Chapter 764: Required Conditions

The first time Seo Ok-hee met Sung Taekyung was not long after Kang Eunyoung returned to the company.

Seo Ok-hee had heard that a Hunter named ‘Kim Sungchul,’ a B-rank Hunter belonging to the Union, wanted to transfer to the company, and through Kang Eunyoung, who arranged the interview, she learned that he was Sung Taekyung.

The name itself somehow sounded more like a man’s name than a female Hunter’s. Still, since there was no way a male Hunter could rise to B-rank, she just assumed it was a female Hunter with a masculine name.

In the first place, she had never heard of male B-rank Hunters operating within the Union, nor did the information she gathered about ‘Kim Sungchul’ specifically mention him being a male Hunter. Even if the Union Guild handled things haphazardly, they would have recorded such a unique detail if a male Hunter had reached B-rank.

However, Sung Taekyung, whom she met during their first encounter, shattered Seo Ok-hee’s expectations, appearing undeniably male to anyone’s eyes. His appearance left Seo Ok-hee momentarily flustered.

“Hello.”

“You’re the one Eunyoung… Hunter Kang Eunyoung mentioned, right?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

Although a slip of the tongue escaped her due to realizing on the spot that he was a man, not a woman, Seo Ok-hee calmly observed the Hunter before her, Sung Taekyung.

Still, thinking that since Kang Eunyoung had introduced him, he wouldn’t be a bad person, just like the other acquaintances she had previously told her about.

“Come closer.”

“Yes.”

‘So this is President Seo Ok-hee. She looks cute up close.’

Although the thought momentarily reminded him of Kang Eunyoung when they first met, he didn’t pay it much mind.

After all, about half of the first impressions he received from people seeing him for the first time weren’t far from the sentiment ‘cute.’ It was actually a common impression.

Instead, whether they tried to hide that common impression or confessed it honestly was her standard for evaluation.

“You had a rude thought, didn’t you?”

“……?”

“You didn’t?”

“…I did, I apologize.”

“It’s okay. As long as you don’t lie, I don’t really mind.”

‘For some reason, she feels like someone I shouldn’t lie to. I should be careful. But then again, thinking she’s cute might not actually be a rude thought if you think about it….’

Although he was a bit complicated in his thoughts, he wasn’t a bad guy, considering he didn’t lie.

Seo Ok-hee, whose encounters with people who were different on the inside than they appeared on the outside had mostly ended badly, prioritized sincerity above all else when evaluating people.

In that regard, Sung Taekyung had passed Seo Ok-hee’s evaluation. Although Sung Taekyung himself had no idea what criteria he was being judged by.

Even up until that interview, she didn’t have overwhelmingly positive feelings towards Sung Taekyung. He was just an acquaintance of Kang Eunyoung’s, and a person slightly better than average.

And the fact that he was a rare multi-awakener with healing abilities was the extent of her impressions of him.

“Our Guild doesn’t offer any special privileges just because you’re a male awakener, so don’t get your hopes up.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Even though she had casually brought it up at the end to test whether he was a male awakener or not, his lack of reaction left Seo Ok-hee uncertain. It wasn’t until she spoke with Kang Eunyoung again later that she finally realized he was indeed male.

Along with the fact that he was male, she also learned another fact through her mind, not her mouth.

“Taekyung? Pfft, of course he’s a guy~. No matter how much you, Ok-hee, lack men, how could you mistake him for a girl?”

“…I only thought that because it was my first time seeing a male awakener. It’s more realistic for a masculine-looking woman to awaken than for a man to awaken.”

“That might be true, but Taekyung is definitely a boy. I confirmed Taekyung was a boy just the night before last….”

“Huh?”

“Ah, no…! Uh, ah, anyway, Taekyung is a boy! So, don’t have any strange misunderstandings…!”

‘Sigh, I almost ended up telling the innocent Ok-hee something strange. Even Ok-hee would probably think it’s inappropriate if she thought a 40-something ahjumma was feeling romantically towards a guy in his 20s, right?’

Seo Ok-hee’s knowledge of sexual matters was significantly lower than that of other women, but that didn’t mean she was ignorant about the concept of romantic attraction between men and women.

Seo Ok-hee, having inadvertently read Kang Eunyoung’s thoughts, sensed that she had found another object of affection in Sung Taekyung. She also realized that Kang Eunyoung’s depression had disappeared in the process.

Seo Ok-hee couldn’t help but feel a greater fondness for Sung Taekyung, given that he had comforted her most precious friend, Kang Eunyoung.

Of course, even then, Seo Ok-hee’s feelings towards Sung Taekyung were merely friendly, still quite distant from romantic attraction.

It wasn’t until after the subjugation of the Three-Headed Basilisk, the boss monster of the abandoned village, that Seo Ok-hee truly recognized Sung Taekyung as a man.

What happened then was merely a simple accident. A truly accidental event caused by a confluence of various coincidences.

Sung Taekyung’s bold decision to enter the monster’s mouth and kill it, thinking its tough hide couldn’t be cut, and the venom that melted and corroded everything upon contact.

While the venom touching his body was purified by his holy abilities, unfortunately, the clothes he wore were not.

And the process of that day’s disaster was him being trapped inside the tough Basilisk’s mouth until Kang Eunyoung and she arrived, finally managing to escape.

Through that incident, Seo Ok-hee’s eyes were opened for the first time to knowledge concerning the male ‘genitals,’ and she recognized Sung Taekyung as male not just intellectually, but physically.

It might seem strange to awaken sexually just from witnessing a man’s genitals, even in a child’s body, but Seo Ok-hee had lived for 30 years in that childlike body.

Sexual knowledge, which she hadn’t experienced even once in her 43 years, inevitably awakened her subconscious with tremendous impact.

Furthermore, shortly after that, Seo Ok-hee witnessed the ‘sex’ between a man and a woman, and coincidentally, the subjects of her first witnessing of such intercourse were Sung Taekyung and another person.

As if it was time to unleash all her pent-up sexual knowledge, Seo Ok-hee learned sexual information she hadn’t known for over 40 years in just a few months. And this was with the incredibly potent supplementary teaching materials of real-life audiovisual aids.

Adding to that, despite it being unavoidable, the events during the Mystery Dungeon exploration led to Seo Ok-hee sharing her first experience with him, who was barely half her age.

Having accumulated all her sexual experiences since birth with just one person, it was only natural that her emotional focus would be directed solely towards him.

When she came to her senses, Seo Ok-hee found herself unable to help but feel considerable affection for Sung Taekyung. Her first sexual desire, which began after she turned 40, burned as intensely as it was late.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“The initial dungeons seem fine for now, so that’s settled….”

“Yes.”

“The headquarters building will be fine if Dokyung Group handles the remodeling, so that’s not an issue either….”

“Right.”

“Th-that’s right…. You worked hard preparing….”

“Because you said you needed it, President. I had to prepare everything you asked for, without missing a single item.”

It was fortunate that the dungeon acquisition and remodeling plan could proceed simultaneously. Do Yehee discovered a dungeon gate that appeared in nature, and on top of that, secured the remodeling contract for the old Chuncheon City Hall.

“You’ll write me a letter of recommendation, right?”

“Ah, there’s still one left. I told you I’d ask you to run one errand.”

“Yes, as long as I do that one thing, you’ll write the letter of recommendation, correct?”

“…Yes, I promised.”

President Seo Ok-hee, whom he had considered the most difficult opponent from the start, was now nearing the final stage of persuasion.

Whether he could receive the letter of recommendation would depend slightly on the nature and difficulty of the ‘errand’ she mentioned.

President Seo Ok-hee probably wouldn’t suggest something impossibly difficult for me. Right now, the most efficient way the President could utilize me is probably working in the recovery room?

It was already common knowledge within the company that the working environment for the company’s Hunters had improved since I started working in the recovery room every day I came to work. Even Hunters who initially felt uncomfortable with a male healer no longer viewed receiving treatment from me with suspicion or strange glances.

I was thinking she might order me to work steadily in the recovery room for a month or two, but the errand the President mentioned was completely unexpected, something I hadn’t considered at all.

“W-well, actually, I asked you to do this once before….”

“Yes.”

“Remember that Mystery Dungeon from before? The one only a male and female pair could enter?”

“…What?”

“The one you and I went into… ah, no, tried to enter but failed.”

“…Of course, I know about that.”

Given the current situation, she must be referring to the dungeon I call Belle’s Dungeon.

Although the company was still the official owner of the dungeon, I had become the one who utilized it the most.

After visiting that dungeon once, she hadn’t mentioned it for months, so I thought she might have completely forgotten about it, but it seems she still remembered.

‘Wait, mentioning that dungeon while talking about an errand….’

As I met her gaze, wondering if the errand she mentioned might be what I was thinking, President Seo Ok-hee averted her eyes and cautiously added the details of the errand.

“…We need to go explore that Mystery Dungeon again. It’s not that I have any strange intentions, it’s just that we failed the exploration last time, so we have no choice but to go one more time….”

She seemed to be adding all sorts of rambling explanations to clarify that she didn’t have the intentions I was suspecting, but no matter how I thought about it, the request clearly felt like it had lewd intentions.