Chapter 36
Translator - Zofu
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Hwang Sa-yeon came from a martial arts world, not Earth. It wasn't Earth's past, but a place with similarities and differences—a world where martial arts and chivalry thrived, reminiscent of a parallel world like this reversed one.
"Magic power is similar to the internal energy from my world. I tried it briefly and realized immediately. That I cannot awaken magic power."
Her expression was utterly nonchalant.
Since she never held any expectations from the start.
Just because the system was slightly different, she never harbored hope that the fundamentals would change.
"Well, if I kept selling just that, I might manage something within ten years... but that's not my style."
"......."
Si-woo, who had been sympathizing with Hwang Sa-yeon's situation, felt choked up by her following words.
He too had spent considerable time awakening his magic power in his first life.
Considering there were people who couldn't awaken even after several more years than Si-woo himself, his situation was relatively better, but everything was relative. For him, who had no talent to try anything else, being a hero candidate was his only option.
"So what is it you want to say?"
"Ah, I'm sorry. I thought I'd be direct, but I kept beating around the bush."
She gave a sensual smile and crossed her legs to the opposite side.
Once again, his gaze unconsciously followed. While her chest and hips were decent enough, Hwang Sa-yeon's legs could rival those of legendary beauties. It wasn't for nothing that she wore skirts and crossed her legs.
While Si-woo was slightly mesmerized by her leg lines, Hwang Sa-yeon suddenly brought up her business.
"Please be my backer."
"...Backer?"
Si-woo replied half a beat late.
As expected, Hwang Sa-yeon wanted a backer.
Up to this point, it was exactly the same as his first life. Hwang Sa-yeon, approaching the top-ranked male candidate in secret, wanting him to be her backer. He'd worried that in this reversed world, the male role would be completely different, but as expected, she sought out the number one—him.
'In my first life, she sought out that slicked-back bastard.'
More precisely, she had sought out several top-ranked males, including the number one slicked-back sage.
For diversified investment, she recruited the men at appropriate intervals over six months, not all at similar times.
The slicked-back sage, a stickler to the extreme with a strange personality in many ways, immediately rejected Hwang Sa-yeon's proposal, and later grumbled about it to him. Though they weren't particularly close, perhaps because they belonged to the same kingdom, they did converse a bit in the early days at the training center.
"Backer. Surely you don't mean something like a sponsor?"
"Of course not. I mean it literally."
Hwang Sa-yeon's expression became quite serious.
"I cannot become a hero candidate. Instead, I plan to become a merchant in this world. I've come to ask you to be the backer for that merchant guild."
She was asking a man who still had no power to look after a guild that didn't even exist yet. But she was confident in both aspects.
Her confidence that she would establish a guild, and her assumption that the man before her would become a great existence. Having lived as a merchant for over ten years, Hwang Sa-yeon trusted her own mind and her own eyes.
"In my world, I was born as the daughter of a famous merchant family. So I want to establish the Golden Merchant Guild here once again."
She rose from the bed and approached Si-woo.
Though it hadn't even been a week, the Si-woo she had observed was a man driven more by emotion than reason. Having heard rumors that Si-woo was weak to women, she attempted to sway his heart through feminine wiles.
She grasped Si-woo's hand and looked at him with desperate eyes.
"Please help me."
"......."
He didn't answer.
Right now, he held an overwhelming advantage. He needed to make Hwang Sa-yeon anxious to extract better terms from her.
'She might become a target in ten years, but for now, she's just a hero candidate with nothing.'
Male candidates are fine even if they don't become heroes.
Because there are many women who practically worship penises and semen. In a place where just having a penis makes one a quasi-noble, candidates with overflowing sexual desire have plenty to do and places to go.
But female candidates were not so fortunate.
They're treated as burdens even in their own nations. Yet they can't be cast out carelessly due to the watchful eyes of other nations and heroes, and the individuals themselves feel pressure.
'The situation here is worse than in my first life. Hwang Sa-yeon has no choice but to rely entirely on men.'
And if she needed to rely on a man somehow, it would be best for Hwang Sa-yeon to take a promising man as her backer. In this world where male heroes' power and authority were immense, it was a natural decision.
'As expected, she won't jump right in.'
Though she looked like she might cry, Hwang Sa-yeon inwardly clicked her abacus.
Si-woo's expression changed less than expected. She thought his pupils would tremble or he'd look at her with lustful eyes, but surprisingly, his expression was calm.
"Why me?"
"Pardon?"
"From what I recall, Ms. Hwang Sa-yeon belongs to the Cheonan Empire. Surely they have ten allocated candidates over there, from what I understand."
Each of the three empires summons ten hero candidates.
Even combined, the hero candidates of the three kingdoms classified as third-rate couldn't match a single empire. And the actual number of heroes they possessed differed even more greatly. Just look at the Palania Kingdom, which has few A-rank heroes, let alone S-rank.
"There's no one trustworthy."
"......?"
"There's no better man than you, Si-woo."
Hwang Sa-yeon whispered to him with a deeply serious expression, as if speaking from the heart.
As she said this, she gently stroked Si-woo's hand.
"Just what about me do you see..."
"I saw you. That's enough. I trust my eyes. So I trust you too."
Words of trust whispered in a seductive voice.
Hwang Sa-yeon's beautiful appearance, combined with the atmosphere of a room where only the two of them were present, was filled with the power to seduce a man's heart. Even Si-woo would have accepted immediately if he didn't know better—she possessed a strange charm that drew people in.
"So, be the backer for Ms. Hwang Sa-yeon's guild..."
"Sa-yeon. Call me Sa-yeon. More intimately."
"...Then what benefit is there for me?"
"...Pardon?"
"Surely you're not asking me to be your backer without any compensation? Merchant?"
"......."
Hwang Sa-yeon's pupils trembled briefly.
Because she hadn't expected Si-woo to so blatantly demand compensation. While seeking profit is human nature, it's not easy to be so upfront even when a beautiful woman is pleading earnestly.
'So he's not an easy man....'
She didn't think it was bad.
On the contrary, a man who was only weak to women and too docile was something she would refuse. If she could easily use him, so could others. Such sucker-like people were more difficult to control.
"Is there something you want?"
"What can you give me, Ms. Sa-yeon?"
At Si-woo's counteroffer request, Sa-yeon's forehead slightly furrowed.
This was the type she least liked to deal with as a merchant. If asked what she wanted, she should answer, not turn it back into a question. There was no disagreement that this was the most undesirable negotiation method, given the lack of information about Si-woo.
But a merchant mustn't show signs of fluster.
"...What I can give? That depends entirely on what you want, Si-woo."
With one hand, she stroked Si-woo's chest as he sat in the chair.
"So tell me. What you want, Si-woo. Then I will...."
"The Cheonan Empire."
"...Pardon?"
"How about the empire?"
"......."
She couldn't help but be shaken by such an absurd statement.
Moreover, Si-woo was smirking as if he'd made a decent proposal.
Could it be that he didn't understand what he'd just said? That didn't seem to be the case. Si-woo was one of those who attended lectures at the training center most diligently, and occasionally visited the library to read books and expand his knowledge.
"S-Si-woo? By Cheonan Empire... do you mean the Cheonan I'm thinking of? The one I belong to?"
"Of course."
"Ah...."
"Lacking confidence?"
"No, that's not the problem...."
"The compensation is too great, right?"
Hwang Sa-yeon nodded with a dazed expression.
He couldn't understand what the man before him was thinking. He wondered if his head had gone crazy, but judging from how he spoke, he was extremely rational and normal. So what scheme was he plotting?
"Stand up."
"Huh, yes? ...Yes."
Hwang Sa-yeon, who had been crouching on the floor, stood up at Si-woo's gesture.
Si-woo patted his own thigh and laughed.
Until she came here, Hwang Sa-yeon had been trying to bend him to her will and get what she wanted all along. But instead of bending him, she was now being led by Si-woo, sitting on his thigh with a blank expression.
In a posture almost like lovers, Si-woo wrapped his arm around her waist.
"......!!"
"I'd like one more form of compensation."
"Huh? No, what do you mean by that now...."
"You."
"......."
"Ms. Sa-yeon. I want you."
Si-woo, who had asked for an explanation about the Cheonan Empire, was now suddenly touching her waist and adding another form of compensation.
The compensation was herself. Hwang Sa-yeon had no choice but to agonize. He seemed rational, but could he actually be crazy? More than that, there seemed to be no easy way to explain this current situation.
"As compensation for the continent's greatest merchant tycoon, wouldn't one nation and one person be a fair trade?"
"......?!"
Continent's greatest merchant tycoon.
Goosebumps rose.
This man was now speaking so easily of what she had longed and yearned for.
The dream she had failed to achieve, had repeatedly collapsed while challenging in her original world, the dream that had been crushed. He presented it confidently as a trade condition. As if he knew everything about her.
"Wh-what... do you know...?"
"Know what?"
"Th-then why...."
"Didn't you say you dreamed of a guild? That you would establish the Golden Merchant Guild in this world. Surely you don't want to set up some mediocre guild and do modest business in a small region, do you, Ms. Sa-yeon?"
"......."
"That can't be. If that were the case, you wouldn't have wanted a backer, and even if you did, you wouldn't have needed to come to me. Right?"
Right. All of it was right.
She hadn't dared to think of being the continent's best merchant, but at least she had hoped to be the best merchant in the Cheonan Empire. If possible, more than that. If possible, even more. She wanted to become an international tycoon traveling between nations.
That's why she came to him.
To the legendary well-endowed man that all nations, including the Cheonan Empire she belonged to, wanted to recruit.
To the future SS-rank hero candidate who might end this long war.
"Si-woo... can you help me? Really?"
"Of course. If I didn't have that much resolve, why would I want you?"
"...Hehe. That's true. If you want me, you should at least have that much confidence...."
The mask removed, Hwang Sa-yeon revealed her desire on her face with a seductive smile.
Si-woo was confident that she would accept this absurd proposal.
A greedy woman harboring grand ambition in her heart. A woman who could give even herself up for what she wanted. Hwang Sa-yeon, who pursued an ideal far greater than her small, slender body.
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