Whisper Chapter 20

At that moment, Lee Heewoo was also in the bathroom, having stopped her shower and leaning blankly against the wall before sliding down to the floor. Her legs had lost strength, making it impossible to stand.  

 

Warm water continued to pour down on her as her gaze wandered aimlessly into the air. Her lips still tingled, and a foreign sensation lingered at the root of her tongue and inside her mouth.  

 

– “Have you ever done something like this before?”

 

Cha Gyeol’s face when he asked that after ending the phone call felt unfamiliar.  

 

The strange aura he exuded kept pooling heat in Lee Heewoo’s lower abdomen, filling her with warmth despite his cool body temperature.  

 

– “W-Who…?” 

– “Ah, so you’re thinking about the other person first?”*  

 

“Fuck,” he had added the curse so naturally.  

 

Lee Heewoo had been so dazed that she didn’t even realize what she had said, only blinking blankly in response. She couldn’t quite grasp what had happened—her mind was simply hazy. Hazy, and… pleasant.  

 

Her heart pounded as if she had sprinted to the top of a mountain. The heavy thudding made it seem as though Cha Gyeol could hear it.  

 

– “…I like it.”

 

Cha Gyeol, watching her lips move, tilted his head slightly.  

 

– “What do you like?”

– “This. This feels good.”

 

At Lee Heewoo’s words, Cha Gyeol pressed his fingers against his temple as if he had a headache, then let them drop.  

 

His kiss had not been soft in the slightest. Lowering his head again, Cha Gyeol ran his tongue over her swollen lower lip.  

 

Her entire body felt like it was melting. She found herself wishing this moment could last forever.  

 

– “…Why did you stop?”  

 

Her cracked voice sounded foreign even to herself. Lee Heewoo’s gaze was fixed solely on Cha Gyeol’s face.  

 

She had read about kissing between men and women in books. Descriptions of lips meeting and tongues intertwining were fairly common in novels. But calling what they had just done a “kiss” felt odd—this was nothing like what she had read.  

 

She had never seen a kissing scene in any visual media either. Whenever she came across them in books, she would tilt her head, wondering if they were really that pleasant. She couldn’t imagine it.  

 

Books often described kisses as soft, sweet—sometimes like chocolate, other times like the chime of a bell.  

 

The descriptions varied, but they all said it was something good.  

 

Lee Heewoo agreed. It was different from books, but it was good.  

 

– “Do you want to keep going?”

 

As she looked into Cha Gyeol’s dangerously gleaming eyes, Lee Heewoo slowly nodded. His brow furrowed.  

 

– “This is bad.”

 

His voice, a deep murmur, sounded almost like a sigh. Cha Gyeol readjusted his grip on her and, after staring at her with a look of discontent, abruptly stood up. Startled, Lee Heewoo instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck.  

 

– “You don’t even know what this is, and you want to keep going? You don’t even realize you’re about to be eaten alive.”

 

His irritated voice had a trace of unease in it.  

 

“…Eaten alive—Haa.”

 

Still sitting under the shower, Lee Heewoo let out a deep sigh before gripping the wall and pushing herself up. Her whole body felt languid.  

 

She had never imagined she would experience something like this. She had thought of it as a simple kiss, like those between lovers in the books she had read. But her wide eyes rolled as she recalled—she and Cha Gyeol weren’t in that kind of relationship.  

 

She didn’t know what love was. But whatever this was, whatever it meant, it was something she wanted with Cha Gyeol. She didn’t need anyone else.  

 

As she quickly washed up and stepped out of the bathroom, a strange sense of incongruity made her tilt her head.  

 

She changed clothes and ran her fingers through her damp hair when, suddenly realizing something, she let out a small *ah!*  

 

Something that should have been there was missing.  

 

Before Cha Gyeol had arrived, they had been clinging to her, whining about how pathetic she looked, urging her to play, to try on new clothes they had bought while shopping. They had been annoyingly loud.  

 

But throughout her time in the bathroom, and even now—silence.  

 

Lee Heewoo slowly scanned the room.  

 

Where did they go? They never left the house.  

 

Lost in thought about the three, Lee Heewoo briefly forgot the overwhelming events she had just experienced. Could they be hiding? Just as she was considering this—  

 

“Oh, there they are.”

 

Suddenly, the three appeared in her field of vision all at once.  

 

“That’s weird. Why couldn’t we get in before?”

“Hey, what did you do with that landlord guy?”

 

Lee Heewoo pressed her lips together and turned her head away. It had been so nice and quiet. They could have waited a little longer before showing up.  

 

Grumbling to herself, she fiddled with the damp towel.  

 

“Men don’t like women who act so clingy.”

 

At the remark from the one with twin braids, Lee Heewoo flinched.  

 

“Yeah, men prefer women who are aloof.”

 

Lee Heewoo puffed up her cheeks and half-turned her head. The one with the bob cut was sitting at her feet.  

 

“Do you like him?”

 

At the pretty ghost’s question, Lee Heewoo turned away completely.  

 

Their eyes, far too bright to belong to ghosts, sparkled with excitement. Their dull routine had suddenly gotten a lot more interesting.  

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“How can you not know? You look fine, but you’re pretty dumb.”

 

“Well, considering I can see things like you guys, wouldn’t you say I’m more than just dumb?”

 

Lee Heewoo replied glumly and turned toward the door.  

 

If she was with Cha Gyeol, she wouldn’t see things like this. That was nice.  

 

Sure, her heart pounded—no, it raced—but he was so handsome she couldn’t look away, he smelled good, and… he held her, kissed her…  

 

“Ugh, why lump us all together like that?!”

“Yeah, we have feelings too, you know.”

“Ugh, she’s still got that crazy streak. It never goes away.”

 

The bickering was giving her a headache. Ghosts had different vocal frequencies from humans, and their shrill voices were grating on her ears.  

 

Knock, knock.

 

At the sound of someone knocking on the door, the room fell silent in an instant.  

 

“Come out for a bit, little miss.”

 

Lee Heewoo’s face brightened instantly.  

 

Her clear, transparent eyes shone as if they had caught the light.  

 

***

 

-“You know the shaman you brought? They say she has a granddaughter. If you bring her like last time, it’ll be two thousand.”  

 

Cha Gyeol looked at Lee Heewoo, who was sitting at the dining table, eating ice cream sparingly.  

 

-“Why?”  

 

-“I don’t know the details. They say the shaman is looking for her granddaughter. Apparently, she wants to keep her by her side.”  

 

Normally, Jang Pal-yong would have handled such requests over the phone, but since Cha Gyeol was the one who took care of it, they had called him directly.  

 

Lee Heewoo raised her eyes to stare at Cha Gyeol while eating her ice cream. Her neatly trimmed hair suited her exceptionally well. The hair salon owner had made a fuss, saying that if she bleached it a few times and removed the color, she would look completely ethereal.  

 

“My Lady.”  

 

“Yes? Yes?”  

 

She pulled away from the backrest, crossing her arms. Cha Gyeol’s three-whites eyes darkened. The shaman is looking for her?  

 

Cha Gyeol knew better than anyone that this couldn’t be true. Even if she were looking for her, Heo Gwiryeon knew that Lee Heewoo was with him. There was no way she would make a request like this.  

 

“There’s something I want to know.”  

 

“Yes. Please, go ahead.”  

 

Lee Heewoo rested the ice cream spoon halfway against her lips, looking ready to answer anything.  

 

Cha Gyeol narrowed his eyes faintly, lightly tapping his canine tooth with his tongue before speaking.  

 

“Did the shaman have a lot of visitors?”  

 

“…Grandmother? I’ve never seen any visitors.”  

 

Cha Gyeol raised an eyebrow at Lee Heewoo’s response, as if asking what she meant. She fidgeted with the spoon, unsure how to answer.  

 

“Well… Customers would make reservations through aunty. So when visitors came, I would…”  

 

Lee Heewoo trailed off mid-sentence, hesitant about how much she could say.  

 

“I would either stay near the house or go to the peak.”  

 

Cha Gyeol tilted his head slightly. He couldn’t understand why Lee Heewoo had never seen any visitors. Why go out of her way to avoid them?  

 

“Your grandmother must have been quite famous. She must have been powerful.”  

 

As the melting ice cream pooled at the edges, Lee Heewoo gently scooped it up with her spoon and placed it in her mouth. She blinked her large eyes and nodded.  

 

“Our family has served the spirits for generations. Aunty said she received a lot of calls.”  

 

“Don’t you miss her?”  

 

At Cha Gyeol’s dry question, Lee Heewoo’s lips immediately drooped. Her large eyes glistened, as if on the verge of tears.  

 

“I miss her.”  

 

“If she says she’s looking for you, will you meet her?”  

 

Her dark eyes were larger than most people’s, making them appear even more tearful with just a little moisture.  

 

With a sorrowful expression, Lee Heewoo tilted her head before pressing her eyelids up with some effort. Her deep double eyelids became more pronounced, and her long eyelashes fluttered.  

 

“…Grandmother? Hm, that can’t be.”