Tonight Is My Turn
"What? Team Leader Kang, is that really true?"
"Yes. We secured the hide and claws without any damage."
"Got any footage?"
"No. I only planned to film on the last day."
"Alright, got it. You already asked the company to store them, right?"
"Yes. I left them in good hands at the place we rented our gear from. No risk of loss."
"Okay. Use the company card to treat the Awoken to something good, film just the combat footage, then rest up and come back."
"Excuse me? The schedule is..."
"You took down a Lycan! That's enough. Why grind the Awoken until Friday? Just get the video right and see me Monday. I still need something to show so I can persuade the department head and the other team leaders."
"Understood, Deputy Head."
Oh, yes!
After hanging up with Deputy Head Park, I let out a silent cheer.
We had already cleared the dungeon in a flash after coming down to Busan, so the past few days had been plenty free. Now that all we had left was filming the team's combat footage, there was nothing else to do.
It was only just past Wednesday morning. If we went back into the dungeon this afternoon and finished the filming early, Thursday and Friday would be mine to spend however I liked.
If things kept going like this, even dungeon commuting might actually be doable.
Of course, that was only thanks to taking down the boss. Whether something like this would happen again was anyone's guess.
Still, today had been worth it.
Baek Hwayeon had nearly gotten hurt and pushed herself a little, but looking only at the results, it was a solid OK.
"Team Leader, did things go well with the company?"
Everyone had already been watching me get excited, so it was too late to pretend things had gone poorly.
I just called out with a bright face.
"From now on, we're going to eat something delicious!"
"Wow!"
The teammates who had been watching my call in front of the gear rental shop were all in high spirits.
I had no idea how much it would be, but today's results would mean our first incentive pay, and the next dungeon we headed to would definitely be an E-rank.
I imagined the pleasant future ahead while also thinking about how to use the sudden two free days, and we set off for lunch with the team.
Until we reached the restaurant, we had to play a careful game of reading each other.
Everyone looked like they were dying to ask me all sorts of things, especially Jang Yong.
Of course he was.
Lee Donggeul, who used to manage only two heals, had used more than ten. And Baek Hwayeon? Don't even get me started.
On top of that, I was the most suspicious one of all—standing there completely fine after taking hits from the Lycan.
I had to be careful.
Depending on what I said to the team from here on, and how I said it, our relationships could change drastically.
I couldn't afford to run my mouth the way I used to.
I needed to avoid raising suspicion while also making sure they wouldn't go around casually blabbing my secret to others.
Still, the three women were safe.
They had the carrot of rising mana dangling in front of them.
The moment they betrayed me, I planned to wipe their mana out completely. If I slowly made that point clear, I wouldn't have much to worry about going forward.
At least among these three, none of them looked like the kind of psycho who would risk losing their mana just to spill my secret.
Jang Yong was the problem.
He was a guy, and I couldn't raise his abilities.
His mana was currently E-1.
He held the most mana of anyone on the team.
His class was an entire tier higher.
I still couldn't understand how someone with that much mana had looked the way he did at the Academy.
Of course, watching him in today's fight against the Lycan had been frustrating.
But I had trusted him enough to have him provoke the werewolves from day one.
At the very least, I had figured that with more mana than the others, he could hold out well enough even against a crowd of enemies.
I could wipe out his mana right now if I felt like it, but the problem was that I had no carrot to offer him.
He didn't seem like the loose-lipped type, but you never really know with people.
So I had to be careful.
We started eating, and once everyone had filled their stomachs to a reasonable degree, the questions they had been holding back finally started spilling out.
My thoughts were still tangled, so I sidestepped them for the moment and brought up something else.
"The company says that once we film the combat footage, we can rest after that."
"Really?"
"What? So we don't go into the dungeon on Friday?"
"That's why I brought it up. Everyone still has mana to spare, right?"
They all nodded.
As long as we didn't have to face another Lycan, there would be more than enough.
"So if we go back into the dungeon this afternoon and finish the filming, tomorrow and the day after are free time. You can head straight back up to Seoul, or enjoy some Busan sightseeing—doesn't matter to me. Oh, and of course, any sightseeing costs are on you."
"Then let's do it today. Putting the suit on and taking it off is a pain."
"I'd prefer today too."
"Same here."
Everyone's opinion settled on filming that afternoon.
I had been ready to persuade them if they said no, but there was no need.
I had cleverly steered their thoughts elsewhere and was feeling relieved—until I realized that judgment had been premature.
Jang Yong brought the topic right back around.
"Team Leader. What was that earlier, in the fight with the Lycan?"
"I'd like to ask you the same thing. Why didn't you do what I told you to beforehand? Baek Hwayeon and I nearly died. Because of you, Jang Yong."
"Ah... I'm sorry."
I didn't think I would lose a war of words with him, but the problem was what came after.
Handling things this way had its limits.
I couldn't keep crushing his spirit forever either.
Just as I expected, the three women didn't ask about my ability right there at the table.
They all looked like they wanted to meet me privately.
So the groundwork I had been laying was finally paying off.
Lee Donggeul, who had done nothing but eat her fill, opened her mouth.
"Um... tonight is my turn, right?"
"There's no such thing as turns. But since Lee Donggeul spoke up first..."
"Don't give me that crap! Tonight is my turn!"
Kim Isol suddenly raised her voice.
Lee Donggeul stuck out her lower lip and stared down at her own rice bowl.
"Why are you like this? You have to keep the order."
"What? Order? Don't make me laugh. These two got their mana multiplied several times over, and I only got... Anyway, tonight is my turn!"
Kim Isol let the end of her sentence trail off.
Her mana was currently the lowest of the three.
Of course she was fretting.
The ones she used to look down on had overtaken her.
Either way, watching the women get so desperate to visit my room made me feel thoroughly pleased.
Ah, God, Buddha, spirits of heaven and earth—thank you.
For gifting me this kind of ability.
"Hyung-nim. Me too..."
The problem was that one guy was here ruining the mood.
Jang Yong, calling me Hyung-nim for the first time in a long while.
We still needed him on the team.
I couldn't just kick him out all of a sudden, and without a tanker the team couldn't function.
Especially the higher the dungeon rank went.
So for now, I would have to keep him around up to a certain point.
Until the company assigned a female Awoken to replace him, that is.
Or until I piled up a mountain of money, started my own company, and picked people however I wanted...
Would a day like that ever even come?
We were only just about to graduate from F-rank dungeons, and the road ahead looked pitch black.
What would I have done if I didn't even have this ability?
"Forget it. Tonight is me. Promise."
I looked at the other teammates and gave a little shrug, lifting my shoulders once and dropping them.
Everyone seemed to give up in the face of Kim Isol's stubbornness, so it looked like I would be receiving her tonight after all.
But would that girl spread her legs for me that easily?
Just thinking about another round of verbal sparring made my head hurt.
"Yes. Tonight is Kim Isol."
"What the hell! I said it's me, so why are you sighing!?"
"It's nothing. I'm just too happy."
"Tch."
That was how lunch ended, and we went back into the dungeon.
We filmed plenty of werewolf hunting, then returned to the lodging.
Just like that, the afternoon was over, and free time stretched out ahead of me until Monday morning.
Of course, tonight was not free.
Kim Isol would be coming to my room with those burning eyes of hers.
I had figured a moment like this would come soon enough, but right now I was thoroughly flustered.
I just hadn't expected it to be today.
"What are you just staring for! Hurry up and do it."
Kim Isol was standing right in front of me.
In nothing but her underwear.
Arms spread, legs set shoulder-width apart, glaring at me.
"I said hurry up."
"Do what, exactly? You just suddenly stripped everything off..."
"You thought I wouldn't know? I can roughly guess what you did when you went into Baek Hwayeon's room yesterday."
"What?"
"I heard it all. Well, I only listened a little before I got bored and gave up."
"Heard what?"
"The sounds you and Baek Hwayeon were making."
"What? Don't tell me..."
"I've got pretty sharp ears."
"Don't tell me you used mana for something like that?"
"Something like that? The dungeon exploration finished in the morning anyway, so I didn't have much else to use it on."
So Kim Isol had been eavesdropping on what Baek Hwayeon and I did.
A painful mistake.
I had forgotten that Awoken could enhance their hearing with mana.
Kang Junghyeok, you idiot.
A beautiful woman was standing right in front of me in her underwear, and yet I couldn't get excited at all.
That was entirely because of Kim Isol's attitude.
She was acting so bold it was like she was some tough guy.
Baek Hwayeon yesterday was one thing, but why had this once-bashful Kim Isol suddenly changed like this? I couldn't understand it.
Of course I got that she was willing to do anything to raise her mana, but this was still a bit much.
"Just what did you hear that made you act like this? Aren't you embarrassed?"
"I am embarrassed. But you saw it too. Nobody expected Baek Hwayeon to get that strong, right? I want some of that trauma-overcoming treatment too. I heard something about opening the pathways for mana to flow."
"You heard all of that and still pretended not to know the whole day?"
"I didn't see it myself. I only overheard a little. I just know you did something to her. But after seeing Baek Hwayeon today, I got interested. And Lee Donggeul said you sucked on her chest?"
"Don't tell me you overheard the whispering with Donggeul too?"
"Looks like I was right. It was hard to make out, so I wasn't sure what it was about..."
"Ah..."
Ah, I made this kind of mistake...
It seemed like she had completely seized the initiative today.
"Suck on my chest? How do you do that? Show me."
She shoved the soft mounds rising cutely inside her pretty underwear right out in front of me.
She was still pretty, no question—but with an attitude like this, even a rising erection would go soft, young lady.
Haa...
But what choice did I have?
I just had to do as I was told.
I figured that once I actually started sucking, her current attitude would change.
So I tried to create a slightly more erotic atmosphere as I reached out.
To unhook her bra.
Not from behind, but by pulling her into my arms from the front and bringing my hands around her back.
If I lowered my gaze now, I would see her chest.
The bra covering those tips would come undone and drop away.
"Y-you, what are you doing right now!?"
"You asked me to suck on your chest. You said it yourself, with your own mouth."
"W-what... But why are you suddenly stripping me and making a fuss!"
"What? Then how am I supposed to suck them?"
"Just... here..."
"Excuse me? If I'm sucking a chest, of course it's the nipples."
"I-I thought it was the upper part..."
"Should I stop?"
I watched her eyes carefully.
Her pupils were darting all over the place.
Seeing her so startled that things weren't what she imagined, it seemed she hadn't properly overheard yesterday's events either.
She must have just heard the part about needing to open the mana pathways and left it at that.
But even though she was flustered, she wasn't refusing.
"N-no. Do it."
I moved my hands again and unhooked her bra.
Her cute breasts and the dainty, raised nipples began to come into view.
I sat on the bed and told her to come closer.
"Stay just like that. I'll start."
"Okay..."
At first I brought my face close and carefully observed her entire chest.
Slightly reddish pink nipples.
The milky, translucent skin of her breasts was shaped so perfectly I wanted to take a photo and keep it.
Come to think of it, the video I had filmed of her suddenly came to mind.
Should I torment her a little today too?
I made a show of licking her chest with the tip of my tongue, so lightly it barely brushed—almost touching, almost not.
Sometimes I licked empty air. Sometimes I made the lightest contact.
Every time it touched, her body gave a little startled jump, and it was fun to watch.
"I-is this how you're supposed to do it? It tickles too much..."
"You can leave whenever you don't like it. My ability is extremely picky about how it's used."
"I'm not leaving. Not until I get stronger than Baek Hwayeon or Lee Donggeul."
That meant she was saying she would do it with me today.
Or at least that she would drink my semen.
Not bad at all.
It was about time to challenge one hundred percent Synchronization Rate again.
The stage was set.
Make the three women compete with each other, make them insist they would be the first to get stronger.
Make them desperate to have a relationship with me.
And the first contender is none other than you.
Kim Isol.