Chapter 90
* * *
I quickly changed into my swimsuit and came out.
Though calling it a swimsuit, all it amounted to was shorts and a black cotton T-shirt.
‘···They’re really playing over there.’
I saw the two of them in the distance.
They were the former president and former vice president. They weren’t very easy to see from this distance.
Since this was, in name at least, a bonding trip,
perhaps they were deliberately keeping their distance so the new members wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.
“?”
Clomp, clomp.
I heard footsteps behind me. It was the club president.
— “Wow, it suits you really well. The others are fine too, but I think this color is really nice!”
The club president’s Minimi fussed over it all by itself.
It gave two emphatic thumbs-ups.
“···?”
I quietly watched to see what it was doing.
— “Is this a little much? More naturally···.”
The Minimi muttered, shaking its head.
‘Ah.’
I knew what it was.
It was thinking about how to react to Senior Minji’s swimsuit.
So the club president worried about things like that too.
It certainly seemed better to express it in words than to just be surprised and say nothing.
— “Ssss···.”
The club president seemed to have a lot on her mind as she deliberated over a natural reaction.
‘Not yet?’
The girls showed no sign of coming out.
Splash, splash—
I dipped my feet into the valley water first.
“Hwoo···.”
The water was colder than I expected.
Still, perhaps because of the hot weather, I felt more refreshed than cold.
I strode farther into the deeper water. Before I knew it, the club president had followed me in.
“It’s pretty deep, isn’t it?”
“Maybe because it rained over the weekend.”
The water reached up to our hips.
“Want to race?”
The club president made the suggestion.
“What kind of race?”
“Who can get there faster. Oh, and no walking in the middle.”
We had to go there and back using only swimming.
Thinking about it that way, it was a fairly long distance.
“Are you confident?”
“I’m pretty good at swimming.”
“Okay, then.”
I nodded.
We had nothing else to do anyway. It was a good way to kill time.
“Hmm··· It’ll be boring if we just do it, so how about a bet?”
The club president added.
“A bet? What kind?”
“How about ice cream?”
“Is there a mart nearby?”
“Ah, right.”
Saying she hadn’t thought of that, the club president fell into thought again.
Something we could do···.
I glanced around and said,
“Then how about making watermelon punch?”
“Ah, that sounds good.”
The club president nodded too.
Someone had to make it anyway. Since things had turned out this way, we decided between the two of us.
We stood on the same starting line.
“We’ll set off when I say three.”
“Okay.”
“Ready···.”
I slowly crouched down. As I planted my heels and prepared to dash forward,
— “I should get going before you say three.”
I heard that mutter.
“···.”
No, seriously, this guy.
······.
“Huff, huff···.”
— “Seriously, this is freaking brutal···.”
The club president came up onto the bank, catching her breath.
“You really didn’t go easy on me.”
She said it between gasps as she looked at me.
She was only a year older, but she was acting like such a baby.
I handed her the water bottle, having already arrived.
“Wasn’t this a bet?”
“Tsk··· Yeah.”
The club president took a swig from the bottle with a bitter expression.
She must have acknowledged what she had to, since she didn’t suggest best two out of three.
Or maybe she was simply tired.
“Whew.”
She reclined in the camping chair as if exhausted.
Seeing that, the latter seemed more likely.
Tramp, tramp—
I saw the girls walking over in the distance. They approached, chattering noisily.
I called out to the club president, who was lying down.
“Senior Minji is here.”
“Oh, really?”
The club president sprang to her feet. She was ready to react immediately.
Is this how a boyfriend acts?
Worth observing and learning from.
‘···Huh.’
Among them, I couldn’t help looking at Isol’s swimsuit.
My gaze lingered for a moment.
‘What kind of outfit···.’
What on earth was that design?
The zipper was attached in a strange place.
What was it like underneath?
A structural curiosity naturally arose.
Perhaps it had noticed my gaze.
— “···Good.”
The Minimi let out a small huff through its nose.
It placed its hands on its hips triumphantly.
I drew a short breath at that reaction.
The club president seemed to have come out today fully prepared in some way.
“···.”
Meanwhile, the club president somehow didn’t take her eyes off Senior Minji.
Impressive, honestly.
* * *
A long while into our playing in the water,
Isol sat at the water’s edge, quietly watching the scene.
Eek, eek—
Raucous laughter.
Everyone was having a great time.
“···.”
Shin Ayoung was over there preoccupied with Ji Nuri and the fish.
She looked quite busy.
Clomp, clomp—
Lee Seungho came out dripping wet and took a sip of his drink.
As I watched him quietly,
our gazes met midway.
He tilted his head and asked,
“Are you okay not going into the water?”
He seemed bothered by me sitting there doing nothing.
“···.”
Was now the time to try?
“···Then.”
Isol slowly rose to her feet.
She swallowed hard. A strange tension rippled through her.
“···Seungho.”
Isol carefully called his name.
“Yeah?”
“Could you put sunscreen on me?”
“Huh?”
“It’s just··· I can’t quite reach the middle of my back···.”
Her tongue felt like it was going to twist.
Even as she continued speaking, a taut tension followed.
“Ah, then—”
“Here.”
She moved first.
Isol quickly pressed the sunscreen into his hand.
“···J-just put it on here.”
Before he could say anything else, she hurriedly turned her back to him.
She raised a hand to the nape of her neck to sweep up her hair, but
her fingers cut through empty air. She felt the absence.
Right. Her hair was short now.
She brought her wandering palm straight to the nape of her neck.
“···.”
A long silence followed.
“Is it taking long···?”
A slick sensation traveled up her back.
The sunscreen touched her skin.
‘Eek···!’
Her face grew hot. Strength gathered in her fingertips.
His fingers were longer and colder than she’d expected.
Was it because of the sunscreen?
Or were his hands naturally cold?
“There, all done~”
His strange tone. Her lower back was lightly patted—pat, pat.
“?”
A question mark rose on its own.
It was a delicate voice. It wasn’t Lee Seungho’s timbre.
Isol turned her head blankly.
“I applied it really thoroughly.”
Long black hair fluttered in the breeze.
Shin Ayoung was standing there.
“Sol, your skin is so smooth. What do you usually put on it?”
“···Nothing. I don’t put anything on it.”
Isol twitched her eyebrows and smiled.
She had thought the timing was perfect.
Since she’d anticipated Shin Ayoung interfering, she’d deliberately taken advantage of the moment when Seungho’s attention was diverted.
Apparently, Shin Ayoung had been keeping an eye on her the whole time, even if subtly.
“Phew···.”
It was all right.
Isol reassured herself.
It wasn’t as though this was her only chance.
* * *
It was lunchtime.
In truth, lunch had been a little late because everyone had been too absorbed in playing.
“Guys, let’s eat!”
The former president shouted as he lit a fire at the campsite.
“Yeees—”
At the call, the counseling club members emerged from the water one by one.
Isol moved her dripping body along too.
Her expression was somehow blank.
“···.”
In the end, she hadn’t succeeded at a single thing.
Not when they ate the watermelon punch,
nor when she tried to apply sunscreen to him in return.
The circumstances had somehow never lined up.
Between Shin Ayoung’s interference and Ji Nuri’s pure charm, appealing to him was proving surprisingly difficult.
“···.”
Sizzle, sizzle—
Meat was cooking deliciously on the grill.
There were three burners in total.
One burner for ramen and two for grilling meat.
Lee Seungho was handling one of them.
“Mmm~ Food tastes so much better eaten outside···!”
Ji Nuri picked up a piece of meat. A blissful smile spread across her face.
“···.”
Isol watched her with a sullen look.
Lee Seungho was busy moving around. How could she sit there comfortably eating meat?
“···.”
Halt— Isol’s movements slowed.
“···.”
···No. This was it.
At the flash of inspiration, Isol alone widened her eyes.
Isol hurriedly picked up her chopsticks.
Neatly—
She placed pork belly, ssamjang, chili pepper, and rice on a lettuce leaf and rolled it up well.
Round and round.
Done. She had made an appetizing ssam.
“Seungho.”
She called his name softly.
The person she intended to give it to was, of course, already decided.
Isol approached him hesitantly as he busily grilled the meat.
“Eat this.”
“Ah, thanks.”
He accepted the ssam with one hand.
She wanted to feed him herself, but he took it before she could.
It was a shame, but for now, this was enough.
Lee Seungho stuffed the ssam into his mouth.
Munch, munch—
“···.”
Isol watched in silence.
His cheeks puffed out with food were cute.
After chewing like that,
“Keh!”
The corners of Lee Seungho’s eyes narrowed.
Cough—!
Cough, cough—!
Coughs burst repeatedly from his mouth.
“Huh? What??”
Isol stood up in alarm. She looked around the table for something to drink.
“W-wait, water···?!”
“Here, here!”
Shin Ayoung hurriedly handed him bottled water.
He gulped it down.
“Phew···!”
Only then did he look as though he could breathe again.
“Whew—the chili’s pretty spicy.”
“···Was it really that spicy?”
“A little?”
“···.”
The corners of Isol’s eyes drooped.
Seeing him laugh heartily and say it was fine only made her feel more sorry.
Even this hadn’t gone well.
“Hnnng··· I’m so full···.”
“You’ll gain weight if you lie down right after eating.”
Isol half-listened to Ji Nuri and Park Minji’s conversation as she put down her utensils.
“···.”
The disheveled table looked just like her mood.
“Should we decide who’s doing the dishes now? To make it fair, the losers of rock-paper-scissors do it.”
“How many people are we picking?”
“Hmm, maybe··· just two?”
The former president couple and Lee Seungho would sit out.
With that, those gathered held out their hands.
““Last one to throw loses, rock, paper, scissors!””
Hands came down quickly.
“···Ah.”
With a short sigh, Isol looked down at her scissors.
Everyone else had thrown rocks; she alone had scissors.
······.
“Haa··· Sol, good work.”
The dishes were done.
Park Minji shook the water from her hands.
The other person assigned to do the dishes was her.
“Yeees···.”
Her fingertips were numb.
She had forgotten to bring rubber gloves, so she’d put her hands into the cold water.
Maybe that was why she hadn’t even washed the dishes properly.
Eating had taken an instant, but doing the dishes had taken forever.
“···.”
Murmur, murmur—
She could hear other people talking in the distance.
They were having such a great time.
“Let’s move just these and go in too.”
“Okay.”
Isol stacked the clean dishes in layers.
All that remained was to divide them up, carry them to the tent, and be done.
“Hup···.”
Wobble, wobble— She walked along with a pot cradled in both hands.
The weight made it difficult to move as she wanted.
Perhaps it was because of her awkward posture.
“Ah.”
Slip—
Suddenly, her wig slid downward.
Perhaps the pin holding it in place had come loose. It slanted down and blocked her view.
She couldn’t see ahead and couldn’t walk properly.
“Ah··· ugh···.”
She turned her head this way and that, but once the wig had twisted out of place, it refused to return to its original position.
“···.”
Beads of sweat formed on her forehead.
Wigs were hotter and damper than she’d expected.
“Haa···.”
In the end, the sigh she’d been holding back escaped.
Why was everything going like this today?
It felt like one of those days when nothing went right.
Swish—
The hair that had fallen forward was lifted up.
“···Ah, thank you—”
Just as she was about to thank Park Minji,
“···.”
Isol’s eyes widened.
Through the gap between the strands covering her view, she saw someone other than the person she’d expected.
“···.”
With his impassive eyes, he was looking down at her as usual.
He blinked, his gaze seeming to inspect something.
“Come over here for a moment.”
Lee Seungho took the dishes Isol had been carrying instead and turned around.
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(There’s an AI illustration if you scroll down!)
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