B-Class Hunter Han Sohee's Invitation (2)
The next day.
I dressed up as best I could (by a guy's standards) for Sohee's invitation and headed over to her place. The apartment complexes were a fair distance apart, but from the dorms her building wasn't far at all, so I got there in no time.
Ah, right. I brought condoms.
There'd been a minor screw-up where I'd accidentally packed them, but it wasn't a big deal. I wasn't going to need them anyway.
At the shared entrance to Sohee's building, I punched in the passcode with practiced ease. I'd been here a few times before, so I already knew it. Inside, I caught the elevator and rode up to her floor. When the doors opened, I pressed the doorbell of the unit number she'd given me in advance.
Why am I nervous about this?
I felt a little tension before I hit the button. I'd been to plenty of other women's places for meals — so why did going to Sohee's make me tense?
Because those other visits had only been possible as Security Guard Taejin, the man the Security Guard App had designated with absolute certainty. As plain old Taejin, none of that would have been possible. And right now I wasn't a security guard or anything else — just an ordinary guy. Walking into someone else's home in that state, and a successful Hunter's home no less… how could I not be nervous?
Clutching my pounding heart, I pressed the doorbell.
—Ding-dong.
A moment after the chime faded, her voice floated through the door.
"I'll be right out~"
A few seconds later the door opened, and Sohee stepped out wearing an apron.
"You got here quick?"
"Ah — on my days off I don't really have anywhere else to be."
She nodded at that and ushered me inside. I followed her in — and was immediately surprised.
This place is way nicer than I expected.
Sohee's apartment was genuinely well put together. It wasn't just good furniture placement; the decorations were arranged with a careful eye that never tipped into clutter. In short, she had real interior design sense. I was still quietly admiring the place when a delicious aroma brushed past my nose. I turned toward the smell —
Why does that smell so good… wait.
Eel, asparagus, and a whole spread of other foods I'd heard were good for stamina filled the table.
Hold on. Some of those are expensive and hard to even get.
Among them were seasonings that traded at serious prices — not the kind of ingredients you pull out for a casual invitation. Realizing that, I felt for a moment that this gathering was more significant than it looked.
Well… Sohee's probably just grateful.
I deliberately decided she was simply trying to repay me rather than harboring some ulterior motive, and sat down. The table was already fully set with spoons and chopsticks. As I settled into the chair, Sohee brought over a pot of soup, set it down, and turned to me.
"Taejin, you'll have some drinks too, right?"
"Drinks?"
"Yes! Is soju okay?"
"Uh — well, if you're offering, I'll drink…"
Soju usually ran about fifteen hundred won at restaurants, so I'd had plenty of it at company dinners and felt no aversion. If anything, that expensive stuff I'd drunk with Garam last time had been far more off-putting. Anyway, I didn't refuse. It felt awkward to turn down a host who was offering, and tomorrow was a day off too — drinking after a long stretch without it didn't sound half bad.
I accepted her offer and helped her finish setting the food.
"You really don't have to…"
"No. As a guest, I'd like to at least do this much."
At that, Sohee's expression softened with a touch of genuine emotion. For a moment, the woman-charming tips I'd picked up at drinking parties actually seemed useful.
What followed was a meal that fully deserved to be called a feast. While I ate, I found myself wondering why my life was suddenly full of women who cooked this well.
"Ah, Sohee — let me pour for you."
"R-really? Hehe… then I won't refuse…"
I stopped her from pouring her own glass and filled it myself. Naturally it wasn't the brim-full pour I'd give the old men at a construction-site drinking party — just a moderate amount. As a Hunter she could almost certainly outdrink me, but I figured this was basic courtesy. After pouring hers, I accepted the glass she poured for me in return.
"Here, Taejin — yours too!"
"Ah, thank you."
We clinked glasses lightly and went back to eating. A warm heat spread through my body as I praised the food she'd made.
"Sohee, everything tastes great. Honestly, I could eat this every day."
That wasn't empty flattery — the way I was practically inhaling the food made that clear enough. Ever since I'd raised my stats last time, I'd definitely felt my physical abilities improve. The problem was that my appetite had scaled up right alongside them. In other words, I was eating an absurd amount. With a spread like this in front of me, there was no reason to nibble daintily. I demolished the food, and Sohee, watching, thought to herself:
H-he wants to eat my cooking every day…
Wasn't that basically a proposal? The kind of thing that meant get married and cook for me every morning. Of course I was half sincere — I really would have eaten this every day if I could — but the other half was just praise. People who would actually make breakfast like this every single morning were rare. And if Sohee and I somehow got married, the cooking would probably fall to me rather than her. No matter how I looked at it, her income level crushed mine.
But that kind of brutally realistic red pill never works on someone deep in unrequited love.
I-if we got married… about three kids…
Watching her burn through her fantasy circuits, I thought:
What? Is she not feeling well?
She wasn't focusing on the conversation at all, which made me wonder if something was wrong — but her eyes didn't look like she was actually sick, so I decided to wait until the mood settled a bit more before asking. Honestly I wanted to ask right away, but I held off.
We kept eating as the alcohol settled in, trading this and that. Before long both of us were comfortably tipsy. Then, out of nowhere, Sohee looked at me and asked:
"Taejin… what's your ideal type?"
"Ideal type?"
Classic drinking-party conversation. I'd heard it plenty of times. At the same time —
Ideal type… that's hard.
I'd worked nonstop since I was a kid. Romantic encounters had only started appearing in my life recently, so this was a genuinely difficult question. Couldn't I just say I like this and that?
That's the hard part.
After losing my father in the Gate incident and watching my mother fall ill, I'd been too busy surviving to spare a thought for romance. In the middle of all that, the guys who went around scanning women every day, who got home and immediately grabbed a girl and passed out — even that had been hard enough for me. In that sense, I didn't really have an ideal type.
Then what about the people I'd met so far? Honestly, how many of them had even seen me as a romantic interest? At best, sex partners, right?
Or… wait. Thinking about it, there might have been some attraction…
Maybe it was the alcohol, but my thoughts were wandering. After a long stretch of deliberation, I finally landed on an answer.
"…I could say I don't have one. But if I had to pick, I'd want a woman who's kind, with a strong independent spirit."
The kind of woman who, if we got married and something happened to me, could still stand strong and raise the kids.
Whew. The alcohol's making me think weird things.
Why would I die? I still had way too much left to do. I shook off the stray thoughts — and Sohee, hearing my answer, thought:
I'm kind enough in my own way, but… a woman with a strong independent spirit… I don't think I can manage that…
She measured herself against the ideal type I'd described and sank into despair. No matter how she looked at it, she wasn't the fiercely independent type. If anything, her dependency ran high. And so, drowning in that despair —
"Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!"
"S-Sohee?! If you drink like that—!"
—she poured soju straight down her throat, and got drunk in record time. No — not just drunk.
She's completely wasted…
She was gone. Fully, thoroughly gone.
"Taejiiiiin…"
Rational judgment had left the building. And completely plastered like this, Sohee had no reverse gear left.
"I-I, Taejiiiiin… I really… really… liiike youuu…"