Time Stop at the Department Store
"What are you so surprised about." I couldn't bring myself to voice the suspicion that flashed through my mind to Gemma. I just stayed silent.
I had no idea how this was even possible. Not everything in this world happens in ways I can understand. Still, I was afraid. Afraid that if I got her hopes up only for her to fail to reclaim her body, she'd be devastated. Or that even if she succeeded, she might end up in a state completely unlike what she wanted.
Of course, lurking behind that worry and fear was a base, selfish greed—the faint anxiety that once she got a living body back, she'd ditch me like a thief in the wind and vanish.
"Why so quiet? Having some naughty fantasies?"
"You know damn well why. Hurry up and come out if you're done. Before I yank this curtain open."
"Heehee! You crazy bastard!" Gemma's outstretched hand flailed beyond the curtain before snatching the two bras I was holding.
-Snap!
Gemma burst out, hastily dressed, and slammed a bundle of lingerie onto my hand.
-Thud
"Ring it up."
"Can't you talk like a normal person?"
"Buy it for me."
"Fine, fine."
I obediently grabbed the pile and headed to the counter. There were more provocative designs than I'd expected, but with hardly any other customers besides me and Gemma, it wasn't embarrassing—
"Kim Taeyang?"
"Taeyang..."
I bumped right into Kim Yun-ju and Mun Hee-jeong, both clutching multiple matching sets of underwear.
Kim Yun-ju wore neat skinny jeans and a crop top. Mun Hee-jeong... was in latex stockings and a leather dress. It looked like the Genealogy Oath penalty from Mun Ik-jeom had finally lifted, sending her scrambling to buy new underwear. Everything at home must've turned to dust.
"Hey, Hee-jeong. What's Senior Yun-ju doing here?"
"She came with me since I called her. What about you? What's a guy doing in the women's lingerie section?"
When Kim Yun-ju eyed me suspiciously, I pointed at Gemma behind me instead of answering.
"For the Grand Offering? She must want something special."
"She said she wanted pretty designs."
Not on purpose, but I ended up glancing at the underwear Kim Yun-ju and Mun Hee-jeong had picked.
Mun Hee-jeong's choice was a large-size, strapless half-cup bra. Cute design.
Meanwhile, Kim Yun-ju held high-cut leg panties.
"Senior Yun-ju suits high-leg better than low-rise."
The nonsense I'd blurted on the day I first met her popped into my head, making my face burn.
"Senior..."
"I know what you're thinking, but it's not like that!"
Her over-the-top reaction had Mun Hee-jeong glancing suspiciously between us.
"You two must be close, Unnie."
"Why would we be."
Praying she wouldn't blurt something rash, I instinctively grabbed Mun Hee-jeong's hand.
"Ah..."
"Perfect timing. We ran into each other—let's grab dinner. My treat."
"Oho? What's this? Getting fed by a junior?"
"Idiot. Didn't Shin Sua say she's waiting at home?"
"Oh, right..."
"What's up?"
I smacked my forehead, remembering the return time(?) Shin Sua had set, and Mun Hee-jeong asked calmly.
"Dinner might be tough after all."
"Yeah. Don't push yourself. Now that I can go back to school, we can head out together after sparring."
Her gentle smile was endlessly grateful. She really was an angel, as long as she didn't rev up impulsively.
"Can't even keep track of his schedule when big-tits is around."
Gemma grumbled at my forgetfulness and snatched the bra from Mun Hee-jeong's hand.
"Wait, that's—"
"Come to think of it, I might not lose to big-tits anymore..."
Gemma's face crumpled as she checked the tag on the back.
"65... G?"
"Give it back!"
Before the bra could slip from Gemma's hand and hit the floor, threads burst from the hedgehog doll and caught it nimbly.
"Don't like it..."
The next instant, as Mun Hee-jeong bent to pick up the underwear, Gemma hiked up her leather dress from behind. Kim Yun-ju swiftly covered my eyes.
"Delinquent, no panties under that big-tits dress today?"
"Eek...!"
Mun Hee-jeong's small scream and the rush to fix her clothes fueled my imagination, but I ignored it.
"Let go, Senior."
Unable to bear the awkward vibe, I shoved Kim Yun-ju's hand away and approached the cashier silently watching the farce.
"What the hell are you doing! Taeyang! Help!"
Mun Hee-jeong floundered, unable to hear ancestor spirit voices and grasp the intent, while Gemma kept up the relentless sexual harassment. Another clerk hurried over to the noisy trio, picking up the scattered underwear and piling it on the counter.
"Sorry. They're all a bit immature."
"They're students, right? Full of energy at that age."
I handed the card Shin Sua gave me to the clerk, who smiled behind her hand.
"Yes, thank you. Total for all fifteen items—"
The clerk rattled off the price, but Mun Hee-jeong's faint moans and Kim Yun-ju's shouts as she tried to stop Gemma drowned it out.
-Beep
After checkout, I grabbed the shopping bag with Gemma's lingerie and headed out alone—
"Wait, customer!"
The clerk dashed from the counter, calling me. She looked urgent.
"J-just to confirm, did you mean to pay for your party's items too?"
"What?"
I compared the receipt in the bag to the contents. The items listed were about 1.5 times more than Gemma's purchases.
"Ah. Yeah... I must've rung up those other ladies' stuff by mistake. I'll refund you right away."
"Oh, sure. That works—"
Then, a woman approaching from afar caught my eye.
"......"
The moment I saw her face, my brain short-circuited.
"Customer?"
Someone who shouldn't be here was.
A face etched deep in the memories of this seventeen-year-old delinquent.
A figure the twenty-seven-year-old civil servant who'd quit this world with "Ancestor, protect me" also knew well.
I had to run. If I did, I could secure the safety of everyone else here.
"No need for the refund."
I clutched the shopping bag and bolted for the emergency stairs.
* * *
"What a letdown. Thought I'd score a free meal."
"Can't be helped. Taeyang's probably swamped prepping for sparring."
Family restaurant near Macy & Logan. Kim Yun-ju and Mun Hee-jeong sat side-by-side at a window booth, enjoying an early dinner.
Thanks to the new underwear from the fitting room, Mun Hee-jeong moved far more naturally than when they'd arrived, her anxiety over going out panty-less gone.
This morning, Mun Hee-jeong had messaged Kim Yun-ju first: she'd buy lunch if they shopped at the department store together. She'd explained the bad stuff from the Genealogy Oath penalty—omitting the part about choking Shin Sua, of course.
She figured Kim Yun-ju could give better advice on bras than Seol Romi, who never worried about chest size. Considering how she couldn't even talk to strangers early in school, this was huge progress for Mun Hee-jeong.
Luckily, Kim Yun-ju accepted, and after school, they hit Macy & Logan, chatting away. A bizarre bond only hikikomori could understand formed quickly.
That's how Mun Hee-jeong started calling her "Unnie" in the appliance section.
They'd gotten close faster than expected.
"Huh? Why's Taeyang here?"
But as they headed to the seventh floor, Kim Yun-ju checked her approach alert from the locator app.
Kim Taeyang was in the seventh-floor lingerie section.
Hearing that, Mun Hee-jeong raced up the escalator, got sexually harassed by Gemma, and scored free underwear.
"That guy's got some nerve."
For some reason, Kim Taeyang had paid for both their shares and bailed. Kim Yun-ju didn't seem pleased.
"He's not even my boyfriend."
"You have a boyfriend, Unnie?"
"Nah. But this high-leg style suits me better anyway..."
Kim Yun-ju trailed off, peeking into her bag at the panties.
"......"
Mun Hee-jeong watched intently, suspicion flickering in her eyes before fading.
"Hee-jeong. Doesn't it bug you? Some guy who barely knows you buys your underwear. That's sexual harassment. We should sue."
"...The clerk said it was her mistake."
"Then just get a refund."
"He vanished suddenly. Maybe urgent call..."
"You're acting weird. Why keep defending Kim Taeyang?"
"I'm not defending him—"
Even under Kim Yun-ju's grilling, Mun Hee-jeong's mind wandered elsewhere. Like how Kim Taeyang had told her to think of a gift she wanted, but she hadn't decided yet.
Stuff like that.
"Anyway, tomorrow I'm throwing the cost back in his face with coins. You do the same."
Mun Hee-jeong nodded reluctantly. Of course, she had zero intention of doing it.
Proof: her small hand gripped the shopping bag handle with its gifted underwear like a treasure.
* * *
"Where the hell did that idiot go."
Meanwhile, Gemma, who'd left the store, slowly trailed the vanished Kim Taeyang.
Follow the Soul Thread Bracelet linking her to his soul, and she'd find him quick.
But oddly, the thread grew fainter, pulling farther away. The line tied to her body dimmed as proof.
If he had to hit the bathroom, say something first. Manners, delinquent.>
The soul thread to her contractor led not to the restroom, but the emergency stairs.
Kim Taeyang was heading down.
Couldn't fathom why skip the elevator for stairs, but she'd sneak through the wall, pop out with a "Wah!", and scare him.
Grinning mischievously, Gemma punched through the floor to the sixth, then fifth floor.
Huh?
Right then.
"Twilight Gait Quachil Uttaus."
⟨ Time Stop ⟩
A clear voice echoed from somewhere.
-Tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock
Clocks on the department store walls spun wildly.
What the—
Gemma couldn't finish.
-Click
Precisely, she froze mid-air, unable to move.
Just like the halted clock hands.
Not just Gemma. Elevators and machines halted too. The elderly mother-daughter staring up in shock at Gemma descending through the ceiling, other customers and staff—all of them.
Everything visible froze like an exquisite miniature model.
As if time in the department store had stopped.
"Too many eyes to leave traces..."
A woman with waterfall-like ash-gray hair passed leisurely below the hovering Gemma.
"This is mostly Taeyang's fault."
The woman in a red off-shoulder gothic dress murmured shyly, heading for the emergency stairs.
"Very much so."
-Thud
Only she—and the thick leather-bound book she held, its bulging veins writhing—moved in the stopped time.
"Not blaming you, but if you make me this embarrassed, I just wanna see more."
Gumiri. Or the Imagination Witch, Miley Hewitt Lovecraft.
Blushing, the girl chased her childhood friend, clutching the book with its erratically moving eyes dearly.