Awkward Breakfast and the Road to B-Rank
The next morning at the Semi-basement Villa.
After wrapping up that unexpected bout of sex, we'd only managed to crawl back into bed in the late wee hours. It was basically like pulling an all-nighter for everyone involved. Mina and I, having thrown in some serious physical labor on top of that, were hit especially hard by the exhaustion and couldn't shake off the drowsiness. But thankfully, no one was dragging their feet around this morning from fatigue.
Mina's stamina was superhuman to begin with. It wasn't for nothing that rumors swirled about her diligence carrying her from B-rank to A-rank. Just in case, I'd cast a recovery spell on her since she knew about my awakening ability. But I hadn't told the twins yet, so I'd slipped into the bathroom out of their sight to do it.
Mornings meant time was tight, so the house rule was two at a time in the shower. Naturally, that meant Mina came in with me. If we'd had more leeway, we could've fooled around leisurely in there, but with work, school, and company starts, no one could afford to dawdle.
Incidentally, Jina and Seona seemed fired up at the breakfast table, probably thanks to what I'd said last night.
“……”
“……”
They kept locking eyes with me, their gazes filled with a determination I'd never seen before. Looked like my offer to take their first times once they became proper hunters had lit a spark in them.
...Well, whatever the reason, enthusiasm is a good thing.
Still, with January 1st looming, we'd need to prepare properly. I'd have to handle a massive buildup of their pent-up lust, and half-assed resolve could leave me the one collapsing first.
Lost in those thoughts while digging into the breakfast Mina had prepared, Seona caught my eye and spoke up.
“Taekyung oppa, there's a question from last night I didn't get to ask. Mind if I do now?”
“Yeah? Shoot.”
“It's about what happened while you and big sis were... making love yesterday.”
“Kkh! Cough, hack, kehk...!”
Mina, hit with memories of her own embarrassing history from last night, choked on her soup like it had gone down wrong and started hacking away with her bowl in hand.
“Sis, why are you being so gross?”
“Is it because you're remembering that kinda... embarrassing side you showed us last night?”
“Heat cycles make everyone like that. I get it completely. If I couldn't handle that much, I never would've offered to take care of your needs in the first place.”
“Sh-shut up, all of you! I told you to forget everything from last night!!”
“...Nah, no way anyone forgets that overnight.”
For the record, Mina had remembered every single thing she'd done in her heat-induced haze the moment she woke up. Seeing her rip the blanket to shreds and scream her lungs out right away made it clear her memories went way beyond just getting caught mid-sex by her sisters.
She'd retained it all—the coquettish whining at dawn, the shameless dirty talk. Everything.
“Like I said earlier!! Yesterday was just the heat cycle hormones messing me up—nothing I could do!! I don't do that cringey, clingy aegyo like some parasite wife! I don't beg to get pounded senseless like some cheap slut! And I definitely don't get off from sensitive spots in my ass!!!”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. And I already explained to the girls that fingering your ass at the end was you accommodating my kink.”
We'd agreed to keep her anal pleasure a secret, so I'd framed it as a favor she'd done for me at my request. Whether the twins—who'd witnessed it firsthand—bought that line was another story.
“Sis, that was pathetic.”
“I still think of you as my big sis, no matter what kinks you have.”
“Nooooo...!!!”
Anyway, this was her karma. If she hadn't wanted this, she should've suggested meeting outside from the start.
Leaving Mina's flushed face behind, Seona pressed on with her question to me.
“So, about last night...”
“Go ahead, Seona.”
“About when you put your finger inside big sis's anus...”
“Ack! Ack!! Ack!!!”
“Quiet, sis.”
“Was that something you did without her consent? Couldn't that have led to some awkward or problematic situation for both of you?”
True to her curious nature, Seona wanted to clear up every detail from that moment. Not sure if it was breakfast-table talk, but it felt awkward to shut her down now, so I gave her the bare minimum explanation.
“She was prepped for it, so it was fine.”
“Prepped?”
“Wasn't the first time, actually. Fingering her back there to hit the sensitive spots.”
“Y-you, hey! Sung Taekyung!”
“That's why I asked her to prep ahead this time. All for my kink, remember.”
To protect Mina's honor, I skipped mentioning how she'd emptied herself out back there and waited for me—framing it as my doing. How many friends this thoughtful did she have? Be grateful, Mina.
“So prepping means sis secretly liked it too...”
“...I said no, Jina. You trying to piss me off for real?”
“...Yeah, probably not. Right. It was just oppa's weird kink!”
Jina started eyeing Mina warily as she got serious with her warning. Seona, unfazed, kept going.
“If that's the kink you enjoy, oppa...”
“Yeah?”
“...should we prep too?”
“Huh?”
“You said you'd take our first times once we're official hunters, so you might wanna do the same play with us as with big sis. I wouldn't wanna show you anything embarrassing if it came to that...”
...So she'd prep if I wanted.
Thinking back, Seona had always been the kindest and most considerate of the three sisters. This was basically her offering to accommodate me.
“Nah, no need.”
“Huh?”
“I'm offering to handle your needs because I want your first times to be the best memories possible. Your desires matter more than mine—Jina's and yours.”
“...I see.”
“...That said, one bit of advice on that front.”
I gave my dry take to the twins, who braced for my next words.
“Your sis knew my finger was going in and still prepped? Makes me think she enjoyed it that much.”
“Nooooooo!!!”
Mina wailed, but no one in the room believed her denials anymore.
After that eventful night at Mina's Semi-basement Villa, I skipped heading home and went straight to the Hunter Association Gangdong Branch.
Commuting from somewhere other than home was getting routine. So was the bed-hopping every other night.
Couldn't deny it was a pretty promiscuous lifestyle—questionable if it was even okay. Calling my childhood friend over for sweet nothings, banging a hunter I met by chance right in a dungeon, spending two straight days entwined with a hunter heiress at an overseas lodge, railing a buddy-like friend in front of her little sisters, even hooking up with a retired former S-rank senior and my girlfriend's mom.
Blissful days for a guy. By the standards of my past life, anyway.
But what I really wanted wasn't the acts themselves—it was the power they granted, growing stronger as a hunter. No way I could stay content with this setup.
Ultimate goal: a world free of deaths by monsters.
Sounded pie-in-the-sky. Even with better safety protocols and gear than before, hunters still died or went missing in dungeons every year. Not to mention victims of sudden monster waves in unexpected spots.
Tough to even know where to start fixing it.
Who'd think eradicating hunter deaths by monsters was feasible? I'd figured the same until recently.
But the Kraken subjugation changed that. I'd nearly died pushing solo against it, only saved by Sihee and Eunbyeol joining late. Surviving that made me realize I'd been thinking wrong all along.
Because up till now, I'd fixated on achieving everything alone.
Might sound like an excuse, but there was a reason I'd resolved to go solo. My path to strength involved whore-like acts with other women.
Betraying their expectations to build my tower of power—I'd feared ending up alone, scaring myself with that thought.
Yet after coming clean, so many stuck around. Hyeun, Yuri, Sihee, Mina. Different reasons, but they all endorsed me sleeping around with female hunters to grow stronger.
With their support, my goal felt closer.
Of course, this network was still woefully short. Far from enough.
To hit the ultimate mark, I needed way more people. Plus, becoming the strongest hunter was still on the table.
That meant showing my face steadily at the association guild for a while.
Had to visit in person to check the promotion exam date for B-rank anyway.
With those thoughts, I stepped through the guild entrance once more.
And not long after arriving, I heard the exam date and assigned examiner had been set.