The outfit, which was incredibly girly and pink, a style that could be referred to as ‘landmine fashion’, was currently stuck in the corner of my closet after I tried it on as a favor to Hye-won and ultimately received it as a gift.
“You bought clothes? Why didn’t you call me?”
“Because you act like this.”
As soon as you found out I bought new clothes, you react like this, Eun-a.
Eun-a, who came to visit my house after a long time, immediately reacted like that when she saw me wearing my new outfit. I had no reason to call you when I was going shopping for clothes in the first place, right?
“Oppa, this isn’t right. People have manners. You take my clothes and wear them and then just toss me aside like this, what does that make me?”
“What do you mean, what does it make you?”
“What do you mean what does it make me? Let’s see what you brought. Try it on. Today is a fashion show.”
Seriously.
“Hey, who told you to open my closet without permission? Do you want to get hit?”
“I’ll let you hit me once so I can take my time browsing… What’s this?”
Eun-a, who seemed a bit flustered, pulled out a pink shirt and a black skirt to show me. As mentioned, it was the same overly excessive landmine fashion outfit that Hye-won had gifted me.
“It’s a gift I received. I heard it’s called landmine fashion?”
“Did you wear something so cheeky while I was away?”
“You’re saying some weird nonsense again. There’s nothing exposed, so what’s cheeky about it?”
It might be a bit overly girly, but it was a decent outfit where the only exposed skin was on my arms and legs.
“Let’s try it on first.”
“Are you crazy? Why would I?”
Why the hell would I have to do a fashion show in front of you? I’m not Hwa-won.
“With that being said, the clothes you’re wearing now….”
“What’s wrong with this?”
What I was currently wearing wasn’t particularly weird, and it wasn’t even a skirt. It was just a loose pair of shorts and a tank top deemed not suggestive.
“To be honest, it’s a bit suggestive.”
“No way, how can you say this is suggestive? If anyone thinks this is suggestive, they should go to prison.”
“There may surprisingly be a lot of people like that.”
“Yeah, sure. Well, you can go to prison.”
No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t believe that many people would find this look sexually arousing. If so, they should just go ahead and end it all.
“Honestly, if you were really at the age where you looked like that, I wouldn’t know, but you’re not. You have a different vibe. Your body shape….”
“Can you shut your mouth for once?”
To prevent Eun-a’s ridiculous rambling from overflowing, I proposed a compromise.
In the end, it wasn’t quite a fashion show, but I did end up changing. When I said just one outfit, Eun-a pointed to that landmine fashion outfit as if it was obvious.
…Well, there’s no exposure.
“But why is this outfit called landmine fashion?”
“In Japan, girls wearing these clothes usually have serious obsessions and issues with affection, leading to a lot of incidents, so they call it that. ‘I dated her because she looked pretty, but she turned out to be a landmine.’ Something like that?”
“…So, am I a landmine now?”
Hye-won probably didn’t intend it that way when she gifted it to me. But, am I someone who looks like that? To be honest, it bothered me a bit.
“Maybe she just thought it was pretty? In the past, it was considered landmine, but these days it’s often used as fashion.”
Is that so? Thank goodness. Hye-won probably just thought it was pretty without any deeper thoughts. There were other clothing options besides this one anyway.
“But are there really girls who would actually wear this out?”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a girl wearing such an outfit. I might look young enough for this outfit to be borderline acceptable, but for an adult woman, it seems…
“Want to try going out in it?”
“What if I get photographed?”
“I could take the pictures and post them.”
“Are you the culprit? I’ll sue.”
“Something flew into my house, was it you?”
Anyway, this was all joking around.
I took the full set of the gifted outfit into my room.
With white knee-high socks, a non-restrictive fashion corset, a headpiece, and a large black ribbon around my waist. And then, a pink frilly shirt and a black A-line skirt—I had learned how to wear it before, but it still felt like a bother.
Since it was cosplay attire, there’d be no reason to wear it often, or rather, there wouldn’t be a need to wear it at all.
But who knows, maybe this sort of thing will happen again…? No, how could such a thing ever happen again? Even while changing, I felt a little dizzy. It’s really too much of an outfit.
“I’m all dressed.”
When I came out of the room after changing, Eun-a opened her mouth wide at the sight of me.
“Wow, this is crazy.”
“The crazy one is you.”
It was still a bit embarrassing.
“Can I take a picture?”
“Do you want to see a lawsuit sent to your house?”
“How much is the settlement?”
“I’m not settling.”
Eun-a, who was happily picking me apart while spouting nonsense, honestly made me feel a bit bad. It was better than her previous nonsense about ending our friendship if I grew tall, but still.
“Anyway, can I change now?”
“Huh? If we’re only doing one outfit, you should keep wearing it!”
“Where’s the logic in that? Mira is coming soon, do you want me to stay like this?”
“Wouldn’t Mira like it?”
Ah, by the way, I had arranged for Mira to come over today too. She was supposed to arrive around the time I finished work, and it was almost that time.
“I think she’s been having a rough time lately, so I should comfort her somehow.”
And still, Eun-a had no idea what was going on with Mira. She just knew that Mira was coming back to my house out of chance.
But she knew that Mira was struggling with something. But why,
“Why would she be comforted by this? Does Mira know it’s from you?”
“Of course, her and I have opposite tastes, but she likes cute and quirky things too, you know? At any rate, this outfit fits that theme.”
“True, she did like fairy tale styles….”
But can we call this outfit fairy tale style? It makes the person wearing it look like they stepped out of a fairy tale.
Anyway, even if it wasn’t exactly for Mira, while Eun-a was being noisy and insisting I keep changing outfits, the doorbell and my phone rang simultaneously. Looking at my phone, it said it was Senior Su-young calling. Why is she…?
“I think Mira has arrived. I’ll take the phone.”
“Okay.”
I went into my room, closed the door, and answered the phone. Soon, I heard Senior Su-young’s voice full of character.
“Hello.”
“Hey, Seol-guk. Isn’t this a bit too much?”
“What?”
Out of the blue, she called without any context.
“Seriously, if you made a promise, you should keep it! Why hasn’t there been any contact about the promise with Hwa-won yet?!”
Ah…
I had totally forgotten about that.
“I forgot.”
There was no helping it. So many things had happened since then. In such a situation, it wasn’t easy for me to remember even these trivial promises. I really completely blanked on it.
“You’ve really become foolish.”
“I might forget things sometimes.”
“Hah, anyway, if you remembered now, you should keep your promise, right? By the way, I’m quite free these days. The writing profession is like that, but at least for the next two weeks, I’m available at any time.”
…Will Hwa-won have time in between? She’s been busy lately; it might be tough for her. Honestly, should I speak up?
“It seems like Hwa-won is quite busy lately, so I don’t think immediately will work…”
“Do you have Hwa-won’s schedule memorized?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then, you can ask her. Just ask her directly.”
…How annoying she is, pestering me while I was the one who set up the promise in the first place.
Of course, I should keep the promise I made, but it’s just a bit irritating.
“Okay, I’ll ask her. But don’t expect too much.”
“You’re saying strange things. This is a contract. Regardless of my expectations, this is a promise that Seol-guk must fulfill.”
…That is true. It is true, but why is it so unpleasant? Still, I have to keep the promise. Hah… I left one little exit open for myself. But,
“Alright. But really, Hwa-won is quite busy lately.”
“Hmmm…”
“Please wait a moment; I’ll do my best to arrange the promise.”
“That’s a bit odd.”
Suddenly, Senior Su-young’s tone changed. It wasn’t her usual heavily-characterized voice; it sounded more serious as if she was being genuine.
“You seem like you don’t want me to meet Hwa-won.”
“That…?”
I found it hard to finish my words.
“You’re acting a bit strange. Your voice has softened a lot compared to before. You don’t sound like the Seol-guk I know. Before, you only had that fierce look in your eyes, but today, even your voice has lost that rough emotion.”
“…You’re not a shaman, but you sure see through these things well.”
“Actually, I was supposed to follow my mother’s work.”
“Is that true?”
“Of course not. Just like you said.”
…The atmosphere has turned tense. It was uncomfortable. Senior Su-young seemed to suddenly show hostility towards me, and I was so flustered that I didn’t know what to say.
“Is there any reason I shouldn’t meet Hwa-won?”
There’s no reason. I just felt a bit bad. But I couldn’t say that for real, so I provided a lame excuse.
“Hwa-won seems to be getting along well with her fiancée lately, so I was a bit concerned.”
“Is that true?”
“Yeah.”
Because it’s true, I didn’t want to say any more. Somehow, even the excuse I offered made me feel bad.
“Okay… I’ll believe you. But still, a promise is a promise. I hope to hear back soon.”
“Got it.”
“…Then, I’ll leave it at that, Seol-guk. Have a good day.”
The last words from Senior Su-young returned to her usual character-filled speech, but for some reason, it didn’t feel sincere. I stood there blankly for quite a while with the phone in my hand after the call ended.
As some time passed and I regained my senses, I stepped out of the room to find Mira sprawled out on the couch staring at me with her mouth wide open.
“Wow.”
“Oh, you’re here.”
Without acknowledging my greeting, Mira spoke.
“That’s so cute.”
Mira, you too.
