Hwang Jiwoo (3)
"Wow, this really is a dream city. It's fantastic······."
"How much do you think it cost to build something like this? I heard the construction took less than a year."
"Still, wouldn't it have cost at least hundreds of billions of won?"
"No way, it must've cost more than that. Even if it's on the outskirts of Hanam, if it's this big, the land price alone must've been insane."
Baek Ajin's friends ran around here and there in excitement.
A luxurious apartment.
A strangely shaped bunker.
Even a babbling stream and a garden full of artworks.
"Waaah."
It was admiration after admiration.
Click, click!
A group of young women posing in all sorts of ways and taking pictures in the garden.
And then.
'Hmm?'
There was a man watching them from afar.
It was none other than Baek Jinwoo.
'Who are they?'
He did not know all of Yoobaek's policies or schedule, but he did know that access to outsiders had been blocked.
'From the looks of it, they aren't employees either.'
If they were employees, they would not be in the garden at this hour.
Thanks to Yoo Jia's policy of hiring the fewest elites possible while giving them the best treatment, the number of staff was very small.
And since there were so few of them, they were all busy!
'Besides, there's no way employees would be dressed like that.'
— My lord, do you not feel it?
HunGyo, standing beside him, whispered.
"One of them has the Fiery Body?"
— There is a high probability. How about going over and taking a look?
"Alright."
He did not even know who they were. And it felt a little burdensome.
But with Explosive Dragon's sudden quest hanging over him, he could not just ignore it.
Baek Jinwoo walked toward the girls. Then he bowed his head slightly.
"Hello."
Freeze!
The women all stopped what they were doing and turned their gaze toward Baek Jinwoo.
Then they stiffened on the spot.
'W-what.'
'What is going on here?'
'Baek Jinwoo is right in front of me? For real?'
As if they were welcoming a living god, their bodies trembled all over.
Who was Baek Jinwoo?
Wasn't he the hero among heroes, admired by the entire nation?
Their confusion soon turned into delight.
Then joy.
"Kyaaaah!"
"Baek Jinwoo! Ajin's older brother!"
"What brings you here? Weren't you at the training grounds?"
Throwing everything aside, her friends rushed over to him, while Hwang Jiwoo stood frozen stiff, staring at Baek Jinwoo's face.
'This is insane.'
Then she cursed inwardly.
How could a person be that handsome?
Baek Jinwoo had always been handsome, but after his physical abilities had reached the extreme, he gave off an untamed, rugged charm.
Broad shoulders, a protruding chest, and abs.
Even the clothes he was wearing matched his muscles so perfectly that it seemed like light was radiating from his entire body.
'Uwaaaah.'
Hic!
Originally, she should have spoken. She should have said she was Ajin's friend.
That she wanted to become a player, and asked if he could please give her guidance just once.
Even ten minutes would be enough.
"....."
But Hwang Jiwoo could not say a single word, like a mute with honey in her mouth.
She was too embarrassed.
'Ah.'
Only now did Baek Jinwoo understand everything.
"You guys were Ajin's friends?"
"Yes!"
"Yes, oppa! C-could you give me your autograph just once?"
"I want a photo! A photo!"
Jeez.
Baek Jinwoo felt his energy draining in an instant.
"An autograph······ I've never done something like that before."
"Anything is fine!"
"M-me too!"
They were like starving hyenas.
Like girls rushing at a beloved celebrity, they swarmed toward him at once.
Baek Jinwoo calmed them down.
"Alright, alright. I'll do it all, so just follow my lead for a moment, okay? You're all too frantic right now."
And then.
Fwoosh!
He summoned Explosive Dragon beside him.
"Alright, come one at a time. I'll take your picture and give you an autograph."
In any case, he had to check whether one of them had the Fiery Body.
If they were Ajin's friends, that was even better.
'Let's approach them while pretending to take pictures and check!'
"Yes!"
"Yes, oppa!"
How could they possibly disobey his words!
Baek Ajin's friends obediently followed Baek Jinwoo's directions.
Click!
Baek Jinwoo posed for selfies and fan service with each of them one by one, while checking the corner of his vision.
[Current time elapsed - 0 days, 00:00:00]
It still was not moving.
If one of them really was the one, it should have started moving by now······. If it was not moving, then······..
'So it's not them after all?'
[Train the Explosive Dragon Sorcerer (EX-grade) beside the Fiery Body for 100 days!]
Beside.
He still did not know how physically close "beside" had to mean.
It could mean within 1 meter, or maybe it might even require physical contact.
Click, click!
He took pictures for all seven of Ajin's friends one by one and even gave them autographs.
The autographs were basically just scribbled worm-like lines.
"Ahh, I'm so happy."
"Your autograph is so cool!"
What part of it was cool?
He had done it carelessly, but seeing them so happy only made Baek Jinwoo feel sorry instead.
'I should make a proper one later······'
And then, last of all.
A girl wearing a mask stood frozen a little distance away.
"You're not taking one?"
Baek Jinwoo asked.
"Hwang Jiwoo?"
"Jiwoo, what are you doing? You should take one too."
"Is her fever acting up again?"
Her friends approached her, their voices full of concern.
Baek Jinwoo followed as well.
Honestly, if she did not want one, then that was that······.
But given Baek Jinwoo's situation, where he had to find the Fiery Body, he had no choice.
And then.
[Current time elapsed - 0 days, 00:00:01]
Click!
"...!"
Baek Jinwoo's eyes flashed.
'Found you.'
Fiery Body!
So it was you!
At last, the stopwatch that had remained still began to tick.
* * *
After sending Ajin's friends away, he headed straight to the CEO's office at headquarters.
He did not say anything special to that girl, Hwang Jiwoo.
Saying anything would have been ridiculous.
'You actually have a rare constitution called the Fiery Body. So, for my sake, you need to live together with our Explosive Dragon for 100 days.'
As if she would ever go along with that.
He would be lucky if she did not just treat him like some lunatic.
'First.'
Let's find out what kind of girl she is.
Baek Jinwoo summoned Yoo Jia and Baek Ajin to the CEO's office.
"Ajin. I met your friends this time."
"My friends? No way, them! They actually went all the way into the training grounds? I told them over and over not to go!!"
Startled, Baek Ajin grabbed her phone as if she were about to confront them.
"It wasn't like that."
He calmed her down first.
"I didn't meet them at the training grounds. I approached them when they were hanging around in the park."
"You did, oppa?"
"Yeah."
"Why would you?"
Not just Baek Ajin, but Yoo Jia also looked at him curiously.
"First, was it Hwang Jiwoo? Are you close with her by any chance?"
"Hwang Jiwoo? We're close! She was always sick, so we could never really go out anywhere, but back when we were students, we were close enough to be best friends. Why?"
Baek Ajin narrowed her eyes.
Come to think of it, all her friends were attractive, but Hwang Jiwoo's face was especially pretty.
"Don't tell me you're interested in her?"
"...?"
Yoo Jia's expression also turned strange.
"No, no. It's not like that."
Baek Jinwoo briefly explained the sudden quest.
-That in order to unlock Explosive Dragon's power, he needed Hwang Jiwoo, who possessed the Fiery Body.
-And that to do so, he had to bring her over for 100 days.
"She's your friend. Before asking what her job is, whether she'd be willing, and all that, I thought I should investigate first."
If she were some woman he did not know, he would have either asked her directly or tried to persuade her himself, but this was his younger sister's friend.
It was only right to be considerate.
Even if Hwang Jiwoo agreed, there would obviously be contracts, legal issues, and things like that for Yoo Jia to review as well.
"Ah, hmm, well. I don't know what she does now that we're adults. She was always the quiet type. Want me to ask her?"
"Yeah, please."
"Okay."
* * *
Thud!
"Haa."
After arriving home, Hwang Jiwoo took off her mask.
At the same time, an immense sense of self-loathing welled up inside her.
'In the end, I couldn't say anything.'
You idiot!
You moron!
It had been a chance.
A chance that would never come again.
Even now, the group chat was still active.
The friends who had gone on the tour together were sharing photos and talking about how satisfied they were, while the friends who could not come because of circumstances were expressing their envy.
But Hwang Jiwoo could not join in.
'Why couldn't I say anything?'
Thinking about it now, it was because he had been too kind. She did not want to ruin the mood for no reason.
Hadn't Baek Ajin asked them the same thing?
Not to disturb her brother.
And besides, how could she shamelessly ask him to teach her summoning?
"Sigh."
Letting out a deep breath, Hwang Jiwoo buried her head into her pillow.
Yeah.
Let's just think of it simply.
'Let's pretend I asked, and he turned me down. Even if I had brought it up, there was no guarantee Baek Jinwoo would have gladly agreed anyway, right?'
Her parents called from outside, telling her to come eat dinner, but she did not even have the energy to respond.
She only said she had no appetite and kept the door tightly locked.
And then, at that moment.
Ding!
A text message arrived.
She always kept the group chat notifications turned off, so it was a personal message.
'To me?'
Hwang Jiwoo, whose only friends were basically the girls in that group chat, had almost no one who would contact her individually.
'Who is it?'
In the end, she raised her head again and checked her phone, and had no choice but to be startled.
[Baek Ajin: Jiwoo.]
'Ajin?'
They had been close in middle school, but after they ended up in different classes, they had never contacted each other privately.
All they ever did was greet each other when there was some gathering, and Hwang Jiwoo had not even properly attended those gatherings.
She thought there was a certain distance between them now, so what was this about?
[Hwang Jiwoo: Yeah?]
[Baek Ajin: It was nice seeing you again today hehe. Do you have a minute to talk on the phone?]
"..."
Slowly, Hwang Jiwoo sat up.
Her heart started pounding wildly.
If she was calling directly, that meant there was something going on, right?
Press!
She immediately hit the call button.
In the end, Baek Ajin asked all sorts of questions about Hwang Jiwoo.
Her job: player.
Where she lived: Seodaemun-gu.
Guild affiliation: none yet.
Hwang Jiwoo answered all her questions faithfully.
And then.
— By any chance, would you be interested in a part-time job that pays pretty well?
— A part-time job?
What was this?
Hwang Jiwoo was suddenly disappointed.
So in the end, was this call just because of headhunting? And not even for a real job, but for a part-time one······
— How much does it pay······?
Hwang Jiwoo was not well-off.
Still, if it was work introduced by a friend who held a director's position at Yoobaek?
It might pay fairly well.
As someone who needed to save money to buy a high-grade summon, Hwang Jiwoo was in no position to be picky.
— 1 billion won after taxes, on the condition that you live there for 100 days.
— What?
O-one billion?
— What exactly is the job? If it's living on-site, am I supposed to go catch shrimp or something?
No, that could not be it.
You could not earn 1 billion won even doing shrimp boats.
Besides, hadn't she said they would even cover the taxes?
Hwang Jiwoo's eyes lit up.
If she just endured for 100 days?
Wouldn't that mean she could afford to buy a B-rank summon?!
— It'll be hard enough to make you tremble. There'll practically be no break time, and you won't be able to leave for more than an hour. It's a little hard to explain in detail over the phone, so I'll tell you in person. How about tomorrow? In front of your house.
But then again, it also scared her.
What in the world was it that made Baek Ajin sound this serious?
— I can still refuse after hearing the explanation, right?
— Of course, of course! Don't worry so much. It's not anything weird.
Right.
Still, they were friends. There was no way she would call her in for something dangerous, right?
For now, she decided she would at least go out and hear it.
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