Chapter 319: Episode 319_A Glamorous Trip (5)
8.
Even as the drinking party wrapped up and it was time to go to bed, the Specialists had an absurd number of options.
“Where should I sleep if I want to see the sunrise in the morning?”
“The sun rises in the east, so just go sleep anywhere that faces that way.”
A wide island.
An open view in every direction.
And plenty of lodging.
Each house was clean and well-appointed, easily nice enough to host guests.
That was why it was actually hard to choose.
Normally, the whole point of a trip is for everyone to crowd together, lay out drinks, and then just pass out wherever they fall. But this place was such a huge villa that they could have given each person their own unit and still had space left over.
Naturally, factions formed.
“You’re going to sleep in the same room as that lecherous bastard? Don’t be ridiculous. Everyone uses separate rooms. I’ll protect Seolah.”
“...Hyeonsu, please don’t overreact. They said there’s a large room. Why don’t we just lay out some blankets and all sleep in there together?”
Jeong Seolah wanted to keep the trip’s friendly vibe going to the end with a group sleepover, while Jeong Hyeonsu glared at Han Simin with deeply suspicious, distrustful eyes and vehemently opposed the idea.
He couldn’t help it. Everyone was already tipsy.
On top of that, they were on an uninhabited island with no need to worry about what other people thought!
There were staff managing the lodgings, but they would be going to bed too, and the only people left would be the Specialists. The idea of sharing a room with Han Simin was unthinkable.
’Come on, if everyone’s together, he’s not actually going to try anything,’ one might think, but as her older brother, he knew that his little sister didn’t exactly have bad feelings toward Han Simin, which meant he absolutely had to put a stop to this.
He had no intention of meddling in her love life in general, but this was happening right in front of his eyes.
Even for an ordinary sibling pair, this would be a no-go, and he doted on his sister far more than average.
It was the classic clash of two types you could see anywhere.
And then a new faction chimed in.
“Let’s just split into twos. We’re overseas; our mindset should be Western too. Since Hyeonsu is so worried, Seolah can sleep with him, and I’ll sleep with Simin.”
They were speechless.
It was a transparent comment from Kang Yeseul about “going Western” in the Maldives.
Han Simin clicked his tongue.
“What are you going to do if your life really goes down the drain like this?”
“With you, it’s either total ruin or a massive jackpot, right? One of the two.”
She remained silent.
’Yeah, she’s not normal either.’
He applauded her unwavering commitment to her bit, even after their serious conversation earlier, then went off alone to find a room.
He didn’t forget to lock the door.
If this were Fantastic World, he wouldn’t have had to play the part of a eunuch.
But in reality, Han Simin always had to be cautious.
“Tch, I’ll let it slide today. See you tomorrow.”
And so that little sleeping-arrangement incident passed.
*
The day before they were to return to Korea.
The Specialists, now practically half-local in the Maldives, left the island to go shopping.
They had spent every single day drinking themselves silly, enjoying themselves without a single thought of the capsules, so they had no resistance to the painfully obvious tourist shopping route.
’We came all the way here; we should at least do some shopping as a courtesy.’
“Do we really have to go? It’d be way better to just drink here.”
“No. We’re absolutely going today.”
In truth, this was entirely due to Kang Yeseul’s strong insistence.
Both Jeong Seolah and Jeong Hyeonsu, who had traveled abroad many times, agreed wholeheartedly with Han Simin.
Shopping at a resort?
The best thing to do was just laze around all day in a place with great scenery and water, relaxing.
Then at night, have a drink somewhere with a nice atmosphere. That was the definition of a perfect trip, and this place had all of that.
There was no risk of getting ripped off on drinks at some bar, and no need to listen to other people’s loud chatter.
Shopping?
If they had wanted to shop, they wouldn’t have come to the Maldives.
Naturally, Jeong Seolah and Jeong Hyeonsu both took a step back.
“Yeah. If you come to the Maldives, you have to have a mojito,” Seolah said. “But I woke up this morning really craving one and had like three, so I’m not really feeling it now. You guys go. I’m also on my period, so I’ll rest. You and Yeseul go on ahead.”
He was at a loss for words.
Kang Yeseul was no different; she hated a hassle more than anyone.
The fact that she was pestering them like this meant she wanted something.
If he didn’t know what that was, it meant he had zero sense.
Han Simin let out a sigh.
It was the sigh of someone with first-world problems.
Unless you had committed a sin on the level of selling out your country in a past life, there was no way this many women—beautiful women at that—would be flocking to you in this life.
Even so, Han Simin could only sigh.
Before he started Fantastic World, this was something he couldn’t even have imagined. If he had seen even one of the women he had met and gotten involved with so far back then, he wouldn’t have been talking about rejecting anyone; he would have devoted his entire life to trying his absolute best.
But things were different now.
Annoying things were still annoying.
However, he had already given his word, so he couldn’t refuse.
All because of that damn thousand dollars—because he had completely mixed up his Fantastic World character with himself and taken off running.
Even if Kang Yeseul hadn’t been on the track team, with his current stamina it might have been tough.
He had trusted in the workouts he had forced himself to do, crying inside, all because he needed to keep enhancing in the VR capsules and, well, stay alive.
Han Simin let himself be dragged along.
9.
There are all kinds of people in the world.
There is no law that says such things won’t happen in Korea, and no law that says they won’t happen overseas either.
Things that happen anywhere are just coincidences, like when you’re hunting and happen to run into some jerk who goes around PKing people for no reason. It happens from time to time.
It was the same for Han Simin and Kang Yeseul after they left the island.
They were walking without a care in the world.
They weren’t officially dating, but they liked each other, and their relationship was arguably sweeter than a normal romance, so there was absolutely no need to worry about what other people thought.
There were plenty of other couples strolling along the beach dressed as lightly as they were.
It was just that Kang Yeseul’s figure and looks stood out more than anyone else’s, but worrying that something might happen because of that would have been a strange way to think.
People would just look and quietly admire.
Or they would envy him, wondering what kind of rich guy from which country could walk around with a woman like that on his arm.
There weren’t many people who would actually approach a pair like this and start talking.
They would just assume he was compensating for his looks with a massive amount of money.
Not that the two of them cared in the slightest about such trivialities.
The trouble started when they left the beach.
A man who practically radiated money approached them.
He greeted them cheerfully.
“Hi!”
In English.
Han Simin’s face immediately twisted into a frown.
It wasn’t because a tanned man had walked up and was staring only at Kang Yeseul’s chest without so much as glancing at him.
“Do you know him?”
“No, not at all.”
“Then why the hell is he spewing English at us?”
It was because he hated English.
He was already annoyed enough, and now some useless stranger was wasting his time.
Kang Yeseul realized why the man had approached and pressed herself closer to Han Simin.
’If you have any sense, you’ll back off on your own.’
But the man who had mustered up the courage to come over didn’t care and kept talking.
He was bold and confident.
He even added gestures. The obviously expensive watch on his wrist showed his wealth, and the cool sports car parked by the road implied that this wasn’t his first time doing this and that his success rate was quite high.
But none of that meant anything to Kang Yeseul.
When the man finished talking, she shook her head.
A polite refusal.
“What’d he say?” Han Simin asked.
He was already surprised that she could speak English at all, but he was also curious about the content.
What men said when they came up to a woman like Kang Yeseul was obvious enough, but what exactly had he been bragging about for that long?
“...Want me to tell you?”
“Yeah.”
“He said I shouldn’t force myself to hang out with some guy whose only asset is money, and I should go with him instead. He said he’d make my night unforgettable. And that if I took money from a guy like you, he’d pay it back for me, so I shouldn’t worry.”
He fell silent.
He wished he hadn’t asked.
At the same time, he was jealous.
’Rich guys really do throw money around like it’s nothing just to have a night with a woman.’
When his expression turned strange, Kang Yeseul grew a little anxious.
“Wait, hang on, I think I might’ve mistranslated the last part. Simin, you’re not going to sell me off for money, right?”
“What are you talking about?”
It was exactly the kind of decision you could imagine Han Simin making.
However, contrary to her worries, he pulled her behind his back and scowled.
Kang Yeseul felt a little moved.
It was nothing special.
Even if he wasn’t her boyfriend, as a member of the same group, he couldn’t just stand there and watch some stranger drag her off.
But because it was Han Simin, it moved her.
’I really am touched by the smallest things, huh.’
Her heart pounded as she let out a sigh.
Then, when they reached the department store, Han Simin drove the point home.
“Right. Since we agreed to go on a date, I’m treating today. Here, pay with this.”
“Oh, really? For real? What is this card?”
“It should still have about three hundred dollars left from my time in the army and reserve training.”
He even handed over his Narasarang Card, the military debit card, with a hint of playful charm.
10.
A rumor began to quietly circulate across the continent.
“They say there’s actually a real emperor who moves the continent from behind the scenes.”
“Shh! What are you talking about? Don’t you know you can get your head chopped off for saying that kind of thing out loud?”
“That’s why I’m saying it in secret.”
“Fine. So who is it? The Heavenly King who came to the continent this time?”
“No, there’s a rumor that even he is just a puppet brought here by the invisible emperor.”
“What... Then who the hell is it?”
“I can’t say his name. But he’s the Emperor’s son-in-law.”
“Gasp! Don’t tell me...”
“No. This is absolutely top secret. It’s just something I heard as a rumor, and if it leaks anywhere, you die on the spot.”
“I know... But is it true?”
“It’s true. There’s been a lot of talk lately. They say His Majesty the Emperor is going to personally appoint him as a king.”
“Gasp. If that’s the case...”
The listener fell silent.
“Most kingdoms have been sending him tribute lately, trying to get on his good side.”
It wasn’t exactly wrong.
That was how popular and renowned Han Simin had become.
Of course, the rumor reached the Emperor’s ears as well, but he showed no particular reaction.
It was clearly something that could undermine imperial authority, but he knew better.
In the past, maybe. But now, at this point, a guy who only cared about money wasn’t going to throw everything away and chase the title of Emperor for the sake of honor.
Granting him a kingship was precisely to keep it that way.
Since the Emperor tacitly allowed it, the flattery from other kingdoms only intensified.
Many of them were actually waiting for the Emperor’s iron hammer to fall.
Tribute to survive.
Flattery to get ahead.
The one who benefited the most from all this was the Ain Kingdom, which had played a small part in Han Simin’s story long ago.
“The Hero of the Continent has promised to enhance the symbol of our kingdom! Mwahaha!”
The benefits to the kingdom that Han Simin had long since completely forgotten were beyond description.
*
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