Chapter Text
Rachel’s Side
After returning to her room and putting on a calm front, Rachel rummaged through the lampstand to find a simple homemade ice pack. She pressed it gently against her flushed cheek. The soothing coolness seeped into her skin—but far from calming the constant flutters and heat surging in her chest, it only made her unconsciously recall the faint coolness of her lips brushing against someone’s.
Dammit. What the hell did I just do…
Leaning against the doorframe, she slid down to sit on the floor. She screamed silently in her heart, kicking herself for being so stupid as to break the unspoken balance between them—making their already fragile relationship even more complicated.
Please let that silly boy not overthink this… Yeah, he probably won’t…
After a moment of self-deception to comfort herself, Rachel tossed the useless ice pack aside. She covered her burning cheeks, groaning in frustration:
“Ugh, I’m such an idiot—ahhh!”
Baam’s Side
Meanwhile, Baam sat leaning against the door with his knees drawn to his chest. Every now and then, he pressed an ice pack to his ridiculously hot cheek, trying to cool the scorching restlessness of his churning blood. But even after the ice pack lost all its coolness, the boiling emotion in his chest was still like a fire blazing in a storm—not dying down, but growing fiercer by the second.
Recalling the words he’d mustered the courage to say to Rachel in that mysterious room, Baam’s face grew even hotter. He patted his cheeks to cool them down, and accidentally brushed his reddened earlobe. The heat was so intense it felt like it could burn his fingertips. He jolted in surprise and pulled his hand back quickly—but he couldn’t stop the blush from spreading from his ears. In the end, he could only let his entire face be covered in a faint red glow.
Ugh… Why does it feel like I’m getting hotter instead of cooler…
Baam groaned silently in his heart. He tried to calm himself with deep breaths, but every inhale and exhale only added fuel to the burning fire inside him. The thunderous thudding of his heart in his chest fanned the flames even more, making the red glow on his face brighter.
Breathe… Stay calm, stay calm—
“Enough! I can’t take this anymore! Why is your mood so all over the place today? Could you tell that excited, jumping heart of yours to stop beating so loud? It’s gonna deafen this old man’s ears!”
？！！！
Just as Baam was trying to calm his chaotic thoughts, a sudden voice exploded in his mind. He jolted in shock, then after a moment of thought, he entered the realm of his consciousness. There, he saw Leedongden hiding in a corner, covering his ears and furiously complaining.
“Phew… You finally settled down a bit, kid. My ears are saved!”
Seeing Baam arrive, Leedongden patted his chest in relief, as if escaping a disaster. He eyed Baam suspiciously, questioning his mental state that day:
“What was wrong with you earlier? Why was your mood so all over the place? If I didn’t have some tricks up my sleeve, I’d really have been driven to a nervous breakdown by all this.”
“I’m sorry, I… ”
Baam hadn’t realized his inner turmoil had troubled Leedongden so much. He instinctively looked guilty, but for a moment, he didn’t know how to explain his emotional outburst. Leedongden crossed his arms and snorted, directly piercing through the thin veil of pretense:
“Hmph. The reason you’re like this is because of that girl named ‘Rachel’, isn’t it?”
“Uh, that… ”
Caught off guard by the direct question, Baam’s expression turned complicated. He lowered his eyes and fell silent for a moment, then spoke slowly:
“Yeah… She’s someone really important to me… But because of what happened after we entered the Tower, our relationship has gotten a bit delicate. Now I’m not sure how to act around her from now on…”
“Oh? How does that girl see your relationship now?”
At this, a trace of loneliness flashed in Baam’s eyes. He hesitated for a moment, then said:
“She said… We’re fated rivals. Enemies who’ll spend our whole lives competing to take each other down…”
“Tsk, so it’s that old ‘tangled arch-nemesis’ nonsense again. I’ve seen this a hundred times.”
Leedongden waved his hand dismissively, then pulled a book—from who knows where—out of thin air and tossed it to Baam:
“Here, this is a secret manual I’ve kept for years. Go over there and study it carefully. Oh, and remember to keep your mood calm while you’re at it—don’t torture this old man anymore.”
Baam nodded gratefully, but when he glanced at the title of the so-called “secret manual,” he fell into a daze staring at the book in his hand: Thump-Thump 💓 From Beginner to Pro: Secret Tips for Harmonious Coexistence with Your Arch-Nemesis～.
“……”
Extra Side Stories
1.
Some time later—
Leedongden: (crossing his arms, calling out to Baam, who was huddled in a corner carefully reading the book) Hey, it’s been so long. How’s your studying going, kid?
Baam: (blushing, stammering out from memory) W-Well, the book says… An arch-nemesis is just an arch-nemesis… You can’t turn an arch-nemesis into a wife. Because if you do, you can’t look your arch-nemesis in the eye and say we’re enemies anymore… If you turn her into a wife, you can only huddle under the covers together at night to keep each other warm… (his face grows redder, his voice quieter) So an arch-nemesis can only be a wife… Uh… So a wife can only be an arch-nemesis… Sorry… What I mean is…
Leedongden: (massaging his forehead, looking resigned) Tsk, this kid is hopeless. Just call the “chasing his wife through hell” crew and get rid of him.
2.
Rachel: (later, unable to watch any longer, confesses) Look… Baam, is there a possibility that… some of the things I said to you back then were just empty promises?
Baam: (after his “studying,” he doesn’t see any problem at all—he eats it up happily) Mmm… If you’re the one who gave them to me, I’ll definitely eat them… Oh right, Rachel, is this (chew chew chew) the legendary “laopo bing (wife cake)”?
Rachel: …