First Meeting with Two Crazy Women
Time dragged on in a haze of anxiety until the day arrived when I had to go collect the hunters who would become my new “guild members.” I still couldn’t wrap my head around why I had to be the one doing this. Why not hand the job to some other capable master of a major guild…? The question marks kept multiplying in my head. But right now, all I could do was give it everything I had.
“Boooss, you need to relax your faaace…”
“…What’s wrong with my face?”
“You look like you’re on your way to a funeral yoo.”
Well, she wasn’t exactly wrong. I was heading off to retrieve a pair of walking time bombs that could blow up my entire life.
Still, I didn’t particularly want to hear that from my ever-peaceful secretary.
“Eek, you’re driving right now yoo…!”
“That’s exactly why I need to focus.”
I reached over and playfully poked Baek Soyun’s cheek a couple of times before quickly retracting my hand, right before we could actually crash. Even without my interference, those long, eye-covering bangs of hers probably made it hard to see the road. Or maybe it was that absurdly swollen chest of hers interfering with the steering wheel. Both seemed like legitimate hazards.
“By the way, did you finish wrapping up the contract with the Association?”
“Of course yoo. Really, Boss, you’d be completely lost without me…”
“…Yeah. I honestly don’t know how I’d survive if you weren’t here.”
I let out a small chuckle and sank deeper into the passenger seat. My guild, Trinity, used to be one of the top guilds in the industry. But after a certain incident, every single member bailed. Now it was a one-man guild with only me—an A-rank hunter—left. I scraped by taking low-level Gates that even I could clear solo or hiring myself out as a mercenary for other guilds. Renting an office and covering all the expenses on that kind of income meant I couldn’t exactly pay my secretary a generous salary. The fact that someone as capable as Baek Soyun still chose to stay by my side was probably because of that soft, overly gentle personality of hers.
…At this point I should have been tearing up with gratitude.
“……….”
Every time I tried to look at her with moved eyes, that ridiculous chest volume destroyed any emotional atmosphere before it could form.
“Boss, your gaze is getting lecherous yoo…”
“Ahem. It’s not like that, okay? Besides, you’re the one who keeps sneaking peeks at me with those perverted eyes.”
“What? When did I ever do that yoo…!”
“Then how did you notice where I was looking? Hm?”
“Th-that’s—.”
After messing around with my secretary like that for a while, we finally reached our destination: the luxury hotel the Association had reserved.
“Security personnel everywhere already. …You okay?”
“I-I’m fiiine yoo…”
Baek Soyun’s already eye-catching figure drew subtle glances from passersby. The sight of the suited men standing guard on both sides of the hotel entrance made her shrink in fear and cling to my arm like a lifeline. She had no idea—or maybe she did—that her unbelievably soft, squishy chest was pressing firmly against my forearm the entire time. Thanks to that, while her face had gone deathly pale, mine was gradually turning red.
In times like these, the correct answer was to act as natural as possible.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
I escorted my secretary—who was practically dangling from my arm—past the security guards waiting by the elevator and gave them a small nod. We headed to the floor we’d been told to visit.
“If they’re so scared of these people that they need this much security, shouldn’t they have thought twice before dumping them on me?”
“Doesn’t that just mean they trust you that much yoo…?”
“…The bigger the expectations, the bigger the disappointment that follows.”
“You’ll do great, Boss yoo.”
I sure as hell hoped so.
I swallowed a sigh and walked down the heavily monitored corridor. Soon we stood in front of the hotel room where the two prisoners—no, the two S-rank hunters who had been reinstated—were waiting.
“Welcome, Seong Yohan. You may enter immediately.”
“Are there no separate procedures I need to follow?”
“None. The handover is now complete.”
The Association president’s neatly dressed secretary gave me a polite bow, then immediately retreated down the corridor with the security team without so much as a backward glance. Whatever happens from here on out isn’t our responsibility anymore. In other words, from this moment forward, everything that happened would be entirely on me.
“…Baek Soyun, do you want to wait in the hallway?”
“B-Boss, I-I’ll g-go with y—”
The moment I reached for the door, Baek Soyun shoved my arm deep into the valley between her massive peaks as if it were a security blanket and clung to it with all her strength, trembling violently. It was perfectly understandable to be terrified knowing two violent criminals with restored free status waited just beyond that thin door.
…Still, it would be nice if she could remember I was, in fact, a man.
“Never mind. Just give me the car keys and go home. I’ll pay for your taxi.”
“But…”
“You’re already this scared. What, were you planning to follow me inside and cry ‘Boss, please save me yoo—’?”
“When have I ever spoken like that yoo…!”
“If you don’t know, go home and ask your mirror. So stop shaking and take the cab money.”
Through the gap in her black hair that covered her eyes, Baek Soyun looked up at me with the gaze of a deer being dragged to the slaughterhouse. I forced the taxi fare into her hand and gently pushed her away, sending her home first.
Now I was alone in a suddenly silent corridor.
“Right… now then…”
Time to face the time bombs.
How should I handle our first meeting? Show of force? Carrot and stick? I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and finally swiped the keycard to open the door.
And then.
“……Huh?”
My eyes met those of a blonde woman standing completely naked in the living room with nothing but a single towel draped around her neck.
“What the—? You. Entering a lady’s room without permission.”
Moist golden hair that lightly brushed her shoulders. A face that could belong to an innocent young girl or a mischievous brat. And those burning, flame-like crimson eyes staring at me with open curiosity…
The woman I met the moment I stepped inside was none other than one of the two prisoners I’d been assigned to manage—Calathea.
“Ahaha, that’s such a funny way to handle your eyes. What, you think you’re not allowed to look below my neck?”
“Ahem… As you’ve probably already heard, from now on I will be—”
“Stop dodging and look if you want to look. Hm?”
Instead of hiding her body, Calathea flashed a deep smile and sauntered toward me, swaying her hips seductively. I was momentarily distracted by her approaching face and the pleasant scent that tickled my nose. I tried to turn my head away, but she was already right in front of me. She grabbed my face with both hands and forced me to look at her.
“Why are you trying to hide such an interesting expression from me? I’ll show you mine too, so keep showing me yours…”
Her grip forced my gaze downward, and the area I had desperately tried not to look at filled my vision.
“Make me… even more entertained.”
She had just stepped out of the shower. Sparkling droplets rolled down her pure-white skin. The heavy, towel-clad breasts, the tightly cinched waist that flared explosively into wide hips… It was a body so perfectly proportioned it defied refusal. The kind of dizzyingly seductive figure that made you wonder who could possibly turn it down.
But precisely because of that, every alarm bell in my head was screaming at full volume.
“…Sorry, but I didn’t come here to entertain you.”
“Hng…?”
“I’m here to help you two successfully return as S-rank hunters. You already know why you were released from prison, right?”
“Well, yeah. I heard it so many times on the way here that I’ve got calluses on my ears.”
I carefully placed my hands on Calathea’s shoulders and pushed her back. Surprisingly, she allowed herself to be moved and stepped away. The playful glint in her eyes only grew stronger, which worried me, but at least we seemed capable of having a proper conversation now.
“Where’s the other one?”
“Ah, you mean Madness?”
“…Madness? Not Audrey?”
“Well, that girl in prison, you see…”
The moment Calathea opened her mouth with a mischievous grin, a deafening crash came from the side as something shattered.
“I distinctly remember telling you not to call me by that name.”
“Speak of the devil and she appears. I did well, didn’t I?”
Calathea giggled and pointed. There stood the other “former” prisoner, having smashed the bathroom door into nothing more than a crumpled piece of cardboard. She stared at us silently, completely naked. Steam rose from her sleek, slender, perfectly proportioned body, still damp from the shower.
“Ahaha♡ How many times has this been today? What a ridiculously lucky day, ‘Manager’?”
In the midst of a chaos that made it impossible to keep my sanity, I squeezed my eyes shut and clutched my forehead.
“By the way, can I call you Manager? Since you’re going to be managing us from now on. Hm?”
“Calathea, we’re not done talking about what just happened.”
“Wow, you look so cool but you’re actually so petty about holding grudges? Doesn’t that seem like ‘unbeautiful’ behavior…? What do you think, Madness?”
“……Calathea!”
Unfortunately.
Truly, unfortunately.
It looked like my mission was not going to proceed smoothly in the slightest.