Chapter 93
The story continues off the page
Floaties for Everyone
Swim lesson at the water park, and she's demonstrating on you
Namgung Yeon entered Counseling Room No. 1.
The atmosphere was so different from the old Meracle that he briefly forgot what he'd been agonizing over just moments ago.
“Is this truly Meracle? So much has changed without my knowing.”
“Well, I guess so. Looks pretty good, doesn’t it?”
I was about to puff myself up and brag some more, but the admiration stopped right there.
Yes, it had changed, but not enough to make a huge fuss over.
Of course, to someone like Namgung Yeon, who'd lived in the old martial world’s Namgung Family and in conglomerate Helight, it wouldn't be enough to leave him impressed.
Still, compared to how it used to look like a smuggler’s office, it had changed a lot.
Couldn't he have given me a chance to brag a little more?
Once we sat down, Kim Yang, who had followed behind me, poked her head in and asked,
“Tea? Coffee?”
“I’ll have coffee.”
If not now, I'd have to brew my own coffee too.
“Ah, I’d like coffee too, please.”
After Kim Yang took the order and left, I asked in confusion.
“...You drink coffee too? You used to never even touch the stuff.”
“Haha, that’s right. I remember going to coffee shops and only drinking tea.”
People from the old martial world usually didn’t care much for coffee.
I don’t know about the upper class, but among martial artists there was some nonsense about tea, packed with caffeine, harming inner energy.
I had no idea whether it was true; it sounded like pseudoscience.
“But Lady Jessica likes it. Haha, I kept tagging along with her to cafés, and before I knew it I was drinking it too.”
“...”
“This is why some kind of bond seems so important. Since the one I adore enjoys it, I ended up drinking it too.”
Watching Namgung Yeon scratch his head and look embarrassed, I oddly didn’t feel good about it.
Just a moment ago he’d been going on about feeling guilty toward Jessica.
And now he was bragging about their relationship.
Kim Yang served the coffee with a blank expression.
Without saying a word, she swept out, and oddly enough Namgung Yeon looked nervous.
“Phew, that young lady is always so fierce.”
“Huh? Kim Yang?”
“Yes. Boss, are you all right? I find her a bit scary.”
“What’s there to be scared of about Kim Yang?”
“Her atmosphere is cold, isn’t it? More like icy... She seems irritated just when someone talks to her.”
“...?”
Was he mistaking Kim Yang for someone else?
“Ugh, so I get a little scared every time I see her. She was also the one I saw when I was at my most vulnerable.”
Should I retrain the staff?
It wasn’t right for a customer to be scared of an employee.
“I’ll have a word with her separately.”
“No, you don’t have to go that far—”
Namgung Yeon sipped his coffee awkwardly. As expected of a young master from a prestigious family, he frowned at the instant coffee, which was basically a sugar bomb, and set it down.
“So. What do you mean it’s hard to see Jessica?”
I decided to cut to the chase.
Maybe because of Namgung Yeon, who’d been cuddling with Jessica and stirring up everyone around them, but every little thing he did felt annoyingly smug.
“Sigh, it’s because of that movie. A new film came out by a director Lady Jessica’s a fan of, so we went to see it together a few days ago.”
Movie <Afterglow>.
The title was Afterglow, but because of the leads’ affair, it was burning hotter than anything else.
“I experienced it firsthand through something called S.E.L. Huh, what on earth is this? Even after the movie ended, I felt like I was the one having an affair, didn’t I?”
“...No?”
At my tentative question, Namgung Yeon immediately sprang to his feet and held out his left hand.
“You know better than anyone how I feel about the young lady! I swear I’ll never let anyone but you take this hand!”
“Yes, well.”
Even though I knew how the two of them had gotten together, I still asked on the off chance.
A person's feelings can blaze up in an instant and disappear in an instant, can’t they?
“Then there’s no need to feel guilty about it separately.”
“Boss, have you experienced S.E.L.?”
“No.”
It cost 100,000 won just to watch that once.
I’d rather buy another share of Shillasa stock than watch that thing.
Namgung Yeon, as if he’d expected that, began explaining with exaggerated excitement.
“It wasn’t just some simple play. The emotions of the male actor and the female actor pulled me in completely... Even after it ended, the hardship, conflict, and guilt they went through remained inside me.”
“So it’s hard for you to see Jessica?”
“Yes, that’s right. It feels like I’m committing a sin. My heart races because I’m worried the secret will be exposed—!”
“There isn’t actually any secret, though?”
“Y-yes! That’s the problem! There isn’t! There’s really nothing to be found out!”
I understood the feeling behind all that spit-flying preaching, but I couldn’t just sympathize with it blindly.
“If everyone else were like that, maybe. But it doesn’t seem like anyone else is saying that.”
“That’s—”
“From my point of view, you’ve only stayed in the old martial world, and after feeling Cyber City’s stimulating side, you seem to have gotten a bit sensitive.”
“...You think so?”
Apparently he’d been thinking something similar to me, because he accepted it more easily than expected.
“Yes, I think that might be it. For now, why don’t you talk to Jessica first—”
Bang!
The counseling room door suddenly flew open.
Standing there was Jessica, breathing hard as if she’d run here.
“Daehyeop!”
“Young Lady!”
Jessica threw herself into Namgung Yeon’s arms.
Like a scene from a movie, the two of them hugged each other as if they had been apart for months.
Then Renea and Kim Yang poked their heads into the counseling room.
“Good grief... This lady has never seen anything like this before.”
“A-a customer is here.”
“I know. I’m looking right at it.”
The two of them locked eyes while still clinging to each other.
“I’m sorry, Daehyeop! I didn’t consider your feelings and told you we should watch a movie like that!”
“Y-young Lady! How did you know I was worried because of the movie?!”
“I looked into it, and it turns out some people from the old martial world are heavily affected by S.E.L. The moment I heard that, I realized it! Ah, Daehyeop. I’m sorry, Daehyeop!”
“It’s nothing, Young Lady! This Namgung Yeon still lacks sufficient training—”
“Hey, Kim Yang-ah. Bring me some salt.”
I really can’t stand watching this.
“N-no salt. Is sugar okay?”
“Just bring whatever you have.”
Renea would clean it up anyway.
I was going to sprinkle it on them and drive them off.
“Daehyeop!”
“Young Lady!”
“Daehyeeeop!”
“Young Ladyyy!”
They were calling to each other, and then suddenly—
“Ah, fuck! How can you go that far in here?! Cut out the tongue-kissing, you bastards!”
“Aaaah!? This lady has really never seen anything like that before!”
“Whoa!”
* * *
After kicking out the ugly couple.
The heat still hadn’t died down in Meracle.
“Why the hell did you come here?”
Because she couldn’t stay in Cyber City, and she couldn’t go back to the Namgung family either.
I understood that she’d gone around and around and ended up here in the end.
But seeing the two of them work it out properly in the end made me feel like I’d been punched in the gut.
Renea marveled as she vacuumed up the sugar I’d scattered.
“Wow, we got to see something good.”
“What do you mean ‘something good’?”
“Why? Do you think seeing something like that is easy? How fascinating.”
“Unbelievable.”
“This lady is going to get to try it someday... I should have put in more effort then.”
When I shot her a sharp glare after Renea’s low mutter, she squeaked, “Eek!” and ran off.
Apparently, she’d been thinking about how disappointing it was that her attempt to kiss me when we went to the hot springs last time had fallen through.
“Ah, the day has barely started and I’m already this tired.”
And there wasn’t even a single customer in the lobby. I walked over to Raychen, who was still there, and asked,
“Do we have any separate reservations today?”
“There’s one person this afternoon.”
“Sigh... that’s troublesome.”
It felt like a stock that had been surging suddenly stalled. Overall membership was still increasing, but lately the growth had slowed.
It felt like just yesterday we’d been happy to be chasing Top Hone, Wedding Company, and Royal Matching.
Tok! Tok! Tok! Tok!
“...”
“...”
I was checking the reservation schedule, but messages kept pinging from the interface beneath the computer.
Looks like they were Raychen’s personal messenger.
“Unlike at the company, you’re very busy?”
“I’ll tell Dajung to refrain from contacting you during work.”
“Eh, forget it.”
I patted her shoulder and let out a sigh.
“There are no customers anyway, so you might as well date. How’s it going these days?”
“Sort of... no, actually, quite—yes, it is.”
Raychen trailed off, sounding embarrassed.
Raychen definitely felt more human than before.
“Call me right away when a customer comes in. Got it?”
“Yes, understood. Ah, and Boss.”
“Yeah?”
Just as I was about to head up to the third floor, Raychen called out to me. With one foot on the stairs, I looked over, and Raychen cautiously made a request.
“May I have lunch on my own?”
“A date? Suit yourself.”
“Thank you.”
After going up to the third floor, I sat down irritably in the office.
“Romance really has the upper hand. Really.”
First Namgung Yeon, and now Raychen. Why not just advertise that you’re all dating?
“Y-yeah, it is, y-you idiot.”
“...”
“W-we’re a matchmaking agency.”
“Right, it is.”
It was funny, really, how I ran a matchmaking company yet still got irritated watching other people date.
Kim Yang, probably because of what had just happened, was looking at viewer reactions and critic reviews for <Afterglow>.
- It’s fun. So tense I felt like I was watching a suspense film.
- Love is truly beautiful.
- A godawful indirect NTR movie.
- It suddenly brought back memories of an old flame.
[Expert Reviews]
- The most beautiful emotional snuff film Zeke Pulan has ever made. (★5.0)
- Some call it beautiful. Some call it unpleasant. We’ve already lost to the film. (★4.5)
- A work that pushes S.E.L. to the extreme. However, the stimulation is excessive. I fear the film has already crossed into addiction territory. (★1.0)
- Who do you empathize with? For one, it wasn’t the protagonist. (★0.5)
“The reactions are hugely divided.”
The movie reviews were divided to an astonishing degree.
“I-I’m curious.”
“You want to see it?”
“Y-yes.”
Maybe because she was an influencer, Kim Yang was very sensitive to trends. She stared up at me blankly, so I answered with a smile.
“Buy it with your salary and watch it.”
“...”
Then what, was I supposed to pay for movie tickets at the office too?
Right when it was easiest to ignore Kim Yang’s stare, a message came in from Raychen.
- Raychen: Boss.
- Raychen: A customer has arrived.
- Raychen: They say it’s an acquaintance.
“An acquaintance?”
I had just come upstairs, but I headed back down again.
Because Kim Yang’s gaze had turned sharp.
The one standing in the lobby after I was shoved back down by sheer pressure was—
“Daehyeop!”
Baek Yeonhwa came hopping over to me and hugged me on the spot.
She hit me so hard that I staggered back several steps from the impact.
“Ugh?!”
“Daehyeop! Daehyeop! Daehyeeeop! I’m finally back! Ahh, your scent, Daehyeop!”
She started sniffing, burying her nose in my chest. I had heard that, thanks to Axis being subdued, the special ban on her going up to the third floor had been lifted.
She came back sooner than I expected.
I was a little embarrassed and quickly pulled away from her; Baek Yeonhwa stepped back, looking regretful.
But that didn’t stop her from acting so aggressively.
“Daehyeop! I’ve studied third-floor dates inside and out! Do you have time today, by any chance?”
Research?
Now that Cheon Jeong-rok was gone, it seemed she’d been devouring books about dating.
Her habit of blindly trusting books really didn’t seem to be getting any better.
Anyway.
What Baek Yeonhwa pulled out was none other than a ticket.
“Ta-da! I heard the ultimate classic date is going to the movies!”
And it was a ticket to <Afterglow>, 100,000 won apiece, and something that was supposedly hard to get these days.
“When you’re done with work today, come watch the movie with me!”
Without even knowing what the movie was about, she’d picked it simply because it was famous, and now cheerfully asked me out on a date.