VSP 31

[RiXmong still at least breathed fire.]

“Shut up…….”

[Lord Hoya moves on his own when the time comes, so it does not matter if he does not follow orders, right?]

“But he at least should train with me…… cough.”

Sejun coughed again and he drank a mana potion. The blue soda-flavored potion cost hundreds of thousands of won each, but Sejun drank it like water.

If he could just do the work of one person as an S-rank hunter, what did it matter that each one cost hundreds of thousands now.

Of course, even after drinking a second mana potion, Hoya’s attitude did not change.

Sejun shouted things like, Body slam! Lightning speed! Please! Hoya, help me! Hoya! Please! Meat! Treats! Tuna! but Hoya still ignored his words.

In the end, while Sejun drank a third mana potion, he could not move Hoya even one centimeter.

He only spent over a million won watching Hoya lick his own front paw while purring.

Sejun stared at the ring on his finger. ‘You call this the Ring of Bond! Where did the bond go!’ He muttered resentfully, but he knew the truth. The ring was not at fault.

In the end, Sejun admitted it was all because of his own lack, and with a gloomy face he crouched down on the spot.

Sejun looked at the huge cat, no, the tiger, that was purring, and he muttered in a voice that sounded a little sorrowful.

“Hoya, please listen to me…….”

-…….

Of course, Hoya did not respond. He glanced at Sejun, then turned his head away, showing he would never move just because of pleading.

Of course, Sejun could not get angry at Hoya or force him either. He did not want to, and even someone who did not raise cats like Sejun knew that if he acted like that toward a real cat, the bond would break completely.

But above all, the strongest reason was that Sejun did not want to treat Hoya that way.

But no matter what if it kept going like this, even Sejun would feel miserable.

Sejun mumbled with a gloomy face.

“Because you keep ignoring me, people keep insulting me, saying even my summoned beast turns away from me every day…….”

It was right after he said that.

Hoya stopped licking his front paw and stiffened, then he looked at Sejun. He looked at his master, who had a gloomy face and was digging at the ground, and then he sighed.

If he were a person, he would have said something like, ‘Really now.’ The loud sigh made Sejun quickly raise his head.

Huh?

For the first time since being summoned, Hoya showed a reaction, and Sejun blinked and followed Hoya’s actions with his eyes.

Hoya, whose huge body did not fit such movement, stood up and walked toward the giant rock inside the training ground that Sejun had pointed at with his finger earlier. Then he lightly swung his front paw.

Lightly.

But the result was not light at all.

Cra-cra-crack!

A blue light flashed and the giant rock was shattered to pieces, and even the wall behind it, made with a special composite material mixed with mana-absorbing fibers so it would not break easily in a hunter training ground, was deeply dented.

The voice of the training ground staff bragging that it would not get scratched from just one or two hits seemed to echo in Sejun’s ears.

No, his ears were actually ringing. That was one of the typical signs of mana depletion.

Wait, didn’t I just drink a potion……?

As Sejun thought that, he saw in his vision that the mana, which had been close to 150 after drinking the potion, had dropped by over 100 in an instant.

Did that one hit drain that much?

Sejun’s thoughts did not continue. The shock of his mana suddenly dropping so much made him fall back.

[Sejun-nim!]

The system shouted in fright and called to Sejun, but unlike when he summoned Hoya and could prepare in advance, Sejun was not used to mana being consumed so suddenly like this, so he fainted on the spot and could not hear it.

[Couldn’t have gone a little easier?]

The system scolded Hoya in an angry tone, but Hoya paid no attention to its words.

Even though a large amount of mana was consumed, Hoya was not unsummoned because there was still mana left in Sejun. Hoya looked quietly at the collapsed Sejun, then walked over slowly.

For Hoya, who rarely came close when Sejun was awake, this was unusual behavior.

Hoya began to lick Sejun’s face all over.

Just like that time when Sejun had cried in front of him. Now there were only cold sweats instead.

“Ugh, it stings…….”

But because of the catlike rough tongue, Sejun let out a whining sound, and even that stopped right away.

「Grrng.」

The tiger let out a big sigh, pushed his head under Sejun’s, which looked uncomfortable, and supported him. He wrapped Sejun’s body with his own huge body. He warmed Sejun’s side with his body heat.

Hoya yawned and curled up. It looked like Sejun had laid his body on a giant cushion shaped like a tiger.

[……How about doing that when he is awake?]

“He would be happy.” The system spoke, but Hoya did not answer.

Inside the training room, everything was quiet except for the sound of the giant tiger licking his front paw.

•••

Even after that, Sejun trained several more times inside the training room of the Hunter Association.

Of course, it was called training, but in truth it was only summoning the drowsy blue tiger and then canceling the summon, over and over again.

“Huuuh.”

Even just that made him tired enough that Sejun had to lie sprawled on the training room floor many times.

Aside from that one time on the first day when Hoya obeyed his command, Hoya still did not follow Sejun’s orders. But somehow, the more he repeated the summoning, the more Sejun felt they were getting closer. Of course, it was probably just in his head.

How many days had passed since Sejun felt dejected watching the giant cat, no, tiger, that only purred and licked his own front paw?

<Sub-mission: Flirt with Cha Dogyeong>

He got assigned a sub-mission again.

“Again this?”

He was already used to it by now, but he was still a little dissatisfied that it was always the same thing.

No, maybe it was better than something even more outrageous showing up. He had already showed his naked lower half and kissed Cha Dogyeong. What if it made him do something worse than that? Sejun worried nervously.

Days passed while he wondered if he would have to force contact with Cha Dogyeong again because no dungeon appeared. He kept thinking of that day’s kiss and several times buried his head into the dining table.

Whether he should call it luck or not, an A-rank dungeon appeared, and the opportunity came again for their three-person team.

“It was time!”

Sejun flew to the location immediately.

The place was an amusement park near Seoul. A place always crowded with visitors whether weekday or weekend.

Unfortunately, it was a weekend. People who had been kicked out of the amusement park while riding the rides because of safety issues did not go straight home. They gathered around noisily, saying they wanted to watch the hunters.

“Ah, since the gate will be gone soon anyway, can’t they let us use the other rides!”

Some of them grumbled with such careless remarks. “They would blame the hunters or the government if an accident happened, yet they talked like that.”

Sejun grumbled to himself and walked straight through the items the Association had installed to block entry.

“Oh? That’s Seo Sejun.”

Someone spotted him and shouted, and people’s eyes turned toward Sejun. Because of his unique aura, he stood out, and people unconsciously let out exclamations.

But Sejun knew. That admiration would soon turn into jeers. Before hearing it, he ignored them and went straight inside the amusement park.

When he moved to the guided D section, he saw many staff members moving busily because the A-rank dungeon had appeared suddenly without warning.

Fortunately, when the dungeon appeared, it was during ride break time, so no one was inside. But since it had appeared in a crowded place, it still caused confusion.

Sejun looked at the outside of the attraction in question and stiffened without realizing it.

No, it can’t be. Dungeons usually had nothing to do with the places where they appeared. Thinking that, Sejun’s steps still became hesitant.

When he arrived, Cha Dogyeong was already there listening to the explanation. As soon as Sejun saw him talking with an Association staff member, he froze.

Sejun unconsciously pictured in his head Cha Dogyeong’s face right up close to him, biting and sucking on his lips. He remembered that handsome face almost swallowing him, even groping his butt. Sejun’s complexion turned pale.

Sejun waved his arms violently, trying to drive away what floated up in his mind.

“…What are you doing?”

Cha Dogyeong looked at him in disbelief, but Sejun did not answer. Looking at his face would only backfire. Sejun ignored him, crossed his arms, and stood beside him.

Cha Dogyeong looked at Sejun with curiosity but did not speak more.

He laughed, as if he knew why, he stood calmly near Sejun and looked at his phone.