Chapter 109

Chapter 11 – Alters Spy

Late October, the season when the autumn leaves are fully ripe.

I was currently sprawled on the ground.

The autumn sky was vast and high, with no clouds in sight.

“Hey, Domi Oppa, you’re slacking off now.”

There was Ayu, who today was in her half-Cheonma form.

Ayu had been overseeing my training as I had requested, and for the past few weeks, I had been thoroughly trained by her.

And I realized.

Baek-san’s training was really for my sake, pushing me hard.

Ayu’s training was truly like living hell.

Perhaps because of the many dangerous incidents that had recently occurred, Ayu didn’t want to see me get hurt and pushed me to my limits.

Thanks to that, over the past few weeks, I had grown stronger much faster than I had thought.

To the point where I could casually catch a baseball flying towards the back of my head.

‘I’m also gradually getting the hang of constant Aura.’

Currently, my average output is a whopping 3 percent.

I had gone from being an F-class Hunter to a B-class Hunter.

This figure was nothing short of miraculous.

Ayu’s training and Baek-san’s Aura manipulation.

Combined with the experience I gained from Hyuk-seo hyung, I had achieved tremendous growth.

But despite such growth, I didn’t feel like getting up from my lying position.

“Ayu, there’s something called exhaustion in this world.”

“Ah, really?”

As I spoke, Ayu suddenly sat down on my stomach.

The weight made me scream, and Ayu smiled as she pressed down on my stomach with her butt, looking at me.

“Why, am I heavy?”

“No, lighter than a feather. I might have to hold you down so you don’t fly away.”

“Right. Our Domi Oppa speaks well. Good, good.”

Looking at Ayu pinching my cheek, I felt oddly annoyed.

This girl, always teasing me.

As I immediately sat up, Ayu’s body slid down and landed on my legs.

When Ayu’s eyes widened, I slipped my hands under her armpits and started tickling her mercilessly.

“Heehee! Hahaha! S-stop, Domi Oppa, I was wrong! Stop!”

“Do you think you can just push people around and end it with an apology?”

As she tried to escape, I wrapped one arm around her waist and kept tickling her, causing Ayu to struggle wildly.

Eventually, she let out a squeal and went limp, and I let go, satisfied.

How leisurely.

“Huu, really, you tickled me too much.”

As I let go, Ayu looked up at me with a melting expression, smiling brightly.

Seeing her flushed face, I remembered that she had feelings for me and felt awkward and embarrassed.

Having been so casual with Ayu all this time, I ended up acting this way without thinking.

Ayu, having been with me for so long, had also become used to this.

Sometimes I forget that these actions are too familiar.

“Let’s rest for a bit.”

Meanwhile, Ayu, sitting on my lap, leaned her head back against my chest.

The soft sensation from her legs and the sweet scent from Ayu made my head spin again.

“Hey, Ayu.”

“Hmm? Why?”

I was about to say something, but Ayu rubbed the back of her head playfully against my chest and answered.

Seeing her become more and more comfortable with physical contact made me worry in many ways.

‘I still haven’t come to any conclusions about my relationships.’

Currently, I was still fretting over my relationships with women.

Baek-san had said that if I wasn’t going to date everyone, then I shouldn’t date anyone at all.

Every time I recalled that, my head became a mess.

Baek-san had seen the world end with his own eyes.

If he said there were two options, it probably meant I should really do that.

‘Be a lifelong bachelor or date everyone.’

Living in modern society, it wasn’t easy for me to break the preconception that one should have only one lover.

There are so many incidents and accidents even when sharing emotions with one person, let alone multiple.

I briefly imagined dating all the people who had recently shown interest in me.

‘……Why does it feel like they’d be fighting even during a meal?’

It’s scary.

The thought that a peaceful meal could turn into a knife fight in an instant.

“Ayu.”

So, I decided to try to calm the situation down a bit, no matter what.

“Why? Why? Why? Do you want to call me like that?”

As I called her name again, Ayu turned her body and rested her chin on my chest, looking up at me.

Facing her pretty face, I was momentarily stunned, but I decided to continue what I was going to say.

“Why don’t you get along with Seolhyang?”

I had told Ayu that Seolhyang and I were childhood friends.

At that time, she had said, ‘……This sly one,’ and openly got angry.

Every time Seolhyang was involved, she would get angry first.

Hearing my question, Ayu snorted and turned her body forward, leaning on me again.

“We just don’t get along personality-wise. You know.”

“In what way?”

“She tries to do everything rationally. I act rationally when there’s work to do, but I’m fundamentally emotional.”

That’s true.

Even when Ayu was in her Cheonma form, she often acted emotionally.

Certainly, Ayu and Seolhyang might have a lot of differences in that aspect.

“There’s no reason to be close to someone you don’t get along with. It’s a business-like relationship.”

Does that mean the two can never coexist?

It just shows how absurd Baek-san’s suggestion to date everyone was.

“But still.”

At that moment, Ayu continued.

“Since Domi Oppa is her childhood friend, if you tell me to get along with her, I can try.”

“Really?”

That was good news.

Seolhyang and Ayu always fought whenever they met, so it made me uncomfortable too.

“Yeah, but in return.”

Ayu moved her hands above her head and grabbed my arms.

Then she moved my arms to her neck and hugged them tightly.

“If you hug me like this every day and say, ‘Ayu, I love you,’ or something, then I can do it!”

I could see Ayu’s ears turning bright red.

At the same time, hearing her pounding heartbeat, my heart also started to race.

Is it just my imagination that Ayu is becoming bolder, just like Seolhyang and Siho?

In the past, I would have treated it as a joke, but knowing Ayu’s feelings, I couldn’t do that.

As I remained silent, unsure of what to say, Ayu’s face was so red it looked like steam was about to rise.

If she keeps getting this red, she might turn into Cheonma soon.

Just as I was thinking that, Ayu turned to look at me with a slightly teary face.

“……Won’t you do it?”

That question made me feel a chill somewhere.

“……If you get along well with Seolhyang first, I’ll do it.”

“R-really? If you’re lying, I’ll sneak into your house later and do something, so it has to be true!”

“Yeah, I really will.”

Ayu was so happy that she even shook her legs, expressing her joy with her whole body.

Damn, if this continues, I won’t be able to take it.

Although I made a strange promise with Ayu, since she said she would get along with Seolhyang.

For now, I just let it go and lifted Ayu up, standing up.

Last time too, Ayu was light.

“Let’s finish the training. I feel full of energy.”

“Okay! I’ll make you work hard!”

And so, I started training with Ayu again.

And it seemed like the training was even more intense today.

After finishing training with Ayu and returning home, I checked my phone after a shower.

There was a message from Ggotbi.

[ I’ll definitely come next time. ]

What does she mean by coming, when she’s busy with idol work overseas?

I smiled bitterly, having had a hard time calming her down, and immediately logged into Road of Academy.

I planned to do some daily quests in advance and then rest.

[ DeathlightandHeart: Greetings. ]

[ Doremipasolo: Juk-sim, hi. ]

After that day, Juk-sim saved Eva noona and coolly went back home.

Of course, since it was impossible to go alone, she went with Nae-ki, burying her nose in Nae-ki’s back.

Still, even in such a major incident, thanks to Juk-sim’s help, there were zero casualties among the general public.

It was such a big deal that on YouTube, there was a lot of buzz about ‘Korea’s Returners and Hunters surprising and turning the world upside down.’

To the people, the sight of Returners and Hunters saving people from the criminal organization Giraseong must have looked like heroes.

‘Though the reality was much more desperate.’

In a way, it was fortunate that they were perceived that way.

The Returners Association was actively working on restoration, so it was said that the restoration would be completed by next month.

But there was one problem.

The look in Seolhyang’s eyes when I briefly met her recently was unusual.

This incident involved many Returners, so Seolhyang, as the head of the Returners Association, had a lot to deal with.

No matter how capable Seolhyang was, from the moment one district of Seoul was blown away to uprooting Giraseong to the point of no recovery.

Seolhyang had been working all day long.

We talked on the phone every day, but seeing her like that made me feel sorry, so when I brought her coffee and snacks a while ago, the look in her eyes was like that of a beast.

After the Eva noona incident, she had said she would take an hour from me, and it seemed like she was waiting for that.

She had brightened up like students waiting for lunch break.

For some reason, it felt like once that day came, there would be no turning back, but since that was what motivated Seolhyang, I decided to stay quiet.

‘Why does everyone want so much from me?’

Since I also needed to ask Seolhyang about the worldline Baek-san mentioned.

I had no choice but to accept it.

I didn’t want to burden her with this while she was so busy.

‘Come to think of it, the dimension researchers said they didn’t know what kind of negative impact this incident would have on the dimension.’

A while ago, while skimming through research materials, I recalled the articles about the large-scale rapid dimensional gate created by Giraseong.

The large-scale rapid dimensional gate created by Giraseong was such an outrageous event that many said it must have affected the current dimension.

But since nothing has appeared yet, no one can know for sure.

This part probably needs to be looked at in the long term.

I should keep an eye on it too.

[ IAmExtra: Domi, hi. I’m getting drunk again, wanna join? ]

What’s going on with this guy’s university?

Seeing Nae-ki bringing up drinking again, I smiled wryly, and another window popped up.

[ Ediknorjeva has logged in. ]

Eva noona had logged in.

[ Doremipasolo: Eva noona, hi. ]

[ Ediknorjeva: Sorry. It’s me. ]

At that moment, I froze as I looked at the chat window.

Hyuk-seo hyung must have been imprisoned.

[ Ediknorjeva: It’s a bit embarrassing, but. Giraseon’s son, the role of catching the remaining ones, I decided to do it. The Brain Dragon you subdued, the demon horse, will also come with me. ]

Ah, so that’s how they decided to handle it.