Chapter 98

Chapter 98

Chapter 98 A Belated Vacation (5)

“Oh my, look at those two.”

“Pfft! They’re actually carrying all of that.”

What was all the commotion about?

Only after hearing the comments people passing by were making while looking out the window did I turn my head.

And then I saw them.

Both hands, their necks, their mouths, even their heads. Lia and Sani were precariously approaching with bags of food hanging from every part of their bodies that could possibly hold something.

I hurriedly stood up and removed the bags strangling the two children’s necks.

“I told you to buy just one thing each. Why did you buy this much?”

“Sani kept pressing the buttons, saying he was buying one of everything. I told him no, but...”

Only then did I get a rough idea of what had happened.

When food was involved, Sani’s mind worked with astonishing speed, and he had achieved his goal through twisted logic.

At the cost of an 83,000-won credit card bill.

83,000 won.

That was the most I had ever spent at a highway service area in my life.

“With this much money, we could’ve just bought a proper meal!”

“That’s why I bought this much. This is replacing the meal!”

“Well, it’s your first time at a service area, and it would be a shame if there was food you never got to try. You did well.”

The intention behind what had already been done was impure, but the result wasn’t bad.

It was the first time both Lia and Sani had eaten highway service area snacks, after all.

For less than 100,000 won, I could record a video of Lia happily trying food for the first time, so it was more than worth the money.

“This is really sweet! I think it has honey in it! Hehe.”

“And this squid is savory! I thought it would taste like stone dust because it was grilled on a rock, but it doesn’t at all!”

And so we sat around the small buffet spread out at the service area and ate a slightly late lunch.

Then, after failing to eat even half of it, we had to pack up all the leftovers and return to the car.

____________

“Snore.”

That was the sound of Sani snoring.

He had ordered as though he intended to taste every single item at the service area, yet he barely ate anything before getting tired and falling asleep.

I never thought I’d witness someone dozing off while eating.

His snoring was extremely annoying, but no one woke him.

There wasn’t much distance left to Okgye Beach anyway, and even if we woke him, he would only start eating again. After that, we might genuinely have to worry about him throwing up.

We drove carefully for another twenty minutes or so, trying not to wake Sani, and finally arrived at the Okgye Beach campground.

Because we’d spent quite a long time at the service area, the car carrying the Haedong Divine Maiden, the Sorcerer, and the two grim reapers had arrived before us. They were already unloading their luggage.

“The sea really is the sea.”

The salty scent that rushed in the moment I opened the door felt strangely welcome.

Right, this wasn’t the time for that.

For a homebody like me, the important thing about camping was how quickly the tent could be set up.

After driving for more than two hours, and considering that meal preparation and cleanup still awaited us later, it was important to finish setting everything up as quickly as possible and secure some time to rest.

Wasting time getting sentimental was terribly inefficient.

There was no need to agonize over the best place to pitch the tent.

Among our camping members were South Korea’s greatest specialists in this field.

Not just one, but two.

“You’re a little late.”

“Yes, we stayed at the service area too long. Naerincheon Service Area was much nicer than I expected.”

“Oh my? Really? We should’ve gone too!”

“The Seoul-bound side uses the same building, so stop by on the way back. By the way, there’s something I’d like to ask the two of you to handle.”

“You mean the location, right?”

As expected, shamans were frighteningly perceptive.

“Please find us a spot where we can spend the next three days and two nights without trouble. Our group isn’t exactly ordinary.”

“Hoho, we already brought everything.”

“Pardon?”

What did she mean by everything?

The answer came in the form of a drum and a shaman’s bell decorated with colorful tassels, which the two of them pulled from the car.

The Haedong Divine Maiden began shaking the bell and bouncing around in search of a place suitable for pitching the tents.

While performing a full-blown shamanic ritual...

-Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.

“Eoheoh-heoi! Open the gates of heaven and earth.

Part this vein of land, eoheoh-heoi!”

“Hiya!”

-Boom. Boom.

“Where mountain vein and water vein meet,

Does the Yellow Dragon vein hide?

Does the White Tiger vein lie low?

Heoheoheoi!”

-Boom. Boom.

“Guardians of the four directions, east, west, south, and north,

Let us hear the energy of this land.

Site, oh site, auspicious site,

Let the lifeblood overflow!”

It was true that I’d asked them to find the best spot, but I hadn’t wanted a full-scale search for an auspicious site like this.

And I wasn’t the only one flustered by the ritual that had suddenly broken out.

“Excuse me, ma’am. We’re from the administrative service office. It’s difficult if you do this in a public place.”

“Ah! I’m sorry. I’ll have them stop right...”

“Heeeeyaaaaaa!”

Of all times, just as I was about to tell them to stop, the ritual reached its climax.

“Following the true dragon and examining the earth’s pulse,

Is this the very place!”

“Hiya! Hiya! Hiya! Hiya!”

-Boom. Thud!

“Here! It’s here!”

Completely unaware that I was dying inside, the Haedong Divine Maiden stood on the auspicious spot and smiled brightly.

We were lucky there were barely any tourists because it was the end of August.

Otherwise, we might have become MeTube stars as obnoxious beachgoers.

“I’m sorry. We’ll be more careful next time.”

“Yes, well... it looks like it’s over, so we’ll be heading back too.”

Only after the management office employee left were we finally able to unload our luggage from the cars.

But weren’t auspicious sites found like this usually grave sites?

Unable to shake the thought that the difference between a burial spot and a sleeping spot was razor-thin, I began unfolding the tent with a sour expression.

-Rustle. Rustle.

Hm?

Something bulging inside the fabric moved.

When I cautiously lifted the tent cloth, Sani was inside.

“Puhah! I thought I was going to suffocate to death!”

“When did you wake up?”

“When the Haedong Divine Maiden was doing the ritual earlier.”

-Snatch.

As he said that, Sani abruptly snatched the tent fabric out of my hand.

“I’m going to set it up by myself! I only failed before because Dohyeok was stupid!”

This was bad.

I’d planned to finish setting everything up quickly and then relax while leisurely looking at the sea, but now it was suddenly unclear whether the tent would even be standing by the end of the day.

“Why don’t we set it up together?”

“If I’m going to make fun of Dohyeok, I can’t get help! And after I finish putting it up, I’m going to take it apart again and make Dohyeok try!”

Even the reason motivating him to overcome the challenge on his own was rotten.

At least the tent was top-grade and extremely durable.

Fine.

If he still couldn’t put it up by evening, I could do it then.

Once I gave up on the tent, I suddenly had nothing in particular to do.

The Elder, who was even more desperate than I was to sit down, had already unfolded the larger items we’d unloaded from the car, like the chairs, table, and fire pit, while Lia’s little hands had taken out all the smaller things such as lamps and dishes.

National Champion Han Seun and Wooju, who arrived afterward, were in much the same situation as us.

As expected, with this many people, everything got done quickly.

Then should I start preparing the next thing too?

There was still plenty of time before sunset, but except for us, who had stuffed ourselves thanks to Sani, everyone else had only eaten something light at the service area.

The sooner the meal was ready, the better.

I poured plenty of charcoal into the prepared fire pit and lit it with a lighter.

Just as the camping store owner had said, the charcoal mixed with fire starter caught quickly without needing any paper.

“Hyung, are you already going to start grilling?”

“We’ll do it. We’re the youngest here, after all.”

“No. You two rest for a while.”

Strictly speaking, National Champion Han Seun had only started frequenting the coffeehouse later than everyone else. He wasn’t much younger than me.

Wooju also had such a young-looking face that it somehow felt wrong to order him around.

I felt a little bad saying this, but there was exactly one person among our group who was perfect for being worked hard.

Dohyeok.

He was reasonably strong, young, and even my subordinate at work.

He had all three qualities.

Wait.

When exactly is that guy getting here?

____________

At the same time, Dohyeok was facing the greatest crisis of his life.

(In 500 meters, turn left.)

‘Oh, I have to turn in here!’

But the left-turn lane was already packed with cars waiting for the light.

Once again, Dohyeok failed to turn the wheel.

-Ding.

(You have left the route. Distance has increased by 21 km. Recalculating the recommended route.)

‘Damn it!’

They had left the highway long ago, and the car carrying the two of them was now traveling along a quiet country road.

It was all because of the ridiculous situation where he couldn’t look at the navigation screen and had to find the destination purely by listening to the voice guidance.

‘She’s enjoying it so much. I can’t suddenly ask her to turn it off now. This is driving me insane.’

It was a man’s instinct.

Take almost any man and drop him in a supermarket, and nine times out of ten, he wouldn’t ask an employee where the item he wanted was.

He would instead use every ounce of his own spatial awareness to search for the hidden product.

Like a rat searching for cheese in a maze.

Some said it was because the ability to find routes was a survival skill passed down from prehistoric times, while others claimed showing weakness in the wild meant death.

Whatever the reason, Dohyeok was currently unable to use what could be called the pinnacle of modern convenience: navigation.

To make matters worse, the sound from the video was mixed in too, making it difficult to properly hear even the voice guidance that served as his only lifeline.

One thing he could hear clearly was King Yama’s praise for him.

‘Watching it like this really doesn’t make my arms hurt. Amazing!’

‘You must be good with machines like this.’

‘Then if I watch it while it’s charging like this, the green bar on the glass plate keeps filling too, right? Great!’

‘I can watch it like this even after we arrive.’

Most of it had been conversation about the video and tablet, but for some reason, Dohyeok kept remembering every word King Yama had said while smiling brightly and praising him.

Even while heading down an unknown road, the fact that he was alone with King Yama like this gave him a strange sense of comfort.

‘This isn’t the time to feel reassured! Get a grip, Joo Dohyeok! This is South Korea. Advanced civilization! Huh? If I just follow the road signs, there’s nowhere I can’t reach.’

Dohyeok steeled himself.

The destination was Okgye Beach.

He sharpened his attention in every direction, ready to turn the wheel the instant he saw even a remotely similar sign.

-Ding.

(You have left the route. Distance has increased by 36 km.)

‘Ghk!’

After driving aimlessly like that, Dohyeok’s car finally had to pull over to the roadside.

Because he had seen something he should never have seen.

[Yangyang International Airport]

-Whoooooosh.

“Wow! Look over there! That bird is huge! It’s even bigger than this car!”

Dohyeok rubbed his nose and spoke in a deliberately lowered voice.

“Actually... I came all the way here because I wanted to show you that.”

If one had to choose the most embarrassing moment of Dohyeok’s life, there was no need to think.

It was the instant that legendary piece of nonsense took undisputed first place.

Afterward, although it was a slightly wicked thought, Dohyeok found himself hoping King Yama would drink the potion of forgetfulness as soon as possible.