Chapter 97
“Yaaawn.”
Outside the window, I stared blankly while yawning.
Lately, a stretch of lazy days had been continuing.
The reason I didn't even have to think about going out for designated-driver work was the sword ‘Danya’ that Yuyeona had given me.
Besides, I’d been through a lot recently, and I’d even made 1 billion won. It was fine to take it easy, wasn’t it?
The Yeo-eum Association’s momentum was fading too, so customers were slowly starting to come back.
“When the time’s right, I’ll spend some money and run an ad campaign.”
Once enough time had passed and our image had been refreshed, I planned to start marketing in earnest.
Is this why celebrities screw up and then quietly lie low to reflect?
Hoping time would sort everything out on its own?
“A-a little more. L-like this.”
“Like this? Like this? Ba-bam!”
“It’s harder than I thought, isn’t it? Ta-da!”
“……”
Still half-reclined, I swiveled my chair around. When I turned my gaze from the window side to a corner of the office, there were three people practicing a dance.
Kim Yang, Renea, and Baek Yeonhwa.
In front of a phone stand, the three of them were repeating an idol dance for about ten seconds.
“What are you doing at the company?”
As the boss, I couldn’t just let that slide.
“If you’re going to do that, clean the office. Or at least post anonymously on some community board or something. Aren’t Tophon and Wedding Company old news these days? Meracle looked a little better. Stuff like that.”
“W-we’re filming Shorts.”
Kim Yang grumbled.
Yeah, I knew, didn’t I?
“Why are you filming that here?”
“P-promotion.”
“What promotion? Are we some kind of idol agency?”
Just look at them, ignoring me and moving on.
Since I also had nothing to do, I tilted my head and walked over to watch.
“A-ah, mister. This is a place for k-kids to play.”
“I’m not old enough to be called ‘mister.’”
“T-then shave your beard.”
“……I shaved this morning, but it grew back.”
Feeling awkward, I rubbed my rough jaw and watched the three of them dance.
“Ha! Ha! Ha! How is it, Great Hero?”
The fluttering training robes looked nice, but if I had to be strict, Baek Yeonhwa looked like she was doing a martial arts form.
“Who are you fighting?”
“……”
“Not very convincing.”
She immediately pouted and tapped my arm, voicing her hurt feelings.
“It’s fine! If you keep practicing hard like this lady, you’ll someday reach the next realm!”
Renea, who had tried following Kim Yang a few times, was moving fairly convincingly. But when a move that strained her knee came up, I frowned.
“Watch your joints. Part-time work doesn’t even come with separate insurance coverage.”
“What?! This one doesn’t even get insurance?!”
“I-it’s insured. N-not getting it would be illegal.”
Got me.
Of course I had it insured.
It was only because Renea had signed without reading like an idiot. Meracle wasn’t that exploitative.
“B-b-boss. Y-you do it.”
“What?”
I was so dumbfounded I tried to back away, but Baek Yeonhwa wrapped her arm around mine tightly and smiled brightly.
“Sounds good! Please show us once, Great Hero!”
“No, wha-.”
“Don’t run away, loser!”
In the end, I got dragged in and ended up standing in the center of the shot.
The two who took positions on either side gave me a quick rundown on the pose, but I still had absolutely no desire to do it.
A sound from the computer told me a message had come in.
It was a message from Raychen in the lobby saying a customer had arrived.
“Ah, looks like a customer came.”
“I-I’ll go.”
Kim Yang immediately rushed ahead. If only she were that proactive all the time, how nice would that be?
Before leaving the office, Kim Yang said she’d come back and inspect it later, then left.
“Great Hero! Put your arms like this, like this!”
“L-loosen your legs a bit—ooh, boss, you’ve got some muscle on you?”
“You crazy old lady, that’s sexual harassment.”
Look at her, groping my thigh while sounding impressed.
Baek Yeonhwa, listening from the side, poked me with a finger too and marveled.
“Come to think of it, do you work out separately, Great Hero?”
“I used to for a while. Lately I’ve been too busy, so I’m taking a break.”
At my answer, Baek Yeonhwa massaged it a little more and tilted her head.
“Hmmm, Great Hero. Wouldn’t you like to work out with me?”
“Work out?”
“Yes! Ah, right! I can also teach you some Taeguk Eumyangmun forms. Since you don’t have inner energy, things like inner methods or lightness techniques would be difficult, but I can definitely teach you external techniques.”
Training?
A prestigious martial family from the old murim.
Even getting a chance to learn from the direct line was something money couldn’t buy.
What’s more, because Baek Yeonhwa had received the Azure Dragon’s favor, she was effectively guaranteed to become the head of Taeguk Eumyangmun.
‘I already got Danya too. Learning from her might actually be pretty good.’
Even if it was a 1 billion-won sword and I definitely wouldn’t draw it, you never knew what might happen in life.
Since it was a sword brought from the old murim, it should be especially suited to martial artists from the old murim.
‘The timing’s good. Meracle’s also in a bit of a lull right now.’
The moment I nodded.
Kim Yang’s face, as she burst in through the door, was twisted strangely.
Like a child who’d spilled water and didn’t know how to clean it up.
“S-s-s-s-sir.”
“Huh? Why? What’s wrong?”
“I, I... c-can’t do it.”
Her face blazing red, she rushed over and tugged at me.
“B-b-boss, you do it.”
“Is the customer being a pain?”
She shook her head.
That wasn’t it.
“Then why?”
“I c-can’t explain. J-just go there yourself.”
“All right, just sit down and calm yourself.”
After taking Kim Yang’s tablet, I headed for the consultation room. The unshaven beard on my chin was a little annoying, so I hesitated, but that wasn’t the important thing right now.
Inside the consultation room was an orc with their hair tied back in a ponytail.
Orcs naturally have a lot of muscle, so even in a baggy hoodie, the muscles stood out.
“Hm? The person in charge changed?”
“Yes, I’m Kim Juseon, the CEO of Meracle. The employee in question said they were sick, so I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”
“Ah, it’s fine.”
The orc waved a hand casually.
I briefly checked the basic info on the tablet Kim Yang had left on the desk.
-----
Name: Maramdesh Eloark.
Age: 28.
Origin: 4th Floor.
Occupation: fitness trainer.
.
.
.
-----
‘Fitness trainer.’
Orcs tended to find work in this kind of field fairly easily.
Coaching, sports service jobs, on-site labor in construction and architecture, and so on.
That’s because an instinctive understanding of muscle, unique to their race, is built into them.
Orcs know with their bodies, not their heads, how muscles develop depending on how they use strength.
Especially for PT, the trainer’s own body is a pretty important part, and orcs are naturally muscular.
“Yes, Maramdesh. Looks like your annual salary is very high?”
“I’ve got regular clients.”
“I see. Fitness trainers can have very different salaries depending on the person, but this puts you in the upper tier.”
“I have the skill.”
Look at that smugness.
For the record, customers speaking casually is pretty common.
Especially some races don’t really know etiquette.
‘But she does seem like a pain, and Kim Yang’s standards are way too lax.’
And there was one more thing that bothered me.
‘Why is the orc looking at me like that?’
I was the one doing the rating.
That gaze, sweeping over me as though appraising me, felt unpleasant.
“Ahem, do you have any particular preferences? You can tell me frankly without holding back.”
With a business smile, I asked, and Maramdesh crossed their legs and declared bluntly.
“A man who’s good in bed.”
“……Yes?”
When I blinked in surprise and asked, Maramdesh shrugged and corrected it.
“A man who’s good at sex.”
“Ah, I-I see.”
Now I knew why Kim Yang had run away.
It was an embarrassing request, but not that strange.
Sexual compatibility between men and women is one of the important parts.
In fact, there are customers who place a lot of importance on that part.
It was just that this was the first person to be that blatant about it.
But Maramdesh didn’t stop there and went one step further.
“That’s the motto here, isn’t it? ‘We’ll find your miracle.’”
“That’s right. We do our best to—”
“I want to have miracle-level sex too. Fuck, just kill me—”
“Ah.”
This is the kind of thought I end up having at times like this.
Maybe I should just quit.
* * *
The new customer was just incredibly forward.
Length, size, thickness, time, and so on.
They went into such detail, like they were being measured with an InBody scan, and topped it off by batting their eyes and asking, “How about you, boss?”
When I asked whether they really didn’t care what they looked like, they even replied, “I’m only going to be looking at that part anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
Truly impressive.
I’d never met a customer whose desires were this outstanding before.
When I came back into the office, Kim Yang was still slumped in a chair, apparently not cooled off yet.
Renea and Baek Yeonhwa were on either side of Kim Yang, fanning her to cool her down.
The moment they saw me, the two of them asked as if they’d been waiting.
“Ah! Boss, you’re back!”
“What’s going on?”
“……”
What do you mean, what happened?
It was a little hard to explain.
“Ahem, I can’t tell you because of customer privacy.”
Feeling awkward, I sat down, and Renea and Baek Yeonhwa only got even more curious. The two of them went to a corner and whispered, plotting to find out somehow.
Sometimes, not knowing is better.
Letting out a small sigh, I pondered who I should match them with.
“B-boss.”
Kim Yang, having barely regained her composure, looked my way and asked,
“H-how do you handle t-this kind of thing?”
“How else?”
Even though my eyes themselves weren’t visible.
Wouldn’t the light in my eyes have turned a little gray?
With that thought, I browsed the list of men.
“I’ve got to match them up well.”
The story continues off the page
Floaties for Everyone
Swim lesson at the water park, and she's demonstrating on you