The New Host Is Too Good
Han Ki-ju sat at her table, acting as meek as she pleased for a while, but she quickly grew tired even of the aces.
She rose from her seat and picked up the wine bottle, glancing around with interest.
She was looking for a new host who looked intriguing.
Her gaze landed straight on Kim Namhu.
“Your face is new to me, isn’t it?”
Lee Sang-soo approached her right away.
“He’s the rookie I mentioned earlier—Kim Namhu.”
“Oh, that five-hundred-taga one?”
“Yes, that’s him.”
Han Ki-ju walked over to where Kim Namhu was slicing steak.
She plopped down on an empty chair.
Kim Namhu considered rising to greet her but decided it wasn’t necessary; he had no princess to serve, so he would stay put.
After all, I don’t have anywhere else to go.
In The Queen, after working there for a long time and moving to another store, losing a decent number of regulars was possible, but he didn’t know—right now, Kim Namhu only had two regulars.
Those two would likely follow him to any other store anyway.
Kim Namhu was confident in his skills; even if he moved stores, there was nothing to lose.
Those two things made him different from other hosts and other people.
Kim Namhu simply gave a slight nod of his head in greeting.
Han Ki-ju looked at Kim Namhu with eyes that seemed to say, What kind of guy is this?
Cha Ji-hoon, standing next to Kim Namhu, froze stiff.
“Hey! The boss is here—get up and greet her!”
“Ah, should I act like I’m receiving a guest? The boss said to eat comfortably since she would be eating, so I thought it was fine.”
Han Ki-ju laughed and tried to stop Cha Ji-hoon.
“It’s okay. I clearly said that. I came here because I wanted to pour one drink for a new host who’s been working well.”
Kim Namhu held out an empty glass.
Han Ki-ju poured the wine while looking straight into Kim Namhu’s eyes.
How interesting?
In Korea, money gave almost unlimited power.
Even someone with a hundred billion had everyone around them crawling.
“I’m the owner, and you know I have a lot of money, right?”
“Personally, I heard you own several buildings near the river and your family’s buildings, so the total is enormous.”
“But you don’t seem particularly excited?”
“As the boss, I can’t become a client. That would mean it’s impossible for the boss to take money from clients. I don’t want to have pointless greed for money I can’t take.”
“That’s a logical attitude, but people’s hearts aren’t like that, are they? A person is someone who thinks and has a different heart.”
“Still, you have to live while trying. If you have pointless greed, it only makes you suffer.”
Originally, Han Ki-ju had planned to just pour one drink and leave for other new faces she hadn’t met yet.
But since Kim Namhu’s attitude was interesting, she couldn’t get up.
“Wow. They say he topped the rookies. He really is charming. How old is he?”
“Twenty-one.”
“Same age group as me.”
Kim Namhu recalled his past life.
Back then, it had taken quite some time for Han Ki-ju to ask about his age.
Kim Namhu had spent a lot of time becoming a top-tier host, and in between there had been countless failures and wanderings.
He hadn’t been someone Han Ki-ju would notice at first glance.
I wonder if she even remembered my name.
But now Han Ki-ju remembered not only his name but also his age.
Han Ki-ju smiled and said, “You drink well? Want to finish it all with me tonight?”
Kim Namhu thought for a moment and replied, “I’ve heard the boss is quite skilled with alcohol.”
Being good at drinking wasn’t the end of it.
There was also the habit of keeping someone he liked until the end and making them drink until they died.
That was why hosts hated having drinks with Han Ki-ju.
“To keep up with the boss’s tolerance, the wine bottle will probably break tomorrow, and then I won’t be able to work tomorrow.”
Han Ki-ju caught on to what Kim Namhu meant.
“It’s fine to take one day off. And I’ll give you the money you’ll earn tomorrow early.”
Han Ki-ju took out a one-million-won check from her wallet and handed it to Kim Namhu.
“You’re not even earning a hundred thousand won a day yet?”
She thought this amount was plenty.
And Kim Namhu had already decided to be satisfied with this much because he hadn’t yet secured enough regulars to earn that much daily.
Receiving one million and suffering for one night was more than enough.
Even later, when I become a top-tier host, that’s an absurd amount.
Kim Namhu smiled and said, “Then I’ll pour one for you too.”
“Good.”
The only good point about Han Ki-ju as a drinker was that she didn’t let the other person drink alone.
Whenever the other person drank one, she drank one herself.
That was her way of drinking.
I’m going to suffer a bit today.
Kim Namhu wasn’t without confidence in alcohol.
A host who couldn’t handle strong alcohol well in the first place.
And his young, healthy body had a much higher tolerance than in his past life.
Even now, he had taken medicine to stay sober before coming for the drink party.
But Han Ki-ju was truly a born drinker.
She drank soju like water, and once her belt loosened, she would gulp it down.
Beating a naturally strong liver with alcohol was never easy.
Han Ki-ju and Kim Namhu kept drinking wine without much conversation.
They poured each other’s glasses so quickly that they looked like people trying to die from drinking.
The faces of the hosts watching turned pale.
If they were in Kim Namhu’s position, they might have immediately tried to overeat and died.
After drinking for a while, Han Ki-ju smiled and said, “You drink well. I like it.”
“I feel like I’m going to die. But since I decided to finish it, I’m holding on.”
Han Ki-ju just smiled at Kim Namhu’s honest attitude.
“You seem familiar with this business, don’t you?”
“No. It’s my first time.”
“I heard that.”
“Then you must be adapting quickly. There are people like that—people who do better in ten hours of studying than someone who studies for ten hours in one hour.”
“There are such people, yes.”
Han Ki-ju tilted her head and said.
She had no big interest in The Queen, but Lee Sang-soo had been reporting to her every month.
Hearing that, she understood how the hosts had suffered when they first entered the industry, how some succeeded and others failed and were kicked out.
And among those countless cases, there was no one like Kim Namhu.
“Were you originally popular with women?”
It was a question whether this success had come from women she knew before entering the store.
“No. I didn’t have popularity when I was in school.”
Her family situation was bad, and part-time work made her tired, so her face was always dead.
There was no college student who would like a guy like that.
“Someone with talent like that to such people. The world is really strange, isn’t it?”
Her tone was subtly one that made people angry.
It wasn’t something she could say openly in front of people.
Just what kind of person was that? What kind of talent was that?
She was openly ignoring people.
Kim Namhu listened to Han Ki-ju’s words and thought she was no different from his past life or this life.
Because she lived without shortages, she had no sense of caring for the people around her.
After all, if one host suddenly disappeared, it wouldn’t change anything in her life.
Kim Namhu answered calmly.
“There are various talents in the world. I didn’t inherit any talent from my parents, but I seem to have talent in hosting.”
Han Ki-ju’s always bright face froze for a moment.
She knew Kim Namhu had called her a human with nothing if you didn’t have parents.
She didn’t care about people around her, but she wasn’t clueless either.
How should I react here?
If she thought mocking others was fine but hated being mocked herself, she would have to think about leaving The Queen.
Becoming the number one host in Korea hadn’t been easy in her previous life, and it wasn’t something one person could do alone.
It was important to keep good people around and stay as far as possible from bad people.
A human whose personality was garbage was just placing poison next to them and affecting others.
Then Han Ki-ju gently drank one more glass of wine and found her original expression again.
She showed ease and a smile.
“Talent inherited from parents is also talent. Originally, talent isn’t something one can choose. It’s completely random. It would be strange to get angry or sad about having such talent.”
And Han Ki-ju raised her empty glass as if asking for it to be filled.
Kim Namhu filled the empty glass with plenty of wine.
“Today was fun. I’m glad you said to have a drink party after a long time. Let’s keep going.”
They started pouring each other’s drinks again.
Wine worth hundreds of thousands of won per bottle stacked up at the bottom.
Slowly, among the hosts, some began to worry that someone might go to the emergency room.
Everyone ate and drank without much change.
They were just waiting for how this business would end.