The Assassin (1)

"Just once!!!!!!"

"...!"

I'd been loafing around the restaurant like always when a brand-new Netflix series made my eyes snap wide open.

"Once more—this time, just once!!!!! Listen carefully."

A handsome leading man was shouting himself hoarse, veins standing out on his neck.

"That one time is all it takes. That's how a person changes."

"Holy shit!"

Crash!

I launched myself off the floor. I couldn't believe what I'd just watched.

"...That's so fucking cool."

The protagonist of that drama was insanely cool! No wonder the story had felt like my own life—even the charisma was a carbon copy of me.

"Boss?"

My eyes met Yujin's as she stepped out, having just changed into her work clothes. I cleared my throat for no particular reason and waved her over.

"Yujin, did you see this?"

"Ah—Cheongdam Flex?"

"Yeah."

"...I watched it. It was pretty fun, actually."

I asked the next question with a hopeful little lilt I didn't bother hiding.

"Doesn't the main guy look like someone?"

"...Uh, Boss."

"Hm?"

"Did somebody shoot you in the head?"

"...Come to think of it, I might've gotten shot in a dream last night."

"You don't look like him."

Yujin said it with a faint, knowing smile.

"You're way cooler than the guy in the drama, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Boss."

She seemed to realize how painfully cheesy that sounded, because her face went red in an instant.

"H-hurry up and get ready to open. We're rolling out the new system for the first time today, remember?"

We'd agreed to try the method we'd discussed yesterday. Before she could slip away, though, I called her back.

"Yujin."

"Yes?"

"...Listen."

I knew exactly what that compliment had been angling for.

"I can't give you a raise."

"......"

That morning, I didn't exchange a single word with Yujin.

Today, we decided to just take whoever walked in. Thinking it over, assigning turns off a waiting list would have left the place empty for the whole day.

I'll throw in something extra special today.

I'd just finished stripping an unregistered Gate, so the medicinal herbs were piled high. The thought of treating people to a little opening-week hospitality had me grinning from ear to ear.

Right up until she walked through the door, that is.

Jing-a-ling.

"Welco—"

S-rank Hunter Seol Min-ah. If memory served, she was Seongho Group's poster hunter.

Here to recruit me again? She really doesn't know when to quit. I even made an example of her last time.

This was why being popular was such a pain.

The moment Seol Min-ah stepped inside, she started stealing nervous glances at me. Hard to blame her, considering she'd watched me kill an S-rank Hunter with a single sentence.

"Hello, miss."

Yujin greeted her with a bright, professional smile—a completely different person from her usual self. It caught me off guard every time I saw it.

"We only serve one dish here—meat noodle soup. Will that be all right?"

"Ah—y-yes. Yes."

Until she showed her true colors, she was a customer. I had no reason not to serve her noodles.

I shoved my hands in my pockets and headed into the kitchen. Noodles had a fantastic turnover rate, and making them was simple enough. Pour the broth, drop in the noodles, done.

...Well. Consider it a gesture of goodwill.

I looked down at the finished bowl and snorted. The strong could afford to be generous. Even toward someone who might yet become an enemy, I could show this much mercy.

I'd say "come back stronger"... but calling her an enemy is a stretch.

All she wanted was to recruit me, after all.

Either way, I made up my mind to use precious medicinal ingredients on her. It was already written into the restaurant's operating policy.

My thoughts drifted to Seol Min-ah as a matter of course. If I was going to do this, I wasn't going to half-ass it.

Every Hunter needed different stats depending on their traits. Just as I'd boosted politician Lee Siu's Charm, every person had clothes that fit them—and for Hunters, that tailoring ran even finer.

So I called her to mind.

She'd been Seongho Group's main S-rank Hunter in my previous life, too. The information was still sitting there, intact.

Hmm. She had a pretty tragic story, didn't she?

I didn't know the details. In my previous life, I had killed her. And I don't ask for reasons when I kill someone.

That was the conversation we'd had at the moment of her death. Those last words were the end of her.

I'd overheard the rest in passing. S-rank Hunter Seol Min-ah was actually B-rank. She'd used some method to deceive her way into Seongho Group. That had been Chairman Oh Seong-ho's own testimony.

Falsifying a Hunter rank was a serious crime—not just in Korea, but worldwide. That was why the government had commissioned me to kill her.

You could ask if that made me some kind of hitman, but hunters were typically killed by other ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hunters. Publicly, Seol Min-ah was S-rank. And at the time, I was the only one capable of putting an S-rank Hunter to death.

Everyone has their circumstances.

I was curious how she'd managed to impersonate an S-rank Hunter. I didn't care enough to dig any deeper, though. I simply believed that the words a person spoke before dying were the thing they'd wanted most in life.

Right up until the end, Seol Min-ah had wanted power.

I couldn't give her everything. But I could fill in a piece of it.

Get strong in this life. Don't die pulling a con. And... sorry about the last one.

I pulled a medicinal ingredient from my inventory. Once her story came to mind, only one thing surfaced. A shame I only had the one—but I probably wouldn't need it again, so I decided to spend it without looking back.

In game terms, it was a potion that forced a second class change. I had no idea what kind of power she'd end up with.

"It'll be a hell of a lot better than what you've got now, at least."

She would grow. If she put in the work, she might even become a real S-rank Hunter. That was entirely up to her, though, and I had no intention of helping her that far. Couldn't have, even if I'd wanted to.

I sprinkled the elixir over the noodles.

"Your noodles are ready."

A beautiful bowl of noodle soup, plated so appetizingly it practically begged to be eaten.

"Thank you."

Seol Min-ah set the bowl Seonghun had given her down on the table.

The reason she'd stopped by today had nothing to do with noodles. She was here to pull Seonghun into Seongho Group. And for that, she needed to get on his good side.

I even went to Cheongdam for a full makeup session. I'm not losing to anyone.

Min-ah snuck a glance at Yujin beside her. A man who kept a woman like that at his side might just be the type to fall for a honey trap. On top of that, she had information—AJ Group had hired the S-rank assassin Kim Gang-hyeon. Even Han Seonghun would have to find an invisible killer like Kim Gang-hyeon unsettling.

"Are you not going to eat?"

Seonghun was looking at her with a puzzled expression.

"Ah—I will, I will."

Right now, noodles were the last thing on Min-ah's mind. If she wanted to keep her S-rank status, she needed to bring him in as fast as possible.

"You've done a nice job with the place. For a noodle shop."

"Well, I suppose."

Min-ah stared at Seonghun in a daze.

He has that kind of power... and he's running a noodle shop?

He looked infuriating. She was scraping and clawing just to survive, and this man was sitting pretty running a noodle restaurant. She couldn't let any of that show, though. Right now, she needed to build goodwill.

"Could you take my coat?"

Min-ah slipped off her beige coat and held it out to Yujin. With the coat gone, her figure was on full display—a body of clean, striking curves and long, slender legs, beautiful enough that you wouldn't know where to put your eyes.

Well? How do I look?

She snuck a glance at Seonghun. He was wiping down a bowl, looking for all the world like he couldn't care less.

You've got to be kidding me.

It wasn't like the guy was a eunuch. He wouldn't even spare her a look.

"Here. Take this."

Yujin held something out from beside her.

"What's this?"

"An apron. It'd be a shame if broth splashed on such a pretty outfit."

Min-ah waved it off.

"I'm fine. I can always buy another coat."

Yujin dipped her head and stepped back.

What a complete vixen.

Min-ah stared a hole through the pale woman. Yujin's angle was obvious. She'd offered the apron to cover up a figure that was already on display. Did she really think Min-ah wouldn't notice?

"Seonghun."

Min-ah spoke in a demure, carefully composed voice.

"Do you have a type?"

If he wouldn't look at her, she'd make him look. This face could hold its own against anyone. He'd fold. Obviously.

"I do, actually. And just so we're clear, it's not you."

"Oh, please. I don't like your type either, for the recor— mph!"

Min-ah clapped a hand over her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mouth. She'd come here to build goodwill, and instead she'd gotten snippy and let her real feelings spill out.

I wasn't supposed to do that.

She glanced sideways. Yujin had turned her back, but her shoulders were twitching—she was clearly holding in a laugh.

These people...!

Min-ah stared at the floor, her face burning. She forced herself to calm down and moved to the next plan.

"Ahem. I'm sorry. That was a joke. You just want to live a quiet, ordinary life, don't you?"

"That's right. So today, I'd appreciate it if you stayed a customer."

Seonghun's expression was resolute. Even so, she couldn't give up.

"You want to live ordinarily—but the people around you won't leave you alone. Is that it?"

"You've got that exactly right."

"Have you heard of Kim Gang-hyeon?"

Seonghun paused for a fraction of a second.

"I have. S-rank assassin, isn't he?"

"He's targeting you."

Information like this would rattle anyone. Kim Gang-hyeon only killed powerful Hunters, after all.

"I see."

"Don't just 'I see' me. You could die."

"Yeah. Sounds like I might."

"No—you're reacting like that when you might actually die?"

She couldn't understand it. Even if Seonghun had killed multiple S-ranks, he had to know about Kim Gang-hyeon—a man who'd made a career of killing Hunters and nothing else. How was he this unfazed?

"I think you've got the wrong idea. He's the one who's going to die."

Seonghun had apparently finished the dishes. He shook the water off his hands and spoke in a voice that sounded thoroughly put-upon.

"You're awfully confident. Seonghun, I don't know what your Authority is, but I know it has activation conditions. Kim Gang-hyeon kills people without ever showing his face and without making a sound. Are you sure you're all right with that?"

Seonghun studied Min-ah through narrowed eyes.

"I'll be fine. But why are you telling me all this?"

"Because our Group can stop it. We negotiate with AJ on the condition that they take you off the target list. We'd lose a few Gate rights, but that's all."

"And how do you know any of this?"

"Don't underestimate my information network. I know about most things worth knowing."

"Is that so."

Even after she'd gone that far, Seonghun's face remained perfectly calm. Min-ah found him genuinely infuriating.

"Are you really going to die? You could just say you'll join our company. You keep your life, you get a huge salary... we can match whatever terms you want, can't we?"

"Are you going to eat those noodles? If not, I'll clear them."

Min-ah sighed inwardly.

Fine. Live or die, whatever.

If he died, she wouldn't have to scout him, so it wasn't the worst outcome. And yet—watching that boundless confidence of his—part of her found herself hoping he wouldn't.

"I'll take that for you."

Yujin approached Min-ah's table.

"Leave it. I want to see how good this supposedly brilliant cooking actually is."

Min-ah stopped her. A man with S-rank power who insisted on running a food business had to be confident for a reason.

"It'll have gone cold. Let me make you a fresh bowl."

"It's fine. I only wanted a taste anyway."

Min-ah pinched up some noodles with her chopsticks and put them in her mouth.

"...!"

The moment ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they hit her tongue, she couldn't hide her surprise.

It's delicious...

Min-ah had never particularly liked noodles. She'd always thought of them as commoner's food. But tasting them now, they put every Michelin-starred restaurant she'd visited recently to shame.

"Is the flavor all right?"

Seonghun was watching her.

"I-it's not bad."

"Finish it before you go."

"I'll gain weight."

"You won't regret it."

Even if Seonghun hadn't told her to finish, Min-ah had already planned to. It suited her palate perfectly. In the end, she drained even the broth, then stood up with an embarrassed look on her face.

"The bill, please."

"See the terminal by the entrance? Swipe however much you feel like."

Min-ah looked at Seonghun through narrowed eyes.

Is this a test?

She'd come as a representative of her company. It seemed to mean she should wrap things up properly before she left.

Beep-beep-beep!

Without a word, Min-ah punched a hundred million won into the card terminal.

"D-don't die."

She got the words out, and then she walked out of the restaurant.