The New Host Is Too Good - Chapter 64: The Boss
‘Just because I was thinking about making a bit more money, I ended up spilling the beans to Han Ki-ju. That was basically the same as her personally betting with me.
She had only gone ahead and applied the rule to every host in the bar. That was all it took to make it impossible for Kim Namhu to refuse.
‘Was it that awkward for her to say it privately? Well, it doesn’t matter to me either way.’
Kim Namhu had always been fine with rules as long as they were fair.
Hosts who lacked skill and drive were the last thing he wanted to babysit.
Sales were affected by luck, but skill still played a major role.
It was the perfect chance to double your income if you put in the effort.
‘I’ll just go earn some money.’
The one saving grace was that no one else knew how all of this had started because of him.
If the truth ever came out, Kim Namhu might not even be able to keep working at The Queen.
After Lee Sang-soo finished what he had to say, it was time for the short break.
Kim Namhu stepped out alone and called Han Ki-ju.
She picked up with a voice full of energy.
‘How was it? My gift.’
‘If it’s a gift, the recipient should be happy, right?’
‘I figured you’d be able to beat last month’s sales. Double your money on the opportunity you love most? What kind of gift is that if not this?’
‘Normal people don’t give “risky” things as gifts. You just wanted to bet, didn’t you?’
Han Ki-ju laughed brightly.
‘Yeah. Exactly. The Octopus Game? It won’t be public for a while yet. I was getting bored waiting for it, so I set up a smaller game instead. And if the other hosts all do well, my loss will be huge. I’ll have to empty my personal pocket just to double the incentives for every host?’
‘Good thing it’s not just me being harassed, then.’
‘Of course. Who would call me a sadist? I just wanted to play a fair game. I figured out how fun it could be.’
‘Looks like you found the fun of life.’
‘Yeah. Thanks. Well, good luck for this month too.’
Han Ki-ju ended the call with a cheerful voice.
**
For several days Kim Namhu worked normally, watching how the other hosts reacted.
At first he had only cared about his own sales, but seeing Han Ki-ju this excited made him realize it might not hurt to help the others a little.
‘If more than half the hosts outperform last month’s sales, Han Ki-ju loses. More happy hosts—that’s a perfect situation.’
Right now the hosts were divided into three clear groups.
The hosts with real skill like Choi Moon-ho, Jang Hyo-woon, and Oh Chang-won showed no real worry.
They had already figured out the core of the new system the boss had introduced.
As long as you beat last month’s sales by even one won, you were fine.
If you had real skill and solid regulars, that was easy to achieve.
There were hosts in another group who had been unlucky last month and hadn’t made much.
They were working hard this month with the hope of earning more than they did in a good month.
The real problem was the hosts who had been unlucky last month but still beat their usual sales because of good luck.
They knew it was pure luck, and they doubted they would get lucky again this month.
‘Should I just show up for the minimum days this month?’
‘Even if I try hard, the incentive is halved anyway.’
A fair number of hosts had fallen into defeatism.
Among them were two new hosts like Kim Namhu—Cha Ji-hoon and Shin Yong-geom.
They had different factions, but because their situations were similar, they quickly started hanging out together.
Since Kim Namhu had the same situation, they even called him over for coffee sometimes.
Cha Ji-hoon, the new guy, couldn’t help but boast among his peers.
‘Oh man, the boss is really too much. Suddenly demanding you do better than last month? If this were a normal company, you’d be filing a complaint, right?’
Cha Ji-hoon had never actually worked in a normal company, yet he was talking like that.
Shin Yong-geom looked at Kim Namhu with pity.
‘If I had known, I would have been gentler with you last week. We newbies are stuck in the middle ground anyway, but you actually won first place last month. Even if you try hard this month, it’s set to be halved. What are you going to do?’
Cha Ji-hoon asked subtly.
‘By the way, you said you ate with the boss, right? Why not just ask nicely and say you’ll do it like before?’
Kim Namhu found the whole thing hilarious.
These two newbies were worried about him without knowing his actual skill, and they were even trying to get the boss to change his mind.
‘If I were going to persuade her, I could do it, but…’
In the end, Han Ki-ju had done all this simply because she was bored.
The way to handle a bored woman was simple.
‘Just go on a few dates, drink with her, and make sure the sex is good.’
It was said that if your husband was good in bed, your breakfast would change.
The same principle applied to a host and his boss.
Kim Namhu was willing to give his all for the clients, but he had no intention of doing the same for the boss.
‘Besides, I don’t want to waste the good chance to double the incentive.’
When Kim Namhu didn’t answer, Cha Ji-hoon let out a disappointed sigh.
‘Ah, of course. Even with the boss, you can’t say a word.’
‘Well, that’s how it is.’
Kim Namhu understood Han Ki-ju’s feelings at least a little.
Beating last month’s monthly sales was only natural.
But turning even Cha Ji-hoon and Shin Yong-geom into better performers than last month was a completely different story.
It was hard, and doing it would mean stealing Han Ki-ju’s money.
That very difficulty gave Kim Namhu pleasure.
When his reaction didn’t satisfy them, Cha Ji-hoon and Shin Yong-geom started whispering to each other.
‘Among the seniors, there are a lot of people who just slack off for a month as long as they don’t get scolded by Manager Sang-soo.’
‘Yeah, me too. Sigh. I should just pretend I showed up this month.’
Listening to their conversation made Kim Namhu laugh out loud.
‘Ji-hoon-hyung. Yong-geom-hyung.’
‘What?’
‘Huh?’
Both of them turned to stare at Kim Namhu at the same time.
Kim Namhu found the way the two of them looked like dogs that had fallen into water rather pathetic.
Kim Namhu himself had always thought the only thing that mattered was doing well on his own.
But he was basically someone who put in real effort.
He had no desire to force other people to work hard, but he couldn’t stand people who chose laziness.
‘Among the seniors there are people who work hard. What, do you want to learn by giving up and watching others?’
Kim Namhu spoke to the two of them seriously.
‘There’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while. You two… aren’t cut out to be hosts, are you?’
‘What?!’
Cha Ji-hoon and Shin Yong-geom were shocked.
But they couldn’t lash out.
They already knew they couldn’t stand a chance against Kim Namhu as hosts.
They had been losing to him in sales long before he even took first place.
Cha Ji-hoon barely managed to say it while holding back his anger.
‘Hey. You think being ahead of us makes you the big boss now?’
Shin Yong-geom quickly tried to stop him.
It was all an act.
‘Ji-hoon, you’re a little too harsh.’
Then Shin Yong-geom turned to Kim Namhu and said, ‘Namhu, you made a mistake. I know you’re the best at sales among us, but we’re still seniors.’
It was the classic fox strategy—pretending to be nice, calming the atmosphere, then naturally pressuring the hierarchy.
‘Well, at least he reacted differently from someone older.’
Kim Namhu had no intention of letting the situation end this easily.
If that were the case, he wouldn’t have said anything at all.
‘I’m speaking from the heart. If you approach the job of a host with half-hearted feelings, the end is obvious.’
Kim Namhu loved being a host.
It suited his nature, and although he had suffered a lot in his previous life, he had finally tasted the rewards by raising his skill.
In the process he had seen too many hosts who simply grew older without improving.
To them it was tragic.
‘Should we give up now? Later, when the same thing happens again, we’ll want to give up again, won’t we? That cycle will keep going, and our age will keep increasing. What happens to a host who has no skill but just a lot of age?’
Cha Ji-hoon and Shin Yong-geom had been street kids who couldn’t study or fight, so they had become hosts.
They knew how those kinds of hosts ended up.
Kim Namhu told them the truth clearly.
‘They might end up as mobile escorts. They might go to the middle-class bars. Later they might even end up in gay bars.’
Mobile escorts waited on the street and ran anywhere their client wanted, treating them like ordinary bar hosts and earning little.
Middle-class bars took both male and female clients, and heterosexual hosts naturally avoided them.
The last place was truly a bottomless pit—only hosts with no other options would go there.
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[This chapter contains no in-universe documents or special text to frame]