Chapter 193 – Singer (3)
“Let’s see… Ah, here it is. Song Sun-young-ssi has free swim at 8 o’clock.”
“Thank you.”
To catch a tiger, go to the mountain.
To catch tuna, go to the sea.
To catch your girlfriend, target her hobbies.
Whether it’s fantasy or romance fantasy, people often mistakenly think beautiful women are just “made that way,” but maintaining a body requires constant exercise.
My girlfriend Song Sun-young was no exception—she consistently went swimming.
Meaning those slender, smooth legs of hers didn’t come for free!
“You’re doing really well now.”
“This much is nothing…”
“Hmm~ You’re not focusing so hard because of your girlfriend, are you?”
“That’s part of it, yes.”
I cast hypnosis on a native of the dream world without any physical contact.
There is the condition that it has to be within my domain, but with just this much, there’s practically nothing I can’t do.
If I really wanted to, I could get donations from the rich, sleep with the most beautiful women, kill annoying people, or turn them into slaves—all trivially easy.
‘The witches are impressive.’
Despite having abilities like this, the witches who are content with “merely” being royalty—what are they?
P, who has devoted and sacrificed herself for humanity, no longer feels like someone on the same level as me.
“Why?”
“I suddenly feel a lot of respect for Mom.”
“Oh my! Hearing my son praise me makes me so happy~ Let’s meet inside the pool~”
“Yes.”
I hadn’t expected Mother to join me in the pool, but I didn’t mind.
‘Been a while since I came here too.’
The university swimming pool in the dream world where I went endlessly because of Song Sun-young.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say everything started here.
She liked swimming, but hated the idea of becoming a swimmer…
Splash~!
After a light warm-up, I dove into the water.
‘I got scolded so badly back then.’
If this were still just a dream and I weren’t a shaman, I would never have been able to beat Song Sun-young, who had natural talent for swimming.
Swoosh—
I sliced through the water at insane speed.
Maybe because this was the very first achievement I ever accomplished here—it felt like biting into perfectly aged cheese, filling me with deep stability.
‘Just as I expected.’
Right in the lane next to me, Song Sun-young was swimming as fast as a dolphin.
She wasn’t racing me out of affection.
It was pure, simple curiosity: who’s faster?
But for now, that much was enough to satisfy me.
“Pwah!”
“Hoo-ha!”
Tap, tok.
I didn’t go easy on her, but short-distance wasn’t my specialty anyway, so I won by a razor-thin margin.
My raw muscular power was overwhelmingly superior, but in terms of body type and technique, reality still had me far behind.
On the other hand,
“Hoo… hoo…”
Short-distance was Song Sun-young’s specialty.
Her endurance was weak so she couldn’t swim for long, but her speed was Olympic top-tier right now.
‘The problem is stamina…’
Athletes inevitably have to train consistently.
But because Song Sun-young tires quickly, even slightly longer sessions become painful for her.
Top-tier?
In the Olympics, only gold, silver, and bronze—top three—mean anything.
Fourth place and below? No one remembers.
Because her mother had suffered that pain, Song Sun-young absolutely never wanted to become a “swimmer.” She knew painful training wouldn’t lead anywhere.
“……”
“Hoo…”
We didn’t exchange many words.
“Son~”
“…You think this is a beach or something?”
Where in the world does a woman enter a sacred swimming pool in a bikini?
I only know one.
Splash!
While Song Sun-young rested, I didn’t wait—I kept doing laps from one end of the pool to the other without pause.
The distance for men’s long-distance swimming events is longer than women’s.
That’s because of innate differences in stamina and strength—but I swam without rest using stamina that couldn’t be explained by “being a man” alone.
“Pwah!”
“Hoo-ha!”
Tap, tok.
Song Sun-young challenged me again silently after resting, but my victory didn’t change.
I wasn’t tired at all.
“……”
“Hoo…”
And so it repeated.
I swam mechanically; Song Sun-young rested and watched blankly.
How long would this go on?
“Excuse me!”
“Ah, yes.”
“Are you a swimmer?”
The coach who had embezzled my training funds for gambling and nightlife and got fired.
Now working as a pool lifeguard because he had no athletes, he didn’t miss the opportunity this time either and spoke to me.
“No.”
“Wha—! Really not?!”
“Yes. My aptitude is something else. Swimming is just a hobby.”
“A hobby… and you swim like this…? Would you perhaps be interested in pursuing the Olympic dream with me?”
“No interest. Hobbies are most enjoyable when they stay hobbies.”
I answered loud enough for Song Sun-young beside me to clearly hear.
“But… your talent is too precious to waste!”
“Who is that talent for?”
“Huh?”
“Is it for me, the one who has the talent? Or for you, who wants to become my coach?”
“That’s going too far!”
“That’s how little thought you’re putting into it.”
“…I apologize.”
The coach withdrew with a face full of regret at my firm refusal.
It’s a coach’s duty to recruit outstanding athletes, but the fact that he betrayed and used me doesn’t change.
Splash!
“Son~”
“…People are watching.”
In the swimming pool, the only married woman I’ve ever seen hugging her fully grown son from behind while wearing a bikini is my mother.
“I made sure no one can see.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Except for one person.”
Song Sun-young kept sneaking glances at us, wearing a subtle expression.
“…What if she misunderstands?”
“What misunderstanding~?”
“……”
You’re being mischievous.
I wonder if children of witches—who don’t age or lose their beauty—have it hard because they’re easily misunderstood, just like me.
‘Wait… me too?’
I’m not even that handsome, but what if I live my whole life without aging, constantly mistaken for a fresh-faced newbie or a young boy until the day I die?
That would be horrifying.
“Swimming… is going to be difficult.”
There’s a risk of a major accident where the bikini comes off while swimming.
And if that person is none other than my mother…
Just imagining it gives me a headache.
“And you know, Mom isn’t very good at swimming~”
“Compared to athletes, sure. You can let go now.”
“Have fun~”
Splash!
I kept swimming nonstop until free swim time ended.
“It feels nice to swim after so long.”
“You don’t need to talk to Sun-young?”
“No. She hates it when guys approach her first.”
“She must have been really popular with boys at school~”
“Extremely popular.”
She was so pretty that people overlooked her indifferent personality.
She didn’t have many friends compared to her popularity, though.
“You’ve got great stamina too, son.”
“Well… I guess so.”
If I hadn’t met her when she collapsed on the school rooftop, would we still have ended up like this?
I don’t believe in fated love.
If Song Sun-young’s legs hadn’t been so pretty?
I probably would have treated her the same way I did Yoon So-ra—who connected with me through the historical drama <Palace Maid Deok-chun>—or Jeon Ji-eun, the great-granddaughter of a shaman family.
And if she hadn’t been pretty at all, she would have just been another ordinary female patient I treated and quickly forgot about.
“You still lack confidence, son.”
“This time it’s a little different.”
“Oh?”
“The reason Sun-young likes me as a man isn’t just because we shared the same time and memories.”
“Oh my! There’s more?”
“Stamina.”
The confession Song Sun-young made after drinking and getting brave, when she turned off the bedroom lights.
So it’s certain.
***
While other kids whined about how hard studying was, I maintained high grades while working night shifts.
If my stamina had been weak?
I could never have accepted the tragedy of all the money I earned from part-time jobs going straight to hospital bills—so I gritted my teeth and endured.
In other words, even before becoming a shaman, stamina was the one thing I was confident in.
“Excuse me.”
After spending about two months shuttling between the swimming pool and the shooting range (putting skiing on hold for now), Song Sun-young finally spoke to me first.
“Yes.”
“Aren’t you tired?”
She asked surprisingly quickly.
“I was born with good stamina, but I also worked really hard for it. Now I’m confident enough that even marathons feel easy.”
“That must be nice.”
Song Sun-young—who had been observing me the whole time—didn’t take it as bravado.
“Haha! In a competitive society, you have to be good at least one thing to survive.”
“Competitive… yeah.”
If I let the conversation end vaguely here, I wouldn’t be human.
“You’re really good at swimming.”
“I kept losing, though.”
“That’s only because I’m a man.”
It’s something only athletes can say to each other.
Ordinary men can never beat a female athlete—no matter how physically disadvantaged she might seem. Even in combat sports!
Anyone recognized as an ‘athlete’ by P’s aptitude test is practically a different species.
“You already knew that.”
“Haha! How could I not notice? There’s a pretty girl swimming right next to me the whole time.”
“…How old are you?”
Song Sun-young—who had grown tired of hearing compliments about her looks—let her eyes curve downward in clear pleasure.
“I’m 22.”
“I’m 19. Um… this might be too forward, but may I ask your aptitude?”
Aptitude.
Among close friends, it can be tossed out casually, but asking someone of the opposite sex you barely know about their aptitude is different.
It’s a strong expression of interest!
If the aptitude appeals to her, it’s an indirect confession of wanting to date.
Because aptitude is directly tied to “your future spouse’s job.”
‘Wow! No backing down at all!’
Classic Song Sun-young—the same girl who once tried to jump off the school rooftop because she hated her own aptitude.
Here, there are three choices.
Tell her your aptitude → acceptance.
Ask hers back → on hold.
Hide it → rejection.
But since she already volunteered that she’s “19” and hasn’t taken P’s aptitude test yet, the choices narrow to two.
Acceptance or rejection.
My choice is obviously acceptance.
But because of the “young Kang Moon-soo” who attends the same school, I can’t say it honestly.
Therefore!
“I’m a cleric.”
“Ah…”
Accepting a confession isn’t the end.
If the aptitude isn’t to her liking, things can just fade away naturally.
But if she thinks it’s good, the usual next step is self-introduction: aptitude, contact info, education, job, etc.
I leaned my back against the pool wall as if resting and calmly waited for her response.
‘Honestly, even I don’t know how this will go.’
In the Holy Roman Empire, “cleric” is an extremely good aptitude.
But in this country, religion has collapsed—so unless you emigrate, there’s no future.
In some ways, it’s viewed even worse than shaman.
However,
“I’m a little surprised. With your stamina, I thought you’d do something physical, not something religious.”
“So you’re disappointed?”
“Ah—no!”
I never imagined I’d live to see the day Song Sun-young would wave her hands in flustered denial.
A rare experience.
“My name is Amolang.”
“Huh? You’re a foreigner?”
“My mother is from the Empire. She looks very youthful, so people often misunderstand.”
“The Empire… Oh! I’m sorry. My name is Song Sun-young, and I live around here with my parents. My aptitude… will come out in about a month.”
For someone who usually doesn’t even glance at guys, this was an incredibly proactive attitude.
That doesn’t mean it was easy, though—it took her a full two months just to speak the first word.
“Your aptitude must be weighing on your mind a lot right now. I know exactly how that feels.”
Shaman.
When I first received the results of P’s aptitude test, the world really did go dark before my eyes.
“Amolang-ssi, did you expect to get cleric as your aptitude?”
“Do I look like a cleric to you?”
“Uh…”
Song Sun-young hesitated, glancing at my expression.
“No, right?”
“Yes.”
Today is full of rare experiences.
“I felt the same. Until P’s aptitude test results came out, I didn’t even believe in the existence of gods (神). But now I live as a proper believer. Aptitude doesn’t force anything—it just provides a trigger.”
“A trigger…”
I never thought the day would come when I, who always got scolded, would give advice to my girlfriend.
A possible experience only because this is a dream.
“Song Sun-young-ssi, is there any aptitude you’re really hoping comes up in your test?”
“…No.”
Not just her—most high school students, myself included, don’t have one.
No matter how desperately you pray, your aptitude won’t change.
You can only wait quietly for fate.
“Then no matter what aptitude comes out, there’s no need to be disappointed right away. You can feel disappointed after actually clashing with that fate—it won’t be too late.”
“……”
“Haha! We’re not even that far apart in age, but I sounded way too much like a know-it-all.”
“…No. It really helped. Thank you.”
“Then I’m glad.”
I was honestly curious whether my interference would change Song Sun-young’s future.
“Um… can I call you oppa?”
Thump!
Her shy expression as she asked was so cute that my heart felt dangerously unsteady.
“Of course.”
It was so powerful that even my domain couldn’t calm me down.
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