Chapter 601: Private Interview (1)

Seo Ok-hee, CEO of Eun & Ok Co., Ltd. Age 43.

A veteran SSS-class Hunter who awakened her Hunter abilities at the tender age of 13, spending a whopping 30 years in the Hunter profession.

A living legend who has maintained her physical age from the time of her awakening for 30 years, actively working as a top-tier Hunter for an extended period.

She has even risen to the position of CEO of one of the Republic of Korea’s top three Hunter Guilds, truly the strongest Hunter in the Republic of Korea, having secured both power, wealth, and fame.

Furthermore, thanks to her perpetually cold expression, which made it impossible to know what she was thinking, she was a figure of both fear and respect among many Hunters, but…

…recently, Seo Ok-hee had been lost in thought for days over something no one else could have possibly imagined.

“Did I grow a little again this week?”

Comparing her height, which had grown another 5 centimeters since a week ago, Seo Ok-hee found herself enveloped in a subtle melancholy on Monday morning.

Approximately 30 years since the day she awakened as a Hunter.

She had thought that, at the very least, her body wouldn’t grow until her awakened abilities started to weaken.

Seo Ok-hee felt considerable bewilderment at her body, which had suddenly begun to grow over the past month.

Just a month ago, her small frame made her look no older than a middle schooler or even an elementary school student.

However, due to an incident she experienced a month prior, her body, which had merely looked young, gradually began to transform into a more mature and feminine form.

Her appearance, which had once made her seem like a middle or elementary schooler, had now changed to a point where it could barely pass as adult-level.

While she was still a bit shorter than the average adult woman, she no longer looked like a student to anyone who saw her, unlike before.

This rapid growth was one of the two biggest reasons for Seo Ok-hee’s current worries.

After all, Seo Ok-hee herself still couldn’t pinpoint the exact cause of her body’s growth.

“It’s more concerning that there are no other symptoms besides my height increasing. Is everything really okay…?”

She had already received treatment for non-existent illnesses from her company’s recovery-type Hunters several times, and even recently consulted with someone called a Saintess from the Vatican, but all tests came back normal.

Instead of getting any answers about her physical growth, Seo Ok-hee returned only with warnings to be careful about collapsing from overwork.

Indeed, she herself hadn’t felt any impact on her awakened abilities’ output, nor had she lost the ability to use any of the skills she normally employed.

Seo Ok-hee couldn’t help but go to bed every night burdened by troubled thoughts about her inexplicable physical growth.

Was it truly just her body, which had been suppressed for 30 years without growing, finally catching up?

Although she couldn’t be sure right now, she hoped that was the case.

She had too much already weighing on her shoulders to step down as CEO simply because she might be weakening.

Seo Ok-hee had prepared for retirement several times over the course of those 30 years.

‘I’m in my mid-twenties now, so I should start preparing for retirement.’

‘Next year I’ll be thirty, and most of my colleagues have already found new careers, so this must finally be the time to retire.’

‘Kang Eunyoung, who worked with me for so long, has also retired, so my retirement must be approaching soon.’

‘The company has reached a certain level of stability, so it would be good to step down from management at an appropriate time.’

‘I’m almost forty now, I really need to retire…’

Living year after year like that, Seo Ok-hee’s life had somehow become 30 years of continuous Hunter activity.

In the end, she had given up on retiring because, no matter how much she aged, she showed no signs of weakening.

As a result, it became increasingly difficult for her to step away from the Guild, and now the entire company heavily relied on Seo Ok-hee’s charisma.

Ultimately, she was now in a situation where, whether she liked it or not, she had to forcibly maintain her Hunter life and remain with the company.

Moreover, with Kang Eunyoung, who was practically a co-founder, returning to active duty to help her, there was probably nothing more embarrassing than her retiring first.

“If it’s just growing, then I suppose it’s fine.”

Since there were no particular changes other than her height increasing and her body developing slight curves, she simply hoped this symptom, like the previous retirement crises she had faced, would pass without incident.

Standing before the full-length mirror, Seo Ok-hee quietly wished in her heart as she gazed at herself, slightly taller than yesterday.

Still, her body growing wasn’t entirely a bad thing given her circumstances.

Environments that were difficult to navigate due to her short stature were now much more manageable.

Ready-made suits, for which she rarely found sizes that fit her original frame, now had a few options she could wear.

Moreover, she had even casually considered retaking the driving test, which she couldn’t do before due to her height, so objectively speaking, her growth brought more good than bad.

She was just bewildered that it was happening due to principles unknown to her.

In reality, Seo Ok-hee’s growth was merely the extremely natural development that female Hunters experienced during puberty.

Generally, anyone living a normal life in the 21st century, whether male or female, inevitably encounters sexual information, whether they seek it out or not.

Normally, she should have gone through that phase and completed her physical development at least 20 years ago.

However, due to one of her awakened abilities, the manipulation of information, she had completely blocked herself off from all sexually suggestive and stimulating content.

As a result, she was now belatedly experiencing the growth that typical adolescent female Hunters should have gone through.

This was triggered a month ago when she accidentally caught sight of a male Hunter’s naked body inside a dungeon.

“Today, I need to check if the report on promoting the Sky Blue Shield kids has come in, and I also need to tell them about the Basilisk materials… Ah.”

Seo Ok-hee dressed in her suit, mentally reviewing her tasks for the day before heading to work.

During this process, she naturally recalled the face of the Hunter she was scheduled to meet today.

Seo Ok-hee’s face quietly flushed with a sense of bewilderment that she still couldn’t quite comprehend.

“If I need to discuss the Basilisk materials… I suppose I have no choice but to call him again.”

Sung Taekyung, the world’s only male awakened Hunter.

The de facto leader of Sky Blue Shield, who was promoted from B-class to S-class Hunter in a single day for conquering the Three-headed Basilisk.

Of course, Kang Hye-eun’s name was still listed as the party leader, but Seo Ok-hee had already concluded that he was the provisional leader.

He had already led a joint expedition of Hunters from the company and the foundation against the Three-headed Basilisk, demonstrating his command capabilities.

Most of the internal members of Sky Blue Shield seemed to follow his orders without complaint, and above all, his Hunter rank was now the highest within that party.

Treating him as the leader wouldn’t cause any particular issues.

Therefore, she needed to discuss the disposal of the remaining Basilisk materials, excluding the parts that required swift processing, with him.

Yet, for some reason, the thought of facing him in her office filled her with an inexplicable, strange feeling.

“……”

It was all because she had seen such a thing, for no good reason.

The first time she saw Sung Taekyung’s naked body was purely an accident, so it could have been overlooked somehow.

Besides, if one were to consider the victim in that incident, Sung Taekyung, who had his body exposed, likely suffered greater psychological shock than she did.

In fact, her own attitude in telling him not to come closer was probably quite rude towards him as a man. Fortunately, she apologized for it whenever the opportunity arose, and he seemed to dismiss it without much concern.

However, what confused her mind even more was the scene she witnessed about a week ago at the Blue Valley Estuary.

Ever since she saw Sung Taekyung and Cha Yuri, Hunters from Sky Blue Shield, engaging in intimacy inside a dungeon, Seo Ok-hee couldn’t help but recall that scene every single day.

Unlike a month ago, when she had merely learned about the naked body of a man with different physical structures than a woman, a week ago she had witnessed the ‘purpose’ of those different physical structures.

Normally, both of them should have been disciplined on the spot for lewd acts within the dungeon, but Seo Ok-hee, who lacked the very concept of what constituted lewdness, was so flustered that she could only flee upon witnessing the scene.

It wasn’t until that night that she learned what she had seen that day was considered a lewd act and a type of sexual position between a man and a woman.

“Still, I have to call him. There are matters regarding the Mystery Dungeon exploration that need discussing too.”

She couldn’t simply ignore the information she needed to convey just because it made her uncomfortable to look at him.

In fact, the previous accidental witnessing of that scene had occurred precisely when she was about to propose the Mystery Dungeon exploration to him, making it a sort of accident.

She needed to have a conversation with him, both as the party leader of Sky Blue Shield and as the strongest currently existing male Hunter.

With those thoughts, she got into her secretary’s car parked in her apartment’s underground garage and headed to the company.

Seo Ok-hee, CEO of Eun & Ok Co., Ltd., wearing a suit that, while not fitting her at all in the past, had recently begun to suit her reasonably well.

It was the beginning of a day that would become the biggest turning point in her life.