The Only Solution is Realm Ascension

Lee Ah-rang sat on the sofa, tapping away at her phone. Of course, she wasn't sending the messages as they were. Ten maids stood around her, reviewing every word.

Han Do-yeon sighed. "Miss, this won't do."

"Huh?! Why not? Lovers talk like this all the time."

Han Do-yeon pointed at the screen with her finger.

All the maids shook their heads in unison. Han Do-yeon spoke on their behalf.

"Miss, do you truly believe this is how normal modern humans converse?"

"Uh... is it not?"

"Still, it's fine. Because I am here. This level is appropriate for the beginning."

Tap tap tap.

Lee Ah-rang shrieked as if she'd seen something disgusting.

"Ehh?! With a message like this, I can't express my feelings at all!"

"Miss, your feelings are irrelevant. Have you not witnessed firsthand what became of former CEO Lee Ji-eun, who tried to force her own desires onto others?"

"Urk!"

At the mention of Lee Ji-eun, Lee Ah-rang lowered her head in resignation. With a reluctant expression, she sent the message.

"If I send such a curt message, he'll obviously ignore it. If something goes wrong, you're taking responsibility, got it?"

That irritation quickly turned to shock.

Lee Ah-rang trembled all over, overcome with emotion.

"Huh?"

"My words were correct, were they not?"

"No way. Are you a genius?"

For Lee Ah-rang, who had expected a reply after at least several hours, this was an enormous achievement. Han Do-yeon began explaining slowly, as if teaching a child.

"Do you understand now? If you come on too strong from the start, you'll only make him feel burdened. This is basic male psychology, taught at the Virtuous Wife High School."

"I-I see! I didn't know because I only graduated middle school."

Lee Ah-rang, impressed, continued sending messages under Han Do-yeon's coaching until the conversation ended. And finally—

She had even learned Yoo Ji-tae's home address.

"I did it..."

Unable to contain her joy, Lee Ah-rang lay on the sofa and fanned her flushed cheeks with her hands.

"Miss? The real challenge begins now."

"Yeah."

Han Do-yeon showed her a certain photo on the desktop.

"Men like things like this."

"!"

Staring at the monitor, Lee Ah-rang let out several gasps of admiration before turning to Han Do-yeon.

"Wow. If you're this good at understanding men, why haven't you gotten married yet?"

Han Do-yeon spoke with a straight face.

"Please don't poke at old wounds, Miss."

Five black sedans gathered in front of the house, and Yoo Ji-tae's heart began to pound. The delusion that he might be getting kidnapped surged up, and his hands trembled.

That couldn't be it. Lee Ah-rang had saved him, and the maids had helped him escape. It was all paranoia.

"Um. I'm here."

A voice came from outside the door. Taking a deep breath, he opened it to find Lee Ah-rang standing there in a white dress. Behind her stood about twenty maids in formation. Lee Ah-rang spread her hands and smiled brightly.

"I'm here!"

In the video, her proportions had made her look tall, but in person she was small. Probably around 150 centimeters. Her petite frame, with the top of her head reaching just below his chin, surprised him.

"...Yes. Please come in."

"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"

Grinning, Lee Ah-rang stepped into the entrance, and the maids began to follow her in large strides.

"Ah. Maids, please stay there. After all, you'll only be receiving your pay and that's it."

The maids stopped and immediately looked at Lee Ah-rang. Lee Ah-rang met their gazes as if something was wrong, then nodded.

"Well. I'll figure something out."

"...Pardon?"

"Ah. Just talking to myself."

Lee Ah-rang sat across from him at the low dining table.

"But is this really a house?"

"Yes, it is. Why?"

"......Ah. Sorry. It's not like I'm saying anything about it, it's just that I've never seen a house like this before, so it looks like a dollhouse and I thought it was really cute. If what I said was rude—"

"No. I don't mind at all."

At those words, Lee Ah-rang lowered her head deeply and said, "Yeah. I see." The tension in her body might have made her tone unintentionally sharp. Lee Ah-rang had come with good intentions. He shouldn't treat her coldly.

He took a deep breath and steadied himself.

"Um. Ji-tae-ya. You don't speak casually to me? I speak casually to you."

"Yes. I just feel like our statuses are different."

"What status.... Can't you just call me Ah-rang comfortably?"

A cold shiver ran down the back of his neck. It reminded him of the harassment he'd suffered from his older sister as a child.

—"Little brother. Wanna try speaking casually to your big sister? Hey, hey. I just want to hear it."

She'd said that in the morning, then—

—"You're spitting out casual speech so casually? Is your big sister your friend? Do you want to die?"

—and hit him in the evening.

"Hmm."

He crossed his arms and thought. Lee Ah-rang was different from his sister. She probably wouldn't do something like that, but he couldn't say he knew her well enough to be sure.

Lee Ah-rang fidgeted with her fingers, watching his expression. She looked as cautious as a child gauging a parent's mood.

"...You don't like it?"

...Well, let's trust her. She came all the way here.

"Okay. Ah-rang-ah."

It felt like his insides were twisting. Lee Ah-rang's eyes sparkled, and the corners of her mouth stretched to her ears. Letting out a strange laugh, she pulled a document envelope from her bag and handed it to him.

"Here. Take it."

When he took it and felt it, it seemed to contain simple documents. He pressed the edges firmly, confirming there were no explosive devices or poison gas traps inside.

"It's compensation for what you went through this time. And if you need anything in the future, contact me. Alchemists need materials to survive, right? I'll get everything for you."

It was a welcome offer. If Samjin stood behind him while Llywelyn was chasing him, he could truly feel at ease.

'...Of course, she might demand even more in return.'

"Yeah. I'll be going now."

"Take care. Ah-rang-ah."

"Yeah!!!"

With bouncy steps, Lee Ah-rang opened the door and left. The tension that had filled his body naturally drained away, and fatigue washed over him.

"I'm tired."

Receiving compensation was nice, but every time he did, his body tensed up.

"Still, it's a bit better than before."

Some women didn't harbor ill will toward him. With that premise, he no longer trembled just from meeting them. If they grew closer, maybe this fear would completely disappear someday.

Of course, it would take quite a long time until then.

"That aside, what is the compensation?"

With hopeful anticipation, he shook the envelope. It felt like there was paper inside. A check? A magic tome?

"...I don't know."

When he opened the envelope, there was something that looked like a photo inside. It was a picture of Lee Ah-rang wearing only underwear, cosplaying with cat ears and a tail, mimicking a cat. Lee Ah-rang was a slender beauty. Her skin was fair, her limbs long like a model's, and the high level of exposure made it provocative.

He threw the photo into the trash can.

"Is that all?"

Looking further inside the envelope, there was one more thing. Surely this wasn't another photo...?

"...Huh? What is this."

*****

In the back seat of the car returning home, Lee Ah-rang was going wild with excitement.

"It worked! It worked! I did it! Ji-tae called me Ah-rang! Did you hear that?"

"We can consider it almost over now. You broke through to casual speech? That's basically the same as 'Let's get married.'"

"Right?! Kyaaaa!!!"

After taking a rough breath, Lee Ah-rang pointed at Han Do-yeon in the passenger seat.

"Han Do-yeon. You were a huge help. How did you even think of that?"

Han Do-yeon crossed her arms and smiled.

"Probably, from this meeting alone, Yoo Ji-tae-nim's favorability rose to about 30, and with the gift, it's now around 70."

"But do men really like that kind of thing?"

Han Do-yeon shook her head as if it were obvious.

"There's no one in this world who dislikes buildings. Why do you think Monopoly was so popular? Buildings are a human instinctual desire."

"Really?!"

"Yes. Men... like buildings. Among them, commercial buildings—prime real estate that generates passive income—are the best. And since I slipped in Miss's photo as a bonus, Yoo Ji-tae-ssi will definitely remember you."

"Aaaah. Will it be okay? 4 billion won't be too burdensome, right?"

"It's fine. If we gradually increase it over time, he'll adapt. Miss's strength is money. We'll make up for your lacking height and chest with the power of money."

"Shut your mouth, Han Do-yeon."

"Yes, ma'am."

Feeling annoyed, Lee Ah-rang lay in the back seat and looked at her phone.

Beep.

"Hehe."

Lee Ah-rang wore a smile that looked like she was about to melt.

*****

Thank you for the gift.

"...Will this really work?"

He had received a commercial building worth a full 4 billion won. He wondered if he needed to write two hundred manuscript pages worth of thanks, and his stomach churned. It probably wasn't purely compensation.

He took the photo he'd thrown in the trash and carefully stored it in a drawer. If he later threw away the photo and only kept the building, even Lee Ah-rang would probably get angry. He couldn't imagine what an angry Lee Ah-rang might do.

People have two sides. He knew that someone who was endlessly kind to others could become a demon in an instant.

"...Let's be careful."

He searched for the building online. Looking at its location, he understood why the price was so high. It was what they called prime real estate. If you owned a building, its use was determined by various variables. Location, size, and so on—but in this case, no matter what business moved in, the minimum revenue was guaranteed. That was the level of it.

So here, it wasn't the building's location that mattered, but his own circumstances.

What am I?

What can I do?

"...An alchemy workshop."

He had felt the need for a workshop. The equipment he could make in a 6-pyeong dormitory was only mediocre. This time's crafting had also used the workshop provided by Samjin. He needed a proper facility.

An alchemist's workshop fundamentally included various defensive measures to hide the researcher's secrets. He'd heard that Japan's Murakami openly used high-ranking hunters as bodyguards. There were also rumors that Llywelyn killed intruders indiscriminately and was always short on money because of the fines.

Think about the enemy. What he had to deal with now was Professor Llywelyn. The world's strongest alchemist. If he fought her head-on, he'd lose.

The workshop's theme should be concealment rather than defense.

"Let's open a front company."

Front companies were strongly associated with criminals laundering money, but in the distant past, they had also been the exclusive domain of alchemists. To hide their secrets, they disguised their workshops as shops or restaurants, secretly pursuing truth at night. The story of a king arresting cultists, and an alchemist at the time hiding his comrades in an underground workshop beneath a restaurant, was famous.

The first thing that came to mind was, of course, a restaurant. Cooking utensils and elixir refinement tools had similarities. Heaters used ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for medicine could boil and bake ingredients, and drainage systems could flush away waste from alchemy. Of course, for handling hazardous materials, a large laundry factory using toxic chemicals would be more appropriate. But he couldn't build a factory in a commercial building. It would stand out too much.

From now on, his decisions would center not on the difficulty of acquiring materials or crafting, but on how easy it was to handle the waste after crafting.

If he opened a restaurant, his role would be the chef. He'd spend all day in the kitchen churning out food according to orders, while someone else handled serving and managing the counter.

Someone else, huh.

"...Huh. Would that work?"

He absolutely couldn't do it alone. He thought about the moment he'd have to face women.

A stranger woman appearing in front of him for an interview. Taking orders from a stranger woman. Helping a stranger woman with payment.

His stomach churned.

Suddenly, Han Do-yeon and Han Ye-jin came to mind. He felt a little more at ease.

Han Do-yeon would probably do well if he left it to her. She was tall and worked efficiently.

Should he ask Han Ye-jin too? He was confident he could pay her more than her current delivery job.

While thinking that, he felt a sense of incongruity.

"......?"

Why were those two okay?

Even he found it questionable.

"Well. Let's just go with that for now."

He looked up the qualifications needed to open a restaurant. Things like health certificates and business registration could probably be handled through Secretary Yoo Hyun-ah. But he'd heard that the last one, the Magic Cooking License, required taking the exam in person.

The exam was held once every two months, and applications were accepted until the morning of the test day. Checking the date, it was tomorrow.

He accessed the site and submitted his application. Fortunately, there was no gender field. There was an education field, though.

What surprised him was the application fee.

Application Fee: 4,900,000

"What kind of application fee is almost 5 million won?"

He'd somewhat expected it. Magic-related products required money from the application stage through education and training. It was because a mage's income level was on a completely different dimension from ordinary people.

Now, the money left in his balance was only about 5 million won. If living expenses ran short, he'd have no choice but to sell the commercial building. He wasn't particularly worried about failing the exam, so it was probably an unnecessary concern.

Because he had this.

"...There ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠are more conditions than I expected."

Moreover, the rank was strange. Tigrus Spirit Studies had been C-rank, yet a mere cooking-related skill was B-rank. Did that mean it was that difficult?

It also required 20 points.

"...No choice, then."

After purchasing all of them as e-books, he soon realized something was wrong.

Magic-related books were all expensive. He'd known that much.

But what surprised him wasn't that.

The Cooking King's Diary was a rare artifact with only one copy in the world. When he checked the auction site, it was absurd.

Moreover, 1 billion? What kind of book costs 1 billion won? And there were no listings.

"The Book of Manhan Jeonseok only has 300 copies in existence too. Likewise, no listings."

As a result, even after spending a total of 4 million won on textbooks, this was the outcome.

But what couldn't be helped, couldn't be helped. Still, knowledge about The Book of Magic Cooking and Fundamentals of a Mage had been absorbed into his mind. Even if he didn't actually possess those skills, he should have enough knowledge to pass the exam.

He wasn't aiming for a perfect score. He just needed to pass the exam and get the license.

Next was identity disguise. If a man ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠suddenly showed up to take an exam where women were testing, there would be a commotion like last time. He was almost completely ignorant about disguises and didn't possess the cunning to deceive people.

But that didn't matter.

Because he had Hephaestus (SS).

Even if he didn't have that power, making equipment with such functions would solve the problem.

His outfit could just be a tracksuit, hat, and sneakers.

*****

And then he realized.

"What is this? An outfit with not even a speck of femininity—do you think you can cook, one of the four arts of a virtuous wife, with that kind of mentality? How utterly repulsive."

"Do you think you can support a man with that kind of mentality? Don't make me laugh. Your very existence is an insult to us."

"Your outfit lacks the respect and courtesy due to a gentleman. Do you walk around dressed like that without any shame?"

The cruelty of this world.