Chapter 14 - Massage (1)
[ Massage (1) ]
=== Massage (1) ===
A massive boost to my lowest stat.
It would compensate for one of the most fatal weaknesses a Hunter could have... No, wait.
Judging by the previous reward, a "massive increase" meant the stat that used to be my biggest weakness might actually become a strength.
And it wasn't just about avoiding the penalty. If this could ease my worries, even a little, about my sisters getting hurt or dying, I absolutely had to clear this quest.
I looked back inside the apartment.
The living room.
The kitchen.
The hallway.
It was a familiar layout.
After all, it was the place we'd shared for several years before I moved out to live on my own.
The problem was...
"...It's dirtier than I thought."
Dust and stray hairs littered the living room floor, and a small mountain of dirty dishes had piled up in the sink.
Since they were both busy living as Hunters, it made sense that they'd fallen behind on chores.
Well, I could always drop by and clean up for them from now on.
I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.
"...Huh. I'm not even that tired."
Thanks to fucking Han Cho-yeon to my heart's content yesterday and today, my Stamina had shot up to B-rank. Even after a deep clean that took nearly five hours, I still had energy to burn.
Blasting some music while I worked made the time fly by, too.
Just as I finished the last of the dishes, a familiar notification chimed.
[Quest cleared. Rewards are being distributed.]
----------
[Yoo Ga-on]
Strength: B+
Agility: D-
Stamina: A
Mana: B+
Skills: Intangibility (A), Special Meal (SS)
[Quest]
----------
"...Isn't this growth rate a little insane?"
Less than a week after awakening, my Stamina had jumped from F-rank to A-rank.
If my other stats kept growing like this... I might actually become the strongest person in the world within a month. At least, while the "Snail Husband" state was active.
"But is there really no way to keep this state active permanently?"
I mean, what was the point of having god-tier stats if I only ever used them to do chores or fuck?
Desperately hoping for a way to toggle the status window at will in the future, I left the apartment and headed back to my studio.
Room 306.
I got back in the early evening. The moment I opened the door, Han Cho-yeon, who was sitting on the sofa, glared at me.
Her arms were crossed tightly.
She was visibly pouting.
What did I do now?
"...Where the hell have you been?"
"Oh, I went to clean."
"...Clean what?"
Han Cho-yeon's eyebrows shot up.
"Whose place?"
"My family's apartment."
"...Oh."
She seemed lost for words for a second, but her expression quickly soured again.
"No, that's not the point!"
Clack.
She shoved her phone in my face.
"Why didn't you answer my calls?!"
"...?"
I looked down at the screen. A mountain of missed calls stared back at me.
Thirteen missed calls, to be exact.
Every single one of them was from Han Cho-yeon.
"...Ah."
"Thirteen times."
"..."
"I called you thirteen fucking times."
Only then did I notice the tiny icon at the top of my screen.
Do Not Disturb.
Actually, I had all my notifications muted.
"...I was listening to music while cleaning."
"...And?"
"Well, usually the only alerts I get are spam, so I keep everything muted... I must have missed them."
A heavy silence hung in the air for a few seconds.
Han Cho-yeon narrowed her eyes.
"...Is that so?"
"...Yeah."
"Cleaning."
"..."
"For half a day?"
"...It was a quest."
"...Oh."
Han Cho-yeon was currently the only person who knew about my unique ability, the quests, and the penalties.
Which was why she couldn't really argue when I told her a quest had taken half the day.
"Ugh... I guess I can't keep you all to myself."
"What?"
"Hmph. Still, I need to know who else is in your life. Come here!"
Even if it was an accident, ignoring thirteen calls over half a day was definitely on me.
Han Cho-yeon patted the space next to her, but I decided to sit on the edge of my bed instead.
"Who else lives at your family's place besides your sisters?"
"No one."
"...Wait. Then..."
"...It's nothing like that. The quests were literally just cooking and cleaning."
At least, so far.
I quickly defended my innocence before Han Cho-yeon could jump to any wild conclusions.
"...But didn't you start out with those kinds of quests with me, too?"
"No—well, yeah, that's true, but..."
"Then doesn't that mean you're going to end up sleeping with your sisters?!"
"How the hell did you leap to that conclusion?!"
Fucking was never the actual quest, lady.
You were the one who jumped my bones.
Sex was just a bonus reward for unlocking some hidden achievement.
It took a lot of effort to calm down Han Cho-yeon, who was practically hyperventilating with wild theories.
"So unless they suddenly jump me the way you did, there's absolutely no way anything like that would happen. It's completely ridiculous."
"Hmph..."
Around the same time.
"Ugh... I'm dying. I'm literally dying."
"...You're telling me."
Yoo Seo-rin and Yoo Ra-eun were walking home, utterly exhausted.
Neither of them had a driver's license or a personal chauffeur, so they were trudging into their apartment complex on foot when they spotted a familiar figure in the distance.
"Huh? Isn't that Ga-on?"
"...?"
Yoo Seo-rin narrowed her eyes.
He was near the entrance of the complex.
Yoo Ga-on was just heading out.
"...It is him, right?"
Yoo Ra-eun squinted, trying to get a better look.
"...Yeah," Yoo Seo-rin replied curtly. "It's him."
"...What the hell?"
Yoo Ra-eun tilted her head in confusion.
"He said he only dropped by for a bit earlier today."
"...Yeah."
The two of them stood there for a moment, watching his retreating figure disappear into the distance.
Yoo Ga-on left the complex without ever noticing them.
A brief silence fell between the sisters.
Yoo Ra-eun was the first to break it.
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"Remember a few days ago?"
Yoo Seo-rin glanced at her.
"...The dinner?"
"Yeah."
The memory of that night came rushing back to both of them.
The meal Ga-on had prepared—something that belonged in a five-star hotel.
And...
The ridiculously powerful buff that had come with it.
Yoo Ra-eun lowered her voice.
"Don't you think he's hiding something? Just like back then."
"..."
"It's just a hunch."
Yoo Ra-eun shrugged and took a step forward.
"Well, we'll know once we get inside. Honestly, I'm kind of excited to see what he's pulled this time."
But when they stepped through the front door, they were frozen in sheer shock.
"...W-Wait... What kind of cleaning did he even do...?"
"...It looks like he did nothing but clean from the moment we left him until just now."
The floors were polished to a mirror shine without a single speck of dust. The windows, dining table, and shelves were all immaculately organized.
"Is his Awakened ability literally being an S-rank housekeeper?!"
"No way."
And yet, it didn't feel like a complete joke anymore.
First that mysterious meal, and now this god-tier housework.
"...Should we pretend not to notice this time, too?"
"...Yeah. Let's just trust him for now."
They were dying of curiosity about the true nature of Yoo Ga-on's bizarre behavior, but because they trusted him more than anyone, they decided to just sit back and watch his antics play out.
However, there was one thing they hadn't accounted for.
Squeeze, squeeze—
"Phew... Please don't wake up... Just stay asleep..."
What on earth is going on?! Just how far am I supposed to pretend not to notice?
After a grueling day, Yoo Ra-eun had eaten a quick dinner with Yoo Seo-rin and passed out the second her head hit the pillow.
But right now, her mind was in absolute chaos.
I woke up because I felt someone in my room, and when I peeked through my eyelashes to see who it was...
There was Yoo Ga-on, of all people, massaging her calves.
To make matters worse, he was muttering to himself like a prayer, begging her not to wake up. He looked exactly like a thief in the night.
...A thief whose only crime was... giving calf massages.
...Ugh. But why does this feel so good?
The real problem was that his massage skills were absolutely insane.
He was working on her calves and feet, which were incredibly sensitive spots for her. If she let her guard down for even a second, she was going to let out a moan.
Squeeze—
Knead, squeeze—
Seeing him sneak into her room in the dead of night to massage her legs with such a desperate, pitiful expression made her practically burst with curiosity.
Deep breaths... Just bear with it. He must have his reasons for, ugh... doing this.
Vowing to smack him hard on the back the next time she saw him, she endured the massage for over ten minutes.
The next morning.
"...Huh?"
Yoo Ra-eun stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment after waking up.
Her body felt... strange.
But in a very good way.
"What is this?"
She slowly sat up in bed.
Normally, the day after a dungeon raid, her entire body would be so stiff and sore that even sitting up was a struggle.
But today...
"I feel so light...?"
Her calves.
The muscles that had been tightly knotted yesterday had completely melted away, as if by magic.
Yoo Ra-eun stood up and rotated her ankles.
Pop.
Pop.
"What in the world...?"
She felt completely fine.
Actually, she felt better than she had in months.
When she checked her status window, she realized her stats had actually gone up.
"..."
As she stood there in disbelief, last night's memory flashed through her mind.
Squeeze, squeeze—
Yoo Ga-on, holding her calves and massaging them with everything he had.
"...No way."
...Again?
Did Ga-on give her some kind of buff?
"..."
For now... she had to keep playing along.
...
That night.
Once again.
The door to Yoo Ra-eun's room creaked open with absolute silence.
Creak—
"...Phew."
A familiar sigh.
It was Yoo Ga-on.
...He's back.
This time, she hadn't been woken up by his presence. She had been pretending to sleep from the very beginning.
Just like yesterday, she pretended to be dead to the world.
"...Is it this spot today?"
Yoo Ga-on whispered softly as he sat on the edge of her bed.
A moment later, he gently took her hand.
...Huh?
Yoo Ra-eun's heart skipped a beat.
Squeeze—
Her palm.
Knead, squeeze—
Then, his touch slowly worked its way up her arm.
...What is he doing now?
As a vanguard damage dealer, gripping a sword for hours in dungeons left her wrists incredibly fatigued.
But Yoo Ga-on's fingers targeted the exact spots where her muscles were knotted, as if he knew precisely where the tension lay.
Ah... It feels s-so good...
She clenched her teeth.
She was terrified she might let out a moan.
Just hold it in... Just this once, I have to hold it in...
The next day.
"......"
If yesterday's leg massage had revitalized her entire body, today, her sword swings were incredibly fluid and clean.
And once again, that night, Yoo Ra-eun went to bed earlier than usual on purpose.
Of course, even though her eyes were closed, she was wide awake.
"...Let's see if he shows up tonight, too."
And, without fail, the door opened.
Creak—
Creak—
I closed the door with absolute care.
Terrified that even the slightest creak would wake my sister, I held the handle down and slowly eased the door shut.
"...Phew."
I took a deep, shaky breath.
Then, I looked up.
[Quest]
- Massage Yoo Ra-eun's chest for 10 minutes
Reward: Increase in 'Snail Husband' Stamina, massive increase in Yoo Ra-eun's highest stat
Penalty for Failure: Deletion of the left brain
"...Ha."
A hollow laugh escaped my lips.
Isn't this going way too far?
She's my sister, for God's sake.
Up until now, I could justify it.
Calves. Feet. Hands. Arms.
Those were all areas where I could plausibly argue I was just helping out a sore family member.
But...
...Her chest.
No matter how I tried to spin it, this crossed a massive line.
If I got caught, there was no way in hell I could play it off as a massage.
I looked over at the bed. Yoo Ra-eun was sleeping peacefully.
She seemed dead to the world, probably exhausted from today's dungeon raid.
"..."
I knew I shouldn't be doing this.
But losing my left brain is way worse... Fuck.
The status window floated mockingly in front of my eyes.
Why the hell did I ever think this unique ability was a blessing?
This perverted system was literally forcing me to touch my younger sister's chest.
"...I'm so sorry."
I don't have a choice.