Deal Breaker - Chapter 10
“No… In all my years as a researcher—no, since the founding of the Center, there’s never been a match rate like this. But, seriously, how did it end up being that guy…”
But that wasn’t the end of the matching.
An hour later, as Hyeji stared at the large screen densely filled with thirty-two faces, she was completely dazed.
There are this many with a match rate over 30%?
Among them, the top three matches were displayed most prominently at the top. The first place had a match rate of 94.52%, a whole 40% higher than the second place.
“Wow… Hyeji-ssi…”
Iyeon, looking at the screen with her, murmured in a dazed voice.
“Your phone’s going to be on fire now.”
* * *
“Your phone’s going to be on fire now.”
It almost literally caught fire.
They said that when a match is made, the Espers are notified automatically. Calls poured in from the Espers on the matching list. Her phone overheated to the point of shutting down.
Everyone wanted to meet first to discuss contracts, but Hyeji refused. Her first step was to filter the candidates herself.
Her first criterion was appearance.
She had already set age as a condition for matching, so there was no need to check that. Based on the profile pictures and height, she filtered out those who weren’t her type, reducing the 32 to 14. From those, she requested that anyone who called her send the contract terms in advance.
No point meeting if the contract conditions were lacking. It would just be a waste of time.
Some of them even sent lengthy letters along with their contracts. “It would be the greatest honor if I could serve as Guide Noh Hyeji’s…” and so on. Saying nice things costs nothing. Hyeji ignored all the flattery and judged only by the value of the numbers in the contract, filtering the candidates even further.
Now she was down to 10.
Only then did Hyeji meet with the Espers. All of them chose high-end hotel restaurants in Gangnam as their meeting places, and brought expensive luxury gifts. Some of the foreigners used domestic agents as proxies, while others had flown in from the other side of the world.
She’d gone from being an F-Class ‘untouchable’ to being treated like an S-Class princess overnight. Having tasted the bottom of the pyramid, the air at the top didn’t seem all that sweet.
One of the candidates even proposed marriage at their very first meeting, showing off photos of a huge mansion, a garage full of sports cars, and a luxurious yacht to demonstrate his wealth.
Still, wasn’t marriage a bit much? Why propose to someone you barely know?
Quitting a job is easy, but divorcing is hard. And if a child comes along unexpectedly, it could become a shackle.
She realized she felt differently now than when she’d heard about another Guide accepting a marriage proposal like this. In that Guide’s case, it was her choice, so there was no reason to think badly of her, but an Esper proposing marriage as a way to secure a Guide’s loyalty seemed far from admirable.
It was a ploy to possess a Guide for life.
Now she could see that.
“Hmm… should I sign with this guy?”
Staring at the photo of one of the remaining candidates, Hyeji muttered quietly. She’d marked X’s over the faces of twenty on the same page. The ones without an X were down to ten. For the remaining two, she’d drawn a big question mark.
Only two out of thirty-two hadn’t made contact.
It had already been two months since the matching results, so it was fair to assume these two had no intention of making a contract. So she put an X through them too.
Then, a few days later, as she was on her way to sign with the Korean Esper who’d offered the highest annual salary, a call came from one of the two who hadn’t contacted her.
Han Kanghyeon. She’d thought he’d be the first to call, given his match rate was highest, but he was the very last.
And yet, his salary offer was the highest out of all thirty-one. He showed more eagerness to make a contract than anyone else, but when they finally met, his expression was one of obvious displeasure, as if he didn’t actually want to sign.
What’s his problem? Was he dragged out here against his will? He looked just like one of those chaebol heirs in a drama, forced to go on blind dates by his parents.
He’d also chosen a hotel restaurant for their meeting, just like all the other Espers, but he hadn’t brought a gift. Since all the Espers’ gifts felt like traps and she hadn’t accepted a single one, Hyeji was actually relieved by that.
While waiting for their meal, an uncomfortable silence filled the private dining room. By this time, the other Espers had asked her all sorts of questions or brag about themselves, but not this time. His silent, persistent gaze made Hyeji so uneasy that she found herself repeatedly looking at her phone instead.
