Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Growth and Promotion (2)
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The very first emotion that hit me upon seeing the projected acquisition points for her displayed on the system was relief.
Just the fact that her current projected points had skyrocketed to 80 was more than enough justification to open up a conversation.
Such a high projected point total essentially meant she had a fair buildup of lust herself, and at the very least, it suggested the positive feelings she harbored toward me outweighed any negative ones.
Of course, this was all just a hypothesis—I couldn't guarantee it was accurate. People's emotions and sexual desire toward one another were separate matters entirely.
But since the projected point total was influenced to some degree by the target's favorability, it was definitely worth meeting up.
'Come to think of it, when I checked about three days ago, her projected points were around 20.'
Was it even possible for projected acquisition points to rise this quickly?
Was Hye-eun's lust the type that ignited easily by nature, or had she gone through some change of heart in a way I didn't know about?
Or perhaps, because I'd gone all the way with her, her body had become one that refilled with desire after just a few days.
I couldn't be certain, but the third possibility had plenty of plausibility. After all, it was one of the issues I was dealing with myself these days.
The day I acquired the Hunter Lust Manager awakening ability, I'd first had sex with Hye-eun at home.
After that, I'd slept with Yu-ri in a dungeon and a hotel, and just a few days later, things had progressed with Dong-hee too.
And not long ago, I'd even helped my old friend Min-ah through her heat cycle, so honestly, I was somewhat addicted to the pleasure of sex lately.
'It's not exactly a good thing...'
But it wasn't all bad either. To wield the Hunter Lust Manager ability properly, having a certain level of lust myself was probably for the best.
Unlike my school days, when I'd gritted my teeth and pushed away the women who got tangled up with me, now I had three or four partners I could release my pent-up desire with whenever it built up.
In that sense, restoring my relationship with Hye-eun was one of the key issues I needed to resolve. And that was exactly why I was fiddling with my smartphone, typing out messages right now.
「Hye-eun-ah」
「Whatcha doing?」
She might still be in a dungeon, so I'd planned to wait an hour or so leisurely for a reply. But thanks to her response coming back in under a minute after I sent the CocoaTalk message, I didn't have to.
「Eating.」
「Sorry, I'll CocoaTalk again after I'm done.」
「No!」
「Almost finished.」
「Cool?」
「What's up?」
「Why'd you text?」
「Still mad?」
「Mad about what?」
「I'm not mad.」
Her reactions suggested she really had been pissed off back then.
Fortunately, she seemed to have cooled off a bit now.
「Cool?」
「Did you text just to ask about that?」
「Kinda, yeah.」
「?」
「Wanna catch a movie this weekend if you're free? Been a while.」
「Outta nowhere?」
「Outta nowhere? We used to go all the time.」
「Even when I said I was busy, you'd buy tickets first and drag me along anyway.」
Movie theater dates had been an annual tradition with Hye-eun since our school days.
Looking back now, it felt like her way of giving me a breather from my obsession with awakening abilities.
Plus, back then before my own awakening, I had no chance against Hye-eun the shield warrior when she'd grab my wrist and drag me along.
I'd already picked up from her reaction to my girlfriend comment the other day that she saw me as more than just a childhood friend or sex buddy. So those school outings had probably been dates for her.
Meanwhile, I'd thought of them as just hanging out with a friend until recently.
「Yeah...」
「So, you in?」
「If we're doing it, meet at the VGC building like always this weekend.」
「Hold on.」
「Gotta sort my feelings (Message deleted)」
「Lemme check my schedule for weekend raids first.」
I definitely caught that "sort my feelings" message before she deleted it, so her switching it to pretending to be busy felt kinda cute.
She probably thought it'd make her seem too compliant if she agreed right away, trying some push-pull tactic. But knowing how backed up her lust was, it didn't faze me at all.
「If you're busy, no biggie.」
「I'm slammed next weekend after this one anyway.」
「How about the one after?」
I'd thrown her clumsy push-pull attempt back with extreme choices—two days from now or two weeks— so it didn't take long for a decisive reply from her.
「Let's go.」
「No.」
「Should be free.」
「Kinda busy but」
「Not too busy to make time.」
Hye-eun was a prodigy hunter, but when it came to romance, she sure seemed lacking in finesse.
「Then Saturday in two days, 11 AM in front of the VGC building.」
「Okay.」
「I'll get the tickets. You've covered them every time.」
「Got it.」
After sending that last CocoaTalk message, I closed the screen on my smartphone.
For now, I'd at least secured a meeting with Hye-eun. Next up was figuring out how to smooth things over with her.
Honestly, considering the average lust levels of women in this world, most screw-ups could be forgiven with one heartfelt fuck. But if I went that route, it might just deepen the rift again over the same issue.
I wanted to tie it up cleanly if possible, without sparking conflict for the same reason again.
"Should I just tell Hye-eun everything?"
That I could use my awakening ability by relieving built-up lust in female hunters.
That while our hookups were part of using my ability, every expression of love in bed was completely genuine.
That I'd called it a sex friend thing because dating a slut like me wouldn't be good for her.
I'd considered spilling it all and turning my longtime childhood friend into an understanding ally.
"...Nah, not yet."
My gut was telling me it wasn't time to reveal the truth about my awakening ability.
Of course, by the time I joined Hye-eun's party, I'd have to disclose it to some extent—not just to her, but to all her party members.
But one thing was certain: not now.
At the earliest, after I got my B-Rank Hunter license from the Hunter Autonomous Guild, got Min-ah's referral letter, and transferred to Silver and Jade Corporation as a B-Rank hunter.
The perfect time to reveal it to everyone would be when I joined Hye-eun's party as a frontline fighter and lust reliever, with her as leader.
For the record, "lust reliever" might sound odd, but surprisingly, it was an actual job that had existed. Not in our country, but in a few others as a trial.
The representatives and politicians weren't idiots.
They'd noticed early on the difference between hunters whose awakening abilities declined rapidly, forcing early retirement, and those who stayed active without retiring for years.
One job created from that insight was the lust reliever.
They believed the decline in hunters' skills and abilities was tied closely to their pent-up lust.
In a world where hunter numbers equated to national power, it was a somewhat unethical role created to retain them. A few countries excluding ours had even trialed a handful of men in the position.
'Of course, no one's doing it now.'
The lust reliever project was deemed ineffective in every country that tried it and scrapped within a decade or so.
The direction was right—female hunters' lust was linked to their abilities—but they hadn't dug deeper.
Simply relieving physical lust wasn't enough; it needed emotional orgasms and mutual empathy during sex.
They'd just thrown in men as lust-processing tools without that insight, so the results were predictably poor.
Even if bodies mingled, it was purely professional—no love or affection could bloom in such encounters.
The men's job satisfaction hit rock bottom, feeling like they were being squeezed dry, and the women didn't get full relief either.
In fact, incomplete relief even accelerated retirements, leading all countries to quietly abandon the project.
Afterward, research shifted away, assuming the issue lay elsewhere, so I was probably the only one worldwide who'd figured out that sex with genuine love and emotion delayed hunter retirements.
That's why so many cases of hunter women marrying former male hunters and delaying retirement stayed mere rumors—no solid scientific proof.
But in Hye-eun's party, including her, three women had already slept with me.
Hye-eun had kept operating normally before and after, but Yu-ri had definitely felt her skills return post-sex, and Min-ah, who needed periodic heat suppressants anyway, would need me.
To smoothly join her party later, letting things drift apart with Hye-eun now would be a bad call.
Of course, beyond mending her feelings, one crucial task remained.
'Priority one: raise my hunter rank.'
I got up from the hotel bed to head to the guild office.