I Was Possessed By An Unknown Manga - Chapter 116: A Night At An Inn

We had no choice but to stay overnight at an inn near the station.

Before we knew it, it was almost 8 PM, and I wanted to take a shower as soon as possible.

However, after securing the inn, something unexpected happened.

“What? There’s only one room available?!”

When I asked urgently, the staff member flinched with a scared expression.

“Yes. This one is only available because a reservation was cancelled…”

“What should we do?”

I asked Mei Ling in English, who was standing next to me.

She then nonchalantly reached out her hand towards the staff at the counter.

“Give it to me.”

Although her pronunciation was awkward, the meaning was clear enough, and the staff handed over the key they were holding.

I looked at her, perplexed.

“Is this okay?”

Mei Ling then casually shook the key in her hand.

“There’s only one anyway. Other inns are fully booked, and we barely got this one, so we have no choice.”

It was certainly true.

“Okay.”

I nodded at the staff and followed Mei Ling, who was walking ahead.

Rattle!

With a thud, I opened the firmly closed double doors and entered to find a room about 33 square meters in size.

It was quite spacious, more than I expected.

There was a separate bedroom, a small living room, a bathroom, and a terrace with a view outside.

Although it cost nearly 50,000 yen for the two of us to stay for one night in this luxury inn with an open-air hot spring in a tourist area, it seemed worth the price.

Since I couldn’t reclaim the money spent, I decided to enjoy our stay in this nice place.

I put down my backpack and asked,

“We’ll eat after we take a shower, right?”

“Yes.”

She nodded, setting down her bag just like I had done.

“They said they only prepare meals until 9 PM, so we might need to soak in the hot spring later.”

“Got it. I’ll take a quick shower and come back.”

I picked up a yukata from the living room table and handed it to Mei Ling.

“Here.”

“What’s this?”

“It’s a yukata, worn in traditional Japanese inns. You can change into this after bathing.”

Mei Ling stared blankly at the yukata for a moment before asking,

“How do you wear it?”

“……”

I was momentarily at a loss for words.

How could I explain something I didn’t know?

That was when it happened.

Knock! Knock!

Someone knocked on the door from the hallway.

Curious, I opened the door to find a neatly dressed female employee bowing and asking,

“Guests, how would you like to proceed with your meal?”

“Oh, just a moment.”

After saying that, I checked the time on my phone.

It was 8:10 PM. Considering the time to shower and return, it would take at least 30 minutes, so we were tight on time.

“Could you have it ready by 8:50 PM?”

“Yes, understood.”

The employee nodded, then closed the door to leave, but I hastily stopped her.

“Oh, wait a moment!”

“Yes?”

“My companion is a foreigner and doesn’t know how to wear a yukata. Could you show her?”

The employee looked at Mei Ling, standing behind me, who smiled faintly and nodded.

“Of course, I’ll show her.”

Saved.

Inwardly relieved, I said to Mei Ling,

“I’ll go take a shower first. You can come back to the room by 8:50 PM after you’re done.”

“Okay.”

I thanked the employee, entered the room, and, taking a change of underwear and the yukata, headed to the bathhouse.

Splash!

“Ah~ This is nice~”

After washing off the day’s sweat and dirt with cold water, these were the first words that came out as I soaked in the hot spring.

Perhaps because it was an awkward time for a bath, I was the only one using the bathhouse.

Thanks to that, I enjoyed the feeling of having the place to myself, leaning against the rocks behind me.

Whoosh!

Closing my eyes and holding my breath, I could quietly hear the sound of coniferous forest leaves rustling in the night breeze behind the hot spring.

I scooped up the hot spring water with my hands, enjoying the paradoxical sensation of cold above my belly and warmth below.

Perhaps because it was a sulfur hot spring, the water was a bit murkier than in ordinary hot springs.

Well, it was good for the body, so it didn’t really matter.

Huff! Huff!

After washing my face lightly, I submerged my body deeper into the water.

My body was completely submerged except for my neck.

Finally, I felt the soreness in my body easing away.

If I hadn’t soaked in the hot spring, I would have definitely experienced full-body muscle soreness tomorrow.

Today, literally every muscle in my body, both voluntary and involuntary, was pushed to the limit, almost like they were being wrung out.

Looking up at the sky, I could see the clear autumn sky.

Stars, invisible in the city due to smog, were abundantly floating above my head.

“Beautiful…”

After voicing that admiration, I became engrossed in identifying constellations, losing track of time.

The 30 minutes spent in the sulfur hot spring flew by quickly.

Consoling my regret, I returned to the room with a towel on my wet head to find that dinner had already been prepared in the living room.

In such traditional inns, the dinner provided was typically a high-end cuisine known as ‘kaiseki.’

The table was filled with exquisite dishes made from local specialties from Mount Fuji and fish caught from Lake Kawaguchi.

Indeed, such meals were rare; even I, who normally doesn’t take photos of food, found myself taking out my phone to capture it from various angles.

As I stood up from my seat to take an aerial shot of the food,

Thud!

Mei Ling entered the room, opening the door.

“Oh, you’re already here. Have you been waiting long?”

“No, I just got back too.”

As I was about to sit down again, I noticed her dressed in a yukata.

“It suits you well.”

“Really? I’m not sure about it.”

She, dressed in a blue checkered yukata and flapping her sleeves, came in holding something in a black bag.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, it’s beer. They were selling it at the store nearby.”

She said so and showed me the contents of the bag.

There were several cans of beer inside, a familiar brand with a white and yellow design.

“…Are you going to drink it?”

“With such good food here, it’d be a shame not to drink.”

Indeed, she wasn’t wrong.

She sat down opposite me and asked,

“Do you want one too?”

“Are you offering alcohol to a minor?”

“Oh right, you said you’re still 17.”

As if she had completely forgotten, Mei Ling smacked her forehead and then chuckled, opening the can of beer.

Click!

“Then I’ll just drink it myself.”

Gulp.

Watching her, I unconsciously swallowed.

Ever since I possessed Kim Yu-seong’s body, I hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol.

Though I could have drunk as much as I wanted, given my family’s restaurant, I refrained because I didn’t want to lose muscle mass.

But the situation is a bit different now.

After a day of sweating from exercise and taking a refreshing bath, I was ready to enjoy a cold beer with food that was usually hard to come by.

Wasn’t this just the perfect combination?

They say familiar tastes are dangerous; it was hard to resist when the beer was right in front of me.

In fact, worrying about age now seems rather silly.

After all, my real age before the possession was 27.

Ultimately, I succumbed to the temptation.

“I’ll join you, but only for one can.”

As I said this and reached out, Mei Ling, with a grin as if amused, extended the bag to me.

“So, you’re not always a model student?”

“I think that’s still pretty normal.”

“Ahahaha! You do know how to joke!”

She laughed heartily, patting my shoulder.

…But I wasn’t joking.

I muttered that to myself and then opened the yellow beer can in my hand.

Crrrick!

White foam surged up.

It felt like meeting an old friend after a long time.

I never felt like drinking when my parents poured it at home, but today, for some reason, it looked so appealing.

As I hastily went to sip the foam, Mei Ling reached out her hand to stop me.

“?”

“We should toast first, cheers.”

Ah, right.

It had been so long since I last drank that I momentarily forgot etiquette.

Embarrassed, I extended the beer can in my right hand, and she did the same with hers.

Clunk!

We lightly clinked our cans together and then gulped down the beer.

“Ahh!”

That’s the taste.

It had been a long time, but the taste of beer hadn’t changed.

‘Well then, here.’

After drinking about half the beer in one go, I put it down and took a bite of the strongly flavored fish stew, which literally melted in my mouth.

Looking across at Mei Ling, she was also happily savoring her food with chopsticks in her mouth.

Fortunately, the inn’s cuisine seemed to suit her taste.

I had worried it might not be to her liking, but it turned out to be an unfounded concern.

I was relieved and decided to enjoy the hearty meal with a happy heart.