A C-Rank Man and an A-Rank Woman
"I think... you owe me an explanation."
Shim Eui-jin didn't bother responding. Instead, he simply took a slow pull through his straw, sipping from the caramel macchiato that had been served to his side of the table.
Despite his austere appearance, he seemed to have an unexpected penchant for sweets, draining a hefty portion in one go. Only after silently wetting his throat did he offer a quiet reply.
"An explanation for what, exactly?"
"You know perfectly well what! Why did you snatch my phone out of my hand like that?!"
The cafe was quiet and cozy, glowing with the gentle, hearth-like warmth of an establishment with few patrons at this hour. I knew raising my voice would draw stares, but I couldn't help myself.
Out of nowhere, this man had summoned me here. And the moment I arrived, while I was right in the middle of talking to Junpyo, he had brazenly snatched the phone from my grasp.
"And powering it down without asking? Do you honestly think you have the right to do that?"
Shim Eui-jin had shut off the device entirely—committing that outrageous stunt deliberately so that any callback would disconnect immediately. We were paying clients who had come to his center for help. Treating a client with such blatant disrespect was utterly unaccept—
"Dissatisfaction, rather than gratitude?"
"...What?"
The syllable burst from my lips in sheer disbelief. Yet Shim Eui-jin pressed on with a serene expression, looking for all the world as though he genuinely believed what he was saying.
"Had the call continued any longer, I would have grabbed your breast."
"!"
At that blunt declaration of sexual harassment, I recoiled in shock, throwing an arm defensively across my chest. But Shim Eui-jin merely motioned for me to stay calm. He raised one hand slightly, a placid admission that he harbored no such intentions at the present moment.
"Please compose yourself. I merely meant that is what I would have done had the phone call lingered."
"W-What does that even mean...?"
"To further provoke Seong Junpyo, naturally."
He leaned forward, his face a mask of deadpan detachment.
"To make Seong Junpyo stronger by any means necessary. Did we not all consent to the terms of that contract?"
"......"
My teeth ground together.
I knew that. I knew it all too well, because I was the third party who had put pen to paper alongside them. We had plunged headlong into a thoroughly tainted arrangement. All of it was to force an awakening in Junpyo—to raise his hero rank, we were resorting to borrowing someone else's supernatural ability. Borrowing the power of this counselor.
"Even so, to spring this on me so abruptly... and threatening to touch my chest of all things..."
"Not just your chest. I would have gone far further."
"N-No! That's what I'm saying—"
"Verisimilitude is essential if we are to elicit intense anxiety."
Having dropped that bombshell, Shim Eui-jin signaled for the waitress. After casually ordering a grapefruit ade, he resumed his explanation.
"As I explained before, my ability, Mind Break, feeds upon the anxiety of the target we wish to empower."
"......"
"Because the call was cut short, his lover's mind will inevitably run wild with speculation. What could possibly be happening? Where is this cafe? What 'important matters' are the two of us discussing in private?"
Clink.
The grapefruit ade arrived promptly. Swirling his straw with an idle flick of his wrist, he continued.
"By now, an unbearable itch is gnawing away at him. He might be hitting redial hundreds of times in futility, or perhaps frantically scouring the streets to find this cafe. Junpyo is currently drowning in a staggering tide of anxiety."
"I... suppose he is."
Of course he was. If our positions were reversed, I would have lost my mind, too.
"This is the anxiety bred from information asymmetry. What if the call had dragged on, and you managed to convey that nothing was amiss? What if you called him back to assure him everything was fine? In that very instant, his anxiety would sever. It would dissolve."
"......"
"And had that happened, I would have had no choice but to inject a different kind of anxiety. Something far more visceral—provocative molestation, perhaps. Or a kiss."
It was delivered with such chilling, unimpeachable logic that goosebumps prickled across my skin. The fact that his reasoning left me without a single opening to rebut him felt almost infuriating.
"May I ask... one question?"
"By all means."
I steered the conversation elsewhere. In truth, it was something I had been personally curious about ever since hearing the counseling center's terms and conditions.
"You told us that the activation condition for Mind Break requires anxiety, fear... um, essentially elements tied to suffering, right?"
"Roughly speaking, yes."
"If that's the case, why can't it be physical pain instead of this psychological torment? I know it sounds absurd to ask, but... couldn't you awaken him through beatings? Or apply artificial electric shocks?"
"It is possible."
The answer came instantly—as crisp and clean as the icy condensation beading along the glass of grapefruit ade before him.
"However, prior attempts using that method all ended in failure."
"W-Why?"
"Human beings adapt far too easily to physical pain. Given enough time, habituation sets in, and in some cases, it can even mutate into pleasure."
"Ah..."
I could understand that. Working on the front lines as a hero, I had encountered plenty of peers trapped in thrill addictions and adrenaline rushes. His explanation struck home.
Clink, clink...
The straw scraped softly against the ice in his glass.
"Inducing stress through persistent pain was quite efficient initially, but it invariably fell apart. The moment both parties recognize that there is no genuine malice behind it, the subject begins to perceive the pain as nothing more than a performance."
"Then..."
"Yes. Which is why this current method is our optimal choice."
Psychological agony. Without even having to speak the words aloud, he had forced me to accept the reality.
"In this manner, I infiltrate your daily life at will. By sitting beside you, brazenly sipping tea and stealing away your time, I plant seeds of terror in Junpyo's mind. I embed myself deep within your existence, tormenting him through you."
"Tormenting him..."
A fresh pang of guilt surged at that word. Yet there was nothing I could do. We were here because we had already been backed into an inescapable corner.
For three solid years, I had exhausted every lawful avenue to make him stronger. I fed him every potent supplement on the market and attempted to trigger an artificial re-awakening, but each endeavor had ended in bitter failure. I couldn't bring myself to make a pact with the underworld—a devil's bargain that would spell the end of everything the moment we touched it. Even illicit doping had been ruled out at the very last second.
And so, we ended up here. Our sole remaining sliver of hope was this mysterious counselor.
"Still... the results certainly seem real."
Already, the technique had shown remarkable efficacy. In our earlier call, I could hear a premature confidence in Junpyo's voice. His internal evaluation must have scored remarkably well, given how he spoke as if his promotion were practically in the bag.
Yet B-Rank was far from confirmed. Though I couldn't freely celebrate with him right now, this was undeniably substantial progress compared to every other failure we had endured.
"It appears so. Though we will have to sustain this level of tension until his promotion is finalized."
"There's one more thing I'm curious about... Has it always been like this? Have you always operated this way?"
"No. I have experimented and modified my approach countless times. After undergoing all manner of trial and error, this method was finally established."
"I see..."
This time, he abandoned the polite sips and drained the grapefruit ade, tilting the glass back as his throat worked, gulping it down refreshingly.
"From what I have observed, human beings are incapable of processing negation. By nature, when an individual identifies a 'problem,' their instinct is to 'solve' it. And the moment they are denied that resolution?"
He paused deliberately. Gazing straight into my eyes—which had unwittingly become as wide and rapt as a granddaughter listening to her grandmother's folktale—he uttered:
"They go mad. Drifting endlessly amidst the boundless possibilities of the future and the dread they inspire, their sanity slowly unravels."
There was conviction in his voice. An absolute, unwavering certainty. Shim Eui-jin sounded as though he had witnessed that very descent with his own two eyes.
"...Did something happen in the past?"
The question slipped past my lips before I could stop myself. When I pried, a faint, bitter shadow flitted across his features before he brushed it aside.
"No. I've let our conversation run on far too long."
The discussion came to a halt. Without even realizing it, I had let myself be completely drawn into the time spent in a cafe with another man.
We rose from the table and walked toward the register.
Why... why do I feel so filthy inside?
It was an intensely unsettling sensation. In truth, nothing improper had taken place in this cafe. Strictly speaking, our conversation had been about business, with the rest amounting to idle chatter. And yet, being in this man's presence left behind an undeniable residue. A bizarre feeling... as though we had come to know one another a little too intimately.
In all my life, I had never imagined I would feel something like this. It felt vicariously, unmistakably like infidelity.
"Um... may I take my leave now?"
"Yes. My only purpose here was to keep the two of you separated for a short while."
Hearing his words, I tilted my head back. Standing beside him at the register just as before, I looked up at his imposing height. And right there, the answer presented itself.
The underlying justification for my squirming unease made itself immediately apparent. The reason this man's tactics—this cruel, manipulative stratagem—proved so lethally effective stood right in front of my eyes.
Why does he have to be so damn handsome...?!
He was breathtakingly attractive. He possessed an almost excessive, unadulterated masculine sexuality. Because he was so handsome, merely sharing the same space left a lingering, guilty aftertaste of having cheated. Because he was so attractive, every exchange of words left behind a faint trace of sexual lingering.
It was the sheer violence of good looks, mercilessly crushing a woman's composure.
In truth, it had been that way ever since our first meeting at the Underground Advice Center. I knew I shouldn't think this way. I knew I had no right to compare Junpyo, whom I had dated for years, to a man like this, but—
Those bulging forearm veins... that height, that razor-sharp jawline...
It was simply too much. Whether it was due to his supernatural ability or sheer genetics, prominent veins coiled taut across his forearms. Standing right beside him, his imposing stature forced me to crane my neck, drinking in that chisel-carved jaw and those piercing eyes.
Looking at him pulled you in. If I let my guard down for even a second, an involuntary smile would have slipped onto my lips.
"T-That will be... twenty-four thousand nine hundred won...♡"
It wasn't just me. The waitress who had attended our table with such flustered promptness had clearly been affected by Shim Eui-jin's appearance as well. It was all because this man's face was so savagely handsome—
"Ah. By the way, did I hear correctly that you were scouted for S-Rank?"
"Excuse me?! ...Ah, th-that's..."
"Pardon me. I momentarily forgot we are in a public venue."
Perhaps for that reason, he stepped closer. After casting a quick glance across the cafe, his lips leaned down toward my ear.
Thump-thump...
My heart seized violently in my chest. He drew in close, whispering as though divulging a genuine secret.