Chapter 38: After that day.

There was no contact from Seohee after that.

Chayeon wanted to contact her first, but Byeol said that contacting her via text or other means would leave a record and risk information being leaked, so Chayeon agreed and gave up on that method.

After being indiscriminately assaulted by the warden, Chayeon had no trust left in Jindal.

However, Chayeon thought that the two girls were different.

They were only caught up in it purely for Chayeon’s sake.

“Don’t think about useless things and concentrate! Are you saying you can handle someone like me while daydreaming!?”

She tentatively brought it up during a sparring session with Arena, but only got scolded.

Chayeon, Arena, and Byeol weren’t the only ones coming and going from this large villa.

An elderly couple who usually managed the villa lived a little ways away from the villa and took care of Chayeon and the others.

They were employees of Byeol’s family and had lived here for a long time.

At first, the elderly couple came to cook and clean, but after the three of them continuously declined, they eventually only came occasionally under the pretense of procuring groceries.

It didn’t take long for Chayeon to shake off her invalid status.

After that, Byeol was busy collecting information related to Jindal, and Chayeon spent her time helping with Arena’s rehabilitation.

Fortunately, Arena’s senses were steadily returning.

A week passed, a month passed, and then another month passed.

Two months in a familiar environment passed by so quickly, but two months in a new environment was a long time.

At first, they were constantly on edge, wondering if Jindal would suddenly come looking for them, and whether they would hear from Seohee, but as time passed, they gradually began to relax.

Amidst the distant crisis and the immediate peace, the relationship between them was also rapidly changing.

Time seemed to flow especially slowly away from the secular world, on a remote island.

“…Umm.”

Rubbing her sticky eyes, she groggily got up and looked out the window to see a pitch-black night.

She must have fallen asleep late into the night while taking a nap.

Chayeon wriggled and crawled out of bed, checking the table clock to see that it was 10 o’clock.

It was an ambiguous time to go back to sleep.

Hiding a yawn with her hand, she somehow crawled out of bed.

It was subtly chilly outside the blanket.

The heating was on, but there was a record-breaking cold wave outside.

Not to mention the cold on an island floating on the East Sea in Gangwon Province.

“Arena?”

The lights were all off when she came out to the living room.

Forcibly steadying her staggering steps, she went down the stairs.

When she reached the first floor, she could faintly hear the sound of murmuring from beyond.

‘Jindo!? Wh, what!’

‘It’s already been two months. How is it?’

‘We, well…, ha, holding hands is…’

She was about to open the door when she heard those voices from inside.

‘Just kiss her out of the blue.’

‘Kiss!? Ar, are you crazy!? Th, that’s! Th, so…’

Chayeon opened the door and the two girls, who had been talking, stopped and turned their gazes on her.

“Chayeon!? Uh, how long have you been there?”

“I just came in.”

The room was warm.

A soft and fluffy rug, like the ones seen in foreign movies, was spread out, and oak logs were burning in the fireplace beyond, with orange flames crackling.

And it was dark.

Relying on only one bonfire for light, what were the two of them doing so close together?

“Were you very tired?”

“Oh, it’s already this late. Why aren’t the lights on?”

“It’s atmospheric.”

Byeol covered her mouth with her hand and laughed.

Chayeon got closer to the two girls and saw a deck of cards placed in the middle.

“Cards?”

“Ah? Ah! Yeah! We were playing Old Maid! Th, right? Byeol?”

“Hehe, that’s right.”

“Jeon Chayeon! You join us too!”

Arena rattled off words as if trying to erase something before Chayeon could even say anything.

“Old Maid? How do you play it?”

Chayeon sat down between the two girls, and the three girls formed a triangle with the cards in the center.

“What!? Don’t tell me you’ve never played Old Maid before?”

“I’ve never even seen a deck of cards, let alone played Old Maid.”

“What kind of school life did you have!? Do you not have any friends!?”

Arena was sometimes too much.

It was bound to hurt if you asked someone who really didn’t have many friends if they didn’t have any friends.

After that, Arena explained while waving her arms around, and Byeol supplemented here and there, so Chayeon understood the general rules.

Chayeon, who had thought of games seen in casinos in movies when she saw the fancy deck of cards for the first time, was slightly disappointed by the much simpler rules than expected.

“I roughly understand, so let’s try it. I’ll get a better feel for it if I play.”

And so the game began.

“I’m done~”

Byeol picked a Heart 8 from Arena and cleared her hand first.

It was Chayeon’s turn.

Tap-

“Hot!”

Swish-

“Phew.”

Swish-

“Aah!”

Easy.

It was incredibly easy.

Arena’s expression changed drastically every time Chayeon moved her hand back and forth between the two remaining cards.

Chayeon took out the Diamond 7 and cleared her hand, confirming Arena’s defeat with the Joker.

“No way! Ah, why!”

Arena pounded the ground as if frustrated by her repeated defeats.

Well, if her expression was so obvious, there was no way someone watching wouldn’t know.

Arena’s defeats continued after that.

Occasionally, Byeol or Chayeon would lose, but most rounds ended with Arena’s self-destruction.

“No way! You guys cheated, right!? You guys cheated, didn’t you!?”

Arena’s struggles and the ensuing commotion.

It soon quieted down and the game started again.

Crackling-

Inside the dark winter night, a reddish bonfire faintly lit up the room.

A peaceful time flowed.

Time completely unrelated to Jindal, demons, or supernatural abilities.

The events she had experienced before already felt distant.

It was hard to believe that it had only been a little over two months since she had come to this place.

Maybe,

Wouldn’t it be nice to just stay like this?

“I’m getting bored, how about we set a penalty?”

“Penalty?”

Just when they were getting tired of the repeating pattern, Byeol spoke up.

And so, a game of Old Maid with penalties began.

“Tada!”

“…Where did you get that?”

“Hehe, I brought it from downstairs.”

What Byeol took out was wine.

The words “Chateau Cheval Blanc” were written on the label, and the number 1947 caught her eye.

She didn’t know much about it, but Chayeon vaguely guessed that it must be expensive since it said 1947.

“Wine? You guys are underage.”

“People with supernatural abilities don’t need to worry about such trivial things.”

That was a ridiculous argument.

What a precocious kid.

Arena was simply staring at the wine bottle with wide eyes.

Judging by her expression, she seemed to want to try it.

“I don’t know. Do what you want.”

As soon as Chayeon’s permission was given, Byeol smiled brightly and skillfully poured the wine.

But for some reason, she only poured one glass.

“What, only one glass?”

“We’re not just drinking it. I said it was a ‘penalty,’ right?”

Only then did Chayeon understand Byeol’s intention.

A punishment drink.

It was a drinking game.

It was also a unique combination of Old Maid + wine.

It was completely different from the drinking games Chayeon had experienced during freshman orientation.

And so a new game began.

“I win.”

“Ah! Oh, no.”

Byeol won first, and Arena lost.

But Arena’s expression had a hint of anticipation.

Gulp, gulp.

“How is it?”

“Ugh, it’s bitter. And it smells weird.”

That was Arena’s assessment of drinking wine for the first time.

Soon after, the second game began.

“Oh my? Did I win again?”

Likewise, Byeol won.

But this time, Chayeon was last.

Chayeon, who hadn’t been an adult for long, was also trying wine for the first time.

Gulp, gulp.

Hmm…

“It’s bitter.”

“Right!?”

Arena made the same assessment as Chayeon and looked like she was glad and push her face closer and Byeol laughed while clutching her stomach as if something was fun.

Soon, three games, four games, five games. As the number of games increased, Arena and Chayeon took turns drinking the wine.

“There’s more!”

When the wine ran out, Byeol brought out another new wine from somewhere.

She couldn’t read exactly what was written on it.

It seemed to be a different wine than before.

“Hehe.”

Arena had somehow gotten close to Chayeon and was rubbing her face against her shoulder.

She could feel a hot energy through her clothes.

Judging by her flushed face, she seemed to be completely drunk.

Chayeon, who thought so, was also not in a normal state.

Chayeon, who had always been weak to alcohol, was already feeling dizzy.

“…But Byeol, how come you haven’t had a single drink yet?”

“Is that so? Hehe, what does it matter.”

Right.

What did it matter.

“Arena, it’s stuffy. Can you move away a little?”

“Uh-uh, no.”

Arena clung even more instead of moving away when she told her to.

She wriggled into Chayeon’s arms and was now even acting spoiled while leaning on her chest.

If she woke up, one more black history would be added.

“If it’s hard, should we change the penalty?”

Byeol, looking at the two of them, smiled eerily and suggested.

“To what?”

“Hmm, in this case, wouldn’t the King’s Game be good? Or a strip game?”

Why did she seem to see the ego of a perverted middle-aged man in a teenage girl?

She was extravagant but also seemed strangely natural

<<I agree!>>

“You shut up.”

“Jooah! Let’s doo it!”

After silencing Heukgu, Arena was now making a fuss.

“Rena also agreed, so it’s passed by a majority! Which one should we do? Ah, we can do both.”

“A strip game is a bit much.”

“What does it matter since we’re girls?”

“Why would we do that if we’re girls.”

“Hehe, don’t worry. We’ll just keep things exciting while keeping a moderate line.”

Before she could even stop her, a new game had begun.

“Did I win again~”

Without fail, Byeol won.

Soon after, Chayeon and Arena were facing each other, glaring at each other’s cards.

“Kkeueung-“

Arena looked at Chayeon’s hand with a flushed face.

Chayeon, who was the first winner, couldn’t tell which one was the Joker because she was stuck close to Arena.

“This one!”

“Ah…!”

Byeol was unusually flustered, and the identity of the card that Arena drew was revealed.

Ace of Hearts. Arena’s victory.

“Oh my, I lost.”

Arena expressed her joy with her whole body and jumped up and down, and Byeol licked her lips as if she was disappointed.

“Then, should I take something off?”