City of Witches

1.

At the center table of the host club.

Siwoo, who seated himself there at table 1, was being bombarded with questions from the witch.

“Can you show me your magic?”

Queue number one, the witch who had been lining up since the break of dawn and the one who first entered the club, was looking at him with shining eyes.

If this was the past Siwoo, he woulda been half-terrified by this.

Actually, he’d rather not deal with this kind of thing.

Because it was clear from her eyes…

That the witch was seeing him like some kind of frog on an experiment table, at least that was how he felt.

But, for today, he decided to ignore that feeling.

If he were to fail in doing his role as the bait and all the customers that came for him ended up never returning to the club again, he wouldn’t have the face to meet with Takasho again.

“Since you came all the way here just to meet me, of course I can show you my magic.”

“Really? Are you really going to show me?”

“Bloom.”

Actually, he didn’t need to chant to cast this level of magic, but he figured that it’d be better for him to put on a show here as part of the service. With his magic, he created a lump of shadow.

The witch held a slide glass to the magic floating in his palm with a drooling mouth and crazed expression.

“O-Ooh… W-Wooah…! I-Is it a shadow?”

For reference, the slide glass was something the witch normally used to collect magic patterns; The thing was made of quartz.

Thanks to quartz’s structure characteristics (Framework Silicates), it was easy to store magic patterns in it. Its durability also exceeded glass’ by a lot, so it was a popular material for collectors.

“Yes. Its structure is similar to that of a hook and with this kind of structure, it’s easy for it to interfere with the manifestation of magic. These days I’m trying to add more to its structure by combining it with Elemental Magic though.”

“Really? You’re combining it with Elemental Magic? Combining two magic from different fields of study isn’t an easy thing to do, you know? You’re impressive…!”

Despite everything, she was a kind and well-mannered witch, a perfect witch as his first guest.

Though she wasn’t wealthy by any means, she still went out of her way to gift him a bottle of alcohol as she felt sorry for inconveniencing him.

“The particles seem irregular, how do you connect them to each other?”

“It’s not that difficult if you were to use linear combination and set it up in a virtual space. You only need to create an outline, then all you need to do is to connect the whole thing by using the hooks.”

“Ah, I see! So you went with a basic approach, huh?”

With that, their magic discussion began.

It made him wonder if this was the right thing to do as a host, but he couldn’t deny that he was feeling more at ease talking about this matter.

“If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask me.”

The petite witch hesitated for a while before steeling her resolve and asked him a question.

“Can you please come to my house?”

“I appreciate that, but I’m sorry, that request is a little hard for me to fulfill.”

“I knew it, that was too much, huh? It’s just, you know, I don’t have much money, so I can’t come here often. Well, it’s okay. The sample I received from you today is plentiful enough!”

To his surprise, the witch gave up quite easily.

He really had thought that she’d crazily obsess over him, but it wasn’t the case at all. She treated him well, he even felt that they could genuinely get along.

After that, they proceeded to talk about various things until the fifteen minute timer on the hourglass ran out.

“Oh my God! I can’t believe that I really talked to a male witch! After this, I’m going to brag about it to all my friends!”

The witch, who left a good impression on Siwoo, stood up and left the table with happy steps.

Of course, Siwoo stood up to escort her out before coming back to sit down again.

“Huh, this is easier than I thought…”

That short session gave her confidence that he could serve the rest of the witches well.

Normally, witches looked down on men, but Siwoo’s situation was a little special.

While he was, indeed, a man, he was a man who could use magic.

And such, he was able to serve those witches on a more equal footing from the start, a privilege that no other hosts had.

“Welcome, thank you for coming.”

Of course.

Not all witches thought that way.

The next witch who came in was a tall witch—around 175cm tall—with blonde hair. Since she was wearing heels, she was at the same eye level as Siwoo.

As soon as he noticed her supermodel-like figure and sharp gaze, he immediately thought, ‘I’m screwed now’.

Unlike the previous witch who looked around curiously as she sat down carefully…

This witch immediately crossed her legs as she sat down, seemingly used to this kind of luxurious atmosphere.

“It’s hard to believe that Gehenna has a host club of its own now. Nice.”

“Hello, it’s an honor to meet you. My name is Shin Siwoo and I’ll be in charge of serving you, Ms. Witch, for the next fifteen minutes.”

He politely introduced himself while standing, following what Takasho had taught him, but the witch only replied to him with a snort.

“So you’re the one who became a witch, even though you’re a man?”

Not all witches possessed curiosity toward Siwoo’s existence, or treated it in a positive way.

For some of them, magic was something sacred.

And Siwoo’s existence was a sacrilegious stain; To them, he was a filthy and unwelcome invader who had the audacity to barge into their sanctuary.

An impure element, a pretender who thought that being able to cast a spell or two made him qualified to be called a witch.

In any case, it was clear that this second customer didn’t seem to be pleased by his existence.

“I was merely lucky.”

“I care not about your pitiful aptitude for magic. What I’m here for is to see if you really possess a spirit body or not and that’s all.”

Throughout this exchange, Siwoo felt something strange.

Maybe this was the result of Takasho’s training, but…

Despite her openly trying to pick a fight with him, he didn’t particularly feel anything about it.

“Is that so? Now that you’ve seen me in person, may I know your thoughts about me?”

“...”

Siwoo opened the champagne bottle’s cork and poured its content into a glass, all while maintaining an amicable smile.

The witch only stared at him without even taking a glance at the drink.

She was about to open her mouth to say something, but when she saw him sitting down after he finished pouring the drink, she immediately threw a sharp remark towards him.

“This is the first time you’re doing this sort of thing, isn’t it?”

“You could tell? As expected, I’m still a little clumsy in some aspects. Also, I’m a little bit nervous since I’m serving someone distinguished like you, Ms. Witch. Please forgive me if you feel uncomfortable because of me.”

Takasho had taught him a certain concept for him to use.

The handsome virgin concept.

To put it simply, he was to play an introverted virgin who wasn’t aware of his own attractiveness.

When Siwoo first heard that he’d need to play out that kind of character, he almost blurted out ‘What the fuck is this?’ toward his friend.

But, when he thought about it for a second, that concept suited him well because that was how he used to act for the longest time.

Hearing his answer, the witch wrinkled her nose in response.

She probably expected him to be embarrassed or angry, but sadly for her, that wasn’t the case at all.

Because, compared to back when he had to suffer through Amelia’s harassment for five years, this was merely a child play.

When Amelia got angry, it felt like hell itself froze over as she started speaking in an icy, quiet tone.

Meanwhile, this witch felt like an angry cat, meowing aggressively at him.

Also, unlike back when he was a slave, his life wouldn’t be threatened even if he were to fight back here.

He expected that the difficulty of his current errand was S, but it turned out that it was only B+ at most.

“No, that wasn’t what I was talking about. Aren’t you a host? Shouldn’t you ask your customer’s name first before anything else?”

“Pardon my mistake then. May I know your name?”

“Too late. You already failed in the most basic of the basics, disappointing. Also, you didn’t even bother to use a fake name.”

Huh?

Right, there’s such a thing, huh?

Except for Takasho, as he was the manager, all the hosts working at the club had a fake name and used them to serve their customers.

Of course Siwoo didn’t have it because he thought that it was embarrassing, but it was clear that the witch wouldn’t let him slide if he were to tell her that.

“You already failed at the basics, what makes you think you can serve me well, hm?”

I guess it’s time to use one of the skills Takasho had taught me.

Siwoo, who had been avoiding making eye contact with the witch, suddenly looked straight at her eyes.

According to Takasho…

If one wished to flirt and flatter a woman, the one had to look straight into her eyes first.

Women wouldn’t think that one was lying if they were to make eye contact with them.

“What’s with that gaze? Are you upset? If you are, then you’re unqualified as a host. Seriously, after I decided to spare fifteen minutes of my precious time to have fun…”

“I have forgotten about something important.”

The witch really expected that he was angry because she had provoked him far enough, but his soft tone betrayed her expectations.

She raised her eyes, perplexed by this situation.

“Then, will you give me a name, Ms. Witch?”

“What…? Me…?”

“If you were to give me a name, I think it would add meaning to the name. And I will always remember that meaning for the whole time I’m working as a host here.”

More like, for the whole two weeks I’m working here.

Of course, he didn’t say that part out loud.

After he was done delivering his line, the witch’s venomous gaze shook strongly.

He could even see her gulping from where he was at.

In contrast, he was completely calm, seemingly eager to hear her reply to his offer.

“...”

No matter how much the witch tried to get him angry, he didn’t even budge an eyebrow to it.

She could think that this was just because of him being prideful and refusing to lose to her here, but…

He clearly acknowledged his mistake, apologized, even passed on a ‘special role’ to her so that she could give him a pseudonym.

In a witch’s society, a name was something extremely meaningful.

Even if the subject of the matter was merely a pseudonym of a host, it was still a name at the end of the day.

Now that he had gone this far, it would be uncouth of her to keep on pushing just to get him angry. Besides, there was something that she had noticed… The fact that the closer she tried to look at him, the more she found him handsome…

“My name is… Ceres Sikonax…”

“A name of a Goddess, that suits you well.”

“Does it? I never really thought about it before…”

“Of course. Then, may I know what your suggestion for my name would be? No need to rush, we still have ten minutes left. In fact, it might be fun if we spend all that time to come up with one together.”

Siwoo blurted that out without giving her any chance to react.

Not expecting him to approach her like this, Ceres could only blink her eyes before crossing her arms.

Before she knew it, her aversion towards the fact that he was a male witch was diluted and she began to think, trying to come up with a fake name that she could give him so that she could feel a little better.

“Hm, what fake name would be good for you…?”

Takasho, who had been listening to their exchange from the side, smiled in satisfaction.

He was a little anxious for his friend since the customer this time seemed to be an especially prickly one, but…

As expected, there was no need for him to worry.

After all, this was no longer Shin Siwoo of the past, but Shin Siwoo who managed to seduce not one, not two, but three witches, while also bagging two apprentice witches all at once.

Just look at him…

He doesn’t seem to be doing it intentionally, but he seduces that witch well.

According to his experience, unpolished charm was something that was fatal to a woman’s heart.

That was a reason why makeup that made them look like they were wearing no makeup was popular among women; Because they liked it when something looked natural.

When Takasho rose to the top of his position, the promising juniors who could probably compete with him one day all gave off that kind of unpolished charm vibe.

Too bad that all of them were rather soft-hearted, as they usually failed to keep their emotions in check, ended up falling too deeply in love with one of the customers and retired soon after.

If this is Kabukicho, maybe…

That got him thinking, if Siwoo were to walk on this path together with him and gain enough experience…and if they were to compete with each other…who exactly would win among them?

The way he served his customers was nothing short of excellent, to the point that Takasho couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

After that, there were no major problems in the club.

Takasho’s quick wit that he gained from rolling around the various host clubs in his hometown let him provide whatever it was that the customers needed before they could even ask.

The thirty hosts that he trained for three months managed to satisfy the witches with their service without any issue.

Considering the influx of customers, Takasho wanted to ban the witches from coming for a second time for a while, but it was clear that a lot of them already considered coming for the second time.

With that, Gehenna Glass Rose’s grand opening concluded.

It was now 2 am, the witches had already left and the whole place had turned quiet.

After they finished cleaning the club, the hosts gathered in the center of the room, clearly looking exhausted.

“Attention!”

Since the business day was over, it was time for them to count their earnings.

“Everyone worked hard today! All your efforts have borne fruits!”

Standing on the stairs, Takasho sent words of congratulations to the hosts who had worked really hard throughout the day.

With calm eyes, he scanned through each one of them. These were the guys he had been drinking together with in the last few months.

It was hard to believe that just a few months ago, they didn’t even know if they should drink the alcohol they served or not.

After working for twelve hours and cleaning up the place, they all looked ragged and their exhaustion was clear, but all of them were wearing satisfied expressions.

Some of them were even grinning at him.

“Alright, I’ll announce our profit for the day.”

Hearing those words, the hosts instantly became nervous.

“Our earning for the day is 2,112 gold pounds.”

“Huh…?”

“What?”

“Two thousand…?”

Hearing that mind-boggling amount of money came out of Takasho’s mouth, the hosts were left dumbfounded.

Even Siwoo, who was leaning on the stairs, completely exhausted after serving more than a hundred witches in a row, left his mouth hanging open.

That was roughly 1.7 billion and 74.08 million won in just a day.

Maybe because it was money, his mental calculation was quicker than usual.

“After deducting the price of alcohol and such… Our earnings for the day dropped to 1,267 gold pounds.”

“...”

“...”

After that, the commotion subsided and the place was thrown into silence.

Of course, if they were to factor in their monthly debt and its interests, the price of snacks and alcohol they had to buy, labor costs and so on, the earning would drop by half easily.

Just from the alcohol alone, their earnings were reduced to 1 billion and 64.44 million won.

But…

This was their earnings for the day. Not a month or a week, but a day.

Everyone looked at Takasho, who continued his report in a calm tone, in bewilderment.

“This is the first day, so we need to treat it as an exception among exceptions. What happened today won’t happen every day, but for tomorrow and the day after, we can expect to be as busy as today. That’s why, while you guys can relax, don’t let your guard down.”

“...”

“...”

“But…”

Takasho clenched his fists, lowered his head down, and said while in tears.

“We did it, you brats! We did it! Thank you for all your hard work! Please keep up with your good work in the future!”

“Woaah! Takasho hyung!”

“This all only happened thanks to this Shin Siwoo over here! Give praise to this friend of mine, you idiots!”

“Siwoo! Siwoo! Siwoo!”

“Takasho! Takasho! Takasho!”

After that, the place was thrown into a frenzy again.

They hugged each other, running around the room frantically, chanting Takasho’s and Siwoo’s names.

All this time, they had been struggling, taking up various side jobs just to make up for the club’s deficit, dealing with anxiety over their job that might disappear at any moment, all while honing their skill to be a great host. Now that all their efforts had finally borne fruit, it wasn’t a wonder that they’d lost themselves in joy like this.

Even Siwoo and Takasho danced around with the hosts, as if they were crazy.

It was a wonderful night when a man’s dream came true.