Confessions Over Coffee
After finishing our meal at the Japanese restaurant, we naturally headed to the hotel café. It was the textbook post-dinner course. But just because the course itself was ordinary didn’t mean our conversation had been.
“What are your hobbies, Yu-na?”
It was the question I had asked her a little while ago. Recruiting talent didn’t always require sitting across a negotiation table. My specialty was the bedroom, and getting Yu-na there required a series of steps. One of them was learning her hobbies.
Honestly, it didn’t have to be hobbies specifically, but asking about someone’s interests was the easiest way to get to know them. If you knew what they liked and how they spent their time, it was simple to build rapport. People were complicated yet simple creatures, so their interests tended to overlap. Even if they didn’t, pretending to know something was always possible. Most hobbies didn’t require deep expertise anyway.
But Yu-na’s hobbies existed far beyond the world I had imagined.
“Hobbies? I’ve been too busy with work lately to enjoy them, but I like clay shooting and horseback riding.”
“Ah… You’re quite the active type, then?”
“Right? My parents scolded me a lot for it. They said I should go to art galleries or play instruments instead of doing such rough things as a woman. Still, I found using my body fun. Oh! When I studied in the States, I sometimes went yacht sailing too. That was really enjoyable as well.”
“Ah, I see.”
I knew “Ah, I see” was a painfully lame response, but I couldn’t help it. Shooting was something I’d done in the military, but bringing up the army in front of a woman was a one-way ticket to disaster. And as for yachts—I’d barely seen a real horse, let alone ridden one. How was I supposed to discuss horseback riding or yacht sailing? All I could do was hide my embarrassment.
Talking with Yu-na made one thing clear: she saw me as her equal. She thought of me as someone who had received the same—or even higher—level of education and upbringing as herself. If she hadn’t, she would have softened her answers out of consideration, maybe claiming she enjoyed art galleries or reading. But Yu-na, who knew exactly how much was in my personal account, openly shared hobbies that only the true upper class enjoyed. Thanks to that, I—a mere nouveau riche—found myself crushed beneath the deep-rooted elegance running through her very bones.
“Um, Minjun?”
“Ah. Hobbies? Haha, I’ve been too busy lately to really enjoy anything either…”
If you asked about someone’s hobbies, it was only natural to share your own. Following that obvious flow, Yu-na’s question left me obligated to answer.
“Hmm… Let’s see—”
I took a slow sip of the coffee I had ordered, buying myself about ten seconds. Even that wasn’t enough.
Hobbies… Something I can actually tell Yu-na…
There was nothing. The more I thought about it, the less I could open my mouth. Games were out of the question. It wasn’t shameful, but compared to horseback riding or yacht sailing, it felt weightless—like dust. And I obviously couldn’t say sex. That would just make me sound insane.
Strip away games and sex, and I was a corpse. Corpses couldn’t speak.
Screw it.
After agonizing over it, I decided to be shameless. People backed into corners usually did.
“Well… If meeting all kinds of people counts as a hobby, then I guess that’s mine. Whenever I have free time, I try to meet people. Especially someone as capable as you, Yu-na. Talking with you is always a pleasure.”
That was the best answer I could come up with. I was too embarrassed to admit my cheap hobbies, but claiming fancy ones I’d never tried—like horseback riding or golf—would be even worse if Yu-na pressed further. With her sharp insight and genuinely high-class life, she’d see through my bluff in seconds. It was better to admit I’d become rich overnight than to pretend and get caught in a lie. So I gave this vague response.
Whether “meeting people” even counted as a hobby was debatable, but Yu-na didn’t seem like the type to nitpick. Plus, while pretending to share a hobby, I’d slipped in another compliment about her competence. She clearly took pride in her abilities, and nothing flattered people more than having their ego stroked—especially by someone they found attractive.
“Ahem. I asked about your hobby and got praised instead. How embarrassing, Minjun.”
“There’s nothing embarrassing about it. I already told you—I want you so badly I’d do anything to make you mine. I never say things I don’t mean.”
“Ah…”
I had already activated Prophet’s Voice. Just like with Dayeon, the more I used this skill, the more its true value revealed itself. The description only said people would be easily swayed by my words, but the longer I used it, the clearer the mechanism became.
Take what I’d just said—“I never say things I don’t mean.” It was basically unverifiable lip service. Even if it were true, Yu-na had no way of knowing. Logically, she should have filtered it out. Someone who had dealt with countless clients like her would definitely know that.
Yet right now, she was taking my words at complete face value. My statement pierced straight through the layers of experience and rationality she had built over the years, lodging itself deep in her heart and leaving her flustered. This was what it meant to be easily charmed.
“Really… I guess so, Minjun.”
“What do you mean?”
“When you say things like that, it doesn’t feel like empty words at all. But… is it only because of my abilities?”
“…Pardon?”
“Is it only because I’m capable that you want to… make me yours? Ah, no. I misspoke.”
She seemed especially fixated on the phrase “make me yours.” When she said it, her expression turned strangely cute. The way she clung to me, embarrassed yet desperate for an answer, only to pull back out of pride afterward—it was both lethally adorable and noble.
What answer did she want? I thought about it. Affirmation that she would be mine. Recognition from me. And confirmation that I was interested in her as a woman.
Yeah, this is the feeling.
Now that I was in my element, I could see Yu-na clearly—inside and out. As expected, doing what you were good at was the only way to do anything properly.
“Hmm… Since you misspoke, I’ll do the same. Is that okay?”
“Yes…?”
“You’re cute, Yu-na. I already knew you were good at your job and beautiful, but seeing this adorable side of you makes me even more reluctant to let you go.”
I fed her only the sweetest words I could think of. They might have been a bit clumsy or cringey, but it didn’t matter. My fraudulent voice would fill in the gaps.
“Ah, ah, no. Even so, I’m much older than you… Calling me cute is a little… too…”
“That’s why I said it was a slip of the tongue.”
“That’s not the kind of thing you call a slip of the tongue…”
“Don’t overthink it, Yu-na. I may not look it, but I’m a VVIP client. You can let something like this slide, can’t you?”
“…Bringing up your client status at a time like this is a bit underhanded, Kim Minjun.”
“Huh? Then why are we meeting right now? Reason Bank’s Lee Yu-na?”
“That’s… as client and employee…”
“Exactly.”
Slurp—
I finished speaking and took a sip of coffee. I hadn’t been able to order anything as sweet as I usually liked in front of Yu-na, so after much deliberation I’d gone with this bitter brew. But the coffee on my tongue didn’t taste bitter at all. It was almost fragrant.
Maybe it was because watching Yu-na glare at me, clearly annoyed at losing the verbal sparring, was so entertaining. I stared at her with a deep smile for a long moment before speaking again. Her gaze, which had started as playful, had already grown moist from our prolonged eye contact.
“I like everything about you, Yu-na. Ah, except the family situation. That’s honestly a headache.”
“…Why?”
“I feel like I have to steal you away and keep you by my side no matter what. But then I might end up on my future father-in-law’s bad side.”
“…If you say things you can’t keep so easily, you’ll be punished later, Minjun.”
Yu-na brushed it off as light banter. But none of the words I spoke while Prophet’s Voice was active were light. Not a single one.
“Didn’t I tell you, Yu-na?”
“…Tell me what?”
“I never say things I don’t mean. I already told you—I’m not just talking.”
“…”
I met her dazed gaze once more. Just in case it helped, I activated Pope’s Aura as well, focusing it through my eyes, and looked at her with the most intense gaze I could muster. I poured so much heat into that look that she might melt on the spot, making it hard for her to even breathe.
“Haa…”
Our sticky gazes tangled like threads that refused to break. We communicated more deeply with our eyes than words ever could—more intensely than any physical touch. She had completely melted, without a single trace left behind.
When that thought crossed my mind, I kept my eyes locked on hers and moved my lips ever so slightly. Speaking without really speaking. I sent a soft voice drifting toward her, burning gently in the thick atmosphere between us.
“That thing about becoming mine. That really was a slip of the tongue, Yu-na.”
“What? Why…?”
“I think I confused you by being vague. So let me be more precise. Yu-na—”
“…”
I called her name and paused for a beat. In that subtle gap between words, I wondered what kind of feeling she was experiencing. Curious, I asked her. Now it was her turn to answer.
“Yu-na. Instead of just being mine… how about being my woman?”
“Ah, aah…”
Even that cringey line straight out of a third-rate romance drama got a strong reaction from her. She looked deeply moved and embarrassed, her cheeks flushed as she let out a pained sound.
I was reminded once again that every woman I’d been with, including Yu-na, was a saint. If I’d received a confession like this, I would’ve cringed so hard I’d have slapped my own cheek. I knew it was third-rate, but delivering lines wasn’t a skill that improved overnight. At least I was first-rate in bed, so maybe it balanced out.
“Ah, uung…”
This wasn’t working. Her lips were stuck together from sheer embarrassment. I needed to adjust the pace a little.
“If you don’t answer, I’ll take it as acceptance.”
“……What? How does that work?”
“Just think of it as a service from your VVIP client. Since answering would be embarrassing, I’ll give you a chance to dodge it.”
“No! How can you turn something like this into implied consent?!”
“Then express it clearly, Yu-na. Yu-na, do you want to be my woman?”
“No…”
“You don’t want to?”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant.”
“Then you do want to?”
“…”
“See? You grew up so refined, so saying something like this must be incredibly embarrassing for you. That’s why…”
“I’ll do it! Being Minjun’s woman is fine!!”
“There it is.”
“Ugh…!”
Slurp—
I took another sip of coffee while watching Yu-na, who had confessed in a panic and was now fuming. The coffee still tasted fragrant.