The Wise Cleaning Life Of A Returning Genius Hunter [EN]: Chapter 5

004

The Korea Ability Dimension Management Association.

Commonly known as the Association, it mainly consists of four teams.

The Command and Control Team, which monitors the occurrence of dungeons and collects information about them.

The Hunter Support Team, which creates weapons and items suitable for individual Hunters and supports their overall activities.

The Operations Team, which actually enters dungeons to subdue monsters.

And…….

“Hee-jang, are you disinfecting?”

“I am, but the passage is wider than I thought. I don’t think we’ll have enough disinfectant.”

“Just spray it liberally. Sang-hyuk, check the boss room location. Soyeon, keep a close eye on the internal gas levels!”

“Yes, I understand.”

“The boss this time is quite large, so it will take some time to dismantle it. Let’s hurry.”

The Dungeon Cleaning Team, whose duties I didn’t even know existed.

Walking in a line through the passage, the only thought that came to my mind was:

‘Seriously, why are they acting so busy?’

That’s because instructions were constantly coming from the front, but I couldn’t hear them well at the very back.

I didn’t really want to hear them in the first place.

I was absentmindedly moving my feet while thinking about other things when…

“Oh, oh? Junwoo! Where are you going?!”

Team Leader Park urgently called out to me.

“Yes?”

“This is a cave-type dungeon. It’s dangerous to wander around alone!”

“You said we were going to the boss room.”

“That’s what I’m saying! So follow me closely. The boss room is that way.”

“What are you talking about? The boss room is this way.”

“……What?”

The moment I blurted that out, everyone’s eyes turned to me at once.

“What nonsense is he spouting now.”

“Ignore him and let’s go our way.”

“Um… if you don’t want to do it, just say so.”

A barrage of criticism.

“Hey, this is the dungeon map from the Control Team. See for yourself where the boss room is.”

Han Sang-hyuk, the man who had been spewing harsh words since earlier, handed me the map he was holding.

This is a cave-type dungeon.

Its characteristics are complex paths resembling mazes and numerous rooms.

Even skilled Hunters can get lost if they make a mistake, but…….

But this is already a conquered dungeon.

That means the mapping has already been completed by the Hunters who were deployed in the operation.

If it’s a map created by the Control Team based on that, there’s no way there could be any errors…….

“The map is wrong. Anyway, this way is correct.”

I didn’t think the Control Team was like this, doing work like this.

“I’m going crazy. Team Leader! Is this guy on drugs?”

“You…… why are you so sure?”

Eventually, even Team Leader Park approached and asked.

His face showed a seriousness different from before.

“Sure? It’s just that I conquered this dungeon…….”

I sighed deeply, stopping mid-sentence.

Never mind.

What’s the point of saying it? They wouldn’t believe me anyway.

“You conquered this dungeon……?”

“No, it’s nothing. Just go the way you were going.”

I shook my head and said.

The team members continued to glare at me as they walked along the damp passage, and I followed them again from the very back.

Team Leader Park seemed uneasy about me, so he stuck by my side instead of leading the way.

We moved silently deeper into the dungeon.

“By the way…… what was that about 45 minutes left or something?”

I suddenly remembered something I had been curious about and casually asked Team Leader Park.

“That’s the time left before the dungeon closes. Have you ever heard of it?”

Ah, that’s what that was about.

All dungeons naturally disappear after being conquered.

The time varies slightly from dungeon to dungeon, but on average, it’s 2 hours immediately after conquest.

Of course, it’s a meaningless story for Hunters who leave the dungeon as soon as it’s conquered.

So, it’s only natural that I would forget about it like this…….

But it’s a different story for the cleaning team that enters the dungeon after the conquest.

“Honestly, what I don’t understand is, why bother creating a cleaning team to clean up a dungeon that’s going to disappear anyway?”

“Hahaha! You don’t know anything.”

I asked the question with the intention of being sarcastic, but Team Leader Park just laughed heartily, as if he was glad I was interested.

“Dungeons don’t disappear, they go into a dormant period. Until monsters settle in here again.”

“I know that much.”

“Then you’ll understand quickly. If the dungeon reopens and there are corpses of previous monsters and other things piled up inside, what would happen?”

“……I don’t think it would matter much.”

Team Leader Park shook his head.

“First of all, it would be difficult for Hunters to find their way, and monster corpses release very deadly gases as they decompose, so it could be dangerous if left unattended. More than anything, if you don’t know what’s left in the dungeon, it will restrict the Hunters’ actions. That directly affects the subjugation [the act of defeating or bringing under control].”

“……Ah, I see.”

“Well, if I had to put it into words, we’re helping Hunters concentrate on subjugation without worry. You can be proud. Without us, there would be no Hunters. Hahaha!”

Bullshit.

I snorted inwardly and let it go in one ear.

“Anyway, our main job is to dispose of monster corpses. We clean up the byproducts left in the dungeon and recover information so that the Hunters’ information isn’t left behind. Well… rescuing any Hunters who might be left behind is also included in our duties. But that’s never happened before.”

Of course not.

A cleaner rescuing a Hunter is something I’ve never heard of in my life.

‘Still, well…….’

It wasn’t just playing around.

“We’re here. According to the map, that’s the room.”

A large entrance located at the end of the passage.

The team members who were walking ahead entered without hesitation.

“Oh, what is this.”

Han Sang-hyuk’s bewildered voice was immediately heard.

When Team Leader Park and I followed into the room, he also showed the same reaction as Han Sang-hyuk.

Because the room was clean, without even a single monster corpse or monster hair.

“I told you, this isn’t it.”

“What, it’s true.”

“How on earth……?”

Everyone, including Han Sang-hyuk, had an unbelievable expression.

“Now that it’s come to this, let’s just think of today as a loss and get out…….”

“What do we do, Team Leader?”

“How many minutes are left until the limit?”

“22 minutes.”

“22 minutes, huh…….”

The atmosphere suddenly became heavy.

Their voices became calmer instead.

“……What, what is it?”

I asked, but the team leader seemed lost in thought and couldn’t hear me.

“I think it’s enough, what about you guys?”

“I’m in.”

“Better than getting screwed over.”

Moon Soyeon, the only female member of the team, arbitrarily wrapped things up.

In that situation, I was the only one who spoke in a flustered voice.

“Wait, wait a minute! What’s enough?”

“What else? We have to work.”

“You said there are 22 minutes left. What are you going to do if the dungeon closes in the meantime?”

“It takes at least a week for a closed dungeon to reappear. If it’s late…….”

1 year.

“We’ll be trapped in there, I guess.”

Team Leader Park laughed heartily.

In other words, we’d die.

“You guys aren’t in your right minds. You’re risking your lives for this cleaning job?”

“Why are you acting like it’s something new? It’s always been like this.”

“If you don’t like it, leave first. I didn’t expect anything anyway.”

“It’s okay. Let’s go by ourselves. It seems like it’s your first time in a dungeon anyway.”

“…….”

Han Sang-hyuk and Im Hee-jang clicked their tongues and snapped at me in turn.

Moon Soyeon didn’t say anything, but she had the same expression as them.

It was an expression I had never received in my life.

‘Hahaha…….’

It’s been 15 years since I started eating dungeon rations [emergency food consumed in dungeons].

I’ve never failed a subjugation even once during that time.

The result was achieving the world’s first SSS rank and becoming the world’s number one ranked player.

No one could criticize my dungeon career.

And yet I…….

I’m being ignored in a dungeon?

Kim Junwoo, the one and only, in a dungeon?

“There’s a small passage inside this room.”

“That bastard, he’s starting again…….”

“Shut your mouth and listen.”

Han Sang-hyuk’s eyes widened at my stern retort.

“The distance from here to the boss room is about 500m. If you take the shortest route through that passage, it’ll take 8 minutes. If you run, you can do it in under 5 minutes.”

“……Huh?”

“Aren’t we going to the boss room? But this time, I’ll take the lead. If you have any complaints, you can leave first.”

Without waiting for an answer, I turned around first.

***

I sprinted through the maze-like passage with all my might.

There was no need to look at the map.

Because it was a dungeon I had conquered, I had already stored even the smallest holes in my head.

So, the expressions of those following closely behind me were obvious without even looking.

At the same time, they were all saying one thing in their minds.

‘What the hell is that guy?’

Before I knew it, I had arrived back at the boss room.

There, as expected, a huge monster was lying dead, covered in sticky green blood.

Foxtrot Centipede.

A boss monster boasting a size of over 10m.

Judging from the state of the room, the battle situation was drawn in my head.

A very fierce battle.

Assuming a team of 20, there would have been at least 5-6 casualties.

‘But they managed to figure out the vital point.’

The Foxtrot Centipede’s vital point is the dented space right above its huge jaw.

There was a clear mark where a sword had been stabbed into that spot.

“Is this your first time seeing a monster?”

“……What?”

“You were just standing there blankly. It’s okay, if you can’t touch it, just come out. Leave the dismantling to us.”

As I was quietly observing the dead monster, Im Hee-jang chimed in this time.

It was a stiff tone, but it didn’t seem to have as much hostility as Han Sang-hyuk.

“That’s ridiculous.”

I snatched the thick dagger that Im Hee-jang was holding.

“W-What are you doing all of a sudden?”

“You said you were going to dismantle it. If you don’t know anything and just point a knife at it, your wrist will go first.”

I approached the Centipede’s corpse.

At the same time, without any hesitation, I stabbed the knife between the Centipede’s carapace [protective shell].

“As you can see now, the knife only goes in between the 3rd, 6th, and 12th carapaces. Knives will never go into the head or tail, so don’t bother wasting your strength. It looks like the nerves are still alive, so it’ll probably twitch when you cut it. It won’t attack, so ignore it.”

“…….”

“What are you doing? Are you just going to watch?”

The team members were just standing there with dumbfounded expressions.

Only after I urged them did they each take out their knives and approach me.

“Are you going to be able to cut it just by stabbing it like that? You have to put it in at an angle and lift it up!”

“…….”

“Don’t touch the tail. It’s not like one or two Hunters have died from that poison.”

“…….”

“And the blood isn’t poisonous, but it’s incredibly sticky, so don’t step on it. Once you step on it, you might not be able to move forever.”

Only the sound of knives scraping and my voice were heard in the boss room.

But that was only for a moment. Soon, I heard Han Sang-hyuk and Team Leader Park whispering next to me.

“……Team Leader. Did you secretly show that bastard the Control Team file earlier?”

“No.”

“Oh, don’t lie. There’s no way a complete newbie would know that. And when we were looking for the boss room earlier. You didn’t show him the file to boost the newbie’s morale, did you?”

“Show him? There’s no such information in the Control Team file in the first place.”

Silence.

Then, I felt several pairs of eyes glancing at me.

“Then…… how does that bastard know that stuff?”

“How would I know?”

I didn’t bother to join the conversation.

It was too annoying to answer or explain, so I just silently dismantled the Centipede.

It was a really strange thing, but even while working so diligently, I didn’t question it at all.

Why I was suddenly interfering and doing this.

Why I was disassembling monster corpses and wiping up the blood splattered around.

In other words, why I was cleaning.

I wasn’t even aware of that.

[Acquired Passive: Mysophobia]

[Passive Activated]

I was so engrossed that I completely missed the voice ringing in my head.