A Night at the Hotel
"Ilwol... do you remember what I said yesterday?"
"Clack clack clack..."
"You're saying we should wait until evening, when we can check with your ability?"
Ilwol nodded.
After enjoying a brief moment of solitude, Cha Jin-hyeok soon left the café. We decided to follow him. No one had suggested it outright, but it simply happened naturally.
I held Yeonhee in my arms and rose into the air under the concealment skill. Cha Jin-hyeok walked for about thirty minutes before entering a fairly large two-story detached house.
He must have money, yet he's still living in a place like this.
The house was spacious, but it looked somewhat old. At the entrance stood a knee-high silver barricade, the kind you'd see at a kindergarten. Beside it, a faded sign that was hard to read clearly bore the words "something-something Orphanage."
The yard inside the house had apparently been expanded; it jutted out in a C-shape beyond the property line. Inside, about a dozen children were playing soccer with great enthusiasm. When Cha Jin-hyeok appeared, they stopped their game and ran toward him, faces lit with sunny smiles.
He had bought a mountain of snacks at the supermarket on his way here, so there was plenty to share. More children grabbed at his collar and shook him than reached for the food, which made it clear that, at least here, Cha Jin-hyeok was genuinely loved.
They soon went inside, where a small party began with cookies, bread, and chicken that arrived shortly after. Watching the scene, I couldn't help but swallow a hollow laugh.
"What is he doing? Playing around with kids like that?"
Yeonhee was curious about what was happening inside, so I had to relay everything through Ran.
"Hmm... maybe that person grew up here since he was little?"
It was impossible to say. I hadn't read Cha Jin-hyeok's articles in detail—usually I just skimmed the headlines before moving on to the comments, as was the national custom.
We spent time in the air, munching through the field rations we'd bought the day before, sorting them by type.
It's quiet.
After playing with the children, Cha Jin-hyeok sat alone in his room, scribbling something. It looked like a diary... what a diligent young man.
In the end, Cha Jin-hyeok showed no unusual movements that day. So I activated Mimicry while still in the air.
"Wow..."
Yeonhee stared at my transformed appearance with wide eyes, as if she could never get used to it.
Smack—!
"Ang..."
After planting a kiss on her cheek, I checked the minimap first.
Hm?
This time, the markers on the map were different from usual.
Triangles instead of circles? And four of them blinking...?
One seemed to indicate Cha Jin-hyeok, while the other three were moving together at a distance not too far from here.
So it shows up like this too. What do the triangles mean?
"Huh? What is it? What's wrong?"
"Ah— triangles. On the map... there are triangles... four of them."
"Huh? Triangles? Not circles?"
"Yeah. First time... seeing this."
Yeonhee tilted her head at the word "triangles," then continued.
"Not villains, but they could become ones? Something like that?"
"Ah... maybe...?"
Even if Yeonhee's guess was correct, deciding how to respond wasn't easy. So I figured I'd leave the judgment to her this time.
"Umm... for now!"
"Yeah."
"How about we go into a room and think about it?"
"......?"
That was truly unexpected. I'd anticipated something like "let's think while we eat," but this...
Anyway, I picked Yeonhee up and headed first toward the location of the other three. I needed to figure out what kind of people they were, at least.
Coincidentally, the place they were heading to was one of the hotels Yeonhee and I had picked out the night before.
Maybe this worked out for the best?
The hotel was less than two kilometers from Cha Jin-hyeok's house—convenient for keeping an eye on him while spending the night.
We entered the hotel lobby at a distance from them. Soon I realized their faces looked familiar.
The irritating voices and cheap way of speaking.
— Puhaha!
— Ah, that's fucking hilarious.
— Are you an idiot? You dropped that.
They were Cha Jin-hyeok's colleagues from the café that afternoon.
Three of them crossed the lobby, the man walking with a woman on each arm. The other two, including the guide, were nowhere to be seen.
I feel like punching them.
It wasn't just because the guy had brought two women to a hotel. Something about it rubbed me the wrong way.
Those guys are future villains?
Hunters marked with the same triangle as Cha Jin-hyeok.
Hmm...
While I stood quietly in the lobby watching them, Yeonhee followed my gaze and spotted them too.
(Gasp... those people from earlier?)
(Yeah.)
We kept our voices as low as possible.
(We're waiting today, remember? We need to know exactly what it means.)
(Got it.)
While Yeonhee approached the front desk alone, whispering to herself, the staff gave her a puzzled look—because I remained concealed, just in case.
I was being cautious, worried I might somehow affect this world's Yoon Han-gyeol, who hadn't awakened as a hunter yet. Then a sudden thought struck me.
If the world's clock has sped up, wouldn't my awakening time have accelerated too?
I should search for him about once a week.
Since I knew Yoon Han-gyeol best, I figured he'd manage somehow, but I still felt concerned.
Luckily, check-in went smoothly despite the late hour. This area wasn't particularly remarkable except for the cluster of B-grade dungeons nearby. The recent frequent dungeon breaks in the region had probably left plenty of vacancies.
I could sense empty rooms scattered throughout the building. As we rode the elevator up, I steadied the waves of my perception. We were on the eleventh floor, while Cha Jin-hyeok's colleagues were on the ninth. I'd memorized their mana circuits, so detecting them wouldn't be a problem.
If those guys tried anything even slightly suspicious...
I'd have to run like lightning.
Even if my head was completely empty, I wasn't stupid enough to think I could take on three B-grade hunters. Of course, if it came down to it, I'd self-destruct—but life points were precious.
Beep—
Once inside the room, we could only stand there awkwardly in the unfamiliar space.
Mimicry... twenty-one minutes left.
"Uh, um... oh, should we just wash up and sleep tonight?"
Yeonhee's half-hearted words made me grab her arm and pull her along.
"Follow me."
"Ah...!"
Yeonhee smiled bashfully and followed behind me with quick little steps. I casually pulled out a thick bedsheet from my inventory, spread it over the bed, then lightly tossed Yeonhee onto it.
Thump—
"Aing— Still, doing it without washing feels a bit..."
"Twenty minutes... left."
"What?! Only that much time left?"
Yeonhee reacted as if something catastrophic had happened, covering her mouth.
This is new. Yeonhee's clothes, this space.
The neatly arranged hotel room and the slightly excessive unknown fragrance in the air strangely excited me. And most importantly, Yeonhee was still in her outdoor clothes. Aside from that one time in the alley, we'd almost always played at home, so Yeonhee had always worn tracksuits or dungeon gear. This was the first time I'd seen her in a dress.
A warm pink one-tone dress with a slightly cinched waist and a loose fit. Usually, this style would hide the figure, but on Yeonhee, it emphasized her upper body in a striking way.
"You're beautiful..."
"Huh? Mm..."
She no longer denied it when I called her pretty. She was still embarrassed, but since I'd been drilling it into her every day, she seemed to have adapted a little.
Yeonhee needed to recognize how beautiful she was. That way, she'd understand what men were thinking when they approached her. She had a tendency to assume anyone talking to her must have some legitimate reason, but that wasn't always the case.
She sat on the bed, almost lying down, looking up at me—clearly debating whether to take off her clothes. She had spares, so there was no need to worry, but it was probably because it was a new outfit.
Smack— Suck—
I gently lifted her chin and started with a natural kiss. Our pressed lips moistened each other's slightly dry skin.
"Haaum— Smack—"
Even while kissing, Yeonhee seemed to be struggling to hold back laughter. It wasn't because something funny had suddenly occurred to her—it was from an undeniable sense of satisfaction about the current situation.
A few kisses quickly set Yeonhee ablaze. Usually, repeated stimulation would dull a person's senses, but with Yeonhee, it seemed to flip her switch faster instead.
A little warm.
Whether by the hotel's consideration or not, the environment made it impossible to keep our clothes on. I unbuttoned my shirt and fully exposed my upper body. The solid layer of lean muscle came into view, and Yeonhee, seeing my bare torso completely for the first time, covered her face with her small hands in embarrassment and curiosity.
"C-can't we turn off the lights?"
"No, we can't."
"Ugh..."
I lifted Yeonhee by the waist to sit her upright, then kissed her again. As our tongues intertwined, her body temperature rose rapidly, and her hands gradually moved to my chest. She traced the ridges and valleys of my muscles with her fingers, exploring.
I felt the need to move things along a little faster than usual. So I slipped my hand under her dress and felt the slightly soft texture over her underwear.
"Smack— Haa— Th-there. You can't put it inside...!"
"Got it... I won't put it in..."
Yeonhee still wouldn't allow anything beneath her underwear. I wondered if there was really much difference between touching over soaked fabric and touching bare skin, but I was a skeleton with reason. I'd do as she wished.
"Ugh—! Mm~! Aaaang—! Ang! Mm!"
When I started touching her lower body in earnest, Yeonhee's body began to tremble up and down. I moved my fingers along the slightly parted gap below, then pressed firmly on the slightly raised spot.
"Haak—! Kkiiheung—! W-wait...! D-don't press so deep— Hng!"
Psst— Pyupyup—
"Aaaa..."
Today, Yeonhee seemed to want to focus more on the lower part than on kissing. She nodded toward my face, shyly showing off her flushed cheeks.
"Open your mouth..."
"Uung? Aaaang—"
At my command, Yeonhee's mouth opened wide, both upper and lower. After briefly examining the inside, I inserted my finger and gently scratched the roof of her mouth. Her pupils shot upward, saliva instantly filled her oral cavity, and drool began to trickle down from her lips.
"Heek— Hek— Hek—"
Cute. Just like a puppy.