episode_0017

“Let’s go buy some real clothes now.”

After wasting time on various distractions (sex) over and over, Park Si-hyun and I finally finished getting ready to go out. Park Si-hyun leaned on my arm with a satisfied expression.

“You seem really excited.”

“Huh? Not really?”

“It’s written all over your face. Don’t deny it.”

“No way?”

Pretending to be cute. I might as well tease her again.

“You were thinking something naughty again, weren’t you?”

“No, I wasn’t?”

“It’s so obvious. Ugh, you pervert. Always so horny for no reason. Ah♥ Why are you hitting me?”

I smacked Park Si-hyun’s butt. It felt satisfyingly firm. Even the sensation of the impact was like that of a lascivious woman.

“It’s my heart. I decided to ruin it my way.”

“So you’re trying to ruin your butt too?”

“Judging by your reaction, the butt is already ruined.”

“What are you talking about? Not at all- Ah♥ Don’t hit my butt!”

Of course I will.

While exchanging such vulgar conversation, we walked through the front yard and left the house.

As usual, we were heading to the city center by subway.

“Is there anything special you want to buy?”

“Not really. It’s not that I want to buy something, but I don’t know what to buy.”

“A girl should take an interest in clothes sometimes.”

“Only when it’s convenient for you. You used to call me a fake girl.”

What are you saying? Now you’re acting like a girl yourself.

But I understood Park Si-hyun’s perspective. Despite being treated like a female for a year, she didn’t have much time to become a real woman.

She had been naturally wearing skirts for a while, but the clothes themselves often felt unattractive or boyish.

Perhaps it was because those were the only clothes she had, or maybe those were the only styles she knew.

“Then from today, try to choose carefully and dress like a real woman.”

“Hmm, would you like it if I did that? If I dressed up nicely?”

With a sly smile, Park Si-hyun asked as if expecting an honest answer. Honestly, it would be “yes,” but just answering like that here would hurt my pride.

“Well, it would make me feel more satisfied. I’d tease you more.”

“Geez, what’s this? Can’t you say something a bit more romantic?”

“Why do I have to say that to you? And what’s so romantic about saying it.”

“Hmm… I’m not sure either. What exactly constitutes a romantic conversation?”

Yeah, I wonder about that all of a sudden. What kind of conversation would real lovers have at times like this?

“Well… Do you still look pretty to me?”

“Ew, that line is seriously lame.”

“Then you give it a try.”

“Hmm… Instead of that, I think saying ‘You look beautiful no matter how you dress’ would be better received.”

“Oh.”

I see. Just saying “pretty” feels like flattery, but by focusing on the act of ‘dressing up’ and saying “you look beautiful no matter how you dress,” it seems more sincere.

It seems a bit different with guys. For men, it seems opposite. They’d prefer straightforwardly saying ‘You’re awesome because your [explicit] is huge,’ rather than ‘Even if your [explicit] is small, you’re still great.’ It seems like the mood would just deflate with that. Well, maybe this is a completely different story? Anyway.

“How do you know that so well?”

“I don’t know. I just seem to.”

“Is it because your body’s becoming female, your mind is gradually becoming female too?”

“Tch, who says.”

Engaging in such banter, we arrived at the subway station. Perhaps due to it being the weekend, there were a lot of people. Fortunately, when we boarded, there were empty seats, so we could sit side by side.

“We’ll need some more time to get to downtown today.”

The area crowded with clothing stores downtown was further than usual when going to the academy. It’s going to take a little while.

It would be convenient to have a car in situations like this. Should I really get a car? But it’s difficult to ask for one, considering I haven’t had a conversation with my father and mother for a long time.

If I could have said that, maybe I would have tried to talk during the bullying until the 3rd grade.

“Geonwoo.”

“What?”

“Listen for a moment.”

While having these various thoughts, the main culprit who ruined my high school life, Park Si-hyun, called me. I don’t know what she’s up to, but I listened as she asked.

“Why earphones?”

“I have some good music, so I thought you might want to listen too.”

It was quiet for a moment, then it seemed like Park Sihyun had been listening to music. She leaned on me slightly, trying to share her earphones.

“When the white snow falls ♬ When the whole world is dyed ♬”

It was a song that had been around for a while, sung by a famous singer. Even though I wasn’t particularly interested in music, it was a song I must have heard somewhere.

“How is it?”

“Well… not bad, but why this all of a sudden?”

“Just because. It feels like a winter song.”

“Do you usually listen to this kind of music?”

“No? I didn’t use to.”

‘Usually,’ that would naturally mean she used to say that when she was a guy. Well, if he was always engrossed in martial arts, there’s no way an ignorant guy like him would have liked this kind of sentimental girl’s song. If he did, then he’d be gay.

“Well, it certainly is a winter song.”

“Right? Do you think it’ll snow?”

“If it does, what are you going to do?”

“What else, make a snowman.”

“Are you a kid?”

When I spoke bluntly, Park Sihyun seemed slightly put off.

“How about making a snowman? You used to do that before, right?”

“When I was in school?”

“Yeah.”

“Surprising. I thought you were more into breaking snowmen than making them.”

“Hey, I hate that. Breaking innocent snowmen.”

Hmph, coming from someone who used to hit people instead of making snowmen. Well, since it’s in the past, I’ll let it slide. Seems like you had some innocence in you after all.

“Hey.”

“Yeah.”

“If it snows, let’s make a snowman together.”

“It’s cold and bothersome.”

“Fool. When your girlfriend wants to, you should know.”

“Yes, yes, I got it.”

“You really need to grovel.”

Park Sihyun muttered something like “a passionate guy only during sex” and pouted. Still, she continued to lean on me. After a while, she even fell asleep.

I debated whether to wake her up, but we still had a long way to go before reaching our stop, so I left her be.

As I did, I thought about making a snowman with Park Sihyun…

Park Si-hyun is diligently rolling the head of a snowman, while I seem to be making the body. Now that I’m stronger, it’s my turn. Even as we work hard on it, one of us will probably play a prank by throwing snow at the other. Soon, it’ll turn into a snow fight, with us playfully tossing snow at each other until Park Si-hyun runs away, and then I’ll go catch her. Rolling around in the snowy field, we’ll both end up laughing…

“This stop is Itaewon, Itaewon. Please mind the doors…”

Ah, we’ve arrived.

“Hey, let’s get off.”

“Huh? We’re already here…?”

“Yeah, totally clueless, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I was so tired earlier. Ugh…”

Park Si-hyun yawned incessantly, as if truly exhausted. I tightly held her hand as we exited the station.

“Oh? It’s snowing.”

“…Really.”

Indeed, it was snowing outside. Seeing the snow, Park Si-hyun, who had looked sleepy, suddenly seemed wide awake.

“It’s heavy snow. Really coming down.”

“It’s going to pile up.”

Park Si-hyun seemed extremely delighted, even reaching out to touch the snow, but I remained nonchalant. To some, it’s romantic, but to others, it’s just white trash falling from the sky. Come to think of it, not long after finishing my military service, I’ll have to enlist. There aren’t many days left for me.

Thinking about this, I suddenly remembered imagining making a snowman with Park Si-hyun earlier. Of course, we didn’t do that last year. There’s quite a difference between the me and Park Si-hyun from back then and the current us.

“Hey.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“Let’s make a snowman when it piles up a bit later.”

“Huh? Really? You said it was too much trouble earlier.”

“If your boyfriend suggests it, just say okay.”

“Pfft, what? Is this payback from earlier?”

“Enough of that. Let’s go find a clothing store.”

We didn’t really decide on which clothing store to go to beforehand.

Honestly, we didn’t know which clothing store would be good, so I thought it would be better to just find a suitable place ourselves. Besides, since I’ve been to Itaewon several times before, I was more familiar with the area.

“No matter when you come, there are always so many foreigners here.”

“It’s Itaewon.”

“There are plenty of clothing stores. Where should we go?”

“Just pick one roughly. Let’s go wherever you like.”

“Hmm… That one looks cute over there.”

Is cuteness the criterion for choosing?

I don’t really get it, but if Park Si-hyun is overflowing with female hormones, then that must be the case.

“Welcome, customers. Are you a couple?”

As soon as we entered the cute-looking clothing store, the shop assistant casually asked that. Isn’t it a bit rude to ask something like that right off the bat? It’s not like there’s a couple’s discount or anything.

“Well… for now, yes.”

“Oh my, I knew it. You two look so good together. Is your boyfriend here to buy clothes for you?”

“That’s right.”

“Oh, how nice. Hoho, I wish I had a boyfriend like that. I envy you.”

“…Hehe, really?”

But Park Si-hyun seemed to find something amusing in those ‘flattering’ words and was blushing. The shop assistant, as if everyone had already crossed over, moved on to the next step.

“We should show your boyfriend how pretty you look in these clothes. Come this way…”

“Aren’t those clothes a bit expensive?”

“Oh, not at all. Prices are high these days… Of course, if your boyfriend finds it burdensome…”

“Hmm…”

Park Si-hyun glanced at me discreetly. It was a look that perfectly asked, ‘Do you not have money?’ Normally, anyone would feel compelled to open their wallet at this point, unless they really didn’t have any money.

“You have money, so shop without worries.”

“But still… Should I pay half at least?”

Hey, if I agree to split the bill here, what does that make me? I wanted to say that, but I couldn’t because of the persistent gaze of the nearby shop assistant.

“No, I’ll pay for everything.”

“Wow, your boyfriend is so generous. These days, even for couples, it’s rare for the boyfriend to buy clothes for his girlfriend! You’re really sweet!”

Stop lying.

Even though those words made my blood boil, the shop assistant, perhaps sensing my true feelings, targeted Si-hyun again and began gaslighting her.

“You’ve really got yourself a good boyfriend, ma’am. People like him are hard to come by these days. Handsome, wealthy, kind…”

“Oh… really?”

“Of course! Everyone must be envious, right? And if you wear this outfit, your boyfriend will surely love it… It’s just 200,000 won.”

It seemed as if Park Sihyun had no resistance to this kind of thing, and she was choosing her clothes with a proud expression that made it seem like she truly thought she had a good-looking, wealthy, and kind boyfriend. It’s really scary; not just anyone can work at a clothing store.

“Geonwoo, I’m going to change my clothes and come out.”

“Oh, okay.”

With an expectant look on her face, Park Sihyun went into the fitting room. I waited outside for a moment, prepared to have my allowance completely wiped out today.

“Um, Geonwoo, how does this look?”

“……”

After a while, Park Sihyun came out. I was momentarily speechless at the sight of her wearing a fitted turtleneck sweatshirt. She looked so beautiful, especially compared to what she usually wore.

“Geonwoo?”

“You look pretty.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Yeah. Oh, but if I just say ‘pretty,’ you said it lacks sincerity.”

I reflexively spoke honestly. But recalling our conversation on the way here, I added,

“No matter what you wear, you’re pretty.”

……For some reason, my words seemed to make Park Sihyun blush.