The Bachelorettes' Tastes

Early morning.

Unlike my expectation that I would wake to a rooster’s crow or birdsong, what roused me was the resounding kiai of burly men.

Hap! Haaap!

“Ugh.”

I forced myself to sit up, my body throbbing from yesterday’s training. The ondol had been wonderfully warm, but at one point it got so hot I thought it would burn the skin off my back.

Outside, Kimyang sat beneath the eaves by the door, watching the training.

“A-are you awake?”

“Yeah. Ah, I’m tired. It’s the weekend, and I couldn’t even sleep in.”

Grumbling, I took a sip from the canteen Kimyang handed me.

One of the essentials I had to bring to Old Murim was a canteen...