Women's Bathhouse (3)
The words congealed in red on the mirror. A chill raced across my skin unbidden. What kind of ability could even pull off something like that?
I didn't have time to dwell. Clatter, clatter—a bizarre noise began filling the empty bathhouse.
Worn wooden bath baskets and plastic ladles scattered across the floor floated up into the air of their own accord.
"Nyang!"
Kruru startled and clung to my back. The floating soap, ladles, baskets, and such circled around me tightly. As if interrogating me: You're no woman.
Sure, it was terrifying in its own right. But at this point, it just pissed me off.
"No! I am a girl!"
I bellowed at the mirror.
"I am! Wanna see my resident registration number starting with a 4? Get a chromosome test!"
But the orbiting objects didn't stop. If anything, they sped up, whooshing threateningly past my head.
—Whoosh! Thwack!
"Ack!"
A bar of soap slammed into my forehead. Some cheap, rock-hard cucumber soap.
"You... crazy...!"
I clutched my throbbing forehead. No reasoning with this. It wasn't something you could talk down with logic from the start.
If this keeps up, I'll either get beaten to death or drown in blood.
Splash, splash. The red water pooling in the bath was now overflowing toward the floor.
"It's hot!"
Kruru stomped her feet as I frantically swiped at the air to pull up the gallery window.
I squinted. Santokki's words were rough, but packed more info than expected. Guardian deity, shaman, all that. The one that stuck out most was "guardian deity."
...Not an anomaly?
I narrowed my eyes. Everything happening here screamed anomaly to anyone watching.
Are anomalies and guardian deities even different?
I'd vaguely lumped all creepy things as anomalies—bad stuff.
"...Nyang."
But the voice from behind snapped me out of it. Kruru was too human-friendly to be just an anomaly.
So maybe this guardian deity could be talked down too. Santokki said to try begging, after all.
My brain clicked a path in an instant. The entry code from the USB.
Maybe that'd let me chat with this guardian deity.
'A night without the moon.'
It was night now. Inside a building, no moon visible. Check.
'A place without shadows.'
That was the issue. I scanned around. Flickering old ceiling lights cast shadows everywhere.
How to fix that?
"Kill the lights?"
I snatched a flying soap and chucked it at a light.
—Ting. It bounced off like a force field, dropping limply.
Like with the door earlier, physical force wasn't the answer.
Was way easier roaming with Lee Kanghyeok.
I sighed softly, racking my brain. No shadows. Can't kill lights, so how?
Trivia from ten years on Horror Gallery flashed by.
"Light!"
"Huh?"
"Light. Fill everywhere with light, shadows vanish."
Shadows form where light doesn't reach. Eliminate dark spots.
"What outta nowhere?"
Kruru blinked at my random shout as I rummaged my backpack.
"Got it."
The waterproof pack in my hand. Jeong Gongbeop's backpack gift shining now!
I snagged a nearby clear plastic ladle too.
"Grab this."
"What's this?"
"Just hold it!"
I filled the ladle with bottled water, then propped my phone's flash underneath.
Kruru, squinting, gasped in awe.
"...Whoa."
The light through the water scattered into a dreamy glow across the whole bath.
"Not enough... Need more, way more."
Luckily, the backpack had tons of ziplocks. And lights too, for some reason!
—Lights are always good to have plenty. They break, batteries die.
Jeong Gongbeop's advice echoed.
Thanks, Gongbeop.
I thanked him inwardly, stuffing lights into ziplocks one by one.
"Kruru, scatter these everywhere."
I handed them off to her many tentacle-legs.
—Splash!
I flung bath water wildly into the air.
Splash! Splash!
"Wh-what are you doing?!"
"Focus on the light!"
Steam particles soaked up the red glow. Light refracted and reflected endlessly off the mist.
The bath turned into a hazy red space impossible to orient in. Even the ceiling fluorescents blurred in the steam.
Light poured from everywhere—above, sides, even below from water reflections.
I looked at my feet. Gone. The dark shadow clinging there had vanished without a trace.
—A night without the moon, a place without shadows.
Conditions met. One last.
'A false truth.'
I stared straight at the mirror through the glowing red steam.
A silver-haired beauty stood in the reflection. Perfect girl to anyone.
But also... one who couldn't recognize herself as such.
My perception hadn't shifted pre- or post-body change.
Thus.
"I am a man."
I spoke. To my reflection, and the fox ruling this space.
Blatant lie. This body was female.
Yet truth too. My soul was still male.
A false truth.
That do it?
As I wet my dry lips—
—Thud thud thud. The madly flying ladles and soaps plummeted to the ground.
The creepy laughter cut off sharp.
Silence. In the brilliant, misty space of countless lights and fog.
Drip. Drip.
Only water drops echoed now. The red bath surface rippled.
"Something... is coming."
Kruru muttered. Then I heard it too.
Splash. Splash.
Footsteps on water. Something walking slowly toward us across the surface.
A faint silhouette pierced the thick red mist.
Not human-shaped. A four-legged beast. Tails... one, two, three... nine?
"Hmmm~?"
A throaty hum, seductive yet spine-chilling.
The steam cleared, revealing it. Snow-white fur. Crimson eyes slanted like makeup, alluring. Nine tails swaying behind.
A fox. A very, very dangerous kumiho.
The fox approached right to my nose.
"Did you call me?"
No answer came.
My mouth wouldn't open. Anomalies bring fear-pressure.
But this was different. Proper authority demanding reverence without permission to speak. Awe due the one who let me stand here.
Yeah. Like a parent's presence.
Sniff sniff. Its wet nose tip brushed near my cheek.
"Huh? That's weird."
The fox tilted its head. Its human-like smiling eyes curved grotesquely.
"Body's female, but the scent's off?"
I inhaled sharply without thinking. The fox's gaze shifted behind me to Kruru.
"Huh? And what's this?"
Kruru hid behind me. The fox licked its lips.
"Shell's a girl... but inside's black ink? Deep, damp, tasteless ink."
I swallowed dryly. Why can't I speak? Punch it? No. Looked like it'd end bad.
"Confusing, so confusing."
The fox spun in place, tails swaying like a dance.
"Kill males who enter, let females go."
It stopped. Head twisting 180 degrees backward to stare at me.
"What about half-and-half?"
Its pupils slit vertically long.
"Dunno. No clue."
The fox cackled.
"When clueless, lock 'em up. Boil till they rot. Peel the shell till the real one's out."
—Gurgle gurgle!
With its words, the bath level surged. Red water from ankle-deep to instant flood.
"Say something?"
The moment it permitted—
"I am a woman."
My mouth flew open.
"Hmm?"
The fox turned.
"Bold kid. Rare to see one like you. So brazen before me? You reek of male."
"No, not scent."
"Huh?"
"False truth. You said speak a lie to call you."
"So?"
"I said I'm a man. That was the lie. That's why you came. So I'm a woman."
This was my plan from the start. Once "I'm a man" registered as lie, I could claim womanhood boldly.
Its appearance proved I could convince it.
Calculated line.
'Course, it's got holes.'
Surely wouldn't notice...
"Oho."
The fox hummed.
"Clever kid, clever."
Its eyes slit sideways wide.
"You're a sharp, sly one."
Ah. Busted.
"No law says denying male makes you female. That three-inch tongue's wicked. Trying to fool this fox's nose? Audacious kid."
This yokai saw past appearances. Water now lapped my knees with splashes. Kruru clung to my back in panic.
"S-save me nyang! I'm boiling! I'm not tasty!"
The fox chuckled at that, eyes crinkling.
Perfect rats in a trap. Frogs in a pot.
Ignoring her, it floated on the water, humming.
"Men to bone-stock~ Males to flesh-stock~ Hybrids to soup~"
Damn. What now?
As I pondered, a notification pinged.
'Wait.'
I plunged my hand into the water, fumbling my pocket. Fingertips hit hard metal.
'The hairpin.'
The auntie's parting gift, begging me to save her daughter.
I gripped it tight. A jolt like electricity flowed from my fingertips.
Sadness. Longing. Above all, blind maternal love for her child.
"......"
The fox was weak to sentiment. And I'd felt the deepest kind.
A mother's love—willing to throw herself to an anomaly for her daughter.
The box and hairpin in my hand were that.
My eyes changed. The trollish glint faded, replaced by deep, heavy sorrow.
'I get it.'
The fox's judging criterion. What it'd deem worthy.
I needed acting. Method acting to fool it perfectly.
I pinned the hairpin in my hair. Box clutched in hand.
"Wh-what're you planning nyang."
I nodded lightly to Kruru—follow me.
Wading through chest-deep water, I staggered toward the fox.
Before it, I stared straight and murmured low.
"I have to go."
"Huh?"
The fox's eyes widened round.
"To save my daughter."
"Daughter?"
"Yeah! Sia! Finally found her, but she's about to turn anomaly. Gotta save her. Only your sanctuary can."
Tears like chicken droppings plopped from my eyes. Pure image of a mother who'd lost her child.
"Promised I'd bring her...!"
I charged through the water at the fox. Such fierce momentum even the arrogant kumiho flinched back.
"Uh... huh?"
It sniffed.
"Scent changed?"
No stale male stink, no hybrid mess.
Blood and tears.
"Mom? Real mom scent?"
The fox's face twisted oddly. Intrigue mixed with bafflement.
"Sad scent. Painful scent. So thick."
I swallowed. Pretending to adjust my hair, I pinned the hairpin deeper.
Fox god. It judged by scent.
Box and hairpin. Blending them naturally into my scent was key to cracking this.
"Yeah, yeah. Can't block a mom seeking her kid. That'd be heavenly punishment."
The fox wagged its tail. Red water receded like tide—whoosh.
'...Saved.'
I swallowed a sigh of relief.
"Pass. Go on."
It stepped aside like clearing a path.
I gulped dryly, brushing past.
"But if it's a lie... you know?"
It whispered, licking its chops.
"Peel your skin clean for my cushion. Looks so soft."
I nodded instead of answering. No lie. I'd come here on that auntie's request anyway.
—Rumble!
Behind the fox, the sealed tile wall split, forming a door. Old wooden frame.
Warm, fragrant wind blew through the crack. Not blood or mold—dried mugwort and powder mingled mysteriously.
Creak—
Stepping through, the humid bathhouse air vanished.