How Does Brother Namgung Know Basic Makeup…?
After swearing to myself that I would never give in to lust and spread my ass for anyone else…
…the scene that greeted me when I stepped out into the waiting room was Im Seowol sitting cross-legged on a large sofa, deep in meditation.
Im Seowol didn't seem like he had anything to do with the martial world at all, yet here he is circulating his energy…?
"Ah…"
"Shh—"
The moment I let out a startled sound, Maeng Harang, who was sitting right beside him, looked over and pressed an index finger to his own lips.
Not wanting to disturb them, I quietly took a seat on the sofa and waited. About half a ke later—
"Huu…"
Im Seowol let out a long breath, cheeks flushed, signaling that his energy circulation was finished.
"………"
Anyway, what am I even supposed to say to this guy…?
Looking him over carefully, Im Seowol's looks were actually pretty decent—better than I'd expected. But setting appearances aside, his defensive attitude made it hard to just strike up a casual conversation.
"Seowol hyung, looks like you don't mind doing the energy circulation for the Femboy Divine Art anymore?"
It was Maeng Harang who broke the brief silence hanging between the three of us.
"No, it just… seems to help when I'm studying…"
"Right—?
Your body stops feeling all stiff, all your body hair falls out so your skin gets silky smooth. No matter how you look at it, it's nothing but upsides, right?"
"W-well…?
I'm not so sure that last part counts as an upside…"
Having already lived together for about a month, Maeng Harang and Im Seowol seemed closer than I'd imagined. They bantered back and forth—mostly Maeng Harang doing the giving—chatting away.
Ugh…
Watching the two of them talk while leaving me out sparked a strange sense of déjà vu, and a little anxiety started creeping into my chest.
What floated up in my mind was that surprisingly common dynamic when three people hang out together.
If A, B, and C are living together, and A is close with B while B is close with C… then A and C end up awkward with each other…!
"Gaeul hyung thinks so too, right?"
"Hyaat…!"
Maeng Harang's fingers brushed along my side in a ticklish caress, and I let out a high-pitched squeak. When I flinched and edged away from him, Maeng Harang just grinned like he'd expected exactly that.
"I've got stuff to do, so I'm off. See you tomorrow, Gaeul hyung—
Oh, and Seowol hyung, come by my room later… got it?"
As if he'd been aiming for this exact situation all along, Maeng Harang winked one eye and left the waiting room, leaving only Im Seowol and me behind.
Of the two of us left sitting there, the one who couldn't stand the awkwardness and spoke first was… me.
"…S-Seowol hyung, um, how old are you, if you don't mind me asking…?"
Having just finished the minor circulation of the Amta Heart Method, Im Seowol's cheeks were flushed a soft peach color, a light sheen of sweat on his skin.
Ah… this is definitely that post-circulation phase where everything feels super lewd…
Well, I end up like that every day too, so…
Thankfully, since he hadn't been training the method for long, Im Seowol came back to his senses before too long, focus returning to his dazed eyes.
"You don't have to call me hyung.
We're only a year or two apart anyway."
"Mm, okay… then, just out of curiosity—did Brother Namgung pay your tuition too, Seowol…?"
Im Seowol's brow furrowed slightly at my question.
"No. I'm not a special-entry student. I got in by taking the exam."
"Special-entry student?"
"Yeah. Students at the National Academy are split into special-entry students and regular students.
Even among the regular ones it depends on whether they passed the civil service exams or not, but…"
"Uh… what's the National Academy?"
Faced with my endless questions, Im Seowol rubbed his forehead like he was at a loss.
"I have to start explaining from there…? Fine.
So…"
According to Im Seowol, the formal name of the Imperial Academy was the National Academy. After the usual four-year course, graduates either took official posts according to their ability or sat for the civil service examinations to enter government service.
Students who entered by examination were just called students, while those who bought their way in with money were called special-entry students…
"So that means… me and Maeng Harang are special-entry students…?"
"Yeah. Students who pay grain, horses, silver, and so on to enroll are called special-entry students.
People don't say it out loud, but everyone knows who is who."
"They don't say it out loud…?
Because everyone hates the rich kids who bought their way in, right?"
Im Seowol laughed and shook his head at that.
"Mm, no…
People who never even made it into the Academy might think that, but the ones already enrolled don't. Thanks to the money the special-entry students donate, tuition stays relatively cheap.
Especially here in Cheonju—there are so many special-entry students that it's even cheaper."
According to Im Seowol, the emperor's reforms aimed to foster a culture that valued learning enough to pay for it, enrich the realm's goods, and thereby delay the way the Mandate of Heaven usually ends in the Central Plains.
"The way the Mandate of Heaven ends…?"
"First the local administration weakens—like a body rotting from the extremities inward.
Even if the brightest minds in the capital craft perfectly reasonable policies, out in the provinces they become completely impractical."
"Mm…"
This is hard…
"Next come massive peasant uprisings that can't endure the famine.
If the Mandate simply transfers and a new empire rises, that's still lucky. In the worst case, foreign peoples can snatch the Mandate away—like during the Sixteen Kingdoms period."
I was only just learning this, but Im Seowol turned out to be the type who became incredibly talkative the moment the topic touched something he liked or cared about.
"So instead of concentrating higher education only in the capital, they build academies everywhere and instill a culture among the new wealthy class that 'not studying is shameful.' That expands the educated class, then either brings them into central office or, if their talent falls short, assigns them lower local posts so they can actually work.
By massively increasing the number of practical administrators, you prevent the collapse of administrative power.
Ah, of course if you take office you can't serve in the region you grew up in. Too much risk of colluding with the local gentry."
"Yeah…"
Im Seowol's words weren't exactly simple, but failing to understand them—being ignorant—was nothing to be proud of. Realizing that left me feeling a little ashamed.
At any rate, the ice had been broken, so it was a relief that the awkward silence hadn't dragged on forever.
"……"
Looking closely at Im Seowol, though, he didn't seem all that well.
Is he sick…?
How to put it… every so often while he talked, he looked like he was in real pain. At first I wondered if he'd caught a cold, but that didn't seem right…
He probably had personal circumstances he couldn't tell anyone about either.
"H-hold on a second!
Here… eat this."
I dashed back to my room, grabbed the pudding I'd bought on the way home to eat tonight, and brought it back to Im Seowol along with a spoon.
"Huh…?"
"It's nothing special. Just something tasty—try it…
Hehe, I'm gonna go sleep…!"
Is it weird for two guys who just met to share snacks…?
Back in my private room I dove onto the bed, pulled the blanket over my head, and after thinking it over I felt a little regret. But I'd felt some kind of kinship with him, so I'd wanted to be nice.
Plus the way he kept looking like he was struggling without saying anything kept catching my eye, and I just couldn't help wanting to feed him something delicious.
"Ugh—!"
In the end, overcome by a strange, prim-girl kind of embarrassment, I kicked the blanket off with my feet.
S-still… I hope this helps us get a little closer…
The snack gift did thaw Im Seowol's frozen heart a little and give him some comfort, but a far greater trial still awaited him.
"Alright, I'll check every morning so you have to memorize this.
First you cleanse the skin—"
It was the basic makeup routine Young Master Namgung had ordered him to start learning today.
"…Even if you teach me, I can just not do it in the morning, right?"
"Hmm—
If hyung takes that attitude, the debt's only going to keep growing—
You okay with never getting the chastity belt unlocked?"
He'd only asked out of spite, but Im Seowol couldn't even break even and shut his mouth.
"I'll start over.
First you wipe the skin with toner."
Swish, swish—
"Next you apply essence to nourish the skin—"
At this point Im Seowol couldn't bear to watch Maeng Harang chattering away while smearing cosmetics all over his face, so he squeezed his eyes shut.
"Then you spread emulsion over the whole face for moisture and to even out the skin tone!
Finally… since hyung's skin is dry, you finish with moisturizing oil to make it all glossy…
Done!"
Anxious about what kind of face he must be making, Im Seowol slowly opened his eyes and looked in the mirror—but even to his own eyes, it didn't look all that bad.
I was worried they'd force full-on female makeup on me, but this much… I can handle…?
Of course it was only basic makeup. Nothing earth-shattering.
…At least not in Im Seowol's own eyes.
But this had been ordered precisely to get him used to makeup and cross-dressing, and without realizing it Im Seowol began to feel a little more positive about makeup as he looked at his own face—which now seemed somewhat handsomer… or, to anyone else, a good deal prettier and more androgynous.
Watching that reaction, Maeng Harang grinned.
"Looks like hyung likes it too—?
Then starting tomorrow, make sure you come with your makeup done in the morning!
If you wear women's underwear too, that's two and a half taels of silver a day.
Plus you're already doing the Femboy Divine Art every day, so the total is three and a half taels!
You'll have that chastity belt off in no time—?"
"……"
At those words Im Seowol lowered his head a little. Seeing that, Maeng Harang easily read what was going through his mind.
"Hyung still hates the women's underwear, huh?
But if you don't meet the quota even after a week, there's a pretty scary punishment waiting—"
"Ugh…"
"Well, do whatever you want, Seowol hyung. I don't care either way.
See you tomorrow!"
Having said everything he needed to, Maeng Harang shooed Im Seowol out of his room, and so Im Seowol's long day finally came to an end.