Mixed Bathing
Bang bang bang!
Outside the bathroom, the rabbits pounded on the door and raised a racket.
"Open this door right now! Carrot!"
"We want to wash with you too! Lotus root!!!"
Those crazy rabbits.
I ignored them cleanly. The more shameless they were about it, the less I felt like opening the door.
Surely they wouldn't smash their way in.
I looked away from the door, scooped the cat and the puppy up off the floor, and carried them over to the shower.
"Nyaang…"
"Woof…!"
The kids were acting a little strange. They'd been hiccupping on and off for a while now.
Maybe they just hate showers?
That seemed plausible enough. Cats generally hated getting wet. A puppy hating water was a little more surprising, but still.
"Even if you hate the shower, there's nothing for it. If you're dirty, you wash, kids."
I kept my tone firm. No matter how much they hated the water, I couldn't cut them any slack. Street animals were rarely clean.
"Just hang in there a little. It'll be over quick."
I set the cat and the puppy down right under the showerhead, then spread my legs a little and squatted down.
"Nyaong…"
"Whine…"
They trembled from head to tail, eyes darting every which way as if they had nowhere safe to look. Almost as if they were embarrassed.
Weird little things.
It wasn't the kind of reaction animals usually had to a human body. Odd as it was, I decided they were just a couple of unusual animals and let it go.
I turned on the shower, checked the temperature with my hand, and said,
"Alright, Meow first."
I scooped the cat into my arms, calling her Meow for the friendly touch.
"Nyaaa…"
"Tsk. Hold still."
She didn't fight me as hard as I'd expected. She didn't even try to wriggle free of my hold.
Whoosh—
I let the water run down over her back. She flinched, but contrary to my worries, she accepted the water quietly. That was a surprise. I'd been sure she'd bolt the second it touched her.
"That's it. Good girl."
"Nyaang…"
I carefully washed her down with my hands, paying extra attention when I got to her head. Water in the ears would be a disaster.
While I was working my way into every corner, the underside of her belly—her important bits—slipped briefly into view.
Nothing dangling there.
"So our Meow is a girl."
"Nyang?!"
The cat startled and hurriedly flipped herself over. Embarrassed again. She really was a shy little cat.
"Nyaa! Nya!"
She ducked her head and scolded me in a sharp little voice—never mind that she'd been sneaking peeks at my own important bits herself.
Anyway. The cat was more or less clean, so I set her down on the floor. The sulking cat then looked up at me with a strange expression, somehow almost disappointed.
So she hadn't hated the washing after all? I really couldn't figure this one out.
"Now the puppy… no, Woof gets a wash too."
"Woof woof…"
This time I scooped up the puppy, settled her on my knee, and carefully brought the showerhead close, washing her body little by little. She, too, submitted to the shower far more meekly than expected.
"Shall we check if our Woof is a girl too?"
"Woof?! Woof woof woof!!!"
The moment I playfully tried to flip her over, the puppy curled in on herself and barked in a frenzy.
"Ah—okay, okay. I won't look…"
Startled, I yanked my hands back. I hadn't expected her to hate it that much.
I should be more careful with my hands from now on.
I was filing away the things the kids disliked so I wouldn't get on their bad side when—
"Carrot!"
"Lotus root!"
—the rabbits' voices rang out. Not from outside the bathroom this time. From inside it. From the direction of the bathroom window.
"We're washing!"
"Together with you!"
Through the narrow window, two rabbit faces poked into view. They shoved and wriggled, forcing their bodies through the frame until they finally tumbled into the bathroom.
"Whoa! This place is paradise! Carrot!"
"Lotus rooooot!!! After all that effort, we've finally reached heaven!"
Truly outstanding crazy rabbits. For a second I considered throwing them out, then thought better of it. After they'd gone to that much trouble, I felt a little bad, so I decided to just let them wash with us.
"Kang Hahwi! We can't see properly—stand up this instant!"
"We'll scrub every inch of you! That is our duty as educators! Lotus root!"
"…"
Suddenly I was reconsidering the whole not-throwing-them-out thing.
After we'd washed, we stepped outside and made our way to the wooden platform set out in the yard.
Naturally, the landlord, Cha Seolyu, was already there. Drinking alone, as usual.
I went straight to her and explained the situation, asking if it was alright to hold club activities near the house today. Cha Seolyu agreed without a second thought.
"Sure. Don't worry about me—have fun with the animals."
"Thank you."
Just as I got her permission, the rabbits clomped up onto the platform, waved at Cha Seolyu, and greeted her.
"It's been a while. Carrot."
"Still an alcoholic, I see. Lotus root."
What? They knew each other?
Cha Seolyu hadn't reacted at all when she saw the rabbits, so I'd assumed they were strangers. The rabbits settled down beside her.
"When you see your teachers, you're supposed to greet them first. Carrot."
"No manners at all. Lotus root."
"Ah… yes."
So Cha Seolyu had attended the Hunter Academy. That was news to me. If she was an Academy graduate, had she worked as a Hunter too?
Curiosity piqued, I tuned into the rabbits' conversation with her. Unfortunately—
"Carrot. Looks like you're not happy to see us."
"After how well we looked after you as a student, this is disappointing. Lotus root."
—that was as far as it went. The rabbits got up again and came back to sit beside me. I stared at them without a word.
"Carrot? Why are you looking at us like that?"
"Curious about Cha Seolyu? Lotus root?"
Sharp rabbits. When I nodded, they both shook their heads in unison.
"So that girl never told you she used to work as a Hunter. Carrot."
"Lotus root. Can't blame her. Not the kind of past you'd want to share. If you're curious, I'll tell you."
Instructor Suptoto climbed into my lap, then flicked a glance toward Cha Seolyu. Cha Seolyu wasn't even looking our way—just tipping back her drink.
"She's not saying anything, so I guess it's fine to talk. Lotus root."
Suptoto stretched out and flopped onto her belly. The way she stuck her rear end out seemed like a request: if you want the story, pet me.
Pat, pat.
I gave her rump a light few pats, and only then did Suptoto begin.
"Mm. There's not much to say, really. Cha Seolyu is a graduate of the 17th Academy—your senior. She became a full-fledged Hunter and even climbed all the way to A-grade. Then something happened, and she retired."
"Something?"
"An incident in a dungeon where she lost every last one of her comrades."
"Ah…"
I hadn't known. I never imagined Cha Seolyu carried a past that painful. So that was why she'd become dependent on alcohol.
"In the Hunter world, it's an ordinary, everyday story. Retired Hunters who've lost their whole party and drowned in grief like Cha Seolyu are a dime a dozen. That's how lightly you cannot take this job. Among the Hunters I trained, the ones who retired like Cha Seolyu number over a hundred. The ones who died number over a thousand. Lotus root."
Suptoto turned her head and glanced at Cha Seolyu.
"Well—Cha Seolyu will have a harder time getting past the trauma than most. She was close with her comrades, and she blames herself for driving them to their deaths… even though they died from their own reckless choices, and none of it was her fault. Tsk tsk."
Crack—
A fissure ran through the glass in Cha Seolyu's hand. So she had been listening.
Maybe I shouldn't have heard this. The mood had gone heavy, and the platform suddenly felt like a bed of nails.
Cha Seolyu set her glass down.
"…Suddenly the liquor doesn't taste like anything. I'll head inside. Professor, Instructor—don't harass Hahwi too much. Have a little fun and go home."
She stood and disappeared into the building.
For the rest of the day, Kang Hahwi and the rabbits sat on the platform, petting the animals and letting the hours drift by at an easy pace.
By the time the sunset painted the sky,
"Please get home safely. Take good care of Meow and Woof."
"Sure. See you tomorrow. Carrot."
"We'll look after these two with the utmost care, so don't worry. Lotus root."
"Nyaong!"
"Woof woof!"
After their goodbyes, Kang Hahwi went inside, and the rabbits took the puppy and the cat to a park bench well away from the building to rest for a moment.
And then—
Poof—!
The cat and the puppy. Seo I-eung and Isabella Chambers released their transformations.
"Hah… I thought I was going to die."
"That was seriously close… I almost lost the transformation because I kept getting so worked up."
Sprawled across the bench, Seo I-eung and Isabella let out long sighs of relief.
"Isabella."
"Yeah?"
"Erase what you saw today from your head."
"What I saw today?"
"Kang Hahwi naked."
"Ah… yeah. I'll forget it…"
The rabbits looked at them with pure disdain, then stuck straws into the banana milks they'd picked up from a convenience store and handed one to each girl.
"A couple of perverts. Lotus root."
"Drink your banana milk and let's go home. Carrot."
"Thanks."
"Thank you. I'll enjoy it."
The four of them sat in a row on the bench, both hands wrapped around their banana milks, sucking on the straws as they stared blankly up at the evening sky.
And every one of them thought the same thing.
That today had been the most satisfying day of their lives.
That they'd never been this happy before.
And on top of that—
Seo I-eung resolved that next time, club activities would have to go exactly like this again.