Defection
"From here on, this is a no-fly and no-stealth zone. There's a village nearby protected by the White Tiger Sect. Cheonghwa, understood?"
"Yes. We'll land."
Again I owed Cheonghwa a favor. After crossing over to the Spirit World through the mansion corridor and taking to the sky, the White Tiger Sect came into view before long.
"Kyaa, I knew it—the Spirit World with all the backflipping is the best!"
"You don't study properly anyway."
"I'm not some grumpy Baek Seol-hwi, so I'd score at least an A0 even with a lightning strike!"
"..."
Hmm, Seol-hwi and Yu Ryun are getting along fine today.
The Spirit World, which I hadn't visited in months, was shifting into a deep emerald green.
The sunlight blazing beyond the Divine Sandalwood Tree was growing hotter by the minute, and once the bell rang for the end of training, it probably wouldn't be easy to go wandering outside.
"Yu Ryun. Leave Seol-hwi alone for now. Seol-hwi, you're in charge of guiding us. Behave."
"B-But... she called me grumpy first..."
"What did you say? You were the one who started it by saying she doesn't study!"
"Hmph!"
"What's with you? I'm the one being grumpy!"
"..."
They're really friendly today.
"Yu Ryun. Apparently I need to shove a fire down your throat before you'll shut up."
"Tch, you gonna set fire to Jujak with a flame? Unbelievable..."
"Don't think you can cover up a fight with jokes like that."
"Cover what? Seol-hwi, you're always so uptight it's a problem. If you keep making wrinkles, Hwan-hyeon might not want to look at you."
"Don't go around messing with people's bodies. Do you even realize that every day you walk around in obscene outfits enjoying sexual harassment of other students' gazes?"
"Sexual harassment? What the hell, is there some laser dick shooting out of my eyes? And I've told you a million times I dress like this because it's hot!"
They were escalating.
They bickered often, but it was rare for things to heat up this much.
"Everything you do and say is nothing but chicken-brained nonsense."
"Chicken?! That's not chicken! I'm Jujak! JUJAK!!"
"Alright, if you're Jujak, go ahead and shove a fire down my throat then."
"You wanna try?"
"Give it a shot."
"Just wait. I'll burn your hair off first!"
"Stop! Both of you, stop!"
Even Jinyul stepped in, the first time she'd ever intervened like this.
"You two look so pathetic it hurts. Don't you find it embarrassing showing Hwan-hyeon this kind of scene every day?"
"Screw you..."
"..."
"Yu Ryun, why do you keep bullying Seol-hwi? If you call her grumpy several times a day, imagine how bad she feels."
"..."
"Seol-hwi, you're the same. No matter how much Yu Ryun walks around with her owner-only free pussy on display, no bra, panties wedged into her pussy slit, calling her a pervert—there are things you shouldn't say."
"...What?"
Was she mediating just now...?
"Oh my, who would've thought that shy little girl would be so lively. No wonder she's glad she was sent to Hwan-hyeon."
"...Vice-head, that's not what's important right now."
Next to me, Harin and Yeoryeongi were watching Jinyul and chatting.
As Yeoryeongi said, no matter how I looked at it, Jinyul was just roasting both of them.
"Ah, well. Kids do grow up by bickering like that."
"You don't find the girl's language habits concerning at all?"
"If it were the old days, I'd have scolded such filthy talk sharply. But... who knows? As she grows and learns about men, she might change like this."
And so it was. Ever since meeting me and after that shy confession, Harin had completely transformed into someone proactive.
"That's a twisted way of thinking. I can see the qualities of a bad parent in the vice-head."
"I only see Hwan-hyeon's dick."
Harin-ah... what exactly is that supposed to mean...?
"Ugh, it's spicy. Is this what a married woman's farmer's market taste is like?"
"I have never been married, Saintess. My heart belongs only to Hwan-hyeon, so please don't say such things."
That's how it went.
Harin now seemed to have completely forgotten her past married life.
She came to me every day as if this were the happiest time of her life, and would see me off to morning exercise all the way to the door.
Like a newlywed couple.
"I also had times like that with Hwan-hyeon... They were nice."
"Huh? Did we ever do that?"
"...No. I just thought about it for a moment. If everyone here were gone and it was just me and Hwan-hyeon, what would've happened."
"..."
"I'm not saying I dislike now, but... if, really if... Hwan-hyeon the ordinary hunter and I had just the two of us and built a life together..."
"That's way too extreme. How would I have even met the Saintess if I were just an ordinary low-ranked hunter?"
"..."
Ilena just smiled at me.
"You're right. It's a meaningless thought now anyway."
"It's not 'now,' it was always a wrong thought from the start."
"Heh heh... maybe. You never know. If chance upon chance aligns, anything's possible."
In the end, it was all empty talk. Just hearing about everyone leaving or me being an ordinary hunter made my skin crawl.
"Fuck, I'm not leaving."
"Don't come. The White Tiger Sect doesn't accept women as reckless as you."
In front, the argument had escalated and Yu Ryun finally broke away from the group.
"Huh? Yu Ryun, where are you going?"
"Don't follow me. Tch, annoying!"
Yu Ryun strode off to the side of the path we'd been walking.
"Seol-hwi, you should've held back too."
"Huh? How was I supposed to hold back? This isn't just a fight between me and Yu Ryun. It's a battle of divine beasts vs divine beasts, and if you go further, sect vs sect pride is on the line!"
Seol-hwi marched ahead, furious.
The sudden hostile atmosphere made the rest of the group tense.
"(Master, should I go look for Yu Ryun?)"
That's when Cheonghwa quietly asked me.
"(She's losing badly and I'm worried... Would it be okay if I sided with one of them and comforted her?)"
"(Today seems different from usual. Yu Ryun's reaction is unusual, so it might be better to do something, but...)"
"(What should I do?)"
"(I'll go bring her back. Master, please follow Seol-hwi to the White Tiger Sect first...)"
Cheonghwa was going to go get Yu Ryun?
"No. I'll go. I'd be better at comforting her than you."
That was better. It might have been an overstep, but Cheonghwa and I were clearly closer to Yu Ryun than she was.
If I was going to do it, I'd handle the comforting myself.
—Swoosh!
"Oh? Hwan-hyeon?"
"(Shh! I'll go grab Yu Ryun quick.)"
I was trying to slip away without Seol-hwi noticing, so I couldn't make any noise. If people suddenly disappeared, it'd be a hassle, so I figured I'd go alone.
How would I find Yu Ryun?
Sense.
Skill Sense (?) activated.
Searching for linked fire energy .
I'd learned how to use it after the time Yu Ryun went missing last time.
I didn't expect the same thing to happen twice, but I'd picked it up just in case, and here it was being put to use.
"That way... Let's go!"
I started running in the direction where I could feel the fire energy, without thinking.
Thanks to consistent exercise, my stamina had improved a lot, and I could sprint without stopping.
I'd also started applying the method of amplifying speed using energy—our instructor had called it body tempering or movement technique.
—Thump thump thump thump!!!
Yu Ryun was further away than I expected.
But I couldn't feel any other people nearby, so I was able to find her quickly.
"Huff... huff... Yu Ryun!"
"...Why'd you come."
"To bring you back. Everyone's waiting for you."
"I told you not to come."
She really seemed pissed off.
"You don't wanna talk to me?"
"...Yeah."
"Really?"
"......No."
"Wanna wait for you?"
"...Yeah."
I waited.
I looked up at the moon that had risen in the sky.
I gazed at the small stars beside it.
"Hey."
Not long after, Yu Ryun finally spoke.
"Oh! You're gonna talk now?"
"...I changed my mind about talking again."
"Why?! Did I cut you off? Sorry! I won't do it again!"
"Alright."
Yu Ryun opened her mouth again.
"Hey, Hwan-hyeon. Do you think the same way?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"What Seol-hwi said earlier."
"I didn't actually hear your fight properly. What did she say?"
Yu Ryun couldn't continue and hesitated.
Her small mouth trembled as if about to say something, but then all the strength drained out of her.
"That... I'm a human weapon, and you're... a human toilet..."
"...Did she really say that?"
Seol-hwi's sex joke was on point. How does she come up with stuff like that?
"And on top of that, you always say all kinds of nasty things about me. Today too—you called me an exhibitionist who gets excited by other people's gazes..."
"That was pretty harsh."
"Right? You don't think that way about me, do you?"
Yu Ryun's face flushed as she pressed close to me. Like Harin had earlier, she crossed her arms and rested her head on my shoulder.
"Hwan-hyeon, I'm scared."
"Why?"
"Even though I know it's not true... every time I hear those awful words... I keep worrying that maybe you think of me that way too..."
"It's okay. That won't happen."
"...Really?"
"I promise."
"Prove it."
"Prove it?"
I kept trying to reassure her, but Yu Ryun still seemed unsatisfied.
"Let's do it here. There's no one watching."
"...So suddenly?"
Why does everything always end up in sex?
"What are you waiting for? Take your clothes off. I wasn't going to comfort you with words."
"...That's true."
I couldn't really make sense of the situation.
Just a moment ago she was a pitiful little girl, and now she was stripping off her clothes saying let's do it—this flow was beyond me.
"I'm not good at talking. So..."
"Just show me with your baby fluid."
Was this all just foreplay setup?
...No. The tears on her profile had definitely been real.
As I thought that, before I knew it we were both naked.
"Ugh!"
I was pushed over by Yu Ryun. Climbing on top of me, she went to insert my dick right away.
"Hey, Hwan-hyeon."
"..."
"Should I put it in?"
And just as my dick was about to slide in, guided by Yu Ryun.
—KWA-AANG!!!
"KYAAAGH?!"
Suddenly dust exploded in front of us. Something had flown through the air.