Chapter 17
“Do you understand? Marriage is about finding a spouse who suits you. But on the flip side, it's also important that you yourself be someone the other person is satisfied with.”
“Oooh.”
“Strength? Being pretty? Hah! Then I’d already have enough husbands to go around this building twice!”
Slurp.
This damned coffee is impossible to quit, no matter how hard I try. It's just like cigarettes.
“Don't look down on men! The days when you could just wink and have them go all weak-kneed and ready to marry you are long gone—by a thousand years already!”
“T-then you should've done it back then.”
“......”
Lenea, who had been spitting as she passionately ranted, came to a dead stop at Kim Yang's cutting remark.
Then she brushed the dust off her apron and hurried outside.
“I-I can't leave the shop unattended for long, so I must be going.”
She ended up running away.
“A-ah! W-where are you going!”
Baek Yeonhwa, who had been seeking advice, wanted to grab Lenea, but she was so fast she was already gone.
In the end, Baek Yeonhwa was left all alone, glancing around nervously.
“R-really... is marriage by duel that hard?”
“......Come here and sit down.”
“Y-yes!”
Baek Yeonhwa hurriedly dragged a chair right up in front of me and sat down.
There were two chairs in the office, but when hers was taken, Kim Yang grumbled and went into the consultation room.
“B-Boss. Let's buy another chair already. Cheapskate.”
Thud.
After Kim Yang went into the consultation room, I wanted to ask Baek Yeonhwa something seriously.
“Why do you insist on marriage by duel so much?”
“......”
“Is it tradition? What was it again—what sect did you say you were from earlier?”
“It is the Taeguk Yin-Yang Sect.”
“Yes, that. Is marriage by duel a tradition in the Taeguk Yin-Yang Sect? Did your parents marry that way too?”
In cases like this, parental wishes often come into play. Especially in the old martial world, where tradition is valued.
“No, nothing like that.”
“Then why? Why are you so stubborn about marriage by duel? Do you want to prove your own strength?”
If that's the case, then that's also the wrong mindset about marriage, so I'll have to correct it.
Because a husband isn't a trophy for proving your own abilities.
After pondering it, Baek Yeonhwa sighed, rubbed a hand over her face, and carefully spoke.
“T-this is a real secret. Understood? If this gets leaked, I'll definitely hunt Meracle down to the ends of the earth—!”
“I said I got it. No need to threaten me.”
“......Actually, my martial arts are not entirely my own.”
Her martial arts aren't her own?
“The Taeguk Yin-Yang Sect is based on the harmony of yin and yang—”
“Ah, sorry, but I don't really know about that, so could you keep it simple?”
“......Put simply, there's yin energy and yang energy. Women are generally born with stronger yin energy, while men have stronger yang energy.”
This feels like I'm at a traditional medicine clinic.
Since Kim Yang is from the old martial world, I should've had her explain this.
“But I was especially born with strong yin energy. However, the Taeguk Yin-Yang Sect is a place where yin and yang must be in harmony. I needed yang energy strong enough to match my powerful yin energy.”
“So you needed a strong man?”
“......”
“No, I solved the yang-energy problem by boiling and eating a scale I received from the Azure Dragon when I was little.”
“......So it really is a major sect, huh?”
In effect, she'd eaten the body of a being practically called a god.
Her smugness lasted only a moment.
Baek Yeonhwa's expression darkened.
“But now I'm the problem. My yin and yang may be in harmony, but this power is so immense that I can't handle it carelessly.”
“So, in simple terms, you need a man who can subdue your power?”
“......Yes.”
“So marriage by duel is desperately needed?”
The reasoning made sense.
“Haven't you tried to restrain yourself?”
“I-I did! No, I've been trying my whole life! But... but it doesn't work! I-I'm already twenty-three! My friends are all already at the age where they would've been married ages ago!”
In the old martial world, people tend to marry quite young. That's why people from the old martial world are somewhat popular.
They're young, they enter the marriage market early, and on top of that they're conservative, so they only look at one person.
The downside is that, because they're conservative, there aren't many available candidates on the market.
“I heard Meracle is especially specialized in people who work on the hunter side! P-please! Okay?”
“Ahem.”
I crossed my arms.
I got the picture.
There was no need to insist on marriage by duel anymore.
Then this isn't dead stock anymore.
23 years old.
Good-looking.
A promising young master among the Ten Great Masters.
An eminent family.
Very tempting.
I could drool.
“Haa, difficult, but not impossible.”
“G-great hero!”
At some point, I'd become a great hero.
Not a bad feeling.
“Kim Yang!”
I called for her to bring the documents right away, but there was no answer.
“Just a moment.”
When I got up and went into the consultation room, Kim Yang was there with earphones in, playing on her phone.
“......What are you doing?”
“Huh? B-boss. You called me?”
“You're really into that lately. Go get the documents. Premium.”
“Aw, awesome.”
“That’s rich coming from you. Earphones during work hours? Hah, nice job.”
“B-Boss. B-buy a chair, or something. T-there're only two chairs in the office.”
“There are chairs in the consultation room, aren't there? We don't have money right now.”
“D-didn't we make a lot of money?”
I gave Kim Yang, who was tilting her head at me, a smug look.
“Kim Yang, investing means this: when it’s time to be aggressive, you have to be endlessly aggressive. This time Brimrak Smelter and Yonggakdoshin Clinic are in a bull market, so I’m dumping everything into them—!”
“Haa, boss. I-if my paycheck is late again this time, I-I won't sit still.”
“You give me info and still cause a fuss. Don't worry. I'll even throw in a bonus.”
“......”
Kim Yang, eyeing me suspiciously, stealthily held out her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“R-recording. One more time.”
“......No bonus for someone who doesn't trust me. Go get the contract.”
“Tch!”
A little later, I called Baek Yeonhwa into the consultation room and had her sit down.
On the table was the premium contract.
“Hoo, customer. Let me say this first. Truthfully, finding someone as strong as you want is more difficult than you might think.”
“Mm! I know!”
Know what, exactly?
Surprisingly, finding strong people is easy.
There are worlds on floors 3 through 6, after all.
The world is vast, and there are plenty of strong people.
Anyway, strength is a kind of credential, you know? Strong people usually have positions that match it.
“Just like I'm one of the Ten Great Masters of the martial world!”
“Exactly, customer!”
A capitalist smile spread across my face.
You and our young lady here are really hitting it off.
“Now then, would you like to take a look?”
I deliberately brought over a few profiles of male clients ranked S to A.
“This one is Kim Taeo. He's currently working as an assistant instructor at the Hunter Academy. He's A-rank. Doesn't he look dependable?”
“Hmm......”
“Hm?”
“He looks a little angular. His jaw is pretty square too.”
“Oh, right? He does have a somewhat hard-edged look. Now then, shall we look at this one?”
When I flipped to the next page, a profile of a handsome man in a martial arts uniform appeared.
“This is Mr. Mu Jincheon. As you know, he's famous even in the martial world—”
“This guy lost to me.”
“......”
“And he's a terrible bastard, too!”
Mu Jincheon is one of the Ten Great Masters too, though.
I quietly turned to the next page.
“This is Luca Bradford. He runs a very famous mercenary group even on the 6th floor. You know how the 6th-floor Cyber City is a place where one wrong move can get a hole blown through your head, right?”
“Ahem, but he seems like he might smell a bit. I'm sensitive to odors.”
“......”
“Especially gunpowder smells. I really hate those.”
Next.
“This is Edric Silverline. He's a half-elf, and his age is still—”
Someone who's more than 100 years older than me is a bit much.
Hoo.
What the hell is with this woman?
“Hey, Baek Yeonhwa.”
“Yes!”
“Please tell me your conditions. I'll introduce you to someone who fits them.”
It seemed better to hear her conditions and introduce someone that matched than to just give her random options.
But.
“Huh? They just have to be stronger than me. That's my only condition!”
Should I just kill her for real?
The problem was that this woman genuinely believed that about herself.
I'm incredibly good at spotting lies, but this woman didn't give off that kind of feel.
“Haa, fine.”
That settles it.
Let's get the contract signed first, then think about the rest.
If I kept talking, I felt like I'd start saying some harsh things.
Capital therapy was urgently needed.
“Shall we start with membership registration? The strong candidates you want are all pretty high-ranking, so you'll have to sign up for a higher-tier contract. It starts at 5 million won—”
“U, um—”
“Yes?”
“I'm still in the position of receiving pocket money, so I haven't been able to save up much.”
“......”
“So I'd like to go with the basic plan...”
Hoo.
Fair enough.
It makes sense.
Either way, she herself is S-rank material.
There were frustrating parts, but nothing that was actually a problem.
Just as I was catching my breath, Kim Yang hurried in with the documents.
“B-boss! He's here! Uga-uga!”
“What? No, why?”
Before I could even reply, an orc man filled the entrance to the consultation room.
“Huuuu! Boss! The woman you introduced me to last time dumped me! Next woman!”
“......Lord Galosh, you've already used up all your meeting quota for this month. You'll have to pay extra.”
“One more time! Woman! This time I'll do it right!”
Haa.
From time to time, customers like this came in, where communication just didn't work.
Just as I was wondering how to explain it, Baek Yeonhwa caught my eye.
It worked out well for both sides.
For Galosh, it'd be a lesson that he can't just cause a scene in someone else's business.
And for Baek Yeonhwa... it was a chance to make her realize she had a standard she didn't even know about.
“How about this one? This lady only looks at whether someone is stronger than she is—she doesn't care about anything else!”
“Ooh, pretty! Pretty! You, be my bride! I'm strong! Let's go! Let's have babies—”
“Uwaaaaaaah! You're uglyyyyy!”
A gust of wind blew.
The moment Baek Yeonhwa threw a punch, Galosh's body folded in half and he rolled across the floor before collapsing.
“......”
“......”
When Kim Yang and I looked at Baek Yeonhwa in confusion, she said between ragged breaths,
“H-he's—! Hah! Hah! W-weaker than me!”
“Do you normally strike first like that? Are you from the unorthodox sect?”
“S-sneak attack. That's dirty.”
......