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“ARRRRGH! NOT AGAIN!”
‘this is the 23rd time already!’ kang soyong shouted as tears started welling up in her eyes. this was so, so unfair.
she was so busy wallowing in her pity, in fact, that she didn't notice a shadow looming over her.
she felt something touch her shoulder. she didn't even need to turn around to know that she might as well be dead.
“GAAAAAAAH”
the knowledge didn't stop her from screaming at the top of her lungs from pure shock.
“you're hurting my feelings, soyong-yang.”
a low, calm voice sounded above her. ah, it's over…
she somehow managed to turn her head to look at the person standing tall above her. it was her godda- her boss! it was her amazing, good looking boss!
“what brings you here, boss? i hope you have only good news and no work for me!”
she laughed nervously, trying to act as natural and non offensive as she could. her boss smiled brightly, but she knew that this was one terrifying expression.
“it's working hours right now, soyong-yang. i hope you're not playing games when you're in office.”
at the accusation, kang soyong did her best to compose herself, and said in a calm, confident voice.
“no, boss, this is really important.”
he raised his eyebrow, as if asking ‘more important than work?’
“yes, boss, this might be even more important than my employment.”
soyong nodded hard, showing her boss her phone. it had a game screen on it with a bunch of characters and a title ‘my s class hunters’. her boss was surprisingly lenient towards people working under him, and if he found something intriguing, he would forgive her for playing during work hours too. so this was the safest bet.
his gaze lingered on the screen for a second, and, losing interest, he looked back at kang soyong, asking her to make her case.
‘that's a win!’
“this here is a dating simulator, boss. you might be too old to know of these, but it's basically a game where you need to make the characters like you! it's a pretty hard game all in all!”
‘but it might be even harder for you.’ kang soyong decided to leave this part out.
she then looked around in her gallery and found the next picture to show him.
“and this! this is my darling noah! i really really really!!! want to get his route! but i failed 23 times already!!”
and now was time for the last part of her plan. soyong looked her boss deep in the eyes and made sure to make the most teary, sorry pleading expression she could.
“boss-nim… this is really important to me, you see… so surely you will help your emoloyee..?”
soyong was 100% sure that her pleading face would melt anyone's heart. her boss smiled.
“soyong-yang. get to work.”
and put a box of files on her desk before leaving. because he was not ‘anyone’.
—
this was soyong's first failed attempt to persuade her boss that this game truly mattered. but if there was something she was good at, it was annoying peop- no, getting them to do what she wants! and if 23 failed attempts to get her favourite character's route in a niche dating simulator is nothing to her, 1 failed attempt to get her boss to play this niche dating simulator would only be the beginning.
“boss-nim, i failed again!”
she cried out loud pitifully.
“uugh, this is the 4th time this week!”
her plan was quite simple really. she would whine and cry to him, build enough sympathy points, and when he finally starts feeling bad for her, or maybe finds her annoying enough, he will get her this route so she stops. this is a foolproof plan!
“soyong-yang, it's monday. i have a feeling that you have set your priorities wrong. please finish the reports i sent you.”
however, her boss didn't even look up at her as he calmly rejected her. sulking, she had no choice but to back down for the day.
“boss! look! someone got noah's route!! I'm so jealous i could die!”
as soon as kang soyong barged into her boss’s office, a stack of papers and her smiling boss greeted her. this was also a fail.
“boss! i prepared a presentation on why you should play ‘s classes’! please sit down!”
this day too, she was greeted with papers. but she deliberately ignored them and strode in, placing her tablet on her boss's desk. after the presentation she worked all night making, she watched his expression with anticipation.
“...oh my.”
‘this is it!’ she beamed. she finally-
“who knew you were so good at making presentations. the hr team will hold a meeting next tuesday, I'll give them your contact information.”
ugh.
“boss! my noah-!”
a thick file was placed in her hands.
“boss!..”
a finished cup of coffee was given to her.
“b-!”
her boss was in a meeting.
this has been going on for weeks now, and neither of them was willing to back down. well, it's more like kang soyong didn't want to back out, and her boss didn't want to back in, but anyway.
after a short deliberation and nearly 40 failed attempts, soyong decided to change her plan. so, forming a serious expression, she stood before her boss once again.
“boss, if you play this game…”
she had to make some concessions. if she couldn't make him play it out of pity, she had to offer something.
“... i will clock in at 7 am and won't speed while going to and from work.”
this is the most she had to offer. because to get something, you need to give something. her boss looked a little surprised.
“... soyong-yang. those are your basic duties.”
he was surprised by her boldness, really.
—
at some point kang soyong gave up on the idea of making her boss unlock her darling’s route for her. but she still had to make her boss play this dating simulator, so she persevered all the same. why? because it'd be funny, of course. her boss was a perfect company director, just nearing his 40s. he had probably the best face she'd ever seen, and while his personality wasn't that good, he was still a really successful person.
and she had to make this amazing person play a niche dating simulator. for her own amusement. even once would be enough.
“you'll really like the game, really, i promise you, boss! so please just give it a try! it's free, you know!”
so offering to go to work on time and be a model citizen on the roads was her last resort. if this didn't work, she didn't know what she would have to do.
and since they were still on break, she could do her absolute best to interest him in the game.
“it's not really official since you're the one playing the main character, but the community strongly agrees that han yoojin is actually the most important. I'm sure you like making things difficul- you like it when something's a little difficult! so you might like going for his route! i heard no one managed to get his route yet!”
it's important to hook someone in with something they might like first! and now some mystery to pique his interest.
“and everyone who plays the game has a unique, tailor made character! no matter how many times or on how many devices you play on, your character stays the same!”
it's not actually a good feature for someone who wants more customization, and there are no universal tutorials because every character is different, but it's a fun feature either way. although soyong didn't know how the developers managed to do that.
and there's a reason why the community believes that han yoojin is the most important character. quite a lot of people tried to get his route, but it's practically impossible. because to get to him, they have to be on good terms with almost everyone. but the community doesn't even know how many characters there are! and even if you do somehow manage it, which no one was even close to so far, there's an even bigger obstacle - his younger brother han yoohyun.
he's also quite infamous for being one hell of a tough nut to crack, and getting close to him might be the second hardest thing to do in the game after unlocking han yoojin's route.
because those two are both insane.
if you get too close to han yoohyun, you might risk lowering your reputation with han yoojin, which will result in him holding a grudge against you, blackmailing you and ruining your life.
on the other hand, if you get too close to han yoojin, you'll lower your already non existent reputation with han yoohyun, which will result in him just straight up killing you. and that's not even all. it's not just han yoohyun who will threaten your life, it's basically every character close to han yoojin. maybe that's why it's called ‘my s class hunters’ when you, the player, can only be with one at a time.
kang soyong didn't encounter something as awful as that, thankfully, because she can't even get close enough to han yoojin to meet her darling noah! and yes, some characters are only unlockable through others. mainly through han yoojin, which is why he's the most important figure.
now that soyong thought about it, isn't that why the game is so unpopular?
“so you ab-so-lutely! have to try it! it might have been tailor made for you specifically, boss! and don't read anything on the game, just play it!”
taking the whole lunch break to sing praises to this niche game, kang soyong did everything in her power to pique his interest.
—
if sung hyunjae had to be honest, he didn't care for the game at all. and he has been getting ever so slightly bored of soyong’s pleas lately, no matter how good she is at her work. her persistence isn't a bad quality in and of itself, but it is a bit troublesome at times like this.
just telling her he played the game but didn't like it wouldn't work, because she's also very perceptive. and she's quite determined to make him play this game, so he really has no other choice.
sighing like it couldn't be helped, he got the game and opened it on his laptop. to anyone looking at this grown up man playing a dating simulator game targeted at teenage girls, this would be a hilarious sight, which kang soyong was after, but he still somehow managed to look good doing that. maybe that's a born talent.
as he opened the game, a tutorial-like page appeared right as he pressed the play button.
[ Welcome to “My S-Class Hunters!” (≧▽≦)
In this game, You are the high and mighty Sung Hyunjae! The strong and successful Seseong Guild leader! In this world, where after the appearance of hideous monsters worldwide people gained superhuman abilities, you are one of the most successful of all! People with abilities like you are called hunters … ]
“my, that intro is rather long.”
sung hyunjae couldn't help but get discouraged after seeing the huge wall of text. soyong did say to not read anything and just play it, so.
[Please don't skip the tutorial!!! TTTTTTTT]
however, as he tried to skip past it and start the game, a message with a crying volleyball appeared on the screen. so they knew no one was reading all that.
[Please wait until we prepare a short overview! .·´¯`(>▂<)´¯`·.]
sung hyunjae only sighed at this. after a minute or so, his character preview appeared in a neat, resume-like page.
sung hyunjae. s rank. seseong guild leader. this and some more information was on it. a short character introduction, nothing more. there was some basic information like his main attribute, skills and equipment. after taking it all in, sung hyunjae pressed on and finally, the game began.
since he went in blind like soyong recommended, his main goal for this evening was to meet this han yoojin and see if the game was what he was promised.
—
“it's already this late, huh.”
after a while of playing, sung hyunjae looked at the time. surprisingly enough, it was quite entertaining and managed to pull him in for a couple hours. this han yoojin was also quite fun to watch. if he was a real person, he would definitely love being around him. but it was time to wrap up and go to bed. soyong will surely be excited to hear his review.
following his usual routine, sung hyunjae went to sleep, just like any other day.
—
so how did he end up inside the actual game?
it has been a couple days now, but sung hyunjae still couldn’t quite wrap his head around this mysterious occurrence. and now that the initial shock and amusement somewhat died down, he's actually been enjoying this world he first deemed a weird dream.
setting aside the fact that this is a dating game, the setting was quite to sung hyunjae's liking, even when he just played it on his laptop. a world where strong people are free to fight strong monsters all they like. the game itself didn't have that much hunter related content, but the world building and the economy aspect were also interesting. and now that he got to experience this first hand, he's even more amazed.
his first few days here were like how they were in the game, some guild management and ‘character’ introductions. and it was already rather surprising to see kang soyong as a character in the game the other day, but seeing her, only slightly different and with no memory, was… a new experience. it was the same with other employees in his company. it honestly took a bit to get used to this bizarre situation.
but besides that, if this new reality would follow the game's events, then tomorrow will be the second most exciting day, right after his first one, where he had the pleasure to acquaint himself with his newfound powers. that is, the day of the 5 guild leaders meeting, where they would be introduced to the magic beast rearer han yoojin.
sung hyunjae had wanted to meet him earlier, but it seemed like there were simply no chances for that. since he only awakened recently and ended up under his brother's overprotective wing, getting a hold of him was nigh impossible. which is why he decided to wait and see the events play out like they were supposed to.
and he got what he wanted in the form of a video from haeyeon on this new magic beast rearer skill holder, along with an invitation to meet him. everything was going according to what he knew so far, which was getting a little stale now, but it was still manageable.
and now, the fateful day has come. sung hyunjae didn't particularly care about the contents of the meeting, but he still made sure to leave some space for everything in his head just in case. but the thing he was looking forward to the most was when the discussion ended.
after almost everyone left and only a handful of people, including himself, were left, he approached a man trying to soothe a cat-like creature in his hands. for the record, that thing is supposed to be a monster many times stronger than its owner, so it was a rather amusing sight in itself.
“i will keep that condition in mind.”
finally being within arm's reach, he decided to go with the script for now. however.
as he touched the beast tamer’s shoulder, the younger man flinched. he turned around and smiled cheerfully after a moment, trying to cover up the obvious fear in his eyes.
“um... ah. yes!”
‘hm?’
this reaction was totally different from what he experienced in the game. it caught him off guard a little.
—
it was the moment i dreaded the most. i still wasn't mentally prepared for it, but i guess some things can't be delayed. so i steeled myself up and smiled as cheerfully as i could in this situation.
“um… ah. yes!”
cold sweat was running down my spine from looking into those golden eyes. frankly, they looked way more terrifying than the in-game art could ever manage. even the scariest cutscenes with him weren't as scary as seeing him up close, and now i had no choice but to do just that…
seriously, how did i end up in this stupid niche horror game?!