Caught by the Middle Schoolers
Chapter 32: In the end, I got caught by the middle school girls and my escape attempt failed. In a hazy state, I found myself under the intense, curious scrutiny of two middle schoolers.
“Is it true you used to be a guy?”
“No way, right? Hyunseo was lying, wasn’t she?”
Even as I kept nodding off, the questions kept coming. Apparently Hyunseo had been badmouthing me at school, because these girls already knew about her “oppa.” I wondered what exactly she’d been telling them.
“What does Hyunseo say about her oppa?” I asked, one eye half-closed out of curiosity.
“She says he’s a total loser.”
“She wishes she had her own room.”
The unfiltered answers flew back at me. Loser. Wants her own room. I turned my bleary gaze toward Hyunseo.
“Hmm… so that’s how it is.”
When I let out a dry laugh and shrugged, Hyunseo looked away like her secret had been exposed. After I even lent her money, this is what she says about me? Next time she can fry her own eggs.
“But who are you, really?”
“Yeah, you never mentioned having a sister.”
“You call your sister ‘oppa’?”
While the strange sibling tension hung in the air, Hyunseo’s friends clearly didn’t think I was that oppa at all. They started teasing me instead, asking who I was and why I was calling their friend “oppa.”
I decided it was time to tell the truth.
“I am that oppa.”
“Huh?”
One of Hyunseo’s friends looked completely thrown off by my calm answer. When she still didn’t believe me, I brushed my hair aside to show the spot where my human ears should have been.
“It’s called Beastman Disease. Look… see? No ears here.”
“Eeeek!?”
“Whoa… what the…”
One girl’s eyes went wide with shock. The other just trailed off, looking like she’d seen something disgusting.
“So… you really turned from a guy into a girl?”
“Yeah.”
The atmosphere turned awkward. I figured it was time to grab my blanket and leave, but then one of the girls suddenly perked up.
“Then the tail and ears are real too, right?!”
“Uh, yeah? They are.”
Both girls’ eyes lit up.
“Whoa, that’s so cool! Can I touch your tail just once?”
“Me too, me too! Can I touch your ears? Please?”
“Hik…!”
Their explosive interest was way beyond anything I’d expected. I instinctively leaned back as they crowded in, my animal instincts screaming at me to stay alert. I’d just been trying to sleep—why was this happening?
In the end I stepped out onto the veranda, took off the hygiene cap and tail cover, and let the two girls touch me for a short while.
“What’s this?” they asked, picking up the items I’d removed.
“Tail cover and hygiene cap.”
“Why?”
They looked genuinely confused even after I answered.
“Mom says I shed too much.”
“Ah… fur…”
Both of them let out understanding sighs at the same time. They clearly hadn’t considered that part. After all, normal human hair isn’t a big deal—you just vacuum it up. But when it’s at the level of a shedding dog or cat, it becomes a problem.
“You didn’t think of that, did you?”
“Ah… no.”
One of Hyunseo’s friends hesitated before agreeing. Of course she hadn’t. I hadn’t either until Mom started yelling about it.
Anyway, preparations for petting were complete. I scratched some of the thick orange fur out from under the tail cover with my nails and told the girls, “You can touch now.”
“Okay, excuse me!”
With that cute reply, one hand reached for my tail while another gently cupped my ear. They were being careful—gentler than Hyunseo had been, at least.
“Whoa… wow.”
“This is insane.”
The two girls marveled as they played with my tail and ears. My ear twitched from the ticklish sensation, and my tail flicked away from their fingers. Meanwhile, Hyunseo stood in the living room with her arms crossed, staring at the scene in disbelief.
“This is ridiculous.”
Her two friends looked over at her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Aren’t you gonna touch?”
“I’m good.”
Hyunseo gave a short answer and stormed off to her room, clearly sulking. She’d been all over me the first time too, but whatever.
The two girls kept clinging to my fur.
“Hehe, it feels like silicone with fur growing out of it.”
“I feel like I’m holding a giant keychain.”
They kept chatting as they gently kneaded my ear and tail. The tail itself wasn’t too bad since they were mostly pressing on the outer fur, but my ear—where the cartilage was directly exposed—stayed ticklish.
“Eek!”
When my ear suddenly jerked, one of the girls yanked her hand back.
“Sorry, it’s just really ticklish…”
“Oh, no! You should’ve said something!”
She waved her hands apologetically even though I was the one who’d startled her.
Soon we heard footsteps from Hyunseo’s room.
“Hey, give this to Oppa.”
“Huh? What is it?”
Of course it was Hyunseo. She came out looking annoyed, holding something I knew all too well.
“Hey, wait a second.”
I frowned without thinking. It was the fur brush—the one that was perfect for damaging human dignity. She was really going to hand that to complete strangers?
“Oppa likes getting his tail brushed with this.”
“Really?”
Hyunseo ignored me and passed the brush to her friend. The girl’s eyes sparkled as she took it.
“Can I try this?”
“Ah, well… it does feel good, but…”
I trailed off awkwardly. It did feel nice, but letting my little sister’s friend brush me felt wrong. Brushing my tail was basically the same as someone scratching behind my ears—definitely not something you ask a friend’s sibling to do.
“It does feel good, but…?”
“…Can I still do it?”
Their determined eyes made it impossible to refuse.
“Ugh, fine.”
If it had been Hyunseo asking, I would’ve told her to get lost. But because they were strangers, it somehow backfired on me.
The smooth brushing felt nice—almost meltingly good—but the awkwardness never went away.
Eventually the short brushing session ended. The two lively middle schoolers grabbed their phones and started tapping away.
“Let’s take a picture together!”
“W-why a picture?”
After the brushing came the photo request. I asked without thinking.
“I want to show my other friends!”
“Ah, don’t.”
Hyunseo suddenly jumped in to stop them. Why was she the one saying no? I should be the one saying that.
“Why not? I won’t tell them it’s your oppa!”
“Aish, I said don’t, so don’t!”
The two friends started bickering like typical middle schoolers. Keeping up with their rapid changes in mood was exhausting. Thanks to Hyunseo’s desperate intervention, the photo idea was scrapped.
After both girls left, I asked Hyunseo why she’d stopped them.
“Why? You hate having your picture taken.”
She looked flustered and tried to act like she was protecting me. That attitude told me there was definitely more to it. No way she’d gone to that much trouble just for that reason.
“Don’t hide it. Tell me the truth.”
“Ah… she was gonna post it in the group chat without me anyway.”
Under pressure, Hyunseo admitted the real reason. She didn’t want our family becoming local celebrities through rumors. So that girl was the type who couldn’t keep a secret, huh? What a funny kid.
“You took a picture of me before.”
“I deleted it! Geez, what would I even do with that photo?”
When I brought up what happened a few weeks ago, she got annoyed and insisted she’d already deleted it. So she’d just been pretending she was going to post it to mess with me. That was pretty annoying too, actually.
“So you were just messing with me?”
“What do you mean ‘oppa’? You’re unni now.”
I narrowed my eyes and threatened her playfully, but she poked right at my sore spot by calling me “unni” instead. Was she turning WWE into UFC?
“What did you just say?”
I started physically overpowering my little sister. Our bodies tangled as we scuffled—until the hygiene cap and tail cover slipped off in the commotion.
Oh no. Don’t do that. If we shed fur all over the room, we’re both dead.