NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 216
“Aren’t you going to change, Blanca?”
Lapiz asked this after getting permission from Ageha, flipping through a catalog left in the room as if she realized I hadn’t changed clothes.
“The outfit you made is way more comfortable, and traditional clothes are usually ridiculously uncomfortable. Honestly, they don’t even look that pretty to me.”
While the fact that I didn’t like the yukata was part of the reason, the real issue was that taking off and putting on the dress Lapiz made was a massive hassle.
There were so many decorations and things to put on that it took forever to get into and out of it. The fit was fine, but the process was just too tedious.
But I couldn’t exactly say that in front of the person who made the outfit, so I came up with another excuse about how traditional clothes just weren’t my style.
In reality, traditional clothes weren’t really my thing anyway, so it wasn’t technically a lie.
“Really…? But to me, it looks beautiful… Blanca, can you please try it on? If it’s uncomfortable, you can just change back, okay?”
But Lapiz wasn’t going to let me off the hook easily. Her request was basically a command to put it on.
“Ugh, it’s such a hassle…”
“Pleaseee~!”
With her pulling this drama, there was no way I could say no, no matter how hard I tried. What else could I do? The lady asked me to wear it. I had to.
“Alright, miss. I guess it’s fine to wear something other than a maid outfit since we’re on a trip.”
With that mindset, I tossed aside my clothes and changed into the modified yukata.
It only looked like a yukata; fitting-wise, it was basically something totally different, so there was no real issue, but there was definitely one drawback—it was a bit snug.
Mainly around my chest and hips.
My tail is so thin that I can just wrap it around my thighs, but this part was seriously unmanageable.
No matter how modified it is, a yukata is still a yukata, so walking in it can be a bit annoying.
But Lapiz had no idea about all that, so she just clapped her hands and praised me, saying it looked pretty.
Since Ageha said any room was fine, I figured all the rooms were pretty similar… which meant I couldn’t expect a larger size.
I should ask Ageha if there’s a bigger one. If she says no, I’ll just say it’s tight and change back to my original clothes or casual wear.
Right now, I guess I have to play the role of a doll being dressed up.
If you can’t avoid it, you might as well enjoy it, so I tried out various poses, creating props (like paper umbrellas and fans) that would go well with slime, and struck a pose.
“So, how do I look? I think it’s a bit much…”
“Yes, yes! You look amazing! Just look in the mirror!”
Lapiz was so excited about something that she dragged me in front of a mirror. Seriously, what’s with all this? I could just make some slime eyes and check myself out in a decent spot…
“…Hmm, I guess I really didn’t look that great after all.”
Maybe I was being too narrow-minded about traditional clothes. They felt completely different from what I wore when I was a guy before.
Back then, I would just complain about what kind of ridiculous clothing was still around… hmm. Even if it’s uncomfortable for the wearer, if it looks like this…
Maybe the discomfort is something I could totally endure?
As I looked at my reflection in the mirror, that thought suddenly crossed my mind.
I’m definitely not a narcissist, but wouldn’t Minho, Jinhyeon, and Changwon be at least a little tempted?
I have no intention of appealing to the boys, and if they cling to me, I’ll freak out and shake them off, but… I don’t know, it might just be like that.
The body line… oh.
“See?! It’s not just my imagination!! Let’s go show this to the others! We don’t have anything else to do anyway!”
“Ah, ah, miss. Can we wait a second until I’m rea—”
I was trying to stop her, saying I wasn’t ready yet, but Lapiz just pulled me along, saying what was there to prepare for.
To briefly summarize the events that followed… it didn’t happen the way I expected, but let’s just say I went through a lot.
If you ask whether I felt bad, it wasn’t particularly like that, but when Seolhwa saw Minho staring at me intently, I almost turned cold towards Ageha, treating her like a potential rival.
But it would be awkward to say that I didn’t see that guy as a man in front of Minho, so I just hoped that time would solve it all.
– – – – –
I could have called Ageha separately to change into a larger size yukata, but it didn’t really change anything.
Seolhwa was still looking at me with a weird mix of hostility.
But not that I was interested in Minho, so I genuinely felt wronged. No, what was I supposed to do if he was just mesmerized by her?
I can’t even wear a hijab.
To hint him to figure it out, I gestured to Minho, and he pretended to look elsewhere, but his gaze was still directed my way.
It seemed like Ageha was a bit concerned about that, and she seemed to think she needed to change the atmosphere somehow.
“It’s a bit odd to enjoy a hot spring in broad daylight, how about visiting a shrine instead?”
She asked if we might want to stop by a shrine before going out to play.
“Shrine…? I’ve heard about that. It’s supposed to be a place where gods reside, right?”
When Yeonhwa chimed in, Ageha confirmed it but said it might feel a bit different than what we imagined.
“The gods we usually worship at shrines are a bit different from the ones we think of, you know? Yeonhwa, you’re probably thinking of God?”
No matter how much the world crumbled, Christianity wouldn’t be easily forgotten, so if someone said ‘god’ here, they typically meant Him.
“Oh, isn’t that it? I heard it was kinda similar…”
“Yeonhwa. It’s common sense that you worship God in a church.”
“B-but that could be true too, right?”
Jinhyeon tried to throw down some common sense, but unfortunately, Yeonhwa was quite open-minded about these things.
“That could be, of course; in other regions, they might not consider it proper faith. However, for us, it holds a significant meaning.”
With that, Ageha turned and walked out of the inn, inviting us to follow.
“Does that mean we have to go outside for the shrine? If that’s the case, I’d rather change my clothes…”
No matter what, I really didn’t want to strut around in a yukata, so I followed her with awkward steps and asked.
“Huh? No? We’re going to a place inside the town. We already passed by it, didn’t we?”
Passed by it? Oh, don’t tell me you mean that oddly modern facility with the torii…?
That’s a shrine? I thought it was just some decoration!
That thing’s a shrine?
As I followed Ageha, still in shock, the place I arrived at only seemed to deepen that shock instead of pulling me out of it.
With no offering box in sight, only an odd scene of a Japanese-style QR code board and a few unrecognizable kiosks lined up, in the middle stood a raven statue that looked like it had been around for hundreds of years.
“This is the shrine dedicated to ‘Hyeonjo Karasu.’ Since it’s a spot only for our clan, outsiders are not allowed, but since it’s you, I’ll let you use it specially.”
Staring at this chaotic fusion of modern and ancient clearly gave my brain a workout.
No matter how much I tried to understand, this was tough.
No matter how shattered the cultural and social foundations are, isn’t this too accepting of modern technology?
“Ageha? What’s with this QR code board…?”
I nervously asked about that eyesore, and Ageha cheerfully replied it was an electronic offering box.
She said I just had to scan it and toss in as much money as I wanted.
“You can just put in 50 won. This is just a ritual for wishing blessings, so the Karasu doesn’t care about the amount.”
She added that 1150 won was wishing for a good relationship while glancing at Seolhwa.
More than the girls’ love spat, that modernized shrine was making my head hurt.
“This isn’t a shrine…”
After tossing 50 won into the electronic offering box, I offered a light prayer to the bronze raven statue, as if it had been weather-beaten by the vicissitudes of time.
“Hehe, just so you know, 4850 won will…!”
“Ageha, what’s this kiosk over here?”
“Huh? Oh, that? That’s an omikuji. You should try drawing one for fun! If you want to know your fortune for the day or your luck in love, it’s a good opportunity.”
Leaving Seolhwa and Ageha, who were in the middle of their catfight behind, I stood with Lapiz in front of the omikuji… kiosk.
It didn’t take too long to figure out how it worked, so I quickly managed to draw today’s fortune.
“I got… a big disaster! Blanca, what did you get… oh!”
The result was disastrous.
“D-don’t worry too much! Today’s fortune is just from a machine anyway, and big disasters have a low chance of coming out, so surely the next one will be… huh…”
As Ageha said, I drew another fortune and it was also a big disaster.
It became a pattern where every single time I drew it, it was just disaster after disaster.
By now, Seolhwa had stopped fighting, curious about how I kept drawing only disasters.
“…Well, how about a friendship luck?”
I supposed I should just be grateful that the last remaining fortune, friendship luck, at least came out good.