The Awkward Morning After
"Ah, yeah......"
She was a girl much younger than me, but I nodded reflexively anyway. Kim Eun-bi rubbed her eyes as she brushed past me. She still seemed half-asleep. She opened the bathroom door, glanced back at me, then bent at the waist and said,
"I'm really sorry about yesterday."
What the hell? I felt a bit stunned. Yesterday had been a total storm, and I'd figured the aftermath would carry over into today.
I headed into the room Kim Eun-bi had come out of. The door was slightly ajar, so I stepped inside and saw someone lying on the bed. Kim Seol-bi. She looked a bit worn out, but her sleeping face was peaceful.
Looks like it went well.
I figured the cousins must have talked things out last night. Even while I was sleeping, I'd heard their voices murmuring on and on. My hearing had improved dramatically since becoming a D-rank hunter. The conversation had stayed steady without any raised voices, so I'd hoped it went okay—and it seemed to have gone even better than expected.
Still, gotta be careful.
Kim Eun-bi's greeting and apology didn't seem like they came from a fully awake mind. It was more like a kid reacting on autopilot before shaking off sleep.
She's cute. Even her just-woken-up look was adorable. They were cousins, but she didn't resemble Kim Seol-bi much—at least not in style. Both were the types guys went crazy for, each securing fans across all tastes, like distinct members of the same idol group.
And they're hunters, to boot. One S-rank, the other A-rank. The thought that women like these were into me sent a thrilling shiver down my spine. Of course, being the actual guy in the situation wasn't always comfortable.
A noise came from the bathroom, so I quickly slipped out of the room. Staring at Kim Eun-bi too much probably wasn't a good idea. She was still in that hazy state with low awareness of yesterday, but once she fully woke up, who knew what might happen.
I went into Kim Seol-bi's bedroom, where I'd been once before yesterday. Not for any other reason—just to use the mana measuring device in there.
Yesterday, I'd been growing in real-time. After a night's sleep, maybe I'd hit C-rank. With that hope, I placed my hand on the device.
"Ah......"
I'd grown, as expected. But not as much as I'd hoped.
What'd you expect? I'd gone from unawakened to E-rank in days, then E to D—and now I was disappointed? No massive growth overnight, that much was clear. Probably all the gains happened within an hour of waking up.
And the trigger was...
Deep skinship, nothing else explained it. If just being near targets of my Unreasonable Favor skill racked up EXP, I'd have grown way more sharing a wall with them all night.
Growth will slow down from here.
Going from normal awakener to E-rank, then E to D, hadn't required much EXP. Hunter growth was like leveling game characters—higher ranks demand exponentially more.
No new skills, either.
There wasn't a hint of copying any skills from Kim Eun-bi.
"Sung-gi."
A voice from behind—I turned to see Kim Seol-bi climbing out of bed and heading over. She wore a sleeveless shirt up top and just panties below. Her figure was stunning. Freshly rested, she looked in peak condition.
I was still shirtless up top, training pants down below. My cock twitched hard in the loose fabric.
Bu-wook—
Glancing down, I saw a massive tent big enough to reveal pubes and shaft outline.
"Ah......"
Kim Seol-bi let out an admiring gasp at the sight. She bit her finger between her lips.
Ah, I wanted to fuck. Morning sex in her house—how perfect would that be? The desperate urge burned in my chest.
"Sung-gi..."
"Seol-bi..."
Our eyes locked. No full insertion maybe, but we could do something close. Our gazes exchanged agreement on that.
That was when the distance between us shrank—
"Unni, whatcha doing?"
A voice rang out, and Kim Eun-bi slipped through the door. Fresh from a shower, her hair was still damp. No makeup, yet her beauty was flawless. Dressed like a schoolgirl, she could've passed for middle school—innocently glancing between her cousin and me.
"Eun-bi!"
Kim Seol-bi jolted and spun toward her. But Kim Eun-bi's eyes flicked to my pants first.
"No way..."
Her mood soured—nearby furniture started wobbling.
"No! Eun-bi! We were just saying hi! Asking if you slept well. Right, Sung-gi?"
Kim Seol-bi turned to me pleadingly.
"Yeah, just a greeting. Like with you at the door earlier."
I hurriedly covered my raging hard-on. Even in this mess, it wouldn't go down.
"Hmmm..."
Kim Eun-bi shrugged with a dissatisfied hum.
"Fine. I'm hungry, unni. Let's eat."
"Sure, Eun-bi. What do you want?"
As the two left the room, I let out a relieved sigh.
This is something else.
It was happy, yet not—how the hell was I supposed to handle this?
# Breakfast was every bit as uncomfortable.
The food was delicious. Mostly Korean dishes, varied and flavorful like something from a high-end restaurant charging hundreds of thousands of won. It was all prepped—Kim Seol-bi just reheated it.
In a mansion like this, hired help was a given. They were probably staying out of sight because of me. Didn't want them seeing me here, and yesterday's mess—restraining Kim Eun-bi on the bed, calling in shaman Kang A-jin—wouldn't look good if normals caught wind.
Tastes great, but...
I couldn't even focus on whether the soup hit my mouth or if rice stayed on my spoon. Kim Seol-bi and Kim Eun-bi were the same, eyeing each other tensely amid the standoffish vibe.
They'd talked it out yesterday, resolving the big conflict—but that didn't erase it overnight. Each had grievances with the other.
I decided to take the lead. I'd sparked the awkwardness, but I was also holding the peace together. Even if it was just surface-level.
"I should head home."
"Huh?"
Both women turned to me in unison, startled—as if my leaving alone made them anxious.
"Even with the place trashed, I've got stuff to grab. And things to handle related to it."
I'd made tens of millions raiding a dungeon yesterday, but repairs and odds-and-ends would eat it up. Still, as a D-rank now, money worries were off the table going forward.
"It's fine. I told them to handle cleanup. And I got most of your stuff already."
Kim Seol-bi reached into her inventory and pulled out a large bag. It looked heavy, but the S-rank hunter set it on the table effortlessly. Inside: clothes, laptop, essentials.
"Sorry if the clothes are wrinkled. I'll call the dry cleaners—or wanna shop for new ones today?"
Shopping came up, and their eyes lit up. Clearly, they had outfits in mind for me. With one alone, I'd happily go—but all three parading the streets? Dizzying.
She'd probably hired people for apartment repairs and such. The bag had everything essential. I hadn't owned much valuable anyway—simple life and all.
"Instead of shopping..."
I thought of something else.
"How about a dungeon?"
Their shoulders slumped at missing shopping. But Kim Seol-bi's eyes soon sparkled.
"True, you're growing fast right now—hunting in a dungeon could be a huge boost."
Growing in dungeons? Common sense. But I knew intimate skinship with these women helped my growth more than monster kills. No way to say that in this atmosphere, though.
"Me too!"
Kim Eun-bi jumped in quick. Exactly what I'd hoped. If my guess was right, in a dungeon, I could copy skills from Unreasonable Favor targets.
More skills were crucial. Passing up a chance as a hunter? Slacking.