Chapter 1: The Empress's Resolve
Opening the Captain-exclusive status window of the cruise ship, I toyed with the button to install the Massage Room.
Yet, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't picture it.
The image of Owen being satisfied by me giving him a massage.
It was only natural.
With Seolbin right here on board, why on earth would he want a massage from another man?
If anything, seeing how protective I was of Seolbin would probably only annoy him.
Above all, Owen was a notorious womanizer—so much so that he had tried to hit on Sodam at the outdoor pool earlier today.
!?
A sudden thought flashed through my mind.
The list of body types and breast preferences on his status window...
It had ranged from voluptuous to petite, from massive breasts to flat chests. Every single type had been listed.
What if Owen was an absolute omnivore when it came to women, completely indiscriminate about their body types?
If so, everything clicked into place.
It explained why he had tried to stretch his filthy claws toward Sodam, who looked young by anyone's standards.
After all, his preferred body types included "petite," and his preferred breast sizes included "flat."
As my deduction grew into a chilling certainty...
Fuck.
A wave of pure disgust welled up from deep within me.
Sodam was definitely on his radar.
Looking back...
Even back in our Baeksang Guild days, there had always been a strange, unsettling vibe between him and the female guild members.
When I first joined the guild, Owen had constantly made bizarre, cryptic propositions to me as well.
Back then, as a member of the Baeksang Guild, I had simply kept my distance because I found it distasteful, never giving it much deeper thought.
The hunter world was a place ruled by the law of the jungle, more so than anywhere else.
No matter how much of a guild leader Owen was, the strongest people in the Baeksang Guild were Seolbin and me.
Thus, worrying about what he did behind closed doors was a complete waste of time.
As long as Owen's actions didn't get in my way, I couldn't have cared less.
His sleazy advances toward the female guild members were entirely outside my concern.
Especially since I had abandoned any thoughts of a harem after meeting Seolbin.
But that past indifference was now coming back to bite me, pushing me into a corner.
I had been far too complacent about Owen's sudden appearance as a VIP.
If he realized for certain that we were at his mercy on this cruise ship, he would undoubtedly lay his hands on Sodam as well as Seolbin.
There was no time to lose.
The remaining time was three days and two nights. In reality, we only had two days left.
I had to either max out his satisfaction points today or at least find a breakthrough to do so.
Seolbin, too, suspected that Owen was eyeing Sodam.
So, after discussing it with her, we decided...
To use drinks as an excuse once again.
Since I couldn't bring myself to tell Seolbin that Owen preferred a massage room,
our options were extremely limited.
However, Seolbin decided to be a bit more proactive today.
Yesterday, he had mentioned that he didn't easily accept drinks poured by others.
But what if Seolbin drank first and then offered him a glass?
Not only would it dispel any suspicion of poison or tampering, but if we were lucky, her proactive attitude might earn us some points.
And so, we summoned him to the bar once more...
Seolbin sat down right next to him, pressing close.
"Lee Siwoo. I believe I told you yesterday that I don't care much for alcohol?"
"Guild Leader. I felt there was no better way to converse with you than over a drink. My perspective is rather narrow, having spent my entire life as a hunter..."
I spoke with a thoroughly submissive attitude, but Owen remained unmoved.
Then,
Gulp—
Seolbin's throat bobbed. She downed the glass she had poured beforehand.
Although we had planned this, I hadn't expected her to drink so boldly.
There was a certain raw, provocative edge to her movements, like a woman who knew how to play the game.
But...
Gasp—! Cough, cough!
Having forced it down too quickly for show, Seolbin ended up choking.
"Miss Seolbin? Are you alright?"
"I-I'm fine, Guild Leader..."
"Don't force yourself if it's too hard. As I said, I don't particularly enjoy drinking."
"G-Guild Leader. Still, you've come all this way to visit our ship, so please, with me..."
With eyes watery and red from coughing, Seolbin tried to pour Owen a drink.
Right then,
Owen placed his hand on Seolbin's thigh. Since she was wearing her uniform miniskirt, her bare skin was completely exposed.
It was a blatantly predatory touch.
I had anticipated this level of physical contact, but...
actually witnessing it right before my eyes made my heart feel like it was about to burst.
Just then,
"Ah—!"
Seolbin flinched away reflexively, rejecting his touch.
Although Seolbin and I had discussed the possibility of him touching her,
her body had reacted with instinctive revulsion.
And because of that mistake...
VIP Owen is dissatisfied with Crew Member Han Seolbin's attitude!
Satisfaction Score has been reduced by 1 point!
The score, which had been only one point away from completion, had dropped.
A fatal mistake.
Yet, I couldn't blame Seolbin.
Pouring drinks by his side was humiliating enough, but she had forced herself to do it all for my sake.
Her body had simply recoiled on reflex.
For Seolbin, an S-class hunter who had never needed to cater to anyone's whims in her entire life, this plan had been too much to ask.
Soon, Owen spoke with a thoroughly bored expression.
"It seems you've forced yourself to sit next to me, Miss Seolbin."
"Guild Leader! N-No, that's not it..."
"It's fine. I'm content to just enjoy the ocean view and leave. I didn't have high expectations to begin with."
"G-Guild Leader!"
"I shall take my leave. Have a pleasant evening."
Owen stood up and walked away.
Owen was in no hurry.
He had previously suspected that Siwoo possessed a netorase fetish, but tonight, he decided to shelve that hypothesis for a moment.
The sheer desperation radiating from the couple seemed far removed from voluntary cuckoldry.
If anything,
it felt strongly as though they were under some form of coercion.
The proud Ice Empress, Han Seolbin.
Who could have ever imagined her choking down alcohol just to share a drink with him?
This was hard to view as voluntary netorase.
A far more logical deduction was that a third party, or some external force, was pulling the strings.
'In that case...'
Lost in thought, Owen's attention shifted to the cruise ship itself.
A cruise ship far too massive for just Lee Siwoo and Han Seolbin to use for a simple vacation.
Furthermore, Siwoo wasn't even steering the vessel.
From eavesdropping on their conversations, he knew that the ship operated entirely on an automated navigation system.
And what about the way he had been invited?
Owen's invitation to the cruise had arrived as a direct message on his status window.
It hadn't come via phone, email, text, or social media.
Even for a hunter inviting another hunter, it was an incredibly bizarre method.
What if... just what if...
What if this cruise ship wasn't a normal vessel, but a type of artifact? And what if this artifact was exerting some kind of pressure on the two of them?
The pieces were starting to fall into place.
Though extremely rare, he recalled reading reports of certain unique-grade artifacts acting as if they possessed a will of their own.
Confidential documents from the Hunter Association, to be exact.
He had dismissed it as useless trivia back then, but he never expected it to come in handy like this.
The corners of Owen's mouth curled upward.
'Bribing that high-ranking Association official was the best decision I ever made...'
Owen finished his calculations.
He would maintain a relaxed, leisurely attitude until tomorrow night.
By then, the truth would lay itself bare.
In reality, his stay here only lasted until tomorrow night.
If his hypothesis was correct, the ones who would grow desperate were Lee Siwoo and Han Seolbin.
And if...
Lee Siwoo was indeed being pressured to offer Han Seolbin up for netorase...
Then he would simply enjoy the ride.
Even if the truth leaked to the public, Han Seolbin would be the only one ruined.
After all, his public image as the Guild Leader of Baeksang was built on competence, not moral purity.
And in scandals like this, it was always the woman who suffered far more damage than the man.
Therefore, this was a bet with an incredibly favorable risk-to-reward ratio.
No, he didn't even need to place a bet. He just had to let things play out.
If his deduction was correct,
the two of them would be the ones to make the first move.
The night after we had helplessly let Owen return to his room,
I finally confessed to Seolbin.
That as the Captain, I could see Owen's preferred facilities.
And that among those facilities, I had confirmed the Massage Room.
That was as far as I went.
I couldn't bring myself to ask her to give Owen a massage.
She had struggled so much just sitting beside him and offering drinks yesterday.
So,
no matter how impossible it seemed...
"Seolbin, I'll do it!"
"Siwoo, I'll do it!"
Seolbin and I volunteered at the exact same moment.
Amidst the relentless gloom, our hearts aligned for a brief, fleeting second.
The feeling of being completely in sync with her warmed my chest, if only for a moment.
Was Seolbin feeling the same way?
The expression on her face was...
"Pfft!"
A burst of laughter.
It was hardly a laughing matter, yet Seolbin smiled brightly, purely happy that our hearts had connected.
She was likely trying to put my mind at ease.
But it was also true that in volunteering to protect each other, we had shared a moment of profound warmth.
After smiling softly for a moment, she spoke.
"Siwoo, let me do it. Don't worry too much. I can handle it somehow. No, I will make sure I succeed!"
"Seolbin..."
"That thigh he touched today? If it fills up his satisfaction points, I'll let him touch it as much as he wants! It's not like touching my thigh is going to kill me."
"..."
"No matter what disgusting thoughts run through his head while he touches me, I belong to you, Siwoo! And I will never, ever let him go any further than that!"
"..."
"I'm... the Ice Empress. Just letting him touch my thigh will be more than enough to satisfy him! You think so too, right, Siwoo?"
Seolbin asked, searching my eyes for reassurance.
Honestly...
I was deeply, terribly worried.
Worried about whether Owen would truly be satisfied with just that.
But I had to reassure her.
I had to let her know that what she was trying to do was not a betrayal, and that as her boyfriend, I gave her my blessing.
In my current state, I had absolutely no right to crush the resolve she had fought so hard to muster.
"Yeah, Seolbin. Everything's going to be fine."