My First Companion Is Named Shin Sohee
My first companion's name is Shin Sohee.
'Mother....'
Her name is Kang Hana. She's 'Woojini's' biological mother.
From what I'd learned in advance, she was a civil servant working at the Hunter Management Bureau.
I greeted her at the front door, dressed in her sharp office suit. With a gentle, crinkled-eye smile, she patted Kang Yena on the back.
"You haven't been bullying my Woojin, have you?"
"No, Mom, I don't do that anymore."
"You didn't go strutting around half-naked and scare him again, did you?"
"N-no, I didn't...."
Kang Hana had Kang Yena's number completely.
"There, there, my little puppy. Woojin, sweetheart, have you been doing well?"
"Welcome home."
As she pulled me tightly into her arms, I caught the scent of her perfume and the air freshener from her office.
With a tender look on her face, she kept trying to lift me up by the waist, over and over.
Is this that squishing-and-carrying thing?
"That's strange. Woojin has suddenly gotten bigger...."
Kang Hana tilted her head in confusion. Seizing the moment, I brought up the story Kang Yena had prepared.
"Mom, don't be alarmed, just listen. Woojin went to the tutorial. And when we asked him what he wanted to do from now on—"
Before Kang Yena could even finish explaining, Kang Hana delivered her verdict, firm and final.
"No."
"I haven't even finished—"
"No."
And then she began running her hands all over my body. Shoulders, forearms, sides.
"Now, look at this. My poor Woojin is so delicate. How is he supposed to go to the Tower? Maybe he got lucky on his first time, but no. Just look at these arms, so frail and—oh? When did he get these biceps?"
These are 'combat-condensed muscles,' forged in the military and on construction sites.
Since the army had already shaped my body, I'd decided to postpone going back to school and try manual construction work instead. It turned out to be pretty manageable. The pay was good, too.
I spent half a year saving up to prepare for university life. Though most of it has probably melted away now, squandered by that bastard 'Woojini.'
"I think his body changed because he got a skill."
"Is that so? What did he get?"
She stared intently into my face, demanding an answer.
"Um, swordsmanship, and... introspection...."
"Two words. My son got himself some pretty high-grade skills."
"May I try climbing the Tower...?"
Even if the sword was treated as a weak weapon, it felt like a waste to sit on my hands and do nothing just because it was dangerous.
I'd experienced the miracle of crossing over into another world—one where the tutorial and Tower climbing existed. It seemed like a crime not to even try.
I wanted, more than anything, to get Kang Hana's permission.
"Still no. It's too dangerous. Absolutely not."
She refused to let me out of her arms, as if she'd never release me again.
Naturally, her soft, yielding parts pressed against my chest.
And yet, strangely, none of the lewd feelings I'd gotten from Kang Yena were there.
'So this is what a mother is....'
Just as I was being moved by the physical sensation of maternal love, Kang Yena appeared over Kang Hana's shoulder, holding up both hands in some kind of shape.
Palms pressed together in a pose like someone praying. Then she opened and closed her mouth, miming words she couldn't say out loud.
'What does that mean? Aeg... yo...? She wants me to act spoiled? Whine?'
Never in my life had I whined or begged anyone to give me what I wanted.
Well, of course—that's supposed to be something you do to your mother or father, and neither of my parents had ever been in a position to indulge it.
But this time, I decided to give this "whining" thing a shot. Picturing 'Woojini's' face, I imagined how that son of a bitch would behave.
That cutesy way of talking he left all over his social media.
Hmm. I've got it. Let's do this.
A brief, deep breath. And fire.
"Mooooom, I wanna try climbing the Tower, pweeeease."
Khk. Ugh. Kek.
'GRAAAAGH. Never again.'
Hacking up blood—I swear I felt like I was coughing up the real thing. My face had gone bright red. I'd lost my mind, hadn't I?
It felt like wearing clothes two sizes too small for my skin.
But behind me, Kang Yena shot her thumb straight up in approval.
"Oh my. But no, sweetie, you can't—"
'Oh. It worked.'
It seemed Kang Hana was quite weak to my whining after all.
Over dinner, Kang Yena threw herself into persuading Kang Hana.
"Mom, our country's in a crisis right now. Wouldn't it be great if Woojin could contribute a little by earning coins? It'll work out really well for his future too—all sorts of privileges come with it."
While listening to Kang Yena's eloquent pitch, Kang Hana placed a few slices of meat into my rice bowl. I gobbled them right up.
"Besides, Woojin's skill is too good to let go to waste, but it happens to be swordsmanship, so it's nothing spectacular. There's no real need to worry. Nobody's going to invite him to any dangerous difficulty anyway. If Woojin just sticks to the lower floors, comfortably and repeatedly, he'll be safe. Best of all, it doesn't cost a cent in ammunition. Good cost-effectiveness, you could say."
Kang Hana, who had been listening quietly, began to chime in.
"Swords are an unpopular weapon. People won't even invite sword users to their parties. I know that much."
Kang Hana was well-informed about the weapons used in the Tower, too.
"Every now and then, someone who chose a sword would show up at my counter, and every single time it ended with nothing but flies buzzing around. Even when I tried to arrange work for them, people flat-out refused."
It sounded like a story from the Hunter Management Bureau.
"Even if he clears the lower floors, no one's going to come calling. There's no reason for Woojin to dip his toes into dangerous Tower climbing after choosing the sword. I just hope you haven't been filling his head with wild ideas for nothing, Yena."
"Mom, that's why I'm telling you I'll manage him perfectly. There's a great hunter at our agency. All we need to do is find him a good partner."
Listening to her, it seemed Kang Yena's line of work was indeed hunter-related.
"Is your agency that bored? Taking on a sword user too?"
"I have a flawless plan. There are exactly the right people I have in mind."
"What kind of people?"
"Kind, righteous women who know how to protect a man. Including members of the hunter families."
At that, Kang Hana stuck her spoon in her mouth and fell deep into thought.
It seemed Kang Yena's bold declarations were getting through.
I clasped my hands together and gazed at her intently, just in case Kang Hana might get any other ideas.
'Ah... hmm.'
Just around the time I was starting to feel embarrassed—
"If you're going to do it, only the lower floors. Only the lower floors, you hear? And the moment it gets dangerous, you quit immediately. If you two promise me that, I'll allow it."
Oh. Permission granted!
Kang Yena winked and grinned, thumping her own chest in a way that looked surprisingly dependable.
Yena-noona is the best.
The next day—strike while the iron is hot, as they say—we headed for the Tower entrance in a car driven by Kang Yena.
"When you enter the Tower, everyone gathers here in the waiting room first. There are several portal gates over there, and the counter opens them for you when you ask."
Then she pulled a bag out of the trunk.
"Here, change into this in the dressing room, then come to the waiting room."
I opened the bag in the deserted men's dressing room to find armor inside: a vest-style carrier with ballistic plates, plus knee and elbow guards.
And a ballistic-rated helmet. It felt like a hassle to put on right away, so I decided to just carry it.
"This looks pretty tactical."
Once I had it on, I looked like a soldier out of some video game. I hung the sheath from the clips on the vest.
Kang Yena was waiting in the waiting room.
"Ooh. This look suits you too, huh? Is it because you got taller?"
"Do I look cool?"
"Cool... is not the word. That sort of thing suits the girls more than the boys."
Yep, Kang Yena's aesthetic sense was definitely warped. Or rather—was it this whole world?
Now that I looked around, every hunter sitting in the waiting room was a woman. They were sneaking glances at me, stealing looks at how I looked.
"Hey, hey. Look at him."
"Rawr. That's a new flavor."
What the hell was that growling breath?
That's the sound that comes out of my mouth when I'm playing a mobile game and admiring a cute-girl cutscene. And now those exact sounds were coming out of their mouths.
"Noona, it's all women in here."
"Of course—dangerous, rough work is what women do. Women are stronger."
Is that how it is.
The women's gazes were getting more and more overt. Their eyes mostly locked onto my hips or my chest.
The moment I met those lecherous stares, they'd whip their heads away like thieves caught in the act.
'What is this feeling? Something's off.'
Maybe it was about time I adapted to this world too.
I'd already resolved to live well in it, after seeing how that bastard 'Woojin' carried himself.
"When is the person we're meeting supposed to arrive?"
"What time is it?"
I pulled out my phone. It was 11:55.
"Five minutes to noon."
"Ah, then she'll be along any minute."
Five minutes, huh. I took a seat for now.
I checked the clock again. Ten seconds had passed. Ugh, boring. Being bored, I ended up asking Kang Yena this and that.
"What kind of person is she?"
"Her name is Shin Sohee. She's from the Shin hunter family—a pretty unusual girl. The most diligent of all the hunters our agency manages. She's absolutely strict about punctuality."
The Shin family. Hmm... so there were even families that specialized in producing hunters.
"What does she look like?"
"Mm, cowgirl outfit? And her hair's blonde. Her father's side is foreign."
Cowgirl? What did that mean? For a split second, a cow-print bikini flashed through my mind. No, that couldn't be it. She wasn't some lewd costume character.
'Ah. A cowboy!'
When I spotted a person's outfit in the distance, I finally understood what "cowgirl" meant. Here, girl and boy meant the opposite of what I knew.
11:56.
"Is that her over there?"
"Yeah, that's her. But let's just wait."
"Why is she standing way over there instead of coming in?"
"Well, about that.... You'll see in a minute."
11:57. Through the glass doors on the far side of the waiting room, my eyes met Shin Sohee's.
11:58. I gestured for her to hurry in. But with a stiff face, she shook her head from side to side.
11:59. Her face was taut with tension, like someone about to enter a duel. She straightened her wide-brimmed leather hat, smoothed out her wrinkled clothes, and tapped the toes of her boots against the ground, anxiously checking the time on her phone.
11:59:30....
'Just give it up and come in already!'
Click—at last, the minute hand of the clock mounted on the waiting room wall ticked over and merged with the hour hand.
12:00.
She pushed open the glass door and strode briskly inside.
Standing before the two of us with plenty of spirit, she tipped her hat brim.
"High noon. Arrived precisely on time."
"Ahh.... So that's your whole concept, huh."
Kang Yena tapped my shoulder and whispered.
"She's obsessed with twelve o'clock. Her one virtue is that she keeps her appointments to the exact second."