SWNOVELXO Chapter 8: Bab 8
The sun was slowly setting, and robed figures began moving down the street, lighting torches one by one. A warm flickering glow spread along the path, but to Gara, it still felt too dark.
The streets had grown quieter, the crowds thinning out.
Madha gently guided Gara toward their inn. It was located just off the town square, with a small dining area in the front and the lodging quarters in the back.
As they stepped inside, every pair of eyes turned toward them.
Men and women alike looked up with interest. But the men, they stared at Gara like hungry beasts who had just spotted fresh prey.
Madha quickly moved ahead of him, blocking the unsettling gazes with his presence. He handled everything, the meal orders, the payment, the room key. Gara simply sat down, watching Madha work like some kind of loyal boyfriend. Or worse… like Gara was his pampered little girlfriend.
The thought made Gara grimace. He was starting to treat Madha like a side character evaluated by the system.
"Eat up, Gara," Madha said gently, noticing his discomfort under the many stares.
Once they'd finished their meal, fatigue hit Gara like a wave. All he wanted was to lie down.
Then he noticed Madha's face. The guy was clearly in pain. His expression tight, body tense.
"I'm gonna head to the back first. Here's our room key. Go on ahead," Gara said, handing over the key with his right hand while clutching his stomach with the other.
Suddenly, a long-buried memory flickered to life. One so faint that even the original owner of this body might've forgotten it.
Madha couldn't eat coconut.
It gave him diarrhea.
And just earlier, Gara had made him eat that coconut snack without even thinking about it.
"…Why does he listen to me so blindly?" Gara muttered to himself, watching Madha shuffle away in agony.
Wanting to get away from the predatory eyes inside the inn, Gara took the long way around to the back.
Stepping outside the dining hall, he found himself facing a small bamboo forest. A narrow path lit by a single torch stretched ahead, swaying gently in the night breeze. The cool wind wrapped around Gara's body as he quickened his pace.
Up ahead stood another building, likely the lodging quarters. It was sturdier, built with proper materials. In front of it sat a small hut where an old man waited, seated calmly like a gatekeeper.
"Which room are you in, child?" the old man asked.
Gara looked at the key but couldn't see any markings on it.
The man extended his hand. Gara handed over the key.
"Fifth room on the right," the old man said after a glance.
"Thank you, Grandpa," Gara replied politely.
He stepped inside and was greeted by a long, quiet hallway. Doors lined both sides, simple wooden ones that looked thin enough to hear through.
But Gara couldn't hear a thing.
"Maybe everyone's still out eating," he thought to himself, continuing down the hall and counting doors.
When Gara reached the fifth door, he reached out to unlock it but his hand froze.
There was a breath behind him.
A harsh, uneven, animal-like breath. It sent chills racing down his spine.
In a flash, Gara jammed the key toward the lock, but before it even touched the keyhole, something yanked him backward—hard—and dragged him into the room directly across from his own.
He was thrown onto the bed. It wasn't soft.
Dazed, Gara glanced around. The inn room was bare, barely furnished. Just a small table and chair with a lantern on top, and the bed where he now lay sprawled.
A tall man stood before him. He wore the robe like the Liner Gara had seen in town. His face was pale, almost sickly white, with tired eyes and a furrowed brow. He looked handsome, young, but older than Gara. Probably in his late twenties or early thirties.
"What are you planning, dragging me here?" the man growled, suddenly in front of Gara, gripping his chin tightly, eyes burning like he was ready to kill.
Terror gripped Gara. His body trembled, but he had to speak to survive. This man wasn't just any Liner. He was dangerous.
"I didn't drag you! You're the one who pulled me in here!"
"Then why do you smell like—" The man cut himself off, eyes going distant as if something clicked in his mind. He slowly released Gara's chin.
Gara instinctively rubbed his jaw, which was now marked red from the pressure.
"Since you're here anyway," the man muttered, "help me finish this."
Without warning, he pinned Gara down.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Gara thrashed, but his limbs wouldn't move, locked down by some invisible force.
The man leaned in closer, his face inches from Gara's.
"I'm a guy, okay?! Don't get the wrong idea!" Gara shouted, jerking his head away in panic. His pretty face was probably the reason this lunatic thought he was a girl.
The man froze. He shifted off Gara, no longer pinning him, and examined him more closely.
Gara exhaled in relief. "I'm really a guy! Let me go already!"
"What proof do you have?" the man asked, expression still weary, eyes half-lidded, brows deeply furrowed.
"What do you mean 'proof'? Can't you see I don't have these?" Gara made a wide curve gesture over his chest.
"That's not proof." The man shook his head, completely serious.
Gara clicked his tongue. "Oh, come on. You really want proof? Fine! Want me to show you mine!?"
"Go ahead," the man replied with a smirk.
"Let me go first! I can't move!" Gara's arms and legs were still held by whatever unseen force pinned him.
Without a chant or gesture, the man released him, and Gara's body was free again.
"Okay, here comes the proof." Gara grumbled. He figured once this guy saw the thing, he'd be so grossed out he'd release him immediately.
With a deep breath and burning cheeks, Gara pulled down his pants just a little then yanked them right back up.
"There! You saw it, right?! Now let me go!"
But instead of recoiling in horror, the man licked his lips. His eyes sparkled with something far more dangerous than confusion.
"…So what if you're a man?"
"?!"
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