|| chapter six ||

After the screaming had died down, Woohyun continued to hyperventilate and stare wide-eyed as if he was seeing a ghost. His brand new reflection that was staring back at him from the mirror with her pretty, doe-like brown eyes was in no way helping.

"Young master Woohyun, is everything alright in there?" the maids called out, hammering onto the bathroom door. Upon hearing all that screaming, one by one they dropped whatever they were doing and rushed to his aide. "Young master?"

Woohyun cursed before mustering up the courage to speak, trying to make his voice pitch octaves lower for his best manly tone. "Uh, I'm okay! I was just surprised by a cockroach-- a BIG cockroach! No worries, I already killed it!"

Thankfully, they didn't note anything suspicious with his fake man voice because of the muffling the bathroom door brought about. Woohyun listened carefully for the shuffling of feet as one by one, the househelps started going away to resume their duties. Once he was sure that everyone outside his door was gone, he went back to panicking once again.

"Okay, okay, calm down, Woohyun! Calm down! Relax! Relax!" Woohyun muttered to himself as he paced the bathroom like a nervous wreck. "This is a dream, this is all just a silly dream! This is not really happening!" Suddenly, a bright idea hit him. "I'm going to go back to my bed! Yeah, that's right! Then I'll wake up, and this will all be gone. It's just probably some bad dream to forewarn me of an upcoming sore throat."

Settled with that plan of action for the meantime, Woohyun made a wild, excited dash to his temporary bed in Boohyun's room, nose-diving into it and pulling the covers over himself. "Breathe in, breathe out! Okay, now you're going to wake up now, in three, two... one...."

He opened a bleary eye.

Nothing. He was still very much female.

Woohyun wanted to rip his hair out. "Why am I not waking up?!?" he whined, pinching himself hard in the face to check once and for all if this was all a dream. Pain shot through his cheeks in an instant and he let out a groan of dismay. This was no dream. Sadly, this was really happening in real time for reasons he could not possibly explain. Not even the hard-and-fast rules of science and biology could.

He decided that he needed back-up in thinking things through and began to rummage through his and Boohyun’s shared bedside drawer for his phone. He was halfway through dialing Kim Jieun’s number when he remembered that she wasn’t on speaking terms with him. Disheartening thoughts were not going to do him any good at the moment, so he decided to shrug it off and phone someone else who could help remedy the situation. Thankfully, the other person on the line was quick to pick up (and thank god his friend was a light sleeper).

"Good morning, handsome! Feeling better today?"

"SUNGYEOL! YEOLLIE, YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE IT-- THE CRAZIEST THING JUST HAPPENED TO ME TODAY!"

There was silence on the other line after his outburst. "Hello? Who is this?"

"What do you mean 'who's this?'-- It's Woohyun, birdbrain!"

"Yeah, last time I checked, Woohyun's biologically male-- clearly, you're not Woohyun! Now, listen here, Miss whoever you are--”

In his panic, Woohyun dropped the call before Sungyeol could even finish spitting out his threat. The same thing had practically happened with Hoya after announcing over the phone that he had a big problem.

"You clearly have a problem with me and the police once I get my hands on you. Who are you and why do you have Woohyun's phone?"

He ended up dropping the call as well. Woohyun definitely couldn't show himself to his friends and family looking like this and holding his own phone as proof. Knowing Hoya, he really wasn't joking when he said he'd have him (his girl form, rather) apprehended by the proper authorities for possible theft and invasion of privacy. With the universe clearly not on his side today, he was stumped on what to do. Had he offended God, or any other-worldly creature to have gained such spite?

Woohyun instantly paled in realization. Several days ago, he had.

In fact, he had even kicked food towards it before he decapitated its head clean off. It was the statue back at the Kim residence that he had broken and desecrated. Zorro.

After rummaging through the pantry and fridge for the perfect offering and ransacking through his mother's closet (which he sincerely apologized for), Woohyun borrowed one of her hanboks, put it on, and managed to miraculously escape the household unseen by the amount of househelps there. Rushing towards the subdivision entrance, he managed to flag down a cab, ignoring awkard stares from the passersby across the street. "To the Hanok village in Bucheon please," he instructed

“Going to a performance?"

"Errr... sort of."

"It's really nice to see young ones these days still upholding the tradition of our forefathers. You make people like us proud," the elderly cab driver hummed as he revved up the engine and maneuvered around other cars to head into the city. "I hope you'll do well today, young lady. Good luck!"

"Sir, you have no idea on how much I need it," Woohyun thought miserably.

((((( )))))

Kim Jieun woke up that day feeling uneasy.

Yawning, she tried burying herself into her blankets, intent on sleeping the day away. After tossing and turning for quite some time, she kicked her covers off and sat up. She squinted, making out a bright, colorful moving blur up and over by their garden wall. Clumsily, Jieun rubbed her eyes and reached for her glasses on her bedside drawer, putting them on before directing her attention back outside her window.

“What. On. Earth?”

As soon as Woohyun managed to land safely into the backyard of the Kim residence, he wasted no time and moved with long strides towards the pavilion, not even bothering to dust off the hanbok he was wearing. One quick round and he’ll be out of there before any of the Kim siblings would notice. To his shock, there the stone statue stood, unharmed and intact. Woohyun had to shake his head a bit to make sure he wasn’t seeing things-- he was so sure it had been broken. Curiosity got the better of him, prompting him to zone in for a closer inspection. A long, hairline crack trailed along its neck area.

“Alright, Zorro, we need to talk. I'm sorry for desecrating your statue and all, but I brought you the best high-quality beef set that our family has to offer to make up for it."

He must have looked like a complete oddball, talking to a Joseon era stone statue while dressed in his mother’s hanbok. Take note, all this was happening in the 20th century Seoul. After setting his offering down onto the tray, he lit some of the candles and incense sticks and took a deep breath, trying his best to steel his nerves in and to not punch himself (or at least, this girl form of his) square in the face out of sheer embarrassment.

He just hoped that his ten-minute extensive Youtube video-research was going to do him enough justice.

“Oh, great guardian and protector of the Kim family, please accept my offering and my apologies,” Woohyun began to chant over and over in a singsong manner, waving and swaying his arms like he was in some sort of deep trance.

The sounds seem to be coming from the garden. The thumping of her heart sounded as if it were booming for the whole yard to hear, so she tried to calm herself down before peeking out of her little hiding place. The intruder, unaware of her presence there, had not made one move towards the household at all and remained dancing around Zorro's shrine (if it could even be called dancing), occasionally raising and waving the incense sticks she was holding. The lady even had the nerve to use their supplies.

She spied the broom lying idle in one corner and picked it up, seeing the need to defend herself from possible physical attacks. She tested its weight before holding it as if she were wielding a sword, swinging it around a couple of times... and accidentally slammed it into one of the wooden pillars.

So much for staying hidden until the police came.

The noise had definitely caught the stranger's attention. But instead of checking the source of the noise, the cowardly intruder panicked and started gathering her things. Jieun did not understand what had gotten into her when she decided to jump through the window and out of her hiding place despite the risk of being harmed, but she knew that if this person made a clean escape, many more houses would could possibly be victimized. "HEY. HEY! Don't even try to make a run for it-- we've already called the police and they're on their way!"

If it weren’t for the situation they were in, Woohyun would have laughed and laughed at how adorable Jieun looked brandishing a broom at him, dressed in a black hooded jacket, gray shirt and running shorts. She had a pair of glasses on (which he never knew she wore). Her hair looked as if it it had gone through a freak storm—clearly, the girl had slept in and had just woken up. Unfortunately, he had to put that on hold for now because she was attempting to knock him out with said broom.

“I’M NOT A THIEF! I’M NOT A THIEF!” Woohyun shrieked, putting trembling hands up in the air as a sign of surrender. Chances of the girl believing this strange turn of events were zero but he had to at least try. “Jieun, listen! I know that this is going to sound really, REALLY insane and unbelievable, but I’m Woohyun! Nam Woohyun!”

Jieun, with her broom still poised in the air, momentarily froze. Her expression somewhat softened after his identity declaration. “Woohyun?" she repeated before her brows furrowed. "Really? You? Nam Woohyun?"

"I can prove it, see?" Woohyun tried to bargain, pulling out his wallet and cellphone. "These are mine! This ID? These family pictures? Mine!"

The girl obviously did not take it the right way. "Are you a saesang? Going so far as to stealing personal belongings and staking claim on them as if they were yours-- Definitely. Obssessively. CRAZY!"

“I really am Woohyun, believe me!” Woohyun yelled only narrowly evading Jieun's broom, side-stepping as she swung it towards him. He took the cue to run off from harm's way-- being in a flowy hanbok was not making it any easier for him to move around-- and hid behind one of the stone lanterns for protection. Instead of pursuing after the supposed intruder, Jieun hid behind the opposite stone lantern as well, still brandishing the broom as some sort of defense. “My parents both own the Nam Enterprises. I have a younger brother named Boohyun who is a big fan of Iron Man. My best friends are Lee Howon and Lee Sungyeol! We attend Woollim University together,” he began in a heartbeat in an attempt to prove himself.

Jieun gave him a sour look, which told him she wasn’t buying that one. He was quite popular in school and was well-off; of course everyone knew something about his family and friends. Woohyun decided that he had to go with something that only the two of them knew.

“We both had a run-in with Kang Minho; you punched the hell out of the guy and bandaged up my knuckles. That was the first time we spoke with each other. You have shifts at NIT and I come visit every night to study; I even sit by the corner table and you'd secretly pass me your privileged free drinks when I need an extra boost of coffee. You don't eat the pizza crust, and you always tip the mushrooms over to my plate because you hate them, but you know I like them. You're always telling me to be nice to Boohyun. Benedict Cumberbatch is the secret black hole that your attention in. Also, I hound you about it a lot, but you still refuse to dish out the secret to your toothpick trick.”

Talking and reminiscing on small things like that made Woohyun realize that had really missed Jieun despite the fact that barely a day had gone by since their falling out. The girl must have felt the same way because she lowered her guard a little.

"Also, I figured that you overheard Hoya and Sungyeol talking about it, so there's no use denying any part in it now," he began solemnly. "It was wrong. What I did was a complete and classless move on my part. And I'm sorry. I regret not admitting that early on when I had the chance, and for that I'm truly sorry.”

Jieun let out a big sigh before stepping out of her hiding place behind the olden lantern. "You're a weird one, huh? Look, if you wanted to talk, you really didn't need to take measures this far." There was still a hint of coldness in her tone though. “Let's stop playing games now and you can take the wig off.”

"I... can't. I'm not playing around, Jieun," stepping out from behind the lantern as well. "This is really me now."

It took a lot of blinking from Jieun as she let the problem sink in. Her face sunk into a look of extreme worry when she finally realized the gravity of the situation. "Woo...hyun?" Before he knew it, Jieun had already thrown the broom aside and had ran up to him. Her hands were on his cheeks, not wanting to believe her own eyes. “Oh my god, Woohyun! H-How? W-Why?”

"If I knew, would I be here standing in front of you like this? Hoya and Sungyeol wouldn't believe me. I couldn't even bring myself to ask help from my family."

"I don't know how, but we'll get you back, I promise. It's alright now."

It was as if something heavy had been lifted off Woohyun’s chest after she had finally recognized him. Unable to help it, he threw his arms around her, pulling the girl in for a hug (albeit with much difficulty-- his female form was rather lacking in the height department). Although he had no solution in mind right now, knowing that someone could now help him sort this mess out was comforting enough. Before it could get awkward, he slowly let her go.

“Wow, is this embarrassing,” Jieun whistled as she pulled the hem of her shorts to cover as much of her legs as they could and tried to tame down her hair by combing her fingers through it.

“Talk about embarrasing-- have you seen me?!?"

They both ended up having a good laugh about it after that. But their moment was cut short when a sharp announcement via megaphone cracked into the air. "This is the police. We have you surrounded. Put both your hands in the air!"

Woohyun paled, shooting her a panicked look. "YOU REALLY WEREN'T JOKING WHEN YOU CALLED THE POLICE?!?"

"SORRY! I did that in the abject of panic-- my brother's not home, it was first instinct for self-preservation!" Jieun squeaked as she began pacing around, racking her brain for a way to worm out of this. "Don't give me that look! You would too if you woke up to see some random lady in a hanbok scaling up the firewall of your home like a pro-mountain climber! I thought you were crazy in the head!"

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!? I DON'T WANT TO GO TO JAIL LIKE THIS!"

"SHHH! SHHH! NO ONE IS GOING TO JAIL! CALM DOWN AND WE'LL THINK THIS THROUGH!"

The team of police officers that were dispatched upon emergency call were very surprised when a calm Kim Jieun opened the gates to accommodate them inside. "Jieun-ssi?" one of the officers acquainted with the Kim family spoke up, lowering his gun. "Are you alright? Where is the trespasser?"

"Yeah, I'm completely fine! Sorry officers, it was a complete mistake! No break-in happening here! This silly cousin of mine tried to pull a prank and climb up our wall to surprise me," Jieun chirped, pulling Woohyun's female form towards her and the two instantly flashed the most adorable smiles they could muster.

"So there's really no intruder?" the officer verified.

"It was just a bad prank gone wrong, sir, I didn't think it would escalate to something as serious as this. And in case you're doubting me for coercion and the like, I'm unarmed!" Woohyun announced, raising his hands up, even pulling up the sleeves "No guns, knives, or other explosive objects here! Nothing hidden or strapped under this hanbok too, see?"

The police officers grew a little red in the face, flustered by what happened. Jieun had to hastily grab and pull the skirt down before Woohyun could really lift the hanbok's hemline all the way up (and accidentally, unintentionally flash everyone present). Jieun ended up apologizing profusely for that and for the false alarm, not after promising that she would give her "cousin" a good scolding afterwards for causing inconvenience and public disturbance. She even had to apologize to the neighbors who had gathered around the household out of worry. Weird looks were shot towards Woohyun's way, a little confused as to why he (she, rather) would scale a wall in a hanbok.

Thankfully, despite the inconvenience, the police were kind enough about it and after a brief lecture, did not further search the household nor take anyone in for questioning. Once the team of officers had left the household to get back to their stations, Jieun immediately turned to Woohyun. "First things first-- you definitely cannot go out looking like that."

((((( )))))

“So let me get this straight, you think this all started last night before you went to bed. Your voice changed momentarily while your were talking to Boohyun?”

“Yes, that was pretty much all I can remember.”

"No weird clasps or zippers on your back? Hair extensions? Eyelash extensions? You have lovely lashes, by the way."

"Wow, thanks! But back to the point, there's nothing of the sort! Believe me, those were the first thing I looked for. I searched and searched and found nothing."

“Okay... ummm, going back to last night, you dismissed the voice change and immediately went to sleep. Are you sure you didn’t take any snacks in between? Hormone pills? Weird chemicals? Estrogen injections? Was there anything strange in your dinner that day?”

“I’m sure there was nothing because I was knocked out like a light. When I woke up, bam! Naturally voluptuous!”

“D-Don’t say it like that please, it sounds weird! And don't be too sure about 'natural' yet; after this, I'm taking you to the hospital to see what could possibly be wrong and-- there you go! Found it!"

Thankfully, Jieun's wardrobe consisted of some pieces of clothing loose enough to accommodate a figure as busty as Woohyun's transformed one. Jieun found an unused oversized, cable-knitted maroon sweater dress that one of her distant aunts had given her for Christmas. She tossed it onto her bed before proceeding to search for a second and third option for Woohyun to choose from.

"You actually own pretty girly, colorful clothes," Woohyun, who had decided to it up and resign to his fate, mused as he reached over to pull the dress she had laid out. "Why don't you wear things like things to campus? Your daily wardrobe only consists of three hues: black, white and different variants of gray.”

A small smile graced Jieun's face after hearing Woohyun's opinion. “Does my achromatic choice in clothing bother you that much?”

“Not that I hate it and all--it's like your trying to go for a matching couple look with L-or-whatever-he-calls-himself. If not him, it’s Kim Sunggyu,” Woohyun huffed after seeing the amount of band-related and skull-printed tees apart from the number of plaid tops, pullovers and crop tops Jieun actually owned.

Jieun wanted to laugh out loud at Woohyun’s lack of awareness of how accurate he was. Partly one of the many reasons why Kim Myungsoo and her were good friends was that they both shared the same love for achromatic fashion. And of course, she couldn’t help but adapt her brother’s fashion sense to her own—well, maybe except for his horrid obsession for animal prints. Then again, Sunggyu’s snapbacks and hoodies were very comfortable. “Can you imagine me in that in the first place? I can’t pull something like that off. I'd look like an onion.”

Woohyun took a look at the dress once again. She was right, although it was a nice shade, maroon wasn’t really Jieun’s color. But this dress in, say white or ash gray...

"Namu, concentrate," Jieun called out, snapping her fingers in front of his face, bringing him back to reality. "Maybe it's best that you come here and pick an outfit for yourself?"

He got up from the chair he was lounging and gingerly began going through the nearest drawer, careful not to disarrange the clothes there. “I don't think these'll fit me. They all look too small,” Woohyun commented, pulling out a bra from her drawer, placing it against his chest to check if it fit alright.

Jieun's face had turned tomato red, partly in annoyance and partly in embarrassment; one, because he was sifting through her underwear drawer so casually, and two, because he had just indirectly dissed her chest size. Fuming, she swiped the clothing article away, tossing it into the hamper and out of sight. “HEY! Do you want me to help you or not?!?”

"SORRY! I'M SORRY!"

It didn't take long for the girl to regain her composure. Although she would have normally continued screaming her head off, Woohyun's incessant apologies and his helpless situation softened her heart. "So aside from miraculously growing gorgeous hair, a hot physique, and three chest sizes bigger overnight, what else has changed?"

"Uhhh... everything?"

“Even… uhh… down there?”

Woohyun dismally nodded, knowing exactly what she meant despite the lack of specificity in her words. As much as he did not want to head to the comfort room that day, nature's calling was too strong to hold off for god-knows-when. And that was how he had found out about it.

"Keep yours on. I'm not lending you any of my underwear, buddy."

And that sounded just about fine to Woohyun too to save both of them from further embarrassment. He accepted the small pile of clothes that Jieun handed over. "Won't this dress feel too breezy down there?"

"Got it. Wear this," Jieun responded, handing him a pair of cycling shorts to wear. "And hold on. I have an idea!"

After leaving momentarily, Jieun came back, tossing something on top of the pile he was carrying. Although it was a different bra she had handed over this time, she didn't seem as embarrassed about this one. He didn't recall her mentioning having a sister, so curiousity got the best of him. “Hey, whose is this?”

“My mom’s. I don't think she'll mind-- she and dad are all the way in Jeonju, taking care of our grandparents. Put up with that for the meantime. Now, do you need me to help you get dressed or will you be fine on your own?"

"Uh... I'll manage!"

(((( ))))

Most of their day was spent at the hospital, just because Jieun wanted to make sure she heard from the medical and scientifical aspect of it all before jumping to her own conclusions. Also, if Jieun didn't want Sunggyu nosing in, she had to steer Woohyun clear away from her brother if she wanted to continue helping him out. Besides, any result that they could get was practically the only sane lead they would have so far in unravelling this gender-bending mystery. A couple of laboratory tests were run on Woohyun by a requesting physician and after a thorough examination, the two waited in the clinic for a final diagnosis to come in. They suddenly turned rather tense in their seats as the doctor finally entered the with documents in hand, greeted them, and took her seat behind the desk.

"H-How is it, doctor?" Woohyu asked timidly.

"I went over your ultrasound, hormone testing, and other lab results and I'm happy to say that there's nothing to be alarmed about regarding your current condition," the attending physician informed them as she thumbed through several films and interpretative readings. The two immediately looked at each other, their eyes sparkling with hope. "According to our physical examination and these, the way I see it, you're a perfectly healthy female, miss... errr... Woohyun. Did I read that right?"

Woohyun's face instantly fell. Great! Even the laws of science and medicine decided to turn against him!

"It is as it states. And that, exactly, is the problem, doctor!" Woohyun asserted, standing up. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life like this! I'm not supposed to be this way! I'm really a guy! Just not anatomically and physiologically and biologically right now, but I'm really a guy!"

"I understand that you feel that way, Miss Nam, but given the limits of my specialization, I'm afraid that the best offer I can give you right now is my counsel," the doctor advised. "However, if you truly desire to take more active means, I can refer you to a good friend of mine who can help you with your problem there. He's a busy surgeon with quite a number of clients, but I'm sure he can squeeze you in on a last-minute appointment--"

Jieun, outraged by the offer, stood up and tugged her companion's petite arm, signalling that it was time to leave. "Thanks, but he's not interested in any gender reassignment surgery! You were very helpful, doctor. Now, come on, Woohyun!"

Wordlessly, Woohyun allowed his girl form to be dragged over by a seething Jieun, who was inches taller than him. She led him outside the clinic and into the hospital's hallway. "Hey," he tried calmly, "Jieun, it's okay. She didn't mean to offend anyone-- she doesn't know the full story, okay? That doctor would have clearly misunderstood. It wasn't her fault, so don't take your anger out on her."

The girl let out a loud sigh to blow off some steam. "Sorry."

"Now that our plan failed, what do we do now? Do you think we should go to another hospital? See another doctor?"

"If your results are what they presented to be, I don't think seeing another doctor would be of much help, Woohyun. He or she'd just draw up to the same conclusion," Jieun finished. "That makes this problem much more complex. How can a person possibly change from a guy to a girl overnight? You see, 'overnight' is the keyword here; it's just not scientifically possible-- I'm sorry, did I say something funny?"

Jieun had to interrupt herself because Woohyun had broke into a lovely fit of giggles. The male nurses and hospital staff were instantly smitten and had turned their direction to the source of the laughter, and Jieun felt bad for sending dissuading glares their way to fend them off. 

"It's just amusing, that's all," Woohyun murmured after he had caught his breath. "Despite the absurdity of everything that's happening right now, you really don't doubt me. For all you know I could be some random stranger trying to take advantage of you."

"You won't believe the number of times I had to pinch myself today to make sure I'm not dreaming. You may not look like Woohyun to me right now, but my gut feeling is screaming that it's really you."

"Thank you, then. For believing in me."

"Dummy. Thank me when you turn back into yourself," Jieun teased with a small smile. "What do you say we go get some ice cream first while we think this through?"

After they made their respective purchases, Jieun pulled Woohyun to the nearby park in their neighborhood. To passersby, they'd only see a petite girl in near-hysterics busy drowning herself with one whole tub of cookies and cream as she cried about her girl problems to her friend. Well, they were definitely right about the "girl" problems part.

Woohyun took a big spoonful of the icecream from the tub, stuffing himself with the delicious dessert before continuing their conversation. "After seeing how scientifically impossible this overnight transformation is, I've been considering geek theories such as alternate universes, quantum physics, astral projections and body possessions... infinity stones and things of the like. But somehow it doesn't fit with the red glow that was bothering me before I fell asleep..."

"Woohyun, that's a lead!" Jieun exclaimed, hitting her companion on the shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me something as important as that earlier?!? Go on, keep talking!"

"Sorry! I didn't bring it up because I didn't think much of it and thought it was coming from one of Boohyun's Iron Man figures. When I did manage to check, the whole room was bathed in it this red light, but I couldn't make out the source of it from outside. Even now, I can't remember what happened after; I was too drowsy. For all you know, I could have been lucid dreaming."

Jieun had now put her own ice cream cup down and was thinking hard. "Red light bathing the entire room. Only a light source big enough could have done that, like the moon. But a moon glowing red, is that even possible?" she pondered before the idea suddenly clicked in her head. "Namu, I think I've got it! BLOOD MOON!"

"Wha-What?"

"A blood moon! You don't suppose there was a total lunar eclipse yesterday?" the girl rambled on. "It could fit! It's always being linked as a bad omen in ancient culture overseas. Superstition always believes that it disrupts the normal order of things. They take it as a warning that change is coming or something unfortunate is going to happen. But last night when I went out to put off the incense sticks, the moon was practically fine! Also, it would have been reported on the news days prior."

"Unless some supernatural event or being triggered it to cause an unprecedented one. At first I thought I really thought it was Zorro, but seeing that I'm still like this now after doing everything in the ritual right, it must be something else," Woohyun filled in, rambling on and on to his train of thought. "The funny thing is, I don't remember touching any ancient object or running into any fortune teller, nor have I pissed any magical, mystical-looking elder off-- do they even still exist?"

"Wait, wait... Zorro? How does Zorro fit into this?"

"I'll explain later, but one thing's for sure, it's definitely not Zorro since I haven't changed back. You think we could head on down to the university library? There are things I need to look up and I need your help. There could be about a hundred books to go through before we could find something and I can't go over them on my own."

Jieun hesitated for a bit. That would lead them right into Sunggyu if that were the case, who was currently camping out in the library to finish of a research paper for some major. Any run-in could spell absolute trouble for them right now, so she had to dissuade him from dashing right into that direction. "Namu, I don't think it's a good idea, it's too long and tedious of a task. We have the internet and..."

"Pleaaaase?" Woohyun pouted, even batting the lovely eyelashes now bestowed upon him.

"Guuuh, I hate you! You know I always fall for the puppy dog pout! Fine, fine!" Jieun finally gave in. "But we're checking the National Library, not the university's!"

(((( ))))

After pouring over what seemed to be more than fifty ancient history books in the National Library and doing a cross check with the university library to see what was available for borrowing, they were able to acquire the essential books they needed. Jieun had to secretly double check with all three of her brother's friends regarding his whereabouts. After verifying that her brother had relocated elsewhere to a bandmate's house to to finish off the paper with the rest of his friends (Myungsoo had even dropped that he would probably be out until early next morning), she offered to borrow them herself, knowing that the way Woohyun looked right now would void usage of his own identification card. He couldn't even get in the library.

So they ended up relocating back to the Kim residence, where they splayed out all the books over the floor of the wooden veranda in the backyard. Both became so engrossed in their readings and in taking down notes that they had lost track of the time and skipped dinner altogether in the process, taking no breaks in between. It was only when the doorbell rang that they managed to pause whatever they were doing.

Jieun's brows furrowed as she immediately checked her phone. There were no new messages signalling that anyone was coming over. Woohyun looked up from his own work to speak to her. "Your brother?"

She shook her head. "That's weird. My brother has his set of the house keys with him at all times and he always lets himself in. He's never had to ring the doorbell before. and if his keys were lost, he would have called first. Besides, he already told me he would be home late."

"Were you expecting a visitor over then?"

“I'm not sure," Jieun told him, fearing that it was either Dongwoo, Myungsoo or Sungjong who had decided to drop by without notice. Hastily, she piled all the books together, moved them to a corner before hurrying back to Woohyun and ushering him behind low but thick bushes surrounding one of the stone lanterns. "I'm sorry, but wait here and don't move an inch from this spot until I've distracted the guest's attention. The moment I give you the signal from the kitchen window, run as quickly as possible to my room and stay hidden."

With that, she nervously went to answer the doorbell. Woohyun's protective gaze had never left her as he remained hidden in the bushes. From his spot in the garden, the gate was in clear sight, so he decided to peer over just a little bit more to catch a glimpse of the person who was at the gate.

What was Kim Sunggyu doing here?

Jieun looked very thrilled to see him and beamed up at the guy with the happiest smile Woohyun has ever seen on her, her cheeks turning a nice rosy shade as she accepted the box of cupcakes. Woohyun watched miserably as she led him inside the household with no hesitations, just as if he was a frequent visitor of the place.

Who did he think he was, bringing over cupcakes so casually like that at this time of the night? Was he courting her? Were they dating? Affected by how touchy and clingy Jieun was to Kim Sunggyu and vice versa, Woohyun decided to come out of his hiding hole and sauntered up to the guy currently lounging about in the living room like he was king of the household, completely forgetting that he was not exactly 'Woohyun' right now.

"Hey. Hey you," Woohyun snarled, prodding the older Kim sibling square in the chest before grabbing him by the collar. "Yes, the wall beside you--do you see anyone else around? It's obviously you whom I'm talking to, hamster-face! Listen here!"

Sunggyu was taken aback by the sudden assault. "Excuse me?" he asked, but his voice came out meek and timid, flustered by the sudden appearance of a random person in their home. "W-Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who I am, mister! You keep your grubby, erted little hamster paws off Jieun before I decide to break your face! What are you even doing here at this time of the night? You think it's suave to walk into a girl's home knowing she's alone? Have you no shame, no sense of decency?"

"Excuse me?!?" Sunggyu exclaimed this time with his voice raised, appalled by this girl's pluck to tell him off in his own household. "I live here!"

Live here? HOLY. CRAP.

Unable to believe it, Woohyun released his grip and ended up gaping at Sunggyu like an idiot, his mouth opening and closing reminiscent of a fish out of water.

It was only then when Jieun ran back into the living room after setting her cupcakes in the fridge. In her excitement over her brother's rather early return and the cupcakes, she had been careless and had forgotten all about Woohyun hiding in the bushes until she heard Sunggyu half-yelling at someone from the living room. When she walked in, the damage had already been done. This was exactly what she had been trying to avoid for the whole day.

"Jieun, who is this?" Sunggyu huffed, put off by that little squabble with his sister's guest.

"Yeah, about that! This is N-Nam...Nam...uhhhm..." Jieun found herself stuck at that point. Woohyun was supposed to stay low and hidden from the world until the two of them found a way to fix this, so neither of them had even bothered discussing giving him a female alias. The girl scanned the living room, silently praying for any idea to come up, and then something caught her attention. It was that huge autographed frame that her brother's friends had given him as a joke for his birthday last year. It turned out that the real joke was on them-- Sunggyu practically turned into a warfreak over it and nearly choked everyone in sight when Sungjong had tipped the frame over by accident once and nearly sent it crashing to its doom.

Because aside from Kim Jongwan of Nell, Sunggyu had another person he idolized a lot.

"HYUNA!" she exclaimed, thanking her lucky stars for sending 4Minute's Hyuna into her line of vision. Her uncharacteristic outburst startled the two, who then looked on as if she had just uttered gibberish. Jieun pulled Woohyun's Nam-princess form towards her in a half-hug. "Yes! This is Nam Hyuna, Gyu! I met her through my part-time job. She's one of the customers at NIT, that's how we became close! Hyuna, I don't believe I've introduced you to this amazing person! This is Kim Sunggyu, the best older brother anyone could ask for!"

Despite the rather rocky first encounter, Sunggyu was still gentleman enough to offer his hand for a handshake, and Jieun secretly sent eye signals over to her friend to play along nicely. Woohyun took it with a deathgrip as tight as his now-tiny hand could muster and Sunggyu's eyes narrowed in response. Jieun could only cringe as she looked on at the scene unfolding before her. There was obvious tension in the air as the two shook hands briefly and parted as if some electric surge had jolted through so suddenly. And the two even had the audacity to fake smiles at each other despite the obvious dislike. Girl or not, Woohyun was still Woohyun after all.

With their pending problem compounded to ten times the gravity and no concrete lead in sight, would they be able to get to the bottom of this gender-bending mystery?

A/N: A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU, AND YOU, AND YOU!!! Here's my holiday gift to you readers after being out of action for so long-- a loaded chapter which I hope you all thoroughly enjoyed! You're all still free to go ahead and theorize ORRRR you could just stay tuned, go with the flow and solve it along with Woohyun and Jieun as the story goes. But now that we've got elder brother Sunggyu in the way, how do you think that would spell out? DUNDUNDUN. See you guys in the chapters to come, and thank you for patiently waiting, reading, and dropping comments. It's the best gift any author could ask for!

Lastly, I leave you guys with this, just to get into the holiday feel. Always remember the reason for the season, and that happiness isn't underneath your Christmas tree-- it's in the people around it. Once again, MERRY CHRISTMAS and enjoy the holidays with the people that matter the most... and Infinite too ;)