OMS 50
by Cherry“Mr. Hee-soo, are you alright?”
Park Dong-sik lightly slapped his cheek to stay awake. He was in the middle of a conversation with Chairman Kim, who was actually Kim Yoon-ah, when overwhelming drowsiness hit him. He had been gaming until late last night, the fatigue must have caught up with him all of a sudden.
There was a good reason Park Dong-sik had been immersed in gaming lately. Kim Jun-han was away on a long business trip abroad, and Kim Tae-han was also hard to see since his last movie was released. While he missed having someone to have sex with, he thought enjoying time alone wasn’t so bad either.
“Where were we?”
“The shaman.”
“Right, the shaman.”
Park Dong-sik picked up the desk calendar to check the date. Exactly two weeks from now a ritual was scheduled at Seonnyeo Shaman’s shrine. It was to switch Chairman Kim’s and Kim Yoon-ah’s souls back to their original bodies. As he explained slowly, Chairman Kim’s expression became strange. He expected her to be overjoyed, but she just stared at the calendar with tightly pressed lips.
“Why that face? Aren’t you happy?”
“Of course, I’m happy…”
Park Dong-sik sensed her true feelings. Kim Yoon-ah in Chairman Kim’s body, had grown particularly close to Madam Song, seemingly developing an intimate relationship. Perhaps she was happy to have family after growing up relatively lonely. Just like how I felt stable by Jun-han’s side. Or maybe it was true love. From Park Dong-sik’s perspective, it was complicated.
“If it’s too soon, just say so. We can delay it.”
“No, I want to go back quickly. I can see Ms. Hee-soo every day that way anyway.”
“Liar. What’s so good about seeing my face every day?”
Park Dong-sik mindlessly grabbed a snack in front of him. It was a dried persimmon shaped into something decorative, but as soon as he took a bite, unexpected nausea rose from his stomach. He suddenly covered his mouth with an “Umph!” and Chairman Kim looked at him in surprise.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah, suddenly…my stomach…”
“Did you drink yesterday?”
“How did you know?”
“I’ve told you many times. Mr. Hee-soo, you’re not suited for alcohol. Even if you’ve lost your memories, your body remembers. Heavy drinking and smoking can strain your heart and harm your health. One light drink is fine, but absolutely, absolutely no binge drinking!”
Park Dong-sik covered his ears.
“Stop nagging. Keep this up and I’ll leave you in Chairman Kim’s body, ritual or not.” As he stood up threatening this, his head spun. He grabbed the sofa, and Chairman Kim rose in alarm.
“Mr. Hee-soo!”
Park Dong-sik gestured that he was fine.
“This won’t do. I need some hangover ramen and sleep. I’m going. Rest well.”
Leaving behind the worried Chairman Kim, he went outside. Downstairs, Madam Song was elegantly drinking tea while playing classical music. Come to think of it, the old lady’s face had brightened up lately. Madam Song gave him a flat look but didn’t scold him like before. Instead, she called him over.
“Come and sit for a moment.”
As he reluctantly sat down, Madam Song put down her teacup.
“What’s happening with your divorce?”
“We’ll do it when it’s time…”
While answering, Park Dong-sik’s gaze was fixed on the bright red strawberries in front of Madam Song. Why did the strawberries look so appetizing? He unconsciously swallowed and looked at Madam Song pleadingly.
“Mother, I’m going to eat one strawberry.”
Before getting permission, he stabbed one with a fork and stuffed it in his mouth. Madam Song looked at him in disbelief. Park Dong-sik kept eating strawberries. Ah, delicious. Why did they taste like honey?
“Wow, these are incredibly delicious. Where did you buy them?”
Madam Song’s expression was strange somehow. She remained motionless before gesturing to Butler Yoon to clear the area. After the staff disappeared, Madam Song lowered her voice and asked Park Dong-sik.
“You…could you be…pregnant?”
Park Dong-sik laughed incredulously while eating strawberries.
“Eating strawberries means pregnancy? Then you must be pregnant too, Mother?”
“Shh. Where are your manners?”
“Don’t worry about it. I can’t get pregnant. I took lots of birth control pills.”
Madam Song’s expression noticeably brightened.
“True. What feelings could you and Jun-han have for each other for the two of you to have a child together?”
Park Dong-sik stuffed his mouth full of strawberries.
“Keep your worries to yourself. The chances of me getting pregnant are about as likely as you getting pregnant.”
Madam Song shot him a look, and Park Dong-sik grabbed one last strawberry before getting up. “I’ll be going now. Thanks for the food.” As he headed toward the guest house, he heard Madam Song instructing staff to bring more strawberries there.
Park Dong-sik paused. Though Madam Song appeared strict and disagreeable, she actually had many tender sides. Was this why Kim Yoon-ah felt sympathy for her? His thoughts became complicated again. Back at the guest house, Park Dong-sik took out instant ramen he’d hidden from Kim Jun-han and added water to it.
He played upbeat music on his phone, sat at the table, and split his chopsticks. What a peaceful daily life this was. No need to work hard in the cold, able to eat whatever he wanted, and buy anything he desired.
By now, the body switch felt like incredible luck. Of course, his impressive dick was gone, burned away. But now that he’d gotten used to this white, delicate body, it wasn’t bad. Plus, both Kim Jun-han and Kim Tae-han were crazy about this body. That was why they couldn’t keep their hands off it whenever they saw it.
As he lifted the ramen lid to smell it, Park Dong-sik suddenly couldn’t hold back and covered his mouth with an “Ugh!” What’s this? Did he eat the strawberries too quickly? He ran to the bathroom, clutched the toilet, and dry heaved several times.
After rinsing his mouth, he looked in the mirror to see that his face had already become haggard.
Maybe he drank too much yesterday. Or…
‘Could you be…pregnant?’
Park Dong-sik laughed incredulously. Nonsense. Pregnancy my ass. He’d taken so many pills. He’d heard about side effects, maybe vomiting was one of them.
Without hesitation, Park Dong-sik went upstairs. He found the yellow pills he’d been taking in the drawer and searched the Internet for the name written on the back. Typing ‘xxx side effects’ brought up several results. Nausea and vomiting were listed first.
Park Dong-sik sighed in relief while stroking his chest. See? He knew it. He had taken a lot of pills. Curious about other side effects, he continued reading, but something seemed off. Though the medicine image clearly showed the same type of pill Park Dong-sik was taking…why…?
“…”
Thinking he might have seen wrong, he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. He opened the pills to compare carefully and checked the name several times. What was going on? His mind went blank. In a panic, he called Director Kim, and a husky voice came through the receiver.
[Yes, Mr. Hee-soo.]
“Honey, I have something to ask…”
[How’s your stomach? Are you okay?]
“That’s not important, remember when you said there was emergency contraception in the drawer? It was XXX, right?”
Silence fell. When Director Kim’s voice returned, it was agitated.
[What are you talking about? Those are…high-dose vitamins…]
“…”
[The birth control pills are the oval yellow ones marked E1.]
“…”
[Are you listening?]
His silence must have made her anxious.
[Don’t tell me…you’ve been taking those all this time?]
“…”
[Mr. Hee-soo?]
“No wonder…”
[Pardon?]
“Every time I took them, my urine turned yellow and I felt super energetic. Fuck.”
[What…what are you saying…?]
Sensing something was wrong, Kim Yoon-ah called out loudly, “Mr. Hee-soo!” Park Dong-sik collapsed onto the sofa, holding his forehead. Ah, what a bolt from the blue.
[Did you really take vitamins? No, this isn’t the time for this. I’ll come over.]
“No, don’t come. I don’t want to get on Madam Song’s bad side. I’ll handle this myself.”
Park Dong-sik hung up and stared straight ahead with a blank expression on his face. Then he looked down at the vitamins in his hand. There’s an old saying: if you believe something is medicine, it becomes medicine. Though he didn’t understand what it meant, he wanted to believe it now. These were contraceptives.
Besides, the book said that pregnancy was most likely during the heat cycle, with chances falling below 30% at other times. Plus, Lee Hee-soo had a weak constitution, so the probability would be even lower.
Trying to reassure himself, Park Dong-sik went downstairs and sat at the table. Maybe he felt better now? Somewhat tense, he smelled the ramen, but inevitably, another “ugh” came first with dry heaving. Park Dong-sik pushed the ramen aside and dropped his head onto his interlocked fingers on the table.
“Ah, fuck…”