Chapter 195: Cutting in Line (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 195: Cutting in Line (2)
They were at their usual spot, a quiet café in Gangnam.
And today, once again, the four women were gathered at a corner table by the window.
The usual light chatter and laughter were absent. A heavy silence had settled over the table.
It was Kang A-rin, sipping her coffee, who broke the silence.
“You saw it with your own eyes?”
“Yup,” Cheon Yeo-wool answered breezily.
Kang A-rin’s eyebrow twitched almost imperceptibly.
“Them… doing it, too?”
At the bluntness of her words, Sion, sitting beside her, flinched.
“…Not that part, but…”
“They were in bed, naked, cuddling and rolling around.”
“Ah…”
This time, it was Yu Hana who responded, not Kang A-rin.
She nodded slowly, as if mulling over Cheon Yeo-wool’s words.
“…This is pissing me off.”
Then, she murmured softly, as if to herself.
It was true that Yu Hana had recently awakened to a new preference, even enjoying her relationships with the other women.
But that was only because she was certain her turn would inevitably come.
It was the kind of easy confidence that comes from having it all.
Just as an appetizer enhances the flavor of the main course, she saw the other women’s dalliances as nothing more than interesting events that would make her own time with him—the main dish—all the more special.
Therefore, as long as the order was set, she believed that whatever the others experienced before her would only heighten the excitement…
But this was different.
This wasn’t part of the set order.
Her turn had been snatched away by someone who had just popped out of nowhere.
This was something completely outside of Yu Hana’s defensive playbook.
“Chae-ha… she’s more incredible than I thought.”
Sion, too, muttered with her arms crossed, nodding.
She wasn’t particularly emotional about the situation.
She simply saw it as Chae-ha diligently growing stronger.
And falling for Jung Hae-in… well, that was an obvious outcome from the start, so she had already accepted it.
But for them to do the deed so hastily, in a single night…
It felt like watching our main base get plundered right before our eyes.
It was less personal jealousy and more a sense of futility over a strategic failure on their united front.
Sion was just a little surprised, that’s all.
Unlike Yu Hana, Sion was much more open-minded.
So, she wasn’t terribly provoked.
Just a little surprised, maybe?
Kang A-rin, however, was different.
“……Am I not attractive enough?”
Suddenly, Kang A-rin’s voice shrank to the size of a mosquito’s buzz.
“?”
A-rin seemed to deflate.
Her once-confident shoulders slumped. The other women were a little taken aback by the sight.
“Is what my old self would have thought…”
But in the next moment, her head snapped up.
Kang A-rin knew.
She knew her seductions had been consistently and effectively landing on Jung Hae-in.
It was just that he had an iron-clad defense.
But now she understood.
It seemed Jung Hae-in’s defenses were as good as gone.
He’d break if she pushed.
All she had to do was press the attack.
If that was the case, there was no longer any need to hesitate.
“Let’s see this through to the end.”
The order was meaningless now.
“Shall we go look at some dresses?”
Kang A-rin said to Yu Hana.
“Yes.”
Yu Hana, too, instantly understood her meaning and nodded.
They had to be perfectly prepared.
“……? What dresses?”
But Sion, unable to follow the flow of the conversation, tilted her head in confusion.
“Oh, we’re getting an award today for the Belial subjugation.”
The one to explain was Cheon Yeo-wool, the very cause of this chaos.
Only then did Sion realize.
Kang A-rin and Yu Hana were already drawing up a strategy, starting with their dresses.
But Sion wasn’t qualified to participate.
She hadn’t gone on the Belial subjugation mission in the first place.
Could it be…
Sion muttered to herself, almost unconsciously.
Am I being left out again?
And it was true.
*
Personally, I think awards are just for show.
A hefty medal and a fat check.
None of it could ever offset the terror of death I’d felt in the battle against Belial.
In any case, what’s important is the honor.
The name Jung Hae-in now stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the world’s top heroes.
The fact that I was still just a student was a major selling point for the media and the public.
People go wild for the extraordinary.
And I have to use that.
After the awards ceremony, the venue shifted to the banquet hall at the Association headquarters.
As the light from the chandeliers poured down softly and jazz music flowed through the air, the center of countless gazes and conversations was still me.
These were stares I’d have to get used to.
“Hero Hae-in, you’ve worked hard.”
The Hero Association President approached me with a benevolent smile. He held out a champagne flute, requesting a toast. I lightly clinked my glass against his.
– Clink.
The clear sound of the glasses meeting rang out.
“Not at all, sir.”
I replied humbly.
“It’s about time… we decided on a new title for you. Now that you’ve shed the name Mukgui,” the President said meaningfully, patting my shoulder.
“What do you think? Don’t you agree you need a title befitting your new status?”
“Hahaha…”
A title…
It would be nice to have one, but I wasn’t particularly attached to the idea.
It seemed like he was intent on giving me one, so I figured I should just accept it gracefully.
“If you were to give me one, Mr. President, I would be honored to accept it.”
I answered with the most respectful posture I could manage.
In truth, I knew he had a pretty good sense for naming things.
In the original story, receiving a title from the President was a rather rare event.
It was also an option the public would want.
“Hahaha! Very well. I’ll think of a good title for you soon.”
The President laughed heartily, looking pleased, and clapped my shoulder once more with force.
Just then.
“Hae-in.”
A clear voice called out from my right.
When I turned my head, Kang A-rin was standing there, clad in a gorgeous dress.
She slowly approached and stood right beside me.
“It would be wonderful if the President gave you a title.”
She smiled at the President while smoothly linking her arm through my right one.
Her arm wrapped around mine naturally.
– Squeeze.
Kang A-rin intentionally pressed her chest against my bicep with force.
The softness of her skin and her searing body heat made it impossible not to focus all my senses on my arm.
The President chatted a little longer before taking his leave.
“A-rin… this arm…”
But at that very moment.
An identical soft sensation seeped into me from the opposite side.
Yu Hana, who had approached without me noticing, had linked her arm through my left in a mirror image of Kang A-rin.
Then, as if they had planned it beforehand, they began to slowly drag me toward the shadows behind a magnificent pillar in a deserted corner of the banquet hall.
I feel like I’m being kidnapped.
Somebody, save me.
I desperately sent a silent plea for help to Cheon Yeo-wool, who was chatting elegantly with others in the distance. Finally, our eyes met.
Cheon Yeo-wool read my desperate gaze perfectly.
She glanced around furtively, then made a ring with the fingers of her left hand, visible only to me.
Then, with her right index finger, she slowly and obscenely moved it back and forth through the ring.
– Swoosh, swoosh.
Have fun, she mouthed with a smile, before whipping her head away.
Right, she’s the one who started all this.
Who am I even asking for help?
Pinning my last hopes, I searched for my next savior.
Yoon Chae-ha.
Chae-ha, where are you?
But Yoon Chae-ha was already completely passed out, her head slumped on a table on the other side of the room, dead drunk.
I remembered seeing Cheon Yeo-wool cheerfully pushing glass after glass of champagne on her earlier.
She can’t even hold her liquor…
It seemed this, too, was part of her plan.
– Drag…
And so I was dragged away.
The banquet was in full swing, filled with the clinking of champagne glasses and bursts of laughter.
In all the commotion, it seemed no one would pay much mind if a pair of people disappeared.
No, to be precise, a trio of one man and two women.
The place we arrived at was a table behind a massive pillar, completely deserted.
No one was watching.
But on the table, more than ten brilliantly colored cocktails were already prepared.
A perfectly isolated space.
There, where no eyes could reach, Kang A-rin and Yu Hana sat me down deep into a sofa.
And with their arms still linked through mine, they offered me a cocktail.
And with their arms still linked through mine on either side, Kang A-rin picked up a cocktail from the table and brought it to my lips.
It was an ominous-looking drink, layered with shades of lime green, white, and black.
I drank the mysterious concoction.
“Drink up…”
Kang A-rin whispered in my ear, her voice impossible to refuse.
Just like that, I poured the cold liquid down my throat.
Behind the sweet, fruity aroma, I felt a harsh alcohol that seemed to burn my esophagus.
“Do you know what this cocktail is called?”
“What is it…”
“Quick Fuck.”
“……”
I wanted to believe I’d misheard.
It was then.
“Drink this one too, Hae-in.”
This time, it was Yu Hana.
I turned my head.
There was an orange-tinted cocktail.
She had already brought it to my lips, so I couldn’t resist.
“Guess what this one is called.”
“…What is it…”
I was starting to feel the alcohol kicking in.
It really lives up to its name.
Quick Fuck.
I felt like I was going to go fast.
“Uhm… Sex on the Beach.”
“…What?”
“It’s exactly what it sounds like.”
I could feel my face getting hotter.
Between the two strong cocktails and the searing body heat and perfume of the two women pressing in on me from both sides, my reason was beginning to blur.
“Ah…”
There was no way out, no matter what I did.
I knew it instinctively.
“One more.”
Another cocktail glass appeared before my lips.
“Okay…”
This time, too, I accepted it and drank.