Chapter 60 – Dating Expert (1)

An S-Rank hunter.

A combat prowess in one-on-one fights that was unusually strong for a Porter class.

A punching power that hurt an abnormal amount, despite being governed by the HP system.

His combat sense was extraordinary, and he was quick-witted.

He fought well with both grappling and striking, and his weapon skills were so versatile he could handle anything.

His evasiveness and agility were so overwhelming that he left afterimages.

It was like facing a monster that couldn’t be caught.

“Ganging up on him doesn’t work.”

“Ajeossi is immune to being ganged up on. Allies just get in the way.”

Kim In-ho and Kim Tae-yang had once tried attacking him together. It was useless.

“And from what I’ve seen when he plays foot volleyball, his athletic ability is monstrous too.”

“Ajeossi hates losing, so he’s been pro-level at sports for a long time.”

To the company men who played foot volleyball for light exercise after lunch, Lee Hyunbin was a legend.

He was the first person they’d ever seen play sepak takraw instead of foot volleyball.

“Surprise attacks don’t work either.”

“Ajeossi would probably react to a surprise attack even in his sleep.”

Whenever they thought he was distracted and tried to pounce, they were the ones who ended up getting pounced on.

“I even tried playing games against him, just in case, but that didn’t work.”

“I heard Ajeossi got an offer to join a pro-gaming team back in high school.”

“That figures.”

They hadn’t realized it before, but Lee Hyunbin was a monster in his own right. Even outside of combat, he was thorough and meticulous in almost everything.

“Oh, right. I think he really likes to clean and organize.”

Living together, she’d often witnessed Lee Hyunbin cleaning.

The way he folded his clothes, for instance—he absolutely hated seeing anything out of place.

He would meticulously reorganize things whenever he had a spare moment.

“Oh, that’s it!”

Kim Tae-yang’s eyes gleamed.

“We’ll deliberately mess up his surroundings! He cleans, we mess it up again, and again! If we keep doing that, we can wear Team Leader out!”

Kim Tae-yang smiled with the enlightenment of a master strategist.

Seo Hyun-ji chimed in, thinking it sounded fun, while Kim In-ho felt a sense of unease.

Only Lee Seo-yeon, who had been listening quietly, wore a sad expression.

***

“Drill them with the right, drill them with the left.”

We have a high-level dungeon raid coming up, so I’ve been putting the team through some intense training, and I feel great.

It’s not because I have some kind of sadistic streak. Absolutely not.

I’m just happy to see Tae-yang’s endurance improving. And it’s nice that In-ho can now dodge one out of every ten hits.

Seo Hyun-ji is on a break from the entertainment industry for a while, so I’m whipping her into shape, and the glare she gives me is just delightful.

Even that kid Katrinne has seen a slight increase in her stamina stat.

“La la la.”

I entered the training grounds, thinking about how I would roll—no, train—the kids in the afternoon session.

“Hmm.”

There was a strange atmosphere.

For once, they were all training on their own. Seo Hyun-ji and Katrinne were running on the treadmills, while Kim Tae-yang and Kim In-ho were blasting their legs and triceps.

‘How peaceful.’

Looks like they have more energy left than I expected. I thought I’d pushed them to their limits.

‘Good, I can push them even harder.’

As I smiled in satisfaction, I felt a sense of dissonance. The kids also seemed to be sneaking glances at me.

What is it?

That’s when I saw that the neatly arranged dumbbells were in complete disarray.

The dumbbells, born to bring the boon of muscle to the world, had been lined up in perfect order according to their weight. I was sure of it.

But now they were a chaotic jumble, with no regard for size or weight.

My chest felt tight for some reason.

“Who…”

“Hoo, hoo!”

“Haaah, huup!”

They were all training so hard, I felt bad about interrupting them.

I guess I have no choice.

I put all the dumbbells down. Then I lined them up neatly in order.

“Hmm.”

Even though they were in order, something wasn’t quite satisfying.

The chrome-plated barbells and the urethane-coated ones were on the right and left, respectively. Maybe I should switch their positions.

Most people prefer urethane, but I prefer the chrome style. Look at how they shimmer, reflecting the light.

It is the light of muscle itself.

I put all the dumbbells down again and started reorganizing them.

It definitely looks much better now that they’re set up to complement the lighting.

“There.”

I’d wasted a lot of time that should have been dedicated to my precious team members.

It was time for some focused management, so I couldn’t afford to waste any more time.

But then, a jarring sensation pricked at the back of my neck.

The source was the lounge chair.

‘What’s this?’

I saw that there were cookie crumbs on it.

Was this Katrinne’s doing? No, Seo Hyun-ji had been snacking a lot too, saying she didn’t have to watch her calories while on break from the industry.

She has such a lean figure, it would probably be good for her to put on some weight.

Either way, I should clean it up.

But I couldn’t see the broom.

That’s strange, I’m sure I left it around here.

“No other choice.”

I took a cleaning brush out of my personal bag.

“Why would you carry something like th— Mmph!”

Hearing a strange noise, I turned around to see Kim In-ho covering Kim Tae-yang’s mouth.

They must really have a lot of energy to spare, playing strange games like that.

I’d better drain that energy out of them. Completely.

I took a sheet of A4 paper and swept the crumbs onto it with the brush.

A sound mind dwells in a clean and healthy body. And for that, one’s surroundings must also be clean.

You know how in martial arts novels, masters train their minds under waterfalls, honing their skills?

It’s the same principle.

Thud. Rattle.

Just then, I heard something rolling.

“Oh, whoops. I seem to have. Ac. Ci. Dent. Al. Ly. Knocked over the trash can.”

Kim Tae-yang delivered his line stiffly.

Crash!

“Oh. My. What is this, a dumbbell domino rally?”

“…”

I could see the sacredly aligned dumbbells now lying in a disorderly heap, thanks to Seo Hyun-ji’s touch.

“And there’s. No. Broom. What should we do.”

“I guess we’ll have to. Clean up the dumbbells. Lat. Er. Training comes. First. Af. Ter. All.”

There was something strangely awkward about Kim Tae-yang’s and Seo Hyun-ji’s speech.

Aha. So that’s what this is.

It was so absurd I had to laugh. How cute.

An idea came to mind, and as I rummaged through my inventory, I made eye contact with Kim In-ho, who suddenly started trembling.

He always does that when I laugh. If I actually got angry, he’d probably run for his life.

I took out a spare powersuit. Then I stuffed its pockets with as many dumbbells as they could hold.

“Ms. Seo Hyun-ji.”

“Yes?”

“Put this on and continue.”

“What?”

Seo Hyun-ji blinked as I suddenly made her wear the powersuit.

“What is this all of a sud— Huk!”

A moment later, feeling an immense weight pressing down on her, she collapsed to the floor.

Seeing Seo Hyun-ji, who often played pure and delicate heroines, splayed out on the floor like a crab was quite amusing.

“Aren’t, aren’t you going to take this off?”

“It seemed like you were having trouble choosing which dumbbells to use. I get that way sometimes, too. Urethane or chrome? The weight is the same, but the feel in your hand is different. Depending on my mood, I can get indecisive. So, I put them all in there for you. Hahaha.”

“It’s, it’s heavy!”

“Of course it’s heavy. It’s supposed to be. It contains the will of the dumbbells. You know, those guys who go around collecting seven balls also wore heavy stuff like this and raised their power levels by a ton.”

I tore my eyes away from the suffering Seo Hyun-ji and looked at Kim Tae-yang.

The kid flinched, then started looking around for an escape route.

“Aha. Where do you think you’re going?”

“W-wait a minute, Team Leader.”

“This will only take a minute.”

“No, I can’t spare a minute.”

“Hey now. Just hold still.”

What could I do without a broom?

Whoosh.

I lifted Kim Tae-yang upside down and used his hair as a broom.

Sweep, sweep. It works surprisingly well.

Before I knew it, Kim In-ho had brought over an A4 paper to use as a dustpan.

That In-ho kid is pretty quick on the uptake.

***

“…”

“…”

The commotion was over.

“Hey, Kim In-ho, you and that dustpan…”

“A man’s gotta survive.”

“…”

Kim Tae-yang hung his head.

Just once. He wanted to fluster the team leader just once.

But strangely, no matter what he did, he was always the one who ended up getting caught in the crossfire.

He couldn’t back down like this.

“Seo-yeon…”

“Yes, Mr. Broom?”

A muscle in Kim Tae-yang’s face twitched. But for the greater good, he had to endure.

“Team Leader. Does he really not have any weaknesses?”

Provoking him carelessly would only backfire. He wanted to find something the man couldn’t do.

At Tae-yang’s question, Seo-yeon pretended to think for a moment.

Since Seo-yeon lived with him, she might know a weakness or two.

Hadn’t they just discovered his obsession with cleanliness? Even if it had ended with him becoming a human broom.

“It’s not that. I don’t want to put Team Leader beneath me or anything.”

Kim Tae-yang muttered.

“I want us to be equals. A relationship where he needs me. Where we can’t do without each other!”

At Kim Tae-yang’s words, Lee Seo-yeon’s expression began to change slightly.

“I’m too hungry to think…”

As if waiting for her to say that, Tae-yang took out a chocolate bar and offered it up.

Seo-yeon glanced at it, then unwrapped the chocolate bar, put it in her mouth, and began to munch on it.

“I’m still hungry.”

Kim Tae-yang offered up another chocolate bar.

Crunch, crunch. Seo-yeon diligently devoured the chocolate bar. There was no way this little bit would fill her up.

“Please accept this as well.”

“Ahem.”

Seo-yeon licked her lips at the sight of the chicken coupons Tae-yang offered. There was more than one.

Just as Seo-yeon, with a satisfied look, was about to pocket the coupons, Tae-yang stopped her.

Seeing this, Seo-yeon let out an indignant, “Aha!”

“Still can’t remember anything?”

At Tae-yang’s words, Seo-yeon spoke with a swagger.

“Ajeossi is probably…”

Back when Hyunbin was the Hero.

A young Katrinne had seen countless women approach him. But every time, their faces would turn pale, and they would never approach him again.

“Hopeless at romance.”

“Huh…?”

Tae-yang blinked at the completely unexpected answer.

Far from being hopeless, he seemed like he’d be an expert. Just look at how he sweet-talked the haughty Seo Hyun-ji, melting her down and making her do his bidding.

“No way.”

“It’s probably true.”

Hearing Seo-yeon, Seo Hyun-ji, who had been watching from behind, scoffed.

“That’s hilarious. That man is a master of carrot-and-stick manipulation. What nonsense.”

Tae-yang pondered.

Everyone has something they can’t do. Just like how people have foods they dislike.

But for his weakness to be romance…

A way to exploit that…

“Ah, I can try that.”

A thought flashed through his mind.

Tae-yang grinned, confident of his victory.

***

My appetite has been ravenous lately.

Because I get to see my team members every day, and I get to roll… no, train them every day.

It’s not for my own benefit.

It’s like when your mom tells you to study back in school, saying, ‘It’s for your own good, not mine.’

Though, of course, she reaps the benefits of that studying.

“Good work today, everyone. Anyone up for another round…?”

As I entered the training room, I saw them all sitting in the break room, staring at something.

“I know the day’s schedule is over, but is anyone up for another round? I was thinking we could do some jiu-jitsu this time… What are you doing?”

They didn’t even pretend to hear me. This has never happened before.

“Whoa, you’re like a love psychologist. That’s awesome!”

What are they doing in front of the computer?

“Tae-yang, you’re surprisingly good at this for someone who looks like you.”

A 2D character on the other side of the monitor was blushing.

Soon, a message saying “Event Success” filled the screen.

Like a celebratory firework.

“What’s this?”

“Ah, Team Leader. We were just taking a break, cooling our heads.”

Cooling their heads?

Taking a closer look, I realized what they were engrossed in.

A so-called dating simulation game.

Even if I don’t play these kinds of games, I know the gist of them.

Content filled with the vain delusions and desires of finding a woman in a virtual space that you can’t meet in reality.

The training day was over, so I couldn’t really say anything. But still, a tanned, blond punk playing a dating sim?

Was he even aware of how much it clashed with his own character?

“Tae-yang. In-ho.”

“Yes.”

“Come on, you’re decent-looking guys, why are you playing this? Go outside. Outside. You should be finding real girlfriends. Right?”

“…”

“…”

The two of them stared at me intently.

As if to ask if I had any conscience.

Ah, now that I think about it, I was the one who kept them from going out. I’d been waking them up at the crack of dawn and starting the day with a run.

“Team Leader, this is so popular these days.”

“It has a VR function that syncs with real time, and the characters are so realistic and diverse that it’s super popular on social media. There are male and female versions, so there’s a lot of freedom in how you play.”

They like this stuff?

The woman on the monitor had her hands clasped to her chest, her face full of expectation.

“Speaking of which, Team Leader, I heard you were a semi-pro gamer, right? No wonder you were so good at that strategy game before. This is the hottest new game, are you good at this kind of thing too?”

What does being a pro gamer have to do with a dating sim?

The genres are completely different.

Still, as a gamer, I was a little curious.

[Where should we go now?]

1. Just a little longer… Can you stay with me?
2. Should we go get some ramen?
3. It’s late today, so I’ll call you tomorrow.

They call this a question? The answer is obvious.

“It’s number 3. Look at the time, it’s late. You have to get back before you start losing muscle mass.”

[That’s so mean… I was looking forward to it…]

Huh?

The female character turned away, her face full of disappointment.

“Ah… Team Leader, the best choice there is to go get ramen.”

“What? It’s past 11 PM, and you’re going to eat ramen?”

Hyunbin’s expression was one of complete disbelief.

Kim Tae-yang and Kim In-ho exchanged a look.

They had finally found something the team leader couldn’t do.