First Day on the Job
I got home and immediately logged back into Alba Hell. [Novel Cafe (Recruitment Complete)] [Competition Ratio 88:1]
Just as I suspected. For a mere part-time job, the competition was absolutely insane. Even while listening to Moyong Sunae explain the cafe duties, I could tell from the flood of applicants. It wasn’t just resumes submitted through Alba Hell—plenty of people showed up in person to appeal directly, desperate to get hired. If we hadn’t hurriedly changed the listing to “Recruitment Complete,” even more would have come.
Well, I guess that makes sense.
Novel Cafe was a great place to work. First, the owner, Moyong Sunae, was incredibly kind and beautiful. Beautiful enough that any guy would happily pay to work there. Second, the pay was excellent. In this era where labor costs had skyrocketed and so-called “split shifts” had become the norm, the cafe offered fair working hours and wages that even included weekly holiday pay. And third, despite all those advantages, the workload wasn’t particularly heavy. That was because I wouldn’t be working alone. There were others who would be working alongside me.
And on top of that, I even negotiated a slightly higher hourly rate as a bonus.
I had refused at first, but Moyong Sunae turned out to be surprisingly stubborn. Scarily so.
She said it was repayment for saving her life, and that if I didn’t accept, she wouldn’t hire me at all.
The intense determination that poured out from that delicate body left me unable to utter a single word of protest. In the end, I accepted. Thanks to that, I ended up receiving a salary comparable to a proper full-time job, even though I hadn’t intended to.
[It's all thanks to me!]
She wasn’t wrong. Without the ring’s help, I never would have been hired at such an amazing workplace.
Anyway, I was starting tomorrow. I was nervous.
Right on cue, a text message arrived on my phone.
"Thank you so much for today. I'll be counting on you starting tomorrow."
“……”
Now I was even more nervous.
That night, I couldn’t fall asleep easily. The softness I had felt when I held Moyong Sunae in my arms, that warm scent—it still lingered at the tip of my nose. I even started wondering if I was going to end up dating her.
That’s when it happened.
Only after hearing the ring’s voice dripping with contempt could I finally fall asleep.
“This is Ji-eun. She’ll be teaching you the ropes for a while as your senior, Hyun-woo.”
“Hiya~! I’m Hwangbo Ji-eun~.”
“H-hi, I’m Kim Hyun-woo.”
The next day, when I showed up for my first shift at Novel Cafe, I couldn’t hide my shock after Moyong Sunae introduced me to Hwangbo Ji-eun.
Do they hire based on looks here?
The thought crossed my mind so strongly it felt genuine. Following Moyong Sunae, Hwangbo Ji-eun was also ridiculously beautiful. At the same time…
“Oppa, I heard! You saved the boss, right? A truck was barreling straight at her and you swooped in like a prince—bam!”
She was insanely young. Insanely positive. And insanely good at getting along with people—an E-rank personality at 98%. She wore a sexy choker around her neck, and multiple piercings in her ears…
A delinquent…?
That was the first thought that popped into my head the moment I saw her. Like, wow, this girl must have partied hard during her school days.
But.
“Oppa, have you ever worked at a cafe before? Or anywhere else?”
“No…”
“Ughhh, total parachute hire! But if you saved the boss’s life, I guess that’s fair! Just learn well from me from now on! It’s not that hard anyway.”
She didn’t seem like the type who would bully anyone. Her innocent eye-smile and bright laughter made that clear. Still…
“Oppa, are you a virgin?”
“Cough—!”
“That reaction says it all! You totally are! Amazing!”
She was definitely a strange woman. After all…
“Then how about an offer you can’t refuse! Two thousand won for ten minutes of freely touching my breasts? I’ll even let you twist my nipples!”
No normal woman would ever make an offer like that.
> Considering you're not even dating, that's actually a pretty reasonable price.
> I'd say it's on the cheap side.
Are you kidding me…
While the coffee machine whirred loudly, my eyes unconsciously drifted toward Hwangbo Ji-eun’s chest. Damn it, this was beyond my control.
“Hmm, looks like you’re interested?”
Our eyes met. More accurately, she had shoved her face right into my line of sight while I was staring holes through her breasts. At the same time, the corner of her mouth twisted into a seductive smirk.
“If you pay right now, I can give you a virgin special discount—fifteen thousand won. How about it? Hehe. By the way, staring at my chest like that is a bit much, so that’s a no-go. But looking a normal amount is fine. They won’t wear out just from looking, and if you keep staring you’ll get horny again, right? Then you might open your wallet.”
“……”
“Pay now and you can even confirm the real thing in the bathroom—the breasts you were just ogling over my clothes! Only fifteen thousand won!”
Should I pay…?
I swallowed hard, seriously considering it for a moment.
“What are you two talking about so happily?”
“Huk!”
“Ah, I was just saying Oppa seems really cute!”
Moyong Sunae suddenly jumped into the conversation, which finally let me suppress that dangerous urge.
Ugh, this is bad for my heart.
Unlike Hwangbo Ji-eun, who responded so casually, my heart was pounding like crazy. It felt like I’d been caught doing something bad.
What the hell was this on my very first day?
“Hmm, you really were just saying that, right?”
By the way, Moyong Sunae’s gaze didn’t look normal at all. I thought she would let it slide, but the atmosphere suggested she was about to interrogate us.
—Delivery from the Imperial Clan, order up!
If a delivery order hadn’t come in at just the right moment… Whew.
“Hey, Ji-eun.”
“Yessir! My name is Hwang Bo Ji Eun!”
Her energy was off the charts, seriously.
“……Do you make offers like that to other people too?”
I asked just in case.
“Well, sometimes?”
Hwangbo Ji-eun answered without the slightest hesitation or shame.
“You’ve gotta enjoy yourself while you’re young. Saving it up doesn’t make it evolve later—it just atrophies and turns into crap. Especially for you, Oppa.”
“…Huh?”
“You’re already twenty-seven, right? At that age and still a virgin—are you trying to become some grand archmage or something?”
I clutched my chest. Hwangbo Ji-eun continued without a trace of laughter in her voice.
“No, for real. I’m not joking—this is serious. Women get hornier as they get older. Even if their stamina drops a bit, they can just rely on a man. But men are different.”
“……”
“They say once men pass thirty, their vigorous sex drive dies, their stamina dies, their energy dies. So when exactly were you planning to do it, Oppa? Are you just going to spend your whole life jerking off?”
What the hell… I seriously felt like I was about to cry. At the same time, I was completely bewildered. Why did I have to hear this kind of talk on my very first day of a part-time job?
“People who think ‘I’ll meet a nice girl someday, my chance will come’ end up dying without ever having sex even once. Do you think women just fall from the sky?”
“……”
“That’s why I personally recommend at least graduating through the entertainment industry. Better to have done it than not, right?”
As she spoke, Hwangbo Ji-eun subtly showed me her cleavage.
“Is it because of this mindset? When I see someone like you—a total virgin—I end up making offers like the one I just did.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
At my question, Hwangbo Ji-eun burst into her signature bright laugh.
“Puhaha, of course!”
Of course?
“No, I think you’re misunderstanding something. I’m actually an extremely selfish person.”
She didn’t look like it at all.
“If I don’t like something, I won’t do it even if you put a knife to my throat. In that sense, I actually quite enjoy it. Helping virgins graduate.”
Hwangbo Ji-eun licked her lips seductively and grinned.
“It makes me feel like I’m a special woman, you know? Like I get a sense of superiority or satisfaction?”
Then she made another offer.
“Or do you prefer ass over breasts?”
Should I really pay? I was seriously contemplating it when—
Do not give in to Hwangbo Ji-eun's temptation.
Reward: 50,000 won
“No, I’m good.”
The moment I saw the system message floating before my eyes, I was able to shake off the temptation without hesitation. No matter how backed-up my desires were from being a virgin, money in front of me was still more important.
“Whoa, legend… You actually turned that down.”
Hwangbo Ji-eun looked genuinely surprised. Then she glanced over at Moyong Sunae, who was touching the POS machine, and suddenly flashed a meaningful smile.
“Ah, so that’s how it is.”
What’s how it is?
“Okay, okay. If that’s the case… I can understand.”
Hwangbo Ji-eun gave me a thumbs-up and patted my shoulder.
“Do your best, Oppa! I’m rooting for you!”
“……”
She seemed to be under a serious misunderstanding… Hmm.
It’s annoying, so I’ll just leave it.
Besides, it wasn’t a completely wrong assumption. It wasn’t like I had zero interest.
Drinking the kimchi soup first is ridiculous, but if I were to date someone… it would definitely be Sunae rather than Ji-eun.
Hwangbo Ji-eun had a rather unique personality and definitely looked like the type who partied hard, but after talking with her for a bit, I could tell what a good person she was. Still, maybe because I was already twenty-seven, the now twenty-one-year-old Hwangbo Ji-eun felt too young for me. Above all, I wasn’t confident I could keep up with that energy of hers.
“Oppa, do you have a favorite porn actress?”
“……”
Even now, my energy was being sucked away in real time. It would be nice if a quest related to Moyong Sunae popped up at a time like this.
…The moment I thought that.
Ding.
No way?!
Full of expectation, I checked the quest and could only let out a hollow laugh.
For the next week, escort Hwangbo Ji-eun home after every shift.
Reward: 1,000,000 won
What the hell is this…
Ring, is this for real?
> Correct!
If it said it was correct, what could I do? Besides, the reward was too big to ignore or refuse. One million won?
“Ah, that’s right~ Come to think of it, the streets at night have been so~ dangerous lately. Sunae unnie, aren’t you scared walking home alone?”
“Huh? I’m not really…”
“No, no! This is exactly when we should take advantage of having hired a male employee! Especially since you’re even paying him extra per hour! Sunae unnie’s house isn’t that far from here either~ So in that sense, I think it’d be great if Hyun-woo Oppa walked our delicate boss home. What do you think?”
While I was briefly thinking it over, I saw what Hwangbo Ji-eun was saying to Moyong Sunae and could only scream internally.
You crazy bitch, what the hell are you saying…!!
And what’s more—
“B-but that would be too much trouble for Hyun-woo. Unless we pay him extra for the effort… And more importantly, I think Hyun-woo’s opinion matters most here…”
Moyong Sunae was actually taking it rather positively. Seeing that, Hwangbo Ji-eun wiggled her eyebrows mischievously and flashed a sly smile.
“Ah, then we should just ask Hyun-woo Oppa~”
She turned to me.
“Hyun-woo Oppa, what do you want to do?”
As if the answer had already been decided.