Chapter 9
A week after I transformed into a Snow Woman.
Today, I went to a hospital with my senior, Narae, to get an ID and undergo a comprehensive checkup.
I'd expected to be examined at the lab because of my contract with my senior, but my senior said a hospital would be better for collecting comprehensive data, so we came here.
“This is quite a large hospital….”
The hospital we'd come to wasn't an ordinary neighborhood hospital, but a massive hospital located a little ways away.
“Well, it has to be spacious if they're going to examine and care for all kinds of different species.”
According to my senior, many mutants grew larger or otherwise changed size, making them impossible to examine at ordinary hospitals, so a separate facility like this had been established.
So they can grow larger, too….
...I got smaller, though.
“Getting examined at a place like this without insurance would be…. Phew….”
Even from the outside, the hospital exuded an aura suggesting that it would charge three times as much as an ordinary hospital.
I was really getting examined somewhere like this….
“Don't worry about the examination fee.”
Narae took a card from her wallet and proudly showed it to me.
“I sorta swiped the professor's card… So just consider the examination free.”
“Didn't you just say you swiped it…? Don't look away!”
They say on the internet that graduate students are basically their professors' slaves….
But this senior seemed to have things backward.
“I'll just say it's because I know one of the professor's secrets.”
“What kind of secret makes it okay to swipe their card….”
“Want to hear it? It's pretty interesting.”
“It sounds like a headache, so I'll pass….”
In many ways, this senior seemed like a truly extraordinary person.
======
“Then I'll go check us in. Sit here and wait a moment.”
“Okaaay.”
Since my senior had offered to handle all the complicated procedures, I sat down on a long hospital bench and decided to rest for a while.
Thanks to coming in my senior's car, I wasn't as worn out as after the mall, but it had still taken quite a bit out of me. I should rest before heading home….
“Phew….”
As I sat quietly and looked around, I noticed countless mutants who were rarely seen out on the streets.
A White Tiger beastkin walking around while swishing its tail.
A chameleon mutant disappearing and reappearing to tease a friend.
A golem mutant made of stone, shedding chunks of rock whenever it moved.
With so many different mutants gathered together, it was pretty entertaining just to watch them.
“What are you watching so intently?”
After a while, my senior came over, sipping coffee, and spoke to me.
“I was just looking at the mutants. I'd only seen them on the news, but there really are all kinds of mutants.”
“That's how it is. There are so many kinds that even the government can't properly keep track of them all.”
My senior took a sip of coffee and continued.
“At least this hospital does its best to accommodate them…. Even so, there are a few troublesome ones….”
It was just then, as my senior trailed off, apparently struggling to continue.
“GRAAAAAH!!”
“W-What was that just now…?”
Everyone was startled by the enormous roar that suddenly rang out.
When we turned toward the source-
we caught sight of a giant dragon rampaging.
“S-Senior? What's that?”
“A dragon mutant who's 90% dragon. Its temper got copied over wholesale, too, so even the hospital apparently has a hard time dealing with it.”
“It's not just having a hard time; it's gone berserk!”
Despite the efforts of the security guards and doctors trying to restrain the dragon mutant, the hospital was being torn apart by the dragon's tremendous strength.
Fortunately, it seemed to be controlling its strength, so no one was hurt, but it was obvious that things would turn disastrous if this continued.
Why on earth was the dragon acting like that?
“This body hates shots!! Bring me something else!!”
Oh, the reason it was throwing a tantrum was surprisingly cute.
“GRAAAAAH!!”
“Eek!”
Its strength was incredible, though; just moving a little was enough to reduce the hospital to pieces.
“S-Senior! Let's get out of here! If we're not careful, both of us will…. Senior?”
In the face of that disaster-like scene, I tried to flee with my senior, but for some reason, my senior stood there without moving.
“All right, Seolhwa. It's your turn.”
“...Huh? What do you mean?”
“Let's subdue that dragon. Your combat ability would make good experimental data, too.”
What was this senior talking about?
“How am I supposed to subdue something like that?! I'm a pathetically weak Snow Woman! If I go over there, I'll be turned into Snow/Woman in one hit!”
“There, there, calm down. You can subdue it easily.”
My senior looked at me with a confident expression and said.
What was going on…? Could it be that I had some hidden power—
“You're an Ice type. You deal double damage to Dragons.”
“That's Pokémon!!”
In the end, the dragon mutant was put to sleep with a tranquilizer gun, and the commotion subsided.
======
There had been a bit of a commotion, but fortunately, the checkup proceeded smoothly.
After basic tests like CT scans and X-rays, I even underwent tests to determine my constitution's response to heat and cold.
I felt a little overheated after so many tests, but I could manage.
I also asked the doctor about my breath coming out as cold air, and the doctor said it was natural.
As an example, the doctor said the dragon we'd subdued earlier breathed fire.
...I would've died if we'd fought.
“Haaah…. I'm so stiff….”
At last freed from the long, drawn-out examination, I stretched my stiff body and waited for my senior in the hallway.
“Phew…. Still, at least I got what I wanted after waiting so long.”
I had read something online the day before yesterday.
It said measuring your own height could be inaccurate, so it was better to have it measured at a hospital.
And now, I had a physical-examination report in my hands.
It listed my physical condition after transforming into a Snow Woman, along with my height.
“Phew….”
With a trembling heart, I opened the report and checked my height!
======
“The coffee here tastes terrible…. Huh? What are you doing over there, Seolhwa?”
“Wouldn't a short Snow Woman like me belong tucked away in a corner like this, senior….”
“...So your height was lower than when you measured it at home?”
“Yeees….”
The report said my height was 146 cm.
About two centimeters shorter than what I'd measured myself….
Why was it lower?! Even if it had been higher, it still wouldn't have been enough. Isn't that too cruel?
Why do I keep getting shorter…. At this rate, I'll become an ant-sized Snow Woman….
“...I have a lot to say about all this, but.”
While I was tearfully cursing God, my senior looked at my report with an exasperated expression and spoke.
“You didn't read this carefully, did you?”
“I only looked at the height….”
“Read what's written here.”
My senior pointed to the warning beside my height.
[Ms. Seolhwa is a Snow Woman, so her height may vary depending on the degree of melting; please keep this in mind.]
“Eek….”
“Your height fluctuates, so an accurate measurement is actually impossible. You melt away in no time when it gets hot. So don't get so down.”
“I-If I keep melting, does that mean I'll keep getting shorter….”
“Don't worry about that. Like a snowman mutant, you'll return to normal over time, too.”
...What's a snowman mutant, anyway?
No, more importantly….
“Then, senior… If my height is fluid, that means I can get a little taller, right? Right?”
I didn't dare hope to return to my old height, but at the very least—really, at the very least—I wanted to be over 150 cm.
I asked my senior, hoping for that, and the answer I got was—
“You're already 21. Why are you still going on about your height? Don't you know girls stop growing in middle or high school?”
......
I didn't want to know that.
That fact….
======
After the examination, we headed home in my senior's car.
As we talked about today's examination and Snow Women, I asked my senior about something that had been bothering me.
“Heat…. Sure, Snow Women do seem like they'd be vulnerable to heat.”
One of the Snow Woman traits I'd discovered over the past few days was vulnerability to heat.
If it were just ordinary weakness, I could tough it out, but it was severe enough that I asked my senior's opinion.
“It's not just that I'm weak. Last time at the mall, I collapsed as soon as we arrived.”
“Isn't that just because you lack stamina?”
Lack stamina, they say…. It's not as if my stamina is that low…. Well, I can't exactly say it isn't, but….
“Anyway, there isn't any medicine that can fix something like that in an instant. If there were, vampire mutants wouldn't be suffering.”
“I suppose not….”
I often heard on the news about vampire mutants who couldn't leave their homes and became forced shut-ins.
Thinking about that, maybe I should be grateful that I can at least go outside….
“Still, you're not as badly off as a vampire, so it's not as if there's no way to fix it.”
“Really?”
“In short, Snow Women's weakness to sunlight is a matter of constitution. You're just more vulnerable to heat than ordinary people.”
“Being weak, but stronger… It sounds like a pun. Heehee… Oof!”
“Don't nitpick.”
I made a joke and my senior hit me.
Oof…. I thought I couldn't be hit while my senior was driving….
“Anyway…. I think you could get better quickly if you exposed yourself to sunlight often.”
“Expose myself to sunlight? Isn't that suicide…?”
“It wouldn't work for an ordinary person…. But you're still in the early stages of mutation.”
My senior explained that in the early stages of mutation, the body adapted to its surroundings, gradually changing its constitution.
So the plan was to expose me to heat often and let my body adapt to it.
It would certainly be nice if that worked….
But I was worried I'd melt first.
“And I have an even better solution.”
My senior cast me a sidelong glance and said,
“Build up your stamina.”
“Uee….”
It was the worst possible solution.