The Young Lady's Predicament (5)
After becoming friends with Chae-rin, Su-ryeon soon joined us, and the three of us strolled through the commercial district together.
Even though afternoon classes had ended, only a minority of young ladies went out to play in the commercial district, and the atmosphere hardly encouraged it—but we were brand-new first-years, so we could enjoy ourselves without the slightest burden.
In fact, everyone currently wandering the commercial district wore the yellow ribbons that marked them as first-years.
Occasionally we spotted upperclassmen with pink or red ribbons, but they all wore armbands, so they belonged either to the Student Council or the Conduct Management Department.
According to what the student vice president, Senior Seo-hee, had said the day before, they were clearly patrolling to keep the freshmen from getting into any foolishness or accidents.
Anyway, we spent the time wandering the commercial district and deepening our bonds. There, I achieved the tremendous feat of exchanging Line contacts with Chae-rin.
Of course, once we had become friends, exchanging Line IDs was the natural next step.
With this, that made three people? I looked at the names registered on Line and smiled faintly. My friends list, which had been empty except for Mother, had grown considerably richer.
“I’m done with my shower, so you can go in now.”
“Ah, yes.”
At Su-ryeon’s words as she dried her hair amid the billowing steam, I put my phone in the drawer and stood up.
The bathroom was still steamy and humid from her recent shower. But I paid it no mind and began filling the bathtub with water.
Unlike Su-ryeon, who preferred a quick shower, I loved baths where I could sink my head completely into the warm water. It had been the same even before I possessed Yu Ha-eun’s body.
I had even gone so far as to buy a temperature-controlled bathtub. Of course, going to a public bathhouse would have been more economical, but places used by an unspecified number of people felt a bit unclean and put me off.
Ah, that didn’t mean I had mysophobia. I simply had a weak stomach. Even that monkey-bone dish from lunch today… ugh, just thinking about it made me feel queasy, so better not dwell on it.
I gently scooped up the half-full water with my hands and wiped it over my face.
The warmth rubbing against my face made my body relax on its own. I wanted to strip off my clothes right then and sink into the tub.
“Fill up already—”
I hummed in a small voice, playfully patting the surface of the water with a splash-splash.
Once I confirmed the tub was full, I turned off the water and slowly undressed. Underwear too. After neatly folding the clothes I’d removed, I carefully placed them next to Su-ryeon’s clothes that were already in the laundry basket.
Left like this, the cleaning staff would come collect them while we were at the academy in the morning and return them that evening. Having someone do the laundry for us was truly convenient.
Well, a young lady couldn’t very well run the washing machine and hang clothes on a drying rack herself, so it was only natural. Thinking that, I turned on the shower.
A quick rinse before bathing was essential. Even if no one was coming after me and I was using it alone, that truth never changed. I gently rinsed my body with lukewarm water so as not to irritate the skin.
In the old days, every time I washed I’d blush at the sight of Yu Ha-eun’s naked body, but now I could look at it with indifference. Being embarrassed for a day or two was one thing, but still being embarrassed after years would be a sickness.
As usual, I applied every product that claimed to be good for the skin, then rinsed my body once more. I’d said “a light shower,” but if I planned to soak for a long time, I absolutely couldn’t just hop in.
I had to take these measures first; otherwise, skin exposed to warm water for hours could get damaged. Of course it was a bit of work, but for the sake of a bath, this much was nothing.
This was why I’d yielded my turn to Su-ryeon, who had suggested we alternate every day—so I could bathe at my leisure without interruption.
Finished with the shower, I finally stepped toward the tub. Thanks to the temperature control, even after several dozen minutes the water still billowed with steamy heat. I carefully dipped my feet in.
Then I immediately sank my lower body and everything below my neck in with a smooth slide. The tub wasn’t particularly long, but thanks to my small stature, even with my legs fully stretched out, my feet didn’t reach the end.
“Hooo…”
A voice escaped me of its own accord as I entered the warm water. Anyone watching would surely see my face completely slack with bliss. With that melted expression I made a few more sounds, then completely let go of all the strength in my body.
Then, with a soft glide, my body sank downward until even my head slipped underwater. I held my breath and entrusted myself to the water.
Soon my lungs burned and my mind grew hazy, yet in that very moment I felt more comfortable than at any other time.
Was this how marathon runners felt when they hit runner’s high? My oxygen-starved lungs screamed and my head sounded the alarm, but body and mind felt extreme comfort.
The moments Yoon Seo-a had tormented me, the moments I’d become friends with Su-ryeon and Chae-rin, even the moment I’d possessed this body—none of it came to mind.
It was so comfortable I wanted to fall asleep just like this. That desire welled up.
Of course, I couldn’t.
“Hwaah…”
When I slowly emerged above the surface, my mouth and nose inhaled air against my will. My pounding heartbeat thumped through my entire body.
If I’d stayed under a little longer I might have died of asphyxiation, but I leaned against the tub in a daze.
Unlike the warm water, the tub itself was cool. That coolness gradually brought my mind, which had been sinking into comfort, back up to the surface.
But before that, I sank underwater once more.
Realistic thoughts could wait until I was at the academy.
Wrapped in the bath robe I’d bought, I trudged out to find Su-ryeon reading a book on her bed. She took off the glasses she was wearing and spoke to me.
“I felt it yesterday too, but Ha-eun, you take an incredibly long bath, don’t you?”
“Yeees— because I love baths.”
I answered in a languid voice and perched on the edge of my bed. I wanted nothing more than to fall asleep right away, but if I slept with wet hair and a damp bathrobe, I was highly likely to catch a cold.
As I listlessly patted my hair dry with a towel, the bed I was sitting on shook. I looked at Su-ryeon approaching with half-lidded eyes; she held out her hand and said,
“I’ll dry your hair for you. At this rate, when will you ever finish and get to sleep?”
“There’s no need to go that far—”
“No. Looking at you right now, I think I have to.”
What’s wrong with me right now? Faced with her firm attitude, my lips somehow pouted, but I obediently handed her the towel. There was no need to spar sharply with Su-ryeon over something as minor as drying hair.
Instead, I didn’t hide my sulky feelings as I said,
“You seem pretty confident. Drying someone else’s hair isn’t exactly easy.”
“It’s fine. I’m used to it from doing it a lot for my younger siblings.”
“Younger siblings?”
“Yes. One younger sister and one younger brother.”
Su-ryeon continued speaking as she gently dried my hair with the towel. When she’d come out of the shower herself she’d wiped roughly, but with my hair she was careful, as if polishing porcelain.
“They’re all grown now, but when they were little I looked after them. Of course there was a housekeeper who helped, but still, it was better for me as their big sister to do it rather than leave it to someone else.”
“Hmm— a model eldest daughter, then.”
“Model? More like both my parents were busy, so I had no choice. In situations like that, the eldest becoming a bit more mature is the same in any household, regardless of status.”
Is that so? I listlessly swayed, feeling the sensation of the towel wiping my hair.
Soon, deciding the moisture was mostly gone, Su-ryeon brought the hair dryer and began drying my hair with a pleasantly warm breeze rather than a stuffy hot one.
“Now that I notice, Ha-eun, your hair is incredibly soft. It feels like I’m touching silk.”
“Well of course—. Do you know how much effort I’ve put into caring for my hair?”
Yu Ha-eun’s hair was partly natural, but I’d also managed it consistently ever since possessing this body and deciding to enroll in Private Acacia.
I’d asked Mother, and even when going to nearby salons for haircuts I’d chatted with the stylists to learn tips for keeping hair healthy.
They were things I never would have done before the possession, but because this body shone the more I cared for it, I worked diligently. To the point that Mother had looked bewildered and said, “Did you eat something wrong? Why is a kid who never did this suddenly…?”
After putting in that much effort, if it didn’t feel like silk it would actually be despairing. I said so to Su-ryeon with a deliberate air of pride.
“If you’d like, Su-ryeon, I can teach you. Everything I know.”
“I don’t need to go that far… The reason I have short hair in the first place is because long hair is a hassle to manage, so I cut it.”
“What?”
I turned my head to look at her with uncomprehending eyes. Of course I immediately faced forward again at her comment that it was interfering with the drying, but even so I couldn’t stop talking.
“Isn’t it too much of a waste to give up just because it’s a hassle? I think you’d look even prettier if you grew your hair out, Su-ryeon.”
“Yes, yes— I’ve heard that plenty of times.”
“Or how about extensions? With those you wouldn’t even need long hair…”
“No, I really am fine…”
At my persistent recommendations, Su-ryeon looked genuinely put off, as if she truly didn’t need it.
I’m sure she’d look even prettier… As I made a regretful face, the dryer stopped and Su-ryeon’s hand gently stroked through my hair.
Her hand ran through my hair the entire time without catching on a single strand. The fact that no hair snagged on her fingers was proof of how thoroughly I’d cared for it.
I didn’t hide my proud feelings as I beamed with a silly smile.
“There, all dry.”
“Thank you, Su-ryeon.”
Gathering the soft yet smooth hair in both hands and pressing it to my cheeks felt so good I couldn’t stand it.
“Somehow, right now you look even happier than usual, Ha-eun.”
“Of course. The whole day’s work is done, and I’ve even taken a bath.”
It wasn’t just me—most people would be the same. Who among those who finished their full day’s work, took a bath, and prepared for bed wouldn’t feel happy?
As I played with my hair, Su-ryeon gazed at me quietly before standing up.
“Ha-eun.”
“Su-ryeon. If you’re about to bring up what happened this afternoon, I’m fine.”
“…”
I spoke first before she could say anything.
I already had a hunch why she’d approached under the pretext of drying my hair.
We hadn’t properly talked about the afternoon’s events, and after classes ended I’d been busy fostering friendship with Chae-rin, so there’d been no time for the two of us alone.
So I’d already expected she’d use this moment to speak. With a gentle smile I said to Su-ryeon, who wore a complicated expression,
“Still, I’m grateful that you’re concerned. Having someone like you around puts me at ease. But right now, I don’t want to think about anything complicated.”
“If you say so, Ha-eun, then there’s nothing more I can say… but still, I want to ask one last time.”
Are you really okay?
At that question, I moved my body and grasped the pull-cord of the light switch.
“Good night, Su-ryeon.”
With a click, darkness came to my bed.
The light from the lamp still on at Su-ryeon’s bed illuminated half of her.
I turned my body away from that sight and closed my eyes. Deliberately ignoring the gaze directed this way.
And so I drifted off to sleep.