The Open Door
“Ugh… Why am I…”
Patricia grumbled as she moved her hands. Kneeling neatly before her was a platinum-haired girl with her head bowed low.
“Hehe… Feels so nice… Hehe.”
“Don’t open your eyes. The bubbles will get in.”
“Okaaay~”
The platinum-haired girl giggled, squirming under Patricia’s fingers. She seemed unable to endure the sensation of fingertips gliding over her scalp. With each wiggle, foam splashed onto Patricia’s body as well.
“Patricia-nim’s hands feel amazing~ Way better than the people at the cult… Ahaha!”
“S-Stay still! You have to take proper care of your hair…”
The girl’s hair was of good quality, yet it looked as though it had never been properly tended before.
Even so, the fact that it felt this soft now… perhaps it was simply in her nature.
“Patricia-nim, are you done?”
Patricia, lost in her own thoughts, snapped back at the girl’s question and withdrew her hands. She adjusted the shower’s temperature and began rinsing the suds from the girl’s hair.
“You still can’t open your eyes.”
“Should I count to ten?”
It was an innocent question.
“A little more than ten… Ah!”
The girl’s foot slipped, sending her tumbling toward Patricia. Since they were both crouched, no one was badly hurt, but the girl ended up wrapping her arms around Patricia’s waist as she sat on the floor.
“Ugh… Sorry~ I slipped…”
“I-It’s fine. More importantly…”
Patricia started to speak, then swallowed the rest. Something soft had unavoidably pressed against her upper thigh, startling her.
Steam and warm mist filled the bathroom as the shower continued to pour hot water.
“…Just stay like that for now.”
“Okay!”
The task of washing the girl’s hair resumed. Even though they were the same gender, it was difficult to ignore the soft, trembling sensation against her thigh.
She would rather be endlessly cutting down demons and monsters. At least then she wouldn’t have the luxury of noticing anything else.
“…We’re done. You can lift your head.”
After what felt like an eternity, Patricia helped the girl stand and began washing the rest of her body.
She still held some resentment toward Yu Jinho for leaving this child in her care, but right now she was little more than a guest here. Helping wash the girl was something she could do as a favor.
“…You need to learn how to wash yourself.”
That way she could protect herself. With that thought, Patricia spoke quietly to the girl, who answered with a small laugh.
“Hehe… It’s amazing.”
“What is?”
Through the dripping bangs, the girl opened her violet eyes slightly. Her gaze drifted downward, as if recalling some distant place or a moment from the past.
“At the cult, I wasn’t allowed to do anything by my own will.”
“……”
Patricia knew almost nothing about the girl before her. And she intended to keep it that way.
It was a habit she had learned while surviving as a mercenary and as an Intermediate Hero.
Never getting especially close to anyone.
Because closeness always began with learning about the other person.
“…I’m all clean now.”
So Patricia did not press further after the girl’s answer.
“Now for a towel… Huh?”
Her hand reached for the shelf out of habit and found only empty air. She turned her head. The shelf was bare. Wondering if something differed from her own world, she opened other drawers, but nothing resembling a towel appeared.
“What’s wrong, Patricia-nim?”
The girl rubbed the water from her face with her palms, opened her eyes, and tilted her head toward Patricia.
“…There are no towels.”
“Towel?”
“A cloth to dry yourself with.”
“Oh~ I remember drying myself with cloth or straw too!”
The girl beamed. Patricia, however, wore a troubled expression as she looked toward the door and muttered to herself.
“Should I ask Jinho…?”
“Ah, I’ll call him!”
The girl called the man’s name two or three times, and a response came from beyond the door. After he said he would look for one, Patricia and the girl waited inside the bathroom.
Meanwhile, the platinum-haired girl curiously poked and pressed at the various items and fixtures in the bathroom.
“This one! It’s all squishy and slippery~”
“D-Don’t press that! Ah!”
When the girl pressed a button without thinking, a silvery liquid oozed out and splashed onto Patricia’s arm.
“I just finished rinsing everything off…”
Patricia pouted and turned on the sink. After a moment, the once-cold water began to steam warmly.
Just as she finished washing the liquid from her arm—
I brought the towel!
The man’s voice came from outside the door. He must have been waiting out there the whole time. If he had brought it in earlier, none of this would have happened.
Patricia sighed inwardly and was about to tell him to leave it outside when—
“Yes, Jinho-nim~!”
At the edge of her vision, the girl turned toward the door and reached for it without hesitation.
“Wait, Maria—!”
But Patricia, still half-turned, was a moment too slow. The girl, showing no suspicion whatsoever, flung the bathroom door open.
Click.
The girl’s slender arm and waist. The open door. Beyond it, the man stood with a blank, uncomprehending expression.
“Jinho-nim, the towel—”
Before the girl could finish, Patricia’s body moved first, sensing the crisis in that split second.
She extended her right leg and leaned forward.
Her outstretched right hand brushed past the girl’s waist and slammed the bathroom door shut.
Bang!
The door closed with a loud crash.
***
“…You really didn’t do that on purpose?”
Patricia was already asking the same question for the third time.
After the unexpected commotion Maria had caused in the bathroom, the three of them sat together in the living room.
Maria was curled up on the carpet again with a towel wrapped around her head, while Patricia… for some reason, was staring at him with eyes full of distrust.
“I’m not the one who opened it!”
“Maria might have done it because you usually act that way…”
“I told you, I didn’t!”
Patricia glared at him, cheeks flushed, clearly still displeased. Thanks to the thick steam filling the bathroom, her body hadn’t been visible anyway.
Besides, it had been Maria who flung the door open, not Patricia. Since only her face had been seen, he wished she would stop giving him that anxious look.
…As for Maria, it had been an accident.
“Anyway, I’m a victim too, so let’s just drop it here.”
“Ugh… Understood.”
“You too, Maria.”
“I won’t do it again…”
Maria apologized to Patricia with a strangely languid expression.
“…Is it really that comfortable?”
Even while apologizing, Maria refused to lift her cheek from the rug. He asked, and she answered with a drowsy smile.
“It’s much cozier than the straw I used to sleep on at the cult~ Hehe.”
How had the cult treated Maria? At the very least, he knew it hadn’t been with any respect for her dignity.
In that case, perhaps ending up here in Sanctum City had been a stroke of luck for her.
His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden growl. He turned toward Maria, thinking she must be hungry, but she showed no reaction.
“……Eep.”
It was Patricia who bit her lip. So she was the hungry one. It was already evening, after all.
“Are you hungry?”
“…I don’t need to eat.”
He stood up. Refusing food just because you were hungry made no sense to him.
Fortunately, the kitchen had all the modern cooking tools. The design was a little odd, but there was even a proper rice cooker.
“At least the basics are here.”
As expected of a company-provided house, basic ingredients had already been stocked. The thought of living here while working crossed his mind again, stronger than before.
“It’s really fine! I can go two days without eating and still move or fight without issue.”
“That’s not something you should say so casually.”
This wasn’t a battlefield.
He rinsed the rice several times and set it in the cooker. Then he grabbed a pot and filled it with water.
“If you’re just saying that because you feel bad about eating when you could just sleep, then eat anyway.”
He wasn’t a particularly skilled cook either. Still, with his experience living alone, he could at least make something edible.
While he worked, Patricia came over.
“…I’ll help. I know basic cooking as well.”
Normally he would have told her not to bother, but he thought he caught a small spark of enthusiasm in her eyes.
“Then crack those eggs and whisk them. Do you know how to season?”
“Yes. I’ve done it before.”
True to her confident words, Patricia’s assistance paired well with his. She must have lived in the same dimension as the Demon King, so where had she learned these skills?
…The Demon King probably couldn’t cook. The attendants would have done everything.
Even so, the menu wasn’t anything grand or varied.
Just rice, egg soup, and grilled ham.
“Jinho-nim… This incredibly delicious smell…”
Drawn by a scent she had never encountered in the convenience store’s break room, Maria wandered into the kitchen. Of course freshly cooked rice would smell better than triangle kimbap.
“Sit over there. And… use a fork instead of chopsticks.”
Maria stared curiously at the chopsticks on the table. Seeing that, he decided giving her a fork would be better for everyone’s peace of mind.
Once the table was set with bowls of food and utensils—Maria got a fork—it almost felt like a proper home-cooked meal. Even if the menu was straight out of a lonely college student’s diet.
Maria’s eyes sparkled, while Patricia quietly swallowed beside her.
They looked like nothing more than children. He chuckled despite himself. Not wanting to keep them waiting any longer, he picked up his spoon as a signal to start.
“Well then, let’s eat.”
“O merciful and perfect being beyond dimensions, this humble servant offers thanks for this meal…”
Maria recited a quick prayer, moved, then followed his and Patricia’s lead in picking up her spoon. He flinched for a moment, but thankfully no blessing activated. She seemed to be following the work rules he had given her, which was oddly endearing.
“You scoop it like this to eat.”
Patricia explained how to use the utensils to Maria, who looked unfamiliar with them. Then, noticing something odd, she glanced at him and frowned. He smiled to smooth things over.
“Maria listens to you well.”
“…Only this once.”
Patricia grumbled about having to do even this, yet she still taught Maria how to use the spoon and fork, and placed ham into her rice bowl.
“Mmph… Sniff…”
Maria sniffled the entire time she ate. After all, before crossing dimensions she had only eaten herbs and roots. It was no wonder tears came when she tasted rice and grilled ham for the first time.
“…It’s delicious.”
Patricia seemed moved as well.
“You don’t eat like this usually?”
“We mostly store preserved or rationed food. Properly cooked meals are rare.”
Was it because her dimension was at war, and as an Intermediate Hero she fought on the front lines often? Her life sounded harsher than he had imagined.
“It’s been a long time since I ate with someone like this.”
“Eat as much as you want. There’s plenty more rice.”
Patricia looked up at him. Her blue eyes lingered on his face, trembling slightly.
“…Yes.”
Her lips moved a few times before she swallowed whatever she had been about to say and simply answered.
But for now, that was enough. Perhaps what Patricia needed most was simply to enjoy the meal in silence.
He bit into a piece of grilled ham. A pleasant saltiness spread through his mouth.