Chapter 573: Rank S Hunter Promotion (3)

S-Class Hunter.

In an instant, from B-Class to S-Class. I was promoted, skipping a whopping three ranks, but I didn’t have the leisure to fully savor that joy.

As the Boss said, since there were still many documents to process, the interviews continued to be quite busy even after that.

Not only were the promotion contracts a whopping three pages at once, but there were also quite a lot of documents related to the ‘Abandoned Village’ or the ‘Three-Headed Basilisk’.

Starting with contracts whose contents were difficult to understand at first glance, like the 「Three-Headed Basilisk Subjugation Reward Payment Settlement Report」 or the 「Abandoned Village Land Partial Transfer Agreement」, to reports where the content was immediately clear, like the 「Ariel Foundation Field Cooperation Report」 or the 「Abandoned Village Purification Work Overtime Confirmation」.

Even if they were just formal contracts, since my signature was required, I first had Esila check if there were any problematic clauses within the contract contents.

After signing them, only after hearing that there were no clauses that would put me at a disadvantage, I filled in the blanks of the documents given to me one by one.

The documents I filled out during that process were three copies of the Hunter promotion contract, and six other miscellaneous documents, a whopping six copies.

After finishing all nine consent forms and contracts, only then did the day’s paperwork finally conclude. Returning the last page of the ninth contract to the Boss, I asked.

“Is this everything?”

“…Uh, for now.”

“Four out of the nine copies seem to be reward-related documents, does one usually get this many rewards for defeating a boss monster?”

“It wasn’t just any dungeon, it was a boss monster that resided in a dungeonized area, and furthermore, in an inland dungeonized area. Moreover, it was an SS-Class monster that even a decent S-Class party would find impossible to attempt subjugation against.”

“……”

“Besides, separately from its individual strength, it was a boss monster whose subjugation difficulty couldn’t even be measured. It’s a natural outcome.”

I had only expected, at most, the bounty that was supposedly on this Three-Headed Basilisk, or perhaps other than that, maybe a contract for the sale of research materials. That’s what I was thinking.

Then again, separate from my recent news about becoming famous as a male Awakened Hunter, information related to the Abandoned Village was always a top-ranking article on the internet news.

Considering I contributed to normalizing the dungeonized area, this kind of outcome certainly wasn’t that strange.

“The Abandoned Village won’t be utilized as a dungeon anymore, right?”

“There are still remnant monsters left, so they must be completely subjugated. Once that part is finished, they’ll move straight into regional restoration. When it’s all done, they’ll remove the holy barrier too.”

“Yeah…”

Hearing that the Abandoned Village would return to normal made me feel strangely unsettled.

Whether in a bad way or a good way, it was a dungeon that had significantly influenced my life.

It was where I got the initial motivation to become a Hunter, where I met Sihee, who was like the first button in the process of connecting with my current Foundation connections, and it was also where I formed a connection with the Saintess Lulusia just a short while ago.

That such a dungeon would begin restoration work just as I became an S-Class Hunter made me feel strangely as if several of my life goals had been achieved at once.

…How should I put it? It feels a little empty, too.

“Now that it’s all finished, you can go in.”

“Ah, yes… Thank you for your hard work.”

“Just because you’ve moved up to S-Class doesn’t mean your Hunter life is over, so don’t go experiencing burnout or anything; keep up the good work in the future.”

“…Yes, I should.”

Right. Even though I had achieved part of the goals I wanted to accomplish as a Hunter, I didn’t have the luxury to settle for this and feel satisfied.

It was undeniable that I had defeated the boss monster of the Abandoned Village and reached S-Class Hunter status, joining the ranks of the strongest Hunters, but that was the undeniable truth.

I still had the final goal of creating a world where no Hunter dies to a monster, remaining.

…And, the role of Hunter Lust Manager was still very much ongoing.

“Thank you for your hard work, Boss!”

“Yes, yes.”

After finishing nearly an hour of document signing, only then could I finally leave the Boss’s office.

Right away, I quickly headed over to the Sky Blue Shield conference room on the 14th floor.

「When will the interview end?」

「I’ll head down now」

It was time to satisfy our party’s mage, whose lust had been building up for a long time.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“Thank you for your hard work, Boss!”

“Yes, yes.”

-Creak, thud.

“……”

After finishing the entire bundle of documents, Sung Taekyung had left the Boss’s office.

Only after confirming his presence had completely faded did Seo Ok-hee alone and quietly let out a deep sigh.

Along with her confusing emotions, hidden deep within her chest.

“…Hoo.”

Since recently, whenever she thought of Hunter Sung Taekyung’s body, a strange feeling inexpressibly filled her mind.

Perhaps meeting him face-to-face might alleviate this condition even slightly; with such anxious thoughts, she had deliberately arranged this interview meeting.

Instead of going through the trouble of meeting him for paperwork, it would have been better to just have an employee deliver the contracts, Seo Ok-hee thought several times throughout the hour.

The strange symptoms began appearing in her two weeks ago.

In the Abandoned Village, it started from the moment she encountered Sung Taekyung.

…More precisely, from the moment she saw his wet naked body, not wearing a stitch, right before her eyes.

‘D-Don’t come any closer….’

‘Huh?’

‘M-move that weird thing away… If you come any cl-closer, I’ll f-fire you…?’

‘……Huh?’

A naked man calmly walked out from inside the basilisk’s middle head.

It took Seo Ok-hee a full day to accurately understand what that dangling, branch-like thing between his legs was.

Because, until then, for her, a man’s genitals were simply something unknown, lacking both knowledge and experience.

Having manifested her Awakened abilities at too young an age, her body stopped growing in that state.

And since then, Seo Ok-hee had lived relying on her Awakened abilities without much thought; until now, she had one element lacking.

It was the male body, which she had never encountered or learned about in her 43 years.

Seo Ok-hee living for over 40 years without acquiring any sexual knowledge about men was entirely due to her Awakened abilities being too convenient.

Possessing the power to directly interfere with the composition of matter and information itself, her abilities had been utilized in various ways since childhood.

Once she became somewhat accustomed to using her Awakened abilities, she even started conducting her entire life solely through them.

Information about her guild’s operations, analysis of monsters, or various other necessary information was all collected using only her Awakened ability, ‘Insight’.

Since her Awakened ability automatically censored inappropriate information, sensational media could not corrupt Seo Ok-hee’s mind.

Furthermore, having debuted as a Hunter at a young age and risen to the position of Guild Master, her life consisted mostly of Hunter activities. As such, the people she interacted with were almost entirely women.

Her leisure activities also consisted of enjoying lyrical hobbies like reading or listening to calm music, rather than watching stimulating video media.

Having lived as a Hunter since before the Youth Hunter Protection Act was passed, the society Seo Ok-hee experienced was entirely related to Hunters.

For Seo Ok-hee, who had never encountered ‘sexual stimulation’ even once in her life, the sight she encountered for the first time two weeks ago was an extremely intense stimulus.

And so, only the next day, having newly learned the concepts of a male body and male genitalia, her body began to undergo subtle physical changes.

Even though it was only for two weeks, her height increased slightly, and her fingers grew a bit longer.

And whenever she recalled the stimulating sight she saw that day in her mind, an inexplicable emotion began to fill her head.

Seo Ok-hee still could not figure out the true nature of the emotion filling her mind.

“Why is this happening… I can’t even concentrate…”

An unknown emotion that interfered with her work was filling her mind, making her feel quite complicated.

Moreover, that emotion seemed to intensify even more when she encountered Sung Taekyung, compared to when she was alone.

Just a moment ago, when their fingers accidentally brushed, Seo Ok-hee had been so startled that she let out a voice like a little girl’s for a moment.

Perhaps the slight growth spurt her body was experiencing might be related to him; it was an unavoidable conclusion.

However, since she had a backlog of work to do right now, figuring out the nature of that emotion was planned to be postponed to a later date.

With those thoughts, Seo Ok-hee stamped the documents received from Sung Taekyung one by one with the approval stamp and organized them on one side of her desk.

While processing other tasks, she discovered a document she had almost forgotten about.

“Ah, I should have mentioned this too…”

A document related to the exploration of a new Mystery Dungeon, which the company guild had recently started managing.

Although other Hunters had already explored it several times, returning without any significant results, it was a report about a dungeon with no notable achievements.

During today’s interview, I had even planned to suggest accompanying the exploration mission, but because my emotions had become too complicated in many ways, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

As a result, the document she hadn’t managed to deliver lay in her hands.

“…I’ll have to give it to him before I leave.”

According to her information-gathering abilities, he was scheduled to embark on an expedition today with Hunter Cha Yuri after renting the Blue Bay Mountain Range.

She planned to enter the rented dungeon briefly, without disturbing their hunt, just to deliver the document. That was Seo Ok-hee’s plan.

With that in mind, after setting aside the new dungeon report on her desk, she first focused on finishing the urgent tasks that needed immediate attention.

The current Seo Ok-hee could not possibly anticipate what scene she would witness upon entering a B-Class dungeon, just to deliver a single document.