Chapter 295: The Colleague Sunbae Who Doesn’t Hate Me (1)

In the Shadow Underground Graveyard, several minutes had passed since I joined Cheon Jihee Sunbae and started the battle.

‘…Keeek!’

With the final Soul Reaper’s body splitting in half by my sword as the end, the monsters disappeared within the faint light, leaving only Sunbae and me.

With the thought that we had overcome the immediate crisis, I opened my mouth to her.

“…It’s over.”

“……Yeah.”

After leading Sunbae, who was exuding a strangely awkward atmosphere, to a corner where monsters were unlikely to come, I reached out my hand towards her right arm.

“Your right arm. You’re hurt, aren’t you?”

“…….”

“Please show me where you’re hurt. I’ll take a look.”

“…Do you even have a high-grade healing potion?”

“Something similar.”

Although she showed a somewhat doubtful gaze, Cheon Jihee Sunbae eventually extended her right arm carefully, watching my reaction.

In the center of her right forearm was a deep wound mark, as if pierced by something. It was probably a wound from the Soul Reaper’s scythe. It was fortunate, at least, that it wasn’t incredibly deep.

Although I panicked for a moment at the large wound that looked painful just to see, I pulled myself together and clasped her wound area with both hands.

I immediately used a healing spell to begin closing Cheon Jihee Sunbae’s wound.

“…Ugh!”

“…….”

“Wha-what are you doing….”

“Please stay still for a moment.”

“…….”

Sunbae, who was about to say something more, made a shocked expression at the holy power extending from my hand towards her arm. More than ten seconds later, even after seeing her wound completely healed, that expression did not ease.

“You were a healer? Not a swordsman?”

“I’m a healer, and a swordsman too.”

“…Are you claiming to be a multi-ability user? Multi-ability means only handling abilities using similar inner forces of the same category; in reality, it’s nothing more than a wider spectrum of weapons you can handle….”

“If you don’t want to believe it, then don’t. I didn’t expect you to believe me anyway.”

“…….”

Cheon Jihee Sunbae, who had been uncharacteristically rambling, became quiet again like a mute after hearing my words. I knew that the fact I was a multi-ability user, and one who used powers from completely different categories at that, was unbelievable, but if she didn’t believe it now, it would mean denying the phenomenon she witnessed right before her eyes. It seemed she had decided to wait and see for now and hold back her words.

“Let’s head back outside for now. It seems difficult to proceed further, especially considering your outfit, Sunbae.”

Her clothes, which were already like rags, were further torn here and there by blades, making them truly just rags. The bandage tied for chest binding also seemed to have loosened due to the battle’s aftermath. Thanks to that, whether I liked it or not, my eyes would occasionally land on her prominent chest whenever I turned my gaze towards her; it was an unavoidable phenomenon. …She probably wouldn’t say anything just because my gaze landed there. She had said things herself in the first place.

“……Yeah.”

Cheon Jihee Sunbae also didn’t seem keen on staying in this dungeon any longer, nodding her head as she walked out of the dungeon with me. Monsters did charge at us even while we were heading out, but since we were already familiar opponents, they weren’t much of a threat. As soon as they appeared, I just had to cut their forms at the core with my Mithril Greatsword, or briefly stop their movements with a holy spell and attack, and most were resolved. Sunbae also seemed to be handling it similarly, calmly reaching out her hand towards a Shadow Wraith and eliminating it in one go as if grabbing and pulling out its core. Seeing her kill them easily without hesitation, without even giving them a proper glance, I could certainly feel the difference in experience in many ways.

“…Why weren’t you talking?”

I already knew what she wasn’t talking about, so there was no need to ask again.

“One reason was that I thought you wouldn’t believe me.”

“…….”

“The other reason is that I didn’t really want to widely publicize that I’m a multi-awakened one.”

Cheon Jihee Sunbae, who had been listening quietly, asked again about my answer, making a slightly questioning expression.

“…Let’s assume the first reason is valid, but why the second?”

“My awakened ability isn’t something I can confidently talk about anywhere.”

“…What do you mean?”

“It means exactly what it sounds like. Objectively, it’s definitely a good awakened ability, but it’s one I don’t want to publicize much yet.”

“…To the extent that you have to hide it even from a colleague?”

“Ah, everyone else besides you, Cheon Jihee Sunbaenim, knows what my awakened ability is. Hye-eun, Min-ah, and Cha Yuri-ssi too.”

“What….”

Perhaps she hadn’t considered that the information was being shared only among the other party members, excluding herself; obvious fluster could be felt from her face. It must be quite shocking in many ways that information wasn’t shared with her, despite being in the party for so long. Before she could foster conflict through unnecessary misunderstandings, I stepped up first and added a few details about the process by which my awakened ability became known.

“…Could it be, Hye-eun, that I….”

“Please don’t misunderstand, Cheon Jihee Sunbaenim. My awakened ability became known to the other party members even before I transferred to the company.”

“…Huh?”

“It’s not that I deliberately excluded you, Sunbaenim; there just really wasn’t an opportunity to tell you.”

“…….”

Despite those words, she still had a troubled expression, lowering her eyes deeply. It was a moment where I could be sure that if I didn’t explain properly, the misunderstanding would certainly deepen.

“After we finish the dungeon exploration report, let’s talk for a bit, just the two of us, in the conference room.”

“…….”

“First, I need to clarify that everything you’re thinking in your head is a misunderstanding. And perhaps after hearing about my awakened ability, you’ll understand why I tried to hide it, even though I possess powers like a multi-ability user.”

“…How could you possibly know what I was thinking…?”

“I was just trying to predict what I would think if I were in your position, Cheon Jihee Sunbae. I apologize if that offended you.”

Despite my consolation, her troubled expression hadn’t eased, but still, a positive answer came back regarding the request to talk alone.

“Okay. Then let’s finish the report first, and in the conference room….”

“Right, Sunbaenim. Please wrap this around yourself before you leave the dungeon.”

“…What is this?”

Her expression subtly changed as she suddenly checked the coat draped over her shoulder.

“Just, well. It would be a bit embarrassing to go outside dressed like that, wouldn’t it?”

“I don’t really care. It’s just that my clothes are a bit torn….”

“Even if you don’t care, Sunbaenim, it bothers me. It’s spare clothes anyway, so please just wear it.”

It might be different if he were a complete stranger. But as a party member, I really didn’t want to see her walking around outside with her chest exposed embarrassingly. It was fortunate that I had packed spare clothes in my dimensional pocket. If I had taken off my only t-shirt and given it to her in this world where the sense of chastity had changed, it would have caused more confusing results in many ways.

“…You said you didn’t care?”

“Think whatever you want.”

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

After finishing the expedition report with Cheon Jihee Sunbae at the Hunter Achievement Reporting Office, we immediately returned to the Sky Blue Shield’s 14th-floor conference room. Since we had entered the dungeon separately from the start, I had intended to file the achievement report individually, but Cheon Jihee Sunbae’s thoughts seemed a bit different from mine. In the end, we submitted the monster cores collected by her and me combined as a party hunt.

“You caught far more, Sunbaenim. Wouldn’t it have been better to file an individual report?”

“…….”

There was no answer. Perhaps she was too embarrassed to answer. Although it was a bit difficult to imagine her looking embarrassed, I could sufficiently predict the subtle emotions she might feel in this situation, having been saved from a crisis by a junior Hunter. Especially since she had firmly put her foot down just before, telling me not to follow. Escaping a crisis thanks to that junior following her must be an embarrassing situation in its own way. Because I could sufficiently understand her feelings, I wordlessly walked with Sunbae to the 14th-floor conference room.

As soon as Cheon Jihee Sunbae arrived in the conference room, she quickly took off my coat that was draped on her body and returned it to me.

“Now it’s fine.”

“…You’re not planning to go home like that when you leave work, are you….”

“I have spare clothes in the conference room. Because I’m going to change.”

“Ah.”

Indeed, it was a space used even before I joined the company, so it wasn’t strange that there were some personal belongings. Even so, it wasn’t like I was getting used to the act of casually revealing her chest like that in front of a man. As I unconsciously fixed my gaze, which had moved towards Cheon Jihee Sunbae while thinking that, this time she suddenly loosened her belt and even threw off the cloth covering her lower body.

“Wha-what are you doing?!”

“I told you I was changing clothes. Didn’t you hear me?”

“…I didn’t realize that meant you were going to take off your lower clothes too.”

“It’s a one-piece outfit.”

“…If it’s something like that, I guess it can’t be helped.”

I thought it was the ‘no pantsu’ fashion, but it really was a type of clothing where lower garments aren’t worn separately. Even so, the sight of her becoming half-naked, leaving only her lower undergarment, while saying she was changing clothes in front of a man who wasn’t even her lover, was shocking in many ways. …Is it fortunate that she’s at least wearing underwear?

“You’re wearing underwear too. Don’t make a fuss. If you really can’t stand to look, close your eyes.”

“…What can I do if my gaze goes there automatically?”

“So what? This is a conference room that Hye-eun and I used since before you joined the company, even before Cha Yuri or Han Min-ah joined the Sky Blue Shield. Do I have to care about your mood now?”

“…I didn’t say that. Just please don’t mind me and change, Sunbaenim.”

“I intended to do that from the beginning anyway.”

Along with those words, Cheon Jihee Sunbae calmly started changing into the training uniform she took out from the cabinet. Regardless of the fact that our relationship wasn’t great, this current scene was too remarkable for an objective man like me to turn his gaze away. Although showing one’s chest to others wasn’t considered a shameful act for women in this world, no matter what, her appearance while changing clothes wearing only a single piece of underwear was extremely bold. Moreover, that underwear seemed to be fastened with thin cloth tied in a T-shape, an embarrassing design, so parts like her buttocks, excluding her private areas, were exposed without reservation. …Let’s not have any strange thoughts. It must be a bold action she can take because she has no feelings towards me.

As I somehow steadied my mind and waited for her to change, Cheon Jihee Sunbae reappeared before my eyes, now wearing a relatively neat training uniform compared to before. Having changed, she sat right down in the chair opposite me and met my eyes.

“I told you earlier in the dungeon, didn’t I? That we would talk about your awakened ability.”

“Yes.”

“Tell me. What exactly is this awakened ability you wanted to hide so much?”