Chapter 58: The Chaebol Heiress’s Dating Method (3)

The park date with her, who had her own charm, ended at a slightly disappointing moment, but anyway, the enjoyable time was bound to continue, given that the person beside me hadn’t changed.

Today’s dinner continued with a meal date at an Italian restaurant reserved by Do Sihee.

After being drawn into the overwhelming space just by entering, we followed the staff’s guidance into one of the several rooms, and the staff member who guided us immediately took out the order sheet and began taking our dinner order.

“For the appetizer, would you prefer the bread or the salad?”

While I was pondering what kind of answer to give, Do Sihee, sitting across from me, spoke first.

“What do today’s bread and salad consist of?”

“The bread is crostini topped with chicken pesto on garlic baguette. The salad is salmon poke with a fruit dressing.”

“In that case, please give me the salad.”

“And for the gentleman, which would you prefer?”

“…I’ll have the same.”

“Yes, two salads have been ordered.”

While listening to the restaurant staff’s explanation, I admired Do Sihee’s skillful ordering and inadvertently ended up following her chosen menu exactly.

What could I do? It was knowledge in a field I couldn’t possibly understand.

Not knowing what crostini or poke was, it was rational for me in many ways to just follow her choice obediently.

“Do you drink well?”

“I drink about as much as anyone else.”

“Two glasses of Perrier-Jouët, please.”

“Yes, certainly.”

After confirming the staff member who took the final wine order stepped back and disappeared outside the room, I was finally able to continue the conversation I had held back for a moment.

“What kind of place is this, anyway…?”

“It’s an ordinary Italian restaurant. Except for the private rooms and the Han River views.”

…Even excluding that, it didn’t seem like a particularly ordinary restaurant.

I felt the distance we had psychologically closed, even if just for a moment, widening again in an instant.

Is a restaurant of this caliber considered ordinary for a conglomerate heiress?

“Aren’t you paying a bit too much attention to me today? Of course, I’m grateful you prepared a place like this, but I don’t think I’ve done anything to warrant this level of favor.”

“Really? Still, I thought I’d prepared an ordinary course since it’s our first official date.”

“…Is that so.”

It was strange enough that she called a restaurant where a proposal wouldn’t seem out of place right now ‘ordinary’.

If a Han River view restaurant is considered an ordinary course, then just what level would a special course be?

Surely not, maybe a restaurant like the one at the Eiffel Tower in Paris would be considered ‘special’?

“Excuse me for a moment.”

The restaurant staff member opened the door to the private room and entered with two salad plates and two wine glasses, arranging them in front of me and Do Sihee.

Then, they skillfully opened the cork of the seemingly expensive wine right before our eyes and filled both glasses about two-thirds full.

As soon as the staff member stepped away with a greeting, Do Sihee gracefully lifted her glass with three fingers and asked me.

“Would you like a glass?”

“…Yes.”

I clumsily imitated Do Sihee’s way of holding her glass and lifted mine. Soon, in the private room where only she and I remained, the clear sound of two glasses clinking rang out.

-Clink.

Following Do Sihee’s action, after lightly clinking my glass once, I brought it to my lips and took a small sip.

I knew well enough that drinking this liquid all at once would be considered unsophisticated behavior, no matter that it was my first time trying wine.

As I savored the sip of wine that entered my mouth, the rich grape aroma and a rather long aftertaste lingered on my tongue.

“How is it?”

“Although this is my first time trying wine, I can’t deny that it’s delicious and a good wine.”

“It’s generally good to get accustomed to new foods with expensive ones.”

I was worried it might be unnecessarily difficult to go back to cheaper options after getting accustomed to something too expensive. But thinking about it, since I don’t usually drink wine much anyway, I figured it wouldn’t matter much if my palate got accustomed to expensive wine.

If I were to drink it in the future, I vaguely thought I’d likely only be drinking it with Do Sihee, so I’d naturally end up drinking expensive wine then too.

After that, I slowly savored the taste of the appetizer salad, made of lettuce, salmon, and so on. Do Sihee, who had been quietly continuing her meal, initiated conversation again.

“Earlier, you said you hadn’t done anything to warrant this level of favor, didn’t you?”

“That’s correct.”

“This might sound a bit strange, but the encounter you and I shared that day was an action of much higher value than this date.”

“…What?”

Unable to understand what she meant, I inadvertently asked again. She gave me a refreshing smile and delivered some good news.

“In two days, the promotion test date to become an A-class Hunter has been set.”

“Ah.”

“It’s thanks to you. Thank you, Sungchul-ssi.”

Of course, the promotion wasn’t confirmed just because the test date was set, but recalling the abilities she showed the last day we met, perhaps the current Do Sihee would be more than capable of stepping up as an A-class Hunter.

“Of course, I’ve only just reached the same starting line as my sister, and even if I get promoted, it’ll only be one or two steps forward in the succession competition. But anyway, just for making me an A-class Hunter, you fully deserve to enjoy everything in this room.”

“…Is that so.”

“So, don’t hold back on my account; please enjoy yourself to your heart’s content today, just as you wish.”

As soon as Do Sihee, having said that, rang the call bell on the table, the same staff member from earlier came back into the room, and she calmly requested the next course of the meal.

“What options do you have for the primi?”

“We have ravioli, trofie pasta, and risotto.”

“Please give me the ravioli that doesn’t contain garlic and onion.”

“Yes, certainly.”

“Uh, I’ll have the same…”

“In that case, we will prepare the tomato basil ravioli without garlic and onion for both of you.”

After the staff collected the plates that held the appetizer, Do Sihee cautiously shifted her gaze towards me and spoke.

“I told you not to worry about me.”

“When was I worrying about you?”

“You don’t necessarily need to follow the course I’m having. The joy of choosing dishes is also part of this course. If you’re unfamiliar with the dish names, actively ask for explanations. That’s what restaurant staff are there for.”

I somewhat agreed with the obvious logic Do Sihee presented, but there was another reason I followed her opinion again for this course.

“While it’s true I followed your opinion, it’s only because my own opinion happened to align with yours.”

“…Is that so.”

“Yes.”

Dishes without garlic and onion. It was, in its own way, an important factor on a date between a man and a woman.

Do Sihee perhaps understood my words instantly, blushing slightly. The staff member who entered immediately after set the second dish down in front of me and her.

After placing the flat, plate-shaped pasta on the table, the staff member refilled our wine glasses to two-thirds full before disappearing back outside the room.

After about two bites from the plate to my mouth, the conversation with Do Sihee resumed.

“I’d like to continue the story we were talking about earlier.”

“Yes, please go ahead.”

“Since you’re a Hunter too, you probably know about that peculiar rumor among Hunters-the one about how to maintain active status without retiring for a long time.”

“…Of course, I know.”

The method secretly spread among Hunters for maintaining active status for a long time without retiring.

It was marrying a husband who was a former Hunter.

“They say that women who are Hunters usually find it hard to fall deeply in love with ordinary men. Because having risked their lives countless times fighting monsters, their sense of emotion is quite different from that of ordinary people.”

“…Well, they do say that.”

“But even those women fall deeply in love with husbands who were former Hunters. Although their numbers are significantly smaller compared to female Hunters.”

Of course, that’s natural.

Up until now, there hasn’t been a single properly awakened individual among male Hunters.

Male Hunters who reached D-class or C-class purely based on physical ability could probably share sufficiently similar emotions with existing female Hunters, and that likely fulfilled their sexual satisfaction.

Before, I couldn’t properly grasp this phenomenon, but since awakening the ability called ‘Hunter Lust Manager’, I felt like I could understand the correlation between female Hunters’ retirement and having a Hunter husband to some extent.

I already had experience helping Cha Yuri and Do Sihee regain their lost awakened abilities through similar cases.

Hunters can regain their lost awakened abilities not just through physical intimacy or sex without affection, but when they feel genuine satisfaction from fully possessing each other from the depths of their hearts.

I had provisionally concluded in my mind that they could furthermore maintain their awakened abilities at their peak.

“Having said this much, I think you’ve probably guessed what comes next…”

“……”

“Perhaps, are you interested?”

Do Sihee, sitting across from my seat, offered an indirect proposal with a smile.

I pondered her question, which was practically no different from a proposal.

“I…”

I calmly conveyed my honest feelings at the current point in time to her.