Choi Gicheol
There was no work today. Kim Hyunsoo was lying on the sofa, scrolling through his phone. Rental boyfriends existed because there was demand for them — it was a job like any other — but apparently because Kim Hyunsoo was still a rookie, not a single woman had booked him today. Was this going to keep happening?
"Boss, why do you think there's no work today?"
At Kim Hyunsoo's question, the Boss gave an awkward smile. She was busy eating a chapssal rice cake. He'd been in the office all day watching her, and all he'd seen her do was eat, nonstop. The fact that she didn't gain a single gram despite all that made him suspect that Hunters, as a species, had some seriously warped energy efficiency.
"I know, right...? Our Hyunsoo is so sweet and well-mannered, though..."
"Hmm..."
Kim Hyunsoo narrowed his eyes and studied her. Could it be that the Boss was turning away every incoming call because she wanted to keep him for herself? He'd worked as a rental boyfriend without a single day off for two weeks straight, and today there wasn't one measly booking. It didn't add up. Noticing that look in his eyes, the Boss spoke up.
"Well... the rookie boost has worn off, and, uh, you're still pretty young, Hyunsoo."
Then she explained it to him in detail. When situations like this came up, explaining things thoroughly was part of the Boss's job, after all.
To summarize, it was simple. Just as new restaurants enjoy an opening rush, Kim Hyunsoo had ridden the wave of launch hype for a solid two weeks. But once the buzz died down, his age became a sticking point. Even if dating a minor posed no legal problem, nineteen was an age that gave some of the women who hired rental boyfriends a moment of hesitation.
On top of that, he hadn't been tapping into the most important time slot of the rental boyfriend business: the evening hours. Most rental boyfriends worked until nine at night, but Kim Hyunsoo clocked out of his dates at six o'clock sharp. The Boss eyed him carefully as she brought it up.
"If you worked evenings, Hyunsoo, I bet the bookings would pile up..."
"Should I do that?"
"You wanna?"
Kim Hyunsoo paused to think it over. He'd never touched alcohol in his life, and picturing himself — a minor — secretly drinking didn't sit right with him. And anyway, at nineteen he couldn't drink at all, period.
"I'll just tough it out for another six months. It's not like I'm doing this rental boyfriend gig for a day or two and then quitting, right?"
In six months he'd turn twenty, so he resolved to wait until then. Besides, even on days with no bookings, showing up to work guaranteed him a base income. That was why the Boss took her cut. And she was working hard behind the scenes to match him with women, too.
"You don't need to worry, Hyunsoo. Today's just a weird day. There's almost never a day with no work."
"Really?"
Hearing that put Kim Hyunsoo somewhat at ease. If this kept up, he'd worried he'd have to start working evenings after all — thankfully, it looked like that wouldn't be necessary. The Boss was no fool, and deliberately letting a premium rental boyfriend like him sit idle made no sense either. She would move heaven and earth to match him with clients.
It was just that, because she honored all of Kim Hyunsoo's requirements, the pool of candidates was small. For one thing, he'd only accept women from their twenties up to their early thirties, and they had to be above average in looks. Those were his conditions. As his experience grew, he figured there'd be plenty of women who met them.
"Hyunsoo. Want to go grab something to eat? Noona's buying."
"Sounds great."
She'd just polished off a rice cake, yet somehow there was still room in her stomach for more food. Amazing. The Boss really was a glutton.
After the Boss-treated meal, Kim Hyunsoo returned to the office and sprawled out on the sofa again. It had been two weeks since he'd started working, but looking at him now, you'd swear he was a soldier in his final months of service. To be fair, Kim Hyunsoo lounged like this because he'd sized up the Boss's personality. Her stance was simple: as long as you did your job well, anything else was fine. This world was generous to men.
There were a good ten to twenty rental boyfriends working out of this office alone, and the Boss managed every one of them. She didn't even have a single assistant on staff. Maybe that was why Kim Hyunsoo couldn't help but be impressed by her.
Judging by her imported luxury car, she clearly made good money. Right now Kim Hyunsoo's date fees were low because he was green, but she'd told him that with a little experience he could earn double his current rate. Which meant her cut would grow along with it.
Even now, he was only paying ten percent in referral fees because he was a rookie — apparently that percentage climbed over time. At the top end, people supposedly paid as much as twenty percent. Considering the quality of service and clients the Boss provided, it wasn't money wasted.
Working as an independent rental boyfriend was next to impossible, after all. You needed a matchmaking operation like this one. Word was, other rental boyfriend agencies took a far bigger cut than she did.
"Hyunsoo, you can go up to the third floor and rest, you know. You're not staying down here because you're worried Noona gets lonely, are you?"
He'd heard that the entire three-story building belonged to the Boss. She was the landlord. The office took up the second floor, and the third floor was a lounge where the male employees relaxed. Kim Hyunsoo had gone up there once, but he'd felt awkward being around the other male staff and had come right back down.
It wasn't that he disliked talking to other men — it was just that the common sense of men in this world was a little off from what he was used to. For starters, the moment you stepped into the lounge, the cloud of cologne made it impossible to think straight.
What on earth did men need that much perfume for? Still, Kim Hyunsoo had greeted everyone diligently, so none of the staff looked down on him. His goal, wherever he went, was to get along moderately well — nothing more, nothing less.
Besides, some of the male employees were out on jobs all day. In any case, maybe things would change down the line, but for now he had no desire to rest on the third floor. He was more comfortable staying with the Boss. Whatever you said about her, she was a woman. Better to spend time with a woman than with a pack of dudes.
"I'm fine, really. The cologne up on the third floor is so strong it gives me a headache."
"Is that so? We do air the place out regularly..."
"Once I get used to it, I'll go up and rest there. It's not like resting in the office hurts anything, right?"
"Fair enough."
The Boss didn't much mind Kim Hyunsoo resting in the office either. When an important client came in later, he'd have to briefly step up to the third floor, but big clients showed up maybe once or twice a month at most. Most business could be handled online. Very few clients came in to sit down and talk face to face.
"Boss!"
Just then, the door opened and Choi Gicheol walked in, carrying a takeout box in one hand.
"Gicheol, there you are!"
"Oh, Hyunsoo's here too?"
"So he is."
Saying that, Choi Gicheol set the takeout box down on the Boss's desk. It looked like a cake.
"It's a gift for you, Boss."
"Gicheol... thank youuu!"
The Boss gazed at him with eyes full of gratitude. The food Choi Gicheol had brought over time probably added up to hundreds of thousands of won by now. Kim Hyunsoo had mooched plenty off him too.
"The bakery up front was selling them cheap, so I grabbed one. It made me think of you. And Hyunsoo! You eat some too. Don't just let the Boss devour the whole thing herself."
"Aww..."
Choi Gicheol was the longest-serving employee at this rental boyfriend agency. Maybe that was why he carried himself with a certain maturity, and his personality was hearty and warm to boot. He was probably the only coworker that Kim Hyunsoo — two weeks into the job — actually traded words with.
After chatting for a bit, Choi Gicheol clocked out. Or rather, not clocked out — he was heading into overtime. A sleek domestic sedan was parked in front of the office, a model with a sticker price north of a hundred million won. It was almost certainly a client waiting to pick him up.
"Thank goodness for Gicheol, honestly."
"You can say that again."
At first, Kim Hyunsoo hadn't understood why the Boss trusted and relied on Choi Gicheol so much. But living alongside him, he'd quickly figured it out. Despite being only thirty-one, Choi Gicheol had a rather peculiar taste: he was a hopeless devotee of older women. Should we just call it a preference for the mature?
Choi Gicheol refused to take a single client under forty. Only women over forty — those were his clients, exclusively. From Kim Hyunsoo's standpoint, that was an age range he would never, ever want to date. Sure, even back in his original world, it wasn't unheard of for a twenty-something woman to marry a man in his fifties or sixties. Still, it was a taste he simply could not comprehend.
Going on dates with women over forty... Kim Hyunsoo swore that even if the sky split in two, he would never do such a thing. His cutoff was the early thirties, full stop.
That said, thanks to Choi Gicheol's existence, Kim Hyunsoo was spared from dating older women. It was Choi Gicheol who bore the full brunt of the agency's demand from middle-aged women.
Surely they're not taking clients who are grandmothers, too...? Kim Hyunsoo didn't even want to imagine it, and cut the thought off right there.