While the hot air was rising and the smell of cooking was spreading, the woman from before and her two daughters were preparing the food when she heard the sound of the bell that signaled someone's arrival.
"Miria, go and ask the guests when they will eat," the mother called to the older sister.
But when the younger sister heard that it might be the guests—and among them Ming Kyon, the boy of her dreams—she panicked and quickly stood up.
"No, no, impossible! I'll go. Miria is busy helping you, mother. I'll go!"
The mother looked at her older daughter, and Miria's gaze—the older sister's—was mocking. Perhaps she couldn't believe that her spoiled little sister would go by herself to welcome the guests, so she smiled sarcastically. The mother couldn't hold herself back and laughed at Miria's look.
The young girl swayed happily, quickly fixing her hair and her soft white clothes. Then she stopped in the middle of the hallway, realizing that she smelled like onions and garlic, so she hurried upstairs and put on perfume. The pink scent spread everywhere. After that, she looked at the woman with a smile and quickly went down. When she finally arrived, she was about to greet them with a gentle smile—but she froze in shock.
The five handsome young men who had gone out looking amazing, like flowers of different shapes, had returned to the inn like flowers that had fallen into the mud, shattering their beautiful image. Each of them had messy hair, dirty clothes, and eyes like ghosts. No one even looked at her, as if she didn't exist.
"I'm tired. I'm going to shower and sleep."
When Byul said this, everyone agreed, starting with Cho Jin.
"I agree with the first part only. I'll shower and eat; I'm hungry."
The others just nodded their heads.
"Go to hell with only the first part of what I said."
Byul didn't accept Cho Jin's joke in this situation, so he replied like that and went to the room. Cho Jin walked with him, laughing, while Byul argued with him to stop. Muyon went with them as well.
"Wait, Byul. Are you really okay?"
Ryoung Shin rolled his eyes just like Byul.
"What is it? This is the tenth time you've asked if he's okay. Is he the only one who looks hurt?"
Muyon took a breath and sighed, telling him that Byul was something else, then left quickly—perhaps he had begun to feel jealous of Lang Byul.
"Let's go."
When Kyon saw that Shin was distracted, he reminded him to leave. The girl grew nervous, realizing she had to say something or she would be ignored.
"Oh, right… will you eat now, or—"
Shin looked at her, nodded his head, and told her that they would rest a little and then eat. But she didn't seem satisfied with that. She bit her red lip, gathered her courage, and asked,
"Are—are you okay? Do you—do you maybe need medicine or—"
Before she could finish, Kyon looked at her with his black, wolf-like eyes, as if suppressing his anger, and stopped her with these words:
"This is extremely annoying."
The girl fell silent immediately, her eyes widening. Shin became tense from her embarrassment, so he decided to ignore her as if he hadn't heard or seen anything, and they left, leaving the girl behind with a flushed face and tearful, sad eyes.
"Oh my God, today was really exhausting. But at least we got what we wanted, right, Cho Jin?"
Cho Jin nodded, agreeing with him, but stopped when he heard him continue.
"So I'll go shower first, hehehehe."
"You damn fox."
Despite cursing him, he left him alone to shower first and sat down to think.
After ten minutes, a knock on the door cut off his train of thought. It was probably Muyon or Shin, so he said loudly,
"Come in."
The person behind the door opened it slowly, and Kyon appeared. Cho Jin was a little surprised; he hadn't expected Kyon to come here. Even though he was on the same team, he didn't know much about him because he rarely talked and almost never came by himself. Curiosity took over, and he asked,
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"
Kyon looked at him after closing the door, quickly glanced around the room, and noticed that Cho Jin had arranged his belongings, while Lang Byul had left his things on the floor or on the bed in a messy way.
"Muyon went in to shower first, but he found a small worm on Ryoung Shin's hand, so he begged me to shower in my room."
Cho Jin laughed at the situation and nodded, confirming that Byul had gone in to shower first as well, just like them. Cho Jin felt that Kyon was in the same situation as him, so he smiled and asked him to sit there until Shin finished.
Kyon sat on Byul's chair and remained silent for a moment before asking,
"Did—did you tell Lang Byul anything, like that the place might be nearby if there were black crow feathers, or tell him that maybe if he pressed on a rock, the cave entrance would appear?"
Cho Jin was silent for a moment, then smiled.
"Yes, yes. He was asking a lot about how we merchants can find cave entrances, so I told him some things and deductions."
Kyon looked at him, then nodded.
"I see."
Cho Jin became nervous and tried to change the subject, asking when the food would be ready. But before Kyon could answer, Lang Byul came out. They looked at him, but—
"Oh, Kyon is here. Haven't you showered yet? Haha, I thought you were a cleanliness freak. Did you miss me, or what?"
Byul was wearing very light white clothes, and his hair—always tied—was now loose, snow-white like silky threads, with a few drops of hot water clinging to it. Because of the hot water, his face looked relaxed and calm, his eyes sleepy, his skin had turned fair, and his lips were bright red like cherries.
When he didn't get a response, he looked at them in confusion.
Was the timing bad for joking?