A huge bus came to a halt in a certain village after driving for hours from a city called Ruby City.
The air felt cold and soothing, thanks to the fact that it had recently rained in the village a few minutes ago.
Meanwhile, Jason Whitmore stepped off the rusty bus with a soft grunt coming out of his mouth.
"Ugh—" He dragged his trolley bag across the dirt as he stepped forward, but he felt the cold wind caressing his body again.
He tilted his head slightly as he heard the sound of birds and the gurgling of a stream not too far from where he stood.
Jason glanced around and noticed several old wooden houses lining the narrow road in front of him.
There were also a few laundry lines fluttering in the breeze, with chickens proudly waddling around different people's yards as well.
Looking around, there was not a single car in sight.
There was also no noise.
And there was certainly no honking either.
The village just seemed quiet and peaceful.
Well, maybe it's a little too quiet, but it wasn't really all that bad.
Still, Jason couldn't help but wonder in his thoughts as he muttered to himself, "What am I even doing here?"
A few days ago, Jason had been living and struggling to survive on his own in the city before he had suddenly received a letter from his grandfather in the village.
His Grandpa, Humphrey, had begged him to come over to Brighton Village to run his spa as the new manager.
'Grandpa Humphrey said he had recently developed a chronic illness, so he couldn't continue to run the spa for now,' Jason uttered in his thoughts.
'But I wonder what type of illness it could have been for him to be unable to handle his physical work anymore.'
'Anyways, I hope he gets well soon.'
'Grandpa has always been really nice to me, so I don't really mind helping him out until he's well again.'
Based on his inner thoughts, it was easy to see that Jason had a really good relationship with his favorite Grandpa ever since he was little.
Currently, Jason was twenty-four years old, with messy black hair and a cool set of brown eyes.
He was around 180 cm tall and had a really good-looking face as well, so it was difficult for the ladies not to notice how handsome he was, which also perfectly matched his well-built body underneath.
However, his Grandpa had called him over because he heard Jason had recently dropped out of college a few months ago due to one reason or another.
He heard Jason had distanced himself even from his parents as he tried to live on his own by taking different odd jobs, which had sometimes allowed him to move around a lot.
In a nutshell, his Grandfather wasn't happy with how Jason had been struggling to survive on his own, and so he decided to bring Jason over to the village, hoping it would help him settle and live happily in this peaceful environment.
'Oh, well. Let's just focus on heading over to the spa for now,' Jason muttered in his thoughts as he pulled his mind out of his reverie.
"It's been years since I last visited Grandpa's spa, so I wonder if anything has changed since I last came to the village."
Jason looked at the address on his phone, and it led him to a path flanked by bamboo and massive moss-covered stones.
Upon arriving at the top of a slope, Jason noticed a small, two-story building that was sandwiched between thick trees and a hill wall.
There was even a carved wooden sign swaying above the entrance, with the name "Herbal Bliss Spa" carved on the wood.
Jason stood at the entrance for a few minutes as he tried to mentally prepare himself for his new life in the spa and the village in general.
But while he was doing this, Jason suddenly heard a familiar voice speaking to him.
"Oh, you're here? That's great. It's about time you showed up. But what took you so long?"
The deep voice came from inside the building, and Jason lifted his gaze to see his Grandpa stepping out from the entrance while wiping his hands on a small towel.
Grandpa Humphrey was shorter and balder than Jason remembered, but his Grandpa's smile remained the same and Jason couldn't help but smile at him as the two of them walked closer to each other.
"I'm sorry I was late, Gramps. You can blame the traffic for that," Jason replied with a wry smile.
"Oh really," his Grandpa snorted. "But there's only one road into the village, boy. So tell me the truth, Jason. You left home late, didn't you?"
Jason smiled and replied, "I took a nap on my way here and passed the village without even knowing. Luckily, the next village was only two hours away from here, so I didn't spend more than that on the road."
Hearing this, his Grandpa clicked his tongue with a smile on his face while shaking his head as well.
Then he wrapped his arm around Jason to give him a hug.
"It's good to see you again, kiddo."
"The feeling is mutual, Gramps," Jason replied, but then he looked past his Grandpa at the spa.
"It looks smaller than I last remembered."
"That's because you were younger at the time. But you'll get used to it once you've started working here."
Jason nodded in understanding, but just when he was about to ask about his Grandfather's well-being, he suddenly noticed a stunning lady stepping into the doorway.
Not only did she have beautiful, milky-white skin, her long black hair was also pulled into a perfect ponytail.
But what really caught Jason's attention was the blouse she wore which failed to hide the massive assets she had on her chest.
Aside from that, her blouse was tucked neatly into her black skirt, which also accentuated her perfectly shaped curves. But when their eyes met, the beautiful lady simply bowed respectfully toward him.