No30 Ch12

The cold water poured down Aslan’s broad shoulders and back.

The maximum flow rate of a normal shower head is 12 liters per minute.

Aslan stood for a few seconds, counting. Five minutes was too short to cool his heated body. He tilted his head back to let the soap run off, roughly sweeping his hair back, and then his eyes snapped open as the kiss came to mind. His lower body throbbed again.

“Shall we kiss?”

“We have nothing to lose, don’t you think?”

At that time, he was looking at the slender curve of her neck flowing from her ear to her shoulder. He was sure it would be delicate and soft. Enough to melt if he held it in one hand and buried his body in it.

No man could refuse such a proposal. Especially when the other party was Liella.

A low breath escaped his lips as he recalled the flesh that had touched his chest and was gently crushed.

With a creak, the water was turned off. He listened to the dripping water, then slowly dried himself and put on his clothes.

Even though he knew he was buttoning the first button wrong, he took the hand she offered. It wasn’t impulse, but cold reason that made him do it. If he refused, she might make the same offer to someone else. What she needed wasn’t him, but someone to give her pleasure. A twisted idea twisted his head and made his lips overlap.

She wasn’t aware of it at all, but she was breathtakingly beautiful. From the moment she opened her eyes, men’s eyes often swept over her meaninglessly. It was like instinct or impulse. The thought of those eyes, which had wanted him so much, turning to another human being made all his nerves stand on end.

There were a few moments when he felt like he was going crazy. When he realized she wasn’t wearing underwear, or when he whispered her name. And….

“…Not without some gain.”

He came out wearing a black T-shirt, drying his hair with a towel, and muttered as he looked at her white clothes reflected in the light of the clock.

When the light came on, a scene flashed through his mind, a scene that he couldn’t tell if it was imagination or reality. A girl lying wet on the pebbles by the lake. Pale, lowered eyelids and sunlight falling on hair like golden thread. He seemed to want the glittering girl to open her eyes and smile at him. Just like she had done to him earlier.

***

[Static, static-

This is Abyss 1, … Abyss 1… Alerting all exploration vessels capable of communication… We have discovered paradise here… Repeat. We have discovered paradise here.]

Thump, thump.

“Hey, wake up.”

Thump, thump, thump.

“I turned on the lights, so come out and eat breakfast.”

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

“Ugh, I even took out the canned milk bread. No one’s coming out. I’m eating alone?”

“…..”

When she opened her eyes, she was curled up in the middle of the bed.

She was still wearing the large jacket, and her head was clearer than ever. As if she had woken up from a very, very deep sleep.

“…..”

Liella, giving up, looked at the door that had become quiet, then sat up groggily. She clenched and unclenched her hands as if she were having a nightmare, and opened her lips to make a sound. Ah.

“…I’m still alive.”

What should she call this feeling? Relief and a small joy bubbled up and then subsided. As long as she was alive, she would have to face these feelings every morning for the rest of her days.

At least she could live each day with gratitude. Liella, finding the positive side as a habit, took off her jacket to wash up, and then suddenly recalled what had happened last night.

“I really kissed him…”

She kissed a man she barely knew. And it was even good. She savored and relived it until her eyelids grew heavy, and she fell asleep without knowing the world. The heat left by the flushed kiss and the scent of being held in his arms drove away the night without even giving her time to be depressed.

The only thing that bothered her was…

“No, I’m the one who’s going to regret it, not you.”

Maybe he didn’t want to kiss a woman he didn’t even like. But she hoped he wouldn’t think it was too big of a mistake. Her chapped lips tingled.

“Where’s Aslan?”

“I don’t know, how would I know? He stayed up all night, so he’s probably still sleeping. I even prepared breakfast.”

When she came out of the room, she saw Dylan sitting alone at the table. The man, who answered indifferently, didn’t seem to know about what happened yesterday. Liella, relieved, took the strength out of her shoulders and chattered.

“Wouldn’t it be more helpful to take your legs off the table than to prepare breakfast?”

“What?”

“No, it’s okay if you didn’t hear me. But do you happen to have a knife?”

Dylan looked confused about what he had just heard, then rummaged through his pockets.

“I do, but why? Just so you know, it’s the knife I stabbed that monster with yesterday. I’m not eating any food that’s touched this.”

“Who would use that for cooking?”

Liella, horrified, denied it and took the jackknife, then sat down.

She drew a long horizontal line on the wooden table, and then two short vertical lines on top of it. Dylan’s head suddenly came in from the side.

“What’s this? Fish bones?”

“Oh, it does look like that. I was just going to count the days. I’m going to use one horizontal line for a week and one vertical line for a day. Today is the second day of living in Number 30.”

After a brief explanation, Liella glanced at the hallway door. Fortunately, the hatch was still intact. Other than the fact that the wounds were healing quickly, there were no other observed physical changes.

“For now, it doesn’t look like we’re going to turn into monsters. I think only dead people turn into them. Like we saw on the first floor, after they pour something into the corpse’s mouth, they turn into the monsters we saw.”

When Liella listed the clues she had found in her dream, Dylan frowned immediately.

“I don’t know. It sounds plausible… but do you really have to talk about that from the morning and ruin my appetite?”

“Wow, Aslan would have listened more seriously.”

Dylan snorted at her complaint.

“Hey, you. I can’t say the name out loud, but? Be especially careful of handsome and cold people. They might be the type to endure without expression in front of you and then explode behind your back. As far as I know, none of the guys who throw things when they’re angry are normal.”

Was this person’s hobby to tell people to be careful of someone? Or was he subtly worried about her? Confused, she tilted her head, and Dylan leaned closer and whispered as if he were gossiping.

“Do you know what my sensitive ears picked up last night? I heard a loud crash, so I came out and saw some guy throwing his precious flashlight, which he can only turn on for three hours a day, on the floor.”

“I don’t think it was that bad…”

“What, you were awake?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I woke up for a bit then. But he’s not usually that impulsive, is he?”

“How do you know someone after only seeing them for two or three days?”

“Why wouldn’t I? For example, someone who’s never been formal since the first time we met and is always quick to get angry is obviously…”

“Are you saying I’m worse than that guy?”

“Who’s that guy?”

The whispering conversation that had been going on in low voices was cut off by the low question. With a flinch, the two people who had slumped over the table and stiffened their shoulders turned their heads at the same time.

“…..”

Aslan’s eyes met hers head-on. He scanned Liella’s pink, flushed cheeks, then her blonde hair that was flowing down her back, still damp, and the thin clothes that were getting wet.

The last place his eyes stopped was on the two people’s elbows touching on the table. Dylan, intimidated by the cold gaze, immediately straightened his body. He didn’t know why he had moved, even though he had acted instinctively.

“Speak of the devil, and he shall appear, as expected…”

“Oh, Aslan! Did you sleep well?”

Liella greeted him with something awkward that was hanging on the corner of her lips, not quite a smile.

She was trying to act like nothing had happened!

Not only did it feel like she had been caught doing something wrong, but the sensation of her lips was vividly revived, making her flustered. Her rolling eyes kept going to the shoulders and fine hair that she had grabbed yesterday.

“Dylan chose canned milk bread for breakfast! I’m so curious that there’s bread in a can! Bread is best eaten freshly baked, so it probably won’t taste good, right? Since it’s canned, we should eat it later.”

She became a question mark bomber without fail and laughed awkwardly. The man, who had been staring at her, slowly opened his mouth.

“We’ve already taken care of all the food with short expiration dates, so it’ll be fine. But it would be better with jam or peanut butter.”

He paused for a moment and added.

“Can you help me find it? I don’t remember where I put it.”

Maybe it was just her imagination, but his voice was chillingly low.

He must have taken the jam yesterday. Liella paused and blinked in confusion, not knowing why he was asking her. She nodded because he seemed to be in a bad mood. Maybe he was tired and didn’t even care about yesterday’s kiss.

“It’s probably in the very back over there. I remember seeing it yesterday.”

Liella, who had gotten up readily, said as she opened the cupboard. An arm stretched out from behind and naturally picked up the glass jar.

His upper body, which was already casting a shadow, was so close that she felt like she was being hugged, no, completely enveloped. Her body, which remembered what had happened yesterday, stiffened with tension. It was probably just her imagination, but the man behind her seemed to have stopped holding the glass jar for a moment.

No, it must be her imagination. This person really doesn’t seem to care at all.

Soon, Aslan moved away, and the light poured in again. Liella returned to the table, listening to her pounding heart. The seat was somehow slightly changed, and Aslan was in the seat she had originally been sitting in, so she had to sit across from him.