Retire 310

310 Hunt (3)

One mark for capturing the mage.

One mark for destroying the dungeon core.

He’d left, brimming with confidence, promising to finish the raid in no time. Yet how many times had he used that item today—the one he’d worn all these years, wondering if he’d ever truly need it?

Hong Seok-young swallowed a groan, thinking of the identification tag now etched with two new marks.

He never intended to be stingy with it, since it was a matter directly tied to real injuries, but still…

“Grrr…”

It irked him to think he’d used two marks on the likes of this bastard.

He could have used them better!

When he returned to Korea, he’d have to ask Woo Hee-jae how his future self had ended up adding those marks to the tag. He’d always figured he’d use them when the time came, so he never bothered to ask—but now he realized that was just arrogance. No matter how sturdy a person is, in the end, everyone dies.

Even if he was alive twenty years from now, who could say it would be the same this time? At the very least, Seok-young was certain that in Woo Hee-jae’s timeline, he’d never been attacked by a mage like this.

‘Didn’t I say I never even cleared this dungeon in the first place?’

Seok-young scratched his head.

Thanks to the incredible item that absorbed all damage to its wearer, he hadn’t lost a single hair, but there was no helping the physical exhaustion. Drained, he gathered up the mage and slumped to the ground. The unconscious mage showed no sign of waking.

As he had in the illusion, Seok-young leaned his head back. The fake sky of the dungeon was collapsing.

For all his complaints, Seok-young liked this quiet scenery. Not that it was something he could talk about with others. Maybe this was how a toy inside a snow globe felt as the globe shattered.

Whenever he found himself in a quiet dungeon like this, he remembered the first day he’d ever been trapped in one. When was that? Back before tolls were widely known, back when porters still entered dungeons alongside the hunters.

All the other raiders had died. Young Seok-young, carrying a pack full of potions, survived thanks to those very potions. Figuring he’d die just sitting there anyway, he grabbed a dead man’s weapon and threw himself into the fray, making one last desperate stand.

That day, too, Seok-young had destroyed the dungeon core and sat quietly, watching the world fall to pieces around him. If the dungeon collapsed, he’d die as well. But he had no one waiting for him, so there was nothing to regret…

“…You really never know where life will take you.”

Seok-young chuckled to himself.

Now that the mage’s disruptive magic had faded, he could feel the presence of others scattered throughout the dungeon, distinct from the dungeon’s own mana. The other hunters who had entered with him.

Just because they were alive didn’t mean their bodies were unharmed, but that was a secondary concern.

As long as they were alive, there was something he could do. Seok-young waited for the dungeon to finish shattering.

At last, when the dungeon fully collapsed, the dry scent of sand greeted him.

“Hunter Hong!”

“Gate confirmed closed! Dungeon clear!”

“Check for casualties!”

A cacophony of voices greeted him. Soldiers in uniform. Seeing the faces that had died in the illusion now rushing toward him, Seok-young grinned.

“How many dead?”

“Hey, take this guy.”

“Huh? Who’s this? He’s not one of ours… Who is he? Where did he come from?”

“He was lying in wait to ambush us inside the dungeon. If it weren’t for this bastard, there wouldn’t have been any casualties.”

Seok-young staggered to his feet. His eyelids felt heavy. It had been a long time since he’d felt this kind of exhaustion.

“You know, that guy who killed his master and ran away years ago. Erve Schneider.”

The man taking the mage from Seok-young frowned. Other hunters nearby turned at the mention of that name.

“The archmage Deneuve’s disciple.”

---

“Let’s talk business.”

“Mr. Woo, you really do say the strangest things.”

“Yes?”

“What do you think we’re doing right now?”

Kim Chae-min gestured to the papers spread across the conference table.

I had no idea why Kim Chae-min was asking such a question. Still, since he’d asked me, I answered.

“Work.”

“…And yet you want to talk about work?”

“This is school business, isn’t it?”

I set down the documents I’d been reading. I hadn’t expected anything grand from twenty years ago, but this analog… Well, government offices and schools always did things the old-fashioned way. Still, the Academy had been quite modern and well-equipped… No, don’t get greedy. Just change things one at a time, one at a time.

“Isn’t school business still work?!”

Kim Chae-min also set down his papers, following my lead. They were Park Seo-hyun’s test papers—the results from the test we’d held in preparation for the upcoming dungeon raid.

Originally, I’d planned to throw all the kids into the dungeon together, like with the Pixie Dungeon. But from the start, Kim Chae-min had suggested otherwise—why not lower the dungeon’s grade instead? Rather than forming a full raid team, we could make smaller parties and let them get used to dungeons first.

Kim Chae-min’s suggestion sounded familiar to me. The Academy had similar activities. There, though, they used simulations instead of entering real dungeons.

But since there were no simulators at this point in time, if we wanted to use a real dungeon, we’d have to lower its grade as much as possible…

I looked at Gamble.

“…What? Why are you looking at me like that!”

Gamble bristled at my gaze. This is why people need to sleep.

“I already have plenty to do! Why did you call me here for school business? You’re not planning to dump more work on me, are you?!”

“……”

Well, missing a little sleep won’t kill him. Gamble’s an Awakened, after all. He’s got a sturdy body.

“Hey! Answer me!”

“Hmm… If it was just school business, Mr. Kim and I could have handled it ourselves.”

“Hey!!”

“Why are you so much angrier these days? If you have complaints, take them up with the guild master.”

“I’m talking to the guild master’s proxy right now!”

“The proxy has no authority, you know.”

“I know for a fact the master handed all his authority over to you!”

“Did he? I know nothing about that.”

Gamble looked at me with a face full of things left unsaid.

If he wanted to play that game, I had plenty to say myself. What hasn’t our guild done for Gamble? We bought him all the equipment he needed, let him pursue whatever research he wanted. Even handed over knowledge from the future so he could get closer to his dream a little sooner…

Isn’t this a pretty decent workplace? At least he doesn’t have to wrack his brain over how to stretch the budget, or stay up all night worrying about audits, or nag the raid team to save on potions!

And it’s not like we ever made the admin department do design work or anything else outside their job description.

All I’d done was ask if he could improve the signal devices we’d given the kids. Something that could communicate with the dungeon in real time, receive dungeon information, and, if possible, build a searchable database… a sort of petite mana watch.

It’s not like I demanded he produce it right away… I just wanted to hear him say he’d give it a try if he could.

If he’d said it couldn’t be done, I’d have accepted it—would’ve just thought, “Ah, so that’s Sandra Gamble’s limit,” and been satisfied…

Just kidding.

Of course, I never actually said that. I only asked about his future research plans and told him to submit a proposal later.

“Enough chit-chat. Let’s talk real business.”

“…Ugh, it’s always work.”

Kim Chae-min shuddered, but straightened up. He knew I wouldn’t bring something up just to mess around.

…Or at least, I hoped he did.

“So, what is it?”

“What else would it be but school business?”

“Is this something I’m allowed to know about?”

“You need to, now. If you notice anything we’re missing, let us know.”

Even Gamble, who’d looked annoyed, now became serious.

“Mr. Hong is currently raiding a dungeon in America, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well… It’s not unusual for other countries to beg him to come, but this time, there was a certain deal involved.”

“Are you bragging?”

“This time, there was a specific exchange.”

I lifted the report I’d received just before Hong Seok-young left for America. The same report I’d been reading while the kids were gardening with Kim Chae-min.

Gamble’s eyes narrowed as he read the title on the cover.

“Warehouse… What’s in here?”

This is why I like sharp people. Saves me from having to explain everything.

But I shook my head.

“We won’t know until we check.”

“…Then why—”

“What I want to talk about is the source of the information that this warehouse is suspicious.”

“The source?”

Kim Chae-min, beside me, gave a little “Ah,” and nodded.

Sharp people really are the best. Kim Chae-min immediately understood why I’d brought Gamble into this conversation.

“That’s right. In a way, Sandra is an expert on this.”

“Almost the only expert.”

“Almost? Not the only one?”

“That would be more accurate.”

The information about the warehouse came from none other than a monster inside the dungeon.

A monster that could speak human language.

With nothing to extract from Hope, Sandra Gamble was the only human who knew more than anyone about monsters with a friendly disposition toward humans. And, unlike Hope, she wasn’t a scatterbrain, so she knew what was important and what wasn’t.

That’s a pretty high-level talent.

I calmly explained about the fairy in the Jirisan Dungeon. I left out how we’d found the dungeon, but Gamble seemed to have guessed most of it.

This is why working with sharp people is so difficult.

“With the help of a certain information provider.”

“Yes. A certain someone.”

“Whose identity can’t be revealed.”

“Yes.”

“All right. I get it. So?”

And, of course, I didn’t mention the person who taught the monster to speak.

A person with almost no chance of being alive. Revealing their identity would only cause confusion. For now, I alone was enough to carry Uirok’s brother’s secret.

As I continued, Gamble’s expression changed moment by moment. His eyes widened, then he pressed his lips together, growing serious, then he fidgeted, shaking his leg.

“…So right now, Mr. Kim has cast a spell around the area. No one’s gone into the dungeon since, right?”

“Yes. No one.”

“Looking back, I wonder if we should’ve left Mr. Han behind. He wasn’t much use anyway.”

“If he’d seen the dungeon full of mud, he could’ve at least warned us before we went in…”

“He wasn’t coming in to save us, anyway. If he had, that would’ve been a problem in itself.”

“Exactly. Was it supposed to be okay just because I was there? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, it was fine, wasn’t it?”

“W-wait a minute…”

I’d thought he wouldn’t interrupt, but Gamble finally broke in, breathing heavily.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, the monster even had a name. Does Hope have a different name from her monster days?”

“No, what you just said!”

“Yes?”

“What do you mean, you saw inside the dungeon?!”