Ch.7Ready

I moved into the apartment yesterday. Since then, I’ve been tense all day. Monsters wandering around. Stairs that never end. Maybe that’s why, but suddenly I really need to use the bathroom. First, I returned to my place, room 704. Then I hesitated at the bathroom door.

“Don’t people scream every time they go to the bathroom?”

Why am I remembering what Daju said right now? I just need to sit down and take care of business. It’s not that different. I lowered my pants and sat on the toilet. For a moment, my gaze went downward… then immediately back up. I’m seriously dying of embarrassment. Someone might think I’m being stupid, but it’s not like that. When I think about how something I’ve only seen in porn is now attached to me… I immediately feel a sense of reality hitting me. My mind feels scrambled.

*Swoosh*

Next is underwear. I need to figure this out somehow.

“Isn’t it super uncomfortable when they bounce around while you move?”

Daju was right. Even considering how much I ran around today, it’s too exhausting. My shoulders hurt. My skin chafes. My steps feel heavy.

*Click*

When I opened the closet, a flash of pink caught my eye… and I immediately had to close my eyes.

“Hah…”

I gritted my teeth and looked inside the closet again. The colors and design arrangement are extremely malicious. Yoon Daju, that troublemaker… Seeing her crying earlier made me feel sorry for her, thinking she was just forcing herself to seem cheerful. But still. I have my own situation too. Couldn’t she have left me something more decent?

There’s one more problem. The bra… the upper underwear. I don’t know how to put this on. I understand there’s some kind of hook, but it’s so delicate that I’m afraid I’ll break it if I do it wrong. I need to ask someone. Yoon Daju is probably sleeping. Even if she’s awake, it doesn’t feel right to ask her things when she’s in that state. That leaves only one person. I knocked on Choi Serim’s door.

*Creeak*

It’ll be fine. Just this once. If I learn it properly just once, I won’t have to do this again. I took a deep breath and spoke.

“Um, noona…”

“Oh, huh?”

Right. I must look like a crazy person right now. My face is so hot that anyone would notice immediately. Plus, I’m holding underwear in my hand. I tried to act confident, but I can’t even manage my expression properly.

“How do you put this on… Yoon Daju didn’t tell me…”

Thankfully, her reaction is calm. Expressionless, few words. The usual Choi Serim. Though her following answer wasn’t what I wanted to hear.

“Lift your clothes.”

“…What?”

“I’ll put it on for you.”

“No! I just need you to show me how!”

“No.”

Wait. Why do I feel intimidated? This isn’t the Choi Serim who was crouching in the corner of the storage room. Now that I see her here, the height difference is really noticeable. When I was a man, I never encountered someone with such a height difference.

“Ugh…”

“Are you embarrassed?”

I can’t even answer. I just nodded. Meanwhile, Choi Serim put her hand under my hoodie and lifted the underwear with practiced movements. Her cold hands touched my bare skin… followed by a small clicking sensation.

“Ah. Wait.”

*Rustle*

Next, she adjusted my chest to fit the shape of the underwear. I wonder how my own body can feel this soft.

“Done. It’ll be much more comfortable to move around now.”

I saw how to do it properly. It seems like you just slip it under your clothes. With practice, I could probably do it quickly… but I have no intention of practicing separately.

“How did it feel?”

“What?”

“You were originally a man. If this is your first time wearing a bra, I thought the sensation might be new to you.”

“What??”

I thought Serim would be better than Daju, but an unexpected mental attack came my way.

“…Please stop talking. It makes me want to die.”

“Sorry. That’s what I’ve been writing about lately. About new perspectives or perceptions.”

“Is it like modern art? Postmodernism or something?”

“Wow. You know terms like that?”

Choi Serim’s eyes lit up with a small exclamation. Her expression suddenly brightened, making her dark circles seem less prominent.

“I thought I was the only one who liked this kind of thing.”

That’s certainly true, but this topic is a hundred times better than discussing underwear.

“It’s a bit different in direction, but similar. Sentences are ultimately just tools to express ‘what we know.’ With just that, we can’t fully express ‘what we don’t know.’ We might express it metaphorically at best. We can’t convey a completely unfamiliar sensation. So then, something truly new—something that has no commonality with the familiar, something we can’t even express indirectly—can we not express it at all? In short, it’s like a thought experiment.”

“I see.”

Back when I was trying to become a webtoon artist, I worked with story writers quite often while publishing comics on Best Challenge. But people who write are never in their right mind. They lack a sense of reality and don’t communicate well. I should cut this conversation short now.

“But I need to leave right away.”

“Oh. With the old man for exploration?”

“Yes.”

“Be careful.”

“I will.”

I nodded casually and walked through the corridor. In front of the elevator, Park Sungjin was standing with a bag.

“What took you so long?”

“I’m sorry.”

“We don’t have time, so let’s move quickly.”

*Swoosh* The doors opened when he pressed the button.

“Which floor are we going to?”

“Don’t press anything and stay still. I’ll press the buttons.”

*Beep-beep*

Park Sungjin took out a notebook from his pocket and pressed buttons in sequence.

“Two. Three. Five.”

*Crackle. Crackle*

Along with the sound of flickering lights, the surrounding space began to change.

“This might be a bit shocking from now on.”

*Clank*

The sound of metal doors shaking. Something like black powder was spreading from the ceiling.

“This isn’t going to suddenly drop or anything, right?”

“Hold on tight.”

“What???”

*Clank*

The buttons suddenly distorted, revealing a panel with a typewriter.

“Now here, A… I told you to hold on tight!”

“Tell me what’s happening first!!!”

I gripped the metal handle behind me so hard my palms hurt. And then suddenly.

*Whoosh*

I felt weightlessness.