25. From Unchanging Daily Life to the Unusual
25. From Unchanging Daily Life to the Unusual
"Please ring me up."
After the meal where each person's thoughts had intersected in various directions, Ryu Baek-seol pulled out her card as always.
"Thanks as always, Baek-seol-ah."
When So-jeong, who was beside her, offered her thanks, Baek-seol gave a slight nod.
It had already been years since Baek-seol had been treating her to meals every time they met, but So-jeong always felt grateful and sorry towards Baek-seol.
Even so, the reason she didn't offer to pay this time was because she knew all too well that Baek-seol would never bend on this matter.
'Since I have more money, it's only right that I pay.'
It might have sounded like a cold, pretentious thing to say, but So-jeong now knew it was Baek-seol's way of caring.
The coffee So-jeong bought for her after meals, which she drank with a faint smile and gratitude, was likely for the same reason.
"What are you going to do now?"
So-jeong took a sip of her iced Americano and asked Baek-seol.
Although the topics left unfinished at the restaurant still lingered with a slightly awkward feeling, bringing them up again now would probably only make things more uncomfortable.
"Hmm......"
Baek-seol took a sip of her cold brew and stared into space.
"I still haven't finished buying all my sports gear."
"Huh? Then what's that in your hand right now?"
"This?"
Baek-seol slightly lifted the bag emblazoned with the logo of a popular sports brand.
"These are shoes. My old workout shoes were too worn out, so I bought new ones."
"I see. So what haven't you bought yet?"
"I want to get a new set of workout clothes too."
"Are your workout clothes worn out too?"
"No, this is... just a personal preference."
Baek-seol avoided So-jeong's gaze slightly and spoke in a somewhat small voice.
So-jeong suddenly found Baek-seol's shyness over a not-particularly-weird hobby cute.
"So that's why you didn't buy them at the same brand store?"
So-jeong rustled the paper bag containing the book she'd bought at the bookstore.
Since she had already accomplished her purpose for coming downtown, she thought it would be better to spend a bit more time with Baek-seol rather than heading straight home.
"Can I come along?"
Baek-seol's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"Do you have something to buy too?"
"Ehehe, no. I just want to see what kind of clothes you pick out. Is that not okay?"
"......There's no reason it wouldn't be. Let's go."
As Baek-seol said this and started walking, So-jeong naturally began walking beside her.
***
"Wow......"
Following Baek-seol inside the Sports Mall, So-jeong's mouth fell open as she let out an exclamation of admiration.
Since she originally didn't go around to many places downtown and had zero connection to sports, So-jeong had no idea the inside of a Sports Mall was this huge.
"There are this many types of workout clothes?"
It wasn't just workout clothes that filled one entire wall and the store's displays.
All sorts of athletic shoes, various types of balls, and even accessories whose purpose So-jeong couldn't even begin to guess.
The store's fast-paced music and the spectacle of all the gear gave So-jeong the feeling she had stepped into a completely new world.
"This place is on the larger side."
Saying this, Baek-seol walked familiarly towards where the workout clothes were displayed.
"What I want to buy is over here, but if you see something you want to look at, feel free to wander off."
"Hehe, no. I'll watch you look. If I get separated here, I'll get lost."
There were displays soaring high towards the ceiling, packed densely together, and a bustling crowd filled the spaces between them.
"Alright."
Going with Baek-seol to the women's activewear section, So-jeong fell into thought for a moment while looking at a mannequin wearing tight workout clothes.
It wasn't that So-jeong didn't have the dream of wearing clothes like that and showing off a healthy, overflowing figure. It was just that her talent for exercise was hopelessly non-existent.
'Now that I think about it, when I was researching about my body before, there was talk about exercise too.'
So-jeong recalled a counseling post she had read while looking up various things to learn about being a futanari.
[Q. I'm a 1x-year-old healthy high school boy. I'm worried because I can't control my sexual urges at all. Is there no way?]
[A1. Just jerk off until you're tired.]
[A2. Doing only masturbation like the answer above isn't good for you mentally or physically. Try exercising to burn off energy or find another hobby.]
She didn't know how strong a teenage boy's sex drive was, but So-jeong was definitely worried that the number of times she masturbated had increased too much recently.
It was standard to masturbate three or four times in the morning just to relieve the desire of her fully erect dick, and after school ended, unless she had other plans, returning to her studio and comforting her alter ego with her hand whenever it became stiff had now become a normal part of her daily routine.
She had wondered a little if she was doing it too often, but it felt too good and it hadn't yet reached a point where it interfered with her daily life, so So-jeong hadn't worried about it too seriously.
However, on the day she had a day off due to the professor's circumstances, remembering Baek-seol touching her dick, So-jeong had devoted the entire day to masturbation. Looking at the darkened outside and her room smeared white with semen, she realized this couldn't go on.
'If I follow Baek-seol and exercise, will I gain a little more self-control?'
With that thought, So-jeong spoke to Baek-seol, who was seriously comparing various clothes next to her.
"Baek-seol-ah."
"Hm?"
"Should I try doing some exercise with you sometime?"
Baek-seol looked at So-jeong and slightly lifted the corner of her mouth.
"Did seeing workout clothes suddenly make you want to exercise?"
"Ah... yeah. That's not the only reason, but."
"I'd welcome you wanting to exercise anytime, So-jeong-ah."
Baek-seol said in a voice that was, for her, unusually buoyant. So-jeong thought she was happy about the fact that she could take care of her health.
"When we have time later, let's go together to the gym I go to."
"Okay. But... will there be any exercises I can do at the gym?"
"You'll definitely get used to it once you try. When you come this time, let's start with the treadmill you failed at last time."
"Alright."
So-jeong nodded and made a mental note.
Then, something in Baek-seol's hand caught So-jeong's eye.
"Baek-seol-ah. What's that?"
"Hm?"
Baek-seol held up the garment in her hand for So-jeong to see.
"The workout clothes I just picked. What do you think, So-jeong-ah?"
"Uh......"
So-jeong couldn't answer Baek-seol right away.
Putting the design of the garment aside, the clothes looked far too small for Baek-seol's body.
The top looked more like a sports bra than workout clothes, it was so short, and the pants were so narrow she wondered if any human could actually get their legs into them.
"Baek-seol-ah."
So-jeong said in a worried voice, looking back and forth between the clothes and Baek-seol.
"Are you... sure you picked the right size?"
"Hm? But... why? Doesn't it suit me?"
"It's not about suiting you or not, I just think they might be too small for you."
"Ah."
Finally understanding So-jeong's meaning, Baek-seol brought the clothes in each hand up to her chest and pelvis area.
"This is how you're supposed to wear them. The material stretches well, so they'll fit snugly against your body. That makes it easier to check if I'm maintaining the correct posture while exercising."
"Aha......"
Having gained new knowledge, So-jeong shook her head in understanding.
"Then should I try them on for you to see? It might be hard to tell just from the clothes alone."
"Yeah, let's do that."
So-jeong agreed lightly to Baek-seol's suggestion.
......Not yet knowing what result that would bring.
So-jeong waited blankly in front of the fitting room for Baek-seol to change and come out, lost in a fantasy of someday becoming an athlete who could freely navigate such sports malls.
Eventually, the sound of the curtain sliding open with a *shhlurp* made So-jeong reflexively turn her body.
"Ah, you're done changing, Baek-seol... ah?"
And what entered So-jeong's field of vision froze her in place.
Just as Baek-seol had said, the clothes she had chosen were made of a material that clung tightly to her body.
And saying they clung tightly to her body was the same as saying they revealed Baek-seol's smooth body lines in full.
The black tank top, which only barely covered her chest like a sports bra, emphasized Baek-seol's ample bust volume and her snow-white skin.
Baek-seol's soft neck and collarbone line, which the tiny piece of fabric couldn't cover, and the long shoulders, arms, and armpits extending from them were fully exposed before So-jeong.
Similarly, Baek-seol's stomach, revealed below the tank top, was slimmed down with not an ounce of fat around her waist, and in the center of her stomach, where an ab line was subtly visible, a captivating navel was thinly indented.
If Baek-seol's upper body gave the feeling of only minimally covering what needed to be covered, her lower body gave the exact opposite impression.
From the pelvis, which began to widen from her cinched waist drawing a beautiful curve like a gourd, down to her ankles, Baek-seol looked as if she had donned a new layer of ivory-colored skin.
The tightly constricting leggings further accentuated Baek-seol's wide pelvis and her buttocks line, which was like a ripe apple.
The leggings clung not only to the outside of Baek-seol's legs but also tightly to the insides of her thighs. Because of this, So-jeong almost hallucinated that the leggings were digging into the inverted triangular gap between Baek-seol's thighs, especially into the cleft at its center.
Clothed, yet more obscene than if she were naked.
The sight of Baek-seol in workout clothes displayed the beauty of the female form more perfectly than any mannequin in the Sports Mall.
"How is it? Does it suit me?"
"Ack, uh......"
And reacting heatedly to that mesmerizing line that only a woman could possess was, for 'it', all too natural.
"Y-yeah! It suits you! I-it, so, you can change out of them now......"
So-jeong hunched over awkwardly and cried out urgently. But as if drawn by instinct, So-jeong's gaze remained fixed on Baek-seol's body.
"Hm? What's wrong, So-jeong-ah? Is something uncomfortable......"
Baek-seol tilted her head, but she too soon let out a small, understanding "Ah."
Her expression, flustered and flushed red, her posture hunched as if trying to hide something between her legs.
And that gaze sweeping over her body—a gaze only a woman could feel.
"......"
Baek-seol felt a sensation as if everything from her heels to the small of her back and the nape of her neck pulled taut at once.
The reality she had forgotten in the unchanging daily scenery shot to the surface in an instant. It felt like even the air around them grew thicker because of it.
It was the same sensation as when she had been alone with her in the bathroom that first time.
From a very small trigger, a very trivial action.
The sensation of a moment that was ordinary daily life instantly flipping into an extraordinary one that tightly constricted her insides.
Baek-seol swallowed dryly and approached So-jeong.
"So-jeong-ah."
The anticipation that she might see it again, the desire to touch it one more time.
And above all.
"By any chance... did you get hard looking at my body?"
The euphoria coming from the fact that her body had aroused her.
Baek-seol forcefully stuffed her swelling heart, like air heated to the limit inside a hot air balloon, behind a blank expression.
Calm down, Ryu Baek-seol.
She scolded herself.
Don't let what you're feeling show on your face.
Because this must, above all, be 'an act of helping a friend'.