Chapter 29
Chapter 29
Just as men like women with good bodies and pretty faces.
Women also ultimately liked men who were handsome and well-built, or who used makeup well to look pretty. The basics of being a host required a clear understanding of this.
Also needed was the insight to objectively judge what one's weapons were.
In that sense, I had an enormous number of weapons, and I knew exactly what they were.
These weren't weapons I obtained by coasting or through talent alone.
Just like when I first started as a host and decided, "Since I'm doing this anyway, I might as well do it right," the same way I camped out at a PC bang in high school playing games.
Mastering everything from makeup to cooking and other miscellaneous fields was entirely my own effort.
So, I was confident in this at least.
It was this confidence that sometimes made women feel an inexplicable force, making their hearts race.
Mixology, the art of making drinks, was also one of my 44 special techniques.
[......At this point, I'm honestly curious how many total special moves you actually have.]
"It's your first drink—drinking it alone and feeling gloomy wouldn't be nice, would it?"
"Well, that's true......"
The woman, momentarily mesmerized by the pretty-colored grapefruit liquor in her hand and about to tilt the glass, paused at my words.
Then she lowered her head slightly and muttered.
"From the start, I don't want to drink alone...... that's why I come to a place like this. To get at least a little comfort."
I immediately bowed my head.
"I'm sorry."
"The wound I received back then...... with just a few words...... no. Still, since you've gone and mixed such a delicious drink, it wouldn't be right to only talk about gloomy things. Let's have a drink first."
"Yes."
I clinked glasses with the woman and downed the first shot refreshingly. This might taste fresh and smooth, but in the end it contained alcohol that could knock you out if you drank it carelessly, since it had two shots of soju in it.
Of course, hosts were a race hardened to alcohol, so we'd be fine.
But for women with weak alcohol tolerance, even just five glasses could turn them into blithering drunks.
Nevertheless, there were times when people needed to get drunk.
It wasn't for nothing that people said a drink is essential to dissolve the grudges between each other.
I picked up a piece of appetizer with a fork and fed it to the woman's mouth as I asked.
"If you don't mind, could I mix you another drink?"
"Yeah, it tastes good......"
Now I understood a little.
The reason women exhausted from the outside world came here, spending money just to receive a small comfort.
Even if it was just a fleeting dream that couldn't be achieved outside.
I understood their feelings—wanting to be treated like a princess, something any woman might wish for, and wanting to spend a night with a handsome man hard to come by.
"Just a moment."
It was time for one of my 49 special techniques to activate.
Showing a sincere attitude.
「Trickle, trickle, sizzle sizzle!」
Even just mixing a cocktail, it wasn't easy to show a best-effort attitude.
I was one of the few humans capable of that.
Making it look like effort was visible to the observer was also a skill and technique. It wasn't for nothing that the concept of 'showy work' existed.
"A toast to the hope that all your struggles up to now weren't in vain."
"Cheers!"
「Clang!」
The woman, who clinked glasses vigorously, held back a single tear and downed the second shot in one go.
"......The wound I got back then keeps surfacing in my head whenever I'm about to forget, and it's been really hard. I guess I'm really a pathetic bitch. Just because you treat me kindly like this again, I'm already forgetting about that and about to fall for you."
"What seems trivial or obvious to me might not be obvious to someone else, and it can cause great pain. I understand that now."
"Yeah, I know. That's why I can't even easily say harsh things to you now. Because I've already been completely disarmed......"
After that, the manager's finished pizza, chicken, and french fries.
And eating some appropriately chilled jelly liquor, the woman gradually regained her bright smile along with her reddening face.
She looked just like a child.
Whether she was drunk.
Or whether she had spent money to have a man by her side...... Some might see this and call it dirty, but for me working directly here, the fact that she was smiling like this through someone like me was the first time I felt a sense of reward.
'She's not even demanding much physical contact.'
No, rather, it felt like she was restraining herself.
At this point, there were many women who made clingy demands. In fact, the woman in front of me had said she was spending the huge sum of 1 million won, and most people would try to get their money's worth.
"Hey, Kim Hyun-woo."
"Yes."
"You've changed a lot. Do you know why I keep not telling you my name?"
"......."
"Because if you find out my name or call it, I might run here every time things get hard. Today is the last time I'm coming here......"
"Stay strong. I'm rooting for you."
"You really have changed. Why did I first come here? Because I joined a big corporation as a new employee, and the work was too hard. I didn't understand anything, I was so nervous that my shoulders and wrists were stiff and sore all day, and I kept making mistakes...... I felt like I was dying."
So the person who came seeking comfort ended up getting hurt by none other than me.
I was really a bastard.
"......But in a way, I think the current me exists because you looked down on me back then. I made a vow that day. To work like crazy and become a prettier and more capable woman than before. But it's hard again, working like that every single day. I felt so suffocated that I came back. It's only natural you don't remember me. I only came once a year, and I've changed a lot too."
And as if it were fate, she got to see the me before I changed and the me after I changed, exactly once each.
"Surprisingly, you've been a big help to me. Seeing how much you've changed makes me think I can change again too......"
"You can do it."
"What's the basis? Not just my company, but the world these days doesn't trust baseless confidence!"
"Because I believe it. That you'll do well."
"......This is totally useless. In the end, it's baseless confidence, isn't it?"
Still.
"Thank you. I'll work hard. If things go well, I probably won't come again."
"I might be a little disappointed about that, but I'll still cheer you on."
At my words, the woman smiled pleasantly, then carefully stood up. She picked up her card and walked to the counter.
The manager was standing there, having come to collect the pizza tray.
"I'd like to pay, please."
"Did you enjoy yourself enough?"
At Ahn Gi-pyo's question, the woman smiled, not from being drunk, but from a genuinely heartfelt smile.
That smile was more beautiful than any woman's.
"I don't feel like I wasted my money at all today."
"I'm glad. Thank you for enjoying yourself."
"As expected, a famous place is different."
"Well, the host's skills were good."
"That's true too."
Bip, the woman swiped her card, didn't bother checking the receipt, put her card back in her wallet, and left the host bar.
I watched her leave absentmindedly, then walked to the counter and asked.
"Did she really pay 1 million won? My price isn't that high right now. All she ate was cheap liquor, frozen chicken, french fries, and your awful pizza, Manager."
"That's not your concern. And what's wrong with my pizza? I don't make it for just anyone."
"You don't make it for just anyone because the shop might go bankrupt if you did."
"It's meaningful. How many people want it? That's why you even asked me for it."
"That's because there's a certain weight when the manager personally brings a pizza and sets it on the table in front of everyone. So did she pay 1 million won?"
I asked just in case.
"She paid 100,000 won. 100,000."
As expected.
In a way, I thought this was the biggest reason even the bad-tempered, stupid hosts ultimately couldn't defy Ahn Gi-pyo.
"I'll deduct the remaining 900,000 from your salary."
"Manager!"
"Does it sound like a joke? If so, you're right. It's a joke."
"Oh, you really scared me......"
Chuckling, Ahn Gi-pyo tapped my back and said.
"Anyway, there's a reservation. You bastard, I told you a reservation was coming, but you still took a customer?"
"She was a customer I had no choice but to take."
"The old you wouldn't have taken that customer."
I chuckled too.
"Now, even if I wanted to go back to the way I was, I can't."
"Yeah...... seems like it."
"Anyway, who's the reserved customer?"
"VIP Room 1."
If they were using VIP Room 1 to call me, there was probably only one customer among Valentia's guests.
Seonwoo Ye-rang.
But that noona wasn't the type to visit the host bar frequently either?
She just came a few days ago, and now she's here again today?
'Well, I did do an amazing job a few days ago.'
Both at games and sex.
"Got it. Just put some drinks and appetizers on a tray. That noona will just drink a bit anyway; her main goal isn't that."
"Kim Hyun-woo."
"Yes?"
"Today might be different."
"......?"
"Well, it could be."
I tilted my head at Ahn Gi-pyo's incomprehensible words, but I put Ye-rang's favorite Royal Salute and a few light fruit appetizers on a tray and walked to the room.
Since it was a place with thorough soundproofing and security, not a peep came from the room where I thought they'd be having sex.
But even there, usually Ye-rang's swearing would be loudly echoing.
"......."
It was too quiet.
Could she be waiting quietly, playing coins until I came in?
[VIP Room 1]
「Knock knock!」
I knocked on the door, then opened the thick soundproof door and went inside.
And inside, as expected, was Seonwoo Ye-rang in her usual outrageously fashionable attire, lying down and busily playing a game on her laptop.
「Tat tat tat, tat!」
She was typing away on the keyboard and moving the mouse diligently, clearly playing a game.
But today she was being awfully quiet.
Could it be that even Seonwoo Ye-rang had changed overnight into a docile personality like someone transformed?
"Oh, I died."
That's what she said as she plopped down the mouse.
Otherwise, it was the kind of game where you couldn't just let go of your hands like that in the middle of combat.
"You're finally here, fuck. I thought I'd die of old age waiting."
Guess her personality hasn't changed?
"Noona, isn't this the fastest I've ever seen you come? And if you were going to reserve me, you should have put it in earlier. I had another reservation, so I had to finish that quickly and come."
"Kim Hyun-woo, you're doing pretty well. You used to never take those petty reservations. And I came on impulse. Anyone would think I'm desperate to see you."
"That's because I was doing well back then."
"If you got paid enough now, wouldn't you still not take those reservations?"
"Huh?"
"......Never mind. Forget it. Just get in the game. Playing alone is fucking boring. And if I queue for random duos, it's full of fucking idiots."
"Alright."
Nodding, I set up another laptop out of habit, glancing at the time.
[Current Time]
[PM 10:42]
It was almost 11 PM already.
Shouldn't I call Miho?
As I was worrying about that internally, Seonwoo Ye-rang shouted angrily.
"Stop looking at the clock for no reason and get in here!"
She's really sensitive today, this noona.
Is it that time of the month?
[.......]