Chapter 142: Settlement (1)

By hook or by crook, by the time I made it back home, it was already evening.

Escaping the island villa I visited for my summer vacation and arriving on New Guinea Island was around three in the afternoon, but it took quite a bit of time to get to the Warp Gate Terminal from there.

Since Do Sihee also had to start her work from the Warp Gate Terminal anyway, we ended up accompanying each other for about an hour’s drive.

It was a combination of Do Sihee and I in the back seat of the rental car, with Eunbyul driving.

“Are you going to the Warp Gate Terminal to gather personnel?”

“It’s closer to meeting them than gathering them. By the time the radio waves started reaching us, I had already reported the photographic evidence and what happened to my mother. By the time I arrive at the Warp Gate Terminal, the Dokyung Group should have gathered the Holy Awakened individuals and researchers they could muster. Because there are so many people, it seems much faster to travel by boat than by helicopter, which is why I’m heading to the terminal. If I explain things while we travel, we can save a lot of time.”

“I see.”

“And well, I also have a personal wish to spend just a little more time with Sungchul-ssi before we part.”

As Do Sihee said that, she started fiddling with my knees from the passenger seat, so I stroked her thigh and asked,

“How many people are scheduled to go to the island that a boat is faster than a helicopter?”

“First, at a minimum, four Holy Awakened individuals are needed to repair the holy barrier. Then, just in case, one S-class Hunter capable of underwater combat and four A-class Hunters. The more researchers, the better, so probably around 10 to 20 will be coming, and we’ll need five dismantling technicians too. Adding Eunbyul and myself, that’s at least 25 people. Though that’s just the bare minimum.”

“Is it because the Kraken’s carcass is so massive that you’re bringing the researchers onto the island?”

“Exactly. To transport such a huge monster outside, it inevitably has to be cut up for transport, which would diminish its research value. It would probably take ages just to move the whole thing anyway. In that case, it’s much better to use the island villa as a temporary research lab. Some people will unfortunately have to sleep in the garage.”

“It’s fortunate that the villa wasn’t destroyed. Though I guess the sleeping arrangements will be a bit uncomfortable for Sihee-ssi and Eunbyul.”

“I can sleep on the yacht, so I’m fine.”

“Thanks to you, Sungchul-ssi, we were able to minimize the damage. Honestly, I was prepared for the possibility that abandoning the island would have been cheaper after an incident like this.”

As Do Sihee said that, she met my eyes and gave a faint smile.

“Now that I’ve become an A-class, I did wonder what would happen if I became stronger than you, Sungchul-ssi, but I’m relieved to realize once again that it was such a trivial worry.”

“…If you did become stronger than me, did you plan on not seeing me anymore?”

“How could you think that? We might end up seeing each other even more often. If that happened, I was planning on letting you experience ‘special training’ at the Dokyung Group’s Hunter Training Center until you became stronger than me again.”

“…I see.”

‘Special training.’ The program had a rather unpleasant ring to it.

I’ll have to keep training relentlessly to satisfy this masochistic young lady.

While we were having that conversation, the car carrying the three of us soon arrived at the Warp Gate Terminal where we had first departed.

I thanked Eunbyul and Sihee, who dropped us off in front of the gate terminal heading to Korea.

“Thank you for the ride, Sihee-ssi.”

“It’s a shame we have to part already, but I’m sure we’ll have another chance to meet.”

“I think so too, Sihee-ssi.”

Saying that, I gave her a light kiss by the car door.

“See you next time, Sihee.”

“Yes. Stay healthy and well in the meantime, Sungchul-ssi.”

“Thank you for your hard work too, Eunbyul-ssi. Not to mention the various conveniences you provided over the past two days, you were a great help during this Kraken subjugation as well.”

“…No. I was merely doing my duty as Master’s Maid.”

Perhaps recalling what happened on the yacht when I mentioned ‘various conveniences,’ Eunbyul’s face turned slightly red.

Although I tried not to pay much attention since it was Sihee and my vacation, Eunbyul’s contributions were quite remarkable this summer holiday.

Especially regarding access to the island, it was almost entirely thanks to Eunbyul.

Somehow, in just two days, I had ended up using all modes of transport – land, sea, and air – driven by one person.

…And as a bonus, my ‘thing’ also got a taste of her tongue.

“Farewell, Kim Sungchul-nim.”

“Yes, you too, Eunbyul-ssi.”

After bidding farewell to Eunbyul as well, I passed through the Gimpo Warp Gate Terminal with some suitable souvenirs and took the subway home, arriving after dark.

Seriously, how did my summer vacation turn into a Kraken subjugation mission?

Scoffing at the ironic reality, I flopped onto the bed.

And the next morning.

“Aagh, ughh….”

The moment I opened my eyes to the intense muscle soreness that hit me as soon as I woke up, a groan escaped my lips.

Thanks to the Recovery skill, any external injuries like broken bones or scraped skin were naturally healed by morning.

However, the muscle soreness that remained throughout my body from moving too excessively was, regrettably, outside the scope of the Recovery skill’s treatment.

Muscle soreness is more akin to growing pains than an illness or injury, so naturally, the Recovery skill wouldn’t fix it.

Of course, I couldn’t just lie in bed all day given today’s schedule.

It had been a week since the day I first asked Eunyoung Noona for swordsmanship training, so I had to attend the promised next lesson.

With no other choice, I groaned and pushed my stiff body out of bed.

“Ughhh, I’m gonna die.”

Still, after having faced a near-death experience once, I thought that muscle soreness was actually preferable.

Based on my instincts, honed from training my body for a long time, this level of muscle soreness would probably disappear after an hour or two of stretching, so it likely wouldn’t interfere with the major schedule this afternoon.

As I got up from the bed and started stretching, a semi-transparent system window popped up before my eyes.

『Skill Unlocked (NEW!) >>

Point Shop >>

Achieved Feats >>

Current Lust Management Hunter List (NEW!) >>

Find Nearby Hunters >>

Remaining Awakening Points: 285』

Seeing that the Achieved Feats weren’t sparkling for some reason, it seemed no new achievements were unlocked from the sex we had on the yacht.

It wasn’t a major issue. I wasn’t expecting that kind of thing from the sex in the first place.

First-time achievements, like those, are bound to unlock eventually anyway.

More important than that were the Skill Unlocked menu and the Current Lust Management Hunter List, which were indeed sparkling.

I had a hunch about what both contained, but checking was still essential.

It could get troublesome later if I found out the contents were different from my expectations.

The first thing I had to check was, as expected, the newly added skill.

『Archery lv. 2 : 0/200』

As expected, the ‘Archer of Artemis’ awakening ability seemed to be treated as ‘Archery’ among my skills.

Just like Hye-eun’s ‘Warrior of the Guardian Shield’ was replaced with ‘Shield Techniques’.

If this trend continued, I could roughly predict how other women’s favorability would increase and be incorporated into my skills.

In Cha Yuri’s case, it would naturally be ‘Wind Magic,’ and for Eunyoung Noona, it would be ‘Swordsmanship’.

And for Han Min-ah, it’s ‘Power of the Wild,’ so if it were converted into a skill…

“……Hmm?”

Come to think of it, I couldn’t quite grasp what form this skill would take.

That’s understandable, as Beast-type Awakened individuals usually possess complex abilities that can’t be explained by a single specific technique.

In Han Min-ah’s case, her breed is Russian Blue, so she can use feline abilities in many aspects, including physical changes.

Primarily, she possesses strength and agility derived from muscle fiber density higher than humans.

She’s adept at infiltrating tight spaces using her flexible body, and her sense of smell is far more acute compared to humans.

Furthermore, her excellent crisis detection ability, stemming from her animal instincts, makes her perfectly suited for the role of a scout.

Of course, there are also side effects unrelated to combat, like how petting her head makes her feel good or how her tail is an erogenous zone.

In any case, converting all of this into just one skill would be quite difficult.

“…Don’t tell me I’ll suddenly sprout cat ears and a tail too.”

That might be cute from an observer’s perspective, but the moment something like that attached itself to me, I’d be afraid to look in the mirror every morning.

Of course, I was getting ahead of myself, thinking about things I hadn’t even planned, like who would be doing the ‘smearing’.

Ultimately, those were concerns only worth considering if Han Min-ah’s favorability towards me reached 80 or higher.

It was only after completing the common goal of the Kraken subjugation together that Do Sihee’s favorability reached its peak.

There was a significant chance that favorability wouldn’t increase beyond a certain level just by sharing bodies during heat season without any special circumstances.

Given how long we’d known each other as friends, our favorability might remain at the level of close friends.

Unlike Hye-eun, my childhood friend, Min-ah is perhaps closer to a buddy, a bro.

In fact, our first meeting happened almost exactly like that.

‘Min-ah, are you participating in this joint training camp too?’

‘Huh? What are you asking? It’s a mandatory course, are people skipping it?’

‘No, they told me I could skip it because I’m a guy, and the overnight training might be uncomfortable. I was just wondering if you heard that too.’

‘Well, since you’re a guy, that makes sense…… Huh?’

‘Of course, I’m planning to participate. It would be awkward if I were the only guy at the joint training camp. Still, I’m glad you’re going too, Min-ah. It won’t look weird now.’

‘……Hey.’

‘What is it, Min-ah?’

‘Have you been treating me like a friend thinking I was a guy all this time?’

‘……You weren’t?’

‘Wh-what the f*, what kind of idiot are you….’

‘I-I’m sorry! I really didn’t know!’

‘You son of a bitch! Did rats eat your eyes?! Even so, there are things you shouldn’t mistake, you f*cking….’

‘Hey, hey, your nails! That hurts, stop sharpening your nails!!’

It was around the time just before the second year middle school training camp that I found out Min-ah, whom I thought was a fellow male Hunter hopeful, was actually a girl.

To be honest, I wouldn’t have blamed her if we had drifted apart then, but thanks to Min-ah’s generous heart, I was somehow forgiven.

Looking back now, it was quite a nostalgic memory.

It was fortunate that it ended as just a memory.