How Does Brother Namgung Know About Forced Cross-Dressing…?
Two days had passed since I locked myself in my room, determined to forget the reality of being robbed on my way back from the brothel in the dead of night—and, while I was at it, to sprawl about reading light novels all day long.
Today was the day Brother Namgung was due to return, so I rose early, tidied myself up, and even completed my breathing exercises. Right on cue, he arrived.
“Ah, Brother Namgung. I trust you’ve been well. And… did things work out with young master Jieun…?”
I greeted him politely at the entrance of the inn. Brother Namgung returned a light nod.
“Yes… it went very well indeed. That aside, let’s talk first. This may take a while….”
“Pardon…?”
Looking at his face, I saw that although the corners of his mouth were lifted, his eyes were not smiling. His expression was quite serious.
He led me into my room and began by speaking of young master Jieun.
“To restate the conclusion: young master Jieun’s matter is progressing most favorably. I don’t particularly care for it myself, but I was reminded once again of the power of intensive cram-style education.”
“Ah, is that so? I’m glad to hear it…!”
Brother Namgung’s explanation was rather vague, so I couldn’t grasp the exact details, but I decided to take the good news as good news.
“…So the mind truly has no choice but to follow the body. After only four days of training and three days teaching the Femboy Divine Art, I never expected him to learn this quickly….”
He muttered softly, but his voice was too quiet for me to catch properly.
“…? What was that, Brother?”
Hearing my question, Brother Namgung simply shook his head.
“No, it’s nothing. Now then—it’s your turn. What have you been doing these past seven days?”
“Ahaha, well, you see….”
I reported the events of the past few days, carefully filtering and packaging them—leaving out as much of the lewd parts as possible—exactly as I had prepared in my mind.
“Hmm, so… you got shaken down by some thug who couldn’t even reach Second-class, is that it?”
Brother Namgung looked thoroughly displeased with my status report.
“No, it was a robbery, I tell you…? And the killing intent pouring from his eyes….”
I described a robber radiating truly terrifying killing intent. Brother Namgung shook his head in exasperation.
“Good grief… You had to go and act tough, buy him a meal, and end up getting threatened. Think about it. There’s no reason to trust a word he said, and even if he were telling the truth, would a man with a wife and child really commit murder in the middle of Cheonju’s marketplace? And in the first place, you shouldn’t have been out on the streets that late at night.”
Since I hadn’t told him I’d secretly unlocked the chastity belt to visit the brothel, his words made me flinch. I simply answered that I understood.
“So in the end, you shut yourself in your room for two days after that. Tsk tsk…. Be more careful next time.”
“Yeees….”
I was just thinking how lucky I was that the scolding had ended there when Brother Namgung’s follow-up landed.
“Right. Now let’s get to the main point.”
With that, he abruptly thrust his arm under my bed.
“Ah—wait, that’s….”
Under the bed was where I had hidden the long robe, hemp clothes, and shoes I’d secretly bought from the clothing shop. Before I could react, Brother Namgung found them.
He held up the long robe, showing it to me with a deep frown.
“Huu… just as I thought. Have you forgotten our agreement? After we arrived at this inn, we discarded all the clothes that didn’t suit you, and you promised to wear only the ones I prepared. …If you have something to say, say it.”
“…….”
Sensing that any excuse would only make things worse, I stayed silent. Brother Namgung let out a frustrated sigh and crossed his arms.
“Just what are you dissatisfied with? I prepared clothes that suit you, and out of respect for your wishes I even left out the fluttery ones like skirts.”
“…….”
Seeing me continue to say nothing, he scowled.
“Before I force the issue, speak your mind freely. This is your last chance.”
He kept pressing, and I couldn’t simply stay mute forever. Since I’d already been caught, I decided to voice the complaints I’d been holding in.
“B-but Brother Namgung… the clothes you gave me are all….”
“All…?”
All sorts of things swirled through my head.
“Th-they’re short, and they cling tightly to the body…. Um, and… how should I put it… rather provocative….”
I slowly listed my grievances as I organized them in my mind, but Brother Namgung suddenly cut me off.
“Aren’t all the things you’re listing right now advantages? Are you perhaps joking with me?”
“What do you mean, advantages…?!”
He paid no mind to my retort and simply nodded as if he understood.
“Now I see. You wanted me to emphasize those advantages even more. I’ll keep that in mind. …And since you broke our agreement and bought clothes on your own, as punishment I will no longer accept any refusal of skirt-like clothing from now on.”
“…….W-what did you just say—!? What on earth are you talking about!?”
Before I could even protest how he’d brushed off my complaints, his bombshell declaration left me stunned and objecting. But Brother Namgung’s attitude was firm.
“I only wanted to dress you in good things out of pure goodwill, yet you ruthlessly betrayed that goodwill and broke our promise, did you not?”
“…….”
The claim that I had broken the agreement was simply the truth. There was no way I could counter Brother Namgung’s verbal assault when he so shamelessly wielded such an obvious fact.
“Ugh….”
Even so, does that mean I don’t even have the freedom to wear the clothes I want…?
Perhaps he read the full discontent on my face, for Brother Namgung cleared his throat.
“Ahem…. It’s not that you must wear whatever I give you. You broke the agreement first, so if I simply let it slide, the rules would lose all meaning, wouldn’t they? It can’t be helped. I won’t force anything excessive on you, so don’t worry too much.”
Hearing that, I expressed my inner thought—You may have beaten me with words, but I don’t agree with them—through a conventional gesture.
“Nnngh…….”
I crossed my arms, closed my eyes, and let out a low hum.
“And…. Here. Take this.”
Seeing me like that, Brother Namgung handed me a pouch that jingled with a familiar metallic sound.
“This is…?”
I had a rough idea of the contents, but why was he giving it to me now? That was the meaning behind my question. Brother Namgung smiled beautifully with that lovely face of his.
Is it because I haven’t seen him in a while? He looks even more beautiful…. No, what am I thinking about my sworn brother…?
“Since I have to take the clothes you bought, this is pocket money that also serves as a warning not to pull any more stunts like this. Take it, cheer up, and don’t do anything like this again.”
His words made it blatantly obvious he was trying to soothe me by giving medicine after the poison.
Of course, how many people would quietly go along after seeing someone try to buy their feelings with money?
“Are you trying to buy me off with money?! That’s an insult—”
“Ten silver taels. I believe that should be plenty.”
“Thank you! From now on I’ll listen well to Brother Namgung and be good…!”
…It was far too much money to protest over.
Once I opened the pouch and confirmed the ten silver taels, a certain saying floated into my mind: If money can’t buy something, then you simply don’t have enough money.
The long robe, hemp clothes, and shoes I’d bought at the clothing shop had been cheap items, so the ten silver taels Brother Namgung gave me amounted to nearly thirty times the cost of the clothes.
In other words, after subtracting the clothing cost, he had pressed this large sum into my hands purely to soothe my feelings….
“Ahem…. If I may add, if you shorten the hem of that long robe you bought a little more and skip the underpants, isn’t that basically a skirt? It’s not all that different, so don’t take it too much to heart.”
Transparent words.
But I still had some sense of shame. I had broken the agreement first, so in a way I had stabbed him in the back—yet he had still given me this much pocket money and was even trying to console me with kind words. I couldn’t help feeling grateful.
More than anything, the fortune of ten silver taels jingling in the pouch made me think, every time I touched it, With this much money, maybe the punishment is worth it…?
At this point I could truly feel, deep in my bones, just how formidable the power of money was.
Brother Namgung glanced at my face, thoroughly captivated by the charm of the silver pouch, and cleared his throat to change the atmosphere.
“Ahem…. Let’s move on to the next topic. Including the seven days I was away, you’ve been training in the Femboy Divine Art for quite some time now. It’s time to advance to the next stage of training.”
The subject Brother Namgung raised this time was about training in the Femboy Divine Art.
“The next stage…?”
Somehow managing to tear myself away from the jingling silver pouch, I asked. Brother Namgung nodded.
“That’s right. The next stage is… this.”
What he held out was something I had seen a few times before.
The insertion part was shaped like a water droplet, and the other end was circular so that once inserted it wouldn’t come out on its own….
“A plug…?”