Chapter 355: Graduation (1)

Two more days passed since the day we kicked that pain-in-the-ass customer out of Areum’s workshop.

Nothing particularly special happened during those two days. About the only thing I did was go to the company, where I hadn’t been showing my face recently due to being busy with other activities, just to meet the mandatory attendance days.

Especially since this week was a week without any group outings for the Sky Blue Shield, I too had a relatively relaxed schedule.

The reason for the Sky Blue Shield’s lack of group outings this week was precisely because now is the year-end period when Hunters get the busiest.

This season was a time when various companies hired mid-to-high-level magicians in large numbers, with Christmas events, New Year events, and whatnot. Naturally, Cha Yuri was included among them.

Creating and setting off fireworks with fire magic, or putting on large-scale fountain shows with water magic, etc. At year-end events, magician Hunters were an indispensable presence wherever you go.

Accordingly, Cha Yuri also said she’d be working with the special effects team at an outdoor musical performance run by an acquaintance during the year-end, so for starters, the party’s firepower specialist wasn’t just one person down.

Even party leader Hye-eun and Cheon Jihee Sunbae said they’d be working as security personnel at crowded event venues during this period.

In effect, only Han Min-ah and I, the surplus personnel, went to the dungeon just to rack up attendance days.

“Usually you seem the busiest with other party outings, but at times like this, you seem endlessly free.”

“Honestly, my abilities aren’t very useful outside of dungeons. And becoming a spectacle by doing things like performances isn’t really my cup of tea.”

“Outside of dungeons? Why wouldn’t there be places to use your abilities? I’ve been helped in various ways thanks to your abilities.”

“Help? What kind of help?”

“Seeing your silly expression every time you get caught up in heat relaxes my mind, or feeling the erogenous zone inside your anus and seeing your reaction every time gives me a strange pleasure… Ack, ack, ack!”

“Die! Die, you son of a bitch, die!”

Although it was half-joking, half of it was genuinely meant as a compliment.

Seeing her face flushed red and reacting excessively by kicking my shins, it seemed most of it fell under the category of dark history for Han Min-ah.

After confirming her heated anger had subsided to some extent, I calmly shared my thoughts regarding the dungeon expedition I would be joining her on today.

“Anyway, it’s good. I naturally assumed I’d go to work at the company today and do a solo raid all by myself.”

“But you, unlike me, didn’t really need to go to the company, right? Whether using magic at some event venue as part of the special effects team, or using healing magic for medical activities at a crowded event venue, or even working as security personnel like Hye-eun or Jihee Unnie using your own power, it would have been fine. Ah, it’s not that I dislike going on expeditions with just you, though.”

“…Well, I did consider all the things you mentioned. But upon careful thought, none of them were really my style.”

First off, unlike others who officially work as ‘Shield Wielders’ or ‘Wind Mages’, I am not yet a Hunter whose name recognition could be considered significant.

Consequently, to take on year-end special part-time jobs, I would have to find work through Hye-eun or Cha Yuri, and finding work indirectly like that in itself is quite a troublesome and tricky business.

Besides, I dislike being jostled around in crowded places in various ways.

Especially since if I were to work using magic or healing, I would inevitably have to work while hiding my identity, and that too wasn’t something I particularly liked.

What’s more, if my mask were to accidentally come off while working intensely, like last time, troublesome matters could arise in various ways.

In that regard, going to the company was a much better option because it allows me to focus only on monster hunting without needing to think about all sorts of bothersome things.

“Since you’re not busy, isn’t it good for you too? You too, thanks to me going to the company, won’t have to fight alone in the dungeon pathetically, right?”

“…What are you talking about? Even without you, I had plenty of people to go with, you know?”

“For someone who says that, your face lit up as soon as you saw me just now in the meeting room.”

“…Well, compared to other party Hunters, you’re the closest one I have, so that’s why. It doesn’t mean anything strange.”

“Sure, sure.”

As I could already roughly grasp her emotions with the Lustful Eye, honestly, it was an excuse that didn’t even warrant a scoff, and I could tell at once.

For Han Min-ah’s sake, I didn’t try to force those feelings out.

Everyone has secrets or feelings they want to hide, and when they want to reveal them, they’d want to decide for themselves if possible.

I thought there was no need for me to force that part open and proceed forcefully.

And well, just like Han Min-ah, I too was positively accepting of party hunts with just the two of us like this.

My combination with her, in many ways, had the abilities that fit together perfectly like puzzle pieces to form a two-person party.

Monster detection and trap disarming abilities, and the deep experience accumulated over a considerable period by traversing many dungeons.

Precisely, Han Min-ah’s abilities, possessing only the things I lacked, were quite helpful in many ways for forming a two-person party.

Conversely, what I possessed – swordsmanship and long-range suppression abilities, healing and protection spells, etc. – were my unique abilities that Han Min-ah lacked.

In that sense, it’s certain that our party (mine and hers) had a strong tendency to complement each other’s weaknesses.

A party formed with just Cha Yuri was a combination of extreme firepower explosion. A three-person party with Sihee and Eunbyul had a decent balance, making it a standard party composition. And expeditions going out with just Han Min-ah were almost perfectly a mutually complementary combination.

Excluding the Sky Blue Shield, among the small parties I’ve operated with so far, expeditions with Han Min-ah certainly felt significantly more stable in many ways.

“Anyway, I’m relieved. Seeing you came to the company like this instead of working at some event venue or the like, I don’t think you’ll be wandering around anywhere on the last night of the year.”

“…Huh?”

“What’s with that reaction? Could it be you have another schedule after today’s expedition ends?”

“No, well, not really…”

Separately from that, I wondered why she considered it important whether I would stay home quietly tonight.

Han Min-ah’s somewhat incomprehensible statement sparked a bit of confusion.

“If I go wandering around somewhere tonight, is there something wrong with that?”

“…What?”

“I’m not saying I’m making plans to go out somewhere specifically, but suddenly bringing it up and saying I shouldn’t go out is a bit strange.”

“…You, don’t tell me you forgot the promise we made last time?”

“…A promise?”

…Did I ever promise to have a year-end date with her?

As I tilted my head and answered, meaning I didn’t understand, Han Min-ah’s expression started to flush with embarrassment.

“We promised last time! To Jin-ah and Seon-ah!”

“Just saying ‘last time’ – how am I supposed to know? And Jin-ah and Seon-ah?”

“That… I, I went completely crazy once because of that abnormal heat phenomenon, remember! Back then, I promised them that once they became official Hunters, I’d help them resolve their heats directly…!”

“…Ah, that? Of course, I remember that.”

If you had just said it from the start like that, why answer so confusingly? It’s really something.

As soon as I said I remembered, Han Min-ah, her expression softening slightly, let out a sigh of relief and continued.

“It’s a relief you remember. I was worried you’d let them get their hopes up so high and then say you didn’t know now.”

“I’ve seen the pathetic sights you showed every time you were in heat until now, but even so, you’re not that clueless.”

“…Those were unavoidable…”

Suddenly waking up in the middle of the night to show my sex to my younger sisters, or suddenly getting horny in a movie theater and reaching climax inside an elevator, etc.

Han Min-ah’s face turned bright red as she remembered the pathetic things she did in the past during her heat.

To prevent her from getting horny so often, I even suggested perhaps reducing the frequency of sex, but I did suggest it once.

Every time I brought it up, she’d make various excuses to maintain the current precarious cycle of heat relief, so drawing out her true feelings seemed to require a bit more effort.

“When you two become official Hunters, regarding my promise to take your first time, I haven’t forgotten it, so you don’t need to worry.”

“…Well then, that’s a relief.”

“But how does that relate to me staying home tonight have anything to do with it?”

“What relation and whatnot… You know those kids are graduating this year and joining our company, right?”

“Of course, I know that. Both you and I graduated from the same high school.”

Although I couldn’t join the company and was forcibly graduated because I couldn’t pass the D-rank Hunter exam even after failing three times.

“Legally, the time when they can officially start activities is from January 1st next year, wasn’t it?”

“Precisely, from 00:00 on January 1st. In effect, less than a day remains now.”

“The first time I met them seems to have been during our middle school days. Truly, time flies so fast.”

“Anyway, be careful tonight. For dinner, eat something good for replenishing your energy. If possible, get plenty of sleep during the day too.”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Something about our conversation not quite meshing until the very end, the last day of the year’s party expedition concluded like that.

I came to understand the meaning behind Han Min-ah’s words a few hours after that, in the early morning.