I Wished for Non-Face-to-Face Lectures

“Jaehyuk.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Can’t you tell me a bit about this friend of yours who’s coming today? I’m really curious right now.”

“What’s there to be curious about? What’s so special about my friend?”

Perhaps because of a busy schedule, the week passed by quickly.

And matching that pace, the day when Jiwoo was supposed to visit the cocktail bar for a field trip approached in the blink of an eye.

So on the day of the visit, I arrived at work early and was eagerly waiting for Jiwoo to come.

The boss kept questioning me about Jiwoo, which was starting to get annoying.

“Special, right? A nice person who became friends with you, someone who grumbles at every opportunity.”

“…Isn’t your assessment of me too harsh? I’m not that antisocial.”

“No, I may not know much else, but I have a good eye for people. You’re nice, but you have absolutely no manners, what they call… a tsundere, maybe?”

“Huh.”

As I let out a snort of disbelief, the fox beastman customer who was leisurely drinking a Long Island Iced Tea in front of me burst into laughter and spoke up.

“Puhehe, from what I can see, the boss seems to be right?”

“Wh-where do you see that…?”

“Being a fox beastman, I have good ears. Hoho, how cute you are, cursing roughly to their face while taking care of them behind their back.”

“…”

Left speechless by the combined attack from the boss and the customer, I just stared at the swaying fox tail. Then the boss asked me in a worried voice.

“By the way, being a bartender isn’t as easy as it looks… will your friend be able to handle it?”

“Ah, don’t worry about that. No matter what they do, they always perform above average.”

“…That’s an amazing ability? Isn’t that remarkable?”

“It is remarkable, but they don’t realize it themselves.”

Though they claim to be ordinary, that’s clearly a deception to others.

They adapt to anything quickly, and while they don’t particularly stand out, they don’t fall behind either.

Someone who wouldn’t be disliked in any place or organization.

A person with a thousand talents, a genius (千才).

That’s exactly who Han Jiwoo was.

“They may be clueless about alcohol, but give them just a week and they’ll adapt and work normally? No wait, maybe they’ll even attract lots of customers.”

“What do you mean by attracting lots of customers?”

“Ah, you’ll see when they get here. Just a moment, they said they’re almost here? I can see them now.”

Looking toward the entrance, a moment later, a beautiful vampire in casual attire opened the door and came in.

Seeing Jiwoo dressed as usual, the boss opened his mouth slowly with a dazed expression.

“Silver hair, red eyes, beautiful woman, formal attire, bartender…?”

“What…?”

“How could I miss such a rare find!!!”

Forgetting all dignity, the boss rushed to Jiwoo in an instant.

Breathing heavily like a pervert, the boss proposed to the bewildered-looking Jiwoo.

“You said you’re Jaehyuk’s friend, right?”

“Huh? Yes, I guess so…?”

“You’re more than welcome. The hourly wage, what hourly wage would you like?!”

Hey, boss?

They haven’t even said they’ll work here yet…?

A much more intense welcome than I had expected.

Wondering what was going on, I shot Jaehyuk a look asking for an explanation, but he shook his head as if he didn’t know either.

Seriously, what kind of explanation did he give for me to receive this kind of treatment…?

Feeling dumbfounded, I took a few steps back, and only then did the man take a deep breath and subdue his frenzy.

I sent him a concerned look and cautiously opened my mouth.

“Are, are you okay?”

“What? Oh, yes! I got too excited without realizing… You must be very surprised? I’m really sorry.”

“Oh, no. I was just a little startled. By the way, who are you?”

I kind of guessed it.

Judging by the questions about being Jaehyuk’s friend and the hourly wage, this person must be the bar owner.

After all, an employee would never be this meddlesome with a customer.

To be honest, I wanted to run out of the cocktail bar right now because the person in front of me was too overwhelming.

But thinking about it, the boss decided to open the bar today because of me, right?

Since I would feel quite guilty just turning around and leaving, I decided to stay at least for a little while.

“I-I really don’t know what came over me, I’m sorry… I’m late with my introduction. I’m Lee Myungho, the owner of this place.”

“I’m Han Jiwoo. I’ve heard a lot about you from Jaehyuk, that you’re a good person.”

“Ha, haha… You’re too kind. Jaehyuk is over there. Please go and talk comfortably. Well, I have some business to attend to, so…”

Probably feeling quite awkward, the boss rushed out of the store as if escaping, and I sat down in front of where Jaehyuk was, tilting my head in confusion.

“Hey, what kind of nonsensical lie did you tell that made the boss act like that? I thought I was going to die from embarrassment!”

“No, I really didn’t say anything special! I only said that you do a good job with things, that’s all!”

“And just because of that one statement, he welcomes me so intensely?”

“I don’t know either, I’ve never seen the boss like this before. Hey, you guys tell him. Did I say anything special?”

Shake, shake.

The other bartenders answered no with serious faces, so it seemed to be true.

I was lost in thought for a moment, wondering what could have prompted such an intense welcome, when he handed me a menu.

“What would you like? I’ll give you up to three drinks for free.”

“Like I would understand anything by looking at the menu? Just give me something sweet for now.”

“Okay, I gave you a Mojito last time… then how about a Piña Colada?”

“I’m telling you, I don’t know what that is even if you say it!”

“There’s a sweet cocktail that tastes like pineapple at first, and coconut at the end. Wait a bit.”

After briefly explaining the cocktail he was about to make, he immediately started moving busily to prepare it.

As I was watching him, suddenly I felt something soft and fluffy, a pleasant sensation in my hand.

A dangerous feeling that automatically made my face go slack.

Quickly pulling my hand away and looking at what had wrapped around it, there was a large, extremely fluffy brown fox tail.

…So what I heard in the community was true, that fox beastman tails have an amazing texture.

After briefly missing the incredible tail sensation, I looked at the owner of the tail with a questioning face, and the fox beastman smiled brightly and asked me for a conversation.

“Can we talk for a moment?”

This was the first time I was talking to another transformed species in reality, not on a community site.

I tensely asked the fox beastman.

“…What is it?”

“Hoho, no need to be so tense. You can talk comfortably, just like you were chatting with your friend earlier?”

“That might be difficult. I’m quite shy around strangers.”

When I sent her a wary look, the brown fox smiled widely and looked back at me.

“I just found it interesting that there’s a vampire in Korea, so I approached you. I’ve heard that life is extremely harsh for you.”

“…It is difficult. Korean people themselves are almost like natural enemies to vampires.”

“Judging by your bad expression, you must have suffered quite a bit?”

“I’ll spare the details.”

I tried to avoid the conversation by munching on some cracker-like snacks that came on a small plate, but the fox beastman smiled broadly and said something I couldn’t possibly ignore.

“It’s because people keep approaching you, right? Even if you try to avoid them forcibly, they keep following you.”

“…!”

“Judging by your expression, I seem to be right? But… what to do, if you keep avoiding the conversation like this, I won’t be able to help you~”

A gentle voice that seemed to be teasing me.

Slowly turning my head to look at her, the fox beastman swayed her luscious tail and gave a mischievous smile.

“Finally looking at me now?”

“Stop joking around and tell me. What’s the solution?”

“Should I tell you for free?”

Is she a con artist after all?

When I narrowed my eyes, the fox beastman folded her arms with a sulky expression, as if offended.

“I’m not that kind of person! What do you take me for?”

“A suspicious fox beastman with a suspiciously good-textured tail.”

“…My, you see me clearly.”

Pretending to be startled, she pointed to a cocktail listed on the menu.

“Buy me a drink and I’ll tell you. Including how to solve it. How about it? Not a bad deal, right?”

“Uh, Kahlúa Milk? Is this it?”

“No, why would I drink that? If I were to drink that, I’d just go to a convenience store and buy coffee milk. This one, please.”

“…Orgasm?”

“Yeees, I always finish with this as a palate cleanser.”

After calling the bartender and placing the order, I urged her to tell me quickly, and the fox beastman opened her mouth with a meaningful smile.

“It’s because of the charm.”

“…Pardon?”

“Fox beastmen have the same lore. ‘Enchanting humans.’ You’ve probably been suffering because of that all this time.”

“I thought charm was an active skill?”

“It’s passive.”

“Ah.”

She explained it in an easy-to-understand way.

Only then could I realize why all these incomprehensible things had been happening.

Why Jaehyuk had proposed living together first.

Why people kept following me even though I tried to avoid them.

And the reason why the boss welcomed me so overwhelmingly earlier.

It was all because of the charm.

A chilling truth I learned thanks to the benefactor I met at the cocktail bar.

When I asked about ways to solve it, the fox beastman answered while nibbling on snacks.

“The solution is simple. In my case, consuming life force makes the charm disappear, so in your case, consuming blood should make it go away.”

“…By life force, you mean?”

“Ah, please don’t get any strange ideas? I only squeeze my husband… Ahem, let’s move past this. It’s too off-topic.”

It seemed like quite an interesting subject.

As I was expressing regret internally, the cocktail arrived just as the conversation paused.

While smelling the faint aroma of the ingredients, the swaying fox tail brushed against my arm again.

Truly a drug-like softness.

Unable to resist the bewitching tail’s texture any longer, I ended up asking the fox beastman.

“If, if it’s not rude, could I touch it just once?”

“…What should I say when you’re already touching it while asking?”

Oops.