Tuesday With A Fuller Wallet
It was Tuesday, and I was welcoming it with a much thicker wallet in my pocket. Out of all the periods, it was lunchtime right after fourth period. Today we were skipping the school cafeteria and grabbing bread from the store instead.
“So, you really got money from the hospital?”
“Yeah, they deposited it straight into my account.”
We had claimed our usual corner of the school store. It was the same otaku crew you’d always see huddled together in the classroom. Whenever one of us decided to skip the cafeteria, the rest followed without question. If anyone mentioned heading to the store for lunch, the whole group would ditch the meal and tag along for bread.
“You’re seriously buying for all of us?”
“Just today.”
To Seokjun’s question I cheerfully flashed a V sign with my fingers. A single bill slid smoothly out of my plump wallet. Before handing the crisp green note to the lady behind the counter, I asked each of the three what they wanted.
“Seokjun, what are you having?”
“Dal-XX for me.”
“What about you two?”
“Pizza-XX.”
“Same.”
Two pizza breads and one Dal-XX hotdog. I went with a simple hamburger bun for myself. Through the opening in the thin glass partition I looked at the store lady, held out the ten-thousand-won bill, and placed the order.
“One Dal-XX, two Pizza-XX, and one Bul-X please.”
“Coming right up~”
The moment the order was in, the lady began rustling around, pulling the breads from the fridge and setting them on the counter. Every school-store bread was two thousand won regardless of type. Four breads came to eight thousand won total. I walked away with the four warm packages and two thousand won in change, then returned in triumph to the microwave where the others were standing guard.
“Dig in, guys.”
“Thanks.”
They accepted their breads with words of gratitude. The store only had two microwaves, so if you didn’t stake out a spot early you could easily wait several minutes after buying. I would have loved to buy one of every kind and devour them all at once, but if one person hogged the microwave too long you’d get dirty looks. Trying to heat several at the same time was tricky too—the timing was never exact and the breads never warmed evenly.
“Eat up and be sure to show plenty of gratitude,” I said, puffing out my chest and giving a proud little snort to the guys who were thanking me.
“Wow, look at this arrogant little noble.”
When I strutted around like some haughty manga aristocrat, Seokjun let out a disbelieving laugh and called me full of myself.
One by one we slid our breads into the microwave. As he watched the pizza bread spinning inside, Juhan suddenly muttered.
“So this is the bread you earned by selling your body at the hospital, huh?”
“The way this kid talks…”
I frowned and let the sentence trail off. Juhan had an incredible talent for making everything sound vulgar. He wasn’t wrong, but he could have wrapped it up a little nicer.
While I used the leftover change to buy a drink from the vending machine, Byeonghwa poked my shoulder.
“Hey, how much did you say you got again?”
“About seventy thousand won.”
I answered flatly, then flicked the can open with my nail. It opened with a crisp crack and white vapor hissed out.
“They really didn’t give you much.”
“Still, seventy thousand for a high-schooler isn’t bad, right?”
“For real, my monthly allowance is only fifty thousand.”
While I drank from the tilted can, the three of them began trading opinions about my compensation. Compared to the scale of the disease it wasn’t a lot, but for a high-school student it was decent. My own allowance was only about fifty thousand a month. Their clashing opinions mixed with the smell of warm bread and the overlapping sounds of chewing.
I suddenly remembered part of my conversation with the professor and spoke up.
“Still, they said the amount could go up later.”
“Oh? Up to how much?”
Juhan immediately pressed for the exact figure. Without thinking I repeated what I had heard.
“I don’t know. They said if I get a bunch of tests they might give me several hundred thousand.”
“Whoa… now I’m jealous.”
The moment the amount jumped a digit, the trio’s envy became completely open. Even after we returned to the classroom their longing stares continued.
“You don’t have to go to the army, you get paid, and you’re even pretty.”
“It’s like you won the lottery.”
“Is this disease not contagious? I wanna catch it too.”
Juhan sat at his desk counting the benefits on his fingers, listing every visible advantage. Seokjun laughed hollowly about winning the lottery, while Byeonghwa kept urging me to pass the disease on to him.
“If it spread that easily it wouldn’t be a rare disease…”
“Yeah, true.”
When I hit Byeonghwa with cold logic, he instantly deflated and backed down.
Still, school itself had grown fairly comfortable. People no longer treated me like a sideshow during breaks; I was now seen as more of an unusual school case. Of course eyes still followed me in the hallways, but those were simply the stares aimed at a fox-eared woman in casual clothes walking around school in broad daylight. It was a step away from the old ‘male student who turned into a beast-girl’ spectacle treatment.
I suppose I was the kind of existence that couldn’t help drawing attention. Thanks to the principal’s consideration I was even using the quiet staff bathroom. I wondered how long it would take before this kind of special treatment started to feel normal. As I sat thinking with my eyes half-closed—
“Hey, this is something I’m genuinely curious about.”
“Hm?”
Juhan suddenly announced he had a question. His face looked unusually serious. When I tilted my head and gave a short reply, he lowered his voice, his expression darkening.
“Have you tried jerking off with that body yet?”
“…Excuse me?”
Juhan had asked a question that bordered on sexual harassment with a completely straight face. For a second I was speechless, eyes wide. Of course you’d ask that.
“I haven’t, you idiot… What the hell kind of question is that?”
“No, I’m seriously asking because I’m curious.”
“I said I haven’t. Happy now? Sigh.”
I answered in a fed-up tone, sighed, then rested my chin on my hand with an expression of pure disgust. I had thought he was about to ask something actually important. It was my own fault for getting even slightly curious. Even while turning away in revulsion, one question still flickered through my mind.
Now that he mentions it… that is strange.
When I thought about it carefully, it really was odd. Ever since the change I hadn’t felt any desire in that area at all. It was like I had zero interest or motivation. Come to think of it, even when I saw myself in the mirror while showering, I had felt nothing.
“But it’s only been a week since you turned, right?”
“It’s barely been a week.”
“Ah, then you’re definitely lying.”
After analyzing exactly when I had become a girl they immediately decided I was full of it.
“I said I haven’t!”
“Sure, sure, whatever you say.”
When I snapped at the three perverts’ sly attitudes and insisted it was true, all I got back were sarcastic replies. It was obvious none of them believed a word. In the end I gave up on trying to explain.
We bickered our way through the rest of the classes, finished the day, and were preparing to head home during homeroom when something suspicious at the school gate caught my eye. I narrowed my eyes and looked into the distance. The shady silhouette gradually grew clearer. One suspicious person loitering around with a camera. A faint ID badge hanging like a necklace. I remembered seeing people dressed like that at the hospital. Probably a reporter.
Since they were watching the gate so intently, the teacher gave the usual closing remark.
“Those staying for self-study, work hard—! Homeroom dismissed.”
Immediately the classroom filled with the thunderous scraping of desks and chairs. Normally I would have headed straight home, but with that suspicious person standing at the gate I approached the teacher who was leaving through the front door, lightly caught their sleeve, and stopped them.
“Teacher.”
“Hm? Hyunwoo, what is it?”
Apparently surprised to be stopped right after homeroom, the teacher looked at me with round eyes.
“There’s… a strange person outside the gate.”
“Really? Where?”
The teacher who had followed me at the mention of a strange person fell silent for a moment after looking where I pointed.
“What is that person doing?”
“…Isn’t that a reporter?”
“For now, wait here.”
When I quietly guessed at their identity in response to the teacher’s mutter, I was told to stay put.
“Aren’t you going home? Doing self-study today?”
“No…”
While we waited in the classroom a short while, Seokjun—who had self-study today—walked over and asked why I was still there. When I shook my head at his question about self-study, his expression twisted slightly.
“Then why are you hanging around?”
“There’s a strange person at the gate.”
“Strange person? Where?”
Showing the same reaction the teacher had, he walked to the window with interest. He peered outside carefully, turning his head this way and that as if searching for the person I had mentioned.
Among the students rushing home was a woman in a pure white shirt holding a camera and looking around.
“There.”
“Yeah, what’s with the camera?”
When I pointed her out, Seokjun also seemed to find it plenty suspicious.
“Probably a reporter.”
“Reporter? Oh, it’s the gym teacher.”
At Seokjun’s words I looked back toward the gate. The gym teacher with the sports haircut was approaching her. The two appeared to argue briefly before the woman subtly slipped away first. Had she withdrawn for now?
I held my breath, heart pounding. Seokjun watched the reporter leave and added a few words.
“Wow, how did they even find our school?”
“They probably asked around everywhere.”
It wasn’t as if I drove a car, and several shop owners in the neighborhood already knew about me. Above all, I was already famous at school. In the worst case, if someone had posted about it on a community forum, it would have been easy to pinpoint our school.
Anyway, it looked like the gym teacher had taken care of it. I was just gathering my bag to leave the classroom when—
“Hyunwoo, ride with me. I’ll give you a lift.”
The homeroom teacher who had returned gestured at me. My eyes widened at the unexpected offer.
“Really? Is that okay?”
“Yes, I’ll drop you off right in front of your house.”
The teacher readily agreed. It seemed I was getting rides in other people’s cars a lot lately. The teacher’s car carried a faint fruity air-freshener scent, different from the one in the professor’s car.
“Sigh, you really do have it rough.”
“Sorry?”
The moment I sat in the back seat the teacher let out a short sigh, saying I had it tough. What hardship all of a sudden? While I blinked in confusion, the teacher began explaining what had just happened.
“The gym teacher said that person really was a reporter.”
“Ahh…”
A sigh escaped me as soon as the short explanation ended. As expected, it really had been a reporter. And apparently one who was specifically targeting me.
“They came right out and asked if there was a student with Beast Disease here.”
“Eek.”
I let out a startled gasp. That meant they already knew everything. Goosebumps rose on my arms at the persistent pursuit. I quietly gathered my bag as the car neared my house.
“If anything happens, contact me right away.”
“Will do.”
I got out of the car and bowed. The teacher reminded me to reach out if anything came up. It had been convenient to ride, but not being able to run freely on the way home left a small lump of regret in my chest.
I entered the apartment complex in a gloomy mood. Still feeling strangely stressed about not having run as much as I wanted, I puffed my cheeks a little and stepped inside the house.
“I’m home…”
The house stayed quiet even after my announcement. No sign of Mom’s shoes or Hyunseo’s at the entrance. Hyunseo was one thing, but had Mom gone grocery shopping? Well, it was good timing. Maybe I could brush my fur alone to lift my mood.
I took the brush out of the desk drawer. Starting from the veranda with a sullen expression, I began brushing. But why had it felt so good before? Doing it alone somehow didn’t feel refreshing at all.
Ughhh…
In the end I stopped, feeling only a vague dissatisfaction. Instead I flopped face-down on the living-room floor, wagging just my tail while I waited for someone—anyone—to come brush it for me.