A Smile Colder Than Winter
"What's the matter? You look like something's bothering you."
The monster had just returned from grocery shopping, setting an armful of goods down on the table, and asked me with a worried voice as I lay sprawled on the bed, wearing a grave expression.
"What kind of shopping trip requires that much stuff… enough that you can barely carry it alone… And I told you I'd come with you."
"It's fine. Things like this don't feel the least bit heavy to me. So you should treasure your own time, Hyun-ok."
Whenever I offered to come along, feeling guilty that she went through all this trouble just to feed me, the monster would politely refuse.
She said it was because she felt bad making me waste my time on something that wasn't a date—just a simple errand.
I suggested she just order things online instead, but she quietly turned that down too, saying the food she ate was safer bought with her own eyes on it.
Letting out a short sigh, I looked back at the monster and found her staring at me in silence, and I realized what that gaze meant.
The truth was I'd been fretting over Arin, and I'd considered using the moment to ask about her—about the relationship between the two of them—but I let it go.
There were plenty of reasons, but the deciding one was that I didn't want to worry the monster.
So I papered over it with a half-truth.
"Ah… it's nothing. I was just thinking my phone's gotten old and maybe I should replace it. It's been acting up lately—probably from using it so long."
"…Your phone, huh…"
The monster pulled her own phone from her pocket, examined it for a moment, looked back at me—and then broke into a smile that was pure Sung-ha.
"Want to go buy one together, Oppa?"
"Huh? You too?"
When I shot back in surprise at the unexpected offer, Sung-ha beamed at me brightly.
"Yep. I've been thinking it's about time I got a new one anyway."
"…Really? Then let's go replace them together, then."
"Okay, okay! Let me go change, then."
Sung-ha nodded cheerfully, pulled a few pieces of clothing from the closet, closed the bedroom door behind her, and changed in the kitchen before coming back out.
Unlike before, Sung-ha no longer changed right in front of me—the reason being that doing so would stir up my sexual excitement even more.
And her calculation had been right on target.
Truthfully, imagining what lay beneath after she'd dressed herself up beautifully did far more to set a man's heart racing than baring it all outright.
Of course, if it were Sung-ha, she'd gladly oblige anytime I wanted to watch her change—or demand far more than that—but she didn't bother changing the arrangement, because this way felt more like a proper couple.
"How do I look, Oppa?"
Hands folded demurely in front of her, Sung-ha asked me to appraise her outfit like she was showing it off.
A plain, pale flesh-toned one-piece dress in a slim-fitting style that hugged her body just right, accentuating her sexy waistline and the line of her snow-white thighs.
The neckline dipped in a U-shape that framed her lovely collarbones and the curve of her chest, while the skirt, cut in an H-line just above the knee, showed off her white thighs generously without going overboard.
Round silver earrings that reached down to her jaw, a gold bracelet woven like braided strands, and in her hand a quaint, pure-white handbag.
On her lovely face, an announcer's restrained touch of red lipstick and eyeliner made her beauty stand out all the more.
That look—pure yet polished, evoking the image of a flower perched on a cliff's edge, elegant and untouchable—was a direct hit on my exact taste.
"Wow… you're beautiful…"
She always dressed up beautifully whenever we went on a date, but the sight of Sung-ha having put in even more care than usual drew the sigh out of me before I knew it.
Admittedly, with a base template that gorgeous, anything would have suited her—but an appearance she'd refined this much really was the ideal that men dream of.
And that woman was my girlfriend… I'd thought I'd grown somewhat used to the idea by now, but it reminded me all over again that she was a woman far too good for me.
"Thank you, Oppa."
Sung-ha gave a beautiful smile and, watching my face as I went on marveling, never dropped that satisfied little smile.
"Ah, then I should change too…"
"You're fine, Oppa. Don't trouble yourself over it. …Or wait—does it bother you, seeing me dress up like this? Should I go change?"
"No… that's not it… It's just… hmm… I want to look like a man who deserves you. You could call it caring what other people think, I suppose, but honestly that kind of presentation matters between a man and a woman too, doesn't it? Sexual appeal, I guess you'd call it? Or maybe the form love takes when it's shown to the opposite sex? Anyway, well… that's what I mean."
Even as the words left my mouth, I couldn't quite understand what I'd just said myself.
Sung-ha blinked at me several times, watching me in silence, and then a smile I couldn't begin to interpret—though she seemed to have understood something—curved at the corners of her mouth.
"You're always so considerate, Oppa. I'm happy."
"Haha… i-is that so…"
Flustered by the embarrassing compliment, I started rummaging through the closet to change into something presentable.
But shamefully, I didn't own any proper clothes, and even the ones I had, my untrained eye had no idea how to combine.
"Oppa… how about trying this on?"
While I stood there floundering for ages, Sung-ha offered me an outfit suggestion in a soft voice.
She chose her words with the gentle tone and the care of someone handling a raw egg—all so as not to bruise a man's pride.
"There. Done."
Sung-ha flashed a contented smile as she looked me over, changed into the outfit she'd suggested.
I, too, was pleased with what the mirror showed me.
"Oh, this really works. So this is something you can pull off… Sung-ha, you know men's fashion too, not just women's?"
"Of course~ I studied up on all sorts of things to look good for you, you know."
Sung-ha dropped that hint in a voice laced with aegyo, a subtle appeal aimed straight at me.
Then she naturally looped her arm through mine, and the faint scent of flowers and a woman's own fragrance brushed past the tip of my nose.
"Shall we go, then, Oppa?"
Watching Sung-ha urge me on with that adorable smile, I could still feel my heart pounding.
Even knowing what was inside her—that she was a monster who had once devoured human beings.
Out on the street with Sung-ha, the crowds turned their eyes toward the two of us, same as ever.
You'd think I'd have gotten used to the stares by now, but somehow they never sat easily with me.
Most of those gazes were still fixed on Sung-ha, and the ones that landed on me were nothing more than a procedure—a quick check of who the man standing next to such a beautiful woman might be.
Maybe I was overthinking it, but the conclusion behind those stares seemed to run along the lines of, how does a guy like that end up with a woman like that…—wonder, envy, and something close to jealousy.
Part of me felt a flicker of pride under those looks, but another part carried the heavy doubt that maybe they were right, that I really wasn't a man worthy of her.
Still, I kept none of that on my face in front of Sung-ha, and the two of us stepped into an official flagship store of a major phone carrier nearby.
A well-dressed couple walking in together—the staff's eyes snapped straight to us at once, and they treated us with impeccable courtesy.
Once again I was reminded how much a person's attitude shifts depending on who you arrive with and what you look like on the surface.
"Welcome! What can I help you with today?"
When a young female employee in the company uniform greeted us politely, I straightened my back and put on an unnecessarily dignified expression.
"Ahem. We're here to replace our phones…"
"Oh, of course! Right this way, then. And… your girlfriend is really beautiful, sir."
"Haha, isn't she, though."
As she spoke, the woman's gaze swept over me from head to toe in one quick stroke.
Had I been an ordinary customer, I might have missed it—but after spending so much time beside Sung-ha and absorbing so many of those looks out in the world, I caught the glance and its meaning in an instant.
"And my boyfriend?"
Embarrassingly enough, Sung-ha piped up beside me out of nowhere, asking the woman the question.
"…Very handsome! Th-then, right this way, please?"
For a fleeting moment the employee hesitated over her answer, then produced a made-to-order smile, complimented me, and hurriedly spun around to lead us along.
Ugh… Sung-ha, I get where you're coming from, but you didn't have to do that… Huh…?
I shot Sung-ha a wry sidelong glance—and the sight of her expression frozen into something shockingly cold made my own face stiffen in tandem.
Her blank eyes were fixed precisely on the back of the departing employee, carrying a chill of killing intent sharp enough to raise goosebumps.
"Sung-ha, hey…?"
When I called to her carefully, feeling a twinge of fear at the raw, living fury sealed inside that expressionless face, Sung-ha wiped it away like it had never existed, her face refitting itself into a smile as she turned to me.
"Hm? What is it?"
"…Nothing."
…It's just my imagination… right.
I dismissed it as nothing and settled in to listen to the employee walk us through the various phones she was showing us—until Sung-ha suddenly pointed a finger at something across the store and spoke up.
"Oppa, look at that phone over there. Nice design, isn't it?"
"Hm? Which one?"
"That one, over there~ That one."
"Hmm?"
I ran my eyes over the phones displayed inside the glass case in the direction she pointed, but I couldn't for the life of me tell which one she meant.
"Urgh!?"
A short, strangled sound cut through the air, and I turned my head in puzzlement—to find Sung-ha standing with her back to someone.
In front of her, it seemed, was the same female employee from before, though her back pressed against Sung-ha's hid her from view.
"Is… is something the matter, ma'am—"
I craned my neck to the side, and the dazed-looking employee's expression snapped into place all at once, and she bowed her head to me at a perfect ninety degrees.
"…N-nothing at all, sir. But sir… I am truly, deeply sorry."
"…I'm sorry?"
Completely unable to parse her sudden change in manner, a question mark bloomed over my head.