“Uh?”

I was taken aback. We had arrived right in front of my house, yet she said there was still more to go. That meant she was definitely planning to come inside.

“What do you mean?”

“I want to take a look inside your house.”

“Team Leader. No, Hunter Sooah, that’s a bit difficult…”

I was naturally flustered, and my face turned red. My house was a complete mess.

If I had known this would happen, I would have tidied up a bit beforehand. Right now, it was in no state for anyone to see.

It wasn’t just Hunter Sooah; even family or close friends would surely have something to say about the state of my home. It was incredibly embarrassing.

I blocked the entrance with my hand.

There was no way I was letting her in.

I was absolutely determined. If she managed to get in, I could never show my face in the Guild again.

“Why? What’s the problem?”

She looked puzzled, clearly questioning why I couldn’t show her inside.

‘Well, it’s because Hunter Sooah is neat and probably keeps her house in order. But I am definitely not that type, especially since I’ve been so busy lately.’

Seeing Hunter Sooah react that way only strengthened my resolve to stop her.

“No. It’s nothing serious~ I just want to check if my teammate is doing well. Please let me in, okay?”

She was shifting her body, looking for a way to slip past me.

“Ah. No, it’s not possible. Really, I cannot show you my house.”

“Um. Is it because of Baek Jihoon?”

Her expression suddenly sharpened, and she looked scary. It was as if she could commit murder with that look.

I had never seen such a fearsome expression before.

“Could it be that there’s a woman in your house? Is that why you can’t show me? No way…?”

Her eyes were skeptical, glaring intensely.

“Eh? No, no! That’s not it at all. It’s just that I’m not prepared for visitors. I can’t let you in. If you see my place today, I might have to quit because of the embarrassment.”

I was resorting to extreme explanations to deter her.

“Wait? All I want is to see if you’re doing well, and you’re talking about quitting? Just because I can’t see your home…”

‘No, it’s seriously dirty and so unkempt that I might really have to quit.’

I was resolute in my refusal. I had no idea what Hunter Sooah was thinking, but I had no intention of showing her my place in its current state.

“No, no, no. Absolutely not today. But! I promise I’ll invite you properly next time. I’ll get everything ready.”

I felt like I was begging her to leave. It was somewhat amusing to be asking her not to come to my house.

“Hmmm…”

I sensed her hesitation.

‘Hmm. I need to understand her intentions to offer the right bait. Does she actually like me or not?’

“I’ll formally invite you next time, and I’ll prepare dinner too. But if you just walk away today, you won’t ever get another chance!!”

I prayed silently.

Hoping that Hunter Sooah would just back off.

Surely, she wouldn’t push through this time.

“Dinner?”

Fortunately, my gamble seemed to be paying off a bit.

I could sense her voice slightly changing.

“Okay, sounds good. Then you have to invite me for dinner next time. Got it? But you must only invite me.”

She was adding strange conditions.

‘Yeah, how could I know if she’d invite others?’

It wasn’t going to be easy.

‘Am I really going to end up dating her?’

I found myself lost in futile daydreams.

Of course, in my mind, there was a 0% chance.

No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t make sense for a D-rank Hunter to date the number one S-rank woman.

‘Could the Incubus trait have rubbed off on me?’

There were many things to think about, but that wasn’t important right now.

Getting Hunter Sooah to go back was my immediate priority.

“Sure! I’ll do that. Just the two of us with the Team Leader…”

I was also confused about what was going on.

“Alright then, I’ll come by next time. Take it easy today~ Hmmm~”

Lee Sooah hummed as she walked down the stairs.

“Sigh… I barely managed to stop her.”

Now I felt the pressure of having to invite her over again next time.

Even for dinner.

But still, it was better than being found out today.

Creeeak.

I opened my front door.

“Oh man… that was a close call.”

The smell hit me immediately as I opened the door.

‘Need to ventilate this place.’

‘And tidy up the laundry.’

There were so many things I needed to do.

*

After hurriedly cleaning up.

‘This should at least not be embarrassing for others to see.’

I looked around my place, feeling a bit proud.

Until now, I hadn’t had anyone over, so it had been like a wild space.

‘What in the world happened today?’

I felt overwhelmed by how quickly things escalated.

I was suddenly being pulled closer to Hunter Sooah.

And then she even came to my house.
EP.40

“Is this thanks to Manager Cha…?”

I felt a little confused about whether I should be grateful. Anyway, today had been somewhat awkward, but I sensed that tomorrow would be even more so.

Thump.

I lay on the sofa, checking my status window.

“Speaking of which, Chae Suhyeon. Why is she so quiet?”

I had suddenly decreased her points by 10%, so she must be fuming about it, yet there was no response from her.

“Huh. Oddly enough, this is making me a bit irritated.”

I couldn’t tell if she was preparing something or if she was just going silent as a form of protest against me.

“Here. Eat this.”

Today felt strange; I couldn’t quite tell if I was in a good mood or not.

I impulsively took action.

[ Would you like to proceed with a 40% acceleration of recovery? This will consume 400 points. ]

[ Yes ]

“I don’t know, I’ll just go for it. At this level, I should get a reaction.”

I thought she would freak out even with just 10% acceleration, but it turned out to be less exciting than I expected.

“Well then? I’ll raise it more. Let’s go all out.”

“It feels a bit wasteful to spend points on this… but it’s fine. I’m loaded with points.”

134,352,500 points

I had an ample amount.

Considering that an S-rank Hunter usually needs 50 million points to become one, I still had almost 100 million points left post-upgrade.

Even after using some for basic stat improvements, I was still in a very comfortable situation.

Spending a few hundred points to mess with this girl was nothing.

I eagerly anticipated Chae Suhyeon’s reaction.

*

“Hmmm~ So Jihoon lives in a place like this.”

Clip-clop.

As Lee Sooah walked toward Sillim Station, she thought to herself.

“Yeah, I’ve been too indifferent toward my teammates. I need to take more interest. I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt unnecessarily. Hmm.”

She made a firm resolution.

Despite the fact that her focus was solely on Baek Jihoon and not the entire A-Team, she was rationalizing her actions as being for the team’s sake.

“Hmmm~ I wonder what I should prepare for dinner. Hmm~~”

She seemed to be in a much better mood.

*

Chomp.

Chae Suhyeon was gnashing her teeth.

She had never experienced such a lack of progress in her life.

“Damn it. This bastard Baek Jihoon. He clearly wasn’t anything special. Why is this happening?”

Things had progressed in a completely unexpected direction.

She was sure that by simply taking Jihoon down, he would quietly fade away, but the resistance had been far too intense.

She had even lost points in the process.

“Ugh… now it’s down to 14%… It’s okay, it’s okay. I can handle this.”

She was desperately trying to figure out a way around it to convince Baek Jihoon somehow.

“AAAAAH!”

In the midst of this, she let out a shrill scream.

“What’s happening?? Baek Jihoon? No. Why suddenly?”

Her status window had unexpectedly jumped to 54%.

“No, wait. Why did it suddenly go up by 40%? What’s going on? Hmm?”

Her mind was racing with confusion.

Brain freeze.

“Is this a protest against me? Are you just trying to piss me off?”

Chae Suhyeon could barely contain her frustration.

She quickly began dialing Baek Jihoon’s number like a madman.

“Pick up. Please, please pick up!!! Baek Jihoon!!!!!”

Her eyes were filled with determination.

*

Tring.

“Huh?”

I was slightly taken aback.

I hadn’t expected a response, yet here it was.

“So it seems the 10% increase really didn’t faze him.”

I wore a slight smile.

“What’s up?”

I answered the phone very coldly.

“Oppa!!!”

Her tone was completely submissive.

“What is it?”

“You know~ I~~~”

She was trying to sound as sweet as possible.

“Of course, she’s acting like this because she’s at a disadvantage.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her.

“I want to meet with you, Oppa~ I’ll meet all your conditions, so can you please just give me a chance? I’m the top S-rank, you know. I’m really busy, but I want to see you. Please.”

Her voice was genuinely filled with sincerity.

“Are you finally getting desperate?”

I couldn’t resist a laugh inside.

“You told me to get lost, right? Said I was unnecessary? Suhyeon, how pathetic. You should stick to what you said. Don’t contact me again.”

Click.

I immediately hung up the phone.

Then quietly blocked her number.

I felt a bit relieved.

A true fresh start.

“Now I can just toss away all this clinginess.”

I quietly reopened my status window.

[ Would you like to proceed with a 50% acceleration of recovery? This will cost 500 points. ]

[ Yes ]

“Today, I’m completely ending this. It’s going to be so satisfying.”

I decided to let out all the pent-up thoughts in my mind.

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