Chapter 44
“I-I think I'm going to die….”
After an hour of hellish training from Father, I was sprawled across the floor like trash left on the side of the road.
Father had said he'd reduced the intensity of my training now that I was a woman, but for me, whose strength had fallen below normal levels, it was still incredibly difficult.
“Huff, huff….”
As I lay spread out on the floor like sun-dried squid, Boksil stuck out its tongue and came over to me.
“Whimper….”
“Ugh…. At least you worry about me….”
Boksil even licked my face, looking as if it were trying to comfort me.
You're the only one who comforts me…. Huh?
Just when I thought it was comforting me, Boksil suddenly extended one paw toward my back.
“Nngh…!”
“Grunt….”
Then Boksil suddenly stepped on me, climbed onto my back, and sat down right there.
T-this damn dog is staging a coup….
“What, did you lose to Boksil?”
“I didn't lose!”
Hyung drank some water as he looked down at me, pinned beneath Boksil and turned into a cooling cushion.
I insisted that wasn't what happened, somehow got Boksil off me, and barely stood up on my trembling legs.
“Ugh…. My whole body hurts….”
Was it because I'd exercised for the first time in ages? My body was screaming even more than it had back when I used to exercise with Father.
“Why are you acting like you're going to die over something so trivial when you're young?”
“...Look who's talking. You acted like you were going to die when you first made me exercise.”
“That was because I was still a baby then.”
“Then I'm a baby too, so what are you going to say? Waaah, I hate exercising!”
“Good grief….”
Hyung sighed as he watched me throw a tantrum about not wanting to exercise.
“Look up to Father and learn from him. He's still exercising like that at his age.”
Hyung pointed toward Father, who was still exercising, and said that to me.
When he exercised with me, Father had stuck mostly to light workouts, so I'd thought that perhaps age had finally caught up with him….
But now he was lifting something that looked like a barbell.
Had what he did with me just been a warm-up…?
“Hey, Hyung…. How old is Dad again this year?”
“Fifty-eight.”
“He's almost sixty, and he's doing exercises like that…. Eek….”
He was well past his prime, yet he was lifting exercise equipment that looked impossible for me to raise no matter what I did. I couldn't help but respect him.
I'd watched him since I was little, but he really was incredible….
“He's getting on in years. Couldn't he take a break?”
Even though he was still so spry and exercising vigorously, I was worried that he might get hurt simply because of his age.
“Well…. Maybe it was getting a little hard on him, because he did take a short break recently…. But apparently he's starting his training again today.”
“Why?”
“Because of you. You, specifically.”
Hyung said that mischievously while pressing down on my head.
“Since his son became a daughter, apparently Father says he has to chase away any bugs that come near her.”
“Eww….”
Bugs that come near me….
Why was he acting like a daughter-obsessed father? He doesn't even have a daughter…. Well, technically, I did become one.
“There couldn't possibly be any bugs…. With a tiny body like this?”
I was tiny enough to serve as an armrest for Hyung.
My chest was petite, the exact opposite of Mother's.
It was a pathetic, underdeveloped body with absolutely no appeal to men with ordinary tastes.
“Your face is pretty, so certain people might be interested. For example….”
Hyung started to say something, then hesitated.
“...Never mind. It's not certain yet…. But if I find proof, I'll kill whoever it is.”
“Kill them? Who?”
“No, no. You don't need to know. That's adult business.”
“I'm an adult too!!”
Being treated like a kid had started to feel like part of my everyday life.
As expected, Hyung treated me like a child too, and honestly, I was almost getting used to it.
“Besides, even if there were any flies, I'd chase them away myself….”
Hearing him call them flies, I briefly imagined what it would be like if someone confessed to me.
If there were some suspicious man, a criminal-in-the-making, who saw this tiny body and confessed that he liked it…. At the very least, he would be handsome, take good care of me, worry about me, and only look at me….
“...That sounds exactly like Hyeon…. Mmph…!”
I fell into a strange delusion and almost said something weird, so I slapped a hand over my mouth.
Putting aside why my imagination had suddenly turned into a fantasy about finding my ideal type….
Why did that guy's face come to mind here…?
Perhaps my face turned red because my friend's face had suddenly come to mind in that situation.
...Well, since we'd been living together, it was only natural that my friend's face would come to mind. Right? That's all it was…?
“Seolhwa~ I bought you some clothes!”
Just as I was sorting through my tangled thoughts,
Mother's voice came from the direction of the door.
When Hyung and I went into the living room after hearing her voice, Mother was standing there with shopping bags in both hands.
“What's all this?”
“What do you think? They're clothes for you to wear here. Your hyung… I mean, your oppa said you came with nothing but what you were wearing and needed clothes.”
Other than Mother correcting herself from “hyung” to “oppa,” what she said wasn't wrong.
Since Hyung had kidnapped me here with nothing but the clothes on my back, it was only natural that I had no clothes to change into….
“Couldn't I have just gone to my apartment and gotten some…?”
“Why bother?”
There was no reason for Mother to buy clothes when the ones at my apartment and Hyeonwoo's house were just sitting there, but Hyung merely shrugged and told me to look at the clothes first.
“You really made Mom go through all that….”
Even as I grumbled about Hyung's strange decision, I checked the clothes Mother had bought, and-
“...Huh?”
When I pulled out the item on top, it was a skirt.
“Oh…?”
The one underneath was a dress.
“...No way.”
Then I pulled out another piece of clothing, and it was a sleeveless shirt that left the shoulders exposed….
“How do you like them? I don't really know what young people are into, so I just bought whatever!”
Mother smiled brightly, seemingly waiting to hear what I thought of the clothes.
“M-Mother…. Why are these all women's clothes…?”
I clutched the clothes Mother had bought and trembled as I asked why she had bought only clothes like these, and the answer was-
“Huh…? Minjun said that you were a woman now and would wear clothes like these….”
“Kyaaaaaaah!!”
The moment I learned who the mastermind was, I immediately grabbed an icicle and swung it at him.
“What's wrong with you? That's dangerous.”
But Hyung dodged without even changing his expression, as if my attack posed no threat, snatched the icicle from my hand, and pressed down on my head to keep me from approaching.
I wildly flailed my arm, trying to land at least one hit, but my height had shrunk from all that exercise, so I couldn't reach him at all.
“Nngh…!”
“Mom bought the clothes. Why are you taking it out on me?”
“Because you're the mastermind! Can't you see what I'm wearing right now?! It's a short-sleeved shirt and shorts! I don't wear clothes like those!”
“What's wrong with them? It might be fun to try them for once…. I mean, it might be nice.”
“You said fun?! You really think teasing me right now is fun, don't you!?”
“Oh, my….”
I kept charging at Hyung, but he continued slipping away with practiced movements, until I was the one who tired out first.
Damn it, Hyung….
======
“Whew…. I'm finally back to normal….”
A few hours after my huge fight with Hyung.
My body had melted away so much from exercising and fighting that I shrank considerably, leaving me no choice but to take a bath.
Fortunately, the house had a large bathtub, and after filling it with cold water and soaking for a while, I was able to return to my normal height.
Normally, getting into a refrigerator would have been the quickest solution, but this wasn't Hyeonwoo's house, and I was sure I'd be properly scolded if I tried that here.
After my bath, I went into the living room to dry my long hair and found Hyung lying there, looking at his smartphone.
“So you really did return to your normal height. Though you're still short.”
“Hahaha, what a hilarious joke. Ha ha.”
I answered Hyung with a halfheartedly sarcastic remark and took out the hair dryer to dry my hair.
“...What a pain.”
But for some reason, as soon as I took out the hair dryer, drying my hair felt like an enormous chore.
Was it because I'd run out of energy…?
“Hey, Hyung.”
“What.”
“Could you dry my hair for me?”
Having used up most of my energy exercising, I couldn't overcome my laziness, so I handed Hyung the hair dryer and asked him to dry my hair.
Though I'd expected him to refuse, Hyung actually took the hair dryer and started drying my hair.
What's gotten into him...? Did teasing me so much make him feel guilty?
“Then I'll dry it.”
“Okay.”
With that, Hyung started drying my hair, but-
“C-could you be a little gentler…?”
“This is gentle enough. What are you talking about?”
His far-too-rough movements made my head hurt.
My hair is going to be completely ruined….
“You've gotten awfully fussy just because you're a woman.”
“It's not because I'm a woman. It's because it hurts….”
I was dumbfounded by the way Hyung spoke as if an ordinary reaction to pain were some change in me.
In the end, after I protested, Hyung's touch became a little gentler, and, already exhausted, I gradually began to nod off.
======
“All right. Done.”
“Huh…? You're done?”
At the sound of Hyung's satisfied voice, I cracked my eyes open and saw myself in the mirror.
“W-what is this?!”
But after seeing my reflection in the mirror, I couldn't help being shocked.
Because my hair had been transformed into a bizarre hairstyle like those of the protagonists in Yu-Gi-Oh….
“A masterpiece.”
“What do you mean, masterpiece?! What are you doing?!”
When I turned around and yelled at Hyung, he gestured for me to calm down and spoke.
“I've always wanted to pull a prank like this if I had a younger sibling with long hair.”
“Shut up!”
I was an idiot for asking Hyung to dry my hair…. Ugh….
This is even worse than Haru….