Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Dinner Promise
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Lilia headed into her room, saying she needed to organize the ecology of hell.
Is she worrying about what she'll do in hell ten years from now?
She'll figure it out on her own. Whatever.
I slowly checked the backlog of messages.
They ranged from guilds I'd never heard of to major ones even I knew about, all reaching out.
Amid them, one message stood out.
[YesYeji: Hoyeon cadet. You know I spotted you and reached out before I got famous, right? I messaged the number you gave, but no reply, so I tried here instead.]
"Huh?"
There had been a message?
I checked my smartwatch.
"Ah... I had it on silent, so I didn't see it."
With all the disaster alerts, spam, and weird texts flying in, I'd turned off notifications for unsaved numbers, so I hadn't checked.
[Hello, Cadet Lee Ho-yeon^^ This is Min Ye-ji from Iron Blood Guild. Please reply whenever you're free.]
This had come the same week she'd given me her contact, and after two days with no reply from me, she'd sent another.
[Cadet Lee Ho-yeon, are you busy? It shows you're online on Everyday, but no reply.]
This one arrived Friday. After the weekend and into Monday with no read from me, another came yesterday.
[This is your last chance. If no reply by today, I'll assume you're not interested in working with us. Reply here or contact Min Ye-ji at Iron Blood Guild.]
And just now, another message popped up.
[It's Min Ye-ji. Forget the message I sent yesterday. Could you please just give me a call? I'm the one who first recognized your talent. Instead of jumping to another guild just for the terms, come to Iron Blood Guild where we can truly see your potential and nurture it...]
To sum up the long message: Come to our guild, the first one that recognized you.
I had no intention of joining a guild... but courtesy demanded a response.
[Hello, Ms. Min Ye-ji. I'd set my phone to silent, so I just saw this now. Sorry, but I'm not planning to join any guild right now. Just replying out of courtesy.]
The reply came instantly.
[In that case, what about business?]
Business? What's that about?
I'd never heard of Min Ye-ji, but Iron Blood Guild was one I knew.
One of Korea's top five massive guilds.
She must be a big shot there, but Iron Blood or whatever, I couldn't join right now.
My top priority was hitting on the heroines at the academy... No telling what ripples a guild contract might cause.
Wasting time on official guild stuff instead of personal matters was a loss, plus all the restrictions.
[What kind of business do you mean?]
No reply after that.
Damn.
I saved Min Ye-ji's number and turned off my smartwatch.
Ding-
"Argh, I just turned it off—who is it?"
It was Soo-rin noona.
I tapped it frantically the moment I saw the name.
- Soo-rin noona: Hoyeon-ah, you free tonight by any chance? Got something to talk about.
- Me: Of course! Should I head out right now??
- Soo-rin noona: No haha. I need to get ready too, so I'll let you know when I'm set.
- Me: Got it!
The reason Moon Soo-rin was contacting me at this hour was obvious.
The chairman had surely said something like, "I'll send Soo-rin next time," so this was the reward for bringing Baek A-young to the academy.
I grabbed my cadet uniform I'd taken off, headed to the sink, and checked my face.
'Not bad.'
Of course, my face was never bad.
I gave my hair a quick once-over and got ready to head out.
The dinner with Moon Soo-rin had been postponed so many times, so it was a relief an opportunity finally came up.
After finishing prep, I was chilling on the sofa when a message arrived.
- Soo-rin noona: You ready?
- Me: Yep! Heading out now?
- Soo-rin noona: Yeah, but crowded places are kinda... I'll send you the address, come there.
- Me: Got it.
Moon Soo-rin soon pinned a spot outside the academy in a commercial district.
"I'm heading out."
"Okay~."
I said goodbye to Lilia and stepped out of the dorm.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The outside air was pretty chilly.
It had been warm during the day, but night brought a flower-viewing cold snap, making it hard to dress right.
"Should've worn something warmer."
I regretted coming out in just a single hoodie, especially since it was quite a ways from the academy—I had a good walk ahead.
"Where the heck is this place, so far away..."
I followed the map on my smartwatch to the restaurant.
Even in the commercial strip, it was at the end of the street. No signboard, so I wondered if it was right, but inside, it was clearly open for business.
"Um... hello."
I approached a nearby server with a greeting.
"Welcome. Name on the reservation?"
"Did Moon Soo-rin make one, by chance?"
"Ah, you're with Ms. Moon Soo-rin's party. Right this way to Room 205 on the second floor."
"Got it."
The server in hanbok led the way up to the second floor.
Up top, every seat was a private room.
You couldn't see inside from outside. That's why she picked this place.
"Enjoy your time."
"Thanks."
Knock knock.
"It's me, noona."
I didn't say her full name, just in case.
"Come in."
I quickly opened the door, slipped in, and shut it.
Moon Soo-rin sat in a room radiating luxury.
"You got here fast? Did you leave right after my message?"
"Yep. Can't be late for dinner with Soo-rin noona. I was prepped and waiting..."
Casual-clothed Moon Soo-rin was still stunning. Platinum straight hair, refined features, snow-white skin.
Beautifully rounded breasts, shapely hips, firm thighs—she exuded beauty from head to toe... but she'd taken off her glasses.
The charm hidden by those dorky horn-rims was now bare, and I was momentarily speechless.
Her clear eyes met mine, her cute lips curving into a slight smile.
"Does it look weird...? I tried contacts to change up my image."
💖 Heroine Status 💖 ❤️ Favorability: 63 💋 Libido: 25 🍽️ Appetite: 50 😴 Fatigue: 73 Current Status: Maybe I overdid it... Should've brought the glasses. "No, no. You look amazing, Soo-rin noona. Total bombshell."
"Pfft. Why the exaggeration? Sit down already."
"Yes, ma'am."
My heart was pounding.
What was this, getting all worked up? I'd seen plenty of beauties around, but Moon Soo-rin had a different allure.
This was the moment I understood the vice president's feelings. Hold back a confession seeing that face?
"I went ahead and ordered what I like... Nothing you can't eat, right?"
"Of course... I eat everything."
Rice with Soo-rin noona? I'd savor even burnt crust staring at her face like a miser.
"Rice with you? Burnt crust would taste great."
Whoops, said it out loud.
"Really? Thanks. First off, I'll pass on Grandpa's thanks in his place. Thanks to you, bringing the Saintess to the academy scored us big. So we figured something for you too..."
"Soo-rin noona."
I cut her off before the food even arrived, jumping straight to business.
"Yeah?"
"We were supposed to have dinner before. Let's do work talk after eating."
"...Should we?"
I couldn't bear seeing that pretty face weighed down by exhaustion anymore.
Moon Soo-rin seemed a bit touched by my words.
"Obviously. I went to the infirmary after sparring today, you know. Professor Kim Jin-hyuk..."
"Ugh. That prof still like that?"
"Right? And the Modern Hunter Studies prof switched to Dr. Kang Hyo-rin..."
I steered the talk to everyday stuff, nothing work-related.
A smile never left Moon Soo-rin's lips throughout the meal.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Wow... this is seriously delicious. This place."
I'd guessed from the hanbok-clad server, but it was a Korean restaurant.
"Glad you liked it. Was a bit tough booking."
"Really? Makes sense, it's that good."
First time in my life eating Korean food this tasty.
Made me question what all the previous meals even were.
"Then, shall we get to business?"
"Yep!"
I straightened up, ready to listen intently.
"As I said, the Saintess coming to the academy is thanks to you... so we're expressing our gratitude."
"I did it all for you, noona. Reward on top? I'm grateful."
"Hehe, sweet talk. We don't know what you want, so we prepared a list. Wanna see?"
Moon Soo-rin handed me a sheet of paper.
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[Millennium Snow Ginseng] One geun.
[Pure Blue Oil]
[White Sand Powder] 100g
.
.
.
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"Whoa..."
The list was packed with rare elixirs I'd only heard of by name.
"This... I'll think it over slowly."
"Sure. If you need anything else, just say the word."
"Got it."
We fell into a brief silence.
"Th-that's all for business, noona?"
"Yeah. Shall we head out now?"
"If you're okay with it, noona, I'd love to talk more."
Moon Soo-rin had taken off her glasses.
Great that her beautiful face was revealed, but actually, this was a bad sign.
Her no-glasses event triggered when favorability with Lee Ho-yeon spiked high or stalker antics got too intense...
💖 Heroine Status 💖 ❤️ Favorability: 63 💋 Libido: 25 🍽️ Appetite: 50 😴 Fatigue: 73 Current Status: Hoyeon is such a nice guy, as expected. My favorability was still early 60s. She liked me, but not that much.
So the trigger was the latter: stalker stuff.
"Remember? I once said getting too famous would be tough."
"Of course."
It was when Moon Soo-rin had worried about me getting close to Professor Im Sol.
"Now you're famous too... maybe you get it a little?"
"Noona..."
"Sorry, sounding like a celebrity diva? Hehe."
Moon Soo-rin's face mixed regret, misery, disappointment, depression—all the negatives.
"I always tell you, noona."
I stood, locking eyes with Moon Soo-rin.
Standing before her, I gripped her slender shoulders firmly.
"H-Hoyeon-ah? What're you doing?"
"Noona. I've told you over and over. I'm always on your side. Lee Ho-yeon, the mage who could flip the world, is Team Moon Soo-rin. No worries, chin up. If anyone's messing with you, I'll half-kill 'em."
"...S-Suddenly like this, it's, uh, embarrassing..."
Moon Soo-rin's face flushed at my abrupt move, eyes darting around.
💖 Heroine Status 💖 ❤️ Favorability: 75 💋 Libido: 35 🍽️ Appetite: 50 😴 Fatigue: 73 Current Status: D-Does Hoyeon like me? With him... might not be bad... Favorability 75. High enough she'd accept a confession.
Not quite at "confess to me" levels yet, but good enough for now.
"Noona. If it's tough, come to me first. Got it?"
I drove it home one last time.
"Y-Yeah... got it."
Moon Soo-rin nodded, mesmerized by my intensity.
I had to make her think of me before family when things got rough.
Start slow, build dependence step by step.