I am Smart

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I woke up at exactly 7 AM, thanks to the alarm. A faint light filtered through the curtains, casting a gray hue over the room.

Rising only my upper body from the bed, I stared blankly ahead for a moment. In front of me, the second hand of the wall clock ticked softly as it moved little by little.

I got up, stretching my shoulders and back. Other areas are important too, but these two muscles determine the quality of the morning.

I rotated my shoulders in circles, grabbed my arms, pulled, pushed, and did various things.

As I stretched like that, I felt a sense of incongruity.

…… Was I this flexible?

When I rotated my shoulders, it moved back effortlessly. Bending or twisting my waist felt as smooth as if it had been lubricated.

It was odd, but I continued stretching, and for the final stretch, I took a few steps back, leaned my hands against the wall, and lowered my upper body as far down as I could.

My upper body gradually descended. As it went down, it started to bend more and more. I even had the illusion that my head would touch my tailbone. I wouldn’t actually break my back like this, would I?

“……?”

As my upper body got close to the ground, I felt a weight on my chest.

It felt like a huge lump had formed on my chest.

I finished my stretching routine and stood straight up, looking down at my feet.

“…… Hmm.”

Then, a sound came out that felt different from usual. My throat felt slightly ticklish.

I walked over to the full-length mirror next to me. My footsteps felt lighter than usual.

And I stared at the reflection in the mirror.

“……”

Just as I thought.

A thin voice, a sense of awkwardness in my chest, and an absurdly improved flexibility.

My brilliant brain gathered those clues and came to a conclusion, and finally, looking in the mirror, that hypothesis was proven.

I had become a woman.

In the mirror stood a woman I didn’t recognize. A woman moving in sync with all the signals from my brain.

I stared blankly at the image in the mirror. The woman in the mirror stared back at me.

I had changed quite a lot from my former self.

My hair had grown down to my waist. My bangs naturally fell to cover my forehead.

My eyes had a slight upward tilt, my lips were closed tightly, and my skin color was pale, almost white.

With long arms and legs, I had a striking physique.

My face looked composed.

I continued to stare at the mirror before walking over to the shelf.

I filled the kettle with water.

I stared blankly at the water heating up.

I wasn’t too shocked by the sudden change. Us, no, humans don’t know anything.

The laws of the world, originally defined arbitrarily by humans, crumble over time.

It’s common sense that you can’t change your gender overnight.

But if I witnessed or experienced such a phenomenon, all I could do as a human was accept it.

For instance, the picture hanging on the wall with a tall person shaking hands is now reflected in the mirror as me.

Or, the many certificates and awards on the shelf that had my name written as ‘Moon Si-hyun’ had changed. I had no choice but to accept it.

I brewed tea in a mug and sat down at the table, where an old computer allowed me to access news sites.

– Death row inmate Kim, due to old age while imprisoned

– Massive wildfire in the northern region

– Suspect A of goldsmith fraud apprehended

I scrolled through the main forum of the news site.

It might not just be something I’m experiencing.

But I couldn’t find even similar articles in the news, so I gave up and clicked on Google’s search bar, typed some things, and hit enter. I repeated this a few times.

And when I instinctively clicked the search bar again:

“….. Woke up as a woman.”

“….. Woke up as a man.”

“From man to woman.”

“Natural gender transition.”

“From woman to man.”

Recent searches appeared in a row.

“……”

I thought about other search terms but then dropped that thought.

It seemed the world hadn’t changed. It was only me that had changed.

With my eyes fixed on the computer, I tilted my mug.

…… I was startled and pulled the mug away from my lips. I should probably let it cool a bit first.

I turned off the computer. For some reason, the more I read, the more I felt an inexplicable headache coming on.

After finally finishing the cooled tea, I took out my workout clothes and put them on. The workout clothes fit my changed body perfectly.

As I stepped out the front door, a slightly chilly breeze brushed against my cheeks. I did some light stretching to prepare for running.

Stretching, tea, running.

I had to stick to my daily routine.

Even if a genius catastrophe flipped my life upside down.

*

“Huuh…”

A slightly breathless sigh escaped my lungs. Sweat gradually soaked my warmed-up body.

While my strength might be lacking, my stamina felt about the same as before. If anything, it seemed to have increased a bit.

Maybe because my weight had decreased, my movements felt livelier than before.

I spotted the house I had come from in the distance. This meant I was nearly done with my designated running course.

Feeling the lingering heat of my exertion, I walked slowly.

Soon enough, a notification pinged from my pocket, informing me that I had completed the 5km I set as my goal.

…… By the way, how many steps is 5km, I wonder?

Suddenly, a familiar curiosity surfaced in my mind, like an occupational hazard.

Since I had run 5km without stopping, there shouldn’t be many variables to worry about regarding my stride.

Comparing my sense of proportion to the heights of people around me, I guessed that my height was just under 170cm.

If I set my height at 168cm and considering my legs are quite long, I figured half of that… hmm. Let’s say it’s 84cm.

Now, if I calculate my stride and divide 50000cm by that, I should have my answer.

To find my stride—

“…… Ugh……”

I stopped walking for a moment and held my forehead.

That headache I had earlier returned.

It was a familiar sensation. When I think beyond my current processing capacity, I get that headache.

However, feeling a headache from such simple arithmetic was a bit strange. What’s causing this?

It seemed I wasn’t feeling too great today.

When that happens, it’s best to pause my thinking for a bit. There’s only so much brainpower I can expend in a day.

I wiped away the computations in my head and continued walking.

As I got closer to home, I found myself entering a more bustling part of the street.

Though it was early morning, perhaps because it was the weekend, the streets were populated with people.

I paused for a moment, brushing my hand across my face. My hair was sticking to my forehead and neck due to sweat, and it felt uncomfortable.

As I swept my hair back with my fingertips, the discomfort slightly faded.

I took this opportunity to lift both arms and pushed my hair back behind my ears. A refreshingly cool breeze swept across the hot area.

Next time I go out to exercise, I should either cut my hair or tie it back. But do I have a hair tie at home?

I wasn’t so sure. I had women’s underwear and clothes, but—

Perhaps I could stop by a convenience store and pick some up.

As I was thinking about various things and about to move my feet again—

“……?”

I suddenly felt uneasy and looked around.

I made eye contact with several people. Most of them were men.

When they locked eyes with me, they immediately turned their gazes elsewhere.

Curious about what was happening, I halted my steps and scanned the individuals I had made eye contact with.

But no one met my gaze again.

Leaving behind a slight question in my mind, I resumed walking.

*

“No. Please put it here.”

The cashier pointed to the card reader on the opposite side.

His eyes lacked vitality, like the eyes of a flounder.

The same went for the office worker standing in front of him.

As the office worker inserted the card, the completion sound of the payment was heard.

“Thank you.”

The office worker did not reply and left with the purchased items.

However, the cashier didn’t seem bothered. He slouched back onto the chair set up behind him.

He expected no courtesy. After all, the other side felt the same way.

While he said thank you, the reality was otherwise. Internally, he wished they would leave quickly so he could rest.

A shadow fell over the entrance once more.

The man sighed softly, pressing his hands against the chair.

– Ding ding

The bell on the front door rang.

Like a well-rehearsed script, the cashier acted.

“…… Welcome……”

He attempted to say.

However, as he reached the end of his sentence, an unusual excitement filled his voice.

His eyes widened without him even realizing it.

The letter he wrote to the girl he had a crush on had been torn to shreds just like his heart.

He had rolled around society, watching his ideals crumbling.

Since then, he had stopped wishing for anything higher.

That had been his life.

…… Or rather, it WAS supposed to be.

The man’s gaze and thoughts spun rapidly.

Upwardly lifted eyes, delicate features fitted into a small face, and a long, beautiful neckline revealed as she swept her hair behind her ear.

With long limbs, an ideal shoulder-to-hip ratio, and curves that radiated beauty beyond mere prettiness.

Contrasting with her black hair was her snowy-white skin. No, ‘snowy-white’ didn’t do her justice. It was transparently pale.

Moreover, there was an aura about her that mere looks could not convey.

Despite wearing workout clothes, there was an elegance in her gaze and the smallest of movements.

She nodded slightly to the dazed clerk and swiftly stepped into the store.

Fortunately, it seemed that the woman was unaware of the cashier’s stare.

Soon after, she approached him with a container full of hair ties and poked it lightly. The container was packed with black hair ties.

As it got closer to his nose, the warm scent engulfed him.

“Please ring this up.”

“Ah, uhh… Yes!”

The cashier, who had been staring blankly, bit his tongue slightly at the sudden interaction.

But embarrassment outweighed his pain.

To hide that, he quickly scanned the barcode on the hair ties.

“That’ll be 4700 won.”

The woman rummaged through her pockets and pulled out a 5000 won bill.

“I’ll give you 300 won extra, so could you change it to a 1000 won bill?”

“Yes.”

As expected, she’s sharp like her appearance, he thought while he was about to hand over the 1000 won bill when—

“…… Huh?”

Wait, something feels off? The clerk pondered as he looked at the woman.

The woman looked at him with a question mark expression on her face.

“Ma’am, you didn’t give me a 5000 won bill, did you?”

“Yes.”

“And you added 300 won more.”

“Yes.”

“And you asked for it in change for a 1000 won bill.”

“Yes.”

“……?”

“……?”

As the clerk’s eyes filled with confusion, the woman gazed back at him with a look of even greater bewilderment.

Her bold gaze was enough to make him second-guess his arithmetic.

“Well… If you give me 5300 won for a 4700 won item, your change will be 600 won. To exchange for a 1000 won bill, you’d have to give me 5700 won.”

By verbally recalculating with the knowledge of his own calculation, he realized he was correct, and cautiously scrutinized the woman’s face.

“……?”

It felt like a question mark was alongside her face.

Then the woman’s eyes shifted diagonally as she held her chin with her curled thumb and index finger.

‘…… Is she recalculating?’

The clerk thought, watching her.

……

After a bit of time passed—a bit longer for processing a trivial calculation.

The woman seemed to be experiencing a headache and frowned while thinking.

“…… Ah. I’m so sorry.”

It seemed she finally finished calculating and pulled out 400 won from her wallet.

“Thank you.”

The clerk muffled his response as he accepted her payment and handed her the 1000 won bill.

The woman grabbed the bill and container, quickly leaving the store. Her face seemed a bit redder too.

As she was leaving—

– Thud!

“Ah.”

“Oh!”

The woman bumped into the glass door. It felt like she hit it a bit hard, which worried him.

“Excuse me, are you alright—”

“I’m fine.”

Before the clerk could finish his sentence, the woman pushed the door open and left.

In the aftermath of the swift encounter, the clerk stared blankly at the door she exited through.

“Ah.”

He murmured.

“I forgot to ask for her number.”