Confident Anywhere
Sunlight streaming through the window from the earliest hours of the dawn made Yeoncheong furrow her brow.
"Ugh..."
It had been raining for days on end, so she'd forgotten to close the curtains before bed.
Under normal circumstances she would have yanked the blanket clear over her head and slept in a little longer, but she hadn't stayed up late fiddling with her phone either, so she sat up with a start instead.
She stretched both arms toward the ceiling, then sat on the edge of the bed and folded her upper body down as far as it would go. Having finished her brief morning stretch, she squinted faintly out the bright window.
The rain had let up once or twice in recent days, but the sky had been so overcast it stayed gloomy from morning till night.
Which meant this was the first real sunlight she'd seen in ages.
Feeling a renewed appreciation for the sun, Yeoncheong climbed out of bed.
Should I wash up first?
Whatever the weather outside, summer's muggy air was simply inescapable.
Even though she didn't seem to have sweated at all, her body felt strangely sticky.
She tidied her bedding, switched off all her alarms just before they were due to ring, and pulled her uniform out of the closet. She was about to open the lower storage drawer when she froze.
Remembering that she'd left her underwear to dry, she headed toward the back of the small room. Her freshly brightened face—glowing from the first sunshine in days—collapsed the moment she opened the washing machine.
"Ugh..."
That distinctive musty smell that hits when wet laundry gets left sitting in the drum.
Yeoncheong had been hoping for crisp, freshly dried underwear. What greeted her instead was a pile of laundry that had reverted right back to being laundry.
Staring blankly for a moment, she quickly figured out the cause.
Holy... I guess I never pressed start yesterday.
Now that she thought about it, she clearly remembered setting the machine to dry mode—and remembered nothing after that.
"Ha..."
The underwear abandoned in the washing machine was not just musty but still damp—unwearable.
"And obviously these are soaked too."
The ones hung out on the drying rack were no better. A few hours of weak sunshine couldn't possibly have dried them.
The only wearable option was the one she currently had on. But wearing the same set two days in a row in this heat was a bit much... and it had gotten soaked through once yesterday in the wind and rain, no less.
In this awkward predicament, she made her way back to the closet on the off chance there was something in the storage drawers after all. And there, tucked deep inside, she found a box.
"Ah... so this is where it was..."
She'd found an elegant box with the brand name written out in flowing cursive, but her reaction was pure exasperation.
This was the lingerie the Board Chairman had secretly bought for her—the set so intimidating she'd looked at it once and never taken it out again.
Had she gone for maximum efficiency, or what?
The real problem was how small the panties were, covering precisely the parts that needed covering and not an inch more. But, expensive as the thing was, the fabric was buttery soft—which admittedly felt wonderful.
So: endure an uncomfortable, sticky day, or break out the Board Chairman's gift?
Holding the underwear in her hand, her deliberation didn't last long.
She wasn't showing it to anyone, and it wasn't like there was any dignity at stake here.
The clear blue sky and the sun were a welcome sight, and apparently she wasn't the only one who felt that way.
Energy had returned to the school after days of sunk-in gloom.
Even with exams underway, the students clustered together chattering away, and Yeoncheong—who'd arrived earlier than usual—spent the morning with two friends from her class.
"Ooh, you went black today?"
At Nayun's words, her gaze boring straight into her chest, Yeoncheong yelped and covered herself with her arms.
"Wh-what? Can you see it?"
"If you look closely, yeah."
Never mind that she was wearing a sleeveless undershirt beneath it—the uniform was pure white, and being the lightweight summer version, it made hiding pitch-black underwear practically impossible.
Yeoncheong lowered her head and stared hard at her own chest, then muttered.
"Hmmp... it really does show. It was fine at home, though."
"It's probably easier to see now that the sun's come out."
"Ah..."
Even if her Daengcheongi nickname carried a double meaning, Yeoncheong did at least know that black underwear tended to peek through her uniform.
That was why, at home, she only wore her darker sets under thick, dark-colored clothes like gray hoodies.
But by keeping her underwear wardrobe so rigorously sorted, she'd overlooked the obvious fact that stronger sunlight meant everything showed more.
Pure inexperience.
Perhaps she'd caught an interesting scent in the air, because Nayun's eyebrows began to dance.
"And yet you usually only wear the pale stuff. What's the special occasion today, showing up in such an eye-catching color? Hm~?"
Given the truth, she'd probably get roasted to high heaven—but Nayun wasn't the kind of person who'd let a hasty lie slide, either. So Yeoncheong decided to come clean entirely and let Hasol console her instead.
Wearing a self-deprecating smile, she shrugged.
"The worst-case scenario you're imagining right now? It happened."
Did she even remember what she'd just said?
A few seconds later, Nayun blinked—and then burst out laughing.
"Seriously? You literally had not a single pair of underwear?"
"I put them in the dryer last night. Forgot to press start."
I told you to be careful. I knew this would happen. And so on.
Nayun drummed her desk, unable to contain her laughter, while Hasol kept her lips busy trying to rein in her friend, who was teetering right on the edge of going too far.
"Living on your own must make this stuff tough, huh. Of all times for exam season too, when you're getting home late every night."
Once again, the gap in likeability between the two friends widened at the exact same moment—when it came to sympathizing with someone's situation, only one of them ever managed it.
Still, with Hasol's story, it seemed even Nayun registered that there'd been a legitimate reason. Having caught on a beat too late, she soon shed her mirth as well.
"So what are you wearing right now, then? Did you blow-dry it or something?"
"No. There was exactly one set left at home..."
Yeoncheong swallowed the end of her sentence and left it vague.
I'm wearing the Board Chairman's daring lingerie... Even so, there was no need to disclose that level of detail.
For their part, Hasol and Nayun didn't particularly want the intimate details of their friend's underwear situation either. So for each other's sake, neither pressed further.
"Don't be so self-conscious about it. Nobody really pays attention."
"Exactly. If you keep acting weird about it, you'll just draw more eyes."
Short of not wearing anything at all, there was no way to make the visible invisible. All they could do was advise her to stop worrying and carry on as usual.
Since the thin summer uniform made visible underwear lines a common occurrence, her classmates didn't think twice about Yeoncheong's black set.
She was back to her usual self in no time.
Then lunchtime arrived.
As always, the three of them ate with Seoha and Suyeon, then took a leisurely loop around the athletic field for the first time in ages.
What on earth was wrong with this damn weather.
Even with the rain stopped, the air was still heavy, and the midday sun overhead felt like it was searing straight through her. But since the rain was set to return tomorrow, she wanted to soak up every last ray of a sun she might not see again for who knew how long.
"Hot... so hot..."
Barely a few laps in and she was already sweating, her uniform clinging to her body.
Peeling the sticky fabric away from her skin, Yeoncheong whined that she wanted to go inside, and the two friends turned back toward the school building.
Much as she'd missed the sunshine, the summer sun was simply not fit for human company.
After cooling off in front of the air conditioning in their respective classrooms, the three gathered their study materials and headed for the club room.
"You're here early?"
"Wow, it's really hot out there, huh?"
Hasol and Nayun were already there, having picked up the key from Suyeon.
They'd apparently run the fan and aired the whole room out, because it was reasonably cool inside. The listless heat from the short walk over melted away, and life came flooding back into her limbs.
"Oh. It's actually pretty nice in here."
"We left the window and door both open to ventilate, thank you very much."
Leaving Nayun to preen and wait for further praise—
Yeoncheong marched straight to the fan. Then she flipped the front of her skirt up in one bold motion and broke into a blissful smile.
"Ahhh~ this is the stuff."
"...Um. What are you doing?"
At the sight of her claiming the fan for herself with the confidence of a queen, Nayun tilted her head.
"...You. You said you'd never do that again."
The moment her eyes found the fan, her body had simply moved on its own. Only belatedly coming to her senses, Yeoncheong coughed awkwardly into her hand.
"Ahem... nothing in the world cools you down like this, that's all."
They'd seen it more than once by now—the friend who'd kicked and screamed that she'd never, ever do something, only for the barrier to crumble the instant she got a taste of it.
So this behavior surprised no one.
"You crazy girl? Is it only you who's hot?!"
One small room, no air conditioning, a single fan. Meaning if one person hogged it, everyone else suffered—that was the problem.
"Just stand next to me and share, then."
She switched the fan from fixed to oscillating and shifted her body over a smidge. She showed no intention whatsoever of moving aside.
For a moment, Nayun let out a hollow laugh at her friend's sheer audacity.
"Hey, the point is your panties are showing and you need to move. Do you not understand subtext? If you're that desperate to keep flashing everyone, fine, stand there all day."
She hadn't wanted to get into a physical brawl over a fan in this heat, so she dangled the underwear topic—one of Yeoncheong's most reliable sources of embarrassment—as a threat.
But either Yeoncheong recognized a bluff when she heard one, or she simply didn't care. She didn't budge an inch.
"Ha! I bet you can't even see them."
"I'm telling you I can. Your black panties are on full display."
They weren't, actually. But there was a way to know without looking.
Apparently her friends labored under the rigid assumption that lingerie had to be worn as a matched set—every one of them had never once seen Yeoncheong in mismatched tops and bottoms.
Sometimes life forced it on you, sure, but it was also a monumental pain and a hassle. Most women didn't go that far, frankly.
So with black peeking through the thin summer shirt, it was only natural to assume the bottom half matched.
"Nope. If you'd actually seen them, you'd never be reacting like this."
"I DID! I'm telling you I saw them!?"
The unstoppable escalation of two people who couldn't let the other have the last word. Voices creeping higher and higher.
Sensing the room overheating, Hasol jumped into the fray.
"Girls? Doesn't burning calories over this just make you hotter?"
But Nayun, convinced that backing down now meant losing, made one final gambit, her lips glistening with mischief.
"Then prove I never saw anything. Do that, and I'll let you have the fan to yourself all day."
"......Okay!"
Why was she nodding so vigorously, promising to prove what, exactly?
All Hasol had meant was for everyone to just behave normally. Somehow the output had come out as carry yourself with absolute confidence.
"Behold! And tell me—could you have stayed calm after seeing this?"
So saying, Yeoncheong placed a hand on her own thigh. Gripping and releasing a few times as she psyched herself up, her hand took hold of her skirt hem and began slowly dragging it upward, all the way to her waist.
And what revealed itself was a single black string.
"Huh...?"
"Holy..."
Their jaws dropped at a sight beyond anything they'd imagined. And Yeoncheong tasted sweet, certain victory.
She was busy locking the fan's head back into place and angling it to blow on her and her alone, exactly as promised, when—
"Yeoncheong, honey. You came to school wearing that kind of underwear...?"
"I had no choice! Nothing was dry, so it's the one the Board Chairman bought..."
Mid-answer to Seoha's question, Yeoncheong froze solid.
Plip.
The skirt hem she'd hoisted up with such bravado drifted gently back down.
Her face flushed crimson by degrees, her mouth opening and closing in silence. Fidgeting with her fingers for a moment, she suddenly jerked her head up and unleashed a torrent of excuses.
"So the thing is, they're string-tied on the sides, okay? It's not like they're weird or anything. Damn it... I can't exactly show you, either. Oh, wait, yes! You guys already know about this! The box Suyeon opened thinking it was her own birthday present. That's what was inside. From the Board Chairman. The coverage area is... small. A tiny bit small. But they're perfectly normal underwear!"
Judging by how spectacularly she'd fumbled her own explanation, it seemed she'd briefly lost her mind in the heat, what with exclusive fan rights on the line.
Her moment of fearless glory now vanished without a trace, and at the sight of her friend shriveling up at breakneck speed, Seoha chuckled.
"Really? Because I'm finding that hard to believe... Won't you show us again, properly this time?"
"Are you insane!?"
Yeoncheong's shriek only served to egg the others on further.
"Aww, where'd that brave girl from a minute ago go?"
"For real. When you hooked your skirt on your fingertips and pulled it up so slooowly? You were incredibly seductive."
"Honestly, in underwear like that, you wouldn't even need a fan. You'd stay cool just standing there."
"Nnnnngh... AAAAAH!!!"
Cornered by Seoha and the rest of the relentless teasing, Yeoncheong chose escape.
"KYAAA! Yeoncheong!"
"This isn't the first floor!"
"Grab that lunatic! Somebody grab her NOW!!!"
The entire room broke out in a cold sweat trying to stop her from flinging herself headlong out the window—which, after all, was closer than the door.