Chapter 7: (Former) A female junior entering a male senior’s room

‘Is this… a lie?’

Hyoin’s mind went blank.

‘B-but, Jinha oppa said he didn’t have a girlfriend…?’

Just in case, she checked the address on the map app on her smartphone and checked the room number on the door once more.

Unless Byeongjae gave her the wrong address, this was the right place.

…But what was with this voice?!

‘Not only does he have a girlfriend… but they’re already living together?!’

All sorts of speculations and delusions swirled on a blank canvas.

She felt like she shouldn’t have come.

If she had known it would be like this, she would have just worked overtime in the lab!

She regretted clocking out on time, getting an earful from the professor.

She wanted to go back to the lab right now, grab Byeongjae, who was still working overtime, by the collar, and shake him left and right.

On the other hand, she was also curious.

What kind of person was dating Jinha oppa?

‘…Okay, let’s see. I need to see with my own eyes.’

In the end, curiosity won over timidity.

Hyoin cleared her throat and spoke again.

“Um… I need the recipient’s signature. You have to come out and sign for it!”

An uncharacteristic blatant lie came out of her mouth.

She just blurted it out, but honestly, she was embarrassed.

On the other hand, she was also anxious. Was the timing bad…? No way. It couldn’t be.

A brief silence followed.

And not long after, a loud, chaotic noise erupted.

“Eek!”

Hyoin unconsciously flinched.

What on earth was going on behind this door?

Could it be… was the timing really bad?!

Scenes of what might happen between a man and a woman, censored, floated through Hyoin’s mind.

After another few tens of seconds.

“Come to think of it, I didn’t order anything…”

The door opened slightly with a click.

Through the small crack in the door, someone cautiously poked their head out.

“What kind of delivery… Huh?”

Their eyes met.

At that moment, Hyoin’s breath hitched.

“…Huh?”

Gently arched eyebrows.

A slender neckline.

And a T-shirt that flowed down a soft curve.

The person who opened the door was definitely a woman.

“Are you, by any chance, Hyoin?”

But the look on her face and her sullen expression were strangely familiar.

Above all, her voice, although definitely a feminine high tone, somehow reminded her of Jinha.

…And the fact that she recognized Hyoin and knew her name was very suspicious.

“Uh… uh?”

Hyoin froze, holding the box, and then, in a daze, she knelt on the floor.

For a brief moment, an absurd thought crossed her mind.

Could the woman in front of her be…

‘Ahaha. No way.’

What am I thinking? Have I been staying up too late these days?

No. I must have been too engrossed in the light novel that Jinha oppa lent me.

That the person in front of me.

‘Might be Jinha oppa himself…’

It’s absurd, logically speaking.

It would be normal to think it was his older sister, younger sister, or cousin.

But for some reason, Hyoin had a feeling that the woman in front of her might be Jinha himself.

She didn’t know why.

As a researcher, it was a really ridiculous expression, but.

Just… a woman’s intuition?

Then, the woman standing in front of Hyoin opened her mouth with a slightly bewildered expression.

“Uh, um… so… how did you get here?”

She cautiously reached for the box Hyoin was holding and continued.

“This… looks like the stuff I left in the lab, right?”

“Yes? Yes, yes…”

“Ugh, it must have been quite heavy. Thanks for bringing it all the way here.”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing…”

“Did Byeongjae give you the address?”

“Yes? Yes…”

“Ugh, that Byeongjae. Instead of coming himself, he’s making his junior do the work. He’s getting cocky now that he’s been there for a while, huh?”

Watching the woman in front of her click her tongue, Hyoin’s eyes widened.

Sullen, yet secretly caring.

It was exactly how Jinha used to be.

“So… this is Jinha oppa’s house, right? I didn’t get the address wrong, did I?”

“This is my place… Ah, right, I look like this.”

The woman smiled bitterly mid-sentence.

It was an expression that seemed to be contemplating how to explain this.

Then, she scratched her head slightly and spoke with a cautious expression.

“Um… you might not believe it, but I’m Jinha.”

“Wh-what did you say?!”

Hyoin froze and stared at him- no, ‘her’.

‘No, this… really, it’s impossible…’

How did she feel right now? It felt like something inside her head was crumbling down.

She kept initiating it in her head, and finally it came out of her mouth.

“So… y-you’re… really Jinha oppa?”

As if he was tired of explaining, Jinha scratched his head and nodded.

A suffocating silence followed for a while.

With a panicked face, Hyoin stared blankly at Jinha, who had become a woman.

After barely regaining her composure, Hyoin managed to enter Jinha’s studio apartment.

Normally, she would have been very wary of entering a ‘male senior’s studio apartment’, but in this situation, that wasn’t even a big problem.

To begin with, he wasn’t a ‘male senior’ anymore. He was a ‘female senior’.

“Your place is… cleaner than I expected.”

Hyoin said as she looked around the room.

It wasn’t so much that it was well-organized, but that there wasn’t much furniture or belongings.

A small tripod with a smartphone mounted in the middle of the floor. A computer in the corner. A small mattress and a thin blanket in the other corner. And a simple wardrobe standing alone against the wall were all that was there.

“I heard some loud noises from outside, were you cleaning?”

“Well… I was just doing some things.”

Jinha smiled awkwardly, subtly moved the tripod, and stuffed the smartphone into the pocket of his dolphin shorts.

In fact, before Hyoin knocked on the door, he was collecting ‘private AI learning materials’.

So, it was a very, very dangerous moment.

Just in case, Jinha checked the computer again.

…Since pictures of a naked woman were rapidly flipping through, he quickly unplugged the power cord.

“…Whew.”

He almost got labeled as a pervert who masturbates to his own photos by his direct junior from the lab.

Jinha subtly checked to see if Hyoin had seen the monitor screen in that brief moment.

“Here are your USBs, papers, and even your research notes.”

Fortunately, Hyoin was crouching on the floor, unpacking the box.

“Byeongjae oppa said I could dispose of all this, but… how could I throw all this away? These are all valuable materials.”

“You took good care of it. Thanks.”

Seeing Jinha smile faintly, Hyoin sighed softly.

‘See. It really is Jinha oppa.’

That’s why this situation was even more perplexing.

She felt a little, just a little, betrayed.

“…Now, tell me. Were you originally a woman and were you hiding it?”

“No. I was originally a man.”

“Then how did you become…”

“I woke up like this.”

Jinha said, holding his chest with both hands.

At the embarrassing sight, Hyoin unconsciously turned her head away.

“How is that even…”

She was going to ask if that was even possible, but she trailed off.

“I know, right. I don’t believe this situation either.”

The person who experienced that unbelievable thing was right in front of her.

“But what can I do? I don’t know the cause, but this is the result.”

A laugh mixed with resignation escaped his lips.

Now she had to accept it.

That Jinha oppa had become Jinha unnie.

Hyoin paced around the small room for no reason, then sighed and changed the subject.

“Did you know? Everyone in the lab was worried about you. I even had all sorts of thoughts, you know? Like, did this forever-alone oppa get caught by some weird woman…”

At Hyoin’s playful remark, Jinha let out a small laugh.

“A woman… well, I guess it is a woman problem.”

Jinha said sarcastically and fiddled with his hair.

Under the indoor light, a subtly feminine silhouette stood out.

Honestly, Jinha, who had become a woman, was very beautiful.

Even without makeup, with dark circles under her eyes… if she put on makeup, what would happen?

Feeling a subtle surge of jealousy, Hyoin felt uneasy.

“Ahem! So why did you suddenly leave the lab? Was it really because your gender changed? Or…”

“Well, becoming a woman was the deciding factor.”

Jinha sat down next to Hyoin casually.

“But I didn’t get along with the professor in the first place. He nagged a lot, and I didn’t think he would let me graduate.”

“…Haa.”

Hyoin sighed unconsciously.

There are probably no graduate students who get along with their professors.

But Jinha’s relationship with his professor was especially bad.

It was to the point where everyone in the lab felt sorry for him.

“More than anything… I couldn’t do the research I wanted to do.”

It was the limit, Jinha said with a bitter smile.

Even if his gender hadn’t changed, he would have left the lab on his own someday.

The ‘unexpected accident’ was just a catalyst.

“So… how have you been lately?”

“Just, you know, looking into things and getting by.”

“Are you okay with money?”

“It’s manageable.”

“I heard from Byeongjae oppa that there was a problem with crypto…”

“Really, I’m fine.”

Jinha clenched his teeth and trembled his fist.

That Byeongjae bastard, spreading useless rumors around the lab. He was going to fold that guy’s spine in half like a flip phone someday.

Hyoin stared intently at Jinha, who was suppressing his anger internally.

Hesitating.

Stuttering.

“We seem to have a lot to talk about…”

Hearing Byeongjae’s voice in her head saying that now was her chance, she barely opened her mouth.

“Shall we, have some beer?”

She just blurted it out, thinking that she couldn’t do this sober.

“…Alcohol?”

At Hyoin’s courageous words, Jinha blinked with a dazed expression.

“Well, it’s fine, but…”

Jinha scratched his head with an awkward expression.

If it were any other junior, Jinha would have suggested having a drink first, but the person in front of him was the only woman in the lab.

He felt a sense of guilt that made it difficult for him to readily agree.

“…Can you stay out late?”

“Why. Are you worried?”

“Well, that’s part of it…”

“It doesn’t matter. We’re both women, anyway.”

Hyoin smiled playfully and added.

“Don’t you agree? Jinha unnie.”

“…I guess you’re right.”

He had no rebuttal.