Ch.117117. More Than Lovers, Less Than Spouses

After traveling for about two more hours, we left Tokyo and arrived in Gunma Prefecture, which borders Saitama Prefecture.

Grabbing our suitcases and walking out from the train platform, we found ourselves at the entrance of Gunma Prefecture. And at this entrance was our destination, Ikaho Onsen.

“Oh? Siwoo, these stone steps. Aren’t they the ones we saw in the photos?”

“Yeah, I think so? They’re much higher than they looked.”

I hadn’t realized it from the photos, but seeing them in person, they were quite steep. I adjusted my grip on my suitcase and looked around.

The 365 stone steps stretched out to the left and right, with various hot springs and accommodations lined up on both sides, creating a rather unique street.

“It might be a bit difficult to climb up with our suitcases. Should we drop off our luggage first and come back in the afternoon?”

My friend had told me that if you come to Ikaho Onsen, you must enjoy the scenery while climbing up the steps, but it would be difficult in our current state.

After roughly estimating the height of the steps, I nodded.

“Yeah, that would be better. Let’s check in at the ryokan first.”

The Kinoue Ryokan we had reserved through the website was located deeper inside Ikaho Onsen. According to the instructions, it would be visible after walking about twenty minutes from the entrance of the village.

After our brief conversation, we looked around as we walked toward the ryokan. About halfway there, Hwa Nabi suddenly pointed somewhere and said:

“Wow, Siwoo. Do you see that?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Over there, that building with the blue tile roof. Doesn’t it look like a palace?”

When I turned my head, there really was a large building.

At a glance, it was surrounded by green landscaping, giving off an old-fashioned yet sophisticated feel… but somehow it looked familiar? I narrowed my brows and examined the building’s design more carefully.

Blue tile roof, brown pillars and benches. This building decorated with various landscaping. It was the one I had seen in photos introducing Ikaho Onsen.

“Ah, that?”

“Yes, isn’t it huge? Is it some kind of historical cultural heritage?”

As Hwa Nabi said, it was quite an impressive building. But knowing the true purpose of that building, I could only laugh at her admiration.

I chuckled while looking at the blue tiles, and Hwa Nabi tapped my shoulder.

“What? Why are you laughing?”

“Hmm, it’s nothing.”

The blue-tiled building that Hwa Nabi was admiring was neither a cultural heritage nor anything special—it was just a public restroom.

Since Ikaho Onsen is similar to a tourist special zone in our country, they built such a large and magnificent restroom for tourists visiting the area. But I suppose that’s not really important.

Afraid she might be shocked if I told her the truth, I kept it to myself and continued walking.

“Ah, Siwoo. Wait for me!”

*

Getting hungry during our walk, we had lunch at a local specialty place called Mizusawa Udon. After walking a bit more, we arrived at our destination, Kinoue Ryokan. Guided by a ryokan staff member dressed in a beautiful kimono, Hwa Nabi and I sat at a table in the ryokan lobby.

This was a necessary step before check-in—filling out our basic personal information and emergency contacts in case of any unforeseen events.

“There’s only one pen. Nabi, do you want to go first?”

“Oh, I already know all your personal information anyway. I’ll just fill it out.”

“…Really?”

Somehow that sounded a bit unsettling… but it must be my imagination.

After giving a casual response, I looked around. As expected of a famous ryokan in the area, the furniture arrangement and interior had an overall antique atmosphere, making it quite impressive.

How should I describe it? It gives off an impression somewhat like old Korea? You know, like those fusion historical dramas with yangban houses. In the middle of the corridor hung a black and white photograph that looked like a portrait of the first innkeeper couple.

In our country, you often see such things in soup restaurants, but I guess the atmosphere changes a lot when you’re in a different country.

“Hmm.”

Perhaps because it was still early, there were no other guests besides us. As I continued with these idle thoughts, I turned my gaze.

Hwa Nabi, sitting next to me, was still filling out the personal information. But when progress seemed to stall even after some time had passed, I peeked over curiously.

From what I could see, it asked for the visitor’s name, gender, age, whether they had companions, and if so, their relationship with that person… that sort of thing.

-Hmm, hmm….

Hwa Nabi was hesitating on the last item, ‘relationship with companion.’

“Siwoo. About this part that says ‘relationship with companion.’ What should I write?”

“Well… can’t you just write ‘aijin’ (lover)?”

More accurately, we should write that we’re engaged, but there’s no need to show off, so I gave a casual answer. But for some reason, Hwa Nabi narrowed her eyes and looked at me.

“Siwoo, if you write that, people will misunderstand.”

“Misunderstand what?”

“In Japan, ‘aijin’ refers to someone you’re having an affair with. If we write that word here, what will the ryokan staff think of us?”

“Ah… really?”

I almost made a big mistake. I learned something good today. Nodding my head, I moved closer to Hwa Nabi.

“Then can’t we write ‘koibito’ (lover)?”

“Ah, I don’t like that word because the pronunciation isn’t pretty. Isn’t there another word?”

“……”

Geez, this isn’t a job interview—we could just write something simple and be done with it. After watching quietly, I snatched the pen and wrote it myself.

“There, this should work, right?”

The word I wrote was ‘fuufu’ (husband and wife). The pronunciation is cute enough, and since we’ll be that someday anyway, it’s not wrong. So she shouldn’t have any complaints.

As I expected, Hwa Nabi’s cheeks turned red as she looked at the word ‘fuufu’ I had written.

“I-is this really okay? This is lying, isn’t it?”

“Why is it lying? We live together. We’re practically married.”

“J-just because we live together doesn’t make us married! You need a wedding ceremony and marriage registration to be a real married couple!”

Your values seem a bit different from mine? It seems Hwa Nabi really values formalities.

“Anyway, is it all filled out? I’ll go submit this.”

“Since we need to go to our room anyway, I’ll come with you.”

After submitting our personal information to the ryokan staff, we pulled our suitcases and moved to our reserved room.

At the end of the ryokan’s wide corridor was our room, the ‘tsuki’ (moon) suite, with a slightly larger door than the other rooms.

“The other rooms are numbered 101, 102, but our room has a name on it.”

“Yeah, probably because it’s a special room?”

As Hwa Nabi pointed out, the regular rooms were labeled with Arabic numerals like 101, 102, while our special room had its own unique name, ‘tsuki’ (moon).

I guess they did this to differentiate the special rooms? At least we won’t get confused about our room number. I inserted the key we were given and opened the door.

“Wow, the room is really spacious. Siwoo, isn’t this too big for just the two of us?”

“Yeah, it really is huge.”

Was the ‘special’ in special room not about being special but about being extremely large? That’s what I thought seeing how spacious it was.

It’s quite large for a man and woman to share. Judging by the size of the living room and the number of sofas and furniture, it seems more suitable for a family of four.

“Should we change rooms now?”

“There’s nothing wrong with the room, and they probably won’t let us change for that reason.”

Somehow when I was making the reservation, they asked if I was really sure about it. But what’s done is done. We have no choice but to stay in the special room.

“Let’s unpack first and rest a bit.”

Taking a plane, a taxi, a train. Then arriving and walking more. The time spent just traveling was over ten hours.

But Hwa Nabi didn’t seem tired at all. As soon as she put her suitcase in the corner, she went to the window in the living room.

“Siwoo, look outside this window. There’s even an open-air bath?”

“Ah, yes. That was in the room options.”

Unlike regular rooms, special rooms have an open-air bath instead of a balcony. Next to it is a shower for a quick rinse, and in front of the open-air bath is a view of the open forest landscape.

“Wow… there’s even sake and cups here. Can we drink these?”

“Yes, you can use everything in the room.”

A drink after bathing is another delight. The inn staff must know this too, as sake and cups were prepared.

While responding to Hwa Nabi’s question and unpacking my luggage, I approached her as she was looking around with childlike excitement.

“Nabi, change your clothes first.”

“What? A-already? It seems a bit early…”

But for some reason, she seemed to misunderstand something in broad daylight, and her voice became somewhat suggestive as she faced me. Feeling dumbfounded, I gestured toward the open-air bath.

“What do you mean ‘already’? Aren’t we going to the hot spring? We agreed to do that.”

“Ah… right. We did.”

I couldn’t understand why Hwa Nabi, who had seemed in a good mood until just now, was suddenly disappointed. Well, actually, I could guess, but I pretended not to know.

If we started our private time already, I wouldn’t be able to handle what comes after. I opened the door to the small dressing room next to the living room and said:

“Do you want to change first?”

“…No, you change faster, Siwoo. You go ahead and change first, and I’ll be in there? I have something to prepare, so I’ll join you slowly.”

“Really? Alright. Come quickly.”

“……Huh, okay.”