The Veteran Elf
"Bora, the truth is, I used to be an ordinary grown man."
"Yeah?"
"And I did my time in the army. I'm a veteran of the Republic of Korea."
"Hmm... is that so."
"So I'm not going in there."
Bora didn't hear a word of it—not even with the back of her ear. She was already reaching for my hand, straining to haul me through the door and into the shop.
I dodged her this way and that, but there was no beating a grown woman's physique. Caught in her grip, I had no choice but to be dragged somewhere I had no wish to go.
"Waaah!"
"Hup—! Hana, quit fighting and get over here."
Bora seized my hand and marched straight inside. The shop was packed with school supplies of every kind, from pencils and erasers to backpacks and pencil cases—everything a school life could possibly require.
"Whoa..."
It was different from what I'd pictured before stepping in. Not an unpleasant scene, all things considered.
Even so, I had no desire to enroll in elementary school, so I whined at her.
"Bora, I really don't have to go to school..."
"If you're going to live in society from here on, school is mandatory. Why do you think they make education compulsory through middle school?"
"But..."
"You, of all people, need to go even more. Spend all day in a building doing nothing but TV and computers, and your head might go boom and turn you into an idiot."
"Eek! I don't want that!"
"Then you'll listen to me today, won't you?"
"U... okay."
Between Bora's threats and her persuasion, I had no choice but to fold. Even so, the thought of me—a man who had served his country back in the day—sitting down to study with elementary schoolers refused to take shape in my head.
With a brain as sharp as mine, it would amount to nothing more than playing with little children. My mind had gone a little strange after the body changed, true, but I still possessed the common sense of an adult man, well within normal bounds.
Of course, the longer time went on, the more there were moments when the mind couldn't quite overpower the flesh, and things turned a little odd...
"Excuse me, where would I find school supplies and bags an elementary student could use?"
"Ah, those would be..."
While Bora spoke with the clerk, I slipped quietly away. I'd already been dragged inside; I might as well take my time and look around.
Moving like a spy on reconnaissance, I ran my eyes over the goods on display. There were so many of them that it was hard to tell which was better.
What caught my eye was Rumi. A pencil case printed with her illustration sat right in front of me, and as if something had possessed me, my hand closed around it.
A generous interior, and on top of that a portrait of Rumi rendered in ultra-high definition—nothing could have done a better job of stealing my gaze. I set the pencil case gently into the shopping basket Bora was carrying.
"Hm?"
Sensing that something had gone into the basket, Bora looked down at it.
"Hana..."
She drew out the pencil case I'd put in, examined it once, and spoke.
"You're a man who served in the army. You don't like pencil cases with characters like this on them, do you? A grown man would never buy a pencil case printed with this sort of character."
Bora's words stabbed straight at the facts, and I had nothing to say. I liked this pencil case, though, and she seemed to be thinking something else entirely. She looked ready to buy some other, clunkier design instead.
Whatever else was true, the drab, dingy pencil case in her hand right now didn't appeal to me in the slightest. Just looking at it drained away every last desire I had to go to school.
"Ha... Hana's not a man who went to the army. Hana's a little kid..."
I had no choice but to surrender. If I wanted the pencil case with Rumi's illustration, it was an unavoidable judgment. I was certain that if I let it go, I would cry my eyes out the moment I got home.
She watched me like that for a moment, then smiled and stroked my head.
"I'm kidding, kidding. I'll buy you whatever you want. You're the star of the show, aren't you?"
I couldn't help being moved. As expected, there was no one but Bora. At her words I bounced into motion, happily loading everything I wanted into the basket.
The pinnacle was a bag stamped with an enormous illustration of Rumi. This one truly stole my heart—the best of everything I'd chosen so far.
I tried it on once. As if it had found its rightful owner, the bag clung snug against me. The bag and I were one body. Smiling, I wore it and tore around the inside of the store.
With Rumi's bag on my back, I was invincible.
Pat-pat-pat.
As I darted here and there on my short legs, I got the feeling that everyone in the store was staring at me. Sensing those eyes, I scurried back to Bora's side. I'd gotten excited like a little kid for no good reason, and it was embarrassing.
Returned to the spot beside her, I reined myself in as best I could, determined not to look like an overexcited child.
When it came time to pay, though, something about Bora looked off.
"No... why is this so expensive..."
"Ma'am..."
There was a dinosaur mascot costume outside, and I'd gone off to look at it, so I didn't catch everything Bora said.
Back home, I feasted my eyes on the pencil case and bag printed with Rumi, and on all the other bits and pieces I'd gathered.
Buying school supplies with Rumi's art on them also let you enter a giveaway. First prize was a cape made to match the one Rumi wore.
Using my newly issued ID, I wrote down my resident registration number and my name, and entered the event without a hitch. As expected, a person needed an identification card.
I was killing time on NewTube when I heard someone walking up outside. Ever since I'd changed into this body, I seemed to have been optimized for sensing a presence.
Hmm...
Turning that slow, unhurried tread over in my mind, only one person came to me.
"Hana, hello!"
A youthful woman in a crisp office look flung the door open, trying to startle me. I pretended to be surprised. Adults wilted if you didn't give them the reaction they wanted, so the mature one here decided to indulge her.
"Auntie Seyoung!!!"
I climbed down from the chair and went to greet the guest who had come into my room. Kim Sehee from Starlight Food dropped by often to tease me, but these days Kim Seyoung had been visiting just as much, not about to be outdone.
Something about what I'd said didn't sit right with her. Kim Seyoung's eyebrows twitched as she spoke.
"Hana, you're supposed to call me unni."
From the standpoint of Kim Seyoung, still in her early thirties, she would want to be called big sister. She wasn't married, either.
But I was the problem. Getting the word unni out of my mouth was unbearably embarrassing. Maybe I should call her noona instead. If I did, though, other people were likely to stare at me strangely.
So I reached for the next-best option—a choice preferable to calling her unni.
"Boss~ did you bring something yummy today, too?"
"Yes, yes. Just call me Boss, then."
Saying so, Kim Seyoung stroked my head and pressed into my arms the gifts she'd carried in, both hands full. Curious what was inside, I peered into the paper bag she'd brought.
"Th... this is—!"
The paper bag was packed to the brim with delicious candy. I could survive on nothing but water and sunlight, but a person was still a person, and a person lived for the pleasures of the table.
Candy that delighted the mouth was, to me, something like a drug. Eat real food and eat candy besides—two birds with one stone.
Giggling, I pulled the candies out of the bag and ate them. Sweetness spread through my mouth, and my already pleasant mood felt as if it might fly clean away.
"Hana, do you know where Ms. Bora went?"
"Bora? She'd be in the office."
"Would she?"
With that, Kim Seyoung stepped outside for a moment. She seemed to be going to see Bora.
I rummaged through the paper bag, hunting for the tasty flavors. Some of the candy simply didn't suit a thirty-something's taste.
A few minutes must have passed before Kim Seyoung came back into the room with Bora in tow. I looked at the two of them with a face that said I had no idea what was going on.
It was nearly time to watch Little Magician Rumi...
"Hana."
Bora called my name. I looked at her with a sullen expression.
"This is a present."
"A present...?"
In Bora's hand, a glittering ring caught my eye. What kind of ring shone that brilliantly?
I seized the ring she had given me and turned it this way and that, utterly absorbed. It looked exactly like a jeweled ring.
Not a crude design—more like something a designer of tremendous renown had forged at the end of a life-or-death struggle.
"Hana, come here. Boss will put it on for you."
Kim Seyoung took the ring from me and slipped it onto my right hand. The moment it went onto my finger, I felt something circulating through my body like blood.
The strange sensation running through me left me unable to hold myself steady.