The Last Veil
As Eunju stepped out of the waxing shop, she paused several times to study her reflection in the glass window. Her hair tied back with a scarf. The slightly tousled waves. The exposed nape of her neck. Just that much made her feel somehow different. But it wasn’t enough yet. On the day of the shoot, once each piece of clothing came off, what remained would be far more than just her hair. Her legs. Her underarms. The fine hairs along the insides of her arms. And the thick shadow that would guard her most shameful place until the very end. The moment Eunju’s thoughts reached that point, her face burned hot.
She had always planned to tidy the hair on her legs, underarms, and arms. That was simply for femininity. The real problem came after that. Pubic hair. Just thinking the word in her mind made Eunju glance around nervously. No one could have heard her, yet it felt as though her thoughts had leaked out into the open. For a woman, that place was the one she wanted to hide most. The spot that made her cheeks flush crimson if it was seen. The place that only felt safe when concealed. Yet no matter how much men pretended to look away, it was the place their eyes instinctively sought. A normal married woman would probably have left it untouched. Eunju had lived that way all her life. But the Eunju of three days from now did not want to stand as an ordinary housewife.
The concept Hyeonwu and Doyun had chosen was “married woman.” Yet the image Eunju had quietly accepted in her heart went a little deeper. A lewd married woman. In that case, that place had to change too. It had to be revealed without a single hiding shadow, all the way into the deepest valley that men only ever imagined. She had already booked a Brazilian waxing appointment. The night the shoot date was set, after Minjun had fallen asleep, Eunju had nervously searched for a waxing shop on her own and reserved the earliest available slot for today. All that remained was to go there.
For a moment, a practical thought struck her first. She wouldn’t be able to go to the public bath anymore. What if the grandmothers or other women at the neighborhood bath glanced at her? How would she hide it if she went to the sauna with her daughters? At her age, why would she have gone that far? Wouldn’t someone look at her with those kinds of eyes? Such worries flooded in with startling realism. But precisely because they felt so real, Eunju’s face grew even hotter. The awareness that she was becoming a body that could no longer visit ordinary places like baths or saunas without a second thought. On the surface she was still a housewife and a wife, yet she was preparing even her most shameful place to suit men’s desires. That thought strangely heated Eunju’s body.
A male waxer. It had been her choice. Eunju did not pretend not to understand what that choice meant to her. If she had gone to a female waxer, it would have been less embarrassing. It would have felt a little safer, a little more like ordinary grooming. But Eunju was not here for ordinary grooming. Even in the process of preparing to offer her body to men, she wanted to feel the stimulation. No matter how professional he was, the eyes looking at her most shameful place would ultimately belong to a man. Just imagining spreading her legs before him, surrendering her body, and having her most hidden place tended to made her lower belly quietly clench.
Eunju no longer questioned that choice. She headed straight for the waxing shop. The shop was quieter than she had expected. It was a one-person studio with a small sign. When she stepped inside, the reception desk and treatment room seemed to flow into one another. There were no other staff. From behind the counter, the male waxer lifted his head.
“You must be Jo Eunju, the one with the reservation?”
In that instant, Eunju became acutely aware that only she and this man existed in the space. The noise from outside had receded beyond a single door, and the interior was excessively clean and silent.
“Yes.” Her voice sounded smaller than she intended when she spoke her own name.
The man calmly confirmed the reservation details. Full-body waxing, including Brazilian.
“Yes.” Eunju answered in a voice that barely rose above a whisper. “That’s correct.”
The waxer guided her into the treatment room. It was a small space. A single clean bed, lighting, the warm scent of melted wax, folded towels, and disposable sheets. The waxer briefly explained the procedure. It might hurt, she would need to change positions depending on the area, and she could stop anytime if she wanted. Eunju nodded. He was far too professional. But the fact that he was a man did not change.
A short while later, after preparing herself, Eunju lay down on the bed. The first area was her legs. Warm wax was spread thinly over her calves and thighs. The first touch felt strangely soft. Warm, sticky, clinging thinly to her skin. Then the cloth was pressed down.
“It might sting a little.”
Before he even finished speaking, the first pain arrived. Rip. The sensation of a layer of skin being torn away made Eunju’s breath catch sharply.
“Ah…” A small moan escaped her.
The waxer asked calmly if she was all right, and Eunju nodded. It hurt. But it was not unbearable. Rather, the pain strangely sharpened her mind. The sensation that she was preparing herself for three days from now. The sensation that she was enduring this pain to create skin that would lie smooth before men’s eyes. As the hair on her legs disappeared, Eunju’s skin became unfamiliarly sleek. Every time the waxer checked the skin’s condition with his hand, Eunju closed her eyes without meaning to. It was a professional inspection. Yet her body could not distinguish whether the hand was professional or personal. The only thing Eunju’s body distinguished was one thing: whether the hand belonged to a woman or a man.
As he moved to the inner thighs, Eunju’s breathing grew increasingly shallow and ragged. She tried hard not to let it show that she was becoming aroused. She even forced herself to suppress the urge for her toes to curl. Next came her underarms. Even the act of raising her arms felt embarrassing. It was a place she normally washed without a second thought. But lifting her arms and exposing her underarms in front of a man made even that spot feel strangely intimate. The wax touched, the cloth pressed down, and it was torn away again. Rip. Eunju bit her lip lightly. The pain was short and sharp. Then it passed. The waxer moved on to the next area with practiced ease. Once the fine hairs on her arms were also removed, Eunju’s body began to feel different from the one she had known. It felt lighter. It felt stripped. Even though she was still dressed, it seemed as though layers were already being peeled away one by one.
And finally, the very last step remained. The waxer checked once more.
“I will now proceed with the Brazilian.”
“If you feel uncomfortable at any time, please let me know.”
Eunju tried to answer, but her throat felt slightly blocked. “Yes.”
He guided her into position with perfect naturalness. Eunju moved her legs exactly as he instructed. In that moment, an entirely different level of shame washed over her. Spreading her legs was not a simple motion. It was the act of opening the center of her body. It was placing her most hidden place beneath another person’s touch and under bright lights. Eunju stared at the ceiling. The white lighting filled her vision. It was too bright. Beneath that brightness, she had nowhere to hide.
The waxer remained calm. He gave only the necessary explanations and moved his hands only as much as needed. Yet to Eunju, every single thing felt unbearably vivid. The moment the warm wax touched near her most shameful place, her fingers clutched the edge of the sheet. It wasn’t hot. But the warmth felt far too direct. Then the cloth was pressed down. Eunju held her breath. Rip. This pain was different from the one on her legs. Much deeper. Much more precise. It was not merely skin being torn away; it felt as though the final veil she had clung to was being peeled off piece by piece. Eunju’s hips lifted ever so slightly before settling back down.
“Are you all right?” the waxer asked.
Eunju nodded with her eyes closed. “I’m fine.”
In truth, she was not fine. It hurt, it was embarrassing, and her body kept tensing. Yet woven between all those sensations was a strange excitement. She was now clearing her most shameful place for three days from now. The place that would meet Hyeonwu and Doyun’s eyes. The place Minjun would watch while swallowing hard. The deepest entrance she might ultimately allow. The last shadow that had covered it was disappearing.
Every time the pain came, Eunju clenched her teeth. Every time shame rose, strength flowed into her fingertips. And before that shame could subside, the next layer of wax touched her. Warmth. Pressure. A brief silence. Then the tearing pain. In that repetition, Eunju began to feel her own body with strange clarity. That place was no longer simply an area being groomed. It was the place that would be laid bare before men’s gazes three days from now. The place where she would be tested—how much shame she would feel, and how widely she could open.
When he explained that he would also treat the back, Eunju’s breath stopped for a moment. That position was even more humiliating. It felt as though her body was being folded, opened, and surrendered in ways she herself had never known. The waxer remained composed. Yet to Eunju, even that composure felt like a kind of humiliation. He was working as if it were nothing. Meanwhile she was exposing the tension in her entire body before him. One more wave of pain passed. A tiny tear formed at the corner of Eunju’s eye. She could not tell whether it came from the pain, the shame, or because the two had become hopelessly tangled inside her.
When the final grooming was complete, the waxer calmly applied a soothing gel. A cool sensation touched her skin. Only then did Eunju realize how tightly she had been clenching her body. “It’s finished.” “You can get up slowly.”
After the waxer left the room, Eunju remained lying there for a long time. It was quiet. In the space where the pain and shame that had continued until a moment ago had all drained away at once, a strange emptiness remained. Eunju slowly sat up. Then she stood before the prepared mirror. Her eyes were drawn first to her legs. They were smooth. Unfamiliarly so. Her underarms and arms had changed as well. Her entire body seemed to have been refined by one layer. And finally, Eunju looked at her most shameful place. Her breath stopped. The veil was gone. It was an unfamiliar exposure she had never seen on the body that had lived as an ordinary housewife. The place she had hidden now appeared both strangely childish and brazenly explicit. Eunju wanted to cover it with her hand. But she did not. Three days from now it would be placed beneath even brighter lights. Before Hyeonwu and Doyun. Before Minjun. The moment that thought crossed her mind, something deep inside her body trembled quietly. It was frightening. Yet strangely, she felt prepared.
Eunju stared at herself in the mirror for a long time. Her hair was tied back, holding its tousled charm, and her body had been emptied even of its final veil. A fallen married woman. The words rose in her mind again. This time they were no longer mere imagination. Eunju was truly reshaping her body to match that name.