Gaeul, Are You Crazy?

"Alright, I'm heading out to my part-time job?"

"Yeah."

"...Don't you have anything else to say?"

"Hmm? Have a good day at work?"

"Mmm... that does sound pretty sweet, but..."

Eun-a stood there in a luxurious black set of pajamas, rubbing her sleepy eyes. She'd come all the way out to the front door to see me off, and the way she yawned was adorable.

But that was that, and this was this.

I puffed out my cheeks in an open, deliberate sulk. Eun-a still didn't seem to catch on — she just tilted her head at me.

"Aren't you going to kiss me?"

"Huh?"

"Come on, this is in every drama ever. When your girlfriend leaves, you see her off with a kiss!"

I planted my hands on my hips and laid into her. Eun-a narrowed her eyes in a sly little squint and opened her mouth.

"Senior. What were we doing right up until you got ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠changed?"

"Feeding me snacks with your mouth?"

"And while doing that, what else did we do?"

"Kiss?"

"So then what's with the extra kiss?"

"That was different from this!"

"Shh. The neighbors will hear."

"Anyway — come on, kiss!"

I puckered my lips out like an octopus, and Eun-a shook her head before shuffling closer in her slippers. Each soft chu— chu— of her light pecks gradually pushed my ridiculous protruding lips back into place.

"Ehehe. Okay. Satisfied!"

"Have a good day, Senior."

"Yeah! I'll be back~"

I rode the elevator down to the first floor, caught the bus right outside the apartment complex, and headed for the barbecue restaurant near campus.

When I arrived, the owner and one of the other part-timers were still getting ready to open.

"I'm here~"

"Oh, you're here?"

"Ah — pfft, ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠kkh... ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hello..."

"What on earth did you do to this kid? Every time your name comes up, she just starts laughing..."

I took the apron the owner handed me and tugged the corner of my mouth up into a smile.

"Well — there are reasons, boss."

"...Right."

The owner just heaved a long sigh, figuring it was the usual nonsense again. The part-timer I'd run into on my first date with Eun-a a few days ago met my eyes, smiled with hers, and gave a little bow.

Well. No point hiding it. The barbecue place we'd gone to that day was the one where I worked.

The rest of the staff arrived, we rushed through the pre-open prep, and customers started trickling in one or two at a time. Early evening was still just students and relatively calm, but once quitting time hit, things got properly busy.

"Two more servings of pork belly over here~"

"Coming right up~"

"One Jinro and one doenjang-jjigae, please."

"Coming right up~"

"Hey, could I get your number?"

"Ah, I have a girlfriend."

"What?"

"You didn't mishear me~ I have a girlfriend~"

"Ah... okay..."

I shut down yet another number-fishing attempt — I'd already lost count of how many today — and kept my legs moving. My motor skills were vastly better than when I'd been a guy, but that didn't help much with restaurant work. If anything, the shorter stride and the way my chest bounced around made everything twice as exhausting.

I'd slept plenty during the day, but the fatigue built up from days of nonstop sex still hadn't fully worn off — my body felt pretty heavy.

Well, half of that is probably for a different reason...

Honestly, even as a guy I'd gotten my number asked for plenty of times. But at most that was about once a week. I'd never been hit on this relentlessly. It felt like every single hour, every time a table turned over and new customers came in, I got hit with it at least once.

It wasn't all bad, though. I'd gotten pretty used to the blunt, direct feelings men kept throwing at me. Whether they looked at me with interest or stared straight through the pretense of not looking at my bouncing chest — none of it stirred anything in me anymore.

Sure, familiarity was part of it... but wasn't some of that also thanks to all the continuous sex with Eun-a?

I already belonged to a woman named Eun-a. The hickeys were hidden under my hair and the half-neck knit, but the proof that I was her property was carved into me without a single gap — literally without a single gap.

For the record, the clothes were ones Eun-a had bought me. Originally I'd planned to go home and grab my own, but while I was busy cleaning Eun-a's cock with a blowjob, she'd already put in the request. Called her secretary unnie. By the time I realized what had happened, the clothes were already waiting at the front door.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

"Wah— is it okay to just accept clothes this expensive? No, is it even okay to wear something like this to a barbecue part-time job?"

"Senior. Whose are you?"

"Eun-a's."

"And who is Eun-a?"

"My girlfriend?"

"Besides that."

"A chaebol family's black sheep?"

"I told you I'm not a black sheep anymore... Anyway, what is a chaebol family?"

"Rich?"

"Exactly. And you're about to become a chaebol family's daughter-in-law. Don't tremble over a few clothes like this."

"Oh my... so forceful..."

"Well, if you want to live frugally, I don't really mind, but..."

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

Persuaded by Eun-a's airtight logic, I'd put on those expensive clothes and come to work a mere barbecue part-time job.

Not that I was looking down on barbecue work — it's just that this kid, no, this garment-nim, cost more than my entire monthly paycheck...

So couldn't I call it "mere," just a little?

It's an old part-timer rule of thumb: you use honorifics for anything that costs more than your hourly wage. What was I supposed to say to clothes worth more than a hundred times my hourly rate...?

And the way she treated those expensive clothes like they were basically apron substitutes really drove home that she was from a completely different world.

"......"

Suddenly my reflection caught my eye in the clear glass of the drink fridge. I looked back at myself bustling around the restaurant — the half-neck knit and jeans Eun-a had bought me, an apron already stained with meat grease and broth, a pair of worn-out sneakers that had somehow resized themselves to fit me now...

In my hands I carried a piping-hot doenjang-jjigae, heading for the table of the guys who'd just tried to get my number.

Honestly, back when I was a guy, I'd drawn a fair amount of misunderstanding. Malicious rumors that I was just a decent-looking face trying to latch onto a golden spoon and freeload through life. They were malicious, sure — but the way I kept confessing and trailing after her no matter how many times I got rejected, never getting tired of it, must have looked ugly enough that those rumors spreading wasn't all that surprising.

I probably would have thought the same thing myself. That's how little control I'd had over my impulses toward her. That's how far gone I'd been for her.

The trigger had been small, but the process of falling in love with her hadn't been small at all.

...Without Eun-a beside me, my thoughts kept sinking heavier and heavier, like being dragged down into a swamp. Before, at least focusing on lectures had kept me okay. Being absorbed in the fact that I was dating Eun-a had kept me okay.

"...Here's your doenjang-jjigae. I'll bring the drinks right over."

"Yep. Thanks."

The guy I'd already turned down once still smiled at me easily, meeting my eyes. He seemed to have taken the girlfriend line as a joke. His gaze followed me the whole way until I'd fully turned my back and walked off.

It wasn't just my imagination. When I glanced around, I caught flashes of eyes that wanted to burn me into memory for a long time — no, worse, eyes that leaked the raw desire to devour me whole. They looked away the moment our eyes met, but I could tell.

It was as if my body itself were scattering some kind of pheromone that set them off.

Eun-a hadn't just taken my cock — she was following the classic futanari playbook. The mark of a superior male no ordinary man could approach... not merely male, but male in the animal sense.

And I was in the exact same state as her. A faithful recreation of the TS bishoujo archetype. The overwhelming athleticism and superior female physique that tall TS girls so often had...

Maybe there really was some kind of man-luring pheromone coming off me. That would explain why the guys were this worked up.

Thump— thump— thump—

My heart pounded heavily, and an unpleasant crawling sensation like a swarm of ants climbed up under my throat. The thoughts that had been shielding me crumbled, and a spark caught on the feelings I'd been trying so hard to ignore.

Below my chin went cold, while my head grew hotter and hotter.

Getting used to it — that had all been bullshit. I needed to wrap myself in that bullshit just to function... and even that wasn't easy.

Eun-a... I want to see Eun-a...

"......Hoo."

Even though I'd become a woman, Eun-a loved me. She hadn't been able to accept me as a man, but she'd wanted to date me so badly that she'd turned me into a woman.

My womb was still swimming with the load of cum Eun-a had poured into me.

I absently touched the neck of the knit and gave it a gentle tug. The tightness in my throat eased a little. Whether the hickeys showed or not, I pulled the neckline down.

I wanted to show everyone. I wanted them to know who I belonged to.

I wanted to shout it right now... but unlike last time, when it had been able to pass as a joke, this would be a massive public nuisance.

I'd been standing still in the middle of the aisle, so one of the junior part-timers came over to talk to me.

"Unnie? Are you okay? Are you not feeling well?"

"Ah... sorry. ...I'll take those. Table 27, right?"

"Huh? Y-yeah..."

Without even waiting for her full answer, I practically snatched the bottles of soju from her hands. I needed to get my head back ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on work, even a little. Stopping felt like becoming an animal that dies the moment it stops moving. The second my body went still, the calm I'd found thinking about Eun-a would collapse all over again.

I hugged the wall, turned right, and headed for a tucked-away corner of the restaurant. The seats there were clustered behind chest-high wooden partitions, giving off a completely different atmosphere from the central section I usually covered.

The customer is...

One woman in a neatly put-together women's suit, set against messy brown hair that clashed with it. Empty beer and soju bottles were already rolling around — she'd clearly been drinking for a while.

Our place did take solo diners even at peak hours as long as they ordered enough... but it was still unusual. Eating alone at a barbecue restaurant as a woman, at this hour, wasn't exactly easy.

"Here's the drinks you order— ed?"

"Oh~ Gaeul."

"Wait, noona— I mean unnie? What are you doing here?"

"Well, I wanted to talk to you a bit~"

"...About Eun-a?"

"Mm-hmm."

"But I'm in the middle of my shift..."

"It's fine~ I'll just drink alone until your shift's over~"

"...For two more hours?"

"I hold my liquor well~ And I eat well too~"

"Um... okay."

I looked at the bottles rolling around and the order slip already past four servings and nodded. I'd only ever covered the central section, so I hadn't known — she'd been here quite a while.

"Ah, and also... your hickeys are all showing~"

"Ah, I'm showing them on purpose."

"Huh?"

"Getting hit on for my number nonstop is annoying.... Like, 'I already have an owner, okay?' kind of vibe?"