Chapter 26
The story continues off the page
Floaties for Everyone
Swim lesson at the water park, and she's demonstrating on you
Ryu Seoram and I sat facing each other at a café near the Wolfguard Tactical Solutions headquarters.
Since Ryu Seoram was paying, I ordered the menu item with the ridiculously long name right away.
If I offered to buy coffee, Kim Yang would always order it, and the soft cream paired pretty well with the sweet coffee.
'Not really my taste.'
“You got a girlfriend or something?”
Ryu Seoram, legs crossed, stared hard at my drink.
“What are you talking about.”
“They say when men start eating that kind of thing, it means they’ve got a girlfriend. Since they get dragged around to cafés and all.”
“……One of my employees drinks it a lot, so I tried it this time.”
Embarrassing.
It felt like I was some adult caught buying a toy for a kid.
“Well, getting to the point. You didn’t happen to buy Wolfguard stock, did you?”
“Why are you sprinkling salt on an open wound?”
“Pfft.”
Ryu Seoram grinned and kept nudging me with her toe under the table.
“How much did you lose? I hear the disaster sent all the stocks into a downturn. Is that true?”
“……I said it hurts, so stop sprinkling salt on it.”
It would’ve been a relief if only Wolfguard had taken a hit, but when a disaster like this happens, stocks usually fall across the board.
A total of 30 million won.
That was the money I had parked in stocks.
And how much of that was invested in Wolfguard Tactical Solutions?
A whopping 10 million won.
It was now down -78.6%.
A miracle where 10 million won had turned into 2.14 million won.
I had my own pretty reasonable reasons for putting it into Wolfguard Tactical Solutions.
“Ah, damn... this time, with the Baekdu Pharmaceutical issue, stocks related to beastkin safety and security shot way up.”
Baekdu Pharmaceutical’s wild-man scandal.
It was money I’d buried there in advance, hoping to make a little profit from being the one who exposed it.
But thanks to that Azure Dragon bastard, things ended up like this.
“Still, aside from Wolfguard, the losses probably aren’t that bad, right?”
“Well, that’s true. Disaster-related stocks usually recover pretty quickly.”
Wolfguard was a special case, so I wasn’t sure whether it would recover.
“But the problem is I have to pay employee salaries in a few days. Ugh, if I pull it out now, I’ll take a loss.”
“Tsk, idiot.”
“Ahem... so, about that, Seoram—”
Ryu Seoram immediately held up her middle finger.
“Nope, not lending you any.”
“Really? You think I don’t know you get at least 500 million won deposited into your account every month?”
“If that’s the case, then come work with me. I’ll hire you as an employee.”
“Ah, seriously...”
The guy kept tapping away under the table with the tip of her shoe. For some reason, they seemed to be in a good mood today.
“Did your baseball team win?”
“How did you know? Our two idiots actually managed a comeback for once.”
Ryu Seoram was a huge fan of the Daeheung Bear Force.
They were in a suit because they’d come straight from work, but usually they wore a baseball jacket.
“So Bear Force can actually win, huh.”
“You want to die?”
Buzzz! Buzzz!
Ryu Seoram’s phone kept buzzing.
Looks like their break was over, because they stood up from their seat.
“Anyway, I’m heading out soon.”
“Still, bodyguarding a singer doesn’t seem like something you’d do.”
“The Association asked me. They said they’d pay a lot, so I’m doing it.”
It probably wasn’t just the Association; I suspected Yoo Ye-na had gotten involved too.
Before leaving, Ryu Seoram added one more thing while looking my way.
“Hey, I’m serious. When Meracle is dead empty, come over and make some pocket money for us as a part-timer. I’ll pay you handsomely.”
“……What’s the hourly wage?”
“How about around 100,000 won?”
“Should I call you boss?”
100,000 won an hour meant 1 million won for ten hours?!
“Heh, punk. You’re not coming anyway, and you still talk big.”
* * *
“I’m back.”
After finishing the protest and returning to the office, it was already 4 p.m.
Now there was only one hour left until quitting time.
- Through the softly ringing bells~ may this winter belong to just the two of us today~
When I went inside, Kim Yang and Renea were dancing with a phone on the stand.
It was a Christmas carol, and as fate would have it, it was the song by ‘Owl’ that I’d just heard earlier.
“What are you two doing?”
“B-boss is here!”
“W-wah! N-no! It’s not like I did it because young people these days do this and I thought maybe if I copied them, I’d feel younger or anything!”
“Yeah, right-.”
I stared at them in disbelief and sat down. On the desk was a letter that reeked of the 5th Floor.
“Sigh, this again?”
Since it was here, I might as well read it.
Maybe because this was the only thing learned from the Azure Dragon, but the fixation seemed to be getting a little stronger-.
“Hm? It says a photo is enclosed, but there isn’t one.”
“Oh, there wasn’t one. It didn’t come.”
“Really? Must’ve gotten left out somewhere along the way.”
I did get a slight chill at the back of my head.
Still, it wasn’t anything important, so let’s move on.
Renea was staring at Kim Yang intently.
But why was that old lady here?
“But why are you here, Ms. Renea? Aren’t you going home?”
“I-it’s boring if I stay home!”
“Do you think this is Tapgol Park or something? Go to a senior center and play baduk or something.”
“I’m a guest here. A premium one at that.”
“-ro 22-line acrostic. I’ll give it a shot.”
“Go ahead, Top.”
Ahem, she awkwardly cleared her throat and immediately rummaged through the file binder and pulled one out.
“Oh, right. I found a man to match you with this time.”
“Top.”
“Would you like to see him? He is C-rank, but—”
“Top.”
“He is a little older. But honestly, it’s a bit funny for Ms. Renea to be picky about age, so—”
“Top.”
“……”
As expected of an old lady, once she latched onto something, she bit down and absolutely wouldn’t let go.
“B-boss. Here.”
Just then, Kim Yang came over to me and blocked Renea from view. This is why you pay employees.
What Kim Yang handed me was a Post-it note.
A phone number was written on it.
“What’s this? Is it the client’s contact information?”
“I-it’s this person.”
He also handed over the client list binder.
Name: Seo Jin-mi.
Age: 41.
Origin: 3rd Floor.
Occupation: insurance agent.
.
.
.
Overall: E-rank.
“Why this person?”
“S-she called and said to change the boss.”
“……In cases like that, it’s usually just a complaint, so you should handle it.”
She still didn’t really understand this whole ecosystem—
“Ah, I know.”
“……”
“I-it’s just that I don’t want to do it.”
“Hey.”
“A-auntie, y-you’re super loud.”
“Sigh, this one’s personality is a bit much.”
There was no way I could just not call.
When I pressed the call button, Renea poked her head out from beside the armrest.
“Acrostic. Top.”
Damn, this old lady was seriously persistent.
The call was answered quickly.
“Hello, customer. Good afternoon. This is Kim Juseon, CEO of Meracle. I heard you were looking for us.”
- Ah, you finally called. No, is it really okay for a boss to run things like this?
“What exactly is the issue?”
“Top.”
I gestured to Kim Yang, and he promptly brought over the male profile binder he’d matched with Seo Jin-mi.
Name: Bakelende.
Age: 43.
Origin: 4th Floor (Viking tribe warrior)
Occupation: construction worker
.
.
.
Overall: E-rank.
- You’re introducing me to some lowly laborer like that? What? Do you even know what kind of values that man has? Seriously! He thinks of women as his personal property!
“Ah, yes. Since he’s from a Viking background, I suppose—”
“Top.”
- Completely soaked in patriarchal thinking! He has a bushy beard too, and he’s older than me. What is this? I thought Meracle would be different?
Honestly, if there was one thing hardest about running a matchmaking agency, it was that people had no self-awareness.
I tapped Mr. Bakelende’s special notes with my finger and asked,
“But customer, when I spoke with him, Mr. Bakelende seemed rather gentle for a Viking. He’s considerate in his own way, too, and he’s lived on the 3rd Floor for a long time.”
- That’s the problem too! No, why are you introducing me to a construction worker? Didn’t you write down how much I make properly? I earn 7 million won a month!
“Yes, customer. That’s what you’ve earned before. When you look at the average monthly wage, it’s around 2 million won.”
If the average comes out like that, it means there are often times when you don’t make much at all.
“Mr. Bakelende has about seven years of field experience, so he earns 5 million won, and when things get busy, he often makes 6 million won as well.”
- Ha... Anyone can make money if they work with their bodies.
“Top.”
- Ugh! And who keeps going tap tap this whole time? Are you even the boss?
“Is that directed at me right now?”
Ah, shit.
The Elf Queen had very sharp ears, and for someone who was 1,901 years old, she moved remarkably quickly.
She immediately leaned this way and shouted into the phone.
“Are you saying that to me right now?! I am a premium customer here! You’re the one causing the interference, you idiot!”
- What? B-brat? You little bitch! How old are you!
“I am 1,901 years old! What, do you have a problem with that?!”
- 1,901 years old? Just from your voice, you sound young, so how dare you mock an adult!
Customer Seo Jin-mi screamed hysterically.
And then.
“Ehehe, I-I do look a little young, don’t I?”
“……”
Fuck, at this point, isn’t this dementia?
Does dementia hit her by the second because she’s 1,901 years old?
Look at her, forgetting the fight just now and grinning because she’s been told she looks young.
- Ah, forget it! I’m done with this now, so just cancel my membership.
“Then, customer, would you please pay this month’s membership fee and the additional matching fee?”
- ……Didn’t I already pay that?
Kim Yang immediately brought over the ledger.
“You haven’t paid anything at all.”
- Ahem, b-boss. Actually, I have money coming in two days from now, so if I pay then.
“That won’t do. If your payment is late, we can’t pay our employees’ salaries either.”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Kim Yang immediately started making a motion as if he were banging his head against the air.
“W-wages! B-beef! P-pa-se! H-headbutt!”