TIN 130

Her gaze softened as she looked at me. As I swallowed the porridge in my mouth, I recalled the name I’d heard at the beach.

‘…Ji-soo unnie?’

“…”

She must know…Yoon Ji-soo well enough to call her in such a familiar manner.

“Is this your first time at the sea?”

The woman spoke quite warmly. Though she had been guarded until just now, seeing me eat well seemed to have opened her heart.

“You’re from the city, right?”

“…”

I silently looked at her. Though it was hard to gauge her age from her face alone, her general demeanor suggested that she was perhaps five or six years older than me. Of course, she still wasn’t old enough to be calling Yoon Ji-soo “unnie.”

“Looking at you, you seem to be from quite a prestigious family…”

As I examined her, she too began slowly scanning me. My disheveled hair, my clothes, and my blue eyes.

“An Omega?”

The blue eyes were evidence of an extremely dominant Omega trait. The vivid blue, impossible to imitate with mere colored contacts, couldn’t be hidden. With even the contacts I’d worn on the train removed, concealing my trait would be nearly impossible.

“Your stomach was growling so much, how did you end up starving to the point of fainting?”

“…”

Feeling awkward, I lowered my eyes. I wasn’t sure how she interpreted my response, but she tilted her head to one side as she stared at me.

“Can you not speak?”

A reasonable question. Since meeting her, I hadn’t said a single word. For one reason only, fear of being discovered as male.

But as it turned out, we were already past that.

“Yoon Ji-soo.”

I slowly moved my lips. Perhaps because I hadn’t spoken for so long, my voice came out hoarse. At the sound of my deep, low voice, I could see cracks appear in the woman’s expression.

“Do you know Yoon Ji-soo?”

This was what I’d wanted to ask from the start. This was what I’d hesitated to ask at the beach yesterday. Though I’d inadvertently received a meal, my only purpose was finding Yoon Ji-soo.

“You…”

Instead of answering, the woman narrowed her eyes. As if trying to examine my appearance again.

So I decided to remove the cumbersome wig first. I pulled out the pins secured inside and drew it off along with the hairnet. The flowing hair fell onto the blanket with a soft thud.

“…”

“…”

Our gazes met silently in the air. While I brushed back my hair, which had likely been  flattened while wearing the wig, the woman examined my face with an unreadable expression.

As if wary of me, or doubting me, or perhaps finding me curious.

“What’s your relationship with Yoon Ji-soo?”

“…Hah.”

When I asked again, a laugh burst from the woman’s lips. She chuckled while muttering quietly.

“It’s no wonder you felt heavy…”

Though I’d lost weight recently, I wasn’t exactly light. Unless this woman was an alpha, it couldn’t have been easy carrying an adult male by herself.

“I brought you here worried about leaving a woman alone in such a place. Should’ve just left you there.”

She didn’t even ask if I was really male. The woman simply looked me over with a cold expression, as if she’d never been friendly in the first place. I wondered if I should apologize, but she asked first.

“Is your surname Yoon like Ji-soo unnie?”

“…”

“I didn’t even know that much.”

Honestly, I felt taken aback. I hadn’t expected this kind of reaction at all. While I was wondering if perhaps this was a different Yoon Ji-soo than the one I knew, the woman got up to her feet.

“Finish eating first. This seems like it’ll be a long talk.”

Though I wanted to beg her to tell me right away, I couldn’t. It was fortunate enough that she didn’t snatch away the bowl for deceptively hiding my identity. She even pushed the pot toward me, saying I should help myself if I wanted more.

When she left and returned to the room, she had a glass of clean water in her hand.

“Drink while you eat. You’ll get indigestion.”

“…Thank you.”

I bowed slowly. I should have said this from the start, but somehow only now managed to express my gratitude. Not only bringing me here but giving me food and water too. I couldn’t be rude to someone who was practically my lifesaver.

“I don’t have money right now for repayment…”

I was going to say I could give her something instead. If nothing else, the bag or hat could fetch a decent price if resold. Though she said she wouldn’t take payment for the food, it felt awkward to just receive it for free.

“Seo-kyung, did someone come in?”

But before I could finish speaking, someone’s voice came from outside. The kind and gentle voice belonged to an elderly person. After some rustling sounds beyond the door, the sliding door opened with a clatter.

“I saw some unfamiliar shoes…”

The person who entered was an elderly woman with graying hair. She appeared quite aged at first glance but maintained remarkably good posture for her age. Though she didn’t particularly resemble the younger woman in appearance, something about her presence felt similar.

And like the other woman, her expression went blank upon seeing me.

“…”

The elderly woman’s eyes widened. It was the exact moment our eyes met. Though no words came from her lips this time, her thoughts were obvious.

Do I really look that similar to Yoon Ji-soo?

It was becoming peculiar. Three people had already noticed something I hadn’t even been conscious of.

“Grandmother.”

The elderly woman, lost in thought, only came to her senses when the younger woman called out. She hurriedly composed herself and turned away as if nothing had happened. Yet her eyes still held traces of shock as they flickered toward me.

“Oh, Seo-kyung…Is this a guest?”

“No, just a refugee.”

The answer was simple and, above all, accurate. I hardly qualified as a guest, so the woman’s description was most appropriate.

“Found them collapsed from hunger and brought them here.”

“…Is that so?”

The elderly woman slowly responded while examining me carefully. Her observant gaze was similar to the younger woman’s, and the more I looked, the more I noticed their similar eye shapes. The main difference was that, unlike the younger woman’s sharp features, the elderly woman appeared more genial.

“They asked me if I knew Yoon Ji-soo.”

“…”

The elderly woman drew in a sharp breath at the younger woman’s words. She looked between us once each, her face barely noticeably contorting. Her wrinkled eyes grew heavy, and she bowed her head deeply.

“Our Ji-soo…”

“Our Ji-soo.” A familiar term as intimate as “Ji-soo unni.” My heart began to pound at her voice, which could have been either a sigh or a lament.

“…First.”

However, when the elderly woman finally raised her head, she didn’t tell me about “our Ji-soo.” She merely forced her trembling lips into a smile directed at me.

“You seem to be in the middle of eating. Finish that and get cleaned up.”

Her voice was remarkably calm despite her expression. She looked at me with kind eyes and spoke gently.

“You’re in no state for conversation. Right?”

“…”

My appearance was indeed too ridiculous to deny. Hair in complete disarray, wearing a dress, holding a bowl, and eating like a beggar. Regardless of the cross-dressing, I hardly looked presentable enough for a proper conversation.

“After that…let’s talk, so take it easy.”

The elderly woman turned to leave the room hurriedly. But as soon as she took a step, her legs gave way and she stumbled.

“Grandmother!”

The younger woman quickly rose to support her. I also jumped up in surprise, but the elderly woman simply pushed the younger one away as if she were fine. Steadying her trembling legs with one hand, she spoke in a rather solemn voice.

“Seo-kyung, get some clothes for our guest.”

With just those words, she left the room without looking back. The younger woman who remained looked at me with even more complex eyes than before. The awkward silence that followed felt strangely tense.

***

Having fainted through to the next day, when I came out of the room, warm sunlight was pouring through the living room windows. It was an overwhelmingly gentle scene, and a moment peaceful enough to make one lose focus. After standing dazed for a while, I only headed to the bathroom after the woman urged me once.

The bathroom mirror reflected, as expected, a man in a grotesque state. There was even a red mark on my neck, and while wondering if I’d been bitten by an insect, I soon realized the nature of that mark.

It was where Kei had pressed his lips on the train.

“…This will last a few days.”

Though it seemed like just a quick kiss, the mark was surprisingly dark. If I had long hair, it would be covered, but without the wig, there was no way to hide it. Well, it didn’t matter since there was no one who would care anyway.