A New World
I followed the nurse down the hall. In no time at all—making my earlier confusion seem utterly pointless—the waiting area came into view at the far end of the corridor.
"Noh Jungseo!"
And charging toward us with terrifying momentum was Yeo-eun Noona.
Her coat was stripped off and clutched in one hand, beads of sweat glistening across her forehead. The second she reached us, she violently smacked the nurse's hand away.
"Who the hell do you think you are, holding his hand?!"
"Ah... Are you his guardian? The student got lost, so—"
"And that gave you permission to grab his hand?!"
"Excuse me... please calm down first."
Yeo-eun was completely beside herself, screaming at the top of her lungs. She was genuinely furious. Seeing her like this made me realize that whatever annoyance she had shown earlier was nothing compared to true rage. The difference was night and day.
"He looked anxious, that's all!" the nurse stammered.
"What kind of bullshit excuse is that?! Does that give you the right to touch a boy? Noh Jungseo! Tell her. Did you ask her to hold your hand?"
I calmly replied that I had not.
The nurse stared at me with an expression of utter betrayal. But to be fair, she really had been the one to offer her hand first.
"Noona, please don't be angry," I said, trying to diffuse the situation.
It proved difficult, given how unnervingly agitated she was.
"What's going on over there?"
"I think that nurse grabbed a boy's hand."
"What? Seriously? With all these security cameras around?"
As the gaze of every bystander in the hallway locked onto her, the nurse flushed crimson, fidgeting in acute distress. The commotion showed no sign of dying down until the hospital security team finally arrived on the scene.
On the way home, the subway car was so deserted that it was hard to believe it was the same train line we had taken earlier. Sitting side by side with Yeo-eun, I looked over at her phone.
"Noona, is there anything specific you want for lunch?"
"Not really."
"Should I make cheese gimbap?"
"We had gimbap for breakfast."
I tried coaxing her with food to soothe her lingering temper, but she didn't seem ready to let it go so easily. Ultimately, the reason she was so upset was me. My phone had been set to silent, so I hadn't answered her calls for quite a while. She must have worried sick, because even after I cleared up the misunderstanding about the nurse and explained everything that had happened, she remained thoroughly sulky.
"Is there anything here you can't eat?" I lifted my phone to show her the online grocery shopping screen.
At least she didn't ignore me. She pondered it for a moment.
"I don't really like fish."
"Understood. Then I'll pick out the rest myself. If there's anything else you crave, just let me know."
"Whatever. Oh, and we're eating lunch out before heading home."
Just when I thought she was still stewing, she offered an unexpected compromise.
"And you."
"Yes?"
"Why the hell are you letting random women touch your hand?"
"Excuse me?"
"Do you have any idea how many crazy bitches there are in this world?"
She launched into an extended lecture—speaking at such length that it was hard to believe she was the same person who had previously answered me only in curt monosyllables.
"Their heads are completely packed with nothing but schemes to devour men!"
"Yes, I understand."
"Haaah... You really don't get it, do you?"
In short, her lecture boiled down to being wary of women. Don't smile at unfamiliar women, don't stand too close to them, and always keep your face covered when going outside. The amusing part was that her stern warnings conveniently excluded herself. Strictly speaking, Yeo-eun was still a stranger to me too. We were bound by family registry, but we had met for the first time only yesterday. Yet she repeatedly drilled into me that I shouldn't trust anyone outside of family.
"Is that why you were so angry? Because I held hands with that nurse noona?"
"What? Angry? Who's angry?! And what's with 'nurse noona'?!"
"She looked older than me."
"She's just a nurse! Or call her 'Nurse-nim' at most! Don't throw the word 'noona' around so carelessly!"
"Understood."
The nurse earlier had mistaken me for being much younger than my actual age. Having a younger brother of her own, she had simply treated me with familiar warmth. Even so, she ended up receiving a formal disciplinary reprimand. Partly due to Yeo-eun's furious outrage, but also because hospital regulations treated unnecessary physical contact with a male patient as grounds for disciplinary action. Thanks to me stating that I was unharmed and comfortable, the incident had been settled before escalating further. Still, it remained difficult for my past-life sensibilities to comprehend that merely holding hands could trigger such severe consequences.
"I'll send you a link... No, wait. Hand me your phone for a second."
"Here you go."
"I'm installing an app. Take a look at the cart."
She tapped away on my screen before handing it back. The shopping cart of an unfamiliar shopping app was packed with all kinds of clothes. The list seemed endless as I scrolled down.
In my past lives, my criteria for choosing clothing had always been straightforward: as long as it suited the season and the occasion, it was enough. If pressed on style, neat and presentable was plenty. So long as it didn't offend anyone, it served its purpose.
"Should I pick one from these?"
"No! You barely have any clothes to begin with, what do you mean 'one'? Just tell me which ones you hate."
"Aren't these far too expensive, though?"
"I'll take care of the bill. Mom specifically told me to buy you clothes."
Until our subway stop arrived, we huddled close, filtering through the clothing selections. It wasn't just outerwear and shirts, either; she had loaded shoes, hats, and even underwear into the cart. The reason she had been glued to her phone back at the hospital was to pick out my wardrobe.
"We have to get off here. Let's finish looking over lunch."
"Okay. But really, I don't need this much."
"What do you mean 'this much'? This is nothing."
Her blunt, prickly tone hadn't changed, but I was beginning to understand. She wasn't actually mad at me. That was simply how she spoke; in her own awkward way, she was looking out for me.
"And what kind of younger brother speaks in formal honorifics to his own sister?"
"Then how should I speak?"
"Just talk casually."
I observed her expression closely. Her face appeared entirely blank at a glance, but subtle details stood out if I looked carefully enough. Right now, for instance, her lips were pressed into a faint pout.
Is she nervous? Is that tension?
It seemed reading Yeo-eun's expressions would require a bit more practice.
"Come on, just speak casually. Give it a try."
"Yeah."
"See? You can do it just fine. Let's go."
The tension in her lips dissolved, and the furrow between her brows smoothed out. She wasn't smiling, but she looked subtly pleased.
"Yeo-eun-ah. You left your coat behind."
"...What?"
"I said you left your coat on the seat."
I had picked up the jacket she had forgotten on the subway bench. Stepping onto the platform behind her, I held the outer layer out to her while she stared down at her phone.
"Hey!"
"Yeah?"
"You're supposed to call me Noona!"
"You told me not to use 'noona' so carelessly. And you told me to speak casually."
"I meant to other women! You still have to call me Noona! I'm your older sister!"
Ah. This time, she was definitely mad. And watching her expressions shift step by step, I felt a faint flicker of amusement.
Three days had passed since our trip to the hospital.
It had been a busy stretch of time. I had given the entire house a deep clean and spent countless hours studying the workings of this new world. It had also been a period of growing accustomed to one another—while simultaneously realizing just how incompatible she and I truly were.
"Ugh, seriously... Why did you have to schedule it in the morning again?"
"I told you I could go alone."
"Haaah... What a pain."
Yeo-eun usually fell asleep at dawn and woke up around noon. That explained why she was currently stumbling down the stairs, barely able to keep her eyes open. After all, it was early morning.
"Noona, your shirt is inside out."
"Huh? Oh."
Today was the day of my follow-up checkup at the hospital, which had been scheduled during our previous visit. Although I had insisted I would be fine on my own, she had grumbled about how annoying it was while obstinately demanding to come along.
"I'm just gonna wash my face real quick."
"Okay. What about breakfast? Are you really not eating?"
"Yeah. You're fasting for the tests anyway... We can just eat together when it's over."
Heading toward the bathroom, Yeo-eun casually yanked her shirt off over her head. Yawning and stretching her arms, her fair back arched, exposing the prominent swell of her breasts spilling out from the sides. She never wore a bra at home. In fact, she frequently lounged around in front of me wearing nothing but panties. Though individual preferences varied, I had learned that a surprising number of women in this world went braless even in public.
"Noona."
"Hm? Ah... right, fine."
At my call, she turned around and scooped up the T-shirt she had tossed carelessly onto the floor. As she bent over, her heavy, voluminous breasts swayed downward like ripe fruit. Grumbling under her breath, she tossed the shirt into the laundry hamper.
"You nag way too much, you know that?"
"You promised you'd put your clothes away."
"Yeah, yeah. I got it."
Yeo-eun was a person entirely divorced from tidiness and order. Because of that, she managed to provoke me with astonishing frequency. Irritation, anger, sheer exasperation—she caused my long-dormant emotions to churn with startling intensity. The Goddess had told me to seek my emotions through other people. I wondered if this was the kind of trial she had meant.
Splaaash.
Leaving the bathroom door wide open, Yeo-eun splashed water over her face. Every time her hands moved, her massive breasts wobbled and bounced erratically. In other words, bras in this world were worn primarily to prevent that kind of physical discomfort—purely for practical utility.
Furthermore, through the internet and conversations with Yeo-eun, I had uncovered another peculiar truth: in this society, a man touching a woman's body rarely caused any issue at all, regardless of which part he touched. Conversely, a woman laying hands on a man was something that required extreme caution, even between immediate family members.
There was even an image meme circulating online titled the Physical Touch Permissibility Chart. Although treated as a joke, Yeo-eun had confirmed that it was pretty much accurate. On the diagram depicting a woman's body, every single inch was covered in bright green circles—and green circles indicated areas that even an unfamiliar member of the opposite sex was permitted to touch without consequence.
"All done!"
I zipped up the padded puffer jacket she had bought for me. The clothes and shoes I wore underneath were all her purchases as well. Beside me, Yeo-eun threw on an identical short puffer jacket, matching mine in everything except color. Apparently, wearing matching styles like this was the latest trend.