Sorry for the Me Who Couldn't Be Honest (4)
To anyone watching, it probably looked like he was playing with a block of wood. That was how flat and indifferent Zixu’s reactions were. Of course, Kang-jun knew her insides were nothing of the sort, which made toying with her all the more entertaining. If she had truly disliked him, she never would have met him in the first place—not when she was the type to insist that private meetings outside of work were best avoided.
The two of them wandered around until late into the evening. Her answers stayed short and her commentary stayed sparse, same as before, but Kang-jun could feel the subtle stirrings underneath. He had dealt with so many women by now that he was an expert at reading those things. He had handled women far more wooden than her, after all.
Wonder if I scored a few points.
If Hye-mi was the obedient, sweet-tempered dog type, Zixu was the prim, haughty cat type. Different breeds called for different handling. She also had a rather old-fashioned streak, which meant loosening her sexual restraint was going to take some work. Still, there was a certain pleasure in slowly melting that knot of tension. If Hye-mi’s appeal was the thrill of just going for it, Zixu’s was the satisfaction of coaxing her open bit by bit.
Kang-jun didn’t keep her out too long. Even if he had tried to push through the night, she was never the kind of woman who would casually say yes. Letting her go at this point was the right call. For now, it was better to show Zixu the face of a diligent team leader. Cold beauties like her had a surprising soft spot for considerate men.
They walked the dim evening streets in silence for a while. The alley leading in was quiet. Streetlamps stood lonely and sparse, regularly lighting up the two figures that kept vanishing into the dark between them.
“W-we’re here.”
Zixu clutched her bag with both hands and drew it in against her chest. An awkward current hung in the air for a moment. Her eyes couldn’t quite meet Kang-jun’s face.
“Right. Go on in. I’ll be heading off.”
“Yes. Thank you, Team Leader.”
Kang-jun turned around without hesitation. Trying for a kiss wouldn’t have been the worst idea, but he had no interest in overreaching and tanking the points he had so carefully built up. Better to let the tension simmer a while longer.
The chat was already a riot of restless gods. They called Kang-jun insane for holding back when a better meal was right there for the taking.
What kind of lunatic talk was that? Kang-jun scrambled to grovel and soothe the gods.
Items were things the gods outside the novel spent money on for their own amusement, objects that exerted influence inside the story. Of course, if Kang-jun resolved them, he got to pocket coupons equal to that number. It was a concept similar to missions. The difference was that missions were personal—failing them carried no penalty—whereas items could actually get him killed if he handled them wrong.
Naturally, gods who begrudged him even ten coupons weren’t about to throw around precious items on the regular. Every once in a great while, though, one of them would get pissed enough at Kang-jun to drop a hundred-coupon item on him at the worst possible moment.
The mere mention of items set the chat off again—use it, don’t use it, pure chaos. Kang-jun pretended not to notice and closed the window. Missions he would take all day long, but items were a problem. He wasn’t strong enough yet that even a hundred-coupon one was a sure clear.
The system stayed quiet all the way until he boarded the subway, so it seemed they had shelved the idea of using an item. Yeah—no way those cheap bastards were going to burn something that expensive.
Kang-jun arrived at the team house at nine-thirty. Hye-mi greeted him warmly as he came through the door. The other two were glued to the TV with intense focus. Curious, he glanced at the screen. Disaster news.
Monster appearances weren’t uncommon, but a labyrinth forming only happened maybe once a quarter, so it registered as a fairly major incident. Depending on the labyrinth’s difficulty, the surrounding area could end up completely devastated. A labyrinth forming was like a volcanic eruption—the monsters that had been building up inside would come surging out like magma. Naturally, a higher-grade labyrinth meant higher-level monsters, and that made cleanup far from easy.
The news ran through the roster of Heroes dispatched to the scene. There were especially many B-class among them. Magical Girl Erika was on the list. So were the bald muscle guy and the spirit boy. It was a pretty flashy lineup.
The broadcast kept flashing breaking alerts and announcing a Class-1 evacuation order. Warnings blared continuously telling people to get out of the 44th Zone by any means necessary. If unavoidable circumstances left someone trapped, they were instructed to send a distress signal and stay quiet until the rescue team arrived.
“Looks really serious.”
“When a labyrinth forms, monsters pour out like crazy.”
Still, the fact that the labyrinth had appeared in the 44th Zone was a stroke of enormous luck for them. Right next door was the 45th Zone—a wealthy district packed with high-ranking Heroes. That was probably why the response speed looked so much faster than in most other zones.
A balding expert soon appeared in the newsroom and launched into a busy stream of speculation about whether the labyrinth’s projected grade was Class 2 or Class 1. The anchors fed the hype with questions about what Class 2 would mean, what Class 1 would mean, and so on.
Kang-jun lost interest around then and headed to his room. The other three kept their eyes locked on the screen, still listening to the news.
Maybe later it would matter, but right now it was someone else’s world. If his level were sitting around 170, heading out to hunt wouldn’t be a bad idea—but as things stood, charging in would only make him a liability.
Even the three of them eventually lost interest from staring too long and drifted off to their own rooms. Kang-jun called out to Ogre as the big man was about to disappear into his.
“What’s up, Boss?”
“You still haven’t Awakened, right? We’re doing it now.”
“Now? …Alright.”
The two of them went into Ogre’s room together. A sour smell of sweat hit him. The moment they were inside, Kang-jun kicked the guy in the ass and told him to air the place out, then threw the window wide open. Cold air rushed in with a sharp whistle.
“Strip. Sit on the floor.”
Ogre peeled off his clothes without ceremony and planted himself on the floor.
“Open your status window. There should be an Awakening button. …Right next to your stats. Yeah, you dumbass.”
The thickheaded Ogre fumbled around quite a bit just finding the thing. Eventually, though, he managed to press the Awakening button.
His body began to change. From here until the transformation was complete would take three or four hours. Kang-jun left the room as-is and quietly informed Troll Girl.
“Don’t interrupt until it’s done. …Actually, just don’t go in his room at all today. Got it?”
“Okay.”
Having given his warning, Kang-jun went into the bathroom, finished a shower, and gently cracked open Hye-mi’s door. She had been lying on her stomach fiddling with her phone; her eyes went round. Color bloomed across her cheeks.
“…Did you want to…?”
“I just want to sleep next to you.”
“Okay. Come in.”
Kang-jun burrowed in beside Hye-mi. A sweet scent clung to her. He drew her lightly against him and ran his hand over her bare skin, caressing her.
He kept fondling that soft flesh until he drifted off. Hye-mi pressed a little peck to his lips. Her whisper reached him.
“Good night, sunbae.”
And just like that, the two of them parted ways into their own dreamlands.
Three days later, Zixu packed up the room she had been living in and moved into the team house. With no spare rooms available, she would share Hye-mi’s until they relocated somewhere bigger. Hye-mi was thrilled to have gained an unnie.
By then, the incident in the 44th Zone was nearly wrapped up. Amid all the noise about whether it was Class 1 or Class 2, the labyrinth was ultimately classified as Class 2.
A labyrinth appearing in the 44th Zone naturally meant a flood of work for Branch 41 as well. A newly formed labyrinth was something the organization couldn’t help but take an interest in. They put out a call for teams to enter it. An offer came to Kang-jun from the training instructor.
"So? Interested?"
“I am, yeah.”
"Look, I’m not forcing you. Just saying I’ll put you in if you want. Good experience, right?"
The instructor had no idea about Kang-jun’s real situation, so of course he would think that way. Leading a labyrinth team was always better with more experience under your belt.
“What’s my cut?”
"Same as everyone else. …Even after the cut, you should still clear about two thousand."
Two thousand wasn’t bad. Kang-jun’s team was in a downtime stretch anyway, so ducking in for a quick side job and coming back out seemed fine. He needed money in a lot of places right now, and two thousand was a pretty tempting figure.
"Well?"
“When do we leave?”
"Two days. Any later and you’re out."
“Then I’m in.”
"Okay. I’ll send the notice to your phone. Once you’re in, I can’t get involved, so you’re on your own. That’s as far as I can help. …Well, I trust you’ll handle it."
“Don’t worry about it.”
The call ended. Shortly after, Kang-jun received the notice the instructor had sent—various details related to the team. And before long, a call came in from that side’s team leader.
"You Lee Kang-jun?"
“Yes.”
"I heard about you. Experience?"
“More than enough.”
"We’ll talk details when we meet. But get this one thing straight."
“I’m listening.”
The team leader’s voice turned ominous.
“Yes.”
"You saw the notice?"
“Yes.”
"Come prepared."
The call cut off unilaterally. Kang-jun looked at the screen and let out a short laugh. Little shit, putting on airs.
He stepped out of his room and immediately gathered the team.
“Something’s come up with the organization. I’ve decided to go.”
“Something?”
“The labyrinth that formed in the 44th Zone. I’m going in.”
Everyone’s eyes widened a little. Kang-jun filled in the details.
“Just me—not you guys. I’ll probably be gone about a week. We leave in two days, so keep that in mind.”
The team members nodded slowly.
“Don’t slack off just because I’m not here. I’ll be checking when I get back. Keep training the way I taught you. And don’t forget the physical conditioning. Endless practice is what keeps you alive. Got it?”
“Yes!”
With that, Kang-jun packed what he needed. There wasn’t actually much to bring. Some simple emergency rations and one thick blanket would do. The notice had listed all sorts of little odds and ends, but those were things only newbies needed.
Wonder if I can snag at least one decent girl out of this.
Kang-jun felt a faint flicker of anticipation.
And if she happened to have a pretty face on top of that… well, that would be perfect.