Chapter 80: Interlocking Gears (1)

Didn’t they say that good times pass quickly?

Making the excuse that she couldn’t help it because she caught a cold, I had a bit more exchange of hearts and bodies with Hye-eun, who stayed another day in my room.

Eventually, the next morning after spending one more night together with her, who stayed at my house even until the second night.

Somehow, both of us had ended up resting for two consecutive days, so now it was time for both me and her to return to our daily lives.

Taking care of each other while sick, and truly sharing an exchange of hearts.

And had sex twice.

Although it could be seen as not that productive an activity.

Regardless, in the aspect that I had revealed my everything to Hye-eun, they were sufficiently valuable days.

To be honest, it wasn’t that I had told ‘everything’.

The way the awakening ability called ‘Hunter Lust Manager’ operates, and the various artifacts purchased using points.

And regarding other skills like fire magic or recovery, I hadn’t told her yet.

It wasn’t that I deliberately didn’t tell her to hide it, and regarding this, I plan to reveal it anytime the time comes.

However, it was just that I thought it was still a little too early.

Even without that, just explaining the ability itself, that one becomes stronger through sex, already required considerable persuasion.

Pushing forward other additional information all at once here would make it difficult to accept immediately.

Regarding the remaining things, let’s reveal them little by little whenever needed.

For now, even just with the content I’ve confessed to Hye-eun up until now, I won’t feel guilty anymore.

“Ughhhhhh~!!”

Thanks to Hye-eun getting up and stretching with the intention of loosening all the muscles in her body, my eyes automatically opened too.

Just like a married couple waking up in the same bed, she and I got up together.

“How are you feeling?”

“I feel completely refreshed! Because I received nursing care from Taekyung all day long!”

“That’s fortunate.”

I had also worried about what I would do if Hye-eun’s body aches and cold didn’t get better even until the next day.

Today, she was in a state of having completely returned to perfect condition, to the extent that such worries were completely resolved.

After that, while changing clothes and preparing to go out, we shared various talks about my Hunter awakening.

“Then, you, Taekyung, only awakened as a Hunter about a month ago, huh.”

“Yes. To be precise, I first awakened on the day I first had sex with you. It was also the first time I had sex with anyone.”

“Really? Then, was the sex we had that day truly your first experience, Taekyung?”

“…Yes. Although it’s a little embarrassing.”

“Heehee, hehehe, hee…”

Perhaps because she liked the fact that she had taken my first experience, regardless of it being a coincidence.

Hye-eun let out a satisfied laugh while changing clothes.

“It’s fortunate that I could still take Taekyung’s first experience…”

“…I feel sorry about that day’s event. In effect, it was like I used you, Hye-eun, for my awakening.”

“But thanks to that, Taekyung’s virginity became mine, so it’s okay.”

“Rather, if Taekyung’s first experience had been taken away by someone else for whatever reason, I would have been much sadder.”

“Right, thank you for thinking that way.”

In this world, a man’s virginity was valued as highly as a woman’s virginity was in the previous world.

Regardless, the fact that she had taken my first experience seemed to be quite important to her.

“By the way, Taekyung, what are you going to do from now on?”

“Huh?”

“Because you promised me, you must become the best Hunter from now on, right? To keep the promise, you should at least raise it to SS or SSS rank, but do you have any plans?”

“Plans…”

Of course, I didn’t intend to tackle things blindly as they came, and a plan to leap to the next stage as a Hunter naturally existed.

Well, anyway, since I was planning to tell you after transferring to a company, it would be okay to tell you now.

“First, my decided next goal is to join the Sky Blue Shield Party.”

“…Huh?”

Hearing my words, Hye-eun tilted her head towards me as if not understanding the meaning.

“Sky Blue Shield is… our party, isn’t it?”

She uttered an obvious answer, befitting the leader of Sky Blue Shield.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Really? You, Taekyung, intend to join our party?”

“Perhaps… I can’t?”

“Of course, you can!”

Hearing my next plan, she suddenly got excited and started saying various things.

“What perfect timing, Taekyung. I already wanted to add about one party member. Preferably a dealer or healer type.”

“Since you handle a sword, Taekyung, we need you in our party, and if we work together for just about a year, you’ll probably become an immediately usable asset…”

“Calm down, Hye-eun. It hasn’t been decided yet that I’ll join.”

After calming down Hye-eun, who was excitedly spouting words as if I were already a member of her party.

I explained the specific plan for me to join her party.

“First of all, I can’t even join your party right now. I’m currently affiliated with the Union.”

“Ah, right, that’s true. I was too hasty…”

“And my Hunter rank is still C-rank. Even if I joined right away, I’d just be a hindrance.”

As I said that and showed my bronze-made Hunter token, Hye-eun’s head tilted slightly.

“A C-rank Hunter… Kim Sungchul?”

“For now, I registered under a pseudonym because I didn’t know what would happen. You know they don’t check things like this one by one in the Union.”

“Indeed, that’s true. Honestly, that place feels more like a dungeon management office than a guild.”

“Still, there’s no place faster than the Union for raising rank, so I plan to raise it to B-rank within the Union first and then transfer.”

“Certainly, that would be the fastest. Provided that it’s based on your skill level reaching that point, Taekyung.”

Fitting for her, who had been involved in the field longer than me in her own way, she understood the plan I was talking about at once and nodded her head.

“But you impressively made such a decision. Starting at the Union instead of a company.”

“Huh?”

“To transfer to a company while maintaining a B-rank Hunter license from the Union, you need a recommendation letter written by at least an A-rank Hunter, right? It wouldn’t matter now because I can write it for you, but what were you planning to do if you hadn’t told me?”

“…Actually, there is someone who already agreed to write it for me.”

“……”

It would be unfortunate for Hye-eun, who had already made up her mind to write me a recommendation letter, but.

I confessed first the fact that there was someone who had already agreed to write the recommendation letter.

“Oh, I see. Indeed, you said you had a relationship with another Hunter besides me…”

“Yes. So when I transfer to a company, I intend to receive that person’s help.”

“But you became that close already? It hasn’t even been a month since you awakened?”

“No matter how much we mixed bodies, becoming close enough to write a recommendation letter seems a bit strange…”

“Normally, that would be the case.”

Naturally, writing a recommendation letter would carry great risk, as it’s a matter that depends on one’s own credibility.

Because there was another close person in the company willing to bear that level of risk.

“It’s okay because Min-ah agreed to write it.”

“…Huh?”

Her movements paused for a moment as she was putting on plate gloves to go to work.

“Min-ah? By any chance, Han Min-ah whom I know?”

“Yes, that’s her.”

“You guys… have you been keeping in touch? Min-ah clearly told me she wasn’t keeping in touch with you…”

“I met her recently. My awakening ability is one that gets stronger the more I form relationships with female Hunters. Han Min-ah, a familiar face, came to mind, so I went to her house, and that’s what we talked about then.”

“Oh, really…? That bitch… Ah, no, Min-ah had sex with you, Taekyung?”

“That’s strange…? I clearly remember telling Min-ah that Taekyung was definitely my boyfriend…?”

Because Hye-eun’s appearance, emitting killing intent with a suddenly cold voice where the target was obvious to anyone, was seen.

For the safety of someone not present, I quickly continued with further explanation to her.

“Calm down, Hye-eun. It was an unavoidable situation.”

“What could possibly be an unavoidable situation to the extent of screwing a friend’s boyfriend…?”

“The day I went to Min-ah’s happened to be her heat period. Since you’re in the same party, you know Min-ah’s awakening ability, right?”

“…Ah.”

Hye-eun’s killing intent was withdrawn at once upon understanding what I was saying.

“Min-ah couldn’t help it either, so please understand. And after it was over, I even received an apology from her for initiating the attack.”

“Oh, I see. I almost misunderstood my friend for no reason…”

“It’s difficult for Han Min-ah if she takes heat suppressants during her heat period, so I also had the thought of taking on that role instead. You know Min-ah’s family situation is difficult too, Hye-eun.”

“Indeed… The heat suppressants Min-ah takes aren’t cheap either…”

Han Min-ah was a friend who had spent time together not only with me but also with Hye-eun since high school days, so she was naturally one of the people who knew her family situation.

Considering that, she probably couldn’t strongly pursue the matter of Han Min-ah attacking me while overcome by heat.

Moreover, it was like a mutually beneficial relationship, where one side saved the cost of heat suppressants and the other side’s Hunter abilities increased as a result.

Looking at the result, there wasn’t really anyone who could be called a victim.

“Actually, Min-ah intended to tell you directly about having sex with me. It’s just because she asked me to wait, as I would tell you directly someday.”

“So don’t interrogate her too much. If you do that unnecessarily, I’ll feel sorry towards her.”

Asking to keep it a secret was on my side, but if Min-ah’s relationships were damaged because of it, I would have no face to see her.

“Interrogating? Surely I wouldn’t do that to Min-ah?”

“Can I trust you?”

“Of course! In the first place, I said I would help you, Taekyung, become stronger! If you, Taekyung, become stronger by having sex with Min-ah, it’s good for me too! Right!”

“Thank you for saying that, Hye-eun.”

To Min-ah, who had unknowingly received and then had Hye-eun’s killing intent withdrawn, I quietly offered an apology in my heart.

“…And I met Cha Yuri-ssi from Sky Blue Shield about twice…”

“Huh, Whaaaat???”

In the process of explaining that the reason for meeting Cha Yuri was coincidental, I had to spend more time than with Han Min-ah, but.