Chapter 207: B-Rank Hunter (6)

“Ah! Welcome, Hunter Kim Sungchul-nim!”

As soon as I entered the Union Guild, the one who greeted me was the attendant at the commission desk.

The attendant, who could now recognize me whether I wore my mysterious mask or not, was waving and gesturing to me as I came to work.

Being recognized even from this far away, not just when I got close and stuck my face in, was almost the first time, making me momentarily think I might not have worn my mask to work today.

…Well, we went through the B-rank promotion test together, so it would actually be more disappointing if they didn’t recognize me.

Since I wasn’t so cold-hearted as to ignore the greeting and go straight into the dungeon, I first headed towards the commission desk, even though it was a bit bothersome.

“Good morning.”

“Yes, good morning to you too, Hunter-nim.”

“…….”

“…….”

Come to think of it, have I ever had a conversation with this person about anything other than work matters?

Most of it seemed to be about commission claims, completion, and material purchases.

Since I wasn’t very talkative, this kind of silence was just awkward and uncomfortable.

I should just state the purpose of my visit and hurry into the dungeon.

“Today, I don’t particularly plan on taking any new commissions; I just intend to finish the Black Slime material commission I previously accepted and leave work early.”

“Aha, I see. Then, could you wait just a moment?”

“……?”

Just as I was wondering what she meant by asking me to wait a moment, the desk attendant took something out from the storage cabinet and handed it to me.

“It’s Hunter Kim Sungchul-bun’s B-rank Hunter license. It just arrived at the branch this morning, and I wanted to deliver it to you as soon as possible.”

“Ah.”

So that’s why she was waving and greeting me since this morning.

It was a moment that made me feel sorry for having thought it was bothersome, even for a moment.

After submitting my C-rank Hunter license and receiving the sparkling silver B-rank Hunter license, she continued with the explanation about the Hunter license.

“Starting from the B-rank Hunter license, security processing for anti-counterfeiting has been applied. Even for Union Hunters, minimum management is necessary for Hunters of B-rank and above. In case of damage or loss, if you report it to the Hunters’ Autonomous Union Guild, we can take appropriate measures depending on the circumstances.”

“I see.”

“Furthermore, if you scan this license on a Hunters’ Autonomous Union branch computer, you can check your accumulated career period and completed commissions. This can also be confirmed using the QR code added to the license….”

After she explained several other functions added upon becoming a B-rank Hunter, the conversation between me and the guild attendant finally ended.

“…Then, I look forward to your continued support!”

“Yes, I look forward to yours as well.”

The thought of whether I’d have any reason to visit this guild in the future, besides when carrying out Hwayoung Sunbae’s commissions, did cross my mind, but…

Since it wasn’t something worth saying in front of a guild employee, I just quietly kept it to myself.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“…This much should be enough, right?”

At a point where only a few hours remained until Sungchul Hubae would barge into her house.

Choi Hwayoung, having finished tidying her room to some extent, muttered to herself as she looked at her noticeably cleaner room.

Choi Hwayoung’s impression was that even this small, initially messy space had changed to a relatively passable degree after some work was put into it.

Of course, that impression was only passable in her own opinion; objectively speaking, it was undeniably still a messy space.

Since Choi Hwayoung usually never bothered with tidying up, it was obvious without seeing it what level of tidiness was visible to her.

Clothes and bedding soiled with sweat or bodily fluids had all been put into the washing machine.

Trash had been haphazardly stuffed into the trash can without even minimal recycling.

Miscellaneous items had simply been shoved under the desk or bed so they wouldn’t be noticeable.

If the junior she was waiting for had seen the state of Choi Hwayoung tidying her room directly, he would have been horrified and tried to stop her, but…

Choi Hwayoung was simply immersed in the fact that she had finished cleaning her room after a long time, feeling pride and sentimentality in her own way.

Perhaps because she had moved her body and washed up thoroughly afterward, she fortunately felt that her sexual desire had also subsided somewhat.

“With this much done, I should be able to greet him calmly without showing it when he arrives, right?”

Normally, her plan was to make an excuse about paying first as soon as he entered her pharmacy and then have relations, but…

Seeing her somewhat temporarily subsided sexual desire, she thought there was no need to act like a horny female dog to that extent.

As it happens, we also had plans to meet during the day, so wouldn’t it be better to create a good atmosphere by having lunch together reasonably?

If I begged to have sex as soon as we met, wouldn’t I look like a lewd woman completely immersed in lust?

Although not much different in reality, she wanted to hide her true nature as much as possible outwardly.

It’s not like I can show a disgraceful sight to a junior whose activity period isn’t even a year, is it?

My patience ran out, and I endured and held back desires I almost acted upon several times, but if I were caught showing my ugliest side at the very end, there wouldn’t be anything more unfair.

Of course, even so, I intended to have sex.

The thought of compromising and letting this part go was definitely not on the table.

Her body had already reached its limit in many ways.

Therefore, the conclusion reached was precisely to never show the appearance of me initiating the request.

It was purely the best method for Choi Hwayoung to protect her honor by creating a situation where Sungchul Hubae, unable to hold back, would ask her first.

Didn’t he already last time say he wanted to hold my body and bring up the words that he would take sex as payment for the commission item?

If he’s a man blinded by lust to that extent, his eyes would surely turn even with my slight temptation, and he’d try to pounce on me.

Then, at that time, I can just pretend I can’t resist and accept Sungchul Hubae’s lust with adult composure.

It was a theoretically perfect plan, flawless logically, even in Choi Hwayoung’s own opinion.

Of course, this was purely based on the prerequisite condition that she herself must maintain her reason during the process of seduction, but…

Choi Hwayoung, who had temporarily regained her reason, could not bring herself to think that far.

The moment she met Sungchul Hubae after a long time, her body, which seemed calm, would instantly heat up, and she wouldn’t be able to endure it at all without desiring him.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

The time was around 10 AM when I came out after finishing the hunt in the Tar Pit.

In the past, I had to spend about three to four hours in combat just to catch ten Black Slimes.

Coming out of the guild after catching all ten in less than an hour was truly a great development.

In the first place, considering that Black Slimes themselves are B-rank monsters, it only makes sense that I, being the same rank, can handle three or four of them simultaneously.

Rather, unlike before when I carefully caught each one combining fire magic and swordsmanship, the current state where I can sufficiently handle them even with just a sword is much more efficient.

Perhaps this is all thanks to Eunyoung Noona’s teachings.

I could clearly feel how much significance it holds to have an expert in a specific field as a master.

…Come to think of it, Hwayoung Sunbae’s awakened ability seemed to be related to fire magic for sure.

Since she said she was an S-rank Hunter before retiring, perhaps she too must have her own expertise in handling fire.

Mage Hunters are a job class that belongs to the rather rare side.

The type of power occupying the largest proportion among the awakened abilities possessed by high-ranking Hunters is none other than the close-combat type.

Firstly, the types of awakened abilities themselves are numerous, and because they are powers based on general laws of physics, the process of learning and mastering them wasn’t that difficult.

Ranged types, especially abilities like Do Sihee’s that shoot arcane arrows directly manifested, required one to master the process of creating those arrows on their own, thus consuming more diverse knowledge and time to learn compared to close-combat types, at least.

The magic type, which required memorizing existing incantations and understanding the principles right from the start, also wasn’t that large in number.

Therefore, there is consistent demand for high-level Mage Hunters like Cha Yuri.

Besides those, there are Neutral type Hunters who handle powers that are a bit tricky to use in combat; Recovery type Hunters, whose demand as Hunters is low as most operate in hospitals or religious facilities; and up to the Beast type, where although the number of Hunters itself is large, high-ranking Hunters of A-rank or above are almost non-existent.

For now, these 6 types of awakened abilities were the basic classifications of Hunters known up until now.

Anyway, even if not as much as the last three mentioned, the number of high-level Mage Hunters itself belonged to the considerably small side when looking at the overall proportion.

Meeting a Mage Master who handles the same category as myself was quite a miracle-like event.

Although I am handling multiple awakened abilities, in the case of fire magic, it was one of the first three abilities obtained as soon as I acquired the Hunter Lust Management System.

Coincidentally meeting an S-rank Hunter who uses the same ability again, is it coincidence? Or is it fate?

If Hwayoung Sunbae were really to refuse sex with me, then asking her for a fire magic lecture instead wouldn’t be too bad.

“Since I’m at it, shall I check it out once?”

Thinking back, I have no memory of accessing Hwayoung Sunbae’s Hunter information even once since having relations with her two weeks ago.

I was busy in many ways due to various other overlapping things, and recently, I didn’t have the leeway to look elsewhere because of the promotion test.

Because there was a need to check at least to the extent of whether she truly possessed the fire ability, I entered the 『Currently Lust-Managed Hunter』 category in the system.

Soon after accessing Choi Hwayoung’s Hunter information, I momentarily felt bewildered by the displayed information.

『007.

Name: Choi Hwayoung (Real Name: Miner)

Awakened Ability: Ifrit’s Flame

Current Estimated Acquisition Points: 80

Current Favorability: 55

…』

The estimated acquisition points… why are they so high…?