Tang Han truly had not expected Tokai Teio to bring Mejiro McQueen with her.
Wasn't the whole point of taking those extra honey drinks home supposed to be for sneaking a few sips in the middle of the night? How had it turned into sharing them with someone else?
And not just anyone, either, but Mejiro McQueen. On her own, she was one thing. But if she ended up in the same group as Tokai Teio, it would trigger that mutual rivalry buff and speed up a trainer's descent into the basement.
The biggest issue, though, was what McQueen had just said.
She wanted to hire him as the Mejiro family's exclusive honey drink artisan?
"Tang Han Trainer." Mejiro McQueen held out a card to him.
"This is the deposit. There is one hundred million yen on it. If you agree, your salary will be several times higher than that."
That one hundred million yen was her savings from several months of allowance. She had originally planned to use it in a few days to secretly buy a mountain of pastries and stockpile them for future cravings.
But after tasting Tang Han's honey drink, she would rather give up snacks forever—well, probably—if it meant bringing this master home as her personal honey drink maker.
McQueen's plan was simple. If Tang Han agreed, she would not need to ask her grandmother for help. She could simply rope the other Mejiro girls into it and pool their allowances together to pay his wages. Then the sisters could all drink honey drinks to their hearts' content every single day.
And if Tang Han refused, then she would have no choice but to tell Grandmother. Her grandmother was certainly wise enough to understand the value of this honey drink. At that point, the Mejiro family could use its power to bring Tang Han back by force.
Either way, she would still get to drink honey drinks every day.
Perfect.
Tang Han sucked in a sharp breath.
One hundred million yen. Converted to RMB, that was around five million yuan. And this was just the deposit.
So this was what it meant to be a rich girl from the Mejiro family—casually offering an amount Tang Han might never earn in half a lifetime.
Still, it made sense. He was the only person in the world who could make an S-rank honey drink. Maybe one hundred million yen was actually too little.
Right now Tang Han was broke as a joke. He badly needed money to buy training equipment for Urara. Honestly, accepting the offer was not a bad option.
But...
"I'm sorry, but I must decline."
Tang Han rejected her without hesitation.
Becoming the Mejiro family's exclusive honey drink artisan would mean quitting his job as a trainer. And if he lost his status as a trainer, he would also lose the protection of the lab coat that was keeping him alive.
Once the remaining time ran out, the coat would disappear, his horse-girl-catnip constitution would be exposed, and then the entire Mejiro household would jump him?
And after quitting as a trainer, what about Urara? Abandon her? Tang Han could never do something that scummy.
Now that his trainer-partner relationship with Urara had been established, and the vow had already been spoken, there was no way Tang Han would give up that bond for money. Even if someone offered him all the wealth in the world, he would still refuse.
"Is the salary not to your satisfaction? We can negotiate..." McQueen began.
"That's not the issue." Tang Han shook his head and pulled Urara gently in front of him.
"It's because Urara and I have already confirmed our trainer-partner relationship. I have a responsibility to train her into a strong horse girl. So until she wins first place in the Arima Kinen, I will not quit being a trainer."
"The Arima Kinen?!"
Both Mejiro McQueen and Urara stared at him in shock.
The Arima Kinen was a championship race hosted by the Japan Racing Association—a G1 international race, 2500 meters, held on the last Sunday of the year at Nakayama Racecourse in Funabashi, Chiba. It was one of the great centerpieces of the Japanese racing season.
The horse girls who took part in it were elites among elites, all tremendously powerful. Anyone who could stand out among monsters like that and claim first place would become famous nationwide and be cheered by tens of millions.
It could be said that entering the Arima Kinen and winning it was one of every horse girl's greatest dreams.
And Tang Han had just declared that he intended to make Urara win the Arima Kinen.
What an incredibly ambitious goal.
"Trainer-san... Urara is so touched..." Urara threw herself into Tang Han's arms, eyes shimmering with tears.
Deep down, Urara had always known the truth.
She was weak. She had no talent for running. No matter how much she trained, she would probably never improve that much. Maybe she would never even get first place once in her life.
No trainer had ever thought highly enough of her. Let alone believed she could actually win.
But Tang Han Trainer was different. He had always praised her. And now he had gone so far as to swear that he would not give up on her until she won the Arima Kinen...
As expected, Trainer-san was both strong and kind. Urara absolutely could not let his hopes down. She had to grow into a powerful horse girl who could win the Arima Kinen.
"Trainer-san~" Urara wrapped her arms tightly around Tang Han's waist.
"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"
Tang Han nearly cried out from the intense pain in his lower back. But remembering the sacred rule that he must never reveal a human's physical frailty in front of horse girls, he gritted his teeth and endured it.
Humans and horse girls really were not built the same. Urara was so much smaller than him, and yet her strength was absurd. If she squeezed any harder, she might actually snap him in half.
Urara was moved. Mejiro McQueen, meanwhile, was troubled.
She genuinely respected someone as responsible as Tang Han—someone who would turn down a far better position purely for the sake of his horse girl's dream. That was worthy of respect.
But respect was one thing. If Urara never won the Arima Kinen, then wouldn't that mean McQueen could never drink that wonderful honey drink every day?
That absolutely would not do.
McQueen thought for a moment and came up with what she believed was a brilliant plan.
"Tang Han Trainer, I actually have a solution that benefits everyone."
"Go ahead." Tang Han carefully slipped free from Urara's embrace, rubbing his aching lower back as he turned to McQueen.
He knew he would almost certainly refuse whatever she proposed, but it was only polite to let her speak first and reject her afterward.
"Tang Han Trainer, your goal is for Urara to win first place in the Arima Kinen, correct?" McQueen asked.
"That's right." Tang Han nodded.
In truth, that Arima Kinen dream was not just some excuse he had used to refuse becoming the Mejiro family's exclusive honey drink artisan. It was also something he genuinely wanted.
Because he had never forgotten that one fan-made video he had seen on Bilibili—a "what if" clip of Urara winning the Arima Kinen. Every time he remembered it, his blood still stirred.
So if it were possible, Tang Han truly did want to train Urara into someone that strong and one day see her win the Arima Kinen with his own eyes.
"But Tang Han Trainer, you're still a rookie trainer, aren't you?" McQueen continued.
"Yes. I really am a newcomer. I still have many shortcomings when it comes to training horse girls. I'm a long way from becoming a truly powerful veteran trainer." Tang Han answered honestly.
Right now he was still just a low-level rookie trainer. Making Urara win the Arima Kinen was unimaginably difficult.
So realistically speaking, the day when Tang Han would resign as a trainer and go to the Mejiro family as their exclusive honey drink artisan was never going to come. McQueen should understand that too.
However, Tang Han's tactful refusal played perfectly into McQueen's hands.
"Heh-heh." Seeing her trap snap shut, Mejiro McQueen's lips curled upward.
"Since Tang Han Trainer wants Urara to win the Arima Kinen, but feels your own abilities are still insufficient, then how about this..."
"The Mejiro family can provide an experienced veteran trainer—someone who has already trained a horse girl to an Arima Kinen victory—to help you train Urara."
"Tang Han Trainer would only need to serve as that veteran trainer's assistant while training Urara together. In that way, you could learn from the experience, and at the same time have more free hours available to work for the Mejiro family as our exclusive honey drink artisan."
"That way, Tang Han Trainer would still be able to fulfill Urara's dream of winning the Arima Kinen, while the Mejiro family would gain a master honey drink artisan."
"A win-win."
"What do you think?"
After hearing McQueen's proposal, Tang Han froze.
...Huh?
That actually kind of made sense.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 138)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter155)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter98)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter172)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 158
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 144
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 100
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 165
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 140
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 120
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 69
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 90
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 95
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 70
Uma Musume: I Want All 80
I Can Copy Unique Skills 65
Summoning an Evil God, but the 52
Supernatural Multiverse 65
My Harem Is Indescribable 50
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 55
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 40
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 50
Still playing traditional Honk 30
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