3 - The young lady is my pride.
3 - The young lady is my pride.
"Wh...What is this?"
The words popped right out of my mouth.
I couldn't help it.
Her appearance was so wretched that I couldn't even call her Omma.
Wearing only underwear that barely covered her vital parts... she crawled toward me on all fours like a pet dog.
Cheolgeureok.
Cheolgeureok.
"Ah...aa..."
A sound resembling a groan naturally spilled from my mouth.
It was only natural to react that way.
Anyone seeing this woman, Omma, would make a sound like that.
A female slave straight out of some work of fiction.
The woman who was our mother to us siblings had appeared looking like that right now.
Omma.
Omma... could something like this really be happening?
"How is it seeing Omma? Doesn't it feel real? Things shouldn't be like this, right? Huh? So snap out of it quickly and let's go take the exam."
It was completely opposite to what my younger brother had said.
It doesn't feel real.
I can't believe it.
A person who is Omma... why is she acting like a slave?
What was even more absurd was the woman's reaction.
Normally, if a mother heard something like that from her son, she would get angry.
But she didn't.
Without even daring to look properly at us, she kept her eyes lowered, looking as if she were only waiting for orders.
"Uh...eu..."
There were so many things I wanted to ask.
But no more words came out of my mouth.
It felt like everything was trapped in chaos.
I had suddenly become a girl.
The man who was my younger brother introduced a slave-like woman as our omma.
There were questions galore, but I couldn't ask them.
I felt so frustrated I thought I'd go crazy from not being able to ask.
"Omma! Help Noona get ready."
"Yes, Doryeonnim... Young Lady, would you come this way?"
Hwiik.
Without a word, she turned around.
Her black panties were fully visible.
A scrap of cloth was wedged right between her beautifully parted mounds.
Siluk-siluk.
A pussy without a single hair.
The flesh down there squirmed like a piece of rice cake every time she crawled.
"What are you doing? Hurry up and follow Omma."
Yet, as if there was nothing strange about it at all, my younger brother pushed my shoulder.
"Uh...Yeah. Got it."
Such a bizarre situation.
Yet I couldn't say a single word.
And so... I began to follow Omma.
Right.
I don't know what's going on, but let's just do as I'm told for now.
I'll figure out what's what as I experience it.
**
"Could you possibly forgive me for the rudeness of standing on two feet in front of the Young Lady?"
No matter how I looked at it, it was strange.
The woman who was Omma was asking me for permission right now.
An action that a person could normally do without permission.
Standing up.
Rising to her feet.
"...Yes."
I didn't ask why she was doing that.
It was obvious she'd look at me strangely anyway.
Omma...
No, this woman who seemed more fitting to be called a slave was beautifully dressing me up, completely contrary to her own shabby appearance.
Her makeup skills, which were the exact opposite of her wretched appearance, were enough to make me admire her inwardly.
Anyway, this was a bit weird.
It was the day of the exam, but it didn't feel like I needed to dress up quite this much.
"U...Omma."
"Yes... Young Lady."
"I'm going to take the exam..."
"Yes, Young Lady."
The woman who was Omma still remained entirely absorbed in dressing me up despite my words.
This attitude of paying zero attention to the core point of my question.
"Do we... have to dress up this much?"
"Of course, Young Lady."
Seuk.
Before I knew it, she finished putting on my makeup and began softly brushing my long, straight hair.
"Young Lady, look in the mirror."
She reflected a full-length mirror in front of me.
"Ah..."
For a moment, I was speechless.
This was 'me'?
Beautiful.
I used to think that saying I was beautiful was something only a self-absorbed narcissist would say...
It's real.
Truly beautiful.
To the point where I myself was left speechless just looking at it.
"How is it? What are you thinking?"
"Beauti...ful."
"Right?"
Omma smiled.
Up until now, it was like she was treating a real young lady, but right now, it wasn't that.
It felt like she was treating her own real daughter.
"Many male gentlemen are coming to take the exam. It's necessary to make a good impression on them, too."
"...Pardon?"
"Young Lady's father... my Master, too, met me for the first time there."
What on earth is this supposed to mean?
I didn't understand at all.
Appa... was Omma's master?
"Thanks to the merciful Master, unlike other livestock, I was able to live quite comfortably."
Her palm was placed over the brush.
And gently.
She moved the brush to stroke my hair.
It seemed as though she was doing that because she wasn't allowed to stroke my hair directly with her hand.
"He gave me the joy of being able to produce such a beautiful Young Lady."
I couldn't open my mouth.
No, I was too dumbfounded to speak.
Synthesizing and judging what the woman who was Omma had said so far.
Omma is a slave.
Appa's slave.
It's confusing.
So very confusing.
By the judgment of my common sense, I simply cannot make sense of the present.
This world.
How on earth does it run?
Am I... dreaming?
"Preparation is complete, Young Lady."
Saak.
As Omma vanished from my field of vision,
"Wo...whoa."
An exclamation burst out of my mouth before I knew it.
Because the me inside the mirror was the goddess herself.
"You are truly beautiful... The Young Lady is my pride."
Omma placed both hands back on the floor.
She looked at me with an emotional expression.
"Ah..."
I repeatedly opened and closed my mouth.
My head was so complicated I couldn't make sense of it.
To sort out the chaos in my head, I needed to say something, but words didn't come easily.
I secretly pinched my thigh a little.
"...!"
If it were a dream, I wouldn't feel pain, but I was definitely feeling pain right now.
It's reality.
These bizarre sights are real.
A world far removed from the common sense I knew.
And me, standing there with my gender swapped.
What should I do?
What on earth am I supposed to do?
"Young Lady... now you just need to do well."
Omma looked at me with pride.
...Right.
Let's not overthink things for now.
Let's just entrust my body to the flow of events.
Even if I tried to talk based on my own standards, nothing would come of it.
Above all, that woman who was Omma.
I didn't want to shatter her expression.
I didn't want to disappoint her.
We hadn't even known each other for thirty minutes.
But perhaps because of her blood flowing inside my body?
That person, Omma.
I didn't want to disappoint her.
That's why I didn't say anything.
I'd find out soon enough anyway.
What kind of place this world is.
How this place, where my common sense doesn't work, operates.
Ultimately, I have to face it head-on.
"Now, Young Lady. You're late. You must go take your exam."
Mother took the lead.
Her appearance, clad in only a precarious single piece of underwear, felt so pitiful.
Yet what she wanted from me wasn't my sympathy.
Going to take the exam.
That was the only way to make this woman, Omma, happy.
"Yes, Omma."
And so I followed Omma, who was crawling on the floor, out of the room.
**
A detached house with a garden and a parking lot.
At the end of following the woman who was Omma—who crawled through it casually and practically half-naked—stood a middle-aged man in a suit.
He looked so much like my younger brother that it made me think this is what my brother would look like when he got older.
'He's handsome.'
To sum it up in one word, he was a dandy, handsome middle-aged man.
He was tall and had a sturdy build.
Though his body was covered by a suit, it was glaringly obvious that he possessed a hard, muscular physique.
"You're late."
Even his voice was pitched low.
He was the kind of man any woman would like.
"Noona!!"
Right beside the man, my younger brother—who looked like a younger version of him—hurriedly called out to me.
Seeing him waving his palm up and down... was he telling me to greet him?
"Ah... hello."
As I bowed my head to greet him, the man crumpled his expression.
Did I do something wrong?
"How brazen of you, not even preparing for contingencies until the very end."
The man clicked his tongue.
Judging by the current atmosphere, this man was my appa.
The situation right now was that this man, who was my appa, was going to take me to the exam location.
So why was he so hostile toward me?
What did I even do?
"Young Lady... you mustn't do this. In times like that..."
"Where do you think a bitch like you dares to interrupt a man's words!?"
A sudden loud voice rang out.
The man had shouted.
"S-So-Sorry, Master!!"
In an instant, Mother prostrated flat on the floor.
A cold winter.
She laid her body out casually on the asphalt-paved parking lot floor.
"Isn't it because you fucking keep acting like that that Hana ends up like this?!"
"I'm sorry!! Please forgive me just this once!! It's all my fault!!"
Mother was sincerely begging the man who was her appa and master.
As if she would die if she didn't receive forgiveness.
Like an experienced junior desperately trying to calm the anger of an enraged military senior.
"Ugh... Tch!!"
The look in Appa's eyes as he watched Mother desperately beg soon softened.
Yet the look of dissatisfaction still hadn't vanished.
"...Get in already."
"...Yes."
Stumbling, I got into the big, black full-sized sedan through the automatically opening rear door.
"...What is she gonna do if she flunks..."
Sighing at me, the man who was my appa headed toward the driver's seat.
Amidst that, my younger brother gestured for me to roll down the window right beside the window I was sitting at.
"Noona. Do well on the exam. If it's you, you can easily pass. Don't get excited and stay calm. I'm rooting for you."
"We're leaving. Fasten your seatbelt."
"Yes..."
Before my younger brother could even finish his greeting, Appa drove the car out of the parking lot at speed.
The beginning of a very uncomfortable time.