Chapter 4
Chapter 4. Oppa, You Really Are a Genius
Practically everyone is familiar with that dreadful classic scenario—even if they’ve never lived through it firsthand—where a girlfriend turns to her partner and asks, “Oppa, honestly, who looks better: that female celebrity on the screen or me?” while the poor boyfriend immediately breaks out in a cold, nervous sweat.
I used to chuckle at sketches and comedies portraying that exact trope. Right now, though, laughing was the last thing on my mind. What had once seemed like cheap entertainment for bystanders had abruptly transformed into a harsh, unscripted reality show starring me.
‘Oppa, which version of me do you like more? The face I have right now, or the original look I had prior to my reincarnation?’
A heavy weight pressed down on my chest the second the words left her mouth. To make matters far more perilous, she wasn’t asking for a comparison between herself and some random celebrity. She was pitting her pre-reincarnation self directly against her post-reincarnation self.
In essence, Sia had picked a quarrel with her own reflection, turning me into the helpless bystander caught right in the crossfire of two titans.
‘What on earth am I supposed to say to that?’
I began by evaluating the matter with as much cold objectivity as possible. Even in her past human life, Sia had been genuinely gorgeous. That wasn’t merely the biased perception of a fond boyfriend; virtually anyone who crossed her path back then would have readily admitted it.
Even so, Sia’s current visage was on an entirely different level of divine splendor. Her presence was so jaw-droppingly ethereal that even top-tier screen stars celebrated for their glamour would probably dread having to stand beside her.
If I were to offer pure, unvarnished honesty, the conclusion was already glaringly obvious. The face she wore at this moment was vastly more stunning.
Yet, what would happen if I simply stated that outright?
‘Oppa, does that mean the old me was lacking? Are you saying my previous face wasn’t actually that pretty to you?’
And what if I took the opposite route and claimed I preferred her former appearance?
‘Quit trying to flatter me, oppa. Do you honestly think I can’t see through that lie?’
Trapped within an impossible trap, my thoughts raced wildly as I searched for an answer capable of satisfying Sia.
What was the correct move here? Claiming that both versions were equally lovely might come off as hollow or dismissive. Then again, considering her present state of mind, she might actually embrace such flattery with joy—yet rolling the dice on that possibility felt far too perilous.
‘That card carries no real guarantee of safety. Maybe I should slightly redirect the whole conversation?’
That remained an option. Or alternatively…
‘Wait. Look at the situation through Sia’s eyes.’
If the roles were reversed and I were Sia, what words would I genuinely crave hearing from the partner I cherished? Having swiftly organized my thoughts into a coherent strategy, I gulped down my nervousness and parted my lips.
“Sia, to tell you the truth, oppa would be thrilled with whichever form you pick. You look truly breathtaking in both. Still, if you force me to make a choice, your previous face is the one I spent so much time with, so on a personal level, your original features feel a little more comforting to me. But…”
“But?”
Her ears instantly perked up, her full focus locking onto me.
“I think you ought to walk around wearing whichever appearance makes other women feel that much more envious of you.”
“The look that stirs envy in other women? What do you mean by that, oppa?”
Clearly caught off guard by such a peculiar angle, Sia tilted her head to the side in confusion.
Perfect. It was an answer coming entirely from left field, but by sparking her genuine curiosity, I had successfully clouded the trap she had laid out. Now all that remained was delivering the decisive blow.
“I want you to pick the appearance that forces any other woman to say to herself, ‘There’s no way I could ever steal a guy whose girlfriend is that gorgeous.’ Seeing as I’m a man, I don’t really know what kind of feminine charm other women perceive as the pinnacle of beauty…”
“Oppa.”
Before I could wrap up my sentence, she abruptly cut in.
A brief pang of terror shot through my veins, wondering if my explanation had somehow fallen flat. Yet the sheer bliss brimming in her voice, accompanied by her eyes curving into joyful crescents, instantly revealed the polar opposite.
“Oppa, you are a complete and total genius.”
‘Which version of me do you like more? The face I have right now, or the original look I had prior to my reincarnation?’
When Sia posed that question to Minjun, she had done so with entirely pure intentions. The specific outcome honestly didn’t bother her in the slightest. Even if he had suggested a totally different third appearance, she would have accepted it without complaint.
Her sole desire was to pass her days wearing the exact visage that aligned most flawlessly with Minjun’s personal ideal. After all, she was now a majestic dragon who could execute a spell like Polymorph as effortlessly as drawing breath.
‘Since the choice is entirely mine to make, wouldn’t it be far better to adopt the form oppa would dote on the most?’
Yet contrary to her straightforward expectations, Minjun delivered a response she had never anticipated.
‘He wants me to embody the visage that other women would envy the most?’
Not the form oppa personally fancied, nor the one she personally deemed prettier, but rather an appearance calibrated to provoke jealousy among other women?
Sia found herself utterly perplexed at first.
‘What point is oppa trying to make? Is he basically giving me permission to look however I want?’
The moment the latter half of Minjun’s explanation reached her ears, however, an electric shudder cascaded down her spine.
‘He is telling me to assume the aesthetic standard that women revere, rather than what men look for. That way, no outside woman will ever have the nerve to flirt with him.’
That was precisely how Sia processed Minjun’s logic.
‘How on earth did that never cross my mind?’
Oppa was completely right. She needed to block those cunning vixens from ever getting close to him.
Could she really tolerate other women attempting to charm the very same oppa who had held her memory close to his heart for an entire year, even carrying tteokbokki to honor her memorial day?
Not a chance. That single declaration cemented Sia’s absolute confidence in Minjun’s devoted feelings.
Even so, there remained one critical element that Minjun had failed to anticipate. The more breathtaking Sia appeared, the higher the tier of women who would naturally develop an interest in him.
‘The caliber of women daring enough to approach oppa will shift entirely based on the face I show the world.’
What other men thought of her looks held zero value to Sia. They could consider her hideous or revere her as a goddess; it mattered nothing to her.
Other women, however, would inevitably assess Minjun’s worth through the lens of Sia’s presence. Were she to appear excessively magnificent, they might think, ‘A man capable of securing a woman like that must possess immense, hidden qualities,’ and their curiosity would be piqued.
That was an outcome Sia simply could not permit.
If an audacious woman was reckless enough to make a play for Minjun while this current, transcendent incarnation of Sia stood beside him, that rival would surely have to possess equal beauty or overwhelming allure herself.
‘However, if I revert to the appearance I had as a mortal human… women of that exceptional caliber probably won’t bother trying so hard. Yes, this is unquestionably the right approach.’
With her internal deliberation settled, Sia’s eyes curved softly into radiant crescent moons.
‘Even so, this alone won’t suffice.’
Her oppa was simply too remarkable a man.
‘No matter what preventive steps I take, someone out there will eventually try to entice him.’
Her feminine intuition warned her with absolute certainty.
‘I must establish further layers of security. More countermeasures. Merely tweaking my physical form? That hardly offers enough peace of mind. Come up with additional strategies, Jung Sia. Think harder, push further. Wring your mind dry for every possible solution.’
Did Minjun possess the slightest inkling of the fierce, solitary struggle unfolding inside Sia’s head?
Most likely, he remained completely oblivious.
The diversion had succeeded beyond my wildest hopes. Thoroughly delighted by my reasoning and believing I had navigated past the crisis with flying colors, Sia beamed and pressed a tender, lingering kiss against my cheek.
The instant her lips pulled away, she chanted another incantation.
[Polymorph.]
Watching her manipulate supernatural forces without a single mathematical formula or casting matrix was a sight I still hadn’t fully adjusted to. A radiant cascade of light enveloped Sia the moment the magic activated, lingering briefly before gently dissipating.
As the luminescence faded, the Sia resting before me had shifted back into the familiar human figure she had possessed in the past.
The blazing, fiery locks and the intoxicating aura of a divine enchantress had vanished. Standing in their stead was the woman I had originally fallen in love with, complete with soft, graceful dark hair and smooth, rounded facial lines that exuded a gentle warmth.
“Oppa, do I look pretty?”
“Does that even need answering? Could there possibly be a woman across the entire earth more beautiful than my Sia?”
The reply slipped out instinctively, though a small kernel of doubt lingered in my mind.
Naturally, whichever visage she selected made no difference to my heart. Whether Sia mirrored her old mortal self or embraced her reincarnated persona, the only truth that truly counted was that she had miraculously returned to my side alive and well.
Nevertheless, if I were to look at things from a woman’s viewpoint, it seemed to me that the unrealistically gorgeous, crimson-haired Sia would have ignited far more jealousy than her everyday human form ever could.
Why, then, had she deliberately settled on her old features?
‘Do dragon standards of beauty operate on principles entirely alienated from human perspectives? Or does she genuinely believe the face she carried when we first fell in love holds the greater charm?’
Though the riddle remained unsolved, I saw no reason to push the issue or question her judgment. Regardless of the form she assumed, she remained my beloved partner, Sia.
“This brings back so many fond memories, doesn’t it, oppa?”
Interlocking our fingers without a word, we spent a quiet stretch of time simply gazing into one another’s eyes. Only after our palms had fully shared each other’s warmth did we finally turn our attention toward our initial objective of tracking down more tteokbokki.
Just as we had noted during our previous meal, a meager two or three portions fell laughably short of satisfying Sia’s immense dragon appetite.
Keeping her grip tight around my hand, Sia triggered Teleport. The scenery surrounding us shifted in the span of a single heartbeat.
“Ah, it really has been an eternity since I stood here.”
Our boots touched down inside a calm, familiar alleyway located within a studio apartment district in Seoul. Sia let her eyes wander in every direction, wholly swept away by a wave of nostalgia.
To any passerby, the spot was nothing more than an unremarkable, drab street lined with ordinary rental buildings, but to the two of us, this very pavement was steeped in cherished memories.
Just as we had done in our younger days, we exchanged a soft kiss within the quiet shade of the alley. Afterward, we emerged onto the busier thoroughfare to hunt for an appetizing tteokbokki joint.
Had we maintained a single, regular diner in the past, we would have marched straight there without hesitation. However, Sia’s affection for spicy rice cakes had always been so immense that we rarely tied ourselves down to just one kitchen, constantly sampling different spots around town.
I adjusted my pace, strolling slowly so she could take in the sights of our former neighborhood after being away for so long. If my memory served me right, an entirely new tteokbokki diner had cropped up nearby not too long ago.
After roaming the roads for roughly ten minutes, we finally came across the freshly opened eatery.
“Welcome! What can I get started for you today?”
The modern ordering board on the wall seemed slightly foreign to Sia following her lengthy absence. Snuggling close against my shoulder, she carefully inspected each item listed overhead.
Having thoroughly read through the selections item by item, Sia shifted her gaze toward the part-time worker behind the counter.
“Could we please get ten orders of tteokbokki to go?”
‘…Did my ears just play a trick on me?’
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