Chapter 338: Sihee Camp (1)

“You better remember this humiliation today because I’ll definitely get you back! No matter what I do, I’ll make sure you….”

“…….”

“Hic, hi-geuk…!!”

Do Yehee, looking at me with a terrified expression as if she had seen a ghost, finally cursed me and hurriedly fled to a distant place out of sight.

‘So people who say things like ‘I’ll get you next time’ actually exist.’

In a sense, it was a perfectly fitting farewell for that woman.

After about ten-odd minutes, having firmly engraved the fear of me onto her, the two people who had watched our unfinished duel until the end cautiously approached and spoke.

“Seo, Sungchul-ssi…?”

“Will you be alright?”

“……Well.”

“What do you mean, ‘Well!’? What if that woman retaliates against you later…!”

To be honest, the thought that I had shown a bit of an excessive reaction belatedly occurred to me.

From that woman’s perspective, she was probably thinking of a fair-and-square duel, so being laid on the floor and tortured must have been an unexpected situation for her.

Moreover, since I deliberately tormented her by inflicting pure pain without leaving external wounds, she might have felt humiliated in a sense.

This might sound ridiculous, but the reason I tormented her at the end was my own rational method of revenge.

Until then, she had tormented Sihee to her heart’s content in places I didn’t know about, and then shamelessly said ‘surrender’ when she was losing – that attitude made me so furious.

From the moment I pressed my fist into her solar plexus, I probably twisted my fist with one-sided malice without even realizing it.

Or grabbing and pinching a handful of her inner thigh, or bending her fingers back towards the back of her hand.

Even in my own opinion, it wasn’t exactly a righteous act. By the end, I almost went soft, even towards a woman like that.

Besides, I myself didn’t really hold such a grudge towards Do Yehee. It was merely closer to impromptu torture, done out of instant anger upon seeing her overpowering Sihee and Eunbyul.

Now that my head had cooled down, I do think it was a bit excessive, but even so, I don’t regret the actions I took myself.

Looking at the various people I’ve encountered, including my past life, humans who think they are the center of the world are usually unfixable until they get properly beaten up.

Of course, violence doesn’t solve everything, but most ordinary humans tend to become docile in the face of direct danger to themselves.

“…If you show up again trying to get revenge on me, then I’ll have to deal with you again. I don’t think I’ll lose next time anyway.”

“Just like last time when you jumped out of a helicopter alone, claiming you’d fight a Kraken, you really are someone who, in many ways, doesn’t think about countermeasures and just jumps in.”

“When that woman knocked you Sihee and Eunbyul-ssi down onto the muddy floor, I got furious, and after confirming that it wasn’t the first time she had tormented you, I couldn’t control my emotions. I’m sorry if I caused you trouble because of me.”

“…I wasn’t really inconvenienced. I’m just worried about you.”

“Hmm….”

Honestly, her personal strength wasn’t scary, but if Do Yehee, holding a grudge, came after me for revenge combined with the financial power of Dokyung Group, it seemed like it would be hard to handle.

The only possible countermeasure might be to reveal that I’m the only male Awakened Hunter and become a ‘public figure’ who can’t be easily touched.

Ideally, I planned to reveal I was Awakened only after reaching A-rank Hunter status, but I might need to be ready to reveal it at any time if the situation turned bad.

“What if I publicly reveal that I’m a male Awakened? Even if you’re the heir to your Dokyung Group, wouldn’t they hesitate to mess with me? What do you think?”

“…If you’re worried that woman might pressure Sungchul-ssi using Dokyung’s financial power, I’ll make sure you don’t have to worry about that part.”

“How?”

“By using this.”

Saying that, Do Sihee brought her hand to the chest area of her hunter suit and slightly turned the second button, making a ‘ttal-kkak’ sound.

Immediately, Do Yehee’s voice, who had just been lying on the floor, began to play from around the chest area of her hunter suit.

「Wh-what are you doing?! I surrendered, I surrendered!! Surely a Guild Hunter isn’t so ignorant they don’t know the meaning of the word ‘surrender’?! It means I admit defeat… hic, Kkwa-a-a-ak?!

Wh-what are you doing! It’s natural for the winner in a duel to accept the loser’s surrender… A-ack!! Aaaack!!」

“This recording contains her humiliating defeat in the duel against a Guild Hunter and her begging for surrender, so it should be sufficient as a negotiation material.”

“Uh….”

“Thanks to that woman herself babbling about being a Guild Hunter and whatnot, the job became much easier. It’s also excellent that Sungchul-ssi’s voice isn’t included much. On the condition that this recording isn’t released publicly, I’ll ensure you won’t be pressured using Dokyung Group’s capital.”

“…….”

“Most of that woman’s connections were built under that shameless charisma. If her true, ugly self is revealed like this, she’ll likely suffer significant damage to her network. She’s a quick thinker, so she’ll probably accept my offer.”

“…Th-the recording, when did you turn it on?”

“I usually always have a recorder running in private settings. I keep it ready for situations like this.”

…So this is how chaebol heiresses compete for succession.

As expected, getting involved with women from foundations is enough with Sihee and Eunbyul. This was a moment that made me realize that again.

Well, in the first place, getting involved with a Foundation Hunter wasn’t even part of Sihee’s plan. It was an unexpected emergency quest, but it led to a valuable connection.

As for Eunbyul, it was even more due to an unexpected sudden event.

Now that I’ve actually met that woman, Do Yehee or whatever her name is, my interest in the entire Foundation Guild has completely cooled. Including her former colleagues who fell for a woman like that and left Sihee’s side.

Besides, if they were swayed by such an arrogant and self-centered woman, they probably weren’t good people to begin with.

After confirming Do Yehee was gone, whether she had left the dungeon or completely disappeared from view, I turned my gaze towards Sihee and asked.

“Was that the end of today’s schedule?”

“Yes?”

“You said something suddenly came up yesterday and you couldn’t meet today, breaking our promise. Was meeting that woman the only thing?”

“Strictly speaking, it was only that woman…”

“Then that’s good.”

Perhaps from rolling on the muddy swamp floor, Sihee’s face was somewhat dirty. As I wiped Sihee’s face, I brought up the topic of the time I and she were supposed to spend today.

“So let’s have a relaxed date starting this afternoon, as originally planned. If that was all, you probably have free time until tomorrow, right?”

“…….”

At my suggestion, Do Sihee averted her gaze, showing a hesitant expression.

She wore a deeply thoughtful expression, as if pondering something, then slowly turned her head towards me and cautiously asked.

“…Is it okay…?”

“Okay about what?”

“I, I broke my promise with Sungchul-ssi by standing him up the day before… and even lied, pretending I had another urgent schedule… I even made Sungchul-ssi worry about my personal problems…”

“So what?”

“Do I, someone like me, dare to have a date with Sungchul-ssi today… have the right to…? That’s what I’m questioning…”

…So that’s what she was talking about. She was worrying about something so trivial.

Strictly speaking, Sihee’s actions today were not something I particularly liked either. Normally, behind my back, she suddenly started a duel and almost lost the group’s succession rights.

Of course, to me, Do Sihee is just Do Sihee, the masochistic young lady, whether she has the Dokyung Group’s succession rights or not, but that doesn’t mean I can praise her reckless challenge.

Of course, for such a reason alone, I had no intention of giving up the enjoyable time with Do Sihee. Besides, giving her ‘punishment’ could easily be done during the date, so even for the sake of giving her ‘punishment’, the date with Sihee was an unmissable element.

“That’s why you absolutely shouldn’t run away, especially if you need to be punished. Right, Sihee?”

“…Y-yes, right! I, I did wrong to Sungchul-ssi again today… So I, I need to be punished…”

“There’s still plenty of time, so think about it slowly. Or, where you originally planned to take me on our date today. Do you have any plans?”

“…W-well, I did have an original plan. But I don’t know if I can use it now…”

As Sihee vaguely looked away after saying that, her personal maid immediately replied in a calm voice that it was certainly possible.

“I will complete the preparations within an hour. In the meantime, please have a leisurely meal with Kim Sungchul-nim, Master.”

“As expected, only Eunbyul.”

This time, where on earth is she planning to take me that she’s even making preparations.

If possible, I just hoped it would end within South Korea.