Nymphs Love Summer Vacation! # 2
"You've got two days of free time, from today through tomorrow, so go play however you like. I have some paperwork to take care of, so I'll be stepping out. Don't go causing any trouble."
With Seo Yerim's blessing, our one-night, two-day vacation of total freedom began.
"Ha Ildo, I'll be contacting you, so keep your phone on you at all times. Got it?"
The nymphs bolted for the beach, where warm sunlight poured down, and hurled themselves into the sea.
Oinoi, flailing her arms and legs in every direction, let out a shout.
"Nymph Secret Technique: Reckless Splashing!"
Splash, splash—
Splash, splash, splash, splash—
Nymphs simply loved splashing around for no reason at all, whether it was the ocean, a pool, or a babbling brook.
It was like an instinct carved into their very genes.
"We have come to the sea, so we shall catch fish…!"
"Muheheh, I, Illinoi, once called the Yankee Hunter, am also quite excellent at hunting fish, as it happens~! I'm totally going under the sea, as it happens~!"
"This Coris finds the seawater wonderfully refreshing, as it were…! Though it tastes salty, as it were…!"
The nymphs had all gone more or less insane.
Who knew they could love the ocean this much?
The only one keeping her composure was Kalinoi.
She had been quiet as a mouse the entire flight on the private jet, and even now she merely peered around politely from beneath the shade of a parasol.
━Hoo, hoo…!
I couldn't tell whether Kalinoi was so calm because she was an unusually large nymph, or because tiger owls were simply built that way.
━Keong-keong…!
━Hio-ong…!
━Jjeuji…!
Keongkeongi, Kwangkwangi, and Angangi each roamed the private beach on their own, rolling around in the sand.
Were they giving themselves a nice hot sand bath?
They looked absolutely blissful.
"Vacations really are the best."
I sprawled lazily across a sunbed set up beneath the parasol. Watching the clouds drift by without a care in the world made me yawn, and drowsiness began to creep over me.
Maybe I'll take an afternoon nap for the first time in ages—
But sleep refused to come.
Because Keongkeongi kept sprinting back and forth across my legs and stomach.
━Keong-keong…!
"Yeah, yeah. I get it. You want me to throw the disc, huh?"
Keongkeongi had a round frisbee clamped in his mouth. His fluffy tail wagged furiously side to side—wapadapadadak!—and in moments like these, he seemed far more puppy than squirrel.
Well, he *was* a dog-squirrel, after all.
Pop—
I hurled the disc far into the air at blistering speed. Keongkeongi leapt high, snatched it out of the sky with lightning reflexes, and trotted it back to me.
━Keong-keong…!
"Wow, incredible. Haven't you gotten even faster than before?"
Swish swish swish—
I gave Keongkeongi a vigorous round of petting. Disc-throwing seemed like it would double as good training, too.
"Alright, here we go again."
Pop—
This time I threw the disc even faster.
Just then, a huge shadow fell over my head, and the tiger owl Kalinoi snatched the disc out of the air and came swooping back like a boomerang.
━Hoooo…!
Pop—
Kalinoi set the disc down in front of me. Her eyes bored into mine, unblinking.
"You want praise too, is that it?"
Swish swish—
I stroked her feathers, her chin, and the top of her head.
━Pirrrr…!
At that, the tiger owl let out a delighted, high-pitched cry and went trotting across the sand at a brisk little clip.
Flap, flap, flap—
She finally spread her wings and beat them furiously—and the resulting gust sent sand flying in every direction, whipping up a miniature sand tornado.
Whooooooo—
It stood roughly two meters tall, and the wind speed looked fierce.
"Whoa, that's one powerful vortex. So the sturdy wings of a tiger owl could pull off something like that. Should I name the technique Owl Wind? No, something a bit better…"
"Kyaaaaaah!"
Someone screamed.
A woman lying prone at the water's edge had taken the sand tornado head-on and been flipped over flat on her back. When I hurried over, she was sprawled on the beach, clutching her backside.
"Ow, owie. Where'd that wind even come from—"
"Oh. It's you, Ari."
The woman sprawled on the beach was none other than my junior, Yu Ari!
Who would've thought I'd run into Ari in a place like this?
Wasn't this supposed to be the private pool that Telos had rented out?
"Ari, what are you doing here?"
"Oh! Senior! I—well, I was invited to Telos's 'Internal Team-Building Retreat' in my capacity as a sports doctor! I really never expected to run into you somewhere like this…!"
Ari's face, hair, and body were all dusted head to toe with sand.
That would be thanks to the wind Kalinoi whipped up, no doubt.
I wondered if I should help brush her off, but Ari was wearing a one-piece athletic swimsuit like a seasoned athlete, her arms and legs pale and gleaming in the sunlight.
Sensing my gaze, Ari giggled softly, a little sheepishly.
"What do you think? Does it suit me? I didn't exactly buy it to show off to anyone, but since we did come all the way to Telos Island with an actual beach and all. Still, it's a little embarrassing!"
Did Ari lack confidence showing off her body?
She'd always hidden it under that doctor's coat, after all.
The Ari of the past had been a bit scrawny, unable to eat properly thanks to her hard-up circumstances—
"Ari, looks like you've been eating well lately. Must be the doctor thing? Your diet management seems absolutely on point."
The Ari of today was, in every sense of the word, voluptuous—her figure so taut you half expected it to go pop if you pricked it with a needle. She'd gained healthy weight, and her muscle tone was just right.
So her income must've gotten good, huh.
To think that once-gaunt high schooler had grown up this well.
It made me proud, honestly.
"Senior. Then, since we're on the subject—could you put some sunscreen on my back? I don't know anyone here, so it felt awkward asking anyone else. And I can't exactly ask random men—"
I see—
This beach belonged to Telos, but we weren't the only ones here; there were a handful of other people around.
Executives' families and their acquaintances, presumably.
For Ari's sake—she was clearly wary of other men—I agreed to apply the oil-style sunscreen myself.
Squish, squish—
Once my hands were generously coated and I reached for her back, my palms met skin as soft and radiant as rose petals.
"Is this how you're supposed to do it? Honestly, I've never put the stuff on in my life. My skin doesn't burn even without it."
"Th-that's fine. You could press a little harder, too. Kind of like a massage. Yes, just like that. Senior, you really are a fast learner, aren't you? Very good, indeed…"
So that was it.
The ideal pressure was roughly the same as petting the nymphs and Keongkeongi.
Having spent years carting around picky nymphs who demanded precision petting and the fussy Kwangkwangi, applying sunscreen was easy money for me.
The entire process was finished in under thirty seconds.
"I'm… just going to lie here a little longer."
Ari buried her extremely flushed face in her arms—whether from the blazing sun or not, I couldn't say.
The sunlight was punishingly intense; she was probably just tired from it.
"You should be careful of heatstroke."
Shaaaaaaa—
That was when it happened.
I felt a cold breeze from somewhere, and when I turned my head, a woman with pale, ice-blue hair, sunglasses on her face and a white dress flowing around her, was walking toward us.
"Wait, isn't that Cha Yura?"
S-Rank awakener Cha Yura.
It was quite a surprise to see her on this beach.
Even more surprising was the delinquent-looking woman with bleached-yellow hair trudging along beside her, hauling what appeared to be a very heavy suitcase.
"Hey, Lee Jina! Carry my bag properly! So, how does it feel, carrying my bag for me? Pretty humiliating, right? I know exactly how you feel, and it is glorious!"
Lee Jina and Cha Yura, huh.
I wondered what kind of pairing that was—then remembered that the two of them had known each other from their cadet days back at the academy.
Shk—
Soon enough, Lee Jina spotted me, dropped the suitcase, and said:
"Oh. It's you—"
"Hey! Lee Jina! I told you not to put the bag down! Keep it up and I'm docking your pay! I am your lawfully contracted employer! Do it again and I'll feed you a Nymph Secret Technique: Random Beating—!"
Apparently cowed by Cha Yura's growling, Lee Jina picked the suitcase back up.
What on earth was that all about?
From the looks of it, Cha Yura had hired Lee Jina for money.
Shk—
Yu Ari, who had gotten up from her spot, spoke up.
"The Telos executive retreat is a nationally significant event, even from Korea's perspective. Most likely the President himself sent Cha Yura as their player. Sure enough, that makes at least two S-Ranks this year…"
"Muheheh, behold the crabs I, Illinoi, have captured, as it happens~! Crabs, lobsters, and octopuses, all piled up together—I'm totally living that Pirates of the Caribbean life, as it happens~!"
After all that playing around, evening rolled around—
We grilled and devoured the king crabs, lobsters, and octopuses the nymphs had caught with their own hands from the sea.
The nymphs' buckets were also brimming with clams, and—though I had no idea how they'd managed it—there was even a baby orca in there. We released the orca back into the sea, safe and sound.
"Farewell, dear orca…! May you travel well…! We shall swim together again next time…!"
"Do not forget this Coris, as it were…!"
"I am savoring my freedom to the fullest, as it happens~! Next time you get caught, your home will be an aquarium, as it happens~!"
A summer night.
The beach.
A crackling bonfire.
The mood was so perfect that even I—who since becoming an awakener had rarely gotten properly drunk—felt the buzz creeping up on me.
Before I knew it, it was ten at night.
Honorary Nymph Cha Yura and the nymphs had all toddled off to bed, snoring away—
Lee Jina, who had been knocking back beer after beer, spoke up with a face flushed absolutely, positively crimson.
"So, what exactly is going on around here? They invite S-Rank awakeners, and there are tons of Japanese people too. I heard some Japanese S-Rank is here as well."
Right.
It seemed Lee Jina had come here without knowing what was actually happening.
I decided to give her the short version.
"It's a retreat for the Telos executives. Telos is a joint Korean-Japanese venture, see. So at the executive retreat, they apparently play various games and use the results to adjust the company's stake split."
"To think they'd rent an entire island—truly mega-corp industry behavior, as it happens~! Speaking of which, would you care to be drinking the liquor I, Illinoi, brewed myself? It makes the mood very high, as it happens~!"
Apparently the events changed every year.
And both the Japanese branch and the Korean headquarters had hired stand-ins to compete in the games on their behalf.
I was one of them, having arrived on the island today—and evidently Cha Yura was another. No doubt S. Ninja, Japan's S-Rank awakener, was the same.
Soon, Lee Jina clicked her tongue.
Tsk tsk—
"Honestly. I will never understand rich people's hobbies. I mean, thanks to them I'm here wasting time in some tropical paradise I never asked for, but still. This 'mana liquor' of yours is pretty incredible though. It's hot. So hot!"
Shk—
Lee Jina, who had started hiccupping, stripped off her t-shirt and short blue hot pants without a moment's hesitation.
"Whoa. Why are you stripping?"
"What do you mean, why? To go swimming, obviously!"
I jumped, but looking closer, she was wearing a white swimsuit underneath the t-shirt all along.
"Hey, Ha Ildo. You're a regular Joe just like me. Quit putting on airs and let's have some fun! If not now, when are you ever going to cut loose like this again? There's no CCTV here either!"
Grab—!
Lee Jina reached out and locked her arm around my head.
"Get over here, you dweeb! Big sis here is gonna teach a straight-laced square like you how to have fun!"
It was a textbook headlock—a flawless chokehold technique—and I could do nothing but squirm helplessly.
"Hold on, I'm your senior, you know—"
"Kyahaha!"
Did drinking make Lee Jina drop all sense of distance?
Still cackling—kyahah!—Lee Jina sprinted for the sea.
Soon I found myself wading in after her.
SPLASH—!
For a brief moment, I felt the characteristic salt bite of seawater, and something warm and soft brushed against my body before slipping away—
"Ah—! Why you sneaky little vixen, Lee Jina! Senior! Me too—!"
That was the last thing I remembered. When I came to, I was lying on some unfamiliar bed, my skull throbbing with a hangover so vicious it felt like every blood vessel in my head was about to snap.
"…Ugh. What the. What is this. What room is this?"
I groped slowly around with my hand, searching for my phone—and the moment I sat up and caught sight of myself in the mirror, there it was: a vivid red lipstick mark stamped on my face.
And then I noticed—scattered across the bed and the floor of the room were clothes and undergarments, as if someone had flung them off in a hurry! I couldn't tell whose they were, but they were clearly a woman's—definitely not mine!
"What the hell. What the hell happened here."
Last night.
What on earth took place?
And where the hell is my phone?!