Teaching the Subject (7)
"So you bought this to help me adjust? What the hell is it?"
"Isn't it cute?"
"Cute...? Sexy is more like it. This thing is."
I pinched up the red lace bra with two fingers, holding it at arm's length like it might be something you stored watermelon in. Right. Sure. Uh-huh. This is what we're doing now, apparently. What the fuck is sure about this?
Honestly, I didn't need to wear a bra. Thanks to my Blessing, I wasn't going to tear ligaments from breast movement, and I didn't even have to deal with the pain that came from them bouncing around.
The only reason to wear one was to keep my nipples from showing through my clothes, and to keep the thing from swinging around too much and drawing attention.
The sports-style underwear I had bought at first had been the most practical.
"Things like this are supposed to come in different types. The kind of underwear you wear that day changes how you feel."
"I don't want to understand even that much."
"There's plenty of room in the dressing room anyway. Try them on whenever you feel like it."
"I don't need them. Why don't you take them?"
"Are you picking a fight with me?"
What the hell is her problem? Seriously.
And this one was an I? What the hell?
"Wasn't I an H? That's what it looked like to me."
"There are slight differences depending on where it's made. Even the same size varies a little from product to product. This one runs a bit small. And since I matched it to the data I scanned this time, if you ever buy again, you should probably stay in the H-I range."
My head hurt.
Underwear was a consumable anyway, so I would probably have to buy more someday... but still.
I shoved it back into the shopping bag. There was no way I was ever wearing that.
"And next are the outfits... I thought I'd make this easier from the start, so I put together about three full sets."
"You... are you treating me like a doll?"
"If you were a doll, then I suppose you would be one. Isn't this body one that was made directly by an otherworldly being?"
"Don't treat me like a toy."
That said, I turned to look over the three sets Ha Yujeong had hung on the rack.
Apparently, looking at women's clothes meant seeing them through Choi Eunho's eyes, and that naturally made me think about which ones looked the hottest.
The first time, with the hoodie, Ha Yujeong had chosen something masculine like that to be considerate of the day I'd just changed bodies... but this time, she'd clearly gone all in.
From the moment I called that red lace thing cute, she must have known.
A brown crop top that bared my shoulders, paired with jeans that climbed all the way up to my waist and kept the exposed skin to a minimum in the middle. It looked decent. I could change the level of exposure with a thin, short jacket, too. The problem was that, while it looked good, it wasn't something I actually wanted to wear. Pass.
A white sweater with a gray cotton skirt that would cinch the waist. A necklace would give it a nice accent... it was reasonable enough, but it was still a skirt. To be honest, I had an instinctive aversion to it.
There was also a dress with a businesslike concept. Fairly modest, actually. If I wore short safety shorts underneath, it wouldn't look tacky and I could still wear something under it. That was at least a compromise I could live with.
But with these tits meant for luring men, the number of options was limited if I wanted to look good on the outside, too. At the very least, I needed something that cinched my waist so I didn't look fat.
"I also have shoes matched to each outfit. Option one is sneakers for a sportier feel, option two is low heels, and option three is high heels. I thought long boots might work, too, so I brought those along."
For accessories, there was a necklace to draw attention to the upper body.
Earrings were out since I couldn't pierce my ears. Rings and watches seemed optional, so she hadn't brought any.
There was also a handbag matched to each outfit. A wallet, a phone, cosmetics for touch-ups, a hand mirror for checking my makeup, and so on.
Luckily, Ha Yujeong didn't make me try on the entire set one by one. She just held things up against my body and checked the vibe before moving on.
Since she had brought them based on scanned body data, they would probably fit reasonably well.
"Lastly, I also bought sanitary pads, since you may need them as early as today. Keep the spare packs in the bathroom, and once we figure out your cycle, you should carry some in your bag on the expected days as well."
"..."
"Do you want me to explain how to use them?"
"...Aren't those diapers?"
"These are winged ones. Think of them as something you stick to your panties. Since you haven't figured out your cycle yet, you should always carry at least one pack with you."
What a fucking pain.
My body existed for reproduction. Probably. It would happen eventually.
The problem was I had no idea when. And if I tried to dismiss it with, "This body doesn't bleed and has nothing to expel," I would still end up screwed... from what I had heard, discarded eggs and bits of skin tissue came out together, too. So even if there wasn't any blood, those things might start spilling out on their own.
So, yeah. I probably needed them.
"Right... thanks for your trouble. And since it's already this late, you should go. Lunch time's over, too."
"Aren't you eating, Eunha?"
"My appointment is in a little while..."
"An appointment? Who are you meeting?"
...Ah.
"It's nothing."
"Does that appointment have anything to do with the fact that you suddenly decided to buy women's products to get yourself adjusted today?"
Fuck.
Why was this clueless woman so sharp about this kind of thing...?
"...Is it a man?"
"You know... think about it logically. It's only been about ten days since I got this body. How the hell am I supposed to meet someone, make a date with a guy, learn makeup, and go shopping for clothes?"
"You never know. Maybe Choi Eunho had a feminine persona and a homosexual streak hiding inside him from the beginning."
Ha Yujeong let out a small laugh as she spoke.
Her voice was only half joking. She should be glad. If she'd said that seriously, I would've hit her.
And the fact that she was only half right made it even more infuriating. I had nothing to say.
It wasn't really to seduce Kang Juhyuk, so much as to raise the value of the woman called Chae Eunha in society... but still.
"Eunha."
"What. Are you going to say more bullshit?"
"No... I just. Never mind. It's a little embarrassing."
"Yeah. It is disgusting. Enough."
"Just... be careful about who you lean on. No matter how confusing things have been for you lately. You're strong, Eunha, so I won't poke my nose in any further than necessary, but..."
...What the fuck.
"If you're going to say something weird, just go already. I don't want to hear it."
Don't put me in the same category as those mentally ill women.
Even as I waved her out, Ha Yujeong didn't take that worried look off her face.
No, if anything, it seemed to deepen.
It was irritating.
At 2 p.m., I stood in front of the cars parked in the spaces assigned to my name.
The space allocation that had once been mine when I had twelve parking spots had shrunk little by little as I got rid of the vehicles, until I was left with just four.
One spot was empty, but I left it that way for now in case I suddenly felt like buying something else.
What should I drive?
For now, I ruled out the SUV I used for work.
That kind of vehicle was strictly for going out on missions.
I didn't even want to drive it unless I was on the job.
That left two choices.
One was the large sedan I'd taken when I went to see Shin Jaecheol before, the calmest of the bunch.
It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't the kind of car Juhyuk would feel burdened getting into, either.
The other was the one I'd lost a little affection for after I stopped caring about cars... though it was still fair to call it my baby: a German two-seater sports car in the three-hundred-million-won range.
Garnet-red metallic with a black hood in a two-tone finish. Chrome accents. White-and-black interior seats that brought out its luxury. The roof could open, which made it perfect for setting a mood, and for all its aggressive engine, it was quiet and rode with the kind of comfort you'd expect at that price.
To put it bluntly, it was a car I kept for showing off.
The kind I used when I was out having fun with women.
"Yeah. You go ahead and comfort me a little. I'm taking you to pick up a man right now. A man. Fuck. Comfort me through this mess, will you?"
And the passenger seat that used to hold a woman now had to hold a man.
I felt dirty just thinking about it, but if I was going to get through that miserable feeling, I needed this car's ride quality again.
What a ridiculous irony.
I climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine. Wanting to feel the wind, I left the hardtop roof retracted.
The moment the engine came to life, a tablet-sized navigation screen lit up and asked me to enter a destination.
I wasn't looking forward to this.
And yet I was looking forward to it.
It was an absurdly complicated feeling.
I didn't want to go, and yet I was also aroused by the thought of going to meet that cock.
I wanted the deep, blissful feeling that sex brought, and at the same time I didn't want to do it.
If only there were a living, lower-body-only dildo with nothing but a cock on it.
Then I could leave it at home and use that without thinking about anyone else.
I really felt like I was losing my mind.
I entered Kang Juhyuk's studio apartment address and stepped on the accelerator.
The sports car's powerful engine launched the car forward in an instant, but it didn't comfort me at all.
Come to think of it, I already knew that. It was called my baby, but I'd lost interest in cars a long time ago.
As I headed toward the meeting place, another layer of complexity piled onto my already tangled mood.
It was maddening that Ha Yujeong had suddenly started looking at me with pity.
Fuck. Why was that mosquito of a woman suddenly looking at me with such maternal eyes?
Right. I was weak to that. I couldn't bring myself to treat it carelessly.
I was weak to care that I had never even received in childhood, care without strings attached.
So I couldn't exactly answer Ha Yujeong's bullshit with curses and dismiss her like she was some idiot.
Because I could feel that she was genuinely worried about me.
That made it even more absurd.
Why did Choi Eunho get hatred, while Chae Eunha got mothering?
That was why I had ended up thinking of Ha Yujeong as a slut for women. Nothing else explained it.
It was complicated. She could have stayed a perfectly ordinary annoyance, and that would have been enough. Was she trying to become even more annoying?
As if the price of my entanglement with the Blessing wasn't already complicated enough.
Shouldn't there be at least one thing I could get through easily?
Thanks to all that tangled thinking, time passed quickly.
Before I knew it, the car had arrived in front of Kang Juhyuk's studio apartment, and I got out at once to stand in front of the building.
I could feel people's gazes. It wasn't a busy district, but this was still the metropolitan area. There were people everywhere.
Damn it. As if the capital had only one or two expensive sports cars. What was so amazing about it?
Right. I knew it. A woman like me getting out of an expensive sports car alone was probably a little surprising.
Thinking that, I adjusted my sunglasses.
The oversized lenses hid my face just a little. I was wearing the white sweater pulled down to my thighs, with hot pants underneath serving as safety shorts, and long boots with heels.
For an accent, I wore a gold chain necklace with a jewel at the end and carried a black tote bag.
It was the result of choosing the least terrible options from among what Ha Yujeong had picked out.
"...Why isn't he here?"
But then.
He wasn't here.
Kang Juhyuk.
Fuck.
I came all the way here.
I came to pick him up.
Me.
Wasn't he supposed to be out here ten minutes early?
Making me wait?
Was he fucking with me, or what?
My face had barely started to twist when the building door finally opened and someone ran out.
"Nu, Nu... Nuna!"
Kang Juhyuk.
He was here.
And the moment I saw the state he was in, I let out a snort.
A casual suit: black suit set, with a plain black T-shirt underneath. So far, so good.
But what the hell had he done to his hair? He'd slathered on so much gel that it was shining like he wanted to be polished.
It was the kind of styling that looked like the first time he'd ever tried it. Some people might call it fresh and earnest; I would call it stifling.
He lit up the moment he saw me and started running toward me, but his pace slowed almost immediately.
He stared blankly at me, looking me up and down, and then seemed to get startled all over again by the car parked behind me.
The guy who had been sprinting over with excitement, joy, and anticipation suddenly stiffened with nerves and stopped in front of me without even being able to straighten his shoulders.
"Eu, Eunha Nuna. Did you wait... long?"
"Yeah. For five minutes."
"I'm sorry. I kept touching my hair because I was nervous. I didn't check the time."
"Well, good for you."
"Nuna, uh... you look incredibly pretty."
...Mm.
Fuck.
My pussy just twitched once.
I'm losing my damn mind. I was just about to chew him out, but...
"Quit talking bullshit and get in. I've got something to say."
"Yes, yes! But, this... this is your car, Nuna?"
"Of course it's my car. Whose car would it be?"
"N-no! It's just... I don't know much about cars, but it looks like a foreign model. Is this expensive? Wa... wait a second. Let me wipe my shoes."
With that, Kang Juhyuk opened the passenger door and climbed in carefully.
The instant he settled onto the white seat, he let out a soft wow and started looking around the interior.
Yeah, yeah. Look all you want. If you wanted to buy this yourself, you'd probably have to save every penny for ten years and still end up short.
I stepped on the accelerator.
Maybe because he was suddenly thrown back in his seat, Kang Juhyuk startled and hurriedly buckled his seat belt.
The destination was simple. Not a love hotel... but the barbershop I used to go to.