34-21

Chapter 21 

After the minor conflict(?) between Deputy Kwon and Section Chief Kim 

One week later  

“Good morning~.” 

“S-Section Chief?!” 

Section Chief Kim now looked just like Deputy Kwon. 

“W-what’s with that look…?” 

A tanned gal style. While Kim’s outfit was the same as usual, her skin and face were completely different she looked like another person. 

If you looked closely, you could still see traces of her old face… 

Others had experienced this before. 

Just as Deputy Kwon had shown up as a gal after a weekend, Section Chief Kim had become a gal too! 

“How do I look? Don’t I seem ten years younger?” 

“Haha… I guess so…” 

Since meeting Lee Jinwoo, Section Chief Kim had felt fantastic. 

Someone once said, 

  But it’s just a chicken coop… 

That after 30, a woman isn’t a woman but an “ajumma.” 

But now she wasn’t an ajumma. 

Legally? She was, but outwardly she could pass for her 20s. 

She almost arrived late just admiring herself in the mirror! 

She’d always been early, so “almost being late” was a first. 

‘Section Chief, after all that scolding of Deputy Kwon…’ 

‘In the end, you’re just the same…’ 

Of course, she lost some trust from her subordinates, 

But now, such trivial things didn’t matter to her. 

“Alright~, let’s get to work!” 

Tap-tap-tap  

She sat at her desk right away. 

Her behavior hadn’t changed much before or after her transformation. 

Well, there was one thing. 

“Hmmm~” 

She now looked in the mirror constantly! 

Was it the relief of her mid-to-late 40s, or did she believe she’d returned to her youth? 

She would gaze at her reflection for 10 or 20 minutes at a time, as if admiring art. 

While everyone else worked in silence, time drifted toward lunch  

“Yawn~ Hello, everyone…” 

That’s when Deputy Kwon shuffled in. 

She’d taken a half-day off and didn’t come in that morning. 

“Hello, Section Chief~” 

“Kwon, why are you taking a half-day on a Monday morning?” 

“Oh, well…” 

She leaned in and whispered to Kim. 

“Section Chief, I actually went to a club last night…” 

“What…?” 

Kim was dumbfounded. What kind of civil servant goes clubbing and says it so casually? 

“Hehe… Section Chieeef…” 

“Sigh… I can’t stand this.” 

But Kim couldn’t say she didn’t understand. In a way, she and Kwon were in the same boat. 

She too sometimes wondered, looking in the mirror, “Wouldn’t I be popular now?” 

And it wasn’t just a fantasy since her image change, she’d definitely felt more men’s eyes on her. 

Maybe not all good attention, but compared to the total lack of interest before, she was grateful. 

Some men even tried to get her number! 

‘Well, they probably just want sex or something.’ 

It had been over 15 years since she’d had any attention from men. 

Feeling their hot gazes again made her body tingle it was only natural. 

If her private parts could talk, they’d probably say, “Finally, the cobwebs are coming down!” 

“…So, did it work?” 

“Of course! I’ve never failed with this look!” 

Ahem! 

“…Alright, go do your thing.” 

  Okay! 

‘…She really has changed.’ 

Now that she’d experienced it herself, she understood. 

‘It’s impossible not to feel confident.’ 

If Kwon used to be shy and introverted, 

Now she was always smiling and confident. 

Of course, the latter was better. 

To an outsider, her personality had done a 180 it wouldn’t be strange to suspect “brainwashing.” 

‘But it’s not brainwashing.’ 

Kwon’s personality changed because of her appearance. 

Physical health is mental health. 

When your body changes, your mind naturally follows. 

The same was true for Kim. 

She used to dislike Lee Jinwoo, thinking his actions set back women’s rights. 

But not anymore. 

‘Lee Jinwoo… was actually helping.’ 

No matter how many privileges and powers women were given, there was a fundamental problem. 

Rights gained through the social system are meaningless if that system disappears. 

She knew men only pretended to respect women because of social pressure, but secretly looked down on them. 

‘But Lee Jinwoo could fix these problems.’ 

Even on her way to work, she felt it  

The lustful stares of men. 

But only a few dared speak to her. Most just looked. 

Most men couldn’t even approach her, and if she did, they got flustered. 

It was like a rabbit approaching a lion, and the lion running away. 

A reversal of biological predator and prey. 

‘Lee Jinwoo isn’t a villain.’ 

He’s a savior for women. 

‘They were keeping this good thing to themselves?’ 

She was angry, but managed to hold it in. She wasn’t the type to let petty feelings get in the way of the greater good. 

That’s how she became a section chief without ever marrying. 

‘This needs to spread to other women.’ 

  At least to my department… 

This was the beginning of section chief–led office politics. 

Officer Park. 

A level 7 civil servant in the Career-Break Women Support Division, rarely in the office due to frequent fieldwork. 

Today, he had to stop by the office for some business. 

‘Sigh…’ 

Truthfully, he hated coming in. 

He could already picture the old maid section chief nagging him to get coffee, and clueless newbies adding their orders. 

He volunteered for fieldwork partly for this reason. 

He preferred being out of the office. 

Creak  

“Hello ” …But the office was completely different from before. 

“Oh, Officer Park~ Long time no see!” 

It was like everyone’s skin had been inverted everyone was dark-skinned. 

Except for one person, hiding in a corner, who still had normal Korean skin. 

“Wait… who are you all?” 

He wondered if he’d come to the wrong department, but the location was correct. 

“Haha! Officer Park, you’re so funny! Don’t you recognize me? It’s Deputy Kwon~” 

Deputy Kwon? 

The one always hanging around Section Chief Kim, acting shy but always making snide comments? 

“Really, you’re Kwon?” 

“Come on, it’s me! I even have my badge!” 

Her old shy demeanor was gone Park couldn’t find it even when he looked hard. 

“Oh, Officer Park. Long time no see.” 

“W-wait… Section Chief?” 

“What, why?” 

Section Chief Kim, as Park remembered, was rude always making him buy coffee, never paying, dumping all her work on others. 

She was a big reason he volunteered for fieldwork. 

“N-no, nothing…” 

Before finding his place, Park quietly approached the normal-looking person in the corner. 

“Hey, what’s going on here?” 

“Oh, well…” 

‘Wow, so that’s what happened…’ 

He listened as the staff member explained. 

  It started with Deputy Kwon. One day, she suddenly showed up looking like a Ja-Ae Cult follower dark skin, unrecognizably pretty. 

  Then, about a week later, Section Chief Kim showed up looking just like Kwon. 

  That’s when people started changing, one by one… 

  Of course, Section Chief asked me too… “Why don’t you want to be prettier? You’ll be healthier, too. If women want to be truly strong, we all have to do this…” She gave me all sorts of reasons. 

  But I had a bad experience with a cult as a kid… so I told her I never go near religion. She said okay and left me alone. 

  That’s when the distance started between those who changed and those who didn’t… 

  At first it was minor just a few extra tasks for the unconverted, while the changed ones slacked off. I figured, I’m low on the totem pole, I can handle it. 

  But over time it got worse… If you didn’t work overtime, you couldn’t finish your daily workload, and the little tasks kept piling up… 

  Even those who hadn’t changed started to give in. I was so exhausted… sniff 

  When I was the only one left, I thought about changing too… but I just couldn’t, remembering what happened to me as a kid. I felt like I was being ostracized… 

  So I’m transferring to another department tomorrow… But I’m glad I got to talk to someone I used to work with before I go. 

Sss  

Whoosh  

He wasn’t a smoker, but seeing how much the department had changed while he was gone made him crave a cigarette. 

‘Sigh…’ 

Thinking about having to adapt to a completely changed department made his chest feel heavy.