Chapter 212: Ruji's Dream Comes True (2)
Chapter 212: Ruji's Dream Comes True (2)
With the development of rash guards, traditional swimsuits vanished from many swimming pools and water parks.
Everyone started wearing rash guards.
Even those who were truly confident in their bodies began to pack them.
In truth, this phenomenon was born from the anxiety of being surreptitiously filmed by someone carrying a smartphone in a waterproof pouch.
I understand.
It’s unpleasant to have your body end up in someone’s gallery and distributed without permission.
One might say it doesn't matter if you're captured by someone’s eyes or memories since those eventually fade, but photos and videos remain as permanent records for a lifetime. It’s natural to be worried.
So, I emotionally understand the desire to wear a rash guard or walk around with a life jacket over a swimsuit.
But that is reality.
This is a fantasy world based on a bishojo game!!
'Is it wrong to seek sex in a fantasy world?!'
It’s not like this world is reality, and there aren't even cameras capable of capturing such scenes, whether people walk around in swimsuits or stark naked.
"A water park is a place you go specifically knowing people will see you. And you're wearing a rash guard as a swimsuit because you're worried about that?"
"This is a total challenge to the very concept of swimsuits. Who wears a full-body suit like this to play in the water? This isn't a swimsuit!"
A rash guard is a garment designed to hide from the camera's eye.
If there are no cameras, there is obviously no need to wear a rash guard.
If a woman insisted on coming to a water park without wearing a proper swimsuit, she shouldn't even be allowed in.
If there’s a woman who absolutely must wear a rash guard because she’s bothered by the gaze of men, tell her to just go play at the Infinite Labyrinth Waterpark instead.
Rash guards are a no-go.
Absolutely not.
"If this is because of concerns about people staring, I can state clearly that such things will not happen at the Fermaton Waterpark. Therefore, this outfit fails the preliminary swimsuit screening."
I was about to boldly tear the parchment with the rash guard design when I stopped myself after checking the name of the submitter.
"Amy. Call Nero."
"I will summon her immediately, Young Lord."
While Amy left the room, I waited for Nero to enter my office.
Nero was busy with other tasks for a moment, but I had to discuss this matter with her seriously.
"You summoned me, My Lord?"
Nero returned to the room looking no different than usual.
Though she was my exclusive maid, she had several other duties, and she had been in the middle of handling one of them.
For instance, creating educational materials for training junior maids.
That was certainly important, but the matter of the rash guard was more pressing right now.
"What is the meaning of this?"
I calmly handed the rash guard design to Nero.
"Did you draw this swimsuit?"
"Yes. That is correct. I drew it."
Nero affirmed my words without so much as blinking.
"Is there a problem with the swimsuit I devised?"
She tilted her head with an innocent expression, as if wondering what could possibly be wrong or why I had called her if it was just to complain.
"A problem? There’s a huge problem. How can you even call this a swimsuit?"
"Pardon?"
"This is not a swimsuit."
"...I don't particularly intend to debate the definition of a swimsuit with you, My Lord, but it is a bit saddening to have the idea I worked hard on rejected so flatly."
It was practically a declaration of war against Nero, and her expression had turned quite gloomy, but I had to fight for the sake of all mankind—for the visual pleasure of all men.
"The swimsuits I know are similar to underwear, covering the chest and the lower bits, designed to let the skin feel as much water as possible. So why are you calling this clothing a swimsuit?"
One could swim in a rash guard, but I could not tolerate rash guards becoming the standard for my water park.
"Is there a reason it must be this kind of clothing?"
"Because that is how it will become a healthy and wholesome water park."
"Healthy and wholesome...?"
The water park I’m aiming for is a landmark for sex parties even more explicit than Haeundae Beach.
A place where, along with healthy and wholesome play, men and women can check out each other's bodies before going to frolic in the water.
To be precise, they’ll meet at the water park, enjoy themselves, and then head to the nearby hotels to make love.
Healthy and wholesome?
Aren't those the words furthest removed from Fermaton?
"My Lord. You are laboring under a great misunderstanding right now."
"A misunderstanding?"
"Yes. Unlike the person who spoke to me about Queen Messalina last time, you are overlooking one crucial factor."
"And what is that?"
"My Lord, would you be willing to enter the same water as Queen Messalina?"
"......Hah."
I got goosebumps the moment I heard it.
The thought was so horrific that a chill ran down my spine.
"Was that the issue...?"
"Yes. Being in the same water means having a great deal of indirect physical contact."
"Then couldn't we just not accept people like Queen Messalina?"
"...My Lord. Do you think there is only one or two people like that?"
Nero pointed outside.
"How would it feel to enter the same water as everyone living in Fermaton?"
"......That would be terrible."
It’s fine to go in with verified women, but I can't just go into the water with any random woman.
Even if the vital areas are covered by a swimsuit, the parts where skin touches—
"Ah."
Skin infections.
I began to worry about many things.
"What is common sense and a given for you, My Lord, is a very important issue that ordinary citizens—especially the poor who have no money—cannot manage."
"What is it?"
"Showering."
"......"
Of course.
"You shower every day, My Lord, sometimes three or four times. Part of that might be because of sex for pregnancy, but fundamentally, you enjoy washing yourself."
"Well, naturally. Shouldn't a person wash at least once, no, twice a day?"
"But it is different for commoners."
I knew what she was trying to say.
"So, what you're worried about, Nero, is 'hygiene'?"
"Yes."
Nero had struck a much more fatal weakness than I expected.
"Nobles are used to showering or coming to wash their bodies, but the general public would have to spend at least 5 Ruji Coins just to take one shower. To them, a shower is an immense luxury."
"Surely every house has at least some shower facilities?"
"It costs a fortune to pump water from the underground channels, so the reality is they even scrimp on the water used for kneading bread dough."
"Hah..."
It was more serious than I thought.
"They don't wash because they can't afford the water?"
"If it were free, they would use water lavishly, but that isn't the case, is it?"
"......."
For a bishojo gacha game world, it was stabbing me with the miseries of reality in the most subtle places.
The modern world and a fantasy world.
If there was one greatest difference between the two, it would be the issue of 'water usage.'
In reality, water was used freely.
Turning on a faucet was incredibly easy, and you could buy water to drink at any convenience store.
Water was that convenient to use, but this world was different.
The reason I only realized this now was that I personally had no difficulty using water.
If the facilities were so bad that even the heir of the Fermaton estate couldn't use water freely, I would have dealt with the water situation before anything else.
But time had already passed, and the swimsuit contest had already been held.
It was impossible to stop the construction of the water park now just because of hygiene issues.
"In that case... I'll have to find a way."
Humans are beings who always find new ways, and I will make it so that those who enter the water park can enjoy healthy and wholesome water play.
'I have to discard common sense.'
I felt a bit sorry for the commoners, but...
"The water park will have to start by targeting those with some money."
At the very least, those with the refinement to shower properly and frequently.
Even if I don't explicitly say, 'Your body is dirty, so we will wash you,' I'll target people who consider it natural to follow a showering procedure—washing their hair and soaping their bodies—without complaint.
"I'll have to make it a high-end luxury resort. Good. There’s a way for everything."
While proceeding with the plan to build a large-scale water park, I squeezed an idea out of my memories.
"If entering the same water as an unspecified multitude is unpleasant and a hygiene concern, how about a type of water facility that can be enjoyed with a small group of acquaintances? Not exactly a full water park... but a swimming pool."
"Is that possible?"
"It wouldn't be a long, sprawling pool, but at least a basin large enough for about four people."
If it’s that size, even if it’s small, it definitely functions as a swimming pool.
—Oppa. Since it's a pool villa, why do we even have to wear swimsuits?
—So you didn't bring a swimsuit?
—I booked a pool villa that can't be seen from the outside, teehee.
"If it's a small pool attached to an inn room, wouldn't they be able to get away without wearing that?"
Even if I have to introduce pool villas to this world.
Even if I have to change or alter the scale of the water park right now.
"If they're people sharing the same room, they'll at least care about each other's hygiene."
"......."
"Is there something else you're concerned about besides hygiene?"
"......It is nothing."
Rash guards are out.
I, Ruji Fermaton.
I have prevented the spread of rash guards in this world.