Family
I never thought the day would come when four people would gather in my tiny studio apartment.
Especially not three insanely beautiful women with perfect bodies.
In a situation like this, there was only one thing to do.
Obviously, throw a drinking party!
I ordered chicken and pizza. The fridge was already stocked with alcohol.
But at my suggestion, the women all blushed and started clearing their throats.
“Ahem……”
“Hmm, hmm……”
“……Ehem.”
“……?”
I tilted my head and pulled some beers from the fridge.
I wanted to ease the awkward atmosphere before the delivery arrived.
They really are uncomfortable.
Alcohol is the best medicine for times like this.
An Juyeon must still have plenty of resentment toward Jin Suhee, so we could drink and loosen up a little.
Yep. A perfect plan.
“Alright, everyone okay with beer?”
“Yes.”
They all nodded like proper adults and accepted the cold cans.
We clinked them lightly in a toast and each took a sip.
“……”
……Yet everyone just kept glancing around nervously. No one spoke.
This is suffocating.
If Juhyeon were here, she would have livened up the mood in seconds.
What would the most outgoing person I know do?
Recalling that guy, I opened my mouth.
“Then how about a game? Juyeon’s favorite~ random~ game~.”
“Out of nowhere?”
“A game?”
“……Random game? What’s that?”
It was a disaster.
Looked like being sociable was hopeless in this life too.
“Rather than that.”
Gulp, gulp— Slam!
An Juyeon emptied a 500ml can right in front of us, then shot a sharp look at Jin Suhee.
“You.”
“Y-yes!”
“Call me sunbae from now on. Understood?”
“Yes! Sunbae-nim!”
An Juyeon suddenly began enforcing hierarchy.
“And you.”
“Yes…!”
Next was Kim Yujin.
“If you’re going to be a slave, do it properly. If not, leave right now.”
“Ah……”
“We have an S-class now, so there’s no need to keep a reluctant D-class around. Right, Master?”
“Huh? Uh, yeah.”
…But I need those breasts.
If you’re leaving, can you at least leave the chest behind?
“Ungh…!”
Kim Yujin glanced at me, squeezed her eyes shut, and chugged the beer.
Gulp, gulp— Just like An Juyeon, she drained the entire 500ml can in one go, slammed it down, and shouted.
“Puhaaa—! I-I’ll do it! Properly!”
Had she truly had no men around her at all?
Watching Kim Yujin volunteer to become a slave just to have me made my lower body stiffen instantly.
“Then call her sunbae as well.”
“Yesss! Sunbae-nim!”
“Good.”
An Juyeon nodded in satisfaction and turned to Jin Suhee. She gave her a meaningful look.
Drink.
Gulp, gulp— Slam!
“Puhaat!”
All three women emptied their beers in one shot.
The mood seemed to demand I do the same, so I matched them. Applause erupted.
“Wow—!”
It was my first applause since elementary school. I felt embarrassed.
“So tell meee— what on earth did you eat to grow them so big—?”
An Juyeon, eyes completely glazed, kneaded Kim Yujin’s breasts while asking the question.
This woman turned into a total mess when drunk.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorryyy—.”
Drunk Kim Yujin could only apologize nonstop.
“Hic… huuuu…….”
Jin Suhee kept crying.
The three women’s drunken behaviors were truly a colorful spectacle.
What a shitshow….
Just one bottle of soju and three or four cans of beer had them all like this.
“Masterrr— what is this necklace forrr—?”
“……Can you please not ask? It’s embarrassing.”
“Hmm, I thought maybe you’d picked up a new hobby—.”
“……”
Losing interest at my flat reaction, An Juyeon suddenly whipped around to Jin Suhee beside her.
“What gives you the right to cry, huh—!”
Clang—!
A stray spark flew at the quietly weeping Jin Suhee.
An empty can bounced off her head.
Of course her red hair took no damage whatsoever.
It was like being hit by a piece of tissue.
“I’m sorry, hic… huwaaang…!”
“You killed my parents! What makes you think you can cry—!”
“Huaang! I’m sorryyy!”
When An Juyeon shot to her feet, the terrified Jin Suhee fled into my arms.
“Eek! That’s my spot! My place!”
“Huaang, Master, I’m scared!”
“Get out, get out—!”
I yanked at her black turtleneck, but only the fabric stretched.
To a non-Awakened person, an S-class body might as well be a mountain.
Riiip—!
In the end, the clothes tore first.
Pale white skin and provocative red lingerie were revealed.
An Juyeon, pulled backward, crashed to the floor with a loud thud.
“[Healing Touch]!”
A startled Kim Yujin activated her skill, and An Juyeon staggered back to her feet.
“Shii… Did you hit me? You just hit me, didn’t you?”
“No, you fell on your own……”
“Master, why do you always take that bitch’s side!”
“……By the way.”
Jin Suhee, who had been sobbing into my chest, suddenly stopped crying and looked up.
“Sunbae-nim’s little sister killed my little sister too.”
“……What?”
“Actually, your sister killed mine first.”
“……!”
Jin Suhee’s counterattack turned the WWE ring into an octagon.
We were screwed…!
“Stop! Both of you, stop!”
Referee Jung Seonghyeok steps in.
“Warning for both. Knock it off.”
“……”
“……”
“Yes, please stop, both of you.”
Even Kim Yujin joined the mediation. Fortunately An Juyeon sat back down.
“……What are you going to do about it?”
“Hm?”
“The debt.”
An Juyeon’s question came with a slightly clearer voice. I shrugged.
“Oh, that. With Suhee here, it should be taken care of pretty quickly, right?”
“The debt?”
Both number two and number three asked at the same time.
“Ah, Juyeon’s debt. It’s 550 million won.”
“Hic, sunbae, you had debts too?”
“F-five hundred million……”
“Ahem….”
“Since the 500 million is basically my fault… it’s pretty much my debt too.”
“I can handle that for you.”
With those words, Jin Suhee stood up abruptly.
She waved her hand through empty air, and magic stones and equipment poured out.
They were clearly high-grade items at a glance.
“……Whoa.”
“Converted to cash, they should be worth around fifty billion.”
“F-fifty billion?”
A hundred times the original debt.
An Juyeon suddenly stood and strode over to Jin Suhee.
She thrust her palm upward in front of her.
Was she going to slap her?
Was a classic morning-drama scene about to unfold?
“Little sister.”
“…Yes?”
“Call me unnie.”
“……U-unnie?”
An Juyeon patted Jin Suhee’s shoulder and nodded.
With a brilliantly bright smile.
“Master, it looks like we can move houses now.”
“……”
Crazy woman.
Money-obsessed lunatic.
It was An Juyeon.
In the end, we couldn’t move.
Because we couldn’t convert Jin Suhee’s items into cash.
None of the four of us could prove where they came from.
E-class Jung Seonghyeok, non-Awakened An Juyeon, D-class Kim Yujin, and S-class wanted criminal Jin Suhee.
Not one of us could take these to the exchange and sell them.
Instead, one thing could be resolved right away.
…
“Juyeon!”
Jung Jinwoo spotted An Juyeon sitting in the Soul Guild café and rushed over with a bright expression.
His well-tailored suit drew every woman’s gaze in the café.
“…Oppa.”
“Juyeon, have you been well?”
“……How about you?”
“I haven’t been doing well. Haha.”
The dark circles under his eyes revealed how much he had suffered.
An Juyeon could only offer a bitter smile.
“……I see. Have you been eating properly?”
“Fortunately the guild meals are good.”
“That’s a relief….”
The two stared at each other in silence for a while.
Various emotions flickered in their eyes.
But there was no lingering attachment.
An Juyeon felt relieved seeing that he was moving on.
He won’t be hurt because of me anymore.
“I came to give you this.”
She slid the large silver travel case beside her toward him.
It was something she had taken when she left home.
“……You didn’t have to return it.”
“No, look inside.”
Jung Jinwoo unzipped the case and his eyes widened.
Several items that were clearly valuable filled the interior.
“Th-this… What are these? How did you manage to get them, Juyeon…….”
“The man I told you about gave them to me. To pay the debt.”
“……”
Jung Jinwoo’s face hardened at those words.
He remembered An Juyeon confessing her sins while stroking her belly in that room.
“I don’t know the details, but he said they’re worth about a billion.”
“A billion? Who exactly is this person?”
“You don’t need to know, oppa.”
“…I suppose not.”
When he touched the items, notification windows confirmed they were all B-class.
They were easily worth more than a billion.
“The billed amount was 550 million. The math seems off?”
“Ah, he added them personally. As thanks for saving him.”
“…Saved him?”
“That’s what he said. I don’t know the full story.”
Jung Jinwoo’s eyebrow twitched.
Perhaps one of the people he had rescued during a dungeon break.
If so, it was a cruel twist of fate.
To lose the woman he loved to someone he had once saved.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“J-Juyeon, wait.”
He grabbed her as she stood, then realized.
He no longer had any excuse to hold on to her.
“Um… At least finish your coffee. It would be a waste otherwise.”
He had to use even this pathetic excuse to buy a little more time.
But.
“…I already finished it.”
She had seen through his weak pretext and gently pushed him away.
“Make sure to eat well.”
“…You too.”
After those final words, An Juyeon turned away first.
Click, clack—
He had the strong, sad feeling he would never hear those high heels again.
“Jinwoo. So this is where you were.”
Even when his party member called him, Jung Jinwoo didn’t turn around.
“…Jinwoo?”
He simply stayed there.
Staring straight ahead.
“Jinwoo, are you crying?”
“……Just today.”
Just for today, he wanted to burn the sight of An Juyeon’s retreating figure into his memory as long as possible.
“Just for today, please pretend you didn’t notice.”
I entered the Tower with Jin Suhee and Kim Yujin.
“You two wait here. I’ll be done soon.”
With those words, Jin Suhee activated her skill.
"Rose Thorn Wave"
⟨ Rose Thorn Wave ⟩
Whoosh—!
A dark crimson wave swept across the field.
About a minute later.
“What.”
Insane. She cleared the Tower in just one minute? This huge Tower?
So this was what S-class could do…?
5 Magic Stones
A-class Job Item Box
Ring of Oath
Ohhh!
The moment the tutorial ended, A-class rewards appeared.