episode_0074

Her eyes blinked open. What she saw was the canopy ceiling. She quickly got up, pushed aside the canopy, and leaped out of bed.

“Oh, are you awake? Should I start preparing breakfast?”

“Just a moment. Before breakfast, I have something to ask.”

“Yes. What is it?”

Looking around to confirm that it was just her and Kang Hwi in the room, she whispered in his ear.

“Kang Hwi, when you were five, did you ever switch bodies with Siu by any chance?”

Kang Hwi showed no particular reaction to her words.

In fact, he remained still as a statue. Even as I stepped back, he continued to stare into space without moving an inch.

“Kang Hwi?”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

Clearing his throat, Kang Hwi stood up straight and looked around. Then he walked to the door, locked it, and led me to the back of the bed, where there was a small bedside table.

“That incident… was it real?”

“Was it real?”

“I mean, Miss denied it all the way. She said it never happened.”

“… Me?”

“Oh. Right. Miss 26, I mean.”

It was a well-known fact that my body and Chaewon’s had switched.

But Chaewon had denied it to her family, claiming that such a thing never occurred.

Indeed, when we had looked at the album together before, Kang Hwi had only made cute remarks about us with a smile. He seemed completely clueless.

“Tell me more about it. I may not know the story of Miss 0 since I’m Miss 26… but I saw it in a dream.”

“If that’s the case…”

I sat on the edge of the canopy bed with Kang Hwi.

“Well, Miss couldn’t firmly deny that ‘such a thing never happened.’ I don’t know what dream you had, but it was just a dream.”

“Yeah… I see. Got it.”

On April 9th, after eating seaweed soup together at home, we fell asleep in the same room.

The next day, a strange thing happened. Min Chaewon claimed to be Jung Siu, and Jung Siu claimed to be Min Chaewon.

Min Seokhyun and his wife, including Kang Hwi, questioned the two children about the facts, but after several days of debate, the result remained the same.

Chaewon and Siu had switched bodies.

Unfortunately, Siu had a flight booked to return with Professor Baek Jungeon a few days later. Min Seokhyun and his wife convinced Professor Baek by saying, “It seems like Siu wants to stay here a bit longer.”

Even after Professor Baek had left, the two children continued to live in completely different ways. Chaewon was shy and quiet like Siu, and Siu was talkative and cheerful like Chaewon.

“So, they spent about six months like that. Except for the brief period when Siu went back to Korea with Professor Baek due to visa issues, they practically spent six months together in switched bodies.

Until Miss firmly denied that such a thing never happened, we all thought of you, the master, and the mistress, as if it were true. They seemed like different people to everyone. They even said so themselves…”

Fortunately, in early October, we miraculously returned to our original bodies.

And Chaewon firmly told her parents and Kang Hwi, “Siu wanted to give me the opportunity to learn the piano under Mom,” and “Thank you for being deceived for six months.”

It was hard to believe that a five-year-old could come up with such an act, but if Chaewon said so, who could refute it?

In the end, Min Seokhyun and his wife, along with Kang Hwi, passed off the past six months as a simple happening.

“And then, from the following year’s birthday, different personalities began to appear in Miss’s body.”

Could it be that the incident where Nayeon and Chaewon switched personalities also affected her dissociative identity disorder?

If that’s the case, then it’s partly my fault too.

“… Just in case, I have a question, Miss.”

With a deep breath, Kang Hwi spoke very slowly.

“That incident. It was real, right? The body swap with Siwoo… You didn’t deceive us with Siwoo, did you?”

There’s no way to know for sure right now. But if Chaewon didn’t want that fact to be revealed to everyone, I should respect her wishes.

“So that’s why I didn’t know.”

If it was confirmed that we had switched, then of course everyone would have accepted Chaewon’s statement at the airport, ‘I’m going to marry Oppa!’

Yes, Chaewon’s future husband-to-be is none other than Siwoo, who saw everything and didn’t see anything!

When he first showed the guidebook, Kang Hwi had no reason to give a vague answer about who Min Chaewon liked.

“No. That’s not it.”

“Hmm?”

“No, really. Siwoo and I just acted it out.”

“… Really?”

“What? You don’t believe me? Discriminating against me because I’m the 26th?”

“Oh, no! I wouldn’t do that.”

After persuading Kang Hwi, I sighed and said, “I was just confused because I suddenly had that dream. The acting was too real.”

“That… makes sense, I guess.”

There’s too much new information suddenly, my head is spinning.

My lower abdomen feels strangely uncomfortable, I need to eat breakfast and go to the bathroom quickly.

“Let’s eat breakfast. I’m hungry.”

“Yes. Let’s—.”

As Kang Hwi nodded his head and fixed his gaze on the floor,

“Mother.”

Startled, he began frantically shaking the handbell that was pinned to his waist.

“Code red!!”

With her loud cry, several maids rushed over and pulled me in the opposite direction of the dining room, towards the bathroom.

“Wait, what’s going on all of a sudden?!”

“Why didn’t you tell me yesterday?”

“What should I have told you?!”

After saying that, I looked at where I was standing, feeling a chill.

Like something out of a horror movie, a trail of red liquid was following my footsteps.

“Ah, what is this?!”

***

Menstruation. Period.

A woman’s monthly event known by various names.

Depending on health and stress, the cycle often varies, but if there is no news for over a month, it’s an important indicator of women’s health, signaling menopause, pregnancy, or reproductive system diseases.

… I experienced what I only heard during sex education class.

I had already accepted that I was a woman, so it wasn’t that shocking.

However.

“Am I dying?”

“No. It’s not that serious.”

“But… the… the dark red… it’s… gushing… like….”

“It’s not coming out like a burst water tap. Don’t overreact.”

“Please write in my will that I loved Jung Siwoo….”

It was terrifying. It was the first time in my life that I had seen so much blood.

I had never experienced a nosebleed or been on an operating table.

I even avoided horror movies that everyone else watched because I didn’t like them.

Kang Hwi chuckled as he carefully placed the plates brought by the kitchen maids in front of me.

“But… is this enough? If it flows like earlier, it feels like there will be a sea of blood wherever I sit.”

“It’s okay. Don’t underestimate the power of modern science.”

“Is that so…?”

“If it weren’t for that, how would women have managed their social lives? Bleeding for days.”

For days?

This situation will continue for days?

“Write in my will, ‘Siwoo, I really liked him.’”

“I’m not dying!”

“However, bleeding for days on end… really?”

“It’s okay, so don’t worry and have breakfast. You need to eat well.”

I felt strange, as if there was a faint smell of blood at the tip of my nose.

I have no appetite. Despite the delicious food spread out on the wide dining table, I couldn’t easily move my chopsticks.

“I don’t have much of an appetite….”

“But you still need to eat.”

“Feed me….”

“Yes. Here, open your mouth.”

“Ugh.”

The bacon tastes good. It’s slightly greasy yet tender, and despite being thin, it oozes juice with every bite.

“I want some juice.”

“Here you go.”

Oh. Is that so.

Is today a day where I can act like a child?

A day where it’s okay to behave legally like a child.

“I want that.”

“Oh~.”

“And this too.”

“How is it?”

“It’s delicious.”

Huh, it’s enjoyable.

My lower abdomen feels bloated, and my lower back is a bit sore, but I can endure it subtly, perhaps because I’m experiencing bliss.

It’s enjoyable, that day. To think I can be treated like this once a month.

“Even though I hear you calling me ‘miss’… I could tell you were holding back.”

But today, there’s no need to hold back at all.

Because I’m in pain!

I’m in pain!

Waaah!

“Ugh…..”

“Is it that hard for you?”

“I’m dying…..”

That’s right.

Menstrual pain starts and peaks 24 hours later.

My abdomen, back, and even thighs are now in pain.

My head is spinning and I feel nauseous, so I immediately lie down.

I even threw off the underwear I always wear. It’s hard to breathe and I feel suffocated.

Damn Korean sex education. Why didn’t they tell me about this detailed pain?

Or did they tell me and I just don’t remember?

Am I the only one suffering like this?

“If I say I’m in pain… will Siwoo come to help…?”

I murmured as if Chaewon wanted, but Kanghwi just smiled broadly.

“Love is a good painkiller~.”

But come to think of it, I confessed to him.

Isn’t it a bit too much to ask him to bring me a hot pack without even waiting for an answer?

No matter how much pain I’m in, I can’t accept that.

“No. Why bother a busy person….”

He’s probably meeting Professor Baek Jung-eon right now.

He must be going to tell him that he’ll resume lessons next week.

It’s fine.

I can endure it on my own.

I’m not a child.

As I lay there groaning, Kanghwi gently stroked my forehead with a faint smile.

“I told you. Love is a good painkiller.”

Just as her words ended, a KakaoTalk message came in abruptly.

I found my phone by my head, turned on the screen, and saw the message.

— Jung Siwoo: Dinner with the professor is over

— Jung Siwoo: I’ll stop by for a moment

My face was enough to pour crimson paint on.