The Heavenly Demon in a Bikini
“Let’s go, Master.”
Iris suddenly appeared in my room and blurted out those words without any warning.
Thanks to that, my first thought was, Why is she acting like this all of a sudden?
I wondered what kind of prank this idiot disciple was trying to pull this time.
“What now? What are you scheming, you silly disciple?”
“…”
But her expression was far too serious to brush off so lightly.
The fact that she was a regressor suddenly flashed through my mind.
Maybe something was about to happen that only she knew about.
Because of those thoughts, a chill of tension ran down my spine and I stood up from my seat.
“What is it? Did something happen?”
“We have to go. Right now. I’ve already prepared everything.”
She wasn’t joking. This wasn’t a prank.
While everyone else in the lodging was resting and shaking off their fatigue, Iris had been running around alone, incredibly busy and frantic.
I had even asked if she needed help with whatever she was packing and checking.
But she had shaken her head vigorously with a dead-serious face.
It felt like she was saying I absolutely must not get involved.
At the time, I had worried she was up to some nonsense again.
Now that I thought about it, there must have been a good reason.
According to what she remembered, something was apparently happening in the south.
“Master? When did you get here….”
“So you’ve finally arrived. You’re late.”
When I climbed into the carriage, Master and Ester were already inside, as if they had boarded earlier.
She hadn’t explained anything to me and only spoke up the moment we started moving. If the situation required this level of secrecy, it couldn’t be anything trivial.
What on earth was going on? Why was Iris acting like this?
“Here, Master.”
Thud! Thud!
Iris shoved a bag stuffed with all kinds of equipment into my hands.
Maybe it was because of the deadly serious look on her face—one I had never seen before.
I couldn’t even bring myself to ask what was happening.
In the meantime, Iris closed the carriage door and climbed up to the coachman’s seat.
Soon the carriage lurched forward with a rattle and began moving ahead.
Swish—.
As soon as the carriage started moving, the small window leading to the coachman’s seat slid open.
And from beyond it came Iris’s stiff voice.
“Grandmaster. Please prepare yourself as soon as we arrive.”
“…I will.”
What the hell? What kind of situation would make her say something like that to Master?
I wanted to ask Master what was going on, but her expression was so rigid I couldn’t find the courage to speak.
She looked so grave that I didn’t even dare open my mouth.
So I turned my question to Ester instead.
When I asked if she knew anything, Ester quietly shook her head.
She said the youngest had suddenly told her to get in the carriage, so she did.
When I asked why she hadn’t asked for a reason, she replied that it was the youngest’s request, so she simply went along with it….
But seriously, what was this? What was happening? Was this even possible?
Come to think of it, from the moment Iris stepped into the lodging she had been preparing frantically.
Yet I had never actually seen her receive any crucial news or information.
Besides, my sensory detection wasn’t exactly weak.
I hadn’t sensed a single suspicious presence nearby, and yet something like this was suddenly happening?
“Iris!”
I called out to her, but she remained stubbornly silent.
I tried rummaging through the luggage or opening the window to the coachman’s seat.
Suddenly, Master blocked my path with her arm.
“Master?”
“Stay quiet. There must be a reason for all this.”
“But still….”
“Hyeon-ah.”
Iris was acting strange, but Master seemed even stranger.
Had she ever behaved like this before? As far as I could remember, never.
Still, I couldn’t possibly ignore Master’s words.
So I nodded and sat back down on the seat.
Something I didn’t know about was clearly unfolding.
I had a strong feeling but no proof, and even if I wanted proof, Master was stopping me.
At this point, all I could do was wait and see what would unfold before me.
After racing along like that for several hours.
A somehow familiar sound suddenly reached my ears.
Of course I had almost never heard it since falling into this game world, and rarely even back on Earth.
Yet the sound alone was enough for my imagination to fill in the rest.
At first I thought I was hearing things, but I soon became certain.
—The sea?
Only then did I notice one strange detail.
There was only one window in the carriage, and it was exclusively on Master’s side.
If I wanted to look at the scenery, I would inevitably have to lean past her.
But doing anything that involved leaning past Master felt incredibly awkward.
The moment that realization hit me, a sigh of understanding escaped my lips.
It was as if she had predicted I would instinctively avoid the window area.
Master had been perfectly blocking the window the entire time.
“Master. Excuse me for just a moment.”
“Hey now, what are you doing? It’s dangerous to move around inside a moving carriage.”
“It’s fine. Who do you think taught me? I won’t fall from something like this.”
I pretended not to hear Master’s words and moved toward the window.
The instant I pulled back the curtain and opened it—
Shwaaaa… Shwaa!
The vast blue sea and pure white sandy beach filled my entire field of vision.
“…”
Wait a second. Hey. No way. Don’t tell me I actually fell for something this childish?
I was so dumbfounded and amazed that I couldn’t even laugh.
With a sinking feeling, I checked the luggage Iris had packed.
At first, items useful for camping popped out.
Sleeping bags, flint, blankets, tents, that sort of thing.
So I assumed we were preparing to chase enemies and camp outside somewhere.
But what came out next were parasols, beach tents, hammocks, and even picnic mats.
“…”
I could feel someone watching me—and the luggage I had spread out.
When I turned my head, the window leading to the coachman’s seat was open.
And through it, Iris was clearly visible, peering inside to check on the situation.
“…”
“…”
“Iris.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Explain yourself.”
“…”
“…”
“No comment, sir!”
And that is how I ended up being dragged to the beach like this.
I was so utterly stunned that the moment I got out of the carriage, I immediately went looking for Iris.
Naturally, I was thinking that if I caught her, I would put a hole in her skull.
“Hiiik! I’m sorry! Master! Please spare me!”
“Who said I was going to kill you? Come here. Let’s just settle this with one hit.”
“You’re really only going to hit me once?!”
“Yeah. I’ll really only hit you once.”
When I said that, Iris hesitated for a moment before cautiously coming closer.
It seemed she hadn’t experienced this moment before her regression?
Did she actually believe I would only hit her once?
“Iris.”
“Yes, Master.”
“You believed that? You silly disciple.”
“Eh, ugh! Uwaaaaah!! Master, that’s so mean! Kyaak! Kkak!”
You actually believed it? Take this—! No, this is the Heavenly Demon knuckle flick, you brat!
I immediately rained more than ten fists down on Iris’s head.
She struggled and tried to run away, but she was already caught firmly in my grasp.
“Hwaaaaang!! It hurts! It hurts so much! Hieeeek! I’m sure there’s a hole in my head now!”
“Shut up, you noisy brat!”
The other seniors were suffering back at the royal capital and elsewhere.
How could the youngest act so boldly and go on a vacation?!
If Garam and Jenia heard about this, how was I supposed to handle them?!
I could already picture them charging at me, yelling, ‘Why didn’t you take us to the beach?!’
“B-but, Master. You said we needed some rest.”
“We had a whole week of nothing on the way south. Wasn’t that rest?”
“That wasn’t rest, it was a week of pure boredom!”
If she couldn’t even speak properly, at least she wouldn’t be so annoying.
Maybe I should keep giving her Heavenly Demon knuckle flicks until she passed out.
When I slowly raised my fist, Iris shrieked “Save me!” and ran away.
She dashed across the sand with quick steps—tatatat! She really was fast.
Normally I found her use of lightness techniques rather unsatisfying.
But when it came to escaping my grasp like this, she somehow used it perfectly.
…Wait a minute. Come to think of it, something else felt off.
Now that I thought about it, Master seemed to have noticed something earlier.
I had been swept up by the fact that Iris was a regressor and lost my composure for a moment.
But Master didn’t know about that, so there was no reason for her to be swept up… right?
“Master. By any chance… Master? Master??”
What the—where did she go?
She had definitely gotten off with us and was looking at the sea just a moment ago.
She had even murmured that it had been so long since she last saw such a clear place.
She must have gone somewhere while I was bickering with Iris.
So I decided to ask Ester, who was standing beside me, if she knew anything.
“Ester? Do you know where Grandmaster went?”
“…”
In response to my question, Ester carefully raised her hand and pointed at the carriage.
“The carriage? She went back inside?”
“Yes…. I overheard her say she had something to prepare….”
“Prepare?”
…That word “prepare” gave me a vague sense of what might be coming.
At the same time, I wondered if I was overthinking it.
I shook my head vigorously and looked at Ester again.
She was squatting on the ground, playing with the sand.
She looked like a fully grown woman on the outside, but her behavior was completely childlike.
“Um, Master.”
“Yes, Ester.”
“C-can I go over there?”
The place Ester was pointing to was none other than the shoreline.
Where white waves crashed and scattered across the sand.
The unique salty scent somehow made my chest feel refreshingly clear.
Come to think of it, Ester had said she had never seen the sea before.
To someone who had only known rivers, this must have been the largest body of water she had ever encountered.
When I glanced at her eyes, I couldn’t help but smile.
Unlike her usual self, her pupils were sparkling with curiosity.
—…But seriously, how did things end up like this?
How on earth had I ended up here?
This wasn’t even 1% of my original plan.
With that thought, I stared blankly at the crashing waves and the deep blue sea.
Crunch—.
The sound of someone walking across the sand approached.
“Ahem. Hm!”
A familiar presence and a familiar clearing of the throat.
I turned my head and was met with a sight far beyond anything I could have imagined.
“…Guh.”
Master. My Master.
The absolute ruler of the murim, the leader of the Demonic Cult, the very embodiment of arrogance—the Heavenly Demon.
That very person was now standing before me wearing a black bikini swimsuit.
Her snow-white skin, moderately soft-looking breasts, slender waist, and perfectly toned stomach.
Below that were firm thighs, sleek calves, and toes that completed the masterpiece.
The person standing in front of me looked more beautiful and graceful than anything else in the world.
I had always been aware of how beautiful Master was.
There had even been moments when it was hard to believe such a lovely woman was the Heavenly Demon.
But now, instead of the plain martial robes she usually wore,
she was dressed in a provocative swimsuit that made her look like an entirely different person.
“What kind of stupid sound is that?”
“Ah, no… that is….”
Her jewel-like crimson eyes, sculptural features, and the faint blush rising on her cheeks.
And the earrings she was still wearing—the ones I had given her as a gift.
Master, who was even wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat she had gotten from somewhere,
“…Do you find this appearance of mine unsightly?”
was breathtakingly, overwhelmingly beautiful.
