SWNOVELXO Chapter 16
Episode 16: Maiden Ghost? Chinyeo Ghost!
The woman in front of me is not a human.
She is a pitiful existence, a virgin ghost filled with deep resentment from not experiencing life fully before becoming what she is.
The clothes she is wearing seem to be what she had on just before her death.
She is wearing a loose cardigan and just underwear on the bottom.
‘Chinyeo?..’
Apparently, there was a reason why a virgin ghost died as a virgin.
【What?! Chinyeo?! You provoked me first!】
… There’s a fashion trend called “disappearing bottoms” nowadays.
Wearing an oversized top with short shorts makes it look like one isn’t wearing anything below.
But isn’t it too extreme to think she died wearing her underwear instead of actual bottoms in that “disappearing bottoms” fashion?
By the way, having my thoughts read is an incredibly unpleasant experience.
“Forget that, you. What on earth were you doing when you died that left you like this?”
【Huh? What’s wrong with my outfit?… What… about it…?】
She lowered her head, and her words began to slow.
【Kyaak!】
‘Ah… my head is spinning…’
She screamed, causing my head to spin.
As she screamed, she pulled down on her cardigan to cover her underwear as best as she could.
However, the already loose cardigan didn’t seem to have much more to stretch.
I thought her outfit looked like something someone would wear while enjoying self-pleasure.
“Did you, by any chance, die while… you know?”
I spoke directly to her without any filtering, and as a result,
【A…ah… this…】
The virgin ghost glitched.
Her face turned completely red.
I had never known ghosts could blush.
“But usually, people who die from embarrassment come to men.”
The causes of death from embarrassment usually stem from artery hardening or heart attacks, as far as I know.
【Ugh… uh…】
… It looks like she glitched out pretty badly, and it’s going to take some time to fix her.
“Oh, by the way, what’s your name?”
I asked for her name to lighten the mood.
【My name… what was it…?】
She seemed to have forgotten her own name.
“Have you been dead for a long time?”
She probably forgot because it had been a while since she died.
【What year is it now?】
“It’s Seoul, and it’s 2041.”
【2041? I’ve only been dead for three years.】
It didn’t seem like she had forgotten for a long time.
Does becoming a ghost or soul cause some memories to fade away while wandering the spirit realm?
“How old were you when you died?”
【That was… I think I died when I was 20?】
“Here in this house?”
【Yeah…】
Is that so?
“So did you die from… you know, here on this mattress?”
【Ugh… Ah! I remembered my name!】
It seemed that stimulating her Achilles’ heel worked as a shock therapy, and she quickly recalled her name.
【My name is Han Chaewon. Now that I’ve told you, stop sexually harassing me..】
“You’re just my soul. What can you do anyway?”
【…Ha….】
Chaewon let out a deep sigh without saying anything.
– Notification!
I heard the notification sound from my phone and picked up my smartphone, throwing myself onto the mattress.
The mattress seemed old, as it made strange spring sounds under my weight.
I just relaxed on the mattress.
‘Sigh… indeed, lying down at home is the best.’
I felt a twinge of worry that I might have pressed too hard on the mattress.
‘But as long as it’s comfortable, who cares?’
【Hey! That’s my spot! Now that you can see me, you have to sleep on the floor from today!】
Chaewon quickly became bothersome.
I was going to release her, but I had left the sword far away.
I decided to just leave Chaewon be since getting up again sounded tiresome.
‘But how is she even helpful?’
【What? Am I not helpful? I used to be… at least!】
Chaewon seemed to be trying to squeeze something out with her hands gripping her head, but it didn’t seem like anything good was coming out.
Of course not.
20 years old.
She didn’t even get to live as a hunter.
It didn’t seem like she attended any particularly meaningful university.
Just lived as a hermit at home and ended up dying from self-pleasure alone.
… Huh?
“Hey, Han Chaewon.”
【What?】
“Do you have a lot of money at home?”
【Y-Yeah! My family is wealthy!】
“Then why is a rich girl in a one-room place?”
【I got in a lot of trouble with my parents and was kicked out.】
It turns out, this girl has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
If there are any, they would rather be a luxury.
“You must be a child that hurts your parents just by existing.”
【What do you mean by that?】
“What on earth did you do to get kicked out?”
【… I’ll tell you later.】
Her complexion seemed to darken.
“Ah, okay..”
I felt a bit sorry for Chaewon for no reason.
– Notification!
The notification sound for the chat came again without any awareness.
I looked at my smartphone screen to check the message.
But the sunlight pouring in through the window made it hard to see the screen.
This house doesn’t have curtains.
‘I need to get some later.’
I raised my body to avoid the light.
Then, I only dragged my legs to sit up and move forward a little.
Then I saw Chaewon’s big bottom sitting at the edge of the mattress in my line of sight.
Chaewon was sitting at the edge, resting her chin on her hand as if lost in thought.
But that’s not what’s urgent right now.
I need to check this message, but my attention is strongly pulled in another direction.
I’ll have to take back what I said about Chaewon having no redeeming qualities.
There is a massive advantage here, isn’t there?
Big, beautiful, and pretty.
Her bottom, which cannot be covered by just one piece of underwear, kept stealing my gaze.
I reluctantly lay back down where the sunlight was strong again.
I maximized the brightness of my smartphone.
I was busy stealing glances because I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
– Notification!
The alert sound snapped me back to reality as I looked at my smartphone again.
There was a message from Eunbyul.
‘Did the mood shift suddenly at the end there, or is it just my imagination?’
I didn’t want to be the person who read but didn’t respond, so I hurriedly typed a reply.
Hmm… Besides, it feels a bit uncomfortable that Eunbyul’s name has a heart attached to it.
It doesn’t mean I dislike her.
It’s just that we aren’t even in a romantic relationship; it’s just a heart she attached as a joke, and not being able to erase it feels like I’m the only one making a big deal out of it.
Anyway, since Eunbyul probably doesn’t have any heart attached to my name, I went into my contacts to remove the heart next to Eunbyul’s name.
I felt a chill run down my spine.
The timing was so perfect that I couldn’t help but wonder if she had a CCTV at my home.
I unconsciously spoke to her in a respectful manner.
She was the one who had suggested we drop honorifics since the age difference is so small.
But there’s an air of maturity coming from Eunbyul that I hadn’t noticed before.
Looking at the time, it was already 6 o’clock.
What had I been doing for time to fly by so quickly?
The sunlight that had come earlier must have been the sunset.
Our chat continued with trivial exchanges until it ended.
Chaewon was still quiet, saying she needed time to think.
I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
**********
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【Get up! It’s already 5 AM, and you’re still asleep?!】
…
I usually wake up at 6 AM.
Some might think I’m overreacting to be so sensitive about losing just one hour.
But that’s a different story when it comes to sleep.
Whether you get an extra 10 minutes of sleep that day can dictate your condition.
But since I woke up an hour early, I couldn’t help but feel annoyed.
If I had woken up on my own, it would have been refreshing, but being woken up by this ghost makes my head ache like crazy.
“Ugh… damn…”
As I was complaining about the headache, my smartphone rang.
Even if Chaewon hadn’t woken me up, I was destined to wake up at 5 AM.
I picked up my smartphone.
I had gone to bed last night without charging it, and the battery was down to 40%.
‘I need to charge it a little before washing up.’
Looking at my smartphone, I saw that I had a call from Baek Harin.
‘Ah… it must be Harin.’
【What? Who is Harin? A girl?】
I casually ignored Chaewon’s remarks and answered the call.
“Hello?”
“@#$%^&*!”
– Click.
Harin hung up the call after leaving me in shock.
【What was that about?】
I wasn’t going into the guild today.
There’s a guild investigation as part of the association’s duties, and the employee who was supposed to do the investigation today called in sick.
That employee usually checks whether Harin is involved with any shady business in the guild, and suddenly fainted.
That’s why I was filling in for them.
I was puzzled why I, a mere junior employee, had to step in, but it was clear that Harin had pointed at me, so I decided not to question it further.
So I ended up getting a call telling me to come to the guild for inspection by 8 AM.
It’s work, so there’s no way I could refuse.
But the guild was right next to the association, and recently it became famous for recruiting an S-grade.
That S-grade was my ex-girlfriend, and today, I would be going to that guild.
This means I’d have to face that woman.