“Let’s do what? What are you talking about?”

Jin Yuha suddenly bargained in and spouted nonsense.

Normally, brushing off his nonsensical comments would suffice since he often said things out of the blue. However, due to the ambiguous object of his sentence, Kang Do-hee’s mind momentarily went blank, and she missed the timing to respond.

And in that moment, Jin Yuha pushed his way through the door.

“You—!”

Startled, Kang Do-hee turned her head sharply and reached out her hand, but it was too late. Jin Yuha had already entered the room, taking off his shoes and looking around.

“Wow, Kang Do-hee, you’ve done well! What’s this, a bachelor pad? No, a bachelorette pad? That sounds weird too. Anyway, I thought it would smell, but it’s fragrant!”

Without even an invitation, Jin Yuha roamed around like it was his own place.

“Wow! The TV is huge! Perfect for lying in bed and watching! Huh? Is this bed different from the one in my dorm? It’s so soft!”

Bounce Bounce Bounce

Jin Yuha sat on the bed and bounced up and down. Then he looked at the ashtray beside the bed and made a surprised expression.

“Uh? Smoking in the room? Hasn’t anyone said anything about the smell? Oh, maybe the air purifier in here is trapping the smell inside?”

Then, he casually picked up the cigarette she had been smoking earlier and put it in his mouth.

Suck—

Cough! Cough!

After taking a drag from the cigarette, Jin Yuha coughed incessantly.

“Ugh, I still don’t get the taste of cigarettes.”

“….”

Kang Do-hee looked dumbfounded. Then, when Jin Yuha’s gaze wandered to one corner of the room, his face hardened.

“Pffft! Is that a Dijet box next to the bed!? Then maybe there’s snowflake candy in the fridge!?”

And with that, he stood up abruptly and headed towards the fridge.

Slap.

Kang Do-hee couldn’t just stand by and watch. She quickly rushed forward and grabbed Jin Yuha’s wrist.

“Little Fool.”

“Hmm?”

“What are you doing?”

“What am I doing? I just came to hang out at a friend’s place.”

Jin Yuha grinned and said nonchalantly, inclining his head.

‘What the hell is this guy….’

Kang Do-hee was bewildered. No, she was flabbergasted.

Does this guy not have any sense at all?

She had always thought that the Little Fool’s lack of boundaries was strange.

As she was always being busy with training and dungeon runs, she had never shown any interest in romance. And then after the incident between a man and the guild leader resulting in her mentor being destroyed, she distanced herself from men even more.

That didn’t mean she was clueless about men. The guild leader of Paradise, Choi Hye-seo, had instilled various common sense and gossip about men into her while drinking, smoking, and various conversations.

‘What, a guy just boldly barging into a girl’s house alone like this…!’

Already stressed from the recent dungeon expedition, Kang Do-hee felt her head spinning with Jin Yuha’s antics added to the mix.

Phew—

Pressing on her temples, she called out to him.

“Little Fool.”

“Yeah?”

“If you have something to see me about, just take care of that and leave quickly. I really don’t like it when someone enters my territory without permission.”

“Okay, got it.”

Jin Yuha nodded.

‘Got it…? Does this guy really understand?’

Kang Do-hee felt her temples throbbing at his shameless behavior. However, she silently reminded herself to endure and closed her eyes for a moment before reopening them.

Then, Jin Yuha’s face was suddenly close to hers. Black eyes staring directly at her from up close.

“Hmm…”

“!”

Kang Do-hee startled and instinctively recoiled.

“But why aren’t you angry?”

“…What?”

“I just crossed the line and invaded your territory without permission, just now. Why aren’t you mad?”

“Do you want to see me really angry?”

If that was the case, then he had come to the right place. Her frustration had been boiling all day long.

She looked at Jin Yuha’s insolent face and clenched her fist tightly, then soon relaxed her arm.

Then, she spoke in a low voice.

“Get out.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I said, get out.”

“I don’t want to.”

“GET OUT!!!!”

She shouted fiercely, her eyes wide open. But Jin Yuha stood there without flinching.

“Your intimidating attitude is totally toothless.”

He clicked his tongue and turned away.

“Hey, Kang Do-hee. Come here.”

He gestured towards the bed.

“Come quickly, will you?”

‘…What’s this guy’s deal?’

“I’m going to do that, so come quickly.”

And he kept repeating ‘that’ or ‘this’ annoyingly, which was really getting on her nerves.

“What’s ‘that’?”

“What?”

Jin Yuha shrugged as if to say, ‘What are you asking?’

“It’s grappling.”   (so as this is a reverse world the situation is: a beautiful girl enter your rooms, sit on the bed and says let’s practice grappling…….. this is really funny ha ha ha ha)

“…Grappling, you say?”

“Yeah, you challenged me to a match to see who could get out of a grapple, remember?”

Ah, so our party leader wanted to do grappling today? Damn. I really can’t follow this guy’s thought process at all.

“Today, Kang Do-hee, I need to give you a proper beating. Let’s see if you can survive on the bed today.”

Jin Yoo-ha said, pulling up his sleeves.

“Ha.”

Kang Do-hee let out a bitter laugh.

In her eyes, Jin Yuha looked like a neighborhood mutt barking.

‘You bastard. Do you really think you’re stronger than me?’

Honestly, if she hadn’t let her guard down and calmly responded from the beginning, she could have easily escaped his grasp. She could have just kicked him to the ground or used her other leg to push him away.

‘But what’s with this guy…? Is he deliberately saying these things?’

Coming out of nowhere and suggesting things like that, saying let’s lie on the bed… From the start, grappling on the bed sounded weird.

But Jin Yuha seemed oblivious to what he was saying.

“Coward?”

Kang Do-hee chewed on her lip and took a step toward the bed.

“Yeah, sure. Let’s do that. And I’ll make sure you never talk like that again.”

.

.

.

‘What the hell is this…!’

Following Jin Yuha’s instructions, Kang Do-hee assumed the position he designated. Her eyes trembled violently.

Actually, her posture was nothing special. She just had to sit on the bed.

The problem lay in Jin Yuha’s posture.

As if giving her a back hug, he wrapped his legs around her abdomen and crossed them. His arms slipped out from under her armpits and clasped around her neck, with his fingers interlocked. As a result, her arms naturally rose upwards.

His intense closeness made her face turn bright red.

“Now, if you can get out of this, it’s your win. If not, it’s mine.”

Jin Yuha’s voice sounded right next to her ear. With the strange sensation, Kang Do-hee bit her lip.

Suck!

Kang Do-hee tried to twist her body to break free from Jin Yuha’s restraint. However, his grip, firm and unyielding, didn’t budge easily.

“Kruk!!”

Struggling to break free, Kang Do-hee filled her body with mana, wriggled her body, tried to lower her raised arms, and kicked her legs, but Jin Yuha held her tighter as she struggled more.

Suddenly!

After struggling for a while, Kang Do-hee stood up, leaving Jin Yoo-ha in a position like a cicada hanging from a tree.

‘What the hell…!’

She was about to throw him against the wall or the floor along with her own body.

‘…Wait, isn’t this… my dorm?’

If she destroyed the dorm at the academy, the instructors would quickly rush over. And what would they think if they saw her and Jin Yuha tangled up like this?

‘No, more importantly… the party will be disbanded.’

At that moment, the flames that had erupted in her mind died down, replaced by a sense of disappointment.

Thud.

Kang Do-hee sat back on the bed, with Jin Yuha still clinging to her back.

Then, it happened.

“You don’t have to endure it.”

A whispering voice in her ear.

“Are you really that scared?”

“…What?”

She turned her head, but due to their positions, she couldn’t see Jin Yuha’s face.

Kang Do-hee furrowed her eyebrows. What was she supposed to be scared of?

She never considered herself familiar with the concept of fear.

Facing opponents who were stronger or unbeatable was not new to her. However, she had never felt fear even when facing them, only anger or fighting spirit.

“…Am I scared?”

She spat out the words as if speaking to herself.

“Yeah, you seem scared. Maybe you’re afraid this relationship we’ve built will break. Like… the old guild.”

Kang Do-hee’s eyes widened.

“You don’t have to endure it. You can just be yourself.”

Her eyes focused on the black TV screen.

The unacceptable, shameful posture was mirrored in the black screen.

“Whether you throw a tantrum or dislike someone and lash out, I won’t abandon you for that.”

“Who said I’m─?!”

Kang Do-hee’s suppressed voice erupted again, but from behind, a calm voice followed.

“I’m just asking. Why did you do it? You’re not the kind of person who throws tantrums for no reason.”

“…”

“And that applies to party members too. It’s okay not to understand, to say it’s not okay when it’s not, or to say you don’t like it.”

“…Then stop this nonsense right now.”

Kang Do-hee said firmly.

“I don’t want to~”

The voice sounded playful, and once again, wrinkles formed on her forehead.

“…Are you joking right now?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“…That’s what?”

“If our opinions don’t match, well, we might clash like this. You ask me to let go, but I don’t want to.”

Jin Yuha’s laughter tickled her ears.

“But you, you try to avoid conflict, keep it bottled up inside. You’re afraid that if you express your opinion strongly, this relationship might twist.”

A remark that pierced her inner self.

“But, neither I, nor Sin Se-hee, nor Lee Yoo-ri, not even Ga-eul-sunbae, will be deterred by your strong personality just because you show it.”

“…”

“No?”

Kang Do-hee couldn’t bring herself to deny it.

She did ask Lim Ga-eul for the identity of the person who spread rumors that were almost like threats, but she never spoke.

‘This is the party I joined…’

It was only then that she realized she still felt fear in forming relationships with people.

‘And I’m allowed to be myself.’

Thump, thump─

For some reason, her heart began to beat faster.

“…Little Fool.”

“Yeah?”

“…Fine, I get it for now. So when are you going to let go of me?”

“When you say I lost?”

Lost…!?

‘Crazy.’

Kang Do-hee twisted her body again to somehow push Jin Yuha away.

And then…

Beep!

In the chaos, a button on the remote under the bed was pressed.

Kang Do-hee’s face turned pale. Of course, because what was playing on the screen was the same video she used to watch every night before falling asleep.

─ It’s only natural to save your party when they’re in danger.

It was the footage the Hunter Management Bureau had sent her before.

“Huh?”

Jin Yuha peeked out from behind.

“What’s that? Isn’t that me…?”

Shaking…

“Why am I appearing there?”

Kang Do-hee twisted her body, her face turning bright red.

Struggling…