Chapter 15: The Pill That Stole Her First Kiss

Whether it was the shock of the ghost’s appearance, the shock of having her first kiss secretly stolen while she slept, or simply the aftereffects of everything that had happened to her over the past month, Lee Young came down with a fever.

“You really do everything, don’t you?”

Even as he said that, Sa Hae diligently placed a cold, wet cloth on Lee Young’s forehead again and again.

His words were indifferent, but the concern in his eyes was unmistakable.

“Should I call a doctor?”

“What doctor…? Don’t you have any fever medicine…?”

“Do you really want to look for fever medicine here? There’s only one human in this house, you know.”

“…”

“Wait here. I’ll go buy some.”

Though he wore a human shell, Sa Hae was a yokai, and he had never once suffered even from something as ordinary as a cold.

No.

There was simply no reason for him to get sick.

“If you’d known you were going to live with a human, you would’ve bought painkillers and fever medicine ahead of time.”

Thinking that, Sa Hae got to his feet.

“Just hold on a little.”

‘Ugh…’

It was Sunday today, so there probably wouldn’t be many pharmacies open…

Lee Young watched the bedroom door through which Sa Hae had disappeared, then curled herself into a ball and began trembling.

This kind of fever was another first for her.

Usually, whenever she got sick, she knew she had no choice but to suffer through it alone, so she tried her best not to get sick in the first place.

But this fever was beyond anything she could have prevented.

“…Come to think of it…”

A Bulgasal with a body hot enough to melt iron was already difficult enough to believe.

Then there was the talking, hopelessly romantic python.

And now even a virgin ghost…

“Woof!”

“Yeah, that’s right… even our adorable Tori.”

‘Right. You’re a yokai too. You’re so cute that I keep forgetting.’

Thinking that, Lee Young reached out and stroked Tori.

Then she suddenly felt something against her fingertips and looked down.

Tori was holding a silk pouch in her mouth.

It was the pouch containing the pill Master Jade Rabbit had given her.

The very same pill Sa Hae had warned her not to eat because Jade Rabbit was a devious bastard.

“Ah…”

‘What did he say this pill was supposed to do again…?’

Lee Young remembered what the white rabbit had said while twitching his red nose repeatedly.

‘It’ll flush out all the waste in your body, too.’

Right.

That was what he had said.

It would flush out waste.

‘Waste…’

Lee Young naturally lowered her head and looked at her own body, drenched in cold sweat.

“If I take this, will I get better faster…?”

Sa Hae’s voice echoed in her ears, warning her that Jade Rabbit was devious.

But to Lee Young, Jade Rabbit was still Master Jade Rabbit.

The capable Master Jade Rabbit who had helped fulfill Sin’s wish.

“Ah, I’m losing my strength…”

Muttering weakly, Lee Young took the round pill from the silk pouch.

“Well…”

‘If I eat this and pass out or something, Mister will save me, right…?’

With that somewhat irresponsible thought, Lee Young put the pill into her mouth.

“Ugh. Bitter.”

That was the last normal thought Lee Young had.

The moment she bit down on the pill, the bitter taste filled her mind.

And that was it.

****

“Should I just kill them all and disappear myself?”

Sa Hae returned home with both hands full of bags containing every kind of medicine imaginable, as though he had bought out the entire pharmacy.

The moment he stepped inside, a strange fragrance seized his senses.

A scent that made his head spin permeated the house.

And it was coming from Lee Young’s room.

More precisely, it was coming from Lee Young herself, lying on the bed with a face flushed bright red.

“Should I make rabbit stew?”

‘This crazy rabbit bastard. I spoiled him so much he apparently thinks he’s an actual immortal now. What the hell did he give the kid?’

“Lee Young. Cheon Lee Young!”

Sa Hae immediately rushed to the bed, gathered Lee Young into his arms, and shook her, trying to bring her back to her senses.

But Lee Young’s body was already much hotter than it had been before Sa Hae left the house, and she was barely conscious from the fever.

“Damn it.”

Sa Hae examined her condition, his expression troubled as he tried to figure out what to do.

It was obviously too late to make her vomit up whatever she had swallowed.

For now, the most important thing seemed to be cooling her fever.

“Wait. At least some ice water…”

“Misteeer…”

‘This is bad.’

The moment Lee Young parted her lips and called for him, Sa Hae realized just how bad the situation was.

No other word came to mind.

‘This is bad.’

Her breathing came out shallow and ragged, and the fragrance surrounding her was even stronger.

Living in a human form for too long was a problem.

It made him careless.

From the moment he realized she might have eaten the pill Jade Rabbit had given her, he should have stopped breathing altogether.

There was no way that damned rabbit had made a pill that affected only Lee Young’s body.

“Hang in there, Cheon Lee Young.”

He told her to endure it, but those words were meant for himself as much as they were for her.

Just as Lee Young’s body was suffering from the fever, Sa Hae’s own body had begun to heat up uncontrollably.

His instincts were reacting violently to the scent and the situation, and Sa Hae desperately suppressed them, forcing himself to keep his attention on Lee Young.

“Ah, damn it.”

‘No.’

The moment he looked at Lee Young, Sa Hae realized that keeping his eyes on her wasn’t helping either.

Her flushed skin.

Her parted lips.

The breath escaping between them.

Every detail made the back of Sa Hae’s neck grow tense.

His mind went blank, as though someone had struck him across the back of the head.

“Endure it…”

Sa Hae gathered Lee Young into his arms.

The moment he stood, his large body staggered.

Sa Hae held his breath, desperately trying not to inhale any more of the fragrance coming from Lee Young.

If he kept breathing it in, he couldn’t guarantee what would happen next.

The state he was in made that frighteningly clear.

He was beginning to fear that he would become so shameless that he might actually cross a line with his friend’s granddaughter.

“Damn it…”

With that thought, Sa Hae carried Lee Young into the bathroom.

He climbed into the large bathtub and turned on the cold water.

Whoosh—

“Cheon Lee Young. Young.”

“…Hng…”

“Bear with the cold.”

Holding Lee Young close, Sa Hae stepped into the cold water with her.

But even the chill of the water couldn’t completely suppress the heat radiating from their bodies.

Sa Hae was accustomed to heat.

He was a Bulgasal who could consume molten iron.

But the heat spreading through his body now was nothing like his natural heat.

It was entirely different.

“Are you okay? Just hold on a little…”

Sa Hae pulled the trembling Lee Young closer and gently rubbed her thin back through her shirt.

He kept telling her to endure it.

But his own body was hardly in a condition to endure anything.

Every time he unconsciously drew breath, the sweet scent lingering around the tip of his nose refused to disappear.

It tormented him.

“Cheon Lee Young. Young.”

Sa Hae repeatedly called her name, as though he were afraid she might lose consciousness.

Each time he said her name, he forced himself to regain control, fighting against the intoxicating scent threatening to overwhelm his senses.

“Hng… My body feels…”

But the moment Lee Young looked up at Sa Hae and murmured that her body was burning, her lips parted further as she struggled for breath.

Sa Hae felt the world spin before his eyes.

“…”

In the end, he lost the battle against his own restraint.

Sa Hae leaned down and pressed his lips to Lee Young’s.

Their already feverish lips met, and instinctively, the kiss deepened.

For a moment, Sa Hae lost himself in the sensation, then abruptly remembered himself.

‘If you go any further, there’ll be no answer except for your own disappearance, Bulgasal. Please. Please.’

Sa Hae cursed himself silently, desperately trying to regain control.

Even kissing Lee Young here, in this situation, was already far beyond what he considered acceptable.

“…”

Their kiss lingered, breaths mingling in the cold water.

Somewhere within their bodies, the heat only seemed to intensify, yet the fever brought on by Jade Rabbit’s pill was gradually beginning to subside.

The cold water that had once filled the bathtub had become lukewarm from their combined body heat.

Neither of them seemed to notice.

All they could focus on was each other.

“Open your mouth a little more, okay?”

“Ah…”

At Sa Hae’s prompting, Lee Young parted her lips while barely conscious, and the kiss deepened again.

“…This is driving me insane.”

It was almost as though the girl who had been so furious about losing her first kiss to the songaksi had never existed.

Her reactions were unexpectedly bold.

“Good girl. Pretty.”

The words slipped from Sa Hae before he could stop himself, and he drew her into another kiss.

There was little difference between them now.

Just as this was Lee Young’s first real kiss, it was Sa Hae’s first as well.

Lee Young’s first was, in its own way, Sa Hae’s first too.

And so, despite neither of them intending it, the two clung to each other’s warmth and struggled desperately not to cross the deeper line that lay beyond this moment.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

An Undeniable Pull

ChaebolDominant TopObsessive

Read Now →
Not interested