Chapter 16
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Hospitals Aren't Just for When You're Sick.
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I felt like I could die of embarrassment.
After sobbing uncontrollably in Mom's arms for what felt like ages, I finally came back to my senses.
On the dining table sat the kimchi stew that had been bubbling away just moments ago.
Chunks of pork shoulder meat, sliced thick, floated in the kimchi stew.
Between the bits of kimchi rising to the surface of the broth, the meat peeked out temptingly.
I picked up a piece of meat loaded with fat along with some well-stewed kimchi and popped it into my mouth with my chopsticks.
In my mouth, the oil-rich kimchi and tender meat melded together perfectly.
The same familiar taste as always.
This was the home cooking I remembered.
I ate my rice, picking at the various side dishes with my chopsticks.
Mom watched me quietly for a moment before speaking in a soft voice.
"...Watching you use chopsticks, you really are my son."
I mumbled around a mouthful of rice.
"I told you, I am..."
"Don't just eat the meat—have some veggies too."
"I just ate some...!"
"Eat a lot... And some kimchi over there too."
"I'm eating kimchi stew, and you want me to have kimchi as a side...?"
Mom let out a small chuckle at that.
Her eyes looked a little sad, but that was probably just my imagination.
"Yeah. Eat up together."
After dinner and a shower, I came out to find Mom busily searching something on her smartphone.
As I approached, drying my damp hair with a towel, she looked up.
"Eun-hae. Don't you think we should go to the hospital after all?"
My grip tightened on the towel for a moment.
"How can we go to the hospital...? What if something happens there...!"
"We still have to. Are you planning to live like this forever?"
"No, that's not... I mean..."
"You need to go back to normal... Medicine's advanced these days, so let's go to the hospital. Okay?"
"What if they lock me up and experiment on me...? It's not even an illness, and a guy turning into a girl like this..."
"Nobody experiments on people these days."
"But this is a special case..."
"So you're going to live like this forever without going?"
"...It might go back on its own someday."
Mom let out a shallow sigh.
"Is there any guarantee it'll go back? Or do you have a plan?"
"No..."
The same words kept repeating.
"Then listen to Mom. Got it?"
"Can I think about it a little more...? Just until tomorrow..."
"...Yeah. Okay... Mom will respect your choice."
My room, after so long away. Everything was just as I left it.
I pulled off the large cloth cover from the desk to keep the dust away, and familiar sights greeted me.
The character-printed mouse pad, the mini figures and acrylic stands decorating the space around the computer monitor.
And into this room, my bastion of manhood, stepped the monumental first woman.
The fact that the woman was me was truly regrettable.
The room carried my distinctive scent. That musty, heavy smell unique to a guy's room.
A smell I hadn't noticed before now felt so alien, like this wasn't my room at all.
Like I'd wandered into someone else's space.
With no real purpose, I fiddled aimlessly with things around the room.
The 8kg dumbbells I'd bought thinking I'd get into working out.
I'd quit after like three days.
I tried lifting them now. I could pick them up, but moving them around was impossible.
I plopped down into the computer chair.
My feet, which should have touched the floor, dangled in the air.
It felt familiar. Legs dangling like this.
I'd been through it once before, after all.
I adjusted the chair height and spun it around idly, staring blankly at the room.
"Ah..."
Was going to the hospital really the best choice?
What if the doctors treated me like a lunatic?
Or worse, what if they actually quarantined me?
But not going had its own desperate options.
I already knew.
If this country doesn't recognize who I am, I can't do anything.
I couldn't even go to the hospital if my body hurt.
Forget getting a job—even simple part-time work would be impossible.
I could maybe do something illegal, but I didn't want to touch that with a ten-foot pole.
So, holed up at home as a freeloader—what else could I do?
Ah, another idea popped up.
Declare myself missing and return to this house as an orphan...
No, even I know that's too extreme.
I shook my head side to side to ward off any more weird thoughts.
In that case, wasn't the hospital the best option?
Staring blankly around the room, I headed to the living room and locked eyes with Mom.
"..."
Mom had a troubled expression.
"Mom. Still feels awkward?"
"...Honestly, I still can't believe it."
"Yeah...? Even I'd feel awkward..."
Late into the night, I woke up thirsty.
Tip-toeing quietly toward the water cooler so as not to wake Mom, I noticed a faint light leaking from the crack under her bedroom door.
And then I heard soft sobs. I peeked inside secretly.
"Eun-hae... What am I going to do about Eun-hae..."
Her smartphone glowed brightly in the darkness, illuminating Mom's face.
She was endlessly searching for something on it.
While crying.
I didn't want to see Mom like that anymore. I skipped the water and quietly returned to my room.
In the pitch-black room, with no light, my senses sharpened.
I felt a dull ache in my lower abdomen again.
Staring up at the invisible ceiling, I made up my mind.
'Let's go to the hospital.'
No matter what happens later.
And so, we headed to the largest university hospital emergency room nearby.
The daytime ER was quieter than I'd expected.
I thought emergency rooms would be bustling with activity.
Approaching the reception desk, a nurse asked with a blank expression.
"What brings you here?"
Mom wrapped her arm around my shoulder and answered in a trembling voice.
"Well... We came for some tests. My son suddenly turned into a daughter."
The nurse's typing stopped. She looked up at us blankly, then asked irritably.
"Ma'am, could you repeat that?"
"I mean, my son turned into a girl. We want a thorough check-up."
The nurse exchanged glances with her colleague nearby. Their eyes openly showed exhaustion.
Was it okay to dismiss us so blatantly?
"Ma'am. This is the emergency room. It's for patients in critical condition. Not for pranks."
I couldn't help but chime in, dumbfounded.
"It's not a prank...! It's real! I turned into a girl...!"
"M-Miss? Please don't raise your voice in the ER."
"Uh, y-yes? Sorry..."
"So, you're saying this young lady was a boy? A man?"
"Yes. That's right."
"I... I was a man, and now I'm a woman...!"
The nurse muttered under her breath after hearing us, but I heard it clearly.
"...Sigh, first time for this kind."
"It's true...!"
"...Yes, yes. Please wait a moment."
She returned shortly after.
"I recommend seeing a psychiatrist first. Our hospital doesn't have that department, but if you go this way—"
"No...!"
First rejection.
We tried another hospital.
This time, without mentioning the gender change, we just requested tests.
But the result was similar.
"ID please."
Ah. ID.
"Here..."
She looked back and forth between my ID and me.
"Ma'am, ID fraud is a crime."
The next hospital, and the one after that, were the same.
"...You woke up as a woman?"
"Yes."
"Don't say ridiculous things. The only help we can offer is a psych referral."
Before we knew it, the sun was setting.
No matter how many hospitals we visited, we were treated like crazies and recommended psych wards over and over.
Would we resolve this today?
I wasn't the only one exhausted.
Mom was hiding it well, but she looked worn out too.
Still, we couldn't stop going from ER to ER.
We entered yet another one.
Had my name and info already hit some ER blacklist?
A completely different reaction emerged from the previous ones.
"We got a call from another ER earlier. No disturbances here. Ma'am, please take your daughter and go home."
"She's not my daughter—she was my son originally! Isn't a hospital supposed to listen to patients at least once? Is one test really that hard?"
"Yes, yes. We'll write a psych referral, so go there. It's late—come back tomorrow—"
Bam—
Frustrated beyond words, I slammed the reception desk without thinking.
"Just believe me for once—!!!"
Mom looked startled, staring at me. So did everyone around.
"I-It's true, okay? Why does everyone treat us like lunatics...!"
"This is problematic."
"Why...? Please, just one test... Huh? Testing isn't that hard, right...?"
"Eun-hae. Let's stop."
"Just... one more... We agonized so much to even come here..."
Why is the world so cold?
No human experiments, just treated like crazies.
Mom kept apologizing beside me.
"Sorry. Sorry, ma'am..."
Just for yelling once, did they call the cops? Police arrived.
Under the pitying gazes of the crowd, I had no choice but to take Mom's hand and get into the police car.