Ideal
As the door opened a crack, Ak Seo-ah stepped into the room, droplets of water still falling from the ends of her wet hair.
On the bed, Cheongwol reclined half-reclined against the wall, the concealed weapon she had received from the innkeeper held loosely in her hand.
"It seems you liked it quite a lot."
At the greeting, Cheongwol gave her a sidelong glance, then looked away again.
"Are you still angry? I already told you, didn't I? I swear I know very little about the affairs of the martial world. I didn't keep it from you on purpose."
When Cheongwol did not answer, Ak Seo-ah could not quite hide her hurt as she shifted a little closer on the bed.
Perhaps because she had bathed for a long time in hot water, a faint warmth still lingered in her cheeks.
"...I'm not angry. More importantly, could you move back a little? Dry your hair properly, too. Water's still dripping everywhere."
Ignoring even the hand that kept trying to push her away, Ak Seo-ah burrowed into Cheongwol's arms and grumbled in protest.
"No! No matter what you say, I absolutely won't move! You ignored me and just went off on your own, even after I told you to bathe together!"
Cheongwol had refused out of her own sense of propriety, but Ak Seo-ah, who knew nothing of that, had gone off to wash alone and returned sniffling.
"Fine! So just let go of me for now!"
With her clothes gradually growing damp, Cheongwol finally chose to be the first one to give in.
What was there to gain by arguing with a child?
"...You won't hate me?"
At the wistful question, Cheongwol lightly stroked her wet hair.
"There's no way I'd hate you over something like this. And as for not bathing together, there was a reason for that."
"...Really? You didn't do it because you dislike me?"
"Of course not."
"Then tomorrow, bathe with me."
"..."
When Cheongwol still did not reply, Ak Seo-ah tightened the arm wrapped around her waist as though urging an answer out of her.
"...All right. On one condition: we'll keep ourselves covered with cloth."
At that, Ak Seo-ah snapped her head up and smiled brightly.
"You promised! I won't forget it, not ever!"
Cheongwol let out a small laugh at the fierceness of her reaction.
"You're awfully happy over something as trivial as bathing together."
"What are you saying? Trivial?"
Ak Seo-ah shook her head vigorously and spread both arms wide.
"A bath with a close friend who has opened her heart to you! Honest conversation drifting through the steam! It is an essential thing if one wishes to become true friends!"
"..."
"Do you see? Do you understand how important it is to bathe together?"
She kept stressing its importance, but Cheongwol was wearing an expression she had never quite seen before in her life.
It was a face caught between confusion and an inability to look away, tangled in feelings too complicated to name.
"...?"
Wondering what on earth she was staring at to make such a face, Ak Seo-ah slowly turned her head toward the place where Cheongwol's gaze had settled.
And at the end of it lay her own front opening, still so undone it had nearly come apart entirely.
"W-What are you staring at!"
---
Just how startled had she been to forget even the heroic diction she so loved?
Even she seemed deeply shocked, lying on the bed with her back turned.
"..."
Since the situation had been completely reversed from a moment ago, Cheongwol felt awkward but carefully spoke anyway.
After all, about half the reason this had happened lay with her.
"...Sorry. I absolutely wasn't looking on purpose. I mean, well... it was unavoidable, wasn't it? If something like that suddenly appears right in front of you, even you can't help—"
The more she went on, the stranger it seemed to become, so she simply shut her mouth.
At times like this, a brief apology and a sincere word ought to be enough.
But before she could even say anything else, a dejected voice came from Ak Seo-ah.
"...It's all right. As Cheongwol said, it wasn't on purpose."
So saying, Ak Seo-ah slowly turned back around.
"If I think about it, I suppose I was the one making a fuss. To shout just because another woman showed a little skin... especially when I was the one pestering you to bathe together in the first place."
"Well... I don't think this is really a matter of blame. It was just a simple accident."
Cheongwol gave an embarrassed laugh and tried hard to erase the image that kept resurfacing in her mind.
"As expected, Cheongwol is very broad-minded."
This time, after firmly tying her front closed, she came back to Cheongwol's side.
Then, cheeks flushed, she lowered her head slightly.
"Please forget what I said earlier. I... I was too flustered, and the words came out wrong."
Knowing that pretending not to notice was best in moments like this, Cheongwol only nodded slowly.
"Still, I do have one thing to say."
"...What is it?"
When Ak Seo-ah looked up at her blankly, Cheongwol whispered by her ear as though she had been waiting for just this moment.
"Your usual way of speaking was pretty cute too."
"...!"
Had she teased her too much?
Ak Seo-ah's face turned red in an instant, and she began pounding Cheongwol's back and arm.
"That is too much! Far too much! I asked you to forget it!"
Still, how could she let this go when the reaction was so adorable?
"All right, I'm sorry. I won't do it again."
"...Really? If you tease me one more time, I won't speak to you until tomorrow!"
At her fearsome threat, Cheongwol let out a snort of laughter.
"Please spare me that much. I want to talk with Ak Seo-ah, after all."
---
Once Ak Seo-ah seemed to have calmed down somewhat, the two of them blew out the lamp and pulled the quilt up together.
Even the first time they had fallen asleep together, she had been so tense all over that it had been difficult, yet now she could lie pressed this close without feeling strange at all.
Of course, that did not mean she no longer saw her as a woman of interest.
At the memory of what had just happened, her heart was still pounding as though it might burst.
...Even after becoming like this, nothing has really changed.
Just as she was beginning to feel relieved, even pleasantly so, Ak Seo-ah's voice came from beside her.
"Cheongwol."
"Hm?"
"About what happened today. To be honest... I am a little afraid."
As she said that, Ak Seo-ah shifted slightly beneath the covers.
"Of what?"
"The fire hasn't even spread to this small inn, and if a greater calamity should break out... what would become of the Central Plains? I am terribly frightened of that."
Cheongwol turned her head and looked at her.
Ak Seo-ah lay quietly facing her, her gaze laced with fear in a way that was unlike her.
"...Is it really that serious?"
"Only today did I truly understand. In this state, the saying a frog at the bottom of a well seems fitting indeed..."
With a self-reproachful expression, Ak Seo-ah let out a small sigh.
"Even when I first left the family estate, I did not really understand why we were going to the Emei Sect, but now I think I do. It was to draw those who are keeping neutrality into our camp. I alone am not enough; my younger brother must go as well."
"Seo-ah..."
"It's all right. I know very well that I am not especially reliable. Perhaps Father thought the same, which is why he never told me."
At her endless self-reproach, Cheongwol quietly took her hand.
"...Cheongwol?"
Such comfort was awkward even for Cheongwol, but what else could she do?
She was her second friend now, and this was a moment when she had to push through her embarrassment.
"Honestly, you're not wrong."
"..."
"You don't think things through, you throw yourself into trouble without a plan, and you stir up matters that could have been left alone. No matter how you look at it, you're not the kind of person you'd hand the affairs of a family over to. Your father would have every reason not to trust you."
"...I know that."
Though the words had been her own, hearing them from someone else's mouth somehow made Ak Seo-ah feel even more miserable.
"And yet, I... think you're rather admirable."
"...?"
By then her face had grown warm with embarrassment, but Cheongwol did not stop once she had begun.
"If you plan everything out and weigh every outcome, then what kind of righteous hero are you? You're just a magistrate. And charging in only when the opponent is weak is ugly, too. Am I the only one who thinks that?"
"Cheongwol..."
"So what I'm saying is!"
Their gazes met in the faint moonlight.
"I don't know how other people see it, but I like that foolish side of you. And as you well know, you can't become a righteous hero unless you're a fool, can you?"
"Do you truly... think so?"
"I do. What is the dream a righteous hero seeks to realize?"
At Cheongwol's question, a smile began to return to Ak Seo-ah's face.
"A dream that can never be fulfilled."
As soon as her words ended, the two of them almost at the same time murmured the same line in low voices.
"And yet, for the sake of a dream that cannot be reached."
"And yet, for the sake of a dream that cannot be reached."
Overwhelmed by emotion, Ak Seo-ah deliberately made an exaggerated show of it.
"Cheongwol!"
She was a little startled when the other girl burrowed into her arms, but this time she did not push her away.
Ak Seo-ah was crying quietly, yet her face was happy.
Perhaps she had thought that even in this vast Central Plains, there might not be a single person who could truly understand her.
And yet here was someone she could call a friend, someone whose heart and will moved in step with her own. How could she not cry?
Knowing these were tears of joy rather than sorrow, Cheongwol gently stroked her hair.
"If anything ever weighs on you, tell me anytime. We're friends who are chasing the way of the righteous hero together, aren't we?"
---