Bathhouse (3)

Bathhouse (3)

When had Somteol disappeared?

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t remember clearly.

I made a blank expression while fidgeting with my fingers.

Thinking it wouldn’t do, I was about to set off on a journey to find Somteol.

“I’ll go find him, so you kids keep eating your snacks.”

Han A-rin said as she got up from her seat and patted our heads.

Ha-eun was about to say she would go along, but Han A-rin shook her head, snapped her fingers, and said as she activated her magic:

“Magic is faster, so just relax and rest here. Understand?”

With those words, Han A-rin’s figure disappeared.

Ha-eun wondered if it was okay to use magic in the sauna, but seeing that no one around who glanced at them said anything, it seemed to be fine.

Still feeling guilty for making Han A-rin go alone, Ha-eun raised her tail nervously when Yuna spoke to her.

“It’s okay. Somteol is brave, so he won’t cry and will wait. You know?”

Ha-eun nodded at those words, and Seo-rin, who was next to them, smiled brightly and patted Yuna’s head.

“Is it because Yuna is the older sister? You’re so mature. Ha-eun must be lucky to have many older sisters, right?”

Hearing Seo-rin’s praise, Yuna became very confident.

She stood up and started patting Ha-eun’s head, just as Seo-rin had done to her.

Passing down the love…? Ha-eun blinked, wondering what those two were doing.

Then, she felt a ripple of mana nearby and saw Han A-rin emerging with Somteol.

Thinking they had returned faster than expected, Ha-eun wagged her tail, but Somteol started crying out angrily.

“Peee!”

It was an angry cry asking why they had left him behind.

Ha-eun immediately apologized to Somteol and then fed him a bite of patbingsu.

“Pee.”

He replied that he was still upset but would forgive her.

Relieved, Ha-eun started vigorously patting Somteol’s head, and he shook his fur, hopped up,

and jumped into Ha-eun’s arms, opening his beak with a “peep.”

‘Is she saying she wants to eat more?’

If so, I think it’s right to feed her more, so I’m scooping up small amounts of patbingsu and feeding her.

Chae-a stares at this for a moment, then suddenly bursts out laughing and says to us.

“A baby is feeding another baby…! Hehe.”

“… Beep!”

At those words, Somteol chirps and seems to argue back.

“Beeeep! Beep!”

(Ha-eun may be a baby, but I’m not a baby!)

At those words, I looked at Somteol in confusion.

Unfortunately, since Somteol didn’t have eyes on the top of its head, it couldn’t see my gaze.

While I was thinking that I, as the adult, should be patient with Somteol’s reaction, Seo-rin comes to us with a suggestion.

“Then shall we go for a sand bath?”

At that question, I nodded vigorously and decided to do so.

*

The sand bath was a place where soft and slightly hot sand was spread out.

Lying down here was extremely hot but also soft, making it a very pleasant place.

‘Of course, with my current body, it’s too hot.’

I wouldn’t be able to cover my body with sand or go in too deep.

But I could still lightly touch and remove my feet from the sand.

So the three of us – me, Chae-a, and Yuna – were huddled together, poking the sand with our feet.

“Wow, it’s like warm salt…!”

“It’s hot.”

Among them, Chae-a was the most excited.

Chae-a’s eyes sparkled as if she really liked the sand flowing between her toes.

Soon, she giggled and wiggled her feet side to side while telling me.

“Look at this? It’s so ticklish…! Ha-eun, you should try it too!”

Following her suggestion, I also wiggled my toes and shook them sideways.

Countless grains of sand flowed down, creating a ticklish sensation.

As I was laughing and wagging my tail vigorously, finding it hard to resist the tickling.

Yuna, who was nearby, looked at us with a serious expression and asked a question.

“Hey. I want to make a sandcastle with this.”

“A sandcastle?”

“Yeah. I want to make a big one like this.”

The sand seemed too soft to make a castle with it.

Rather than saying it’s not possible, I thought it would be better to let her experience it directly, so I nodded and said.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

Although I knew what the result would be.

Without showing it, I tried to pile up the sand, but there was one big problem.

“It’s hot. If Ha-eun touches this, her hands will become like the sun.”

The point is that the sand was extremely hot…!

As a result, we were huddled together, poking the sand with our fingers.

Watching this, Seo-rin chuckles and says to us.

“What are you doing?”

After pondering for a moment at this question, I told her what we were doing.

“We’re making a sand castle.”

Hearing this, Seo-rin tries to hold back her laughter, finding it cute, then clears her throat and says something that breaks Yuna’s childlike innocence.

“Oh, really? But what can we do? It’ll be hard to build a sand castle with this sand.”

…?

The atmosphere seemed to be trying to comfort me.

I was about to say that it wasn’t me but Yuna who wanted to build it.

“……”

But seeing Yuna’s expression suddenly become gloomy.

I thought it would be right for me to take the disappointment instead, so I just nodded.

“Still, I’ll help you, so let’s try to make one?”

Seo-rin, seemingly unbothered by the heat of the sand, digs into it without hesitation, creating a hole inside.

Then she carefully starts digging inside as if making a tunnel.

It was hard to call it a sand castle, but Yuna seemed quite satisfied with just this, her eyes sparkling and her tail wagging furiously.

“… Seo-rin unnie is amazing.”

“R-really? I’m glad you like it, Yuna.”

“Yes. It’s weally cool. It looks like a castle.”

Seo-rin, seemingly encouraged by Yuna’s praise.

Smiles brightly and starts making the tunnel even deeper.

Of course, it quickly got buried in the soft sand, but that seemed to be enough for Yuna as she kept wagging her tail while watching it.

“By the way, aren’t you hot?”

“I am. But I wanna see the sandcastle.”

“Hmm, is that so? Still, I think we should start heading out soon.”

Yuna shakes her head from side to side, as if she really liked the sandcastle.

As I was watching this, thinking that Yuna has quite a stubborn side too.

Chae-a, unable to bear it any longer, urgently says to us.

“If we stay like this, I think Chae-a will collapse…! So shall we go out? Is that okay?”

Then she tries to pick me up and drag me out.

I’m not sure why she’s trying to drag me along, but since it’s hot, I’m just letting myself be pulled along.

“No. Ha-eun has to live in the castle.”

Yuna grabs my ankle and won’t let go.

Just as I was getting flustered by this sudden subtle battle of wills.

Chae-a came up with one solution.

“Then Chae-a will take this one, and Yuna can have that one!”

“…?”

Just as I was getting shocked by this statement that could only come from innocence.

Yuna, hearing those words, opened her eyes wide and then nodded with a bright smile.

“I got it.”

“…?”

What did she understand, I wonder.

As I was flailing about, listening to their terrifying words.

Chae-a spoke while leaving my upper body outside the sand bath area.

“Done!”

As a result, I felt like I was split in half, as if stuck in a door.

With my upper body placed in the relatively cooler outside area, I start to feel a bit drowsy and my mood improves.

As I’m melting into a feeling similar to lying on an electric blanket on a winter day, Han A-rin, who was watching us, giggled and said.

“Little ones? You shouldn’t do that. Come on, Ha-eun, don’t just lie there, get up.”

Then she lifted my body and made me come out, continuing to speak.

“You shouldn’t let the air from inside out for the sake of others, okay?”

Hearing this, Chae-a tilted her head, not understanding, and said.

“Chae-a likes cool things… When it’s hot, using cool things feels good. Why can’t we open it…?”

“That place is meant to be hot when you go in. Just like Chae-a likes cool things, there are people who like hot things too.”

Chae-a seemed to understand and nodded.

Then, hugging Somteol, she told us.

“Then I’ll close it tight, okay? You understand?”

“Yes, our Chae-a is a good girl.”

As Han A-rin tried to pick up Chae-a.

Chae-a giggled and ran away.

As I was chuckling at this sight, Han A-rin, seemingly disappointed that Chae-a had run away, picked me up instead and said.

“Well, now that we’re done with the sand bath. Shall we go eat again?”

Again…?

Ha-eun was worried about eating too much, even though eating delicious food made her feel good.

Yuna came out of the sand bath room holding Seo-rin’s hand, wagging her tail vigorously and said.

“I want to eat… patbingsu.”

It was noticeable how much she was sweating, probably because it was very hot.

While I was fanning Yuna vigorously.

Han A-rin looked at us with a pleased smile and shared some good news.

“Actually, this store has a hidden secret. It’s that they sell a special ice cream.”

The expressions of Chae-a and Yuna brightened instantly, probably because it combined all the words kids love: secret, special, and ice cream.

I was smiling and thinking how well this turned out while looking at the two of them.

But then Han A-rin said something that couldn’t be ignored.

“It’s mint chocolate pineapple durian mango plum ice cream… Huh? Ha-eun, where are you going?”

While I didn’t particularly like or dislike mint chocolate, I thought this mixture was too much.

I tried to run away to avoid eating it, but…

Because my legs were short, Han A-rin caught me.