Chapter 106: Catching My Breath (3)

The next day, 8:50 AM.

After showing my face at the Hunters’ Union Guild in the morning for the first time in a while, I immediately headed to one of the dungeon entrance counters as soon as I stepped inside the building.

“The Ancient Tree Grave, Sector A, please.”

I had to enter the dungeon, the agreed-upon meeting place, right on time for the appointment I made with Cha Yuri yesterday.

“Yes, the Ancient Tree Grave, Sector A. The Union maintenance fee is 100,000 won.”

I handed two 50,000 won bills, featuring King Sejong, to the guild attendant, then stepped onto the white warp platform.

As a white light enveloped my body, my body and mind were instantly transported to the Ancient Tree Grave.

It was a dark forest made of old, giant, rotten trees, and occasionally, I could hear the sounds of monsters walking through the darkness.

Just as I expected, there was no sign of any people.

This was because the Ancient Tree Grave usually attracted people more often at night than in the morning or during the day.

This was due to the time difference within the dungeon.

At first glance, dungeons might seem like virtual hunting grounds navigated by game warps, but in reality, they are closer to the concept of traveling to monster-infested areas using warp gates installed worldwide.

Therefore, for some dungeons, there was a time difference when entering from South Korea.

This dungeon, the Ancient Tree Grave, was located in a region of South America known as the Continent of Devils, inhabited only by monsters.

Naturally, this dungeon had a time difference of about 12 hours compared to South Korea.

Furthermore, the current time surprisingly played a significant role in managing the monsters’ condition.

Most monsters were weakest during the bright daylight hours, and this applied equally to the monsters in the Ancient Tree Grave.

After all, hunting at night didn’t make the monster materials any more valuable.

If that’s the case, it’s much more rational to defeat the monsters when they’re even slightly weaker.

Therefore, the only ones who would bother entering the Ancient Tree Grave at this time, which corresponds to around 9 PM local time, were oddballs like me or Cha Yuri with entirely different objectives.

Even setting aside the Ancient Tree Grave, people don’t commonly use dungeons as places for sex.

If there were any, a D-class dungeon, barely accessible to male hunters, would be the absolute limit.

Because of this, the 100,000 won Union maintenance fee I paid every time I entered the Ancient Tree Grave felt less like a dungeon entrance fee and more like a motel bill.

Lost in such frivolous thoughts, I followed Cha Yuri’s location marker, which I tracked using the ‘Real-time Hunter Finder’ system.

“Mmm. Nngh….”

I heard a woman’s familiar voice letting out strange moans, audible enough to reach my ears.

She had arrived quite early.

Quietly moving my steps so she wouldn’t notice, I approached the place where we had shared our love last time.

Her figure, sitting on the rock bed waiting for me, came into view.

“Ngh, Hh….”

She seemed so engrossed in subtly rubbing the tip of her wooden staff between her legs that she hadn’t noticed my arrival.

“Yuri-ssi.”

“Mmm… Oh, you’re here?”

Cha Yuri, who had been focused on rubbing her crotch with the shaft of her staff, turned her head towards me.

Her face was still slightly flushed, unable to fully contain her arousal.

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Yeah, I was waiting.”

She answered with a brazen expression, as if she had no intention of hiding the fact that she was engaging in lewd activities while waiting for me.

I decided not to point out her indiscretion.

“Hurry and lie down, Sungchul-ah. I’m ready.”

“Even though this is the third time we’re having sex in a dungeon, aren’t you rushing the mood a bit?”

“Well, our first time wasn’t exactly filled with atmosphere either.”

I couldn’t help but nod at Cha Yuri’s surprisingly coherent statement.

Her clothes were already coming undone, as if it was already decided that she would have sex with me.

I stopped Cha Yuri’s actions for a moment to convey something important I needed to say.

“Just a moment, Yuri-ssi.”

“……Yeah?”

“There’s… something important I need to tell you before we have sex…. Is that okay?”

“Something important?”

“Yes, it’s something important I absolutely must tell you, Yuri-ssi.”

I don’t know what she was imagining, but Cha Yuri’s expression stiffened slightly at the mention of something important.

“…Can’t we have sex first and then you can tell me?”

She made a rather cute request in an anxious voice.

“We could, but if possible, I’d prefer to talk before sex.”

“……”

Cha Yuri, who had been pondering seriously, resting her chin on her hand, finally nodded with difficulty.

“Okay, go ahead and say it.”

Unlike Do Sihee, who had vaguely sensed something from the beginning, or Han Min-ah, whose relationship started precisely because she caught me having sex with someone else.

This was a situation where I was confessing my wrongdoing first to Cha Yuri, just like I did with Hye-eun.

I was a little worried about what kind of scolding might fly from her seemingly cold face.

Of course, the moment I transferred my affiliation to Eun & Ok Co., Ltd., it would become impossible to hide this fact anyway.

It would be more courteous to her if I confessed my promiscuous past sooner rather than later.

“Yuri-ssi.”

“W-Wait a second….”

“Huh?”

“Let me… gather my thoughts.”

“Gather your thoughts?”

“Yeah. Prepare myself to endure whatever sad words you, Sungchul-ah, might say.”

…Oh no.

Judging by her outward appearance, she seemed like someone who didn’t easily show emotions, so I was sure Cha Yuri hadn’t noticed.

It seemed she, like Do Sihee, had grasped to some extent that I was a promiscuous man.

As someone who wanted to confess his sins before Cha Yuri found out, I felt an even greater sense of guilt.

“Okay, you can speak now.”

Cha Yuri, clasping her hands over her chest as if to calm her racing heart, looked up at me with a tense expression.

Meeting her eyes, I uttered the first words of my serious confession.

“…Yuri-ssi.”

“Yeah.”

“As you probably already knew, Yuri-ssi, I have been sinning against you until now.”

“Yeah.”

“Actually, I’ve slept with other hunters besides you multiple times, and I’m a promiscuous man who is still involved with them.”

“……Yeah.”

“I’m sorry for shamelessly keeping this a secret until now, Yuri-ssi.”

After hearing my entire confession, Cha Yuri, still looking tense, stared at my lips.

“……”

When I remained silent for a long time, she cautiously tilted her head.

“…Is that all?”

“Huh?”

“I mean… you didn’t have anything else to say, right? I just thought you were ending it by saying you were promiscuous, Sungchul-ah….”

This was an unexpected reaction.

“Anything else to say?”

“Yeah….”

“Like what, for example?”

I asked out of genuine curiosity, but Cha Yuri’s subsequent words were truly terrifying.

Even I, hearing her words, was astounded by her excessive imagination.

“Like, ‘I’m tired of women as short and poorly-figured as you, so don’t contact me anymore,’ or ‘I’m going to meet a much better woman than you and get married, so don’t bother clinging to me,’

Or maybe you’d get angry and say you couldn’t stand having sex while suppressing your perverted desires anymore, Yuri-ssi….”

“……”

“A-Are you really not going to say things like that? Huh? Sungchul-ah?”

Cha Yuri looked up at me with anxious eyes, saying these things, and I felt a pang of pity.

‘Squeeze’

My arms had already unconsciously pulled her body into a tight embrace, as if they might explode.

“…Sungchul-ah?”

“Why would I say something like that? I told you I enjoy the time I spend with you, Yuri-ssi.”

“When you said you had something important to say before sex, I thought you meant you didn’t want to have a relationship with me anymore….”

“Don’t tell me that’s why you asked if we could have sex first?”

“Yeah…. I wanted to have sex with you one last time before we broke up….”

What a ridiculously cute idea.

Well, based on my previous life, Cha Yuri’s behavior might be considered quite pathetic.

However, from my perspective, it was just an incredibly cute misunderstanding, making her seem lovable rather than repulsive.

Even if it were genuinely clingy behavior, when done by someone cute, it just comes across as cute to the observer.

I could feel her anxiety, trembling like a hamster in my arms.

In fact, I had only caused Cha Yuri unnecessary worry by making her nervous beforehand.

“I’m sorry, Yuri-ssi. I made you worry with my strange assumptions.”

“I-It’s okay, it’s fine, but….”

“Yes.”

“I don’t mind you seeing other women besides me, Sungchul-ah, but just… please don’t throw me away….

Even if you only meet me once every month, or no, every few months… I won’t bother you….”

It struck me anew that she was a hunter who received ‘psychological therapy’ through sex.

Cha Yuri, who had lost the will to live not too long ago, had pointed to my existence as another reason for her to live.

I now realized that what I truly needed to do for her wasn’t confessing my sins, but giving her the assurance that I would never abandon her, no matter the circumstances.

“I will never abandon you first out of my own whim, Yuri-ssi. I promise.”

“Really?”

“If someday you find someone more attractive than me, and another man who only looks at you appears, then perhaps I’ll have no choice but to let you go.

But at the very least, I won’t be the one to abandon you first. I swear to the heavens, absolutely not.”

“…Can you promise that?”

“If necessary, I could even go to the Magic Contract Office and make a verbal contract.”

At my resolute answer, she firmly shook her head, indicating it wasn’t necessary.

“Your answer is enough, Sungchul-ah.”

“Thank you for trusting me, Yuri-ssi.”

“But there’s something wrong with what you said.”

“What?”

“There isn’t a man in the world more attractive than you, Sungchul-ah, and even if there were, he couldn’t give you as much love as you give me.”

“I can’t promise about the former, but I can promise the latter. At the very least, when I’m making love with you, Yuri-ssi, I’ll be completely focused only on you.”

“That’s enough.”

Seemingly pleased with my answer, she pulled her face away from my embrace with a faint smile.

Then, she resumed the dungeon striptease that had been paused.

“We’re done talking, right? Is there anything else you want to say?”

“No, we’re finished now.”

“Then hurry up and get undressed too. We have things to do.”

The tense conversation was over; now it was time for the conversation of bodies.