episode_0056

It felt strange to step out of the room wearing a gown. It was like wearing only underwear underneath the gown. The feeling of the gown against the skin wasn’t that different.

“Jo, are you embarrassed?”

Dayoung quickly grabbed my collar and stuck close to me. She seemed just as embarrassed by the situation.

Meanwhile, Davin leisurely followed behind us. As we reached the private elevator at the corridor, we saw several people in gowns waiting for the elevator. Two couples were there, and all eyes turned towards us as we appeared. It’s natural for attention to shift momentarily when new people enter a space, but it felt awkward how some gazes lingered. Despite the thick gown, it didn’t hide much, so I thought it was inevitable to attract attention.

Soon, the elevator arrived, and our family of seven got in. Although the pool was on the 4th floor directly below, we had to take the elevator as the private one was the only way.

Exiting on the 4th floor, we walked slowly towards the pool. At the end of the corridor, a door led outside. A hotel staff member stopped a couple ahead of us, asking for their key card. When the man handed over the card, the staff member briefly scanned it before returning it with a smile.

Seeing this, I had already taken out my key card from the gown pocket.

“Hello, may I have your key card for a moment?”

I handed over the prepared key card.

-Beep!

“Yes, it’s confirmed. Your 3-hour session is from 3:00 to 6:20, totaling 3 hours and 20 minutes. Please keep this in mind during your stay.”

Taking the card back from the staff, I put it back in my pocket, opened the door, and went out.

“Wow, this is great.”

“The view is amazing. Oh, there are sunbeds too. Mom, let’s go there and secure a spot first.”

“Wow, Mom! Look! There’s a rooftop photo zone. Let’s go there first and take some pictures!”

As we stepped outside, the outdoor pool was truly a sight to behold. In the center was a large swimming pool, with sunbeds lined up to the right, a lounge bar to the left, and an infinity pool directly facing the ocean view.

Thanks to the good weather, the horizon beyond the infinity pool was incredibly beautiful. It was 3:00 in the afternoon, a perfect time to enjoy the slightly cooler weather after the peak heat, ideal for relaxation.

Following Davin’s suggestion, we headed towards the sunbeds. While it would be nice to have individual spots, considering it was a weekend and we weren’t planning to sunbathe, we decided to share two adjacent spots and leave our gowns aside.

-Swish.

As I loosened the gown’s waistband and gave it a slight tug, it slipped off my body.

“Oops!”

Embarrassing. It felt like walking around in just underwear outside. Maybe it felt even more awkward because I was a guy. Dayoung seemed unfazed. In fact, she was happily taking photos, holding her phone and capturing the surroundings.

And then there was Davin.

He froze upon seeing me. Come to think of it, it was probably the first time he saw me in swimwear.

“Oh, is it not weird?”

I asked, and Davin vigorously shook his head sideways.

“N-no, not at all. It’s, um… nice.”

Well, as a guy, hearing such compliments wasn’t exactly thrilling, but I appreciated Davin’s effort and simply smiled in response.

“Hoohoo, thank you.”

Like that, without even having a chance to dry off after taking off the gown, I was led by Dayoung to continue taking pictures. First, we took pictures of the facilities, then went up to the rooftop to take more photos. The photos of me and Dayoung were taken by Dabin.

“Okay, I’ll take the picture!”

“Kimchi!”

Now, seeing myself naturally posing like this, I started to think that maybe I’m not so old-fashioned after all.

“Just the fact that I’m thinking about that already…”

Dayoung looks at me with a sharp gaze.

“W-well, it might be! Oh, right! What exactly is ‘new generation’?”

But blushing uncontrollably probably gave away my embarrassment.

“Mom, I think Dabin feels left out. Let’s take a few shots with Dabin too.”

Saying that, I pulled Dabin’s arm to my side, took the phone from her, and took a few steps back.

Since the photo zone on the rooftop wasn’t that spacious, I pulled Dabin, who was standing awkwardly next to me, closer to me.

“Ugh.”

“Sorry, is it a bit cramped? Let’s take the picture quickly and then have fun.”

Dabin blushed to his ears, nodded deeply. But Dayoung seemed annoyed by Dabin’s behavior and kept scolding him.

“Dabin, lift your head. Your face isn’t showing. And your hands look too unnatural, so one hand should be like Mom’s pose. Yeah, like that. And the other hand can wrap around Mom’s waist.”

As Dabin raised his hand to his waist, I couldn’t help but move my hand several times, feeling awkward. It felt like tickling my waist, and I flinched unintentionally.

“Hehe, it tickles.”

“Oh, s-sorry, Mom.”

Dabin was very embarrassed and quickly moved his hand forward to apologize. So I just pulled Dabin’s hand to the right position on my waist, put my hand on his shoulder as if hugging him, and struck a pose.

“Be natural. Be natural.”

Finally satisfied, Dayoung pressed the camera shutter, and we could finally finish the photoshoot and return to the sunbed.

“Eek, there are so many people now.”

Despite the hotel’s fairly expensive accommodation costs, combined with the holiday season, weekend, and good weather, the outdoor pool was quite crowded.

“Yeah. Due to the restrictions on overseas travel these days, many people are enjoying staycations. There are more than I thought.”

Still, compared to the beach far in the distance, it was relatively less crowded.

“Anyway, let’s really enjoy some water play now.”

Saying that, I took off my cover-up and headed towards the swimming pool.

“Mom, wait!”

Dayoung called me.

“Yes?”

“You should take off the wrap skirt around your waist. Are you going to swim with that on?”

“Well, isn’t this what you wear for swimming?”

“No! That’s just a look, a look! Hurry up and take it off.”

Oh no. I felt less embarrassed because at least I had something wrapped around my waist, but now I had to take that off too. It was too harsh.

However, despite my protest, Dayoung forcibly removed the skirt, leaving me no choice but to expose my lower body.

-Splash, splash.

As the skirt came off, the surrounding gazes focused blatantly on me. No, not just staring openly, even those who glanced discreetly made me feel like everyone around was looking at me. Unable to bear those stares, I dived into the pool as it was.

At least it would be less embarrassing in the water.

As I dove into the water, Dayoung also jumped into the pool, and Dabin slowly walked in, dipping his feet first before climbing down the ladder and submerging himself.

“The water isn’t that cold.”

The water temperature wasn’t as cold as Davin had said. It was a moderate temperature, neither hot nor cold. And it seemed like it was hot spring water because it felt a bit slippery.

“Mom, but looking around, it doesn’t seem like there are many people dressed like us in full bikinis, right?”

Listening to Dayoung’s words and looking around, there were indeed few people dressed like us. Most of them were wearing swimsuits that didn’t reveal much skin, such as rash guards or one-piece swimsuits.

“Why did you choose this! It would have been better if you had just listened to me and worn a rash guard from the beginning!”

Feeling resentful, I said to Dayoung, who shrugged his shoulders in response.

“I didn’t expect this either. It’s not like I’ve been on a vacation like this before.”

Moreover, since it was a high-end hotel, there were many family guests, so everyone seemed appropriately reserved. The women with more revealing outfits mostly appeared to be couples or newlyweds.

“Ugh… this is… hell.”

We still had 3 more hours to enjoy, but I was already worried about my outfit, making it hard to relax and have fun.

“What does it matter. Even if you have a lot of money, being too frugal isn’t good.”

“Huh? What does that have to do with anything…”

At that moment, Dayoung glanced over my body and said, “If you had a body like Mom’s, you’d probably be a millionaire in terms of assets, right?”

In other words, having a good figure but hiding it all away was pointless.

“I’m embarrassed, really!”

“Oh, don’t overthink it and just have fun!”

Saying that, Dayoung splashed water on my face.

“Argh! You’re really something!”

I retaliated by splashing water back at him, and soon Davin joined in, starting a water fight.

As we played, the initial self-consciousness faded away, and we found ourselves fully immersed in the water play before we knew it.