The Wise Cleaning Life Of A Returning Genius Hunter [EN]: Chapter 14

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Team Leader Lee Soo-yong received good news as soon as he returned to the office late at night after inspecting the cleaning team.

He had confirmed with his own eyes that the cleaner had come to work that day.

Coincidentally, not a single intercept occurred.

Although he had been grinding his teeth for the past few days because there was no evidence, even though the circumstances strongly suggested it was him… it all ended here.

Daring to bare his fangs at the operations team as just a cleaner.

Team Leader Lee Soo-yong picked up the phone, intending to make him pay the price.

“Chief! I’m sure. It’s that bastard. No intercepts happened because that bastard came to work…”

「Soo-yong.」

“Yes!”

He answered energetically, even though Chief Seo Min-cheol interrupted him.

「Give the cleaning team a budget.」

“…Yes?”

And then came an unexpected answer.

Team Leader Lee Soo-yong doubted his ears for a moment.

“What do you mean? With such clear circumstances, we should catch that bastard and discipline him! Are you going to turn a blind eye?!”

「Just now, a donation was deposited anonymously into the Ability Management Department. And it’s in the name of the cleaning team.」

“…A donation?”

「20 million won. It’s not a large sum… but the estimated profit from the dungeon that was intercepted is about that much.」

“Then, isn’t that even more certain? As soon as the intercept happened, the same amount was deposited in the cleaning team’s name. Anyone can see who the culprit is!”

Team Leader Lee Soo-yong’s voice grew increasingly agitated.

The cleaning team’s budget expansion was rejected.

An intercept occurred immediately afterward. And the same amount was deposited in the cleaning team’s name.

Wasn’t this a clear situation that required no further thought?

「It’s more of a problem because the culprit is so obvious. A cleaner intercepting a dungeon… do you think that makes sense?」

“What do you mean by that?”

「Think about it the other way around. If you had the ability to intercept a dungeon, would you stay in the cleaning team?」

“……”

At that moment, he felt like he had been struck over the head.

Thanks to that, Team Leader Lee Soo-yong couldn’t easily utter a response.

「I definitely wouldn’t stay. It’s obvious, isn’t it? If you have the power to rise, who would want to do such dirty work?」

“W-Well, that’s certainly true…”

「It’s not just about ability. I’ve been thinking about it carefully, and something has been strange from the beginning. Skipping over the middle ranks and coming straight to the chief, knowing the association’s affairs so well as a cleaner… And this behavior of blatantly trying to let us know he’s the culprit… I’m sure, Soo-yong.」

Chief Seo Min-cheol’s voice sank.

「There’s someone in the cleaning team who shouldn’t be there.」

“T-Then who is that cleaner…?”

「As I said before, he must be someone from inside the association. However… it seems like he’s from a very high-ranking line.」

At those words, Team Leader Lee Soo-yong’s heart sank.

“…Surely not someone from the Association President’s line?”

「It’s not entirely impossible. He wasn’t happy when I became the chief either. Back then, the Association President warned me that if he caught even one fault, I’d be fired immediately.」

‘No wonder…’

Team Leader Lee Soo-yong finally began to understand what had happened that day.

His own team members couldn’t possibly not know that he was the culprit, yet they openly protected him. They even offered a personnel change.

‘They already knew he was from the Association President’s line…’

Damn it, why didn’t I think of that? I should have suspected it when they came out so openly.

Team Leader Lee Soo-yong’s expression turned fierce in an instant.

「I think this might be a warning. They’re watching, so do your job properly if you don’t want to get fired. As you know, if I lose my job, I can’t guarantee what will happen to you.」

He had been listening silently, but he already seemed to know what he was going to say.

Team Leader Lee Soo-yong dropped his head and tore at his hair.

「Soo-yong, I think… we might have messed with the wrong person.」

***

Fortunately, the intercept incident seemed to have passed without a fuss.

It had already been two more days, and no other news had been heard.

‘Well, it’s a relief for me…’

All that remained was when the deposited donation would be allocated.

It was getting later than expected, which made him uneasy, but surely they wouldn’t openly embezzle it.

Thinking that, he was finishing his last task of the day and just coming out of the dungeon.

“What is that again…”

The huge amount of boxes placed in front of the dungeon caught his eye. They definitely weren’t there when he went into the dungeon.

“Team Leader, did you order something to be delivered here?”

“…No?”

Everyone looked clueless.

He wondered if another example had been delivered, but fortunately, it didn’t seem to be the case.

“What, what is this? It’s a protective suit?”

Han Sang-hyuk, unable to contain his curiosity, immediately opened a box.

“There are also medicines. Enough to use for over a year?”

“Purification canisters and gloves… There’s a lot of stuff. Did the headquarters support us?”

“Come on, no way.”

While each of them was opening a box, I picked up a piece of paper placed on top of one of the boxes. It was an official document from the association.

It seemed that the donation had finally been allocated.

The content was obvious without even looking.

It’s something sent by an anonymous donor; something like that would be written, right?

Still, there are quite a lot of items for 20 million won.

Muttering that, I was roughly skimming through the official document when…

‘……What.’

I wondered if I had miscounted the zeros, so I raised my finger and slowly counted the numbers.

‘One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand… This is crazy.’

I hadn’t misread it.

Additional budget allocation.

200,000,000 won.

A whopping 10 times the amount of the donation I had deposited.

“W-Why on earth…?”

I was so flustered that I stuttered.

Where on earth did this money come from?

“What are you saying to yourself? Let me see.”

At that moment, Han Sang-hyuk snatched the official document I was holding. At the same time, he read aloud the words densely written on the document.

“As a result of a thorough review within the association, it has been determined that the aging of equipment due to budget shortages has had a significant impact on this accident. Therefore, the Ability Dimension Association Seoul Headquarters has decided to provide a small amount of additional budget…”

“What?!”

“Additional budget…?”

Park Team Leader and Moon So-yeon’s eyes widened.

But with a few more lines remaining below, Han Sang-hyuk continued to read it.

“In addition, we express our deep regret and apology for Moon So-yeon’s accident, and we would like to convey a small amount of consolation money. Of course, this may not be able to comfort the wounds you have suffered…”

Then, as he reached the last sentence, his pupils began to shake greatly.

“I-Industrial accident compensation payment…”

100,000,000 won.

Here was also 100 million.

At that amount, Moon So-yeon covered her mouth with both hands and shook her head repeatedly as if she couldn’t believe it. Soon, tears began to well up in her eyes.

Those eyes soon turned to me.

“T-This, could it be that Jun-woo…?”

“…It’s not me.”

As I answered, Han Sang-hyuk’s gaze also turned to me.

“Hey, what on earth did you do…?”

“I told you it’s not me.”

I was just as bewildered, so I was venting my frustration with a sense of injustice when…

“Wow, the association is changing its position; I’ve been working for a long time, and I’m seeing things!”

Park Team Leader put his hand on my shoulder and said.

“T-Team Leader! Don’t you think it’s strange?! There’s no way the decision made by the headquarters can be changed! Especially this amount…!”

“What do you mean there’s no way it can be changed, you idiot? It’s written in the official document. They re-evaluated it.”

Park Team Leader’s eyes became quite serious.

“So we just have to know that’s the case. Who did what… we don’t know anything about that.”

Park Team Leader continued, patting me on the shoulder without saying a word.

Even so, Han Sang-hyuk still had a lot of questions he wanted to ask, but he closed his mouth with a faint sigh.

“Anyway, we have to move all of this to the office… Ugh, those guys. Since they’re giving it, they should have brought it to the office!”

“Do we have an office?”

“Of course, we do. It’s a problem because there’s no use for it.”

Park Team Leader said proudly.

As I quietly nodded, Kim Min-joo opened her mouth.

“Where is it located?”

“Y-Yes?”

“The teacher and I will take it there. Everyone else, go home.”

“Hey, you can’t just move it with the two of you. We’ll help you.”

“No. We’ll do it ourselves. It’s okay, right, Teacher?”

“…If I say it’s not okay, can I not do it?”

Kim Min-joo smiled instead of answering.

At the same time, I dropped my head.

And then.

[Unlock condition achieved]

[Dungeon Cleaning Team Budget Expansion]

[Acquired skill: Hellfire – Unlocked]

A voice echoed in my head.

***

“You’re the teacher, right?”

While walking down the dark street carrying the last box,

Moon So-yeon brought up an unexpected topic.

“About what?”

“The intercepts that happened in the past two days. You did it, right?”

My eyebrows twitched.

I stopped walking forward and turned to look at Kim Min-joo.

“If I say yes, what are you going to do?”

“Don’t make a scary face. Do you think I’m going to stab you to get extra points?”

“Then why did you bother bringing it up?”

My voice became sharp without me realizing it.

“This compensation and budget, you supported it with the money you earned from the intercepts, right?”

“…Did you know?”

“Not only me, but the team members probably all know. They’re holding back because they’re worried you’ll be in trouble… Well, there’s no way they wouldn’t know.”

It was quite a shock.

I’ve already been caught. I thought I was being thorough…

“Everyone is very grateful.”

“I guess so. Suddenly 200 million won appeared; who wouldn’t be grateful?”

“No. Beyond the money.”

Kim Min-joo grinned.

“But this time, you were lucky.”

“Yeah, I was lucky. Everyone’s memories were hazy, so I didn’t get caught.”

“Do you know the saying ‘A needle in a haystack’ [something extremely difficult or impossible to find]?”

I gave a puzzled look.

I knew the meaning, but I wondered why she was suddenly talking about that.

“Your abilities are at a level that can’t be hidden, even if you try to. Even if you got away with it this time, the association will definitely notice you next time. If that happens… it will be difficult to stay on the cleaning team any longer.”

“…Is that so?”

For a moment, a look of delight appeared on my face.

Does that mean they’ll talk to the higher-ups and send me to the operations team?

If that’s the case, say it quickly!

“But you want to stay on the cleaning team forever. You definitely don’t want to go to the operations team.”

“…Huh?”

“I want to help you too, so that you can stay on the cleaning team for ten thousand years.”

…What, what is she saying right now?

My body stiffened at this girl’s words, who was pouring out what sounded like curses without batting an eye.

“Of course, a B-rank like me can’t be of any help, but if I become an A-rank… no, if I become stronger, then I’ll definitely be of help. So…”

“……”

“I need your help now.”

This…

Is she messing with me?