How to Seduce S-Class Hunters with Bungeoppang - Chapter 9

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Chapter 9
“Oh! There’s grass over there.”
Upon spotting the shimmering bluish-silver grass, I dashed toward it without hesitation.
Excellent. Nineteen now. I could finally see the finish line.
“You’re the first person I’ve seen harvesting grass instead of magic stones from a Gate.”
“Haha, is that so? Well, grass… most people don’t pay it any mind.”
Lee Hyun-woo shook his head.
“Everything except magic stones loses its form and disappears once you leave the Gate. That’s why analyzing Gate environments is so difficult.”
“It disappears?”
I glanced down at Ha-nyang nestled in my arms, worried about the grass I’d worked so hard to collect. He spoke with indifference.
“Don’t worry. The materials you’ve gathered won’t disappear.”
“…What exactly is that talking cat?”
“Oh, he’s an assistant helping me? Something like that.”
Lee Hyun-woo reached out curiously to poke the cat with his finger, but Ha-nyang’s hiss earned him a bite on the hand.
“I’ve heard that certain beings sometimes aid Awakeners, but I’ve never seen one like this before.”
“What’s wrong with how I look?!”
“Our Ha-nyang may be a little chubby, but he’s actually incredibly sophisticated when you think about it?!”
Lee Hyun-woo gave me an exasperated look.
“Such beings are typically invisible to human eyes. That’s what I meant—I wasn’t commenting on appearance.”
“Ah, I see…”
I felt a sting of embarrassment, thinking he was criticizing my cat’s weight.
If only he’d explained it clearly from the start to avoid confusion.
I grumbled and swept my hair behind my ear.
‘Strange, the grass isn’t showing up as easily as before.’
Earlier, I could spot it with just a short walk, but now finding even one took considerable time.
Wondering if I was missing them as I passed, I scanned the area intently, but all I saw was barren ground.
“…Should I return this to you?”
“It’s fine.”
The longer this took, the more guilty I felt about wearing his combat suit.
He must be incredibly hot, even if he doesn’t say so… Does he regret giving it to me?
I glanced up at his face.
‘Wow, not a single bead of sweat.’
His face looked so fresh and dry, as if he were standing beneath an air conditioner.
Do S-rank Hunters not feel heat? That’s completely unfair.
Besides, the more I looked at him, the more surreal his features seemed. How did he fit his eyes, nose, and mouth so perfectly into such a small face?
“Is there something you’d like to say?”
“Oh, uh, no!”
I was staring blankly at his face when, without warning, he turned his head sharply to look at me.
Startled, I shook my head frantically, but my foot caught on something. Then I stumbled—
‘Ahhhhh, I’m falling…!’
“Are you all right?”
“Oh….”
Fortunately, Lee Hyun-woo caught me before I fell, sparing me the indignity of tumbling across the ground.
But when his face suddenly drew so close without warning, I had no choice but to squeeze my eyes shut.
“I’m, I’m fine!”
I pushed him away and walked forward with determined strides. Ha-nyang, oblivious to the moment, spoke to me.
“Why is your face so red, meow?”
“Ha-nyang! Please, hush, hush!”
“Ah. Are you feeling warm?”
“…J, just a little? Haha!”
I fanned my flushed face with my hand to cool it down. Phew, the Gate really is hot.
After walking for a while, I felt a bit peckish, so I pulled out a snack from my inventory.
Just as I was about to take a bite, Lee Hyun-woo came into view beside me. Oh, that’s right…. I’d brought some fish-shaped pastries too.
“Would you like to try a fish-shaped pastry?”
When I handed him the pastry I’d pulled from my inventory, he hesitantly accepted it.
‘He refused last time, but not this time.’
“…I apologize for my behavior last time.”
An apology? I widened my eyes at words I never expected to hear from him.
“There are cases where people poison food and send it as gifts. I reacted sensitively because I wondered if that might be the case then.”
“Wait, poison?”
He gazed into the distance for a moment, as if recalling the past.
“When I investigated a recent incident, the culprit turned out to be someone who lost their sibling to a Gate. They cried out that I, being S-rank, should have stepped in and prevented their sibling’s death.”
The culprit had apparently wanted to return the pain they felt to Lee Hyun-woo, so they sent poisoned food wrapped as a gift.
How could someone be so inconsiderate! No matter how much grief they felt, that was unforgivable.
“But that incident and this item are separate matters. I apologize.”
“I didn’t even know such a thing happened. But I would never do that!”
“I know. You’re the type whose face gives everything away.”
My face gives everything away? Really?
He smiled with a slight grin, as if teasing me, and took a light bite of the pastry.
I watched the pastry disappear into his mouth with a pounding heart. I wondered what an S-rank Hunter would think of a fish-shaped pastry.
“…So this is what it feels like.”
He savored it quietly, his expression subtle. What did that look mean?
“It’s delicious, isn’t it?”
“Mm… my tongue tingles slightly. It must be the sweetness.”
His tongue tingles? Does that mean he likes it or not?
He scratched his cheek awkwardly.
“…It’s been so long since I’ve experienced taste that I’m not sure anymore.”
“How long has it been since you last tasted something?”
“It’s the first time since my awakening, so it’s been over 10 years.”
So it had been a full 10 years.
For over a decade, I had lived without knowing taste, and this was the first time I had truly felt it.
“It’s not that the pastry lacks flavor. It’s just… the sensation of tasting something feels unfamiliar to me.”
I understood why he seemed bewildered, unable to discern what the fish-shaped pastry tasted like despite eating it.
For him, the sense of taste was a sensation so distant, buried so deep in his past.
“…You must have endured so much all this time.”
“It’s fine. I’ve grown accustomed to it by now.”
He spoke with such composure, his tone suggesting that the inability to taste was utterly unremarkable to him.
He clenched and unclenched his fists several times, murmuring softly.
“Everything changed after my awakening. I could sense the heartbeat of every living creature, and one day, an unbearable murderous intent surged through me. There were times when my entire body lost all sensation.”
“…Such things happened to you.”
“In the face of these side effects, losing my sense of taste was truly a trivial matter.”
Yet he smiled bitterly, saying that even these twisted sensations eventually became something one adapted to.
Only then did I truly grasp that he was the nation’s sole S-rank Hunter.
‘The greater the power, the more severe the burden it carries….’
I found myself in awe of him, having fought alone against these side effects for so long.
I spoke with deliberate brightness in my voice.
“As it happens, I’m currently crafting special fish-shaped pastries. I’m certain they’ll be beneficial for you, Hunter.”
“I hope so.”
“Please visit my shop sometime. I’ll bake fresh pastries for you.”
He nodded in agreement.
If the special effect unlocks with ‘Softly Soft’ later, it might just help him as well.
I’ll give it to him as a gift when he visits.
“…Finally, it has appeared.”
With a sharp metallic sound, he drew the sword from his waist.
I couldn’t see anything, so I looked around, and in the distance, a haze of dust rose into the air.
‘Could all of that be monsters?’
-Kueeek!
-Kuek, quiee!!
-Quiik! Quick!
A swarm of Centipede Monsters, each one nauseating on its own, came rushing toward us in a horde.
Lee Hyun-woo stepped forward protectively in front of me.
“Stay here and don’t move. I’ll take care of this quickly.”
Before I could even respond, Lee Hyun-woo launched himself forward and disappeared into the mass of Centipede Monsters.
“L-Lee Hyun-woo!”
Even knowing he was S-rank, my body flinched involuntarily.
As I anxiously watched the battle unfold in the distance, Ha-nyang nudged me repeatedly.
“The herb you seek is here, meow.”
“Wait, that’s not important right now. Lee Hyun-woo is in the middle of those Centipede Monsters… huh?”
I had only glanced at Ha-nyang for a moment before looking up, yet the ear-splitting cries of the Centipede Monsters had vanished.
‘Could it be over already?’
As the dust settled slowly, I could see Lee Hyun-woo walking toward me with an unflustered expression.
He returned without a single strand of hair out of place, glancing around the area.
“Are you alright?”
“Wow….”
I stood there slack-jawed, clapping my hands together.
It had ended so quickly that the brief moment he’d asked me to wait felt longer than the actual battle itself.
So this is the power of an S-rank Hunter.
“Oh! Now that I think about it, I found the last herb too.”
I rushed to the location Ha-nyang had indicated and snapped off the final Solsol Grass. Twenty complete at last!
In that instant, a chiming sound rang out and the System window appeared.
Material Collection Progress
-Solsol Grass (20/20) Complete!
Returning to Designated Location
Hold on tight!
Hold on tight to what?
Before I could even process the question, my vision warped and the ground beneath my feet gave way.
“Wait…!”
The last thing I saw before being pulled back was Lee Hyun-woo reaching out his hand toward me.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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