Chapter 52
"Ahahahaha…!!"
Ninave laughed like a madwoman as she watched Geum Taeyang's broadcast.
He was doing a broadcast to investigate himself?
What an arrogant and insolent man.
Men were creatures like hedgehogs before women: weak, yet doing nothing but sticking out their spikes.
They were frail creatures she could grab in her hand and crush whenever she exerted herself.
Seeing such vermin investigate himself and act as though it were nothing was so clownish that she couldn't help laughing.
"Boss. We have a problem."
"Another bar?"
"Yes…"
"Sigh…"
Even after Geum Taeyang's broadcast ended, Ninave continued smiling, but she sighed at her subordinate's words and headed for the bar.
"B-Boss. I'm sorry."
"Tsk."
"…"
Ninave clicked her tongue as though displeased.
"Bring me the liquor!! I told you, I can handle 15% soju!!"
A man was shouting at the top of his lungs inside a room in one corner of the bar.
Liquor between 5 and 14 percent was a moral issue. There were plenty of women who shouted that it was illegal on that basis alone, though.
In any case, it wasn't illegal.
But selling liquor at 15 percent or higher to a man was illegal.
And yet here was a man making a scene and demanding alcohol…
"Haa…"
A sigh came first.
This was what men in this world were like. He had drunk barely half a bottle of 5-percent liquor, yet he was already drunk and shouting at the top of his lungs.
The wife, concubines, and state-appointed guards who were supposed to restrain him could do nothing but fidget helplessly.
'Stupid bitches.'
Their willingness to indulge even his childish whining because they loved men too much was utterly disgusting.
Her own subordinates were the same.
They didn't even have the courage to risk being disliked by a man, so they were calling on their boss.
Women could be vicious enough to butcher one another, but they were still women.
Women who wanted to be loved by men.
Perhaps that was why her subordinates relied on Ninave all the more.
She didn't let such troublesome situations slide simply because a man was involved.
"Hey."
"Huh? And who are you?"
"Me? I'm the owner of this place."
"I-it's Ninave."
The drunk man was startled by the words of the woman who had been serving him drinks beside him.
"N-Ninave?! The man-hater Ninave…? Leila's daughter, who couldn't even properly protect a man!?"
"That's right. I'm that Ninave, you pig."
"P-pig?!"
"That's right. A pig that goes oink, oink. Hey, customer, if you've had enough, pay up and leave. Don't cause a scene. Or... should I put a hole in your face?"
"…"
The man cautiously gauged the situation.
He had heard plenty about Ninave's reputation.
She was an extreme man-hater, and some of the men who had gone on blind dates with her were said to have become complete wrecks and never even left their homes again…
Even now, the gun in her hand was making the sound of a round being chambered, as though it might fire at any moment.
"F-fuck… L-let's go…!!"
The man was too frightened to speak properly to Ninave.
But he didn't forget to shout loudly, as though to show that he absolutely wasn't afraid of her.
Of course, that shout was directed at the wives who claimed to love him and earned money to support him.
"You need to pay before you leave."
"…Hey! Pay quickly!!"
Men didn't pay.
Their wives and concubines naturally did.
"Y-yes! Yes! Understood. How much?"
"…Twenty million won."
"Gasp… But he hardly drank anything."
"It's a special whiskey designed not to strain a man's heart. It costs that much. Take the rest with you."
The wives were shocked by the price, but how could they become a man's wife or concubine if they couldn't even pay that much?
Being a man's wife or concubine carried that kind of meaning.
A wife or concubine had to sacrifice everything, even skimping on her own food and clothes, so that the Male Lord wouldn't be inconvenienced.
"L-let's go!!"
The man quickly took his women and left as soon as the payment was finished, in case Ninave did something to him.
Watching his retreating back, Ninave sneered.
So… that was a man.
Creatures that became so anxious when alone with a woman that they couldn't even hold a proper conversation.
They could only feel safe when numerous women were keeping one another in check.
Men forcibly took many women as wives and then pretended to be strong.
That only made her look forward to it more.
The day of the blind date.
When would the disgusting mask Geum Taeyang had shown on his broadcast be stripped away?
He acted boldly on broadcasts where even his face couldn't be seen.
But what would he be like in front of her?
She was curious to see how ugly he would look once that mask came off.
Ninave began looking forward to that day.
*
On a running treadmill.
Geum Taeyang muttered as he watched a MiTube video.
"Wow… that's incredible."
"Huh? What's incredible?"
Darae, running beside him, asked as sweat trailed down her firm brown skin.
"No. Do you know Leila?"
"Yeah, I know her. She's famous. She used to be my role model."
"Your role model?"
"Yeah. She was injured protecting a man, was recognized for her achievement, and was even rewarded with a creampie. How romantic is that?"
The only compensation she received after other men pointed fingers at and cursed her for failing to protect a man properly was a creampie.
Even worse, a little more digging through the MiTube video he was watching while running revealed that Leila had given all the money she had saved to that piece of trash…
Because of that, Ninave's childhood had been extremely difficult.
Leila had even used her own name to raise sponsorship money because Ninave was ill…!!
This was romantic…?
To Geum Taeyang, it felt like watching the child of a Korean War veteran live in poverty and beg people for donations.
Geum Taeyang sighed at the thought.
'I have to repay Ninave for this.'
As a fellow man, Geum Taeyang thought that he should personally set right the wrong done by a man.
If protecting men was a woman's duty in this world, then Leila—or her child—who had been injured while performing that duty deserved sufficient compensation.
"Boss. Aren't you working anymore?"
"Huh? Hahaha. Well, you know, I have a part-time job."
For the record, Geum Taeyang had quit his part-time job.
It was easy to earn hundreds of millions of won from a single broadcast, so there was no reason for him to work part-time at Darae's gym.
Of course, he still needed to exercise regularly, so Geum Taeyang occasionally visited Darae's gym.
"Haaah…"
"This is insane."
"How sexy it is to see the Male Lord sweating as he lifts something that heavy…"
That was another reason he visited the gym.
The gazes of countless women.
Geum Taeyang wasn't exactly an attention whore desperate for women's interest.
Maybe he had been at first, but not anymore.
With all the pussy he could have whenever he wanted, why would he crave the gazes of other women?
'I should help boost her sales.'
More than that, he strongly felt that he was helping increase the gym's sales.
The mere fact that Geum Taeyang attended the gym caused countless women to register and buy elixirs.
"Woohoo!!"
Even now, when Geum Taeyang assumed a bench-press position, women were lying down beside him and lifting weights hundreds of times heavier than their own bodies.
"Huff, huff."
Of course, Geum Taeyang didn't overdo it.
It wasn't as though he could use magic or wield a sword like the women of this world, either.
Still, the weight he could lift kept increasing, and these days he could easily lift 700 kg.
He felt as though he could lift even more than that.
'It seems my body is changing to fit this world.'
His body was definitely changing to match the people of this world.
The proof was that his strength kept increasing.
His muscle mass hadn't changed much, though.
"T-Taeyang, you can do it!! D-Don't push yourself too hard!"
"I'm fine."
As Darae cheered him on, Geum Taeyang began putting more strength into his hands.
When a woman pressed right up beside him and cheered him on, wouldn't any man want to show off his cool side?
Of course, he was already more than impressive in bed, but even so, in a gym like this, he naturally wanted to show off his manly side.
"Boss. Add another 100 kg."
"What? A-are you sure you can handle it!?"
"Yes."
Thinking that he would push himself a little this time, Geum Taeyang added 50 kg to each side.
"Hoooooof!!!"
"Hah, hah…"
Every time Geum Taeyang's pectoral muscles twitched, rough breaths escaped from the women standing nearby.
The veins beginning at his collarbone were so incredibly sexy.
"Haaap!!!"
With a shout, Geum Taeyang's bent arms straightened, fully exposing his armpits—the male body's secretive area—and creating an intensely erotic sight.
So much female pheromone gushed out that even the gym's air-purification system couldn't handle it.
It was enough to make one imagine that the air had turned pink.
Pshk…
"Ah…"
Someone even got a nosebleed and collapsed on the spot.
Clatter.
After completing five sets.
Geum Taeyang racked the barbell on the safety bars and stood up.
The women's gazes traveled over his body.
"Then shall we call it a day?"
"Mmm…"
As if she were in heat, Darae wriggled her body and pressed herself right against Geum Taeyang's side.
It was the very image of a victorious female, and the other women could only stare at Darae with eyes full of envy and jealousy.
*
At last, the day of the blind date arrived for Geum Taeyang, who had been living while balancing streaming and exercise.
"Mr. Geum Taeyang. If Ninave tries anything, we'll step in immediately."
"No. You don't need to help until I call for you."
"B-but…!!"
Despite the enforcers' worried words, Geum Taeyang waved both hands and entered the room prepared for the blind date.
"You actually came. I thought you'd get scared by my reputation and run away."
In a special room prepared by the state exclusively for blind dates, the two of them sat facing each other.
A desk approximately three meters long stood between them.
"There's no way I'd be afraid of a beautiful woman like Ninave."
"Eut?! W-what?! H-ha ha ha. I guess that wasn't just an act you put on in a broadcast where no one could even touch you, huh? To say something like that in a place with no other women around... I'll see for myself exactly when that mask comes off."
Finding Geum Taeyang's reaction amusing, Ninave sneered and glared at him.
She felt an intense desire to strip that insolent mask away and make him bawl and seek out other women like the rest of the men.
"What, do you want to eat? The steak here is good, by the way."