This Is a Fact Even Found in the Famous Pumpkin Codex
The training camp itself was, even by my own estimation, an outstanding idea. With summer vacation approaching and Miss Ryu-yeong still thinking of nothing but training, I ventured the suggestion.
“Miss, what would you say to inviting Miss Seol-hee and Miss Seol-hwa to the estate this summer for a joint training camp?”
“Out of nowhere? Hmm…”
She appeared to be deliberating, yet the faint upward curl of her lips told me she was already considering it favorably.
It was wonderful that Miss Ryu-yeong wished to grow stronger, of course, but we servants had long fretted over an eleven-year-old girl who, rather than playing as children her age ought, devoted herself solely to training.
For this camp I intended to keep the training schedule to an absolute minimum, so that she might enjoy peaceful tea times and rest with Miss Seol-hee and Miss Seol-hwa at the estate. And of course—
“Perhaps we might invite Young Master Harang as well?”
“Hey!! What are you saying! How am I supposed to invite him!! You idiot!”
Miss Ryu-yeong, who made no secret of her one-sided affection for Young Master Harang—her chosen young lord—flushed scarlet and refused outright, for all her outward boldness was matched by an inner innocence.
As the butler who had attended Miss Ryu-yeong for six years, I was deeply moved that she had at last discovered love, and the fact that she had already settled her heart upon a young man of her choosing was splendid news. Yet—
Thud! Thud!
—watching her rush over and kick at me in embarrassment, I could only wonder whether she realized that nothing would ever progress if she remained this bashful.
She had seemed fond of him even when she still believed Young Master Harang was a young lady; once she learned his true gender she only grew shyer still. This butler can only feel profound pity.
“In that case I shall send a maid to Young Master Harang’s residence to convey the invitation.”
“Hey!! Hey!!!! Didn’t you hear me?!? And I’ll be the one to say it!! How am I supposed to trust you lot!”
“Sob, sob… All we do is care for you and wish for your happiness… and yet you cannot trust us… sob, sob…”
“…Hey, that… I misspoke a little… sorry.”
“I was only pretending to cry as well.”
“Hey!!!”
Young Master Harang’s mother came to inspect the estate. Though I had warned the maids and instructors thoroughly after our prior conversation—
Prick. Prick.
—the sensation of invisible threads sweeping through the mansion was far more nerve-wracking than I had imagined. Countless strands brushed past our skin as she searched every corner.
“Hmm. This should be acceptable enough.”
Only after her approval fell did we servants finally release the breaths we had been holding. I had tensed the moment I first heard she was of the OFS, yet she proved far stronger than I had anticipated. I had heard many rumors about the OFS, but rather than exaggeration they seemed unable to keep pace with reality.
Fortunately we received permission for the camp, and I proceeded to outline the planned schedule—
“That isn’t a training camp; that’s just playing around for the summer holidays, isn’t it? If you’re going to call it training, there ought to be results to match.”
—and with those words the entire carefully prepared itinerary had to be overturned. Miss Ryu-yeong’s rest periods were reduced to the barest minimum; only after repeated, exhaustive persuasion of Young Master Harang’s mother did we finally reach a compromise.
I had once watched her spar with Miss Seol-hee, and now I understood precisely why Miss Seol-hee was so formidable.
By presenting Young Master Harang’s mother with currently popular date spots and movie tickets, I managed to leave a favorable impression and secured permission to bring Young Master Harang himself around the end of the third week of training, just as the fourth week began.
The proposal was possible only because we already possessed information that she was deeply devoted to her husband. The maid who brought that intelligence will certainly receive a reward vacation.
“Well then, please look after our children.”
“We shall attend them exactly as we attend our own young lady.”
Thus every preparation was complete. We would spare no effort so that Miss Ryu-yeong might enjoy a delightful summer vacation.
Miss Seol-hee and Miss Seol-hwa proved, fortunately, to be thoroughly good-natured young ladies. Of course I had never expected otherwise of Miss Ryu-yeong’s friends, yet—
“Thank you!!”
“Thank you…”
—to receive a word of thanks for every single action we servants performed was so moving that I nearly shed tears; it had been ages since I last met young ladies of such courtesy.
And when Miss Ryu-yeong herself, face flushed, offered her own shy thanks in response to their example, this butler—already past forty—could no longer hold back and retreated to his room to weep.
Yes, this training-camp plan had been an excellent idea. Watching Miss Ryu-yeong, who ordinarily wore a blank expression within the villa, smile brightly from the moment she woke until she fell asleep filled every servant with happiness.
Training proceeded diligently as well. Because the regimen had been designed by Young Master Harang’s mother, the schedule was somewhat harsher for Miss Seol-hee and Miss Seol-hwa than for Miss Ryu-yeong; yet both young ladies completed workouts that would tax even ordinary adults as though they were perfectly accustomed to them.
Spurred by their example, Miss Ryu-yeong began adding extra sessions beyond the original plan, and I could not help suspecting that this, too, had been intentional.
Young Master Harang’s mother clearly held Miss Ryu-yeong dear as well; the thought was entirely plausible.
Boom!!
“Aaah! Ryu-yeong unnie!! That’s a foul!!”
“Ha! Foul my foot! I’m just making full use of my ability—aaagh!! Seol-hee sunbae!!”
Crackle-zap!
“Don’t bully my little sister.”
“That’s not what this is about!!”
During a spar with Miss Seol-hwa, Miss Ryu-yeong caught a flying water droplet, burst it above her head, and used the falling water to enhance her physical abilities. Miss Seol-hwa protested the tactic, while Miss Seol-hee unleashed blue lightning at Miss Ryu-yeong, and the three of them bickered cheerfully. What splendid teenage friendship! Had this butler not already reached his forties, I would have longed to join them.
“Hey! Butler! You were watching, right? Honestly, that wasn’t a fair move, was it?!”
“Even I must agree that Miss Ryu-yeong was in the wrong. This is a fact even found in the famous Pumpkin Codex.”
“What the heck is that!! Aaagh!! Sunbae! This isn’t the sparring ground—you can’t just throw lightning around!!”
It is now the second week, and the fruits of the camp are beginning to show. Miss Ryu-yeong’s fist, extended faster than ever before, struck a wooden board marked “20” and split it with a resounding craaack!
Where only months ago she had required a full ten minutes of extension, she now needed roughly five—fully half the time. Progress had been gradual even before the camp, yet the acceleration since its start fills me with nothing but pride. Of course five minutes is still nowhere near combat-ready speed, but still.
I cannot speak with certainty of Miss Seol-hee’s original level, yet she seemed to take such pleasure in shattering boards that she was now indiscriminately destroying those marked “19.”
Four bolts of lightning, guided by her gestures, raced in from different directions to smash the boards while she experimented—altering their shapes, increasing or decreasing their number—conducting her own research.
Unfortunately each “19-point” board cost two hundred fifty thousand won, and they were raining down in pieces at a single flick of Miss Seol-hee’s wrist; the instructors’ faces grew steadily paler, as was only natural.
Miss Seol-hwa was the young lady the instructors most delighted in teaching. Unlike Miss Ryu-yeong she did not simply grind through brute training, nor was she so overwhelmingly powerful as Miss Seol-hee that no one dared approach; her rather unusual application of her ability left fundamental gaps that the instructors could thoroughly fill.
Still, when they suggested she might simply step down from atop her water droplets, her expression hardened and she refused absolutely—an unexpected reaction. Later I learned that the method had been proposed by Young Master Harang himself, and that she therefore cherished it especially; I nodded in complete understanding.
Thus another day’s training ended, and while the young ladies were in the changing room preparing for a bath, Miss Seol-hwa approached me.
“Is something the matter?”
“Butler! From what age has Ryu-yeong unnie been living here?”
“Miss Ryu-yeong has been here since she entered elementary school at age eight—the same age as Miss Seol-hwa.”
“Hey! I’m listening, you know! Don’t say unnecessary things!!”
At my answer Miss Seol-hwa’s face grew a little sad; she walked over and suddenly threw her arms around Miss Ryu-yeong. Miss Ryu-yeong herself looked rather flustered by the unexpected embrace.
While Miss Seol-hwa hugged her and murmured in a slightly tearful voice that she must have been lonely, Miss Seol-hee soon joined them and hugged Miss Ryu-yeong from behind as well.
Miss Ryu-yeong flushed and shouted at them to get off, yet she never used her strength to push the other girls away; it seemed the feeling was not entirely unwelcome.
“Young ladies, if you remain like that you will catch colds.”
I offered the caution only because they were already undressed.
The third week of Miss Ryu-yeong’s training camp is drawing to a close. For the first few days after Miss Seol-hee and Miss Seol-hwa arrived she kept her room tidy, yet eventually it returned to its usual state of disarray. Neither of the other young ladies seemed particularly bothered. Of course tidying the young lady’s room is the servants’ duty, yet—
—should Miss Ryu-yeong one day live alone as an adult and invite Young Master Harang into her room for a pleasant time, a messy chamber might send him fleeing. For that reason alone a basic habit of neatness would be desirable.
However, openly scolding Miss Ryu-yeong in front of the other young ladies risked diminishing her dignity; thus I was forced to employ the method I had prepared in advance.
“““Welcome, Young Master Harang. We have been awaiting you.”””
Young Master Harang had arrived at the estate. I had glimpsed him in passing several times, yet meeting him face-to-face made it entirely clear why Miss Ryu-yeong had once been unable to believe he was a young master.
Even I, who have met countless people over more than forty years, would have taken him for a young lady had I not already known the truth; his beauty was that striking.
His youth made the boundary of gender still more ambiguous, yet with that face I suspect a feminine quality will linger even twenty years from now.
Approaching the slightly flustered young master amid our servants’ warm welcome, I accepted the gift he had brought, ordered the maids to carry it away, and slowly guided him to Miss Ryu-yeong’s room.
When the door opened, the disordered interior stood fully revealed. Young Master Harang looked a little surprised, yet quickly composed himself.
I watched from a distance until I confirmed that Miss Ryu-yeong, Miss Seol-hee, and Miss Seol-hwa had finished their bath and were returning; then I quietly ordered the maids to wait outside the door.
“Get out!!!!”
The effect was magnificent. It may leave Young Master Harang with a somewhat violent memory, yet if this corrects Miss Ryu-yeong’s habit, this butler will carry out the plan with tears in his eyes.
From the clattering and thumping that followed, it seemed the cleaning was rather vigorous—yet that, too, I consider part of the young lady’s charm.
When the door opened again the room had been swiftly set in order, though a few items appeared to have been shoved beneath the bed. You are still too inexperienced to escape this butler’s eyes, Miss.
“Bring snacks and tea! And don’t open the door without permission!!”
“Yes, Miss. May you and the young master enjoy a pleasant time.”
“It’s not like that!!! Just go already!!!”
With the other young ladies present I could not hope for more, yet for now I shall content myself with this much.