Chapter 130: Special Intensive Training Camp
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 130: Special Intensive Training Camp
After a thirty-minute ride on the President's luxury yacht, we arrived at a large island.
It was originally uninhabited, but apparently, the President's grandfather bought it for her as a gift on her tenth birthday.
As expected of a chaebol family, the sheer scale of the gift was on another level.
Soon, our sleek, white luxury yacht docked at the pier on the island's shore.
Once the boat came to a complete stop, I grabbed the luggage I’d brought from home and jumped onto the dock.
The pier, carved from stone, was rustic but solid, making me feel that I was standing firmly on solid ground.
"It's beautiful."
I couldn't help but marvel at the island's scenery unfolding before my eyes.
A crescent-shaped bay and a sea of broad-leaved trees covering the island.
And in the distance, a Western-style mansion perched atop a cliff.
The Vice President, standing beside me, puffed out his chest as if he were the one being complimented.
"Naturally. The people of the Akagi family were the ones who developed this place."
"It was quite a bit of work, developing an uninhabited island that was little more than a barren wasteland."
Even Minami, who never complained about hard work, was subtly boasting. It seemed an incredible amount of manpower had really been mobilized to shape the island's environment.
"Well then, let's head to the mansion."
"Yes."
Minami bowed politely before pulling a walkie-talkie from her pants and giving some instructions.
In the distance, a four-person buggy with a roof came speeding toward us.
"What's that?"
"The island is quite large, so we generally use vehicles to get around."
"But there's no one in the driver's seat."
"It's equipped with an autonomous driving feature."
Screech!
The buggy stopped precisely in front of us, its doors opening automatically.
"You can put your luggage in the basket at the back."
With that, Minami sat down in the driver's seat.
The Vice President naturally took the passenger seat, and the President climbed into the back.
Watching this, I asked in disbelief.
"Minami, you don't have a license."
Minami replied with a deadpan expression.
"This place is an extraterritorial zone."
"Hey, I don't think that's the issue here."
As I called out Minami for her bold declaration of becoming an unlicensed driver, the Vice President chimed in.
"Kim Yoo-Sung, you've ridden bumper cars at an amusement park, right? Driving this thing is about that difficult. And if anything happens, we can just use the autonomous driving function, so there's no problem."
"Hurry up and get in. You're not planning on walking all day by yourself, are you?"
"No… Sigh, fine."
Realizing that arguing further would just be a waste of my own energy, I obediently got into the back seat of the buggy.
"By the way, isn't he coming with us?"
I pointed to the old man in white clothes still on the yacht, and the President, hiding her mouth with her usual fan, said:
"The captain will head back to the mainland for now and come to pick us up in three days."
In other words, according to the President, we wouldn't be able to leave this island for the next three days.
The four-person buggy drove leisurely along a wide-open hill road.
As if I had never been grumbling, I found myself lost in the surrounding scenery.
When you live in the city, it's easy to forget this kind of natural beauty.
I felt it when I went to Mount Fuji, too, but witnessing such sights truly makes you feel that in the face of nature's grandeur, humans are no different from ants.
After about a twenty-minute drive from the pier, the buggy finally stopped in front of the Western-style mansion on the cliff.
A tall iron fence surrounded the mansion, likely installed to prevent the island's wild animals from trespassing.
A middle-aged man and two women in maid outfits were standing at the mansion's entrance.
As we got out of the buggy, the middle-aged man at the entrance bowed deeply and said:
"Welcome, Young Lady."
"It's been a while, Mr. Meguro."
The man, whom the President called Meguro, spoke with a moved expression.
"You remembered my name."
The President covered her mouth with her usual black fan and let out a laugh, "Ohohoho!"
"I never forget the names of the people who work for me."
"It is truly an honor that you would remember the name of this humble servant."
After bowing deeply once more, the middle-aged man introduced the two people standing behind him.
"These two are the twin maids who work under me, Miyabi and Shinobu. Not only for the Young Lady, but if any of her companions need anything during your stay, please do not hesitate to call on them."
"I am the older sister, Miyabi."
"I am the younger sister, Shinobu."
They must have been identical twins, as their faces were exactly the same, save for their hairstyles.
I only called them maids because they were wearing maid uniforms; in reality, "servant" would probably be the more accurate term.
In any case, both of them looked startled when our eyes met, but they quickly returned to their poker faces and maintained a professional demeanor.
"Please, come inside. We have prepared lunch in the dining hall to coincide with your arrival."
"Oh my, how thoughtful of you."
"Hehe, this much is a given."
Mr. Meguro said with a pleasant smile, then led the way to the dining hall inside the mansion.
*
Inside the dining hall was a long table that looked like something out of a Western movie. Since the villa itself was built in a Western style, it didn't feel out of place.
"You must be hungry after your long journey this morning. I will show you to your rooms after lunch."
"Thank you for your consideration, Mr. Meguro."
The President, showing off her "young lady" mode for the first time in a while, sat at the head of the table.
The Vice President, Minami, and I took the seats next to her.
While everything else was Western-style, the meal served was ordinary Japanese cuisine.
It felt quite unbalanced, and when I asked why, the answer was that it had been prepared this way because the President liked Japanese food.
"Is it perhaps not to your taste? Shall I ask the chef to prepare something else?"
"No, it's not that. It's just a little different from what I imagined, I guess."
I never thought I'd be eating grilled salmon with butter, white rice, and mushroom miso soup in a place like this.
Hearing my answer, Mr. Meguro's face lit up.
"That's a relief. The meal was prepared entirely to the Young Lady's tastes, so I was worried about what to do if it didn't suit our guest."
"I like home-style cooking. Honestly, who doesn't?"
As I spoke, I mixed the dark-colored curry that came as a separate dish with my rice and took a large bite. It tasted heavenly.
The cooking here is no joke.
"Well then, let's eat."
"Yes. If you need anything, please let us know. We will refill it for you immediately."
And so, the four of us began our lunch.
*
Lunch took about an hour.
You might wonder why it took so long, but that included time for dessert and tea after the meal.
After replenishing our energy, I was assigned the room where I would be staying for the next three days.
It was right next to the President's room, the best in the mansion, and was so luxurious that I honestly wondered if I was even worthy of using it.
Considering that just a week ago I was sleeping huddled together with a bunch of guys in a tatami room at a guesthouse, this was the very definition of luxury.
Well, sleeping with friends in a small room has its own charm, too.
After unpacking my things in the room, I came out and ran into Minami in the hallway. Like me, she was a servant and had been given the room right next to the President's.
"Where's the President?"
"She is in her room, changing into her outdoor clothes. Are you perhaps hoping to get a peek?"
"No."
When I cut her off flatly, Minami said it was a shame and took out her walkie-talkie.
"By the way, why are you using a walkie-talkie instead of a phone?"
"Ah, there are no cell towers or transmission antennas here, so phone reception is poor. It's not that the internet is completely down, but it's faster to use a walkie-talkie for simple communication."
"Hmm."
Unless I was just imagining things, it felt like a ton of flags had been getting raised for a while now.
No, it can't be.
I dismissed it as a coincidence and asked Minami:
"So, what's the specific plan for our time on this island? I honestly don't have a good grasp of what this 'student council's special intensive training camp' is all about."
"Ah, about that."
Minami was about to say something, as if she had just remembered, but then she suddenly closed her mouth.
"What's wrong?"
"No, it's nothing. I just thought it wouldn't be much fun to give spoilers right from the start."
"Then just tell me the beginning."
Minami seemed to hesitate for a moment, then let out a small sigh and answered.
"First, we're going to hang out at the beach."
With the entire student council in swimsuits.