Chapter 59: It’s Not Like Banging Her Is a Crime
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 59: It’s Not Like Banging Her Is a Crime
"Dad, why would you say something that puts so much pressure on him..."
Yu Min-hyeok was currently experiencing something he had never encountered in his entire life.
It was a situation he had never even imagined, a story he had always believed happened only to other people.
"Think about how burdened he must feel! I really hate you right now!"
'Pa-Father'—a support group for fathers who shared their worries about their daughters ignoring them.
In that group, Yu Min-hyeok had been an absolute deity.
He had a daughter in the Victory Academy Disciplinary Committee who had never once shown him a rebellious phase during puberty.
She was affectionate and talked to him often.
They even had a father-daughter relationship close enough for her to seek his advice on her troubles!
Yu Min-hyeok was a god among the Pa-Fathers.
"What if Tae-yang hates me now...?"
But now, that absolute status had crumbled due to a single mistake.
From now on, he would be reduced to the same state as the other fathers, shoulders slumped and sighing in despair.
It was the first time in his life he had faced Su-jin’s pouting face.
Unable to muster the courage to meet her eyes, he stared intently at the floor.
He had told his daughter about inviting the boy for a meal.
He had naturally expected praise and had been puffing out his chest, but what greeted him was a grim reality.
Even his wife was subtly taking their daughter's side, rebuking him.
She even gave him the cold shoulder, complaining that he had invited a guest so suddenly that she didn't know what to prepare.
‘It won’t last long anyway.’
Yu Min-hyeok interpreted the situation positively.
Change always triggers a rejection response.
This was surely just a bit of pushback before the invitation turned into something good.
He was a man who had always found the best way out of countless life-threatening crises.
He could easily weather his family’s cold stares and anger, turning the atmosphere positive whenever he pleased.
Yu Min-hyeok faced the situation with a face full of confidence.
Day one: His wife and daughter were still angry.
Day two: Breakfast consisted of nothing but rice and radish kimchi.
Day three: He liked a warm breakfast, but he didn't like cup ramen.
"Huh?"
Something was going wrong.
He was certain this treatment would end by tomorrow.
There was no reason to keep giving him the cold shoulder when a guest was coming over.
But what if this situation continued even after Baek Tae-yang left?
He might fall so far that he’d become the lowest-ranking member of the Pa-Father meetings.
‘...I have to stop that at all costs.’
The karma from teasing the others had piled up like a mountain.
He had even bragged about how hard it was to eat a full seven-dish spread every single day.
He didn't have the courage to show them how far he had fallen now.
Ring... Ring... Ring...
There was only one way.
—Hello?
"It’s me, Hunter Baek Tae-yang. How have you been?"
—Of course, Hunter Yu Min-hyeok. I've been doing well, thanks to you.
He had no choice but to use the situation.
After loudly announcing that he was naturally on the phone with Baek Tae-yang, he walked out onto the veranda.
He left the veranda door slightly ajar so the conversation would drift inside.
With an Awakener’s enhanced hearing, the conversation would be perfectly audible even from inside the room.
Just in case, he even turned on the speakerphone.
"Since you said... you wanted to see Su-jin so badly, I decided to suggest the invitation."
—Huh?
Though they had never coordinated this, Yu Min-hyeok trusted Baek Tae-yang.
He believed that with the interview skills, tact, and social grace Tae-yang had shown, this would surely work.
Normally, he wouldn't have looked kindly on anything Baek Tae-yang did.
But with things as they were, Yu Min-hyeok found himself acknowledging the boy as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"You said it last time, didn't you? That you really wanted to have a meal at our house."
—Ah... Ah-ha! Yes... that’s right. I did earnestly request a chance to have a meal with your daughter.
"Haha, right... So, about that..."
Yu Min-hyeok stopped there and turned off the speakerphone.
There was no need to let them hear too much.
A few words exchanged in a short time would be enough to satisfy his daughter.
‘...Tae-yang wanted to see me?’
In reality, Yoo Su-jin was eavesdropping on the entire conversation.
An Awakener’s enhanced physical abilities made listening to a phone call through a wall a simple task.
‘So Tae-yang and I felt the same way...’
She felt a pang of guilt for snapping at her father without knowing the truth.
She thought he had just invited him out of the blue, but to think there was such a story behind it.
Su-jin kicked her feet against the bed in excitement, pondering even more deeply over what to wear tomorrow.
"...I don't want to look like I tried too hard..."
She wanted to give off the vibe of a fresh, innocent first-love noona.
The kind of vibe where a man naturally falls into her arms once he catches a whiff of her spring-like scent...
‘Kyaa! I must be crazy.’
Of course, since she had already shared skin with Tae-yang multiple times, reacting like this was technically strange.
But embarrassment was still embarrassment.
Thinking back, she wondered where she had found the courage to ask him to wash her at the hotel.
‘I don't even have anyone to ask...’
Birds of a feather flock together, and all of Su-jin’s friends were just like her.
Friends who had barely ever spoken to men and had rarely ever dressed up.
For just this moment, she felt a tiny—truly tiny—bit of resentment toward those friends.
If she had known, she would have watched more beauty influencer videos in advance.
She felt a wave of regret.
‘...I wonder how much he missed me.’
She wanted to send him a message and ask right now.
Her heart was pounding so hard she couldn't sleep.
She put on a sleeping mask for tomorrow's meeting and even used a bath bomb in the tub to leave a faint, pleasant scent on her skin.
It would be perfect if she could just fall asleep now.
But hearing that he had secretly asked to see her made sleep impossible.
‘I’ll ask him secretly tomorrow...’
Asking via message was out of the question because it would leave a permanent record on the screen.
It was enough to just hold the words on her tongue for that perfect moment.
‘Let’s just sleep for now!’
No matter how much she thought about it, sleeping was the priority.
She couldn't show Tae-yang a face with dark circles because she failed to manage her condition.
‘...I miss you.’
She made a short wish in her heart and closed her eyes.
She hoped tomorrow would come quickly.
++++++++++++++
—Do you have any idea how much of a loss I’ve taken? It was incredibly hard to silence the reporters and clean up the videos spread across the internet. But how could you not even give me a single call? I knew you made the request vague for a reason, but don't you think this is too much!
"I was really busy, I'm telling you. I didn't have a moment to call. Honestly, Melanie, you don't see me as someone that shameless, do you?"
Concentrated fury flew through the phone from early morning.
He had wondered why she hadn't contacted him yesterday, and it turned out she had been swamped.
She must have put in a lot of effort to delete or take down every single video related to Kim Min-su's scream.
So, he quietly took the brunt of her anger without saying much.
To be fair, he was entirely in the wrong.
Of course, the fact that he was driving and couldn't give a proper response also played a part.
—Don't think this ends with just one new weapon test. You already guessed that, didn't you?
"Of course. I told you, I'm not that shameless. I know you went through a lot of trouble."
However, there was one disappointing thing.
He had hoped Melanie would be incompetent enough that Kim Min-su’s humiliating behavior would spread across the globe.
If that happened, his influence as the protagonist would naturally wither even without stealing all his stakes.
‘I guess that’s impossible as long as Chubby Ahn is around.’
He could roughly guess how much that guy cherished Kim Min-su.
He had gone as far as preparing a virgin succubus just to build up the guy's dick into a massive one.
He probably planned to fill in Min-su's shortcomings one by one by having him complete quests.
—Wait, you're not driving Rocinante again, are you? The engine noise is way too loud.
"Yeah. What other car do I have besides Rocinante?"
—I really wish you would start acting like a proper Awakener.
"People like this much better."
Melanie had a point.
But currently, public opinion was entirely on his side.
Min-su became a laughingstock because he was an unknown who cried in the street; if Tae-yang had cried, everyone would have been worried sick.
Situations changed in real-time depending on how people perceived them.
—Anyway! We’re renegotiating the terms, right now!
"I'm a bit busy at the moment. You figure out the adjustments and let me know. As long as it's not too extreme, I'll accept."
—Right now? What could possibly be busier than th—
"Thanks for worrying about me. I'll call you next time. Bye."
He wanted to talk more, but he was right in front of Su-jin’s house.
He had followed the address she sent, and a sight beyond his imagination unfolded before him.
‘A 1st-Grade Hunter is definitely a 1st-Grade Hunter...’
There was a reason Su-jin didn't live in the dorms.
Why live in a dorm when you have a five-story detached house with a garden?
A quick search for Yu Min-hyeok would bring up more than five pages of his achievements.
In the world of Hunters where results were everything, it meant he had an enormous reputation.
That meant he was wealthy, so in a way, the sight before him was only natural.
‘If it weren't for the Department Store Gate, I might have felt a bit intimidated.’
He de-summoned Rocinante and pressed the doorbell at the main gate.
Beep—
The gate opened immediately without anyone checking who it was.
He worried about security for a moment, but then his thoughts shifted.
Who would dare attack an Awakener’s household?
No matter how low their intelligence, they would at least value their own lives.
"Hello."
He passed through the main gate and knocked on the front door as he spoke.
There was a brief, noisy commotion inside before the door swung open.
"You're here. Hunter Baek Tae-yang."
"Hello, Father."
"...You're closing the distance too fast. Call me what you usually do."
Honestly, Tae-yang hadn't expected a warm welcome, but he didn't think Yu Min-hyeok would be this prickly.
‘I even gave him such a brilliant bit of improvisation yesterday...’
When they spoke on the phone yesterday, they had been perfectly in sync, so he thought they had become friendly.
The atmosphere was good, and he had even performed an unwanted act for him, so shouldn't he be treated better?
Yu Min-hyeok, who opened the door, had eyes like a hawk, as if he had forgotten everything that happened.
To be invited and then treated like this felt truly unfair.
‘It’s not like banging her is a crime.’
Of course, he admitted there were some radical aspects to how it happened.
He acknowledged that he hadn't just used the situation but had actively utilized his skills.
However, he felt the aftercare had been perfect.
After all, they went on dates, and afterward, they had enjoyed each other's bodies without him even using his skills.
At this point, wasn't it a clean, consensual relationship?
"Dad! What is wrong with you!"
A dainty voice immediately caused the gruff Yu Min-hyeok to falter.
A voice that sounded like a cluster of cute little star-clouds instantly transformed the atmosphere.
"Tae-yang, you're here?"
"Yes, Noona. I missed you."
"Re... Really? Hehe..."
As soon as Su-jin’s face flushed red and she broke into a smile, a harsh sound erupted from behind her.
Creeaaaak.
The doorknob Yu Min-hyeok was holding let out a pained scream as it was crushed under his grip.
‘I shouldn't take this lightly.’
He felt like entering an S-Class Gate would be more relaxing than this.