Chapter 8
The man had spent the evening drinking with his friends and singing at a karaoke room. One of them was completely drunk, so they decided to call it a night, and he was on his way home. When he realized that all the snacks at home had run out, he stopped by a convenience store, bought some drinks and snacks, and continued walking home.
"It's all right, dear. He must be meeting a friend to celebrate his discharge."
"But you said you couldn't even meet Hyunwoo, Jihoon's friend..."
"Really? They say it's a rare disease. Apparently his appearance changed so completely that people can't recognize him. He must be having a hard time too."
Huh? What was that? Was there someone in our building with that kind of illness? The man thought it strange as he watched a couple coming out of the building. Even after checking the latest news on his phone, he couldn't find any articles about rare diseases or changes in appearance. He called his roommate.
"Hey, it's me. Has anyone who lives in our building ever been taken away in an ambulance?"
Yeah, a man was taken away by 119 a few days ago. I don't know the details, but I saw the paramedics load him onto a stretcher as he was heading home.
"Really?"
Yeah, but why?
"I'm on my way home, and a couple is coming out looking for him. They're probably his parents."
Really? Wow, what happened...? If he can't even see his parents, isn't it a serious illness?
"I don't know. They say it's a rare disease..."
No idea. Hurry home. Did you buy the cola I asked for?
"Yeah, I did, but... why do I hear a woman crying?"
Don't say weird things this late at night and hurry home!
His roommate abruptly hung up.
"Damn... I really heard it..."
When he approached the building, he could indeed hear a woman crying. Since it was late and he was worried about the woman sitting and crying on the first floor, the man calmed her down before walking upstairs to his home. The woman stopped in front of Unit 307, then opened the door and went inside.
"Uh... wait, wasn't that the place where a man lived alone?"
The man was certain that a man had lived alone in that unit. They had crossed paths several times, and once, when the man had been heading out to smoke, he had asked whether he smoked. Of course, that man had replied, 'I have a respiratory illness, so I can't smoke. Hahaha...' So why was a woman he had never seen in the building confidently entering after entering the passcode? Had he gotten a girlfriend in the meantime? If his parents had just come out of the building, didn't that mean no one was home?
"Hey, what are you doing in front of the house?"
His roommate opened the door and spoke.
"Hey, isn't Unit 307 the place where a man lives alone?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Then why is a woman I've never seen going into that place?"
"Huh? That's the place belonging to the man who was taken away a few days ago."
"What??"
I thought that was impossible, but since it was something my roommate, whom I had lived with for about a year, was saying, I decided to believe him. After I repeated what I'd just told him, my roommate spoke as if he couldn't believe me.
"No, I'm telling you, it's true. Didn't you hear a woman crying?"
"What the hell are you talking about this late at night?"
"Scared?"
"Ah, fuck, seriously. Quit spouting bullshit."
"Let's go check."
"Check what? Someone else's house?"
We argued over whether it was true until we finally decided to go to Unit 307 and ring the bell just once to check. Gulp. Honestly, this was fucking scary. A man who lived alone had been taken away by 119, and while the house was supposedly empty, a woman who had been sitting alone on the first floor crying had entered it? It was creepy. In the end, we rang the bell. We were only worried about a nearby neighbor. Yes, let's go with that.
"Who is it...?"
When the door opened, the woman stood there with her eyes still red.
"Wow, she's pretty..."
My roommate muttered something rude, so I jabbed him in the ribs.
"Well, the thing is... As far as we know, the man who lived here alone was taken away in an ambulance and still hasn't returned. But we saw a woman we'd never seen before enter this house, so we were wondering if something had happened."
"Ah, it's just that... Jihoon was discharged, but something urgent came up, so he said he'd be staying at a friend's house and asked me to bring him some things tomorrow morning."
"Is that true?"
"Yes, it's true..."
The woman spoke with a sad expression, her eyes still red from crying earlier.
"You must have been very close to him. I'm sorry for intruding."
"No, it was a situation that could easily be misunderstood. I'm the one who should apologize."
The woman closed the door, and we returned home and talked until midnight.
*
"Haa..."
I slumped down in front of the door and caught my breath. I had nearly been caught. I had managed to make some kind of excuse, but it hadn't sounded very convincing. I had cried so much that my top was slightly wet. Most of it was wet around my breasts, while the tears that ran down my chin had soaked the area around my neck. In my left hand was the letter I had taken from the mailbox earlier.
"I should read it..."
I took off my shoes, sat down in the living room, took out the letter, and read it.
'Our beloved son, we heard that you were taken to the emergency room. Are you all right? We asked the hospital and heard that you had been discharged, so we came all the way to your home to see you, but you weren't here. We asked the hospital what had happened to Jihoon. They said it was a rare disease never seen anywhere else in the world and had been classified as confidential, so they couldn't tell us much, but since we were your parents, they said they would tell us a little. They said that Han Jihoon had improved considerably and had been discharged, but that his appearance had changed so much that he could be considered another person, so they recommended that we not meet you. (Omitted) We also asked your friend Hyunwoo, but he wasn't answering his phone, so when we came to your place, he told us that your fever had reached 40 degrees and that he had urgently called 119 that day. Even if you've changed so much that you can't be shown to your parents, we still love you, Jihoon. But what parent wouldn't worry after hearing that their son had suffered from such a serious illness? We hope you'll write us a letter from time to time.'
Hwaaah, sniff... Sob... Mom, Dad... Sob, I'm sor-ry... for catching this ill-ness...
After that, I cried for several minutes without noticing the passage of time. Once I had calmed down a little, I noticed my phone lying by the front door; I must have dropped it somehow. When I picked it up, there was a text from Minsu.
"How did he get my number... No, he could have found it any number of ways. Let's at least check the text..."
The message said that, judging by the fact that my parents had called the hospital to ask about me, they had probably gone to the home where I used to live, and asked whether everything was all right. After that, it said, 'I'll come by tomorrow, so please be ready around 10 a.m. and think about getting a new identity.' A new identity...? Come to think of it, if I didn't change my identity and only changed my name and the first digit of the second half of my resident registration number from 3 to 4, there would still be a record, and my parents would be able to find out if they checked. If I really wanted to forget my ties to the past and live on, that would be the right thing to do.
"Ah, I need to wash up and change clothes..."
As I showered, I realized something. My body had become weaker than I expected. My thighs were soft, my breasts were large enough to make everything inconvenient, and... although my waist was thin and my overall build had become small and slender, making me look undeniably pretty in clothes, my strength had also decreased considerably. Things like bottle caps that I used to open with one hand even when they were tightly closed, or heavy boxes that I could move by putting in a little effort, were now incredibly difficult even when I struggled with both hands. I could clearly feel how much weaker I had become.
"...This isn't me. I'm a different person. No matter how weak I became, something I used to do with one hand shouldn't be this difficult even with both..."
But these breasts, so forcefully asserting their presence, and the empty space between my legs were telling me that I wasn't a man. It was hard to believe, but Jiyeon unnie had said that my period might start in three or four weeks... And when the people living on the same floor spoke to me, they looked at me as if I were a complete stranger. One man used to occasionally run into me and exchange greetings, but his eyes now saw a stranger. As if to prove that it wasn't only my outward appearance that had changed, my panties were slightly wet too. I thought I had had an accident and checked the smell, but it definitely wasn't urine. It was a little sticky too... No matter how much I denied it, my body seemed to be saying, 'You've already become a woman, so stop trying to deny it.'
My body had definitely become more sensitive too. Aside from the pain I occasionally felt in my lower abdomen and breasts, which seemed to grow a little weaker each day, places that I had once been able to scrub briskly with a shower towel without feeling much were now sensitive and had to be rubbed more gently. My crotch was smooth, and I flinched every time my hand touched it. My breasts were sensitive too—just how developed were the mammary glands already? Whenever they were stimulated, strange sounds escaped me. After washing my body with body wash and rinsing it, I washed my crotch with lukewarm water. I knew why I had to wash it with water only, but it was still inconvenient. There had to be a reason feminine cleansers existed separately.
"Hah... Drying my hair takes forever."
I had dried my body and gotten dressed, but my hair still wasn't dry. I had squeezed out the water with a towel until it no longer dripped, but even with a hair dryer, it took an incredibly long time. Didn't it take about as long as my showers had when I was a man? I think washing my hair and body had taken about twenty minutes. I had occasionally seen women with damp hair during the morning commute, and now I understood how waking up just twenty minutes late could leave them with no time to dry their hair. Since I didn't have a TV, I turned on Dibib, the popular video site, clicked on some random video the algorithm recommended, and dried my hair while watching it.
Most of the videos uploaded these days were edited clips from livestreams. Things had definitely changed from the past, when people filmed and edited videos in advance before uploading them. Most first-generation streamers had lost much of their popularity and disappeared from the main page. In TS novels, the protagonists often start streaming online, but I had no intention of doing that. No, I couldn't do it. I wasn't good at talking, I was bad at games, and when I played PvP games, I had lost my temper because I couldn't hold back my rising anger. Honestly, even if it wasn't as bad as fighting games, meeting someone who played in an irritating way was annoying, wasn't it? Anyway, for all sorts of reasons, I had absolutely no intention of streaming. I didn't know what I would do if I desperately needed money, but I didn't want to go around selling my face or voice.
My hair had dried before I knew it, and when I touched it, I could tell that it no longer felt nearly as oily as before. In the past, my hair had started getting greasy just twelve hours after washing it, and my nose and forehead would be coated in oil only a few hours after I washed my face with warm water every day. Just thinking about it made me shudder with irritation. Now it felt slightly more balanced, without any particular sensation. Thanks to that, washing was more pleasant and the clean feeling lasted longer. The drink I had after showering was incredibly refreshing.
"Mmm~ This is it. A drink after a shower."
Ah, right, I brushed my teeth... Whatever. I'll just rinse my mouth roughly and go to bed later.
"I think I need to move... Where should I go?"
My friend and my parents knew the address of this house, and after what had happened today, I didn't know who else might come looking for me. It would be better to move as soon as possible rather than have someone else come and cause more problems. My name was still Han Jihoon, but I would be changing that too. (Only one letter would change, but since my appearance was different, no one would recognize me.) Come to think of it, I would be returning to school, so having a home far from school would be inconvenient too. Before I knew it, it had gotten very late. I should go to sleep soon. Perhaps it wasn't only my appearance that had gotten younger, because I felt sleepier and seemed to be sleeping longer too... I didn't know the exact cause, but my body probably hadn't recovered yet.
"Ugh, I should've bought a new pillow too... It feels gross because of all the oil..."
Perhaps my whole physical constitution had changed. My old pillow felt so unpleasant that I threw it away, lay down on the mattress spread across the floor, pulled up the blanket, and quickly fell asleep.
*
Minsu woke up at six in the morning and prepared to meet Jia. He contacted Jiyeon to ask what Jia needed and planned to buy a large amount of supplies. Since her legal identity still wasn't properly established and she wasn't in a position to work, shouldn't he buy six months' worth? She would have to attend school too, so working afterward would probably be difficult. She would receive plenty of financial support, so if she used it wisely, she might be able to get by without finding a job.
"Hello?"
Yes, who is this?
"It's me, Minsu."
Ah~ It was you, Minsu. What are you calling about so early in the morning?
"I'm going to buy Jia the things she needs, and I need your help."
Oh my, so you're in love enough to want to take care of even things like that now~
"Haa... Please don't tease me."
Afterward, Jiyeon told him that Jia would need plenty of feminine products, and that if her period leaked, she would probably have to throw away several pairs of underwear, so he should buy some underwear too. He wished he had called her beforehand. He had to go today, and there wasn't much time, but he had to buy them himself... at a physical store. Minsu drove to a nearby shopping mall and bought underwear in the size Jiyeon had told him.
"Oh my, are you buying a present for your girlfriend?"
"N-No, but I'm buying it as a present for a female friend."
"Oh my, then I should wrap it extra prettily for you~"
"..."
I should have just asked Jiyeon to handle this. I was so embarrassed I could die... Standing in the middle of a women's underwear store, Minsu deeply regretted his decision. Afterward, he bought breakfast and other supplies such as sanitary pads and feminine cleanser, and before he knew it, it was time to go see Jia.
"Ms. Jia? Are you awake?"
"Ah, yes... I woke up thirty minutes ago."
"You slept quite a while. Are you feeling unwell?"
"No, it's not that... I just feel like I've been sleeping more."
He could hear Jia yawn through the phone.
"I see. I'm glad nothing hurts. I was going to come on Monday, but you must have a lot to think about, so I'll come by shortly."
"Is Sunday all right?"
"Yes, it won't take long anyway. I also have some things to give you."
Minsu pushed the supplies into the back seat and set off for the address Jia had given him.
*
"Oh, you're here already? I'll be down in a moment~"
After receiving a call from Minsu saying he had arrived, I went down to the first floor and was startled to see that both his hands were full of things.
"You won't be able to work for the time being, so I asked Jiyeon what you might need and bought these."
"Ah... All of that in your hands...?"
"Yes."
"I'll carry these up to your place."
I carried about half of the things Minsu was holding and headed up to the third floor.
"Um... Isn't that heavy for you? There are a lot of disposable supplies, so it must weigh quite a bit..."
"I-it's... not exactly okay... Isn't this too much?"
"It's six months' worth of disposable supplies."
"Then, please help me with just a little of it..."
Once we entered the house, we organized the supplies and sat down in the living room. But why had he bought underwear too...? There was no way Minsu had thought to buy it on his own. Had Jiyeon unnie told him to...?
"Um, you bought underwear too... How did you even know my size...?"
Jiyeon unnie must have told him my size too... How embarrassing.
"Ah, Jiyeon said underwear would definitely be necessary, so I bought some..."
"Ah, yes..."
After that, we began discussing serious matters: how to establish my new identity, where I should move, which school I should attend, and so on.
"You won't be able to attend school until late March at the earliest, so we can take our time looking for a coeducational school..."
"What should I do about the place I'll move to?"
"As you saw in your account, some financial support was provided for you because of your unusual situation."
"The government wouldn't just provide that for no reason..."
"As I told you at the hospital, the benefits from researching your illness are quite substantial, so that's why you received that much."
"I'm lucky..."
In the end, we decided to create a new identity. We prepared a letter to send to my family on Monday and filled out the documents to submit to the court with Minsu's help. The problem was that I had no one who could act as my guardian or legal guardian. Since we had decided to create a new identity, my age would have to change too, and then I would definitely need a legal guardian. Would it be possible to lie about my age only at school? I thought that would be too difficult. If I didn't change the date of birth on my ID, I would be found out soon.
"Right. Since we're going to create a new identity anyway, it would probably be best to change your date of birth too... but the legal guardian is a problem."
"I know..."
"Shall we contact Jiyeon?"
"What? Unnie?"
"You're getting more natural with that."
"Huh?"
"You just called her unnie..."
"Ah."
Minsu immediately called Jiyeon unnie and asked whether she could become my legal guardian. She was a little surprised, but after hearing that my date of birth also had to be changed as part of creating the new identity, she said that if it was something she could do, she would gladly help. 'If I can help Jia with her new life, then I have to! No one else can!'