This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 114

Gripping the doorknob and trying to take deep breaths was utterly useless.

My heart, which had started racing, couldn’t calm down with just that.

“Ugh…”

This wasn’t my first visit to Dogun’s house, so why was I feeling this way?

Lost in thought, I realized something.

It had been a long time since I visited Dogun’s house alone.

Before this?

Whenever I visited, I was always with Dogun.

Or he would come to my house instead.

But standing here alone in front of the door felt… strange.

To put it another way, it felt as if I had snuck over to my boyfriend’s house.

Of course, it was still early for that kind of thing.

Anyway, those thoughts made me grip the doorknob a little tighter—

“Phew…”

After a deep breath, my hand moved towards the door lock.

A password?

That was no problem at all.

After all, I’ve known Dogun for ten years; it wasn’t something I wouldn’t know.

The guilt of sneaking into someone else’s house without telling the owner?

That wasn’t a big deal either.

“He said I could come over anytime…”

What was there to say?

The one who gave me the front door code was Dogun himself.

So, in a way, wasn’t this just dessert from his own garden?

Thinking like that, I carefully pushed my body through the gap as the door opened.

The first thing that hit me was—

“It’s quiet…”

Quietness mingled with eeriness.

To be precise, it felt like that kind of atmosphere.

The time of day was similar; the only difference was the place, and it felt quite different from a home.

When I woke up early at home, Dad would be preparing breakfast, and the sound would fill the house, but there was none of that here.

It was so quiet that it left a bitter taste in my mouth…

Maybe Dogun always woke up early not because he was diligent, but because he didn’t like this lonely atmosphere.

That thought crossed my mind unexpectedly.

Was that the reason?

Just a moment ago, I had felt slightly tense, excited even, but now it all sank away in an instant.

So… it was sudden, but I wanted to see Dogun’s face.

“Wait a sec…”

Should I go see him…?

It wasn’t part of the original plan, but… just for a moment, it should be okay, right?

Standing in the entrance, still wearing my shoes, I gazed at the stairs leading to Dogun’s Room on the second floor and slowly took off my shoes before starting to ascend.

With each step, the creaking noise beneath me echoed, breaking the stillness that filled the house.

I wondered if this release of tension was because I had finally solved something that had been bothering me since entering.

Standing in front of the door leading to Dogun’s Room, something momentarily hidden in the back began crawling up my body.

And so, I felt confused.

Thinking that Dogun might be sound asleep just beyond this door started to make me anxious.

I felt my throat dry, and for some odd reason, tension gripped my toes.

My heart, which had calmed just a moment ago, began to pound rapidly once again.

“I-I’ll just take a quick look at his face…”

Trying to reassure myself that there was no need to be this tense, I carefully turned the doorknob that I had been clenching like a lifeline.

Creeeak—

The sound that erupted was strangely loud, and I flinched for a moment but quickly gathered myself and checked the landscape of the room through the crack in the door.

Honestly, I had made quite a bit of noise coming up to the second floor, so I’d been tense, but thankfully, Dogun was still blissfully sleeping away.

Seeing him in this utterly defenseless state, one I could never observe normally, made me feel that all my previous tension had been somewhat silly.

“Tch…”

If he was waking up, I had planned to surprise him, but sadly, that would have to wait a bit longer.

“By the way, he really sleeps well…”

Feeling a mix of disappointment and relief, I suddenly thought to get a closer look at Dogun’s sleeping face.

After all, this was quite a rare sight.

I’d seen him dozing off, but seeing him completely vulnerable and asleep like this felt like a first.

So, I wanted to get a better look.

“If he’s drooling while asleep… I’m definitely gonna tease him later.”

There was that thought, however slight.

I released the cautious position I had been holding from the doorframe and stepped gently into Dogun’s Room.

Once inside, however—

Maybe it was because I had snuck in without the owner’s permission, but everything I usually ignored suddenly registered on my skin.

Especially the scent…

…It wasn’t an unpleasant smell.

On the contrary, it was more like the fragrance I often caught on Dogun.

It felt like being tightly embraced in Dogun’s embrace.

It was probably that feeling that made me take steps, almost entranced.

As I arrived in front of the bed where Dogun was lying, did he perhaps sense my presence?

“Mmm…”

With a soft sound, Dogun turned slightly towards me.

The problem was after that.

While he was lying on his side, facing me, I hadn’t noticed until then—

“…Huh?”

There was something unusual on top of the blanket Dogun was covered with.

No, was it under the blanket?

“When I first saw it, I thought it was a hand or a leg.”

But it was too thin to be a leg.

The outline that peeked over the blanket seemed odd for being a leg.

So what could that be?

What was it, standing so stiffly—

“Uh…?”

As soon as I belatedly realized what that object was, an indescribable embarrassment washed over me.

My face flushed bright red, and instead of anything else, the room suddenly felt white around me.

It was that embarrassing.

Totally mortified, and yet my gaze kept drifting toward that direction.

Shoving my hands over my eyes did no good.

My fingers would involuntarily part, and my view would open again.

The more I gazed at that ‘thing’ standing tall over the blanket, the more it felt like I was making some huge mistake.

Was it because of that?

A tension that felt different from everything I had felt before began rooting itself in my body.

How should I put it— it felt really strange.

It was as if my heart had shifted from my chest to my lower belly.

Something deep inside me tightened like a clamp, and I could feel a rhythmic pounding I didn’t even understand. My breathing had become rough.

All the while, I felt a constraint creeping into my toes, distinct from my earlier turmoil, but my mind spun wildly.

“W-What do I…?”

Why was it so… big?

When I thought back to the last time I saw it, a chance glance during kindergarten, I was pretty sure it was like a baby elephant…

It was bizarre.

Just moments earlier, I hadn’t felt any thirst, but now it was strangely persistent.

So, I swallowed cautiously, but the sound of my swallowing echoed thunderously.

Despite swallowing, the thirst remained, and I could only keep swallowing down more.

At the same time, a blazing heat came over my face.

“Ahh…”

Am I going to turn into an idiot?

The heat rose in my face so much that I couldn’t help but think that way.

I started to back away slowly.

If I remained still, I’d surely end up staring at ‘that’ until Dogun woke up.

Just as I successfully backed up to the door, I realized something.

The last time I told Dogun he was a pervert, I might just be the real pervert here.

“Ugh… This is all Dogun’s fault.”

I originally thought I’d just take a peek at his face—

“If he shows me something like that… I can’t help but think unusual thoughts.”

While I shifted the blame onto Dogun… worried I might be caught again, I hurriedly fled from Dogun’s Room.

Once outside the room, I dashed down to the kitchen on the first floor.