Villain Taming (3)
I'd been camped out at Min Ye-won's regular café since morning, going on three hours now.
The ice in my third iced americano had all but melted from how long I'd been sitting here staring at my phone, and my head was starting to feel foggy.
Just sitting around waiting for nothing is a bit tiring, honestly.
Going by Min Ye-won's usual behavioral patterns, she'd probably show up around lunchtime, but there was no harm in being prepared. I'd kept the original story as intact as I could, but there was no telling how the small variables I'd created might ripple outward.
Maybe a grouchy Min Ye-won would wake up a little earlier than usual and come out for a walk, or a thoroughly annoyed Jo Jin-hyun would start pressuring her by phone first thing in the morning.
Still, her habit of visiting this café of hers — Heaven's Sweet — to blow off steam when stress piled up wasn't going to change. So if I wanted to make contact as quickly as possible, I needed to manufacture an "accident" and appear before her eyes, even if I had to force it a little.
There were roughly two weeks left until academy enrollment.
Once academy life began in earnest, a "natural meeting" with a girl attending a different academy would be impossible.
Which meant that before then, I had to exchange contact information with her and firmly establish the relationship between master and slave.
Of course, waiting for her didn't mean I was letting the spare time go to waste. Even now I was trading Cocoatalk messages with the heroines, preparing my next schedule.
The long pause before her reply suggested she was agonizing over what to send back.
After deliberating on her end for a while, a short answer finally came through the Cocoatalk window.
…That should be enough for Kim Isabel for now.
This time, I was determined to push things further and faster than I had during my stay at the church. I'd banked a little more affection through the amusement park event, and I'd made her aware of her own feelings through jealousy.
It was about time to withdraw from that affection savings account. On our next date, I'd have to push things at least as far as her chest, one way or another.
And this time, with me doing the touching.
Honestly, if it weren't for Cha Eunju, we'd have gotten this far ages ago.
Looking back, it really was a shame. I'd wanted to knead that soft pouch of holy power at least once before leaving the church.
I'd gotten a faint sense of it when her arm brushed against mine at the amusement park, but if anything, that only made the fact that I hadn't gotten a proper feel sting that much more.
Fine, there was no way around it. She'd dared to interfere with her master's plans, so Cha Eunju would simply have to pay it back with her body.
It had been a decent while since her first experience, after all. She was probably waiting for the next "hypnosis training" session with me anyway, so it would be fine.
…I'm pretty sure the "1" on her end vanished the instant I sent that message.
She must have had my chat window open, deliberating over whether or not to message me. Maybe she'd been about to ask when the next hypnosis training session would be. Seriously, adorable even when I'm not looking.
Thanks to that, I didn't need to waste words setting the mood. She was clearly itching down below for another round of "hypnosis training" from me anyway.
Hm. Thursday's out.
That lukewarm response meant it was probably a day one of her favorite anime series aired.
The fact that she said Thursday would probably work suggested she valued our date over guarding her anime broadcast, at least a little. Still, accommodating her on these small details would work in my favor, if only slightly.
One of the reasons Cha Eunju started resenting Lee Seonho in the original story was that he kept working her to the bone on the very days her hobby schedule came up, after all.
She'd now accept it as a matter of course even when I made the date unmistakably obvious. If it's this easy, how does she plan to survive this harsh world?
Luckily for her, a girl like Eunju met a wonderful master like me. Truly fortunate.
After that, I sent a message to Choi Marie saying I'd be back for morning training tomorrow, then ordered my fourth round of drinks while waiting for a Min Ye-won whose arrival time was anyone's guess.
Relaxing really does make me crave something sweet.
It was getting close to lunchtime anyway. To stave off the hunger, I ordered another cookie and an americano, sat back down, and quietly kept my eyes on the entrance.
"Welcome in~."
"Thanks~."
Accompanied by a mindlessly chipper voice, the lime-green-haired girl I'd been waiting for finally made her appearance.
So she did end up coming around lunchtime, just like I predicted.
Maybe next time I could narrow the margin of error a bit. Holding back a gnawing urge while camped out in a café for three hours was no easier than it looked.
"Are you ready to order?"
"Honey bread with extra fresh cream, please~. And a caramel macchiato with whipped cream on top~."
If she knew the money she was spending was tied up in a crime, she might hesitate a little before burning through it.
But watching her splurge however she pleased just because she happened to have cash on hand, it was clear her head wasn't particularly sharp.
Which, for my purposes, made her that much easier to deceive. So really, all the better.
"Mr. Lee Seonho, your order is ready."
Another server girl called out to me with impeccable timing, pulling Min Ye-won's attention my way.
The moment my name rang out, I could practically feel Min Ye-won's gaze swinging around to land on me.
With her personality, she probably can't just ignore me and walk past.
Her plan had presumably been to wander around without a care and tell Jo Jin-hyun, "I've been looking all over for Lee Seonho to lure him in, but I can't find him anywhere." But now she'd spotted me out in the open like this.
She was simple-minded and bad at lying — and she knew better than anyone that she was bad at it.
Now that she'd "coincidentally" discovered me, she had no choice but to approach and reel me in. …Never mind that I'd deliberately camped out in her café for over three hours to stage that coincidence.
"Miss Min Ye-won, your order is ready."
"Ah — yes!"
She stood blankly at the counter staring at me for a moment, then hastily grabbed her tray of coffee and snacks and stealthily settled into a table near mine. From the position of someone who knew she was being watched, her movement was laughably conspicuous.
Trying to hold back a laugh, I bit into my cookie and pretended to look at my phone while sneaking glances her way.
Thanks to the plan, she'd be the one approaching me first regardless. All I had to do was savor the cookie in my mouth and wait leisurely for Min Ye-won to come to me.
So there I was, noticing her darting little glances, waiting for her approach in a slightly better mood than before, when —
"Excuse me."
"Hm?"
"I noticed you the moment you walked in, and you're so totally my type. If it's not too forward, could I get your number?"
…An uninvited interloper had just appeared out of nowhere and started grinding on my nerves.
Who the hell is this bastard?
I didn't recall seeing him in the original story.
Not that it was surprising — my attempt to approach her at the café was already a deviation from the original plot in the first place.
Still, a flicker of worry crossed my mind — could this guy mess up Min Ye-won's approach to me? — and I cautiously focused my attention on the two of them, all while keeping a backup plan in my head: if things went wrong, I'd intervene, even if it meant switching up the operation.
"Um, your number…."
"No thanks. You're not really my type."
"Aw, come on, don't judge by looks alone. I may look like this, but I'm secretly a real catch, you know."
"I said no. Leave while I'm being nice about it."
…More persistent than I expected.
Refused twice, the guy wouldn't back down and kept clinging to her like a pest.
It wasn't exactly rare for men to hit on her and ask for her number. Compared to Eunju and the other girls she ranked a step lower in looks — but Min Ye-won was, objectively speaking, plenty beautiful in her own right.
That said, she'd never cared for men who approached her this way, and in a situation where she needed to approach me covertly, this guy's existence was all the more inconvenient.
"Ugh, you're so prickly. I just want to talk a little, that's all."
"I said no. Why do you keep pestering me?"
Watching their voices rise, I made my final call to intervene and quietly rose from my seat.
Suggestion: Art of Fighting ※ Target: Lee Seonho
…Just in case, I laid the self-suggestion down in advance, too.
"What's with the high-and-mighty act? You got a boyfriend?"
"No, I don't have a boyfriend. But that doesn't mean I'd ever date you, so wake up."
"Wow, you've got some nerve talking like that. Is giving out one number really that hard?"
"Even if I gave you my number, it'd be a waste of your time anyway, and I'm telling you that up front. Why do you keep pushing? I said you're not my type."
"You're only average-looking yourself, and you've got no sense at all. Why drag this out and make it ugly when we could settle it nicely?"
"Ugh, enough. I came here to unwind, and you've ruined the whole mood. Final warning. Get out of my face. Now."
She'd been holding back somewhat, maybe conscious of my presence nearby, but the man's dogged persistence finally pushed Min Ye-won past her limit, and the profanity spilled out.
"Get out of your— what…?"
And the man who'd tried to score a number only to take an insult instead — the light in his eyes changed in an instant.
"Get out, you say? You look cheap as hell, but giving out one number's that hard for you?"
"S-Sir…? I'm sorry, but please, no disturbances inside the café…."
"……."
The moment the wild-eyed bastard raised his hand in a threatening stance —
Thud.
I hastily grabbed the man's wrist and stepped in between them.
"That's enough. You're making this young lady uncomfortable, aren't you?"
"Who the hell are you now? Her boyfriend or something?"
"No, but if you cause a scene in here, it's a problem for everyone else too."
"If I'm not her boyfriend, stay out of it. Why are you butting in?"
"Just let it go. This lady clearly has no interest in you whatsoever…."
"Gah, shit! I said mind your own business!"
Clearly displeased that I'd wedged myself between him and Min Ye-won, the man swung his other hand around in a fist.
The moment his fist came flying at my face, I moved to snatch it out of the air and deflect it —
Smack!
But a hand that had cut in half a step ahead of me caught the man's left fist first.
"…I told you to get lost while I was being nice about it."
And with Min Ye-won's furious voice, the man's body went spinning half a rotation through the air.