Moon Phase (3)
A tall figure with sharp features and slightly lowered eyebrows dominated the space.
The word decadent fit perfectly.
Among the ability users, it was rare to find someone with pure black hair and black eyes.
Yet inside those eyes, an odd reddish glow lingered.
Every finger except the pinkie wore a different-colored silver ring.
He was handsome.
Unfortunately.
Namyeon was soft and gentle, like a bright-type pretty boy, but the man before Chayeon carried an unsettling darkness.
Before becoming a woman, Chayeon had heard the word handsome many times, but never pretty.
So whenever pretty people suddenly appeared, something inside her bristled.
Thinking about it, Jindal Academy was packed with them.
Not just the man in front of her, but even the teachers, the principal, and Yeongyeong were stunning.
Even the patient Arana, though her personality was odd, had a face that was perfectly balanced.
‘They pick people by looks.’
Or did receiving an ability turn everyone into handsome, beautiful creatures?
After all, Chayeon’s own body had changed.
The logic held.
“Is this the one?”
“Yes. Chayeon-ssi, who will be promoted to the moon phase with Jiho-kun this time. Same year, right? First time meeting?”
Ju Jiho swept Chayeon up and down with his gaze.
His eyes felt unpleasant.
“Yes, first time.”
“Must be because our years differ.”
Ju Jiho rested one hand on his knee and reached toward Chayeon.
Even though he was bent at the waist, his head was still higher than hers.
“Jiho-ya. Please take care of me.”
Chayeon silently clasped his hand.
“As excellent comrades who’ll be promoted together, let’s get along well. Come back later. I’ll stay behind for a while, Sensei Jung.”
Before Yeongyeong could finish, her secretary entered from outside and ushered them away.
Just before leaving, a voice rang in Chayeon’s head.
[I was about to leave with Chayeon, but I got caught. See you later.]
Chayeon could only nod, unable to answer.
Outside the education building, Chayeon turned to leave when Ju Jiho called from behind.
“Chayeon, right? Future classmate we’ll be stuck together with. So cold.”
Just trying to ignore him.
“Hey, why the casual speech from the first meeting?”
Ju Jiho made a questioning sound, then looked down at Chayeon quietly.
He seemed confused about what he had done wrong.
Judging by his face, he didn’t look under twenty.
At least in his early twenties.
Among the first-years who were mostly teenagers, it was an unusual age.
“You’re more sharp-tongued than you look. Even if I’m older, what’s it to you?”
“Whether you’re older or not, talking like that to someone you just met is crazy.”
Ju Jiho’s eyes widened.
“Adult? You’re an adult? In that appearance?”
“Yeah, what of it?”
“Then even morally there’s no problem.”
Ju Jiho grinned.
Chayeon didn’t know what “morally no problem” meant, but the way he smiled felt sleazy, and it made her even more irritated that he was handsome.
“And you’re using casual speech too, right? Since we’re already doing it, let’s just keep going like this.”
Ju Jiho offered something.
A smartphone.
“What?”
“Write your number.”
Ever since becoming a woman and entering the academy, Chayeon had grown used to people asking for her number over and over.
To reject them.
“Get lost.”
Mad? Himself, a man, asking another man for his number?
Chayeon turned to leave, but Ju Jiho stuck close behind.
“As comrades, having each other’s contacts is convenient, isn’t it?”
“I have no plans to contact someone as sleazy as you.”
“You really are fierce. Just write it.”
A smartphone was shoved in front of Chayeon’s face.
Insistent brat.
Chayeon decided to use the misunderstanding she’d bought from Arana yesterday.
“Hey, let me tell you something.”
“Huh?”
“I’m a guy.”
Half truth, half lie. The body was female, but the mind was male.
Ju Jiho’s sharp eyes widened dramatically.
Furrows appeared on his forehead, like he was actually thinking.
“Hah, you’re interesting. You don’t want to give your number?”
“I’m telling the truth. Stop messing around and get lost.”
“If you’re a guy, I want to check with my own eyes.”
Ju Jiho’s gaze, which somehow reminded Chayeon of a reptile, swept over her body.
“Insane brat.”
Could this guy be one of Arana’s type too?
Fortunately, Ju Jiho didn’t lunge at Chayeon.
“Good. Let’s slowly get to know each other.”
Ju Jiho slowly stepped back and soon turned, walking away.
“Fuck you.”
Chayeon flipped the middle finger at his retreating back.
Just Namyeon was enough to make her angry.
She had zero intention of getting close to a guy like that.
***
After nine days, the room felt strangely unfamiliar.
Only a few days had passed, yet dust had settled.
“I should clean first. Hey, are you still sleeping?”
<<……>>
Just to be sure, Chayeon summoned Black Fox, but there was still no reply.
She had to accept that.
After sweeping and wiping lightly, Chayeon sat on the edge of the bed and examined the papers she had received earlier.
One document described the normal operation and curriculum of the moon phase system.
Another was written specifically for Chayeon.
According to the document, Chayeon could enter the third-year classroom and attend classes starting the following Monday.
In other words, in three days.
“Is the moon phase really this quick?”
Chayeon had never heard of anyone being promoted mid-semester, not even during school days.
Even at admission, Jindal’s handling felt immediate.
While quickly scanning the papers, a strange term caught her eye.
[Ranking Match]
“What’s this?”
Three pages explained the Ranking Match in dense, hard-to-read Chinese characters.
Chayeon found it too tiring to read and used the convenient shortcut.
[Teacher, what exactly is the Ranking Match?]
[Ah, so it applies to Chayeon too.]
Reply came instantly.
Somewhat ambiguous content.
[What applies?]
[1st and 2nd years are almost entering mid-term exam season, right? From the 3rd year, instead of mid-terms and finals, they do the Ranking Match. In short, it’s a mock battle using abilities to see who uses them best.]
[It’s held quarterly, so four times a year. This year’s third Ranking Match is coming up soon.]
“What a crude evaluation method.”
“It’s not that crude,” the teacher replied. “From the third year, assignments also increase, so the need for training in actual combat skyrockets. The Ranking Match is part of that.”
[Assignments?]
[Yes. The difficulty of the assignments changes depending on the Ranking Match result.]
The word “assignment” made Chayeon remember group projects.
She had experienced one, though it was only for a general subject, and it had been terrifying.
She had learned the reason people called them cursed group projects with her whole body.
[Must I really participate in that Ranking Match?]
[No, it’s not mandatory. But if you don’t participate, you’ll automatically be recorded as the lowest rank. If you don’t care about the rank, you don’t have to participate.]
Chayeon thought not participating and getting the lowest rank was actually good.
If the rank determined assignment difficulty, a lower rank would mean easier assignments.
[Then I won’t participate.]
[You’ll receive the application form next week. Just mark it as non-participation and submit.]
“Hah.”
Chayeon set the smartphone down and lay back.
‘It’s too quiet. Something’s weird.’
For nearly a month, she had been alone with Black Fox, who had been chattering nonstop—mostly useless nonsense—so this absolute silence felt alien.
It was so quiet it was making her sleepy.
She needed to exercise.
……
……
‥
·
***
The next afternoon, on a Saturday weekend, Chayeon came out to the nearby sports field.
Despite having rested only a week at the hospital, she still felt exhausted, so she had slept for twenty-four straight hours.
‘My muscle loss is going to be fucked.’
Chayeon stretched her shoulders and looked at her thin arms.
They looked pale and soft.
“Hah, no motivation at all.”
She had worked out steadily before the hospital, but her drive was nowhere near what it used to be.
Back when she was a guy, seeing her own muscles build had given her joy.
Now in this female body, even that sense of achievement was gone.
Still, she had to maintain a fixed amount of exercise every day to prepare for returning to being a guy.
Today she would do pull-ups.
She wanted to do shoulders, back, and full-body in one go, but this body couldn’t handle it.
Moreover, pull-ups weren’t true pull-ups; they were just hanging on the bar and holding.
Right now, even hanging was too much for her strength.
‘If I had a sword, I’d fly around like crazy.’
Black Fox had given no warning, so Chayeon had known nothing.
Now, though she couldn’t be sure, she suspected that as long as she held any sword-like weapon, her physical abilities would skyrocket.
Real sword, fake sword, even wooden sword—anything that looked like a sword would do.
‘And something about adaptation too…’
When she fought the demon, Black Fox had definitely said something, but the memory had been hazy.
She had listened while still half-unconscious, so that might explain it.
Anyway, without a weapon, Chayeon was just a weak girl.
“Huh?”
As she approached the pull-up bar, she saw a familiar back.
Someone was doing pull-ups in perfect form, impressive enough to make Chayeon gasp.
Even though she wore a loose short-sleeve shirt, her back muscles looked firm.
The man turned at Chayeon’s gaze.
“Oh.”
“You?”
It was the same man she had seen yesterday.
His name was Jiho, right?
“Of all places, running into you here. What a coincidence.”
Ju Jiho wiped sweat with a towel as he approached.
Beyond the damp shirt, broad shoulders and chest muscles were visible.
This guy was quite something?
“You’re here to work out too?”
Ju Jiho got closer to Chayeon.
“Back off. You stink of sweat.”
“Ah, sorry, sorry.”
Chayeon’s sharp tone made Ju Jiho retreat a step, then smile brightly.
Chayeon, thinking he was still wearing that unpleasant smile, walked past and stopped in front of the pull-up bar suited to her height.
Her competitive spirit flared.
“Hah!”
She gripped the bar with an overhand grip and slowly pulled herself up.
Her arms trembled.
If it were normal, she would have kept going.
But knowing that unpleasant guy was watching made an inexplicable surge of pride rise.
“Huff—.”
Chayeon lowered herself and tried to pull up again.
She poured all her strength into the swing, but her ridiculously low muscle mass couldn’t support her weight.
Even her baby strength wasn’t enough to reach a certain height; her body just shook.
“Your posture isn’t bad.”
A voice from behind her praised.
Who the hell are you to evaluate? If it were my original body—
“Hyak!”
A sudden touch on her side made Chayeon let out a startled scream.
“What, your voice is cute. Why do you usually sound like that? Come on, I’ll help you up. Put some strength into it.”
“Fuck, don’t let go?”
Chayeon’s face turned red as she shouted, but Ju Jiho ignored her and lifted her up effortlessly.
“Okay, I’ll slowly ease up. Put strength into it.”
Up and down—
Chayeon’s body swung back and forth.
She was nothing but a feather to a 190cm muscular man.
“Let go!”
“Haha, calm down. I’m going to lift you again.”
‘Fuck!’
This was humiliating.
Utterly humiliating.
The same person who used to bench 500 kilograms was now being lifted like this in front of the bar by a man who looked worse than her.
‘Fuck, fuck!!’
Looking at the up-and-down landscape, all Chayeon could do was mutter to herself.