Me and the Tigress Volume 3 Chapter 1 part2

Though Saehee said that she would prepare tea herself, Narae set her bags down on the veranda and followed Saehee into the kitchen. Before they left, I told them that I wouldn’t be having any coffee. Not because I was afraid that Saehee was actually going to make coffee out of dirty cleaning water and toilet water, but because I didn’t want to go through that horrible ordeal I went through last time.

The two of them went to the kitchen, and Jeongmi-nuna and I naturally moved to sit at the table so that we were facing each other. And because a certain part of her anatomy, in other words her breasts, were on the table, her chest stood out even more. What I’m saying is…

Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. Not one bit of this, not one millimeter, not a single word of this is a product of my imagination or my delusional fantasies. What I’m saying is truer than Rangii’s lack of sex appeal. What I’m going to such great lengths to say is that her breasts were being pushed up. What were? Her breasts. By what? The table. Her breasts were so big that the table was pushing her breasts up. Admittedly, the table was a little high and Jeongmi-nuna was leaning forward with her chin leaning on her hand, but this wasn’t something that just anybody could do. The table was fully stocked.

Oh, dear goddess. Please forgive me.

My eyes were unconsciously peaking downwards. No, but the thing is. Isn’t this normal for a man? Perfectly natural? I believe that this is normal. I kept trying to look away, but my eyes kept automatically wandering back to a place that was bound to get me killed. Sh-Shit. Play it cool. Be as cool as Saehee.

AS IF A HEALTHY AND ENERGETIC MAN COULD POSSIBLY DO THAT!

Because my sight was focused on a particular part of her body, I failed to notice that Jeongmi-nuna’s face was blushed.

“Are you interested in them?”

D-Did she catch me? Was I caught? My face burned red in shame as I began to splutter words that were almost no different from gibberish.

“I-I’m sorry! Y-You see, my eyes just kept wandering there!”

“It’s okay. I’m used to those kinds of glances, and I didn’t particularly mind you looking.”

She was being understanding. I wanted to die.

“No, um, that’s, I’m sorry to ask, but could you please button up your shirt a little more?”

I asked because her exposed bra and cleavage were too dangerous, but Jeongmi-nuna answered uncomfortably.

“I can’t. Any more, and the button would pop off.”

Reality became more fantastical than any fictional story.

“It’s okay. You are the savior of the entire Bear Clan, so I don’t mind if you look as much as you want.”

Jeongmi-nuna’s slightly embarrassed expression caused my heart to pound almost explosively in my chest, and I was about to say something without thinking, when,

“I suppose I should assume that everyone in the Bear Clan is an exhibitionist.”

Saehee walked in through the door and returned me to my senses. Phew, that was close. I almost lost something important to me as a human.

“You’re only saying that because you don’t have anything to show.”

Narae followed from behind Saehee, a tray with glass cups in hand. The electricity arching between the two of them told me all I needed to know about what happened in the kitchen. They fought again. Though I had to admit, I was jealous of Narae’s ability to exchange insults with Saehee.

“But you really are fearless. Doing something like that with me in the next room.”

As an aside, fights only occur between equals. That’s why Narae and I never fight. Because it would just end up being a slaughter in Narae’s favor. Narae put the tray on the table and extended her hand towards my side, perhaps as a warning that the slaughter was about to begin. I desperately came up with excuses for my own survival.

“You see, a pubescent boy has certain spontaneous reactions, so rather than being intentional, it’s an instinctual phenomenon that I have no control ov—yooooow!”

It hurts. My side hurts. It feels like a piece of my flesh is about to be torn off.

“Sorry, Sunghoon. Your crap caused me to instinctively do that before I even knew it. I had no control over it, so please understand.”

“I do! I do, so please stop pinching me of your own free will!”

Only then did Narae remove her hand. Why was she so violent today? I quickly moved the topic to something else before she found another reason to bully me.

“Then how about we have a drink and you can tell me why you…huh?”

I realized that the drink on the table wasn’t coffee. Inside the clear glass cups were fruit juice.

“You could not possibly thought that I would serve our guests coffee on such a hot day when it is not even after a meal, could you, Young Master who lacks any notion of common sense?”

Sorry. I saw that Narae and I had tomato juice, Jeongmi-nuna had orange juice, and Saehee had some kind of black-colored juice with ice. It looked just like coffee, but Saehee said it wasn’t, so it had to be some kind of juice…but I couldn’t even guess what it was.

“What is that?”

And that’s why I asked her.

“It is coffee.”

I take back my apology.

“You have coffee right there!”

“Ah, a slip of the tongue. It is iced coffee.”

Coffee and iced coffee are different drinks. …My temper was starting to rise. I took a gulp of the juice to calm myself down.

“?!”

The moment the juice entered my mouth, I nearly spit it out at how sour the juice was, but I held it in with all my willpower. The person directly across from me is Jeongmi-nuna. Whether I spit out the juice or dribbled it back into the cup, Jeongmi-nuna’s image of me would worsen. With all the willpower capable of a human, I swallowed the juice and shouted.

“It’s sour!!”

It’s sour! Super sour! How is it this sour?! I took a whiff of the juice, and there was a sour smell coming from it that didn’t belong with tomato juice. It was just like vinegar. Why? Was I being bullied? I was about to vocalize my grievances to Narae and Saehee, when,

“Sunghoon.”

Narae warmly said my name. I could somehow tell that Narae was the one who played that ill-spirited prank.

“Make sure to drink it all, okay?”

Smile. Despite Narae’s angelic smile, there was a bear dancing menacingly behind her.

“B-But why, Narae-nim? Did I do something wrong?”

“I just heard in the kitchen that you had three broken ribs, a cracked skull, collarbone, and, arms, a fractured femur, internal bleeding, a ruptured colon, and damage to your central nervous system which almost killed you? But what was it you said again? You were only a little hurt?”

I looked at Saehe in a panic. Saehee put down her glass and spoke nonchalantly.

“I merely spoke the truth as it was. Is there a problem, untruthful Young Master?”

This was really bad. Narae bit her lip and spoke.

“Did you lie to me? When we were talking on the phone.”

“I did.”

“Got something to say, then?”

“…I do not.”

“Ah. That’s right, Sunghoon.”

Thinking that the kind Jeongmi-nuna was going to save me from this hellish situation,  I responded in a raised voice.

“Yes! Nuna! Please continue!”

Jeongmi looked amused as she gave me a mischievous smile.

“I heard this rumor. That you do all kinds of naughty things with the Tiger-nim every night…”

I couldn’t spare any attention to what Jeongmi-nuna said after that. I was too preoccupied with Narae who was sitting beside me and making a clinking sound on the glass with her finger. She must’ve been thinking something: how can I, in the most efficient and effective way possible, can I make him die in the most painful way possible?

“Yeah. I…”

The glass sounded like it was starting to crack.

“I also heard that rumor from Unni. I trust you’re going to explain just what that’s all about, Sunghoon.”

A cold sweat formed on my back. Were the gods having me go through the twelve labours during this vacation?

“What is wrong, Young Master? Did you not say you were prepared for whatever happened because of that rumor? I trust that the Young Master is not one to say something and then not follow through.”

Did you really have to say that right now?

“Ah. Seeing as your face is so pale, are you perhaps still injured from yesterday?”

Seriously, did you really have to say that right now?! Saehee’s obvious words of bullying caused Narae to raise her eyebrows.

“You were injured? What’s that supposed to mean? Were you hiding something else from me? Oh c’mon, of course not. There’s no way Sunghoon would keep even a single thing from me now. Right? Isn’t that right, Sunghoon? You’re not hiding anything, right? Huh? You just didn’t have the chance to tell me until now, right? But how come you still haven’t said anything? I wonder why? Why aren’t you spitting it out already? Are you really keeping something from me? I wonder why you’re hiding so many things from me, Sunghoon. So what is it this time? Tell me, Sunghoon. Okay? I won’t get mad, so just tell me. Right now.”

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeek. Now wasn’t the time to be distracted by Saehee. You’re scaring me, Narae-nim! Your eyes have gone completely lifeless!

“P-Please calm down!”

“What do you mean, ‘calm down?’ I’m the same as ever.”

In what way?

“I will give you the full story of what happened after Jeongmi-nuna explains why she came here. So please forgive me for the time being.”

I think my sincere apology successfully tugged at Narae’s heartstrings. Narae’s anger abided a little as she bit her bottom lip and the life went back into her eyes. All I could do was laugh awkwardly as my cold sweat continued to fall. Narae sighed heavily, perhaps no longer planning on killing me, and she raised one finger to point at my almost full glass.

“Drink all that at once. Then I’ll overlook this for now.”

That ‘for now’ worried me, but I didn’t have a choice. I forced my eyes shut and chugged the juice. I thought I was going to die. It was just like chewing on an entire lemon. It’s not like I’m some TV comedian or anything!

“You look as though you are blowing a whistle, Young Master.”

Saehee was provoking me. You just wait.

“The two of you really have it tough.”

Jeongmi-nuna said something indecipherable with a sigh.

“But I’m…the only one…who’s having…a tough time.”

I could barely even speak with my tongue now paralyzed.

“Please don’t say anything unnecessary, Unni.”

Narae glanced at me, unsure of what to do at first, but then changed the subject.

“And it’s not as if Unni’s one to talk…ah.”

Jeongmi-nuna smiled bitterly, and Narae covered her mouth with her hands, as if she just said something she shouldn’t have. Just as I was about to ask them what they were talking about, Saehee spoke.

“More importantly. If you would, please tell us your purpose for coming here. There must be a reason for using magic to inflate those sacks of fat with silicone or what have you and coming to such a far place.”

“Not even the best magic would have an effect on your body, would it?”

Narae met every insult with an insult in kind.

“I’ll grant you that I’m using magic as a bottom support, but I’m not overusing it. It’s just to help keep their shape. And you wouldn’t get such a natural shape from silicone.”

Jeongmi-nuna pushed her breasts up slightly as she spoke truth after truth. Even the tips of my ears turned red, and I lowered my head. A tough time. I’m having a tough time.

“Unni!”

“Should I not have been doing this in front of Sunghoon?”

Jeongmi-nuna smiled unapologetically. Man, I’m jealous. I wish I could casually take Narae’s outbursts like that.

“A-Anyway! Unni invited me to come with her, and since it’s still vacation, I decided to tag along to tell you about supplemental classes and check on Rangii because I was worried about her! O-Okay? If you think anything funny again, I’ll kill you, got it?”

Narae folded her arms and glared at me. She was the same as ever, and this put me at ease. I had a guess, but I wanted to hear why Narae came here directly from her. She was just worried about Rangii and me and must be relieved to find out we’re fine. That business about the supplemental classes was just an excuse. Narae truly is an easily embarrassed angel.

“I said don’t think anything funny!”

I did not.

Chapter end