Chapter 3
3.
He strode toward me.
To me right now, the guy approaching looked no different from a bear.
‘Why am I so scared of this bastard that I can't even move?’
I reflexively raised both arms in a defensive stance. I had no idea what he was about to do, but this was the best I could manage for now.
Tap.
Seo Geon-woo's big hand gently came down on my head, then lifted away.
I flinched for a moment, then looked up at him, bewildered.
He was smiling broadly.
“You're quite the jokester, miss.”
For an instant, I felt all the strength drain from my body.
How stupid did someone have to be to be this clueless?
Thwack!
I kicked Seo Geon-woo in the shin with all my strength.
“Aagh!”
The scream burst from my mouth.
It felt like I'd kicked a telephone pole, damn it.
“Are you angry? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you...”
“You brain-dead idiot!”
Seo Geon-woo flinched at my furious shout.
Maybe because I was so worked up, harsh breaths escaped me in ragged huffs.
“Miss, please calm down first. You should go back to your own home...”
“Fuck!”
Thud!
I punched Seo Geon-woo in the stomach as hard as I could.
As expected, he barely reacted.
“You dumb bear of a bastard. You've gotten a lot tougher, huh?”
“Miss, if you keep causing a scene, I won't just stand by.”
“Seo Geon-woo, you blockhead! How many times do I have to tell you I'm Jeong Ha-won before you get it?!”
This bastard Seo Geon-woo didn't look like he believed a single word I said.
Seeing him sigh as if exasperated made my blood boil.
At this rate, I felt like I'd die of sheer frustration.
“I can't believe I'm using a single-celled bacterium like you as my secretary and manager. This is my fault, all my fault!”
“Huh? Miss, what you just said...”
“What, asshole?”
“That single-celled bacterium... That's an insult Ha-won uses all the time...”
Oh, my aching head.
My head was throbbing like it might split.
It felt like this guy had shaved ten years off my life.
“Think whatever you want. I don't know anymore either. I don't need you, so get out of my house.”
Only then did he tilt his head, looking puzzled.
“Y-you really are Ha-won...?”
I didn't have the energy to say anything more.
I shot him a sharp glare and headed for the dressing room.
I took a cigarette from the drawer and immediately stuck one between my lips. As I left the room, I lit it with my Zippo.
“Huh? Ha-won... I mean, miss, no, whoever you are. Anyway, Ha-won never smoked indoors. Not once.”
“Shut up. Before I really kill you.”
The moment I took a long drag on the lit cigarette, something caught in my throat, and a violent fit of coughing erupted.
“Cough, cough! Hack! Hk!”
What the hell?
I wasn't a chain-smoker, but this was a cigarette I smoked regularly. This felt like I'd inhaled a lungful of poison gas.
The coughing wouldn't stop. I even started gagging.
I tossed the cigarette aside and dropped to my knees, struggling to get my breathing back to normal.
‘What the fuck, why is this cigarette so harsh?’
It was like someone who'd never smoked had just tried it for the first time. No, the rejection was even more violent than that.
Even when I first put a cigarette to my lips in my first year of high school, I hadn't reacted this badly.
“Haa...”
At last, the coughing stopped, and I shakily got to my feet.
Seo Geon-woo was standing in the middle of the living room, staring blankly at me with a stupid look on his face.
“What are you staring at!? Get rid of that cigarette!”
He still looked uncertain, but the cigarette needed to be cleaned up, so he shuffled over.
“Goddamn it! None of this is any help! Why did my body have to turn into this shitty thing! Aaaagh!”
I let out all the rage building in my chest in a furious scream.
Seo Geon-woo threw the cigarette away and even wiped the floor. Unlike before, he looked restless.
“Haa... What should I do? Where could Ha-won have gone? There was an important appointment today...”
I couldn't stand even hearing him mutter to himself.
I wanted to beat him senseless, but from experience I'd learned that would only hurt my hands and feet, so I couldn't put it into action.
‘Come to think of it...’
I checked today's date on my phone.
Today was the anniversary of Mom's death.
I had to visit Mom, then go to that damn family gathering in the evening.
As those thoughts fell into place, my heart sank.
‘Damn it, I have to see my father and my shitty brothers looking like this?’
I chewed hard on my lower lip.
I wondered how I could smooth things over and get through this situation.
While I paced around the living room, thinking, Seo Geon-woo cautiously spoke to me.
“Um... could you explain properly what happened...?”
“Hey, Geon.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah?”
“You really can't believe this, right? I can't either. I changed into a girl overnight. But right now, we need to face reality instead of common sense.”
I spoke in a serious tone, and Seo Geon-woo seemed to listen a little more attentively.
“Now, think carefully, Geon-woo. The Jeong Ha-won you know isn't here in this house, right? The Jeong Ha-won you know doesn't bring women home. But there's a woman here who knows everything about you and Ha-won. So couldn't you think that woman is Jeong Ha-won?”
Even after saying it, I wasn't sure what the hell I'd just said, but I'd explained it in a way Seo Geon-woo could follow as best I could.
“Hmm...”
It was ridiculous logic, but he was actually thinking it over. I let out a hollow laugh.
“Honestly, it doesn't make sense, does it? How could someone turn into a woman overnight?”
“That's what I told you, Geon-woo. I don't know either. I'm really asking you—could you stop making me angry?”
Seo Geon-woo stared intently at my face.
Then he narrowed his eyes and suddenly leaned in close.
Startled, I reflexively pulled my head back.
“Well, everything you've said and done so far really does seem like Ha-won.”
“Exactly, you idiot. I'll show you one last piece of proof. Come with me.”
I dragged him into the room next to the dressing room.
There was a safe in there that only I in this world could open.
“Here. Look.”
I quickly entered the code and opened the safe right before his eyes.
Seo Geon-woo looked fairly startled this time.
“Do you believe me now?”
“I-I can't believe it... Ha-won, you really turned into a woman.”
“I don't think this is some natural disaster. It feels like I got caught up in someone's conspiracy or scheme.”
“Who would do something like that...”
“You idiot, if I knew that, would I be standing here like this?”
“I guess not...”
I continued as I closed the safe door.
“Anyway, I can think about who did this to me later. First I have to figure out how to get through today.”
“Today?”
I restrained myself from getting angry at Seo Geon-woo, who was making another stupid face.
Since I hadn't mentioned today's schedule beforehand, his reaction was only natural.
“I'm going to Mom's columbarium. And then I have a family gathering this evening.”
“Oh, right.”
A deflating pfft escaped my lips.
Yeah, expecting too much from Seo Geon-woo was my own stupidity.
“Anyway, let's go. We've wasted too much time arguing.”
“Okay.”
I hurried to leave, but Seo Geon-woo stopped me.
“Ha-won!”
“What now!”
“You're going out like that?”
“What?”
I looked down.
Come to think of it, the night before, I'd stolen the clothes of the woman who was almost my one-night stand at the motel.
I'd come home and passed out in them, and I was still wearing the same outfit now.
I hadn't even noticed until then, but now goosebumps rose on my skin.
I'd been walking around the house in those revealing women's clothes all this time.
‘Good grief...’
I turned my head toward Seo Geon-woo.
‘Why did this bastard wait until now to say something after seeing all of it?’
But he just tilted his head with an innocent expression, as if my feelings didn't matter in the least.
“Can't be helped. Let's buy some plain women's clothes on the way.”
“Sure!”
Why did he suddenly sound so happy?
I really couldn't figure that bear out.
My prediction that he wouldn't annoy me anymore today fell apart the moment I got in the car.
“Oh! But, Ha-won, we have a problem!”
“What now?!”
“You have a family gathering! How are we supposed to explain that you suddenly turned into a woman...?”
My molars clenched on their own. I pressed my throbbing temples and said,
Jus' shut yer mouth an' drive.(Just shut your mouth and drive)
“Uh, o-okay...”
Finally, the car started moving.
As we pulled onto the main road, I rolled down the window.
It was the end of spring, around the threshold of summer.
That was the kind of weather it was.
I briefly pictured Mom's face.
Why had she passed away on a day as nice as this?
Why had she left me behind...
Feeling a sudden lump in my throat, I quickly shook my head.
Usually, thinking of Mom hadn't made my emotions this intense. It was strange.
‘More importantly, how am I supposed to explain this to the rest of the family...?’
*
I felt weirdly embarrassed to walk into a luxury boutique looking like this, so I had no choice but to send Seo Geon-woo to buy some plain women's clothes from any old store.
They were a plain T-shirt and shorts.
They were a little big, but still far better than dressing like some club girl.
After another hour's drive, we arrived at the columbarium where Mom was enshrined.
“Mom, I'm here.”
Behind a small glass panel was a photo of Mom smiling brightly.
Whenever I came, Mom always greeted me with that same bright smile.
Even though I'd changed into this absurd form.
I gazed at it in silence for a long while, then opened the glass panel, took out the urn, and held it against my chest.
It couldn't be, but for some reason, I felt as though I could sense Mom's warmth.
I tried not to cry, but something welling up from deep in my chest was too much to bear. In the end, tears streamed down my cheeks.
“Mom, do you think I'm being punished? Is this happening because I've lived like trash all this time?”
I wanted to hear Mom answer in her own voice.
Even though I knew it was impossible.
Still, for some reason, it felt like Mom was whispering to me in my heart.
‘Our Ha-won is okay no matter what form they take.’
Maybe I was just imagining the words I wanted to hear, but they still comforted me a little.
I put the urn back, tidied up the inside a little, and turned around.
Looking at Seo Geon-woo, who was waiting at the end of the hallway, I said,
“Let's go.”
*
Seven in the evening.
We arrived at a five-star hotel with a restaurant reservation.
A hotel employee opened the car door for me.
I got out and looked up at the tall hotel building.
“Phew...”
Honestly, at first I'd come here thinking, whatever happens, happens. But now that I was here, tension was creeping up on me.
My heart was beating faster and faster, too.
“Have dinner and wait somewhere. I'll call you.”
“Got it.”
Seo Geon-woo nodded, wearing a faint smile as he usually did when dealing with me.
My outfit wasn't really suitable for entering such an upscale hotel, but no one tried to stop me.
When I entered the restaurant, a dignified-looking female employee approached with a slight smile.
“Welcome. Do you have a reservation?”
“Under Jeong Jae-heon...”
“Ah, I'll show you to your table right away.”
This hotel belonged to our company—no, my father's company. Even so, we always made reservations and dined like any other customers, and today was no different.
The employee heard my father's name and immediately became even more deferential, leading me to a private VIP room.
I stopped for a moment in front of the door.
I stopped the employee, who was about to open the sliding door for me, and sent her away.
“Phew...”
After taking one more deep breath, I opened the door with force.
As the door opened and the inside of the VIP room came into view, the first thing I saw was my father's stern face.
On either side of him sat the two brothers I couldn't stand, both turning to look at me.
A few seconds of silence.
The one who broke it was my eldest brother, Jeong Ju-won.
“Who...?”
My second eldest brother, Jeong Min-hyeok, was also looking at me with a puzzled expression.
Only my father met my eyes without the slightest change in his expression.
My lips, which seemed unable to part, slowly opened.
“Father.”