Retire 407
by Cristae407 Admission Review (5)
“I thought you’d be coming tomorrow!”
Eva Robinson looked a bit embarrassed, but her energy never wavered. I’d seen it in Marseille as well—she was a person overflowing with vitality. Still, the way she kept glancing at me suggested she lacked confidence.
“It’s hard to just sit still with that ocean right there.”
“Exactly!”
For a hunter, it’s better to be brazen like Han Taekyung than to shrink back like that. That’s actually why I brought Han Taekyung along.
No matter how kindly I treated her, it would be hard for Eva Robinson to shake off her first impression of me from Marseille. That’s what Jean Robinson wanted from me as well: to become Eva Robinson’s teacher, whether for the long term or just this once.
They’re not children… and she’s an active hunter with a guild. I had no intention of treating her gently. In situations like this, you need someone to lighten the mood. Han Taekyung is the type who bounces back no matter how much I scold him, so he’d be helpful for Eva Robinson, too.
So she could see, “Oh, you can act like that and it’s fine.”
“I’m Han Taekyung. I teach at Yangseong High School!”
“Nice to meet you! I’m Eva Robinson.”
“Let’s do our best with the dungeon raid!”
What surprised me was that Han Taekyung could speak French.
The more I learned about him, the more curious he became. I hadn’t known Han Taekyung could speak French. English, sure—it’s a common language, and knowing he’d spent a lot of time in the Middle East, I knew he could speak Arabic like a native. He’d traveled in Europe, too, so it wasn’t that strange he’d picked up French.
Well, his pronunciation wasn’t as smooth as Kim Chaemin’s. He actually mixed in some English. Noticing my surprise, Han Taekyung grinned slyly.
“This Han Taekyung, a capable man….”
“If it doesn’t work, just use English.”
“You have to speak a language often to improve, sunbae.”
“Well… that is true.”
“Might as well use this chance to learn some French!”
That kind of positive mindset is something I’d like to learn myself.
As Han Taekyung chatted amiably, Robinson’s tension gradually eased.
I checked the time.
I’d said we’d arrive as soon as possible, but the sun was already setting. I’d check Robinson’s skills tomorrow….
“The dungeon report?”
“Yep!”
“I’ve heard a rough explanation, but for the details… No, I’ll teach you how to plan a detailed strategy from the report itself.”
“Already?”
Robinson nodded meekly, while Han Taekyung pouted.
Still, when I shot him a look, Han Taekyung followed without complaint.
…At the time, things weren’t bad.
Present.
Okinawa, Japan. A C-rank dungeon located in a national park.
“This is exactly what I was emphasizing.”
“…That you need to do a proper dungeon investigation?”
“The Korean government didn’t overhaul things for no reason.”
“Oh, right. The government handles dungeon management directly now, don’t they?”
“What’s strange is that it wasn’t always like this.”
Robinson nodded.
As I continued the lesson as if nothing was wrong, she clearly calmed down. It really was just a lack of experience; her aptitude was fine. With the right guidance and enough experience, she could become a hunter worthy of following in her father’s footsteps.
Well, even if not, as long as she got a proper start, she’d be able to manage on her own. Even if she stumbled a bit, that too would become experience.
“Large guilds usually have separate investigation teams. It’s too risky to outsource, that’s the idea. And the skills needed for dungeon investigation and dungeon raiding are different. I explained this before, right?”
“Yes!”
Robinson answered energetically.
“And the investigation team doesn’t have to find the core’s exact location. If they did, it’d be better to just destroy it and leave, wouldn’t it?”
“That would be a raid, not an investigation.”
“And it could be dangerous. So, after mapping the dungeon and identifying the monsters, they only mark the areas where the core is likely to be. According to this dungeon’s report, the core was…”
I pulled the report from my pocket. There was a map of the dungeon’s interior, drawn by the investigation team. It was all jungle. Some distinctive terrain features were marked, but they weren’t very useful.
There were circles to the east, west, and north of the gate.
“They assumed it would be at the edge of the jungle.”
“We came east, so…”
I picked up a pen and traced a line on the map.
The jungle continued on and on. At first, the trees were only two or three meters tall, but they grew larger and larger until they blocked out the sky. It was around then that the pterosaurs showed up instead of gorillas.
The moment a monster not mentioned in the report appeared, I realized something was wrong.
Naturally, I tried to get us out of the dungeon. A new monster, of all things.
Not just one new species, but two? And aggressive flying monsters at that?
The presence of flying monsters alone means this dungeon should be rated B, not C.
…And considering that one monster only staggered for a moment after smashing its head into a cliff, even A-rank wouldn’t be out of the question.
“Did the investigation team not know about this?”
“Maybe they gave up partway because the dungeon’s so large. There weren’t any rumors about valuable loot here….”
Robinson’s eyes widened.
“But judging by the size, that’s not it either, right? Did they fake the report to monopolize it?”
“That’s possible. Do you know how they got the raid rights for this dungeon?”
“My father said he went through someone he knew. I don’t know the details.”
We’d find out once we got out. For now, we needed to focus on escaping.
At the end of the jungle was a gorge. The pterosaurs attacked us from the top of the cliffs, but didn’t come any lower. Given their wingspans, flying between the canyon walls would be difficult.
Or maybe the river below belonged to another monster’s territory.
You always have to keep your options open.
“So… what should we do now?”
Robinson asked, gripping her weapon tightly.
We couldn’t stay forever, wedged into a crevice halfway up the cliff. Up or down—one way or the other, we had to choose.
I should have brought Kim Chaemin. Then a canyon like this wouldn’t have been a problem.
Instead, I turned the question back on Robinson.
“What do you think we should do?”
Robinson swallowed hard.
I waited patiently. She rolled her eyes, then spoke.
“W-wait for Monsieur Han?”
“You think Han-saem is waiting for us?”
I pointed to the pterosaurs circling above the gorge.
“They carried him off, you know?”
One day ago.
“Haaap!!”
“Your shoulder! Your shoulder’s open!”
“Huff, huff!”
“Good, that’s it! Just like that!”
Han Taekyung, who often played with the students at Yangseong High, was just as good at sparring with Robinson.
In any case, Robinson was a guild master, and one of only two C-rank hunters in her guild. Dungeons only start to count as real dungeons from C-rank. E-rank dungeons have no monsters, and D-rank dungeons, even if there are monsters, are considered unlikely to cause much damage if a break occurs.
Whether you can pay the toll is important, but… in any case, she had talent. Even though Han Taekyung was much rougher with her than with the kids, she endured and managed to keep up.
“Whew! I haven’t done this since I was a kid!”
Robinson said after plunging into the sea to cool off.
“As a kid? What about after you grew up?”
“It’s embarrassing to keep asking my dad to do it now that I’m this age!”
Robinson wrung out her hair, soaked with seawater.
“I couldn’t completely avoid relying on my father, though… like now.”
“…What would you have done if I’d refused?”
“I would’ve just taken a vacation in Japan, since I came all this way. Maybe toured Korea, too.”
Robinson laughed sheepishly.
“I was going to visit your school, too!”
Only then did I notice the book on the terrace table—a guidebook for tourists in Korea. It was in French, so I’d been suspicious, but it was really Robinson’s.
“That’s why I was jealous of Abel. If I were younger, I’d have tried to get into the school myself….”
Abel?
Kim Abel?
That new student candidate? She’d said they were relatives.
“…It’s a school with no graduates yet. What’s there to go on?”
“Don’t you remember teaching me in Marseille? That really helped! My dad helped, but I even cleared a dungeon with Marie!”
“Uh… yes. Congratulations.”
“It was a C-rank dungeon, too!”
Robinson seemed quite proud of that fact, squaring her shoulders.
That look… overlapped with the kids who were probably diligently attending classes at school right now. After clearing their first dungeon, they’d also held their heads high just like that.
“My aunt was skeptical even after I told her. Well, Abel was always sickly, so she was very protective. But when Abel heard he was going to Korea, he was so excited he was bouncing off the walls.”
“…He’s the one who wants to enroll, right?”
“Yes! My aunt and uncle aren’t Awakened, so they asked me and my dad a lot of questions.”
Robinson seemed close to Kim Abel, chattering happily about things I hadn’t even asked.
“I’m an only child, so he felt like a little brother to me! He actually is my little brother—my cousin!”
I was curious about the new student candidate, but not quite this curious.
“It’s a shame about his piano skills. But in the end, it’s up to him, right?”
“I’ve heard he’s famous.”
“He’s famous in Korea, too? If he enrolls, make sure to tell him. He’ll act annoyed, but that’s just because he’s embarrassed.”
“But is this really okay?”
“Yes?”
At that, Han Taekyung, who’d been quietly listening, suddenly spoke up.
“All the kids currently at our school got in through connections, you know? Once the third-years—well, the graduating class—finishes, there won’t be many students left.”
Robinson blinked. Han Taekyung continued in a light tone.
“Are you really okay with a school like that? Of course, it’s not like we neglect the kids. The faculty and facilities are the best!”
“Uh….”
“But honestly, nothing’s been proven yet… It’s understandable to be anxious, even for the students. You said he’s your cousin? Is he really okay with it?”
This was something only Han Taekyung could say so casually.
I could never bring up something like that in such a light tone. I could talk about the school’s future seriously enough to make anyone worry about its survival, but not like that.
“He doesn’t think about it at all.”
Robinson also answered lightly, matching Han Taekyung’s mood.
“My aunt’s the one who’s worried. When she heard I’d be going into the dungeon with you, she started asking all sorts of questions!”
“…Excuse me?”
“She wanted to know if you could really clear a dungeon, and if you’re good at teaching!”
Robinson laughed brightly.
“If she’s not satisfied, she won’t send Abel! So please teach me well!”
I couldn’t hide my surprise as I looked at Robinson.
So… all our fuss over Kim Abel’s admission was pointless.
The problem wasn’t Kim Abel—it was us. We were the ones being tested.
Han Taekyung, realizing the same thing, stifled a laugh with a cough. I steadied my breathing and said to Robinson,
“…Yes. I’ll do my best.”