Chapter 37 : Trust in One Hand

Thanks to Desnes’s money-hungry assistant reaching out to sell a recording, the truth was revealed. 

If you just take a beating and live with it, you’re not a real villain. 

After obtaining the recording, Laika immediately had his secretary tip off the media. 

Then, just as Iris had suspected, he secretly gave instructions to stage Desnes’s death as an accident. 

Everything had been Laika’s doing. 

“I never imagined Iris would jump in to save me… I didn’t expect that at all. Has she fallen hard for me? Well, I guess that’s only natural.” 

If he hadn’t been so immersed in his acting, he would’ve dodged the chandelier before it even fell. 

Thanks to his superhuman hearing, reflexes, and physical condition, he managed to activate a barrier skill just before the chandelier crashed down on him. 

But what shocked him more than the falling chandelier was Iris rushing in to save him. 

The skill Laika used on Iris was one that manipulated memories, but its effects were only temporary. 

It had long since worn off. 

He hadn’t even used another skill that could influence judgment and create affection toward the caster. 

That skill, too, had only short-lived effects. 

Even then, it merely helped stir some affection—it didn’t make someone blindly risk their life for the caster. 

“Now that I think about it… Didn’t she say she was originally a fan? Tried to take a photo and looked so happy… Maybe she wasn’t brainwashed after all. She just liked me from the start?” 

Laika didn’t particularly enjoy using mind-affecting skills—he prided himself on his natural charm. 

This situation only proved that charm. 

True to his villainous nature, Laika wasn’t thankful that Iris saved him. 

Instead, he was thrilled to confirm how irresistible he was. 

“In the end, I’m the one who got saved. So she’s the one who should be grateful.” 

He brushed his lips with his thumb. 

Thinking of Iris reminded him of the heated kiss they shared in the waiting room. 

In hindsight, he’d probably wanted to kiss her ever since suggesting they rehearse the later scenes that didn’t need to be done immediately. 

Her moist, soft lips… the even more delicate feel inside her mouth—just recalling it caused him to grow aroused. 

“Damn it, just thinking about it gets me hard again. She had a great body when I hugged her. Wonder what it looks like completely naked…” 

He had pressed against her chest while they were kissing—soft and surprisingly large. 

Her waist, when he groped it, was slim like an ant’s. 

He could already imagine that her naked body must be a breathtaking sight. 

He’d kissed a few actresses before for scenes. 

Even with famously beautiful women, his body never reacted. 

Probably because he’d been tired of women throwing themselves at him since he was young due to his good looks and prestigious background. 

But Iris was different. 

Was it the innocent eyes behind her glasses? 

Or the cute reactions whenever he teased her? 

Whatever it was, one thing was clear—Laika was attracted to Iris. 

His body was certainly reacting, and his heart… 

“There’s no way I seriously like a brat that still smells like milk. I just want to sleep with her once… Maybe even a few times.” 

Laika dismissed his feelings as mere sexual curiosity. 

He’d only met her twice. 

Sure, she was cute, but not drop-dead gorgeous or brilliantly smart. 

There was no way he could have real feelings for such a plain girl. 

Right now, he just wanted to spend the night tormenting Iris. 

He licked his upper lip and narrowed his eyes. 

He had sent a message through his manager’s phone, inviting Iris to visit him at the hospital—on purpose. 

With one lead actor dead and a major incident just behind them, filming had been postponed. 

Laika planned to stay in his hospital room until shooting resumed. 

A private room, a healthy body, and an excuse for her to visit him—perfect conditions for seducing her. 

His blue eyes curved in satisfaction. 

“She said she’d come in the afternoon. I’d rather she came late at night, when no one else is around…” 

The next day, completely unaware of Laika’s thoughts, Iris woke up rubbing her sleepy eyes. 

She quickly washed and got ready to leave. 

If she hurried, she figured she could complete both her mission and the hospital visit in one day. 

As she stepped outside, she ran into a deliveryman who was about to knock on the door. 

“Are you Iris from unit 303? Please sign here.” 

“Huh? A delivery? Oh—my grandmother!” 

“Yes, it’s a direct delivery. Please sign.” 

Her grandmother had said she’d send a gift. 

After signing, the deliveryman handed her a small box and left. 

Iris carefully opened the box once inside. 

“What is this? Oh—a gun!” 

Inside the box was a black pistol in a case, just the right size to fit in her hand. 

The Survival Handbook of Gyodam City, Chapter 4: ‘Never greet someone you just met with both hands.’ 

That passage from a book she once read popped into her mind. 

Just like customs vary by country and city, Gyodam City had its own etiquette—greet a stranger with one hand only. 

Using both hands meant you couldn’t grab the gun in your pocket and defend yourself. 

This custom dated back to the Paleolithic era when people carried stone tools or axes at their sides. 

Over time, it evolved from bronze swords to daggers, and in the modern era, to pistols hidden in pockets. 

Those who trusted others and greeted with both hands often died, unable to leave descendants. 

So only those who greeted with one hand passed on their genes, and their descendants remain in Gyodam City today. 

Over the years, the meaning of the gesture shifted—greeting with both hands came to mean “I trust you completely.” 

But in the 1970s, a pacifist president known as Mr. A, who used both hands to greet, was assassinated. 

This triggered a one-handed greeting revival. 

With villains rampant these days, Gyodam’s traditional etiquette is making a strong comeback. 

Excerpt from “The Survival Handbook of Gyodam City” 

“Grandma is the best! I finally have a gun! I was so jealous of my friends when they carried theirs around.” 

In Gyodam City, good parents gifted their children self-defense tools on their coming-of-age day. 

And for three years running, the number one gift had been a pistol. 

Iris had desperately wanted one, seeing how popular they were among her peers, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask her hardworking grandmother for such an expensive item. 

She’d just quietly envied her friends and kept checking her empty pockets. 

But now—she had a gun! 

And it was from her grandmother! 

Iris jumped up and down with joy. 

Gun usage was part of Gyodam City’s mandatory education, so she already knew how to handle it. 

She slipped it into her pocket and stepped outside, practically floating. 

“Wait, before the mission… I should stop by the annex first.” 

Laika’s manager had told her not to come in the morning, so the hospital visit could wait until evening. 

To make up for the wasted time yesterday, she decided to train at the annex first—and maybe talk to Teresa if she was home. 

“Whew… come to think of it, taking a taxi would be such a waste of money. I know I’m being shameless, but since I already owe her, maybe I can borrow a bit more. If I could borrow Teresa’s car, that’d be perfect.” 

Fortunately, she had a license. 

She was just incredibly shameless. 

Arriving at Teresa’s place, Iris stood in front of the path leading to the annex and looked around. 

She could’ve contacted her directly, but after being given even the annex keys as a gift, asking to borrow the car felt too forward. 

She spent about five minutes fiddling with a broken Buddha statue’s nose and kicking pebbles around the yard until she heard the door open. 

As she looked up, Teresa’s cheerful voice reached her ears. 

“Iris! I heard a rustling outside and came to check. It’s you! Here to train?” 

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve got my first solo mission today, so I figured I should get some training in beforehand. I’m kind of nervous.” 

“Whoa, already on a mission? Where are you headed?” 

Teresa approached, clearly impressed. 

Iris looked at the ground and rolled her eyes. 

She had to play her words just right now—time to complete the grand plan of borrowing the car.