Lee Nawol
"It actually posted."
Junyoung stared at the screen in a daze. It felt like only seconds had passed since he'd uploaded it, and already hearts were stacking up beneath it.
"This is insane."
Dopamine surged at his first taste of attention. Watching the likes and comments come pouring in was thrilling at first, then little by little, frightening.
"There's no way anyone figures out it's me... right?"
On the screen was his own body, posed so that his large breasts and pussy were laid completely bare. Rationally, he knew no one could pick twenty-something Kim Junyoung out of a photograph alone. Even so, the anxiety seeped in.
"No — I'm a man. How would anyone ever know?"
He set the phone down. If not for these photos, there would be no proof at all that he had briefly become a woman.
"Haah... I'm beat."
Probably because he'd already wrung every last drop out of himself, exhaustion came crashing down all at once. Junyoung's big eyes blinked heavily, and he flopped onto the bed, asleep before he knew it.
"Back again."
Standing before the mirror, Junyoung let out a hollow laugh. He'd hoped, and sure enough, morning had returned him to a man. The beautiful woman from yesterday had vanished without a trace; what stood in her place was an ordinary young man in his twenties, Kim Junyoung.
"Definitely not a dream, though."
When he opened his gallery, yesterday's photos were still there, exactly as he'd left them — himself, legs spread in a lewd pose, gazing back at the camera with a shamelessly suggestive expression.
"What the hell is this."
While he was at it, he opened ByeolStar as well.
"Holy shit — what is this?"
Likes and comments, yes, but even his DMs were flooding in past the point of overflowing. It was enough to make him wonder whether every pervert in the country had gathered in one place. Most of the messages praised his figure and offered money in exchange for a meeting.
"Why the hell would I meet men? Fuck."
It turned his stomach that men — his own sex — had looked at his photos and sent DMs like that.
"Maybe I shouldn't have posted."
He'd uploaded them because it seemed a waste to keep them to himself, but seeing this, it felt like he'd done nothing more than toss feed to a pack of perverts, and the regret stung a little.
"Right — this is no time for this."
He had to get to work and tend the garden today too. Junyoung gave his appearance one last fuss, opened the door, and stepped outside.
"Ugh, why are there so many pots."
Junyoung was organizing the storage shed. Throwing out the old pots and arranging the new arrivals — that was the job assigned to him today. A line of sweat trickled down his forehead; rain was on the way, and the air hung unusually heavy.
Then, while he worked in a haze, rain came sheeting down.
"Wow, it's really coming down."
Hard rods of rain were lashing in through the wide-open shed door.
"Let's finish fast and get inside."
He was walking over to fetch the new pots near the door when a figure suddenly darted into the shed.
"Seriously, rain out of nowhere..."
The one who stepped in, shaking the rain from her long wet hair, was — unbelievably — Lee Nawol, the mistress of the estate.
Junyoung froze on the spot.
She must have been jogging the estate grounds, because she was dressed in skin-tight leggings. The pale fabric clung to every sensual curve of her, and he stole a look and swallowed hard.
Incredible.
Soaked through by the rain, the leggings advertised her silhouette without a shred of subtlety. Look closely enough and they were stretched so taut that even the outline of her pussy showed between her legs. He told himself not to look, and couldn't turn his head away.
"Who is that?"
Sensing his stare, Nawol looked him up and down as she spoke. With a good hundred servants working this estate, he could understand her not knowing his face.
Junyoung gathered himself, straightened, and bowed.
"Good afternoon. I'm Kim Junyoung — I work as one of the gardeners."
"I see. Keep up the good work."
Her eyes cooled in an instant, disinterested, and slid away from him. Against his hope that the conversation might continue, she simply turned her head aside.
That look struck Junyoung like a blow. It was the gaze of someone who dismissed him as so much scenery. He'd known perfectly well that the head of the Lee clan wouldn't spare a thought for an ordinary servant — but having it confirmed to his face left a sour ache in his chest.
"I'll head out once this rain lets up."
Settling onto a chair nearby, she glanced at the watch on her wrist and went on.
Right. This is the distance between her and me.
Hiding his disappointment, Junyoung went back to work. Disappointment was one thing; he couldn't return to the dorms until the day's tasks were done.
Just focus on the work.
He stacked the new pots neatly on the shelves. Of course, even mid-task, his quiet surveillance of Nawol never stopped. Rain-damp, she seemed even more bewitching today. Each time she swept her wet hair back, a lovely fragrance spread through the shed, and he flared his nostrils, greedy for even a trace of her scent.
Junyoung kept sneaking glances under the pretense of not looking. When she folded her arms against the cold, her heavy breasts stood out all the more. She really was a beautiful woman.
Come to think of it, I was a woman yesterday too.
His own face and figure last night had been fine things, but set against a woman raised as a wealthy family's daughter from birth, they wouldn't even register.
Junyoung's gaze slid down to her lower half. Staring at the firm ass sheathed in leggings, blood began pooling southward. One wrong move and he'd be pitching a tent right there.
If that happened, he was truly, royally fucked.
If Nawol ever caught him at it, he might well lose his job as groundskeeper.
"Oh — it stopped."
Heartlessly, the rain let up almost at once. Nawol, who had been watching the sky, darted out of the shed without so much as a word of farewell.
"And she's gone."
He hadn't dared hope for a goodbye, but they had shared the same air for a little while, and having her vanish like that still left him feeling the lack. He buried the feeling and silently finished what remained. By the time the work was done and the shed put to rights, dusk had settled.
"Time to head back to the dorms."
Walking from the shed toward the servants' quarters, something felt different from usual.
"Huh? What's going on?"
Oddly certain he had shrunk, he glanced around — and then his own hand caught his eye.
"What's wrong with my hand?"
It was unmistakably smaller than usual, and up close the knuckles were slender, like a woman's.
"Don't tell me..."
Had he turned into a woman just now? A cold prickle ran over his entire body. He whipped his head around; mercifully, no one was passing by.
"F-first, the bathroom. Let's go."
He couldn't very well wander the estate wearing a woman's body.
"Faster...!"
The walk to the servants' quarters would take a good ten minutes at least. First priority was slipping into the annex bathroom just ahead and confirming what he'd become. Junyoung bolted for the annex without a second's hesitation.
He found the bathroom, stepped inside, and looked at the mirror first of all.
"Fuck. It's real."
He really had become a woman.
Face blank, Junyoung stroked his own cheek. The softness under his fingertips slowly brought his mind back online.
"Still, this is way too sudden."
Honestly, he didn't dislike being a woman. He liked the looks well enough, and a break in the same old daily grind wasn't unwelcome either. He'd even posted photos on ByeolStar and tasted attention far beyond what he deserved — things Kim Junyoung the man couldn't have dreamed of.
But turning into a woman without warning, at random, was another matter entirely. Someone might uncover what he really was, and in the worst case, he could get dragged into something very strange indeed.
Junyoung glared at the figure in the mirror. A pretty face, drained white. Below it, a lush, full-figured body dressed in plain work clothes. His frame had shrunk from its usual size, and the clothes hung loose.
"How am I supposed to get back to the dorms?"
If he bumped into an employee who knew him like this, it would be a catastrophe. Going out there terrified him, but he couldn't hide in this bathroom forever.
"Somehow. Just get there somehow."
If he was careful, avoided every face, and made it to his own room, nothing should go wrong.
"Right. It's the only way."
He took a deep breath and opened the bathroom door. With a creak, he peered through the gap — thankfully, the corridor was empty. He stepped out into the hallway draped in darkness.
Light. Whether it was the woman's body or not, he could walk without making a sound, and that much was a mercy. At this rate, he'd make it back to his room without incident.
He was creeping along, and the instant he rounded a corner, a lovely scent flooded his nose.
"Ack!"
Thud — he smacked headlong into someone.
Startled, Junyoung looked up — and standing directly in front of him was Lee Nawol, mistress of the estate.
His heart dropped straight through the floor. Of all people. Of all moments.
Junyoung bit his lip, his face a portrait of ruin. Why, at this exact moment, did he have to run into the one person he least wanted to see? It was nothing short of fate playing a joke on him.
"Who are you? I don't know your face."
The words fell like a blade, and his heart plunged all over again.
"I, um... that is..."
Naturally, she couldn't possibly recognize him as the woman he'd become. But that was the worse problem. Caught wandering these halls at this hour, not even an employee of the estate — she might have him reported for trespassing.
What do I do. A single line of sweat traced down Junyoung's temple.
"Hm? I asked who you are."
Close enough that their lips might brush, her beautiful eyes locked squarely onto his.