We're Both Women Anyway
As always, the place I sought out whenever I needed to talk something through was a little café near the Association.
Close enough that a taxi was fine and walking was fine too—a small, quiet, truly modest little café. Even so, it had private rooms, which made it genuinely perfect.
The coffee smelled decent enough that I occasionally bought beans from them, and the owner never paid much attention even when I brought various heroes along. That suited me just fine.
"Haa…"
I ordered a hazelnut coffee and waited quietly in one of the rooms.
Naturally, I was waiting for two people.
Saran and Baek Eun-hwa.
It had been a rather sudden decision, but starting by expanding Saran's circle of acquaintances seemed like a pretty good idea in its own right. At the same time, I figured I could show Baek Eun-hwa a kind of cautionary example.
In Saran's case, years of hardship had left her spirit considerably broken. Baek Eun-hwa looked like she was standing right on the brink of the same thing.
No… if anything, Saran only had to endure it a few times a week. Baek Eun-hwa was grinding herself down every single day.
You could even say her situation was far more urgent.
"Hmm…"
Still, lately she had been improving—just a tiny bit, truly faint as a whisper. Even so, everyone under my care was nothing but a source of worry.
"How is it that the healthiest one among my charges is the one with the horns…?"
If you judged by personality alone, the little dokkaebi would have been the biggest concern—but the more you looked into the details, the more impressive Batori became.
What on earth had driven a girl that timid and introverted to become a hero, and to work so hard at it…?
"…Hm."
Now that I thought about it, I was genuinely curious.
This was a world where the hero profession had become quite the trend. Just in D City alone, the registered heroes from A-Class down to E-Class numbered in the thousands.
What made each of them choose this path?
Did it start from good intentions—from wanting to help people?
In Baek Eun-hwa's case, she had been kidnapped as a child and later rescued, and that experience had shaped her view of the hero profession into……
"What are you doing?"
"Ah—you're here?"
I had been quietly lost in thought when Saran stepped into the room, and I greeted her.
There were still about ten minutes left until our appointed time. She had arrived surprisingly early, but she had nothing scheduled today, so it made sense enough.
"You've been sitting here thinking by yourself for a while. What about?"
"Ah, just… thinking about the people under my care, starting with you, Saran."
"That so?"
"Yep."
Saran already had a cup of coffee in hand, and she sat down beside me as naturally as breathing.
There were four seats. I had originally planned to put Saran and Baek Eun-hwa across from me, but she had settled in so casually that I couldn't really say anything about it.
Still… if I sat on one side with Saran next to me and Baek Eun-hwa across, everyone's attention would naturally gather on me at the center.
It might actually make conversation easier.
"Baek…"
"Just call her by her name. Using her hero name is more awkward anyway."
"When's Baek Eun-hwa getting here?"
"Soon…? There's still about ten minutes until the appointment. I figure she'll be here any minute."
"Mm. Got it."
We sipped our coffee and let the quiet stretch on.
It was Friday, and I had already finished coordinating with Baek Eun-hwa, so there was no real reason for her to be late.
Probably… no reason.
"She's late…"
"Yeah."
"At this rate, I feel like I'm going to turn into a grandma."
"…That's a bit much."
"Heh. Yeah, it is."
Even allowing for that, I hadn't expected Baek Eun-hwa to run a full ten minutes late.
What was keeping her?
Whenever I made plans with her normally, she never ran this late. Had something actually happened?
Worried that something might have gone wrong, I sent her a text.
No reply came.
"…Hm."
"Mm."
What was this?
A quiet unease began to creep up on me.
No matter how busy Baek Eun-hwa got, she was the type who could usually manage at least a text reply.
Worried that something genuinely dangerous might have happened, I checked the news and the company chat—but there was nothing.
"Saran, has any dispatch request come in, or… anything like that?"
"No."
"Hmm. Then what on earth is going on? She's absolutely not the type to make a habit of being late…"
Well, of course Saran wouldn't know. She and Baek Eun-hwa weren't close on a personal level, and they had even less reason to be in contact.
"Haa… am I very late?"
"W-well, yes, but—did something happen?"
…It was a full thirty minutes past the appointed time before Baek Eun-hwa finally walked into the café.
Baggy wide-leg pants, a hoodie—her clothes were thrown on carelessly, and she had used transformation magic to turn her hair black. At a glance she looked ordinary enough.
But she was breathing a little roughly, unlike usual, and she had broken a light sweat…
And her voice was different from normal…
And on top of everything, she was wearing a mask.
"…Do you have a cold?"
"…It's not that. I just didn't sleep well, so I was late."
"Eun-hwa."
"……"
Anyone could see she looked unwell.
It was a state you almost never saw among Transformation-Type Awakened, but Baek Eun-hwa was clearly nowhere near healthy.
It was a cold, plain and simple.
Anyone looking at her could tell her condition was……
"…You can tell too, right, Saran?"
"She's running a fever. Over thirty-eight, I'd say."
"……"
Factoring in Saran's temperature-sensing ability… that settled it.
She was wearing a mask she never put on for ordinary outings, and she still wouldn't admit it.
What an exasperating woman.
"What about today's schedule? Did you cancel everything?"
"Every…"
"Yes."
"…I haven't answered yet."
"……"
Oh, for crying out loud.
*
Faced with Baek Eun-hwa's nonsense, I got angrier than usual—quite a bit angrier, actually.
How could I not?
I suddenly understood why the Team Leader had gotten so mad at me last time, except this situation was far worse than mine had been.
"……cough."
"Haa…"
"……"
"Come… cough… inside. I need to clean… haa……"
"Forget it. Just get in bed right now and lie down. Pull the blanket over yourself too."
"…Okay."
We had originally planned to spend time at the café, but given the state she was in, we ended up taking Baek Eun-hwa's extremely expensive car to her home.
I didn't have a license, so I couldn't drive.
And leaving the wheel to a fox who clearly looked terrible wasn't an option either…
"Saran, could you keep an eye on Eun-hwa for a moment? The cold might be contagious, so don't get too close—just make sure she stays quietly in bed."
"Mm."
Saran had driven, and she had come all the way to Baek Eun-hwa's house with us.
…I was truly grateful.
But the first thing I needed to do right now wasn't anything else—it was to start boiling some porridge.
She looked past merely sick; she looked completely drained. On a hunch I asked about breakfast, and she said she hadn't properly eaten anything…
"Ugh…"
Baek Eun-hwa had never taken care of her own body, but I hadn't expected it to come to this.
I had vaguely anticipated something, but I honestly hadn't thought she would get this sick. I was more than a little shocked, and even more worried.
Just how hard, how relentlessly, had she been driving a Transformation-Type Awakened body—a body far tougher than an ordinary person's—past its limits…?
"Ugh…"
In the end, what was bound to happen had happened.
She had subjected herself to the same level of strain every single day. Just because something didn't break under one impact didn't mean it would never break.
No matter how small a shock was, if you repeated it dozens, hundreds, thousands of times, anything could shatter.
To some extent, she had brought this on herself.
But that didn't mean I could just ignore this foolish fox and leave her to it…
"Ingredients are…"
I decided to start by making porridge.
It was just ordinary porridge from whatever was in the kitchen—nothing difficult.
I got the heat going, then immediately soaked an unused towel in cold water…
"Nnh…"
"Lie still. Your forehead is burning up."
"…I know."
"If you know, then just stay put. I've already started the porridge. Ah—Saran. I know this is incredibly shameless of me, but could you watch the porridge for a moment? It's on medium heat, but just in case. You only need to stir it a little with the ladle…"
"Mm. It's fine."
"Thank you so much."
…I went back to tending Baek Eun-hwa.
Her face was redder than usual, she was having trouble breathing, and she kept breaking out in cold sweats—a textbook case of a full-body cold.
I needed to cool her down with the cold towel……
"…She's hotter than I thought."
Baek Eun-hwa's forehead was even hotter than expected.
According to her, she was over thirty-eight degrees—which meant it was worse than that.
The cold sweats were bad too.
Just from lightly touching her arm……
"…Eun-hwa, sit up for a second."
I couldn't just leave her like this.
Putting her to bed and feeding her a little porridge wouldn't be enough—she'd still be like this tomorrow, no question.
So the method I chose was none other than…
"Take your clothes off."
"…What?"
1. Strip Baek Eun-hwa.
That was it.
In the end, I needed to cool down her overheated body, and among the available methods, the easiest, simplest, and most physical one was right there.
Was there any reason not to?
"Hurry up. Clothes off."
"There's really no need to…"
"Come on—we're both women anyway. Don't be embarrassed, don't feel awkward, and don't overthink it. Just take them off."
Well, Baek Eun-hwa's body was pretty sensual, sure.
But this was not the time to be having those thoughts about this particular fox.
You couldn't do that to a patient.