Chapter 159: Reunion (2)
Chapter 159: Reunion (2)
Why on earth was he coming toward me instead of the center table where everyone was clearly having a reunion? When he tapped my shoulder and called out, I turned around reflexively and immediately regretted it.
‘Did he catch me…?’
I locked eyes with Kang Young-hoon for only three seconds. Fortunately, I had quickly put back on the mask I’d briefly removed to eat, completing the "disguise trinity" of hat, glasses, and mask.
“…Hic.”
Still, I couldn't help but be nervous. What if he recognized me? If he realized I was that perverted reverse bunny girl from the cruise ship, it would be game over right then and there.
“Hey! Is that you, Young-hoon? Damn, man, it’s been a while!”
“Huh? Oh, it wasn't this way, it was over there.”
At that moment, a voice calling Kang Young-hoon came from the center table. My other former classmates had noticed his arrival just in time and shouted his name. Only then did Kang Young-hoon realize I was a separate individual not part of the reunion, and he scratched his head awkwardly.
“Oh, my apologies. I thought you were with my group.”
“N-no, it’s fine… Ahem.”
I intentionally lowered my voice to a different tone than the one I had used before. Having narrowly deceived him, I watched as Kang Young-hoon bowed repeatedly in apology before heading off to the center table.
‘Thank goodness.’
I could feel my heart pounding. I let out a sigh of relief, clutching my chest. I had set out to tail him, only to almost get caught the second we started.
After calming myself down with several gulps of water, I began to observe the reunion closely, just as I had planned. I listened intently to their conversation, focusing especially on Kang Young-hoon.
…My plan was to follow him the moment he stepped away, restrain him, and take him to the Hero Association.
“Hey, what are you doing to a lady sitting by herself? Were you trying to hit on her?”
“Haha, no. It wasn't like that…”
“This guy’s still a skirt-chaser, I see. Hey, don’t you remember? Back in the first semester, you stared at So-jeong so hard she burst into tears…”
“Hey! Why are you bringing that up again now?!”
“Hahaha…”
As I sat there listening to their conversation, I felt a slight sense of dissonance. How should I put it? The Kang Young-hoon I saw on the cruise ship a few days ago and the Kang Young-hoon I was seeing now felt like two completely different people.
Back then, he had the distinct violence of a Villain and a powerful, predatory masculinity, but that was gone now. He rarely initiated conversation and was passive when he did speak.
I suppose being around former classmates from a school life filled with mostly bad memories made him shrink back instinctively. Even though he was now a high-ranking executive of a fearsome Villain Association and a wealthy man thanks to his broken Time Stop superpower, some psychological scars were clearly hard to erase.
‘But why did he even come?’
The question crossed my mind, but it soon faded. Perhaps Kang Young-hoon thought he could overcome it since he had changed so much, just as I had thought. It’s just that it might not be as easy as he expected, which is why he seemed flustered now.
‘Then just wrap it up and go home already. So I can knock you out and catch you on your way back.’
It was right then. While I was picking at my food and pretending to eat while watching the reunion, I felt a slight pressure in my lower abdomen. Because I had gulped down so much water earlier out of nervousness because of Kang Young-hoon, I now had to pee.
“Ugh, why now of all times…?”
Of course, going to the bathroom to pee would only take a moment. Though the process took a bit longer since becoming a woman, it was still a short trip. The chances of the reunion suddenly ending and everyone scattering in that brief window were low.
But looking at it from the other side, if that low probability actually hit, I’d be in a real bind. If Kang Young-hoon suddenly vanished into thin air, I’d have no way to track him. Since there was no telling when the next reunion would be, if I missed this chance, it was truly over.
‘I-I should just hold it for a bit…’
However, as I had realized several times since becoming a woman, the female body’s structure makes it difficult to hold urine for long. This was true even for a Magical Girl. Besides, if I kept putting it off until I absolutely couldn't hold it anymore, only for the gathering to break up right at that moment, wouldn't that be even more frustrating?
‘I have no choice. I’ll be quick.’
I squeezed my eyes shut and headed for the bathroom. It was manageable while sitting, but the urge became much more urgent the moment I stood up, forcing me to hurry. Because of that, even though I felt someone from the reunion watching me, I couldn't even check who it was.
“H-huuuh…!”
But oh no. The bathroom was unisex. I knew these kinds of bars in college towns often had them, but of all the places to end up today.
But I didn't have the luxury to hesitate. After hopping anxiously in front of the door and reaching my limit, I finally couldn't take it anymore and stepped inside. Besides, wasn't it weird to avoid it just because it was unisex? I might be a woman now, but I was someone who had masturbated and had sex in men's bathrooms before.
Creeak—
After confirming no one was there, I hurriedly opened a stall door. I lifted the lid, pulled down my skirt and panties, and the moment I sat down, I realized I had forgotten to lock the door.
Just as I raised my right arm to lock it, a strange sensation washed over my body once again. As I said "once again," it was a sensation I had felt before. I knew this situation all too well, having recently experienced my body being bound and unable to move by a transcendent power rather than physical force.
“Kang Young-hoon…!!”
“Oh, did you call?”
Kang Young-hoon appeared, waving nonchalantly. He swung wide the stall door I hadn't managed to lock.
“Wow… I had a hunch, but it really is you. The glasses, the hat, the mask. I almost didn't recognize you. But they don't suit you, so you might as well take them all off.”
Kang Young-hoon smiled thinly as he stripped off my glasses, hat, and mask… everything. He didn't stop there; he touched my frozen body as he pleased, stripping off my hoodie and bra until I was completely naked.
“What do you think you’re doing…!”
“I told you, this look suits you much better.”
Sitting naked on the toilet, my breasts and private parts were fully exposed to his gaze, but I couldn't even cover myself. Since I was in my civilian form and hadn't transformed into a Magical Girl, I was conscious and could speak, but I was otherwise powerless to resist.
“By the way, you must have really had to pee. Your face is so red.”
“That’s, ngh…”
“Wait a second. Are you telling me you still have to pee right now?”
Kang Young-hoon stared at me with a look of surprise. Embarrassing as it was, he was right. Since he had stopped time, my body should have stopped as well… but perhaps because my consciousness was intact, I still felt the urge.
I had to pee. I wanted to let it out. That desire swirled in my head, but I couldn't act on it. Even if I tried to relax, nothing came out. There was no sound of a stream hitting the water in the bowl.
“This is interesting. You’re the first person whose consciousness remains intact while time is stopped. So the sensation of needing to pee carries over. This might actually be useful for torture.”
“Shut up…!”
“Is it really right for you to be screaming 'shut up' in this situation? I’m the victim of stalking here.”
For a moment, I was so dumbfounded I couldn't speak. Stalking? So, I’m the stalker?
“What else would you call it? Finding out about my reunion and following me here. Was my cock so impressive that night that you had to follow me?”
“W-w-what kind of nonsense is that…!!”
“Hiding your face and approaching me like that—you’re a stalker, plain and simple. What part of that is wrong?”
“This isn't stalking…! It’s Hero work, tracking down a wicked Villain like you…!”
Kang Young-hoon chuckled and countered my words.
“What are you talking about? That would be true if you were a Hero. But you’re just a Hero Wannabe. A civilian following another civilian is stalking no matter how you look at it, right?”
“Ngh, I…!”
Should I just transform right now? If I transformed into a Magical Girl, I could break free from this tedious time stop, beat him down immediately, and take him in.
But the problem remained. Both the Beast Tamer and Kang Young-hoon had vanished without a trace before. Since I hadn't figured out how they did that yet, rushing in blindly was risky. Moreover, causing a scene in a restaurant like this would be hard to clean up.
‘Should I just reveal that I’m Magical Girl Floss?’
Kang Young-hoon only reacted to well-known, named female Heroes. Since I’d been caught anyway, if I wanted to keep him interested and following me, it might be better to reveal my true identity.
As I was debating how to handle this, Kang Young-hoon leaned in close.
“But I am curious. How did you track me down?”
“…That’s.”
“Do you have a tracking-type superpower? No. If you did, you would’ve become a Hero long ago instead of a Hero Wannabe. Or did someone leak my information? That shouldn't be possible.”
Tilting his head, Kang Young-hoon seemed to have a bright idea and leaned down to search my clothes. Finding the pocket in my skirt, he rummaged through it and pulled out my phone.
“Score. Found it.”
He pressed my frozen finger against the phone, easily bypassing the security with the fingerprint scanner.
At that moment, all sorts of thoughts swirled through my head. Now that he had my phone, it was only a matter of time before he realized I was in the reunion’s group chat with him. However, if I transformed into Magical Girl Floss now, I could forcibly take the phone back and prevent that from happening.
It was time to choose between two options. Reveal that I was a Magical Girl. Or reveal that I was the classmate he knew.
‘…I have no choice!’
The decision I made in that split second was to hide the fact that I was a Magical Girl and reveal my past.
Honestly, my heart felt the opposite. Kang Young-hoon already knew I was a perverted bitch and a masochist whore. I didn't want him to find out that I used to be a male classmate on top of that. It was just too humiliating.
But now was not the time to avoid a shameful situation by revealing my past. If I revealed I was a Magical Girl just to avoid this, not only would the entire area fall into chaos, but many nearby citizens could be seriously hurt.
Furthermore, while Kang Young-hoon claimed Magical Girl Floss was his ideal type and vowed to fuck her if they met, that was just talk. If he realized Magical Girl Floss was completely unaffected by his Time Stop, he might get scared and run away immediately.
So, I had to hide the fact that I was a Magical Girl until the very end. I had to keep it hidden as a secret weapon to end the game at the final moment.
“Wait a minute… Class President?”
I squeezed my eyes shut. This was the moment the secret I had kept for so long was being discovered. There was no way I wouldn't be nervous. After all, excluding my family, no one I currently knew was aware of what I looked like when I was a man.
“Why are you… using the Class President’s account…?”
What would he say? Would he say it was disgusting that he’d fucked me without knowing I used to be a guy? Or would he mock me for becoming a female who moans while getting fucked by a cock despite having been a man? Or would he simply feel nothing?
…While I was bracing myself, he spoke.
“Ah, so that’s what it was?”
“…….”
“Logging in with the Class President’s account. If you’re close enough to share a KakaoTalk account, pfft… Hahaha!”
“Ngh, yeah. Actually, I… wait, what did you just say?”
…Share an account?
“Are you, like, the Class President’s girlfriend or something? Pwahaha! Hahahaha!”
“……?”
“Holy shit. I actually fucked that annoying Class President’s girlfriend. Damn, seriously… what a rush…!”
Wait, what is he talking about?
‘Could it be…?’
It seemed Kang Young-hoon had fallen under the delusion that he had stolen another man’s woman.