Every Man's Fantasy
It became every man's fantasy.
After the stream ended, Sunday slipped by far too quickly.
Why do weekends always vanish so fast even when you don't have to work?
And so Monday arrived. I washed up simply and got ready to head to the PC Room for my shift.
"…Should I just wear what I bought last time?"
The white crop top and jeans I'd picked up at that clothing store. I put on the outfit some weird clerk had recommended and stared at myself in the mirror.
"Yeah, it's a little snug, but it's actually pretty comfortable…"
Being clothes made for women, they were tight, yet easy enough to move in.
"Guess I should just go. I'm heading out."
I finished my greeting to the empty room, then opened the front door of the apartment.
"Boss, good morning!"
I threw open the PC Room door and greeted her with full energy.
"Oh, Ari, you're here? You're early?"
The clock pointed to 11:30. Was I early?
"My shift starts at twelve, though?"
"Exactly. You showed up a whole thirty minutes early."
"…Aren't you supposed to get here about that early?"
"You really are SSS-rank."
I left the boss to her incomprehensible muttering and stepped behind the counter.
"Looks like you bought new clothes, Ari?"
"Ah, yes! Thanks to the money you gave me!"
The boss's eyes swept over my body. Somehow that felt embarrassing.
"I'm jealous. Of that body."
"Huh? Of what?"
"If I had your body, I'd be way more shameless about flaunting it."
"………What?"
I flinched and curled in on myself for a second—then was shocked by my own reaction. A pure estrogen-soaked response.
"I-it was a joke. If you react like that, what am I supposed to do?"
The boss looked flustered herself as she spoke.
"N-no, it's fine! I'll go get ready real quick!"
I hurried into the STAFF ONLY room and finished preparing for work.
My set hours ran from noon to 8 p.m.
It might sound like a long shift, but it wasn't hard at all. Far fewer people came during the daytime than I'd expected.
Out of more than 150 seats, maybe thirteen people were sitting around at most. As long as they didn't order anything, it was basically break time spent sitting at the counter.
"Ari, you said you're twenty-one, right? Do you go to university?"
While we were both sitting at the counter, the boss struck up conversation first.
"No. After high school I went straight into the milita— I mean, I started working right away."
"I see. What about your parents?"
"Ah, circumstances mean we live separately. That's why I'm living on my own!"
It could have been a heavy topic, but the boss reacted like it was nothing.
"Ohh, so you're working alone while living by yourself?"
"Yes… Why do you ask?"
The look in the boss's eyes turned strange. Like she'd just spotted prey.
"Because it means I can make you work more?"
"…I'll pass on that kind of interest."
"Joke, joke. You're pretty serious, Ari."
She laughed for no reason and lightly punched my shoulder. Only after seeing her smile did I realize it—the boss was actually pretty good-looking herself. Why was I only noticing that now?
Seat 146 has ordered ramen.
"Ah, Ari, can you handle that?"
"Yes!"
I shot up from my seat and stood in front of the ramen machine. Tear open the packet, dump the noodles and soup base into the bowl, hit the button—water comes out automatically. Simple machine. A moment later the water was boiling fast.
Normally you'd just wait about three minutes and deliver it. But that tastes terrible. As someone who'd been boiling ramen for ten years, I couldn't stand bad ramen.
The real key to ramen flavor isn't the water amount or the order you cook it. It's the chewiness of the noodles. And there's only one way to lock that in: expose the noodles to air.
So while the ramen boiled, I started lifting the noodles with chopsticks every so often to cool them.
"Ari, what are you doing?"
"Ah, doing this makes the noodles chewier."
"…Where the hell did this golden goose roll in from?"
Soon I plated the finished ramen on a tray and headed to the seat.
"Your ramen order is ready."
The man who'd been staring blankly at his screen took the ramen—then paused.
"……Are you the part-timer?"
"Yes!"
"Ah… okay. Thanks."
He suddenly asked if I was the part-timer and then took the ramen. What a letdown.
"Yep, order complete."
"Ari, if anything ever comes up and you can't work here anymore, you have to tell me right away."
"Huh? Why?"
"So I can make that 'anything' disappear."
I felt like I'd just heard something terrifying.
Uneventful time passed, and then came the promised hour of six.
Once again the PC Room entrance started buzzing with noise. But something felt off. Last time people had poured in like a flood; today it felt more like a clog. Like a blocked sewer, people were jammed up right at the entrance.
"…Ari, can you go open the door for them? At this rate even the customers trying to leave are going to get stuck."
"Huh? The door won't open?"
"No—those kids all came to see you."
Me? Why me?
Full of questions, I got closer to the door and started hearing the voices of kids in school uniforms.
"Whoa… that body is insane, holy shit."
"Damn… she's crazy pretty."
"I'm only coming here from now on."
"What are you even? You're on a whole different level from her."
No way. Are they all talking about me?
I opened the PC Room door and spoke.
"Hi~ Sorry, but if you stay here people can't get in or out. If you're coming in, could you hurry up and come in?"
The moment I said one sentence, every face flushed red. The noisy atmosphere vanished without a trace; they just filed into the PC Room in perfect order.
Once the buzzing hallway quieted down and the PC Room filled up, the boss at the counter spoke.
"Ari, you were popular when you were younger, right?"
Popular? I'd never had anything like that. I just slept in the corner of the classroom and ran off to part-time jobs the second school ended. Besides, I'd gone to all-boys middle school, all-boys high school, then the military.
"Huh? No? I went to all-boys mid— I mean, girls' middle and high school."
"Then how are you so good at handling those boys? The first time I saw them I got completely overwhelmed…"
Ah, that answer was easy.
"You just have to tell them clearly and they fall in line on their own. Boys that age, if you let them look down on you even once, you're screwed."
I knew boys that age better than anyone. Because until just two years ago, I'd been one of them.
"You really are… Alright, I get it. Let's just tough it out a bit."
"Yes!"
Just as expected. Orders poured in endlessly again today.
Ramen, hot dogs, fried chicken skin, rice bowls. Americano with pork belly topping…? Why would anyone even make that?
Anyway, I hustled around processing every order that came in.
"Ari, three Americanos for seat 128!"
"Yes!"
I took the Americanos the boss handed me and started walking toward the seats. Weaving between the countless chairs—
"Ow!"
One customer yanked back a reclined chair and slammed it right into my arm. At the same time, the Americanos dumped completely all over my clothes.
"Ah, crap!"
"Whoa… ah, I'm so sorry."
The guy who'd been sitting there jumped up and kept bowing his head in apology.
"Ah, no, it's fine. You're not hurt, right?"
"What happened?"
The boss came running because of the big commotion, sized up the situation, and spoke.
"Alright, customer, just stay put for a second. Ari, come here."
"Ah, yes."
We walked back to the counter together, and the boss said,
"First, glad you're not hurt. Clothes feel pretty uncomfortable, huh?"
"…Yeah, a little."
The T-shirt and jeans had already soaked up a full load of Americano. They were damp, and even standing still I could smell coffee rising off them.
"I don't have any proper clothes right now either, but want to wear these at least?"
"These?"
A white T-shirt and a small piece of cotton fabric were pressed into my hands. Soft cotton material, black color. But at the ends, gray piping. The pants that were every man's fantasy. Dolphin Pants.
"I… have to wear these?"
"Yeah. Is it weird because they're ones I used to wear?"
"Ah, n-no. It's not that, just feels a bit awkward."
"What's the big deal? You don't have any other pants that fit."
Right. Better than these jeans reeking of Americano.
I took the dolphin pants and went into the staff room. I peeled off the still-dripping jeans, roughly wiped myself down with tissues, then picked up the dolphin pants the boss had given me.
"…Never thought I'd end up wearing these."
The feeling of putting on pants that had once been my own fantasy was…
"They're comfy as hell?"
Easy to move in, great ventilation so they were cool, and not even as short as I'd imagined. They covered my butt and even my thighs—basically the same length as regular guys' soccer shorts.
"Ari, sorry, but if you're changed, can you help with orders? We're getting a bit backed up…"
"Ah, yes! Coming out!"
I opened the staff room door and stepped out—and the noisy PC Room went quiet for a second. Everyone sitting nearby turned to look this way all at once.
…What?
"Ari, orders are piled up, so start from over there."
"Yes!"
I casually grabbed a tray and headed down the aisle. But something was weird. The more orders I processed, the more new ones started piling up.
And on top of that—
"Sorry, could you bring just one more pair of chopsticks?"
"Yes, yes."
I'd bring the chopsticks, and then from the next seat over—
"Ah, sorry, could I get some wet wipes…"
"Pickled radish for me!"
Completely pointless requests kept multiplying. In the middle of that chaos, the only thing I could do was mutter a small complaint.
"Aargh! These little bastards keep calling me back and forth like crazy. Why can't they just settle everything in one call, damn it."
"Ari, sorry for making you work extra. I'll count the extra thirty minutes as ten thousand won."
"Thank you, Boss! See you Wednesday!"
"Yeah, alright."
Before she knew it, it was 8:37—thirty minutes past Ari's shift. After sending Ryu Ari off and tidying up the POS machine, Moon Si-yeon discovered a fact she could barely believe.
"Forty thousand won increase compared to last week?"
A number that made no sense. Given that this PC Room mostly drew middle and high schoolers, the average spend per customer wasn't that high. Yet today's daily sales were clearly higher than last Monday's. Specifically, sales from 7:30 p.m. onward had spiked strangely.
"How did we get a result like this?"
She thought it over carefully.
"Around seven… that was when Ari spilled the coffee, right?"
The Americano had spilled at 7:11. Factoring in the time to change clothes, about 7:15. After that, orders had shot up weirdly high—high enough that she'd had to make Ari work overtime.
"…Nah, no way. That can't be it."
One hypothesis floated up in her mind. There's no way it was because of the pants, right? But there was nothing else that could explain the numbers.
More than anything, she was a former PR specialist from a major corporation. Figuring out the causal link between a product and what made it sell was her specialty.
"…If it really is because of the clothes."
Moon Si-yeon licked her lips and opened an online shopping mall.
"This… is going to make some serious money."
Ari's expressionless dolphin pants.
