C-Class Hunter — Lee Hanna (2)
The moment Taejin got back to the security office, he put in a request for Sexual Processing Duty.
A little impulsive, maybe — but for a bastard like that, it was the right call.
Yeah, fine. The guy had every reason to act like he owned the world. Women, a house, a car — what did he have to feel inferior about?
But there was one thing that son of a bitch didn't know.
Even a grub knows how to roll.
Even the security guard he looked down on had a few tricks up his sleeve. Big ones.
Taejin sat with that thought, a quiet smile on his face — for about five seconds.
"Huh. Why hasn't she called?"
A decent stretch of time had already passed with no contact at all. Normally, something should have come through by now…
For a fleeting second, he wondered if the app had been stringing him along. Then he shook it off.
Nah. No way.
Thinking back on everything the app had already delivered, he leaned back into his chair and let himself relax. People ran late sometimes. That was life.
So he waited. Patiently. And that waiting stretched on…
Okay, seriously. Is she actually not going to call?
…all the way to the end of his shift.
He'd figured it would take an hour or two at most. Hours had gone by. He was starting to think it really wasn't going to happen — when suddenly:
— Riiing!
The phone!
The ringtone he'd been dying to hear finally cut through the silence. Taejin moved about one and a half times faster than usual and snatched it up.
"Security office. How can I help you?"
He delivered the familiar script — and the person on the other end said nothing at all.
A prank call?
The thought crossed his mind for a second. Then, as if to prove him wrong:
"Ah— ah, um, th-that is… I was thinking of requesting the, um… Sexual Processing Service… just once…"
A woman's voice. Taejin exhaled in relief and asked,
"Ah, yes, of course. When would be a good time for you?"
There was a pause on the other end — Lee Hanna hesitating, turning it over — before she answered.
"Tomorrow at two would be good…"
"Understood. I'll be there at two."
She didn't even reply. She just hung up.
Embarrassed, clearly.
"Heh."
Taejin smirked to himself for a moment — then the smirk faded.
"…This is fine, right?"
Getting the call was one thing. But now that he thought about it — he was about to put his hands on a Hunter's wife. Was that not, you know, extremely dangerous?
Way too late for that.
The ship had already sailed. He spent the rest of his shift grinning like an idiot, then headed back to the dorms.
The next day. Two o'clock.
Taejin skipped lunch entirely and made a beeline for Lee Hanna's place, a thoroughly villainous little laugh bubbling out of him the whole way.
"Heh heh heh…"
Getting revenge on the bastard who'd dropped a parental insult on his mom and dad — like this? The thrill was almost too much.
A short walk later:
This is it.
He arrived at the unit Bae Jinsu and Lee Hanna shared and pressed the doorbell.
— Ding-dong.
A short chime. Then the sound of movement from inside. She was coming.
Taejin stepped back from the door and waited, perfectly at ease. He waited. And waited.
Why is she taking so long?
The door still hadn't opened. He was starting to wonder — when:
— Creeeak.
The tightly shut door eased open, and someone came tumbling out of it. More precisely:
Holy shit, that outfit…
Lee Hanna, dressed in an aggressively provocative getup that could only be described as full-blown sexy-housewife cosplay.
"Hic! You caaame~?"
…And she was, by every available metric, completely wasted.
Taejin stared at her, face stuck somewhere between confusion and disbelief.
"Uh… Lee Hanna?"
"Yeees… I'm Hanna~"
Yep. Drunk. Definitely drunk. He asked carefully,
"Have you been drinking?"
"Juuust a little…! I was so ner-vous… hic… so I drank a bit…"
Every single word confirmed it. Taejin felt his head start to spin — then forced himself to stay calm.
"…In that case, I'll come back another time. You seem far too intoxicated."
Not because his conscience was bothering him. He just had no idea what a drunk Hunter might do. Yes — he was running scared, and he was fine admitting it. When the news ran a story about a wasted Hunter picking a fight with a civilian and turning it into a homicide roughly once a week, you started to understand why a guy might backpedal.
Lee Hanna, however, puffed out her cheeks like a sulking child, grabbed his arm, and hauled him straight inside.
"Nooo~ You have to come in riiight now!"
"W-wait, hold on—!"
He had decent muscle on him, but it didn't matter. She dragged him into the apartment like he weighed nothing.
Once he was inside against his will, one thought filled his head:
I'm fucked.
Walking into a drunk Hunter's home. Even if he didn't die, anything that happened from here on out would be completely understandable.
No. Keep your head on straight and you can survive even a tiger's den.
He steeled himself and looked at Lee Hanna, who was still gazing at him with that glassy, tipsy smile.
"Heheheh… Come on iiin… hurryyy…"
Best to just do what she said for now. He followed her deeper into the apartment — and the moment they reached the kitchen, she sat him down at the dining table.
"Uh… what's all this…?"
The table in front of him was loaded. Not just food — a full banquet. Open bottles of wine and other liquor, dishes that clearly weren't takeout, every single one homemade. This was a special-occasion spread, no question.
And no matter how he looked at it, none of it had been made for him. Which is why he asked. But instead of answering:
"This one… and this one… they're reeeally good…"
She just started talking, completely ignoring the question.
"Answers later… First, toast with me! Cheers!"
Taejin had no idea what was going on, but he played along. He picked up the empty glass that had been set out for him, and Lee Hanna poured him a generous measure of what was clearly expensive liquor.
…Aren't you supposed to pour high-end stuff sparingly? Is this much okay?
If there was a minor social foul here, it was filling a wine glass to the brim with premium booze. Still — when she raised her glass, he raised his, and they clinked.
— Clink!
The glasses rang. The liquor shimmered.
Well, I am on the clock… but if a Hunter forced it on me, they'll understand.
He knocked it back in one go.
"Oh—"
His eyes went wide. He didn't know the first thing about alcohol, and even he could tell this was incredible.
How much does this stuff even cost?
He genuinely couldn't guess. While he was still reeling, Lee Hanna beamed at him with that same tipsy, blissful smile.
"Heheh, it's goood, right~?"
"Ah. Yeah. It's really good."
"Yay~ Now try the food I made too~"
"You made all of this?"
"Of course~ They're my specialty dishes."
He carefully picked up a pair of chopsticks and started sampling. One bite in, and something inside him broke.
Jesus Christ. Her husband is the luckiest bastard alive.
He was practically crying on the inside. He lived on triangle kimbap, convenience-store lunch boxes, and burgers — and this guy got home-cooked meals from a wife who looked like this?
You… I will never forgive you.
It wasn't jealousy. No — it absolutely was jealousy. Why did a woman like this end up with a piece of shit like him…? Ugh!
While half of him seethed with envy, the other half kept shoveling food into his mouth without pause. When else was he going to eat like this? He ate with genuine, focused enthusiasm — and Lee Hanna watched him with a faintly startled expression.
"You eat sooo well~?"
"Ah — it's just so good, I got carried away. Haha."
"Reallyyy~?"
He nodded hard. Because it really was that good.
But her expression kept darkening. For a second he thought he'd done something wrong — then he understood why.
"Actually… today's our wedding anniversary…"
Their wedding anniversary?
He froze. Of course he did. On a wedding anniversary, you'd normally be with your husband.
"But today… he said he was busy in the evening, so he couldn't… so I set all this up for lunch instead… hic! He promised he'd come, and he didn't even show!"
And just like that, everything clicked. Why the feast. Why she'd been drinking alone.
"If he'd come for lunch… I was going to cancel the service. But now I don't even know anymore… so…"
She climbed up onto the table, crawled toward him, and said:
"Just for today… will you be my husband…?"
Taejin couldn't bring himself to say no.