Laundry
"Suhwan."
I was ambling across the lawn after So-eun, who rode in the wagon Cheongho pulled, when Noona came up beside me and called my name.
"Yeah?"
"Those guys... don't you think it's about time we washed them?"
At her words, I looked over at the bunch romping through the grass.
Now that she'd said they needed a wash, they did start to strike me as a little grubby. From a distance they looked clean enough, but up close you could see fur clumped in patches and dust worked into the coat.
"True — it's been a while since their last bath, hasn't it? They need one. Actually, since it came up, why not do it right now?"
I went straight to the shed and hauled out an enormous rubber tub, the big red kind people call a baketsu — a washbasin large enough for a grown adult to sit in. It was so heavy I had no choice but to drag it, scraping along the ground the whole way.
I brought it to the center of the lawn, chewing up a strip of grass in the process, and immediately shouted at the animals playing nearby.
"Kids! Let's get washed! Bath time!"
The instant the shout ended, every last one of them bolted. They looked exactly like schoolkids, elementary through high school, on the last day before break, the second someone tells them to go home. They scattered and vanished in a blink.
Cheongho, you little punk. Why are you running off with So-eun? Give me back my daughter!
"Anyone who doesn't get washed doesn't get to play with So-eun!"
At that follow-up, the fugitives reassembled. Not a single one of them failed to come back.
They huddled in front of me as if they'd never run at all.
"Kyaa!"
Maybe because Cheongho's escape had given her a thrilling ride in the wagon, So-eun kicked her arms and legs in pure delight.
I watched her fondly for a moment, then grabbed Cheongho — who already had a prior record of kidnapping So-eun.
"M-me first, sir?"
"Obviously. You're stuck to So-eun more than anyone."
Whether he'd resigned himself or not, Cheongho walked toward the rubber tub on his own. Seeing it filled nearly to a sloshing brim, he hesitated a moment, then hopped up and dove right in.
Splash — and some of the water sprayed out around him.
"Huuuh... the water temperature's just right, sir."
"Of course it is. Talking to you guys isn't the only thing I can do. I've got a superpower for setting the water temperature, too."
"Master really is amazing, sir."
I gave a light laugh at Cheongho looking up at me, then went straight over and started scrubbing him down, every inch. I had no intention of waiving a bath over a little flattery.
"Ghk—! N-not there, sir!"
"What do you mean, not there! That's the dirtiest spot, you punk!"
I scoured Cheongho clean from corner to corner. By the time I'd worked dog shampoo through him and washed him properly, the water in the tub had gone pretty grimy.
Shaking my head at the sight, I hauled him out and rinsed him once more under running water.
"Don't shake. Shake now and you'll get water all over So-eun."
He'd been bracing his legs hard, all set to shake out his coat. He read the room, trotted off to a far corner, and gave himself a vigorous shake.
The moment he did, two of the staff who'd been waiting nearby came over with a big towel and a dryer and had him dry in no time.
Fluffy again and clearly pleased about it, he went up to So-eun and shoved his face at her.
So-eun, who liked Cheongho nearly as much as she liked the rabbits, gave the big face coming at her a light pat.
"This is a sword blessed by the Young Mistress's grace, sir!"
I shook my head at him getting worked up over nothing and gave him a light push.
"Your turn."
I picked up the rabbits.
"Euuung!"
So-eun fussed as I took the rabbits out of her hands, but there was nothing for it. I pressed Cheongho's face into her arms in their place and carried every one of the rabbits off.
"Eek! We're clean, sha!"
"Delicate Tokkiz could die if we go in the water, sha!"
"We don't want water, sha!"
Lifted in my hands, the rabbits trembled all over, fear written in every twitch. I stroked them gently.
"You're not going in the water, so don't worry."
Rabbits were animals you didn't need to wash directly with water. They kept themselves plenty clean on their own, and their skin was more delicate than a dog's or a cat's — water in an ear or a nose was enough to cause real trouble.
A light wipe with a damp towel was all it took to finish their bath.
"Whew... we lived, sha."
"Water's the worst, sha."
Once I'd cleaned only the spots they struggled to keep clean themselves, the Tokkiz looked refreshed, and deeply relieved.
"Kyaung!"
When I set the freshly cleaned rabbits back in the wagon, So-eun was thrilled and grabbed them. No — she clung to them.
"I-if it's like this, getting washed is fine too, sha...!"
Sa-gito, now held in So-eun's arms, twitched their nose with a face overflowing with happiness.
And once the others saw the washed ones getting doted on by So-eun, they came pouring toward the rubber tub.
I was still refilling it with fresh water after Cheongho's bath, and half the animals still waiting dove right in.
Splish, splash — raccoons, geese, and some of the dogs and cats piled into the tub.
A few still hadn't gotten in, but only because they wanted to and there was no room left.
"What are you guys doing..."
"Hurry up and wash us!"
"Pray, wash me!"
"...............Wash."
Even that lazy Natae had already claimed a spot in the tub, and Yubu had his wings spread, flailing so he wouldn't sink while he demanded to be washed.
Faced with that ridiculous scene, I stood there dumbfounded — and so did the staff helping me wash the animals. Helping with the laundry, I'd almost said. Unlike me, though, who was reeling at the way they talked, the staff were floored for a simpler reason: the animals had climbed into the tub of their own accord.
Anyway, with the animals volunteering for baths like that, the washing went very smoothly.
"Left front paw."
"Here!"
At my word, Maru slid her left front paw out. From running like a maniac, she was grimy past any comparison with the others.
I squeezed dog shampoo onto a sponge and scrubbed, and the dirt came away until she got back her original coat — a color close to the walnut ice cream that had given her her name.
"Me next!"
"Nope. Yubu, you come here."
At that, the raccoons clutched their heads in protest and submerged into the tub with a blub-blub.
"Ahem. And so it falls to this Yubu to go first."
While the raccoons sulked underwater, Yubu paddled out of the tub with an ungainly flap.
Owls groom their own feathers to stay clean, so I mostly just sprinkled water and tidied the spots he couldn't easily preen himself.
"Haaaah... As expected, a bath at your hands is most refreshing!"
"That's only because the water temperature's just right. All right, you go over there and get dried off too."
Yubu immediately fluttered off toward the staff waiting in the corner. He looked rather careful about it — maybe because spreading his wings would fling water everywhere.
Leaving him there with his wings spread wide before the blower, as if he were in flight and savoring the wind, I next fished out Natae, who was bobbing on the water.
"Us!"
"You lot wait. Or wash yourselves."
The raccoons grumbled at that, then started scooping tub water in their hands and washing their own heads. I snorted a laugh and turned to the Natae I'd hauled out.
Of all the animals, Natae had always been the easiest to bathe. Even putting up a fight was too much bother for him, so washing him had never been the slightest strain. This time was no exception.
I gave the limp, dangling koala a rough scrub, shampooed him, rinsed him, and handed him off to a staff member who'd come to collect him — who then held him up the way you'd hang laundry and blasted him with air.
While Natae was being dried, Yubu finished every last feather, came back, and appointed himself So-eun's parasol and fan. I kept on washing.
I squirted shampoo over the raccoons, who were somehow managing to wash themselves, and told them to scrub harder, then turned to the geese.
The geese didn't have much that needed special attention either, but there were so many of them that it took real effort.
Still, once I'd scrubbed them down with some energy to spare, the cats came trotting up in a line. Their lush fur was soaked and looked a sorry mess, and I nearly burst out laughing — but washing came first.
These were cats who used to bolt the moment anyone tried to bathe them, and yet the mere mention of So-eun had turned them into a rare breed: water-type cats.
"What's gotten into you, not running away?"
"Hmph. Just wash me already."
Namcat answered with not a scrap of manners, same as always. But he stuck a paw out as if to say get on with it, so I had no choice but to wash him.
"Hoo... I'm wiped."
After Namcat I washed the other cats, and even the ones like Jjamong, caught between needing a bath because of So-eun and hating the very idea — and by the end I was completely spent.
Hanmu in particular was hard labor itself. I had to take a brush fit for scrubbing a bathroom and scour his shell raw.
"Good work. Have something cold and take a rest."
"Yeah... I should."
I'd been working hard out in the sun, and the heat felt like it was going to kill me. Still, once I'd washed the whole lot through in one go, a strange freshness settled over me, so I downed an iced Americano in a single shot and leisurely watched them.
Cheongho was taking So-eun for another stroll around the grounds, the Tokkiz and Yubu riding in the wagon he pulled, the other animals trailing along behind — and now even the guests had attached themselves to the procession, so the whole thing looked like one long game of train.
I cooled my body, worn out from the work and the heat, in the breeze of the air conditioner, and watched. The animals loved my daughter, and so did the people, and it left me wanting to square my shoulders for no good reason at all.