The Regular Customer Arrives
Kim Namhu smiled, and Jang Sun-young immediately took a step back.
This was another game.
Jang Sun-young knew Kim Namhu had come to seduce her.
And she found him quite appealing.
Of course, giving in to Kim Namhu was not fun.
The two continued their conversation like flirtation, trading barbs.
"Why do you keep smiling?"
"Because I feel good. In a nice bar with a pretty woman. Naturally, drinking and chatting feels great."
"Is that so?"
Jang Sun-young began to carefully observe Kim Namhu.
In this game, it was crucial not to fall for Kim Namhu.
To do that, she needed to understand the man.
"Where do you work? Maybe I can get your business card?"
Jang Sun-young guessed Kim Namhu didn't have a regular job.
Men who seduced women for money rarely had business cards.
"I don't have a business card. But he's a fun guy anyway."
"Men without business cards fall into one of two categories. Either they're really worthless, or everyone knows them even without one."
"He'll become the kind of man everyone knows. You see the quote the moment you look at him, right? A man who can do something will give off a certain vibe after just a few words of conversation, won't he?"
Kim Namhu's last words were a bit of a stretch.
But they went down surprisingly well with Jang Sun-young.
She had an eye for men, and she could feel the massive potential radiating from Kim Namhu.
If she were still in her twenties, she would have wanted to stake her future on this man.
'But that innocent time ended a long time ago.'
When her investment in Coca-Cola stock had exceeded ten billion won, her innocence was essentially over.
Even if Korea collapsed, Coca-Cola wasn't going anywhere, and she received nearly three hundred million won in annual dividends.
After that, the thrill of making money had vanished.
She simply continued earning by inertia, building her fortune, half-retiring, and opening a small bar.
'But the interest is still there.'
Now all that remained for her were her vast wealth and the occasional man who stirred a small excitement.
And right now, Kim Namhu was making her feel a big one.
"Who exactly are you? I'm genuinely curious. Should I just feed you free drinks until you spill everything? Or seduce you with my body and make you talk?"
The words would have sounded crude coming from an ordinary woman, but from Jang Sun-young, who carried innate sensuality, they came off elegantly.
If there was a succubus queen, she probably sounded like this.
And the regular customer, overhearing the conversation, chimed in.
"Hahaha! Oh no, this young man is in trouble! Do you know what Jang-sa's nickname is? Viper! Viper! One sting and it's over! Whether it's at the bar or in bed!"
"Still, I envy him. Jang-sa only goes to bed with clients he truly likes. I heard he turned down a ten-billion-won offer from some conglomerate heir?"
Kim Namhu laughed as he told Jang Sun-young.
"Telling you my real identity would be no fun. Investigating me would be no fun either. Wouldn't it be more interesting to figure it out on your own, Sun-young-ah?"
Jang Sun-young was a woman drowning in money.
If she put her mind to it and hired an investigator, Kim Namhu's entire life would be documented in a three-day report landing in her hands.
"Really interesting man. That's right. Asking for help takes the fun out of it."
And she felt an itch in her head. She pulled out a cigarette from her pocket.
She lit it and took a deep drag without asking the customer if it was okay.
"Ah, if you want to smoke, go ahead. My place has a smoking section."
"No. I don't smoke. My big member is too important."
It was a well-known fact that alcohol and cigarettes could affect stamina.
Hosts had no choice but a couple of drinks because of their job, but they never smoked.
Jang Sun-young laughed again at Kim Namhu's joke.
Big member was a playful way of saying he had a large penis, something middle-aged men often said.
It wasn't the kind of line a young man like Kim Namhu would normally use.
"This. It will probably take more than one night to find out who I really am."
"Then let's go on a date."
When the regulars heard Jang Sun-young was leaving the bar for the first time in a long while, they cheered as if they'd been given free entertainment.
The cheers grew louder when she agreed.
"When?"
"How about Wednesday this week?"
That was a day Kim Namhu was taking off from the host bar.
He had no desire to slack off on a day he was trying to catch a rich client.
"Sure. Where should we go?"
"Let's play golf. If we just play the two of us, it's boring. I can invite a few friends."
Using the information Kim Namhu had casually dropped, Jang Sun-young laughed out loud.
And she said sharply.
"A host?"
Kim Namhu hid his surprise and smiled.
'Of course.'
Jang Sun-young was no ordinary woman.
She had been steadily collecting information on Kim Namhu, and from that data, she had successfully guessed his true identity.
"How did you know?"
"That outfit. It was drenched in the scent of women. It's hard for almost any womanizer to smell like this unless he's special. A swallow couldn't absorb a woman's marrow that easily."
Jang Sun-young nodded and spoke.
She seemed to have lost a lot of interest now that she knew Kim Namhu's identity.
"Where is your place?"
"The Queen."
"Let's visit on Tuesday. Since you made me this happy, I have to pay."
"You don't have to."
Jang Sun-young believed well-executed work shouldn't be done for free.
She was about to voice the thought.
But Kim Namhu's mouth moved first.
"Because well-executed work shouldn't be free, right?"
The dying spark of interest reignited.
"Where did you hear that?"
"That is also a secret. Let's find out once and for all."
Originally, Jang Sun-young had planned to visit The Queen on Tuesday, buy a few bottles of liquor, and end the relationship.
But Kim Namhu kept scratching her itch, so she had no choice but to continue.
"Sure. Then on Tuesday, prepare the most expensive alcohol at the bar."
"I'll make sure to."
The price of alcohol wasn't fixed for high-end bottles.
A single bottle could cost hundreds of millions of won.
It was common in Gangbuk too.
"Are you worried about gouging?"
Whether men or women sold alcohol, if the customer seemed like a mark, they often inflated the price.
"Well, you'll handle it yourself."
"Yes. I'll take care of it."
"But leave some room. I don't want to be scammed, but I don't want to be a bastard either."
"Yes. I'll leave some for the mark."
While talking to Kim Namhu, Jang Sun-young felt a sense of camaraderie among those who bought and sold alcohol, beyond just excitement.
Kim Namhu felt it was enough for today.
He stood up, politely said goodbye, and left the bar.
Jang Sun-young was already looking forward to visiting The Queen.
**
The atmosphere at The Queen had been terrible for days.
Lee Sang-soo was pressuring the hosts to increase sales, but they knew talk alone wouldn't bring in more revenue.
The hosts were working hard, but there were moments when nothing seemed to work.
Since nothing helped, the hosts just waited for the hard days to pass and the rest days to arrive.
And Kim Namhu, who would soon meet a big client, found the whole situation amusing.
'Pushing won't make the alcohol sell more, but that's all the Main can do.'
When the waiting room felt so gloomy, Jang Hyo-woon asked the younger brothers who followed him.
"Is there anything?"
"Hyung. We already got all our regulars."
"And lately, because business is bad, a lot of people just come for beer."
Even Jang Hyo-woon, a fairly successful host, could sense the current mood.
Now they needed a powerful countermeasure.
It was something ordinary hosts couldn't do.
In the end, Lee Sang-soo summoned the Aces leading each faction.
"Choi Moon-ho! Jang Hyo-woon! Oh Chang-won! Follow me!"
The four men left the bar and headed to a narrow alley where they could smoke.
There, each of them lit a cigarette.
The three Aces Lee had called were hosts who received Ace treatment wherever they went.
Even Oh Chang-won, who was rated the most distant, had no interest in complicated politics, but he wasn't the type to be disrespected.
Lee Sang-soo acknowledged the three Aces and didn't scold them.
Jang Hyo-woon asked worriedly.
"Is it really that hard?"
"It's tough. I'm worried it will get even harder in the future."
At that, Oh Chang-won, always cheerful, laughed and said.
"Man. If sales don't pick up, just quit. Hyung should step down as Main and return to the field. It's not like we've completely given up, right?"
Lee Sang-soo grabbed Oh Chang-won's head in a headlock and said.
"You only think about yourself? Do you think it's easy to create a host with such good conditions? Useless fool."