“Yuna, you really picked a princess-style swimsuit. Your taste is so consistent!”
It was a comment about Seo Yuna’s pink swimsuit.
“I’m not a princess! How is this even princess-like? It’s just a perfectly normal swimsuit!”
She argued, her face turning red, but to me, it looked just like that.
In contrast, I was wearing a light blue and white checkered one-piece swimsuit.
The top part was adorned with large frills flowing down, completely covering my chest line.
I loosened the twisted strap around me and stepped out of the changing room.
“Wow, so cute!”
“Na-me, Yuna, you two are too lively! It already feels like summer in February!”
“Pffhaha, why are the frills so big, unni? I’m gonna grab them at the wave pool later!”
“I’ll dive down and hold my breath.”
“I’ll pull you up.”
“Nope, I’ll dive down again. Actually, now that I think about it, we have to wear life jackets anyway, right?”
“Yeah. Were you really unaware?”
“Ugh… the frilly ones were a whole ten bucks more.”
All my worries about the swimsuit suddenly seemed unnecessary.
“Cheon Saetbyeol, why don’t you stop showing off your chest and put on your life jacket already?”
“I barely get to flaunt my bikini, and my time to show off is less than a minute, ugh.”
Saetbyeol reluctantly put on her life jacket while pouting.
Now I just needed to text Lee Ha-ru to let him know we had arrived…
[Lee Ha-ru: We’re above you!]
“He says he’s above us? Where’s he talking about?”
Water Haven was so vast that I couldn’t see everything at once.
Not long after, two doors opened on a gigantic tree stump.
“Yikes, that was an elevator?!”
Lee Ha-ru, Lee Bo-reum, and CEO Lee Hyun-do all appeared.
“Wow, it’s so crowded! Nice to see everyone! Happy New Year! How have you been, NoName Wizard-nim?”
“Yes, CEO. Thank you for inviting us. What made you think of meeting at a water park?”
“Uh? Ah, my junior from school is the owner here, and water parks are off-season in winter, you know. Since the economy isn’t great these days, they have a lot of leftover tickets, so I got them for free. So, just have fun without worrying about it.”
It was quite an odd sight to shake hands in the middle of a water park.
Finally, the lovely yellow swimsuit-clad Lee Ha-ru joined our party.
“Na-me, your swimsuit is super cute! What’s that flapping thing on your chest?”
“It’s just some frilly decoration. But where did you come from?”
“If you take the elevator up, there’s a hut, it’s like a little observation deck. It fits about 20 people at once, but the elevator code is *1969#, so don’t forget it.”
“Did your family rent the hut for themselves?”
“Yep! There’s a snack bar and a vending machine, too.”
Capitalism has reached new extremes; they even have private facilities at a water park.
Acknowledging this, I decided to talk to CEO Lee Hyun-do later.
So, we arrived at the wave pool!
Truthfully, I didn’t have the best track record with water in my past life.
The drinking water was dirty, the rivers flooded when it rained, and I had snuck onto a cargo ship that sunk from the waves on more than one occasion.
Water torture was nothing short of a nightmare.
Bwooooosh!
“Everyone, please move out to the yellow line!”
At 10 o’clock sharp, waves of 2.6 meters were about to hit.
“Na-me, how far are you planning to go?”
“Since we’re here, I want to go as far as I can.”
“I-I can’t go, I’m too scared…!”
“You guys stay and play here for a bit; I’ll be back soon. Luri, take care of the kids.”
“Okay!”
The kids were temporarily left with Seo Yuna and her brothers.
Dad, I, and Saetbyeol’s group swam to the deeper area of the pool.
Doo doo doo…
Plop plop!
“?”
“What is it?”
“Want me to hold your hand?”
“Uh, yeah. Thank you.”
Looking around, I noticed I was the only one struggling with a breaststroke.
What am I supposed to do when my feet can’t touch the ground?
Even when the clock struck ten, the waves hadn’t come.
A broadcast announced that the safety checks were delayed, and they were asking for our patience.
I suddenly looked up at the ceiling.
They had covered the entire water park with thin wire and transparent vinyl, creating a greenhouse-like structure.
“Hey, Na-me!”
“Yeah?”
“Wow, did you see that? Na-me answered me!”
“That wasn’t directed at you; Na-me has a habit of saying ‘yeah’ once every hour.”
“What kind of nonsense is that? Just shut up and sink!”
Gaaaaaaaah! Oof…!
For some reason, Saetbyeol’s friends erupted into giggles.
It seemed like my academy friends had a much higher mental age than these kids, seriously.
“Can you show some cute tricks?”
“Saetbyeol shows one every day, and it’s just so teasing!”
“Honestly, I just want to hear ‘mya mya mya mya’ just once!”
“Hey, what’s with that? Na-me’s got the best one, the Tyranno cuteness!”
“Hey, kids? If you keep acting like this, I…”
Saetbyeol, taking her goggles off, finally stepped in to stop her friends.
“Cheon Saetbyeol, come here. I have something to do for a moment.”
“Ahhh! I don’t want to drown!”
Grab!
Saetbyeol’s friends caught her arms and body, trying to escape.
“I’ll let you go if you show me one cute trick! Deal?”
There wasn’t much room for thought.
“Myaaaang…! Give me back my cat…!”
“Cheon Saetbyeol, you were a good cat. I won’t forget you even after graduation.”
“Uh, hold on—”
The ownership of Saetbyeol returned to me.
I crossed my arms and held onto her life jacket tightly.
It strongly reminded me of the material that connects the Aura Heart and my shoulders, arms, and hands.
“Are you ready?”
Before she could respond, I spun her body clockwise.
Plop!
Like an artistic swimming athlete, Saetbyeol’s white legs bobbed on the water’s surface.
Plop!
“Kuueeek! Grrr…! Unni, I swallowed some water!”
“Did you like it? Should I do the windmill again?”
“Nooooo!”
This time, I decided to spin her three times counterclockwise.
Every time her beautiful silver hair emerged from the water, I commented.
“Think I’ll give in to this kind of thing?”
“Gahhh! I’m sorry, let me just wear my goggles!”
“Heehee, NoName has no chest, just a dirt-side!”
“Hey, stop enjoying this! How many times did I tell you not to spread those cute trick videos around?”
Beeeeeep!
A loud whistle echoed through the air.
“Don’t do any dangerous tricks there! If you do it one more time, you’ll be removed from the wave pool!”
“Okay… just don’t do it anyway.”
Huuuuu!
Still feeling the urge to tease, I poked Saetbyeol’s side and crossed my arms.
Bwoooosh!
Then, the waves came crashing in.
A model whale opened its massive mouth, releasing a grand energy from the depths.
The wave towered two times above my height.
‘That’s too big, isn’t it?’
Just to be safe, I cozied up behind Dad and subtly hopped onto his back.
“Gaaaaahhh!”
The cheers of the people rose.
“Wow, it’s so high! My heart just dropped!”
Having had my share of dealing with the waves, we watched the gorgeous scenes of countless people swept away by the massive hill.
“Looks like Na-me is riding Dad’s back?”
“Heehee, are you scared? Look, Na-me’s duck face is out!”
Bubububu!
Saetbyeol flicked my lips with her finger.
The second and third waves followed closely.
“Are you going to keep riding? We swam all the way here; we should experience it ourselves too!”
“I just find this comfortable. Is that not okay…?”
“Of course it’s okay. Guess it’s the same hanging onto a life jacket or Dad!”
Heehee, that’s right.
Now, I had a family that could support me.
Even when enormous waves threatened to see me vanish, I no longer felt scared.
Holding hands with them, I understood that this moment would also pass.
I enjoyed being carried along the currents that we had no control over.
“Dad, just a little over there.”
“To Cheon Saetbyeol?”
Before the last wave hit, I slyly approached Cheon Saetbyeol.
Bwoooosh!
The sound of the wave horn echoed.
I pressed down on Dad’s shoulder and leaped toward Saetbyeol.
“Eh? What’s going on? Na-me?”
I focused the sludge aura, particularly the heavy aura, to her lower abdomen and spun fiercely.
I wrapped my legs around her waist and arms around her neck to ensure she wouldn’t escape.
“Saetbyeol, no matter what wave hits us, you’ll stay with me, right?”
As the life jacket became useless, my body slowly began to sink.
“Why? Are you out of your mind? Wait, I’m sinking in real-time! Unni! Unniiiiii!”
QUAAAAAAAH!
The highlight of the Water Haven wave pool.
Waves towering 3.5 meters swept everything away.
Soaked to the bone in the form of a drenched rat, Cheon Saetbyeol popped up.
She bared her sharp teeth and fiercely pinched my cheek.
“Judging by the lines, this is quite the proposal.”
“Were you excited?”
“I was so excited my heart nearly fell out. I really thought I was going to die out of fear.”
*
“NoName, you really had fun, huh!”
“Weren’t you scared? That’s amazing…”
“Ahem.”
Seo Yuna and Lee Ha-ru gazed at me with envious eyes.
Reaching the deepest point of the wave pool was no small feat.
“By the way, Na-me, I mean Cheon Saetbyeol unni! What’s that yellow label on your life jacket? Where can I get one?”
“This? If you want a date ticket with the handsome lifeguard brothers!”
Saetbyeol confidently answered Lee Ha-ru’s question.
“Really? Wow, awesome!”
“Heehee, are you jealous?”
“Such nonsense. We simply got warned not to go inside the yellow line during the morning. It’ll be okay after noon.”
“Uh-huh.”
It turned out to be just a yellow card; nothing special.
Nothing to worry about; there weren’t even any people around, so there was no need for a fuss.
Since the staff were just following orders, I humbly exited without further comments.
After that, we took tubes down the lazy river, floating like weak leaves.
Since Yuna and Ha-ru kept pestering me to play a snorkeling dare, I decided to show them what’s what.
“I can hold my breath for over ten minutes, you know!”
“How can you hold it for ten minutes? That’s a lie!”
“Here’s how: by drastically lowering my heartbeat and artificially expanding my lung capacity with aura…”
Thump!
“Oww!”
After being hit in the head by Professor Cheon, I decided to take on the role of referee.
“Just floating around like this… it’s so relaxing. I’m starting to feel sleepy. Luri, are you doing alright? Is it fun?”
Nod nod nod!
Luri nodded vigorously, showing clear positivity.
In fact, while I was playing at the wave pool earlier, I had thought of various things.
But just floating down the lazy river without any setbacks felt the easiest and most comforting to my heart.
“So, you all are entering middle school? Ji-hye too?”
“Yeah, she wants to join middle school too, but since there are still two years left, she wants to take her time!”
“There’s still two years… Ah, why are you all so young? When will you grow up to duel with me?”
“Hey, isn’t it Na-me who needs to step up the game?”
“What do you mean by that, Seo Yuna?”
“Gahh! Na-me ghost, so scary!”
As we chatted about our academy friends, we shared many updates.
Among them was the news that Jacqueline Carroll-sensei and Shim Hyo-chan-sensei were getting married soon.
Last year’s trip to Jeju Island came to mind.
Leaving the kids at the hotel, the two had tried to sneak off to a café, but they got caught.
“Wow, that’s quick. When did they start dating?”
“Probably early last year?”
“Guess they were already dating by then.”
“Yeah, once the trip ended, rumors spread, and they told us.”
“Right, you guys are not exactly good at keeping secrets.”
“But we didn’t say anything! It was the boys who spread it around!”
Having gossiped for about an hour.
I wasn’t sure how many times we’d gone around the same topic.
Checking my fingers and toes, I noticed they had turned all pruney.
“Where’s Dad?”
“Oh right, my brother’s gone too.”
“Bo-reum unni too!”
The members who were with us earlier – Professor Cheon, Lee Bo-reum, Seo Maru, and Seo No-eul were nowhere to be found.
Should I give them a call?
“Hello? Dad? Where are you right now?”
[Dad’s resting in the hut and about to head for lunch. Where are you, Na-me?]
“We’re still at the lazy river.”
[Still there? Ohhhh…!]
Professor Cheon suddenly fell silent.
[Aren’t you getting hungry?]
“Starting to feel that way.”
[Alright, let’s head to eat. Everyone’s nearby, right? Let’s meet at the dining room.]
“Sure, let’s go.”
As we got out of the water, my legs wobbled, almost losing my balance.
“Are you okay?”
“Yup, I’m good.”
I almost slipped. Had I been in the water for too long?
This was a result of poor blood circulation.
While passing by, I noticed there was a punching machine on the way to the dining room.
“Luri, hold my life jacket for a sec.”
I lightly stretched to warm up and rolled my shoulders.
“Hah. With my strength, I won’t even reach a hundred.”
“Really?”
Yuna spoke confidently.
Then, with all my might, I threw a punch.
Bam!
[189]
“I can still break a hundred. Don’t underestimate me, I’ve worked hard on my fitness!”
Pffft! You can’t even break 200!
“…”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the innocent kid’s teasing.
I couldn’t stand being called weak.
I heated my aura to its limits and swung my fist again.
Boooooom!
An explosion resounded.
The numbers on the punching machine began to shoot up uncontrollably.
And finally…
[—]
“Uhh… Na-me? You’re not angry, are you?”
“Is it broken…?”
Black smoke began streaming out of the punching machine.
“Noname?”
“Don’t worry, it’s fine, nothing to freak out about.”
I reassured the astonished foreign tourists passing by and surveyed the situation.
We really need to get to lunch fast… but who should I talk to?
