A Tearful Changing Circus
Haa… What the hell am I supposed to do?
Standing in front of the locker room door, all I could manage was a deep, despairing sigh.
Barely half a day back on campus and my mind already felt like a shredded wreck, hanging on by threads.
I couldn't bring myself to set foot in that forbidden zone of my own free will. Walk in there now and Ha-rin might actually murder me.
But showing up late and getting on the bad side of the upperclassmen — the female upperclassmen, no less — wasn't exactly appealing either.
…Should I just text Ha-rin first?
No reply.
I stood there bouncing my leg with pure anxiety until, a moment later, the fortress gates of the locker room clicked open a crack.
Through the gap, Ha-rin's icy glare seemed to flash past — and then something came flying at my face at terrifying speed.
For how fast it was coming, I snagged it surprisingly clean. It was the fluorescent department tee and baggy track pants Eunjin had brought me earlier.
…Okay, giving me clothes is great and all, but what now? Change out here?
Just in case, I scanned my surroundings. The only place I could conceivably change was the emergency stairwell.
Back when I was a guy, I wouldn't have cared — but what if someone saw me changing? What if someone took a picture?
The problem was, I didn't exactly have options. Being right outside the women's locker room, it didn't seem likely anyone would come by, but still…
Half-resigned, I slipped into the emergency stairwell.
Fine. So what if someone sees? It's not even my body!
I cranked my hearing to max, flipped on threat detection, and listened hard for any footsteps as the tearful survival-style clothes-changing circus of former male college student Lee Sang-hae officially began.
First, I yanked the oversized department tee over my head. Then I shoved both arms inside the hoodie, worked them into the tee's sleeves from within, and pulled the hoodie out through the neck — successfully mastering the "strip-while-wearing-a-tee" technique.
Once the top was done, the bottom was easy.
Just like at home, I shucked off my jeans in one go and jammed both legs straight into the track pants. First try success!
I somehow finished changing, but cold sweat was pouring down my whole body. Performing this tearful circus in the corner of a stairwell sent a tsunami of self-loathing crashing over me.
Why do my eyes keep trying to sweat?
That aside… what was I supposed to do with the clothes I'd taken off?
Concluding I couldn't just carry them around, I pulled out my phone again and fired off another text to Ha-rin.
A moment later, the locker room door slid open. For someone so prickly, this kid sure checked her texts pretty diligently.
When the door was about a third of the way open, I chucked the clothes in my hands straight through.
Whoosh!
Without a single inch of error, my clothes hit the person coming out of the door dead center.
Mission success! Wahaha!
I was about to bolt for the main athletic field without looking back when the voice that came from behind wasn't Ha-rin's pissed-off one.
"…And what kind of fun little prank is this supposed to be?"
I turned around. Standing there with a sculpted smile, casually catching the pile of clothes, was none other than the groping serial killer herself — Chae-ryeong!
…Why are you coming out of there?
Behind her, Ha-rin had a hand over her mouth, shoulders shaking as she tried not to laugh.
I immediately ran over and started bowing over and over, apologizing to Chae-ryeong with everything I had.
Once the locker room fiasco was over and I arrived at the main field, three departments including ours were already gathered on the artificial turf.
Before long, each department scattered to three corners of the field and launched into warm-ups in unison — high knees, jumping jacks, the works.
…Why is everyone this serious about a college sports day of all things?
Dodging the grim stares of the upperclassmen practicing nearby, I slipped in among my classmates and started warming up with them.
My body's performance was so absurdly good that I never got winded the way I used to.
The only problem was the upper half of this department tee, which blocked my view so thoroughly I couldn't even see below my stomach… Was there nothing I could do about that?
Every time I raised my arms high or bounced up and down, a heavy, soft mass in my chest — something I'd never experienced in my entire life — jiggled mercilessly under the laws of gravity.
High knees were the same.
In my male-era common sense, running was a flat, two-dimensional act of the soles of your feet pushing off the ground. For this damn new body, running was a multidimensional ordeal of absorbing the vertical — and sometimes lateral — shaking of upper-body fat with your entire being.
Haa… I really can't get used to this……
When we switched to jumping in place, the situation spiraled into full-blown catastrophe.
That bizarre weight hanging off the front of my chest swung however it pleased, so every jump made my center of gravity tip subtly forward or sag downward, tangling my footwork so badly I could barely jump at all.
Meanwhile, every single male classmate was staring at me with his mouth hanging open, and the female classmates were sending me a mix of inexplicably hostile looks and openly envious ones. At this point I genuinely had no idea what I was supposed to do.
"Oh my, Sang-hae! You're bouncing so… dynamically up and down — are you doing that on purpose? If they're shaking that much, why don't you just hold them while you jump?"
A few of the girls who'd been openly jealous of me from the start even went out of their way to needle me.
In a situation like this, my resentment naturally extended all the way to the pervert who'd designed this body.
What kind of physical balance did that bastard even set?
After about ten minutes of warm-ups, everyone split off to practice their assigned events.
Since I hadn't been assigned anything, I was left standing alone in a corner of the field.
Wondering what Ha-rin was up to, I looked around and found her running the track with a few classmates.
She was carrying a baton in one hand, so she must have been on the relay team. With that sleek, slim build of hers, it actually suited her.
I stood there awkwardly scanning the area for who knows how long.
Then I spotted our department's fairy, Cho-hee, walking toward me with a red dodgeball hugged tightly to her chest.
"Sang-hae. If you're free, want to play dodgeball?"
The department tee Cho-hee was wearing was one of those trendy oversized fits, and every time she moved, the pale, slender upper part of her arms peeked in and out of the sleeves.
From a guy's perspective, that kind of subtle flash burned hotter than anything fully on display.
This tee was the concentrated product of a designer's desire, and that designer was definitely a man.
My former-male eyes could not be deceived.
…The problem is that I'm currently wearing this product of desire myself.
"Sang-hae, are you not feeling well? I heard something happened with Chae-ryeong in front of the locker room earlier…"
"Ah, no, Cho-hee. I'm just worried because I'm so bad at sports."
"It's fine, Sang-hae. It's just a casual friendly match we always do with English Ed. We just need bodies to fill the numbers."
Looking at Cho-hee's bright smile, I couldn't bring myself to refuse any further.
"But my clothes are a little the wrong size, so they're uncomfortable, and I'm seriously terrible at anything athletic."
"Ah…"
Cho-hee looked steadily at my chest, then seemed to understand exactly what I was trying to say. She gave me a brief, sympathetic smile and pointed a finger toward the middle of the field.
"You don't like the guys staring at you creepily, right? The boys are over there playing soccer, so the chest… shaking you're worried about should be fine."
"That's part of it, but…"
"Hehe. Honestly, my eyes keep going to you too. Sang-hae, you're just that pretty."
Wow… of all the compliments I've heard since turning twenty, this is genuinely one of the least happy-making ones, Cho-hee…
But faced with her harmless smile, I couldn't raise any more objections and just nodded. Cho-hee took my wrist and lightly tugged me toward the dodgeball court.
Well, if I keep standing here alone looking awkward and the soccer guys come over to talk to me after their game, my mood will definitely get a thousand times worse…
"Alright. I'll go."
"Good call."
That was the moment our department's fairy-like savior tension forcibly dragged me onto the dodgeball team.
Cho-hee quietly shifted her grip from my wrist to my hand, then led me by the hand toward the dodgeball line where a crowd of female classmates had gathered.
I stared down at the hand holding mine and followed in silence. Cho-hee glanced back over her shoulder and gave me a bright smile.
"Ah! It's Sang-hae! You actually brought her!"
The moment I stepped in, our department's female classmates — Eunjin especially — welcomed me with explosive enthusiasm. It was the kind of intense reaction unique to female classmates that I'd never once received in my previous life as a male student. A little embarrassing and awkward, sure, but honestly, being treated this well didn't feel bad.
There was just one small problem. I still hadn't fully adapted to this body.
If I misjudged my strength even slightly against my will, it felt like we'd be calling an ambulance, which worried me a bit.
Fine. I'll just pretend to dodge.
It's a girls-only match anyway — they won't throw the ball like complete savages, right? I'll hang on for a bit, get out, and head to the sidelines.
Whoosh!
The second my foot hit the court, that complacent thinking evaporated on the spot.
I am not exaggerating when I say I saw a dodgeball scream past my cheek faster than a cannonball. For a split second, the Valkyrie's super-senses kicked in and switched everything to slow motion — the sheer speed and the terrifying whistle of air nearly made my heart drop out of my chest.
The one who'd thrown it was Han Chae-ryeong, casually bouncing the ball in one hand on the opposite court with a look that said she was having the time of her life.
"Oh my? Who do we have here. Our cute little Sang-hae? You came alone without your guardian?"
Chae-ryeong bounced the ball one-handed and wore a provocative smile.
Guardian? Who exactly is she talking about? My guardian is our department head, Cho-hee, thank you very much?
"Cho-hee! Can I just drop out right now?"
"Uh… sorry, Sang-hae. We've already matched the numbers exactly, so if even one person leaves, we can't run the match…"
I said it half-whimpering, but Cho-hee only looked troubled.
"I'm really bad at sports. What if we lose because of me…?"
I desperately put on a fragile-girl act and sent SOS signals to the female classmates standing behind me as well.
Whether it was the heat or the hard warm-up, every single one of them just looked at me with distant, dreamy eyes.
Then Vice Class President Eunjin clamped a firm hand on my shoulder and spoke with grim resolve.
"It's fine, Sang-hae! It doesn't matter if you can't catch the ball. Just run around in a corner and survive as long as you can! Your face alone is enough to qualify you as a honey-trap operative!"
"What kind of honey trap are you talking about between girls!"
"It works! I guarantee you, if I were a guy, I'd have kidnapped you and taken you home tonight!"
"She's right, Sang-hae! You got this!"
A few other female classmates suddenly piled on and hugged me, piling on words of encouragement.
But compliments like that don't make me happy? I'm a guy?
"Look at the way the English Ed kids are staring at you. Just watch out for Han Chae-ryeong! If you hold out even for a little while, you've done your job!"
"Heh, heh, heh. Sang-hae, don't worry too much. Just have fun and take it light. Lightly, okay?"
That ball earlier was 'light'… where, exactly…?
And all of you keep saying 'take it light' with your mouths, so why are your hands all veiny and clenched like that?!
Despite my desperate inner screaming, our department head and the rest of the female classmates showed absolutely no intention of letting me off the court.
I sent one more rescue signal toward Ha-rin, who was sitting in the shade — the second our eyes met, she whipped her head away.
…Fine! If this trial is the suffering I have to go through because I became a girl… then bring it on! I'll run! Goal: survive at least until mid-game! Lee Sang-hae, on the pride of a former man… fighting!
But my plan to half-ass my dodging and get out at a reasonable point shattered the instant the match began.
Chae-ryeong's throws from inside the court were a whole different beast from the ones outside.
On top of that, she didn't even glance at anyone else — like she had a personal grudge, she locked onto me alone and kept launching balls my way.
The trajectory was so heavy it could have been a national team volleyball spike, but my dynamic vision and reflexes read that terrifying path with perfect, merciless clarity.
"Hmm. Sang-hae, you're a lot more agile than you look? Slipping through everything like a little loach, aren't you?"
When I barely dodged another ball, Chae-ryeong said it with a bright smile.
Her eyes weren't smiling at all, which was chilling.
Then my footwork tangled for a split second, I lost my balance and staggered — and a fastball left Chae-ryeong's hand and screamed past my side. The problem was that one of our classmates was standing at the end of that straight-line trajectory.
I instinctively kicked off the ground and threw my body at the ball. In midair I spun once, smooth as anything, and plucked the incoming ball out of the air with one hand.
"Ah… so close."
But as I landed, my foot crossed the boundary line.
I let out a small sigh and gently rolled the ball over to the other court.
The opposing team who'd received it — and even the upperclassmen sisters who'd been refereeing — were all staring at me with frozen eyes.
That strange silence didn't last long before it erupted into a massive wave of murmuring and cheers.
"Holy crap! Did you see that just now? I thought I was watching a movie!"
"Sang-hae! How did you do that just now? What was that midair flip? That was seriously so cool!"
…What? Why is everyone reacting like this?
Even Chae-ryeong's eyes across the way had a strange light in them.
Anyway, once I was out and standing beyond the line, my classmates passed the ball back to me.
"Sang-hae! Get revenge! Take out all the English Ed kids!"
I took a light leather ball in my hand and drew a deep breath.
If I used my monstrous arm strength as-is, this wouldn't be dodgeball — it'd be a blood-soaked homicide case.
First, bleed off as much power as possible.
Gentle, like passing to a kindergartener. Soft toss.
BAAANG!
But the ball that left my fingertips tore through the air with a sonic crack and shot toward the opposing court like a laser.
"Ugh…!!"
Chae-ryeong, standing dead ahead, flinched and threw both hands out — but she couldn't handle the spin, and the ball bounced clean off.
Han Chae-ryeong, out.
That was what "going easy" looked like.
With the biggest threat gone from the court, the other team had no one left who could match us.
But my core was still that of a gentlemanly Korean man, so I couldn't bring myself to throw mindlessly at faces or upper bodies. Like a proper gentleman, I only targeted the lower half.
With their ace gone, every time our team threw, we could send one of them off the court in order.
"Korean Education Department wins!"
The match ended with the voice of the upperclassman sister who'd been refereeing.
At the same time, Cho-hee and the rest of our female classmates swarmed over and surrounded me.
"Look at my heart actually racing! If you hadn't caught that, I almost got hit!"
Eunjin grabbed both my hands and shook them, eyes sparkling. Behind her, the classmates' over-the-top cheers exploded like fireworks.
"Right? And that ball that took out Chae-ryeong was a total laser!"
"Ah, no. The ball just came flying and happened to stick to my hand."
"You spun a full flip in midair to catch it, and you're calling that 'happened to'? And did you see Han Chae-ryeong's face when she got out? Serves her right!"
Bombarded by the flood of praise, I scratched my cheek awkwardly.
This was nothing like the guys' soccer, where everyone reeked of sweat and slapped each other on the ass.
The fragrant shampoo scent drifting in from every direction and the casual skinship were making my heart pound in a completely inappropriate direction, which was a bit of a problem.
Just as I was about to leave the court basking in the cheers, Chae-ryeong walked over.
She was looking at me with eyes that said she'd found an even more interesting toy than when she'd been treating me like marinated short rib outside the locker room earlier.
"The more I look at you, the more fascinating you get. Let's have fun again soon, okay~?"
"Ah… y-yeah…"
No! Absolutely not seeing you again!
Once Chae-ryeong left, Cho-hee stepped up beside me with a bright smile.
"You said you were bad at sports, but Sang-hae, you were amazing."
"No, you were the incredible one."
I wasn't just being polite — Cho-hee had put on a spectacular performance the entire match. She'd survived to the end, and her movement was no joke. Clean, efficient dodges and catches, a perfect score across the board. There was a reason she could play dodgeball without taking her glasses off.
After that, I left the court still surrounded layer upon layer by female classmates, under a nonstop barrage of questions.
Far off on the track, Ha-rin was wearing an incredulous expression, but I decided to ignore her for now. Right now, I needed to enjoy this rush.
"Sang-hae. If you're not going to change, can you take this to the department lounge for us? We'll change and catch up right after."
What Cho-hee held out was our department's sports day tactical notebook. Internally I wondered what kind of sports day needed tactics, but the second the words left her mouth I nodded vigorously and took the practice log.
A legitimate excuse to not go near the locker room? I welcomed it with open arms.
Joint practice was twice a week, they said, but I decided not to think about that. Future Sang-hae would figure something out…
"Nice work. You said you were going to keep a low profile, and instead you're advertising yourself all over the neighborhood?"
"You scared me!"
I'd let my guard down and was grinning like an idiot on my way to the College of Education building when a voice dripping with pure secondhand embarrassment came from behind me.
I turned my head and found Ha-rin letting out a long, heavy sigh.
"You told me not to act like I know you at school?"
At my comeback, Ha-rin furrowed her brow and snapped back.
"Shut up. If I leave you like this, you're going to end up holding hands with the girls after school and going over to someone's studio apartment. You're loving this, aren't you? Just loving it to death?"
"Wh-who said I was loving it to death?"
I was wronged!
Even at my protest, Ha-rin just waved a hand dismissively.
"Anyway, practice is over, so let's go together later. There's somewhere we need to stop before heading home."
"Where? Isn't it dangerous to be out at night?"
"You'll be fine if you're with me. Wait in the alley by the back gate, and don't wander off — come straight there."
Ha-rin said only what she wanted to say and vanished toward the locker room. Where on earth was she planning to go that she'd come find me in person instead of just texting? For now, I headed to the department lounge.
By the time I reached the hallway outside the lounge, a few of the female comrades I'd played dodgeball with had already arrived.
"Oh! Sang-hae~!"
They spotted me and waved with full intensity.
That fierce welcome — something I'd never once felt as a guy — made a strange little flutter stir in a corner of my chest.
"Sang-hae! Why are you so late? We've been waiting forever."
"Sorry. I must have walked too slow. But how did you guys get here so fast?"
"We live in the dorms, so we didn't bother changing~"
That said, we'd been running around pretty hard during practice earlier — hadn't they sweated a lot?
They didn't change and they don't smell? Korean female college students really were a mystery I couldn't quite figure out…
There was no way other women went around washing their hair only once every few days like my sister or wandering around reeking of sweat. Truly strange.
"I didn't change either, you know? Sorry I'm late."
I dipped my head cleanly in apology, and the female classmates burst into peals of laughter like it was the funniest thing in the world.
"Sang-hae, how is even the way you apologize this cool? And when you smile, you're pretty on top of it?"
"Every single thing you do makes me want to rely on you — you're so dependable! If you were a guy, I think I would've confessed to you!"
…Yeah, well, when I actually was a guy, you all looked at me like a rock on the side of the road.
The exact same behavior, and the reactions were polar opposites. Was modern society really an age of reverse gender discrimination?
"But why are you all standing in the hallway instead of going in? Is the door locked?"
"No, the guys inside are still…"
Rattle.
They seemed like they were trying to say something, but when I pushed the door, it wasn't locked.
The second I opened it, a thick, sour sweat-stench hit me square in the nose and filled the entire lounge.
It was the kind of reek that would set off another full-blown fight the moment the girls walked in and started spraying air freshener to kill the bachelor smell.
Inside, a few male classmates and upperclassmen who'd already finished changing were lounging half-on tables, chatting away with gusto.
There were plenty of clueless guys strutting around in nothing but their underwear, and some who'd already changed into street clothes and flopped face-down on the sofa.
Where do they get that confidence?
Pretty much every guy in our department was a stick. Actual muscle was almost nonexistent.
Even the ones who proudly considered themselves jacked were, objectively speaking, sporting little bulges about the size of an egg?
"Hup…!"
But the moment I stepped into the lounge, for some reason every single guy perched on the tables sucked in a breath at the same time.
Not only that — the entire lounge, which had been as loud as a marketplace a second ago, was instantly plunged into a silence like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over it.
Most of them scrambled to put clothes on, or snatched up the shirts they'd tossed aside and yanked them back on, dressing at a speed that would make your average magical girl cry.
A few classmates whose tops and bottoms were both in an ambiguous state frantically yanked whatever major textbooks or clothes they could grab to cover their bare skin.
What's wrong with them? Did they all get heatstroke as a group?
I tilted my head, walked over to Cho-hee's spot, and set the tactical notebook down neatly.
Then I headed for the corner where I usually left my bag.
As I did, I happened to glance sideways and locked eyes with my classmate Beom-hee. He was a friend I usually chatted with about movies in the back of the lecture hall — and the second our eyes met, he flinched hard and started thrashing around trying to button a half-on shirt.
Curious what on earth he was doing, I kept staring — and his face went beet red until he looked like he was about to cry, then he kicked his chair back and bolted out of the lounge.
What? Did he suddenly need the bathroom?
I snorted a little laugh and reached into my bag.
Hm?
I opened it and looked inside, but there was no tumbler — not even the tablet I always carried around.
And then, suddenly…
This morning came back to me.
The Ryan tumbler I'd always used, which had vanished because I'd become a girl and something called Causality Forced Correction had kicked in. I'd cried because it was already out of print when I tried to buy another one……
……
…Huh?
In that instant, a lightning-bolt realization hit me and I shot to my feet, spine ramrod straight.
"…………"
Beads of sweat started forming on my forehead.
Right after, cold sweat began pouring down my back in rivulets.
I slowly turned my head and looked around. Every pair of eyes belonging to the "guys" in the lounge was locked on me.
Ah. Right…
I'm a female college student right now… aren't I?
My brain short-circuited.
But I kept a poker face and swallowed hard. As naturally as I could manage, like nothing had happened, I took hold of my bag strap.
And then, toward the entire male contingent of our department — every last one of them staring this way with identical looks of pure shock —
I offered the most apologetic smile I could possibly produce to smooth this over, and bowed my head.
Thud.
A few of the guys clutched their chests like they'd taken a critical hit and collapsed onto the desks.
Yeah… if I were in the same situation as you guys right now, I probably would've reacted the exact same way…
A female college student who just transferred in today casually walking in, getting a full view of your defenseless half-naked bodies, and snorting a little laugh…
Ah. I really did something terrible.
I'm sorry, my fellow men…!
Receiving countless stares not just from inside the lounge but from the hallway as well, I walked out with the most composed expression I could manage and gently closed the door.
Then my eyes met Cho-hee's, which had gone round as a rabbit's.
"…The water cooler a bit……"
Cho-hee, our female classmates, and the upperclassmen sisters all stood frozen with their mouths hanging open, unable to even answer.
And under the burning gazes of students from other departments who'd heard the rumors and flocked to the hallway, I felt an overwhelming urge to go straight up to the student center roof and jump.
Hey, System of the World!! Can you please run Causality Forced Correction on what just happened too!!!