Chapter 7: Laughing About It Is Just Right

Beneath the roof of our horror house, a crime that hasn’t been made public is unfolding.

The charge is abduction and kidnapping of a minor. The punishment is three months to seven years in prison. I didn’t even know this information until I hired a home security guard, including the difference between indecent acts and lewd behavior.

When these handcuffs are slapped on me, there’s one thing I want to scream:

“I didn’t lay a hand on any kid!”

It’s a ridiculous thing to say after keeping this secret for half a year. No one’s going to take me seriously.

My face will debut on TV, and jealous netizens will rant about how envious they are, spinning their selfish fantasies about what they’d do in my position. They’ll tear me apart while dreaming of being the one to reach out to a runaway girl, just like I did.

I don’t intend to condemn their feelings as filthy or impure. I’m one of them, after all.

The rules and morals this society upholds—I know how to handle them, but I don’t hold them sacred. That’s why, even if I crossed the line with Rena that day, I felt no guilt, only a sense of transgression.

The reason I didn’t make a move was simply because I was playing it safe, responding only to what was asked of me.

Maybe I was too passive. I can’t say I don’t regret it a little. At the time, I thought not being too eager was the mark of a mature adult.

Looking back now, Rena often closed her eyes while looking up at me. Maybe she was expecting me to show some maturity and masculinity.

It’s too late to regret what I missed.

By the next morning, everything was back to normal. Our relationship remained that of senpai and kouhai, a crappy boss and a home security guard. There was no atmosphere to invite her to nighttime sports, no sense of intimacy. Even as a lifelong single man, I understand how important mood is in a relationship.

That’s why I gulped at the sight before me.

Usually, when I come home, I hear the sound of footsteps first, no matter where I go. But today, there was none. The kitchen was empty, and Rena’s room, left wide open, was deserted.

When I entered my room,

“Huh?”

An unfamiliar scene greeted me.

It wasn’t the lingering scent of the supernatural or some bizarre claw marks.

The first thing I noticed was the apron hanging on the chair. Then, there was the figure of our home security guard lying on the bed.

I immediately understood what it meant, but I had no idea how it had come to this.

“Hey.”

I shook Rena’s shoulder as she lay on her side, asleep under the blanket.

No response. She looked like a corpse. If something had happened, it would be a real problem. I could feel warmth through the blanket, and her chest rose and fell rhythmically. She was definitely breathing.

Hesitating, I finally decided to pull back the blanket.

“Ngh…!”

I couldn’t help but gasp.

Her sleeping form was curled up like a cat under a kotatsu. She looked like a fetus, yet her maternal aura was undeniable.

We’ve been living under the same roof for half a year, seeing each other every day. I already knew Rena was cute, and her face alone didn’t make me nervous anymore. What made me gulp was her current state.

She was only wearing a black undershirt and shorts. The exposed skin wasn’t just her slender limbs. The hem of her shirt was pulled up, revealing her navel. The pink bra strap peeking out from her collar accentuated her alluring collarbone.

Lying defenselessly on the bed was a busty, beautiful JK girl. No, a former JK girl.

It wasn’t a prank, but it sure made my heart skip a beat.

This was the first time I’d seen her sleeping face. Her profile looked youthful, but her lips, trembling with each breath, were undeniably seductive.

Remembering that night, my eyes were drawn to her lips. My brain refused to think about what to do next.

How long had I been staring at her sleeping face?

As my finger unconsciously touched her lips,

“Sen…pai?”

A sweet voice reached my ears.

Rena’s neck moved slightly.

My eyes were drawn next to her drowsy, moist eyes.

She must still be half-asleep.

As she wrapped her hands around my finger,

“Ngh…”

She nibbled on it.

The sensation of her lips, like a kitten’s playful bites, sent ripples of pleasure through my fingertip. It was beyond pleasant—it was sensual.

I should have pulled my hand away and woken her up like nothing happened. I knew that was the right choice, but my body wouldn’t move. Her captivating eyes, looking up at me, felt like I was staring into Medusa’s gaze.

As if surrendering to the flow, my finger was slowly drawn deeper into her mouth. Just as I felt moisture against something soft,

“…Ah.”

A sharp sound hit my ears.

Rena’s half-closed eyes snapped wide open.

As if my stiffness had infected her, Rena’s body froze. Instead, her face turned red by the second.

Even though I’m no telepath, it was all too easy to put Rena’s thoughts into words.

‘Qwsedrftgyfujikolp’

◆

“I’m going to take a bath. Cool your head off by then.”

With those words, Senpai left the room. He had granted me amnesty without pursuing the crime of the intruder who had fallen asleep in his bed.

As if reclaiming the essence of a home security guard, I immediately retreated to my room. My room is right next to Senpai’s, separated only by a sliding door. That thin barrier was now my greatest source of mental stability.

The disgraceful act I had committed. No matter how many times I shook my head, the memory wouldn’t fade. If anything, it became more deeply etched in my mind.

My heart pounded like a rapid bell, and the heat it generated pooled in my face.

The sensation of Senpai’s fingertip lingered on my lips. I wanted to forget it to calm my mind, but part of me seemed reluctant to let it go.

Before I knew it, I was nibbling on my index finger.

“Ugh…!”

I quickly pulled my finger away from my lips.

It was an unconscious action. Why had I done that? The self-analysis came too easily.

I was comparing it. The rough texture of his finger was nothing like mine.

I stared at my fingertip.

Doing something like this wasn’t going to calm me down. I knew that. But like sinking into a bottomless swamp, I couldn’t escape these strange thoughts when—

“Heh.”

A voice from the next room finally brought me back to my senses.

The sound of a pshh followed by the gurgling of a throat. It seemed Senpai had started drinking after finishing his bath.

Spurred by that, my fingers began dancing on the keyboard. My heart raced, eager to explain myself.

‘It’s Kurosuke.’

That’s why the first message ended up being so abrupt.

‘Kurosuke came around noon and took a nap on the altar. It’s a usual thing, so I let him do as he pleased. Around three, I noticed he had curled up on the bed. He looked so peaceful and adorable, sleeping soundly. The magic of cute little animals, I guess. Watching him made me want to join in, so I hopped into bed too! Since there’s no owner around, Kurosuke just slept next to me. We shared the bed, and I drifted off into a deep sleep.’

Normally, I’d break this into smaller messages. But this time, it came out as one long ramble, as if I were speaking at breakneck speed.

“I see. He’s been coming around a lot lately.”

‘Yeah. Lately, it’s been about three times a week.’

“Wait…? Then, what about Kurosuke earlier?”

Just as Senpai was about to accept my explanation, he noticed the inconsistency.

Letting Kurosuke in or out requires someone to open the window. But earlier, Kurosuke wasn’t in the house.

Of course, because it was a lie.

Kurosuke hadn’t come today. The one who snuck into Senpai’s bed was… well, it was just me, as usual, falling asleep there.

‘I think I remember being woken up. I must’ve let him out but was too sleepy to realize it.’

“Well, given how you were sleeping earlier, that’s pretty convincing.”

‘You don’t have to say it’s a forbidden card! I get it already!’

◆

Thanks to the “bed-sharing incident” with Kurosuke, dinner wasn’t prepared.

I thought about going out to buy a bento or maybe splurging on delivery, but Rena firmly refused, saying such luxury wasn’t necessary. Maybe it was her pride as the manager of our food budget.

What she prepared instead was a bowl of chashu don with a soft-boiled egg and miso soup with seaweed. She apologized for only being able to make something so simple, but it was more than enough. This was exactly the kind of dinner I wanted. Honestly, just having a soft-boiled egg and chashu on hand is already beyond what most households have.

After a satisfying dinner, we both settled down.

“Still, you’ve really won Kurosuke over, huh?”

Senpai said this as he accepted a highball from Rena.

Originally, Kurosuke’s visits were rare—maybe once a month. But ever since he first met Rena, the frequency of his visits had noticeably increased.

It’s not like Rena was feeding him special treats or playing with him. Yet, Kurosuke started showing up about three times a week, always when Rena was alone.

It was almost as if he was coming to see Rena.

“Or maybe he sees you as someone who needs protection.”

‘Protection?’

Rena, who had opened her laptop behind me, responded belatedly with a message.

“Yeah. If anything happens while I’m not around, we can just blame it all on Kurosuke.”

‘True. Thinking about it that way, Kurosuke’s visits are a blessing.’

For the long-time residents of the neighborhood, Kurosuke is a well-known cat. It’s also common knowledge that this house used to be part of his territory.

Kurosuke coming into the house is just part of the routine. With the horror house’s reputation, Rena’s presence becomes even easier to hide.

‘Plus, I’ve never had a pet before. I’ve really felt the healing power of small animals.’

“What? You’re practically upper-class, and you’ve never had a single pet?”

‘Our company president hated animals. I couldn’t go against company policy.’

“I see… Well, that’s understandable.”

Rena’s father’s personality was a topic best left untouched. I didn’t want to dig too deep, but I also didn’t want to awkwardly change the subject.

“What’s your favorite animal, then?”

‘Penguins.’

“Again, not what I’d expect from you. Do you have some special connection to them?”

‘Ah, well… It’s less about them being my favorite animal and more about a specific memory.’

It seemed Rena had misunderstood my question about wanting a pet.

‘When I was little, my family went to an aquarium, and I saw this penguin show. It was hilarious.’

“A penguin show?”

‘Yeah, but the penguins didn’t listen to the trainers at all.’

“Didn’t listen? What kind of show was that?”

‘Whether the penguins obeyed or not depended entirely on their mood that day. The fact that they ran the show like a gamble was what made it so funny.’

‘I still remember the sushi we ate on the way back.’

Without giving me time to react, Rena kept sending messages. A show run like a gamble? Sushi on the way back from the aquarium? I felt like I was being forced to choose which one to comment on.

After some hesitation, I decided to go with the latter.

“Sushi after the aquarium? Really?”

‘I never thought that would be the last outing with all three of us together. I didn’t realize it at the time.’

A sigh tinged with melancholy came from behind me.

All three of us together. Rena had said that.

Considering it was a single-parent household, it would mean her father, her sister, and herself. But I knew that wasn’t the case. Before it became a single-parent household, it was her mother, her sister, and herself. By saying “all three,” she was disregarding her father’s presence.

That last family outing with all three of them. For Rena, that aquarium was the final memory of happier times. The most memorable part of that day was the penguin show.

That’s why, without thinking, she said penguins were her favorite animal.

‘What about you, Senpai?’

“What about me?”

“Uh…”

Rena’s mouth moved as if searching for the right words.

She wasn’t trying to change the topic to hide her embarrassment about having such a deep connection to penguins. She had unintentionally brought up her own misfortune and wanted to erase it.

“Memories of going out with family—oh…”

When I turned to look over my shoulder, Rena had her hand over her mouth, as if trying to seal away an unintended slip of the tongue. When our eyes met, she looked guilty and slumped her shoulders.

“Don’t worry about it.”

I didn’t understand why she looked so awkward.

“I’ve already made peace with it. That’s just how crappy my parents were.”

She knew how I’d felt about my parents since I was a kid.

My mother was gone, and there was an irreparable rift between me and my father.

“Well… up until elementary school, we used to go out to eat as a family quite often. We’d go on trips about once a year.”

There were still family events to create memories. Enough to make it seem like a normal family.

“But it’s true that if I look back, there aren’t any particularly wonderful family memories.”

For me, none of those events were particularly enjoyable.

“Well, even if they were fun for them, I’ve moved on. All of that was built on my patience.”

‘What did they make you do?’

“It’s less about being forced and more about having no choice. I had to play the role of the well-behaved child who wouldn’t embarrass my parents.”

I shrugged exaggeratedly, as if to say, What can you do?

“As I’ve said before, their personalities were rotten to the core. If I so much as dropped a chopstick, they’d glare at me and tell me to eat properly. Spilling a glass was out of the question. I was so focused on maintaining proper manners at every moment that there was no time to relax during family outings.”

I leaned back heavily in my chair, staring at the ceiling as I sipped my highball. Even this kind of casual behavior would’ve been unacceptable in front of them.

“I never looked forward to meals at home, wondering what we’d have for dinner.”

‘Was it that strict even at home?’

“Not as bad as eating out. They were too busy bickering while the TV blared in the background. They’d drop their chopsticks a hundred times before I’d drop mine once. They had enough sense to know they weren’t in a position to criticize others.”

Looking back, they were the kind of people who lived their lives constantly worrying about what others thought.

“Even if it wasn’t as tense as eating out, meals at home were still depressing.”

‘Not tense, but depressing?’

“Yeah, because they were always angry.”

‘What else could they possibly be angry about?’

“Oh, they weren’t angry at me. They were angry at society.”

Rena seemed unsure how to respond. The typing stopped, and she just sat there, looking puzzled.

“They’d get worked up over child abuse deaths, bullying, drunk driving accidents, hit-and-runs, corporate collusion, data manipulation, insider trading, politicians’ money troubles, problematic statements, celebrities’ DUIs, and even trivial scandals like affairs.

Every day, the TV would broadcast all the tragedies, injustices, and problems happening in society, and they’d always be furious about it.”

Now, it’s almost laughable how ridiculous it all was.

“They’d say things like, ‘This is outrageous,’ or ‘I can’t forgive this.’ Even though it had nothing to do with them, they’d get worked up as if they were the victims. But when it came to happy or amusing stories, they’d just snort dismissively. They’d mock people for getting excited, saying they were overreacting.”

I took a sip of my highball, letting the liquid soothe my throat.

“If they’d been genuinely heartbroken or driven by a sense of justice, there might’ve been some redemption. But no, they had none of that. If they’d had such noble spirits, they’d have done more than just talk. They’d have taken action—donating, volunteering, or at least trying to solve the problems. But they never did. They didn’t even donate money willingly, let alone give their time.”

‘What couldn’t your parents forgive?’

“They were like children throwing tantrums over things they didn’t like. They just couldn’t stand anything that upset their mood.”

It took me over a decade to put this conclusion into words, even if it was still vague. By then, I’d reached a point of indifference, realizing that such parents were a waste of thought.

“Instead of avoiding things that upset them, they’d shine a light on them. Getting upset and angry became their mission in life.”

‘Why would they go that far?’

“It’s just a habit. They’re creatures of that nature. Maybe they were genuinely angry at first, but with the TV constantly broadcasting people’s misfortunes, it became a routine. Eventually, getting angry became the goal.”

‘Getting angry as the goal?’

“As a kid, I couldn’t understand why they were so desperate to ruin their own moods.”

Now, I can brush it off. They’re just ridiculous creatures, and there’s nothing to be done about it.

“For them, it was their purpose, their entertainment. But for me, having to listen to their endless grumbling and complaining every day was unbearable. Even though I knew their anger wasn’t directed at me, it still dragged me down. I just wanted to get away from the table as fast as possible.”

It felt like I’d become a trash can for their negative emotions.

“So I’d wolf down my food. I didn’t care about the taste—as long as it wasn’t bad, it was fine. I don’t even remember what my mom’s cooking tasted like.”

I only started caring about flavor when I began cooking for myself. It was thanks to having an environment where I could eat without worrying.

“Anyway, that’s why I never liked TV. Living in the boonies, we didn’t get good anime, so I spent my alone time buried in games and manga. That’s why the computer… the internet was a godsend.”

One day, out of the blue, my dad brought home a computer, saying you had to know how to use one these days. He’d been showing off in front of the salesperson, buying whatever they recommended. It was way more powerful than we needed for just Word and Excel.

We got an internet connection, and I tried to learn how to use the computer, but that enthusiasm lasted about three days. If I hadn’t taken an interest, it would’ve just been an overpriced typing practice machine. For once, I was grateful for my dad’s show-off tendencies.

“It was a machine where I could choose what I wanted to see. It felt like my world had expanded overnight.”

Apparently, even as a kid, I looked like I knew what I was doing with the computer. So they let me do as I pleased. Even though I was just endlessly surfing the web, the sight of me touch-typing away must’ve looked impressive.

That’s how I became immersed in the online world.

“In that expanded world, I realized my parents weren’t so bad. After all, the internet is full of people who pounce on others’ misfortunes, ruining their own moods just to vent their anger. They’re like professional complainers.”

Back then, having a computer with internet access at home wasn’t the norm. Compared to today, it might’ve been a more peaceful time. But as a kid, it was like being hit over the head with a blunt object—a whole new perspective.

“And then there are those who attack anyone who doesn’t sympathize or empathize with their feelings, calling them inhuman or evil. The loudest voices always win, even if their arguments are shallow. If you can’t sympathize or empathize, you’re forced to side with them.”

‘They’re really nasty people.’

“Yeah. They can’t stand anything that doesn’t go their way or ruins their mood, but they’re completely unaware of it. They genuinely believe they’re wonderful people.”

It was so infuriating that it actually dampened my mood.

“They feed off others’ misfortunes, all getting worked up together. It’s just… ridiculous.”

Why would anyone willingly do something so pointless? It’s utterly absurd… and yet, it’s considered part of society’s morals.

“But that’s the virtue of this country, so there’s no helping it. As long as you maintain the appearance, the substance doesn’t matter. That’s how monsters like my parents are created.”

They were the perfect negative role models. I vowed never to become like them.

“I’ll never be like that. I won’t sympathize or empathize with the misfortunes of people I don’t care about. I won’t let their unhappiness ruin my mood. I won’t let it affect me. That’s what I decided.”

In that sense, my personality isn’t just a product of my upbringing.

The online world—where people, under the veil of anonymity, reveal their true, ugly selves—gave me that perspective at a young age.

“That’s why it’s best to just laugh at others’ misfortunes. As long as you can laugh, your mood won’t be ruined.”