Chapter 196 – Singer (6)
The Holy Roman Empire is extremely wary of any leakage of the ‘Ranuvela’ bloodline to the outside world.
And in the midst of that, a shaman appears.
If the witches—who have already sensed something strange—investigate even a little, they will immediately realize that the aptitude “shaman” is a mistranslation of “chief priest.”
The difference from reality?
(Kang Moon-soo-ssi. This way.)
(…Hello.)
Under the hypnosis of Ranuvela the 13th, he was completely unable to resist and was dominated like an ordinary person.
(Did you pack your luggage well?)
(Yes. As you warned, since I don’t even know your name yet, I came to the airport quietly without contacting anyone.)
(Good job. We’re heading straight to the Holy Roman Empire. Be careful not to let this thread break and follow me.)
(Understood.)
The young Kang Moon-soo was dragged along like an obedient livestock by Ranuvela the 13th.
“Huh…”
After watching the two disappear into the airport until the very end, a hollow laugh escaped my lips.
Is this really right?
Looking only at the result, heading to the Holy Roman Empire is exactly the same as in reality.
But my fate was decided not by my own choice, but by external force.
“Son, what do you think will happen from now on?”
“I have no idea.”
“It might be better not to know.”
“……”
Unless I follow them all the way to the other side of the globe on a plane, there’s no way to find out.
Mother warned that it’s better not to know, but I really want to confirm it—even if it’s pointless.
“Oppa~!”
“…I’m watching!”
I waved back at her.
The coach and other athletes used to look at Song Sun-young with disapproval, but after seeing my sports car parked in the pool lot, they seemed to accept her attitude.
(Rich boyfriend, huh…)
(So jealous~)
(The medal’s probably less important!)
(Being an athlete is about looks too…)
I never said anything, but rumors were even spreading that I came every day like a pervert just to see my girlfriend in her swimsuit.
‘…It’s fine, right?’
Since I overheard the gossip, it’s awkward to confront them—and my gaze does frequently fixate on my girlfriend’s slender legs—so it’s not entirely wrong.
A rumor with some basis!
Still, the misunderstanding that I’m some rich young master (unemployed) was far more burdensome.
“Hmm.”
Has the Ranuvel patient noticed?
I spread my domain widely all the way to space to locate the patient.
Even if she’s in the middle of a performance, she must be somewhere in this country—but I expanded it broadly to practice.
(She’s not answering my calls…)
(Who?)
(My boyfriend.)
(Ah, Yoo Il-am’s second disciple? The nation’s little sister calls, and he should pick up in one second. What a cocky ugly bastard!)
I may be cocky, but I’m not ugly enough to be called that.
(…He used to answer right away after quitting his part-time job.)
(Aren’t you worrying too much? There’s a line of guys who like you.)
(For men, ability matters more than looks.)
(That’s true, but shaman? I’ve seen the broadcast… I’m only holding back because he’s your boyfriend.)
(That… I’m not sure either.)
She doesn’t yet know the young Kang Moon-soo has been kidnapped, but she seems to have realized that something has gone wrong with the changed future.
It’s twisted all right.
Because I’ve never once entered the Ranuvel patient’s dream.
In the same period, I’ve dealt with five others in reality.
Girlfriend Song Sun-young, magic boy Choi Kang-hoon, count’s youngest daughter Kim Eun-jung, swimming emperor Nam Hae-soo, righteous hero Mao Zhai.
Right now, in the world of the historical drama <Palace Maid Deok-chun>, he’s probably wasting time mistaking the protagonist ‘Deok-chun’ for a patient.
“You’ve gotten really good at it.”
“It’s an ability I desperately need, so I practiced whenever I could.”
“Indeed, even though it’s dangerous, directly entering the dream seems to help training much more.”
“I’m curious. About the difference between indirect and direct.”
“Hehe! Try it sometime later. You’ll feel it immediately.”
“Yes.”
And a few days passed.
To cheer for Song Sun-young, I attended the Olympic opening ceremony in person, wished her success, and placed a considerable bet on sports toto.
In the meantime, the young Kang Moon-soo’s disappearance was noticed much faster by his collaborator than by his girlfriend Lee Na-yeon…
(It’s definitely a kidnapping!)
Yoo Il-am’s senses were incredibly sharp.
(It must be the work of frauds who noticed the promotional effect of my disciple!)
It started off well… and then fell apart.
(Yoo Il-am-nim, We’ve confirmed that your disciple, appeared to be preparing for a trip. Security cameras even caught him leaving with a suitcase.)
(But there’s no record of him departing the country?)
(That’s true, however… the last known location was the airport.)
(Haa! This is driving me crazy!)
It’s because of the immigration system of Ranuvela the 13th, which doesn’t even require a passport check.
They still buy plane tickets so as not to cause financial loss to airlines and because they need in-flight meals and seats, but this time they used a private jet, so even that left no trace.
A private jet.
From what I heard from the person involved, Ranuvela the 13th, as an “imperial princess,” doesn’t use a private jet unless it’s for official external activities or truly urgent matters.
Why?
It’s a little hard to believe, but she apparently enjoys watching ordinary children. She even feels envious when she looks at them.
They say this is a common sentiment shared by all of Ranuvela—being able to have children isn’t easy for them. In a society aging to the point where people beg young women to please have kids, it’s a rather rare mindset.
Anyway,
“Oppa~!”
“Yeah. I’m watching.”
Despite shouting “Oppa” throughout training, Song Sun-young was clearly faster than the second-string athletes from day one.
Was it because her talent was exceptional?
Not entirely untrue, but this pool was filled only with human dolphins whose aptitude was “swimmer.”
In other words, the differences in talent were minimal.
So why was she ahead?
Timing. The other athletes started swimming at nineteen after seeing the results of their P-aptitude tests, but Song Sun-young had been swimming since she was very young under her mother’s influence. Consistently. For a long time.
Splash, splash!
“She’ll make first string in no time.”
Just like I once did, it felt like she could overturn everything before the national roster for the Summer Olympics was finalized.
***
A luxury cruise ship funded by sponsorship from Nam Hae-soo, the emperor of swimming.
I never thought I’d see this ship again—the one you can only board after beating all competition and reaching the needle-eye-narrow first string.
“Oppa~!”
“…Yeah. I’m watching.”
Although only first-string athletes can normally use this luxury cruise ship, their numbers alone can’t cover maintenance costs, so they also accept regular tourists. People like me.
Splash! Splash!
Apparently there’s an unexpected tourism effect from being able to watch national-level swimmers train up close.
The only downside?
All training locations, including the sea, are outdoors rather than indoors, so the athletes’ skin tans easily.
“A dark-skinned Song Sun-young…”
That’s rare too.
It was a new sight, but I think I preferred my girlfriend when her thighs were milky white.
At the hotel on the island about 10 km from here, there would be a patient and guardian hugging a copy of the romance fantasy novel I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Count.
But that’s something “young Kang Moon-soo” should deal with, not me.
“Son. How does it feel doing nothing?”
I’d gotten used to my mother popping up out of nowhere by now.
“Well… I’ve realized that even if I do nothing, the world keeps turning just fine.”
“Sounds like the mind of a middle school second-year has finally grown into an adult.”
“Well… something like that.”
The balance of power had shifted slightly with influential figures like Choi Kang-hoon, Mao Zhai, and Nam Hae-soo failing to wake up, but the fact that Earth and humanity weren’t going to collapse remained the same.
As for young Kang Moon-soo?
The 20-year-old social rookie who briefly shone as the boyfriend of a famous female singer and the disciple of a genius shaman was processed as missing.
“Good grief…”
What exactly did the Holy Roman Empire do with me after kidnapping me?
Once the Summer Olympics are over, maybe I’ll go check it out with Song Sun-young under the pretense of traveling.
***
If.
One of the two things I was most curious about had finally reached the brink of unveiling.
“Oppa~!”
Her skin had darkened from the sun, but Song Sun-young, competing in the women’s 100 m freestyle at the Olympics, was beautiful today too.
If the other swimmers’ limbs looked built purely for performance, Song Sun-young gave off a comparatively slender impression.
If the others were orcas, she was a dolphin.
True to someone who’d also succeeded as a swimsuit model in real life, she had a natural charm that drew people’s eyes.
Beep—!
Splash, splash, splash, splash…!
At the starting signal, Song Sun-young and the other swimmers shot forward.
The shortest of the swimming events: 100 meters.
Which means that within that brief distance and time, the key is how much explosive power you can unleash.
As expected of the 100 m freestyle—what power!
I’ve swept every track event in the Olympics, from the shortest 300 m to 1,000 m, 3,000 m, 10 km, 30 km, and even the 100 km marathon, but short-distance swimming is still something I can’t even attempt.
If you could swim with pure muscle, you’d go to the gym instead of the pool!
That’s why.
“Waaah!”
“Ooh!”
“Win it~!”
Cheers erupted from the stands.
To ordinary viewers, this might be the first time seeing the athletes’ names and faces, but the people who bought plane tickets, booked lodging, and came all the way to the Olympic pool in person were different.
They were family members or associates of the athletes.
Except for the chivalric spirit often called the flower of the Olympics, that’s generally how it is. I’m here as an associate too—to cheer on my girlfriend.
‘Damn.’
To the average eye, all the athletes’ skills look similar, but to me—someone with experience as an athlete and a keen eye—the difference was obvious.
Gold was already impossible.
At the start it looked within reach, but once they reached about halfway, her speed began to drop, and now even bronze was shaky…
Our country had become a swimming powerhouse thanks to the full backing of the swimming emperor Nam Hae-soo, but the national representatives of other countries weren’t pushovers either.
Tap, tap, tap, tap…!
All the swimmers reached the finish almost simultaneously, and the race ended.
From here on, the result had to be determined using high-performance cameras capable of precise fingertip observation and sensors attached to the wall.
“As expected…”
Unfortunately, she finished fourth. The difference between her and third place, the bronze medalist, was 0.04 seconds.
There are no re-runs in swimming, so this was the end. Just like Coach Jang Seo-yeon’s failure in her active days, now her daughter faced the same result.
The difference between them?
Song Sun-young was one of the rare cases who competed in the Olympics immediately after finishing her P aptitude test. She was so young that people called her the youngest national team member, so if she worked hard, she could aim for bronze in two years.
…Silver?
Unless some training or medical technology appeared that drastically boosted her stamina, realistically it seemed impossible.
“Oppa…”
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
I gently pulled Song Sun-young into an embrace as she looked at me anxiously like a guilty person, and I stroked her hair to comfort her.
A medal? Sure, it’d be nice. It comes with a pension guaranteed into old age and some lucrative side income like advertising for athlete swimwear models.
But I like Song Sun-young’s pretty legs a hundred times more than an Olympic medal!
At that moment—
(There will be a ranking correction before the awards ceremony.)
“Hm?”
An announcement came over the speakers in a serious tone.
‘…Huh? Wait.’
Even though I’m an athlete, I’m male and specialize in long distance, so I hadn’t paid much attention to this side, but I vaguely remembered hearing that something big had happened in the women’s events.
(Performance-enhancing substances have been detected.)
“Ah!”
Because my stamina is ridiculously overpowered, I used to live with people suspecting me of doping—but that’s just how common cheating is.
What’s the principle?
When a “drug that can’t be detected” appears on the market, a “test that can detect undetectable drugs” quickly follows. Then a “drug that avoids tests that detect undetectable drugs” comes out, and before the damage gets too big, a “test that detects drugs that avoid tests that detect undetectable drugs” is developed.
An endless cycle!
When you gather only geniuses who lack nothing in talent, it’s hard to resist the temptation to rely on something else.
“Oppa! No way…?”
“I think it is that ‘no way.’”
(Number 17, athlete Song Sun-young, please come to the awards podium.)
“We did it~!”
Song Sun-young shouted and threw her arms tightly around me.
“Sun-young, congratulations.”
“Kyaa!”
I lifted her by the waist with both arms and spun around in celebration.
And as a bonus—
‘Maybe it could work…?’
I suddenly felt like suggesting Olympic participation to my real-life girlfriend of the same age.
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