I was Thrown into an Unfamiliar Manga

We had no choice but to stay the night at a nearby inn.

Before we knew it, it was almost 8 p.m., and I was dying to get washed up as soon as possible.
We managed to secure a room, but an unexpected issue came up.
“Excuse me? There’s only one room?!”

When I asked, almost in a demanding tone, the staff member flinched with a nervous expression.
“Yes. It only opened up because someone canceled at the last minute…”
“What should we do?”

I turned to Li Mei Ling beside me and asked her in English.
She then reached her hand out toward the counter clerk as if it were nothing.
“That, give.”

Her pronunciation was clumsy, but the meaning was clear enough that the staff member handed over the key she was holding.
Startled, I looked at Mei Ling.
“Are you okay with this?”

She just lightly shook the key in her hand and answered as if it were no big deal.
“There’s only one room anyway. The other inns are full, and we barely managed to get this one, so what choice do we have?”
She wasn’t wrong.

“Alright.”
I gave the staff member a polite bow and followed behind her as she walked ahead.
***

Click!
We opened the double-locked door and stepped into a guest room roughly the size of ten pyeong.
It was surprisingly spacious.
The bedroom was separated, with a small living room, a bathroom, and a terrace where you could look out at the view outside.

It was a high-end inn with an open-air hot spring located in a tourist area, and just one night for the two of us cost nearly 50,000 yen—but I had to admit, it was worth the price.
Since I couldn’t take the money back anyway, I decided I might as well enjoy the place.
Setting my backpack down, I asked,

“We’re going to eat after washing up, right?”
“Yeah.”
She nodded and set down her bag just like I did.

“They said they only serve dinner until 9, so I think we’ll have to soak in the hot spring afterward.”
“Got it. I’ll wash up quickly and come back.”
I picked up one of the yukata folded on the living room table and handed it to Li Mei Ling.

“Here.”
“This is?”
“A yukata. It’s what you wear at traditional Japanese inns. You can change into it after you bathe.”

She looked at the yukata blankly for a moment, then asked a beat later,
“How do you wear this?”
“……”

I was momentarily speechless.
I don’t know either?
Just then—

Knock knock!
Someone knocked on the door from the hallway.
Curious, I opened the door and saw a neatly dressed female employee bowing.

“Excuse me, how would you like your dinner?”
“Ah, just a moment.”
I said that and checked my phone for the time.

It was 8:10. Even if I washed up quickly, considering the back-and-forth, it’d take at least 30 minutes, so time was tight.

“Could you have it ready by 8:50?”
“Yes, of course.”

The employee bowed and turned to leave, but I quickly stopped her.
“Ah, wait a moment!”
“Yes?”

“My companion’s a foreigner and doesn’t know how to wear a yukata. Could you show her?”
The staff’s gaze moved to Li Mei Ling standing behind me. She smiled softly and nodded.
“Of course. I’ll be happy to assist.”

Saved.
Breathing an inward sigh of relief, I turned to Mei Ling.
“Then I’ll go ahead and wash up. Just be back in the room by 8:50.”

“Alright.”
Leaving the woman in charge, I grabbed some underwear and a yukata, then headed to the bath.
***

Splash!
“Ahh~ This is nice~”
After rinsing off the sweat and dirt that had caked me all day, I soaked into the hot spring. Those were the first words out of my mouth.

Maybe because of the awkward timing, there was no one else using the bath. I had the whole place to myself.
Enjoying the luxury of it, I leaned my back against the rocks behind me.
Shhhhhh—

Closing my eyes and holding my breath, I could faintly hear the leaves rustling in the conifer forest behind the hot spring, swaying in the night breeze.
The contrast of cold above the navel and warmth below it gave me this paradoxical sensation, and I scooped up the hot spring water with my hands.
Maybe because it was a sulfur spring, the water was a bit cloudier than usual hot springs.

Well, as long as it’s good for the body, I didn’t mind.
Huff! Huff!
After washing my face, I sank my body deeper.

Now, everything except my neck was underwater.
At last, the stiffness throughout my body began to fade.
If I hadn’t gotten into the hot spring, I was 100% sure I’d be suffering from full-body muscle aches tomorrow.

Today, literally every voluntary and involuntary muscle in my body had been wrung out.
Looking up at the sky, I saw a clear autumn sky.
Stars, which you couldn’t see in the city because of pollution, were twinkling overhead.

“So pretty…”
I let out that thought and lost track of time stargazing and looking for constellations.
***

The thirty minutes I spent in the sulfur spring flew by.
With a towel draped over my wet hair, I returned to the room, and dinner was already laid out in the living room.
Typically, meals at traditional inns like this are served in a luxurious style called kaiseki.

There was an entire table full of gourmet dishes made with Mt. Fuji specialties and fresh fish from Lake Kawaguchi.
Maybe because it was something I wouldn’t normally get to eat, but even I—who rarely took food pictures—instinctively pulled out my phone and started taking shots from multiple angles.
Just as I stood from my seat to get an overhead shot—

Click!
The door opened, and Li Mei Ling walked in.
“Oh, you were already here. Did you wait long?”

“No, I just got here too.”
I was about to sit down again when I saw her wearing the yukata.
“It suits you.”

“Really? I can’t tell myself.”
Wearing a blue plaid yukata and flapping the sleeves lightly, she walked in holding a black plastic bag.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, beer. They were selling it at the shop just outside.”
She opened the bag and showed me the contents.
It was full of white and yellow cans of beer from some familiar brand.

“…You’re going to drink?”
“With this kind of great food, it’d be a shame not to.”
She wasn’t wrong.

As she sat down across from me, she asked,
“Want one too?”
“You’re offering alcohol to a minor.”

“Oh, right. You said you were 17.”
As if she’d completely forgotten, she smacked her forehead, then grinned sheepishly and popped open a can.
Psshh—!

“Well, I guess I’ll drink alone then.”
Gulp—
Watching her, I involuntarily swallowed.

Since being possessed by Kim Yu-seong’s body, I hadn’t drunk a single drop of alcohol.
With my family running a restaurant, I could drink anytime I wanted, but I refrained because I didn’t want to lose muscle mass.
But this time, things were a little different.

After sweating all day, getting cleaned up in the bath, and being served delicious food that was hard to get normally—paired with a cold beer.
It was literally the perfect combo.
The taste I already knew… was the most dangerous kind. With beer right in front of me, it was hard to resist.

Honestly, arguing about age at this point was kind of a joke.
My actual age before reincarnating was 27.
In the end, I succumbed to the devil’s temptation.

“Just one can to join you.”
As I reached out and said that, Li Mei Ling smiled brightly and handed over ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) the bag.
“Guess you’re not a total goody-goody after all?”

“I think that’s still within the range of average.”
“Ahahaha! So you can joke too, huh?”
She burst out laughing and patted my shoulder.

…That wasn’t a joke though.
I mumbled internally and popped the top off the yellow beer can in my hand.
Psshhh—

White foam bubbled up.
It felt like I hadn’t seen this old friend in a long time.
When my parents poured me drinks at home, I never felt like drinking, but today, for some reason, it looked incredibly lovable.

As I hurriedly brought it to my lips to sip the foam, Li Mei Ling reached out to stop me.
“?”
“We have to clink first. Cheers.”

Ah, right.
It had been so long since I last drank, I’d forgotten basic etiquette.
I awkwardly extended the beer can in my right hand, and she tapped hers against mine.

Clink!
With that, we both tilted our heads back and drank deeply.
“Ahhh!”

This was the taste.
Even though it had been ages, the flavor of beer hadn’t changed.
‘Now then.’

I set the half-empty can down and popped a bite of intensely seasoned braised fish into my mouth. It melted instantly.
I glanced at Mei Ling sitting across from me—she was smiling happily with her chopsticks in her mouth.
Thankfully, the inn’s food seemed to suit her taste.

I’d been worried it might not, but clearly, I had nothing to fear.
Relieved, I decided to fully enjoy the lavish meal in front of us.