The Secret of the Body
The women around me know that I am different from ordinary men.
None of them know the exact truth, of course. My mother realizes there is something emotionally distant about me, though she knows nothing of my libido. Yeo-eun and the Cafe Boss know firsthand that my stamina is extraordinary. But the one fact they all share in common is that I do not fear women.
In this world, men are conditioned to fear women by nature. It is not as though grown men shriek and cower in terror whenever a woman passes them on the street, but rather an evolutionary aversion deeply ingrained in their biology, exactly as Leehyun-noona once explained to me. An instinctual revulsion. Men here recoil at the sight of overly voluptuous breasts, feeling disgusted rather than aroused. They feel innate nausea at the sight of female anatomy, and they shrink under a woman's gaze, overcome with shame and dread. Through one physiological filter or another, every man feels an instinctive barrier toward the opposite sex.
And the social fallout of that aversion is our skewed gender ratio and cratering birth rate...
Women possess an overwhelming biological drive to reproduce, whereas men are far more concerned with self-preservation. After all, from an ordinary man's perspective in this world, sexual intercourse is nothing short of painful torment. Yet according to Leehyun-noona's private laboratory findings, I am an absolute, undeniable anomaly.
"Jeongseo, you remember consenting to donate a sperm sample for research a while back, right?"
"Yes."
"And I told you the results back then? That you were completely healthy and showed no abnormalities?"
"Yes, I remember."
"Well... I ran a few extra tests on my own after that. Something just felt off."
The official screening conducted by her research team had found no structural defects in my semen. Certain metrics—total volume, sperm concentration, motility, forward progressive velocity, and viability—had tested abnormally high, but that merely proved my reproductive function was in peak condition. An exceptionally rare profile, perhaps, but not entirely unheard of.
"To tell you the truth, your sample volume was so massive that I scooped a portion of it out beforehand," she confessed.
"Wait, what? Are you even allowed to do that?"
"Of course not! That's why it's a secret between us."
I had already dumped out a substantial portion of the cup myself before handing it over to her back then. To think she had skimmed off even more behind my back.
"Looking back, it was the best thing I ever did," she murmured.
"Why?"
"Because if I'd submitted the entire sample as it was, the whole research institute would've zeroed in on you."
She explained that she had hidden a portion of my sample almost on pure instinct. Even after being cut down twice, the remaining volume had still hovered at the extreme upper limit of normal distribution. In a way, she had shielded me from a mountain of unwanted scrutiny.
"What I conducted on my own was an in-depth microscopic and chemical analysis," she continued.
In-depth analyses were typically reserved for cases involving abnormal morphology. Medical jargon began tumbling from her lips—chromosomal integrity, DNA fragmentation indices, and enzymatic assays that flew straight over my head.
"Noona, I don't understand any of that. Could you explain it more simply?"
"Ah, right. Sorry." Leehyun-noona blushed, catching herself. The moment she started discussing her field of expertise, her clinical excitement had gotten the better of her. "Right, so... the ultimate goal of our team's research is finding ways to raise the national birth rate."
"Right."
"We investigate from dozens of angles, looking for physiological anomalies—identifying specific factors that raise or lower conception rates to build a comprehensive clinical database."
My sample had been formally excluded from that broader trial. On paper, it had only been screened to confirm my baseline health and fitness. Yet she had secretly taken what she siphoned and subjected it to her own private battery of tests.
"Jeongseo... I'm infertile."
"What?"
The sudden confession caught me completely off guard.
"That's why I received a permanent exemption from mandatory military service."
"Ah... I see."
In this world, a diagnosis of female infertility was legally categorized as a severe disability—significant enough to warrant an immediate military exemption. The prevailing societal gaze toward infertile women was almost universally one of profound pity. To the women of this society, producing offspring and nurturing the next generation was nothing less than their core purpose. The reproductive drive and maternal instinct were the very pillars of their identity.
"There were two primary causes for my diagnosis," she said softly.
"Yes."
"First, my vaginal pH is abnormally, hostilely acidic. And second, the zona pellucida surrounding my ova is unnaturally dense and rigid."
"Mm... Okay, I follow so far."
She mentioned there were other secondary complications as well—abnormal white blood cell counts, hostile cervical mucus, and defective ciliary transport. After weighing all those factors together, specialists had declared her permanently sterile.
"As you probably know, seminal fluid is naturally alkaline. Its normal pH range is..." She paused, noting my blank stare. "Right, never mind the numbers."
Leehyun-noona did her best to break down the science into plain terms.
"Basically, I realized that if an ejaculation had an overwhelmingly high fluid volume, it might neutralize the acidity enough to give me a chance at conceiving."
"Ah... so that's why you ran the private tests."
"Yes. I synthesized an artificial environment replicating my own reproductive tract, and... the results were astonishing." Her eyes sparkled with awe. "Jeongseo, calling yours Super Sperm wouldn't even be an exaggeration. They're so vigorous that they simply refuse to die."
"Is that so?"
"Yes! Their swimming velocity is incredible, their head morphology is completely flawless and sleek... Haah, it was truly magnificent. I've never seen such relentless flagellar motility in my entire career."
She praised my reproductive cells with an adoration bordering on religious worship. Hearing her gush over the physical perfection of my semen felt bizarre, to say the least, but it was clearly meant as the highest compliment.
"That's why I firmly believe... if you were to inseminate me directly, I could actually get pregnant."
"So it's not a complete certainty yet?"
"Well, medically speaking, nothing is an absolute guarantee. But the probability is remarkably high. See, right around here inside my pelvis is where the nursery for a baby sits—"
"Noona... even I know what a uterus is."
"Ah. Right, of course."
She eagerly recounted the simulations she had staged in her lab. The definitive conclusion was that, through me, the likelihood of curing her lifelong infertility was overwhelmingly high.
"But that's not even the main part. What comes next is what truly matters."
The flush of academic excitement faded from her face. She cast a cautious glance down the empty, shadow-draped alleyway, making sure no one was within earshot, before dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper.
What followed was an intricate breakdown of male pelvic anatomy, vascular pathways, smooth muscle tissue, and neurochemical cascades. Keeping up with her clinical explanations proved quite a challenge.
"So to sum it up," I said, piecing her points together, "if you analyze the unique compounds in my semen, you could synthesize something like a daily supplement for men?"
"Yes, exactly! Well, calling it just a supplement might be selling it a bit short, but..."
"That's the general idea, right?"
"Yes. Scientifically, it promotes the synthesis of Oyhaoj-Aginubik, a crucial neurohormone that ordinary men in our world barely secrete at all."
An extraordinary compound that standard medical screenings had failed to detect. She had uncovered an anomaly hidden within me that not even I had suspected—a biological secret woven into this flesh by the Goddess herself.
"I discovered a component in your semen that violently triggers the production of that hormone," Leehyun-noona whispered.
"And what would that actually do for men?"
"It dramatically enhances erectile rigidity and sustained hardness. It stabilizes the sensory feedback loop so that male climax feels intensely pleasurable rather than painful, naturally extending the time required to reach ejaculation. And on top of that..."
She reeled off a list of benefits that sounded more like an illicit wonder drug than a simple medical treatment—an ultimate aphrodisiac blended seamlessly with a cure for erectile dysfunction.
"So if this treatment is successfully developed... men would be able to participate in sex far more enthusiastically?"
"Precisely. And if couples have sex more frequently and comfortably, the national birth rate would inevitably climb."
"And you haven't shared this discovery with anyone else?"
"No one. You're the very first person I've told. All the raw sequencing and trial data exist solely on my personal flash drive."
"Why? Isn't this an earth-shattering breakthrough?"
"It is, but... I realized it could put you in grave danger." She looked at me with deep concern. Establishing long-term safety and verifying clinical efficacy would require endless phases of human trials, and there was no telling how much of my fluid would be demanded in the process. "If I took this public through official channels, you might be harmed, Jeongseo."
"Ah."
"Society would demand that you sacrifice yourself for the greater good. And I could never bear to watch that happen."
Leehyun-noona had arrived at the exact same conclusion that had troubled my thoughts before.
"I don't care about the greater good," she said firmly. "I don't care about making millions of strangers happy."
"What about yourself, Noona? A discovery like this would bring you astronomical wealth and worldwide renown."
"I don't need any of that. That's why... I'm giving this to you."
Reaching into her coat, she produced a compact USB drive and pressed it into my palm. It was the very drive she had just mentioned.
"You are infinitely more important to me than any accolade, Jeongseo. But I believed you had an absolute right to know what was inside your own body..."
"Thank you. Truly, thank you for telling me."
"Of course. But please, promise me you'll keep it hidden."
She had laid bare the monumental transformation my biological secret could unleash upon this world. For now, it was merely theoretical. But if brought to fruition, Leehyun-noona would have gone down in history as a medical pioneer of legendary proportions. Yet she had chosen to discard that glorious future without a second thought, solely to protect me.
Her sacrifice thoroughly dissolved the lingering hesitation in my heart. Any fear that exposing my secrets to a medical professional might backfire vanished completely.
"By the way... why did you make that face earlier? And why wait until now to bring all of this up?" I asked, wishing she had trusted me with this sooner.
"Make a face? What face?"
"Earlier, when I told you to become mine. You went completely stone-faced."
"I did not! Stone-faced? What are you talking about... Why on earth would I glare at you?"
"Then what was that expression?"
She stared at me for a quiet second, searching her memory, before her lips twitched into an amused pout.
"Hehe. What, did I hurt your feelings? Because I went quiet and looked serious?"
"No."
"Oh, come on, you totally pouted! Don't be sulky, okay?"
Somehow, the dynamic had flipped into me whining like an insecure child while she gently teased me. Taking full advantage of the opening, she softened her voice to coax me.
"I was terrified that if I answered too quickly, it would sound like I was taking your words lightly." The playful grin melted from her features, replaced by earnest sincerity. "I told you before... for me, it has to be you, Jeongseo."
"....."
"I gave you that blank look because I was taking a moment to weigh everything with complete gravity before I spoke." Her expression was solemn once more, but it no longer carried the slightest chill. "I want to be yours. I was just agonizing over whether I truly had the right to accept."
"What right? If anything, wasn't what I said completely unfair and overbearing?"
"How could it be unfair? Jeongseo, I've thought about this endlessly. I fall short in so many ways, but..." Leehyun-noona spoke with the same unwavering conviction she had held from the very beginning—the certainty that her life belonged at my side. "If I can just stay by your side, I will gladly abandon everything else. Everything I have already belongs to you anyway."
She was still offering herself up like the easiest mark in the world. Yet that total surrender was a confession far more profound than any standard romantic declaration. She wasn't simply saying she had a crush on me; to her, I was the only key capable of fulfilling her deepest desires, granting her the dream of motherhood, and rescuing her from despair. To Leehyun-noona, I was nothing short of a savior.
"If you keep acting like such an easy target, someone is going to take terrible advantage of you one day."
"I know. I'm saying this fully prepared for whatever consequences come."
"Pfft... Noona, are you really a dummy?"
I let go of my final defenses and decided to trust her completely. How could I not, when she had tossed away her life's crowning ambition just to keep me safe? She had laid her devotion bare long before tonight.
"Goodness, that's the first time in my entire life anyone has ever called me a dummy."
"Well, that's what you look like to me right now."
We met each other's eyes and shared a soft, quiet laugh.
"So make sure you stay glued to my side," I told her firmly. "Don't wander off and let someone else take advantage of you."
"Yes! I'll stay stuck to you forever."
"And remember, once you make this choice, there's no backing out."
"I know. I want this... Thank you."
"If another man's fingertip so much as grazes yours, you're dead. Understood?"
Her radiant smile trembled, her eyes glistening as tears of relief welled up.
"Thank you... I'm so happy, Jeongseo. I'll work so hard for you." She repeated her gratitude over and over—thanking me for giving her a chance, thanking me for accepting her, whispering how blissfully happy she was in this very moment. After catching her breath, she exhaled a long, tremulous sigh. "Haah... Now I can finally get this off my chest without holding back."
"Wait, what? There's more?"
"Mmh. Actually..."
Leehyun-noona's confession, it turned out, was far from finished.