At the destination, there was a safari, but something else caught my eye.
It was the Amazon Express.
"That! Let's ride that!"
The waiting line was longer than expected, but an unexpected variable allowed us to ride quickly.
It was the Splash Boat! A boat with no waterproof cover to block the water.
Even though it's natural to get wet on such a ride, not many people wanted to get completely soaked, and I, eager to ride quickly, volunteered for the Splash Boat.
"The Splash Boat is here. Anyone want to ride?"
"Here!"
"Ya! Are you crazy!?"
I heard Shi-hyun-gun cursing at me, but I didn't care.
"Here come two lovebirds!"
I giggled and pulled Shi-hyun-gun along.
"What's the big deal! Let's go!"
"Ah, damn it. I'm gonna get soaked."
Besides us, there were others who wanted to ride, so we quickly boarded and set off. I rode with Shi-hyun-gun.
The boat moved along the flowing water. Each time we passed through winding paths, water crashed in from the front and back, and when we went through rapids, we were hit with so much water that we couldn't see.
While bracing myself against the shaking, I bumped into Shi-hyun-gun, and our chests even touched, but I couldn't care less. The problem was that my clothes were completely soaked. The wet clothes clung tightly, emphasizing my chest and thighs.
I could see the person sitting across from me unable to take their eyes off me, but I decided not to care. I chose this, so I figured I couldn't do anything about it.
At that moment, Shi-hyun-gun tried to cover me with one arm, but in the process, my chest kept bumping into his arm and hand, which made me even more embarrassed.
"Yaah, just leave it."
"Tsk, this is why I didn't want you to ride this."
While we were talking, the boat arrived at the destination, and we were able to get off.
We were completely soaked from all the water we had taken. My makeup seemed to be a bit smudged too.
"Ah, I'm totally soaked. I'll go to the bathroom."
"Okay, let's meet again in front of that souvenir shop."
The women's restroom I headed to had a long line. I squeezed water out of my clothes while standing in line.
After waiting, I went into the restroom and wrung out some of the water from my hair and shook out my clothes.
I reapplied the smudged parts of my makeup with the cosmetics I had in my bag. I roughly cleaned up, but it was hard to do anything about the clothes sticking to me. As a last resort, I held the top part of my clothes with my hand and came out.
Shi-hyun-gun was already at the meeting place, holding something.
"Tsk, are you a child?"
"What?"
Then he threw something at me. It was a towel with an animal picture on it.
"Oh?"
It was a character product. I first wiped off some more water from my body with the towel, and after roughly drying off, Shi-hyun-gun put a shirt over my head. This was also a character product t-shirt.
"Nice sense."
"You're the idiot."
Ugh, he's not wrong. I should have thought of it from the beginning, but as a result, I ended up looking subtly strange wearing a character t-shirt and a towel around my neck.
We played a bit more at the amusement park, and we left before sunset.
Leaving the amusement park and heading to the car, I was really happy and had a great time.
"Eum~ that was great!"
"Looks like you had a lot of fun?"
"Yeah, it feels like it's been a long time since I've had so much fun."
Yeah, it's been a really long time. Since I've played so freely.
Maybe it was the first time since elementary school? From middle school onwards, I became distant from Shi-hyun-gun in many ways, and I had little time to hang out due to studying and self-improvement.
Since starting the Hunter life, I've been spending more time with Shi-hyun-gun and it's been fun. But it was different. When I hung out with Shi-hyun-gun after becoming an adult, we ate delicious food and drank alcohol. I think today might be the first time I've played so purely?
"Yeah, it reminds me of the old days."
"We used to play in the playground or on the sports field every day in elementary school."
It really reminded me of the old days. I had forgotten a lot, but I remembered a lot while living as a Hunter with Shi-hyun-gun. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, I went ahead of Shi-hyun-gun. Then I quickly turned around.
"Will you come with me next time too?"
Shi-hyun-gun was smiling.
"Of course."
That was enough. At least for the time being, I can have a happy life with Shi-hyun-gun.
*
In the car on the way home, we briefly started talking about the next expedition plan.
The next goal was the first C-Rank Gate expedition. The location was Mungyeong.
"So, elephants come out?"
"You can think of them as mammoths."
Can we really catch that? Considering the size of an adult elephant, it doesn't seem easy for the two of us to catch it.
"Aren't we pushing ourselves too hard from the start?"
"You just need to focus on throwing spears rather than close combat."
"No, I know you're strong, Shi-hyun-gun. But wouldn't it be better if we could fight together?"
"There are guys with tusks among the ones that come out of there, right? Those tusks are worth over 500,000 won each."
What... did you say?
500,000 won!?
"Originally, elephant tusks were made into crafts and art pieces and sold for a high price. Before the Gate, one tusk was worth tens of millions of won, they say?"
Mi..., fucking tens of millions of won?
"But after the Gate appeared and similar monsters came out from inside, the price dropped. But it's still expensive."
"Wow..., there are two tusks on one, so if we catch a guy with tusks, it's unconditionally 1 million won?"
"That's right."
Suddenly, I'm tempted.
"Then, aren't there a lot of people?"
"They say there are quite a few. But because of the difficulty, party play is forced, and higher-ranked Hunters can earn more from other monster byproducts, so it's more worth trying than you think."
Indeed..., it's something that Shi-hyun-gun, who has power equivalent to the top of B-Rank, can do.
"Well, then, what else can we do but do it that way."
Yeah, weak me has no say.
In the end, we decided to follow Shi-hyun-gun's plan, and we ate jokbal (pig's trotters) for dinner.
Spicy jokbal!
After becoming a woman, I've been strangely drawn to spicy food.
*
On the morning of the day we were supposed to go on the Gate expedition, I woke up with an uneasy feeling.
"Ah, shit, it burst."
This was already the fourth time, so I was used to it. Fortunately, it seemed like it hadn't been long since it burst, so there was no blood on the bed sheets.
Now I can anticipate and cope with emotional changes before my period to some extent, so I haven't made any big mistakes like the first time.
"Did you sleep well?"
My brother was there when I came out of the room.
"Hyung-nim?"
"Ya, more than that, how long are you going to call me Hyung-nim?"
"Forever?"
"Ah, let's call me Oppa now. Are you going to do that outside too?"
Hmm..., well, I can call him Oppa. That would be more natural.
"If you get me a good artifact, I'll call you that forever."
"Really? Just you wait!"
My brother originally had a childish side, but he seemed even more childish today.
I ignored my brother and prepared to go out.
Because my period started, there were more things to prepare.
I packed extra underwear and sanitary pads, busy busy.
Now I don't wear combat gear in advance. I realized that most Gates have government officials in suitable buildings nearby, and there are convenience facilities and changing rooms, so I can wear the gear there. So, I put my clothes and underwear set in Shi-hyun-gun's car for convenience. Of course, separately from that, I packed clothes, underwear, and sanitary pads in my bag.
It took two hours to get to Mungyeong, so I decided to sleep in the car.
"Su-hyun-a? Didn't you sleep well yesterday?"
"No, it's because it's that day today."
"Ah, I see."
"Yeah."
I used to get scolded by Shi-hyun-gun for talking about this, but now I say it because it's necessary. I'm warning him in advance not to bother me because I'm having a hard time. That way, we're more careful with each other.
In fact, a month ago, I endured the menstrual cramps and made a mistake during the battle, and was attacked by a monster, and Shi-hyun-gun was surrounded by monsters.
Of course, Shi-hyun-gun quickly dealt with the monsters by exerting his full power, but still, I had been trusted to watch his back, but I couldn't live up to the expectations and did a terrible thing.
Shi-hyun-gun was also flustered, and I almost got into danger, so Shi-hyun-gun got angry at me. At first, I apologized, but at the time, we were doing well, so he even said that I thought the expedition was nothing and let my guard down.
At that time, I was so upset that I cried and told Shi-hyun-gun that it was because I was sick. It was hard because of my period. I sobbed and sobbed, and Shi-hyun-gun knelt down and bowed his head to me.
Since then, we decided on each other. If it's hard, tell each other in advance, especially about that, tell me in advance so there are no misunderstandings. I learned then that simply hiding things isn't always the best thing to do.
"Su-hyun-a?"
I was sleeping soundly when I heard Shi-hyun-gun's voice.
"Are you tired? Do you want to sleep a little more?"
I rubbed my still heavy eyelids and woke up.
"Have we arrived?"
"Yeah, if you're tired, you can go later."
"No, I have to get up."
I got up, stretched, and looked around, and there were quite a few people.
"There are a lot of people."
"Fewer than expected? Or have they already entered the Gate?"
What? You expected more than this? Well, if you catch just one guy with tusks, it's 1 million won....
I first took my equipment and went to the changing room to change. When I came out of the changing room wearing the now familiar equipment, I briefly attracted attention.
Summer was summer. Wearing a tight-fitting rider suit was hot even if I was just standing still.
I joined Shi-hyun-gun, who was waiting first, and went to record our entry and exit, and the public official stopped us during the recording.
"Are you sure the two of you came?"
"Yes. That's right."
"Are you sure it's two people, one C-Rank and one D-Rank? This, this Gate has a high difficulty and accidents happen often. It seems a bit difficult with just the two of you, so how about looking into another Gate?"
The public official's reaction is right. A C-Rank Gate with a 2-person party, and not even both C-Rank, one is D-Rank, they must be worried about an accident.
"Thank you for your concern. It's okay, just let us go."
Well, the public official doesn't know, but Shi-hyun-gun is practically B-Rank, so there's no need to worry. Well, my skills are a bit lacking though. The public official sighed, said okay, checked, and we headed to the Gate.
And as always, we entered with a jump together. The other world that unfolded before my eyes was different from what I expected.
I thought it would be like the African savanna that comes out on television. But it wasn't.
The other world that unfolded before my eyes was barren and desolate land. At least it wasn't as hot as outside, but it was suffocating. Sand rode on the wind and flew, and it was very dry.
"It's, completely different from what I thought."
"Yeah, the sunlight isn't strong, but it's incredibly dry, they said we need to bring a lot of water."
I understood what Shi-hyun-gun meant. It felt like my throat was getting dry every time I breathed.
We set out to find monsters in that other world.