Preparation (1)

The princess was showing more and more signs of settling into school life.

She applied herself earnestly in class, and every ten-minute break she came over to me, working to build some kind of rapport — so faithfully that it almost looked like a student simply doing her duty. Because of that, the grudge I'd been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nursing against her was steadily shrinking.

What was more impressive, she even dropped by the student council room in her spare moments and helped with their work. She was only staying a month before she went back to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her own country. How far did she mean to take this?

Maybe it was all that effort. Within a few days of transferring in, the princess had become the school's celebrity, adored without distinction by boys, girls, and teachers alike.

Well, of course. A pretty face, a figure like a doll's, a good personality, real ability, and a family dripping with money — who was going to dislike her? She was kind enough to give even me, who'd dropped the formalities and grumbled at her from the moment we met, a smile that wasn't the least bit fake.

Only an oddball like me would.

……Somehow, I feel like I've turned into the petty one.

"Are you heading out again today?"

Class had ended. I'd gathered my tablet and bag and was getting up when the princess came over with Han Go-eun's crew and asked.

"Yeah. Starting today, I've got a post to hold down."

"What post are you holding down?"

Kim Chang-hyun slung an arm over Cho Min-ho's shoulder, looking like he didn't follow at all.

Hmm. Should be fine to tell them.

I watched the kids around us file out of the classroom, then lowered my voice. It wasn't the sort of story to go spreading, and these guys could keep their mouths shut.

"A little while ago, Time River bought a leisure theme-park building in Ilwonbon-dong."

"Huh~? That place, a major raid team was…… hmm~?"

"What? Kang So-ra, you know something?"

"My daaad~ said a major raid team was moving into Noble Tower~. Said the land around there is shooting up like crazy because of it~?"

Wait, what? Right — Kang So-ra's dad was a land baron, wasn't he? No wonder her information traveled fast.

"That's the new raid team being formed out of the merger between Time River and Hwarang. One Master, and two Bosses."

"It is to be called the Grand Blue Raid Team."

The kids looked at the princess, who had set the period on my story, then turned back to me.

"No way. You're the…… Boss of that huge raid team? No — you said the two Bosses are separate, so you're the one at the very top?"

Kang Ju-chan must have been thoroughly shocked; his hand trembled faintly as he pointed at me. I nodded and started for the classroom door.

"We've already started operating, but the official announcement is next January. So until then, don't go spreading it."

The kids scrambled after me, and Han Go-eun — the most startled of the lot — stammered out a question.

"W-wait, wait? They said Hwarang was practically the President's own organization? And they're still merging with Time River?"

"Hey, you airhead. Think about who Time River's Boss is."

"……Airhead?!"

Han Go-eun swung the leather bag with her tablet in it and drove a corner of it into Kim Chang-hyun's back, exploding.

"Guhk—!! Agh! Hey!! A man's second life is his lower back……! Agh. I'll just—!!"

"Just what! What! You gonna hit me?! Hit me, go on, hit me!"

I left the two of them to start scuffling and kept walking, and Cho Min-ho said he got it, looking at me as if to confirm.

"So the two places are merging because of you, Seoha?"

Whatever I answered was only going to gild my own face, so I just grinned, and Su Yu-ri spoke up with a disappointed look.

"Aww, too baaad. Shopping together would've been fun."

"Shopping? What shopping?"

I hadn't heard a word of this, so I asked again, but Kang So-ra cut in as if she'd only just remembered and tossed a question at me.

"They say there's a big shopping mall~ in Noble Tower~?"

"A big one……? I think there's a leisure facility, a mall, and a big-box store in there."

"Hey, you guys~? Then how about we go see the mall in the Grand Blue Building today~?"

The kids all jumped on Kang So-ra's suggestion, grabbed my arms, and swept out in a rush. No, seriously — what shopping? And would you let go of my arm?!

The princess took her own car. The rest of us piled into an eight-seater van Han Go-eun had called and headed for the Grand Blue Building.

"……I'm not gonna run, so let go already."

Franc's eyes are terrifying. Please.

All the way over in the van, Han Go-eun and Kang So-ra had each kept hold of one of my arms, as if they were pinning me so I couldn't escape. The feel of those particular spots against my arms was seriously awkward.

They might as well have let my words go in one ear and out the other. Once we got out, the two of them walked me toward the mall entrance the way detectives haul off a suspect, chattering the whole way. Franc, coming along behind with the princess, was smiling — and somehow I felt about as comfortable as a man sitting on a cushion of thorns.

"So what did you even come to buy? If it's nothing special, why not just go to the department store in Jung-gu?"

"Forget that place!"

Forget what? The girls took the lead and tried to drag me this way and that, until the princess, unable to watch any longer, stepped in and gently caught Han Go-eun's and Kang So-ra's arms to stop them.

"Lord Seoha is the Master of this place. Behavior like this does nothing for his dignity, so I think it would be best if you let him go."

"Ah…… sorry."

"S-sorry~."

Unexpected help from the princess.

Han Go-eun and Kang So-ra apologized with looks that said they simply hadn't thought that far, so I waved them off.

"The princess is right, but I'm still a third-year. Even if the adults see me acting like a kid, it shouldn't really be a problem. Of course, if I keep acting like a kid once I'm a little older, that would be another story."

I asked again what they'd come to buy, and Su Yu-ri flushed slightly as she answered.

"W-we came to buy swimsuits."

"Swimsuits?"

"You dropped out, so the plan to hang out the day after exams fell through."

"It did? Why didn't you just go without me?"

"Hey, hey. You call that a thing to say? A friend of ours got attacked and had to take refuge in the Phase World. Who's gonna sit around laughing it up?"

Everyone nodded at Kim Chang-hyun's words.

Put like that, how was I supposed to not be moved?

After that the girls led the way and we guys trailed behind…….

"Hey, Ju-chan. The girls said earlier they came to buy swimsuits, right?"

"Yeah. That's what I heard."

"So why aren't we going to a swimsuit shop? Why are we only popping in and out of shoe stores and clothing stores?"

"W-well?"

Every time a clothing store or a shoe store came into view on the second floor — no, every time any new store appeared at all — the girls went in, looked around, and came back out, and Kim Chang-hyun's face said he'd had enough.

"My sisters said shopping is a woman's instinct."

"Homin, your sisters aren't women, they're monsters."

"They're monsters, but they're women before that, aren't they?"

Was he saying their personalities were monstrous, or their looks? Cho Min-ho himself was downright cute, so siblings with that face would all be cute or pretty — which meant it had to be the personality.

I glanced at the time. It was creeping toward four-thirty. Even at the latest, I ought to be up in the office by five.

Franc was laughing right along among the delighted girls, and seeing that, I wanted to let them keep enjoying themselves…….

Well. A call to Aunt Hye-ryeong should cover it.

"I'm gonna step away and make a call."

I tapped Kang Ju-chan's shoulder to let him know, fell back, and called Aunt Hye-ryeong.

From the murmuring beyond the screen, she'd come down to the general affairs office.

"There's something I wanted to say. Before that — how's your body?"

"I'm glad you're better. The reason I called is, the two Bosses are away for three days starting today, right? So I thought I'd watch the office myself, at least. Me being there won't get in the way of the work, will it?"

"Right now I'm at the second-floor mall with my friends from school. Once we're done, I'll head straight up. If there's anything you need my strength for, let me know."

I looked into the store. The girls were browsing this outfit and that, holding clothes up against Franc and the princess and having a grand time.

"Okay."

I hung up and stepped into the store, and Franc came over with a one-piece dress, holding it up against herself in front of me.

"Seoha. What do you think of a dress such as this?"

"Wouldn't it be faster to look for clothes that don't suit you than clothes that do?"

"Oh, Seoha, really."

I'd meant it sincerely, but the clerk — and even the customers inside the shop — were staring at me in disbelief.

Let them stare. I grabbed whatever was nearby and held it up to Franc, and sure enough, everything suited her. Paying no mind to anyone else's eyes, I brought her this and that, and Franc, terribly embarrassed, still held each piece up against herself.

Since we were here anyway, I figured I'd buy her something, and I dug through the racks. They were summer clothes, though, so most of them showed a fair bit of skin. I didn't want other guys seeing Franc's skin…….

After searching the floor for a while, I managed to find something with relatively little exposure. A white round-neck sleeveless tee, a summer jacket with sleeves to the elbow and a faint see-through feel, and black slim-fit shorts.

Franc in a newsboy cap and her summer uniform was cute, but she'd be beautiful in this, too.

"This'll suit you best. Try it on."

Together the tags ran past a thousand dollars, but I didn't spare them a glance and pressed the clothes into Franc's arms. She clutched what I'd chosen to her chest and hesitated, sneaking a glance at the clerk — the look of someone worried that, because of her, my identity might get out.

"It's the Grand Blue Building anyway. It'll come out sooner or later, so don't worry about it."

"That…… is true, I suppose."

Franc answered with a small smile and disappeared into the fitting room, and I started hunting for more clothes. Hmm. This one was close to the one-piece she wore often. Maybe I'd buy this, too.

"……Whoa. Amazing."

"Hm?"

I turned at Su Yu-ri's sigh of admiration and found not only her and Han Go-eun, but the other women in the shop as well, all looking at me like I was something remarkable. A woman who'd come in with a man who was clearly her boyfriend was even scolding him.

"Seoha's a man who's sweet to his own woman, huuh~?"

"Where's the man who isn't sweet to his own woman?"

I tossed that back at Kang So-ra, who'd asked the obvious, and moved over to the shoe corner occupying one side of the shop. These sandals would suit Franc, too.

A moment later Franc came out of the fitting room still wearing the newsboy cap, and no one in the store could take their eyes off her.

Mm. A finish so perfect it turned everyone around her into squid. Even I was a little afraid to stand next to her.

"Beautiful. The best."

"Auu."

I shot the blushing Franc a double thumbs-up, and in the meantime slipped onto her feet the two-tone strap sandals I'd picked out — white and brown, with a slightly higher heel. There was nothing more to say.

While I was paying for the clothes and the sandals, the girls — the princess included — walked out of the shop with the motivation drained clean off their faces.

"Guys. Let's go look at swimsuits."

"Hm? You're not looking anymore?"

"I'm not looking! Idiot!"

Kim Chang-hyun, oblivious as ever, tossed in a comment at Han Go-eun's slightly deflated words and, sure enough, got scolded for it. He looked hard done by, but a man ought to notice at least that much of a shift in a girl's mood. Franc was radiating a goddess aura no one could hope to approach. Who was going to want to pick out clothes next to that?

Look at them. Kang Ju-chan and Cho Min-ho had their mouths zipped shut. And so did I, of course.

The reason the girls had come for swimsuits was the seaside school — two nights and three days of it, set in the middle of the month-long Phase education just before vacation.

Forced summons to the Phase World came once every hundred days, but even that wasn't precise. The interval stretched and shrank like a rubber band, and most of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time the summons landed in the height of summer. That was why.

Once, in Korea, swimming hadn't even been minor enough to be offered as an elective. After training to prepare for the forced summons was adopted as a regular subject, things changed a great deal.

The first summons this year had run from mid-March into early April, so the experts said the second would be most dangerous from late July through the end of August. Better to train ahead of time. Then again, before thirty-six, when was there ever a time that wasn't dangerous…….

At any rate, the seaside school wasn't held somewhere like a pool. So it would be as close to wilderness training as possible, it was carried out where the waves or the current ran fast — a valley, a lake, the sea. And on a Friday-Saturday-Sunday schedule, two nights and three days at that.

It wasn't only swim training, either. Survival training came with it. From starting a fire, to foraging for food, to field cooking — you had to get a flame going and scrounge a meal after swimming had wrung every drop of strength out of you, so the schedule was fairly brutal.

Safety staff stood by around the clock in case of an emergency, but they only stepped in when you truly looked about to die. Otherwise they didn't move an inch.

People would say, what's so hard about lighting a fire and grilling some meat? But starting a fire with your bare hands and no tools at all, without the knack or the experience, is horrific. They did hand out a single calorie-supplement meal before bed so you wouldn't collapse from hunger, but the stuff tasted oddly awful, which only made it worse.

Thinking back on my own experience, they had to be giving us the tasteless kind on purpose. Those emergency rations tasted every bit as horrific as they sound.

Twice a year — a seaside camp just before summer break, and a forest camp over winter break. We were third-years, at least, with every year of it behind us from middle school through our second year of high school, so it felt a little like going camping. The first- and second-years were probably dying right about now.

The girls found the swimsuit section of a big clothing store on the third floor, took one look at pieces smaller than a palm, and started blushing and squealing.

Those would suit Hwayeon or Yeongeun — tight muscle, a well-balanced figure. Franc…… maybe something a little cuter would suit her better?

I hadn't wanted to be picturing Franc in a swimsuit for the benefit of other men, and she must have caught that mood, because she didn't leave my side. She only stole little glances around.

Han Go-eun picked up a bold black bikini with a star and a moon drawn over the hip and the upper curve of the left breast. Su Yu-ri, who seemed to know her own atmosphere, chose a pink two-piece with a pareo, and the two of them went into the changing room together.

Kang So-ra wandered here and there going "Hmm~? Hmm~." and settled on a women's racing suit. And the princess…… I'd thought she'd balk at showing skin, but she chose a flesh-toned frilled-skirt bikini without a hint of hesitation.

The guys in the shop kept glancing over at Franc after eyeing the racier suits, so I timed it and stared them down with killing intent dripping off me. They flinched and looked away.

The problem was that it wasn't just one or two of them.

I was getting irritated enough to wonder whether I ought to announce I was an ability user and chase them out, when the changing-room curtain snapped open and Han Go-eun and Su Yu-ri stepped out in their swimsuits.

"You guys~ look at this. How is it?"

How is it? Outrageous, that's how!

Han Go-eun had the sort of figure where what should come out did and what should go in did, and it was good to look at. Su Yu-ri, unexpectedly, had a body with real volume to it. The problem was those guys.

"Whoa~! Go-eun, you're actually pretty good?!"

"I didn't put it on for you to look at, okay? Seohaaa~!"

Why is she coming to me?

More than that — should I really just throw all of them out? They weren't even thinking about buying swimsuits. They were busy gawking at the girls.

Nnngh……. I don't even know why I'm bothering to look out for them.

Kang Ju-chan, his face a little red, said to Han Go-eun:

"Even a swimsuit shows more than ninety percent of your skin. You're not embarrassed?"

"It's fiiine~ This isn't underwear, so I'm not embarrassed!"

And with that, Han Go-eun posed this way and that — one arm folded behind her head, the other set on her hip. The suit had far less fabric than the others, so it was nice to look at, but she needed to learn a little shame first.

"You guys~ look at me too~."

Su Yu-ri, in a swimsuit that played up the cute, covered herself as if she were embarrassed and stood beside Han Go-eun, demanding a reaction from us.

Looking at bold Han Go-eun and shy Su Yu-ri, I said:

"From my experience, I think you'd be better off bringing your school uniform and practicing your swimming in that."

"Hey hey hey! What are you saying?! This bastard's trying to steal one of the few joys a single guy has left!"

……I couldn't say I didn't understand Kim Chang-hyun's reaction. That didn't mean it wasn't an eyesore.

Kim Chang-hyun and the other male customers around us were all nodding vigorously, and it was genuinely pathetic.

I'd thought the same way myself, right after I came back — seeing through the clothes of every woman I met, openly looking at the naked bodies of people on the street. If they hadn't been my lovers, I might have joined that line too. No. I would have joined it, one hundred percent.

Tch.

I just folded my arms and said nothing more, so Kim Chang-hyun laid on the excessive praise for Han Go-eun and Su Yu-ri — and then, seeing Kang So-ra come out after them, made a face like he'd seen something he shouldn't have, took a kick to the groin, and went down.

Kang So-ra was strong?

Then the princess walked out of the changing room as well. If Franc's figure carried a natural elegance, the princess had a crafted one, and it was quite refreshing.

Kang Ju-chan's face had been reddening bit by bit ever since he saw Han Go-eun's bikini. The moment the princess's bikini joined it, he went scarlet, stammered, and fled the shop. Compared to him, Cho Min-ho was unexpectedly calm, offering Han Go-eun and Su Yu-ri his impressions.

They did say he had a lot of sisters. He looked used to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this.

"Lord Seoha? How do I look?"

"……Seventy out of a hundred."

I gave her the score that came to mind on the spot, and the princess made an odd face, as if she thought it an ambiguous number.

Beside her, Han Go-eun asked what she scored, so I told her sixty. Su Yu-ri got eighty-five, and Kang So-ra ninety.

"What the hell is that?! Why am I the lowest?!"

"You didn't wear that to swim."

No matter how I looked at it, that was a suit for charming men at a pool, not a swimsuit meant to prepare for a forced summons.

Struck by my words, Han Go-eun looked down at herself in despair. Kang So-ra, who'd scored highest on function, stared back at me with a subtle expression.

By this point the other customers seemed to think it strange, watching the girls gather around me.

Well, if I were in their place, I'd think it was strange too. Above-average girls flocking to one ordinary-looking boy.

That was when two guys came grinning over, their voices the kind that sent irritation climbing all on their own.

"Damn, fuck. Look at them, built to get a guy hard. Hey, where are you girls from?"

"Whoa, check those blonde girls. The quality is insane, insane!"

"How about you ditch brats like that and come play with us? Huh? I'll let you feel something thrilling tonight. I'm out of this world in that department, you know? Heh heh."

The two of them — cheap talk, and slick as if they'd been smeared in butter — were about to close in on Han Go-eun and the princess when the triplets stopped them. They stared at the triplets with faces that said they couldn't believe it.