Party Leader: Baek Jaeseong - 2
The day after I contacted Lina, she showed up at our place without delay. She’d packed a carrier to bursting, looking for all the world like she’d already decided to move in. She’d even booked a long-term stay at a hotel nearby.
“Weren’t you supposed to be working with that party through the end of the month?”
“I just wrapped it up clean. It wasn’t a party I particularly liked anyway.”
Lina was a far cooler woman than she looked. That doll-like natural white hair, pale skin, and petite, dainty figure gave her a delicate air, but I knew perfectly well she was the hearty type.
“Long time no see, Lina.”
“Have you been well, unnie?”
Sujin and Lina threw their arms around each other, delighted. They’d grown close and leaned on each other throughout training. Being the only two women in their academy cohort had only made the bond stronger.
“Hello. I’m Noh Yeonji.”
Yeonji put on a composed, proper face for Lina, whom she was meeting for the first time. Seen like this, she actually made a decent impression as a functioning adult. Tall and model-proportioned, with clean lines, Yeonji immediately claimed Lina’s attention.
“Yes. Nice to meet you. I’m Ahn Lina, newly joining the party. Ability is Chain Disaster—dealer.”
“What’s this? Didn’t we say we’d go over the details before signing?”
“If you just keep the verbal promises you already made, I don’t think I need to look too closely. You offered me such generous terms. You’re not going to talk out of both sides of your mouth, are you?”
Lina said it playfully. I shook my head firmly.
“I don’t pull scams like that. Don’t worry.”
She wasn’t wrong—I’d offered terms that were practically a loss for me. Recruiting a beauty of Lina’s caliber meant swallowing that much. Sujin led her inside.
“Wow~! This place is pretty big. Is this the party house?”
Lina looked around and marveled. It was certainly large for a single family. Even in the Seoul suburbs, it was more than fit to serve as a party house. Sujin and Yeonji had decorated the interior with real care, so it had a certain style without feeling too office-like.
A party house is the communal residence a party shares—something like a dormitory, though it feels more like a guest house than an actual dorm.
“That’s right. You can live here if you want.”
“Wait. Sujin unnie is one thing, but does Yeonji live here too?”
Lina turned to Yeonji. Yeonji smiled and nodded.
“Yes. We actually pooled our money and bought this house together.”
“Hmm…. I see. Then I’m not sure I should move in.”
She still hadn’t caught on that I was involved with Yeonji as well. Polygamy isn’t unheard of in the Dungeon Hunter world, but it isn’t common either. And it would be hard to imagine a complete newbie like me already keeping two beautiful women.
“We’re paying off the debt right now, so we can just pay it off together. Or you can pay rent, if you’d rather.”
“I’ll pay rent. That’s a relief. Long-term hotel stays eat more money than you’d think. I feel like they’re ripping me off because I’m a Dungeon Hunter.”
“Surely not.”
It wasn’t just about the money. Living in a house the party shared would give her a kind of peace of mind all by itself. I showed Lina to a new room.
The room I’d given her was a clean single, kept ready so anyone could move in at a moment’s notice. A single bed, a wardrobe, and a cheap dressing table. On the little shelf beside the bed sat a cute lamp and a Yankee Candle.
“Wow! This is completely like a hotel. So clean! Did you prepare this in advance?”
“We kept it ready so anyone could use it whenever they showed up. We were recruiting party members, after all.”
We hadn’t poured a fortune into the interior, but she clearly loved the room. She shoved her carrier into a corner at once and bounced her hips on the mattress, testing the feel. The way she did it looked like she was pounding rice cakes with her pussy.
I want to bury my face in that mattress.
I reined in the surge of lust and gave her a quick tour of the house. After showing her the laundry room and gym in the basement, then the terrace, I let her see the garden Sujin and Yeonji had been tending so prettily.
“I like it! Let’s write the contract right now.”
I drew up the contract with her exactly as we’d agreed over the phone. Lina would take 15% of the party’s total profits. As the party grew, that share would shrink—managing the party itself costs money, after all.
In a five-person party, members typically take 60–70% of total profits. The tanker and healer each take around 30%, and the three dealers take 10% apiece—which works out to about 6% of the overall take. The terms I’d offered her were nearly three times that. Groundbreaking, frankly. The 15% I’d given Lina was far higher than what other parties offered.
“Which dungeon are we going to?”
Lina asked about our next destination. I had a few candidates, but I was still deciding whether to fill the last slot first or just go. When I laid it out honestly, Lina answered without hesitation.
“Then I know a kid. How about bringing her in?”
“Someone you know? A Dungeon Hunter?”
“Yes. Turns out she’s a junior from the same school. She just finished the training academy recently.”
“Recently—so the class after ours?”
“The very next class.”
There’d been a major accident in our class, so training had paused briefly, but it had resumed soon after. Training Dungeon Hunters is one of the Hunter Association’s most important jobs; they couldn’t keep it shut down for long.
“How old is she?”
“She just graduated high school. So she’d be nineteen.”
Awakening young and becoming a hunter isn’t that rare. But Dungeon Hunter is only one extra word, and the difference is enormous. Anyone who awakens an ability can register as a hunter—must register, actually. Dungeon Hunters are the ones selected from among them, the wheat from the chaff.
Passing the Dungeon Hunter exam at nineteen meant she was a genuine prodigy. Even children of Hunter Families, raised on gifted education from childhood, typically don’t pass until their early twenties.
“A genius like that, famous parties and clans would already be circling. Would she even listen to my offer?”
“She’s not completely unconnected to you, Jaeseong. She might.”
“Huh? I know her?”
“No, not that you know each other…. You remember Yohan, right?”
There was no way I wouldn’t.
Go Yohan.
Our academy classmate, the one who’d died in the training accident. He’d seemed a bit stiff, but unlike the other troll kids he’d had real talent, and it had been a shame he’d died.
“Yes. Our academy classmate. The one the Siren killed.”
“She’s his younger sister. I thought it was a little amazing when I found out too. Small world, right? Or is it just that Korea’s small? Her name is Go Jisoo.”
A talented Dungeon Hunter. Practically a virgin, age-wise. More than enough to catch my interest. I hoped her face was decent too, if possible.
“Let’s contact her first. Do you have her number?”
A few days later I went up to Gangnam to meet Jisoo. We’d set the meeting at a café there. I arrived ten minutes early, but she was already waiting. Having Lina with me made her easy to spot.
“Hi, Jisoo!”
“Oh my! You’re here. There’s still a little time left.”
Go Jisoo.
Her height was almost the same as Lina’s—she looked like she barely missed 160 centimeters. The name had sounded a bit stiff, so I’d expected an impression similar to Lina’s, but her face was softer than I’d thought. Her round, egg-shaped face was small enough to fit in a fist, and the corners of her mouth curved just enough that she looked like someone who smiled easily. A tiny mole sat under her left eye, perfect as if a calligrapher had placed it with total concentration. I could’ve gotten 1.6 billion won for that mole alone.
Her figure was outstanding. Those dynamically bouncing breasts in particular looked like they belonged on a Western porn actress. The slight sag from gravity only emphasized that they were natural. She had a midriff that was beyond Asian standards.
Her impression is nothing like her oppa’s.
Her older brother Go Yohan had been a little colder. If I hadn’t heard about her background, I never would have guessed she was that man’s younger sister.
“Hello. I’m Go Jisoo. I’ve heard a lot about you from Lina unnie.”
“Yes. Nice to meet you. I’m Baek Jaeseong. I’m not much, but I lead a small party.”
Her voice was crisp and clear, unfitting for her age. She had the kind of practical grit that made it seem she could survive just fine if you dropped her in a wasteland.
Lina had mentioned her family situation in passing. The Go Yohan and Go Jisoo siblings were orphans. More precisely, both parents had been killed by monsters. In Korea, that’s a surprisingly common background.
“You’ve heard from Lina, but I want to recruit you into our party.”
“This place is pretty good. The conditions are decent too.”
Lina chimed in from the side. Good supporting fire. I held the contract out to Jisoo.
“Can I take a look?”
“Read it slowly. You should always read a contract carefully.”
Jisoo even pulled a ballpoint pen from the pouch she’d brought and went through the contract. The way she drew red lines as she read made it look like she was studying for an exam; I almost laughed. It was three pages, and she spent nearly thirty minutes on it.
She didn’t stop there. She tapped at her phone’s calculator and scribbled numbers in the margins, working out the profit and loss. Hmm. It went past mere thoroughness into something almost stingy. At that point even I, the one who’d prepared the contract, started to feel the pressure.
“It’s good.”
That was the verdict after more than thirty minutes. I was finally released from the tension of sitting across from an interviewer who was examining my face with extreme care.
“You’re thorough.”
I said it with a slight smile. She tucked her hair behind her ear as if embarrassed.
“Yes. It’s been a habit since I was little. I’m strict about money going out and coming in.”
Well, she’d grown up an orphan; of course she’d be sensitive about that. Given her background, it made sense. I’d prepared quite generous terms anyway, so I could stay confident even if she came at it like this.
I promised her the same profit share as Lina. I couldn’t offer a huge signing bonus like a major clan, but in the long run my party was far more profitable. The rest was her call.
“How about it? Will you join our party?”