“……”
When Sungjin just stood there blankly without saying anything, Yuwon asked.
“What’s wrong? Is something the matter?”
Sungjin quickly folded the wings of his ominous imagination and shook his head.
“Ah, no! I’m fine, I’m fine.”
He wasn’t fine at all. Yuwon looked perfectly fine, but he wondered how that could not be scary. His feet absolutely wouldn’t move.
“…Wa, wait, just a moment….”
In the end, it was Sungjin who called time first. When coming out on the boat, he’d been too preoccupied with the fear of being left alone with Yuwon to think about anything else, but now that it was time to actually jump into the sea with no safety equipment except a life jacket, his entire body froze with an unfamiliar fear of something he’d never experienced in his life.
Yuwon took off his goggles and looked up at Sungjin like that, then suddenly asked again.
“Are you afraid of coming down?”
Sungjin almost answered “Yes!” for a moment, but the affirmative words couldn’t quite come out.
“N-no, that’s, not it….”
“Then are you feeling queasy? Did you take motion sickness medicine earlier?”
At Yuwon’s question, Sungjin shook his head with a slightly pale face. Yuwon examined Sungjin as if observing him, then approached the boat again and grabbed the ladder with his hand. Then he climbed back up onto the boat without hesitation.
Yuwon’s white and firm body glistened through the gaps in the life jacket, dripping with water. Yuwon, who had returned to Sungjin, suddenly placed his hand on his forehead.
“Do you get seasick easily? We didn’t come out that far…. If you’re not used to it, even a short distance can be hard.”
Actually, it wasn’t seasickness or anything like that, just that the situation of entering the water had suddenly become scary, but he didn’t have the courage to be honest.
While Sungjin hesitated, Yuwon unbuckled his life jacket.
“It’s hot too, so you might feel more nauseous because it’s stuffy. Take off the jacket and get some air for a bit.”
Then he held the shoulder part of the jacket so Sungjin could pull his arms out. Sungjin didn’t have the courage to say it wasn’t like that, and it was actually stuffy, so he obediently nodded.
As soon as he escaped from the jacket that had been constricting his body, a cool breeze cooled the heat accumulated in his body. The psychological problem still remained, but his body became much more comfortable.
“Sit here in the shade for a bit.”
It was too late to explain now, so Sungjin obediently leaned back and sat on the sofa in the shade as Yuwon led him.
“……”
An awkward silence descended again. Yuwon still had an inscrutable expression. Sungjin continued to feel uncomfortable. It was hard to accept the situation where this existence, no different from a disaster he’d met here, was worrying about him.
Is he pretending to be nice for now because we’re in front of the camera? Is he planning to flip his attitude like flipping his palm again and make me uncomfortable? They say it hurts most when something is given then taken away. Is he planning to gently soothe him into feeling safe and then make him receive an even bigger shock? Sungjin, who had no way of knowing Yuwon’s true feelings, only raised his guard. If it had been someone else, he would have gratefully accepted the kindness and consideration, but because it was Yuwon, he absolutely couldn’t let his guard down.
“……”
“Close your eyes and rest. You’ll feel better when you cool down.”
Since it was a bit awkward to make other excuses to Yuwon, Sungjin obediently closed his eyes. Swoooosh, as a cool breeze blew along with the gentle sound of waves coming from all directions, his tense body seemed to loosen up a little.
Yuwon continued to sit across from Sungjin, watching him.
“……”
Although he was resting by chance, Sungjin was concerned about whether Yuwon, having come all the way here, was unable to do anything because of him.
Yuwon didn’t really seem like the type to enjoy this kind of outdoor activity… but unlike himself, if he was someone familiar with snorkeling, being like this right now might feel like a waste of time.
The time given with the date ticket wasn’t overflowing either. Of all things, because he had received another person’s choice too, he had to return to the resort in just two hours. In short, there wasn’t much time to waste like this.
If I become a burden again because of me, that, won’t do….
Moreover, the reason wasn’t that he was really sick but simply feigning illness because he was afraid of entering the water, so he felt even more uncomfortable. Sungjin barely squeezed out the courage and opened his eyes.
“Now, I’m okay now.”
When he cautiously began, Yuwon immediately shook his head.
“You don’t need to push yourself. We didn’t come here to investigate anything, we came to have fun. It’s fine to just rest on the boat.”
So this attitude was… still confusing. It was too obvious a fact that he hated him, but he was afraid of what kind of result would come out if he was just swayed by his constantly changing attitude.
At the very least, I want to avoid looking like I’m being a burden….
Sungjin took a deep breath inside and opened his mouth again.
“No, we came all the way here, so it would be too disappointing to just stay on the boat and go back. I’ll go down too.”
“You’re not pushing yourself, right?”
“Yes, I’m fine….”
Yuwon checked Sungjin’s condition with a glance and then jumped back into the sea first. Because of the glitter on the water surface created by the bright sunlight shining down from above reflecting off it, it looked just like a scene from a CF.
Even if several people clung to him in a studio to direct it, it wouldn’t be easy to capture a scene like that. Yuwon did it very easily. It was a spectacular sight he couldn’t help but stare at in a daze.
“Don’t push yourself and come down slowly, slowly.”
At Yuwon’s words, Sungjin nodded and moved very carefully. Standing on the ladder again, the water depth looked too deep.
Even though he knew in his head that wearing a life jacket meant he wouldn’t drown easily, his feet wouldn’t move easily.
When Sungjin raised his head to check on Yuwon again, Yuwon was floating at a distance where Sungjin would reach him immediately upon jumping, looking up at him. That appearance looked exactly like a mermaid met during a shipwreck.
……
How can someone be that pretty? A person who was pretty just walking around was even wet with water, making it even more unrealistic. Even though this person was closer to a siren trying to make sailors drown in the water rather than a mermaid, there was a magical power that inevitably drew one’s gaze.
He couldn’t just keep staring blankly at that appearance. Sungjin squeezed his eyes shut and threw his body without looking down at his feet.
Splash, gurgle…. Gurgle…. His body sank below the surface for a moment, then immediately floated up with the help of the life jacket.
“Uhpu, uhoo, uhheu….”
When Sungjin barely came to his senses and opened his eyes, what he saw were blue waves shining in a different emerald color from what he’d seen from the deck.
“Wow…. Wow….”
It was a landscape he’d never seen once in his life. Colorful fish were passing below his feet, and above his head a clear sky without a single cloud spread out. Like Yuwon’s appearance, it was a landscape so beautiful it felt unreal.
When Sungjin looked around admiringly in bewilderment like a child, Yuwon laughed with a pfft sound like air escaping.
“Now that you’ve come down, it’s not as scary as you thought, right?”
Sungjin answered, forgetting his fear.
“Yes…! Wow….”
Words wouldn’t come out as if exclamations were the only words he knew how to say. Even though he was floating at a depth where he couldn’t touch the bottom no matter how hard he tried, he was perfectly fine. Thanks to the life jacket holding his body firmly, he could admire his surroundings while entrusting his body to bob on the water’s surface.
Yuwon handed something to Sungjin, who was marveling like someone who’d lost their soul.
“……?”
When Sungjin looked up to check, he saw the goggles and snorkel Yuwon was holding out.
“Stay still for a moment. I’ll put them on for you.”
Sungjin obediently closed his eyes and held still. Then a ticklish touch passed over his forehead. It seemed like he was arranging the wet hair stuck to his forehead after falling into the water. Yuwon arranged Sungjin’s hair with delicate touches, then spread the band and put the goggles on while saying,
“Not through your nose, breathe through your mouth. Don’t exhale through your nose either.”
Sungjin tried to follow Yuwon’s instructions. However, not everything worked just because you tried. He succeeded in not breathing in through his nose, but accidentally exhaled the breath he’d inhaled through his nose, filling the inside of the goggles with cloudy water vapor.
“Pfft.”
Seeing that, Yuwon immediately turned his head and inhaled. It seemed like he tried not to laugh, but it was useless. Eventually, as his shoulders shook and he made a snorting sound, Sungjin’s face turned red. Yuwon hastily soothed Sungjin.
“It can be like that if it’s your first time. You just need to slowly get used to the way of breathing.”
Yuwon personally took off Sungjin’s goggles, rinsed them in the seawater, and shook off the water before putting them back on.
