Chapter 125 – Palace Maid (18)
The host country can decide the order of Olympic events, but there is a tradition—almost a rule—that the Summer Olympics begin with a marathon and end with a marathon.
Right after the opening ceremony comes the 100 km track marathon.
Just before the closing ceremony comes the 10 km swimming marathon.
That’s why the Summer Olympics must be held in a port city by the sea.
“Kee-rook~!”
“Kee-ro~!”
In the middle of the sea, filled with the familiar cries of seagulls.
On the cruise ship mobilized for the Olympic marathon, swimmers in their suits crowded together.
The rules?
Simply to be the first to set foot on the beach on land, ten kilometers away.
“……”
“……”
Despite such a straightforward rule, the atmosphere on the cruise ship was heavy—so heavy it felt like a gloomy funeral hall, as if no one cared about the competition itself.
The reason was clear.
(At last, we’ve reached the highly anticipated Olympic 10 km swimming marathon!)
(Look at the athletes’ faces. You can feel the tension.)
(They must have heard the rumors.)
(What rumors?)
(Unofficial ones—but rumors that there’s a swimmer who’ll cut over an hour off the marathon world record.)
(An hour?! Is that even possible?)
(We’ll soon find out.)
“Tsk.”
Listening to the commentators chatter left me with a complicated feeling.
To be precise, the problem was that information about the 10 km swimming marathon—an event I’d only swum twice in order to qualify as an Olympic national representative—had leaked outside.
The former coach must be the culprit.
Athletes are bound by confidentiality agreements and can’t casually reveal others’ training records or results. Naturally, the ex-coach, free from such legal constraints, was the most suspicious.
Anyway—
(Ah! Look! Kang Moon-soo is on screen now!)
(He’s an athlete rewriting Olympic history.)
(That’s right. The first ever to achieve a triple crown at the Olympics using only individual events, no team events.)
(How many gold medals does he have now?)
(Brace yourselves—two in taekwondo, four in track and field, two in swimming. A total of eight!)
(Purely by gold count, he’s already at a level where he could aim for the P Medal.)
The P Medal.
A term I’d been hearing a lot lately.
But since the P Medal only counts one gold per event category, piling them up didn’t really mean much.
(Nuclear submarine. We’ve already seen many times that his nickname is neither exaggeration nor empty bravado.)
(Let’s see if he can claim his ninth gold medal.)
(The race is about to begin.)
“Competitors, please move to the boats assigned by number.”
After transferring from the cruise ship to small boats, the swimmers—including me—lined up in a straight row, waiting ten kilometers away from land.
The 10 km swimming marathon.
This was the very event that made me decide to compete in the Olympics in the first place. I was the most confident in it—and the most attached to it.
Let’s carve out a legend.
Chanting a line in my heart that would’ve been embarrassing to say out loud—
Beep—!
Splash! Splash! Splash…!
The moment the starting signal sounded, we dove into the rolling sea.
“Puhah!”
Thud-thud-thud—
The voices of the commentators, moving by helicopter, reached us.
(Fast! Kang Moon-soo takes the lead!)
(Look at that speed! He’s not even thinking about pacing himself!)
(It’s reckless! But if he can maintain that speed to the finish, cutting an hour really might happen!)
Whoosh—
With steady breathing, I surged forward without hesitation.
Stamina was a basic ability for me—something that always increased as long as I didn’t die pointlessly in the dreams of patients like Ranuvel.
This was what I was most confident in.
(Kang Moon-soo is in a clear solo lead!)
(There’s no one around him! He’s swimming alone!)
(It’s unbelievable even seeing it with our own eyes! Eight kilometers in, and he hasn’t wavered at all!)
(Is it really okay for a ghost-catching shaman to be like this?!)
(With that speed and stamina, he could probably catch water ghosts too!)
(Oh! Look closely! Kang Moon-soo is waving at the camera!)
(That’s confidence!)
“Puhah!”
Ahead, on the beach where the waves crashed fiercely, I could see a long stretch of bright white rope laid out on the sand.
The finish line.
I’d never seen it in person before, nor had anyone explained it to me—but I knew exactly what to do.
“Hoo—!”
As the beach drew closer, the water became too shallow to swim properly.
I planted my feet on the seabed and advanced about three meters.
Tap.
The white rope, soaked in seawater, brushed against my chest.
(No upset here!)
(Kang Moon-soo secures the gold medal in the 10 km swimming marathon!)
(A staggering improvement of 1 hour and 21 minutes!)
(It’ll still take the other athletes another hour to reach this point!)
(Nuclear submarine! For him, 10 kilometers must feel short!)
Whoosh—!
Stepping onto the white sand of the beach, I emerged onto land.
“Congratulations on the gold medal.”
“Thank you.”
A beautiful actress serving as the host nation’s Olympic promotional ambassador placed the gold medal around my neck.
The final gold medal of this Olympics.
It carried its own kind of significance.
“Congratulations, Kang Moon-soo!”
“Kang Moon-soo! Please share your thoughts on winning the marathon!”
“Is your aptitude really that of a shaman?”
“You’ve achieved the triple crown—are you considering the Winter Olympics as well?”
“Who taught you how to swim?”
I walked forward, answering the barrage of reporters’ questions one by one.
“Thank you. I’m relieved that the results turned out as expected. Yes, my aptitude really is shaman. I’ll decide on the Winter Olympics based on my primary work schedule. I learned swimming to date my girlfriend, whose aptitude was a swimmer.”
“Kang Moon-soo.”
“This way, please.”
Security guards in black suits pushed the reporters back and shielded me.
This is comfortable.
And being treated like someone important felt satisfying.
Is this why people become obsessed with power?
The coach gave me a sports drink with a hollow laugh.
“Good work.”
“You too, Coach.”
“Even if it’s just words, thanks! Since I can’t teach you much anymore, I’ll nag my tomboy daughter instead.”
“Mom…!”
Song Sun-young, who’d been standing quietly nearby, bristled when she got dragged into it.
“Sun-young, treat Moon-soo well.”
“I am treating him well…!”
“Treat him even better! When you’re with Moon-soo, wear sexier clothes too.”
“Is that something you say to your daughter?!”
“Hehe! As a mother, I know my daughter’s strengths very well~”
“Mom…!”
I silently cheered on the coach, who clearly understood the lecherous impulses swarming in my heart.
“It’s over.”
Time to go home.
***
At the airport after returning home, I deliberately hung all nine gold medals around my neck.
That really was something…
It was the first time in my life I’d received that much attention.
A thrill I hadn’t even felt in the world of the romance fantasy novel I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Count’s Family.
A perfect Olympics—aside from sports betting.
“Welcome back.”
“Hello, Chief Seo. It feels like it’s been ages.”
“You’re a bit late, which isn’t like you.”
“Well… haha…”
I brushed it off with a vague laugh.
I’d visited Elmolance University Hospital so often that there wasn’t a single nurse who didn’t know me—but this was the first time I’d been stopped for handshakes and photo requests.
At first, I’d happily obliged, but as more and more people asked, I got stuck in place—so much that I ended up late for my appointment.
“I was just teasing. I was informed you entered the hospital thirty minutes ago.”
“You’re mischievous.”
“There won’t be things like this anymore. I’ll have a hospital vehicle sent to your dorm. You can come straight up via the private elevator from the underground parking lot.”
“You can do that?”
That seemed beyond the authority of an ordinary Section Chief.
“I can from now on.”
“Huh?”
From now on?
“I’ve been promoted to Vice Director in recognition of my contributions.”
“Oh! Congratulations.”
She was one step closer to the figure of the “future Seo Hye-joo” I’d seen in the dream world of magic boy Choi Kang-min.
“I’ve heard congratulations enough to be sick of them, but hearing it from an Olympic triple-crown winner feels especially good. It’s a great honor.”
“An honor is a bit much…”
“You haven’t changed at all. I thought you’d become a little arrogant.”
“Even if it was only in a dream, I’ve experienced being the second-in-command of an empire. My standards are too high to become arrogant over something like this.”
“That sounds like both a strength and a weakness.”
“You could say that.”
In the world of the romance fantasy novel I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Count’s Family, the status of Count Amolang—the founding contributor of the great empire—was truly overwhelming. The only ones who could stand before him without bowing their heads were the Sobaek Emperor and Valentine.
Compared to that, the ‘me’ in reality—a commoner who just happens to be good at sports—didn’t even belong in the same conversation.
Click.
At that moment, the door to the chief’s office opened carefully, and a nurse who looked about my age stepped inside.
“Hello, Kang Moon-soo!”
She greeted me brightly the moment she saw my face.
“Huh? Wait—?”
If my memory wasn’t mistaken…
“It’s Yoon So-ra.”
Chief Seo Hye-joo confirmed that my memory was correct.
“Chief, why is she—your patient—wearing a nurse’s uniform?”
“She turned out to be perfect as an assistant.”
“For what reason?”
“I can keep the Ranuvel patient I’m currently researching right by my side. Her aptitude is ‘doctor,’ so she understands things quickly, and since she has nowhere else to go, I can have her stay in my office. Plus, since we’re both women, there are many conveniences. Isn’t that the perfect set of conditions for an assistant?”
“…Huh.”
Now that she explained it, it made sense.
“There is the drawback that she has a lot of interest in you.”
“That’s a pretty huge drawback!”
Yoon So-ra, who’d been listening to our conversation right next to us, looked completely unfazed.
“Let me formally introduce myself again. I’m Yoon So-ra, now working as Vice Director Seo Hye-joo’s assistant. I look forward to working with you.”
“…Is it really okay for you to be up and about already?”
“Are you worried about me?”
“You’re a patient.”
I shouldn’t get pulled into her conversational flow.
“Since Yoon So-ra is my assistant, she’ll also be serving as your secretary going forward.”
“Secretary…?”
“Secretaries aren’t only for corporate chairmen or politicians. And you need to be aware of how much your status has changed compared to before the Olympics.”
“I can already feel it.”
“Then you haven’t felt it enough.”
“Ah… I see.”
Yoon So-ra’s parents were diagnosed with terminal-stage game addiction and were undergoing treatment. They’d been sent to an isolated island facility with no internet—or games—where they’d live for three years…
Since they were forced to vacate their apartment due to unpaid rent, she decided to stay in Chief Seo Hye-joo’s office for the time being.
“Are you paying her a salary?”
“Of course. Didn’t you promise you wouldn’t let her real life become miserable?”
“That’s… yes.”
It sounded a little distorted, but it wasn’t entirely wrong.
“Yoon So-ra.”
“Yes.”
“I feel a bit awkward since I didn’t really do much for you, but how does reality feel now that you’re back?”
“I’m extremely satisfied. So satisfied that it feels unreal—like I might still be dreaming!”
“Is that so?”
“It’s true. I can make use of the aptitude I’d given up on, and there are flush toilets here—something that didn’t exist in my dreams.”
“Flush toilets… I completely agree.”
I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Count’s Family.
Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?
Palace Maid Deok-chun.
In those dark ages without flush toilets, chamber pots were unavoidable.
Romance in worlds like that?
Stories never mention inconvenient bodily realities, but honestly, going on a date in front of a modern highway rest-stop bathroom might be far more romantic.
“Thank you so much. I don’t even know how to repay this kindness.”
“I already told you—I didn’t do anything. Chief Seo did everything.”
And Jeon Ji-eun, who wasn’t here, also did her part.
“Of course, I’m grateful to the Vice Director as well. But if it weren’t for you, Kang Moon-soo, she wouldn’t have taken me on as her assistant in the first place, right?”
“…True.”
That was a fair point.
“Kang Moon-soo.”
“Yes.”
“If your girlfriend ever dumps you, please let me know anytime. I’ll comfort you.”
“Haha…”
Unable to respond properly, I brushed it off with an awkward laugh.
Still…
Wouldn’t you call this a success?
A perfect Olympic schedule—
Aside from sports betting.
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