The Host's Aftermath
There was a day like that.
A strangely intense feeling hung in the air.
And whether by chance or because humans possessed the ability to sense the future, such days always brought exactly one bad thing.
On one such day, Kim Namhu made a point of checking in with his regulars to see if anything had happened to them.
After all, if any of them ran into trouble, he could step in and earn a much larger profit.
Han Ji-yeon was doing fine, and Kim Hye-ji was still completely swamped with filming two projects at once.
He had already told both of them, just in case, to be extra careful about those bad dreams they had reported.
The two women had laughed, sounding almost cute at how easily Kim Namhu worried about them.
When he called Jang Sun-young, the conversation unexpectedly stretched far longer than expected.
“What’s wrong?”
“Just had a bad dream. I was worried about you, and I wanted to make sure you were okay. If there’s any trouble, call me right away.”
Jang Sun-young laughed for a long time, clearly tickled by the same consideration Kim Namhu always showed.
“You really can’t help yourself, huh? How cute are you exactly. Why don’t you just live with noona? Noona could still have another kid even though she already had one when she was young.”
Normally a woman couldn’t have children after a certain age, and by the time she reached thirty-five it became extremely difficult. But if she got pregnant young, many women kept their full fertility even into their later years.
Late bloomers often came from exactly that kind of situation.
And Kim Namhu had an ability to freeze his brain for a moment when faced with such spicy teasing from an older woman.
Jang Sun-young must have realized she was an auntie to him.
She laughed at her own joke for quite a while before speaking.
“It was just a joke. A joke. But you really don’t get it. If I die, half my fortune goes to you.”
“Just let me earn it and spend it. Haha.”
“Yeah. A man needs that kind of backbone.”
Kim Namhu had no exact idea of her wealth.
But it was certain that she had more than ten billion won.
From the way she spent, he could easily guess.
Jang Sun-young didn’t skimp on money, but she wasn’t a foolish woman.
Someone foolish couldn’t have saved enough from a Ten-Pro ace position to make a decent investment and enjoy the rest of her life.
Every won she spent now came entirely from investment returns.
Jang Sun-young then asked something else.
“You still meet Sun-young sometimes and play around?”
Jang Su-young.
Jang Sun-young’s daughter, and the woman Kim Namhu had met at first because she suspected her mother had been charmed by an odd host.
Jang Su-young had since confirmed that Kim Namhu was no strange man and had started calling him often.
She was a medical student who would sometimes meet for a short while to blow off steam after a tiring day of studying.
“Just like friends.”
“No date at all?”
“Not even a date.”
Kim Namhu gave a bitter smile.
Jang Su-young had inherited her mother’s bloodline, so her beauty was considerable.
If she put in the effort with makeup and clothes, she would surely become a top-tier Ten-Pro ace.
But she didn’t want the life her mother lived, so she dressed modestly and kept herself looking clean.
“Just in case. If Su-young starts showing interest in you, there’s nothing wrong with going deeper. Kissing is fine. Sex is fine too.”
Kim Namhu couldn’t respond right away, thinking Jang Sun-young’s typical auntie teasing was at it again.
He had already slept with Jang Sun-young.
Hearing his own words about sleeping with her daughter was something he had no idea how to answer.
“It’s a joke, right?”
“Not a joke? My daughter is too pure. She’s definitely still a virgin. She’s never even held a man’s hand. But as you know, life is about experience. There are plenty of people who get hit hard later by some weird partner because they had no experience.”
Jang Sun-young, having been a Ten-Pro ace herself, had seen far too many cases of this.
The usual victims were young, naive male customers.
Men who studied their whole lives to become doctors or prosecutors, married decently, then got trapped in the host bar and ruined their lives.
The ones who had enough experience from young age could play cleanly in the host bar and move on.
“You can trust me, Namhu. You know that.”
Kim Namhu thought for a moment before answering.
“But if something like that happened, Sun-young wouldn’t feel good about it, right?”
Emotions and reason were separate.
He knew logically that it was true, but if he slept with Jang Su-young, Jang Sun-young would clearly not feel good.
Jang Sun-young thought for a moment and said,
“Well… I probably wouldn’t.”
“Then I’ll make sure nothing like that happens. Your client is Sun-young, after all.”
No woman would dislike such a clear promise.
Jang Sun-young laughed cheerfully again.
“Yeah. That’s why I come to see you. Okay. I’ll keep that in mind for now. Oh, I should go have a drink with Namhu soon.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
The call with Jang Sun-young ended.
Kim Namhu went to The Queen and, as always, worked diligently as a host.
Around one in the morning, his phone started ringing.
Seeing the name, he knew it was Jang Sun-young.
He asked the client for patience and stepped outside to take the call.
Jang Sun-young knew he was in the middle of his shift at this hour.
She also knew he would hate it if a client called while he was serving someone.
Of the ten or so customers who came to a host bar, about two were angels and two were truly troublesome.
A host could easily get into trouble if he was dealing with a real problem when a call came in.
‘He knew that. He probably wouldn’t call unless it was serious.’
Relieved that his client wasn’t troublesome, Kim Namhu answered.
“Sun-young. What’s wrong?”
“Namhu. Sorry, but can you come to my store right now?”
Jang Sun-young ran a small bar purely for fun.
It was a place where old regulars would drop by for a drink while eating grilled squid and octopus.
A veteran like her had seen every kind of problem.
But she was still a woman, and from the back of her store came strange noises.
It sounded like one man was causing a commotion.
She kept her voice calm over the phone, but he could hear the underlying unease.
“I’m coming right away.”
The thought of calling the police flashed through his mind, but he dismissed it.
Kim Namhu understood why Jang Sun-young hadn’t done so.
People who lived in the shadows were better off avoiding the police as much as possible.
Her past might not have disappeared just because she ran a normal bar now.
If she got tangled with the police, bigger trouble could follow later.
Kim Namhu and people like her should avoid the police at all costs.
He rushed to the host waiting room and found a substitute for the client he was serving.
Jang Hyo-woon, who happened to be off, immediately stood up.
“What happened?”
“Looks like a client ran into trouble. No one else is available to help.”
“Yeah? Then go. I’ll take care of the customer.”
Kim Namhu trusted Jang Hyo-woon completely.
“Thank you.”
He dashed out immediately.
The distance between The Queen and Jang Sun-young’s store wasn’t far.
Running while on the phone, he told Jang Sun-young,
“I’m on my way. Just try to avoid making the other person too angry. Got it?”
Some hosts thought their job was simply to make women feel good, drink together, and satisfy them in bed.
‘That wasn’t entirely wrong.’
But there was a higher way to become a real host.
To be there for them in difficult times and solve their problems.
That wasn’t strictly the host’s duty, but acting like a boyfriend or husband made the client deeply moved and built a stronger bond.
Such regulars would follow the store even if it moved, and they would overlook even small mistakes.
Kim Namhu arrived at Jang Sun-young’s store in no time.
He first checked what had happened.
The situation was a mess.
No other customers remained inside the store.
Two men who looked like nothing more than muscle pigs to outsiders—obviously just slabs of fat—had thrown off their jackets and now stood in short sleeves.
Their arms were covered in full Japanese yakuza-style and Korean gang tattoos.
Their faces were flushed from drinking, and they were shouting loudly.
They gripped chairs, ready to swing them at any moment.
Jang Sun-young stood behind the counter, holding back fear and forcing herself to stay calm.
“Why the fuck did you guys even come? You drank a few bottles and now you’re acting like this? Do you know who I am?!”
Jang Sun-young’s store wasn’t cheap.
It was a place where wealthy former regulars came to drink, and ordinary customers almost never showed up.
Naturally the prices were higher than at other bars, and she had always warned new customers in advance.
Anyone who thought the price too high would leave quietly after saying they’d come back another time.
But these two gangsters had drunk first and then turned into problems because of their pride.
He raced to the store and found the scene in chaos.
No other customers remained.
Two men who looked like nothing more than muscle pigs to outsiders—obviously just slabs of fat—had thrown off their jackets and now stood in short sleeves.
Their arms were covered in full Japanese yakuza-style and Korean gang tattoos.
Their faces were flushed from drinking, and they were shouting loudly.
They gripped chairs, ready to swing them at any moment.
Jang Sun-young stood behind the counter, holding back fear and forcing herself to stay calm.
“Why the fuck did you guys even come? You drank a few bottles and now you’re acting like this? Do you know who I am?!”
Jang Sun-young’s store wasn’t cheap.
It was a place where wealthy former regulars came to drink, and ordinary customers almost never showed up.
Naturally the prices were higher than at other bars, and she had always warned new customers in advance.
Anyone who thought the price too high would leave quietly after saying they’d come back another time.
But these two gangsters had drunk first and then turned into problems because of their pride.