B-Class Hunter (6) - Ifrit's Flame
As soon as I stepped into the Association Guild, the receptionist at the request counter greeted me with a bright smile. "Ah! Welcome, Hunter Kim Seongcheol!"
The guide, who could now recognize me whether I wore that mysterious mask or not, waved enthusiastically as I arrived for my shift. It was almost the first time she'd spotted me from a distance instead of up close, so for a moment I actually wondered if I'd forgotten to wear my mask today.
...Well, we'd taken the B-class promotion test together. It would have been more disappointing if she hadn't recognized me.
I wasn't cold enough to ignore her greeting and head straight into the dungeon, so even if it was a bit bothersome, I turned my steps toward the request counter first.
"Good morning."
"Good morning to you too, Hunter."
"......"
"......"
Come to think of it, had I ever spoken with this person about anything other than work? Most of our conversations seemed to revolve around securing requests, completing them, or selling materials. Since I was never particularly good with small talk, the silence simply felt awkward and uncomfortable.
I decided to just state my business and head into the dungeon quickly.
"I'm not taking any new requests today. I just plan to finish that previous Black Slime material request I accepted and head out early."
"I see. Could you wait just a moment?"
"......?"
While I was wondering what she meant by "wait a moment," the counter staff pulled something from a storage cabinet and handed it to me.
"This is your B-class Hunter License, Hunter Kim Seongcheol. It only arrived at the branch this morning, so I wanted to deliver it to you as quickly as possible."
"Ah."
So that was why she'd been waving and greeting me since I first walked in. The brief moment I'd felt annoyed suddenly made me feel guilty.
I handed over my C-class license and received the one that sparkled with a silvery gleam. She continued explaining the details of the hunter license.
"Starting with B-class licenses, we've added security features to prevent counterfeiting. Even for Association Hunters, those of B-class and above require a minimum level of management. If the license is damaged or lost, simply submit it to the Hunter Autonomous Association Guild and we'll provide appropriate handling depending on the circumstances."
"I see."
"Additionally, if you scan this license at a Hunter Autonomous Association branch terminal, you can review your accumulated career history and confirmed request completions. The QR code added to the license can also be used to verify the same information..."
She went on to explain the various new functions that came with B-class status before our conversation finally ended.
"...Please continue to take good care of me in the future!"
"Yes, I'll be counting on you as well."
I wondered whether I'd have any reason to visit this guild in the future aside from carrying out Senior Hwayeong's requests. Still, it wasn't the kind of thing to say in front of a guild employee, so I simply swallowed the thought.
"...This should be about enough, right?"
With only a few hours left until her junior Seongcheol came barging into her house, Choi Hwayeong muttered to herself as she looked around her now somewhat cleaner room. The narrow space that had once been a complete mess had, after some actual effort, become at least presentable. Or so she thought.
Of course, that was merely her own opinion. Objectively speaking, the room was still undeniably messy. Having lived her entire life with zero regard for tidiness, the standard of "clean" in Choi Hwayeong's eyes was painfully obvious without even looking.
The clothes and bedding stained with sweat and bodily fluids had all been shoved into the washing machine. The trash had been crammed haphazardly into the bin with barely any sorting. The random clutter had simply been pushed out of sight under the desk or beneath the bed.
If the junior she was waiting for had actually witnessed her cleaning process, he would have been horrified and tried to stop her. But Choi Hwayeong was simply basking in the rare satisfaction of having cleaned her room, quietly savoring her own sense of accomplishment.
Having moved her body and washed up properly, her sexual urges seemed to have calmed down somewhat as well.
"At this level, I should be able to greet him with composure when he arrives without it showing, right?"
Originally she'd planned to pounce on him the moment he stepped into her apothecary, using the excuse of settling the bill first. But with her lust temporarily subsided, she decided there was no need to act like a bitch in heat.
Since they'd agreed to meet during the day anyway, sharing lunch and building a pleasant atmosphere might be better. Demanding sex the instant they met would only make her look like a lewd woman utterly drowning in carnal desire.
In truth she wasn't that far from it, but she still wanted to hide her true nature as much as possible, at least on the surface. She couldn't show an unsightly side to a junior whose active career was barely a year old.
She had already endured the urges that nearly drove her to contact him several times when her patience ran thin. If he witnessed her in her most shameful state at the very end, nothing could feel more unfair.
That said, she fully intended to have sex. There would be no compromise on that point. Her body had already reached its limit in more ways than one.
Therefore, the conclusion she reached was to never be the one to demand it first. Creating a situation where her junior Seongcheol could no longer hold back and initiated things himself was the best way for Choi Hwayeong to preserve her honor.
Hadn't he been the man who last time openly said he wanted to hold her body and would accept sex as payment for the request items? A man that blinded by lust would surely lose control at even her subtle seduction and pounce on her.
Then she could pretend she couldn't resist and accept his desires with the composure of an adult. It was a theoretically perfect plan with no logical flaws—at least in Choi Hwayeong's own mind. Of course, it rested on the premise that she could maintain her reason throughout the seduction process.
Having temporarily regained her senses, Choi Hwayeong failed to consider that the moment she met her junior Seongcheol again, her body—which only appeared calm—would flare up in an instant, leaving her unable to endure without devouring him.
The time I finished hunting in the tar pit and emerged was around ten in the morning. In the past, taking down ten Black Slimes had required three or four hours of combat.
Finishing all ten in less than an hour and walking out of the guild represented tremendous progress. When you considered that Black Slimes were B-class monsters to begin with, it was only natural that someone of the same rank like me could handle four or five at once.
Rather than the previous method of carefully taking them down one by one with a combination of flame magic and swordsmanship, the current state—where a single sword was enough—proved far more efficient.
This was probably all thanks to Sister Eunyeong's teachings. I could truly feel how significant it was to have a master who was an expert in a specific field.
...Come to think of it, Senior Hwayeong's awakening ability was definitely related to flame magic. Since she had once been an S-class Hunter before retiring, she likely possessed considerable insight into handling fire as well.
Mage Hunters were a relatively rare occupation. Among the awakening abilities possessed by high-ranking Hunters, the type that made up the largest proportion was none other than close-combat systems. Not only were there many varieties, but since they were powers based on ordinary physical laws, the learning process wasn't particularly difficult.
Long-range types—especially abilities like Do Sihui's that involved manifesting and firing mystic arrows—required the user to figure out the creation process themselves, consuming far more diverse knowledge and time than close-combat systems.
The magic category, which required memorizing existing spell formulas and understanding their principles from scratch, was not common either. That was why high-ranking mage Hunters like Cha Yuri remained in steady demand.
Beyond that were neutral-type Hunters whose powers were somewhat tricky to use in combat, recovery-types who mostly worked in hospitals or religious facilities and thus had lower demand as Hunters, and animal-types who had many Hunters overall but almost none above A-class.
These six categories represented the basic classification of known Hunter awakening abilities so far.
Anyway, while not as extreme as the last three, the number of high-ranking mage Hunters was still quite low in overall proportion. Meeting a mage master who handled the same type of power was practically a miracle.
Although I wielded multiple awakening abilities, flame magic had been one of the first three I obtained the moment I acquired the Hunter Libido Management System. So encountering an S-class Hunter who used the same ability again—
Was it coincidence? Or inevitability?
If Senior Hwayeong truly refused to have sex with me, asking her to teach me flame magic instead wouldn't be a bad alternative.
"While I'm at it, I might as well check."
Thinking back, after our encounter two weeks ago I hadn't once looked at Senior Hwayeong's Hunter information. Various matters had overlapped and kept me busy, and the recent promotion test had left me no leisure to focus elsewhere.
Since I needed to confirm whether she truly possessed flame abilities, I opened the Current Libido Management Hunters section in the system. The moment I viewed Choi Hwayeong's information, I was momentarily stunned by what appeared before me.
The expected acquisition points... why were they so high...?