Although the driver’s words might have seemed a bit nagging to an outsider, Wendy Lynch felt he was absolutely right.
Stone gambling was indeed no different from actual gambling—perhaps even riskier. After all, there was no real pattern to it. Making three hundred thousand today was purely thanks to her cheat code: the future emails. It had absolutely nothing to do with her own abilities or judgment. Without those emails, she would have one hundred percent missed out on that piece of Imperial Green.
Moreover, the messages from the future were always just fragments. If she hadn’t been tipped off that the black sand stone was guaranteed to be a bust, there was a high chance she would have caved to the crowd’s urging and kept cutting. With this kind of thing, quitting while ahead was the smartest choice.
"You’re right, sir," Wendy smiled at the driver. Then, she turned to Charlotte Lynch, her tone turning serious. "Charlotte, let’s just chalk today’s incident up to good luck. You can’t just go messing around with stone gambling in the future! Didn’t you see Mr. Sutton? Even as the vice president, he still made a bad call and lost hundreds of thousands in one go!"
Charlotte saw her sister’s stern expression and understood the gravity of the situation. She stuck out her tongue and nodded eagerly like a chick pecking at rice. "I know, sis! I was just saying. Besides, I don’t have the money to play around with stone gambling anyway."
Wendy shook her head helplessly and didn’t say anything more.
The car soon arrived at the entrance of Vulsan Thermal Sea Park.
Looking out, the entire park was shrouded in a vast white mist of steam, making it feel like a wonderland on earth.
"Wow—" Charlotte was instantly blown away by the sight of the drifting mist. "Wow, sis! This is so cool!" Excitedly spreading her arms like a bird freshly released from its cage, she twirled in the pervasive white fog. "Sis! Is this a wonderland? Look, look! We’re riding the clouds!"
Wendy felt the warm vapor washing over her face. The steam carried a strong but unobtrusive scent of sulfur, causing her pores to open up in comfort. She, too, was captivated by the unique scenery. In the distant valley, countless hot springs sent billowing white smoke rising into the air, converging into a spectacular sea of clouds that drifted slowly with the wind. A massive amount of steam hovered less than ten meters above their heads. It felt as though with just a slight reach, one could grab the Lyndales in the sky.
"It really is beautiful!" She couldn’t help but take a deep breath of the mineral-tinged air.
The two of them didn’t know that they were actually quite lucky this time; such misty landscapes were a rare sight. They could only be encountered when the wind was mild and the temperature was relatively low.
Entering through the ticket gates, they soon followed the flow of the crowd to the first attraction. Not far away, a massive circular spring was bubbling, BUBBLE BUBBLE. Next to it stood a sign: Big Boiling Pot. Many tourists were gathered around the spring. Everyone held a long rope woven from straw, with a mesh pocket at the end containing a few eggs, carefully lowering them into the scalding spring water.
Charlotte’s eyes lit up. "Wow! Hot spring boiled eggs! I saw this online! I heard the minerals get absorbed by the eggs, making them taste super delicious. Sis, I want to try this too!"
Although Wendy was noncommittal about that claim, since they were already there, they naturally had to experience it. They paid for two strings of eggs and mimicked the others, sinking them into the Big Boiling Pot. The boiling force of the spring was intense; the hands holding the straw ropes could feel the impact of the surging water.
A few minutes later, holding their piping hot eggs, the two found a stone bench and sat down. Charlotte impatiently peeled one open, blowing on it several times before popping it into her mouth, chewing with her cheeks puffed out.
"How is it?" Wendy asked with a smile.
Charlotte’s expression shifted from anticipation to mild disappointment. Swallowing the egg, she muttered softly, "It seems... no different from the ones Mom boils at home."
Amused by her cute reaction, Wendy laughed. "It was just for fun anyway. Did you really expect it to taste different?"
After wandering around for a while, they grew hungry and found a seat at a restaurant within the park. Just as they finished ordering, the chatter from a few tourists at the next table drifted over.
"Hey, you guys have no idea! A god-tier expert appeared at the stone gambling market this morning!" a man in a windbreaker said, his face animated. "A girl in her early twenties bought an unwanted black sand stone for sixteen thousand!"
"And then? What happened next?" his companion urged.
"Then she had a window cut on the spot—Imperial Green! All the veteran masters in the market were dumbfounded!" The man slapped his thigh. "A boss offered three hundred thousand to buy it right there. Guess what?"
"She sold it?"
"She sold it! The little girl didn’t even blink; she closed the deal for three hundred thousand instantly! But the craziest part came after!" The man in the windbreaker lowered his voice, which only made the people at the surrounding tables prick up their ears. "The boss who bought the stone wanted to keep cutting it on the spot, hoping to strike it rich with one slice! But with one cut, it was a total bust! A three-hundred-thousand stone ended up being worth maybe twenty or thirty thousand!"
"Damn! Really? That’s insane! Could it have been a setup?"
"Probably not. If it was a setup to buy a stone, the guy would have lost his temper by now."
Charlotte listened with unbridled excitement, whispering into Wendy’s ear, "Sis, they’re talking about you!" Her face was filled with vicarious pride.
Wendy paid no mind to the gossip.
After finishing their meal, the two went to visit other attractions like Spectacles Spring and Wishing Spring. In front of Wishing Spring, Charlotte even earnestly pressed her palms together, closed her eyes, and muttered a prayer.
"What did you wish for? Did you wish for a handsome boyfriend to fall from the sky?" Wendy asked curiously.
Charlotte giggled. "I wished for my sister to make a fortune and treat me to a life of luxury!"
The park was massive. Once they grew tired of walking, they found an open-air teahouse to rest and ordered the local specialty: clay pot roasted tea. Each of them was given a small red clay charcoal stove, with a ceramic pot roasting pleasantly hot over the embers. The boiling milk tea went BUBBLE BUBBLE, and as it roasted over the charcoal, the aroma of tea and milk grew increasingly rich. The taste of this clay pot roasted tea was certainly a lot better than the hot spring boiled eggs. Leaning back in their lounge chairs, the sisters sipped their tea while watching the clouds roll and Sylvia in the valley. It was the epitome of relaxation.
Late at night.
Charlotte had long since fallen into a sweet slumber.
Although Wendy was equally exhausted, she didn’t go to sleep right away. Her phone screen suddenly lit up; without her realizing it, the time had already struck midnight. She skillfully opened the email, but its contents made her blood run cold instantly.
[You have a letter from October 5, 2025]
[To think such an accident would happen right after leaving the hot spring hotel!]
[How could the parents not keep a close eye on such a young child!]
[However, the scenic park also bears a lot of responsibility. An eighty-degree Celsius hot spring pool, and it doesn’t even have a guardrail!]
[With severe burns over 80% of the body, who knows if the child will survive the critical period.]