Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: The Defeat of the Two Women
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Myeongdong's glamorous night streets transformed into a warzone in the blink of an eye.
In front of the main entrance to the top-tier L Hotel, dozens of black sedans and hulking tactical vehicles emblazoned with the Benedict Family crest had seized control of the road.
"Wh-what's going on? What the hell is all this?"
Hotel guests and passersby buzzed in confusion, pulling out their phones, only for Benedict agents in suits and the DH Group security team to form a human barricade as they shouted.
"We're sorry! A severe mana backlash has been detected inside the hotel! This could be a gate precursor phenomenon—evacuate immediately! The Benedict Family and DH Group will cover all damages!"
Breaking through the security of a high-end hotel like this politely would take who knows how long.
Ailin and Yoo Jihyun chose to force their way in.
With a gate about to erupt from the hotel, what else could they do?
Catherine's secretarial agents stormed the lobby, shoving the front desk staff aside like luggage and snatching the reservation list.
A middle-aged man who appeared to be the manager rushed up to Ailin.
"Wh-what's happening!?"
"It's a gate precursor symptom. Evacuate everyone!"
"B-but we haven't seen any signs or received any alerts..."
Ailin furrowed her brow and raised her voice.
"Are you a gate expert!? If we dawdle like this and people die, are you going to take responsibility!?"
The manager broke out in a cold sweat, unable to respond.
"I'll cover all guest inconveniences and damages in the name of the Benedict Family. Evacuate now!"
The manager knew the prestige of the Benedict Family well enough.
And the situation had already spiraled beyond his control.
In the end, he had no choice but to surrender.
"U-understood!"
The fear-mongering worked like a charm.
Guests enjoying their peaceful hotel vacation poured out like they were being chased.
Cutting through the heart of the chaos, Ailin and Yoo Jihyun strode purposefully toward the elevators.
"30th floor. The top-floor suite."
A fierce blue glint emanated from Ailin's eyes.
Yoo Jihyun gripped her sword hilt so hard it seemed it might shatter, grinding her teeth.
"Ha? Suite roo oom? She's dead meat, for real."
The elevator floor indicator began climbing at breakneck speed.
Outside might as well have been a battlefield, but the top-floor suite remained eerily serene.
"Oppa..."
"...Ah, Ayoung! W-wait a sec! You need to think this through! Something's off here, right!?"
But Woojin's words fell on deaf ears for Ayoung.
"I've... thought about it a lot..."
Smooth—
And then the soft, warm sensation pressing against his back.
Ayoung wrapped her arms tightly around Woojin's back, completely naked without a stitch on.
The unexpected volume against his back short-circuited Woojin's brain instantly.
His heart pounded like it would shatter his ribs and burst out.
'Am I the outdated one!? Why are girls these days so aggressive!?'
Ayoung had mustered her courage, but honestly, she had no idea what came next.
Her mom had given her early "just knock him down first" training at twelve, but she hadn't passed on the manual for after that.
'Wh-what do I do next? Pounce? No, what's pouncing? Just shove him down onto the bed with brute force?'
Ayoung's mind went blank white.
Woojin's back was broader and firmer than she'd imagined.
She needed to push things further, but her morality textbook and Article 297 of the Criminal Code clashed violently in her brain.
'N-no! That'd be a crime! These days, even if the girl pounces, she gets arrested! And what if oppa thinks I'm some crazy girl!?'
While Ayoung buried her face in Woojin's back, frozen in indecision and lost in thought—
Ding—
Bang—!
The suite's special alloy door burst open like it had been shattered.
"Kim Woojin!!"
With a thunderous shout, Ailin and Yoo Jihyun burst in.
And what they witnessed was Jo Ayoung's bare skin, clinging to Woojin's back like a cicada, stark naked.
"...!!!"
"...!!!"
A silence like time itself had frozen.
The muscles around Ailin's eyes twitched, and Yoo Jihyun's eyes rolled back, looking ready to draw her sword any second.
"K-Kim Woojin... you, you...!!!"
"Jo, Jo Ayoung, you thieving cat bitch!!"
"Kyaa, kyaack!! Wh-what's going on!!"
Ailin pointed with a trembling finger.
Someone had flung the door open, forcing Woojin to turn around.
But what entered Woojin's eyes was Jo Ayoung being dragged away by the scruff of her neck, in all her naked glory.
"Hnggh!?"
Ayoung belatedly screamed and yelled at Woojin.
"Kyaaack! Don't look! Close your eyes!!"
But she'd already shown him everything.
Woojin squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head away.
The situation had slipped from his control.
'These monsters... How the hell did they get here in under an hour? Will I always be a flea compared to them no matter how hard I run my whole life?'
But now wasn't the time to worry about that.
As Jo Ayoung was being dragged, she wrenched free from the grip on her neck with force.
"Kuh! Let go!"
Crack—
Ailin's one eye widened at the strength.
"Hoh? Look at that? Got some strength, huh?"
Freed from Ailin's grasp, Jo Ayoung shouted desperately.
"O-outfit! At least let me put on clothes!"
"Who told you to strip in the first place!!"
Even as they said that, the two waited for Jo Ayoung to hurriedly dress.
Because Woojin might see.
And then Jo Ayoung faced off against Ailin and Yoo Jihyun.
"Ha? You thinking of fighting right now?"
Jo Ayoung replied in a trembling voice.
"Wh-why!? You can't expect me to just take this lying down!?"
"Cheeky."
Jo Ayoung believed in herself.
But her opponents were two monster-grade hidden classers over level 40.
No matter her mythic grade, a fresh level 10 like Ayoung couldn't bridge the stat gap.
At that moment, Yoo Jihyun moved.
Flash—!
"Kuh?"
A speed invisible to the eye.
Yoo Jihyun charged like lightning and wrapped Ayoung up in the bedsheet like rolling kimbap.
"Kyaaack!?"
Jo Ayoung realized.
'Sh-she's not on my level...!'
Ayoung lost all will to fight.
Ailin approached with a mocking scoff, as if impressed.
"How dare you... Kidnapping, false imprisonment, attempted rape. Heinous crimes. You know that, right?"
Jo Ayoung panicked.
"R-rape!? If I wanted to, I'd have done it already!! Woojin oppa's weak!! It, it was mutual consent!"
Meaning no consent had happened.
"A-hem... Anyway. I don't want to make a big deal either. Since it was just an attempt, we'll let it slide. Give up and go home."
Ayoung shot back without backing down.
"No way! I have the right to like him too! There's no law saying only chaebols can love! I like oppa too!"
Her first desperate declaration of true feelings.
Ailin pressed her throbbing temple and glared at Woojin.
"Damn it... I never realized my man was such a womanizer."
Yoo Jihyun shook her head like she had a headache too.
"Same here. Sigh... I thought I'd just have to worry about you..."
The three women called a temporary truce.
Woojin ended up bound tight in the corner with reinforced rope Ailin had brought, forced to reflect on his actions.
"Hey! Why am I tied up!? Untie me at least!"
Woojin protested his innocence, but Ailin showed no mercy.
"Oppa, reflect over there. Like seducing girls and bringing them to hotels, huh?"
"N-no, that's not it! I'm saying it's not like that because of you guys!"
Woojin's defense was ignored.
Now, atop the suite's wine table, the three women's fiery three-way standoff began.
Ailin and Yoo Jihyun crossed their arms, looking down at Jo Ayoung.
"Your name's Jo Ayoung, right?"
Under Ailin's intimidating pressure, Ayoung swallowed hard but glared back.
"Y-yes."
"So cheeky... How old are you?"
"Tw-twenty! Being young a crime!? Can't young people love too!?"
Thud—
Those words hit Yoo Jihyun's chest like a sharp dagger.
'Twenty' pierced like a poisoned blade.
Yoo Jihyun asked carefully in a trembling voice.
"You... you're just an awakener, right? Not a player?"
"No. I'm just an awakener."
At her innocent reply, Ailin and Yoo Jihyun's faces turned ashen simultaneously.
Truth be told, Yoo Jihyun was 22 but had the mental age of 32 from ten years in Unriworld.
Ailin was 23 but effectively 33 mentally.
Their appearances matched their young physical ages, not far from Ayoung's,
But before the fresh mental 'youthfulness' of a true 20-year-old, they couldn't help feeling an instinctive sense of defeat.
"...Ailin, this is bad. She's really 20. The real deal."
Ailin narrowed her eyes.
"I know, don't say it... Kim Woojin... Does he like younger girls just because he's a guy?"
She ignored that mentally it wasn't just one year younger.
Sensing the crisis, the two women quickly shifted tactics to persuade Ayoung.
"Ayoung, you're only just 20. You've had a tough life, and now the first guy who's been good to you is Woojin oppa, so you're mistaking it for love. Won't you regret it later?"
Ayoung scoffed at Yoo Jihyun's words.
"What about you, unnie...? I know your mental age is 32. Have you ever even dated?"
"Kuh..."
"Aren't you the old spinster mistaking her first flutter for love?"
"O-old spinster!? I'm 22 on my resident registration! And I really like Woojin oppa—!"
"See! I'm serious too!"
Yoo Jihyun down 1.
Then Ailin stepped in.
"Ha? You know nothing. We've built affection over ten years in another world called Unriworld. Think you can squeeze in there!?"
"That's not affection, that's camaraderie! Comradeship!"
"Kuh...!"
Ailin down 1.
"You're both the same! With your top chaebol status, you must have tons of great guys, so why Woojin oppa!? Aren't you the ones playing around with him!?"
They couldn't win with words.
"Anyway! I've already shown oppa my naked body! I'm ruined for marriage now! Oppa has to take responsibility!"
"D-don't talk nonsense! Seeing you naked once doesn't mean—!"
"Could you just laugh it off if unnies showed your naked bodies!?"
At Ayoung's words, Ailin and Yoo Jihyun both thought the same.
What if they showed Woojin their naked bodies like that?
They'd slap a collar on Kim Woojin and force marriage no matter what.
A mere lip touch paled in comparison.
Ailin and Yoo Jihyun each down 1 more.
Total score 4:0.
It was the moment two women who had never known defeat lost to a fresh 20-year-old Jo Ayoung.
Ayoung confidently pulled a contract from her bosom.
"I've already signed a lifetime contract with oppa. I'll have to guard him forever anyway, so I can't marry elsewhere. I hate that! What's the solution? Marry oppa!"
Yoo Jihyun snatched Ayoung's contract in shock and examined it closely.
"Th-this...?"
It was legally airtight. No, viciously so.
"Who the hell wrote this poison clause-filled contract!? 24-hour close protection!? No side jobs!? This isn't a bodyguard contract, it's a slave document!"
As Yoo Jihyun cried out in horror, Ailin rubbed her dry face beside her and muttered softly.
"Ha... Sorry... I wrote it."
"...What? You!?"
"I never imagined she'd shove this contract at another girl. Sorry. My mistake."
Ailin's self-own tangled things further.
She'd fallen into her own trap.
Ayoung seized the opening and boldly proposed a deal.
The situation favored her clearly, but she knew these incredible women wouldn't back down easily.
"Let's negotiate. Give me a chance too."
Ailin and Yoo Jihyun replied in unison.
"What?"
"Yelling at me doesn't invalidate my feelings. Let's compete fairly. Oppa makes the choice anyway. Aren't you two competing with each other right now?"
Ailin and Yoo Jihyun exchanged glances.
It wasn't wrong.
But equating herself to them was absurd.
"Compete? Competition requires matching levels. Do you have what it takes to protect Woojin oppa?"
Ayoung clenched her fist.
'Got her...!'
Ayoung thrust out her chest proudly.
"Yes. I'm mythic grade. 'Heracles'."
"...What!?"
"...!!!!"
The air in the room froze solid.
Ailin and Yoo Jihyun stared at each other in shock.
Mythic grade.
The legendary grade that appeared only twice in Unriworld's vast history—now manifesting in this brash kid before them?
The 'overwhelming ace' absolutely needed for the Asia Gate subjugation.
That final puzzle piece was standing there as Woojin's bodyguard.
Ailin's eyes changed.
No longer a rival—she began calculating her value as an asset.
"Fine. Let's negotiate."
"Hey! Ailin!!!"