The News
"I'll think about it. I'm heading in."
"Already?"
"Already, he says. It's past five."
"Fair enough. You're really putting in a proper workout before you go today, hyung."
"I'm a little wrecked, if I'm honest."
"Still, looking at how well you're holding up, I ought to tell my sister-in-law to turn the intensity up."
"...Don't. I mean it."
The words came out before I could stop them. I glared at Changsu, and he blinked, eyes going round, then nodded.
"...It's that brutal?"
"Yeah. Once her eyes roll back, it's no joke. She stops listening."
"Somehow it feels like the hilt's in my hand."
"Go ahead and swing it. You ready to deal with what comes after?"
Changsu cackled, and I let out a short laugh of my own as I gathered the towels and water bottle lying around. A dull ache ran through me. I'd taken on a real load.
"See anyone you liked?"
"...Right now I like almost all of them."
"...You're not a multimale too, are you?"
"I've been starving a long time myself. If it isn't a MILF, this emptiness in me just won't fill."
"...Then good luck with that."
"Yes. Go on in."
"I'll come back out and say hello again."
"Mmhmm."
I was on my way to the showers when the phone rang. I lifted it, saw the name on the screen, and answered with a grin.
"Hey, Hyunji."
"Oppa!"
Her bright voice calling for me pulled another smile out of me as I kept walking.
"On a break?"
"Yes. I'm dying..."
"Lunch?"
"I sent you a photo, oppa."
"Ah, right. I was working out, so I missed it."
"It's fine. It was salad again today. Did you eat?"
"Yeah. With the owner here, and Rahee."
"How's the gym you moved to? Do you like it?"
"Mm. Want to come with me sometime?"
"Really?!"
"Of course."
"...I miss your face, oppa."
"I miss my Hyunji too. Want to video call?"
"W-wait, really? Is it okay if I call?"
"Obviously."
"O-okay, one second."
She hung up, and a video call came through almost at once. I huffed a laugh, raised the phone, and the moment I answered, Hyunji's pretty face filled the screen. I smiled before I knew it. Her hair was damp with sweat, and the sight dragged up the image of her in bed so vividly that it stirred me a little.
"Oppa, you were still working out? I thought you'd be finished."
"I'm just on my way to wash up."
"...My oppa is so cool. Wet hair is too cute."
"Ah. Should I have showered before I picked up?"
"No... Oppa, I miss you so much."
I let my eyes rest on the ballet clothes she wore on the screen. She was sitting against a wall with her knees drawn in, and my gaze had nowhere to go but the white tights and the small triangle showing beneath them. Hyunji seemed to catch exactly what I was looking at. Color rose in her face, and she adjusted the phone, angling herself so I'd have a better view.
"Come to think of it, this is the first time I've seen my Hyunji in a ballet outfit."
"...I-it's just practice clothes, so they're messy... Do you like them...?"
"Yeah. You're really pretty. They suit you."
"Hehe... Thank goodness. You always tell me everything's pretty. Oppa's the best."
"Then will you wear them for me next time?"
"...O-okay..."
She'd understood me. Her face went scarlet, and after a shy glance around, she answered in a small voice. I smiled softly at her and went on.
"Practice until late again today?"
"Yes... There's really only a few days left now. Ah! Don't!"
That was the moment. The screen started jerking every which way, and Hyunji's voice grew distant. A babble of voices rushed in, and five round foreheads popped into frame one after another. Above them, hair pulled tight and coiled near the crown bounced and swayed. Even the hairstyle they had to wear in practice seemed to be set.
"Hello!"
"We're Hyunji's friends!"
"Ah, give it back! I barely get to hear oppa's voice as it is!"
"Grab Hyunji!"
"Hey!"
"Kyaa!"
"Oppa! Is it okay if we call you oppa too?"
"All Hyunji ever does is brag about you!"
"I'm so jealous!"
"These days Hyunji just walks around grinning like a fool!"
"She looks stupid!"
"Is our Hyunji really that pretty?"
"We're pretty too!"
"That's right. We're a little pretty too!"
"Give it baaack!"
"Kyaa! Run!"
I couldn't help smiling all the way through it. They clamored for a long while, but all that energy was good to see. I could tell Hyunji was doing fine at school.
Figures. Even I can tell she's a good kid.
They looked cuter and more innocent than any picture I'd had of a women's university. I'd heard the reality could rival an all-boys' school or an engineering department, but one look at this and I could have told anyone that talk was wrong. Maybe people in the arts were just unusually honest with their feelings. The eyes sparkling on the screen pulled a laugh out of me as I answered.
"Hello. I'm Lee Shinwoo, the one who's seeing Hyunji. I can tell you're her friends — you're all so pretty. I'll be sure to greet you properly sometime."
Before I'd even finished, the round-eyed chatter died as if every mouth had snapped shut at once. The girls were unbearably cute. Pretty ones really did flock together. I couldn't see their full faces, but a clean forehead and a lovely set of eyes were enough to guess the rest. My Hyunji was a little better, of course.
"...Oppa. I love you."
"Out of nowhere?"
"I think I just fell in love."
"...The way you talk is too sweet."
"All I did was say hello."
"Forget Hyunji — what about me?"
"What about me? Oppa, what do you think of me?"
"Oppa! I'm an A cup!"
"...Ah. I see."
"Hand it over!"
"Kyaa!"
The five egg-like foreheads piled on the screen collapsed all at once. The image kept shifting, so I opened the locker-room door, set the phone down inside, and hummed while I sorted my things. The birdlike chatter sounded like music. Not Hyunji's, though.
Young really is the best.
Of course, so long as they were pretty, age didn't matter much. Not unless it was the older range Changsu had his heart set on. A glance at the screen showed it still thrashing around. The stranger thing was that the call hadn't dropped. The scuffle looked like it would take a while. Somewhere past the noise, two text alerts chimed, but the only one who'd message me on a weekend was an ad, so I paid them no mind.
So Hyunji really hasn't told them.
From what her friends were saying, unlike Rahee, she apparently hadn't let on that I was a multimale. Did Hyunji have a possessive streak, or was it that obsession she'd admitted to? Or was she looking out for me? I was curious. All three were fine.
"Hahh, hahh. Pointlessly strong, every one of them."
"You did it."
"Yes. Haah, I'm sorry, oppa. The kids were just messing around..."
"It's fine. They're your friends. They all seem like good ones."
"...Thank you."
Hyunji was looking at me, and I looked quietly back at her face. She didn't say it, but she had to be feeling what I was feeling. Then a voice carried in from somewhere beyond the speaker, and she frowned as if she hated to let go.
"I have to start practice... What even is this, because of them."
"All right. Hang in there. You can call again."
"Okay... I'm just disappointed, that's all..."
"Practice well, and enjoy your dinner."
"I will. I'll send a photo. O-oppa."
"Hm?"
"Whenever I see you, I get my strength back. And... mwah."
Still watching me, she glanced around, flushed, and in an instant pressed her lips to the camera. Then she ended the call. Right before it cut, squeals rose around her for a second, and if anything they only made it cuter.
...That's my line.
Rahee had lifted my mood back up from the bottom it had hit today, and Hyunji's face and voice, arriving when I was a little worn out, brought the life back with them. I stared at the darkened screen for a moment, then slowly undressed and stepped into the showers.
"Shinwoo."
Shower done and bag in hand, I came out of the locker room to find Rahee waiting against the wall. She smiled as she called to me.
"Yeah. What is it? Something wrong?"
"No. I just wanted to see you off."
"The customers?"
"Yewon can take them now. She isn't even doing anything at the moment. She asked me to help, so I couldn't watch your training."
Training-mode Rahee flashed through my mind, the one who'd seized me by the scruff of the neck. I swallowed and spoke carefully.
"From tomorrow, let's take it a little easier."
"...No. Slack off any more than this and the effect gets cut in half."
"...I'm suddenly not sure I want to come."
"I'll drag you here one way or another."
"...This is not going the way I pictured."
At my grumbling we laughed at the same time, and I brushed Rahee's cheek as I spoke.
"Work hard. Think you'll be late today?"
"Probably. People keep trickling in a few at a time. Shinwoo."
"Yeah?"
"...Would it be all right if I came to your place tonight, even if it's late...?"
I stroked her cheek as she asked so carefully, and nodded.
"Come whenever. Tomorrow's a café day, so I'll have to head out on my own in the morning."
"...I know. I just want to sleep together..."
Her hand came over mine where it rested on her cheek. The softness of it held my eyes on hers, and I kissed her lightly on the lips. By now, meeting my mouth came naturally to her.
"I'm off, then. Hang in there. And make sure you look over the curriculum."
"Don't worry. From there on, it's my specialty."
"Good."
But the sweet mood between us broke at once on an incoming call.
"Ah. One second."
"...Okay."
I pulled the phone from my pocket, and the name on the screen was none other than Bae Jihyun.
Did the contract talks already wrap? She put in the work over the weekend.
"Hello."
"Shinwoo, can you talk? You were on a call earlier."
"Ah, right. What's going on?"
The message that had come through while I was talking to Hyunji must have been Bae Jihyun's callback. Counting this, she'd called three times in a rush, and there was an edge of urgency in her voice. Something was clearly wrong. I glanced at Rahee for a moment's pardon and listened.
"...Shinwoo. Our broadcast just went up as a segment on the afternoon news."
"The news?"
My eyes went round at the word out of nowhere, and Rahee looked at me, worried.
"Yes. I get what the reporter was going for, but it's a strange situation where you're the one taking the damage. I'll send you the video link for now."
"...What's it about? Did I go too far on the broadcast?"
"No! Absolutely not that. Will you check it first?"
"...Give me a second."
"Okay. I'll stay on."
I lowered the phone in a hurry and tapped the link in the message she'd sent. A clip came up, one segment from the news on the cable channel KTV, and as I watched it in silence Rahee leaned in to watch beside me.
"..."
"...This is ridiculous."
"...Yeah. One second."
"Okay."
Rahee watched the rest through, then whispered as if she couldn't believe it. I nodded and picked the call back up. Even then, my mind was racing.
I didn't see this coming.
The content itself wasn't much. It was a public-interest piece raising concerns about public offices leaking personal information. If anything, the point of the story was closer to calling out a society that failed to look after multimales like me. The problem was the file footage: a clip from my broadcast with Bae Jihyun, the part about my name going up on the multimale list the very day I'd registered. The video had been blurred, but the lower third credited Lee Hyangsuk TV as the source, and that made the mosaic useless.
Do I need to consider an injunction? Fighting a broadcaster won't gain me anything. It's Bae Jihyun's broadcast, and I'm fine with that, but still.
Once it had aired, it was as good as too late. Even at the fastest, getting the video taken down would clearly take weeks. The real problem was that they'd ended up spotlighting the multimale list itself, which meant not only my home address on that list getting out, but even where I was right now. And on terrestrial news, of all things.