Chapter 46 - Oppa, Wait Right There

Some couples might be fine seeing each other briefly once a week, but Sia and I weren't. Ever since our miraculous reunion, we'd wanted to be together wherever we went. Yet, as though fate were playing a trick on us, the incompatibility between our energies had limited us to a mere three hours a week. Now Rokan was saying we'd get more time together.

“Really? How much more?” I asked Rokan, my voice brimming with excitement.

How would Sia react if she were here? She'd probably throw her arms around me and bounce up and down with joy.

Perhaps pleased by my reaction, Rokan smiled gently. “At a rough estimate, you'll have four to five hours a week. It's thanks to how quickly you've grown. Congratulations.”

“What about Sia? Does she know?”

“Of course not. I only noticed it myself during our spar just now. I'll have to check later to know the exact time, though.”

I clenched my fist in delight. An extra hour or two a week might not sound like much to some people, but for Sia and me, every hour was precious.

“Tomorrow's the day I'm seeing Sia, too!”

“You're itching to tell her, I can see. Go on.”

I picked up my phone and called Sia right away.

[“Hey, Oppa! I was going to call you before bed. We must be on the same wavelength.”]

“Looks like it. Oh, Sia, I've got some good news.”

[“What is it? Tell me!”]

Her voice lifted at the mention of good news.

Before I got to it, I warmed her up by telling her about today's spar and what Rokan had said about the dungeon. Once I'd finished, I finally told her we could spend more time together: around four to five hours a week from now on.

The moment I finished speaking, a joyous shriek nearly burst my eardrum through the phone.

[“Eeeee! That's wonderful! So we can spend more than three hours together tomorrow, right? Right?”]

“Of course. I don't know the exact time yet, but we'll have at least one more hour than before.”

[“Eeeee!”]

Her excitement made me happy too, though I turned down my phone's volume a little to spare my ears.

“So besides the café we were planning to visit tomorrow, we should think of somewhere else we can go for a bit.”

[“Yeah! I'll think of something too!”]

“I'm at your grandfather's place, so I can't talk long. I'll call you again tomorrow morning.”

[“Okay, Oppa. Dream of me!”]

Sia had been bursting with excitement throughout the call.

Now, what could we do with an extra hour or two? I could think about that later. First, a little more training.

“I've caught my breath. Let's get started.”

“I think you ought to rest a little longer.”

“Tomorrow's my date, so I want to leave early and get to bed early. I can't be tired when I see Sia.”

Rokan let out a hearty laugh. “Ah, to be young.”

* * *

The next day was my date with Sia. It had been a whole two weeks since we'd seen each other, and we had more time together than before. I couldn't stop humming as I got ready.

Near the café we planned to visit was a popular tteokbokki place styled like an old-school snack shop. Sia would love it. After we ate, we could go to the café, then take a walk in a nearby park. Or maybe we could hit a coin karaoke booth for the first time in ages. Then again, since we could use Teleport, we might slip away to her place or mine for some time alone together.

I was happily imagining our date as I got ready when a KakaoTalk notification popped up. With the date so close, I assumed it was Sia. But the sender was Yuna.

[Minjun, whatcha doing?]

The moment I saw the message, I thought, Oh, right. It couldn't be helped. I hadn't meant to, but I'd wound up giving Yuna my number when we last met. After wondering how to reply, I decided to leave it unread and unanswered. I never normally did that to anyone, but this was an exception. Sia might not like it, and I needed time to think about how to handle it myself. Better to reply later.

I muted Yuna's KakaoTalk notifications, finished getting ready, and headed straight to our meeting place. Sure enough, Sia had arrived before me again.

“Oppa!”

The instant she spotted me, she ran over and threw herself into my arms. I hugged her tight, patting her lightly on the back.

“It's been two weeks. Have you been okay?”

“Not really. So much has happened in those two weeks.”

She was right. It had been an eventful fortnight, and saying we'd been okay would be a lie. If nothing else, she must have worried terribly while I was unconscious for days.

“When I first heard you were trapped in that gate, I thought my heart had stopped.”

“You must've been terrified. I'm sorry I put you through all that worry.”

“No, it wasn't your fault. Besides, we get to stay together longer than usual today.”

That morning, Rokan had told me we had exactly four and a half hours together. He'd told Sia around the same time. Knowing our time together had increased by half overnight had already put her in a good mood.

“We shouldn't waste any of it, though. Come on! We don't have time to stand around here.”

She urged me on, and we went into our first stop, the snack shop.

It was a small, ordinary-looking old shop, the sort you could find outside elementary-school gates anywhere in the country. But the laminated autographs on the wall and the crowd of men and women in their twenties and thirties—not schoolchildren—made it easy to see the place had earned its reputation.

We managed to find seats, placed our order, and started chatting.

“Wow, how did you find this place? Good find!”

“After I found the café, I looked for somewhere good nearby. The food and atmosphere seemed just your thing, so I looked into it more. Apparently, the food here is fantastic.”

“Hee, I can't wait. That's my Oppa.”

Looking thoroughly pleased, Sia closed her eyes and savored the spicy scent of tteokbokki wafting through the shop. She was so cute that I felt like teasing her. While her eyes were shut, I leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Her eyes flew wide open, and her cheeks turned pink.

“Oh, Oppa. People are watching.”

“We're in the corner. I don't think anyone saw.”

She twisted bashfully in her seat, but I could tell she'd enjoyed my surprise kiss.

Between sweet little moments and conversation, our food arrived: tteokbokki, sundae, fish cakes, and gimbap.

“Enjoy, Sia.”

“You too, Oppa!”

Our meal began.

Sia loved tteokbokki enough to be called obsessed, and she smiled through every bite. Watching that beaming smile, I understood why people said seeing someone they loved eat could fill them up too.

“What do you think, Sia?”

“You really, really picked the perfect place! You know how there's modern tteokbokki and the kind old snack shops used to make? Hardly anywhere makes the old kind anymore, so it's been hard to find. This tastes exactly like I remember. And it's delicious!”

She was so impressed that she excitedly described the flavor in detail, like a mukbang YouTuber. Naturally, just as I'd expected, she ordered more tteokbokki.

“I think I'll get a few portions to take home when we leave.”

... She really did love it. At this rate, maybe skipping the café and settling in here for the whole date wouldn't be such a bad idea.

When we'd eaten a little over half our food, the subject of our next stop came up.

“Oppa, have you thought about what we'll do after the café?”

“A few things. What about you?”

“Anything's good if I'm with you, but I did come up with a few ideas—”

Before Sia could finish—

RUMBLE

The entire restaurant began to shake violently.

“Eek!”

“W-what is it?”

“An earthquake?”

“No, it's not an earthquake—”

The ordinary customers couldn't tell what was causing the tremors, but as a hunter, I knew. The unstable currents of mana in the air could only mean one thing.

““A gate break!””

Sia must have felt it too. We shouted the same words at the same time.

A gate break.

It was an occasional phenomenon that happened when a gate wasn't cleared by its deadline—or, rarely, appeared out of nowhere without any warning at all. Things had been quiet lately, so why did this have to happen now? Judging by the amount and flow of mana, a high-rank gate had broken. A high-rank gate break, here in Seoul. There were bound to be a lot of casualties.

I was scared too, but I had to follow the manual and—

Wait.

In the tangle of my thoughts, I happened to meet Sia's eyes. She looked deeply displeased by what was happening. Not frightened.

Sometimes I forgot: Sia was a dragon. She wielded power beyond the national level, on a global scale, and even the very best SSS-rank hunters couldn't hope to face her. Frowning, she muttered just loudly enough for me to hear.

“How dare these fucking lizards interrupt my date with Oppa after we haven't seen each other in so long?”

Lizards? Did she mean lizardmen? The currents of mana felt far too strong for that.

“Oppa. Stay right there and wait for me. Just a minute.”

While everyone else was in a panic, she quietly slipped out of the shop. It looked like she was going to deal with the gate break.

I wanted to go with her, but I knew I'd only slow her down. For now, I should do what I could.

“I believe it's a gate break.”

I announced it loudly and held up my hunter license so everyone knew I was a hunter.

“A-a gate break?”

“Aaah! What do we do?”

Everyone panicked at the words. Some were so shocked they slumped to the floor or fainted.

“For now, you're safer staying here. We'll assess the situation, and if it looks likely to continue, we'll move to a shelter.”

With Sia on the case, I doubted it would last long, but I still had to tell them what the manual said.

I told everyone to hide in the corner for now, just in case. I'd keep watch outside the shop and signal them to evacuate—or confront the monsters—if any came our way.

'Though I don't know if I can actually stop them.'

From the mana currents, they seemed to be high-rank monsters beyond what I could handle right now.

As I calmed the frightened customers, I cautiously poked my head outside to look at the monsters emerging from the open gate. They were too far away to see clearly, but their shape and size were unmistakable.

'Wyverns.'

I'd have to get closer to tell whether they were A-rank mini wyverns or S-rank wyverns. Either way, monsters of that rank in those numbers would lay the whole neighborhood waste in the blink of an eye.

If Sia weren't here, that is.

She hadn't dropped her Polymorph, so I couldn't see her well. I hurriedly pulled a hunter's pair of binoculars from my pocket dimension and searched for her. Perhaps to keep anyone else from recognizing her, she'd changed into the red-haired goddess I'd seen when we first reunited. Her face made it clear how unhappy she was about having our precious time interrupted.

She was mercilessly hurling furious meteors at the wyverns.