Dinner Date
I was lying on my bed, staring at the gothic-style key, when it appeared.
You have 1 unread message.
"Huh…? An unread message?"
I couldn't help but feel puzzled. After all, this was the first time the system had ever told me I had an unread message.
I opened the community window right away and tapped the unread-message icon in the bottom left corner.
"…The Association President?"
It was a message from her. I read through it carefully, never once imagining that a third matter would be waiting for me in there.
"…Tomorrow? This soon?"
She wanted to grab a meal tomorrow. I opened my calendar to check my schedule—and then it hit me.
"Oh. Right. I'm not a competitive shooter anymore."
Shooting guns every day could make anyone mix things up. Definitely not early-onset dementia. Nope.
Back in my athlete days, I hadn't been exaggerating even a little when I said I was ridiculously busy. Shooting practice and conditioning were just the baseline—then came the smaller competitions, rehearsals, commercial shoots, merch meetings… Before I knew it, the whole day would be gone.
"Thinking about it now, how did I even survive that?"
Past me had been one hell of a guy.
As a Hunter, though, I had nothing particular on the schedule beyond climbing the Tower, so I replied to the Association President right away.
Just hit enter and done. I tilted my head.
"Hmm… Too stiff, maybe…?"
Compared to the Association President, my reply sounded like someone answering against their will. I deleted the carefully typed message and wrote a new one.
But that didn't sit right either. This one made it sound like I was way too excited about dinner with the Association President.
"Ugh… This is hard. Message-sending is hard."
She was someone in the Association President's position. A tone like that could come off as cheap. Messaging her as casually as I would Sliming or Eun Hayoon would be a disaster.
After agonizing over it, I picked up my smartphone and opened a certain app.
"Hey. A female superior just invited me to a dinner date. Give me some recommended lines."
The hottest generative AI of the moment: Minati. Back in school, she'd been my best friend right up there with Eun Hayoon.
Talking about everything with Minati used to be so fun~
She wasn't even human, and yet she read my mind completely and even empathized with me. How wild was that?
Minati immediately recommended a few lines.
Sure thing. I'll recommend a few lines that are perfect for you, Jinwoo!
Several candidates appeared under the message. Every last one of them was unhinged.
"…Are you kidding me? You've still got a long way to go before you're human."
Sorry. This time I'll give you something genuinely cool that hits a female boss's taste for thrills and—
I shut off my phone screen immediately. I could already tell the next batch would be more of the same.
"Sigh… Guess I have to send it myself."
After a shallow breath, I sent the message.
Short, but so what?
It's clean, concise, easy to read, and the meaning comes through loud and clear.
I was putting on a shadowy little smile when another message from the Association President arrived—less than thirty seconds after I'd hit send.
"What time works, huh…"
Honestly, I didn't care either way.
Evening's probably better than morning, though.
"Ah. I forgot to ask about that."
The meeting place was just as important as the time. Feeling like I'd dropped the ball, I asked the Association President.
For a split second I wondered if Sliming was wearing the Association President's skin—but no.
"Th-that's terrifying…"
Terrifying either way. My body was still trembling when a string of messages arrived from her one after another.
After I sent the closing reply, no further messages came from the Association President. I flopped back onto the bed and pulled the blanket over my head.
"…I should just sleep."
With one exhausting thing after another lately, my brain was overloaded.
Sometimes my thought circuits barely function at all, you know?
Looking at the rewards I'd earned from the Tower and the donation amounts, my eyes drifted shut on their own.
A Hunter's daily routine is usually pretty simple. Wake up whenever you feel like it. Do a light stretch. Then re-clear the easiest floors you can until your mana runs dry—and that's the day. Not a few people think of it as a kind of bonsai game.
But if there's one thing that sets it apart from a regular bonsai game, it's this:
Your life.
Lose in a bonsai game and you don't die. Make one small mistake as a Hunter and your life hangs in the balance. Granted, dying while re-clearing isn't all that common—but never let your guard down.
And right now, I was about to enjoy a little reality bonsai game of my own. There was still plenty of time until my meal with the Association President, and one-shotting everything in the yard meant my ricing sessions never took long anyway.
Re-clear Floor 2 of the Unique Difficulty Tower?
YESNO
"Yeah."
The moment I entered the Tower, I declared a re-clear.
"Grrrr…!"
The High Wolf King appeared at once. Its bulk rivaled an Iron Golem's—but.
Bang!
"Wh-whine…"
Even dumping a hundred thousand mana into it, the result was a one-shot kill. And every time I killed something, I got five percent of the mana I'd spent paid back—meaning I could rice a total of eleven runs.
The Coins I earned: 13,200 COIN.
In won, that was 1.32 million.
"With this much, I can treat someone to a meal."
Ah—and I still hadn't touched the 25 million Coins I'd received in donations last time. I could cash them out, but for now I was keeping them tucked safely in the system wallet. The reason being…
'Mom, I got 2.5 billion from donations this time. Should I convert it?'
'Save it for your wedding fund. Don't go wasting it on nonsense.'
A mother's word is law. Obey it—unless you enjoy getting the back of your head caved in.
These days Hunters are everywhere, so a fair number of shops take Coins as a second currency. Meaning a Hunter doesn't necessarily need to convert anything.
Until it was time to meet the Association President, I watched Sliming's clear streams, worked out, and studied the monsters that had shown up in the Tower so far. Before I knew it, our appointment was almost here.
"Mom, I'm heading out."
"Where are you going?"
I answered her question casually.
"The Association President asked me to grab a meal."
"So you've thrown Hayoon away…?"
A bombshell out of nowhere. Even a mother who had zero interest in Hunters apparently knew who the Hunter Association President was. I sighed and shook my head.
"Thrown her away? Come on. We aren't even like that."
"Ohhh~?"
…?
Had I misspoken somehow? Because Mom's expression was anything but ordinary.
"…Is something wrong?"
"Nothing~ You just want to get into that kind of relationship with Hayoon, don't you~?"
"Where are you even getting that from. I'm really leaving now."
My mother loves Eun Hayoon way too much.
"What does she even see in that gorilla…"
I arrived earlier than the appointed time. Definitely early—and yet.
"…President? Did I get the time wrong?"
Somehow the Association President was already waiting for me. She scanned my face, then broke into a smile.
"No. I just got here even earlier, that's all."
"You could've told me…. It's cold out."
"I'm fine, really. And with the amount I donated, I can afford to have high expectations, right?"
I'd known she'd say something like that, so I'd prepared. Today's haul: 1.32 million won. Split two ways, plus a little extra from me, and I'd reserved a restaurant at 700,000 won a head. I'd figured a last-minute booking would be impossible—until I dropped the Association President's name, and they locked it in immediately.
So this is… power?
I nodded toward her.
"It might not be to your taste, President, but I reserved a fairly expensive place."
"I eat everything. I'm not picky."
"Shall we head over?"
"One moment before we go."
She asked me to wait a second. I was wondering if she'd forgotten something when—
"There. Ready."
"…What is this?"
The Association President had casually slipped her arm through mine. Thoroughly flustered, I forced myself to ask calmly. The answer I got:
"It feels like we're a couple, doesn't it~? Or do you not like linking arms?"
"…No. Let's go like this."
Watching the Association President beam and fiddle with my arm, worry hit me a beat too late.
If Eun Hayoon or Sliming saw this… I'm dead.
Eun Hayoon went without saying—and Sliming, I wasn't sure about, but I had a feeling getting caught would still get me killed. I walked with my guard higher than usual, and before long we reached the reserved restaurant.
A high-end establishment. Apparently it had made the rounds in the community too—quite famous among Hunters.
"Have you been here before, President?"
She shook her head.
"No. I've heard it's famous, but I've never been. This is my first time—with you, Jinwoo."
"I see. It's chilly out, so shall we go in?"
I was about to take a step when—
"Jinwoo."
It was the Association President who called my name.
"Yes?"
"Why do you think I asked you out for a meal?"
Why throw such an obvious quiz question at me?
Obviously because she's hungry and wants a free meal, right?
I wanted to say that, but of course I couldn't. I fished for a safe answer.
"Hmm. I'm not sure."
"Want to know?"
Want to know? Even for the dumbest punchline on earth, human nature is to want the answer.
"Of course."
At that, the Association President looked at me with a meaningful smile.
"The answer is~ I wanted to try hitting on you once, Jinwoo."
"Eh."
Hearing that bolt from the blue, I suddenly felt like I wouldn't be able to eat a single bite of the meal we were about to walk into.