Bathhouse (2)

Bathhouse (2)

Is it okay for a worm to come into the bathhouse?

Of course, by common sense, it shouldn’t be brought in, but since that worm isn’t an ordinary worm but a spirit, would it be alright?

I was confused, not knowing how to express this, when

Seo-rin, who was next to me, pointed at the worm and said to Chae-a,

“Worm sis probably doesn’t like water. Do you want to put her in a locker and come back?”

At those words, Chae-a asked the worm on her shoulder if that was really the case.

The earthworm nodded its head while wiggling.

‘… Thank goodness.’

If it had said it wanted to go in together, the situation would have become complicated in many ways.

As I was sighing in relief and putting the earthworm down in the storage container with Chae-a.

Seo-rin carefully picked us up and said.

“Then let’s wash up lightly and get in the bath.”

At those words, Chae-a’s eyes sparkled and she nodded vigorously.

*

The first thing we checked was the Bluetooth shower head.

It was a genius(?) idea, but it’s amazing that this century’s invention, which couldn’t be made due to the cruel wall of reality, exists here. As I was staring at it,

Han A-rin, who was next to me, smiled and picked it up instead, saying.

“I’ll wash you, so would you like to turn around?”

Nodding at those words, I sat down on the chair with a grunt.

Han A-rin carefully sprayed warm water on my body and said.

“One of my dreams was to take a bath with my little sister, and thanks to Ha-eun, it came true.”

Her voice sounded a bit sad, so after thinking for a moment, I overcame my embarrassment to comfort her and said.

“I like doing it together too.”

I was too shy to call her ‘unnie’ (older sister) so I said it indirectly.

But Han A-rin seemed extremely happy just with that, letting out a very joyful laugh.

I was glad that her sadness had flown away, and as I was smiling along with her,

“Ah, I want to wash Ha-eun too!”

Ha-eun was quietly joining in and started applying shampoo to my head.

I closed my eyes, thinking that although it felt cold, it wasn’t unpleasant.

Chae-a and Yuna, who were nearby, seemed to find this fun and gathered around, slathering shampoo and body wash all over me.

“……?”

If they had used a product with a lot of foam, I might have turned into a foam snowman.

As I was feeling flustered, wondering if it was okay to apply so much, Chae-a looked at me covered in bubbles, marveled, and then started applying shampoo to her own head, saying.

“Chae-a is the same now!”

It might indeed be similar.

I was smiling at how cute Chae-a was, when this time Yuna, wanting to follow suit, started squeezing out shampoo and applying it to her own head.

We suddenly became a trio of foam snowmen and were laughing when Han A-rin saw us and chuckled.

“Kids, it’s dangerous to play around here. You shouldn’t play, okay?”

With a light scolding, she started spraying warm water on us.

“The bubbles are gone.”

Chae-a looked down dejectedly as the bubbles disappeared in an instant.

It seemed she had really liked the bubbles stuck to her head.

As I was patting Chae-a’s shoulder to comfort her, Yuna shared some of the foam from her head with Chae-a.

“Wow. Thank you!”

Han A-rin was surprised by the endlessly multiplying foam.

But finding this good in its own way, she smiled and said to Seo-rin.

“Can you help wash Yuna?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Let’s stop playing with soap now and wash up.”

With those words, we nodded and decided to slowly finish our shower.

*

“Huhya.”

Entering the warm bath makes me make strange noises.

I enjoyed the warm water leisurely while standing in the shallowest spot (the chair in the bath).

Unfortunately, I’m too short to sit or lie down.

While I’m making a relaxed expression enjoying the bathhouse like this.

Yuna speaks to me in a stiff state.

“It’s, it’s hot.”

Then, as if it’s hard to endure, she flapped her arms to show her discomfort.

So I asked Yuna if she wanted to get out of the bath.

“It’s okay. I can endure it. If I close my eyes tight and hold your hand, it’s fine.”

She says she can endure it and stands there trembling with her eyes closed.

I was watching her for a while, deciding to take her out if she gets more uncomfortable.

I notice Chae-a floating leisurely on the water like an otter with a relaxed expression.

“…?”

Was that possible? Or is it possible because she’s a spirit?

While I’m blankly watching this, Chae-a rolls around on the water and then speaks to me and Yuna with a bright smile.

“This is fun!”

It certainly looks fun, but the water seems too hot to do that.

As I blink, thinking how amazing Chae-a is while she’s giggling.

Ha-eun sits next to us, relaxing, and says:

“It’s nice to come with the little ones. I used to always come alone before.”

I stand there blankly, thinking “I see” while smiling.

Seo-rin picks me up, puts me on her lap, and says:

“In that sense, let’s all come together more often from now on. It seems fun and nice.”

“Shall we? Okay, then let’s try the sauna after we finish bathing. Unfortunately, there’s no playground for children, but they sell a lot of food.”

When it comes to food, does she mean things like sikhye or boiled eggs?

As I’m wagging my tail excitedly thinking about what to expect,

Seo-rin, who was behind me, laughs loudly and says to me:

“Ha-eun, your tail.”

Unlike Yuna, my tail is quite smooth, so it must have tickled her.

Feeling sorry for Seo-rin, I curl up and hug my tail.

Seo-rin, looking even happier, says to me:

“Huh? You can leave it be, why did you grab it? I like rubbing my face against tails.”

“…?”

Feeling a bit embarrassed by that, I shake my head to indicate that it’s not okay,

When Yuna, whose face has turned bright red, unable to bear it any longer, grabs my hand and says:

“…Shall we go?”

Since I couldn’t leave Yuna struggling like that, I nodded and asked Seo-rin to let Yuna out.

*

As promised earlier.

After finishing our bath, we headed straight to the sauna.

The hunters, true to their wealth, had furnished the interior of the jjimjilbang quite well.

What particularly caught the eye was the restaurant operated by golems.

’24-hour unmanned (golem) restaurant…!’

It was an amazing restaurant where you could order food at any time, whether it was 3 AM or 4 AM.

Except for the drawback of being expensive, it was a perfect restaurant in every way.

While I was staring with sparkling eyes at the maekbanseok eggs, snacks displayed in front, and the sikhye in the refrigerator, Han A-rin chuckled and said.

“Choose whatever you want to eat. I’ll buy it for you.”

At those words, I shook my head a little proudly and said.

“I’ll buy it for you!”

“Huh?”

“I have allowance money.”

The allowance money I received for running errands.

Thinking that it was finally time to use it, I was about to take it out when I belatedly realized that I had left all the money in the hospital room.

As I was contemplating whether I should run back to get it now, Han A-rin ruffled my hair vigorously and said.

“I’m sorry, but adults don’t accept treats from little ones. I’ll buy it.”

I feel so sorry though…

As I was hesitating and blinking my eyes.

Whether she knew my feelings or not, Chae-a pointed at the maekbanseok eggs in front and said.

“Cluck cluck! Brown cluck cluck.”

Then, judging by how she pressed her face against the glass, she seemed to want to eat them quite badly.

I was trying to calm down Chae-a when Han A-rin gathered a bunch of macbanseok eggs in front of her and said,

“What about drinks? Oh, you know patbingsu is a must-have, right?”

Patbingsu too? I was feeling dizzy wondering if it was okay to order so much.

Yuna, her face flushed from the hot bath, nodded while leaning her back against the cold refrigerator.

It seemed she wanted to eat something cold to beat the heat, so I fanned her with a hand fan while we waited for a moment.

After buying various foods and gathering them in one place, quite a large amount was spread out.

I was worried whether we could eat it all.

However, Han A-rin and Seo-rin seemed to think we could eat it all without any concern, as they pushed the food towards us with nonchalant expressions.

“Let’s eat! Who wants eggs?”

As I watched Chae-a snuggling up to Han A-rin, I turned my attention to Yuna.

There was no other reason; she just looked too hot, so I wanted her to drink sikhye quickly.

When I offered her sikhye, Yuna started sucking on the straw eagerly, wagging her tail. I’m not sure if it was because it was delicious or because it was refreshing.

She looked quite happy, and I was smiling at the thought.

“Oop.”

Suddenly, a snack entered my mouth.

Wondering what it was, I looked up to see Seo-rin pushing a snack into my mouth with a playful expression.

As I was chewing on the crunchy snack, Seo-rin patted my head and continued speaking.

“I heard there’s a place where you can get a hot sand bath. Want to try it?”

The mention of sand piqued my interest.

As I nodded, Ha-rin pointed to the food below and said.

“Then let’s go after we finish eating. Here, open wide.”

As I was stuffing my mouth full with the snack that had entered my mouth again.

Chae-a spoke while putting some patbingsu in her mouth.

“It would have been nice if Earthworm Unnie came with us too…!”

At those words, Han A-rin made a flustered expression and thought for a moment.

Then she smiled awkwardly and patted Chae-a’s head.

“E-Earthworm Unnie, let’s come together next time when we have a chance?”

“Okay! But I think it would be fine just to bring her some food…!”

“Then should we pack some of the leftover food?”

At that question, Chae-a nodded her head vigorously with sparkling eyes.

Watching this, I thought ‘that went well’ as I was chewing, when Yuna, who had been observing, asked a question.

“Somteol is not here. Where did he go?”

At those words, I blinked blankly and quickly looked around.