Bath, Wine, and Venus (1)
I grabbed a change of clothes. That didn’t mean I left the weapons behind. The bathhouse still wasn’t fully secured, and in an emergency it was better to have steel close at hand. In that sense the Crusader set and the Holy Lance were ideal. They weren’t delicate instruments; they could get soaked without complaint. Bone doesn’t rust. They might develop problems if they stayed damp too long, but I figured a thorough wipe-down while I dried off would handle it. Most of all, cleaning the Holy Lance properly mattered. It was still crusted with zombie blood. Same for the machete, my sister’s bayonet, and possibly the kitchen knife. The spear was the only one that really needed attention. Structurally I could just swap the head, but the mechanism was fairly intricate.
Even if the three of us looked less like people heading for a bath and more like soldiers marching to—or returning from—war, this was still, in its own way, a trip to rest. Only after the bathhouse came into view did I step in front of Ye-eun.
“Stay behind me.”
“Ah, okay.”
My left hand remained wrapped in the Crusader’s Doubt. Inside the sealed gauntlet my sweat had pooled, but that would be solved the moment I washed it off. I kicked the door open and stepped inside. Beneath the fluorescent lights lay a changing room. I swept through it with my left arm raised like a shield, fist clenched. I could have drawn a blade, but I had no desire to dirty a bathhouse I’d gone to the trouble of clearing. I moved slowly, ears straining. Fortunately the changing room was empty. Which meant the real question was what waited inside the bath itself.
I slid the frosted glass door open a crack and peered through.
“There it is.”
Something was shambling around. At the sound of my voice, the scrape of the door, or simply my presence, it slowly turned its head. A naked woman. Well-toned physique, agile frame that promised explosive speed. I flung the door wide. The instant the zombie spun and charged, I moved faster than my sister could even raise her rifle. I shoved the barrel aside with my elbow and thrust my arm forward. No point wasting precious ammunition. The moment its jaws gaped open—
Judo
Counter Throw: When defending against an attack, instantly counter by throwing the opponent.
—I rammed the gauntlet between its teeth. The zombie’s bite strength couldn’t shatter the Crusader’s Doubt. Instead the technique sleeping inside my body answered.
Predator’s Method:In close-quarters combat, greatly increases the enemy’s injury rate.
I exhaled the breath I had drawn in, twisted my entire body, and slammed the zombie into the floor as if ripping it free. A textbook counter throw—collar and wrist seized the instant it bit down. Only a single motion, yet the result was decisive. The creature’s cervical vertebrae snapped with an ugly crack. After that grotesque twist of the neck, it never moved again. The noise had been loud, but one strike had been enough. The reason was simple.
The automatic counter from the judo technique, layered with the injury-rate amplification from Predator’s Method. That was why a simple throw had been enough to break its neck. Whether a broken neck actually killed it was another matter. Only after confirming the zombie lay still did I nod.
“Good. This side’s clear… Shall we check the men’s bath?”
Clearing the men’s side went much the same. I took point, Ye-eun and Ahyeon watched my back, and I swept every corner before inspecting the pools themselves. Fortunately both the men’s changing room and the bath were empty. Given how the zombie outbreak had begun, it made sense that few people would have been relaxed enough to bathe when it hit. If the Prophet and my old friend the tendon-man hadn’t been around, who knows what might have happened here. Maybe a university survivor group would still be holding out. Or maybe some tyrant would have taken over. Or perhaps the zombies here had simply been dragged off after converting into cultists. Only now did I realize the female zombie I had just thrown might have been deaf. After all, thousands of shotgun blasts had been fired outside and she had never come up—only stayed down here.
“Ah, there are Paralympic and Deaflympic athletes too. Not many, but some.”
Ye-eun simply affirmed my guess. It was possible some of the zombies we had killed had been athletes like that. But it wasn’t something I needed to worry about right now.
“Then shall we wash?”
The important thing was that the bathhouse was empty. Just as the sign claimed it could serve a hundred people, Gucheon University’s facilities were on another level. The bath in the cult leader’s quarters had been the first time I had ever seen anything like it—massage jets, water fountains, functions whose names I didn’t even know. After a full day of running, shooting, beating, and fighting, it was desperately needed rest.
“Look at Ahyeon’s face. If we don’t let her in soon she’s going to stab us.”
“…Do I look like I’d stab Oppa?”
“…Right now? Yeah, you do.”
“Yeah, I’m feeling a little stabby. Watch yourself.”
“Got it~…”
When I imitated her cutesy tone, Ahyeon pulled a rare face of utter disgust. Ye-eun looked like she thought she had misheard. Still, rest was rest. There were plenty of advantages. No one else was using the place, and no one would complain no matter what we did in here. Beyond that, having the entire vast facility to ourselves felt good—though it also made me uneasy. What if zombies attacked while we were inside? More precisely, what if they attacked Ye-eun or Ahyeon? Ahyeon had no hand-to-hand skills and became nearly helpless without weapons. Even if I handed her the Holy Lance I worried whether she could hold out. I knew she had grown much stronger and could handle herself, yet the anxiety refused to fade. I had felt the same when I left her alone on the rooftop. What if something went wrong?
Fortunately, there was no one left alive in this huge university to object to mixed bathing. Only three humans remained: me, Kang Ahyeon, and Lee Ye-eun. No one to complain about a little shared bath.
“Anyway, let’s go in. And don’t forget to bring the Holy Lance.”
“Huh?”
“Holy Lance? Oppa, you call it that?”
Right. She didn’t know the name. I thought for a moment.
“Yeah, it’s a spear… and a gun… and the guy nailed to the cross had his side pierced, right? That image just stuck with me. Why?”
“Mmm, no reason. It suits it. Holy Lance! Sounds cool.”
Ahyeon let it slide. I breathed a sigh of relief and scanned the changing room. Where should I put everything? Stripping inside felt a bit much. I had brought fresh clothes, but throwing away what I was wearing also felt wasteful. A good wash should make them usable again. Or should I just discard them? While I hesitated I glanced at Ye-eun. My childhood friend was staring at me blankly. Oh, right.
“Ye-eun, what do you want to do? Go in first? Or later? We can wash and then you can take your time…”
“…We?”
“Yeah, we. Why?”
Ye-eun blinked, genuinely flustered. “The two of you… together… bathing?”
She spoke in clipped syllables. I glanced at Ahyeon. My little sister had already begun peeling off her clothes.
“That’s right. We bathe together.”
“Why?! Ahyeon’s a girl and Hyun’s a guy…”
“We’re family. Is it really that strange for family to bathe together?”
Ever since we were little, Ahyeon and I had bathed together. Our parents had insisted on saving water and electricity; wasting either meant punishment. So when we were very young we showered together to conserve water. After being told that simultaneous showers didn’t actually save water, we switched to the tub. We kept the habit even after we grew up. It was mostly inertia, but honestly I never thought much of it. Neither did Ahyeon. Thanks to various events that required changing in front of same-sex groups, my sister was used to undressing. She stripped without hesitation, tossing her clothes aside.
“Ah, Ahyeon. Bring the Holy Lance inside. If anything shows up we’ll have to fight. And it needs a wash too.”
“The rifle?”
“I told you to bring it earlier. Besides, it’s not just any gun. If the zombie blood on it gets into an open wound you could turn.”
“Ahhh, that’s why… Okay!”
My sister flashed a bright smile, picked up the Holy Lance, and stepped into the bath area. I watched her go, then turned back to Ye-eun.
“If you want the women’s bath to yourself, feel free. We’ll use the men’s side and wait ahead. Take your time…”
I trailed off. Fabric rustled as it slid to the floor. The tracksuit Ye-eun had worn the entire time. “…I’ll… I’ll come too.”
This was not what I had expected. Ye-eun was undressing. A sports bra came into view, then the defined abs beneath it, smooth skin, and the lean muscle of her limbs. “It could still be dangerous, so…”
She turned her head away in embarrassment. I let my eyes linger on her body for a brief moment, committing it to memory, then slowly turned away.
“…Don’t stare too much.”
“R-right.”
What was this? She was joining us? I had tried to be considerate. Still, I couldn’t blame her. The university couldn’t be called completely safe. “…You’re going to undress too, right, Hyun?”
At her words I hesitated, then reached for my own clothes. The fact that I needed to wash hadn’t changed. I removed the gauntlet, set the weapons down, and stripped. The sweat-soaked fabric hit the floor and a faint sense of shame rose with the sudden freedom. Still, I pretended to be unaffected and gathered the weapons again. I kept the Crusader’s Doubt as well. Then I stepped into the men’s bath.
The sound of rushing water. The bath and shower area were combined. Ahyeon was already showering. Water traced the curves of her full figure. She had brought the shampoo and conditioner we had scavenged while exploring the campus. “Ah, Oppa! You’re he—”
Her bright smile froze. The footsteps behind me made the reason obvious.
“…Huh? Why… did she follow?”
Her voice had turned physically cold. I flinched, then walked toward her as if nothing was wrong. Ahyeon stared past my shoulder with dark eyes. There stood Ye-eun, who had removed even her sports bra and underwear and now stood completely naked. I tried not to look at her body too obviously. Ye-eun did her best to cover herself, cheeks flushed scarlet. Ahyeon regarded us both with an unsettlingly shadowed gaze.
“…Unni, shall we have a little talk?”
“That’s—”
“Oppa, go ahead and shower first? I’ll be right back.”
The chill in her voice left no room for argument. I opened and closed my mouth a few times, then nodded. Ahyeon lightly patted my forearm, then walked off, taking Ye-eun’s hand and leading her into the sauna attached to the bathhouse. I watched their silhouettes disappear, then turned to the Holy Lance my sister had leaned against the wall and began rinsing it with water.
“Grow big and strong…”
I muttered something even I didn’t fully understand.