Chapter 184 – Feeling Behind (2)

“… You said you were an aspiring hunter? You?”

After hearing my plain confession, Cha Yu-ri tilted her head and asked.

“Yeah, that’s been a wannabe for quite some time.”

“Ha, but, Seongcheol, you are a man…”

“Is there a law that says that a man cannot be an aspiring hunter?”

“Of course not, but…”

In this world, the existence of aspiring male hunters was as rare as male hunters.

First of all, it goes without saying that the job of a hunter has become a job group that is almost exclusively reserved for women.

A man in his right mind probably wouldn’t have a strange dream of becoming a hunter.

There were two main reasons why male hunters were rare.

The first is that, of course, he was born as a man and cannot handle his awakening ability.

The second reason was that there was no reason for a person who had trained his body to be a male hunter to be a male hunter.

When a beginner hunter who managed to get a D-class hunter qualification hunts all day long and catches ten goblins, a man can make much more money just by dancing in front of the camera with an internet broadcast.

In particular, the job of a hunter was a job that earned more money than the money spent due to its nature, so the unit of profit for male cam broadcasts in this world was different.

From there, if your looks and acting skills are supported, you can become a celebrity or a model.

This is usually the arrival point of a man who has trained his body to the limit in this world.

So, after hearing that I was an aspiring hunter, Cha Yu-ri had no choice but to look at me strangely.

“… Really?”

“If you don’t believe me, you can ask Hyeeun or Minah. The two of them went to Hunter Training Middle School and High School together.”

“… Yeah, it definitely seems like the two of you went to the same school as you, or something like that.”

Cha Yu-ri rested her chin and nodded, as if there was something that came to mind in her memories of the past.

“I was 10 years old when I first dreamed of becoming a hunter. At that time, I lost my parents in the monster wave incident in the abandoned village.”

“… Seongcheol, you were also a victim of that incident.”

“It’s a thing of the past that I sometimes feel sad about, though.”

“…”

Cha Yu-ri gave a momentary embarrassing reaction to my unlucky past that popped up without warning, and I ignored her reaction and continued her words.

“Rather than the sadness of losing my parents or the helplessness I felt about how to take care of myself in the future, the biggest emotion I had at that time was revenge.”

“If it’s vengeance, is it vengeance toward the monster that killed your parents?”

“Precisely, it is revenge against the origin of the monster wave and the world itself that failed to stop it. Probably because I was very young back then.”

In fact, now that I think about it, it was blood that burned in a fairly absurd direction.

Not revenge against the monster that killed his parents, but resentment towards the world where his parents had no choice but to die.

Perhaps the monster that killed his parents that day was subdued by Eun-young noona, so his anger, which had nowhere to go, might have sprung to a strange place.

“Isn’t the direction of the anger a bit strange?”

“… You can see it that way, but I don’t think it’s strange.”

“The problem is that I couldn’t let go of the mindset I had when I was young and had regrets for 12 years. While aiming for the foolish thing of having to become a Hunter somehow.”

“… 12 years?”

“Yes, 12 years.”

Cha Yu-ri made a surprised expression again at the distant years of aspiring hunters that came out of my mouth.

“When I woke up in the morning, the first thing I did was strength training, followed my diet, and at school, I learned the knowledge I needed to learn as a hunter or took an awakening ability aptitude test. Naturally, as a man, I was judged unsuitable every time.”

“…”

“Still, I was able to endure in my own way until middle school. Basically, I had a trained body, so my win rate wasn’t too low in mock battles, and in the first place, I studied each time to figure out the opponent’s ability and counter. I even won a few mock battles with Han Min-ah.”

Although he had never won a mock battle with Hye-eun.

For Kang Hye-eun, who was extremely serious in her mock sparring, it was impossible for me to beat her as I competed with her finesse and miscellaneous skills.

From a certain moment, I checked the glass of her car, listening to her seriously, and even explained to her a little bad memory of her high school days.

The only male hunter in the school who hasn’t awakened.

How easy it was for that alien being to be prey in a space where only hunters and aspiring hunters existed.

It was a past that I could endure because I had memories of my previous life at least in my mind.

It must have been quite difficult for the mind of an ordinary man in this world to overcome the sexual desire and shady ego of women who rushed indiscriminately.

It’s not that I didn’t have shame, but the shame I felt was just shame for being weak myself.

It was fortunate that there was less sexual shame.

Even that almost disappeared around the second year.

After hearing all about my past, Cha Yu-ri’s eyes changed to a slightly apologetic look.

“… Sorry. I didn’t even know that, and in front of you, I lamented over something really insignificant.”

“There is nothing to apologize for. That is not what I was trying to say in the first place.”

“… Huh?”

If that happens, it will be as if the pain you suffered is nothing because the pain I am experiencing is greater.

I had no choice but to shake my head, as I had no intention of using my misfortune as a fortune in that way.

“What I am trying to say is this. Even if it seems like Cha Yu-ri is temporarily being pushed out now, if only Cha Yu-ri doesn’t give up, we can catch up someday.”

“… Something, isn’t the conclusion strange?”

“But I didn’t give up on becoming a Hunter even after going through all of that past, and thanks to that, I’ve risen to the level of a proper B-class Hunter now, right?”

“Well, listening to your case, I think it might be persuasive…”

Of course, it was thanks to the help of Eun-yeong and Hye-eun that I was able to focus only on the awakening of the hunter until the end.

Conversely, Cha Yu-ri will also be able to alleviate some of her current nervousness by having someone to support her.

Of course, there was only one person who could support her in such an unstable state.

“And above all, Cha Yu-ri has a powerful weapon that no one else has.”

“… Huh? Are you talking about this staff?”

“No, not that.”

I pointed at myself in front of her, who tilted her head incredulously as if she didn’t know what she was talking about.

“I am a powerful weapon that no one else has, Mr. Cha Yu-ri, right?”

“… What?”

“When other hunters are getting older and looking to retire one by one, Cha Yu-ri doesn’t have to worry about that at all. Because I am!”

“What, what are you saying…”

“It’s been 10 years and 20 years, and I will continue to solve Cha Yu-ri’s sexual desire. If so, at least you won’t have to retire because of your age, so won’t Cha Yu-ri be able to go farther than others in the end?”

Hearing my words, Cha Yu-ri’s face turned red.

“… Don’t say things like that.”

“Yes?”

“If you keep making me expect that, you’ll end up with a strange misunderstanding…”

“A strange illusion?”

“Such a strange delusion that Seongcheol really thinks that you will always be by my side…”

Cha Yu-ri, who spoke in a voice that crawled in like a mosquito, shrank and said.

“How long will you be by my side?”

“Hey, don’t lie… Do you think you wouldn’t know that it was a mouthful?”

“I don’t know how great a person Cha Yu-ri thinks of me, but I will always be by her side. At least, as long as Cha Yu-ri doesn’t get tired of me and abandon me first.”

“… You said there was no such thing.”

If possible, I wanted Cha Yu-ri to believe in my sincerity, but it didn’t matter if he didn’t completely trust me.

Anyway, as long as her tea glass doesn’t dump me first, I will maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with her in the future as well.

“… You’re not drunk with just one beer, are you?”

“It can’t be.”

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

After a little late lunch at a chicken restaurant, we leisurely walked along the riverside promenade for about 30 minutes.

I wanted to have a conversation while cooling off my feverish intoxication as well as digesting it.

The content of the story was not particularly serious or serious.

The story of a movie I watched in the past, the story of a song that has passed out of fashion, and the story of a broadcast program that has now ended and disappeared.

It was literally just spending time sharing stories of the past that were useless to anyone, but it was never meaningless time.

It was a meaningful time just by sharing stories from the past, sharing a sense of kinship with each other, and how deeply we were able to get to know each other.

In the middle of walking along the promenade holding hands so leisurely, passing the time leisurely with idle talk.

A love hotel built on the riverside caught my eye and Cha Yu-ri at the same time.

“…”

“…”

The moment our eyes met there at the same time, Cha Yu-ri and I moved to the bed of the day without anyone saying anything first.

Now, it was time to settle the old sexual desire.