Illusion Blind Date - Chapter 29

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#29

Crack!
The sound reached Bom’s ears with perfect clarity.
The sound of a front tooth coming loose.
He cursed low under his breath, then twisted his head and bit down on Bom’s lip.
He licked and rubbed gently with his tongue against his upper lip and teeth where they’d collided hard.
What is this right now? …… A Kiss?!
Bom’s eyes went wide as saucers.
She’d thought it would end with just a peck, but his tongue began exploring inside her mouth.
Her head spun dizzily, as though the ground were flipping beneath her, and Bom gripped Tae-mun’s t-shirt tightly.
But he pressed forward so relentlessly that she couldn’t even breathe, and her grip on his shirt slipped away.
To steady her tilting body, she instinctively braced herself against his thigh, and beneath her palm she felt something heavy, hard, long, and thick—something impossibly large that made her flinch.
“Ha…….”
Something massive and writhing like a living serpent swelled further the moment her hand touched it.
He pulled his lips away and breathed roughly, glowering down at Bom.
It was almost like a beast growling.
“……Bom.”
“Y-yes!”
“Do you like that?”
Gasp!
Startled, Bom quickly withdrew her hand.
He still gripped the back of her neck, breathing heavily.
“I’m s-sorry. I didn’t mean to. My hand just… without thinking. But Professor, are your front teeth okay?”
“What?”
“When we bumped lips just now, I heard a cracking sound. But my teeth are fine.”
As Bom ran her tongue over her own front teeth and examined Tae-mun’s teeth carefully, he lowered his hand and drew back from her.
Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, he spoke through gritted teeth.
“You… right now……. Get. Go inside.”
“Yes?”
“Go inside first. I’ll come in later.”
His expression returned to its usual cool demeanor as he issued the dismissal.
Was he angry because she’d touched him?
Why had he suddenly rammed their lips together in the first place?
Though she felt somewhat aggrieved, Bom weighed the sudden kiss against having touched him and decided it was better to withdraw for now.
“Yes, then I’ll head inside. Thank you for tonight. It was enjoyable.”
“Right.”
“Have a good rest of your evening.”
Bom turned carefully and left.
Though she tried to appear unconcerned, her heart felt as though it might burst from her chest.
She fled the spot, repeating to herself “I’ve lost it” over and over.
He kissed me?
Why?
Is this real?
Why does he have feelings for me?
When did this even start?
Like a question-mark serial killer, she fired off endless questions, but only Tae-mun would know the answers.
Once inside the house, Bom’s legs gave out and she sank to the floor.
“What do I do? I actually kissed him!”
Covering her face with her hands, Bom let out a joyful cry.

***

Left alone after Bom departed, Tae-mun smiled emptily and dragged a hand across his face.
“Christ, what a madman I am.”
Where her hand had touched him and then withdrawn, the sensation still lingered vividly on his skin.
And his lips—
He’d lunged at her like a possessed fool; if he’d been careless, her front tooth would have come loose just as she’d said.
He dragged his tongue across his front teeth and burst into a stifled laugh.
The more he dwelled on it, the more absurd it became, and quiet chuckles escaped him.
What on earth was he thinking?
The sight of himself standing alone, stirring up chaos in his own head, was absolutely ridiculous.
He’d entertained the idea of building a campfire, setting a romantic mood—but it seemed he’d need to change tactics.
He’d wondered, hoped, but it was becoming clear that Spring had zero instinct when it came to romance.
Unable to contain the turmoil in his chest, Tae-mun rose from his seat and headed toward the Kitchen.
He returned moments later with an ice-cold Beer in hand.
Pop.
He cracked open the can and drained half the Beer in one go.
It wouldn’t cool the heat burning through him—not really—but he needed to do something or he’d lose his mind.
Han Spring.
There were people who could make your heart race even without any particular reason to feel anything special—and Spring was one of them.
Just looking at her lifted his spirits; he wanted to keep looking; he burned with the urge to do something for her.
If she looked this beautiful to him, wouldn’t she look the same to others?
Anxiety clawed at him.
Even now, hesitating like this, he feared someone else would sweep her away.
Tae-mun settled back into the Rattan Chair, draining the rest of his Beer.
He thought of the tight, binding friendship that flowed between them—her and those guys.
They didn’t just share bonds; they also carried memories from carefree school days together.
He envied them fiercely—a past he could never know, no matter how hard he tried to go back in time. Their shared history gnawed at him.
And when his eyes found Spring at the heart of it all, possessiveness surged through him, unstoppable.
The thought of having her completely to himself, of building memories just the two of them, of sharing emotions only with her—it made his chest ache.
He was mad.
Crunch.
He crushed the empty can and gazed up at the distant, empty sky.
The black night felt like his heart—formless, obscured.
He couldn’t tell if this was a feeling that would bloom and wither like a spring flower, or persist unchanging like an evergreen pine.
He only knew he was falling, losing all sense of himself.
It felt like driving a car with no brakes.
He had no idea how to get off, whether to ride it to the end, or what lay ahead.
It was the greatest puzzle of his life.

***

The alarm pulled Spring from sleep, and she forced her eyelids open.
Her eyes wouldn’t fully cooperate, as if weighted down by heavy stones.
She’d spent the entire night awake, thinking of Tae-mun.
Not that worrying ever solved anything.
Shaking off the recursive spiral of thoughts that had haunted her all night, Spring got out of bed and went to the mirror.
Though her confidence had spiked yesterday, the puffy face staring back at her made her shake her head in dismay.
This wasn’t a human face.
She’d eaten far too much yesterday, caught up in the moment, but no amount of effort could hide her true nature.
Spring headed to the bathroom, determined to reduce the swelling.
She’d need to get down to the Training Room and do at least thirty minutes of exercise.
After a quick brush and wash, Spring made her way downstairs to the Training Room.
She opened the door and stepped inside to find Yun-geon.
More devoted to exercise and muscle-building than anyone, Yun-geon came home and worked out whenever he had a spare moment.
But whether it was his constitution or just bad luck, despite all his effort, his muscles remained frustratingly modest.
“Yun-geon!”
“Oh, you’re here?”
Yun-geon stood before the mirror, Dumbbell in hand, focused intently on building his chest.
“Did you come home to work out?”
“What else?”
Spring had seen it yesterday.
She’d watched Yun-geon’s eyes sweep over Tae-mun’s body—the one in the sleeveless shirt—with unmistakable envy.
Poor Yun-geon.
“Oh, our diligent one! Has your hard work finally paid off? Are you getting bigger?”
As Spring approached, Yun-geon caught her eye in the mirror and smiled, his face flushed with excitement.
“Are you here to warm up too?”
“Yeah, my face is swollen.”
She cupped her cheeks in both hands and grumbled, which made Yun-geon tease her.
“Your face looks like a steamed bun. Look, look carefully. Isn’t your face bigger than mine?”
“That’s only because your face is abnormally small. Let me see your bangs.”
“Absolutely not.”
“See? Your hair covers your forehead, so your face looks smaller. You’re not ugly enough to show off to your sister.”
Despite what she said, Yun-geon was the most handsome in the surgery department. Of course, that ranking had shifted once Professor Tae-mun arrived.
Still, when you were comparing a feline predator to a deer, the species were too different for rankings to mean much.
It was simply a matter of preference.
After exchanging a few more jokes, she separated from Yun-geon and began Stretching in front of the mirror.
Once she finished her light warm-up, she stepped onto the Treadmill.
The best way to reduce swelling was to run hard enough to break a sweat on the Treadmill.
About five minutes in, she was still going.
Yun-geon set down his Dumbbell and gestured to her.
“Stop running and sweating from this early morning. Come here—I’ll help you with your Stretching.”
“Really?”
She immediately stopped the Treadmill and approached Yun-geon, who was laying out the Mat.
“Sit down on the floor.”
She caught her breath and sat on the Mat as Yun-geon instructed.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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