Stay Here Tonight
"Oppa?"
Kang Cheol-jin blinked in confusion at the sudden address.
Beside them, Yu-bam, who had been making a fuss just moments before, glanced back and forth between the two with a startled look, as though something had just clicked.
"Saebyeok...."
Yu-bam studied Han Saebyeok with growing concern.
Han Saebyeok's eyes were trembling faintly. With his shaggy hair now cut short, Kang Cheol-jin's features were clearly visible—and another man's face had superimposed itself over his.
Han No-eul.
Her older brother. The one man she had been able to trust and rely on unconditionally.
The moment that face surfaced in her memory, Han Saebyeok's vision went black and she staggered. Recalling that longed-for face had reflexively dragged up the image of a terrible person and an unbearable scene along with it.
"Whoa! Are you okay?"
"Saebyeok!"
Kang Cheol-jin caught Han Saebyeok by the shoulders as she nearly collapsed. Yu-bam grabbed her hand, her face full of worry.
"Saebyeok, you okay?"
"You don't look well. Maybe you should head home...."
Kang Cheol-jin suggested she go home. Her face had gone deathly pale—this didn't seem like the time to be shopping for clothes.
"...I'm fine. Just got dizzy for a second. I have anemia."
Han Saebyeok straightened herself up as though she had never staggered at all. Then, gazing at Kang Cheol-jin with a complicated expression, she shook her head.
No. He doesn't look like him.
It was a face that seemed similar but wasn't.
Han No-eul had always been gaunt—his face thin and drawn. The exact opposite of Kang Cheol-jin, who was dieting to shed weight.
But the image of her brother that had been conjured up wasn't so easily erased. As she looked at the worry in Kang Cheol-jin's eyes, something seemed to well up inside her for no reason at all.
Han Saebyeok forcibly pushed away that face flickering at the edges of her mind, but—
"...Thanks for catching me."
"Ah, sure."
It was inevitable that her voice came out softer than usual.
*
After leaving the hair salon, we moved on to buy clothes.
Is she okay?
I glanced sideways at Han Saebyeok. Only moments ago, she had staggered like she was about to faint. She'd said she had anemia, and her face, already pale, looked somewhat drawn.
In the end, my worry proved completely unfounded.
"Try this on."
"This one too."
"Next, this one."
Han Saebyeok dashed around the store as if she'd never stumbled at all. She'd flick her eyes over something, then hand it straight to me to try on. The pile soon exceeded a dozen items.
I frantically cycled through putting clothes on and taking them off. I felt like a dress-up doll.
"That looks great on you, Cheoljjin!"
"The saying's true. Clothes are wings!"
Every time I came out after changing, Bam-nuna reacted with enormous enthusiasm. I was grateful for it, but I was also mortified.
At one point, I also tried on a few things Bam-nuna had picked out herself.
"Ugh. The ones I picked are no good."
"...Don't wear skinny jeans. Your legs are thick, so you have to go with wide-fit cuts."
"I-I'll go change."
Even I thought, Yeah, this is not it, the moment I put them on. They clung so tight I got a visible bulge. The disgusted look on Han Saebyeok's face sent a fresh wave of shame washing over me.
Still, the clothes all look pretty good.
Even to my eyes, ignorant as I was of men's fashion, everything I tried on seemed to suit me. What surprised me most was that the clothes Han Saebyeok picked were mostly on the safe, standard side.
An open-collar short-sleeved shirt with light-wash blue jeans.
A black cotton short-sleeved shirt with black linen pants.
A light-blue short-sleeved shirt with white cotton pants—and so on.
Most were combinations built around a shirt, so they seemed perfect for clean, put-together outfits. The white pants she picked at the end were a bit intimidating... but honestly, even I thought they looked nice. Maybe I'd wear them to the department blind date in two days.
Anyway, it was a relief. I'd been worried she'd dress me in the overly intense, unique fashion she wore every day, but she truly had an eye worthy of the top student in the Fashion Design department. She didn't just force her own tastes on me—she picked clothes that suited the model.
...Or so I thought.
"All right. Now let's go to the next store."
"...Huh?"
Next store? What was she talking about?
When I looked flustered, Bam-nuna and Han Saebyeok stared at me as if I were the strange one.
"Why are you surprised? Of course we have to look around more."
"Don't tell me you thought we'd buy everything at one place?"
"No, but... we've already bought this many clothes...?"
We had already bought three full outfits, top and bottom. What else was needed?
But that was just my own thinking.
"What are you talking about? We only bought three outfits. We still need shoes."
"And socks! Ah, and we need accessories. Should I buy you a watch?"
"No, no! Why would you buy me a watch?!"
I waved my hands frantically. If Bam-nuna was offering to buy it, the price tag on that watch wasn't going to stop at just a couple hundred thousand won. Even if all this was in return for drawing the manga, it was starting to feel burdensome.
"I'm satisfied with this. Let's just go eat...."
"It's not dinner time yet, you know. Cheoljjin, no more arguing. Trust us."
"No, I mean...."
"You're annoying. Why do you keep saying no? Just follow me."
Han Saebyeok cut me off and walked out of the store. That was when shopping hell truly began.
I was dragged through no fewer than five different clothing stores. Some had clean, minimalist looks, but there were also the hip-hop, street fashion, and military styles I'd been afraid of. There were even looks I'd never heard of in my life—techwear and workwear.
"As expected of Saebyeok. Everything suits him perfectly."
"Well, the clothes hanger isn't bad. He's got the height, for starters."
"His limbs are long too!"
"...Are we done now?"
I asked earnestly, my face exhausted, but—
"No way!"
Bam-nuna just smiled brightly and said we should go buy accessories now.
"Kill me...."
Did we stop at accessory shops? No. We went to a shoe store too. We even hit a hat shop and a cosmetics store.
By the time we reached the cosmetics store, I resisted desperately.
"Even if I had cosmetics, I wouldn't know how to use them! And what kind of man wears makeup?"
"Cheoljjin, that's old-fashioned thinking. All guys do it these days. Maybe not full-on color makeup, but at least a little BB cream...."
"I said I'm not doing it!"
We barely reached a compromise at toner, lotion, and sunscreen. Oh, and I was forced to buy a tinted lip balm, too. She said she'd be checking to see if I was actually wearing it....
"There! Now let's go drink!"
"...Please, have mercy. Let's just eat something simple. Simple."
I lifted my arms, loaded with bags, to show her. How the hell was I supposed to go drinking like this?
Thanks to my desperate pleading, we simply ate some beef cutlet for dinner and headed home.
Once I got back, I showered and collapsed onto my bed. The clothes, shoes, and everything else from today's shopping were scattered all over the floor, but I had absolutely no energy left to tidy them up.
"I'm exhausted...."
It was a different kind of fatigue from exercise. If I walked around like this every day, wouldn't I lose weight even without working out? I'd been worried about not sticking to my diet, but when I weighed myself, I'd actually lost weight. How on earth did those two have so much energy after all that walking around?
The idea that women are physically weaker was definitely a lie....
*
Yu-bam and Han Saebyeok came back home with alcohol and snacks. Soon the large table was laid out for drinking, and Yu-bam poured the glasses.
"Saebyeok, have a glass."
"...Pfft. Your form for mixing somaek looks pretty natural now."
"Hehe. I'm good, right? Learned it at the MT."
Their glasses clinked, and soon the alcohol began to settle in. The two of them tilted their glasses, chatting softly about their upcoming club activities.
But Han Saebyeok simply couldn't focus on the conversation. Even while chatting along cheerfully, she kept slipping into a blank expression.
Yu-bam watched Han Saebyeok for a long moment, then asked carefully.
"Did he look a lot like him?"
"...Huh?"
"Cheoljjin. And your brother, Saebyeok."
"Ah...."
Han Saebyeok let out a groan-like sigh, then smiled bitterly and nodded.
"I didn't realize it before, but he does. Maybe because he's lost weight. And his hair got shorter, too."
"Mm. Cheoljjin has lost a lot of weight compared to when we first saw him. Still, I don't think they look that alike."
Yu-bam knew what Han No-eul looked like. She hadn't met him in person, but she'd seen a photo Han Saebyeok had shown her.
"It's probably the difference in cheek fullness. You know Kang Cheol-jin—he's still got some flesh on his face compared to his body. And maybe a bit of baby fat, since he's young."
"Saebyeok, you're funny. Cheoljjin's only two years younger than us."
"I heard he was born in December. So basically a three-year difference."
Han Saebyeok smiled wryly as she said it.
"I think he's going to look more and more like him. Noeul oppa... was always painfully thin. Because he gave up everything for me."
"......."
"I wanted to buy clothes for oppa, too...."
He had been the kind of older brother who gave up not just food, but even his own clothes, for his little sister. He cut his own hair with clippers, saying it was a waste of money, while working a part-time job even as he attended school—just so he could buy his sister pretty clothes. That was the kind of brother he was.
Maybe that was why. Why she had shopped with such fierce energy, when she'd originally meant to just pick out a couple of outfits and be done.
"Hmm. So that's why you paid for everything, Saebyeok?"
"......."
Was it the alcohol?
Han Saebyeok's face reddened slightly.
Yu-bam giggled and teased her about it.
"I thought you'd fallen for Cheoljjin, Saebyeok. Thought maybe you'd lose your virginity before me."
"Wh-what are you talking about?! Where did you even learn that kind of expression?!"
"Ahaha. I already knew it. Did you forget I write erotica?"
As Yu-bam spoke with that giggling, teasing smile, Han Saebyeok flushed bright red and scrambled to defend herself.
"Shit. Whatever, it's not like that! It was just... just for my own satisfaction. And you paid for most of it anyway. No, wait—in the first place, Kang Cheol-jin is already with Areum...!"
"...What? Areum?"
"Ah."
Han Saebyeok clamped her mouth shut, but it was already too late. Yu-bam's teal eyes sparkled with keen interest.
"Tell me that story. In detail."
"No, well, that's...."
"Heh heh. I'm not letting you go home tonight, Saebyeok. Stay the night."
Yu-bam rose from her chair and circled around behind Han Saebyeok, wrapping her arms around her. Those arms shifted stealthily across her body.
"Ah—eek! Stop it!"
"Spill the truth!"
"Ughk!"
A strange heat began to fill the room, where there were only women.