After the Night of Frenzy

“...Then I’ll be going.”

After a grand affair, Haneul was only able to leave the Cave the next day, almost at sunset. Having enjoyed the Night of Frenzy, she naturally needed some time to rest.

“Bye~”

I waved goodbye to her casually. Her steps were unsteady and she lacked strength. She ultimately and regrettably passed out towards the end.

I thought she could enjoy it more vigorously... but in the end, she couldn't overcome the challenge.

“Still, she lasted longer than Chaerin, I think.”

Comparing them like this, I felt a bit like trash, but well, we both seemed satisfied, so isn't it a win-win?

Anyway, this berserk state was also concluded smoothly. It was time for me to return to my daily life.

Honestly, I wanted to rest a bit. It felt like I had been moving too busily these past few weeks.

After I exterminated Andras, my spear broke out of nowhere; then, after I registered as an Adventurer to fix it, an Altar appeared.

When I participated in a mission to test my new spear, I unexpectedly ran into a childhood friend who worshipped demons.

Looking back, a lot had happened.

*...Come to think of it, I should visit the Orphanage sometime.'*

I also needed to ask how she ended up leaving the Orphanage and joining Lemegeton. And I was curious about how the Orphanage was doing. But I decided to postpone even that for a while.

I didn't want to be proactive when I didn't know when another Demon might appear. Anyway, it'd probably show up again soon, and then I'd have to move quickly. At the very least, I needed to confirm whether the Demon was my origin.

For those reasons, I decided to rest for a while. With that in mind, I slowly started catching up on my overdue chores.

The first two days seemed to be spent entirely on Warehouse tidying.

“There's a *hell* of a lot piled up...”

There was a lot to sort through, from the rewards I received from the Knight Order to the byproducts obtained from catching Otherworlders. Even after selling some of it and giving it as compensation to the Otherworlders who helped me last time, a large amount still remained.

So, I spent two days discarding what needed to be discarded, and separating what to sell from what to keep.

The next week or so, I spent cleaning the Cave and its surroundings, sweeping and wiping away dust.

Since it was in the center of the forest, dust accumulated quickly. Honestly, it shouldn't have taken a whole week, but since I was taking my time, it naturally took a while. Dust would just accumulate again if left alone, anyway.

Around that time, a guest arrived.

“Hello! Long time no see!”

It was Yu Chaerin, the Pimp who had mercilessly sold Haneul to me. With a bag of bread in her hand, she seemed to have come to visit. She sat down on a cushion familiarly and spoke.

“Wow, the Cave is even cleaner today? What's with all the cleaning?”

“I always clean. It's just that I have more free time these days, so I'm doing it more thoroughly.”

I said that as I tied up a trash sack full of dust. I'd just throw it away at the Goblin Settlement later, and they'd take care of it. Then I asked her,

“What brings you here today?”

She seemed to hesitate for a moment. But that was only for a brief time; then Chaerin looked at me and asked cautiously,

“Well... I was wondering if you got through last week's berserk state okay.”

“Haha.”

I let out a hollow laugh at her words. It seemed she was curious, despite having sacrificed her Older Sister and run away. I replied to her question with a suitable sneer.

“Of course. Thanks to someone, I had a unique experience.”

At my words, Chaerin flinched for a moment.

Let me clarify, I wasn't angry. In fact, I was grateful. After all, thanks to her, I had such a unique experience, hadn't I?

It was just a little vexing. I had been considerate enough to only bother her, but I never expected her to escape like that. Of course, I hadn't really considered her stamina and had been a bit rough... but still feeling disappointed is feeling disappointed.

So, I decided to tease her a bit. She was, after all, someone fun to tease. So, I openly *declared* “Your Older Sister was amazing” right in front of her.

“The chemistry was *so* good.”

*Flinch.*

“So, I'm thinking of just hanging out with your Editor for a while. Wow, her stamina was surprisingly good, unlike some people's.”

Flinch.

With every word I uttered, her body flinched. It was as if she'd been pricked by a needle; something was stinging her inside.

As if sensing danger, she suddenly began to take off her outer garment. Then she said to me, as if attempting a futile seduction,

“Um... since we're talking about it, how about we do it now? I've been wanting to come for days, but the timing just wasn't right. Hehe...”

Honestly, I thought she was just forcing herself to say it to lighten the prickly atmosphere. But upon closer inspection, it was genuine.

Her violet eyes stickily scanned my arm and collarbone. I noticed her secretly raising her assimilation rate to 90%. These were specific habits she had when she initiated things.

She hadn't just come to ask about my well-being; she also had the intention of satisfying her desires.

Indeed, though I tend to overshadow her, her libido as a 'woman' was by no means negligible.

But there are no favors for a traitor who ran away when help was needed. I continued sweeping the floor and told her casually,

“Sorry, I used it all up a week ago... so it'll be tough.”

“...”

“And it's a bit cold today...”

The quick-witted Chaerin immediately understood the hidden meaning in my words. She let out a dying cry as she looked at me.

“Nooo...!”

So, after teasing her for a while, I sent her away. 19+ Mode was forbidden for the time being.

*

Though there was a brief incident, I continued my daily life in that manner, doing chores and occasionally greeting guests who came to visit. Perhaps because I no longer had to worry about when the Knight Order might raid, my daily life was surprisingly leisurely.

Had my life ever been this peaceful, I wondered?

Thinking back to the times I always lived in hiding, constantly worrying about my life being threatened, I had become surprisingly comfortable.

Even the cleanup of the surrounding ecosystem, which I thought would take the longest, was finished in just a few days.

Anyway, though many unfamiliar Demonic Beasts had appeared in the vicinity due to long neglect, I was now a Human who could freely enter and exit The Depths.

Now that even Sangun *hyung-nim* was reduced to just a hide, there were hardly any Demonic Beasts left that I would find difficult.

Thanks to this, I had been living a peaceful daily life for almost two months. Naturally, I had also gotten through two more berserk states during that time.

“Ah~”

Anyway, it was so peaceful that a small problem arose...

“What should I do today..."

Namely, I was *terribly* bored. All I could do in this forest was hunt, clean, and cook. And even those weren't very fun.

Still, when guests came, time fortunately passed quickly... but such events didn't happen every day.

In short, I had a lot of time to feel bored.

“...”

There were times I missed the artifacts of the modern world, from simple snacks to magazines produced there, and even electronic devices.

Compared to this secluded cave, the 6-pyeong studio apartment I used to live in, though small, had everything I needed.

Even when I lay on a comfortable bed, scrolling on my phone, I felt just as bored. Why was it that, strangely, I particularly missed that time? *...I cautiously thought it might be nostalgia.*

Although I had lived here for 20 years, I hadn't moved the roots of my heart here. Honestly, the experiences I'd had here weren't particularly pleasant.

So, when I was alone like this, I often found myself sinking into my memories. It was while I was spending time alone, lost in thought.

“Hey, anyone home?”

“?”

Suddenly, someone came to my forest. Feeling bored, I immediately got up to greet the guest. The person who arrived this time was someone I hadn't seen in quite a while.

It was Shin Hanbyeol. Come to think of it, she hadn't appeared separately during the Altar battle. In a way, it had been months since we last met.

I greeted her warmly and asked,

“Welcome. What brings you here?”

“Why, you ask...?”

For a moment, her sharp eyes furrowed. For a moment, I wondered if I had said something wrong... but no. It seemed she was just at a loss for words.

“...I just came.”

“Aha.”

I nodded at that. Right, she might just want to visit. My guests don't always come with a purpose, do they?

Yu Chaerin and Im Haneul come whenever they're bored, so there's no reason Shin Hanbyeol shouldn't.

I was a bit curious why she, busy maintaining her Rank 1 status, would bother coming all the way to this distant forest... but I decided not to think too deeply about it.

I was already starting to feel down, so this was perfect timing. I enthusiastically welcomed her so she wouldn't feel awkward.

I told her how bored and idle my days had been. It was actually a half-complaint, but she listened to my story quite seriously.

“Hmm... really?”

Then, after thinking for a moment, she made a suggestion.

“If you're that bored, why don't you try going to the Arena?”

My head tilted to the side at the completely unexpected suggestion. I asked her back.

“...The Arena?”

It was a word I felt like I'd heard somewhere before.