Oppa Really Is A Genius.

A girlfriend asks, “Oppa, who’s prettier, that celebrity on TV or me?” and the man breaks out in a flop sweat. Everyone knows the scene, even if they’ve never witnessed it in person.

I’d laughed at it a few times myself, watching it on television. Now it had turned into a situation I couldn’t laugh at. On the screen it had been simple comedy, but it wasn’t comedy anymore; it had become a documentary.

Oppa. Is this face I have now better, or was my original face before the reincarnation better?

The question clamped my chest shut. And the comparison wasn’t even against some other woman, but herself before the reincarnation against herself after it. Looked at one way, Sia was about to pick a fight with her own self, and in that vicious fight I’d become the shrimp whose back splits open¹, through no fault of my own.

What on earth am I supposed to answer?

First, let me look at this as objectively as I can. Human Sia, before her reincarnation, had definitely been pretty, and not just in my eyes; most people who knew her agreed on that much. But her looks now were simply overwhelming. Even actresses famous for their beauty wouldn’t want to stand next to her.

Right. Honestly, the answer was already out in the open. Her current face was far prettier.

But what if I said that straight out?

Oppa, then what about the old me? Are you saying my face back then wasn’t much?

And what if I said her old appearance was the better one?

Don’t lie to me, Oppa. You think I wouldn’t know that much?

Caught in a damned-if-I-do, damned-if-I-don’t bind, my mind racing, I hunted for an answer Sia would be satisfied with.

What do I do? If I say they’re both pretty, will that sound too half-hearted? Then again, the way Sia was feeling right now, she might even be delighted, but that was a gamble.

It’s not a sure card. Should I steer the subject a little?

That might be one way to go. Or else… Right. Let me try putting myself in Sia’s position.

If I were Sia, what answer would I want to hear…

Suppose I’m Sia right now. What would I want to hear from the boyfriend I loved? I sorted my thoughts out fast, swallowed once, and opened my mouth.

“Sia. Oppa doesn’t mind either way. Both of them are really pretty, but if I absolutely had to pick, the old Sia’s look is more familiar to me, so I’d say the old one might be a little better. But…”
“But?”

Sia’s ears perked up.

“Oppa recommends you stay in whichever of the two looks other women would be even a little more jealous of.”
“A look other women would be jealous of? What does that mean, Oppa?”

Sia tilted her head; it clearly wasn’t the answer she’d expected. Good. It was out of left field, but it had piqued her curiosity. Deflection successful. Now to land the finishing blow.

“I’d like Sia to pick whichever face is pretty enough that other women think, ‘I don’t have the confidence to steal a man who’s dating a woman that beautiful.’ I’m a man, so I don’t really know what sort of woman’s face women find pretty…”
“Oppa.”

Sia cut me off before I’d even finished. For a moment I worried she hadn’t liked my answer, but her exultant voice and her eyes, curved into crescent moons, told me it was the opposite.

“Oppa, you’re a total genius.”

Is this face I have now better, or was my original face before the reincarnation better?

Sia had asked Minjun the question with entirely pure intentions. She didn’t care which one he chose; even a third option beyond those two would have been fine. All she’d wanted was to take whatever form suited Minjun best. She was a dragon, after all, and she could cast a spell like Polymorph as easily as breathing.

So it’s better for me to stay in whatever form Oppa can dote on more, isn’t it?

Contrary to her intentions, though, Minjun had come out with a somewhat odd answer.

He’d like me to stay in whatever face other women would be more jealous of?
Not the side Oppa likes better, and not the face I think is better either, but a face other women would be jealous of?

Sia couldn’t make sense of it at all.

What on earth is Oppa getting at? Is he telling me to fix myself up pretty by myself?

But the moment she heard his next answer, a shiver ran through her whole body.

Stay in a face women find pretty, not men. That way other women won’t go wagging their tails at me so freely.

That was what Minjun’s words meant, as Sia heard them.

Why didn’t I think of this?
Oppa’s right. I have to keep those other vixen bitches from getting anywhere near Oppa.
Oppa didn’t forget me for a whole year, and he packed tteokbokki with his own hands for my death anniversary — and I’m supposed to leave him to have other bitches wagging their tails at him?
Absolutely not.

With that one remark, Sia had confirmed Minjun’s heart for certain.

But.

There was one thing he was overlooking. The more beautiful Sia looked, the higher the caliber of the women who would covet him.

Depending on what I look like, the caliber of the bitches who come at our Oppa changes.

Sia had no interest whatsoever in what other men thought of her face. They could find it hideous or find it pretty; either was fine. Other women, though, would gauge Minjun’s worth by Sia’s face. If she were too pretty, they might think there must be a reason a woman like that is attached to him and take an interest. She couldn’t let that happen. Any woman bold enough to go after him with the current Sia at his side would very likely be beautiful or charming enough to rival her.

But if I look the way I did in my human days… bitches that impressive won’t come at him. Yes, this is right.

The moment her thoughts came together, her eyes curved like crescent moons.

But this alone isn’t enough.
This is our Oppa we’re talking about.
Surely, someday, no matter what I do, there’ll be at least one bitch out there who tries to seduce our Oppa.

Her instincts as a woman told her so.

I have to set up more countermeasures, more. Changing my outward appearance? There’s no resting easy on just this. Think of more ways, Jeong Sia. More, more. Wring your brain out harder.

Did Minjun have any idea that Sia was waging a quiet, desperate battle with herself? No, he probably didn’t.

The operation was a resounding success. I must have dodged the sudden crisis neatly, because Sia, plainly pleased with my answer, smiled and planted a big peck on my cheek. The instant her lips left it, she chanted a spell.

I still couldn’t get used to watching her cast a spell without working out any formula. The moment she did, a brilliant light wrapped around her, and before long it lifted. When it cleared, Sia stood before me, returned to the way she’d looked in her human days.

Gone were the intense red hair and the goddess’s figure that seemed liable to bewitch the mind clean away. In their place stood the woman I had loved, with long, innocent-looking hair and soft, round, kindly features.

“Oppa, am I pretty?”
“What’s there to say? Is there a woman in this world prettier than our Sia?”

That was my reflexive answer, anyway. The truth was, I couldn’t help wondering about her choice.

Of course, it made no difference to me either way. Sia in her human days or Sia as she was now, in the end all that mattered was that she’d come back alive, like a miracle. Still, at least from where I stood, if I’d been a woman, I think I’d have been more jealous of the unrealistically beautiful red-haired Sia than of the way she looked now. So why had she chosen the look from her past life?

Do dragons judge appearance by a different standard than humans? Or did she honestly feel the face from back when she first fell in love with me was prettier?

The question still wasn’t fully settled, but I decided not to dwell on her choice any further. Whatever she looked like, she was the same Sia, my pretty girlfriend.

Anyway.

“This really brings back the old days. Right, Oppa?”

We stayed just as we were, holding hands and taking each other in, for a very long time. Only when the warmth of our hands had fully passed into each other did we head out to buy tteokbokki, as planned. As we’d said over tteokbokki earlier, two or three servings were no longer enough to satisfy Sia now that she was a dragon.

Holding my hand, Sia used teleport, and the view changed in the blink of an eye.

“Wow, it’s been so long since I was here.”

We stood in a dim, little-trafficked alley in one of Seoul’s one-room rental districts. Sia looked all around, as if lost in reminiscence. To anyone else it was a gray rental district with nothing special about it, but for the two of us, a great many memories lived here.

Just as we used to back in those days, we shared a light kiss in the dim alley, and afterward we came back out to look for a decent tteokbokki place. If we’d had a regular haunt we’d have headed straight there, but Sia had loved tteokbokki so much that we’d never settled on one place; we’d ordered from all over.

I walked at an easy pace, partly to show Sia around the neighborhood after so long. Let’s see, I’m pretty sure a tteokbokki place opened around here not long ago. After a dozen-odd minutes of wandering the streets, we managed to find it, freshly opened for business.

“What can I get for you?”

Sia, pressed up against me, ran her eyes down the menu posted on the wall as if a modern restaurant’s menu felt unfamiliar after so long. Once she’d gone over the items one by one, she spoke to the part-timer.

“We’ll just take ten servings of tteokbokki to go.”

…Did I hear that wrong?