The summer heat was sweltering.

The discomfort born of high humidity and temperature never quite washed away, leaving one desperately longing for a holiday free from such afflictions.

And so, a summer vacation came to mind.

If one were in the water to begin with, there’d be no suffering from the humidity, would there?

Above all else, that was beside the point.

“Are we going to the sea?”

“Yeah, we’re going to the sea.”

I wanted to show Se-gi the sea.

Looking back on the time before regression, it nagged at me that I had never once given the child such an experience.

Wasn’t there a goal from the very moment I embarked on my second life?

I didn’t want her to be merely a child whose basic needs for food and sleep were met—I wanted her to grow into someone who, like her name, found every moment new.

As much as I failed to do in the last life, and then some.

Se-gi’s smile was, for Jung-woo, nothing short of a lifelong mission in this life.

And so, the morning of the long-awaited vacation day finally arrived.

His meticulous daughter, who always studied up on destinations beforehand, had once again looked up what the sea was and chattered away about it.

“The sea is saltwater, you know~ The wind blows all across the world and makes waves crash, you see~ So the waves go in different directions depending on the latitude~”

Jung-woo was surprised once again.

He would have had to feign surprise even if she’d known the content already, but hearing her share facts he genuinely didn’t know made the child seem remarkable anew.

“Se-gi, that’s amazing~ The waves go in different directions depending on the latitude?”

“Yeah!”

Of course, even amid all that, she still had her childlike side.

“Since we’re going to the sea, we have to bring the shark!”

“Should we? The shark doll Mr. Geun-ho gave you?”

“Yeah! Mr. Geun-ho!”

“You have a shark tube too?”

“Daddy bought me this one!”

Se-gi giggled and packed her own supplies to the brim.

Jung-woo, for his part, had quite a lot to prepare on other fronts.

‘It’s one night and two days, so…’

The swimsuit was Se-gi’s favorite navy blue.

Sunscreen stick suited for a child’s skin, a change of clothes for after swimming, beach towels, sand toys, and so on.

Taking a child on a trip meant attending to such trivial details with meticulous care.

That weight, too, was something Jung-woo had never truly known in his past life.

Self-reflection ended there.

Erasing the bitterness that had risen, Jung-woo zipped up the bag and stood.

“Shall we go, then?”

“Yeah!”

A bag on his back, a suitcase in one hand.

The other hand holding Se-gi as they set off.

Loading into the used compact car, it was Se-gi’s first overnight trip.

The destination was Gangneung.

About two and a half hours via the highway—he’d wanted to go to a proper beach if he was going at all, and figured the long drive itself might become an experience for her.

Jung-woo stole glances at Se-gi while driving.

At first she’d chattered excitedly, hugging the shark doll, but before long she’d run out of energy and dozed right off.

Then again, how boring must it be for a child to sit still watching the same scenery out the window?

Better to fall asleep like this and wake up at the sea—it’d feel far more dramatic.

With that thought, Jung-woo focused back on driving.

The more he drove, the more something dawned on him.

‘Ah, I’m actually going on vacation.’

This leisure felt suddenly unfamiliar.

It was different from the day trip to the zoo.

The thought of spending a whole day away, free from other worries, struck him as a strangely peculiar thing.

‘Maybe the workaholic in me hasn’t fully drained out.’

He’d lived clinging to the principle of clocking out on time, but I suppose that was only natural.

Parenting wasn’t exactly all play and no work, either.

Only then did Jung-woo realize he’d been living a life of driving himself, constantly tallying what needed to be done even after coming home.

Empty the mind.

Enjoy it.

In his past life, there had never been such a moment, and in this life too, the looming future disaster had been too overwhelming to allow for any real period of rest.

But he’d also believed he couldn’t live only like that—and so, acknowledging and accepting the vacation, a peculiar emotion rose within him.

His chest felt lighter.

The practical worries, too, seemed to fall further behind with every mile that separated them from Seoul.

‘Today… I suppose this is allowed.’

He’d still have to head to a gate late at night to mine special magic stones, but until then, there was no harm in savoring this leisure.

A small smile settled on his lips.

And so, vroom, after enjoying a long stretch of solitary time on the road, he exited the highway onto the national road.

A bit further, and the destination finally came into view.

Beyond the road, there was the sea.

The blazing sun and blue waves filled his entire field of vision.

It was about time.

Jung-woo spoke.

“Se-gi. Wake up. We’re here.”

“Mmm…?”

How excited would her reaction be?

If the quest stack filled up here from the emotion, would a new summon suddenly pop into the backseat?

Such thoughts crossed his mind, and Jung-woo slowed the car, stealing glances at Se-gi’s reaction.

Se-gi groggily opened her eyes.

Then she finally looked out the window.

But it wasn’t the reaction he’d expected.

“Eh…?”

Se-gi froze stiff.

No quest completion notification appeared.

Huh.

That word circled in his mouth.

There was no doubt—a dazzlingly fine day stretched before them, the vast horizon right before their eyes.

For Se-gi, it would be her first time seeing the sea, and that expansive landscape was stirring a feeling of wide-open wonder even in him, an adult—yet Se-gi seemed only bewildered.

Bewilderment surged within Jung-woo as well.

He’d expected at most a startled, excited reaction—how could he not feel this way?

She didn’t seem to find it pretty, and pressing her about it didn’t seem like the right move at the moment, so they arrived at their accommodation in a somewhat awkward atmosphere.

After unpacking at the hotel, it was time to get ready to head out.

“Se-gi, shall we go to the sea now?”

“The sea?”

“Yeah, we came to see the sea, remember?”

Se-gi fidgeted with her fingertips.

It wasn’t that she seemed unwilling.

The Se-gi that Jung-woo knew was a child who would state her opinions clearly and try to explain her reasons when she didn’t like something.

‘Then why?’

It was genuinely puzzling.

Sending her to the sea as things stood didn’t seem like the right choice for the child.

Worry gnawing at him, Jung-woo gazed at Se-gi quietly for a moment.

Then he asked.

“Se-gi, are you tired?”

Jung-woo knew such a question required care.

If he pushed too hard, driven by the need to carry out his planned itinerary, the child might feel pressured.

So he crouched down, met her eyes as if to say it was okay, and waited for her answer.

If she needed time, he’d give her all the time in the world.

Today was a day devoted to Se-gi.

After hemming and hawing, Se-gi finally spoke, glancing up nervously.

“…big.”

“Hm?”

Her voice was too small to hear clearly.

When he asked her to repeat it, she spoke a little louder.

“The sea… it’s too big…”

Se-gi hung her head low.

That was the moment.

“…Ah.”

Jung-woo felt as though he’d been struck in the back of the head.

His eyes went wide.

It was, truly, a reason he hadn’t anticipated.

‘The sea is too big.’

What could that even mean? One might ask.

But when the other party is a child—

A child who has never once seen the sea in her life—the answer changes entirely.

Think about it.

A child’s world ends at the limits of what that tiny body can see and hear.

A child’s understanding exists only within the scope of the world they can perceive, no matter how detailed an explanation you add.

And so, to Se-gi, the sea was something from beyond the world.

It was a new realm that surpassed the entirety of everything she had known up to now, overwhelming her perception with a scale she had never imagined.

Even for a child as sharp as she was, as eager to absorb information—how could textual descriptions of the sea’s width or depth possibly compete with the awe of confronting it in person?

It’s frightening because it’s unknown.

It’s frightening because it’s far bigger than imagined.

Yes—it was fear.

Jung-woo realized that Se-gi’s hesitation stemmed from fear.

And that was, without question, his own negligence.

Born five years ago already.

Until reaching that age, the edge of Se-gi’s world would have been the slum neighborhood of Nowon-gu in Seoul, and even after moving, it would have been the apartment complex and its surroundings—at best, the zoo.

Jung-woo was struck anew by how dust-sized the world Se-gi had lived in truly was.

It stung.

He’d resolved to do right by her, and yet he’d failed to expand her world by even that much—self-reproach surged from within.

And so he arrived at a conclusion.

‘This isn’t… just about seeing the sea.’

She was a child encountering the world for the first time.

At an age where the world was only as large as what a parent showed her.

This wasn’t simply a vacation—it was about introducing Se-gi to the sea.

For Se-gi, every one of these moments was an encounter with an unfamiliar world.

“If it’s too big… we might not be able to go home…”

So saying, the child glanced up nervously—and Jung-woo, now fully grasping what she meant, steadied his voice with effort.

“It’s okay. You’re going with Daddy.”

He took her tiny hand—so small he could wrap it with a single index finger—in his.

“Like this, we’ll hold hands, go see it, and come right back. Daddy’s a grown-up, so he knows the way home. Okay?”

So no matter how unfamiliar or enormous it was, there was nothing to worry about, he told her.

It was a tiny, adorable worry—and at the same time, the most serious worry in the world—and he hoped with all his heart that she could feel at ease.

Se-gi lifted her head.

She locked eyes with him, firmly.

Was her courage still not quite rising?

“Really…?”

“Yeah, really really.”

“Really really really…?”

The number of repetitions was directly proportional to the deficit of conviction, so he added even more certainty.

“Really really really really.”

Only then did courage bloom in Se-gi’s eyes.

She nodded with all her might.

“Okay…! I’ll try…?”

“Yeah, Se-gi’s amazing.”

“Hehe…”

They changed clothes.

Navy swimsuit, hat, shark tube, and even goggles—armed like a general, they stepped out of the accommodation.

They went to the sea.

Se-gi wore jelly sandals and stepped onto the soft, sinking sand of the beach.

It began from there.

Se-gi wrapped one hand firmly around Jung-woo’s index finger and stared straight ahead.

Swaaaaah—

They stood before the sea where the waves rolled in.

The tension of the moment of stepping into an unfamiliar world was visible in Se-gi.

The grip around his finger grew a little tighter than before.

But that moment of hesitation didn’t last long.

“Phew…!”

After a deep breath, Se-gi stepped forward, one foot at a time.

Toward where the white foam at the waves’ edge frothed and bubbled.

Toward where the traces remained, crossing into a separate world.

Toward where a new world began.

Walking together, step by step, beyond the boundary.

Chwaaaah!

“Eep!”

Startled by the waves tickling her ankles, she was then startled again—this time by the fact that nothing happened—and her eyes went wide.

At the sight of Se-gi looking up at him, Jung-woo laughed along.

After that, they waded into the sea together.

Ankles, calves, thighs, and up to her waist.

As her lower body submerged, the tube floated Se-gi on the water.

Se-gi surrendered herself to the rolling waves and let go of her tension.

She had succeeded in crossing into a new world.

“Whoa, I’m floating! Daddy! I’m floating!”

Now, at last, she smiled brightly.

“Se-gi. This is bobbing.”

“Bobbing!”

Jung-woo was able to fully capture the image of the child belatedly bursting into giggles, imprinting it on his retina.

A moment that would become a memory Se-gi would vaguely recall for the rest of her life whenever she heard the word “summer” was unfolding right before his eyes.

There were things that even a multi-megapixel camera couldn’t capture.

The crests of waves swallowing shattered sunlight, the smile of a fleeting moment—those could be caught.

But the child’s laughter drifting through that space, the heat of the sunlight beating down, the salty scent of the sea and the summer breeze blowing in—those were things that couldn’t be confined within a photograph.

An intensity that could only be complete when all five senses were engaged—that was this experience.

The summer of a five-year-old.

Now, at last, Se-gi had met summer.

It was so joyous that laughter spilled from Jung-woo’s lips as well.

Dding!

【[Special Quest: Se-gi’s World] triggered!】

【Show more of the world to your little treasure, who can only discover it through you! Let her imagination bloom in ever more vibrant colors!】

【Se-gi’s World (1/?)】

Jung-woo’s eyes flew wide open.

‘A special quest?’

It was a different concept from the basic quests.

This wasn’t one that led to an increase in summons—it was a quest that led to different rewards.

Its sudden appearance froze him for a moment, but it didn’t end there.

Dding!

Dding!

【”It’s summer! It’s the sea!” The child has faced the sea for the first time! Experiencing the breadth expressed in numbers firsthand is naturally bound to be special! [Great Caregiver (10/10)] *Collect stickers to unlock skills!*】

【[Great Caregiver (10/10)]. Congratulations! You’ve collected all the Praise Stickers!】

【A skill is being unlocked!】

【Skill: [Children Need Heroes!] is growing!】

At the same time, the summon stack was fully filled.

Bbeep—

Bbeep—

Bbeep—

Ppam!

After the clamorous sound effects—

【Slot 3 opened: Acquiring Shark Shadow Lord (S).】

【Shark Shadow Lord (S) is being summoned!】

Ppang!

The summon appeared.

Jung-woo looked toward the beach.

White mist billowed up in puffs, like an animated effect.

As it cleared, the summon’s form came into view.

Ppok!

A shark doll.

It had a cross-shaped scar under its left eye, small as a fingernail, and a fierce look.

It stood barely supported on disproportionately tiny legs, and as if wanting to advertise itself as an assassin, it wore a black scarf around what could be called its neck.

“Gah! A shark!!!”

It was the moment Se-gi let out an excited scream of shock.

Ppok!

The shark raised high a short dagger attached beside its fin.

“…?”

Jung-woo tilted his head.