Chapter 28
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: The All-Accepting Little Sister Jeong Ji-su (1)
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"Wha... you startled me."
"Why are you freaking out so much? And why are you hiding your phone? Were you looking at something naughty?"
"My period tracker app. That's what I was checking."
"Hmm... is it that time already?"
Her husband's casual remark calmed her racing heart.
What? That time already?
Is that something you say to me?
'I'm the one begging you to do it... and you can't even remember that?'
He turned his head side to side, grumbling as if he were exhausted.
"I'm beat today. Gotta head to the guild early tomorrow morning again."
"Well, nothing we can do about that. Don't push yourself."
"Huh? That's... surprisingly agreeable. Normally, you'd cling to me a lot more stubbornly."
That would've been the case.
If things were as they used to be.
Instead, she stood up and started brewing coffee.
This was what her husband meant when he said he was tired.
I'm too tired to sleep with you.
I'm tired, so hurry up and load that buff into my coffee.
'I'm basically a buff shuttle now, huh?'
As the sound of grinding coffee beans filled the air, she reflected on her past self.
The her who had tried so hard to look good for him, even just a little.
Yet her husband never changed.
She had hoped they could be a couple who passionately desired each other...
But before she knew it, their desires had diverged completely.
"You came back sooner than planned? You said it'd take a week."
"Hmm... Guess I've been in good form lately. The monsters went down easy. Might as well sweep 'em all myself while I'm at it."
"That's unusual. Hunters dragged into emergency mobilization usually don't work that hard..."
"Am I your average hunter? You know that. Unlike you or A-young, I survived."
"......"
"Surviving means you're strong."
Her husband tapped his temple and grinned.
Words rose in her throat: Is that something you say in front of someone who quit being a hunter?
But she didn't say it outright.
Instead, she loaded the coffee with a heavy dose of libido suppression buff.
'What's the point of being strong in other ways when you can't even fulfill your role as a man?'
He hadn't always been like this, but today her husband seemed especially loathsome.
His self-aggrandizing boasts were just pathetic.
"Oh, honey. Do you know Hunter Jeong Ji-su?"
"Is there a hunter who doesn't? What kind of stupid question is that?"
"Did you end up in the same sinkhole as her this time?"
"Hmm... yeah, pretty much."
"Ahh... that explains it. Hunter Jeong Ji-su came back early too."
"......"
"So that's why it wrapped up so fast..."
She didn't give him specific grief.
As if saying: What difference does one B-Rank hunter's effort make? Aren't you embarrassed to take credit for what Jeong Ji-su did, pretending like you pulled it off?
She just let the nuance hang in the air.
"Here. The fatigue recovery buffs were all tapped out today, so I only put on the Deep Sleep Buff. Drink it when you get home."
"Hmm... the Deep Sleep Buff doesn't feel like much. Might as well not bother."
"If you'd at least texted after clearing the sinkhole, I could've prepped it. Who knew you'd come back this soon?"
Hunter Jeong Ji-su had called her brother.
Because of that, she hadn't been able to have sex with Ji-ham.
But she wasn't entirely displeased by the call. If anything, she envied it.
'If only he'd at least text me...'
"You're prickly today, babe. Must be that time of the month?"
"......"
"Alright, fine. I'll head out first."
Her husband grabbed the coffee and waved lightly.
"What about dinner?"
"Dinner? I already ate."
"It's been so long since we saw each other... at least stay for dinner..."
"Oh, sorry, sorry. Let's eat together tomorrow. That cool? I'm off."
"......"
Her husband pulled out his phone and strode away from the cafe.
"Unbelievable..."
This change in his attitude wasn't sudden.
He'd probably always been like this.
The only thing that had changed was how she saw him now.
"I miss Ji-ham..."
She wanted to meet those eyes that hungered for her.
She wanted to be held in the arms of a man who showed through words and actions just how much he desired her.
She opened her photo gallery again and checked the picture of herself.
In the photo, she looked outwardly disheveled, but...
She appeared incredibly happy...
Utterly incomparable to how she felt now.
"Got it. From now on, I'll keep my awakening a total secret."
After a deep conversation with Ji-su,
we established our future course of action.
"Oppa. Let me confirm one more time. Right now, the only ones who know you can stop time are... me and that cafe owner. Right?"
"Yeah. Others might suspect they got hit by some weird skill, but they won't know it's a Time Stop skill."
"Da-hye, was it...? You sure she can keep her mouth shut? If the secret leaks, you'll have no choice but to become a sinkhole-diving hunter."
"It's fine. She's trustworthy."
"......Really?"
Ji-su suddenly plopped down in the chair across from me, furrowing her brow sharply.
"You two seem oddly close."
"Well... I'm the building owner. That's why. Plus, I'm a regular at her cafe."
Ji-su shot me a suspicious glance but then asked abruptly,
"Okay, just one question. Those naughty missions... you did them with her too, right?"
"......"
Her instincts were sharp as ever.
This was a current S-Rank hunter for you.
"A few times... yeah."
"......"
Ji-su let out a slightly hollow laugh before pressing,
"So she has marks like this too?"
Ji-su showed the red kiss mark on her nape.
It probably wouldn't be quite as vivid, but Da-hye definitely had similar ones scattered across her chest.
Da-hye loved dirty talk, but she also loved aggressive skinship.
Her reactions were especially good when I sucked, bit, and fondled her flat chest.
Naturally, that led to leaving kiss marks there.
"I had no choice. Couldn't risk the penalty."
"So, how far did you go?"
"......"
Kissing and creampieing her?
No way I could say that.
"Ji-su, that's too personal to get into right now..."
"......"
Ji-su rubbed her forehead.
"Does her husband know? That you pulled that naughty stunt?"
"...Probably not."
"This is insane... Okay, we need to tweak the plan. Oppa, let's run some sinkholes together."
"Huh...? Didn't you just say to keep the awakening secret?"
"That husband of hers is a B-Rank hunter over level 100. Frontline tanker, so no threatening skills, but his stats are high. He could crush you in one go."
"Ahh... so that's why you want me to level up?"
Ji-su nodded.
"Just in case. I can't always be by your side to protect you. Even with that cheat Time Stop skill, if you're ambushed before you can shout the keyword, you're done."
In the blink of an eye, Ji-su's fingertip brushed my throat lightly.
It was an attack too fast for the eye to follow.
Yeah, if it was something like this, my head would be gone before I could utter the keyword.
"You don't seriously think the secret will stay safe forever, do you?"
"R-right. I get what you're saying. But I'm not a hunter? Sinkholes are hunter-only. And even if I register as an awakener, the whole world will force me to fight monsters."
"We'll sneak in."
"......"
"Once on the way in, once on the way out. That's still two Time Stops."
"Isn't that... a crime?"
Ji-su smirked at my words.
"No choice."
"That's... unexpected."
"What is?"
"Honestly, I was half-expecting you to kill me for saying that. You've always hated bad deeds, slacking off, stuff like that."
Especially during her villain-hunting phase—her sense of justice had pierced the heavens.
The scariest moment was when she castrated every villain using skills for sex crimes.
If she'd found out back then that I was messing around with a married woman... I'd probably be in a hospital bed right now.
"Oppa. Even the purest water can't sustain fish. I hate dirty stuff too... but the world isn't all clean."
"......"
"What can we do? You're still my oppa. It's not like you're willfully going astray—it's the awakening forcing your hand. Yelling at you won't change anything. Better to figure out how to resolve this. I'll help make sure you don't stray further down the wrong path."
Truly grateful...
But she already knew what I was doing in VR?
H-how much does she know?
Does she know I'm customizing and banging real people I've met?
"Oppa. Let's get one thing straight first."
Ji-su started speaking with an unusually serious expression.
"Those missions pop up based on nearby women, right?"
"Y-yeah."
"Then from now on, you don't need to explain them to me in detail. You can just... do the missions on me."
"......Huh?"
"I'll endure it for your sake."
Her utterly unexpected words left me dumbfounded.
"You'll recharge Time Stop uses when you wake up, right? Then a mission will spawn on the nearest woman—me."
"R-right."
"Missions don't spawn while one's active. So if you take one from me every morning, you can roam freely outside."
"......"
"Then clear it at home at night. Growth will be slower, but it's better than dragging random women into it."
"But... that means you'd have to take them all..."
"That's why I'm saying I'll take them."
"Still... what if a mission crosses the line...?"
"Then take the penalty."
"......"
"You're not asking me to take even that... right?"
Ji-su averted her gaze slightly and touched her nape.
Her fingertips were stroking the red mark I'd left behind.