Minseo's Ability

I rubbed my swollen eyes and wiped away the tears still clinging to them.

"......"

When I sneaked a glance at Hyunwoo, he seemed to have been fidgeting anxiously ever since I started crying.

It would be a nuisance to keep worrying him like this, so I decided to stop making such a fuss.

'In the end, I did lose, after all.'

I wasn't crying so much because I'd lost the game as because being unfairly screwed over had gotten to me, building up until I finally burst.

Thinking about it carefully, it wasn't impossible for Hyunwoo to collect cards over almost two full deck cycles and then play all eight at once as smoothly as he had.

If anything, playing his cards as soon as he could would've only increased his chances of losing.

Looking back at the game we'd just played, there had been plenty of chances for Hyunwoo to get rid of his hand.

He'd deliberately dragged things out and played along so we could have fun.

He'd given me such a handicap that this was the only way to describe it, continuing to go easy on me throughout the game.

So if I kept crying like this, it was nothing but a child's tantrum, and a nuisance to him at that.

"Hng..."

But once my emotions had been set off, they weren't easy to calm down.

Even now, my tears wouldn't stop, and there was nothing I could do about it.

This body was far too sensitive, yet it didn't have the ability to rein those feelings in easily.

For now, all I could do was wipe away my tears and try to calm down.

"...Sorry. It's been so long since we played together, and your reactions were funny, so I got carried away."

Hyunwoo had no real reason to apologize.

The first game was one thing, but in the second, he hadn't pulled any tricks or broken the rules.

"No... You didn't do anything wrong, Hyunwoo. I did lose, after all."

I accepted defeat without another word.

If I dragged this out any longer or kept crying, I'd only make myself look pathetic. It was important to end things properly, too.

'If that last game had ended as quickly as the one before it, I'd probably still be crying and calling it unfair.'

A painfully obvious scene played out before my eyes, and I realized just how selfish and ridiculous my reaction had been.

In the end, it came down to the simple fact that I hadn't won.

I'd lost, and all I was doing was throwing a tantrum because I didn't like the direct reason I'd lost, calling it unfair.

So from Hyunwoo's perspective, he'd kept the game going so we could spend more time having fun, giving me a chance to accept the loss before ending it in a dramatic way.

Even so, the finish had been so impactful that my brain had labeled it an unfair, impossible combo, and I'd felt cheated.

So it was true that I'd doubled the stakes by getting ahead of myself at the end, and it was also true that I'd lost despite playing so pathetically.

"What are you going to wish for...? I don't have any money, though..."

Hyunwoo probably wouldn't make some huge demand of someone like me, who had nothing to offer.

To begin with, I couldn't even think of a way I could help Hyunwoo.

'Still, maybe I could help with groceries or errands...?'

Just because I'd become this small, it wasn't as if I was completely incapable of going out and buying something on my own.

Hyunwoo had said he dreamed of becoming a chef, so if that hadn't changed, it seemed perfectly reasonable for someone like me to help him with whatever he asked me to do.

"Hmm..."

Hyunwoo stared at me with that characteristically serious gaze, slowly looking me over from head to toe.

It felt as if I were a piece of meat hanging in a butcher shop, with Hyunwoo's gaze assessing every inch of my body. It was a strange feeling.

"W-why are you staring at me like that...?"

"No. I was just thinking about what you can do with that body."

Hyunwoo's answer was perfectly reasonable.

He needed to know about me before he could decide what to ask me to do, so I realized his gaze was completely ordinary.

'...Still, it's embarrassing when you keep staring.'

This probably wasn't just because I'd turned into a girl.

Even if I'd still been a guy, it would've felt awkward to have Hyunwoo looking me up and down like this.

Hyunwoo had been staring at me for a while, but soon he must have decided there wasn't much he could tell just by looking, because he started asking me questions.

"Can you cook?"

Maybe because he couldn't think of anything else to ask me to do, Hyunwoo asked whether I could make a quick, simple meal.

If I could, I could've gotten off easy by using up my wish to cook a meal for him.

Unfortunately, cooking was far too difficult for me. It was practically the realm of the gods.

"R-ramen, maybe...?"

"So you can't."

Still, I was worried that saying I couldn't do anything at all would hurt my pride, so I named the most basic, common dish I knew how to make.

As expected, his reply was cold, but the thought 'It's not the same as not being able to do it at all!' rose to the back of my throat, and I started feeling unfairly picked on.

Ramen. What was it, anyway?

Back when our people were struggling and had nothing to eat, it was a food with a proud heritage that let them fry wheat flour and fill their stomachs.

So refusing to recognize ramen as cooking was no different from proving you weren't Korean.

No, I'd gone so far as to make excuses.

"There are people who can't even make ramen, you know...?! And I can add an egg without breaking it!"

"...Really?"

"What?! That's an advanced skill!"

The more I tried to defend myself, the more pathetic I felt. And it wasn't just anyone I was talking to—it was Hyunwoo.

It was ridiculous to insist that adding an egg was an advanced skill in front of someone who was hundreds of times better at cooking than I was.

"......"

In the end, I wore myself out talking, clamped my mouth shut, and lowered my head.

"So you can't cook."

"...!"

Even so, hearing him say it so bluntly stung, like my heart was being pricked over and over.

The thought of what I'd even been doing all this time only made me feel worse.

"I can't tell just by looking. About how tall are you?"

Maybe he'd decided to judge how much strength I could exert based on my physical measurements. He lost interest in my domestic skills and started focusing on my body instead.

'That is the sensible thing to do...'

I had no housework skills—or any other practical life skills, for that matter.

Even doing the laundry was hard for me. Hadn't I put instructions I'd found online up on the bathroom wall?

I got by on ramen, instant food, and takeout, and only cleaned every once in a while.

I marveled at how little I'd learned to take care of myself, considering I'd lived alone for over six years.

"About 130 centimeters, I think. I haven't measured."

The full-length mirror at home was exactly 130 centimeters tall.

It had looked about the same when I stood next to it, so I was probably somewhere around that height.

'Still, it's a little sad.'

I'd always been a little shorter than other people, but to lose more than 35 centimeters in an instant?

Considering average heights for men and women, shouldn't the 150s have been the lower limit, even if I'd shrunk a lot?

But complaining wouldn't make my height come back, so I tried to pull myself together while silently cursing the world.

Then Hyunwoo continued.

"130... Then what about your weight? You haven't weighed yourself, right? Can I pick you up and see?"

Hyunwoo came closer, saying he could lift me right away, and waited for my permission.

'Does he really need to know that...?'

The thought crossed my mind for a moment, but I managed to convince myself that Hyunwoo must have a reason for asking and gave a small nod.

It was too embarrassing to say out loud.

"Eep...!"

Then I felt Hyunwoo slide his hands under my arms and lift me up into the air.

With Hyunwoo's enormous height of 180 centimeters, the length of his arms, and my tiny size, I was lifted almost all the way to the ceiling in an instant.

The view had suddenly grown more than twice as high, and when I looked down, I even started to feel a little scared.

Besides, from this angle, Hyunwoo was looking up at me from below.

'H-he can't see, right...?'

Without thinking, I started worrying about what he might be able to see beneath my shirt.

But if I brought that up to Hyunwoo, who probably wasn't even thinking about it, I might make him think less of me instead.

I stayed frozen until Hyunwoo was satisfied and set me down. Only then could I finally let out the breath I'd been holding.

"You probably weigh... a little under 30 kilograms."

'How can he tell?'

It felt amazing that he could estimate my weight just by lifting me.

For a moment, I wondered if he was making it up, but then I thought about Hyunwoo's build and how much he exercised, and realized it might be entirely possible.

If he'd worked out my weight by comparing it to the weights of the equipment he usually used, his estimate might not have been strange at all.

I was a little annoyed that I'd been treated like an object for a moment, but I figured it was a necessary part of finding out about me, so I could put up with it.

"......"

Hyunwoo had checked this and that about me, but then he stared at me in silence, his expression serious.

'Hmm. Is it that bad?'