Chapter 842: Foreplay (1)

The next morning.

The three of us, having rolled around messily in bed, gathered at the entrance of the waiting room to exchange farewells as soon as the sun rose, after neatly changing back into our original clothes.

‘The waiting room for Golden Trajectory will probably remain empty for the entire day. Lulusia said she’s busy for a while due to a summons from the State, and Unnie… Do Yehee, that woman, will likely go on expeditions with other people if I don’t show up for work, so she won’t have any reason to come here.’

‘…Isn’t there no need to correct it if the title ‘Unnie’ has already stuck?’

‘I don’t want to see her get arrogant. Whether what she did to me was with good intentions or not, until she formally apologizes to me, I will never acknowledge her as Unnie.’

‘So, if she just formally apologizes, does that mean you’ll acknowledge her as Unnie again? If I tell Do Yehee this, will things get a little better between you two?’

‘It’s fine if it’s Do Yehee-nim. Since Do Yehee-nim knows my situation, I don’t think there will be any problems if it’s Do Yehee-nim and not Lulusia-nim.’

‘…Well, seeing as Nari is still staying well at Sungchul-ssi’s place, that woman probably isn’t much of a problem either.’

‘If Do Yehee really intended to blow the whistle, it wouldn’t have been strange if she had done it long ago.’

‘That’s true, I suppose. …Well then, see you next time, Nari.’

‘Yes, Sihee-nim. It was nice seeing you after so long.’

With a strangely regretful expression, Sihee said goodbye to Eunbyul.

As I felt last night, these two really make a better pair of friends when they’re together. For them to return to seeing each other often again, I’ll have to work harder.

‘My Summoning ability still has about twelve hours left, so I’ll summon you again when I get back home later.’

‘Yes, Master. I’ll be ready so you can summon me anytime from 7 PM onwards.’

It was a strangely happy yet regretful parting. After today, I couldn’t be sure when the day I could hold both Sihee and Eunbyul again would come.

On a day off from Sihee’s busy schedule, I brought Eunbyul along as well, making it a combination that would normally be hard to arrange. It would be different if it were like the old days when Eunbyul was Sihee’s maid, sharing her every moment.

Even if Eunbyul managed to regain her rightful place as heir of Geumhyang, it would still be difficult for the three of us to meet. But at least we wouldn’t have to meet secretly, avoiding other people’s gazes like this.

‘I’ll give you a ride back, Sungchul-ssi. Should I take you right to your house?’

‘Just to the Foundation Entrance Station would be fine. If you take me all the way to my house, there’s a chance those sisters might pinpoint Eunbyul’s location.’

‘…Yeah, that makes sense. Those persistent bitches won’t give up on Eunbyul.’

That’s right, they won’t give up.

So, I have no choice but to make them give up by force this time.

Me, returning home early in the morning, was greeted by my two twin younger sisters.

Perhaps because it was so early, both Jin-ah and Seon-ah were still home and hadn’t left for work yet. The two of them, noticing me enter through the gate, greeted me as soon as I opened the front door, as if they were puppies.

‘Oppa!’

‘Welcome home, Oraboni?’

‘Where’s Eunbyul Unnie?’

‘Didn’t Eunbyul Unnie come with you?’

It seems that Eunbyul suddenly disappearing after being in the living room together last night was quite a shock to the two of them. Judging by the fact they asked about Eunbyul first, even though I had returned home.

Well, someone suddenly disappearing via the Summoning ability when you first see it is quite a surprising experience.

‘I’ll summon Eunbyul again tonight using the Summoning ability. It’s an ability I can only use once a day.’

‘That Summoning thing is so awesome! It’s like teleportation, right, Oppa?! Then, when fighting monsters with it, could you teleport in with a ‘shwoosh’ sound?!’

‘That wouldn’t work, Jin-ah Unnie. Yesterday, Eunbyul Unnie disappeared leaving only her clothes behind, you saw that too, Jin-ah Unnie. Against a strong enemy requiring infiltration via teleportation, do you think it’s possible to fight without weapons?’

‘…Hmm, then for emergency escapes? Ah, anyway, it’s definitely awesome!’

‘That’s true, but… How did you use it, Oraboni? Is it a power we can use too?’

The four eyes of Jin-ah and Seon-ah, looking at me with curiosity.

Since the two of them are included among the hunters whose sexual desires I manage, they could naturally use the Summoning ability too, but I couldn’t just say ‘yes’.

Given the twins’ curious nature, if I said it was possible, they’d obviously ask me to use it on them right away. To use it so trivially, the fact that their affection level wasn’t at the highest tier kept my mouth shut.

‘It’s a bit much to use something I can only use once a month just to satisfy curiosity.’

In Eunbyul’s case, her affection level is highest, so the usage count is drastically reduced to once a day, and she even has ‘Emergency Summon’ that activates automatically in crisis situations, so I can use it without hesitation, but unfortunately, that’s not the case for Jin-ah and Seon-ah yet.

‘You two can also be summoned using the ability, but I won’t use it on you.’

‘Huh? Why?! I want to teleport too~!’

‘May I ask why, Oraboni?’

‘This is an ability I can only use once a month. What if a situation arises later where I really need it, but I’ve already used it just to satisfy your curiosity?’

‘Will there really be trouble in life so dire that teleportation is essential? Especially teleportation where you can’t even bring weapons or clothes…’

‘Yeah, Seon-ah’s right! I want to see properly how it’s done too!’

‘And if it’s once a month, why did you use it on Eunbyul Unnie? Eunbyul Unnie didn’t seem to be in a crisis situation yesterday.’

‘Right! And earlier, I heard you say you’re summoning Eunbyul Unnie again tonight!’

‘…In Eunbyul’s case, the Summoning ability’s usage count is once a day. I summoned her using it because I had something to do a little far away, and I’ll summon her again tonight after 24 hours have passed.’

‘That’s unfair~! Why is Eunbyul Unnie the only one who gets once a day?!’

‘Then please change mine to once a day too, Oraboni. How can I do that?’

‘I can’t change that arbitrarily…’

I couldn’t say that it changes when their affection level towards me reaches ‘highest tier’. If I said that, it would sound like I’m comparing them, saying ‘You don’t love me as much as Eunbyul does’.

Increasing their affection is not something that can be solved immediately, and saying it this way would only damage the image I’ve built with them so far.

Besides, it felt a bit disgusting, like saying ‘It’s your fault for not loving me enough to die’. Even if it’s an objective fact, there are things that cannot be told to certain people.

The one who saved me from that awkward situation was the voice of their older sister, Han Min-ah.

‘Hey, Han Jin-ah, Han Seon-ah! Stop bothering Sung Taekyung and hurry up and eat breakfast and get ready for work!’

‘Ugh.’

‘…’

Seeing her wearing an apron, it seemed Min-ah had prepared breakfast today. With Eunbyul, the usual breakfast duty person, absent and me, the only other one capable of cooking, also unavailable, it was the natural outcome.

I felt a bit uneasy leaving the cooking to the twins. If it were me, I probably would have stood in the kitchen myself rather than ask them.

‘Han Jin-ah, Han Seon-ah!’

‘Ah, okay~! I’m coming now~!’

‘…I’ll ask again next time, Oraboni.’

The two of them walked towards the dining table in the kitchen at Min-ah’s call.

After those two passed through the hallway by the entrance, Min-ah, still wearing her apron, slowly approached me.

‘Ah, thanks, Han Min-ah.’

‘Hey, you bastard. Seriously. If you were going to summon Eunbyul-ssi like that all of a sudden, you should have told me beforehand! Do you know how hard it was explaining things to the kids because of you?!’

‘Ah.’

‘Someone who was talking next to me just a minute ago suddenly vanished, leaving only her maid uniform where Eunbyul-ssi was. It’s fortunate I know about your Summoning ability and happened to be near the kids, otherwise it would have looked like some new kind of missing person case!’

‘Sorry, sorry. I should have told you beforehand.’

Actually, I kept it a secret until the last moment to make Eunbyul’s dramatic appearance more impactful, but thinking about it, I probably should have told Min-ah beforehand.

After all, Han Min-ah would have been the one making all the excuses to Jin-ah and Seon-ah.

‘So, about Eunbyul-ssi?’

‘I told the kids earlier, I’ll summon her again tonight using the Summoning ability.’

‘…So she’ll arrive naked again then?’

‘That’s right. It’s that kind of ability.’

‘Eunbyul-ssi really has it tough. Just to accommodate your weird hobby, how many times is she teleporting naked? Seriously, pervert Sung Taekyung.’

If you want to be precise, using the Summoning ability to move in and out of the house was intended as a way to go out without being seen by others.

And exhibitionism itself, strictly speaking, was Eunbyul’s hobby, not mine, but against the accusation of me being a pervert, I had a better counter-argument than just saying that.

‘You.’

‘You?’

‘You summoned me once in a dungeon using the ability, and then rolled around naked in the desert, falling and making a scene, and now you’re calling someone else a pervert?’

‘Hey, hey! That’s because my clothes were buried under monster corpses, so it couldn’t be helped…!’

‘Don’t you remember sprinting naked through the desert afterwards? I told you to wear clothes, but you asked back what was so important about them, where did that raw, unfiltered Han Min-ah go?’

‘Th-that was unavoidable because of the Sandman material collection…!’

‘You can’t deny it, can you? Rolling around naked in the desert, with your fair bottom covered in sand, running around without shame is a fact, right?’

‘Hye-eun, who was summoned the same way, had already packed full body tights and armor, yet despite having only a few clothes, you wandered around naked until the very end, claiming you were going to collect Sandman gold, you exhibitionist pervert…’

‘Aaaagh! Forget it! Please don’t remember the details, just forget it! And die!!’

Han Min-ah’s fists hit my back and waist, punishing me for blabbing about her new dark history.

Of course, the blows weren’t painful at all.