Chapter 10: Underwear is romantic

The next morning, Hyoin barely managed to open her eyes.

Her head was throbbing, and her throat was sore. A faint smell of alcohol still lingered in her mouth.

It was only natural that she felt this way. They had been alternating between beer and soju. It was practically like drinking boilermakers.

“Ugh…”

At that moment, she heard a rustling sound from her left.

Jinha, the owner of this studio apartment, woke up, shaking her drooping head.

“Ugh… My head feels like it’s going to split open.”

Jinha swept up her messy hair and unconsciously rubbed her waist.

She couldn’t control her body properly. She still hadn’t gotten used to her changed body, and with the hangover added on top, her whole body ached with every movement.

Hyoin clumsily pulled off the blanket that was rolled up like a sleeping bag, trying to pull herself together.

“…We really did drink a lot yesterday, unnie.”

“Surprisingly, it wasn’t that much in terms of quantity… Haaa.”

As Jinha said, the two of them had drunk a little over one bottle of soju and three 500cc glasses of beer each.

Of course, for ordinary people, especially women, this would be a considerable amount.

But for Jinha, who used to drink double this amount without any problems, it was somewhat lacking.

“To think I have a hangover from just this… I’m getting old, I’m getting old.”

“I know right. Unnie’s form is all gone. Hehe.”

“…Still, I’m better than you.”

Jinha glared at Hyoin with blurry eyes.

Hyoin subtly avoided Jinha’s gaze and checked her smartphone screen.

[Lab Group Chat] 15

Are you okay? The professor said that noona is sick and can’t come in…
[Professor]

Hyoin-ah… These days… you’ve been neglecting your research…

[Byeongjae-oppa]

No way!! What did you do with Jinha-hyung yesterday that you’re not coming to the lab…

“…What, is the professor nagging again?”

“No. Surprisingly, he’s not saying much.”

Hyoin turned off her smartphone and smiled brightly.

She had received messages from many people, but she had no intention of replying right away.

“Anyway, get up, unnie. Wash up quickly and get ready to go out.”

Hyoin staggered but spoke in an energetic voice.

Since she had skipped the lab, she was planning to fully enjoy her freedom today.

“Hmm? Get ready to go out? Where are we going?”

“I told you yesterday while we were drinking. We’re going shopping.”

“…Do we really have to go?”

Jinha said, scratching her head.

Aside from her tight financial situation… she just didn’t feel like going out.

The outside world is dangerous, so why must she go out?

“Unnie. If I leave, you’ll just stay in that outfit again.”

“Well… that’s true.”

“It’s better to buy the things you need now. I’ll lend you the money, so don’t feel burdened.”

“…You shouldn’t spend money so carelessly.”

“Yes, yes~ I got it, so hurry up and get ready.”

She was still dizzy from the hangover, but the thought of going shopping with Jinha made her feel light as a feather.

“Ugh, this is tight around the hips. It’s a pretty big size, too…”

“See~ I wasn’t just saying we should go buy clothes for no reason. Did you think men’s and women’s clothes were the same?”

Watching Jinha struggling to pull up her jeans, Hyoin chuckled.

“Still, I didn’t know it wouldn’t fit this badly… Wait, why is the shirt tight around the chest, too?”

“…”

“…Hyoin-ah, why are you looking at me like that?”

“…Unnie really is the enemy of women.”

The curves that were subtly revealed even when she wore a tracksuit were now blatantly obvious in her everyday clothes.

Jinha-unnie, her destructive power is no joke.

“Huh? Enemy of women, what does that mean?”

“Hmph. You don’t need to know.”

Hyoin turned her head away and stood in front of the mirror.

She tidied up her messy hair and took out her makeup from her pouch.

“What are you working so hard on?”

Jinha, who had roughly put on her clothes, drank water from the sink and asked nonchalantly.

“Putting on makeup, of course.”

“…You wear makeup, too? Wait… you carry makeup around?”

Jinha’s insensitive words struck a nerve with Hyoin.

“I-I only didn’t wear it when I went to the lab, I always wear it when I go out?! And this much is basic, basic!”

“Really? It seems like a hassle…”

“…Oh, right, do you want to try putting on makeup, unnie?”

“…What?!”

“Ah, no. Unnie, just go out as you are.”

Hyoin patted her chest, saying she almost made a big mistake.

Her bare face was already on another level, but if she put makeup on top of that?

…She couldn’t even imagine how pretty she would become.

When they finished getting ready and stepped outside, it was already midday.

They had woken up late, and getting ready had taken quite a long time.

“Don’t buy anything too expensive. It’ll be a burden to pay back later.”

“Aish~ I told you not to worry about it. I said you can pay me back slowly. It’s not like I’m that well-off either. And…”

Hyoin suddenly stood on her tiptoes and brought her face close to Jinha’s ear.

“You know what? Clothes aside… things like sanitary pads are necessities.”

“…!”

“If you go around feeling uncomfortable… that’ll be even more stressful, you know?”

“…Well, it has been a bit uncomfortable.”

Jinha grumbled and fanned herself with her hand.

The reason her face was hot was… definitely because her hangover hadn’t completely worn off.

Yeah, that must be it.

It was a cool autumn day after the summer, and there were quite a few people on the shopping mall street.

Jinha swallowed hard, feeling nervous for some reason.

She unconsciously hunched her shoulders. Her footsteps also became hesitant and timid.

This was her first time coming to such a bustling street since becoming a woman, so everything felt awkward.

“Unnie, if you’re so stiff, you’ll look even more strange.”

“Hey, it’s easier said than done…”

“Everyone’s not paying attention to us anyway. It’s fine.”

“Th-that may be so, but the stares…”

In fact, men walking by would glance at Jinha once.

Her looks and figure were part of it, but it was also because her roughly put-together outfit gave off a strangely alluring vibe.

…After all, she was only wearing underwear on her bottom half, so someone with a keen eye might think something was off.

‘This idiot unnie! I know she used to be a man, but how could she have lived with just panties on all this time?’

And with such big, heavy things hanging on her chest! Didn’t her shoulders ache?!

Afraid that someone might notice, Hyoin grabbed Jinha’s wrist and quickly headed to an underwear store.

“…Whoa.”

Inside the store, illuminated by pastel-toned lighting, Jinha felt a strange dizziness.

“Why is this hangover lasting so long today…”

On the left were pictures of models wearing only underwear, and on the right were rows of underwear with feminine designs.

…There was literally nowhere to look.

She thought nothing could be harder than the lab, but the underworld was closer than she thought.

“Unnie, how about this? Pastel pink! Isn’t it pretty?”

“Th-this is a bit… it makes my toes curl.”

Her gaze kept drifting towards the floor.

She hadn’t done anything in particular, but she felt guilty for some reason… why was that?

“How about this? Ah! We need to measure your size first.”

“D-do we really have to?”

“Were you planning to just buy anything?”

Just then, an employee from the underwear store approached and kindly asked if they would like to have their size measured.

Feeling embarrassed, Jinha avoided her gaze, saying she would look around on her own.

She felt like if she made eye contact with the store employee… they would find out that she used to be a man.

In the end, Hyoin eyeballed the appropriate sizes and picked out underwear of different sizes.

…They were all colorful with cute decorations.

“D-don’t they have anything simple? Like sports bras.”

“Unnie!! You need to have at least one pretty one like this! You might need it later, you know. Don’t you agree?”

“No, it’s fine to just focus on practicality, why the design…”

“Ah~ Really! Don’t you know romance, romance? Since you’ve become pretty, it would be nice to wear pretty things!”

Jinha finally realized Hyoin’s true intentions.

This junior was planning to thoroughly mess with her.

“No wonder she readily offered to lend me money, it was for this…”

“You finally get it, unnie?”

“…Thanks to you, I’m once again painfully reminded that there’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world.”

Hyoin burst into laughter and dragged Jinha into the fitting room.

“Hey! W-wait. It’s a bit much for two people to go in…”

“What’s wrong? We’re both women~”

Hyoin said it casually, but Jinha was on the verge of dying of embarrassment.

“I-I’ll try it on my own…”

“Tsk! Do you even know how to put on a bra? You don’t, do you?”

The fitting room door closed, and the two stood facing each other in the cramped space.

Hyoin held out the bra with a playful expression.

“Okay, unnie. First, take off your T-shirt~ Put your arms in here.”

She was really getting into it, speaking in a coaxing tone.

“Hey, hey. I’ll do it myself!”

“How are you going to do it yourself? I know you’ve never even unhooked a woman’s bra hook before, even when you were a man.”

“…”

“See, you turn it inside out like this~ And fasten the hook at the back~”

She hit her with facts so she couldn’t say anything back.

Where would a virgin find any retort.

“Oh… By the way, unnie. Seeing it like this, your… breasts are really big.”

“…Hey, hey! Don’t say it so loudly!”

“I’m so jealous~”

“Hey, wait! Don’t touch… Kyaaak?!”

“Just stay still. I don’t think the size is right…”

She was blatantly poking her side under the pretext of checking the size.

Hyoin couldn’t hold back her laughter.

Jinha’s embarrassed reaction, even after coming all the way here, was so cute that she wanted to tease her even more.

“Mmm~ So squishy~”

“Ah, stop it! I told you to keep your hands off!”

Late afternoon, the street began to be bathed in the red glow of the setting sun.

Jinha and Hyoin walked down the street, both hands full of shopping bags.

They had bought pretty much everything they needed. As expected of engineering students, they bought only the planned items according to their plan.

Unlike when they first left the studio apartment, their walk back was quite natural.

Passersby still glanced at the two, especially Jinha, but she didn’t care as much anymore.

After seeing all sorts of things at the underwear store, she was no longer fazed. She was also tired from being dragged around.

“Thank you so much for today. I don’t know when I would have bought all this without you.”

At Jinha’s words, Hyoin smiled brightly.

“I had fun too. I don’t know how long it’s been since I went around with another woman like this.”

She was a woman, so it wasn’t wrong.

“But didn’t you spend a lot of money today? I feel bad.”

“Aish~ I told you it’s fine. It’s not like you’re going to run off with the money, just pay me back slowly.”

“I’m doomed. I need to start taking on more work starting tomorrow. Ugh. Making money is really not easy.”

Jinha shook her head and casually turned on her smartphone. She had a slight hope that there might be some freelance requests.

…Of course. As expected, the freelance site’s mailbox was empty.

But.

“…Huh?”

There was an email in her school account, of all places.

Sender: Youngjun Kim
Subject: Hello, this is Manager Kim Youngjun from Cosmo Live.