Academy's Silver Gatekeeper
Ch. 122

"This is quite something! I never thought the examiner would suggest going out to play like this!"

"We're not going to play, Lee Hyunwoo. We're just going to rest a bit."

"Isn't that the same thing? Anyway, it's great! I'm excited! A villa!"

Everyone else has a calm demeanor, but only Lee Hyunwoo is being noisy.

Like someone who's never rested on a weekend... no, right? Could he really have never rested?

Come to think of it, that might be possible. If it's Lee Hyunwoo and no one else, he really might be like that.

Looking at that excitement-filled state, he's definitely not someone who rested on weekends!

"Unni. You said you went there once before when Chairman Kang Minseong invited you, right?"

"Yeah. Dad was quite close with the chairman. Though it was when I was young."

"I see. When I heard the news this time, grandfather immediately told me to go. Especially since Chairman Kang Minseong personally gave permission for the villa."

Kang Hana and Yoo Dasom sitting in the back are chatting away.

One has the clan master of Magic Tower, one of Korea's top clans, as her father.

The other is the precious daughter of 'Future,' one of the giant corporations.

Going to rest at a villa probably wouldn't seem particularly new or amazing to them.

Nevertheless, a villa from the 'Kang family' seemed special even to them.

Enough for the Magic Tower clan master and corporate CEO to be delighted.

I could newly realize that Kang Minseong's family is indeed remarkable.

'Lastly, Suhyeon is... Huu. Sorry, Suhyeon.'

Suhyeon sitting next to me has been watching my reactions since earlier.

I can hear it, I can hear it. It seems like I can hear Suhyeon resenting me.

What are you doing being so clueless? Didn't you know Suhyeon wanted to go just the two of us?

How could I not know? Of course I knew. I also know why she suddenly made that proposal.

Because I've looked very tired and exhausted lately. Because she wanted me to rest a bit.

That was the reason Suhyeon gave. Of course that reason is probably sincere too.

But that's not all of it. I'm certain. I saw it before.

The expression on Suhyeon's face standing in front of that house, the day I was half-forcibly dragged to Irina's house.

That was the expression of someone who had the most precious thing in the world stolen by someone else.

Suhyeon probably started thinking about the villa proposal from that time.

She must have felt a sense of crisis. Because Irina suddenly swooped in.

She was just approaching appropriately, bit by bit, slowly.

But this crazy woman went straight ahead without caring about any of that.

So she seemed to want to spend time with me this weekend, using rest as an excuse.

She probably asked Chairman Kang Minseong and prepared everything neatly in just a few days.

Honestly, when I heard that proposal, I hesitated quite a lot momentarily.

Should I pretend I can't resist and spend time alone together? Should I show that I'm also a man?

No, honestly, when such beauties keep approaching a man with all his limbs intact.

If I push back further here, wouldn't that be a crime rather than an iron wall, I thought.

"Suhyeon."

"Yes, yes! Examiner."

"I'm looking forward to it. Actually, it's my first time resting at a villa."

"Ah. I, is that so?! That's great!"

But I had to withdraw that for various reasons too.

First, the current situation isn't quite good for carrying out such plans.

Kang Hana almost died, Ryu Jinhyeok actually died.

The whole world is in chaos due to the greatly accelerated great catastrophe.

The Elder bastards really started group activities.

Thanks to that, my head was throbbing. To the point I couldn't concentrate on other things.

'And one more thing. If I went alone with Suhyeon...'

If I did that, it would result in calling that crazy woman Irina.

She's definitely watching this side continuously, knowingly or unknowingly.

In such a situation, if she hears news that Suhyeon and I went to the villa holding hands alone?

I guarantee she'd throw away everything she's supposed to do and chase after us to the villa.

And she'd completely ruin Suhyeon's mood, who would be full of anticipation.

Thanks to that, the relationship between the two, which is already not great, would become even more distant.

This time, for Suhyeon's sake too, doing it this way is right.

When the situation settles down a bit more, and my head gets sorted out somewhat.

Plus when it's certain that Irina can't interfere.

Then I'll gladly accept Suhyeon's 'just the two of us' proposal.

'Sorry, Suhyeon. Just this once, I'll be a clueless examiner.'

...Maybe next time too. Anyway, I'm really, really sorry!

"...Examiner."

"Yes, Lee Hyunwoo."

"You definitely said villa, didn't you?"

"That's right."

"But what we're seeing now... no matter how I look at it, it looks like a royal palace, not a villa?"

At Lee Hyunwoo's completely serious words, I unconsciously nodded.

What was spread before our eyes right now was literally at the level of a palace.

I'm not saying this as a joke. I'm saying this because it really looks like a palace!

'They said villa. This is a villa? If this is a villa, then regular villas would be at the level of one-pyeong houses.'

I never imagined I'd be overwhelmed by the transcendent scale the moment I saw the villa.

The villa I was thinking of was, how should I put it. About the level of a private pension with a swimming pool?

I was expecting exactly that level, but what do you know. It easily shattered that.

Lee Hyunwoo's talk about a royal palace wasn't just simple rhyming or jokes.

"Welcome, Miss. We've been waiting."

"You must be the guests the people behind mentioned! It's an honor to meet you!"

The servants working at the villa come rushing out to greet us.

Their number easily exceeds thirty at a rough estimate.

Right, thirty. Not three, not ten, but thirty. 30 people.

What's even more surprising is that this number was already minimized as much as possible.

They said they left only the minimum personnel for villa management because Suhyeon dislikes noisy things.

"Let's go, Examiner. This is our villa where we'll rest until tomorrow."

Holding my hand, Suhyeon smiles brightly.

The slight disappointment that was on her face earlier seems to have disappeared.

Thanks to that, I feel relieved, but then I'm shocked again by another scene that comes into view.

The swimming pool prepared in front of the villa was the first thing that caught my eye.

More precisely, a swimming pool wide enough for freestyle competitions.

"...Is that a swimming pool or a lake?"

Lee Hyunwoo, who was following behind, seemed no different from me.

He's muttering about swimming pools and lakes, and I couldn't help but nod.

From the perspective of commoners like Lee Hyunwoo and me, this is really...

"Oh. Come to think of it, if it's that wide, we could substitute swimming for training."

Damn, get lost. This crazy guy is talking about swimming and training in the midst of all this.

"Wow. This place is really nice, isn't it? We have a few similar villas overseas, but they're too hot and humid, so honestly they didn't suit me well!"

"I agree. I also have an island villa that dad owns, but overseas somehow doesn't suit me well."

...Right. Come to think of it, the team's girls are all bourgeoisie.

At first glance they seem like ordinary academy students, but in reality they're all daughters from tremendous families!?

I felt a bit sorry for resting alone.

That's why I did something clueless, but now I see it was needless.

If I had known this, should I have just come alone with Suhyeon?

"There are rooms like this, so everyone can take one room each and rest."

"Hehe. Unni! I want to stay with unni, shall we share a room?!"

"Um... Should we? I think it would be better for me to stay with you, Dasom, rather than alone."

When Kang Hana and Yoo Dasom said that, Kim Suhyeon guided them to another room.

If the two are staying together, using this room would be wider, or something like that.

Certainly, Lee Hyunwoo's words about it being like a palace were no exaggeration.

Without any lies, one room is almost the size of an entire villa.

If I stayed alone in a place like this, I'd probably feel lonely and weird.

"Hmm. Examiner. Would you like to share a room with me?"

Lee Hyunwoo, who seemed to have similar thoughts to me, casually suggested staying together.

It's not bad. I was actually thinking of having a more serious conversation with Lee Hyunwoo.

Since we ridiculously lost one team member, Lee Hyunwoo's position became even more important.

"Shall we? The room seems too wide anyway..."

"No! No!! E, Examiner will use a room alone!!"

"Eh?"

"R, right? Examiner?!"

Suddenly Suhyeon beside me cuts off my words with a very loud voice.

I don't think she's ever raised her voice this loud even when confronting Irina.

If she's this urgent, there must be a good reason.

Even though I messed up by bringing other people here too, being clueless.

This time too, I'm not at the level of adding another clueless move to completely mess things up.

If Suhyeon is acting like that, there must be a good reason. Let's go along with it once.

"...Oh, yeah. Right, Suhyeon. Sorry, Lee Hyunwoo. I, I want to use a big room alone!"

"Ah... Y, yes! Understood! Sorry!"

Fortunately, Lee Hyunwoo also didn't seem to be completely clueless.

I was resting briefly in my room when I felt some commotion outside.

When I slightly opened the balcony door and went out, three people were splashing around in the swimming pool.

Come to think of it, early summer is approaching.

It's not extremely hot weather, but it's weather where getting in the water isn't unreasonable.

Moreover, I've been training hard lately, so my body condition is at its peak.

If it were a pot belly, that might be different, but it would be disappointing not to show off after building prince muscles!

I changed into swim trunks and appropriately put a shirt over them.

They said the servants would prepare dinner, so I just need to rest until then.

"Oh! Did the examiner come out!"

Anyone hearing that would think some gang boss came out.

You don't need to make such announcements, Hyunwoo.

"Examiner! Let's swim together! I've won everything so far!"

"Ah! Junior really! Do you have to brag about winning everything like that?!"

"That's right. We're not physical types anyway, so we couldn't win!"

So you were happy after beating two magic-type and support-type girls?

You're even a guy with bulging muscles while those are delicate girls.

Shaking my head, I was just walking toward the swimming pool.

Right after stepping down the stairs, I made eye contact with Suhyeon who was below.

"Oh."

"Ah..."

Oh... O, um. Suhyeon also... grew quite... big. Ahem. Hmm.