Pantsless
Everyone was still frozen solid at my words.
Well... seeing an S-rank Hunter in the flesh would definitely leave anyone rattled.
But people's gazes felt a little off.
Some turned their heads away. Others covered their eyes with their hands.
Even the B-rank Hunter standing right in front of me had gone tomato-red.
“H-Hunter...!”
She pointed straight at me,
“Y-Your pants...”
Her finger jabbed toward my lower half.
“Huh?”
A pleasant breeze slipped right between my thighs.
“What about my pants?”
The second I looked down, my face ignited.
I wasn't wearing any pants!!!!!
I had bolted out of the collapsing house still in the exact state I'd been lounging around at home.
Grimy clothes splattered with ramen broth and kimchi juice.
And underneath them, a black underwear set....
The exact moment my black panties were unveiled to the citizens of Seoul.
“Everyone... forget this. Or I'll blow every last one of you up.”
This time it wasn't a joke. I meant every syllable.
With that final threat I sprinted full-tilt toward anywhere without people.
“Huff... huff... huff...”
Embarrassment flooded all the way to the crown of my head as I ran like a maniac.
My lungs couldn't keep up; I was gasping so hard that a voice rang through my skull at the same time a message bloomed in front of my eyes.
You have successfully blocked the Gate.
Rewards will be distributed according to contribution.
Contribution: 52/100
Reward: 50 Low-grade Magic Stones
“Huh?”
I doubted my own eyes.
Fifty low-grade Magic Stones??
Blowing up the house had actually paid off.
Or... had it? Was the house more expensive...?
I had built a fortress of walls between myself and math long ago, so numbers left me hopelessly weak.
While I was counting on my fingers one by one, the voice echoed through my head again.
Your bond with your summon has deepened.
It was the same guidance voice I'd heard before.
“Does that mean Meonji Number Three now?!”
Heart fluttering, I opened my status window, but—
The status window hadn't changed at all.
“What the... what even changed?”
This time my question earned me zero extra information.
“Did we just get closer or something?”
I stroked the two Meonjis that were flopped against my stomach, their fluffy bodies stretched out as they crawled around.
“In that case... first things first—I need to turn this into cash!”
The house had already exploded ages ago; I had nowhere left to go back to.
But I had money now.
I reached into my pocket for my smartphone so I could look up the way to the Hunter Association.
“Ah.”
Right. I was currently pantsless.
Pockets didn't exist.
“Uh...?”
Naturally the smartphone was gone too.
I must have left it at home.
“Uh.... Home...?”
The house had been thoroughly detonated.
In the end I trudged back to the place where the Gate had opened. The B-rank Hunter was still there.
“Ah, Hunter Han Doa!”
The female B-rank Hunter waved and greeted me cheerfully.
“Um... do you know where the Hunter Association is...?”
I tugged my clothes down as hard as I could, desperately trying to cover my underwear while I spoke.
“Ah...! Yes! Would you like to come with me? I actually have to head there myself.”
Then the B-rank Hunter glanced at my chest, flushed crimson, and jerked her head to the side.
Huh...?
A sudden wave of dread made me look down at my own chest.
“......”
I must have pulled the fabric too hard.
Even though the grimy top had started life as a white shirt, the black underwear underneath was now proudly advertising its existence.
The entire ride to the Hunter Association was spent in mutual mortified silence.
“Thank you.”
I said as I stepped out of the car. She insisted she was the one who should be thanking me for sealing the Gate.
Inside the Association I exchanged the Magic Stones for cash and gave the staff a brief report of everything that had happened with the Gate.
Apparently the other Hunters had already filed detailed accounts, so all I needed to do was summarize my own combat contribution.
After leaving the Association I headed for the hotel they recommended.
A hotel.
A place I had only ever heard of by name my whole life.
I was so broke I had never even set foot in a motel.
And now I was going to a hotel...?
The moment I stepped inside, dazzling lights and gleaming floors welcomed me.
The floor was polished so brightly it was practically a mirror.
Which meant... the reflection of my underwear staring back up at me made me turn right back around and leave.
“Maybe I should buy clothes first...?”
But I had never bought anything except underwear before.
Until now I had simply rummaged through clothing donation bins and taken whatever didn't reek.
The instant I entered a store, my eyes locked with a staff member's.
One hour of eye contact later,
“Miss! How about this? Your waist is so slim—this style will look amazing on you!”
One employee came rushing over with an outfit so skimpy that not only my navel but also my underwear would show if I so much as raised my arms.
“No, no. She needs something more pure and innocent-looking.”
Another employee appeared carrying a pure-white dress.
“Um... do you have anything a little more... guy-ish...?”
The two employees exchanged looks, then muttered, “Ah, so that's the vibe she's going for,” and dove back into the racks.
I just want to go home....
Today of all days I missed the house I had blown up so fiercely it hurt.
My snug little semi-basement....
Always shared with bugs, cigarette smoke constantly drifting in through the tiny window, turning into a swimming pool whenever it rained—my cozy nest....
Hmm. Actually not that homesick after all.
The more I thought about it, the more only the terrible memories floated up.
I zoned out, staring at the clothes the employees kept bringing, until my eyes landed on something familiar.
Three stripes!
The exact clothes worn by people who always looked like the most comfortable human beings on the planet—clothes I had secretly yearned for!
“I'll take these!”
The employees' faces fell with disappointment, but I didn't look back. I bought the top-and-bottom set at lightning speed and fled the store.
Then I returned to the hotel lobby.
The second I walked through the entrance someone spoke to me first.
“Are you Hunter Han Doa?”
“I am, but... how did you know?”
“I apologize if this has been inconvenient. The Hunter Association requested that we prepare the finest suite and also briefed us about you, so I have been waiting.”
He said that and offered to escort me to the room.
Hunter Association...!
My favorability toward the Hunter Association skyrocketed as we arrived at the room.
He opened the door, handed me the key, and left.
“This is... a room...?”
The place they had called a room was absurdly vast.
But there was no bed—only a long sofa.
“Is sleeping without a bed the new upper-class luxury...?”
I marveled at the leisure of the rich as I walked farther in and turned my head—only for a bed to appear.
One room held a gigantic bed.
A bed that could easily fit over a thousand Meonjis.
“There are two rooms...?”
That wasn't all.
There was another room.
“Three rooms...?”
But then I saw the toilet inside that room.
And only then did I understand.
The semi-basement I had lived in for years had been smaller than this bathroom.
Any lingering nostalgia for that place evaporated without a single speck remaining.
I sank deep into the bathtub with Meonji and scrubbed every inch of myself with meticulous care.
Then I dove onto the bed,
and when I opened my eyes again, warm sunlight was gently toasting my body.
The day after sleeping in a hotel.
The reason I needed to earn money had carved itself clearly into my mind, and I headed straight for the Tower.
Floor 2 of the Tower was the same as Floor 1—three goblins.
This time two of them had three white sticks on their foreheads, but...
In the end a satisfying boom simply turned the cave floor into a digital pattern.
The same voice as before rang out.
Congratulations on clearing Floor 2.
Reward: 3 Low-grade Magic Stones
Same number of goblins as Floor 1, so same reward.
Transferring outside the Tower.
This time there was no voice about my bond with the summon deepening, so apparently it didn't happen every single time.
“Hmm?”
Even after leaving the Tower my head didn't hurt nearly as much as it had after Floor 1.
Mental strain was constant regardless of Tower difficulty; no Hunter could climb the Tower twice in one day.
But—
“In this condition... I could go one more time, right?”
I felt it instinctively.
Right now I could climb one more floor.
“What about you guys?”
I asked, looking at the Meonjis in my hands.
The one that had just self-destructed looked more worn out than usual, while the one that still had its self-destruct left was full of energy.
“Then let's go again!”
I pressed my palm to the Tower once more and stepped into the combat space.
This time four goblins.
But adding one more body wasn't enough to survive Meonji's explosion.
I blew the cave to smithereens again,
Congratulations on clearing Floor 3.
Reward: 4 Low-grade Magic Stones
and received the increased reward.
Transferring outside the Tower.
“Ugh...”
Only after this transfer did my head throb as sharply as it had the first time I left Floor 1.
The Meonji that had just self-destructed was now flopped out even more limply, same as the others.
Come to think of it, after the Gate closed there had been that message about my bond with the summon deepening... was that the reason?
Were the Meonjis sharing the mental burden I received...?
“Meonji, are you okay?”
I asked worriedly.
The two Meonjis crawled energetically across my palm as if telling me not to worry, even bouncing a tiny bit.
How could creatures this cute even exist.
So from now on... I could climb two floors of the Tower a day?
Imagining bank balances with more and more zeros, I cheerfully headed to the Hunter Association and settled the seven Magic Stones.
I was about to leave the Association in high spirits to enjoy the three free hotel nights they were sponsoring when someone called out from behind me.
“Hunter Han Doa!”
Who the hell was interrupting my happy time.
I turned around, and there stood—
“I'm so relieved you're safe. But... do you intend to keep your smartphone turned off? The higher-ups have been trying to contact Hunter Han Doa, but it keeps showing as powered down... so they eventually told me to come meet you in person.... Haha...”
The branch manager of the Hunter Association Seoul Mapo Branch was smiling awkwardly, cold sweat beading on his face.
He must have rushed over; his glasses had slipped slightly down his nose.
“Smartphone.... I blew that up.”
I delivered the plain, unvarnished fact.
“What?”