A Good Idea

"Hnnnghaaaah... finally over..."

I muttered under my breath as I slipped out of the lecture hall, a yawn escaping me before I could stop it. Today was the last day of midterms. I'd planned to buckle down and study starting the weekend before exam week — but of all days to have plans, that Saturday was the one I'd arranged with Sooin.

Saturday was sex at the motel from morning till night. Sunday we wandered around together all morning before parting ways, and by the time I got back to my place the sky had already gone dark. Cleaning, making dinner, showering — and suddenly it was night. A thoroughly fulfilling weekend, and thanks to it, I spent the next several days pulling all-nighters to cram.

Thankfully, the exam itself wasn't all that hard. A few questions tripped me up, sure, but on the whole it leaned easy. At this level, I should manage better than average, right?

Waiting for the bus at the stop by the school's main gate, I texted Chiwon. From the sound of it, his own exams had wrapped up two days ago, and he'd apparently been rotting in his room ever since. We nailed down a plan in no time. I hadn't seen him once since that surprise visit of his, after all — high time we caught up over a drink.

Hanging up, I checked the time. A little past four in the afternoon. Too awkward a window to swing by my place first. Resigning myself, I skipped the bus and killed time at a nearby café instead. I could head out to our meeting spot in a bit.

"Your eyes look wrecked."

"That's what happens when you haven't slept in days. Can't you see it? The burning passion for knowledge in these eyes?"

"Passion for knowledge my ass. A cop would take one look at you and haul you in for drugs."

And that was the first thing out of his mouth the moment we met. For that matter, Chiwon's own eyes, bleary as he sniped at me, didn't look exactly clear either. We traded idle small talk, then ducked into a random bar nearby, claimed a table, and placed our order: two beers, two bottles of soju, seasoned fried chicken and a pile of fries. The usual spread whenever Chiwon and I got together.

"So how's it going with the girlfriend?"

"Great, obviously. It's been less than two months since we started dating."

"I just thought it was odd that you hit me up the second your exam ended, that's all. If I had a girlfriend, I'd have called her first, not you."

"She's busy today. We're meeting tomorrow."

"Huh. Also, people with girlfriends are usually all over social media bragging about it, but your KakaoTalk profile picture and status message haven't changed one bit. That's what I was curious about."

Bullseye. Well, naturally — I didn't actually have a girlfriend!

"Yerim's not big on that stuff. We take plenty of photos, of course. We just don't post them anywhere."

"Ah, right... you said that before, didn't you? That the reason you never told me you were seeing someone was because she wanted to keep it hush-hush."

What a memory. Well, Chiwon had always been like that, even back in the day. He'd coast through class looking half-asleep, yet the moment a teacher called on him, an answer would pop right out. For someone who has to lie the way I do, he's an extremely dangerous type to have around.

"Can't you tell me more about your dates? Fun stuff you did together, that kind of thing."

"Why are you so invested in other people's love lives?"

"Because I need to take notes now, so I can use them when I finally get a girlfriend of my own."

"Fine, fine. Where do I even start..."

The soju arrived right on cue; I cracked open a bottle as I launched in. The time we squabbled over who got the last slice of tiramisu at a café. The time I got pasta sauce on the corner of my mouth and she wiped it away with a napkin. The time we were strolling hand in hand down a tree-lined street and got ambushed by a street preacher's "Do you know the Way?" None of it was a lie — every one of those things had actually happened when Sooin and I met up in Sinchon. I'd simply left out the part where I was the woman.

From there the conversation wandered. We cursed out a lunatic professor and the group-project teammate who'd ghosted us without a word, seriously talked through my plan to apply for summer internship openings, and even agreed that this new ballad everyone was playing was a good listen.

Before I knew it, we'd blown well past the two-hour mark, and the empty bottles had multiplied from two to five. My head had been ringing for a while now. Chiwon was no better — his face had gone red. He'd never been much of a drinker either.

"So when are you going to introduce us?"

"Introduce who?"

"Don't play dumb."

Ah. There it was — the one topic I'd most wanted to avoid. I'd turned it over in my head constantly since that day at my place, but no real solution had ever surfaced. Introducing a woman, that much I could manage. The problem was that she'd be my female friend, not Park Yerim's.

"Of course I haven't forgotten. It's just, about the introduction... um..."

Chiwon watched me stall and mumble for a moment, then gave a bittersweet smile.

"Forget it. I was only saying. Don't feel pressured about it."

In the end, I couldn't manage a single word as Chiwon took a long pull of his beer.

"Ah, that hit the spot. Good seeing you after so long, huh?"

"Would be nice if we lived closer — made meetups easier. Ever thought about moving out to where I live?"

"No way, too inconvenient for school. Why don't you move over here instead?"

"Pfft, same problem on my end, genius."

"A shame, then. Haaah, I'm wiped... maybe it's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the drinking after so long."

"Go home and sleep. You're not planning to pass out on some sidewalk and throw a drunken fit on the way back, are you?"

"Right back at you~"

"Yeah, yeah. Alright, I'm off then?"

"Yep. See you soon!"

Leaving Chiwon waving behind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me, I headed for the bus stop. Nobody there but me. Maybe it was the late hour — the whole neighborhood was silent, weekday or not. I sank onto the bench and tipped my head back, but Chiwon's bittersweet smile wouldn't leave my head.

Was it the alcohol making me sentimental? Any other day I'd have laughed it off. Or maybe — I asked myself for a moment — it was the weight of lying to my closest friend.

It was past midnight by the time I reached my building. Between days of barely sleeping and the drinks in me, I was planning to sleep straight through to late morning. I was kneading my stiff neck as I walked up to my door when—

"Huh? What's that..."

A package sat in front of my door. Something about it looked familiar; I pulled out my phone and shone its light across the box. Just as I thought — the new skinsuit I'd ordered.

"So much for going straight to bed."

I hurried inside and tore the package open. Inside was a single skinsuit — a woman with a bob cut. One? Hmm. So that one had turned out to be impossible after all? As I lifted the suit out, a card tucked beneath it caught my eye.

"Let's see here..."

"Seriously?"

I couldn't help but stare. The remaining item I'd ordered was a skinsuit of a woman with fox ears and a tail.

A body built completely differently from an ordinary human's — I'd half expected "this one might be a stretch" even as I sent the email, but at this point I genuinely couldn't guess where the limits of these skins lay. For all I knew, they could produce animals like bears or lions, or even dragons and orcs, monsters that don't exist in the real world. Too absurd a notion to take seriously — and yet I'd already been through far too much to just laugh it away.

"I'll worry about that later. First, let's give this one a proper look."

I turned my attention back to the suit. The light brown hair and small chest were the first things to register — when I'd written the email, I'd deliberately listed features the exact opposite of 'Park Yerim.' Partly for the sake of contrast, but more than anything... well, I'd wanted to enjoy a body like this at least once. I lifted the wrist section to my nose and breathed in. Roses. Exactly as ordered.

I stripped off my clothes and began feeding myself into the suit. Wearing one was second nature by now; nothing gave me trouble. There was only a faint sense of wrongness as I pulled up the top half — no weight settling against my chest. Like something that ought to be there had simply gone missing. A hollow feeling. Nothing to be done about that. Suit fully on, I stepped in front of the full-length mirror.

If 'Park Yerim' was a cold-eyed cat, this suit was a fluffy little puppy. A tiny frame that couldn't have been much over 150 centimeters, round brown eyes, a bob that stopped just above her shoulders — 'cute' suited her far better than 'pretty.' A look a step or two removed from my usual taste, though.

"Come to think of it, isn't this exactly Chiwon's type? I'm pretty sure he said..."

He definitely had. Said his taste ran less to bombshells and more to small, cute girls who made you want to protect them. I remembered how we'd snapped at each other over it back then, each insisting the other had zero eye for women.

Wait. Hold on. Then that means...

The promise to introduce him to a woman. Chiwon's bittersweet smile. The weight of a promise left unkept. And a skinsuit that matched his taste ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to a T. All of these facts began converging on a single idea. If I put on this suit and met Chiwon myself... wouldn't that solve everything?