MTM 58

The bathroom was as wide as the room. It could have been called a small bathhouse instead of a bathroom. The square stone bath was deep and broad enough for ten people to enter, and hot water gushed endlessly from its center. There must have been a huge spring running underground.

The air was filled with thick steam, and there were no windows. Like the room outside, it was a space completely sealed off from the outside world.

Click.

Ser went behind the partition and came back with a wooden bucket. Inside were soap pieces of different colors, a soft brush, and towels. He set it beside the bath, then dipped his hand into the water to check the temperature.

While he did that, Harto searched through his pocket. He tried to find the black crystal orb Leon had given him, but his fingers touched nothing. It seemed he had already dropped it somewhere and lost it.

“Are you still planning to run away?”

Ser smiled softly as he came closer. He placed his hand on Harto’s shoulder, who stood at the entrance tense.

“I’m actually… in the same situation as you.”

“The same… as me?”

Harto stepped back, then stopped.

“Yes, I was dragged here without knowing why. Just like you.”

“Ah…”

So it was true. Maybe this place had always worked that way, catching people and selling them off. Since this world followed a medieval setting, slave trading and human trafficking must have been common.

“How… how did that happen to you?”

Harto hesitated, then carefully approached Ser, who was preparing for the bath with the soapy brush in his hand. Ser turned slightly and asked back.

“And you? How did you end up here? Tell me your story.”

His tone was strangely kind, and Harto lowered his guard a little. He wondered where to start and how to explain. Since Ser said he was in the same situation, maybe he really would help him.

“I was… traveling south with my companions. We stopped by the horse market, sold a horse, and stayed at an inn…”

“An inn? The Golden Hoop, the biggest one in Hipora?”

“Ah, yes…!”

Harto’s eyes widened when Ser named the place exactly.

“It’s noisy because there are many people, but the inside’s clean.”

After saying that, Ser suddenly slipped off his thin robe.

“Ah…!”

Harto turned red and quickly turned his head away, but through the steam he could still see Ser’s smooth legs.

Ser didn’t seem bothered and came closer.

“What floor were you on? How many were in your group?”

“The third floor… four people.”

“So, four including you.”

Before Harto realized it, Ser had moved behind him and ran his hand through his black hair. His touch felt strangely sticky. Harto flinched and closed his eyes, and Ser chuckled.

“Why aren’t you undressing?”

Ser grabbed Harto’s collar and pulled it down.

“You have to undress to wash.”

“……!”

The rough touch made Harto shake his head and refuse.

“I… don’t want to wash. You said earlier you’d let me out….”

“After you wash.”

Ser didn’t step back and spoke firmly.

“If you want to get out, you’ll have to wash first. You saw those guards. They’re strong. There are more than ten like them here. And there are no windows here, so how will you escape?”

“……”

Harto couldn’t argue. Everything he said was true. He thought briefly how useful magic would be right now, but if he could use it like Leon, he wouldn’t have been caught in the first place.

When Harto stopped resisting, Ser pulled off his top. Harto’s shoulders trembled.

“They look like you too.”

Ser’s gaze lingered on his pale pink nipples, and he smirked.

“Ugh… I’ll… I’ll take it off myself….”

Ashamed, Harto decided to remove his pants on his own, but he hesitated when it came to the undergarments.

‘I haven’t even shown this to Zed….’

That thought startled him. Why was Zed suddenly on his mind now? Did he think it would be fine if it were Zed?

“You need to take off your underwear too. You’re going to bathe.”

When Ser urged him again, Harto shook his head.

“I can… bathe with it on.”

Whoosh!

“Ah!”

Instead of replying, Ser reached out and yanked off Harto’s underwear. Harto quickly covered himself with both hands, but Ser caught his wrists and pinned them.

“Harto? How old are you…?”

Ser’s eyes widened as he looked down at Harto’s exposed lower body.

“I, I’m twenty… Please, can you let go of me?”

Ser didn’t seem to hear. He was staring at Harto’s groin.

“You… never had hair there from the start?”

At that question that caught his breath short, Harto’s face turned bright red.

“Answer quickly. It’s important.”

“I, I never had any… Was that… strange?”

Harto was completely deflated. Even in his previous life, he hadn’t grown any hair there, so he never knew if that was abnormal. His so-called parents had never cared, and even though he had siblings, he had never bathed with them. Because of his weak body, he had never gone to public baths where he could compare himself with others.

So he had simply thought some people had hair and some did not.

“Well… there are some like you. You’re clean here too.”

Ser lifted Harto’s arm and checked the smooth, hairless armpit, then reached his hand toward his rear.

“Ah, ahh!”

At the unexpected touch, Harto reflexively pushed Ser away.

Splash!

Ser ended up falling into the bath.

Startled, Harto jumped in after him. The water rose up to his waist, deeper than he had thought. He tried to grab Ser and pull him up, but Ser, whom he expected to find easily, was nowhere to be seen.

He was about to dive down, afraid Ser might be hurt.

Suddenly, a white hand emerged from the water and grabbed his arm.

“Ahh!”

Splash!

Harto fell into the bath again. He fought against the force dragging him underwater and barely pushed it away enough to raise his head above the surface. As he gasped for breath, Ser was already outside the bath, laughing as if he had been watching from the start.

“You’re really cute.”

“Don’t, don’t joke like that… It’s dangerous…”

“You’re the one who threw me, Harto.”

Harto couldn’t answer. Ser was right. Even though he felt wronged, guilt outweighed it, because things could have gone seriously wrong.

“Alright, now that your underwear’s off, let’s get you clean.”

Ser smiled playfully and took three small glass bottles from the wooden tub. He uncorked them one by one, smelling each, then picked one up.

“This scent suits you.”

“Scent? What is it?”

Still in the bath, Harto asked, and Ser tilted the bottle onto his palm.

“It’s perfumed oil made by magic. When it’s rubbed on the body, the scent stays for a whole day. The guests like it a lot.”

The oil on his palm shimmered as if mixed with gold dust. It slid down his hand and floated on the water’s surface without blending, like oil.

“It smells like flowers…”

It was a lilac scent Harto knew well.

“Come here. Let’s just put this on and finish up.”

“On my body…?”

“Yes, it only leaves a scent. Nothing else.”

Even with Ser’s calm tone, Harto still hesitated. But he thought if he didn’t do as Ser said, he might never get a chance to leave this place, so he finally stepped closer.

“Good. Turn around.”

Still doubtful, Harto turned around as told. If Ser tried to touch somewhere strange again, he would immediately…

Clink.

“Huh…?”

Harto turned his head as he a metallic sound. A blue ring-shaped shackle was already fastened around his left wrist.