Retire 569

569 (Extra Story 36) The One We Waited For

From the moment Han Taekyung and Alex Hope became trapped in a freshly formed dungeon somewhere in the United States…

About a year earlier.

Korea, Hunter Training High School, faculty office.

It was a spacious, sunlit room. Along the windows, large and small potted plants stood in a row. Anyone with an interest in plants would know that some of them could never bloom in the same season, but none of the people currently in the office paid any attention to that small miracle.

Naturally, the faculty office was the teachers’ domain. But at the moment, the desks didn’t look like they belonged to any particular teacher. Six desks had been pushed together in the center to form a large table. Beside the table, several boxes were stacked, all filled with paper.

There were other desks besides the ones forming the central table, but they were in a similar state. Since the teachers rarely used the office as a proper workspace, the few who did just used it however they liked. Empty boxes, more nuisance than anything, were tossed carelessly atop the desks.

A man sitting in a chair at the central table, not at one of the scattered desks, was sorting through piles of papers when he lifted his head. It was just after the sound of children’s shouts drifted in from outside the window.

“…….”

He’d been worried, but the two first-years who had come from America were settling in surprisingly well.

Woo Huijae couldn’t say whether he’d worried more about the two new first-years or the existing ones. Of course, the new ones were a concern given their backgrounds, but adapting to the school was another matter.

With so few students, if the three first-years didn’t get along, it would be a problem.

None of the three were the type to give up easily.

Fortunately, Kim Abel, Shin Yewon, and Yoo Baekmin were getting along so well it made the teachers clutch their heads. Watching them run around together causing trouble, the adults who knew the whole story were relieved, but still couldn’t help but wish they’d settle down a bit.

That was it for this year’s new students.

Still, he was grateful there wasn’t just one. It had been a challenge to pretend not to notice Kim Abel’s anxious looks, as if he couldn’t believe that was all the students there were.

What would they do next year?

Woo Huijae’s worries grew.

Not just about the students.

The school still didn’t meet his standards.

Whenever he said so, others would laugh and say he’d never be satisfied, not even after ten years.

He knew they were right, so he kept quiet. He knew better than anyone that denying it would be a lie, and if he tried to argue, it would only make them laugh more.

But still, he could voice his thoughts, couldn’t he?

He didn’t expect the school to become “normal” in just a few years. But if he wanted to bring that day closer…

“Why? Did you find something suspicious again?”

“It’s not so much suspicious as…”

Sandra leaned in.

“Then why do you have that wicked look on your face again?”

“Wicked look?”

“Or is it the face you make when you’re looking for more work?”

Woo Huijae gave a hollow laugh.

“I don’t have to look for work. It always finds me.”

“Ah.”

Sandra nodded and returned to her documents.

The proof was right in front of them in the form of all these piles of paper. Even if he wanted to deny it, he couldn’t.

Woo Huijae focused on the documents again. He was flipping through them quickly, not really reading. This was just sorting.

All these boxes of papers came from the USB Noah Michel had left with her uncle. Sandra had skimmed through them, but there were limits.

Sorting such a jumbled mess of information required a human touch. It was too much for Sandra alone. And since everyone had different areas of expertise, what seemed unimportant to one person could be crucial to another.

After some confusion, they’d adopted Sandra’s suggestion to go analog. At this stage, even asking for Imi-seon’s help was tricky, so they’d closed the office to outsiders and had whoever had time come in to help.

Today it was Woo Huijae and Sandra Gamble.

“How are we going to handle the translations?”

Sandra glared at a page full of numbers as she asked Woo Huijae. It was a list of expenses. It didn’t seem important, but she set it aside just in case.

“French is fine since we have Chaemin… but there’s a lot of German. I’m not good at German. And you said you’re only comfortable with conversation, not all these technical terms, right?”

She pointed to the document Woo Huijae was holding.

He couldn’t make out all the details, but it was clearly related to dungeons. Dungeons. Gates. Mana values. That was information they absolutely had to check.

“Turns out Daniel is fluent in German.”

“…You’re really going to show him all this?”

“Or this Hunter here.”

Sandra frowned deeply.

Neither option was ideal.

Imi-seon had said she’d let anything slide for Woo Huijae, since he’d saved her niece. But trusting the Korean branch head of the Association was another matter. Above all, Woo Huijae didn’t want to abuse Imi-seon’s goodwill.

Once things reached a certain level, they’d end up owing her. Hong Seokyoung agreed with Woo Huijae, and no one else objected.

In that sense, Daniel was a little freer. At the very least, he’d left his previous job and come to Korea without hesitation. When they’d needed his cooperation for the new first-years, or his advice for the Pharos lab project, he’d helped.

But unlike Imi-seon, he had no strong personal motivation to help them.

Woo Huijae and Sandra looked at the endless documents. Whenever they found anything that might help track Henry Lehmann, they passed it along to Han Taekyung and Alex Hope…

“…Let’s keep working through it ourselves for now. Most of it’s in English and French anyway.”

“Okay.”

The two of them resumed sorting in silence.

“But Doctor.”

“Yes?”

Surprisingly, it was Woo Huijae who broke the silence first.

“Why didn’t you object to Han going to America?”

“Was I supposed to?”

“Well… Last time, you said you wanted to study his eyes for the dungeon interference project.”

“That’s right.”

“Even if it wasn’t a method you could use, you said just examining them would help.”

Sandra nodded.

“But if Han’s in America, you can’t really do that.”

“Hmm…”

Sandra didn’t deny it. But her answer was simple.

“I just thought he’d be more useful there.”

“Do you not need Han’s eyes for your research?”

“I don’t know. That’s why. This is a long-term project anyway. Rather than keeping him here for research that may or may not help, it’s better for my work if the biggest risk—Henry Lehmann—is dealt with first.”

Woo Huijae nodded at her words.

Sandra opened the box at her feet and pulled out another stack of papers to place on the table.

She hadn’t gone through all the information yet, but she had learned a few things.

“I don’t like Noah Michel.”

“I know.”

“Alex and the others seem to pity her, but… I don’t.”

“Yes.”

“But after learning what she was trying to do—or rather, what she was looking for—I understand why the Ark’s research was such a mess.”

No matter what she’d been through, Noah Michel was a genius. That couldn’t be denied.

Her life was deeply entangled with monsters. Even her magic bore those marks. But all the magical theories and spells she published were real.

What Sandra had never understood was how a mage so logical in her research could have run the Ark’s projects so disastrously.

Yes. It was a mess.

Not a single project was seen through to the end. She’d stop in the middle, get sidetracked, repeat meaningless experiments because the designs were wrong from the start.

The only research she’d continued steadily was the work with children at the lab where Woo Irok had been. But even that had no conclusion.

The lab was emptied. It was the first place affected when Woo Huijae crossed through time. When the Myeongdong dungeon failed to deal a major blow to Hong Seokyoung, she fled, afraid her tail would be caught.

But if Sandra had been Noah Michel, she wouldn’t have let it all fall apart. She wouldn’t have scattered the children. She could have sent them to another lab, not just an orphanage. There were other options.

“She must have… lost her motivation.”

“…….”

“But I still don’t know what fundamentally changed. Did saving the students at the Myeongdong dungeon have some effect on Noah Michel? She could have done more to interfere, if she wanted.”

Woo Huijae didn’t react to Sandra’s words.

“I suppose, in your timeline, she did…?”

Instead, he watched her calmly. It wasn’t the look of someone wondering if he should say something, but rather someone considering whether what he was about to say would be all right for her to hear.

“I’ve thought about that, too.”

Woo Huijae didn’t waste time.

“…So what’s your conclusion?”

“I think Michel was running her own test.”

Sandra’s face twisted.

“Her? What, testing the dungeon’s performance?”

“No.”

Woo Huijae remained composed. Sandra started to get angry, but stopped when she saw the deep irritation in his eyes.

“She was testing my father… our Master.”

Sandra blinked.

“Why? Why test Master?”

“Why else? To test his ability as a savior.”

Sandra was about to ask what reason there could possibly be, but stopped.

No, Noah Michel had a reason.

That reason was right in front of them now. Having seen that humanity might have a chance, Noah Michel had finally found what she was looking for and brought things to an end.

If he couldn’t save his own people from a small dungeon break, then he was worthless as a savior.

And so was humanity.

“In the end, she was just an insufferable mage.”

Woo Huijae snorted and handed Sandra the papers he’d been holding.

“Enough of this depressing talk. Take a look at this.”

Sandra, who didn’t much like the topic either, obediently took the documents.

“…Atlas Pharmaceuticals?”

“I know the old board was ousted or arrested for illegal activities, but it looks like they were up to some interesting experiments.”

“Is this about dungeons?”

“Yes. Experiments on the possibility of creating specific dungeons.”