“Aww! You—!”
“Ahahaha! Take that!”
Stella, Noah, and Syrah were having fun in the pool. Every time they moved, two pairs of mounds splashed into the water with force.
In front of the splashing caused by both hands and mounds, Noah suffered silently. She wanted to retaliate in kind, but all she had were her hands.
They both had four “weapons,” while she only had two—Noah couldn’t help but feel the injustice of it all. It felt like being handicapped.
“Is Dinua not coming in?”
As he said this, Ian called out to Dinua, who was lying next to him sipping a drink.
She glanced over at him, and upon realizing she was being called, was startled and accidentally spilled the drink on herself.
“Ah, ah—!”
“You okay?”
“Yes. There’s water all over anyway… I’ll wash up.”
Fortunately, she was in a swimsuit. As she said, they were surrounded by water. Of course, that didn’t mean she had to jump into the pool just to wash off the spilled drink.
After a short while, Dinua returned from rinsing off. Her skin glistened slightly as she sat on a bench and leisurely sipped a fresh drink.
Seeing how he acted as if nothing had happened, Dinua’s cheeks puffed slightly in playful annoyance.
“Aren’t you going in?”
“…Yes.”
“Why not?”
“…It’s uncomfortable.”
“Because they are your juniors?”
Dinua shook her head.
Sure, being around girls a year younger could feel awkward, but in some ways, it was more comfortable.
At the very least, there was no one ordering her around. Even if she was a little sensitive, she wasn’t about to be bossed around by a junior.
“Then what’s the issue?”
“In the water… I can’t get in—”
“Afraid of drawing? But your feet will touch the bottom. Look—Noah’s in there too.”
“No, it’s not that…”
Dinua placed a hand over her chest and blushed.
“I… I can’t go in…”
“…?”
Ian thought he had misheard. Dazed by her awkward reply, his gaze unintentionally dropped to her chest.
Dinua, knowing from experience that people always looked at her chest after those words, quickly turned away.
“Do you want me to…?”
“No, it’s fine.”
Realizing what he was doing, Ian rubbed his eyes and looked back at the girls playing in the pool.
The girls, who had been splashing about, were now watching Ian and Dinua, looking like they had lost interest in playing.
When they noticed the two looking back, they acted as if nothing had happened and returned to the water jet.
‘What are they doing now?’
Just a moment ago, they’d been playfully swimming, but then suddenly started hurling water balls or giving him weird stares. It was all rather baffling.
Watching them, Ian decided maybe it was time to get in the pool himself and unwind a little.
‘I’m getting tired of just sitting around.’
This world had no smartphones, no internet. There were newspapers, but they hardly satisfied the curiosity of someone from modern times.
‘If something happens… well, I’ll be screwed, won’t I?’
It was a bad modern habit—making up problems just because you were bored.
With that thought, Ian stepped into the water.
The moment he entered, the girls left the pool one by one and sprawled across the benches, acting tired.
The timing was suspiciously perfect.
Ian ended up swimming alone, hiding his mixed feelings.
***
Unlike earlier, when laughter and chatter filled the air, the pool had gone eerily quiet with only Ian swimming.
They were usually noisy in the water, and even louder out of it. But now, the girls sat silently, as if they had coordinated it.
Splash—
The only sound was Ian cutting through the water. To any observer, it might have seemed like the girls had been put under a spell. They all watched silently, united in their gaze at the boy swimming.
“Wow…”
“Haah…”
The silence broke when Ian, having completed a full lap, emerged and shook his head, catching his breath.
Feeling the odd tension in the air, Ian glanced over.
The girls immediately averted their eyes and started whispering among themselves as if on cue.
“Ummm, so?”
“Right, right.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
If one listened closely, their conversation wasn’t even coherent. But at a glance, it looked like they were genuinely chatting, so Ian dived back into the water, unbothered.
As he submerged, the girls leaned in closer to whisper again.
“Hey, is Ian… an eunuch?”
“Mm… I hate to agree, but this time, I kind of do.”
“Guys… what’s wrong with you?”
After Stella and Syrah made their remarks, Noah asked cautiously.
Even though they were whispering, she couldn’t help but worry that Ian might hear them.
However, they both had something to say.
“Hasn’t it already been a week? What kind of time is a week? That’s enough time to do this and that, then promise marriage already.”
During that whole time, Ian had simply passed the days in silence, showing no signs of doing anything.
“Maybe he doesn’t know?” Like always Noah tried to protect Ian.
“…Noah, pretending to be too naive is just asking for trouble.”
“Right. I mean, since he was a commoner, wouldn’t he actually know better? He probably grew up in a house with no soundproofing.”
“No, yeah, I know all that, but…”
Noah was far from naive. She wasn’t some countryside girl who spent her days eating, farming, and making babies. Even in rural areas, if you could afford decent soundproofing, you added at least one more room.
She had heard her parents groaning at night more than once and had even learned about things directly from her mother.
So no, she wasn’t some innocent v!rgin completely in the dark.
But still…
“Anyway, saying stuff like that out loud in front of Ian…”
“It’s fine. You knew I was playing around before, right? He can’t hear well when he’s swimming.”
“And—what if he hears it? Right?”
Noah flinched at Syrah’s sharp tone, but honestly, she wasn’t wrong.
Wasn’t everyone here sending big and small signals to Ian? The real strange thing was that he hadn’t caught on to any of them.
At this point, the problem had to be with Ian.
“No.”
“…Senior?”
“Ian isn’t like that.”
At that moment, Dinua, who had been quietly listening, suddenly spoke up and drew everyone’s attention. The two tilted their heads in confusion at her mumbled words, as if she were recalling something from experience.
“What do you mean?”
“…No way.”
When Syrah let out a muffled voice, seeming to catch on to something, Dinua muttered with a faintly reminiscent expression.
“Huh, huh—last time, he…reacted when he hugged me…”
“What…?”
“No, hold on. Have you been drinking?”
“Eh—? Are you saying I’m drunk? On this?”
Just then, Syrah noticed something odd.
Dinua raised her glass—champagne. The others saw the yellow liquid bubbling in it and immediately realized she was holding alcohol.
Realizing the drink she had been holding was indeed alcoholic, Dinua blinked in surprise—then casually downed the rest of the champagne.
Gulp, gulp—
After finishing the drink in a few swift gulps, she groaned softly at the fizzy sensation in her throat, then suddenly dashed toward Ian, who was still swimming.
“Aan!”
Though she usually refused to enter the pool because she disliked floating in water, she now dove in headfirst like a pro.
Ian, swimming peacefully in the distance, was suddenly smacked in the face with a splash of water as Dinua crashed into the pool.
Slap!
He heard the loud smack of water.
“No, Dinu… what was that about all of a sudden…?”
“Uuuuuh! It hurts!”
Dinua sank into the water and burst into tears.
Ian blinked, not understanding why she was suddenly crying, but then noticed her chest rising to the surface.
The sound from earlier had been her chest slapping hard against the water.
According to Newton’s third law, the force from her mounds hitting the water would’ve been reflected back onto her with equal strength, like a whip, resulting in considerable pain.
“Aan—!”
Tears filled Dinua’s eyes as she made her way toward Ian.
Once in front of him, she threw her arms around him, reeking of alcohol.
“Huh—! Ian, our Ian! You’re not an eunuch! You’re able to do it, right?!”
“…What?”
“Ugh look! Just look! This eunuch, surrounded by women, still doesn’t do anything—Mmph!”
“No—have you seriously been drinking?”
Ian quickly covered Dinua’s mouth and looked over at the others: Syrah, Stella, and Noah.
Fortunately, they were all watching the scene with confused and stunned expressions. Even they hadn’t expected quiet Dinua to get drunk and cause such a commotion.
“Hey, uh… huh…”
“…Dinua? What are you doing?”
Feeling something strange, Ian looked down at Dinua. The hand he had used to cover her mouth—Dinua was licking it affectionately.
Ian sighed deeply at the sight. He let her continue licking his fingers for a moment before finally pulling himself out of the pool.
After climbing out, he laid Dinua gently down on a bench and left a quiet remark.
“I am not a eunuch.”
This was important.
Very important—as a man.
I very much so concur