Languid Bathing
After everything was finally done, we set out on the road back.
By our own standards, the job had gone well enough. The mission the Murim Alliance had given us was already long since completed, and we’d also uncovered why bandits had multiplied so explosively in the Dabie Mountains.
Manmukcheon and Gyeongjin had “politely” asked the bandit chief at Maseokchae a few questions, and although the answers weren’t exactly satisfying, they were understandable. The same went for the place where Gyeokseon and Geumran had gone.
Gyeokseon and Geumran had subdued the chiefs there without much trouble, and the guides who had gone with them had also gotten answers from those chiefs.
The replies from all three places were basically the same.
The reason the Dabie Mountains had been taken over and the bandits had been running wild was simple:
To stop the flow of goods from south of the Yangtze to the north of the river.
It was simple, yes, but not an answer that was easy to understand.
Bandits doing something like that? However you looked at it, it sounded suspicious. Suspicious enough that I couldn’t help thinking, No way, there’s no way these people came up with this on their own.
But hearing that made one thing clear. The bandits, the Green Forest, had done this with a purpose.
What deeper meaning that purpose carried, though, was anyone’s guess.
That was probably the kind of thing the smart people in the Murim Alliance would have to argue over and sort out.
In other words, it wasn’t really something I needed to lose sleep over.
Anyway, that was how we ended up heading back to Kaifeng again.
And along the way, Geumran realized she hadn’t had the chance to enjoy a bath properly, so she casually brought it up to Gyeokseon again.
Gyeokseon agreed without offering any objection, and Geumran smiled as if to say, I knew it.
And so we found ourselves heading back to where Tangcheon was.
By then, there were no bandits left there at all.
Not only were the bandits gone, but there wasn’t anyone else around either, which meant it was a place where you could enjoy a hot spring bath to your heart’s content.
When Geumran arrived, she looked around once, wore a satisfied expression, and naturally began undoing the ties of her martial robe.
She took off the layers one by one and handed them to Hong Si-yeon, who received them and folded them neatly before stacking them carefully beside her.
There were only women here, so Geumran didn’t seem the least bit embarrassed.
Before long, she was completely naked, and I had no choice but to see all of it.
Honestly, I couldn’t help looking.
To someone who didn’t know them, Gyeokseon and Geumran were just strikingly beautiful women.
Besides, at that point, looking away would have been stranger.
The brief instant before Hong Si-yeon draped the white cotton cloth over her body lingered on my retina for far longer than it should have.
This feels weird.
My body’s a woman, but is my mind still a guy? This is not easy.
While I was thinking that, I noticed Gyeokseon standing there fidgeting, still not moving, and something suddenly clicked in my head.
Right. I shouldn’t just be spacing out like this. What am I, an idiot?
Gyeokseon had wanted this all along.
Not in the sense of becoming my official master or anything, but she was jealous of Hong Si-yeon serving Geumran.
So I walked over to Gyeokseon and said politely with a smile, “Senior, let me serve you.”
If I changed senior into master and myself into disciple, it would probably be the kind of dream situation Gyeokseon wanted.
But apparently, even this was enough to satisfy her.
Her expression was still frosty, but I could see the satisfaction in it.
Gyeokseon was the sort of person whose temper was so fierce and violent that most people couldn’t bring themselves to stare too openly at her, but if you watched carefully, it was surprisingly easy to read what she was thinking.
And I could tell—especially from the way she was looking at Geumran while undressing—that I’d guessed right.
Gyeokseon took off her martial robe as well.
Her pale skin and body, still taut with strength, were revealed, and I felt a faint, awkward heat creep up my neck.
Still, I didn’t look away. I simply kept serving her respectfully.
Before long, Gyeokseon was naked too, and she took the cotton cloth I offered and wrapped it around herself.
Then she strode over to the hot spring where Geumran was already in the water, stepped in with graceful ease, and fully submerged herself beside her.
Her expression was deeply satisfied. It was the face of someone utterly pleased with herself.
Geumran looked at her and let out a little snort of laughter.
Come to think of it, Gyeokseon was kind of cute right now.
If I said that out loud, she’d absolutely throw a fit, but honestly, everyone here would probably agree that her behavior was cute.
“What are you all standing there staring for? Get in already.”
Gyeokseon said it in a deliberately casual voice, as if she herself didn’t care at all.
We all laughed quietly at that and began taking off our own martial robes too.
To be honest, seeing Gyeokseon and Geumran naked didn’t feel lustful or anything like that.
It was more like looking at a work of art.
They were naked, yes, but what I felt most was admiration, and the sort of quiet acknowledgment that comes with a nod.
But Baek Jin-ah, Dang Yeong-young, and Hong Si-yeon were different.
Seeing those three take off their robes was… sexy.
Especially Baek Jin-ah.
She had an entirely different sort of beauty from a Zhongyuan woman—something that mixed in the allure of a Slavic beauty.
Long, striking lines and overwhelming curves.
And as she undressed, Baek Jin-ah’s face was faintly flushed, as if she felt a little embarrassed.
That was the biggest part of it.
There’s nothing quite as heart-fluttering as a woman who looks shy anywhere she goes. I can’t deny that.
“Harin. Why are you staring so hard…?”
Baek Jin-ah lowered her voice and whispered to me.
Thank goodness. Thank goodness her body doesn’t visibly show anything like that.
Or… does it? I feel like my body might be reacting a little…? I’m not exactly sure what this is.
Anyway, Baek Jin-ah wrapped the cotton cloth around herself too and eased into the hot spring.
Hong Si-yeon had already finished undressing by then and followed Baek Jin-ah into the water.
And Dang Yeong-young was still taking various things out of her body and stacking them up one by one.
“That’s a lot….”
“If you’re from the Dang Clan, of course it is. So could you not look? These are all confidential, you know?”
Hidden weapons, self-defense drugs, unknown objects, folded paper, and who knew what else, all coming out from every part of her body.
There was so much of it. It was enough to make me wonder where on earth she’d been keeping all that.
Once she’d apparently emptied herself of everything, Dang Yeong-young flung off her robe.
And the body revealed beneath it was… undeniably young. So young that merely looking felt a little criminal.
Somehow, that feels indecent. I should hurry up and get in too.
Honestly, I still wasn’t used to women’s clothes.
I wasn’t even proficient at putting on and taking off a martial robe yet.
And that was already a garment different from modern clothing, so of course it felt unfamiliar.
Women’s clothes were even worse. This is not easy.
Taking them off was still manageable. Putting them on was the hard part.
So I stripped everything off, ended up naked, and picked up the cotton cloth.
But there were eyes fixed on me.
Gyeokseon, Geumran, Baek Jin-ah, Dang Yeong-young, Hong Si-yeon.
The five of them were clearly pretending not to, but they were all watching me. I could feel it unmistakably.
I wrapped myself in the cloth and stepped toward the hot spring, dipping one foot in first.
Warm water. The perfect temperature for an open-air bath. Not too hot, not lukewarm—just right.
Once I stepped into the water and settled in, everyone else quietly looked away, but Dang Yeong-young kept staring at me.
“Uh… why are you staring at me like that?”
“Because you’re pretty.”
“Huh?”
“I think you have the prettiest body I’ve ever seen. How is that even possible?”
Dang Yeong-young didn’t bother choosing her words or holding back. She just said whatever came to mind.
And the funny thing was, everyone else seemed to agree with her in a strange sort of way.
As if they were feeling relieved that she was saying what they all wanted to say.
“Uh… thanks.”
Actually, Dang Yeong-young’s words weren’t hard to understand.
After all, I had put so much effort into customizing this body.
Anyone would have to admire it—human, man, or otherwise.
I should probably call it the ultimate form of beauty, beyond even the golden ratio.
Anyway, we soaked in the water and enjoyed the bath in silence.
The sound of birds somewhere in the distance. The gentle murmur of running water. The warm spring. A scene pleasant enough to look at and just as pleasant to sit inside.
If I called this place a fairy spring, I don’t think anyone would object.
Even if a woodcutter came by with a deer helping him steal our robes, it wouldn’t feel out of place.
Of course, before that, he’d need the courage to come here and get himself killed by Gyeokseon.
“Why do you think they’re blocking the flow of goods from south of the Yangtze to the north?”
Since it had gotten so quiet, I finally brought it up.
The common answer we’d gotten from the chiefs of the seventy-two strongholds. The reason they’d unleashed bandits in the Dabie Mountains to harass passing travelers.
With her eyes closed, Geumran replied, “The southern region is the territory of the Black Path. The north belongs to the righteous sects of the White Path. If you think about it as the Black Path pressing in on White Path territory by blocking that flow of goods, then it makes sense.”
“Is that even possible?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think it means all that much, but if the Green Forest really did this for some purpose, the Alliance will have to figure that out for itself, won’t it?”
Block trade in the south by using bandits? I still wasn’t sure what kind of practical effect that would even have. I couldn’t tell what would actually change by doing something like that.
Would the economic activities of the righteous sects really take a hit just because of a few bandits? Was the commercial system here really that fragile?
Geumran seemed to know a little about that sort of thing, but she was still a martial artist in the end.
So I kept quiet, holding my tongue, and before long even the little guesses I might have made were gone.
The women fell silent again.
Thankfully, before long Hong Si-yeon started talking about martial arts, and everyone added a few words here and there, so the conversation went on in a light, easy way.
Yeah. This was better. We could talk about martial arts all night if we wanted.
And so, our satisfying bath came to an end.
The women even let their hair down and washed it, which took a long time to dry afterward, and by the time the bath was finally over, it was nearly sunset.
See? This is what I mean. Hair is the worst part. There’s nothing more complicated and bothersome than drying it.
Back when I was a man, it was something I could finish in a minute.
One minute? What am I saying—back then, I’d just shake it once with a towel and walk out, and my hair would dry on its own.
Anyway, after that, we diligently headed north and returned to Kaifeng.
And when we got back to Kaifeng, what greeted us wasn’t congratulations for a successful mission, but a piece of thunderbolt news and a sharp reprimand.