I'm completely screwed.

  Five days had passed since I told Si-hyun I needed space, and I hadn't left the house once.

  Mom and Oppa were starting to worry about my sudden laziness.

  Afraid of slipping back into old habits, I forced myself up.

  Then I started looking up Gate information.

  Ha! Come to think of it, Si-hyun always handled these annoying tasks.

  I just gave opinions on the information he gathered.

  For my first solo hunt, starting with an E-Rank Gate seemed safest.

  First, I needed to test my limits alone.

  Even though I picked the nearest Gate, public transport took forever.

  I never realized how inconvenient it was, Si-hyun always drove me.

  The Gate was nearly empty when I arrived two hours later.

  The sun was high overhead; the early birds had already gone in.

  After changing into my gear, I realized I had nowhere to put my clothes.

  Normally I'd just lock them in Si-hyun's car, but now I had to pay for a locker?

  The fee wasn't much, but the difference stung.

  The E-Rank Gate felt deserted, with mostly solo Hunters around.

  Hunting Monsters turned out ridiculously easy.

  Fully armed with my Artifact, E-Class Monsters were no match.

  Was the gap really this big just from controlling Mana?

  Solo hunting felt lonely. Normally I'd chat with Si-hyun during breaks.

  The loneliness grew, but seeing the neatly stacked Magic Stones in my pouch kept me going.

  After about seven hours, I sighed at my haul.

  This counts as an E-Rank Gate?

  The pouch held plenty of Magic Stones, but the weight was pathetic. Maybe 40 grams at most?

  Before heading home, I cashed them in the city for 38k won.

  After deducting transport and dinner, about twenty thousand remained.

  I deposited it in our joint account and froze at the transaction history.

  I just made my first deposit today, but Si-hyun had saved over two million in the past five days.

  More than triple what we earned together.

  The painful truth hit me: I'd been holding him back all along.

  Mom met me at home with a worried face.

  "Si-yeon? Where were you?"

  "Huh? The Gate. Here, look."

  I showed her the Magic Stone exchange receipt.

  "I see. But it's too late, come home earlier next time."

  "Okay."

  It was past ten, so her concern made sense.

  The next day I got up early to prepare.

  This time I aimed to solo a D-Rank Gate.

  I rushed through breakfast and caught Mom's anxious look as I left.

  "I'm going."

  "Try to come back early."

  "Yeah, I'll try."

  Who knew public transport could be this brutal?

  Two hours and three subway-bus transfers later, I was exhausted just from traveling.

  The bus stopped near the Gate, leaving a long walk ahead.

  The official looked concerned when I said I was entering the D-Rank Gate alone.

  Honestly, I wasn't sure either, so I just forced a smile.

  The Otherworld beyond the Gate took my breath away. Vast forests and lakes,

  distant green mountains rolling into the horizon.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  The stunning view lifted my spirits.

  But this comfort didn't last long, the sounds of other Hunters fighting soon shattered the peace.

  "Ugh, what a buzzkill."

  Snapping back to attention, I gripped my Weapon and began moving cautiously.

  The Monsters in this Gate were Kobolds. About the size of a ten-year-old child, these dog-headed creatures weren't particularly strong, and their Magic Stones were small. But they always moved in groups of four or five.

  Just five minutes into the forest, I encountered a Kobold pack. They detected my presence and charged immediately.

  "Old habits die hard?"

  Fortunately, they only used close-range attacks with no thrown weapons, making them relatively easy to handle.

  After enhancing my body with Mana, I instantly crushed the skull of the lead Kobold. The rest were quickly dealt with.

  Checking the Magic Stones revealed they were barely different from those of E-rank Monsters.

  Heh, and here I thought this would be easy. I never stopped to wonder why this Gate wasn't classified as E-rank.

  Three minutes after the first fight ended, another attack came. Before I could finish dealing with one wave, the next assault followed.

  I fought continuously in the same spot for thirty minutes without rest.

  By the time all Kobolds were eliminated, I was completely exhausted.

  With no chance to catch my breath, enemies kept swarming from all directions, leading to several hits I couldn't fully block.

  That's when I finally understood why the Kobolds kept coming-

  "The smell of blood..."

  It was the scent. They could smell blood and kept charging toward it.

  I drank some water I carried with me, collected the Magic Stones, and moved away from the area.

  But within five minutes, I was attacked again.

  The bloodstains on my gear couldn't be removed completely. As long as I moved, the Kobolds could track me by scent.

  I might as well have been a walking target.

  As exhaustion set in during the relentless attacks, I remembered Si-hyun. If I weren't alone, we could have taken turns fighting and resting.

  Instead of complaining, I focused on recovering stamina and collecting Magic Stones.

  Knocking down Kobolds wasn't difficult, the real challenge was managing my energy.

  After struggling through a full hour without proper rest, the Kobold attacks finally stopped.

  They must have found another target, or perhaps all nearby Kobolds had been eliminated.

  With this breathing room, the stench of blood from surrounding corpses became nauseating.

  I eventually gave up collecting all the Magic Stones, settling for just over half.

  Though it looked like more than what I collected yesterday, the ordeal was too much.

  Staggering to a lakeside, I used the water to barely wash the blood off my gear.

  "Ha, damn."

  Should I keep hunting or go back? My resolve began wavering.

  Checking the time, only about two hours had passed since entering the Gate.

  And I already wanted to quit. My determination to separate from Si-hyun faltered, and I suddenly felt useless.

  I felt disappointed and disgusted with myself for wanting to retreat so easily.

  I ultimately chose to head back into the forest. Fierce battles could stop me from overthinking, maybe that would be easier.

  After maintaining proper distance from other Hunters, Kobold attacks decreased, making them easier to handle. Other solo Hunters seemed to share this idea, all cautiously keeping fixed distances.

  I decided to leave the Gate after six hours.

  When I emerged, the sunset was already fading. Changing clothes made me realize, when I teamed up with Si-hyun, my low combat involvement meant my gear rarely got stained with blood or fluids.

  Today, handling numerous Monsters alone left my equipment covered in horrifying bloodstains.

  "Ugh... smells terrible."

  Looking at the equipment soaked in blood and reeking of foul odor, my head throbbed with pain.

  After hastily wrapping it in plastic wrap and stuffing it into my backpack, I tried to sniff myself to see if I carried the same stench, but my sense of smell had likely gone numb, I couldn’t detect anything.

  Why aren’t there any bathhouses near the Gate?

  Suppressing the urge to wash up, I went to exchange the Magic Stones.

  Today’s earnings came to 160,000 won, four times yesterday’s amount. I deposited 130,000 of it into the joint account.

  Despite the grueling process, seeing the money I made gave me a small sense of accomplishment.

  If Si-hyun saw this amount, he would probably praise me, right?

  “Ah, I really want to see Si-hyun…”

  Why did I think that? Was it because we’d been practically inseparable for the past five months?

  Or was it because of this female body?

  I couldn’t figure it out.

  On public transport heading home, I kept worrying about whether I smelled.

  I was especially anxious about the equipment in my backpack. Even though I’d sealed it roughly, I feared the stench might still leak out.

  Fortunately, no one came near me, maybe there really was no odor?

  Ah, I wished I could just disappear into the ground.

  I should’ve just found a bathhouse downtown earlier and washed up.

  Shame burned my cheeks. The rush-hour crowd made me even more restless.

  When I got home, I mumbled a greeting and headed straight for the second-floor bathroom.

  Pushing the door open, I saw Oppa, to be precise, my naked brother, fresh out of the shower and drying himself off.

  “Yaaah!”

  Faced with this horrifying sight, I screamed and collapsed onto the floor.

  “Damn it! Why are you screaming when you opened the door yourself!”

  Oppa slammed the door shut for me.

  I’d seen something I shouldn’t have.

  Before I could get up, Oppa rushed out wearing only his underwear.

  He flicked my forehead, and the force sent me tumbling back to the floor.

  “Idiot, I’ll let it slide this time. Be more careful.”

  “Ugh… Sorry.”

  Knowing I was in the wrong, I apologized meekly.

  After Oppa went back to his room, I got up and entered the bathroom. This time, I made sure to lock the door to avoid a repeat.

  While the bathwater ran, I quickly rinsed off myself and the equipment. Sinking into the tub, the hot water felt incredibly soothing.

  Maybe I’d pushed myself too hard hunting today, I felt drowsy.

  “Haaah~”

  While spacing out, my phone suddenly rang.

  “Who could it be at this hour?”

  Not many people contacted me anyway.

  Lazily checking the screen, it showed Si-hyun’s name.

  Si-hyun was calling? All drowsiness vanished instantly.

  I hesitated for a moment about answering, but the hesitation didn’t last long.

  After six days of no contact, Si-hyun was the one reaching out first?

  Worried the call might drop, I pressed the answer button. Just as I was about to switch to speakerphone and find the button, the call connected.

  The moment the call went through, Si-hyun’s face appeared on my phone screen, and in the corner, my own naked reflection showed.

  ……?

  Huh?

  This was a video call.

  “Ah-!”

  Startled, I dropped my phone, and it fell right into the bathtub.

  “Damn it!?”

  I fished it out immediately, but the screen had already gone black.

  “It’s over…”

  This phone never had great waterproofing, and now it had fallen in water.

  On top of that, the shame of being seen naked hit me all at once.

  I sank completely beneath the water in the tub.

  After finishing my bath, I was torn.

  Should I borrow Oppa’s phone to contact Si-hyun, or just stay silent?

  Making up my mind, I went to Oppa’s room and borrowed his phone.

  When I told Oppa I'd dropped my phone in water, he looked at me like I was an idiot.

  Clutching his phone tightly, I thought for a long time before finally sending just a brief message.

  =This is Si-yeon. My phone fell in water. Will contact you as soon as it's fixed.

  -

  @support me on Patreon for early chapter ???