Chapter 37

“I-I’m back…”

Amon timidly entered the house.

The house, which he hadn’t returned to in a week, was dark and desolate.

It had been such a bright and warm place when he left.

Despite it being morning, the house, with its curtains drawn and lights off, was as dark as a dungeon.

Amon fumbled around, searching for the light.

*Click.*

The lights came on.

In a physical sense, the amount of light had clearly increased.

But for some reason, the house still felt dark.

Was it the effect of the blackout curtains, or was this damn city just too dark?

Amon’s contemplation didn’t last long.

As soon as someone walked out of the room, he realized the source of this darkness.

‘Ah.’

Sonia, with her long hair hanging down, staggered towards Amon.

Honestly, if it was anyone’s fault, it was Amon’s.

He had said he’d be back the same day, but it took him a week to return.

Of course, he had contacted her and gotten permission to stay out.

There were unavoidable reasons, like saving lives.

But that was separate from the feeling of disappointment.

“Uh… Sonia?”

Sonia, whose expression was hidden behind her hair, approached.

Amon stood at the entrance, unable to run away or move closer, waiting for her.

Soon, Sonia was right in front of him.

She spread her arms wide, which had been hanging limply.

“?”

Amon tried to interpret the meaning of her action.

Then, a grumbling voice came from her.

“What are you doing?”

“Huh?”

“Hug me.”

She lifted her head.

Her sleepy eyes and pouting lips.

Only then did Amon realize her state.

“Were you sleeping?”

*Nod nod.*

“I have nothing to do at home without you.”

“So you’ve been like this the whole time I was gone?”

“Yeah. The internet wasn’t fun without you.”

“Haha…”

Amon let out a dry laugh as he looked at Sonia in her pajamas.

Sonia’s sleepy eyes stared at him suspiciously.

“Aren’t you going to hug me?”

Instead of answering, Amon showed her his clothes.

He was still wearing the explorer’s set he had on when he left a week ago.

He had borrowed clothes from the hospital and washed them, but it still felt wrong to hug her in this state.

Especially since the clothes had been stained with blood and filth.

“I couldn’t wash properly at the hospital. Can I go shower first?”

She brought her nose close to Amon’s shirt and sniffed.

The sour smell of a dirty rag hit her nose.

“Ew.”

No matter how much she loved him, the stench was unbearable.

Amon smiled bitterly and stepped away from her.

“I’ll go wash up.”

When Amon finished showering, changed his clothes, and came to the living room, Sonia was curled up on the sofa.

As soon as she saw Amon, Sonia rushed over and buried her nose in his chest.

“Sniff sniff.”

Pass.

She hugged him tightly.

“Missed you…”

Amon silently patted her back.

After Sonia had absorbed enough of Amon’s essence, he finally asked the question he wanted to ask.

“Are you mad?”

“Me?”

*Chuckle.*

She let out a laugh.

“Because you were gone for a week?”

*Nod.*

“It’s not like you cheated on me. You were saving lives.”

She wrapped her arms around Amon’s neck.

Her eyes closed.

*Peck.*

Their noses touched, then moved apart.

Her golden pupils were filled with the lover she had missed so much.

Feeling much better, Sonia smiled brightly and said,

“Did I seem like the kind of narrow-minded woman who would get mad over something like that?”

*Shake shake.*

Amon’s hand brushed through her hair.

She didn’t resist, nuzzling her face against his hand like a puppy.

Enjoying her soft cheeks and hair, Amon spoke.

“So am I forgiven?”

“No. Forgiveness is a separate matter.”

“Then what do I have to do to be forgiven?”

*Grin.*

Her smile deepened.

The arm around Amon’s neck tightened slightly.

Her breasts pressed against his chest, and her cheek touched his.

As the cushiony feel of her plump cheeks made Amon’s lips curl up, Sonia pouted and said,

“Make up for the time you were gone.”

Amon hugged her tightly.

“Gladly.”

***

Amon was only released from the house a week later.

Sonia wouldn’t let him go, demanding he make up for the time he was away.

Whether they were watching TV, eating, or surfing the internet.

Sonia clung to him like he was a stuffed animal.

Sitting on his lap, using his lap as a pillow, leaning on his shoulder.

She wouldn’t let him go.

Of course, she had to go to university, so she wasn’t with him 24/7.

But the threat that she’d get mad if he wasn’t there when she came back made it impossible for him to go out except for grocery shopping.

Eventually, she even demanded they sleep together as compensation.

Originally, the two didn’t share a bed even though they lived under the same roof.

So Amon was visibly flustered by her request.

“Won’t the bed be too small?”

“You can just hug me while we sleep.”

Amon tried to refuse, embarrassed.

“No… uh… that’s a bit…”

“You don’t like me?”

The cheat code was unbeatable.

In the end, Amon went to bed holding Sonia.

On the first night, his pounding heart kept him from falling asleep.

But humans are adaptable, and from the next day, he started sleeping just fine, as if it was natural to share a blanket.

After a week, Amon finally started his mercenary work again.

“Hehehe.”

On the way to the Explorer’s Guild.

Laughter flowed naturally.

No matter what world he was in, no matter how old he got.

Getting a new weapon always made his heart race.

‘I’m so dead.’

Excited to test out the Triple Jump, he headed to the guild, fidgeting his feet.

On the way, he called someone on his phone.

“Yeah. Cash. How have you been?”

It was Cash, a friend he hadn’t seen in a while.

When he first started as a mercenary, they had a rocky relationship, but now she was his junior, disciple, and colleague.

Originally, when Amon was taking on mercenary requests, she had been his partner.

But before heading to the dungeon to level up, Amon had gone ahead to experience it and teach her, so they had parted ways for a while.

‘Originally, we would have joined up in a few days.’

But getting tangled up with Scavengers took a week, and being held back by Sonia took another week.

During that time, Amon had told Cash to do other things, but since they hadn’t been in constant contact, he didn’t know how she was doing.

Fortunately, she was doing well as a solo mercenary.

“Ah, really? That’s good. The agency boss must have taken good care of you.”

Her cheerful voice came through the phone.

[So. When are you taking me to the dungeon?]

“Sorry. This time I only went once. I’ll go a couple more times and then take you. Just wait two more days.”

[And then it’ll take two weeks to a month again, right?]

“Hey. This time was a special case.”

[Speaking of which, your case is pretty famous.]

“Huh? It wasn’t on the news, was it?”

In this rotten world, news of Scavengers harvesting explorers’ organs wasn’t newsworthy.

Unless the explorer was a superstar.

Scavenger organ harvesting, gang murders, traffic accidents, industrial disasters—they were all just part of everyday life.

So even though Amon’s involvement in this case was somewhat rare, it wasn’t newsworthy.

But what Cash was talking about wasn’t the news.

[Of course not the news. There’s just a lot of talk about you being rich.]

“Rich? What. My nose is three feet… Ah.”

Only then did Amon understand.

Calling D4C to the dungeon entrance.

It was VIP treatment that ordinary explorers couldn’t even dream of.

It might not be newsworthy, but it was enough to be gossip among explorers.

“Ah… seriously.”

At the time, he had been in such a hurry that he called the best medical service he could think of without a second thought.

He hadn’t considered the aftermath at all.

“Surely they won’t cause trouble, right?”

For mercenaries living hand to mouth, Amon’s wealth was enough to make them jealous.

Fortunately, according to Cash, there didn’t seem to be any ill will.

[They just accepted it because of your equipment and combat skills.]

Without needing to explain, the mercenaries had guessed Amon’s background.

With top-tier equipment, wiping out Scavengers, and calling D4C to save a comrade, they assumed he was a retired ninja or security team leader.

[Even I, your former colleague, have been avoiding trouble.]

There’s an unwritten rule in the mercenary world that former corporate employees are bad news.

So naturally, Cash had been ostracized too.

“Uh, sorry…”

[If you’re sorry, take me to the dungeon soon.]

“Got it. I’ll go a few more times and then take you.”

[Alright. Take care.]

Amon ended the call.

Before he knew it, he had reached the entrance of the Explorer’s Guild.

*Slap!*

He slapped his cheeks and opened the door.

‘Second exploration!’

With the determination to make this exploration a success, he stepped into the guild.

***

Entering the guild, Amon headed to the reception desk under the gazes of the people.

With the help of the kind receptionist from last time, he looked for a party to join.

But—

“Sorry. You’re not on our level.”

Most of them rejected Amon.

The reason was that Amon wasn’t on their level, but the real reason was different.

‘We don’t want to get involved with a retired corporate ninja.’

If he had retired normally, it would be fine.

But most ninjas’ retirements weren’t the healthy kind.

If things went wrong, they could get caught up in the corporate pursuit teams.

Parties desperate enough to not care about such ninjas had no reason to take the beginner courses Amon wanted.

Most of them were playing in the deeper courses.

So Amon couldn’t find a party easily.

‘Should I just go in alone?’

The thought crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it.

That was suicide.

A swordsman could never replace a rifleman or a mage, and one person couldn’t handle every situation.

The statistics from that year said it all.

Out of 100 people who entered the dungeon solo, 99 didn’t return.

The remaining one mostly survived by luck and would die the next year.

Only one in ten thousand survived solo for several years.

Amon was a wise and cautious man. A veteran, but not arrogant.

A young man who could objectively assess himself quickly threw the thought of entering the dungeon alone far away.

He sipped a drink at the guild lobby bar, waiting for a party.

A guild member who had been watching him pitifully made a suggestion.

“Amon. There are people who haven’t found a party by position. How about forming a party with them? If you agree, I’ll ask them.”

Amon pondered her suggestion.

‘Rejected people?’

Not finding a party meant there was something wrong with them.

Would a party made of such people really work?

So Amon declined the guild member’s offer.

A party of rejects was absolutely out of the question.

The staff understood Amon’s thoughts and dropped the suggestion.

An hour later.

Finally, a party accepted Amon.

They were only going to the entrance and needed a nimble vanguard.

Hearing the party’s conditions, Amon headed straight to table 13.

The party was decent.

They had a vanguard, but he had his leg digested by a slime, so they urgently needed a replacement.

The party leader looked a bit shady, but that was average for cyberpunk, so it wasn’t particularly noteworthy.

Even the previous party’s blond Even didn’t look particularly diligent.

Otherwise, there was nothing unusual.

“We’re beginners. Please take care of us.”

Amon nodded.

Amon was a beginner too.

But for a beginner party, their equipment was quite good.

Usually, beginners compromise on weapons to save money, but this party’s weapons seemed mid-tier.

‘Not bad.’

Amon nodded and headed to the dungeon with the party.

As they moved deeper into the dungeon, one party member stood out.

A female mage who seemed a bit scared, startling at everything.

Moreover, her light and detection spells were too short and took too long to cast, slowing down the exploration.

‘The mage is… unreliable.’

Compared to Paul from the previous party, the difference was stark.

Of course, it was unfair to compare a veteran like Paul to this mage, but Paul was the only mage Amon had met.

The party members kept comforting her as if they were friends, but that didn’t make her any better.

‘This is frustrating.’

Watching this, a quote from a great sage from his past life came to mind.

– [When five people gather, there’s always one trash.]

Remembering that, Amon couldn’t help but agree.

‘Is it you again, sensei?’

Even in a different world, the truth remained the same.

Remembering the truth helped him accept the situation.

‘It can’t be helped.’

In social life, you can’t always meet good people.

If anything, the previous party was unusually ideal.

Amon looked at the mage’s mistakes with warm understanding.

But Amon’s patience didn’t last long.

“Hahaha! Let’s see who can take down more!”

The tanker charging into the enemy lines without protecting the rear.

“Just dodge!”

The machine gunner firing full auto, putting allies in the line of fire.

“You’re rich anyway. Share some with us.”

The party leader trying to reduce Amon’s share.

And finally.

“Oops. Sorry, everyone.”

The mage, who turned out to be a queen bee.

Looking at this fantastic quartet, Amon thought.

‘F***. Sensei. Please, just one is enough.’

This is hell.

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