I Was Possessed By An Unknown Manga

Chapter 174: Bathhouse Event

I wanted to take a proper bath to sweat it out after dinner, so for now, I just took a quick shower.

Afterward, with a towel around my neck, when I returned to the room, I saw Satoru and Ryuji dressed in the blue yukatas provided by the inn.

“Where’s mine?”

“It’s here, but I’m not sure if it’ll fit.”

Satoru handed me a black yukata, which was an XXL size.

“Why is mine a different color?”

“They said earlier that they only have black in larger sizes.”

Ah, well, that made sense.

Agreeing with Satoru’s explanation, I casually threw the yukata top over my t-shirt.

After changing into the black yukata in front of the bathroom mirror, I checked the numerous group chat messages that had piled up while my phone was charging.

Ayame: [Does anyone know what’s for dinner tonight?]

Rika: [Aren’t the photos we took at the Jiori Studio totally cute? Isn’t this risky?]

Satoru: [I’m so excited about the movie village we’re visiting tomorrow!]

As expected, most of it was trivial chatter.

“Then let’s slowly head to eat. I feel like my stomach is sticking to my back.”¹

Ryuji, who had been leaning against the wall, said that and got up, and Satoru, who was lying on the floor with his phone, also got up hurriedly, saying, “Is it already that time?”

While we were all walking down the hallway to the dining hall, Satoru, who had been chatting with the girls until just a moment ago, asked us, chuckling.

“Did you guys see the chat written by Hattori?”

“Hattori? Why her?”

“Usually, she’s super bubbly, but when she writes messages, she’s incredibly polite. The gap is no joke.”

Hearing that, I pondered over the messages I had seen in the chat earlier.

[Does anyone know what’s for dinner tonight?]

…Indeed.

No special characters or slang that high school girls usually use.

Ryuji, walking beside me, tilted his head and said,

“Aren’t there quite a few people like that around? The type who becomes more polite when their face isn’t seen.”

But Satoru suddenly snapped, enlightening Ryuji of his ignorance.

“Dumbass! This is what you call ‘gap moe’!”

“!!!”

Ryuji’s face showed a belated realization.

“What’s ‘gap moe’?”

In the meantime, Chiaki, who was like a person from the past and didn’t understand the meaning of the word, asked. I brushed it off by saying, “It’s something good.”

I didn’t know how to explain the term ‘gap moe,’ derived from sub-otaku culture, to such an overly innocent soul.

“Ugh, how stingy. Should I ask Ryuji later?”

“Do as you please.”

Having successfully dodged a bullet, I joined in the conversation between Satoru and Ryuji, which had now turned into a passionate discussion about 2D culture.

“Don’t underestimate me! I’ve dug deep into romance mangas for three years!”

…There was a time when I thought so.

I never expected the depth of their nerdiness to be this profound.

Satoru, a regular reader of not just Jump but various manga magazines, was one thing, but Ryuji, a gaming nerd, also had more knowledge of this industry than I thought.

Anyway, with a strange sense of defeat, we arrived at the dining hall.

““Let’s eat!””

Dinner was a regular meal instead of the anticipated kaiseki, but it was still delicious.

The tsukemono, made with special produce like Kujo leeks, known as Kyo-yasai, could only be eaten here.

Although the quantity was a bit less, after a satisfying meal, we decided to go to the bathhouse as a group.

It would have been a waste not to use the hot springs, given that we were at an inn.

It’s a bit late to say this, but Japanese people really love their baths.

So much so, that it’s normal for households to take baths more than three times a week.

As a Korean who usually showered, I couldn’t quite understand, but anyway, it seemed this bathing culture naturally led them to enjoy hot springs.

After dinner, the three of us headed amicably to the hot spring, only to find it already crowded with our schoolmates.

We had intentionally avoided peak times, but it seemed everyone had the same idea.

Buzz, buuuzzz.

As I undressed in the changing room, eyes from all around poured in.

If they usually looked at me with fear or awe, today it was something different.

“Hey, look over there.”

“Is that a human or what?”

“Is the school’s strongest also the strongest there?”

“The world is unfair. Why does Kim Yu-seong have it all?”

My unnecessarily high-performance body even catches the whispers of those around me.

“……”

I naturally wrapped a towel around my waist.

Seeing this, Satoru, who was putting clothes in the locker, laughed and said,

“With you like that, you look just like a Greek statue.”

I told Satoru to stop with the unnecessary comments and urged him to get into the bath.

Whoosh!

Opening the glass door separating the changing room and the onsen, the hot air rushed at my face due to the pressure difference.

“This is what a hot spring is about.”

Immediately after, Ryuji, like everyone else, in his natural state, followed right behind into the bath.

“Where’s Chiaki?”

Ryuji shrugged and answered,

“She said she’d wait outside until the bath is over.”

Well, even someone as shameless as her wouldn’t enter the men’s bath.

After nodding, I dipped my hand in the bath to check the temperature and found it perfect for soaking, which naturally lifted my mood.

I hummed a tune while quickly washing myself.

It’s probably the same everywhere in the world, but it’s a rule to wash before entering a public bath.

After shampooing and soaping up thoroughly, I immersed myself in the hot water.

“Ah, this is great~”

A natural exclamation came out.

Satoru, sitting next to me, looked at me incredulously.

“What, are you a forty-year-old man or something?”

“It’s polite to make such sounds when you’re feeling good.”

I said this and covered my face with the towel I had put on my head, to which Satoru clicked his tongue as if pitying me.

Anyway, as I was enjoying the hot spring in my own way, the noise from around me grew louder.

“Kim! Kim!”

Hmm?

Curious, I removed the towel from my face and saw one of the bald trio from our class looking at me with sparkling eyes.

“Would it be rude to ask if I could touch your arm muscles just once?”

“What…?”

I blinked in surprise at the utterly unexpected request.

But regardless of my reaction, the bald guy in front of me clasped his hands together in a pleading gesture.

“Please! It’s a lifelong wish!”

‘Come on, don’t make touching someone’s arm muscles a lifelong wish…’

I was incredulous, but then I realized that the situation was somewhat like those scenes in mangas where girls grope each other’s chests.

Is this an event that happened because of the love comedy world?

Despite my internal conflict, I decided to comply with Baldy’s request.

It’s not like it’s going to wear out from being touched, so there’s no need to be stingy about it.

“Here.”

I extended my left arm for him to easily touch, and Baldy carefully poked my biceps with his index finger, sincerely saying, “Thank you!”

“Ooh…”

It felt somewhat ticklish.

Perhaps it was more so because it was a part of my body that others usually don’t touch.

As Baldy poked my skin with his index finger as if testing its elasticity, he swallowed hard and then cautiously asked me,

“You’re not flexing on purpose, are you?”

“Don’t worry, I’m completely relaxed.”

After saying that and showing my relaxed hand, Baldy began to fiddle with my arm muscles again.

About three minutes passed as he felt my arm muscles.

Finally, having fulfilled his wish, Baldy retreated with a satisfied expression.

And this whimsical act brought about an unexpected result.

“Hey, can I try touching it too?”

“Me too! Me too!”

“I’ve been curious about it for a while!”

Suddenly, my popularity exploded.

To be precise, it wasn’t me but my arm muscles that were popular, but since arm muscles were a part of the body, I could ambiguously claim this popularity as my own.

“No.”

But my muscles weren’t so cheap to be kind to everyone, so I immediately implemented a closed country policy for my muscles.

Then, the male students from our class who had gathered around me dispersed in disappointment in all directions.

Thus, peace in the men’s bath was restored.

However, the brief peace was once again broken due to the unexpected intervention of a third party.

“Ah, I want to peek into the women’s bathhouse.”

Just one word that someone muttered.

However, the impact was so great that it instantly made the male students who had been flocking to me wanting to feel my muscles captive in an instant.

“Actually, I thought about that too.”

“Because it’s not a crime for a man to be a pervert.”

“Rather, isn’t it an event that you must do if you are on a school field trip?”

Confession time suddenly started.

Soon, the male students began to vent their hidden desires and evil powers.

“Sex! Sex! Sex!”

“You crazy! The women’s bath is right next door!”

“Ah! I want to have sex!”

“Shut up, it’s embarrassing!”

And there it was—the appearance of the sex-obsessed guys.

1. ED/N: A Korean idiom that describes the feeling of extreme hunger, as if the skin of your stomach lining is sticking to your back because it’s so empty. ?