Of Course the Gate Outbreak Has to Strike Mid-Date
Lime reached into Sera's mind, tweaked her memories, and rewrote them like flipping through the pages of a book.
After that, she strolled out of the restroom as if nothing had ever happened. Sera — the same Sera who had been sucking me off not five minutes ago — was sent back to her café duties, and Sia was settled back into her original seat beside me.
Then Lime slipped quietly out of Sia's body and burrowed back into my arms.
"……Ah."
The vacant haze in Sia's eyes began to recede, and the light came flooding back in.
"Sia, are you okay?"
"Y-yes?"
"You've been staring off into space ever since you came back from the restroom… You're all right, aren't you?"
"Huh…? Was I? I was spacing out again?"
Again?
I'm selling this pretty well, aren't I?
I asked her with the most unconcerned face I could manage, layered over with just enough worry.
"Ah… it's just, lately I keep catching myself zoning out like this… I even went to the hospital, but they said nothing was wrong — that I was actually perfectly healthy."
…I'm sorry, Sia. That's my fault.
Watching her worry so earnestly over her own condition, pouring out her troubles to me, a dull ache of guilt settled into a corner of my heart.
But I wasn't nearly good enough a man to give up this happiness because of it. I was just an ordinary guy — far too ordinary to throw away a chance to bed beauties like Sia or Hari, even if it landed in my lap like this…
…Fine. Then I'd harden my heart instead.
As long as I had no intention of giving up this life with Lime, clinging to some halfhearted guilt would only end up deceiving them even more. So instead — I'd enjoy them, as long as it never interfered with their everyday lives…!
Having made that firm resolution in my heart, I did my best to soothe the visibly worried Sia.
"Well then, why don't we step outside? We could use a change of air."
"Oh, yes — sure, let's do that."
We'd already polished off our drinks and desserts, so I was gathering our things to head out and get some fresh air when—
That was the moment.
"A GATE OUTBREAK!!!!"
A voice screaming from somewhere outside. And with it, the emergency disaster alerts on every single phone inside the café began shrieking at once.
It's fine. It won't be near our neighborhood this time… — I couldn't just wave it off like that.
"…Fuck."
Because the gate had ruptured in the very district where Sia and I were standing.
"S-Seojun…"
Sia, too, had checked her phone, and she called my name in a voice trembling with shock and fear.
And then—
CRASH!!!!!
An explosive shattering of glass, somewhere behind us.
"Grrrrh…"
"H-hiek…! It's a Kobold!!!"
The moment a monster came smashing through the café's glass front, the pleasant little café that had been humming with soft music just seconds ago—
"R-run!"
—descended into pandemonium in an instant, drowning in screams and the thunder of fleeing footsteps.
And we were no exception.
"Sia! Run!"
"Y-yes!!"
I grabbed Sia's hand and bolted straight out of the café.
A monster crashing in the second the alert went off meant the outbreak had happened practically on top of us. This wasn't some remote stretch of countryside — a gate spawning in a downtown district like this would absolutely have a hunter guild assigned to manage and conquer it. Most likely, one of the monsters that slipped through had wandered this way.
Toward the hunters — where the hunters would be…!
Gripping Sia's hand tight, I ran with the fleeing crowds, in the direction everyone else was scrambling.
But then, for some reason—
"S-Seojun, that monster's chasing us!"
"What?!"
The Kobold that had burst through the café had apparently decided we were its prey, because it was coming after me and Sia and no one else.
Right — Kobolds have a tendency to relentlessly pursue prey once they've marked it…!
I remembered reading that in a monster encyclopedia that had once made it to the trending posts on the Hunter Gallery, back when I used to lurk there. Kobolds spawn in D-Rank gates and above, basic ones… and the higher variants, the ones with armor and swords, appear from B-Rank gates onward…
And the Kobold chasing us right now—
"GRARRAGH!!!"
—was fully armored, wielding a blade so wickedly sharp that even from a distance it looked capable of cleaving a man in two with a single stroke, and it was running.
W-we are so, so fucked…!!!
The armored Kobold high-tier — the kind that only spawned in B-Rank gates and up — was far faster than me and Sia despite hauling that massive sword around. And the gap between us kept shrinking, and shrinking.
Until finally—
"GRARRAGH!!!!!"
The Kobold, having run us all the way down, heaved its sword high above its head to cleave Sia in two.
"KYAAAAAH!!!"
Sia screamed, paralyzed with terror, as the Kobold began its swing.
…Let me say it again — I am not a good person.
Cowardly, with no particular talents to speak of… a genuine trash-tier loser who, now that an opportunity called Lime had dropped into his lap, was fucking every woman he could get his hands on.
And yet—
Whoosh—
My body moved on its own. I yanked Sia's hand hard, and in one motion we swapped positions — she was behind me now, and I was standing where she'd been.
Which meant the Kobold's sword, aimed at Sia—
Shuuuuunk—!
—was now, as it happened, aimed directly at me.
So… I'm going to die, huh?
They say time slows down when death is staring you in the face. Turns out it's true.
Is this why luck like Lime ended up in my hands? Some cosmic courtesy — go out with one last regret-free fuck before you die…
Thanks to that, I had no regrets. But I did have one lingering disappointment.
I wanted to sleep with even more pretty women… That was it. That was the whole thing.
And now that I thought about it — Lime. My little slime, here in my arms. If this kept up, she'd get hurt too.
My worry for her and my regrets tangled together, and then—
SLAM!
The Kobold's sword struck me dead-on. A direct hit from a B-Rank monster's attack on my ordinary, unremarkable body — I should have been cleaved neatly in half—
"Urgh?!"
—but I wasn't. Instead of being bisected, I just felt a faint sting, flopped onto the ground like a wet rag, and… lay there.
I… survived? Why?
I'd clearly felt that sword connect with my head. But there was barely any pain at all. I'd simply fallen to the ground and that was it — I was completely fine.
"Grurk?!"
I wasn't the only one flustered. The Kobold stared back and forth between its own sword and me, visibly baffled.
But then—
"GRARRAGH!!"
When the attack failed to land, the Kobold got even angrier and swung its sword again.
N-now I'm actually going to die…!
"KYAAAH! Seojun!"
"AAAAH! SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!"
I was screaming for my life with all the dignity of a squashed frog, convinced no miracle like the last one was coming twice—
CLANG—!
"Whew… Thank goodness. Are you all right?"
"Grrrrgh…?!"
I… survived again…?
Some woman appeared in front of me in the blink of an eye and blocked the Kobold's sword — with her bare hand.
The Kobold, too, seemed startled to find its blade caught fast in her grip.
"GRAAAAGH!!!!"
Enraged at the woman who'd seized its weapon, the Kobold swung again.
But—
"Hah…!"
The woman holding it back shattered the incoming blade in her fist — and in the same motion, drove her own fist straight into the Kobold.
It looked like nothing more than an ordinary, unremarkable straight punch. But—
KWAAAKAKAKA!!!
A devastating shockwave erupted from the point of impact—
The Kobold that had been chasing Sia and me didn't even have time to scream before it was simply erased by the blast.
H-holy shit…
That's how much force that shockwave carried — the stretch of road where the Kobold had been standing was literally blown apart by the recoil.
Having done something this spectacular, the woman simply dusted off her hands as if it were nothing.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"N-no, sir — I mean, no, ma'am… Thanks to you."
She held out her hand as if to help me up from where I'd crumpled, and I took it and slowly rose to my feet.
Zap…!
…What was that? A little jolt from her hand?
The moment I grasped it, a crackling sensation prickled across my fingertips. I wondered if it was some side effect of that shockwave power she'd just used, and lightly shook my hand off.
More importantly — what rank of hunter was she to be this absurdly strong? I was still gaping blankly at her, a woman whose face alone could rival any celebrity's, when—
Murmurmur—
The crowd around us started to stir and grow louder.
"That's Hunter Cha Yura!"
"Oh my god! I'm a huge fan!!"
Cha Yura…? As in THE Cha Yura?
A top-tier model and influencer more famous than most A-list celebrities, and—
"An S-Rank hunter is here! Everyone's saved!"
—one of the precious few S-Rank hunters in all of Korea.
You have got to be kidding me… I'm meeting Cha Yura in the flesh? The woman I'd only ever seen on a screen?
It had never crossed my mind that a celebrity of that caliber would be the one saving my life, which was why I'd failed to place her even while staring right at her face.
"May I check you over for injuries? It looked like you took that Kobold's attack directly…"
"Oh — yes! Please, go right ahead."
Cha Yura ran her soft hands slowly over my body, checking me from head to toe.
Ah, wait… If this keeps up, she's going to find Lime…?
If an S-Rank hunter caught me carrying a monster, I'd be rotting in prison before she finished blinking. But then again, no man alive would be crazy enough to obstruct an S-Rank hunter after witnessing what I'd just witnessed.
So Cha Yura finished her slow, thorough examination of my body and—
"Phew… Thank goodness. It seems you really are uninjured."
"…Oh, th-thank you?"
She crossed her arms and let out a breath of relief, as if my being unharmed was what mattered to her most.
Lime… did she hide herself in time?
While thanking Cha Yura, I shifted subtly and cast around my senses — but I couldn't feel Lime anywhere.
Did she go into Sia's body?
I stole a glance back at Sia, and—
"Hik—! Seojun, are you okay…?"
Nope. Not there either. Sia was bawling her eyes out, as if terrified something had happened to me.
"Ah, yeah. Thanks to the hunter, I'm—"
WHUMP—
"You idiot! You could have DIED, why would you do that?!"
The moment I told her I was fine, Sia threw herself into my arms, scolding me for ever trying to shield her in the first place.
"Uh… I don't know, it just happened. Ahaha…"
"Hnn… but still… still, thank you. Truly, truly thank you. You saved my life, Seojun."
"It wasn't me, though? The hunter's the one who saved us—"
No-no-no—
Sia shook her head rapidly, refusing to hear it.
"If it weren't for you, I'd have died to that monster ages ago… You saved my life, Seojun. You're the reason I'm alive."
R-really?
Watching Sia cling to me so sweetly while thanking me… I forgot I'd nearly died seconds ago, and before I knew it, this idiotic grin had spread across my face.
Cha Yura, who had been watching the two of us, then—
"I sincerely apologize. This tragedy occurred at a gate under our guild's management."
The S-Rank hunter bowed at the waist in a deep, formal apology.
"N-no, no. You saved us, after all."
"Even so, the two of you nearly lost your lives because of our negligence…"
"Gate outbreaks can't be helped. They just happen."
Gate outbreaks were natural disasters — nothing could be done to prevent them. A catastrophe whose cause, mechanism, and reason remained entirely unknown even now. To minimize the damage, the guild assigned to conquer a gate was duty-bound to stand perpetual watch over it, like sentries.
"The outbreak happened in the brief window when I had stepped away… which is what allowed a monster to make it this far. Once again, I deeply apologize."
No matter how many times we told her it was fine, she kept apologizing, so in the end it was Sia and I who wound up talking her down.
Only after we insisted over and over did Cha Yura's expression finally soften with relief. Then—
"This is my personal contact information. If you feel any lingering pain or run into any trouble, please don't hesitate to reach out."
She held out her card — her personal contact information, mind you — to both Sia and me.
"Ah — and please, if you could… not show it to anyone, or share it…"
"I-I absolutely won't!"
"Hehe… I appreciate the discretion."
After handing us her card, Hunter Cha Yura excused herself to take charge of the other victims elsewhere in the area.
Truly, she was what every hunter ought to aspire to be.
THUD—
"Haaaaah…"
"S-Seojun, are you okay? You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"
The moment Cha Yura was gone, the reality of nearly dying a minute ago finally hit me, and the strength drained right out of my legs. Sia urged me to go to the hospital with her, and I told her I was fine — over and over.
"I suppose we should call it a day, then?"
As reluctant as I was, we were both exhausted, and after everything that had happened, the mood for continuing our date was long gone.
I bowed my head to Sia, told her I'd see her next time, and turned to leave—
"Um… since it's a shame to end it like this… next time, let's… g-go on another date."
Tugging gently at my sleeve, Sia said it, cheeks burning.
She had asked for it herself — a follow-up date — and my heart skipped a beat.
"Ah, yes, yes of course…"
"Get home safe, Seojun. And don't skip the hospital!"
"You too, Sia."
And so, parting ways with Sia, I began the slow walk home.
But… where on earth had Lime gone? It wasn't Sia — I'd checked. And she didn't seem to have slipped into Cha Yura either, despite the hunter having touched me.
Right up until we fled the café, she'd been sitting snugly in my arms…
"Don't tell me — you're inside my body, Lime?"
Half hoping, I muttered the question out loud to the empty air.
And the answer that came back to my little monologue was—
[Mmm…]
"GYAAAH?!"
She really was.