37 – Dual Dimensional Door (4)
The first thing he had to do was clear.
First, he had to remove Jiwoo’s soaked clothes.
The reason was that wet clothes would quickly steal away body heat just by wearing them.
And she had been wearing them for a while. In order to preserve any remaining body heat, he had to take them off as quickly as possible.
YeoUl stood up and approached Jiwoo.
Jiwoo simply looked at YeoUl with blurry eyes.
YeoUl reached out to her.
Starting with the top.
He slowly unbuttoned the blouse she was wearing from top to bottom.
Tap, tap.
As the buttons came undone, Jiwoo’s body was revealed.
She looked at herself being undressed, as if she were dreaming, without any sense of reality.
After undoing all the buttons.
Left arm, followed by right arm, she peeled the damp blouse off Jiwoo.
Finally, only one set of underwear covered Jiwoo’s upper body.
Next is the skirt she is wearing.
She unzips the zipper located near her side.
Zzzz, the sound of the zipper going all the way down.
And then, when she tried to take off the skirt, Jiwoo was sitting completely drained of strength, making it difficult to remove easily.
That’s when Yeoul supported her back, gently laying her on the floor.
She hooked her fingers on the edge of the skirt and brought it down.
Even in her absent-minded state, Jiwoo lifted her hips slightly to make it easier for Yeoul to remove the skirt.
Although it clung to her pelvis, it was not difficult to take off the skirt.
Finally, only underwear remained on Jiwoo’s body.
However, her body still had the cold, chilling blood on it.
Yeoul took off her own top and used it to wipe away the blood on Jiwoo’s body.
The warmth she could feel on her fingertips.
Indeed, it was not just cold, but freezing to an extreme degree.
Face, neck, shoulders.
Chest, stomach, back, waist.
Hips, thighs, calves, all the way to the tips of her toes.
Yeoul wiped Jiwoo’s body clean, making sure there were no untouched areas.
However, it couldn’t end with just this.
The final step.
There was a need to warm up her frozen body.
Jiwoo lay lifelessly in her underwear.
Yeoul lifted her body again and made her lean against the wall.
Then she slid her body between the wall and Jiwoo’s back.
Yeo-ul sat cross-legged.
And then he lifted Ji-woo’s body onto his knees.
Because of her small stature, her body fit perfectly into Yeo-ul’s embrace, as if it had been made just for her.
Her bare back pressed against Yeo-ul’s chest.
Perhaps it was due to the difference in body temperature.
Yeo-ul felt her body as cold as ice.
He thought they needed to be closer, so he wrapped his arms around Ji-woo’s waist.
Like a loving couple, they sat closely intertwined, but in reality, there was only a person trembling from the cold, and another person trying to keep that person alive.
Still.
Being so close and sharing body heat, would it make her feel a little better?
Just moments ago, Ji-woo’s body was trembling uncontrollably, but now she was peacefully nestled in Yeo-ul’s embrace.
Yang Ji-woo.
With her still wrapped in his arms, she lifted her head and looked up at his face.
“Thank you…”
She muttered those words and slowly closed her heavy eyelids.
And then, with a steady and even breath, Ji-woo fell into a deep sleep.
To make sure she wouldn’t fall off while sleeping.
Yeo-ul held her even tighter with the arms wrapped around her waist.
Resting her head on Yeo-ul’s shoulder.
Yeo-ul also closed his eyes, bringing an end to the demanding day through sleep.
* * *
“Uhhhhh….”
How much time had passed?
Ji-woo, tossing and turning, trying to wake up from her sleep.
But somehow, she felt quite good.
A warmth that reminded her of being embraced by her mother when she was a child…
She could feel the warmth on her back and stomach.
It felt like someone was holding her entire body.
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Surrounded by a pleasant warmth, a smile softly emerges even in her sleep.
Instinctively seeking a more comfortable and warm position, she tosses and turns.
Then suddenly, she realizes that the texture against her back is quite firm.
Different from the softness of her mother’s embrace.
Although she had never felt it before, it feels as if it could be the embrace of a man….
Huh.
She feels something strange.
Until just now, she felt like she was about to fall back asleep….
She slowly opens her eyes.
And what immediately catches her eye is her own chest, clad only in underwear.
A stomach that is hidden from view by her chest.
She touches the area with her hand.
And feels something firm.
An arm. And… a hand?
Huh?
She feels warmth on her left cheek.
When she turns her head, she realizes that the face of a man with closed eyes is right in front of her.
“….!”
What is going on?
Startled, she twitches her body, and the eyes of the man who seemed to be sleeping start to shake, then slowly open.
Close enough to feel each other’s breaths.
From such a short distance, the two of them locked eyes.
She sees the man’s mouth move.
Instinctively, she tightly closes her eyes and remains silent.
“Miss Jiwoo, are you feeling okay?”
A low voice whispers so close.
A voice she remembers.
Who was it…. That’s right, it was Yeowool….
She timidly opens her eyes once again.
At that moment, she realizes that the man holding her in his underwear is indeed Yeowool.
That’s not to say it wasn’t bewildering. Why was she being embraced by Yeoul, and why in the world without any clothes?
“Um, Yeoul…? Why are we like this…?”
As she had appeared clueless, it seemed she couldn’t remember. Sensing how she might be feeling, Yeoul recounted the conversation they had before she fell asleep.
Shivering from the cold, she had asked for his help. So he undressed her, wiped away the blood on her body, and embraced her to share body heat. That was all.
Yeoul calmly and sincerely shared only the facts with her, without a shred of ill intention. And then, Jiwoo vaguely seemed to recall the memories before falling asleep. Memories of being so terribly cold that she had asked anyone in front of her for help. Memories of her seeing her clothes being removed with her eyes open. Memories of his hands meticulously cleaning every corner of her body, even the parts untouched by his touch due to the barrier of clothes. And finally, the memory of being embraced by him and peacefully falling asleep in his warmth. Everything came back to her.
Her face couldn’t help but become flushed with anger. Before falling asleep, she hadn’t given it much thought. She had felt like she was about to die at any moment, so what did it matter if her clothes were removed and her body touched? But now, since her condition seemed to have improved somewhat, other thoughts started to come to her. “He must be feeling better now,” or “This was the first time I was embraced by a man,” or “So I’ve been sleeping all this time in his arms,” or even “I wonder if he was uncomfortable,” she thought. After all, he was a man too. It must have made him feel a bit strange to embrace a naked woman like that. And then, she scolded herself for thinking about everything except for the person who helped her. “Thank you for your help, Yeoul,” she murmured softly, expressing her gratitude to him.
“I’ve just done what needed to be done.”
“Is, is that so…”
It felt awkward for Jiwoo to have such a casual conversation while being pressed tightly against each other, causing her body to tremble slightly.
“Ah, it must be uncomfortable for you.”
Upon hearing that, Yeoul released his arms that were wrapped around her body and gently lowered her body that had been resting on his legs onto the floor.
He couldn’t continue holding her, of course.
As she fell from his warm embrace, she couldn’t help but feel a slight sense of regret.
* * *
With Yeoul’s help, she ‘cut off’ the blood stains from her clothes.
Turning her back to him, she clumsily put on her clothes.
And the two of them emerged from the pit.
The outside was still pitch black.
Whether time had passed and it had become dark again, or if it had always been dark.
Moreover.
After regaining her senses, Jiwoo felt a heaviness in her head.
It felt like she had a slight fever.
She was also feeling hot and her limbs didn’t have much strength.
It seemed that moving would be really difficult…
But she couldn’t just sit still either.
The place they were in was a desert.
There was not even food, let alone water to drink.
For now, her hunger and thirst were manageable.
But if they couldn’t escape from here and more time passed…
They would never have a good ending.
So, what should they do to escape?
There was nothing certain.
They didn’t even know how large this space was or how they could get out of here.
Information was what they needed.
In the end, they had no choice but to explore this unknown place with a determined mindset.