We arrived at a large island after about 30 minutes on the sea, aboard the President’s luxurious yacht.
Originally an uninhabited island, it was gifted by the President’s grandfather for her 10th birthday.
As expected of a wealthy family, the scale of such gifts was on another level.
Soon, our streamlined white luxury yacht docked at the pier in front of the island.
After the yacht ca to a complete stop, I jumped onto the pier, carrying the luggage I brought from ho.
The rugged but solid pier, carved from stone, made realize I was firmly on land.
“It’s beautiful.”
I couldn’t help but admire the breathtaking view of the island spread before .
The crescent-shaped bay and the dense forest of deciduous trees filled the island.
And even the Western-style mansion visible atop a distant cliff.
The Vice President, standing beside , puffed up with pride as if he had received the complint himself.
“Of course. The Akagi family took care of arranging this place.”
“We had quite the task of developing this almost barren,, uninhabited island.”
Even Minami, who usually wouldn’t complain about hard work, subtly bragged about it, indicating that a considerable amount of effort and manpower went into developing the island indeed.
“Let’s move to the mansion then.”
“Yes.”
Minami politely bowed and then spoke into a walkie-talkie she had pulled from her waistband.
Then, a roofed 4-seater buggy vehicle approached from the distance.
“What’s that?”
“The island is quite large, so we usually use vehicles for transportation within it.”
“But there’s no one in the driver’s seat.”
“It’s equipped with an autonomous driving feature.”
Screech!
The buggy vehicle stopped precisely in front of us, and its doors opened automatically.
“Put your luggage in the basket at the back.”
Minami said this and sat in the driver’s seat of the buggy.
The Vice President naturally took the passenger seat while the President got into the back seat.
Seeing this, I asked in astonishnt,
“Minami, you don’t have a license.”
Minami replied expressionlessly,
“This place is outside the jurisdiction.”
“No, I don’t think that’s the issue here.”
As I challenged Minami’s bold declaration of becoming an unlicensed driver, the Vice President said,
“Kim Yu-seong, you must have ridden bumper cars at amusent parks. The difficulty of driving this vehicle is just about that. And if necessary, we can use the autonomous driving feature, so there’s no problem.”
“Co on, get in. You don’t plan to walk around the island all day, do you?”
“No…* Sigh,* okay.”
Realizing that further argunt would only drain my energy, I quietly took a seat in the back of the buggy.
“By the way, isn’t that person coming along?”
When I pointed to the old man in white clothes still on the yacht, the President covered her mouth with her ever-present fan and said,
“If it’s the captain, he’ll first go to the mainland and then co back to pick us up in three days.”
In other words, according to the President, we would not be able to leave this island for the next three days.
The four-seater buggy leisurely drove along a hill road with open views in all directions.
Before I knew it, I was engrossed in the surrounding scenery, as if I had never been grumpy.
Living in the city, one tends to forget such natural beauty.
As I had felt when I visited Mount Fuji before, witnessing such sights certainly makes one feel as insignificant as an ant in the face of nature’s grandeur.
After about 20 minutes of driving from the pier, the buggy finally stopped in front of a Western-style mansion set atop a cliff.
Tall iron bars were erected around the mansion, likely to prevent wild animals from the island from entering the premises.
At the mansion’s entrance stood a middle-aged man and two won dressed in maid outfits.
As we got out of the buggy, the middle-aged man at the entrance bowed deeply and said,
“Welco, young lady.”
“It’s been a long ti, Mr. guro.”
The man, called Mr. guro by the President, replied with a moved expression,
“You rembered my na.”
Then, the President laughed behind her black fan, “Ohohohoho!”
“I never forget the nas of those who work under .”
“It’s truly an honor that you rember the na of soone as humble as .”
After saying this and bowing deeply again, the middle-aged man then introduced the two people standing behind him,
“These two are twin maids, Miyabi and Shinobu, who work under . If you or any of your party need anything during your stay at the mansion, please feel free to call them.”
“I’m the elder twin, Miyabi.”
“And I’m the younger, Shinobu.”
The two, identical except for their hairstyles, appeared to be identical twins.
Although they were called maids due to their uniforms, it would be more accurate to refer to them as dostic workers.
Anyway, both of them were montarily startled when our eyes t, but soon returned to a poker-faced, professional deanor.
“Let’s go inside. We’ve prepared lunch in the dining room in ti for your arrival.”
“Oh my, how thoughtful!”
“Hehe, this is just basic for us.”
Mr. guro said this with a cheerful smile and then led us to the dining room inside the mansion.
Inside the dining room, there was a long table like those seen in Western movies, which didn’t feel out of place since the villa itself was built in a Western style.
“You must be hungry after the long journey this morning, so I will show you to your rooms after lunch.”
“Thank you for your consideration, Mr. guro.”
The President, reverting to her ladylike deanor, took the head seat at the top of the table.
The Vice President, Minami, and I took seats next to her.
Even though everything was Western-style, the al was set in a typical Japanese style.
It felt sowhat unbalanced, but when I asked why, I was told it was prepared in Japanese style because the President preferred it.
“Does it not suit your taste? Should I ask the chef to prepare sothing else?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just a bit different from what I had imagined.”
I never expected to eat grilled salmon with butter, white rice, and mushroom miso soup in such a place.
Mr. guro’s face brightened upon hearing my response.
“That’s a relief. The al was entirely tailored to the young lady’s preferences, so I was worried it might not suit our guests’ taste.”
“I like ho-cooked als. Honestly, there are hardly any who don’t.”
Saying so, I mixed the richly colored curry, served separately from the side dishes, with rice and took a big bite. It tasted heavenly.
The culinary skills of this house were no joke.
“Well, I’ll enjoy the al.”
“Yes. If you need anything, just let us know. We’ll refill it imdiately.”
And so, our lunch for four began.
The lunch took about an hour to finish.
It might seem long, but that included ti for dessert and tea after the al.
After replenishing our energy, I was assigned a room to stay in for the next three days.
It was right next to the President’s best room in the mansion, so luxurious that I wondered if it was really okay for to use it.
Considering that just a week ago, I was huddled up with other guys in a tatami room in a guesthouse, this was indeed a luxury.
Well, sleeping in a cramped room with friends had its own charm, though.
After unpacking in my room, I encountered Minami in the hallway, who, like , was staying in the room next to the President’s as a servant.
“Where’s the President?”
“She’s changing into her outdoor clothes in her room. Are you interested in peeking?”
“No.”
After my blunt response, Minami pulled out a walkie-talkie with a look of regret.
“But why are you using a walkie-talkie instead of a phone?”
“Oh, there are no cell towers here, so phone signals don’t work well. It’s not that the internet doesn’t work at all, but for simple communication, walkie-talkies are faster.”
“Hmm.”
It felt like, if not just my imagination, a lot of flags had been raised since a while ago.
‘Surely not, right?’
I decided to attribute it to coincidence and asked Minami,
“So, what exactly are we going to do on this island? I’m honestly not getting a good grasp of what this special intensive training of the Student Council is all about.”
“Ah, you an that.”
Minami seed to rember sothing and was about to say it, but suddenly closed her mouth.
“Why did you stop?”
“No, it’s nothing. I think it wouldn’t be fun to spoil things from the beginning.”
“Then, at least tell the beginning part.”
Then, after a slight hesitation and a soft sigh, Minami answered,
“We’re going to have fun at the beach first.”
With all the Student Council mbers in swimsuits.
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