50 Matchmaking Agency

Then came the introductions of the Sovereigns.

Seo Hajin, the leader of the idol group 'Prism,' whose retirement was drawing near.

Money or looks.

Not only that, but these days agencies even train them in ideological screening, basic manners, and foreign languages, so calling her a jack-of-all-trades wasn't an exaggeration.

Of course, compared to the Lord Chancellor's son, she fell far short.

But that didn't diminish Seo Hajin's value.

The other person was simply on another level entirely.

The remaining Sovereign was also a man worth marveling at.

There were many heroes on the fourth-floor Lazesta Continent, but some were especially famous on the third floor.

One of them was the Archmage of Wind, Gellerwind.

Surprisingly, the remaining Sovereign was Gellerwind's direct disciple.

“My name is Reichen. Nice to meet you.”

A brief greeting.

A somewhat sturdy build for a mage, hair neatly slicked back, and glasses that looked a little severe.

He was the very image of a mage who prized efficiency over romance, no question.

After Reichen's brief self-introduction, the host brought the eventful introduction session to a close.

“Now then, please finish your meal. After a short break, we'll have separate one-on-one conversation time!”

The moment he said that, I shot to my feet.

There was only one reason.

It was to warn them about the camera mounted in Rex's eye.

If I blurted it out right there while the ceremony was still underway, it would be no different from screwing over Top Marriage.

Conversation among the guests was going smoothly. After all, the participants had come here to meet people in the first place.

There were hardly any participants stammering awkwardly or sitting there timidly.

Especially with the organizers' careful arrangements, it was easy to make small talk while going around to fill a plate at the buffet.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

But I was blocked partway through.

It was none other than Ophelia, the question machine and glasses girl, who blocked my way.

“You're Kim Juseon, right?”

“Yes, that's me.”

“I heard what you were saying earlier, and you seemed really thoughtful. Very gentle, too.”

“Ah.”

Damn.

Her eyes were clearly the eyes of someone who'd taken a liking to me.

But I couldn't brush her off.

“Thank you, but I—”

“Honestly, I don't know much about the other people here, but you seem different, Juseon. How do I put it—special?”

“Haha, what would be special about me? From the looks of it, Reichen? That guy seems way smarter. Why don't you talk to him—”

“Ugh, I hate that type. Besides, Gellerwind—”

After a brief pause, Ophelia put on her friendly smile again.

“No, no. He's just completely not my type. A kind of biological aversion? His mind is stiff and frozen, you know. Compared to that, you seem different, Juseon.”

It felt like her ample chest was inching closer and closer.

Then someone else cut in from the side.

“Juseon, I heard you used to be an aspiring hunter. Could you tell me a little about that time? The 111th class is basically legendary.”

The woman with bronzed, healthy-looking skin, Geum Bora. I remembered her as an instructor at the hunter training center.

Look at her, cutting in without hesitation just to ask.

Is this a gathering of people serious about marriage?

A battlefield where the weak can never survive?

And that was exactly what it was.

Because Ophelia was the one answering.

“Oh? Couldn't you ask Bora's seniors about that?”

“Come on, the instructors' perspective and the trainees' perspective are different. I'm just curious about a lot of things.”

“Uh, I actually need to go to the bathroom—”

Just as I thought it was hopeless and tried to brush it off and slip away.

Rex, passing by Ophelia, awkwardly twisted his leg and spilled a glass of wine.

“Whoops!?”

If left alone, the wine would spill.

An acceleration ability was handy at times like this.

I pulled her slightly toward me so the wine wouldn't spill on her and cleanly caught it, but the burst of acceleration seemed to have scrambled Ophelia's judgment.

“Huh? Huh?”

“What?!”

The two women with her finally caught on and turned toward Rex.

“Oh dear, I'm sorry. My leg just suddenly got tangled.”

Rex apologized awkwardly.

But the two women were already seeing red.

He'd piled up a mountain of bad impressions and had been waiting around like he just needed one of them to take the bait—only to get caught exactly like this.

“What is this, some kind of competition? You, cut it out.”

“What the hell is wrong with this bastard?”

“No, I said it was an accident.”

The three of them started getting snappy, and just before it looked like a fight would break out, the staff came over and began calming things down.

I seized the opening, went out of the hall, and looked for CEO Yoo Ji-hye.

CEO Yoo Ji-hye was on a call in a corner of the hallway, a cigarette in hand but not actually smoking it.

“Why would you send someone like that? No matter how much of a customer he is, this isn't okay.”

They went back and forth several times, but in the end Yoo Ji-hye still didn't seem satisfied; she let out a sigh and hung up.

Only then did she notice me standing behind her and jump.

“Ah, Juseon? Sorry. We didn't show a very good side of ourselves. Still, you handled it well.”

“What on earth is that guy?”

“……”

She fiddled with the cigarette between her fingers, looking conflicted, then asked with a bitter smile.

“Juseon, do you smoke?”

“Yes, I do.”

“I'm liking you more and more. Let's talk for a bit.”

With that, Yoo Ji-hye headed for the smoking area. I followed and added a word.

“That Rex guy has a camera in his eye. I think he's streaming live right now.”

“...Excuse me?”

Startled, Yoo Ji-hye nearly dropped her cigarette.

“It seems he's broadcasting on the Cyber City platform. You might not have known, but you need to be more thorough.”

“Ha... thanks. Today's been one embarrassment after another. All because of one slippery little loach.”

Yoo Ji-hye called a staff member on her phone and had them take care of it.

“It's fine, we'll kick him out. There'll be some noise, but it's already ruined anyway.”

We arrived at the smoking area together.

We both took drags from our cigarettes and let out the smoke.

“Juseon, you know what marrying up means, right?”

The sunset had already faded, and Yoo Ji-hye looked up, using the bright lights overhead as though they were moonlight.

Her expression was tinged with bitterness.

“Yes, I know. It means marrying someone above your own level, doesn't it?”

“Exactly. Then how many of the people who come to a matchmaking agency do you think are hoping to marry up?”

I answered impassively, while glancing at Yoo Ji-hye.

“Except for the very top tier... most of them, I'd say.”

“That's right. At most, only 5% don't hope to marry up. And those are either the absolute elite who know there isn't anyone above them, or the truly idealistic types who don't care about conditions at all.”

Tap, tap.

She tapped her cigarette ash into the ashtray.

“Juseon, how many of the customers who came today do you think actually came to get married?”

“...Huh? Well—”

“For starters, both of the Sovereigns came without any intention of getting married. Want to guess who they are?”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at your face go stiff.”

I had no intention of solving a quiz.

Wanting to find out what she meant, I even forgot that the lit end of my cigarette was getting close to my fingertips.

“Who'd want to marry down? At the very least, they'd want to meet someone on their own level.”

“……”

“Most of the people who came today are new members. You saw how overly aggressive they were, right? That's because it's their first time.”

She took out another cigarette and put it to her lips. A troubled sigh came out with the smoke.

“So think of them as bait. The Nobles will look at the Royals, and the Royals will look at the Sovereigns and think for themselves.”

Ah.

“If I'm in Top Marriage, maybe I can marry people like that too.”

I swallowed hard.

I made an effort to flick the ash from the cigarette in my hand.

“Juseon, paradoxically, a matchmaking agency makes money when its customers can't get married. Because it keeps matching them and collecting matching fees.”

“……”

“I told the Sovereigns that. If they'd take a seat for us once, we'd set them up with definitely better matches next time—for free.”

The puzzle pieces began snapping into place in my head.

They were in the same banquet hall, but the gap was a little too extreme.

But once the inside story came out, my head grew hotter than I'd expected.

To the point that even the breeze outside couldn't cool it down.

“Juseon, we're not here to play Cupid, are we?”

We’re—

Businesspeople.

Having finished her cigarette, she flicked the second one into the trash can with a grin.

The artificial lighting shone down on her head, lending the scene an uncanny feel.

“Want to guess who suddenly showed up today?”

“It must be Young Master Cheon Jong.”

“Wow, Juseon, you're really capable. That's right, he firmly believes the marriage market is all about romance. Love between low status and high status...? Well, that's good for us. I hope it works out, since then we'd have a case study.”

Thanks to Top Marriage, I married the son of the old martial world's Lord Chancellor!

A jackpot marriage that turned my life around!

I could already see the enticing slogan.

“Rex is part of that too. One of our Sovereign clients slipped him in on their behalf. That way—”

“Then you'd agree to go on one date we wanted, right?”

“Exactly.”

“So that's why you brought me here today?”

“……”

“There was the scouting matter too, but even if I ended up ruining things as a wildcard—”

“A few new members lost, and that would be the end of it. It'd be unfortunate, but unavoidable. Though I didn't expect the loach to be someone else.”

Yoo Ji-hye shrugged and patted me on the back.

“Shall we go, then?”

But I stood there frozen, stared at Yoo Ji-hye for a moment, and nodded.

“I'll answer the question you asked earlier now.”

“Pardon?”

The scouting matter.

“I refuse.”

* * *

“Hah! Hah! Fuck! Crazy bastards! How the hell did they know I had a camera installed in my retina?!”

The building's emergency staircase.

Rex broke into a cold sweat and tried to catch his breath.

He'd been able to subdue the staff member and get away with the stun device attached to his body, but in the end the plan had gone up in smoke.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuuuck—!”

- Wire-Eating Bear: lololol

- Module Destroyer: Look at this chase.

- cy148: Big upvote for Rex, who looks like he's dying of stomach pain over the failed mission.

- Anonymous User: What are we gonna do lol

Seeing the chat flood in with mockery, Rex clenched his fist hard.

And with the staff below calling out for him, he had no choice but to run up the stairs.

- Bilangsi: Give up?

A matter-of-fact question.

Even as he climbed the stairs, more missions kept appearing before his eyes.

[Mission!]

Pour alcohol on Ophelia's head.

- 100,000 coins-

[Mission!]

Kick any man's groin.

- 200,000 coins-

[Mission!]

Throw the first punch at Kim Juseon.

- 300,000 coins-

[Mission!]

Go to a hotel with idol Seo Hajin

- 500,000 coins-

How much is that in total?

If he succeeded at all the missions, he'd earn in a single day the money it would take years of grueling work to make.

“Give up? Not a chance, Mr. Bilangsi.”

An amount he could never give up, even if he died here.

Opening the door and stepping out onto the rooftop, Rex declared firmly.

“I'll give it a shot—”

- LowerFloorEnslaver: ?

- Anonymous User: ?

- qwer1234: ?

- Professional Florist: ?

- cy148: ?

A flood of '?' messages poured in.

Rex, too, couldn't finish his sentence and just blinked blankly.

Because.

“Huh?”

Because there was already someone standing on the rooftop, backlit by the moonlight.

Dressed in the old martial world's attire, but in a pure, patternless black.

A dark mask that covered even the eyes, leaving only the shape of the face visible.

While everyone was still in shock, one chat message popped up.

- Bilangsi: That's an assassin.

- Bilangsi: Looks like we're getting a snuff film.

Calmly.

As if it had nothing to do with him.

It was a clean, tidy message, but it was the most chilling chat Rex had seen so far.

- Bilangsi: It was fun while it lasted, Rex.

“Report: variable detected.”

Though dressed in the old martial world's clothing, his voice was alien, as if laced with static.

“Observation: unrelated to the assassination target. Assessment: risk of exposure. Request: eliminate the variable.”

“Huh? Huh?”

“Approved.”

The woman's right arm turned into a blade as she lunged at Rex.

“Aah, aah—!”

The scream he let out like a child eventually turned into a death cry and vanished.