Rookie Manager (2)
"Haa..."
I let out a heavy breath. The rasp of air scraping past my lips sounded rough and dry. I curled my fingers, then straightened them again, and closed my eyes.
"My cigarettes..."
I thought it was déjà vu. He was way too serious about those smokes.
Han Ahyoung cocked her head to one side and patted Chun Yeonho on the back.
"Just hold on a little longer. I already told him, so he'll bring them soon."
Ahyoung turned her head toward me.
"He'll bring them soon."
I flinched. ♥
I couldn't see her eyes behind the sunglasses, but I instinctively looked away. I snuck a glance at the two of them and asked,
"Ahyoung... noona and hyung. What exactly are you two to each other?"
Chun Yeonho's eyes went round at my question.
"Master and dog. What else is there?"
Of course—master and dog. Master and slave, more like. But somehow the two of them felt like a little more than that.
"We're engaged. We'll be married soon."
The answer came from Han Ahyoung.
"Even the CEO doesn't know. I'm only telling Jiwoo."
"If you tell him that..."
"Why, you think Jiwoo's going to go around talking about it?"
Chun Yeonho stared straight at me.
"Yeah."
Guess my face didn't inspire much confidence. Regardless of how I looked, I wasn't the type to go blabbing secrets. I'd never really thought about whether my mouth was loose or tight, but it didn't exactly fly around either.
Chun Yeonho narrowed his eyes.
"Well, Seoh-ah and Chaeeun already know, so it doesn't really matter."
"..."
"Still, be careful. Managers end up drinking a lot—don't go blurting it out without thinking."
He glared at me like he didn't trust me one bit. This guy... didn't seem all that eager to get those cigarettes anymore. Where had the desperate man from earlier gone? Once he had Ahyoung at his back, he was suddenly full of himself. Or wait—had he been glaring ever since Ahyoung touched mine? If they were engaged, I supposed he had every reason to.
By the way... were the others all in that kind of relationship too? So even as master and slave, that was possible. For some reason, my heart started pounding.
"Is Seoh-ah still asleep?"
Ahyoung asked.
"Yes... she must be really tired."
"She sleeps so well in the car. Maybe she's just that dull. Looks like she'd be good at sleeping rough, too."
"..."
"Someone delicate like me can't rest if the location changes even a little."
It grated on me somehow. But it wasn't like she was singling Seoh-ah out for extra contempt. That was just how Han Ahyoung was. She casually put me down too, and Chun Yeonho as well. It was as if she saw every existence other than her own as inferior.
As we kept talking, the conversation circled back around.
"Someone like me—once I've used something good, I can't go back to the cheap stuff."
"..."
"That's why I can't smoke any other cigarettes now."
She was more put-together than Chun Yeonho, but Ahyoung seemed to be going through withdrawal too. Mid-conversation her fingers would twitch like they were pinching a cigarette. And when someone walked past after smoking in the designated area, she showed a clear aversion. She must have been a regular smoker before.
I said I needed the bathroom and slipped away alone. It wasn't just an excuse. Once I actually stepped into a stall—
First things first, I needed to pull out some 27th-century tobacco. Usually the Pocket tended to produce whatever you wanted, so if I pulled something out now, the odds were decent. Of course, even if it came out, I couldn't hand it over right away. I needed an alibi—something about getting it from an acquaintance. If I just gave it to them on the spot, I'd only get accused of having had it all along and holding out.
I slowly reached into the Pocket. My fingertips entered a vast space, and in an instant something settled into my grip.
Suddenly it struck me—there seemed to be different kinds of Pockets. One that stored items, and another that produced all sorts of mysterious objects. The sensation of groping around felt subtly alien and distinct. Maybe they were separate, individual spaces.
Anyway, just from the shape of what came out, I could tell it wasn't 27th-century tobacco. Nothing again today. A little inconvenient. What if it just kept not coming out? Best case, Chun Yeonho and Ahyoung would slowly forget and the addiction would fade—but looking at them now, that seemed less likely.
I examined the item that had come out instead of cigarettes. The appearance was familiar.
...A condom?
I unfolded the instruction sheet.
It's a truly beautiful day. The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming. On a day like this, a cock ought to sparkle too, right?
Why didn't the manual actually explain anything? That was the entire text. To be fair, a lot of the items from the Pocket were unhelpful like that. Most of the time you had to use them yourself to learn the concrete effects, performance, applications, and methods.
At least this one seemed like it activated when you put the condom on a dick. The problem was I had no idea what the effect was. Did putting on the condom make your dick sparkle and shine? The manual content was so opaque I couldn't even guess. Maybe sparkling was literally all it did. I wasn't about to use it right now, so I put it back in the Pocket.
My phone buzzed—a text from my little sister. Originally she'd planned to come up to Busan with us. But after exchanging a few words with Park Seoh-ah, she'd decided to stay home. Instead, she'd come up to Seoul whenever she had free time. Well, I liked my little sister, after all. Going to see her when I had time was only natural.
I sent her a thoroughly sincere reply, then left the bathroom.
Chun Yeonho and Han Ahyoung were each eating so-tteok-so-tteok. Watching them eat naturally made me think of Park Seoh-ah. She'd love this kind of thing. Maybe I should buy a few and take them to the car.
Chun Yeonho misread my gaze and said,
"Ahyoung manages herself so well she can eat a little."
"Ah, yeah. Her figure's incredible."
"How would you know whether her figure's good."
"No, just. You can tell just by looking."
"Just by looking at what. You've been sneaking peeks and fantasizing, haven't you. About our precious Ahyoung."
"...No, I haven't looked. So actually I don't know if her figure's good."
"What, you haven't looked? How do you not look at our Ahyoung? If you don't know whether her figure's good, try touching her."
Touch what. I had no idea what beat I was supposed to play along with. I hid the little flutter in my chest and glanced at Ahyoung, but with the sunglasses on I couldn't read her expression.
I said I was getting food for Seoh-ah and left.
I didn't know what Seoh-ah would like, so I ordered a little of everything. Fish cakes, hot dogs, baby potatoes, chicken skewers, sweet fried chicken, so-tteok-so-tteok, and so on. Seoh-ah had said she couldn't eat anything that wasn't my cooking, but that didn't matter. There was something that fit perfectly—from the Chef's Warehouse.
Red Salt.
It was literally red-colored salt, but I didn't know what effects it had. What I did know was that it had zero saltiness, so you couldn't use it for seasoning. From here on, I'd have to check for additional properties. You might wonder why I said it fit perfectly when I didn't even know the real effects. Everything from the Chef's Warehouse shared one common trait that needed no verification.
It was ridiculously delicious.
If I sprinkled Red Salt on it, there was no way Seoh-ah would call it bad. No extra taste changes—salty, sweet, sour, nothing—so you could sprinkle it on anything. It wouldn't be as good as dishes made with the Chef's ingredients, but she'd be able to eat it happily. Going forward, I could go to any random restaurant and still eat well.
I sprinkled Red Salt on the rest-stop food, arranged it on a big tray, and carried it over. I carefully woke Park Seoh-ah. Then I put a hot baby potato in her mouth first. Life gradually returned to Seoh-ah's half-asleep eyes.
"Hoha. Hot. Delishuss. Haa."
Blowing steam from her mouth, Seoh-ah polished it off in an instant.
"Haa. Is it because Cookie fed me? It's so good. Master, feed me more. Hmm?"
This time I gave her a piece of sweet fried chicken. Seoh-ah's eyes went round again. With an appetite that made your mouth water just watching, she demolished it and said,
"Why is this so good? Was I just really hungry? Hehe."
Seoh-ah made crunching sounds like she had a mic in her mouth as she annihilated the food. Maybe I'd been staring too hard, because Seoh-ah fed me some in return. With the Red Salt sprinkled on, it was definitely delicious. Of course, I wasn't sure if it was as delicious as when Seoh-ah ate it. In a way, she might have been more impressive than the Chef King himself.
Seoh-ah ate everything with such wholesome gusto. Every single bite looked as delectable as if it were the first. Every time she ate this deliciously, Baek Yujun's nagging came to mind. Baek Yujun. Big-dick Badugi. Yu Suah's puppy. In the group chat, every chance he got, he asked when I was starting a YouTube channel.
Honestly, not just Seoh-ah—Ahyoung too—none of them had personal channels. I didn't know why he only gave me a hard time about it. Was it because none of the others would do it either, so he was dumping it on me? Of course, if I didn't feel like it, I could just make up some excuse and brush it off. But Seoh-ah ate so adorably I did kind of want to film it.
The problem was there was something a little in the way. I hadn't even shot my first project yet. Chun Yeonho had actually told me to put it off. If I started YouTube before I'd even filmed any work, people would look at me funny. Especially on the broadcasting station side. In the worst case, I might not even get treated as an actor and get shut out entirely.
The hostility toward YouTube was understandable without explanation. I'd easily noticed that terrestrial TV ratings had been in freefall for a while. These days they supposedly counted viewership rates down to three decimal places. They already hated it—if I was shooting YouTube on top of that, I'd catch dirty looks. Even if what I was filming was a mukbang, same difference.
So it'd be better to shoot a few drama or film projects first, then start. There was absolutely no rush. I could do it after getting used to the manager work, no problem. Obviously it'd be better in every way to do it once I had solid name recognition...
"Haa. So good. Ah... I really need to start eating in moderation now."
Ketchup was smeared on her lips. She licked the ketchup off with her tongue, coating her lips in a moist sheen. Just from the lower half of her face, you could imagine that beautiful appearance. The slender jawline and those moist lips that bewitched the opposite sex. Charm dripped off her that would make anyone stare as if entranced.
Suddenly, an idea popped into my head.
Starting today... it might be fine to start filming. I could legally experiment with the Chef's secret techniques, too. If it went well, Seoh-ah might even maintain her figure without diet management.
I'd thought of a good method.