NSTAR - 1

Joo-eun stood on the balcony, her long hair swaying like waves. She closed her eyes and felt the refreshing energy of the endless expanse of the ocean before her, savoring this blissful moment.

“Heaven on Earth…”

As if mocking Joo-eun for getting lost in sentiment after such a long time, Seoyoung approached, shaking off her swimsuit.

“Hey, is this what you call heaven? The first floor is way better. Those people down there probably didn’t save up for seven years to be here.”

The lower floor.

It was a room with a garden that led directly to the sea, featuring a balcony and a swimming pool as large as a sports field—combining the sizes of the three units above it. It was an incredibly desirable space.

The only downside was the price—about five times higher than the upper floors.

“Ugh. Look below. The size is different.”

“If we work harder, we can come back here too. Stop staring.”

This trip had been made possible only by pooling together savings from working tirelessly in the travel industry for seven years, along with some emergency funds. But Joo-eun, filled with hope that the next seven years would be different, tugged at her friend’s sleeve.

Of course, Seoyoung didn’t budge.

“Last year, I heard DiCaprio Oppa stayed overnight on the lower floor. Just look at that pool—it’s bigger than the communal one.”

She leaned so far over the railing that Joo-eun worried she might fall.

“I told you to stop looking!”

“But seriously, there’s no privacy at all here… Ugh, everything’s visible…”

“Well, if you just stop looking, privacy will be preserved just fine.”

No matter how many times Joo-eun tried to reason with her, Seoyoung wouldn’t listen. Finally, Joo-eun slapped her friend’s back hard enough to make a sharp sound.

“Ow!”

Startled, Seoyoung let go of her swimsuit, which fell into the private pool below with a splash—a pool larger than the communal one.

“…”

A brief silence followed.

What just happened?

Both women stared at each other, mouths agape.

In the middle of the massive swimming pool floated Seoyoung’s bright red swimsuit, utterly unbelievable.

“What do I do?! What are you going to do, Song Joo-eun?!”

Seoyoung panicked, hopping around. Joo-eun’s face turned pale as well.

“Hey! How could you drop it?!”

“Who are you blaming right now? I bought this with great determination this time! Go get it quickly! Hurry!”

You want me to retrieve that?

Joo-eun’s lips twitched awkwardly.

“Calm down. Calm down. We’re staying in a room that costs a fortune per night. Let’s not handle this ourselves. Let’s wait a bit.”

As Joo-eun rushed toward the living room phone, Seoyoung chased after her, shouting.

“You’re not seriously thinking of asking the concierge, are you? No way! I don’t want random people seeing my swimsuit!”

“Then what do you suggest?”

“Go get it yourself! Directly!”

“Huh…!”

Joo-eun sighed deeply.

But Seoyoung’s expression remained dead serious.

If Joo-eun refused now, the rest of the vacation might as well be spent separately. Not wanting to ruin their dream trip to paradise—or end it fighting and feeling miserable—Joo-eun pressed her fingers to her forehead.

“Fine. I’ll go get it. Isn’t that what you want?”

“You made the right choice.”

Still unsure, Joo-eun kept glancing behind her as she walked.

“You’re really going?”

“Yes.”

“What if some burly, bearded guy tries to kill me for waking him up?”

“With those pretty eyes of yours, smile sweetly and politely ask for help. He’ll spare your life. Who knows? Maybe a shirtless man who rivals DiCaprio in his prime will show up instead.”

Enough talking.

Joo-eun slumped her shoulders and stepped out the door.

A short while later, she realized something.

It was clear that her friend had some kind of supernatural power.

The man leaning his arm against the half-open door and looking down at her was incredibly sexy, just as Seoyoung had predicted.

His face was as delicate as DiCaprio in his prime, but the body revealed through the gap in his bathrobe looked anything but gentle. His eyes, slightly visible through his tousled hair—still damp from a recent shower—seemed to hold both the calmness of the sea and the sharpness of crashing waves.

It was already overwhelming to think they shared the same building with someone like him...

But why did he look so familiar? He resembled someone, didn’t he…?

“I didn’t order anything.”

Joo-eun snapped out of her daze at the sound of his languid yet sexy voice and waved her hands.

“Uh…? Oh, I’m not a staff member here…”

Oh no. She realized she’d spoken in Korean, which he wouldn’t understand.

She hesitated, wondering how to explain in English about accidentally dropping the swimsuit, when suddenly…

Minhyuk straightened his head, which had been tilted slightly.

“Korean?”

Surprised, Joo-eun’s expression brightened instantly.

“Yes, yes! I’m Korean!”

Unlike her excitement, his demeanor remained unchanged.

Her enthusiasm faltered as she cautiously stood up straight and continued.

“Well, yes, I am Korean, but the reason I’m here is because my friend’s swimsuit…”

“Oh my god! What is this?!”

Suddenly, a woman’s scream came from inside, startling Joo-eun and making her step back.

“What the hell is this doing here, Oppa? Don’t tell me a woman came by? Who? What kind of crazy person would dare touch you, Chaerin?”

Joo-eun’s dark eyes widened dramatically.

It was only natural to feel flustered knowing that the accidentally dropped swimsuit might cause a fight between lovers.

But he simply stared at her as if it were none of his concern.

“Are you the owner of this underwear?”

“No, it’s not underwear—it’s a swimsuit. But that’s not the point. It fell by accident, and I’m really sorry.”

“If you’re that sorry, why don’t you pretend to be the owner of this underwear for a moment?”

“What?”

“As you can see, I’m quite tired right now.”

While Joo-eun blinked in bewilderment, the shrill female voice behind him spoke up again.

“And who’s this? Don’t tell me this cheap underwear belongs to her?”

Caught off guard, Joo-eun found herself labeled as the owner of “cheap underwear” and could only stare at the woman with wide eyes. Then, a low voice cut in.

“Why don’t you handle it yourself?”

Joo-eun’s breath caught as she furrowed her brow, unsure why she felt the need to tread carefully. The woman’s expression was on the verge of tears.

Oh no… She’s going to cry…!

“How can you ignore me like this…? How can someone be so cold-hearted?”

The woman’s accessories, worth millions, trembled slightly.

But he showed no interest, removing his hand from the doorframe with a lazy expression.

“It would be rude to keep ignoring the fact that someone has arrived, don’t you think?”

He raised an eyebrow briefly before letting it fall.

“It’s absurd. To think you’d let some cheap girl ruin your morning just because of a swimsuit…”

What… What did she just say…?

Joo-eun’s head buzzed as if she’d been slapped unexpectedly.

Neither her clothes nor the swimsuit were meant to attract such judgment. She had worked hard, diligently saving money from her mother’s allowance and living responsibly. She didn’t deserve to be talked down to by anyone.

“Excuse me. Are you… done talking?”

Joo-eun clenched her fists in anger, but Chaerin snorted dismissively and stormed off.

Where does she think she’s going? I’m just getting started!

“I’m sorry.”

The low voice stopped Joo-eun in her tracks as she was about to chase after Chaerin.

Her tightly clenched fist slowly loosened.

“Sigh… I don’t know what exactly happened here, but I’ll take responsibility for the dropped swimsuit.”

Not only had her morning gone awry, but his seemed to have taken a turn for the worse too. At this point, it seemed better to let it go.

Besides, she didn’t want to escalate things further by getting entangled in their relationship drama.

"Come in."

"…"

"The swimsuit. You need to take it, right?"

So he had insisted it was underwear, but he clearly knew it was a swimsuit.

Joo-eun took a deep breath and nodded.

"Ah... Right. I need to take it."

As she stepped forward to enter, Minhyuk slowly moved aside, creating just enough space between the door and his chest.

The narrow gap carried a cool, refreshing scent that tickled her nose.

Her whole body tensed strangely.

With stiff, hurried steps, she quickly entered and hastily stuffed the lower part of the swimsuit lying at the entrance of the balcony into her pocket.

"I think there’s another piece floating in the pool too."

Right. The swimming pool.

She awkwardly smiled to thank him for pointing it out.

But how on earth was she supposed to retrieve that conspicuous red swimsuit top floating in the middle of the vast pool, which looked even larger up close than it had from above?

Joo-eun carefully opened her mouth with as much politeness as she could muster.

"Hmm… Um, I’m really sorry, but I don’t know how to swim. I’ll go get a long stick or something. It won’t take long."

"…"

She wished he would respond—whether to refuse or agree—but he stood silently, staring at the pool without saying a word.

What was this? Was he telling her to fetch a stick or not?

Joo-eun blinked rapidly, opening and closing her wide eyes more and more frequently.

Then, his hands moved slowly to untie the belt of his bathrobe.

What… what is he doing…?!

Her panicked gaze darted toward the candlestick on the table.

If anything suspicious happens, DiCaprio or no DiCaprio, I’m smashing him with that candlestick.

Just thinking about it made her palms sweat profusely where her fists were tightly clenched.

As if teasing her tension, his bathrobe slid smoothly to the floor.

Underneath, he wore only navy-colored trunks, revealing a perfectly sculpted body that left nothing to be desired.

Gulp. She didn’t know why she swallowed, but her throat felt dry.

One step, two steps.

With every step he took closer, her heart seemed to shrink—first by one handful, then by two.

His deep eyes locked onto hers as he approached, freezing her entire body in place. She couldn’t move an inch.

Her racing heart thudded so loudly in her ears that she couldn’t even exhale properly.

She couldn’t even twitch a finger, let alone grab the candlestick, when…

A chilling breeze brushed past her shoulder, whispering, I have absolutely no interest in you.

"Haa..."

Joo-eun exhaled deeply, closing her eyes in relief.

But the momentary calm was shattered by a sudden splash.

"W-Wait. Did he just… jump into the pool?"

With a murderous glare?

Before she knew it, he was already gliding through the water, each dynamic movement etched into her mind like a scene from a movie.

He swam straight to the floating swimsuit in the middle of the pool, snatched it precisely, and returned with powerful strokes. Grabbing the ladder, he leaped out of the water with the grace of a dolphin—only sleeker.

The droplets cascading down his bronze muscles were breathtakingly sexy.

He was perfection beyond perfection.

"Here."

He pushed his wet hair back from his forehead and handed over the dripping swimsuit.

She instinctively reached out with both hands to take it… but…

Uh… uh…? Am I seeing things?

Joo-eun rubbed her eyelids vigorously with the back of her hand.

This was strange.

Why did she keep seeing strange things…?

Which meant… what she was seeing now wasn’t an illusion.

It was reality.

It was the most enormous, jaw-dropping reality she had ever encountered in her life.

What should she do? What could she do?

Should she say something? Would he realize after she left?

He might want to die. No, worse—he might try to kill her!

“Are you not taking it?”

Startled by his question as if electrocuted, Joo-eun trembled uncontrollably, her lips quivering.

“Th-Thank you so much! Um, please, have a great trip!”

Yikes!

Snatching the swimsuit, she bolted out without even looking back.

Even when her thigh slammed into the armrest of the sofa—

Or when her pinky toe caught on the table leg, bending at an awkward V-shape—

She kept stumbling forward, her urgency propelling her despite nearly falling over. Watching her hasty retreat, Minhyuk let out a small chuckle.

“What an interesting woman.”

Though perhaps "interesting" was an understatement—she was more amusing than anything else.

It had been unexpectedly tiring to swim first thing in the morning, but at least he’d successfully sent Chaerin away without further drama. That was worth something.

As he stretched his body, twisting this way and that to relieve the stiffness from swimming without warming up, his brow furrowed slightly.

There was still something floating in the middle of the pool.

“I’m sure I retrieved it… so what’s still floating there…?”

Following the breeze drifting lazily through the air, his gaze slowly lowered to himself.

The trembling of his eyes said it all.

Here stands,

A lunatic stretching completely naked.