episode_0060

“Eek!”

-Ding-a-ling!

Startled by a scream that sounded like a gasp, I woke up from my sleep.

“W-What’s going on!”

Dabin quickly got up and looked around in a hurry, while Dayoung pointed at Dabin with her finger, asking.

“W-Why are the two of you hugging and sleeping?”

In a daze, I rubbed my sleepy eyes and looked down, only to find Dabin’s hand wrapped around my waist. Moreover, the chest area of my t-shirt felt a bit damp…

-Sniff sniff!

Is this drool? It seems like Dabin hugged me, buried his face in my chest, and fell asleep. My right arm also feels numb, probably because I hugged Dabin too.

“Ugh… What’s the big deal about such a trivial thing.”

“I-It’s not trivial!”

Saying so, Dayoung showed the screen of her phone.

“I-Is this… me? Did I do this?”

In that short moment, Dayoung even took a video and zoomed in on it. Looking at the phone screen, Dabin had his face buried in my chest, nodding his head back and forth, in what they call the “nose-dive” position.

“Hehehe, Mom…”

With an innocent laugh like a child…

“What’s so innocent about it! Can’t you see this mischievous smile?”

W-Well, depending on the situation, it might seem that way but…

“S-Sorry, Mom!”

No, if you start apologizing like that, then I’ll have to…

“Enough! Stay away from your mom! Anyway, even the younger brother… Why are men so consistent? It’s not like their brains are located in their lower bodies!”

“Okay. Stop it. Why do you keep bringing up such incidents? Huh? In the local dialect, what was it again? Right. Ma! We’re leaving!”

After finishing my story like that, I calmed down Dayoung. However, Dabin couldn’t meet my eyes as if he had committed a grave sin, so I reassured him several times that it was okay.

“Let it go. He’s the one who made the mistake, and Mom is the one who suffered, so why is Mom comforting him?”

Factually speaking, that’s true, but… I was also hugging him.

“What’s this? Did you give him alcohol yesterday?”

Dayoung asked, looking at the two cans on the table.

“Oh, yeah.”

Knowing well that Dabin isn’t the type to drink on his own, she must be asking if I gave it to him.

“Oh… So. Is this a mistake due to temporary insanity?”

“Da… Dayoung, can’t you soften your words a bit?”

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No. You didn’t.”

A noisy morning began. Still, thanks to that, I could wake up fully and finish my morning routine before heading downstairs to the buffet for breakfast.

Perhaps due to trauma from overeating yesterday, Dayoung opted for a simple meal of bread, salad, sausages, eggs, cereal, etc. Dabin, feeling unwell, brought a soup similar to hangover soup and ate it with rice rolled in it.

I decided to eat enough to satisfy my hunger, focusing on foods I hadn’t tried at yesterday’s breakfast buffet.

After a simple breakfast, we went back to our room to start preparing for check-out.

As I was organizing my suitcase, Dayoung tapped my shoulder.

“Mom.”

“Yes?”

“We’re going to ride a yacht.”

“Yes.”

“I want to take a lot of pictures.”

Why suddenly mention this? Taking pictures is something we’ve been doing throughout the trip, right?

“It’s a yacht on the sea. Only our family will be on it anyway.”

Her continued evasiveness in speaking was somewhat suspicious.

“Stop beating around the bush and speak clearly. What are you trying to say?”

“Hehe, I just thought it would be nice to take some swimsuit photos on the yacht. Since we bought those one-piece suits, we should wear them. We can briefly take off the one-piece when taking pictures. Is that okay?”

It seems that I was hesitant to wear a swimsuit, so I cautiously brought up the topic like this.

“Hmm… What should I do?”

“Just do as Noona says. You said you were disappointed that you only wore a swimsuit once yesterday, right?”

Dabin interjected suddenly.

“Oh, no. That’s…!”

I must have been a bit crazy yesterday. Why did I say such things so casually?

“Oh, really? Well, that’s good then. Just wear it now.”

Dayoung pushed assertively, completely different from her cautious attitude earlier.

“Ugh, fine, fine. Stop talking!”

In the end, when I surrendered with a white flag, Dayoung smiled satisfactorily.

“Then I’ll go change first!”

With that, Dayoung took the swimsuit and went into the bathroom.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up for no reason.”

“Yeah, it’s because of you.”

“Huh?”

Dabin seemed quite flustered, expecting to hear “It’s okay” as usual.

“So, you wanted to see Mom in a swimsuit, right? Huh?”

“Oh, no. Absolutely not.”

“Tsk, what’s with the strong denial?”

“No, really, I mean it!”

“That guy rubbing his face on Mom’s chest in the morning and all… Mom must be really disappointed.”

“T-That’s…!”

As the story unfolded, Dabin seemed speechless, biting his lip, looking extremely embarrassed.

Ah, Dayoung always teases Dabin like this.

“Haha, just kidding. It’s really nothing.”

Yesterday, when I said that, it wasn’t so much about being unable to wear the swimsuit but more about sunk costs. The regret stemmed from feeling like the time, money, and effort spent on buying a swimsuit didn’t pay off as expected.

Originally, I should have worn it even when going to the spa. I didn’t expect to use it this way, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It was a design that could be worn with the feeling of wearing underwear. A bikini.

Soon after Dayoung changed clothes and came out, I also went into the shower booth to put on the swimsuit. However, there was one problem.

“D-Dayoung!”

I called Dayoung into the shower booth.

“Why?”

“What should I do about this?”

Fortunately, the dress was not an off-shoulder style, so there was no risk of the shoulder straps showing. Unfortunately, my swimsuit was a halter neck, meaning it wrapped around the neck and came down. It crossed in an X shape around the collarbone, which could make it look like a choker.

“A halter neck under this dress… X-shaped…”

The reflection in the mirror was a perfect misunderstanding. A strap coming down from the neck, crossing at a metal ring around the collarbone, and going down to the chest. From the covered part below the dress, one’s imagination could run wild.

Depending on the viewer, it could even be mistaken for bondage… No, honestly, what else could it be?

“This is a bit too much, isn’t it? Let’s take a picture…”

“Well… that’s true. Oh! What about that wrap skirt from yesterday?”

The wrap skirt… referring to the cloth tied around the waist worn at the pool.

“I put it in the suitcase.”

“Just a moment.”

Dayoung hurriedly went to the room and brought the wrap skirt.

“Let’s put this around your neck. It has a design that could pass for a scarf.”

And she immediately wrapped the wrap skirt around my neck.

“Hmm… The color somewhat matches, and it’s not bad.”

Although it didn’t perfectly match the slightly transparent floral chiffon dress, it didn’t look strange either.

“Alright. Let’s go out now.”

I grabbed my luggage and left the room. Then, I went to the kiosk on the first floor, received guidance from a staff member for check-out registration, left the hotel, and hailed a taxi.

“Where can I take you?”

“Doyoung, where should we go?”

Doyoung took out her phone, briefly searched, and stated the destination.

“Please take us to the yacht racing venue.”

“Yes, understood.”

The destination was not far from the hotel. It took about 15 minutes by taxi. I found out it was only two subway stops away.

“Thank you!”

I got out of the car, pulled my luggage, followed Doyoung’s guidance, and walked straight into the yacht racing venue. As the sea came into view, Doyoung made a call, and soon, a young man approached us.

After looking around our group, the young man fixed his gaze on me and asked,

“Are you Ms. Jung Dayoung?”

“Oh, yes. I am Jung Dayoung.”

As Doyoung raised her hand and introduced herself, the young man, embarrassed, apologized.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I assumed the reservation was for an adult.”

“It’s okay.”

Perhaps because the person was unfamiliar, Doyoung became somewhat passive. So, I took the lead in the conversation.

“My daughter insisted on riding a yacht while we were in Busan, so she unexpectedly made a reservation. I thought it would be a good memory for the family to visit a place like this, so I applied for yacht rental before going up.”

“I see. Well done. But since you’re at the seaside, you should go out to the sea yourself. Haha. Oh, I’m Kim Youngsoo from Yacht Friends. Here’s my business card.”

I briefly glanced at the business card, then put it in my bag.

“Shall we head to the yacht first? Oh, there’s an office in front of the boat where you can leave your luggage before boarding.”

Following the guidance of the rental company staff, we headed towards the yacht. After a short walk, we saw the pier, and as we opened the door of the building that looked like an office, a staff member took our luggage and stored it.

After exchanging a few words with the person inside, we were promptly escorted to the yacht.

The person inside the office boarded the boat first, started the engine, and just as we were about to board the boat, the staff called us over and said,

“Before boarding, please each have one of these small bottles.”

He handed us each a small bottle. Upon inspection, we found that they were motion sickness pills.

“Some people suffer from seasickness even on short trips lasting only an hour.”

Since we had breakfast a bit late, there was a risk of experiencing it. I immediately opened the bottle, downed its contents in one shot, and Doyoung and Davin also took the motion sickness pills.

Once we all took the motion sickness pills, Kim Youngsoo boarded the boat first and welcomed each of us aboard.

“Alright, now that everyone is on board, shall we depart?”

And so, the yacht carrying our family slowly began to move towards the sea.