“Uh, Soo-ah?”
“Yes?”

I found myself in an S-rank dungeon alone with Lee Soo-ah. I wasn’t entirely sure why she was so insistent on this, but her urgency had somehow drawn me in, leaving me with no choice but to go along with her request.

“Is there something specific you’re trying to confirm?”
“N-no...”

She seemed a bit flustered as she moved deeper into the dungeon.

“About yesterday...”
“P-please forget about yesterday! It won’t happen again. It was a mistake, just a mistake. And Ji-hoon?”

She suddenly rushed over to me, her expression tense.

“I just want to make it clear, in case there’s any misunderstanding—I don’t have feelings for you, Ji-hoon.”
“?”

She blurted it out so abruptly.

“I never said you did.”
“N-no, I mean...”

Her face turned bright red, and she quickly walked ahead into the dungeon.

“Wait, we need to stick together. We’re supposed to do this as a team,” I called out, following her as she hastily moved forward.

‘What’s going on with her?’

“Wait, just the two of them? An S-rank dungeon? Even if it’s a short one, why would they go alone?”

Yoo Hana’s face was scrunched up in displeasure as she watched Lee Soo-ah and Baek Ji-hoon head into the dungeon together. She felt as though she’d been blindsided by Lee Soo-ah.

‘Seriously, Soo-ah? You’re going on a date? In an S-rank dungeon? Using a place where others can’t easily join in?’

She was taken aback by the unexpected move. She hadn’t anticipated things escalating so quickly.

‘Has the competition already started? I didn’t think it would progress this fast. This is going to be tougher than I thought.’

She could feel how rapidly everything was changing around her, and the pace of it was starting to alarm her. In just one week, so much had shifted, and she realized she needed to stay sharp, or she could be left behind.

‘Get a grip, Soo-ah...’

Lee Soo-ah’s thoughts were in turmoil as she slashed her way through the dungeon’s monsters.

‘Do I really have feelings for Baek Ji-hoon? Or did he do something to me? What’s going on with these status effects? Is Ji-hoon removing them somehow? Who am I, really?’

She was starting to realize that something was seriously wrong with her.

‘This isn’t like me. I’ve been so off these past two weeks... This can’t continue...’

She decided to endure and see it through, determined to figure things out.

‘If I keep thinking about Baek Ji-hoon after clearing this dungeon... then maybe the problem is with him...’

She nodded to herself as she continued to cut through the monsters with precision.

‘This is how I’ve always been. But I feel like I’ve been under some kind of strange spell these last two weeks.’

She focused on her work with renewed intensity, reminding herself of the professional, driven S-rank Hunter she was supposed to be.

‘What’s with Lee Soo-ah today? Why is she so intense all of a sudden?’

Her erratic behavior was starting to give me whiplash. She seemed to oscillate between different moods each day, leaving me confused and struggling to keep up.

‘Could this be because of my Incubus trait? Or maybe it’s because we brought in I-seul? Or was she shaken by the news?’

Lee Soo-ah’s actions were impossible to predict, and I found myself simply trying to keep up with her while focusing on clearing the dungeon.

‘Alright, this dungeon’s worth about 200 points... I’ll use around 100... Not many purple mana stones here, though.’

Compared to the dungeon we cleared yesterday, this one was significantly less valuable.

‘I’ll finish this up and see what Soo-ah has to say.’

Bang!

The boss monster fell after the final blow.

“Huff... huff...”

Lee Soo-ah panted heavily, clearly affected by the various status effects that had taken hold during the battle.

‘So it’s true—these status effects are unavoidable in S-rank dungeons. But why...? Ji-hoon doesn’t seem to be affected...’

Lee Soo-ah glanced at me, noticing that her own status effects were gradually fading.

‘As I thought... Ji-hoon must be doing something to help...’

But the real issue was how she felt about Baek Ji-hoon. When she took a moment to collect herself, she realized that her thoughts had been entirely consumed by him.

‘So... he’s definitely doing something, right? Am I... am I being manipulated?’

Her expression grew increasingly serious.

‘Is he really removing the status effects? But why do I keep feeling drawn to him...?’
‘I need to resist this. It feels like he’s toying with me somehow. Soo-ah, get a grip. You need to stay rational and not fall under his spell.’

Lee Soo-ah was in a deeply conflicted state. She couldn’t fully grasp or accept what was happening to her.

“Soo-ah, it’s over. Shall we head out?” I asked, uncertain whether she had been preoccupied with the status screen or if she was suspicious of something.

“Uh... Ji-hoon.”
“Yes?”

I was tidying up my status screen when Lee Soo-ah approached me.

“I don’t have feelings for you, Ji-hoon.”
“Excuse me?”

There she goes again. We’d just successfully cleared the S-rank dungeon, and now she was saying strange things.

‘What’s with her? And what about all the behavior I’ve seen over the past two weeks? Wasn’t she interested in me?’

Even Hyung-seok had mentioned that it seemed like Lee Soo-ah was interested in me, pointing out that she wasn’t usually like this.

But now, all of a sudden, she’s denying it.

‘Is she playing hard to get? Or is it because there’s too much competition? What’s going on?’

I couldn’t make sense of her sudden denial, especially after everything that had happened.

‘Could it be that removing the status effects yesterday increased her affection too quickly...?’

That was just a guess, but I started to wonder if reaching a certain level of affection might trigger some kind of self-denial, almost like a backlash.

“I’m telling you, Ji-hoon, I don’t like you. I’m just saying this in case you’re getting the wrong idea!”
“I haven’t misunderstood anything.”

“R-really?”

She seemed taken aback by my response.

“Alright then... And yesterday was definitely a mistake!!!”

With that, she hurried away, clearly embarrassed.

‘Ah... So that’s it. I guess coming to my place and hugging me yesterday must have been a shock for her. So she’s struggling to come to terms with it, huh?’

I could tell from her expression and behavior that she was rattled by the fact that she had lost control of herself.

It seemed like she was trying to rein herself in today, acting more distant and brusque, perhaps to regain control over her feelings.

‘Well, I guess I’ll have to see how this plays out.’

We stepped out of the dungeon.

“Ji... Ji-hoon!!!!”

It was Yoo Hana.

“Oh, Yoo Hana. What brings you here?”
“Why did you come here with only Lee Soo-ah?”

“Oh, Soo-ah wanted to test something.”

“That’s not fair! It’s against the rules to come alone with her!”

“Against what rules?”

“Uh... I mean...”

Yoo Hana seemed flustered by my question.

“Soo-ah, is that true?”
“Hana, calm down. It’s nothing like that. I just needed to check something...” Soo-ah said as she led Yoo Hana away.

‘Check something, huh...’

“Uh... Yoo Hana.”
“Yes?”

Yoo Hana, visibly annoyed, stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at Lee Soo-ah.

“I think something strange is going on.”
“What do you mean?”

“I think... we might be under Ji-hoon’s influence.”

“What??”

Lee Soo-ah began explaining her suspicions.

“So, you’re saying Ji-hoon... is trying to seduce us?”
“I don’t know exactly, but it feels like something along those lines...”

“But why would Ji-hoon do that? I haven’t felt anything like that. Did something happen between you and Ji-hoon?”

Yoo Hana asked sharply.

“What? N-no, nothing happened.”

Lee Soo-ah’s eyes darted around as she tried to avoid the question.

“Then what? I don’t feel like I’m being controlled or anything. I like Ji-hoon, sure, but I’m not obsessed or anything.”

Yoo Hana’s tone suggested she thought Lee Soo-ah was being a bit ridiculous.

“Sigh... Hana, listen. What I’m saying is, we need to protect ourselves from Ji-hoon.”

“Protect ourselves? From what?”

“I don’t know... It just feels like he’s toying with us...”

Lee Soo-ah bit her lip, unsure of her own thoughts.

Over the past two weeks, she had felt like she was completely under Baek Ji-hoon’s spell. Now that she was finally starting to regain her senses, she felt lost, unable to understand what had happened to her.

And yet, the excitement and interest she felt toward Baek Ji-hoon kept bubbling up from deep within her, making her feel even more unsettled.

‘Soo-ah... You’re not that kind of woman. Get a grip. Why have you been acting like this since last week? Have you lost your mind? Focus on becoming the top S-rank Hunter again... Okay?’

Yoo Hana didn’t seem to fully grasp what Lee Soo-ah was talking about, but it didn’t matter. Lee Soo-ah was determined to get a hold of herself, no matter what it took.

‘There’s definitely something off about Baek Ji-hoon... He must have done something to us...’