Who the Hell Are You?
Who the hell are you guys? After that, I decided to act a bit more deferential toward Master.
This woman had a surprisingly narrow mind—mess with her temper, and she'd definitely wreck your body.
...What is she, some cat with its claws out? Ridiculous.
"I'll forgive you now."
After fucking me like that, of course she'd forgive me.
"Don't pull that shit again. Got it?"
"What did I even do?"
Honestly, it didn't feel like I'd done anything that bad. What's wrong with paying back the money on time?
"Then try it again. I'll show that body of yours what happens."
"Haha... On second thought, yeah, I was wrong. You know what I like, right?"
"I'll make you love sex."
"Ah!"
I got pinned down again, and it took two hours before I could finally break free.
If I'd known it'd be like this, I wouldn't have paid her back.
This taught me that doing good deeds often just brings misfortune.
From now on, I'd live for myself instead. If I kept taking Master's abuses lying down, she'd squeeze every last drop of cum out of me until I keeled over someday.
"Hyunwoo, you're already LV.52? Congrats."
"Thank you."
"Good thing. I'm waiting for the day we can hit Babel together. Get stronger quick."
"That's the plan."
I'd pray not to level up, but nah—I was gonna grind even harder. Master's level was LV.89, right? Just 37 more, and I'd catch up. Sure, it'd take time, but at this rate, it'd happen eventually.
I needed to get way stronger. Much stronger... so no one would dare look down on me, the disciple of the Sword Saint.
"By the way, big level gaps with your party means EXP penalties, right?"
"I'll level them up midway before we go."
"Hmmm, I'd just ditch 'em. Got a soft spot?"
"Not really affection. Just strategy."
Dragging along people way below me in level and skill was about building my own faction.
Later, I'd make them tweak their traits for my benefit.
Plus, Master's made a ton of enemies from that last incident.
Master seemed to have all sorts of connections, but she'd basically soloed Babel without a guild. Insanely tough without her Clone Techniquetrait.
Bottom line: she had no truly reliable allies. If shit hit the fan, help wouldn't come easy.
I needed to get stronger. And if Master ever faced a real fight... she'd need someone in her corner.
"Master, you aware there's more players lurking around the house lately?"
Proof I wasn't overreacting. Lately, weirdos had been prowling the area.
They tried hiding their presence, but the faint killing intent leaking out gave them away.
"Yeah, I know. The barrier keeps 'em out anyway."
Ever since that incident, unidentified players had been hanging around the property more often.
Hard to call it paranoia when our home was buried deep in Bukhan Mountain, cloaked in layers of transparency items. Only pros could even spot it.
"Still, what if someone cracks the stealth? What if they peep on our sex life...?"
"If they could, they'd have by now. Yeah, numbers are piling up. Been thinking of cleaning house. Wanna do it now?"
Wanting to look cool for your crush held true even in this gender-reversed world. Master seemed eager too.
"Fuckin' hell..."
NIS agent Shin Sung-hee muttered curses under her breath as she pushed through the underbrush.
Since Babel appeared, most Korean mountains had turned into potential monster nests.
A pot-bellied little imp charged with claws raised. Luckily, Sung-hee was over LV.60, so low-level trash like this was easy pickings.
Quiet and clean, like a proper NIS black ops agent. She wiped the purple blood from her spear with a handkerchief and sighed.
"Why's Bukhan Mountain so damn dangerous?"
Her senior agent had the perfect answer.
"Closest spot to Babel. Goblins and orcs pop up sometimes—perfect for demons to breed."
"No government extermination squads?"
"Forgot who's living here? That Ryu Ga-eul built her house here."
Fair point. With the Sword Saint around, no need to waste cash on regular sweeps.
"Saves troops for Deokyu Mountain or Hallasan. You know that massive beast roaming Deokyu?"
"Lucky us. Still better than the North side."
Forty years post-Babel, North Korea collapsed. Couldn't handle the monster hordes.
Problem was, those bastards devoured over 20 million citizens and still crossed the border hungry.
"Exactly. Hurry up, find the target, go home, crash with a bottle of soju."
"Once this op's done, I'm marrying my fiancé!"
Senior's face went stiff.
"What the—"
"This is him. Hot, right? Same age, childhood friends. Hehe."
"Quit the weird talk."
"His birthday's soon. Rented a fancy restaurant for the proposal. Ring's bought."
Junior spouting death flags mid-mission made senior's hands shake.
"What the fuck are you saying, you psycho bitch."
"Huh?"
"Shut up and search!"
Senior scanned around. Good—no monsters to punish the idiot.
"This is Team 1, all clear. Moving forward."
[Roger. Team 2 here, target not sighted yet.... What the hell is that?]
Rustling came over the radio. Grass shaking hard.
"Team 2, report status."
[Monster ahead, within 30m. Imp or goblin maybe...]
"Team 1?"
"Team 1! Team 1!"
No response. She yelled urgently.
"All remaining teams, sound off! Team 3?"
[Team 3, all clear.]
Team 4, clear. Team 5 cut off mid-report of approaching creature. No word from 6 or 7. Team 8, just screams.
Elite agents down. All over LV.50 average...
Even a LV.70, NIS top brass, gone without a sound.
Terror rose, but she stayed cool. "Teams 3 and 4, link with Team 1. Assume the rest are KIA."
[Coords?]
"Sending now. Regroup, then retreat—"
Wait. Why ask for coords? They weren't far.
"You... who are you?"
[Heh heh. Busted? Old bitches are tough to take out. Where you at? Coming to smash you.]
The voice was unfamiliar. Not her reliable teammate seconds ago.
All of them... gone.
No time to report—Team 1 aside, the elite NIS squad vanished silently.
Ryu Ga-eul herself... using her Clone Technique. Damn cheater.
Only options: retreat now or attack her. Latter was suicide, so retreat it was.
"You the intruders?"
"...You."
"I'm Park Hyunwoo, disciple of the Sword Saint. Got some questions. Answer fully, please."
"Shoot, you little dick."
"Got it. Understood."
The Sword Saint's disciple charged with killing intent. Against two players higher level than him.