Episode 20: You called me... "Teacher," right?
Episode 20: You called me... "Teacher," right?
The team leader and the boss grabbed my pant legs at my declaration that I was quitting.
"Hey! You can't go! Absolutely not!"
"I'm sorry."
I even rejected the boss's offer to triple my salary.
If they could have done that, they should have done it sooner.
Even if they had, I would have quit anyway.
Because I found something more important than money.
"Thank you for everything until now."
Appraiser Kim Si-woo is dead now.
I hurriedly left the company without even a farewell party.
My belongings were just some miscellaneous photos and junk I'd brought, so I just grabbed a few photos and came back.
They'll figure out the rest on their own.
After submitting my resignation and returning home, Senior Jung Bong-sik came to visit.
"Hey, I heard you quit your job?"
"You already knew?"
"Of course. I was actually on my way to have you appraise something."
"I closed up shop."
"Boss, please give me one more chance."
He's the type of person who would stick to you like gum if you refuse him.
"What is it?"
"Nothing special, here."
Bong-sik held out a pocket watch that looked like a small bottle cap.
"Our tutor was gifted this pocket watch by a student, but they said something felt off about it."
"So that's why you came to get it appraised?"
"Of course. There's no one as skilled as you."
"You're not here to spy on my tutoring, are you?"
The smile vanished from Bong-sik's face at my words.
"While I'm at it."
"I think I told you last time. I won't be encroaching on your territory."
"I know. You're not the type to go back on your word. But, you know. We've both been stabbed in the back hard enough to know... there are no absolutes in this world."
As expected of this senior.
He's conscious of me.
Whether or not I'll steal his market.
I told him I do tutoring differently, but now that I've even quit my appraiser job, he must be getting anxious.
"If you can't trust me like this, it puts me in a difficult position, Senior."
"Understand me. If the academy's top graduate opens up shop against a commoner like me, I can't help it."
Senior Bong-sik laughed, acting thick-skinned.
His face was smiling, but it showed in his expression.
That he was anxious.
"If a student who looks like they'll be profitable comes along, I'll send them to you."
"Really?"
"Of course."
It's a kind of insurance.
Even if Daeseong has lost interest in me, if they find out I'm tutoring academy students, they'll definitely come to bother me.
But by putting Bong-sik out in front, I'm showing that the work is being led by Bong-sik, not me.
A merchant sensitive to money.
That was Daeseong's assessment of Senior Bong-sik.
"Alright. But if you don't keep that promise you just made, I'm going to side with Daeseong."
It's a petty threat, but I brushed it off lightly because I understood his feelings.
He must have realized I have a talent for teaching kids through the Yoo A-ra situation. If I were to suddenly change my stance, this senior would end up losing his market.
The anxiety that he, who recommended me to this market, might lose everything must be what's making him nervous.
"Understood."
"Alright. How did the appraisal go?"
[Cursed Annie's Pocket Watch - Estimated Grade: C ~ A]
[A watch containing the desires of Annie, who never received love. It's a watch she gifted to a man she had a crush on in the past; the man feels love for the woman who gifted him this watch.]
"It's a cursed item. It's in the love potion category."
"Using a forbidden item, that kid is seriously crazy."
"Is the tutor that handsome?"
"Indeed. All the female students are taking lessons from him."
Just how handsome is he?
"Still, it doesn't work 100% of the time. Yoo A-ra rejected him even after seeing his face. Well, it just goes to show how desperate she was."
"Why are you telling me that while looking at me?"
"Huh? Didn't you have ulterior motives for her?"
"......Pardon?"
"No, she was completely head over heels for you, wasn't she? Didn't you aim for that on purpose?"
Bong-sik's eyes narrowed.
"Well, well, you're quite the man~. First you seduced that haughty Shin Seo-ah back in the day, and now you're seducing a fresh academy student."
"Senior."
The moment that name came out of Bong-sik's mouth, the air froze.
Of all people, that person.
"Ah, sorry. I got too excited. Ahem, ahem."
Avoiding my eyes, Bong-sik snatched the pocket watch.
"Th-then, I'll be going now. Make sure you keep your promise. If you don't keep our promise, I'm really going to side with Daeseong!"
After finishing his sentence, Bong-sik left as if running away.
Ah.
Bad memories surfaced.
Why, of all things.
I had such a hard time forgetting it all.
"Fuck......."
Shin Seo-ah.
My ex-girlfriend, whom I dated before I fell out with Daeseong, when I was making a name for myself as a rising Supernova in the Korean hunter world.
-Shadow Mask always treated his colleagues like baggage.
She was a damn bitch who betrayed me and sucked up to Daeseong.
A bitch who stood on Daeseong's side and spat out ridiculous perjury in court.
No one doubted the testimony of Shin Seo-ah, who was called the Guardian Star of River Gate, having destroyed the River Gate where monsters poured out 3 years ago.
Because of that, I had become a shameless person who betrayed colleagues like it was a daily routine and climbed to this position.
Of course, we had broken up months before she betrayed me, but that didn't mean the fact of her betrayal disappeared.
"This is fucked up."
The curse slipped out before I knew it.
Sitting still won't help me come up with any good ideas.
Let's just train.
I came to a training center near my house.
The place I found was a training center built exclusively for hunters.
As gates appeared and countless hunters emerged, hunter-exclusive training centers sprang up like mushrooms, just like neighborhood gyms.
"You're here to train?"
"Yes."
"Will you be using it by the hour?"
"Yes, just for 2 hours."
"That will be 60,000 won."
"I'd like a private room, please."
"There's an additional 40,000 won charge, is that okay?"
"Yes."
I planned to look for a training center that suited me for a while, so I intended to pay by the day.
As soon as I paid the 100,000 won, the trainer's gaze looking at me became listless again.
It means they don't think I'll be a source of money.
I entered the private room and picked up a sword placed in the corner.
The training center is divided into two areas.
General room and private room.
The general room has a structure similar to the gyms we commonly see.
It's open, has various equipment, and is used by many members together.
But the private room is different.
A space entirely for oneself.
It's a sealed space where you can't see inside from the outside, and you can't see outside from the inside.
I needed a place like this.
I didn't want to show others my training after such a long time.
"Huu."
I closed my eyes while holding the training sword in my hand.
It was a completely different sensation from the item I usually used, but it's fine.
'It's been a while. This heavy sensation.'
Feeling the texture of the sword handle in my hand, I swung it from top to bottom.
Huuung!!
The monstrous power generated by my A-rank stat sliced through the wind.
Sweaaek!
Every time I swung the sword, the speed gradually increased.
It made a fierce sound as it cut through the air.
If I raise and release mana here, that is 'Mana Cut'.
Since it's an attack imbued with mana, it's fatal to ordinary people, but it wasn't a very strong attack against monsters.
To survive, I practiced this Mana Cut more precisely than anyone else.
Because if I have speed and accuracy, I can at least accurately target the enemies' weak points.
I swung the sword and emitted mana.
Sweaaek! Kwaaang!
The Mana Cut embedded itself in the corner of the private room and exploded.
The wall protected by a mana shield rippled.
That was the reason I, who lacked active skills that produce explosive power, could survive in dungeons with such a small-sized Mana Cut.
I thoroughly analyze the monster's weak points and kill the monster with a small, precise technique capable of targeting those weak points.
That was Shadow Mask's fighting style.
"Heo-eok, heo-eok."
I hadn't even moved that many times, but I was gasping for breath.
"Is it because I haven't done this in too long?"
It had been almost 2 years since I trained in earnest like this.
1 year of being forcibly banned from hunter work due to the trial, 6 months of doing nothing while trembling with betrayal, and 6 months spent working as an appraiser.
"My stamina has gone to shit. Heo-eok, heo-eok."
No wonder I allowed that unidentified person to approach me.
"Damn it, heo-eok, heo-eok."
First priority is to build up my stamina as much as possible.
I wiped away the flowing sweat and gripped the sword.
I looked at myself reflected in the mirror.
Abs and chest muscles that had faded compared to before, and forearms that were starting to get a bit fleshy.
"Let's train properly and lose this fat first."
I'll sharpen my senses and definitely catch that unidentified person next time.
I put strength into the hand holding the sword.
"A-ra!"
As I was finishing class and trying to head home, Lee Hye-ri called out.
"What's up?"
"D-do you have time today?"
"Time? Why all of a sudden?"
"No, it's not that, just... We're in the same group and will take the exam and the second exam together, and I felt like we hadn't even had a proper meal together yet."
"...Now?"
Yoo A-ra bit her lip.
This is inconvenient right now.
Today wasn't a day for tutoring lessons.
But ever since receiving tutoring from Kim Si-woo, Yoo A-ra had developed a new habit.
It was Yoo A-ra's routine to make sure to go home early and masturbate the day after receiving tutoring.
It was because of the desire to awaken the sensation more by masturbating before the feeling she felt the previous day disappeared.
If she didn't do it, it felt too regrettable.
It even felt like she was missing out on life.
Of course, it was just an act to calm down her heated body a little faster.
It didn't have any other meaning.
'Maintaining the best condition is a hunter's basic duty.'
Like that, she hypnotized herself again today.
"I have a personal schedule. Why?"
"Ah, y-yeah? Is it, by any chance, that secret method... you mentioned before?"
"Huh? Something like that?"
"I s-see. Okay. Then, could we eat together tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow? Hmm... Sure. Tomorrow is fine."
"Okay. Then see you tomorrow."
"Yeah."
After parting with Lee Hye-ri and leaving school, Yoo A-ra returned home and immediately took off her panties, which were sticky with vaginal fluids.
I thought I was going to go crazy trying to hold it in.
I couldn't even focus during class, and I was so heated up.
'Just once. Just this once.'
I'll just masturbate once and then study.
Yoo A-ra looked at her reflection in the mirror as she took off her clothes.
The image of a seductive woman comforting herself while undressed was reflected in the mirror.
Gulp.
"I-I'm starting, Ssaem."
And Yoo A-ra created an imaginary Kim Si-woo in the mirror and let her imagination run wild.
The image of herself spreading her legs in front of him and begging desperately.
"Haa-eung! That's good. Right there..."
Yoo A-ra didn't notice, but there was someone watching such a Yoo A-ra from across the window.
"Ssaem...... did you say?"
That was Lee Hye-ri.
"But is that what masturbation is? It looks... really good."
Lee Hye-ri, who had absolutely no knowledge about sex, was stealing bits of sexual knowledge while watching Yoo A-ra.