I grabbed my crotch and dropped to the ground.
The shock hit like a wave — vision swaying, stomach churning — radiating out from my dick and flooding my whole body.
"Ugh... I have to move...!"
I took short, shallow breaths and forced my legs to work.
Baek Bo-ra would be back any second.
I was the only person near her.
If Bo-ra saw me, she'd suspect me first. Obviously.
I slipped out through the first-floor emergency exit and locked the door behind me.
Then I opened the status window again.
"It really got bigger... My dick actually got bigger!"
My dick had grown by 0.5cm. I was 12.5cm now.
"So... clearing missions doesn't just strengthen the time stop ability. It enhances my dick too!"
The pain still throbbed, but I felt good.
Now I got why there was a 'Specs' section in the status window.
"As expected of S-class!"
Heart pounding, I checked my skills.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Time stops when you say the keyword 'Time Stopu'.
[ Usage Limit: 3 times a day (3/3) ]
[ Stoppable Time: 15 seconds ]
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
This ability is linked to the Time Stop (S) skill!
It is randomly activated when there are remaining uses of the Time Stop skill!
It affects the values shown in the status window!
You become closer to the ideal man you envision!
[ Time Stop Usage Limit: 3 times a day (3/3) ]
[ No more missions will be given today. ]
I only had two skills, but they were broken as hell.
S-class was the highest rank that existed right now.
It might not work on other S-class Awakeners, but if it did? I'd be the strongest in the world.
"I can grow through sudden missions, so I don't even need to hunt monsters... This is totally awesome..."
If I were even a little younger, I'd have run straight to the Association.
Registered as an Awakener immediately and taken all the perks that come with it.
"But not now. There's no need to register."
With great power comes great responsibility, or whatever.
Exactly like that saying — the world would shove responsibility onto an S-class Awakener one way or another.
"I don't want to do stuff like catching monsters or killing people."
What I want is a cat's life.
Sleep half the day, laze around the other half.
And a life where I can satisfy my sexual desires whenever I feel like it.
"The title of S-class Hunter is just a hassle. I've got enough money anyway, right?"
Not just the study room.
The café and animal hospital on the first floor.
The Hunter massage parlor on the second floor.
The Hunter exam prep academy on the third floor.
The gym on the fourth floor.
The study room on the fifth floor.
I own the entire building where all those businesses are.
There's no reason to make money by outing my abilities.
Uuuuuuung—!
Right then, my phone buzzed loudly.
"Ah, it's Jisu..."
Jung Jisu.
My one and only younger sister, an S-class Hunter actively working as an Awakener.
And the angel who put this useless oppa in the position of building owner.
"Hey, Jisu."
"What's with the echo? Where are you?"
"I'm on the stairs. Study room stairs."
"You are going to the study room regularly?"
"You don't even ask how I'm doing and jump straight to that?"
"Compared to inside a sinkhole, this place is heaven itself, so why bother asking? I'm sure you're fine on your own."
Sinkhole.
A black pit that appeared when Awakeners first showed up.
A hole to another dimension that sucks everything on the ground into it.
Yeah, compared to a place crawling with monsters, Earth is heaven.
"So, you're going to the study room, right? You're not making a part-timer work mornings either, right?"
"Of course not. You know I keep my promises."
"You better keep it. If you hole up in your room and laze around again, I'm tearing that building down∼."
"..."
The reason I open the study room every day and stay until 1 PM is exactly this.
I made a promise with Jisu.
That I'd diligently run the study room on weekday mornings.
"Oppa is hopeless once he starts being lazy. I have to crack the whip like this."
"That's harsh..."
"If you're doing well, that's good. I'm hanging up."
She must've only called to check if I was actually going to the study room, because she was about to end it right there.
"Wait a sec, Jisu. You got some time?"
"Time? I don't have any?"
"Hey. Think before you talk."
"I really don't have time. I'm heading into an A-class sinkhole now. Won't be out for about a week. We have to clear it before the monsters overflow."
"Ah... Is that so? That's too bad. There was something I wanted to tell you in person..."
I wasn't planning to tell the Association, but I did want to brag to my little sister.
She awakened as S-class at 20.
When I was 24... back when I was giving up on becoming an Awakener and telling myself to accept reality. That's when my little sister, Ham Jisu, awakened as S-class.
"Can't you tell me over the phone?"
"I can't tell you over the phone. Come visit when you have time. We'll talk then. Stay safe."
"...Should I just come now?"
"What are you talking about? You said you're going into a sinkhole."
"The Association forcibly assembled the team, so it's not like they need me specifically. They'll manage without me."
"It's not that urgent. Don't push yourself."
"Okay. Don't sleep in just because I'm not there, and go to the study room like you promised. I'm really hanging up this time."
Before I could say anything else, Jisu hung up.
"She really lives diligently..."
I slipped my phone into my pocket and stood up.
The pain was mostly gone, so I figured I'd grab an Americano and head home.
.
.
.
After ending the call with her oppa, Jisu stared at her phone.
More precisely, at her oppa smiling in the family photo she used as her background.
A photo from when their parents were still alive.
On a sunny day like today.
A family picture taken near a well-maintained walking path, just like this place.
"Why did his voice sound so excited?"
What could've happened to make him that happy?
It wasn't easy to guess.
Her oppa's day was really simple.
Wake up in the morning, wash up, open the study room.
Spend time there quietly until 1 PM.
All he does is read novels, watch webtoons, or watch internet streams.
"Could it be a girlfriend...? No. No way. There's no way."
Her oppa comes home and dives straight into lewd stuff.
He's been obsessed with time-stop porn for ages.
Seems like he's doing something with VR lately too... but that's definitely not normal either.
A girlfriend for that oppa?
Impossible.
It should be impossible.
"Jisu-ya! You were here! I've been looking for you!"
A tall woman came pushing through the bushes.
A priestess holding a book with a large pocket watch engraved on the cover.
It was A-class Hunter Ya Hyejung.
"Hyejung unni. You got summoned too?"
"Jisu-ya. Did you feel it?"
"Huh?"
"Time stopped!"
She's always been eccentric, but sometimes it's hard to follow what Hyejung unni is thinking.
Should I call her four-dimensional...?
Or just say she's missing a screw...?
"Are you saying you gained the ability to stop time?"
"No. Three times today. It was very short, but the world stopped three times so far. Didn't you feel it?"
"Not at all."
"That's strange... Am I the strange one? Time definitely stopped..."
"Didn't you do it, unni? You're a Chronos worshiper, after all."
Chronos.
The god who governs time.
Someone who worships a god like that might really be able to stop time.
"No. I couldn't move either. I was frozen too. Not just me — everything around me stopped. I was only aware that time had stopped!"
"The ability to stop time... If it's misused, it'll be a huge problem, won't it?"
"That's what I'm saying! If a villain awakened this ability, the world would fall into great chaos!"
"There's no one in the country who uses time-related abilities besides you, unni. Then there's a high probability it's a new Awakener..."
This is too big.
Most Awakeners awaken on their twentieth birthday and gain mysterious abilities.
There are occasional irregulars, but those are one-in-a-hundred-million cases.
So if we did a worldwide survey of everyone with a birthday today, we might find whoever awakened the ability to stop time.
'But how many countries would launch a full-scale investigation based on the word of an A-class Awakener from Korea...?'
Even I, who's close to Hyejung unni, was skeptical that she might've misperceived it.
Unless a world-famous S-class Hunter said it.
Hyejung unni's word alone wouldn't be enough.
"Unni. Who did you tell?"
"You're the first. I've been praying until now, hoping Chronos-nim would give me an answer."
"Then it'd be better not to tell anyone else and just observe for a while."
"Huh? Why? I should tell the Association! This is a global threat!"
"Even if you tell the Association, it's doubtful they'll believe you. And even if they do, they'll probably just run a domestic survey and call it done."
Hyejung unni tilted her head like she didn't understand me at all.
'She's not a bad person...'
It looked like I needed to explain my thinking properly.
'The ability to stop time...'
For some reason, her oppa's face flashed through her mind.