Chapter 122

A little later, Jin Se-ah returned to the pool, pulling the hand of a bashful, embarrassed Henes.

“Jun-sang, what do you think?” Jin Se-ah asked. Jun-sang took a moment to look at Henes. Her swimsuit was black with a white trim along the edges, designed almost like a competition suit. Aside from the fact that it revealed her figure, it wasn’t particularly revealing. She had a sarong wrapped around her lower body, completely covering her thighs. It was clear that Jin Se-ah had been considerate of her, as Henes had never been exposed like this before. Still, Henes’s face was flushed, and she awkwardly held the end of her sarong, which kept wanting to part. Although she still had a somewhat youthful figure, the soft curves visible through the swimsuit exuded a distinctly mature womanly charm.

“Beautiful,” Jun-sang said with a nod, offering a short compliment. A faint smile touched Henes’s lips, which had been contorted in embarrassment. Watching all this from the side, Jin Se-ah clutched her own shoulders and shivered.

“Ugh… a single person can’t live like this. Honestly…” And as if she couldn’t stand to watch the sickeningly sweet sight any longer, she quickly took Henes’s hand and led her to the pool.

“Okay, let’s start with some warm-ups.”

“Okay…”

Henes still felt awkward in the swimsuit she was wearing for the first time. She awkwardly held the end of her sarong, but when Jin Se-ah demonstrated the warm-up exercises, she hesitantly started to follow. When the warm-ups were over, Henes was led into the pool by Jin Se-ah, while Im Seo-yoon came out.

“Phew…” Im Seo-yoon, exhaling heavily with a hazy steam rising from his body, took off his swimming cap and approached Jun-sang once he had calmed down a bit. “It’s not easy swimming again after so long.”

“Did you used to swim?”

“Yes, a bit when I was in school.”

As he spoke, Seo-yoon took a document envelope from a cabinet and handed it to Jun-sang. “Here are the related documents. Insurance, car registration… I’ve taken care of everything. And here are the keys.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Jun-sang took the documents and keys, stored the documents in the cabinet, and handed the keys to Mong-mong. Seo-yoon watched silently, then took out a bundle of Seeds and handed them to Jun-sang.

“And these are the Seeds we’ve purchased up to today.”

“Good work.” Jun-sang took the Seeds and then took a bag of gold bars from the cabinet, handing it to Seo-yoon. “Payment.”

“Oh, thank you.” Seo-yoon quickly opened the bag to check the gold bars, as if to make sure no one else saw, and then put it in his cabinet. “I’ll go check the weight and settle the accounts.”

“No rush.”

“I couldn’t possibly. My principle is to be thorough with money, especially with people close to me.”

“Fair enough.” Jun-sang nodded at Seo-yoon’s words. It was better in many ways for close friends not to have financial dealings, but if it was unavoidable, it was best to handle it cleanly to avoid any future disputes.

Once the simple transaction was over, Seo-yoon spoke again. “First… to purchase Seeds, I’ve prepared a small office in the city.”

“That was fast.”

“There’s no reason to delay. However… the problem is the returnees in the provinces. I think we’ll have to take a wait-and-see approach before setting up branches.”

“Not profitable?”

“There’s an element of that. Labor costs, office maintenance fees… returnees aren’t that common.”

“I see.”

Seo-yoon paused the conversation for a moment, took out his phone from a pouch around his neck, and made a call. “Ah, it’s me. As I mentioned, please bring the meal here. Yes. Yes.”

After finishing the short call, Seo-yoon hinted to Jun-sang, “I’ve had dinner brought here. Let’s eat together before you go back up.”

“Alright.” After a short wait, employees came in with a simple dinner. When the food arrived, Jung Da-bin, Seo Yoo-mi, and Yoon Seong-ryeol, who had been diligently swimming, came out of the pool in succession, followed by Jin Se-ah and Henes.

Jun-sang smiled faintly as Henes quickly wrapped a sarong around her waist and put on a gown, as if no one were watching. When she cautiously came and sat next to him, he quietly spoke to her. “How is it? Do you think you can handle it?”

“Yes…” Henes, rubbing her wet hair with a towel, answered in a soft, low voice and once again pulled the front of her gown closed.

“Alright, good work, everyone. Let’s eat, rest a bit, and then continue.”

“Ugh… please save me.” Jung Da-bin groaned at Seo-yoon’s words, and everyone burst out laughing with bright expressions and began to eat. The food was carefully balanced for nutrition, likely for the sake of their training, but as expected of dishes meticulously prepared by a top hotel chef, it was absolutely delicious.

Jun-sang watched Henes eat with great relish and suddenly wondered if she had gone into the water to lose weight, but he pretended not to notice. They slowly finished their meal, rested for a bit to digest, and then slowly began swimming again. This time, Jun-sang also changed into a swimsuit and came out to the pool.

“Ohh…” Not only Im Seo-yoon but also Yoon Seong-ryeol, who was quite muscular, involuntarily gasped at the sight of Jun-sang. Without being overly bulky, his physique instantly gave off the impression of a true man’s body. It wasn’t simply a matter of having a good body. The power subtly emanating from his rippling muscles even had an mysterious, enchanting quality that quietly overwhelmed the gaze of those who saw it.

While others watched with bated breath, Jun-sang quietly warmed up and then jumped into the water. At first, he focused on refining his form. Since it had been quite a long time since he had seriously swum, he wanted to recall the memory of when he first learned. However, after swimming two or three laps and getting a feel for his posture, Jun-sang slowly began to increase his speed.

“Wow…” He wasn’t particularly fast. But his immense strength made his progress through the water incredibly dynamic and powerful. Jung Da-bin stared blankly at Jun-sang’s swimming for a moment and then said, “I don’t know… but the amount of exercise he’s getting must be insane.”

“Haha…” After Jun-sang swam about three or four more laps and got out of the water, Da-bin, who had been resting, re-entered the pool.

“Phew…” Perhaps because it had been a while, it wasn’t as easy as he had thought. Jun-sang sat on a chair, took a few light breaths, and watched Henes, who was diligently learning to swim. She was splashing around enthusiastically, but it didn’t seem to be coming easily to her. Jun-sang was watching Henes put her face in the water, splash around a few times, and then disappear under the surface like a submarine, when he suddenly burst out laughing as he drank his beverage.

“Pfft!” The drink sprayed out, and he quickly wiped it up with a towel, when suddenly, the ringtones of several phones rang out simultaneously in the swimming pool. He quickly looked up and saw that Seo-yoon’s group, who had been swimming, all pulled out their phones hanging around their necks and, after a short while, disappeared in a flash of light.

“What’s…” Yoon Seong-ryeol looked with a tense expression at the spot where they had vanished, and Henes, who was startled when Jin Se-ah suddenly disappeared in front of her, also quickly got out of the water and approached Jun-sang.

“Is it… a quest?”

“Yes.”

Henes looked anxiously into the pool where they had been. Jun-sang quietly reached out and pulled Henes’s head to his chest, saying, “They’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

“Okay…” When you thought about it, they were the only people Henes had befriended here besides Jun-sang. Jun-sang first contacted an employee and informed them of what had just happened in the pool.

“As for that… you don’t have to worry. Mr. Im Seo-yoon has arranged to have the entire area reserved for a while.”

“That’s a relief.” In fact, Im Seo-yoon had taken that measure with the intention of staying at the hotel and training intensively with his guild members, but things had turned out strangely. Jun-sang and Henes, along with Yoon Seong-ryeol, who was left behind like a duck on the Nakdong River, continued their training in the pool the next day. A day passed. But Seo-yoon’s group did not return.

They finally reappeared in the swimming pool on the second day of their disappearance. The first to appear in a flash of light was Im Seo-yoon. As soon as he appeared in the water, he shouted to Jun-sang and Henes, who were outside, “Quickly! Yoo-mi!”

“…” As soon as Jun-sang heard the shout, he ran towards the spot where Seo Yoo-mi had disappeared. And when Seo Yoo-mi, wearing a white dress, appeared in a flash of light, he quickly jumped into the water and pulled her out.

“Cough…” Red blood was spreading in spots on her chest, and she was coughing up blood, as if her lungs were damaged. The moment he saw this, Jun-sang shouted to Henes, “Henes!”

“Yes!” Henes immediately took out the two whips from her waist and whipped them at Seo Yoo-mi. While others were bewildered and wondering what she was doing, they couldn’t hide their surprise when Seo Yoo-mi’s complexion quickly became calm after being struck by the whips.

Jun-sang pulled back Seo Yoo-mi’s top to examine the wound. There was an arrow-like wound on her fair chest, but thanks to the whipping and her regenerative abilities, the wound was healing quickly. Jun-sang checked for other injuries, fastened her clothes, and then asked Im Seo-yoon, who was sighing in relief, “What happened?”

Jung Da-bin, who was standing beside Im Seo-yoon, soaking wet and on the verge of tears, answered, “It’s… it’s because of me…” But Im Seo-yoon quickly shook his head and said, “It’s not because of you, Da-bin. It’s because I let my guard down.”

“But…” Seeing the two of them, whose intense emotions had not yet subsided, Jun-sang raised his hand to stop them. “Enough.” And then he asked Jin Se-ah, who was sighing in relief, “Was there no means of recovery?”

Jin Se-ah sighed lightly and replied, “Healing Potion can’t be used on others, and Yoo-mi did have a healing magic, but…”

“I see.” Jun-sang picked up the unconscious Seo Yoo-mi and stood up. “You must all be exhausted, so get some rest first.”

“Understood.” Jun-sang took Seo Yoo-mi to the room Seo-yoon had booked, let the women change her clothes, and then came out of the room.

“Go change your clothes first. We can talk after that.”

“Okay.” Only then did Seo-yoon seem to realize he was completely soaked, and he hurried into the next room to change his clothes.