## Chapter 35 – 35. Blind Date (3)
#35. Blind Date (3)
Having abruptly received a message from my blind date to change the appointment, I arrived at a restaurant in Cheongdam-dong.
It was a high-end restaurant where the interior and all the tables were in private rooms.
Omakase? Fine dining? I had seen it on NewTube several times, but this was my first time actually coming to one.
I could understand why just by looking at the menu.
The cheapest course was a whopping 500,000 won, and the most expensive one exceeded 1 million won.
Since the neighborhood was like this, it seemed they mainly catered to people with overflowing wallets.
“The D course has shrimp as the main dish. Should I go with that?”
Back in the day, I would have trembled and ordered the cheapest thing, but now there was no need to do that.
Before coming here, my job posting on the Hunter app had already received a truckload of inquiries.
A magician not affiliated with a guild was up for grabs?
And not even a 1st Circle magician, but a 2nd Circle one??
“Oh, the party leader is C+ grade, and the other party members are all C grade.”
I could just go to a C-grade gate, casually toss fireballs from the back, and then land a big one on the boss to earn hundreds of thousands of won per day. There was no reason to tremble over a course meal costing a few tens or hundreds of thousands of won.
Even if gates were dangerous, as long as I was in the rear of a party that matched the appropriate grade, there wouldn’t be much chance of getting seriously hurt.
For the time being, it seemed like I should focus on making money by going to gates and building my body by learning swordsmanship at the dojo.
Knock, knock— While I was making plans for the future, someone knocked on the door.
I hadn’t rung the bell, so it couldn’t be a staff member. If that was the case, there was only one person who would be coming.
“Am I too late?”
The person who opened the door was my blind date, Choi Hyena.
With her intense red hair, purple eyes, and traditional witch attire, she was even prettier than she looked in the photos.
I realized that the photos didn’t even capture half of her real beauty, let alone with any editing.
“No, I just arrived as well.”
Choi Hyena smiled lightly and sat down.
In the meantime, her figure, as she took off her coat, shocked me once again.
‘…Seriously, is someone secretly filming me with a hidden camera? Every woman I meet has an amazing body.’
Even the wolf beastkin I met during the day was short, but her overall figure was so good that it was beyond what most models could achieve. Her perfectly trained physique was attractive.
And Choi Hyena’s chest was smaller than Iris’s and Chun Yeohwa’s, but her overall balance was unbelievable.
Is she… a magician? Not a Pilates instructor?
I felt anew that Grandma Choi Youngok, who introduced me to such a woman, was amazing.
“Hmm…”
Just as Kang Hyunwoo was secretly ogling Choi Hyena’s figure according to his male instincts, Choi Hyena was observing Kang Hyunwoo with her instincts as a magician.
To be precise, she was looking at the enormous mana swirling around him.
Of course, a person cannot breathe in oxygen unless they breathe. The same goes for mana.
Unless a magician raises their concentration through meditation to accept mana, mana will not try to come to the magician.
But he was different.
Mana was restlessly swirling around him, as if it was eager to become one with him right away.
Perhaps because he hadn’t allowed it, it was just staying put, but if permission was granted, it would become his magic power at any time. That meant that even the self-assimilation process could be drastically shortened.
Of course, you couldn’t forcibly increase your mana circle just because you had a lot of magic power.
Still, there was no disagreement that he could show far superior performance than other magicians in the same realm.
“It’s our first time meeting in person. Nice to meet you. I’m Choi Hyena.”
“I’m Kang Hyunwoo.”
We lightly shook hands and exchanged our first greetings.
“Shall we order first? I come here often, so I guarantee the taste.”
I ordered the D course, which featured pumpkin flower shrimp from the gate as the main dish, and Choi Hyena ordered the B course, which recreated classic French cuisine.
As the employee who took our order closed the door and left, a heavy silence fell between us.
‘What should I talk about?’
Aside from Iris and Chun Yeohwa, I had never properly talked to a woman. Moreover, this kind of arranged meeting was a first for me.
What’s more, the other person was from the upper class, whom I would never have met in my life.
In the end, the silence continued until the food we ordered came out.
Of course, that silence was awkward and uncomfortable only for Kang Hyunwoo.
Until the food came out, Choi Hyena endlessly observed Kang Hyunwoo.
Not only had he reached the 2nd Circle at the same age as her, but the process hadn’t even taken a week.
It was absurd.
Even she, who had been praised endlessly by those around her for her dazzling talent, had taken six years to build her mana circle.
That was only possible because she had received lessons from a much younger age with the help of her family, lessons that others only received when they turned 11.
It took another six years to reach the 2nd Circle, and the 3rd Circle was a realm she reached almost by fluke.
Because of that, it was hard to see her as a complete 3rd Circle magician. It would get better over time, but that wasn’t the case now.
Of course, she was able to obtain the qualification of a nationally certified magician thanks to it, but she had a sense of inferiority about not being a complete 3rd Circle magician.
What appeared in front of such Choi Hyena was a magician of the same age who was breaking through realms at perhaps the fastest rate in human history.
‘He doesn’t look like that kind of genius, no matter how I look at him.’
At first, she was very suspicious. Could there be such a monster in the world?
She was dominated by the thought that he was not a magician but a con man, but after facing him directly like this, she couldn’t just deny it.
Kang Hyunwoo didn’t notice, but there was a faint hostility in Choi Hyena’s eyes. It was a sticky emotion mixed with jealousy and self-reproach.
“It’s delicious.”
Without even knowing such a fact, Kang Hyunwoo enjoyed the food that had come out at some point.
“…I’m glad.”
Choi Hyena also silently continued her meal.
***
After the meal was somewhat finished, we refreshed our mouths with the dessert that came out as a finishing touch.
It was the first time in my life that I had spent so much money on a single meal, but it was a satisfaction that made me understand why people spent money on such things.
“Now that we’ve filled our stomachs, can I get straight to the point?”
Choi Hyena, who wiped her mouth with a napkin, opened her mouth first.
“I’m sorry, but I have no intention of getting married. No, it would be more accurate to say that I have no intention of dating a man in the first place.”
“…?”
Choi Hyena’s calm remarks negated the very meaning of this meeting.
“Then why did you come here?”
If that was the case, she could have just refused over the phone, but I was curious as to why she had bothered to call someone out by changing the appointment time to the same day.
“I was curious. Who exactly is the person who achieved the feat of reaching the 2nd Circle at the same age as me, and completing this entire process in less than a week?”
In the end, she was saying that she had made the appointment just to satisfy her own curiosity.
“So, what do you think after meeting me like this?”
In the narrow room, Choi Hyena’s magic power began to wriggle and fluctuate.
“Honestly, I don’t like it. Why did that brilliant talent choose someone like you?”
Whether she had given up on pretending to be polite, she didn’t hesitate to reveal her magic power to a stranger or give an answer full of hostility.
“I have a proposal.”
The nasty appearance that seemed like she would cast magic at any moment was gone, and for some reason, the atmosphere had changed 180 degrees.
“What proposal.”
“It’s simple. Let me study you. To be loved by mana? That’s an area that’s hard to dismiss as mere talent.”
Choi Hyena is a magician.
She decided to prioritize rational gains and losses over emotional jealousy.
“I’ll compensate you handsomely. I took a quick look and you seem to be quite the pauper, so how about 30 million won for each time you cooperate with the research?”
It seemed that Choi Hyena already had a blueprint in her head to get what she wanted.
If she could find out the reason why that man was loved by mana, she would not only reach the complete 3rd Circle, but also be able to glimpse the 4th Circle in the near future.
She didn’t even assume that he would refuse.
She thought that he, who had lived a poor life as a war orphan, would have no choice but to accept her offer.
Just because he had become a magician, it was a bad move to suddenly receive sponsorship from any company. If he knew his talent, it was right to raise his value and then receive sponsorship under better conditions, so what he needed now was funds for smooth magic research.
If 30 million won was too little, she was willing to call 50 million. Of course, even more than that was fine.
Because she had plenty of money.
But the answer that came out of Kang Hyunwoo’s mouth far exceeded Choi Hyena’s expectations.
“What the hell are you talking about, you crazy bitch.”
His constantly listless expression instantly changed to a hostile and ferocious one.
“…What?”
“Hey, open your ears and listen carefully. Do you know what’s more important than the Seongbuk Choi family or a genius magician? Manners, manners. You seem like you’re not even a complete person, so what? Magician? Research? Bullshit.”
He emptied the glass full of cold water in one gulp.
“It’s already ridiculous that you changed the appointment to the same day, and it’s annoying that you tell someone who came to a blind date that you have no intention of going on a blind date, but you suddenly reveal your magic power to someone you’ve just met? Did your precious family teach you that’s how you’re supposed to act?”
In fact, changing the appointment to the same day and saying that she had no intention of going on a blind date were just things that could be overlooked.
But he couldn’t just let go of the fact that she had called him a pauper and revealed her magic power.
“In my opinion, you’re just at the 3rd Circle as your limit. Why? Because how can someone who’s not even a complete person become a high-ranking magician.”
With those words, I kicked off from my seat and stood up.
Leaving behind Choi Hyena, who had a dazed expression, I walked out of the restaurant.
“Hoo…”
So this is how it feels to crave a cigarette.
My first blind date, which had a bitter aftertaste, was a disaster. Apart from the excellent meal, my mood also deteriorated.
I thought it would be better to just go home, wash up, and sleep, so I was about to hail a taxi when.
“Hey!!”
Choi Hyena, who seemed to have rushed out of the restaurant, was glaring at me.
“What.”
“You, you…!! How dare you, a pauper, say such harsh things to me!!”
Choi Hyena couldn’t hide her resentment, and approached me with a reddened face and fierce eyes.
“You better be prepared. From now on, you can forget about setting foot on this land as a magician…”
Choi Hyena, who was pouring out her anger with a voice full of venom, suddenly felt something ominous.
And that was the same for Kang Hyunwoo.
What the two talented magicians simultaneously felt was an abnormal sign of mana that could not be identified.
The two hurriedly tried to leave this place from the mana that was trembling as if it was afraid of something.
But a huge, unidentified gate that suddenly appeared as if tearing through the air swallowed the two of them.
