## Chapter 15 – Be Careful of People Who Buy You Beef for No Reason, Okay?
***
“Ughhhh! I’m so freaking tired.”
“You’ve been going out like crazy lately, huh?”
Jiwu tossed her game console aside, collapsing onto the sofa, completely drained.
To quickly reduce the dangerously high stack of rejected callouts,
she had been running around like crazy for days, barely able to play a single game.
“Since tomorrow is April… I won’t have to do this anymore, right?”
“You still need to go out regularly. Or else you’ll end up like this month again, got it?”
“Okay, okay… ugh…”
If Jiwu had rejected even one of the three callouts today,
she probably would have been demoted to a B-class hero or had her salary cut by more than half.
No matter how important her rank in the game and the stats of her game character are,
Jiwu is well aware that she is a hero who protects the city and its citizens.
Of course, she initially started this job thinking she could make easy money with her superpowers,
but the satisfaction of having something she could be recognized for grew even bigger.
Jiwu had grown up quietly, always fiddling with computers and game consoles.
No matter how great her gaming skills were, no one around her ever acknowledged it,
but now she gets recognition and can play games comfortably, so she thinks it’s killing two birds with one stone.
“Siyoon Oppa said it’s okay if we visit his place tomorrow or the day after. What do you think?”
“Oh! Really?”
Dohwa casually dropped the news that Siyoon had invited Jiwu to his place,
and Jiwu, who had been lying down exhausted, suddenly opened her eyes wide and jumped up.
“He said he usually doesn’t open his shop on Mondays or Tuesdays because there aren’t many customers.
So he told us to come tomorrow or the day after.”
Of course, the place Dohwa was taking Jiwu wasn’t the shop, but Siyoon’s hideout.
It was an order from Siyoon, who had succeeded in imprinting Jiwu.
“But what kind of place does Siyoon Oppa run?”
“Ah! As far as I know, it’s a bar. You know, like a cocktail bar?”
Jiwu wasn’t really interested in alcohol.
She looked somewhat disappointed.
“They have lots of tasty snacks there. He said he’ll even make us steak!”
“Steak? Beef?”
Noticing her disappointed expression, Dohwa said there would be steak,
coaxing Jiwu to make sure she didn’t change her mind.
“Tomorrow at 7 PM in front of Sunnam University’s main gate. Got it?”
“Got it.”
Jiwu nodded and put her headphones back on, grabbing her game console.
“Weren’t you not going to play games today?”
“No way. I haven’t been able to do raids for days. I’ll get kicked out of the guild.”
***
On the day of the appointment to go to Siyoon’s shop.
Jiwu arrived 10 minutes before the appointed time, waiting for Siyoon and Dohwa.
“Hehe! I’m eating beef again today!”
Jiwu was excited at the thought of eating beef steak.
She bobbed her head, waiting for the two to arrive quickly.
“Jiwu!”
“You actually came on time today. Glad there wasn’t an emergency callout.”
Dohwa, also with an excited look on her face, arrived at the meeting place.
“Unni, but… why are you dressed like that?”
“Huh? What’s wrong with my clothes?”
A see-through tank top that revealed her black underwear and super mini hot pants that looked like they would expose her crotch.
It was a fashion that wouldn’t be strange to call a “party girl” or, to exaggerate, a call girl.
Jiwu was horrified by Dohwa’s shocking outfit and stepped back.
“Is this the first time you’ve seen me wear something like this?”
“No… it’s not like we’re going to a club or something. What is this?”
Compared to Dohwa, Jiwu was wearing a plain hoodie and loose shorts.
In fact, Jiwu was right to say that one of them was more strange and unusual than usual.
A baseball cap to hold up her long hair,
and a free-size T-shirt with jeans or leggings were Dohwa’s usual fashion.
Jiwu felt uncomfortable with Dohwa’s provocative outfit and tried to turn her head away.
“Oh! Oppa!”
“Dohwa, you look pretty today?”
While the two were bickering, Siyoon appeared, praising Dohwa’s fashion.
“Jiwu… ssi, hello too.”
“You don’t have to use honorifics with me.”
Siyoon greeted Jiwu with an awkward tone.
Jiwu smiled, saying that he didn’t have to use honorifics.
“Haha. Then… I’ll call you Jiwu from now on. Shall we go?”
***
The building where Siyoon’s hideout was located, about a 5-minute walk from the meeting place.
It didn’t look much different from other commercial buildings on the outside.
However, if you take the stairs inside the building and go down to the basement,
the closed-off, quiet, and quite impressive atmosphere and interior design please the eye.
“Here it is. It’s a bit messy since we don’t open today.”
“Ooh…”
With a jet-black floor and walls as a backdrop, subtle lighting and classic interior design were added on top.
It gave Jiwu, who always lived in the headquarters dormitory, a rather unique and special feeling.
– Creak… Thud-
The sound of the air supply being cut off from the prey that had walked in on its own with a pure heart.
The door to the hideout of Utopia, a villain organization with only two members for now, was locked.
But Jiwu didn’t even hear the sound of the door locking,
she was sitting on a chair, curiously touching the bar table.
“Hehe… I like how innocent our Jiwu is.”
“Huh? Why! I’ve been to places like this before, you know.”
Jiwu grumbled, saying she had been there before, seeing Dohwa smirking at her for looking curiously at the bar table.
But the meaning of Dohwa’s words to Jiwu was a little different.
“Jiwu, have you ever heard this saying?”
And Siyoon transferred ice into a glass, poured whiskey,
placed it in front of Jiwu, and continued.
“There’s a saying that you should be careful of people who buy you beef. Why do you think that is?”
“Huh? What does that mean?”
Jiwu asked, taking a sip of whiskey.
“In the case of pork or chicken, the price is cheap, so they often buy it out of simple kindness, but…
Beef is expensive, so they buy it expecting some kind of compensation or favor.”
In fact, a photo of a banner written in a meat restaurant was widely spread on the internet a few years ago,
and many people in various communities talked about their experiences.
In other words, you should suspect people who buy expensive things without a second thought.
“Th-then, should I give you money… or something?”
Jiwu put down her glass in embarrassment and lowered her head.
For a moment, she felt a pang of guilt, wondering if she had done something wrong.
“You don’t have to do that.”
Siyoon sat next to Jiwu across the table.
“What Dohwa and I are trying to say isn’t that you did something wrong to me.”
“Th-then…?”
“The reason I buy such expensive things without any compensation is that
I’m actually a very suspicious and scary person that you can’t even imagine.”
Siyoon lifted Jiwu’s chin with his finger, who had her head down, made eye contact,
and wiggled his index finger as if tickling a puppy’s chin.
“Hehe…♥ Dominator-nim… you said you’d give me a reward if I brought Jiwu here…♥”
Dohwa, who had changed her attitude, stuck close to Siyoon, calling him Dominator-nim,
and acted cute in a flattering voice, asking for a reward for bringing Jiwu.
“U-unni? What are you doing?”
“Huh? Why? My master said he’d give me a reward if I brought you here…♥”
“What are you talking about!”
“Ahaha! What do you mean…♥ Jiwu, you’ve been tricked by me.”
Dohwa, with a very excited expression, touched Jiwu’s chin and sneered.
Jiwu was startled and jumped up from her chair, stepping back.
‘Dohwa Unni… she’s been weird since a few days ago…’
Jiwu stepped back and stretched her arms back to activate her superpower 〈 Weapon Manifestation 〉.
– Whoosh-
For a moment, her hands were wrapped in blue light, and then the weapons of her favorite game character appeared,
two sleek pistols.
“Aha♥ That superpower is Jiwu’s ability… the ability to manifest weapons from game characters♥”
“The ability to manifest weapons from game characters, huh. It’s quite simple yet unique.”
Dohwa took off her cardigan and knelt next to Siyoon.
And Siyoon gently stroked Dohwa’s hair and watched Jiwu.
‘What…? What made Unni become like that…?’
Jiwu bit her lip, looking at Dohwa, who had changed.
“Unni! Snap out of it! You’re a hero who protects the city!”
And she shouted desperately at Dohwa.
“Hero? That’s right! I’m Ignition, an A-class hero who protects the city.
But… now I’m a subordinate of the great Dominator-nim and… a sex slave♥”
But that cry did not reach Dohwa, who had already gone too far due to perception alteration.
“Siyoon Oppa… I thought you were a good person, but you were a villain.”
“Whoa whoa! You can’t just point a gun at people like that!”
Siyoon looked at the pistols in Jiwu’s hands and raised his hands as if he had encountered a robber.
But his face was full of sneers like Dohwa.
Go ahead and shoot if you’re going to.
If you can shoot, that is.
…It was as if he was saying that.
‘Unni… how did this happen…?’
Jiwu looked at Dohwa, who had completely changed,
and blamed herself for being naive enough to eat with him without realizing this fact sooner.
At the same time, she vowed to save Unni from that guy,
and to bring her back to her previous life as soon as possible, and pulled the trigger.
– Whoosh…
“Wh-what? Why… why did the guns disappear?”
But just as Jiwu’s cry did not reach Dohwa,
her superpower 〈 Weapon Manifestation 〉 disappeared quietly without any reaction.
[ Applying superpower nullification to target: ‘Player’ Yeon Jiwu. ]
[ Status: Imprint Stage 1 (Encroachment 10%) ]
