Surprisingly, Jeong-ah obediently kept her word.
On days I wasn't "eating" her for experience, she waited patiently, even seeming to enjoy being left alone at times.
So lately, I've been giving her simple rewards occasionally.
'Though I don't get why this is a reward.'
Right now, her perception is altered so she doesn't realize she isn't wearing clothes.
Others might not notice, but I can clearly see she's getting off on the sensation, reveling in it.
She's really a freak.
"Manager-nim. Would you like some coffee?"
"It's fine."
I already had some Myoseol-ah brought me earlier.
You just enjoy your reward...
Even if you strike a proud pose like that, thrusting your chest out, I just see you with clothes on.
"We need to start thinking about leveling up soon."
The experience itself is almost full, so that's not a problem.
If I keep tormenting Jeong-ah, it'll probably go up.
'The problem is after the level up.'
Based on my tests, with my current magic power, I could apply the trait to a B-rank Hunter.
The problem is, it's impossible to torment them properly at that level.
'The magic consumption is just too high.'
I'll probably need to reach Level 3 to see any semblance of a solution.
Of course, even then, I wouldn't be able to use magic as lavishly as when playing with Jeong-a.
"Are the seniors bothering you much lately?"
"Yurim senior scolds me sometimes, honestly, it's a bit lacking..."
Saying it like that just makes me feel sorry for your senior, not you...
So, you're saying Yeo Yurim is still giving you a hard time?
'I was planning to overload her with work so she couldn't.'
It seems there's a limit to how much I can block her.
Why isn't a long-term assault dungeon popping up somewhere?
"So, I'm trying my best to monopolize all the bullying myself."
"That's good."
If Jeong-ah monopolizes the bullying, Myoseol-ah will naturally be excluded.
By the way, Jeong-ah and Myoseol-ah's recent simulated training scores are unusual, aren't they?
"But your scores are good lately? Why has your efficiency improved so much?"
"Hmm, maybe because I'm managing stress well?"
She said she used to relieve stress by secretly tormenting Myoseol-ah, but lately, she has more varied hobbies, so she can concentrate better during practice.
But does that even make sense?
Sure, stress is the root of all evil, but does efficiency improve this much?
"You're lying."
I held my head while watching her recent practice videos.
No matter how I looked at it, she was tackling difficulty levels far too high for her.
If it were just that, I would have told her not to overdo it, but after seeing her reaching climax from the pain, I realized why she was doing this.
"Hehe, lately, I've gotten a taste for high-difficulty training..."
"You crazy bitch..."
It was a case of her skills improving as a side effect of trying to satisfy her masochistic kink.
Well, at least this is a positive effect, so that's fortunate.
She's also gained quite a lot of experience, so her trait level will probably rise soon too.
"Okay. You can go out. Tell Ms. Myoseol-ah to come in."
"Yes."
Alright, I understand why Jeong-a has such wide growth margins.
Then, what's the reason for Myoseol-ah's rapid growth?
I need to know that to request the right support for her.
"Wait a minute..."
Her access records are very strange.
What the hell is this?
"Did you call for me?"
"Ms. Myoseol-ah. Don't you ever rest?"
"Huh?"
"No, your training room access records..."
Lately, it's like you've been living in the training room?
She's been going in more often than even Jeong-a, who enjoys the training room to satisfy her sexual desires.
She's even practicing past quitting time, working overtime every day.
"You'll wreck your body like that."
"Ahaha, it's mostly ability control practice. It's not the kind of training that would exhaust my body."
"Even if it's ability practice, it's still excessive."
Myoseol-ah's ability takes the special form of "sorcery."
As you can tell just by looking at her modest breast size, it's a trait that uses a special cost, not magic power.
However, like all Hunters, the thing that produces that cost is magic power, so it requires a long preparation time.
'Because she has to prepare the cost, which are magical tools, in advance.'
She predetermines how the magical tools will operate and materializes them with magic power. After that, she can use them without consuming additional magic power.
Looking at Yoo Chae-rin, whose cost is her wings, you can see that the big advantage of these special-cost Hunters is their high instantaneous firepower.
The downside is the significant time consumption required to accumulate the cost for that firepower.
"Can I review your recent footage?"
"From when?"
"Yesterday."
"That should be fine."
The Hunter training facilities managed by the state are top-tier magic facilities capable of training Hunters up to the lower tier of A-rank.
You can set the difficulty and fight virtual monsters accordingly.
While they guarantee the Hunter's safety to some extent, frequently failing at difficulty levels higher than one's skill can seriously strain one's health.
So, if Myoseol-ah was overdoing it, I needed to stop her at my level as her manager.
"What the..."
Her combat style was completely different from when she was first selected as a C-rank Hunter not long ago.
First, the magical tools, which used to feel strongly like "sorcery," had changed into items that looked very ordinary, and the harmony when they combined was quite mystical.
'At a glance, she looks like an ordinary elemental-type Hunter, but...'
Interspersed among it all were the magical tools that were the source of those attacks.
Considering the set difficulty was at a level that could break through the upper echelon of C-rank, the Myoseol-ah in the video could easily be considered on the verge of escaping C-rank.
"Flawless and clean. Firepower is sufficient too."
To my knowledge, her trait level hasn't increased, so she grew this much just by changing her combat style?
"At this rate, you'll be promoted to B-rank soon..."
"Really?"
"Yes, it seems you weren't overdoing it. That's an incredible growth rate."
Of course, stamina is also a factor in promotion exams, but considering how I saw her reusing magical tools earlier, it seemed sufficient.
If these kids rise to B-rank so quickly, the seniors' noses will be put out of joint.
'Because it took them much longer.'
Of course, looking at the overall picture, they were promoted in an average timeframe.
But if their direct juniors get promoted abnormally fast, they'll inevitably be compared.
"When is the next promotion exam? Should I apply for you?"
"No. I think I need a bit more time."
That's surprising.
I thought she'd want to hit B-rank as soon as possible to avoid the seniors' bullying.
Is she more cautious than I thought?
"Ah, right. Manager-nim."
"Yes?"
"Are you free this weekend?"
Suddenly?
While I was pondering the meaning of Myoseol-ah's words, she explained the reason, perhaps noticing my confusion.
"I wanted to thank you for helping me last time by buying you a meal. And I'm thinking of looking for some equipment, so it would be great if you could help with that too."
"Ah, I see."
Given Myoseol-ah's recent growth, it's definitely time to think about equipment.
And for equipment purchases, it's generally right for me to assist anyway.
I almost misunderstood, thinking she was interested in me.
"What should I do? I have prior plans this weekend. Let's just schedule a weekday next week to go out."
"Is that really okay?"
I had plans with Jeong-ah this weekend.
Originally, it would probably have been experience farming at her place...
'But we'll probably have to go out to get her equipment fitted.'
Given her recent growth, that seems like the priority now.
Ultimately, if Jeong-ah gets stronger, it creates a virtuous cycle for my experience farming efficiency.
It's important to keep priorities straight.
"As long as we file the reports properly, it should be fine. And you don't really need to buy me a meal. We can expense it."
"But I want to thank you by treating you..."
"Hey, the senior-level people won't even eat with me. Just having a meal with someone like you, Seol-ah-ssi, is enough for me."
How can a person be this kind?
All the other Hunters I've dealt with so far...?
"Then, at least let me choose the restaurant."
"Okay. We don't really have company dinners anyway, so it should be fine even if it's expensive."
If my position was that strict about such things, I would have quit being a manager long ago.
Since it's a place serving Hunters, the support is plentiful, whether for the Hunters themselves or the managers working for them.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
"One moment. A new official notice just popped up. Probably about a dungeon."
It's about the Chiak Mountain dungeon that opened last time.
Wasn't recruitment closed for that one?
"Ah, additional recruitment."
For close-combat type Hunters with B-rank or above physical enhancement.
It seems the schedule is urgent, as it's first-come, first-served.
"It's next week already."
It seems a previous participant dropped out suddenly.
This means Yeo Yurim's schedule will be free next week, so she can participate?
'This is an opportunity.'
If I stick Yeo Yurim in that dungeon, it means Min A-young will be left alone.
Yeo Yurim might complain about the sudden schedule, but since they're urgently recruiting, the performance evaluation credit is doubled, so she won't have much ground to complain.
And since Myoseol-ah spends most of her time in the training room lately, it won't interfere with her either.
Well, the magic power needed to apply the trait to Myoseol-ah is relatively low anyway.
If it's urgent, I can just apply the trait to Myoseol-ah to hide her.
"Application complete."
Min A-young, you're done for.
---
This is driving me crazy.
Why is there trouble here now of all places?
"You still haven't leveled up?"
"Nope."
Jeong-ah approached, reeking of sweat as if she'd just come from the training room.
Isn't there a shower facility in the training room?
Why did she just come out like that?
"Do I smell?"
"You think you don't?"
"You can smell me. Good."
"Ah, fuck."
I feel like I've thoroughly ruined one person.
Probably, Jeong-ah enjoys smelling that odor and seeing people's reactions as they recoil from her.
She's insane.
"That's a public nuisance, you know."
"Really? Yurim senior, who was just leaving for the dungeon, looked at me like I was a bug, and it felt really good."
"Now I even feel sorry for Yeo Yurim."
Then again, I'm not really in a position to say that.
It's my fault for awakening the latent masochistic nature in her.
But because of it, her growth is fast, so from a national perspective, is it a benefit?
As if...
"Anyway, this is a big problem. You need to start soon, right?"
"Tell me about it. Time is crucial here."
Originally, I planned to level up by diligently "eating" Jeong-ah over the weekend.
So I even postponed the originally planned equipment purchase and dedicated all my time to it...
"Why won't it move from 99%?"
"It happens. Mine hasn't moved from the 99% I reached last week either."
"You're Level 6 now."
I'm only Level 2, and it doesn't make sense for me to hit a wall already.
"They say the level where people hit a wall is different for everyone."
"That may be true, but I've never heard of anyone hitting it at Level 2."
The Wall.
It refers to the state where the trait experience is full, but the level-up doesn't occur.
In these cases, it requires a special epiphany or condition, which becomes a huge headache.
'Because no one can tell you what it is.'
Even if people have similar traits, no one has the exact same trait.
It's said that even trait experiences described with the same words have different actual conditions for each person.
The same goes for breaking through the wall; you have to find the method yourself.
"Right, Manager-nim."
"What."
"Give me my reward."
"What do you want this time?"
"You said you can temporarily alter perception for A-young senior, right?"
"Yep. It's too short, though."
If you want to torment and train someone, you need a substantial amount of time.
The problem is that with the current duration, it's impossible.
But why are you asking about that all of a sudden?
"Can you make me appear as a man to A-young senior for a little while?"
"Why?"
"To pick a fight with her."
You're truly insane.
That woman hates men so much, and you want to pick a fight with her while looking like one?
"A-young senior is sweet to Hunters, so she doesn't torment them. I bet it would feel really good to get stabbed by her fiery flames."
"Lord..."
For the sin of creating this monster, please send me to hell first.
Couldn't you possibly show some mercy?
"Speak of the devil, there she is. Can you do it now?"
"Yes."
『"Jeong-ah is a girl... This is just me feeling uncomfortable, right? Shouldn't she feel like a man?"』
I felt my magic power rapidly drain as the trait was applied to Min A-young.
As soon as I applied the trait, Jeong-a ran towards Min A-young and called out to her loudly.
"Hey, you cunt!"