to be met by a large hand blocking my vision.

“Oh, I’ll move it now.”

As that hand shifted away, I immediately understood what had been blocking my view.

As soon as his hand moved, the blazing sunlight stabbed at my eyes.

Had Dogun been covering my eyes all that time, worried that I might be uncomfortable because of the sunlight?

…That must have been inconvenient for him.

Just thinking about how he might have endured for hours like that made me feel unexpectedly guilty, even as my heart began to race faster than usual.

At the same time… I couldn’t help but wonder.

Why was he being so nice to me?

Was it simply because he was my manager? That he took care of me like this?

But that wouldn’t fully explain his extremely devoted attitude considering that his role as a manager was temporary at best.

He hadn’t even chosen that role for himself.

So that couldn’t be the answer.

Then what was it?

Was it just because we were friendly?

That didn’t seem quite right, either; his commitment was far too dedicated for that.

So what could it be?

Was there another reason for his behavior?

‘For instance… maybe he… likes me?’

I might have been hoping for that deep down.

“Senior? Are you still very sleepy?”

“Ugh, yeah…?!”

Just as a flood of thoughts crossed my mind, Dogun’s sudden question made my heart leap.

So much so that I ended up… stuttering in my response.

That feeling of embarrassment that washed over me only intensified as I heard Dogun’s next words.

“It seems we only have a little while left until we actually arrive. Maybe you should do something about your hair first…”

As soon as he said that, I realized something.

That I was still leaning against Dogun and that my appearance was too… embarrassing to show anyone else.

I could feel the static in my hair, sticking out in every direction. What must it look like?

Just the thought of showing a disheveled state like that to no one other than Dogun made my face flush relentlessly.

‘At least for today…’

I wanted to show him a reliable, cool side of myself…

But thinking about having shown such an embarrassing sight made me feel frustrated.

With a pout, I bit my lip and hurried to fix my hair.

After frantically moving my hands, I finally managed to make my hair presentable—not great, but better than it had been.

At that moment, the bus, which had been slowly crawling along a steep mountain road, came to a sudden halt in what seemed to be a parking lot halfway up the hill.

And at the end of the road leading from the parking lot—

“Are we going to stay there for four days?”

“…Yeah, that’s right.”

“Ugh… it’s going to be full of bugs at night, isn’t it?”

What had once been a military facility was now a shelter used for various trainings, sitting solidly in place.