Bait: Shin Mi-yun (2)
I returned to Neulsoop once more.
I had only visited once, yet plenty of the staff remembered me. They all recognized me on sight and greeted me with bright, welcoming smiles.
"Welcome!"
"Please come in!"
"Mr. Jeong Haun?"
The same staff member who had assisted me last time stepped forward first, calling my name as she approached.
"Yes, hello."
"Hello. Are you looking for Deputy Representative Shin Mi-yun again today?"
"Yes. I didn't make a reservation—is that all right?"
"You'll need to wait about thirty minutes. Is that okay?"
"Yes. I'll wait."
"Thank you! Shall I prepare an iced americano for you?"
"Yes, thank you."
"I'll bring it right out!"
Just talking face-to-face with me was enough to make her beam with pure delight.
As expected, being handsome really was the ultimate cheat code.
I hadn't used a single technique of the Lust Arts, yet the mere presence of the fully remade Lust Demon God was enough to captivate hearts. They were probably being influenced, whether they realized it or not, by the subtle fragrance my body gave off and the deep, resonant tone of my voice.
Life on easy mode, huh.
But I couldn't be satisfied with this alone.
My targets were S-rank beauties and above.
The influence of pure presence alone diminished the higher the other party's looks ranked. Their pride would be that much higher, after all. An idol-level woman wouldn't fall this easily.
Which means I need to build my internal energy that much higher.
The greater my internal energy, the more completely I could bind someone to me.
The problem was that this world had no female masters whose internal energy I could absorb through Chaeum Boyang. In the end, I would have to carefully convert the energy of the pleasure they felt into my own internal power, little by little.
Take it slow. No need to rush.
I sipped the coffee the staff member had brought and calmly observed the interior of Neulsoop.
The waiting area was empty.
Last time there had been idol trainees and an actress waiting, but not today, apparently.
A shame. I had wanted to scout a few more prospects.
It wasn't long before my turn came around.
"Mr. Jeong Haun. Please follow me this way."
Guided by the staff member, I entered Deputy Representative Shin Mi-yun's private room.
Because Neulsoop was a VIP hair salon, each designer had their own designated booth. Among them, those of deputy-representative rank were given private rooms with actual doors—and Shin Mi-yun was one of them.
She hurriedly handed off the client she had been working on to an assistant designer and sat me down in front of her.
"Hello."
"Yes, hello."
But as she switched places with me, the face of the person being led over to the assistant designer's booth looked familiar.
That girl from last time…
It was the one who had stood out among the idol trainees when I first came. As expected of an idol trainee, her lines were more slender and her limbs longer than A-jeong, the rookie actress. That was how dance lines looked beautiful, after all.
So she was one of Shin Mi-yun's clients as well?
"Shall I style it the same as last time?"
"Yes. Just a clean, simple tidy-up, please."
"Understood."
Spending two hundred thousand won just to have my hair shaped with no real reason. But it wasn't a waste.
This was all an investment.
Over the whirring of the dryer, Shin Mi-yun's voice reached me.
"So, do you have something going on again today?"
"Yes. I have a meeting related to an investment."
"Ah, I see. Must be a pretty important meeting. You seem to be putting a lot of care into it."
"It's more that my work involves things like body correction and skin care—beauty-related services—so looking polished is important. My appearance has to be put-together if I'm going to inspire trust in the other party."
"Ah, that makes sense. I understand completely."
"As expected. You're quick on the uptake, Deputy Representative. You put a lot of effort into your own hair care as well, after all."
"Yes! Exactly. We have to look beautiful when we come in, or clients won't keep coming back. Wow. Now that you mention it, we're in pretty similar lines of work."
The bit about an important meeting was pure nonsense. I had just made it up so I would sound impressive.
The real point was building rapport by establishing that we worked in the same industry. That way I could pull her clients over to become mine.
I deliberately brought up the idol trainee who had just left.
"By the way, didn't that client who just left still have more of her treatment left? I feel bad—I didn't even have a reservation…"
"Oh, no, not at all. We always leave a little buffer in the schedule, so there's some free time."
"Still, if I caused you not to finish her yourself, I feel a little guilty. Isn't she a regular?"
"She's not."
She waved a hand as she explained.
"That girl is part of the new girl-group debut lineup Cream Entertainment is putting together. Han Se-ah—whether that's her real name or a stage name, I'm not sure."
"Ah. So she was in the idol debut team."
"She's pretty, right? Se-ah is appearing in a senior group's music video, so I looked after her specially today. Normally the manager-level stylists handle the debut-team kids."
True enough. A deputy representative charged two hundred thousand won for a single blow-dry. Even a major agency wouldn't casually spend that kind of money on a trainee who hadn't even debuted yet.
So she had only received special treatment from Deputy Representative Shin Mi-yun today because of the important music-video shoot ahead.
They're pushing her because her looks deliver.
She had stood out among the other trainees for her appearance, so it made sense that she alone was being cast in a music video while still a trainee.
"So she's a sort of new client?"
"I just looked after her specially for today."
"Once she debuts and gets famous, she could become one of your regulars."
"Ah, right."
She nodded and lowered her voice, whispering close to my ear.
"Even from my perspective, Se-ah really stands out. They haven't finalized how many will be in the debut lineup yet, but she's a guaranteed lock."
"If you end up taking her on full-time later, please introduce her to my clinic as well."
"Your clinic, sir?"
That's right.
What I wanted to gain through you was your VIP clients.
"The reason I've been so busy lately is business expansion. I'm in a position where I need to secure more clients myself."
"Ah, the beauty clinic. Right—your scalp massage last time was seriously incredible. Look at this. I didn't even apply any essence today, but the ends of my hair…!"
Shin Mi-yun gathered a lock of her own hair and held it up to the mirror.
"Haha. That was just a taste. When you receive the real thing, the effects are completely different."
"Really?"
"Hmm… Looking at you, your trapezius muscles are quite knotted."
I spoke as if diagnosing her, studying Shin Mi-yun.
"You also have a bit of turtle neck. It looks like an occupational hazard from standing for long hours cutting hair."
"Y-you're right."
"If you leave it like that, your back will start to curve and your posture will completely collapse. I'm finished with my hair, right?"
"H-huh? Yes…"
At some point her dryer had already stopped. There had never been much to style on my hair to begin with. She had finished long ago and simply been chatting.
I stood up from the chair as I spoke.
"Have a seat here. Today I'll take proper care of you."
"Uh… i-is that really okay?"
"Of course."
"Well then…"
Shin Mi-yun pretended to sit down reluctantly, but she couldn't hide the smile blooming at the corners of her lips.
She had been secretly looking forward to this too.
"All right. Let's begin."
I started from Shin Mi-yun's head and continued the massage from last time. But this time I expanded the range a little further—down to her shoulders.
Shin Mi-yun had come in wearing a wide-necked ribbed knit. Her upper body was on the slender side, yet her trapezius was a bit more developed than average.
I kneaded the back of her neck, her trapezius, and her shoulders, stimulating the pressure points.
"Mmmn…"
"Your shoulders are really knotted. Right here… and here."
"Nngh—uh!"
"Pretty hard, right?"
"Nngh… yes…!"
"To loosen this properly… just a moment."
I shifted the hand that had been pressing her trapezius and slipped it lightly inside her knit, adjusting the position of her bra strap outward.
"Ah—!"
Shin Mi-yun flinched in surprise.
I deliberately pressed hard on her trapezius again, reassuring her—as if this were the most natural thing in the world for a massage.
"When something is pressing on your shoulders, you unconsciously shrug them up to resist it. So for the massage, at least, we need to free them up so you can relax."
"…Yes… nngh…!"
The tension of baring the bare skin of her shoulders raised Shin Mi-yun's excitement.
I slipped my hand in a little deeper, gently caressing near her collarbone and shoulder blade.
"If we were only thinking about shoulder health, going strapless would be even better. But of course we can't exactly do that."
"R-right…"
"Your rounded shoulders are pretty severe too. Open them up. Stretch."
"Nngh…"
When I gripped her shoulder blades and pushed her shoulders open, Shin Mi-yun ended up in a posture that thrust her chest forward. Her breasts were on the modest side, so they didn't stand out much.
"This is the Tianzhu point. From here, stretch as if drawing a straight line all the way up to the crown of your head."
Echoing things I had seen somewhere, I stroked the nape of Shin Mi-yun's neck.
"Haaah…"
She let out a breathy sound as if a shiver had run through her.
Seizing that opening, I pushed my hand a little farther forward.
Below the collarbone, at the very beginning of her upper chest. A precarious position where the bra cup was just about to touch. Because it was where the soft flesh of her breasts began, the sensation under my fingers was soft and yielding.
"The lymph nodes pass through here. Helping the lymph and blood circulation in this area will also reduce the swelling in your trapezius."
"Haaah… yes…"
Speaking with such confidence left Deputy Representative Shin Mi-yun with nothing to say. The lustful energy flowing from her body only increased.
I gathered it, converted it into internal energy, and used it to reduce her trapezius.
"Hooo…"
Trying to perform a high-difficulty technique like physical remodeling with only meager internal energy was exhausting.
I need to make her feel even greater excitement soon.
The energy born from goodwill and pleasure was the source from which I built internal power, after all.
But for now, this was far enough.
I took my hands from her shoulders and spoke.
"Whew. All done. Could you try moving your shoulders a little?"
"Huh? It's over? My shoulders really… feel freer?"
Shin Mi-yun rolled her arms, checking for any remaining stiffness or knots.
"Stand in front of the mirror. Your turtle neck is gone, and your body looks different, doesn't it?"
A slight spinal correction and trapezius reduction shaped by my internal energy. Even that alone was a definite change for Shin Mi-yun.
Her previously sloping shoulder line had become perfectly symmetrical right-angled shoulders.
"W-wow…! Wow!? This is real…!"
It would feel different from her hair texture changing. If shoulder joints and muscles could be altered, that meant other areas were possible too.
I wiped the sweat from my brow as I spoke.
"If we want to consider upper-and-lower-body balance as well, we'll need to work on the spine and pelvis too. Make a separate appointment for that, and I'll take care of it then."
"Waaah… this is seriously amazing. Where is your clinic located, Mr. Haun? I'm definitely going at least once."
"Ah, right now, because of a location move, I'm providing treatments in clients' private spaces. VIP In-Home Therapy has always been my main focus anyway."
"In-Home Therapy…?"
Simply put, it was outcall massage.
In my current circumstances I couldn't open a shop somewhere, so using a location move as an excuse and going to the other party's home was my only option.
Still, calling it In-Home Therapy sounded far more sophisticated than saying "outcall massage." It reduced resistance and even made it feel like I was catering to genuine VIPs.
"Because I only deal with VIP clients, a lot of people request privacy. So I go directly to the location of their choice and perform the treatment."
"Ah… aah… I see."
"As I mentioned before, I'll give you a special rate, Deputy Representative. You still have my business card, right?"
"Yes, yes… here, in my pocket…"
Shin Mi-yun pulled out the business card I had given her from her pocket and murmured dazedly.
"Noir Clinic… In-Home Therapy……"