A Dinner Date

Liliana headed into her room, announcing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that she needed to organize everything she knew about Hell's ecology.

Already planning what she'll do in Hell ten years from now?

Whatever. She'll figure it out.

I took my time working through the backlog of messages. They ran the gamut — guilds I had never even heard of, and massive ones I knew all too well. All of them reaching out, trying to get a piece of me.

One message in particular jumped off the screen.

"Huh?"

Someone had messaged me?

I checked my smartwatch.

"Ah... I had it on silent. Never even saw it."

Between disaster alerts and spam, so much junk had been flooding in that I'd turned off notifications for any number that wasn't saved in my contacts. That was why I'd missed it.

That one had arrived the same day she'd given me her number last week. When I still hadn't answered two days later, she sent another.

That was Friday. The weekend came and went, Monday arrived, and I still hadn't read any of it. So yesterday, she sent one more.

And just now, another one had landed.

The long-winded pitch boiled down to one thing: We saw you first. Come to us.

I had no intention of joining a guild... but I at least owed her the courtesy of a reply.

The response arrived the instant I hit send.

Business? What business?

I had never heard of Min Yeji, but I knew the Iron Blood Guild. It was one of the top five mega-guilds in Korea. Anyone attached to a place like that was bound to be a heavy hitter... but Iron Blood or otherwise, I couldn't join anyone right now.

My number one priority was seducing the heroines at the academy. Who knew what kind of mess a guild contract would stir up? I didn't have time to waste on official business, and there would be all kinds of restrictions besides.

No reply after that.

Well. That died fast.

I saved Min Yeji's number and switched off my smartwatch.

Ding—

"Oh, come on. I just turned the thing off. Who is it now?"

The sender was Su-rin noona.

The second I saw the name, I scrambled to open the message.

Why Mun Su-rin was contacting me at this hour was obvious. The chairman had clearly said, I'll send Su-rin next time — this had to be the reward for bringing Baek A-young to the academy.

I pulled my cadet uniform back on and checked my face in the bathroom mirror.

Not bad.

Then again, my face was never bad.

I gave my hair a quick tousle and got ready to leave. Our dinner plans had been pushed back again and again, so it was a relief that something had finally given us a reason to make it happen.

I finished getting ready and was unwinding on the couch when another message arrived.

Mun Su-rin dropped a pin on a shop in the commercial district outside the academy.

"I'm heading out for a bit."

"Got it~."

I said goodbye to Liliana and stepped out of the dorm.

The air outside was biting. It had been warm during the day, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but a late spring chill had rolled in after dark, and I couldn't decide whether I'd dressed right.

"Should've worn something warmer."

I'd come out in nothing but a thin crewneck, and I was already regretting it — especially since the place was far enough from the academy that I had a long walk ahead of me.

"Where the hell is this, that it's this far out...."

I followed the map on my smartwatch to the restaurant. It was a building at the far end of the commercial strip, no sign hanging out front. I wasn't even sure I had the right place until I stepped inside and found a restaurant in full operation.

"Um... hello."

I approached the nearest staff member and offered a greeting.

"Welcome. May I have the name on the reservation?"

"Would it be under Mun Su-rin, by any chance?"

"Ah, you're with Ms. Mun Su-rin's party. I'll show you to room 205 on the second floor."

"Thank you."

A server in a hanbok led the way upstairs. Every seat on the second floor was a private room. From the outside, you couldn't see who was inside at all. So that's why she wanted to meet here.

"Please enjoy your evening."

"Thank you."

Knock, knock.

"I'm here, noona."

Just in case, I didn't say her name out loud.

"Come in."

I opened the door quickly, stepped through, and shut it behind me.

Mun Su-rin was sitting in a room that radiated understated luxury.

"You're early. Did you leave the second I messaged you?"

"Yes. It's dinner with you, noona. I couldn't possibly be late. I got ready ahead of time and was just waiting... wait."

Mun Su-rin in casual clothes was still breathtaking. That platinum-blonde straight hair, those neat, refined features, that porcelain skin. A beautifully full chest, a perfectly tapered waist and hip line, and firm, shapely thighs — she radiated beauty from every inch of her body. And she wasn't wearing her glasses.

The looks she'd been hiding behind those frumpy thick frames were fully on display, and for a moment I couldn't find a single word. Her vivid, clear eyes met mine, and those dainty lips curved into a faint smile.

"It looks weird after all, doesn't it...? I was trying to change up my image, so I put in contacts."

"No, no. You look genuinely gorgeous, noona. This is a national emergency."

"Pfft. Why are you being so extra? Just sit down."

"Y-yes."

My heart was pounding. What was I, some lovestruck kid? I'd been surrounded by beautiful women, but Mun Su-rin had a different kind of charm entirely.

I finally understood how the vice president felt. How was anyone supposed to look at a face like that and not confess?

"I just ordered the things I like... nothing you can't eat, right?"

"Of course not... I'll eat anything."

If I was eating with Su-rin noona, I could live on scorched rice crust and still savor every bite just looking at her face, like some legendary miser hoarding scraps.

"If it's a meal with you, noona, I could eat nothing but scorched rice and still enjoy every bite."

Damn. I said that out loud.

"Really? Thank you. I'll pass along the thanks on Grandfather's behalf, first of all. We gained a lot from the Saint coming to the academy, and that's thanks to you. So we wanted to—"

"Noona."

I cut her off before the food had even arrived, before she could dive any further into work talk.

"Hm?"

"We promised we'd have a meal ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠together, remember? Work talk can wait until after we eat."

"...Alright. We can do that."

I couldn't stand to see that beautiful face looking so worn down by exhaustion anymore. My words seemed to touch her, just a little.

"Of course. I went to the infirmary after sparring today, and Professor Kim Jin-hyeok...."p>

"Pfft. He's still like that, huh?"

"I know, right? And the Modern Hunterology professor got swapped out for Dr. Kang Hyo-rin...."

I kept the conversation going with the most ordinary, everyday stories I could think of — nothing to do with work. A smile never left Mun Su-rin's lips for the rest of the meal.

"Wow... this place is actually incredible."

I'd more or less guessed from the moment I saw the staff in hanbok, but it was a Korean restaurant.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. Getting a reservation here was a bit of a struggle."

"Really? Well, that tracks. It was that good."

It was the best Korean food I had ever eaten in my life. Good enough to make me question what I'd been calling a meal up until now.

"Shall we get to the work talk, then?"

"Yes!"

I straightened my posture and prepared to listen.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"As I said, the Saint coming to the academy is thanks to you.... So we decided we needed to show our gratitude."

"I did it all for you, noona. Getting a reward on top of that is more than I deserve."

"Heh. Even if it's just words, I appreciate it. We couldn't figure out what you'd actually want, so we put together a list. Want to take a look?"

Mun Su-rin handed me a sheet of paper.

"Whoa...."

The list was packed with elixirs I had only ever heard of by name.

"This is... I'll need some time to think it over."

"Sure. And if there's anything else you need, just say so. Don't be shy."

"Yes. Understood."

A brief silence settled between us.

"So... that's all the work talk, then? Noona?"

"Yeah. I guess so? Shall we get going?"

"If you're alright with it, I wouldn't mind talking a little longer."

Mun Su-rin had taken off her glasses.

Seeing that beautiful face unveiled was wonderful, but the truth was, this was a bad sign. In the game, Mun Su-rin removing her glasses was an event that triggered when her affection for Lee Ho-yeon climbed extremely high — or when the stalking got far too severe.

My affection was still sitting in the low sixties. She was fond of me, but she didn't like me — not like that.

Which meant the event had been triggered by the latter cause.

"Alright then... do you remember? I told you once that things would get hard if I became too well-known."

"Of course I remember."

It was something she'd said a while back, when she was worried about me getting close to Professor Lim Sol.

"Now that you're famous too... maybe you can understand a little of how I feel?"

"Noona..."

"Sorry. That sounded so full of myself, didn't it? Like some celebrity complex. Heh."

Mun Su-rin's expression was a tangle of things. Regret, misery, disappointment, melancholy — it looked like she'd brought every negative feeling she owned.

"I always tell you this, noona."

I met her eyes and stood up from my seat. Stepping in front of her, I took hold of her slender shoulders and held on firmly.

"H-Ho-yeon? What are you doing?"

"...I-i-if you suddenly do this, i-it's embarrassing...."

Caught off guard by the sudden intensity, Mun Su-rin's face flushed red, her eyes darting anywhere but mine.

Affection, seventy-five. High enough that a confession from me would land.

It wasn't high enough yet for her to confess to me, but I'd take the win and stop here.

"Noona. If things get hard, you come to me. No exceptions. Got it?"

I drove the point home one last time, like driving in a nail.

"Mmh... okay."

Mun Su-rin nodded, looking almost dazed by the force of it.

When things got truly hard, I needed to be the first person she thought of — before her own family.

Slowly. It started with making her depend on me.