Exposed (2)
From across the bed, Do Yoonchae carefully studied Lee Seonho's expression.
Her crossdressing had been exposed less than two weeks after entering the Academy. And not just exposed—discovered by her own roommate, of all people. She couldn't muster a single coherent thought about how to talk her way out of this situation.
To think something like this would happen before a single semester had even passed….
To be fair, if anyone was assigning blame, it lay with her. She'd judged it safe, factoring in the time Seonho usually returned from his morning workout.
…It also didn't help that this morning, of all mornings, she'd wandered into the bathroom without grabbing a change of clothes first.
I let my guard down. He wasn't in the room when I woke up, so I went on autopilot and….
If she'd so much as glimpsed Seonho's sleeping face beside her, sheer wariness alone would have sent her back for her clothes before stepping into the bathroom.
Even as she shifted the blame for her own carelessness onto Seonho, scrambling to dodge responsibility, and even as she wracked her brain over how to possibly salvage this situation, a cautious voice reached her ears.
"You're… a girl, aren't you? 'To throw me off my rhythm' is a bit of a stretch… it seemed a little too big for that."
"…Yes. You're right."
However much of a fool she might be otherwise, Do Yoonchae wasn't stupid enough to cling to that excuse in a situation like this.
She had already shown him her bared chest, plain as day. Worse, she'd shown him most of her upper body along with it. No single flimsy excuse about a "decoy" was going to make him swallow that.
…Not when the situation had already laid bare every curve of the body she'd hidden under a uniform deliberately ordered a size too large. She knew full well that trying to bury the truth now would accomplish nothing.
"…Seonho."
"Yeah, Yoonseong?"
"I know this is a shameless thing to ask. But… is there any chance you could keep it a secret?"
All she could do was appeal to him to guard her secret.
Of course, a man she'd known for less than two weeks had no obligation to show loyalty on her behalf.
However much they were playing at being "friends," her secret alone was more than enough to get her expelled from the Academy. In a place where cohabitation between men and women was strictly forbidden, if it came out that he'd knowingly concealed her crossdressing, the fallout would land on him too. She had to secure his trust on that front, one way or another.
"I-if a problem does arise, I swear it will never come back on you. Not ever."
"…Wouldn't the best solution be making sure a problem never arises in the first place? If the Academy finds out about this, I don't think expulsion is where it ends."
"O-of course I won't create a problem in the first place! How else do you think a woman enrolled in Cheonmu Academy as a man in the first place? With our clan's secret artifact, hiding the fact that I'm female is trivial! I-it's just that I can only use it two hours a day, so daily use is difficult. B-but as long as I'm careful from now on—"
"You got caught by me precisely because you weren't careful. You lasted all of two weeks. How exactly do you plan on hiding it for the four years that remain?"
"……"
Do Yoonchae had no answer for Seonho's words, cold as they were, because they were objectively true.
Just as he'd said, there was no point in insisting she could keep the secret for four more years when she'd already been caught by her roommate in barely a fortnight.
…Still. Somehow, I have to keep this from ever leaving this room.
If her true sex came to light as things stood, she'd be expelled from Cheonmu Academy—and her true goal, her revenge against the clan elders, would die with it.
She had to survive, clawing and scraping, under the name Do Yoonseong.
…Even if it meant resorting to a rather forceful means of buying silence.
"I-if you want, as payment for keeping my secret… y-you can have anything from me. Anything at all."
"…What?"
"Y-you're a boy in the prime of your youth, so you must have desires. I-I would know—I had an older brother. Men are the kind of creatures who think of nothing but rolling around in bed with a woman the moment the opportunity presents itself."
"……"
"I-if payment is what you need to keep quiet, I-I can accommodate a little. I-I won't permit you to demand a full relationship between a man and a woman, but s-service with your hands, or your mouth, that much I could…."
—Pat!
"Hwheup…?!"
The instant she declared her willingness to give her body in exchange for her secret, Seonho's hand came to rest on top of her head.
Was he actually going to order her to serve him with her mouth, right here and now? The moment he got leverage over her, his first thought was to put her to use like this?
So it was true after all—every man alive was a dog in heat, exactly like that bastard Do Yoonseong. With her conviction freshly reaffirmed, Do Yoonchae steeled herself for what was coming.
—Stroke, stroke.
"Don't go saying things like that so carelessly. You're a girl."
…What came back from Seonho was not a demand for oral service in exchange for keeping a secret, but rather a voice that sounded almost like a gentle scolding.
"……What?"
"A girl shouldn't just blurt out 'you can have anything you want.' Say things like that and even a perfectly decent guy starts feeling weird about it."
"…W-what's your angle? You're a man too—you know exactly what I meant. I-if that's not it, do you mean to say you have no need of the service I'm offering…?"
"I'm saying it because I know. It's not that you're not my type or anything like that. I just think a relationship built on grabbing someone's weakness and holding it over them is meaningless."
"……"
"The people I hate most are the ones who latch onto other people's weak points and squeeze. Becoming one of them myself? Even worse. Anyone training to be a Hunter has that much drilled into them as basic common sense."
As he said it, his hand kept stroking her hair, soft and unhurried, as if to reassure her.
Ordinarily, the physical contact would have been unpleasant. But somehow, she found she didn't want to pull away. His touch felt as though it understood her heart, and was quietly settling it.
Her heart, which only ten minutes ago had known nothing but panic and despair, was—for reasons she couldn't name—steadying itself, little by little, as she listened to him.
"I don't know whether this is a family matter or something personal, but either way, I'm not going to contact the Academy over something like this. So don't worry about it."
"…A-and why should I believe what you say…?"
"Then what, you'd believe me if I took you up on that 'service'? And if I changed my mind afterward, you'd have been used by me and thrown away, wouldn't you?"
"……"
"Don't think everything has to come down to payment. Just think of it normally. We're friends. Keeping a secret like this is nothing."
"F-friends? It's barely been a week. What reason could you possibly have to keep my secret on those grounds…?"
"None needed. There's no reason friendship has to carry some grand weighty meaning anyway. We're going to be living together for the next four years regardless, so this isn't even a favor, really. All I have to do is keep my mouth shut and say nothing."
On the surface, they were kind words. Kind words and nothing more—on the surface.
He might mean all this now and reverse himself later, reporting her identity to the Academy after all. Or his heart might suddenly change, and he might come back demanding something far worse than anything she'd offered.
But… either way, the Do Yoonchae of this moment had no choices left. So she nodded along to Seonho's words.
"…I understand. It seems I misspoke, in the heat of the moment."
"Good. I'm glad you get it."
With that, he rose from his seat and began pulling a change of clothes from his carrier.
Uniform and towel in hand, he walked to the bathroom carrying his clothes with him—a departure from his usual routine.
"If I'd known you were a girl, Yoonseong, I'd have been a little more considerate. I'll watch myself from now on."
"…Y-yes."
"Let's not make things awkward over nothing. We stay friends, same as before. Our roommate assignments don't change for four years anyway—we're stuck with each other."
"…Right. Understood."
That small gesture—gathering his clothes and taking them into the bathroom instead of stripping down casually in the shared space as he always did—struck her as a glimmer of genuine consideration.
And so, cautiously, the thought began to take root: perhaps Seonho's promise to keep her secret wasn't mere lip service after all.
…Not that that meant she could trust him completely. Far from it.
There's no such thing as kindness without a price. He's surely got an angle. Of course he does.
The world had never once offered a favor for free.
And every man alive—or at least, every man she had observed at closer range than anyone—carried a black stain of greed coiled somewhere in his heart.
The face of Do Yoonseong flickered through her mind: the man who had used his handsome looks and his position as heir of the Cheongun Do Clan to surround himself with women and live a life of lecherous, unrestrained debauchery.
…Do Yoonseong being dead didn't change what men were. Not every man was trash like him, perhaps. But in Do Yoonchae's judgment, every one of them harbored at least one or two sordid calculations behind his eyes.
Lee Seonho is hiding something too, I'd bet on it. The way he's angling to put me in his debt… he might be far more dangerous than he looks.
But for now, reading his true intentions would be anything but easy. Which left Do Yoonchae exactly one option.
Watch him. Observe Lee Seonho's every movement, every word and gesture, from as close a range as she could manage.
If she wanted to judge what kind of man he really was—whether he was someone she could genuinely trust—there was no better method.
…He probably wouldn't notice. Moving like another person's shadow had once been her specialty, after all.
With that thought, Do Yoonchae steeled her resolve: she would not make the mistake of half-trusting anyone ever again.
Do Yoonchae's suspicion-laden gaze stayed glued to me long after I'd come out of the bathroom.
She clung to my side all morning, shooting openly distrustful looks my way. She didn't seem aware of it herself, but she was sticking closer than usual, studying my every expression. The moment I so much as took out my smartphone, she'd flinch and start sneaking glances at my screen, trying to read it sideways. It was honestly pretty funny. Apparently she was on tenterhooks, convinced I might contact the Academy at any moment.
Not that I have any reason to cut short an event this enjoyable on my end.
What kind of idiot throws away the chance to live under the same roof as a crossdressing beauty for four straight years?
And my refusal of her little "service" offer? Pure talk, obviously. The real plan—gradual conditioning—was scheduled to begin from this point on. She'd already revealed her identity to me of her own accord; there was no reason left to wait. The only slightly annoying part was that I'd be starting from a position of suspicion rather than trust.
Still, one thing I could view positively: today was Wednesday.
I'd be stuck to Do Yoonchae's side through the morning lectures anyway, which meant that much more time for her to keep observing me.
And in the afternoon, archery training with Han Sora was already on the schedule. Perfect conditions for her to tail me, really.
Time to let her figure out for herself what it takes to keep my mouth shut.
Once she saw the training Han Sora and I did together, she'd understand on her own exactly what she'd need to do to seal my lips.