Chapter 332: Do Sihee VS Do Yehee (2)

「A duel request….」

Do Yehee, picking up the glove resting on her chest, murmured quietly as if to herself.

Although she was a little shocked to receive a duel request from her younger sister, she didn’t particularly express any displeasure on her face.

Instead, she slightly raised the corners of her mouth as if wearing a quiet smile, and glanced towards Do Sihee.

Soon, as if having decided to accept Do Sihee’s duel request, Do Yehee tucked Do Sihee’s glove, which she held in her hand, into the inside pocket of her dress.

It was such an obvious action that anyone could tell it meant she accepted the duel request.

「…I knew you wouldn’t refuse, just as I expected.」

「Why ask the obvious? I was just surprised. To think that Sihee, who couldn’t even properly state her own opinions in front of me like a scaredy-cat, had become so brave all of a sudden.」

「You damn bitch….」

「Seeing as you’re even rebelling against your sister like this, that ‘Union-affiliated’ Hunter must be someone really precious to you, huh?」

「…It’s none of your business.」

Do Sihee, answering irritably as if refusing to reply, still glared at Do Yehee with murderous intent.

Do Yehee casually brushed off her younger sister’s gaze and continued her assessment of the mysterious Union Hunter.

「What can I do? When I think about Sihee, I just can’t help but worry. Especially since this time, you’ve befriended a Hunter from the Union, not one from a prestigious foundation. I can’t rest easy until I personally check if our Sihee is once again getting entangled and used by those screw-loose bitches.」

「I’d be able to rest easy for life if you would just disappear from my life!」

「That’s exactly why I can’t just leave you alone, Sihee. You’re too naive for a young lady of the Dokyung Group. When someone is even slightly nice to you, you can’t even tell shit from shinola and just gobble it up. When are you ever going to fix that habit?」

「If you hadn’t poached my party members and stirred up trouble, I could have been much more successful than I am now!」

「……」

Do Yehee looked at her younger sister with a pitying gaze, then her hand elegantly moved towards the chest area of the dress she was wearing.

Finally, a short staff, similar in length to wooden chopsticks, was smoothly pulled out from the plunging neckline of Do Yehee’s dress.

「It’s rare for Sihee to bravely request a duel, but unfortunately, this is all I have right now. What can I do?」

「…You can’t go all out with that, so are you trying to say we should schedule the duel for another date with proper preparation?」

「No.」

The moment Do Yehee swung the thin wooden stick in her hand, pillars of mud erupted from the ground.

Several mud pillars that sprang up simultaneously soon transformed into mud golems of various sizes.

The black mud swamp, which had been quiet and serene just moments before, was immediately filled with an ominous atmosphere.

「It means you shouldn’t feel too wronged even if you lose just with this.」

「……」

Several mud golems had risen, looking as if they would charge at her any second.

Faced with Do Yehee’s earth magic after a long time, Do Sihee’s danger sense rang out like a warning.

「Still, you’ve used your head pretty well. If Nari joins in, making it 2-on-1, you might just be able to keep up with me.」

「…No, Eunbyul is merely the witness for this duel. She won’t interfere in the fight between you and me.」

「……What?」

Do Sihee’s statement, which even Eunbyul didn’t know about, made the black-haired Maid ask back with a gasp.

「Master, what does that mean…」

「It means exactly what it sounds like. Eunbyul, you remain as the witness to the duel, a person who can testify that the fight between me and that woman was fair and square.」

「……」

「As for that woman, I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied unless I defeat her entirely with my own hands.」

「…Understood.」

Faced with Do Sihee’s intense hatred, something Eunbyul had never felt before, she had no choice but to step back from the duel between the two.

With Eunbyul serving as the official witness, the duel between Do Sihee and Do Yehee was established.

「You shouldn’t be putting on airs.」

「No. In a sacred duel, one does not involve others. That wouldn’t be an honorable act befitting a young lady of the Dokyung Group.」

「You say the right things sometimes. Indeed, receiving help from a servant in a one-on-one fight isn’t very honorable.」

「Stop the pointless chatter and state your conditions, Do Yehee.」

As this was a match where their beliefs would clash, the conditions set by both duelists were absolutely essential.

Worried that Do Yehee might make excuses and refuse her conditions, Do Sihee intended to finalize every element of the duel until the very end.

「As I said before, my condition is that you cease all interest in my personal relationships from now on. This includes Eunbyul, who currently works as my maid, the Saintess from the Vatican, and the ‘person’ I was scheduled to meet today. I forbid any investigation into all my relationships. This also includes any new connections I might make in the future!」

「Hmm…」

「What are your conditions, Do Yehee?」

「You ask strange things. You know there’s only one thing I desire from you, Sihee, in this situation.」

「……Tsk.」

So she wants me to step down from the position of Dokyung Group’s heir, is that it?

Faced with that all-too-obvious answer, Do Sihee hesitated for a moment.

Determined not to be swayed anymore, she eventually accepted the condition.

She couldn’t keep being manipulated by Do Yehee messing with her relationships forever; that was the first reason she felt she had to set a condition of that magnitude to escape her grasp.

The second reason was that she absolutely could not let Do Yehee take away the two most precious people in her life: Kim Sungchul and Eunbyul.

Do Sihee nodded to Do Yehee’s condition, and the string of her bow was quietly drawn back, aiming a magical arrow towards the woman opposite her.

Then, three magical arrows simultaneously flew from the blonde young lady’s bow towards Do Yehee, marking the beginning of their duel.

Neither of them yet realized what the outcome of this duel would bring back to them.

The morning after finishing the phone call with Do Sihee late at night.

I woke up and sat blankly on the bed, replaying the conversation I had with her yesterday.

「I’m sorry, Sungchul-ssi. It seems I won’t be available tomorrow.」

「…Huh?」

「I know it’s truly regrettable to say this when we’ve had plans set for quite some time… but an unavoidable schedule has come up.」

「…Is that so.」

「I truly, truly have no words, Sungchul-ssi. I promise I’ll make it up to you somehow next time…」

「No, that’s understandable. Since you’re affiliated with the Foundation, you must be much busier than I am, and naturally have more unavoidable schedules, right? I completely understand, so you don’t need to feel sorry about this.」

「But, that makes me feel….」

「Besides, tomorrow isn’t the only chance we have. We can just reschedule our meeting. So don’t worry and go take care of your business, Sihee-ssi.」

「…Okay, Sungchul-ssi. Thank you so much for your understanding.」

「See you next time, Sihee-ssi.」

「Yes, definitely next time…」

The content of the call Do Sihee suddenly made at 10 PM wasn’t about changing the meeting time or location.

It was a rather shocking call that completely canceled the appointment altogether.

Of course, I understood intellectually that the appointment was canceled due to unavoidable circumstances, but separately, the deep sense of disappointment welling up in my heart was something I couldn’t help.

Even after waking up to the alarm that morning, I sat on the bed for a long time, only letting out sighs filled with regret about the canceled meeting scheduled for today.

「I thought maybe you were a little less busy this time, but of all times, things had to get tangled up right before the meeting…」

It was clear the world was unfairly messing with my dates with Sihee. Otherwise, there was no explaining how things always got complicated every time we tried to meet.

First, on vacation in Indonesia, I barely escaped death during a monster wave, cutting the holiday short from the original plan.

After that, dealing with the aftermath of the Kraken I killed that day kept us from meeting for almost two months.

Just when I thought things were finally back on track, the appointment got canceled again due to another busy schedule.

A series of strangely unfair situations kept happening, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.

By chance, the canceled date gave me a free day, but naturally, I had no specific plans for how to spend that time.

Today’s date, which was supposed to start with meeting Sihee and Eunbyul in the shared dungeon this morning, had my schedule cleared until tomorrow morning just in case.

Suddenly being given a holiday when I’d been busy every day with either work or sex lately, I had no idea how to use the time.

On the other hand, just lounging around in bed all day made me feel uneasy, wondering if I was becoming too lazy.

Deciding that sitting idly in my room would be pointless, I impulsively walked out of my house.

While pondering how to spend the day without regret, I walked wherever my feet took me, and before I knew it, I arrived at a crossroads where the path split towards the company and the Union.

「Hmm…」

Anyway, today’s morning schedule was supposed to be party hunting in the Union’s shared dungeon.

Even without Sihee and Eunbyul, hunting alone wasn’t impossible. I figured it would be fine to do some light activity without overexerting myself and then think about the afternoon schedule later.

Coincidentally, it was also a good opportunity to test the shield and shield techniques I received from Areum, as activities at the Union were less conspicuous than those at the company.

After a brief deliberation, I made up my mind and quickly headed towards the Hunters’ Autonomous Union Gangdong District branch.

…It wasn’t long after that when I ended up using Areum’s shield in a completely different direction than originally intended.