Chapter 131: How to Tame Her (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 131: How to Tame Her (2)
Sunk into the back seat of a luxury sedan worth well over a hundred million won, I stared blankly out the window.
Then, I turned my head and glanced at the middle-aged man in the driver's seat.
I’d been wondering why he looked so familiar… and it turned out he was someone I actually knew.
When was the last time I saw him?
“Has it… been about five years?”
The neat, middle-aged gentleman’s name was Hwang In-guk.
As for his job… he didn’t have a specific title, but ‘aide’ seemed fitting enough.
He looked to be around fifty, but he was actually an old man over seventy.
The secret to his youth wasn't good genes, but the fact that he was a Hunter.
Back when I was a rising star, he was a renowned A-rank Hunter.
What was his nickname again…?
“Was it the Bloody Gentleman?”
He always stuck to the concept of a British gentleman, complete with a suit and a monocle, but his fists were constantly stained with the blood of monsters. I think that’s how he got the name.
He was even a little famous abroad as the ‘Bloody Gentleman,’ if I recall correctly.
The old man, visible in the rearview mirror, was smiling benevolently.
“Ho ho… I never imagined a young person would remember my old nickname.”
It seemed my muttering had reached him.
Well, he was still an A-rank Hunter, after all. There was no way he’d miss a sound in a car this small.
“You were a legend of your time. Of course, I remember.”
Truthfully, I didn’t know much about him.
I only remembered because we were acquaintances.
The conversation didn’t last long and ended there. He only responded at length because I’d brought up his long-forgotten nickname; the old man was the type to give only the necessary answer to most questions before closing his mouth again.
The car, now settled in a heavy silence, came to a stop in Gangnam.
To be more precise, it was in front of a building that was exceptionally tall, even among the skyscrapers that the major guilds used as their guild houses.
A peculiar building, its entire exterior made of glass.
This was the Magic Tower.
A specialized magic institution established with the support of the World Hunter Association and the government.
What do they do here?
Everything from training mages to developing new magic, improving existing spells, and researching methods for crafting magic artifacts.
Basically, anything and everything related to magic passes through this place.
“Well then, let’s head inside.”
The old man handed the car over to an employee who was waiting at the entrance and led me in.
We boarded an elevator in the center of the building and headed up.
Ding!
[66th Floor.]
The 66th floor.
The very top of the Magic Tower.
Unlike the other floors, which were divided into various sections depending on their purpose and the people using them, this entire floor was a single, unified space.
The reason was simple: this space was permitted for the use of only one person.
The administrator who held the entire 66-story Magic Tower in her palm—the Tower Lord.
Stepping inside, I was greeted by the sight of a study decorated for one person alone.
Bookshelves made entirely of dark brown wood, filled with countless books and scrolls.
Strange plants adorned the areas around the glass walls.
In the center of it all was a massive desk, and on it, towering piles of documents.
And reviewing them one by one, a woman with red hair, flipping rapidly through the pages.
Everyone in the Republic of Korea knew her.
And I knew her better than anyone.
…No, I thought I knew her well.
One of only five S-rank Hunters in Korea.
Her nickname: ‘Scarlet Witch’.
With captivating crimson hair that looked as if each strand had been meticulously dyed with clear drops of blood and an explosive figure that stirred carnal desire in anyone who looked, she was the role model for all women of this era.
And, a timeless sex symbol for men.
If I remember correctly, offers for photoshoots and commercials were still flooding in for her.
She just turned down every massive offer, citing her busy schedule and her dislike of baring herself in front of others.
“I have brought Kim Do-jin as you requested, Young Lady.”
“Good work. You may go home for the day.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Dismissed, the old man turned and walked past me.
Soon, he disappeared with the elevator, leaving just the two of us.
She finally lifted her eyes from the pile of documents and looked at me.
“Welcome.”
A dry tone and a cold gaze.
Her expression was so nonchalant it seemed an unfitting way to greet someone she had summoned from so far away, but I could see it.
A single stream of curiosity flowing within her parched eyes.
How did I know?
“I’m Han Ju-hee, the Tower Lord.”
“……”
Because she was my ex-wife.
No matter how estranged we had become, I could at least read that much.
From the moment I met old Hwang In-guk to the car ride here, I had been worrying endlessly.
When I finally faced her in this body for the first time, what should I say? What expression should I wear?
I had a perfect plan right up until I entered the building—no, right up until I saw her.
But the moment I laid eyes on her, it was as if black ink had been smeared all over my mind.
A storm of emotions raged within me.
I felt resentment, and foolishly, a sense of gladness.
But even all those feelings combined couldn’t overcome the bewilderment I felt now.
I wanted to ask.
Why did she become like this?
Why did she treat me so coldly, why did she refuse to even look at me?
And I wanted to confront her.
To ask if she had any idea how much I had struggled, or what dark thoughts had crossed my mind.
However, since I couldn’t do that…
“…Hello. I’m Kim Do-jin.”
I forced a smile and bowed my head to her.
“Let’s sit and talk.”
We sat on a wide sofa near the window, facing each other.
“I’m sorry for calling you so suddenly. I wanted to visit you myself, but… it might have caused a bit of a scene.”
“I understand.”
After all, she was the most famous person after my former self.
“I’ll be direct. You have some idea why I asked to meet you here, don’t you?”
There could only be one reason for her to summon a stranger—a mage, at that—for a private meeting.
Recruitment into the Magic Tower.
She wanted to bring a talented mage who was wandering outside into the fold.
“I assume it’s a scouting offer.”
“Yes, that’s right. I’ve had you on my recruitment list for a while, student Kim Do-jin. The video that was recently uploaded was what made me decide.”
“Ah…”
That damn video was causing me all sorts of trouble.
“That magic you used then… it was an arrangement of Ice Shield, wasn’t it?”
For the first time, her eyes began to shine.
She was always a woman who would go crazy for magic, and it seemed that much hadn’t changed.
I answered readily.
“Yes, it was.”
“Honestly, I was impressed. I was also surprised that there was a young student with the talent and creativity to develop a basic magic spell in such a way.”
“Haha.”
A lively conversation.
Something I had longed for as her husband was now happening in this body.
The thought even crossed my mind.
If I had been a mage like her, would we at least have been able to keep a conversation going?
“Watching that, I was certain. Student Kim Do-jin, you are an indispensable talent for our Magic Tower.”
She looked at me with an even deeper gaze.
“Come to the Magic Tower, student Kim Do-jin. I’ll give you double… no, triple the amount of any offer you’ve received.”
“…Triple?”
The average contract fee for a rookie Hunter joining a major guild was about 500 million won.
This year’s top prospect could expect two to four times that amount.
That calculated out to somewhere between one and two billion won.
The highest offer I had received was exactly two billion.
Triple that would be six billion.
It was an absurdly excessive amount to offer a Hunter aspirant who was still just a first-year university student.
If the person in front of me weren’t her, I would have been justified in asking if she’d lost her mind.
“You’re worth it, student Kim Do-jin. If you join the Magic Tower, that talent, which starts in the billions… will blossom into the hundreds, even thousands of billions.”
It was a sweet, tempting story.
Her voice possessed a natural gift for moving people, especially men.
Or… was it because of her face and body, not her voice?
“I’ll give you anything else you want. A private research lab, funding for research and supplies… everything I can provide.”
I could feel that she was truly giving it her all.
The more she tried, the colder my heart grew.
Seeing her so fired up over one interesting magic trick after she’d cast aside the husband she’d lived with for decades made my insides twist with bitterness.
“This should be a tempting enough offer… what do you think?”
“It certainly is… tempting.”
Well… I couldn’t help but be tempted.
Six billion won wasn’t pocket change, and a mage recognized not just in Korea but around the world was practically begging me to join. It would be stranger not to be tempted.
But what could I do?
“But I have no intention of joining anywhere until I graduate from university.”
I still didn’t want to.
For the first time, a crack appeared on her face.
Her fine brow furrowed between her confident eyes.
Was it confusion, or anger?
“…Usually, people who say that are confident. Confident that by the time they graduate, their value will be even higher than it is now.”
I smiled and nodded.
“Yes, I am.”
The only emotion money could evoke in me was temptation; that was its limit.
I’d had plenty of it before, and I had a rough idea of how to get more.
Six billion was tempting… but it wasn’t an amount I couldn’t obtain on my own.
And just as she said, I was confident.
Confident that by the time I graduated, I could command not six billion, but sixty billion, or even more.
“Besides, what I need isn’t money.”
“Not money… you need something else?”
“Yes.”
Honestly, I had wanted to ruin this conversation.
I had planned to react coldly to whatever she said, thinking only of ending this moment as quickly as possible…
But as we sat facing each other, our eyes meeting, talking, I suddenly felt it would be a waste.
A waste to let her fall into the hands of Fake Si-woo, or some other man.
Her inner self might be rotten, but her outer shell was certainly valuable.
In fact, I had spent a lifetime having sex with her and had never once felt tired of it.
So, I changed my mind a little.
I no longer wanted to send what was mine into another man’s arms, and I also wanted revenge.
A scale in my mind tipped violently back and forth. A sharp conflict erupted over whether I could win her in this body.
“So… what is it you want, if not money?”
At the same time, I took another step forward.
If I succeeded in taking her.
How far could I make her fall?
And then.
When she had fallen deep enough, when I revealed that I was her husband, Son Si-woo.
What kind of expression would she make then?
I smiled brightly and answered her as she stared intently at my lips.
“That… is something I’d like you to find out for yourself, Tower Lord.”
A thrill ran down my spine.