14. Jeongsujeongdo — Seolrin
Sometime around nine at night.
At the bus stop in front of the Facility, Sirin was waiting for Seolrin.
The story would normally unfold from Seolrin's point of view, but for now, the area around the Facility was being narrated in the third person.
There was still plenty of time before the last bus, yet every time the numbers on the display board ticked down, Sirin tapped her heel against the pavement with mounting irritation.
Weee-ing. The automatic doors finally slid open, and Seolrin appeared.
"Senior! What took you so long?!"
"...The Facility Director never knows when to stop talking. You should've just gone ahead. All you had to do was punch my address into the GPS."
"A special day like today means we go together!"
Sirin slipped her arm around Seolrin's, and Seolrin stole a glance at Sirin's chest before savoring the feeling with a satisfied smile.
...Let me say this again: Seolrin is a former man.
Squeeeak. The bus pulled up.
Perhaps because of the late hour, there were only three passengers in all. Sirin and Seolrin sat side by side by the window in the very back row, chatting away as they watched the scenery drift past.
"It's about three stops to our place!"
"That's close."
"Depending on my mood that day, I even walk to work, you know?"
"Your legs are pretty... sturdy, huh?"
Sirin laughed and looked away. The moment Sirin's gaze turned out the window, Seolrin's eyes darted straight to her pale thighs.
Mmm! With a satisfied smile, Seolrin burned those thighs into memory.
Once more for emphasis: Seolrin is a former man.
Every one of Seolrin's actions had been narrated subjectively, from her own perspective. Told objectively, a considerable number of them could be described as, well, perverted.
For instance... the moment Sirin caught Seolrin's perverted gaze aimed at Yukel's clone, she threw a fit on the spot. Like that.
As the bus swung around a corner, Seolrin's body tipped sideways with the momentum. Black hair brushed against Sirin's shoulder — and of course, that was entirely by design.
Were it not for Sirin's personality, and were it not for the trauma of the past, Seolrin would have launched her confession offensive at Sirin long ago, and then some.
It wasn't that Seolrin had never met a woman as pretty as Sirin in her life. One might ask, what about Yukel or the other Team Leaders? — but they simply weren't her type.
"Senior?"
"Let me borrow your shoulder for a sec. I'm tired."
"Of course! Get comfortable!"
Seolrin closed her eyes and pressed her other hand firmly against her lower abdomen. Something hard brushed beneath her palm, and she frowned.
"...Ugh."
"Senior, does your stomach hurt?"
"I skipped dinner."
"Then the second we get home, we're ordering delivery! Late-night snacks!"
Sirin mentally ran through the delivery restaurants nearby. And then — she mentally ran through her bank balance too!
Ah! 1,800 won remaining! Not nearly enough to cover Korea's murderous delivery fees!
"Sen... Senior."
"Hm?"
"Would you... buy me dinner? As a housewarming gift...?"
"......"
"I'm, um. Out of money."
Seolrin squeezed her eyes shut, lost for words. On a Team Leader's salary, this much spending was easily affordable... it was just genuinely fascinating to watch someone demand a housewarming gift with such confidence.
"Fine. Pick whatever you want."
"Yay!"
They beamed at each other.
On the surface, didn't that look like a lovely little picture?
The front door swung open, and the smell of brand-new furniture rushed out to meet them.
I left my shoes on and gave the place a once-over. Cute character curtains, one dainty little dining table, a sofa identical to the one in my own home.
'What kind of house doesn't have a speck of dust in it?'
One cautious step forward.
"Your house smells like fresh paint."
"I did a deep clean today! Good timing, right?"
"Ah ha... Did you wash all the towels too?"
"Yep!"
"Why is the tag still on the sofa? Don't tell me you're..."
Gulp. Sirin stared at me, her face tight with suspense.
"—The same type as me! The type who buys something new and peels as little of the tag and plastic off as humanly possible!"
"...Y-yes! That's me! I took the plastic off, but the tag felt kind of wrong to remove!"
With that, Sirin held out a pair of slippers to me. One was pink, one was sky blue.
She insisted the pink ones were hers, and offered me the sky blue. A strangely masculine color.
I had no memory of telling her about my past, so presumably it was just her unconscious at work...
'Wait. Why does she have men's slippers in her house?'
Hmm. A lover...
Right. She could have a lover. She's at that age, after all.
'Somehow, that's a bit of a letdown.'
Something in my gut felt... off, I suppose you'd call it.
"Senior! Slippers, please!"
"Oh, right. But why do you have two pairs of slippers?"
"One's for guests."
"Oh?"
"By the way, you're the very first guest I've ever had over! Consider it an honor!"
Ah-ha.
I see. No lover, then.
Once the grand tour was more or less over, we settled onto the sofa and decided on delivery food.
The menu deliberation was lightning fast. Half-and-half chicken and tteokbokki — exactly what we'd eaten last time.
It was the middle of nowhere, no other food options anywhere nearby anyway. When the time came, maybe I'd request a transfer to a regional branch...
While we waited for delivery, I got a little bored and casually scoped out the washing machine, the bathroom, the bedroom. A bed far too large for a single occupant caught my eye.
"...I didn't notice during the tour, but why does someone living alone need a bed this big?"
"I roll around when I sleep."
"Huh."
"I'll sleep quietly tonight, promise!"
Ding-dong! Barely minutes after ordering, the delivery-complete notification chimed and the food arrived.
There were two chairs, but Sirin made a point of squeezing in right beside me. I briefly considered telling her to sit across the table, but...
'Nice scent. Thighs brushing mine, too.'
I wasn't stupid enough to give up the soft, fresh side of a young woman.
"Your thigh's touching mine."
"That's fine!"
"......"
"Oh wow, Senior, your face is red."
Was it showing on the outside?
My acting skills really are hopeless.
Well, I had the excellent excuse that we were both women, so I could probably smooth this over. Splendid. Just splendid.
I opened the chicken box, picked out one drumstick and set it on Sirin's plate, then another for my own.
Eating both drumsticks would have been an act of orphan-grade villainy that heaven and earth alike would condemn, so this was only proper conduct.
Just before eating her drumstick, Sirin swept her blonde hair back from her face with one hand and tucked it behind her ear. The motion bared the curve of her ear, the nape of her neck, a scatter of fine stray hairs.
'Mmm.'
A fine view indeed.
Suddenly I understood why certain Japanese schools had banned women from wearing ponytails.
"What is it?"
"Nothing."
"Your face is red again! Senior!"
"The tteokbokki's spicier than I thought. Watch out for it."
"Should I get you some milk from the fridge?"
Milk...? From the fridge?
A man has his pride. Who the hell drinks milk?
"Beer."
"...You have work tomorrow."
"Hand over the beer. Pace it right and there's no hangover. Obviously."
Sirin fetched two cans from the fridge and then planted herself right back beside me.
Psshhht.
She cracked one open, dabbed the foam on her upper lip, and grinned at me.
"Cheers! Beard!"
"Pfft—"
"You laughed! I was funny, wasn't I?!"
"A little funny."
Sirin turned on the charm, resting her chin on my shoulder. When her free arm started winding around my waist, I casually caught her wrist.
"...Eh?"
"Let's finish eating first... Don't tell me one can already got you drunk?"
"That's a good excuse, actually."
The strange sense of distance women kept was something I would never, ever get used to. Yukel was the same, and so were all the other female-form anomalies and the self-proclaimed possessors, regressors, and reincarnators...
I gently stroked Sirin's hair. From the crown to the nape, slow and unhurried, front to back... sifting the blonde strands between my fingers, thorough and careful.
Sirin bowed her head and collapsed onto my thigh as though falling into bed. Eyes closed, savoring the touch, a smile that never left her lips.
'Is this distance acceptable, I wonder?'
Truly, I could never adjust. To the way women closed the distance.
"Feels good...?"
"Yes! Please keep going."
"My arm's getting sore."
"Mm..."
Well, there was no reason on earth to give up such a delightful texture, was there?
I kept petting her for a good long while.
She was a little like a golden retriever. Cute, honestly.
.
.
.
Eleven at night.
I showered first, and Sirin went in after me.
When she came out of the bathroom, she winked at me and handed over a brand-new toothbrush, packaging still sealed — while an identical brush in a different color sat on the sink counter.
"...Why are there two?"
"They came as a set!"
"Ah ha."
I stared at the black toothbrush for a while, then brushed my teeth and headed for the bedroom. A set of pajamas lay waiting on the bed.
I turned around and found Sirin already changed into her own pajamas. When on earth did she do that? Is this what they call a woman's ability? I'd been curious about how fast women did their makeup, too — maybe I'd just ask?
So-called "girl talk," as they say...
"Oh, um, those pajamas — I was planning to wear them loose, but the chest part turned out way too big, so..."
"I see."
"I ordered them online... From now on I'm buying clothes in person at an actual store. *Sob sob.*"
Sob sob...?
First time I've ever seen someone read their own text out loud.
Under Sirin's watching eyes, I sheepishly changed clothes and slipped into the pajamas.
Do women normally stand there watching another person get changed? I honestly don't know. Isn't that weird? It's a little weird, right?
With the pajamas on, nothing pinched at the chest and the pant legs were exactly the right length. So precisely fitted that I almost suspected she knew my measurements.
"Perfect fit."
"Wow! Lucky you!"
"......"
"They really suit you."
Sirin took my wrist and pulled me toward the bed. The two of us lay down just like that.
Ba-dump, ba-dump!
Sirin's heart raced.
'Tired.'
I closed my eyes and fell asleep. For some reason, an unbearable drowsiness had come over me all at once.
After Seolrin drifted off, Sirin switched off the bedroom light and tidied everything away. For today, this much was enough.
She watched their touching fingertips and Seolrin's long eyelashes for a while before finally closing her own eyes and slipping into sleep.
Whether a state called "sleep" could meaningfully exist for an anomaly like her was questionable... so it would be more accurate to say she was imitating human sleep.
Hoo... haa...
Time flowed on.
Past midnight.
Beneath Seolrin's navel, a black cube punched straight through her pajamas and popped out. Without blood, without a wound... without a sound...
Creak. Creak. Creak.
The cube, dropped onto the bed, rotated slowly, silver lines glinting along its edges.
Seolrin's body sat up from the mattress on its own.
"...This isn't outside the Facility. It's not my house. Aha. So this is the new junior."
An unfamiliar voice.
Sirin sensed the ominous presence with superhuman perception.
Sirin shot upright and snapped into a combat stance, directing her question at the thing wearing Seolrin's shape.
"Who...?"
"Nice to meet you."
Creak.
Kkududeuk. Kwajik!
Sirin's arms and legs vanished as though erased outright.
Well, I say "vanished," but there was no blood, no visible cross-section — none of the misfortune that would have earned this scene an R-18G tag.
After all, beyond her erogenous zones and her sense of touch, Sirin had never put much care into building her human body in the first place.
Her fight with Yukel had taught her that a finely detailed human body actually degraded combat performance — so she'd pared the detail down even further.
A clay doll that merely imitated the outer appearance, you might say?
That was also why Sirin was still smiling, even with her arms and legs gone.
And Seolrin — or the thing that looked like Seolrin — returned the exact same smile.
"You're... not Senior, are you."
"No. I'm not, Junior."
Boing!
With a glitter of stars, Sirin's arms and legs reappeared.