Exam Period # 11
Exam Period # 11
"Ugh..."
Lee Si-hoo stared into the mirror, embarrassed but unable to look away. She had simply dropped her male disguise, tidied herself up properly, and acted like a girl—and she had turned into a completely different person.
The realization hit her anew: she was a woman.
A remarkably beautiful one, at that.
"..."
She really had put her all into that male disguise.
All the effort she'd put into passing as a man over the years surged through her mind. The compression bandage used to flatten her gradually swelling breasts was the absolute bare minimum. Her chest was a little on the larger side, but if she wrapped the bandage tightly enough, she could hide it. Covering it with an oversized uniform jacket took care of the rest.
Similarly, she wore oversized trousers to conceal her hips. And then there were all the other little things she did specifically to maintain the disguise.
The difference between wearing the disguise and not wearing it was this extreme. Lee Si-hoo thought to herself that she really did seem to possess two separate selves. Comparing the woman she was to the man she presented as—weren't they complete strangers?
She gazed at her reflection while thinking this.
"Eep."
If only she hadn't been born into that family, she probably could have lived freely, just like this. The thought made her envious, and on a whim, Lee Si-hoo decided to act out a little.
She glanced quickly left and right, making sure nobody was around.
"Hup."
She placed one hand behind her head and the other on her hip, striking a pose.
"S-sexy?"
A pose that revealed every line of her figure. Standing before the mirror, Lee Si-hoo reveled in this small transgression, flaunting her feminine charm.
"Ooh."
Of course, what followed was...
"Mm."
...a crushing wave of post-embarrassment clarity.
"Mmmmm."
Shame crashed over her, and her whole body flushed hot. Her chest began to tickle, her heart felt like it might burst. Me? Sexy? Lee Si-hoo berated herself for no good reason and scratched her head furiously.
"Argh, seriously!"
She couldn't get a grip on herself.
"I'm going crazy!"
The mana built up in her body was churning. An Awakened's mana was heavily influenced by their emotional state. She couldn't calm it down.
"Why am I even doing this...!"
Her heart was a complete mess. She tried to find the cause. It had to be something significant, but the more she thought about it...
"That bastard Geun-cheol!"
...only Kim Geun-cheol's face came to mind. Right. This was all Geun-cheol's fault. He was the reason she kept feeling so restless. Friend. Her closest friend. The power of friendship.
He was always going on about stuff like that, but lately, he was only hanging around with girls. I can teach him swordsmanship too, you know. I can help him study, too!
But if she actually brought that up, it would feel like Lee Si-hoo—a guy—was clinging to Kim Geun-cheol, and that repulsed her. She couldn't do that. To everyone else's eyes. No. From any perspective but her own, Lee Si-hoo was unmistakably a man.
"..."
She looked at her reflection again.
Just as before... she was brimming with charm. What if she dropped the male disguise and showed herself, exactly like this, to Geun-cheol?
"Why am I thinking stuff like this...!"
The fact that she was having those thoughts at all just showed how much she regretted things. The figure in the mirror was that attractive. Enough to make her want to chuck the male disguise entirely.
She couldn't take any more of this.
"Hoo."
Lee Si-hoo sighed and took off the girl's uniform.
She wanted to just flop down on her bed right there, but she couldn't. Earlier, she'd dashed off in a fit of anger over Geun-cheol neglecting their friendship, but class was still in session. If she skipped out on purpose, she'd get in trouble.
"Alright."
She steadied her heart and tidied up the discarded clothes. Tucking her female self away in a corner of her mind, Lee Si-hoo began reassembling her male disguise.
Her hands moved with practiced ease.
As soon as Lee Si-hoo started, her feminine appearance began to be suppressed. This was something she'd been doing for years. Lee Si-hoo was a master of the male disguise. If there was a woman in the world who was the best at pretending to be a man, it had to be her.
A master of the art.
She wrapped the bandage, flattening her chest, and pulled on the oversized uniform over it to hide her figure. She adjusted her feminine eyes just a little, and attended to all the other details that required a master's touch.
And just like that, once she'd finished getting ready, the person in the mirror was no longer the woman brimming with feminine allure from moments ago, but just a slightly cute male student.
Objectively speaking, Lee Si-hoo's male-disguise skills had reached a master's level. The woman who was the best in the world at passing as a man. When she put her skills to work, a beauty simply transformed into a kind-of-cute male student.
"A master of male disguise. A virtuoso. Wait, why am I even collecting titles like this?"
It felt absurd, but anyway, the disguise was done. Lee Si-hoo scratched her head vigorously, grabbed her things, and opened the dormitory door.
And the person she came face-to-face with was...
"Si-hoo, let's hang."
"Geun-cheol?!"
"What? You sick or something?"
"No, why—! Why'd you come here?!"
"You suddenly ran off, so I got permission to go check on you."
Geun-cheol had come looking for her.
See, this guy—!
* * *
"You little shit, Si-hoo. Hey. I've got your number."
"What?"
"You got all sulky because I've only been hanging out with Leona and Yu-ri. You massive sulky bastard."
"Who says! No, I didn't!"
"Uh-huh? Bullshit. Weren't you just thinking I was neglecting our friendship?"
"That—!"
This Si-hoo guy had a somewhat girly side that made him capable of getting pouty over stuff like that.
No, I mean, when you saw his fighting skills and everything else, he was a total manly-man Terminator. I had no idea why he got like this. Was it that complex about his feminine features again? Was that why he was turning into such a girl?
Whatever. I don't give a shit either way.
Lee Si-hoo is my precious friend. And if a friend is sulking... the proper duty of a friend is to go and give him hell for it.
"I saw you get pissed and run off, man. You think I didn't? And you're trying to act like you didn't?"
"No, really. Geun-cheol. That's bullshit, okay? You think I'd run off in a huff over something like that?"
"So you're saying it's not true?"
"It's not!"
"Hey, hey. Don't give me that crap. Then why did you run?"
"I-I just... suddenly felt unwell?"
"And then you sprinted off like that?"
"I'm a superhuman! You know, me!"
"Oh, right! So being sick gives superhumans an energy boost! Amazing!"
"Aaargh!"
As I kept needling him, Si-hoo grabbed his head.
This guy, he can't bullshit his way past me.
"Haah... Seriously. Geun-cheol. Hey. You've been pretty much abandoning your friend lately, don't you think? I never knew you were the type to neglect friendship like this. I'm honestly disappointed."
"Bullshit. Like I did it on purpose? I was getting help with studying and training—and you're giving me this over that?"
What could I do? This was just how Si-hoo was.
"Hmph..."
Si-hoo just walked beside me with his head slightly down.
"And once it's over, we work out together, man, don't we? I even go all the way to the bathhouse with you."
"Th-That's—!"
"Look at this bastard. Freaking out again just because I mentioned the bathhouse. Huh? Si-hoo. Who's really the one neglecting the friendship here?"
That turned it right around and shut him up. After walking quietly for a bit, Si-hoo suddenly spoke up.
"Wait, Geun-cheol?"
And then he went and said this.
"So, because I don't go to the bathhouse with you, you're only going to hang out with Leona and Yu-ri? Isn't that just messed up?!"
"Why are you twisting this! When did I ever say that?!"
Hearing it put like that, I sound like some crazy pervert! I just like going to the bathhouse with my friends! Like going to a PC café!
"I don't know!"
"You little—!"
"Anyway, Geun-cheol. Let's just go to the school store."
"The store?"
Suddenly, the store?
"I got hungry."
"Shit, me too."
I suddenly got hungry too.
Anyway, since Si-hoo had already left class for a bit, getting back late or really late was probably going to end about the same. So we headed straight for the school store.
"Don-gapnaegi, yes."
We bought a Don-gapnaegi and a zero-calorie cola right away. This combo was seriously the ultimate. We threw them straight into the microwave. Si-hoo did the same.
"Anyway, Si-hoo. Let's eat up and get back to class. It's time for the ranking matches."
"Haah... yeah."
"Think you'll be able to focus? Ryu was totally losing his shit earlier."
When Lee Si-hoo ran off, Ryu was practically bouncing off the walls.
Seriously, I thought there was an earthquake.
"Cheon-hwi? Ah, so he's itching to fight me again."
"That guy's got nothing in his head except beating you. He was threatening to smash that punk who ran away to pieces."
I was the only one who could calm Ryu down. When I told him, with all due grace, to chill out and come hang at their family's place with me later, he literally grabbed his head and collapsed.
Ryu really does have the makings of a comedian.
What a funny bastard.
"Well, if he wants to challenge me, I'll accept."
Si-hoo flashed his fighting spirit.
See! This is what I mean by a true man!
"Yeah! Let's go smash Ryu!"
"Fighting Cheon-hwi definitely helps me improve. Anyway, let's eat. Geun-cheol, sorry about before. I just got mad because you kept ditching me, your friend."
"Nobody ditched you on purpose. We're partners, man. We took down slimes together."
"S-slimes..."
And so.
"Good."
I chewed on my Don-gapnaegi and savored the taste. Come to think of it, I haven't been particularly broke lately. We got reward money for reporting that Doppelganger Slime a while back.
And I still haven't used up all of Ryu's meal tickets.
Things had gotten a lot more comfortable. Plus, when we study, Leona always brings snacks, so I never go hungry. At this rate, I'm gonna turn into a pig.
"Alright, let's go, Geun-cheol."
Once we'd finished eating, Si-hoo tossed the trash in the bin and said that.
"Yeah."
"Oh, right. Geun-cheol. If you pass the retest, the tutoring with Leona ends, right?"
This bastard again?
"Yeah, it ends."
"Then, train with me after that. I'm calling dibs first, so you can't break this promise, got it?"
"Obviously!"
"If you break this, Geun-cheol, you're just a Friendship Destroyer. Understand?"
"Si-hoo. I'm the kind of man who would rather die than become a Friendship Destroyer."
That's how solid my resolve is.
"Right. Bullshit-Geun-cheol."
"Stop with the mean names."
We arrived back at the training ground.
Every eye turned toward us.
The instructor shot us a look, and, well. Ryu was...
"You've finally returned! You cowardly bastard! Running away from a fight with me! I won't forgive you!"
...just yelling his head off.
"Hey... Si-hoo. Go on, quick. The instructor is calling me over."
"Y-yeah. Sorry."
I went straight to the instructor. Si-hoo got up onto the ring with Ryu, too.
"Kim Geun-cheol? What happened?"
"Ah, well, it wasn't anything major."
How do I explain this?