Chapter 461: Cho Hyejin’s Instruction Manual (6) |
‘Jo Hye-Jin’s makeover is done, and it’s a success!’
I could see Jo Hye-Jin looking at herself in disbelief. It was understandable for her to react that way because even I couldn’t believe her transformation, even though she was standing right in front of me. It was a bit funny to see her touch her face, and it reminded me of how characters in comics often reacted to their own makeover.
She didn’t say cheesy lines like ‘is this really me?’
However, she didn’t really have to do that because I could easily deduce what she was thinking.
“No way…” Jo Hye-Jin mumbled.
“Yes, way. I worked hard, so it’s only natural for you to look this good. I don’t even put in this much effort when I put my own makeup on,” Lee Ji-Hye commented.
“I-It’s amazing. How did I change so much…” Jo Hye-Jin muttered.
“It’s not that big of a change if you think about it. It’s kind of unfair, but you have a pretty face. Even I think you’re pretty. Shit, every pretty girl has to die,” cursed Lee Ji-Hye.
“Still, this much change is…” Jo Hye-Jin trailed off.
I knew that she would look different, but I couldn’t help but think that she was a scratch card that hadn’t been scratched just yet. Jo Hye-Jin, who was always as sharp as a spear, was no longer here. I was confident that she would be able to seduce the heartthrob Kim Hyun-Sung with just a finger, and the realization made me smile.
It was true that I thought this mission would still take us a long time to complete, but I wanted to dance in joy because Jo Hye-Jin’s transformation meant that the time to complete the mission was reduced drastically.
“So, what’s next?” Lee Ji-Hye asked.
“Now, we’ll move on to the main mission. Good job, Ji-Hye. All right. Take the equipment, Miss Hye-Jin,” I ordered.
“Equipment? What equipment?” Jo Hye-Jin asked.
“I told you earlier. You’ll be moving as my avatar, and Anemone’s Eyes will be following you at all times… This is the receiver. Place it inside your ear,” I instructed.
“...”
“I-Is this really necessary?” she asked.
“It is. If we don’t do this, you won’t be able to do anything other than swing your spear. If we were in modern times, I could give you advice through text, but that’s not the case here. You need to talk to him face-to-face…”
”To be honest, I’m not confident that you’ll do well out there, and I’m telling you this just in case, but you must follow the mission, no matter what. Just know that things will get awkward the moment you feel embarrassed or reject the order. I’m doing this to support you, and all you have to do is follow,” I said.
“But…”
“You have to promise. This is the top priority. Promise me,” I said.
“That’s…”
“Promise me,” I repeated.
“As long as it’s not extreme…” mumbled Jo Hye-Jin.
“You promised.” I pointed out.
“All right.”
‘It should be fine...’
Jo Hye-Jin agreed, so I was convinced that she would follow my words. In addition, she had always been a strict person, so she shouldn’t break her word.
“Now, let’s head out,” I said.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“What do you mean? We’re heading to Hyun-Sung’s office. Didn’t you say he has work to do?” I answered.
“Am I going like this?” she questioned.
“Were you thinking about going there wearing your blue armor? It’s your casual clothes, anyway. You can wear comfortable clothes inside the guild. Aren’t you tired of wearing the same armor every day? Anyway, let’s hurry up,” I answered.
“Oh… okay,” she replied.
Jo Hye-Jin didn’t seem all that excited. I also got annoyed to see her flinch and hesitate about whether she should really go or not, but I could understand her feelings.
In the past few years, she had never really taken her armor off, whether she was outside or inside the guild. Of course, there were some exceptions, but it was an event that happened only once every few months.
She was also a bodyguard, so I could understand the idea of being prepared all the time, but no one really told her to wear armor all day. I wasn’t sure why she had been insisting on wearing that armor, but I was sure that she had gotten comfortable in it.
Therefore, walking around the guild while dressed in something else other than her armor had to be a pretty difficult mission for her.
‘This girl…’
“Have some confidence. You looked at yourself in the mirror earlier, right? You can even stab a monster’s eyes without any hesitation, so what are you so scared about?” I asked.
“I’m not scared. It’s just awkward…” she answered.
“You should be feeling awkward about other things rather than what you look like. Anyway, stop hesitating and go outside. You look more nervous than people who are about to enter a dungeon,” Lee Ji-Hye chimed in.
“All right. Stop pressuring me. Whew,” Jo Hye-Jin replied with a sigh.
“Hurry up,” I said.
“O-Okay,” she stuttered.
“...”
“...”
“Go out already!” I yelled.
“O-Okay!” she yelled back.
Jo Hye-Jin kept hesitating.
I didn’t want to do this, but I had no choice but to make an unnecessary comment.
“...”
“...”
“Ha… You’re really pretty.”
“...”
“You’re charming and pretty. You look so beautiful that anyone would fall for you, so you don’t have to worry about anything. Just think of it as going out for a hunt or carrying out a mission. Actually, it’ll be a lot easier if you consider this a spy mission. You really don’t have to be so hard on yourself, so please just go,” I explained.
“O-Okay,” she replied.
When I patted Jo Hye-Jin’s back, she finally moved forward. She was definitely surprised because she looked back slightly, but as the door closed, she looked as if she had made up her mind.
Now that she was ready, I had to make my own preparations as well.
I was all smiles as I entered another room and started setting things up. The room looked like an official control room. There were five magic hologram monitors in the room. It seemed a bit excessive, but I had to see even the tiniest of body language, so five monitors weren’t actually enough.
I really had to make sure that I could see as much information as possible.
Lee Ji-Hye helped me set up the room, even though she was definitely tired after doing most of the work today. However, she didn’t seem that annoyed. She kept on nodding as if she was pleased, and it seemed that she really liked this task.
“Thanks, noona,” I said.
“It’s nothing. It’s something I had to do as well. Anyway, the more I think about it, the craftier I find you,” Lee Ji-Hye said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“No need to play dumb since I know what you’re thinking, oppa,” she answered.
‘What am I thinking…?’
I could usually deduce Lee Ji-Hye’s ridiculous thoughts, but this time, I had no idea what she was talking about. When I looked at her as if I were asking what she was talking about, Lee Ji-Hye spoke while cleaning a table.
“You’re trying to plant one of your people next to Hyun-Sung oppa, right? It’s about time you started doing that,” she asked.
‘What is she talking about?’
“I don’t think it’ll be a big problem considering how much you think about him, but it’s not a bad idea to have a little insurance either. It’s like a queen-making project, so I think it’ll be pretty fun. You’re more meticulous than me, seeing that I didn’t even think about doing that. That’s my Lee Ki-Young~” she said.
‘What the hell is she saying?’
Perhaps because I was dumb, but I had never really thought about doing something like that at all.
Unlike Lee Ji-Hye’s thoughts, my goal was to actually help Hyun-Sung.
Of course, I couldn’t really blame her for misunderstanding it because it made sense in the overall picture.
I would stay with Kim Hyun-Sung forever, even during the end of the world. However, I couldn’t help but think about how the internal affairs of Blue Guild would become even more complicated the stronger we grow.
Factions could appear out of nowhere, and I might have to fight politically against someone in the Blue Guild.
Of course, it was difficult to imagine a group of people going against me when I already had so much power, but the future had always been unknown, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have Jo Hye-Jin by his side. If I had to give an example, I was like Minister Lee, who was standing behind the king’s wife.
Jo Hye-Jin said that she felt uncomfortable, but it made sense considering the strange relationship between her and me.
‘Not bad…’
This was a project that wouldn’t give any results soon, but it was a worthy investment.
“Well, that’s not the only reason, but think what you want. Anyway, clean that up as well. I think we should set up another monitor,” I told her.
“I’m not surprised. I can help you with this, right?” Lee Ji-Hye asked.
“I called you here so that you can do this with me. Are you done with your tasks?” I asked.
“I still have some tasks that I have to handle, but I don’t really have to worry about them. Let’s finish setting these up and sit down. Personally, this is kind of contradictory, but I’m curious about what’s going to happen as well…”
”I honestly thought that Hyun-Sung oppa was either a eunuch, a homo, or a person who only likes to have sex with no strings attached. He didn’t really react to our Yeon-Joo unni, but it’s starting to make sense when I thought about how he was in the tutorial dungeon as well,” she answered.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I don’t like saying this about myself, but I’m pretty enough no matter where I go. Back then, he didn’t even look my way, and my pride was hurt a lot,” she replied.
“Well…”
“Do you know how surprised I was when I heard that he had dinner with someone? He’s a lot better now, but he still isn’t really the type to eat dinner with a stranger.” Lee Ji-Hye pointed out.
“I was surprised as well. Ah, start the mana connection there,” I instructed.
“Yeah, yeah. I think this should be enough… Do you need anything else?” Lee Ji-Hye asked.
“Not really,” I answered.
“Let’s start,” she suggested.
“All right.”
Lee Ji-Hye booted everything up, and the magic hologram started lighting up one by one. A monitor was displaying Jo Hye-Jin’s point of view, the other monitor displayed a close-up of her face, and there were a few holograms showing her entire body.
Of course, I didn’t do this because I wanted to leer at her body. It was all because the hands and feet were important because one could extrapolate a lot of information from them by reading the target’s body language.
The first thing I saw was Jo Hye-Jin’s nervous face.
She looked like an outsider standing in the middle of a club or an introvert buried in the crowd. Her confident movement was nowhere to be seen.
She looked awkward and scared, which was a memorable sight to behold, especially because she was Jo Hye-Jin.
‘What is she doing?’
Obviously, I had to hurry up and fix her posture. When I started talking, I saw her surprised expression.
“Mic test. Ah. Did you commit a crime or something? Stop cowering and walk with confidence. And don’t walk like a man. Walk cautiously, but do it ever so slightly. Straighten your back and walk with your chest wide open. We went through the trouble of making you look nice, so let’s show it off to the guild staff members…”
”Anyway, you can hear me, right? If you can, stroke your lips once,” I requested.
She could hear me.
“Good job, your posture is okay now. Don’t go anywhere. Enter the Guild House right away. You’re going there to do your job. Don’t be nervous. Just act like you usually do. Don’t expect perfection on your first attempt. Perfection does happen during first times, but they’re rare,” I continued.
- I-I wasn’t even expecting something like that. I’m just—
“Did I say something? Anyway, try not to talk because you’ll look like you’re talking to the air. Now, now, don’t worry about useless things and open the door. Open it and close it slowly,” I ordered.
The slightly blushing Jo Hye-Jin took a deep breath and opened the door. She was moving really cautiously, but I thought she was acting that way because her target was Kim Hyun-Sung’s office.
I could also see Kim Hyun-Sung through the magic hologram, and I thought he was hard at work right now, but he was doing something else.
‘That bastard. Why is he looking at that shoe?’
Kim Hyun-Sung seemed anxious as he stared at a shoe on his desk.