WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ My Platinum-Blonde Childhood Friend Is Too Pretty ◈

Chapter 107: 40. A Busan Trip Where I Can Only Touch My Girlfriend's Chest, Thighs, and Butt -5

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Lee Byung-hoon, the part-timer working the register at this convenience store, wanted to cry.

His chest ached. The world was unfair.

It had started ten minutes ago, when a certain pair of customers walked in.

This store sat in a stretch already crowded with larger, more popular convenience chains, so foot traffic tended to run thin. Still, with peak season closing in, a steady trickle of customers had been keeping him busy at the register when.

-jingle

"...Hup."

The moment she walked in, he swallowed a breath without even meaning to. A foreigner with golden hair, not just ordinary gold but a shade so bright it barely seemed real. Tall enough to come close to his own 173cm, her figure hinted through her shirt was insane, and the legs stretching out below her shorts were nothing short of a fantasy.

In the span of one second, Lee Byung-hoon ran through an entire life in his head. Flirtation, confession, dating, marriage, raising kids, settling into middle age, and finally becoming a grandfather.

"...When the grandkids visit I'll give them 100,000 won each for pocket money. I still remember how happy I was when Grandpa used to sneak me allowance back then..."

This was the second biggest city in Korea, right next to the ocean and ringed by hotels. Tourists poured in constantly, and Lee Byung-hoon had seen his share of beautiful women. But the foreigner in front of him was operating on a different level entirely.

He'd seen plenty of women dressed boldly and sexily, as customers at the store or passing by the beach, but those comparisons felt almost rude to make.

"Is she a foreign model? God... if she were a celebrity I'd ask for a photo..."

He knew she was someone who'd never be in his orbit. Still, he couldn't quite let go of the smallest, most pathetic flicker of hope. The way romance novels go, one-in-a-trillion odds, maybe her type happened to be a guy like him. He let himself drift into that sweet little daydream.

But that daydream.

-jingle!

"Elli."

Was obliterated instantly by the man who followed her in. The easy familiarity with which he approached her, and the way she was clearly waiting for him, made it obvious they were a couple.

"Damn... I loved her..."

And the man didn't even look like the same species. Tall, wearing a quiet smile, and absurdly handsome.

Lee Byung-hoon accepted defeat the moment he saw him. On top of that.

"The convenience store down the road was packed too. Let's just get stuff here."

"Fine. But what are you doing."

"Hm?"

"You're here, so hold my hand already. What are you just standing there for."

"You'll get annoyed if I grab it. Come link arms with me."

"Me link with you?"

"Please."

"Get over here."

Incredibly, this beautiful foreigner spoke Korean as naturally as any native. She was snapping at him in that prim, playful little voice of hers, then looped her arm through his, and somewhere inside Lee Byung-hoon, a tear fell.

The two of them wandered through the store arm in arm, picking out snacks and drinks.

"So damn jealous..."

He cursed quietly at the guy's face and at the fact that someone got to have a girlfriend like that, though part of him had to admit they made a ridiculously well-matched couple.

Something about the way they were together looked completely natural. Like it was just the obvious state of things.

But that thought curdled the moment he caught fragments of their conversation, because he happened to be listening.

"Condoms, thin ones, something decent..."

"Tch."

"...Elli. You really just forgot, right?"

"Hmph. I said yes, didn't I. Stop asking."

Those words hit him fresh and turned his quiet sadness into something sharper, a jealousy so intense it veered toward something desperate.

Ten minutes later, they set a full basket on his counter.

"Could you ring these up, please?"

"...Yes."

-beep, beep...

He still had a long shift ahead of him, but Lee Byung-hoon could already feel the energy draining out of his body.

Here he was, nailed to this register, scanning barcodes. Meanwhile, the couple in front of him would go have a cozy drink together and work their way through those condoms all night long.

That reality stung. He wanted to cry. He was jealous. He wanted to disappear.

"Please... just 3cm less... please..."

He repeated that ugly little wish over and over in his head, barely managing to keep it off his face as he scanned each item.

While he did, the couple kept talking between themselves.

"Lee Do-yoon. Your cheek."

"My cheek? What?"

"Why do you walk around with your hair stuck to your face. You look like an idiot."

"Oh, I wondered why it felt itchy. Can you get it?"

"Honestly..."

She was scolding him like you'd scold a little kid, but her voice dripped with unmistakable affection.

Lee Byung-hoon slid his eyes sideways to look, and saw her fixing the boyfriend with a mock glare, eyes slightly narrowed, teasing. Her face was unreasonably pretty even doing that. Pale skin, delicate features, a perfectly straight nose that looked sculpted. And those blue eyes were so striking that his vocabulary couldn't begin to do them justice.

The lovelier she was, the more his chest hurt. He finished the transaction.

He handed over the bag, stuffed with alcohol, snacks, and condoms, and the man who took it from him.

"Thank you. Keep up the good work."

Gave him a genuine smile. No attitude behind it, nothing mixed in, just a clean, warm grin as he said it.

Lee Byung-hoon, looking up at that face from point-blank range.

"...Yeah... take care..."

Could only stare and mumble back. The guy was just, on a purely human level, too good-looking. And he wasn't the kind of guy who put on a show in front of his girlfriend either. There was a natural warmth and kindness plain in those eye-smile creases.

If Lee Byung-hoon were a woman, he thought he might have fallen for that smile alone. One hundred percent. Without even trying, this guy probably had a whole truck's worth of women he'd accidentally charmed.

So Lee Byung-hoon stared ahead with dead eyes and muttered.

"Please... just 1cm..."

If nothing else, he hoped the world could at least balance out that much.

Desperately.

* * *

We'd bought quite a bit of alcohol at the convenience store.

The plan had vaguely included stopping somewhere nearby for seafood or whatever else, since we'd come all this way, but the restaurants around us were busier than expected.

Not so packed that there wasn't a single open seat, but busy enough that walking in felt uncomfortable for us.

Even just walking down the street drew stares, so sitting squeezed into a small restaurant where everyone's conversations would carry straight to our table was a different thing entirely.

The convenience stores themselves were packed with customers, so that said enough.

Anyway, we bought our drinks and headed back to the hotel. With only each other around, Elli relaxed into the alcohol freely, and less than two hours later.

"Hold me..."

"Mm... but if I hold your back or your waist you'll get mad."

"Then hold my butt and hug me... dummy?"

"Right. Come here."

"Hmph... dummy..."

Elli was good and drunk and had started cuddling up to me with all her sweetness and clinginess on full display.

She climbed into my lap with her face flushed red, pressing herself against me, and I kept my hands on her butt instead of her waist. It was a little awkward to balance her that way, but she'd get annoyed if I held her waist.

-squish, squish

Elli kneaded my face with both hands.

"Heheh..."

She made that strange little giggle, like she found it genuinely entertaining.

Then.

"Lee Do-yoon. Stick out your tongue."

"My tongue? Like this?"

"Longer... more."

"......"

"Don't stick it out... point it down."

Elli made a sudden, weird request. It was strange, but I didn't argue and just stuck my tongue out as far as I could manage.

She was telling me not to stick it out and then immediately told me to point it down, so she probably wasn't planning to kiss me while sucking on my tongue.

What was she up to.

"Heh... even your tongue is cute... honestly, Lee Do-yoon... I keep telling you to stop being so cute..."

"??"

The muttering that followed put a question mark in my head. When had I been cute? What was I doing?

She laughed softly for a moment, then showed me exactly why she'd asked for this.

She pursed her lips into a small circle and leaned in close.

"smooch... lick..."

She kissed my tongue, then peeked her own tongue out and licked it slowly.

"......"

She was giving me that eye-smile while she did it, and I had no idea why she was telling me to stop being cute when she was the one doing this.

She was a hundred times cuter than anything I could do.

Elli kept kissing and licking my tongue, and I had my hands on her butt over her shorts, then somewhere along the way slipped them inside the waistband instead, and.

Beside the empty bottles and scattered snack wrappers, we stayed tangled together for a good long while.

After that round wound down, Elli said.

"Want to see me in my swimsuit?"

"You packed one? For the hotel pool?"

"Why would I go to the pool."

"Then?"

"I brought it to show you, obviously. Why don't you get that, dummy."

"Ohh... sorry. Yeah, I want to see. I really want to see."

"Hmph."

I hadn't realized she'd secretly bought a whole separate swimsuit just to show me. I hadn't expected a surprise like this.

She's the kind of girlfriend who decides what goes and what doesn't on her own terms, where anything I try to plan is off-limits but her own surprises are always allowed.

Right now, though, none of that even crossed my mind.

"Hang on... can you get it out of the suitcase..."

"Sure."

I pulled my hand out from her shorts and underwear, and Elli got up, wobbling slightly, and made her way to the suitcase.

She came back with a swimsuit.

A sexy black string bikini.

One I'd never seen before, which meant she'd gone out and bought it recently.

She brought it over and held it out to me.

"Put it on me... hic."

"Got it."

I took the swimsuit, which was small enough to bunch up in one hand, and stood up.

I'd helped Elli undress and get dressed more than a few times. This wasn't new.

"Okay, arms up."

"Arms up..."

-whoosh

I pulled off her shirt.

Unclipped the front hook and slipped off her bra.

Left her chest swaying gently, crouched a little, and slid her shorts down.

Peeled off her underwear too, which had already changed color.

And in an instant she was completely bare in my hands.

"Okay, lift your foot."

"Okay..."

Starting from the bottom, I worked the black string bikini bottoms up her legs slowly.

Then I moved around behind her for the top.

-squeeze

I cupped her chest to position everything properly, fitting the top into place with that extra bit of care.

"All done."

I stepped back and took in the sight of Elli in her bikini from the front.

Well. What was there to say.

Sexy, pretty, beautiful.

Elli seemed genuinely pleased with how carefully I'd undressed her and dressed her again, because she pressed herself against me with her face loosened into a hazy, tipsy smile.

"Mmm... good job... you get praise."

"Thanks. And you're beautiful. The prettiest in the whole world."

"Obviously..."

She pulled my neck into a hug, nuzzling her face against mine like she was rewarding me, and I held her close. Not around the waist, of course, but with both hands full of her bare bottom, which the string bikini left completely exposed.

We stayed like that, wrapped around each other, soaking in the warmth, and then Elli whispered in my ear.

"Heheh... Lee Do-yuun... I'm in my swimsuit..."

"Hm? Yeah, you are."

"So... it's okay if I get more wet..."

"......"

"You can see I'm already wet... mnn... hurry up..."

Honestly I wasn't totally following the logical thread of what she was saying right now.

But I didn't need a bigger reason than that to be with my girlfriend. Not with her being drunk on top of it.

I was just turned on.

"You're right. Our Elli's in her swimsuit, so she can get a whole lot wetter, can't she."

"Yeah... hehehe..."

"Hold on to me. I'll carry you to the bed."

I played along and picked her up, her arms hooked around my neck, and carried her to the bed.

And then.

The swimsuit stayed fine since it was a swimsuit, but we went until everything except the swimsuit was thoroughly soaked, and fell asleep.

* * *

We woke up late the next day, but managed to get out and wander around Busan for a while starting in the afternoon.

Less sightseeing, more just aimlessly strolling through the neighborhood the way we used to do back in high school.

Honestly, aside from having the ocean right there, I wasn't sure how different it was from Seoul.

The streets had a slight tourist-town feel, the roads were a little more nerve-wracking to drive, and if you listened while walking you caught a lot more dialect. That was about it.

So we didn't end up going out for that long before heading back to the hotel, but even so, I didn't regret making the trip out here.

The drive down had been fun. The time at the hotel had been fun. The drive back would definitely be fun too.

I sat on the hotel room sofa with Elli settled in my lap and we talked.

"Where should we go next?"

"Gyeongsang province. For snow crab."

"Oh, that sounds amazing... Should we work our way around different regions and then do Jeju sometime too?"

"By ferry?"

"By ferry. You hate flying, right? No road trips when you fly."

"Yeah. Hate it. Take the ferry from Mokpo or Yeosu. We can bring the car and drive around once we're there."

"Bringing the car all the way over might get expensive, though."

"Better than renting. It's a compact car so it'll cost less than most."

"That's one of the great things about having a small car. Let's look into Jeju next."

"Okay."

"......"

"......"

"Elli."

"What."

"Should I run us a bath?"

"It's not even evening yet..."

"Still. You like getting in together and just holding each other."

"...Stay here. I'll get it ready."

"No, I'll do it, you just stay."

"I'm doing it. Are you not going to listen?"

"No... ah, how about we just do it together? Go in without clothes, and while the water fills we can shower and kiss too. Sound good?"

"......"

"Come on. I'll help you undress."

"...I'm undressing you."

"Sure. Please."

It was a genuinely satisfying Busan trip.

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