Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Sinful Man (5)
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A-Rank Hunter, Kang Hye-eun.
The vanguard captain of the Sky-Blue Shield and the party leader who always had to give orders to everyone.
For the first time in ages, the brain of the woman who had to keep thinking no matter the crisis and make the optimal judgment for any situation had given up on thinking altogether.
"...Kang Hye-eun?"
"......"
"Say something... please."
"......"
Sex with a woman as a condition for an awakening ability? Could something so absurd actually exist?
A whirlwind of chaotic emotions endlessly churned through Kang Hye-eun's mind, leaving her standing there like a stone statue, trapped in repetitive thoughts.
Understanding something utterly incomprehensible required that much time and mental effort, and on top of that, negative possibilities she didn't even want to imagine began tormenting her all at once.
Maybe everything up until now with her and Sung Tae-kyung...
Maybe it had all just been because of his awakening ability.
"Hye-eun!"
"...!!!"
Kang Hye-eun, who had nearly plunged into a deep pit of denial, snapped back to reality the moment Sung Tae-kyung shouted right in front of her, barely clinging to her slipping sanity.
Of course, it didn't calm her heart, which was pounding with anxiety.
"S-s-sorry, Tae-kyung. W-w-what were you saying...?"
"I was telling you that my awakening ability is a bit different from a normal swordsmanship skill."
"R-right, yeah. S-so, th-that... um."
"I also said the condition for the awakening ability is having sex with women."
"L-love, huh. Th-that's... quite the impressive ability..."
"Hye-eun, please calm down and listen seriously."
Calm down?
Calm down?
The thought that everything she'd shared with him up to now might just be a byproduct of his awakening ability refused to leave her mind, and she couldn't imagine settling down with words like that.
"T-Tae-kyung..."
"Yeah."
"Th-that's... a joke, right...?"
It was reality denial for the umpteenth time today alone, but what came back was the truth she wanted to ignore.
"...What would I gain from making a weird joke like this?"
"Haha, ha..."
His response sounded anything but like a joke, and in an instant, her chest filled with all sorts of depressing emotions. Soon, a single tear streamed down her cheek.
"S-so that's how it was..."
"...Hye-eun?"
"I-I had no idea, like an idiot..."
"Why are you crying all of a sudden, Kang Hye-eun?"
"Thinking like a fool that you loved me too, Tae-kyung..."
She'd finally figured out why he hadn't acknowledged her as his girlfriend, but the truth she'd struggled to uncover was far crueler than the lies she'd told herself to deny it.
It didn't take long for that to lead to self-denial.
"Hye-eun, you might think this is a lie right now."
"...H-huh?"
"Regardless of this ridiculous restriction on my ability, the fact that I love you is undeniably true."
A lie.
It had to be a lie.
Just an impromptu fabrication to comfort her as she wept endlessly. Otherwise, none of his past actions toward her made any sense.
"A l-lie..."
"It's the truth, Hye-eun."
"......"
But her childhood friend's eyes, staring straight into hers as he repeated the words, were so earnest. To her, who had known him for over a decade, they didn't feel like a lie at all.
Her heart, roiling with confusion and denial, began to cool rapidly.
"R-really?"
"Really. I've truly felt attracted to you as a woman, and loved you deeply from the bottom of my heart for so long."
"For real? N-not a lie?"
"For real. Not a lie."
The words from the man across from her, meeting her eyes without deceit, that he loved her.
Just hearing them made her racing heart gradually subside, and at the same time, her face flushed with shame at her recent embarrassing behavior.
"S-sorry, Tae-kyung... I jumped to weird conclusions again without listening to the end..."
"No, I should have explained it step by step so you wouldn't misunderstand."
"Not a lie, right? Sung Tae-kyung loves Kang Hye-eun, right?"
"Yeah, not a lie."
"Hee-hee, hehehe..."
Having confirmed his love once more from his lips, Kang Hye-eun buried her face in Sung Tae-kyung's chest—her favorite spot.
More important to her than the story of his awakening as a male hunter or the condition involving sex with women was that he hadn't denied his love for her.
Just hearing that answer fulfilled the purpose of why she'd wanted to see him today.
"......"
However, that satisfaction was fleeting.
As she rubbed her tear-streaked face against the chest of the man she loved, one crucial fact came to mind.
He truly loved her, and knew she loved him in return—so why had he denied their relationship as lovers? That final question, which had tormented her most, remained unresolved.
...Honestly, considering his personality, she could guess his intentions.
"Tae-kyung."
"Yeah."
"Can I ask one thing?"
"...What."
"It's hypothetical, really."
"Yeah."
"What if... there are others besides me?"
"......"
The omitted subject was too hard to voice, but the sentence alone conveyed plenty to Sung Tae-kyung. He didn't answer, but his stiffening expression was answer enough.
"There are...?"
*Nod.*
"I know it feels weird to you."
"Then this doesn't?"
"Loving you while loving other women and having sex with them to raise my swordsmanship proficiency might sound completely insane at first glance."
"......"
"But it's all sincere. The love we shared in our intimacy. The love with the other women, too—all of it."
"Women... plural?"
Oh no.
Kang Hye-eun quietly began piecing it together upon seeing his frozen expression, as if he'd slipped up.
Excluding her, at least two—maybe three or more.
Because it was the awakening ability he'd wanted so badly. If having sex with more women let him level up faster, it was entirely plausible given the personality she'd observed.
The moment he'd shattered the barrier between cheating or not for strength, counting beyond that might already be pointless.
Admitting to loving two women at once was tantamount to resolving to toss aside his chastity for power.
...At least, that's how it felt to Kang Hye-eun.
"Sorry, Hye-eun."
"......"
"You seem to have figured it out already, but denying I was your boyfriend last time wasn't because I don't love you. Absolutely not."
"......"
"Trash like me doesn't deserve to be your boyfriend. That's why I denied it. Even if I were your boyfriend now, all I'd do is make you cry like this."
Why was this happening?
All the questions that had puzzled her so much until this morning were resolved, yet the more she learned the truth, the more she wished she could go back to not knowing.
And even now, feeling pathetic for taking comfort in the one fact that he hadn't denied loving her, she still asked why he'd had no choice but to act that way.
"You needed it... to get stronger?"
"...Yeah."
"Not enough with just my love...?"
"The restriction required love with more than one person."
"I... see..."
Tae-kyung had no choice either.
He needed it to get stronger.
...Yeah, he probably needed a restriction like that.
If the world's only male hunter had no such limit, there'd have been other male awakeners by now.
Kang Hye-eun desperately rationalized it that way for herself and justified Sung Tae-kyung's actions.
There was still too much love left in her heart to deny everything he'd done.
"T-Tae-kyung."
She wanted to tell him to abandon that awakening ability right now.
She'd support him for life, so give up the dream of becoming the world's strongest hunter.
Instead, she'd become that famous, outstanding hunter, and he could be her husband.
She'd forgive all the lies. She'd pretend the other women never happened.
She repeated those words in her head to her childhood friend over and over.
"Th-the way to raise swordsmanship proficiency... what exactly are the conditions?"
But a single sense of guilt squeezing her chest prevented her from saying it.
'If left like this, he'll never awaken as a hunter and end up a lifelong hunter wannabe bachelor.'
'I'll wait. Until Tae-kyung decides to give up dangerous work like being a male hunter and become my husband.'
She'd never once imagined he'd awaken, so trying to control him now that he had his dream ability felt like pure selfishness.
She, who hadn't trusted him until now, had no right to block his dream either—that thought crushed her heart.
"Precisely, it's having sex with female hunters."
"Sex meaning... how deep...?"
"Proof of intense love—until we both reach the peak of pleasure called climax."
"I... see..."
Having heard the conditions of his awakening ability from his mouth, Kang Hye-eun quietly made her decision.
Instead of blocking his dream for her own happiness, she'd help him achieve it and make him happy.
"Then, for getting stronger through... l-love..."
"...Yeah."
"Could it... work with me right now too?"
Because her own awakened ability was the Warrior of the Guardian Shield.