The Wise Cleaning Life Of A Returning Genius Hunter [EN]: Chapter 363

362. Epilogue 1 Retirement (1)

“What brings you to book a place like this?”

A high-end restaurant located in Cheongdam-dong [a wealthy neighborhood in Seoul known for its upscale dining and shopping].

Lee Ah-young, who had just entered the restaurant, greeted me with a rather surprised expression.

Whether she liked it or not, we were always running into each other at work, so a casual dinner might not seem like a big deal, but…

It had been a while since we’d done something like this, so I couldn’t blame her reaction.

As Lee Ah-young sat down across from me, the waiter came over as if he had been waiting and poured wine into our glasses.

“Well, you and I have been pretty busy lately. It feels like it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other outside of work.”

“Yeah, it’s been hectic.”

Under the soft table lighting, Lee Ah-young rested her chin on her hand and smiled.

“But now I can breathe a sigh of relief. The termination preparations are all finished… it’s really time to go back.”

Lee Ah-young said.

“A world without dungeons and Hunters… we’ve seen them since we were born, but it’s hard to imagine them disappearing.”

“It’s a bit late, though.”

“I think it was early, actually.”

Lee Ah-young continued, resting her chin on her hands.

“If it weren’t for you, we might have been destroyed by monsters someday. Or the International Association might have swallowed the whole world.”

“You’re good at saying terrible things.”

I shook my head at her chilling words.

Then Lee Ah-young smiled and raised her glass.

“Shall we make a toast?”

“…….”

I clinked glasses with her silently.

The preparations for the full-scale termination of the Otherworld Crisis, which began with the Future Dream Project, were now nearing completion.

The Future Dream Project received tremendous support, which dramatically increased trust in WDSO [World Dungeon Suppression Organization].

Thanks to that, concerns and criticisms about us gradually disappeared, and in the meantime, we succeeded in building a global industry infrastructure to replace subjugation without any interference.

Of course, the process wasn’t easy.

We carried out a global project in just two years.

Naturally, it cost an astronomical amount of money, and I had to spend most of my time on airplanes to raise that money.

Above all, this project was only the foundation for officially ending the Otherworld Crisis.

In other words, we wouldn’t get any profit from it.

WDSO sold all of its stocks and real estate and reinvested all of those assets in building infrastructure.

As a result, all the associations in each country were dissolved one after another, and as of yesterday, the US Association was dissolved, making WDSO the only remaining association in the world.

And WDSO will also undergo official dissolution procedures in three days.

That means that Eden’s destruction will proceed in three days, and the Otherworld Crisis will officially end soon.

And at the same time…….

“This damn life will be over in three days.”

It also meant my retirement day, after spending my whole life in this industry.

“You have every right to be sick of it. You’ve lived your whole life as a Hunter, and this time you’ve lived your whole life as a cleaner, haven’t you?”

“That’s right. Even though I went back to the past, I couldn’t get out of the industry.”

“That’s something that would make other people shudder.”

“Would they even believe that I went back to the past in the first place?”

I shrugged my shoulders as I answered, and Lee Ah-young nodded slightly.

“By the way…….”

Then she opened her mouth again.

“What kind of person were you in that world?”

“……!”

I almost spat out my wine at the sudden question.

“W-Why all of a sudden…….”

“Why else? You’ve never told me before. Honestly, I’ve been really curious all this time. What it was like for such an amazing person to be a Hunter.”

“…….”

I looked down and fiddled with my glass.

I couldn’t open my mouth easily, but Lee Ah-young just sparkled her eyes, as if she knew how I felt.

After taking a deep breath, I made up my mind and said it.

“Not really… I wasn’t a very good person.”

“Huh?”

“No, it would be more accurate to say I was trash.”

Lee Ah-young’s eyebrows rippled as if she was surprised by the unexpected answer.

The memories of the past crept back in with that one word.

The Rigen Dungeon incident that remained as trauma and the incident of employee Ha Eun-hye that I had tried to erase from my memory.

Obsession with rank.

The subjugations I did haphazardly.

The result was the world’s first SSS rank and the modifier of a genius Hunter.

The meaningless rank and modifier that the International Association gave me.

I believed without a doubt that it would make me a truly strong person, and I was deceived by it and didn’t know what was really important.

No, it’s all excuses.

Back then, I was just…….

“Well, there must have been a reason.”

At that time, Lee Ah-young said that.

“……What do you mean.”

“Do you know what? You can pretend to be a bad person, but you can’t be a bad person.”

“…….”

“If you were trash, there must have been a reason why you had to be trash.”

It was as if she knew everything about me.

From my point of view, it was an absurd answer, but…….

“For example… to make sure no one died, you tried to climb to the top by any means possible?”

“…….”

If you look at it, she’s so sharp that I wonder if she’s a shaman [a person believed to have the ability to communicate with the spirit world].

“Well, I’m just saying. You’re not the type to be a bad person for no reason. Of course, people around you might have misunderstood.”

“That’s a nice interpretation.”

“Think of it as boosting your boyfriend’s ego.”

Lee Ah-young answered with a smile.

“…….”

I couldn’t say anything.

She was the one who had silently followed me no matter what choice I made.

The previous memories I had of her were still vivid, and I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut because of the guilt.

In that short moment, all sorts of complex emotions swirled in my head, but Lee Ah-young just stared at me with unwavering eyes, as she always had.

Yes, as always.

We stared at each other in silence for a while.

Our silence ended only after the meal came out, and Lee Ah-young took the opportunity to change the atmosphere and bring up another topic.

“By the way, what are you going to do after you retire?”

“Uh…….”

That was also a pretty sudden question.

“Actually, you’re still young even if you retire. Anyway, you’ll have to find another job to make a living, right?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.”

I answered calmly, trying to hide my dazed feeling.

It wasn’t just an empty word, I really had never thought about it.

Haven’t I been living with my eyes only on ending this situation for the past few years?

I had never even imagined what would happen after that.

But if you think about it, even if the Otherworld Crisis is over, it doesn’t mean my life is over.

“Is it difficult for Kim Jun-woo, who always looks several moves ahead, to plan for retirement?”

Lee Ah-young said, raising her eyebrows.

“I’ll figure something out. Even if I get a job at a small company, it’ll be enough to live on my own.”

“……Alone?”

And at that moment, her voice turned cold.

“What are you talking about?”

“Huh?”

The moment I uttered that short word.

Looking at her face with a murderous aura, I felt the fear of death for the first time in my life.

***

“…….”

Secretary-General’s office.

I grabbed my hair and continued to breathe deeply.

But I still couldn’t calm down.

The pressure and burden of that one word, retirement, was that great.

Half my life as a Hunter, the other half as a cleaner.

To put it a little exaggeratedly, my life itself can be said to be only dungeon subjugation and cleaning.

But if this industry suddenly disappears altogether, what am I supposed to do?

‘No, that’s not the problem…….’

Yes, let’s put aside the fact that my career is gone.

I’m still young, aren’t I? It’s the age to start something new now.

As I said, I could get a job at a small company or start a chicken restaurant with the money I’ve saved.

If that doesn’t work, I can just work part-time to make a living.

If I’m alone, I can somehow survive with that much.

Yes, if I’m alone…….

‘Aren’t you going to marry me?’

Last night, at the restaurant.

The moment I heard Lee Ah-young’s words, I was stunned.

I missed the timing to answer, and Lee Ah-young didn’t say a word until we went back.

That cold expression that I had never seen before…….

It still makes my knees tremble just thinking about it.

“So…….”

The person sitting in front of me opened his mouth.

“I understand that someone who is even the Secretary-General is having a love fight at the company, but why did you call me?”

“It seems like it’s been a while since you’ve been this serious, Teacher…….”

It was none other than Han Yu-bin, the Planning Director, and Kim Min-joo, the Operations Director, who had returned to Korea after the dissolution of the US branch.

“I’ll say it in advance, I hate getting involved in other people’s fights and taking sides with anyone.”

“Don’t say that, Yu-bin. It’s the first time Teacher has confided in us first. We can listen to this much.”

“No, how much can the two of you even fight in the first place! Isn’t it just trivial things? You forgot your anniversary or something…….”

While the two directors were bickering as usual.

“It seems that she was thinking about marriage.”

“…….”

“…….”

The faces of the two people suddenly hardened at that one word.

“We had dinner together for the first time in a while yesterday, and she thought I was going to propose there.”

“Suddenly?”

“It was a pretty fancy restaurant.”

“Ah…….”

“But… I’ve been so busy preparing for the termination these past few days that I didn’t have time to think about marriage or anything.”

“…….”

As Han Yu-bin’s mouth opened slightly, Kim Min-joo asked this time.

“How long have you been dating Ah-young, Teacher?”

“A little over three years.”

“Does that mean you’ve never thought about marriage in the meantime?”

I nodded slightly at Kim Min-joo’s question.

“……You were wrong, Teacher.”

“It’s a miracle you came back alive from there.”

Then, for the first time, the two showed the same expression and the same reaction.

“Is it that bad?”

“To seriously ask that now is already out, isn’t it?”

“It’s already too late for the two of you.”

Han Yu-bin and Kim Min-joo shook their heads with disgusted expressions.

I sighed softly.

“Anyway, you were wrong this time. From now on… no, honestly, it’s already too late…….”

“Well, you’ll have to think seriously and prepare from now on.”

As the two spoke seriously, I couldn’t help but sigh.

Then, after pausing for a moment.

“Actually, it’s not that I haven’t thought about it.”

I opened my mouth carefully.

“What do you mean? You haven’t thought about it, but you couldn’t think about it?”

“It’s a bit complicated.”

Han Yu-bin immediately snapped, and I sighed once more and continued.

“As you both know, I’ve lived two different lives, one as a Hunter and one as a cleaner.”

“So.”

“In my previous life, that is, when I was a Hunter, many things were different from now. My goals were different, and my relationship with those around me wasn’t very good. No, I should say it was very bad.”

I paused for a moment.

“And that was the same with my relationship with Lee Ah-young.”

“…….”

“…….”

“At that time, I framed Director Lee Doo-shik with all sorts of charges and had him dismissed from the association, and Lee Ah-young was demoted from the Hunter Support Department to my assistant as a result.”

My previous appearance that I’m talking about for the first time.

I expected them to be quite shocked, but the two just listened to me with calm expressions.

“To be honest, I used her a lot. I cursed a lot and forced her with her weaknesses. Thanks to that, her confident personality changed in just one year.”

“…….”

“Of course, I know that the Lee Ah-young of that time and the Lee Ah-young of now are different people. It’s not like she has memories of another world. But I don’t.”

I remember Lee Ah-young at that time.

So I can’t just dismiss it.

“I’ve already made Lee Ah-young like that once, so I don’t know if I’m qualified to continue a deep relationship with her now… I haven’t found the answer yet.”

I looked at the two of them alternately and conveyed my conclusion.

“And until I find that answer, I don’t think I can marry Lee Ah-young.”

I couldn’t apologize to Lee Ah-young at that time.

No, I couldn’t apologize to everyone at that time.

For me to dismiss everything at that time and live here as a completely different person is just hypocrisy.

Therefore, I…….

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t think it’s something to think about that seriously?”

“……?”

My eyes widened at the two people’s unexpected answers.

“Ah, no. I think you’re saying that easily because you haven’t experienced it, but this isn’t such a simple problem……!”

“Do you remember what you said when you first started preparing to end the Otherworld Crisis, Teacher?”

“What?”

At that time, Kim Min-joo brought up an irrelevant story.

“Current subjugation has become an indispensable industry. If it disappears, the international community will experience a recession for several years. Many people will lose their jobs.”

Kim Min-joo recited the contents of my speech at the time, and then Han Yu-bin continued.

“But if we choose to stay in the present for that reason, the future will not come. For the future where our next generation lives in a world without monsters or Hunters, we must let go of the present. That’s why we have to move forward despite our regrets.”

“…….”

“Honestly, it was a bit cheesy at the time, but when I think about it, it’s true.”

“Above all, isn’t it exactly Teacher’s story now? Whether to give up the future because of current regrets, or to put the regrets aside for the future.”

Kim Min-joo said, looking at me.

“Anyway, it’s a problem you have to solve with Ah-young.”

“Well, but honestly…….”

Han Yu-bin chuckled once.

“I don’t think Ah-young would care about that?”

“I agree.”

“…….”

The two left after saying those words, and I remained there for a long time after that.

Many complex thoughts flashed through my head, but the most important thing was separate from all of them.

That speech that the two people just said.

‘Team Leader Pyeon ghostwrote that…….’

I said it, so I wrote it. Hehehe.

Anyway, how should I tell Ah-young?

I should have known if I had done this before!

……Even if I regress, I don’t know what I don’t know.