One Knock After Another
Lee Donggeul, lying beneath me, wore an expression much like my own.
We had been right on the verge of getting properly started when the atmosphere suddenly turned ice-cold.
Just in case, I shot her a look that said not to make a single sound.
If no noise came from inside, she would figure we had already gone to sleep and leave.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
But now Kim Isol was hammering on the door without any pretense at all, looking ready to smash the thing clean off its hinges.
I held my breath and pulled the blanket I had shoved aside over Lee Donggeul, covering her completely.
That stubborn bitch showed no sign of giving up and going away.
"I know you're in there! If you don't open this door right now, I'll break it down!"
We were screwed.
I had no choice but to tell Lee Donggeul to pull the blanket over her head and pretend to be a pillow.
Then I went straight to the door and opened it.
Completely naked.
Because that seemed like the fastest way to make Kim Isol turn around and leave.
We had already gone pretty far yesterday, after all. We hadn't had sex, but once you have watched someone piss, there is not much left to hide, right?
Seeing each other naked was not going to get either of us sued for sexual harassment at this point. If she had wanted to go that route, the video already sitting on my phone would have put me behind bars long ago.
"What is it?"
"You... you, right now..."
"Ah, you seemed to be in a hurry, Isol. What do you need?"
"Put some damn clothes on already! Have you lost your mind!? What if someone sees you?"
"If you would just close the door quickly, Isol, I won't get caught on the CCTV."
I had only opened the door; I had not stepped outside, so the cameras were not really a concern.
Kim Isol was still standing in the hallway, looking thoroughly flustered after confirming I was naked. Whether it was instinct or something else, her gaze kept darting down to my crotch with a scorching intensity.
I had only meant for her to shut the door and leave before anyone else noticed, but her next move completely blew past my expectations.
She closed the door, all right—by stepping inside and shutting it behind her.
This bitch was insane.
What the hell was she thinking right now?
Cold sweat poured down my back. If she spotted Lee Donggeul under the blanket right behind me, all hell was going to break loose.
"Why are you coming inside? Can't you see I'm naked?"
I said it deliberately loud so Lee Donggeul under the covers would understand the situation.
I desperately hoped she grasped my deeper meaning.
But there was another problem.
Lee Donggeul might hear every word of my conversation with Kim Isol. If Isol started blabbing about what happened last night, we were finished in one shot.
How would Lee Donggeul look at me if she found out I had filmed Isol peeing? The odds of her cheerfully saying "I'll show you mine too" were basically zero.
In moments like this you had to plan for the worst-case scenario. I tossed my hopeful fantasies into the trash.
Keeping Lee Donggeul from hearing our talk—and keeping Isol from bringing up that particular story at all—was the only path to a peaceful future I could choose right now.
"I have something I want to ask you!"
Even while saying that, Kim Isol kept sneaking glances at my equipment. It was already hanging limp, nothing worth showing off with pride.
I quickly scanned for my underwear out of the corner of my eye.
Oh—found it right away!
It was not under the blanket covering Lee Donggeul, which was a huge relief... no, wait, we were completely screwed.
Right next to my underwear, Lee Donggeul's hot pants and panties were sitting neatly side by side. Especially her panties—rolled up into a little ball like they had just been peeled off.
"Aah... ask me anything you want."
I hurriedly shifted my body to block Isol's line of sight. If she spotted those, there would be no talking our way out of it.
I even found myself thinking it was lucky I was naked. Isol was so busy staring at my body that she paid zero attention to the background behind me.
I casually ran my hands over myself here and there, drawing her eyes. It was not an Awoken's physique, but after all the dungeon runs I had a decently trained body. Any normal adult woman would find her gaze lingering.
"Go ahead and ask."
"Ah, r-right. I wanted to ask you about Lee Donggeul. What the hell happened? Why did her mana suddenly multiply several times over? I heard you did something for her—is that true?"
Hearing Lee Donggeul's name made me jump. I forced my heart to calm down and answered with a completely blank face.
"It's a secret."
"Don't make me laugh. You said you'd tell me if I came looking for you, so I deliberately came!"
"I did say something like that. But didn't I also say Kim Isol was the exception?"
"What?"
"I told you already. It is useless on ungrateful people who don't know how to be thankful."
Kim Isol's expression, which had been relatively calm compared to usual, crumpled sharply. I leaned my face close to hers and whispered so Lee Donggeul would not hear.
"You know my ability, don't you? I exclude anyone who attacks or betrays me. On the other hand, people who follow my words well and respect me get gifts."
"So Lee Donggeul really was you, then?"
"Who knows. Why don't you change the way you treat me, Isol, and experience it for yourself? Ah, of course acting won't work. If it is not sincere, it is completely useless."
Kim Isol seemed to be turning my words over carefully in her head. Her desire to grow stronger was obviously the strongest in our team.
To get stronger, she would have to throw away her pride. What choice would she make?
Her head was probably a mess right now, but what she would decide was as clear as day. She had already endured massive humiliation once just to reclaim her power, and then used that power today in the dungeon to perform at two hundred percent.
"Then the reason my mana rose is also because of you?"
"You didn't realize? I personally restored your mana yesterday. Do you need some other explanation? Or did you go train under a waterfall or something?"
"It wasn't anything like that..."
"You might not have been sincere, Isol, but you still followed the orders I gave you yesterday. That is probably why."
"So if I had followed your words better, my mana would have increased even more?"
"I don't really know either. But Lee Donggeul went from two heals a day to ten. That is the only answer I can give you."
Kim Isol stood there thinking hard for a long while. When she finally seemed to have sorted her thoughts, she looked me straight in the eyes and spoke.
"Then what do I have to do?"
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
"What do I mean!? It's obvious just looking at you. You're a real dumbass."
"With that attitude, your mana will never increase even if you wait your whole life."
She stared at me with those sharp eyes, then let the tension drain from her shoulders until they slumped. At the same time, it felt like she had set something down.
Whether it was her pride or her hunger for strength, her next words made it clear.
"Fine. Order me to do whatever you want. But no pissing. And no dying. As long as it makes me stronger, I'll do what you say. For a while, at least."
It sounded like she planned to cherry-pick only the good parts. What exactly did this girl think I was going to order her to do that made her so confident?
She probably figured nothing could be more humiliating than letting me watch her pee. Well, she might not be entirely wrong.
But just because you have endured a bee sting does not mean a mosquito bite stops itching.
"Understood. I understand, so please just go back for today."
"Why? Wouldn't it be better to get stronger right away? We could clear dungeons even faster."
"Your current strength is more than enough to handle this dungeon without any problems. Get some proper rest and fully recover your mana. Tomorrow I plan to push deep into the Wolf Forest."
"Then I guess I'll have to do well tomorrow too, right? Everyone else on our team is a complete idiot. Don't you think so?"
What was this? Was she fishing for praise?
"I think you are seriously mistaken about something. Today was still a close call. Get cocky and you will pay for it. And today it was our tanker Jang Yong who held the line properly, and without our healer Lee Donggeul it would have been impossible to drop more than thirty of them in one go."
"What? I was the one who took all of them down!"
"Yes. But a few were still alive, so I had to finish them myself with a dagger. You can never let your guard down with monsters. I have heard some of them have ridiculous recovery abilities."
Realizing I was never going to praise her no matter what she said, Kim Isol spoke with an irritated look.
"You wouldn't have been able to take them down without me either, would you? You're doing this on purpose right now, aren't you?"
"Doing what on purpose?"
"Forget it. If you're going to act like that, I've got my own ideas, so don't regret it later."
"That's fine, but please absolutely refrain from any weird behavior inside the dungeon. Other team members' lives are on the line."
"Shut up! I know that much already!"
Achoo~!
Right then a strange sound came from behind me. Lee Donggeul must have sneezed under the blanket.
Kim Isol's eyes went round with shock at the noise, and I urgently shoved her against the wall before she could turn her gaze toward my back. I stretched my arms out to block her view of the room.
This was the same move I had used for my first kiss. I never thought I would be recycling it on Kim Isol. My head throbbed.
"What the hell are you doing all of a sudden!? Get out of the way."
"J-just... stay like this for a moment."
"Get out of the way right now!"
I forced my panicking mind to calm down and started thinking. I needed a way out of this situation.
"Have you forgotten? If you attack me... you might lose your mana."
"Kh..."
"And you just said you would follow my words well from now on. So don't move right now."
I brought my face close to hers as if I were about to kiss her. Being naked made it a little awkward, but there was no other way to make Kim Isol forget the sneeze she had just heard.
She turned her head away, unable to handle the closeness, so I pushed again.
"Didn't you want to get stronger?"
She turned her head back and met my eyes. There was a resolute light in them that was different from usual, as if she had made some kind of decision. She stared straight through me.
My heart started racing.
What was this?
Was I getting flustered because of Kim Isol right now?
That pretty face. The distance between our faces kept shrinking. I slowly tilted my head, ready to press my lips against hers.
"If you do something shady to me right now and I don't get any stronger afterward, then I get to kill you and you won't have a single complaint, right?"
Five centimeters.
Just five more centimeters and our lips would touch.
And then she completely killed the mood with a line like that.
Our lips were this close and she still reacted with zero emotion. Did she not see me as a man at all?
My pride took a completely unnecessary hit.
"What kind of imagination are you running with? Just leave my room already."
Just go already. Standing here completely naked having this conversation was ridiculous. I could not keep this up forever, so I sighed and turned her toward the door.
"Please leave. That is my request for today."
"Hmph. Fine. There's plenty of time."
I finally relaxed as I watched Kim Isol start to leave.
But that peace lasted only a few seconds.
Of all the timing.
Knock. Knock.
"Um... Team Leader..."
Suddenly someone was knocking on my door.
What the hell was this? What kind of day was today that people kept lining up to visit me one after another?
Sure, I had told them to come find me if they wanted to get stronger, but no one had shown the slightest interest even during dinner.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The knocking continued, and I realized the person outside was Baek Hwayeon. Even though she was standing right outside the door, I could not hear any loud talking from the hallway, so it could only be her.
I was not the only one whose heart was pounding at the new visitor. Kim Isol looked just as panicked, her face serious.
Of course she did. She was standing in a man's room at this hour—with a naked man, no less.
And then the situation got even worse.
"Team Leader. It's Baek Hwayeon. You're inside, right? I saw Lee Donggeul and Kim Isol go in."
That tiny voice of hers was somehow so clear and precise that cold sweat felt ready to pour down my entire body.