Hot Springs Are Nice, Aren't They?
After thoroughly teasing Arang, sharing dinner, holding discussions in one of the rooms, touring the chamber Arang had used since childhood, soothing an angry Arang, discussing things once more, and finally wrapping up their talks, Hoeyeon spoke.
"So — we're launching the counterattack?"
Until now, they had done nothing but receive and fend off the assaults of that group obsessed with immortality.
But from this point forward, things would be different.
They would strike first, tear out the roots of those vile creatures, and put a period at the end of every bitter grudge.
Fighting spirit toward the enemy. Faith in one another.
Four people gazed at each other with clear, vivid emotion and steeled their resolve.
And the next day, they set out early in the morning and ran hard until they arrived.
"This place is truly magnificent, no matter how many times I see it."
"Woooooooooooow………"
"Heh heh. Don't get too carried away."
They had come to the hidden hot spring of the Fox-kin — a place they had visited once before.
"No, this is weird."
"? What's the matter?"
When Hoeyeon muttered after cutting out the middle and simply joining the front and back of the conversation, finding the result strange, Gayul peered curiously into her face.
"No, it's nothing."
It was magnificent no matter how many times she looked.
The last time they had come, the autumn leaves had been at their peak, the entire mountain ablaze in yellow and crimson. Even now, with a layer of leaves already fallen, there remained a restrained beauty unique to this season.
"Be careful not to slip on the fallen leaves."
The pavilion, the hot spring water bubbling cheerfully upward, the houses prepared for those who would stay and go — all of it remained just as before.
Setting aside the fallen leaves, if one were to name the differences between last time and this: they had packed food and supplies to stay here for over a week, and there was Yujeong's presence…
And the change in our relationships.
Last time, they had not been lovers.
Looking back now, they had been in that bittersweet stage of gauging each other's intentions — carefully measuring their own hearts against the other's.
Suddenly, Hoeyeon found herself thinking about the future.
These three were the first people Hoeyeon had ever dated in her life.
…Whether the expression "these three were the first" even made grammatical sense was something she would set aside for now. That wasn't what mattered at the moment.
But she had heard that beginning a relationship was not a destination in love — it was another starting point.
And being together like this, the four of them, made her think.
Just as they had declared back then in Geumdo — that the four of them would be happy together.
About the future.
About how they would live side by side going forward. And about how they would carefully nurture their relationships from here on.
A relationship was not something that ended once you had built it up to a certain height. From there you could advance or retreat, and depending on the circumstances it could even rot or shatter.
"What are you thinking so hard about?"
Gayul leaned her face in from the side and asked.
Embarrassed at having been pondering their future so intently, Hoeyeon considered deflecting — then realized she ought to do the opposite.
"Our future."
"A fine thing to ponder."
Gayul smiled.
"If it's that sort of contemplation, think as much as you like. And share what you've thought with the rest of us as well."
"Yeah."
Hoeyeon answered, and since Gayul's face was so close, she tried kissing her.
"Mm… a sudden gift? In broad daylight like this."
"Daytime, morning, night — it doesn't matter. There's only us here."
"That's not wrong either."
Gayul laughed softly, and this time she was the one who leaned in first to kiss Hoeyeon.
Though not on the lips — on the cheek.
"Pleasure is fine, but don't forget too thoroughly why we came."
Hot spring water with the power to restore internal energy.
That enemy who had called herself Sarye attacking the fox city had almost certainly been her own impulsive act rather than a decision from the upper ranks.
But in the end they had lost her, so the other side would be dealing with the aftermath for some time. Which meant they had time as well.
"But will we really get stronger just by repeatedly using and replenishing our internal energy?"
"If it were simply that alone, growing stronger would be difficult."
Gayul nodded readily.
"But we experienced that special environment of Geumdo, and I believe it should be possible depending on the direction of our efforts. You'll understand faster by doing it yourself than by listening to me explain."
"I don't really get it, but…"
If Gayul said it was probably so, then it was probably so.
Hoeyeon stole Gayul's lips again.
"…So I said not to get too absorbed in just this."
"As long as I don't get too absorbed, it's fine, right?"
Hoeyeon gently swept one finger upward from Gayul's tailbone.
"Nnh…"
Gayul trembled slightly. And to those moist eyes looking her way, Hoeyeon said:
"So I'll only go this far."
"…"
Gayul lightly poked the playfully smirking Hoeyeon with one hand.
"Ow."
She hadn't hit her, but pretended to hit. It hadn't hurt, but she pretended it hurt.
"Hmm? What's this — planning to tumble about once before we start?"
When Arang emerged from the house and spoke upon seeing the two of them, Gayul flushed and cleared her throat.
"Not at all. Hoeyeon was merely teasing."
"Hmm… By the by, how do I look?"
Saying so, Arang spun a full circle in front of Hoeyeon.
Given their plan, most of their time here would be a cycle of depleting their internal energy — whether magic or sword qi — and then soaking in the hot spring.
Which meant clothing was a problem.
In Hoeyeon's case, for instance, she would have to wear ordinary clothes while sparring with Yujeong, then strip to enter the hot spring, then come out, dry off, and dress again… repeating that endlessly.
But sparring with swords completely naked, breasts bouncing, was not something a sane person would do.
"Just because you can see everything doesn't mean it's good!"
"If you can see it, it wears thin! The supreme way is the line between visible and not visible!"
Gayul and Arang had their theories too. Those damn theories.
…The fact that she had started to understand them a little recently filled her with a sense of defeat that was especially irritating.
Anyway — so before coming, they had made special clothes. Ones they could wear in and out of the hot spring without changing.
Tops that covered only the chest, and bottoms that covered only the hips and just a little below.
Matched to each of their eye colors — gray for Hoeyeon, blue for Gayul, gold for Arang, purple for Yujeong.
Arang and Yujeong had already changed into theirs and come out.
"Uh…"
Looking at Arang, Hoeyeon gulped.
"Uh, you're incredibly pretty…"
Given the nature of clothes that so clearly revealed the body's form, the sight of Arang — who had the most curvaceous figure among them — wearing them was downright devastating.
"Uh, eonni! What about me?"
Looking toward Yujeong, Hoeyeon found that Yujeong had her legs completely exposed.
The only thing covering her lower half was a triangular scrap of cloth. After staring blankly at those long, slender legs, Hoeyeon hastily turned her head away again.
"Y-yeah, pretty. You too. Really."
What was this?
Her heart was pounding hard?
Dangerous.
When she had first seen the outfits, of course she had been looking forward to this. Of course she had — if she hadn't, she would have been a block of wood, not a person.
But this much?
"I-I'll go change too, then."
"No! Eonni goes last — Gayul-ssi first!"
Hoeyeon spoke trying to escape, but Yujeong stopped her cold.
"M-me!?"
Gayul startled and flushed scarlet.
"I'll change together with Hoeyeon—"
"No!"
At Gayul's words, Yujeong firmly shook her head.
"Gayul-ssi has to show eonni how you look after changing too!"
"!!"
At Yujeong's words, Gayul's eyes went wide.
As if someone who had been about to let something important and precious slip through her fingers had been called out and hastily seized hold of it again.
"Yujeong, thank you…!"
"You'll see right away once you go inside!!"
"Thank you!!"
Gayul disappeared inside, and Hoeyeon — the only one still in ordinary clothes — was at a loss where to put her gaze and ended up staring at a tree.
Then someone planted their chin firmly on Hoeyeon's shoulder from behind.
"Yujeong is doing an excellent job as the Office of the Inner Court."
It was Arang.
"What's that?"
"Well, to summarize a bit excessively — a palace department that manages affairs well among the women."
"There's a department like that…?"
Isn't that way too summarized? When Hoeyeon tilted her head, it bumped into Arang, who still had her chin on her shoulder.
"Ow."
"What — you came closer, so this one came closer too, but that wasn't it?"
"You really…"
"Looks like Gayul is about to come out."
Arang giggled, lifted her chin, and stepped back. Not so much fleeing from Hoeyeon as making space for her to focus entirely on Gayul.
The next moment, Hoeyeon's mind went dizzy.
"…Uh, how is it?"
Being endlessly confident and self-assured before anyone in the entire world — yet making that shy expression only in front of her. Wasn't that too much?
She already possessed a devastating beauty that shook people's minds. Wearing an outfit like that, walking over like that — wasn't that truly going too far?
Blushing with embarrassment, her fingers fidgeting as if wanting to cover herself, yet knowing she looked most beautiful with her back straight and her head raised, so she held herself upright — her gaze flitting about yet seeking Hoeyeon again and again —
Really. Truly. Wasn't that too much?
"That's far enough."
What stopped Hoeyeon as she approached as if entranced was Arang catching hold of her clothes.
"First, shouldn't you say something?"
Right. Arang was correct.
Approaching without a word someone who was enduring her shyness so diligently just to show Hoeyeon her beauty — that would be far too rude.
But what words should she say?
Before a figure that rendered any words mere words — what could she dare say?
"…You're beautiful."
Just that.
But at just those words, Gayul smiled shyly, seeming pleased.
"Well then — you go change too."
"Huh?"
With a head still dazed from being struck by beauty, Hoeyeon asked back.
"You're last, so isn't that only natural?"
"Uh, wait."
She had to come out after the Gayul of a moment ago?
Wasn't that too much? In a completely different sense from before?
"Heh heh."
She looked to Gayul for help, but the still-flushed woman only smiled mischievously.
"Don't worry. The three of us will praise you thoroughly — until you melt."
"Uh, ah, uhhh…"
She looked to her last hope, Yujeong — but Yujeong's eyes were sparkling brightly.
And it wasn't just sparkling… what was that look in her eyes?
…Desire?
Looking carefully, the same emotion was in Arang's eyes too.
She looked at Gayul again, but the space where shyness was receding was being gently filled by that same desire.
"Hic."
Pushed by their gazes into going to change, Hoeyeon thought with a dazed head:
Is this how a deer surrounded by predators feels?