Chapter 32, Here to Buy Some Tangerines.
Chapter 32, Here to Buy Some Tangerines.
Semen was smeared on the corner of her mouth, glistening.
I pulled out a few tissues from the box on the table and handed them to Lee Ye-na.
"Here. Wipe your mouth."
"Ah, thank you."
Lee Ye-na took the tissues and meticulously wiped around her mouth.
Her face was flushed red.
She must be embarrassed.
Now that I looked closer, her eyes seemed a bit glazed over too.
Haa, now what the hell am I supposed to do with this.
Ding-dong.
Just then, the bell rang—Room Service must've arrived.
"Leave it in front of the door."
- Yes, got it. Have a wonderful time.
I confirmed the employee's footsteps fading away, then got up from my seat.
I opened the front door and brought in the tray.
It was two sets of handmade burger meals ordered from the hotel Room Service.
Freshly made, the fries gave off a savory aroma.
I set the tray down on the table and looked at Lee Ye-na.
"You haven't had dinner, right? Eat up before you go."
"Huh? Oh, no. Room Service is expensive... I can't just freeload..."
"I ordered extra when I placed the order. It'll go to waste otherwise, so just eat it."
At my words, Lee Ye-na nodded.
Then she cautiously pulled out a chair and sat down.
I unwrapped my burger and took a big bite.
Juicy meat juices flowed from the thick patty.
As expected from an expensive hotel—the burger tasted pretty damn good.
Way more upscale than Lotteria or McDonald's.
"I'll dig in."
Lee Ye-na picked up her burger and started eating too.
Her small mouth chomping away cutely was pretty adorable.
The same mouth that had been sucking my dick just moments ago, now munching on a burger.
Watching that felt kinda weird—in a good way.
For a while, we focused solely on eating our burgers without a word.
Once my stomach was sufficiently filled, I took a sip of cola.
Then I looked at Lee Ye-na and spoke up.
"I've got a question."
"Yes? What is it?"
"No matter how great Seoul is, why go to such lengths—even using your body—to get back there? You were an A-class Hunter before, right? Wouldn't it be better to just go back to being an A-class Hunter?"
At my question, Lee Ye-na set her burger down on the plate.
Her expression darkened in an instant.
Silence filled the room for a moment.
Lee Ye-na fiddled with her cola can with her fingers.
"To be honest... being a civil servant was my lifelong dream."
"...Really?"
"I quit hunting, took the civil servant exam... but after that, I ended up with some debt."
"Debt? As a former A-class Hunter, didn't you have a ton of money?"
"Well, circumstances... I used up the savings I'd set aside while prepping for the civil servant exam after quitting hunting. And the rest got wiped out by a scam."
When I asked what kind of scam...
It was Jeonse Fraud.
She'd been scammed out of a whopping 350 million won in jeonse deposit.
Surprisingly, even as a victim of jeonse fraud, she still had to repay the jeonse loan.
And she had to pay it off over 20 years.
"With a civil servant's salary, I couldn't handle the interest and principal. So even though I'm a civil servant, I secretly started hunting again on the side."
"That's a violation of the side-job ban."
"Exactly. Of course I couldn't do it under my own name, so I used items. Items that change your appearance, and I borrowed someone else's identity to operate."
"But you got caught, huh?"
"Yeah. It was a third-party report, but I still don't know who did it."
Lee Ye-na gave a bitter smile.
Because of that, she got sent to a disciplinary committee and ended up demoted to this place on Jeju Island.
Her glamorous past as an A-class Hunter now felt meaningless—she was just a civil servant struggling to pay off debt.
Lee Ye-na sighed as she spoke.
"I'm reflecting on it too. Once I became a civil servant, I should've followed civil servant laws, but I was foolish."
"Good thing you're reflecting on it."
"But back then, it was just too hard. I needed money right away, but my salary was nowhere near enough."
I could agree with that.
If our salaries weren't a measly 200k after taxes, I probably wouldn't even think about side gigs.
"And life here is just too tough. You know that too, right, Gyeong-ho-ssi? They don't even deliver properly here."
"No convenience stores either."
"Exactly. Even going to one takes 20 minutes by car. Back in Seoul, that's unthinkable."
It really could feel like hell for a Seoulite.
But that didn't justify selling her body.
"Still, going the sexual favors route seems a bit off, don't you think?"
"Well... Gyeong-ho-ssi is at that age..."
"What, it wasn't like I hated it. When a woman offers first, no guy's gonna say no."
It was true—I got excited because Lee Ye-na's hot.
"I didn't plan on it at first either."
"But why did you?"
"The moment I saw you, Gyeong-ho-ssi, I figured it out."
Lee Ye-na looked down as she continued.
"Objectively speaking, Gyeong-ho-ssi, you're handsome."
"Ahem..."
"And you're capable too."
"The Dragon's Tomb producing gig was basically foisted on me."
"Even so, if things progress with a superior like you, maybe I'd get a chance to go back to Seoul."
"..."
So that's the hidden ambition.
I had no idea.
"And once I actually did it, it wasn't half bad..."
"W-what do you mean?"
"Fellatio. Teasing a guy's dick with your mouth and getting him all riled up... it's got this sense of conquest, and it felt pretty good."
With that, Lee Ye-na's face turned beet red.
I let out an involuntary cough.
"Ahem."
This woman was bolder than I thought.
Or maybe as a former hunter, she's got that competitive streak.
Feeling conquest from turning a guy on—unique taste.
"Still, no doing that to other guys from now on. Got it?"
"Yes, I won't anymore."
Lee Ye-na flashed a bright, innocent smile.
Hard to believe this was the same woman talking about sexual favors moments ago—pure as can be.
"For all you know, I used to be a Confucian Girl."
"Pfft, someone like that suggesting it first to a guy?"
"It's true. Search it online if you don't believe me."
"Fine, whatever—just eat your burger before it gets cold."
"I only did it because you're Gyeong-ho-ssi. If it was some other guy, no way. You gotta believe me?"
Lee Ye-na picked up her remaining burger again.
Confucian Girl, huh.
After sucking my dick so deliciously today, and calling herself a Confucian Girl? Doesn't add up.
But...
A quick YouTube search, and yeah—her nickname really was Confucian Girl.
Ironclad against guys, they said.
The next morning dawned.
I had Lee Ye-na in the passenger seat of the rental car, cruising along the coastal road.
That night, she fell asleep on the sofa.
I crashed refreshingly on the plush bed.
Out the window, Jeju Island's blue sea sparkled.
Nice weather made the water glitter.
But Lee Ye-na's expression beside me wasn't all that bright.
Her face was full of regret.
"Drop me off here, right?"
I pulled up in front of the Dragon's Tomb dungeon management office building.
Since she commutes here, this should do.
"Yes. Thanks for the ride."
Lee Ye-na unbuckled her seatbelt but hesitated to get out.
Looked like she had something to say.
No way she's suggesting we meet every day until the end of the trip?
"Ye-na-ssi, next time we meet, it'll be at Headquarters."
"Headquarters?"
"Yeah, Headquarters. Not Jeju—Seoul. And we'll talk properly then."
"T-that's too much..."
Lee Ye-na bit her lip.
An invitation to Seoul.
She seemed to take it as me promising to somehow get her transferred back.
Truth is, I don't have any personnel authority, so no real power.
But I could ask Team Leader-nim to pull some strings—say there's a good employee here who needs help.
After what went down, they'd have to, right?
"G-Gyeong-ho-ssi..."
"Yeah?"
"Thanks. I'll work my ass off on the job you trusted me with."
"That'd be great. That's how I can bring you to Seoul too, Ye-na-ssi."
Lee Ye-na bowed her head deeply in thanks.
I waved and shifted into drive.
"Alright, now let's really have some fun~"
The business trip was 3 nights, 4 days.
But my work wrapped up yesterday.
The remaining two days were pure free time.
Can't use the corporate card, but no one's stopping me from blowing my own cash.
I floored the accelerator and took off.
Destination already set.
"Oh, right—sis."
Only just remembered.
Forgot to call when I got to Jeju yesterday.
Sis must've been waiting—big trouble.
I pulled out my phone and dialed her.
It hadn't even rung once before—click—the call connected.
- Hey! Lee Gyeong-ho!
My older sister's booming voice exploded through the phone.
Felt like my eardrum was gonna burst.
Was our sis super pissed?
Kinda sorry.
"Uh, sis."
- Why didn't you call yesterday? Do you know how long I waited!
"Sorry, sorry. As soon as I got here yesterday, shit hit the fan and I was swamped. Passed out right when I hit the hotel—I was beat."
- ...For real? You didn't go drinking and partying?
"No way. Who'm I gonna drink with here? Came alone."
- Hmmm... okay. You ate, right? Don't skip meals?
"Yeah, stuffed myself at the hotel breakfast buffet till I was bursting."
My older sister bought it.
She dotes on her little bro like crazy, after all.
- Good boy. Don't skip meals, drive safe. Got it?
"Got it already. Hanging up—I'm driving."
- Okay. Bring back something yummy when you come!
"I'll bring tangerines."
- I can buy those here too.
"Not those kinda tangerines."
I was literally on my way to buy those right now.
Click.
Call ended.
I punched the destination into the nav.
[Jeju Tangerine Field Dungeon]
The name alone was hilariously country.
Among Jeju's countless dungeons, this one's famous for being uniquely weird.
Rank: D-Class.
But it wasn't the monsters that made it famous.
After about 30 minutes of driving, I arrived at a quiet village in Seogwipo.
But "quiet" was the opposite of reality.
The area around the dungeon entrance looked like a bustling rural market day.
[Come on, pick one! Freshly caught tangerines today!]
[Perfect mana stone shells removed! Just the juicy bits!]
[King of Hallabong direct lineage! Sweetness guaranteed!]
Tents lined the open lot in front of the dungeon gate.
A total marketplace.
Fresh-out-of-the-dungeon hunters loaded carts with loot, and merchants auctioned on the spot or prepped and sold right there.
Shouts and haggling mixed into a lively cacophony.
I parked and headed toward the market.
The tangy tangerine scent permeated the whole place.
"Come on in~ Handsome, here for tangerines?"
An auntie at an entrance stall grabbed me.
D-class Hunter license around her neck, apron on—veteran merchant through and through.
"Ah, yeah. Looking for some as gifts."
"You came to the right place. Ours are the best. Look at these—the color alone's different, right?"
The basket she pointed to was piled high with fist-sized tangerines.
On another level from regular ones.
Orange peels with a subtle blue glow.
Byproducts from hunting dungeon monsters called 'Mandarins'—Mana Tangerines.
This was why the dungeon was famous.
"These the famous dungeon tangerines?"
"You bet. One bite and your fatigue vanishes. In Seoul department stores, these go for over 10k each."
"Pricey."
"Worth every penny. But you look like a good kid, so special discount—one box for 100k."
I picked one up to inspect.
Heavy and firm—packed full.
Good mana sensitivity too.
But this wasn't my goal.
"Got any Hallabong? Not just regular—boss-grade."
At my words, the auntie's eyes sharpened.
She glanced around, then lowered her voice.
"You've got an eye. Don't show boss-grade to just anyone."
"The giftee's picky. Want the absolute best."
"Follow me."
The auntie pulled out a hidden icebox under her stall.
She popped the lid—chill air and dazzling golden light burst out.
Inside: a massive Hallabong the size of an adult's head.
Majestic, with a crown-like stem.
The boss of this dungeon.
Top-tier drop only from the King of Hallabong.
"Whoa..."
I couldn't help but gasp.
Just the scent cleared my head.
"Caught this one this dawn. Was gonna send to auction, but saved it 'cause I couldn't bear to. You're lucky, kid."
"How much?"
"Priceless, really. Fetches over a million in Seoul, but direct here—500k flat."
500k.
Insane for regular fruit, but hunter market prices? A steal.
Basically a high-concentration mana stone chunk.
Plus guaranteed taste—no regrets.
"I'll take it. Pack it sturdy in a box, please."
"Ayy, love a decisive guy! Throwing in some tangerines too."
I pulled out my card.
Good thing this was a legit registered business—cards accepted.
The auntie excitedly wrapped the Hallabong in fancy gold cloth, packed a styrofoam box full of tangerines.
"Here ya go. Added handles for easy carry."
"Thanks. Sell a ton."
Hands full with the hefty boxes, I exited the market.
Passersby whispered at the gold cloth in my hands.
Loaded it in the trunk and hopped in the driver's seat.
The tangy scent filling the car lifted my mood.
"But damn, this looks like a bribe."
A bribe for our sis.
Hand this over, and the dinner table's gonna be overflowing for a while, right?