episode_0080

Clutching my throbbing head due to the hangover, I roughly opened the water bottle on the table by the bedside and gulped it down.

The cool water from the fridge awakened my groggy mind more than I expected, and the surroundings that came into view were either unfamiliar or familiar, depending on how you looked at it.

A strange mix of red and yellow-toned lighting, windows coated with opaque film that revealed nothing outside, a telephone on the table where the water bottle was placed, and a large mirror where the bed headboard should be. In addition, there was a small fridge and a vanity table, among other things.

Yes, it was a motel. Definitely not for business purposes.

I never thought I would actually end up doing something like this.

*Gulp, swish*

Swallowing hard, I cautiously lifted the blanket to look underneath.

I saw flesh. Thankfully, I was wearing underwear, but it was still a suspicious situation.

“Ha… Kim Cheol-su, you son of a… hey!”

My shout-like scream echoed as the bathroom door opened, revealing a man stepping out.

It was Kim Cheol-su.

He was drying his hair with a towel, wearing a robe provided by the motel.

“Why, what’s up?”

His nonchalant attitude momentarily made me question if I was the weird one, but I gathered my thoughts and began to interrogate him.

“Explain to me what’s going on right now.”

With a voice that was almost hoarse, I pointed at his attire, myself, and the clothes hanging on the wall.

“Oh, that. Well…”

Suddenly, Cheol-su sighed deeply and shook his head.

“You really don’t remember. Do you remember what happened yesterday?”

“No, what happened? What’s going on?”

“Completely wasted, you overdid it and passed out on me. Remember?”

“Me?”

The experience of being completely wasted was so unfamiliar that I couldn’t even judge what I might have done.

As Cheol-su continued, he explained that I got drunk and felt sick in the car shortly after getting in. We pulled over, I tried to vomit, but nothing came out. So, after waiting a few minutes, we decided to go back in the car.

“Ugh!”

As we headed back to the car, suddenly his chest felt warm. Looking down, he saw me burying my face in his chest and vomiting heavily…

So, in a hurry, he wiped his clothes with tissues and wet wipes, asked the driver to take us to a nearby motel, and rented a room to clean up.

First, he helped me take off the vomit-soaked clothes, wiped my upper body with a towel, and laid me on the bed. He said he was just about to finish showering and coming out.

“Sorry, I had no idea…”

“You really need to watch it. No more than 5 glasses of wine next time. Normally, even people who drink 5 glasses of wine are rare.”

Since wine is a type of alcohol that is usually consumed with food, I didn’t usually drink enough to get drunk like yesterday.

“And I’m not sure if there’s vomit on your underwear, but there’s a smell coming from you. I couldn’t bring myself to take off your underwear, so deal with it yourself. I’ll take these down to the laundry room on the first floor.”

Cheol-su said, looking at the clothes with vomit stains on the wall.

“Oh, I’ll come with you.”

He raised an eyebrow and asked, “You don’t have any other clothes to wear anyway, right?”

I realized I didn’t have any other clothes to wear.

“Seeing you in a motel robe, I guess you don’t have any other clothes either, right?”

With that, he pointed to the suitcase placed in the corner of the room.

“Fortunately, there are clothes to change into in the car.”

Saying that, he opened the suitcase and picked out some suitable clothes. A guy who took out sweatpants and a t-shirt, holding them in his hands while taking off his gown.

It’s fortunate that he’s wearing at least one pair of underwear, not completely naked.

“Aren’t you embarrassed about this?”

I asked, puzzled by the fact that he was casually undressing in front of me, even though I’m a girl now.

“Well, we’re going to the bathhouse together anyway, so it’s not like my memory changed just because my gender did.”

Wow, he’s so cool about it.

Anyway, the guy in sweatpants was about to close the suitcase after picking out his clothes.

“Oh, wait. Just leave it open, I’ll come with you.”

And with that, he grabbed a blanket, realizing that he was in his underwear, and approached the suitcase. He pushed the guy with a bewildered expression aside and rummaged through the suitcase.

Finding some clothes that I could wear, I said, “Oh, this should be fine.”

I took out two sets of clothes and threw them on the bed. It was a shirt and a cardigan.

“Hey, kid. These are my precious clothes. Don’t make them smell bad.”

“Oh, just take off your bra and wear it!”

Saying that, he picked up the clothes on the bed.

“…”

Chulsoo was silently watching my every move.

Looking at him, I asked, “What are you doing?”

“Huh? Nothing. I’m just watching you change.”

“Turn around. Let me change my clothes.”

He then turned his head towards the bed.

-Swishing sound-

I put down the blanket, threw my bra on the floor, and put on the shirt. The oversized shirt, even by Chulsoo’s standards of over 180cm, didn’t look too awkward on me, almost like a dress. The only problem was that it was a summer shirt, so the thin fabric made it obvious that I wasn’t wearing a bra.

So I chose the cardigan. This oversized cardigan, when buttoned up, gave a casual look that wasn’t too bad.

“Phew, I’ve changed. You can turn around now…”

Saying that, I turned around to look at him.

“Huh?”

I had forgotten about the mirror attached to the headboard of the bed.

“See, did you see it?”

“Wow… it looks great. Really.”

He just stood there with his mouth agape, giving me compliments.

“Ugh, whatever. It’s not like I’m some horny bastard.”

“What are you talking about? Men are always in heat, you know.”

“I wasn’t even a man back then.”

“That’s why you became a woman.”

I didn’t say a word.

Anyway, we both changed our clothes and left the room, each carrying our clothes. We took the elevator down to the first floor and headed to the coin laundry.

We put our clothes in the washing machine and started the laundry. My jacket was made of wool, so it needed to be dry cleaned separately. Luckily, there was a dry cleaning machine in the laundry room, so I could wash it separately.

It would take 40 minutes for both machines to finish.

“Now what?”

It was only my second time in a laundry room, so it was still a new space for me.

“Since we have to wait for the laundry to finish and then dry it, it’ll take about an hour and a half. Shall we take a leisurely walk? And you, why don’t you stop by the convenience store to get a hangover cure?”

“Sure, why not.”

We left the laundry room and stepped outside, where the deep darkness of the city was evident. It seemed quite remote for a motel.

“It’s so dark. I can’t see anything without streetlights.”

The moon was almost at its darkest, making it quite dark.

“It’s a motel on the way to your house from the city.”

Well, our hometown is a bit remote even from the city.

Cheolsu walked ahead, and I followed him slowly.

“I saw a convenience store about a 10-minute walk from here earlier.”

We continued to walk slowly, and suddenly.

“Hehe.”

A small laugh escaped me.

“What’s so funny?”

Cheolsu, who was walking ahead, turned around and asked.

“Oh, it’s just funny.”

“What is?”

“Because we’re walking like this in a strange place at a strange time. It’s kind of ridiculous.”

It was just fascinating.

In the pre-dawn hours when even moonlight didn’t reach. Walking aimlessly on a dark country road at a time when we would usually be fast asleep.

Feeling my hometown so unfamiliar.

The fact that I had gotten so drunk that I lost my senses for the first time in a long time.

And the fact that I, now sober, ended up going into a motel with a friend I used to drink with in the early hours of the morning.

Everything felt strange. That strangeness was both fascinating and amusing.

-Sigh

“Yeah, because of you, what a hassle, really.”

“But isn’t it fun? I don’t know… I feel like I’ve been living like a hamster on a wheel for too long. I haven’t experienced many unexpected situations like this.”

“Haha!”

Cheolsu suddenly burst into laughter. When I looked at him questioningly.

“Hey, isn’t getting divorced because of an affair and becoming a woman overnight considered an unexpected situation?”

“Oh.”

Now that he mentioned it, it was true.

But can such unbearable situations be casually dismissed as unexpected situations?

“Well… damn. Life sucks. Well, anyway, I get what you mean by unexpected situations. Haha… yeah. It’s kind of fun. Walking on the hometown road with you, who has become a woman, on a moonlit night.”

It was probably a road we had walked countless times when we were young. The scenery of my hometown, which had passed more than 20 years, still evoked a strange nostalgia, making both of us feel sentimental as we slowly looked around.

“I miss those days.”

“Well, I don’t think my life is bad even now.”

I wondered if he was saying he didn’t want to go home because he didn’t want to hear his mom nagging at 39 years old.

“If you could go back to that time, what would you say to yourself?”

“Me? Hmm… marriage is hell?”

“Haha! It’s almost the same as now. It’s hilarious that someone who hasn’t been married says that.”

“Then, if you could go back to that time, would you get married?”

-Stiffly

I stopped walking and looked at him. Cheolsu turned back to me, meeting my eyes with a serious gaze for some reason.