Chapter 673: One Step Further (1)

After Min-ah, Eunbyul, and I spent almost a whole day having a threesome.

This morning. It wasn’t until late that evening that I could check the countless notification messages that had appeared right after I had sex with Min-ah for the first time.

It seemed like Han Min-ah’s affection level had risen to the highest tier, just like several other women, and since she was the fifth person to reach the highest affection level, quite a few additional rewards had come in.

After finishing the enjoyable sex with Min-ah and Eunbyul, I had plenty of time to check the changes until my younger sisters returned.

『Hunter Han Min-ah’s affection level is at its highest.』

『A special reward related to Hunter Han Min-ah has been granted.』

『An awakening ability related to Hunter Han Min-ah has been unlocked.』

So far, it wasn’t much different from the usual rewards. After all, Han Min-ah was the fifth person to reach the highest affection level, so it was basically just the system window I’d seen many times before, with only the name changed to Han Min-ah.

This alone didn’t really feel like I had received anything extra from the highest affection level rewards. I had already confirmed the bonus 200 points I received, and the newly acquired awakening ability was well within the expected range.

…What caught my attention wasn’t the notification messages that appeared earlier, but the subsequent ones.

『The number of hunters with the highest affection level has exceeded 5. The tier of the highest special reward increases (View Details)』

『Part of the existing highest affection level rewards will be changed to the general reward tier (View Details)』

Even a quick glance at the notification messages revealed that some change had occurred to my awakening abilities. Seeing as they even kindly included a ‘View Details’ link, it seemed I could easily find out what had changed and how. This was the part I was most curious about personally, so I decided to check the details of the highest special reward, which was said to have changed first.

『The following special ability is enhanced for hunters who have achieved the highest affection level:

Summon: Usable once per month → Usable once per day

Designate Summon Location: The summon location is no longer restricted to the user’s side; you can now summon to a pre-designated location.

Forced Summon: Allows you to forcibly summon the target if they sustain a fatal injury or give up fighting. This function can be activated/deactivated. (Usable once per month. Costs 100 points)』

“……Huh?”

The moment the system window appeared before my eyes, informing me of the enhanced ‘Summon’ ability, a slightly foolish exclamation escaped my lips. Being able to designate a specific location instead of just next to me, and the ability to forcibly summon someone when they’re critically injured. As soon as I saw this function, a thought naturally popped into my head.

‘It’s kind of like a town return system….’

The town return function from the online RPGs I played in my previous life. It was the moment the thought naturally occurred to me that it was similar to the function where you returned to a nearby town and revived upon death. Of course, in this case, it was slightly different in that you were summoned right before death, rather than reviving after dying.

Judging solely by the performance of this function, it felt like I had taken one step closer to the ‘world where hunters don’t die by monsters’ that I had so desperately wanted. If I could utilize this function well, it seemed like achieving my dream wouldn’t be impossible anymore.

‘Maybe I can even make it so hunters never die by monsters at all.’

Of course, it was a bit disappointing that this was limited only to women who had reached the ‘highest affection level’ with me. So far, a total of 5 women had reached the highest affection level in their relationship with me. In the order they reached it: Kang Hye-eun, Do Sihee, Eunbyul, Cha Yuri, and Han Min-ah. Thanks to the newly added Forced Summon function, I could at least rest assured knowing that these five people could have their lives saved no matter what happened. However, the problem was that the number of people I wanted to protect wasn’t limited to just five.

Not to mention the women I had been intimate with even once. Beyond them, I wanted to save as many hunters as possible from the threat of monsters. But to do that, I needed to raise their affection level to the highest tier, and raising one person’s affection level to the highest tier wasn’t an easy task based on my experience so far.

In terms of bond alone, Eunyoung Noona was by no means inferior to the five people who had reached the highest affection level, but the final psychological barrier, her thinking of me like a son, was preventing her affection level from reaching the highest tier. If we only looked at the number of encounters, Hwayoung Sunbae and I had been intimate quite a few times, but it seemed difficult for her to truly become sincere due to the difference in species and age.

Each of these cases served as an obstacle to the ‘ideal future’ I envisioned. The ‘Forced Summon’ function, which could only be used if the other person developed blind devotion towards me, regardless of how much I loved them. Even though I instinctively felt that using this function was the fastest way to create my ideal future, I couldn’t shake the feeling that numerous restrictions still stood in my way.

‘People’s hearts are truly fickle.’

It was pathetic to be regretting that I couldn’t use this ability on others, even though the ability had clearly been upgraded in a much better way than before. Knowing that anyone who heard it would find it absurd, the human instinct to want more was strong. Especially since it revealed a function like Forced Summon, which clearly served my purpose to anyone who saw it.

Just being able to reliably protect the five people who had already reached the highest affection level should have been enough for me, yet I was being greedy, wanting to save even those who hadn’t reached it yet. It was a greedy thought that emerged so naturally, it even surprised me.

‘For now, I guess I just have to make sure the women I’ve been intimate with so far reach the highest affection level.’

It was a simple and perhaps foolish method, but in a way, it was the most certain one. After all, since the ‘highest affection level reward’ itself had been upgraded, if I could raise other hunters’ affection levels to the highest tier, this reward would apply to them equally.

After settling on a conclusion in my mind, I then checked the changes in the second notification. The content, which sounded difficult to understand at first glance: ‘Part of the existing highest affection level rewards will be changed to the general reward tier.’

『The following special ability is added for hunters who have achieved a general level of affection:

Summon: Allows you to summon the target hunter to a designated location. (Usable once per month)』

It seemed that the part of the reward that changed to the general tier was the existing ‘Summon’ ability. This meant that the reward function previously exclusive to hunters with the highest affection level had now become a general reward. In other words, any woman I had been intimate with even once could now be summoned using the Summon ability at any time. In fact, I could confirm that even those whose affection level hadn’t surpassed 80 were available for summoning on the current Hunter Lust Management list. Seeing as I could even use Summon on Do Yehee, who currently had the lowest affection level, it probably meant I could use it on virtually any woman I’d had a relationship with.

‘If only I could somehow attach even just the Forced Summon function to this… that would be great in many ways.’

Even if it was only once a month, life itself was a resource you only got one of. It was frustrating in many ways that this function, which was essentially like replenishing that life once a month, could only be used on just five women. As soon as I saw this enhanced Summon ability, fragmentary ways to utilize it had already sprung up in my mind in an instant.

‘…Wait. If the Summon ability was lowered to the general affection level hunters because I got 5 people to the highest affection level.’

Could it be that the ‘highest affection level reward’ in the Hunter Lust Management System has a ‘next tier’ as well? Right now, there are 5 people with the ‘highest affection level’, but what if that number increases to 10? Wouldn’t it then be possible to grant the ‘Forced Summon’ function, currently exclusive to hunters with the highest affection level, to hunters with a general affection level as well?

As I pondered this deeply, lost in thought, it wasn’t long before a familiar voice affirmed my hypothesis.

「As part of the Hunter Lust Management System, I would like to offer my opinion: Master’s hypothesis holds significant potential.」

‘Really?’

「Even I, as part of the system, cannot access information on unconfirmed rewards, so I cannot provide certainty. However, considering the ‘rules’ the 『Hunter Lust Management System』 has demonstrated so far, it is highly plausible.」

‘Right. Thanks for the input, Esila.’

Although I couldn’t say Esila was perfectly trustworthy, her opinion was enough to shape my future mindset. Regardless, whether I had seen the details of these changed rewards or not, what I needed to do hadn’t really changed. It meant I just had to continue spending my life being intimate with various women, just like I always had. Affection levels were merely a bonus stat that increased along the way.

I wouldn’t awkwardly act out of character just to raise affection levels and fluster the other person, nor would I neglect those who had already reached the highest affection level as if they were already caught. It was enough to satisfy the desires of the hunters I had relationships with, just as I always had. Because that was the role of me, the Hunter Lust Manager.