Chapter 46

“Ta-da! There wasn’t anything particularly special about local specialties, so I bought one at the duty-free shop!”

Yoo Se-ah smiled and took out a small box, placing it on the table.

It was small, but it was obviously an expensive item decorated luxuriously.

‘A gift.’

As Yoo Se-ah herself said earlier, she didn’t even go on vacation, so why did she even bother bringing a gift?

Thinking once again that she is a good person, Kang Taehan picked up the box on the table.

“Is it okay if I open it?”

“Yes. I prefer to open it together when I give someone a gift and see their reaction.”

Kang Taehan responded to Yoo Se-ah’s words with a smile and slowly opened the box’s packaging.

What came out was a glass bottle that fit perfectly in one hand.

It contained a transparent liquid with a light blue tint.

“This is… perfume.”

He had little knowledge of perfumes, but even Kang Taehan, who was almost a layman in that regard, had heard of this famous brand’s product a few times.

When he sprayed a little on his wrist and smelled it, it had a fresh, light, and clean scent.

When Kang Taehan glanced at Yoo Se-ah, she smiled and said,

“Mr. Taehan, you look good in a mature atmosphere and it’s attractive… no, it’s cool. Hmm.”

Yoo Se-ah deliberately swallowed the word “attractive” and cleared her throat awkwardly.

“Anyway, sometimes it doesn’t suit your appearance. So I thought it would be nice to give you a refreshing feeling with perfume… so I chose this.”

She subtly checked Kang Taehan’s reaction.

Was the perfume a bad choice?

Should I have just bought tiger balm like Chanhyeok-seonbae said?

Just as she was lost in thought,

“It’s nice. I like it.”

Kang Taehan smiled and expressed his sincere gratitude.

As he mentioned earlier, he didn’t know much about perfume, but he felt that the scent somehow suited him.

It must have been a gift she put a lot of thought into.

“I should return the favor if I received a gift….”

“Oh, it’s okay! I didn’t bring it to burden you, I just prepared it because I purely wanted to give it to you.”

Yoo Se-ah waved her hands as Kang Taehan spoke.

However, before she could finish, Kang Taehan suddenly lifted a paper bag from beside him.

It was something he had brought with him and placed next to him when he came here.

“Huh? What’s that?”

“It’s nothing special, I also prepared a gift for you, Miss Se-ah, because I purely wanted to give it to you.”

Kang Taehan smiled, quoting Yoo Se-ah’s words from just a moment ago, and Yoo Se-ah’s expression was colored with bewilderment.

It was understandable for her to buy a gift since she had been abroad, but Kang Taehan wasn’t in the same situation.

He had never said he had bought a gift, so he couldn’t have prepared a return gift in advance.

“That’s great. I have a gift to return the favor.”

Kang Taehan held out the gift with a smile.

Yoo Se-ah took the gift and stood there blankly for a moment before belatedly taking out the box inside.

“Ah, um. It’s okay if I check it too, right?”

“Of course.”

A slightly heavy weight transmitted through her hand.

As Kang Taehan nodded, Yoo Se-ah hesitated for a moment before carefully opening the lid of the box.

Soon, a smile spread across her lips.

“…It’s beautiful.”

A small tea set consisting of two teacups, a teapot, and a water bowl.

The teaware was as white as white porcelain, and on top of it were simple but elegant blue patterns that added to its beauty.

Yoo Se-ah held the lid of the box in her hand and gazed at the teacups with a wistful look for a while.

“Did you buy this because I said I was interested in tea?”

When she asked indirectly, Kang Taehan nodded.

“I had to go to the department store a while ago, and they had a special corner set up with a tea ceremony theme. I thought of you, Miss Se-ah, and bought it then.”

Yoo Se-ah had shown a deep interest and liked the tea when they drank it here before.

Kang Taehan had gone to the department store for another reason, but when he saw the special corner, he remembered that time and thought there were some nice items, so he bought one.

“…What should I do?”

Yoo Se-ah finally closed the lid of the box she had been holding and said in a slightly trembling voice.

“Hmm. You don’t like it?”

“No. I like it too much.”

And then she smiled bashfully with a shy face.

It is often said that a gift is an expression of sincerity, but it also means that you are thinking of the other person.

This gift was proof that Kang Taehan had thought of her even while he was taking care of other business, and that he had thought about it for a while, hoping she would like it. Yoo Se-ah hugged the paper bag containing the box preciously.

“I think I’m going to like tea too much because of you, Mr. Taehan.”

She said with a bright smile like a child.

Looking at her expression, Kang Taehan couldn’t help but chuckle.

“By the way, is the tea I’m drinking now called West Lake Dragon Well? Where can I get these kinds of tea leaves?”

Then, suddenly remembering something, Yoo Se-ah asked.

She needed tea leaves to make tea, but all the green teas she knew before were tea bags sold at the supermarket.

“You can get them at the department store or order them online… I should have prepared some tea leaves as well.”

Kang Taehan made a belatedly regretful expression.

Since the special corner at the department store was themed around tea ceremonies, various kinds of tea leaves, including green tea and black tea, were displayed along with teaware.

However, Yoo Se-ah’s expression brightened for a moment after hearing Kang Taehan’s words, then turned shy.

Then she cautiously spoke.

“Then… shall we go buy some together next time?”

“Ah, that’s a good idea. The special corner I saw then was better than I expected.”

Kang Taehan replied while pouring green tea into the teacup.

A natural setup for the next meeting!

At Kang Taehan’s answer, Yoo Se-ah nodded with a small but satisfied smile.

⟢⟢⟢⟢⟢⟢

“Hey, what’s wrong with Hanha these days?”

When Shim Taeyoon, the manager of the baseball team Daeseong Whales, pointed at the monitor and spoke, the head coach next to him tilted his head with a perplexed expression.

“I agree. There’s nothing that comes to mind.”

The monitor showed the score and various indicators of the game they had played against Hanha today.

The result was a defeat for Daeseong.

They had been ahead by three points in the beginning, but in the 5th inning, they tied the game, and then in the latter half, they were overtaken.

“Maybe they’re just having a good run at the end of the season? Hanha has always had their moments, you know.”

The hitting coach said, and the manager frowned and shook his head.

“If they were just lucky, it would show. This isn’t just luck, it’s some players’ skills improving drastically. Especially these guys.”

The manager pointed to some of Hanha’s players and said.

Lee Gwangho, Kim Taepyeong, Jang Hojun, and so on.

Players who were once Hanha’s main force but had lost their form with age.

However, starting last week, their performance had improved dramatically.

“Looking at this game, these guys have improved their physical abilities overall. Should I say they’ve returned to their prime?”

Professional players usually rely on their stamina and strength when they are young, and as they get older, they rely on experience and veteran skills, but today, they showed physicality as if their youthful stamina had returned.

“So are they rejuvenated or something?”

“But like Choi Taejun, Hanha players are definitely in good shape these days. It’s beyond just being in good condition… it’s like they’ve been rejuvenated.”

The head coach paused for a moment, trying to think of another expression, but couldn’t find a better one, so he ended up using the word “rejuvenated.”

“How did they do it? Is there a secret?”

“Maybe there’s something in their training program?”

“During the season, all of a sudden, even if it’s a training camp?”

“Or is it doping?”

“Come on, how would they pass the doping test?”

Various opinions came up, but they were all just grasping at straws.

While time passed without any real results,

“Well, I have an acquaintance on the Hanha staff.”

The training coach, who had been quietly lost in thought during the conversation, cautiously spoke up.

“He said that a massage therapist came a while ago, and the players’ response was really good. I wonder if that has anything to do with it…”

Silence fell over the table.

The first to react to his words was Manager Shim Taeyoon.

“Pfft.”

He couldn’t hold back his laughter.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and slowly shook his head.

“Sorry, Coach Song. I’m not trying to ignore you, but that can’t be it. The new doping story from earlier is more plausible.”

It wasn’t that Shim Taeyoon disregarded the effects of massage.

Massage is quite effective in loosening up stiff muscles, relieving fatigue and tension from the previous game, and managing players’ rest and condition.

But that’s all it is.

At least in the common sense level of massage that Shim Taeyoon knew, there was no effect of explosively boosting players’ physical abilities like this.

“Well, you’re right.”

The person who spoke knew it too.

As the training coach awkwardly scratched his head, the people around him burst into laughter.

⟢⟢⟢⟢⟢⟢

Monday morning, before the sun had even fully risen.

“Haaaa….”

Lee Byeongho let out a deep sigh as he soaked alone in the empty hot tub.

He stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment and gently massaged his right wrist with his left hand.

“It’s been a long time, bathhouse.”

The author of the webtoon ‘Murim Hunter,’ which is serialized on a famous platform.

He used to be so busy with daily serialization that he had completely forgotten about things like bathhouses, but now his work was on a long-term hiatus.

Even though he was on hiatus, he couldn’t rest properly, and he wasn’t working properly either. He was spending his days in this ambiguous state when the day of his appointment at the massage shop he had learned about through his producer arrived.

However, until he left the house, he had the mindset of ‘I have to go because I made an appointment,’ but once he arrived and soaked in the tub, he felt better than he expected.

‘Maybe a change of pace like this will help.’

The bathhouse on a quiet Monday morning, as if there was no one else there.

Instead of staying in his room, clinging to a plot that wouldn’t come out, maybe it would be better to just sit here blankly.

At least his mood would improve.

Indeed, being here like this made his blocked mind feel a little clearer.

Along with that, some episodes that could be used in his work came to mind.

‘Going to a hot spring wouldn’t be a bad one-shot episode. First, a gate opens in a snowy mountain, and they go there and get help from a hermit who has undergone rejuvenation.’

Rejuvenation is a phenomenon in Murim where a master who has reached the peak of their age returns to their youthful body while retaining their internal energy.

Then how should he draw the character who has undergone rejuvenation?

He would have to capture the feeling of a youthful appearance but a heavy and mature atmosphere that doesn’t match their age.

As his thoughts shifted from plot to character design,

“….”

A young man entered the bathhouse.

Normally, he would have just averted his gaze, but Lee Byeongho’s eyes continued to follow him.

The moment he saw him, inspiration for his character started to flow.

‘Yes, that’s the feeling I need.’

The young man’s name was Kang Taehan.

He hadn’t actually undergone rejuvenation, but the model who had experienced something most similar to it was passing right before his eyes.