VSP 13

When he thought about it, the time when a hunter he wasn’t even close to suddenly acknowledged him then hit him, and the time when Cha Dogyeong, who would normally have dodged or stood firm when Sejun charged him, fell together with him instead, both of those strange incidents had been lewd events.

That was Lucky Love Mode.

Which meant, the person approaching now was…

Sejun suddenly thought that maybe being caught by this monster was a situation for Lucky Love Mode, created by Lucky Love Mode.

But before he could think deeply about it, thud! He heard a sound. Crack, the leaves on the ground scattered from the wind that someone brought in.

And Sejun’s eyes met Cha Dogyeong’s.

•••

Cha Dogyeong looked at Sejun hanging upside down, his face red from blood rushing up–and about to redden for another reason–and his half-naked lower body. He looked once, then turned his eyes back to Sejun’s face.

“……”

“……”

Sejun thought for a second about lifting his hand to cover what was already exposed, but he had no strength and figured what was the point now. He hung limp.

Die, damn Lucky Love Mode. Die, all of you.

But even then, he still had one weapon to act strong. His voice.

“Fuck, what are you looking at?!”

Seeing Cha Dogyeong, Sejun felt relieved that somehow he would live and like he wanted to die of shame.

Just earlier he had wished someone, anyone, would save him, even if it was humiliating, and now he regretted it.

Even if he had to cough blood, he should have somehow resummoned Hoya to deal with this. Of course, that had been impossible, which was why he was like this now.

Cha Dogyeong stared at Sejun, who still only had a loud voice in this situation, then ruffled his own hair roughly with an annoyed look.

“You’re the one showing it. My eyes are ruined too.”

“Like I wanted to show you!”

Showing your body to the opposite sex was embarrassing, but showing it to someone of the same sex wasn’t pleasant either. And right now, he was upside down with pants and underwear stripped off.

As if he couldn’t imagine how Sejun had ended up like this, Cha Dogyeong sighed and asked.

“Hoya?”

“……”

Sejun shut his mouth for a moment. He didn’t know how to explain, but in the end he answered briefly.

“He got unsummoned from lack of mana……”

The reason itself was pathetic. An S-rank hunter, caught by a basic monster, unable to deal with it because of low mana, his summon unsummoned and him hanging here. He didn’t even see the boss.

Feeling miserable and humiliated, Sejun stayed silent, and Dogyeong let out a deep sigh.

“There’s really no idiot like you.”

Hearing that, Sejun grew furious again. With his face already flushed red for various reasons, he shouted.

“Damn it, if I could fly this wouldn’t have happened! Who told you to leave me behind?”

He brazenly shifted the blame for his lack of ability onto his teammate. Blaming others was always the easiest. It wasn’t the first time he had done this, so Cha Dogyeong asked flatly.

“Then should I carry you on my back?”

At that, even Sejun had no reply. Maybe he should have used mana potions from the start and ridden Hoya instead. Then at least he wouldn’t be in this humiliating state.

Regret always came too late. Sejun gave up and opened his mouth.

“Hey……”

“What?”

“My head’s about to explode from blood rushing up… save me quickly.”

His head had been throbbing from earlier, and it hurt so much he wanted to faint. But being S-rank, his body was strong enough that he hadn’t lost consciousness and was just barely enduring.

But instead of saving him right away, Cha Dogyeong tilted his head, then asked with genuine puzzlement.

“Why should I?”

“Eh?”

What? Wasn’t he here to save him?

It wasn’t that Sejun was happy like, “Wow, Dogyeong came to save me!” But at least he thought, since Dogyeong came looking, he would help. And yet, “Why should I?” That was worse than saying, “I got caught.”

Sejun stammered in panic, then barely managed to ask.

“Y-you’re not going to just leave me like this, right?”

“Well, I could tell the people outside. Say an idiot S-rank hunter got caught by a plant, half naked, dangling.”

His gaze shifted to Sejun’s exposed lower half. Sejun’s face turned red. He had been trying hard to forget, but here he was, with his pants and underwear off in front of Cha Dogyeong.

His “junior” was shriveled up, completely bare before Dogyeong’s eyes.

Dogyeong glanced that way briefly, then openly chuckled.

At that moment, Sejun felt truly provoked. For a man’s pride, that kind of laugh was a declaration of war. And this bastard, he had to be doing it on purpose!

“Damn it, seriously. Stop!”

As Sejun shouted in anger, Dogyeong shrugged, as if there was no need to stay any longer, then turned his back.

“I’m leaving.”

And he really looked like he was about to go. Alarmed, Sejun called out immediately.

“Cha Dogyeong! Dogyeong-ah! Fuck, don’t go! Help me!”

In the end, he threw away pride and everything else.

His face was already burning with blood, his mana was drained, he felt like dying. Was he supposed to just wait here until someone else came to rescue him?

Even worse, did he have to show this state to someone else too?

Considering Cha Dogyeong’s nasty personality, this bastard could very well send Dohun over on purpose. Between Dohun and Cha Dogyeong, Cha Dogyeong was better. Ten times, a hundred times better.

“What do you want, you bastard….”

Huuuh, Sejun was on the verge of crying.

It was already miserable to be caught and hung up by a plant, but hanging half-naked without even being able to cover himself while begging for help was unbearably humiliating.

When Sejun finally lowered himself and pleaded, Cha Dogyeong came back to his side.

“If I want something, can you do it?”

So he really did want something. It pissed him off, but Sejun had no choice. He cried out quickly.

“I’ll do my best!”

“Hm.”

Cha Dogyeong looked like he was thinking. But what could Sejun possibly give to an EX-rank hunter who could have anything he wanted?

There was nothing Dogyeong lacked, materially or otherwise. If there was something he couldn’t achieve, there was no way Sejun could achieve it. If there was something he wanted, he already had the wealth and power to take it.

So Sejun grew anxious, thinking Dogyeong might say, There’s nothing you can give me, and leave. But the words he heard next were ordinary.

“From now on, buy me coffee.”

In Sejun’s ears, the demand sounded like something plain and normal.

“What?”

Thinking he must have misheard, Sejun asked again. Dogyeong calmly repeated it.

“Buy me coffee.”

Sejun hadn’t misheard. Dogyeong really was telling him to buy coffee.

In other words, the price for saving him now was to be his coffee errand boy.

Sejun just looked up blankly, and Dogyeong shrugged.

“Why? Did you want me to ask for something harder?”

“No, not that, but……”

The fact that it wasn’t difficult made it even stranger. He would have expected Dogyeong to suddenly say, Go into an S-rank dungeon alone and bring back the boss monster’s heart, or something like that.

Or maybe make him call him master and order him around? No, that kind of thing fit Dohun, not Dogyeong. If anything, Dogyeong would be annoyed at someone clinging to him calling him master, and kick him away. That was how nasty his personality was.

“But how many times do I have to buy it?”

Even in this situation, Sejun asked about the number. Being a coffee errand boy for life was too much. But Dogyeong’s reply was indifferent.

“Who knows. Is that really important right now?”

It wasn’t like it was critically important in this moment, but it wasn’t something to ignore either. Sejun thought, but he had no choice anyway.

“Fine, just help me……”

Dogyeong sighed and flicked his hand. It looked like a light gesture, like he was shooing a fly, but with that flick, the plant’s thick vine that had been binding Sejun tightly for so long was cut clean through.

“Ugh!”

Of course, it wasn’t a move meant to be gentle to Sejun, so he fell headfirst into the ground.