The Wise Cleaning Life Of A Returning Genius Hunter [EN]: Chapter 15

014

It seemed the fact that I had siphoned off the budget from the operations team had reached the hunters’ ears.

Before, they had simply ignored us as if we were invisible, but now…

“Ugh, you’re in the way.”

“Ugh, you got it on me! Seriously, how disgusting.”

They were openly criticizing the cleaning team.

The first dungeon on today’s schedule.

As soon as I arrived at work, it seemed the subjugation was already over, as the hunters were coming out of the dungeon.

Two young hunters expressed their displeasure without holding back.

“Hey, they’re staring.”

“What are they going to do if they stare? Seriously, they still have some pride left…”

“That’s what happens when you mess with other people’s money. Tsk, tsk. How are they going to work at a company if they can’t even tell the difference between hot and cold water?”

Criticism poured out right in front of them.

Moon So-yeon and Han Sang-hyuk stared at them with dumbfounded expressions, then averted their gaze.

It seemed like it was the first time they had been openly ridiculed like this.

In any case, the two hunters didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping.

They deliberately slowed their pace and continued to laugh mockingly.

Fortunately, no one reacted.

That was the right response, and I was going to ignore them too. I was definitely going to.

“Isn’t that why they say people like that are uneducated?”

“Honestly, aren’t they ashamed to be doing cleaning work? If I were them, I’d rather work part-time.”

“That’s their fate. A fate to clean for all eternity.”

“Y-you son of a b…”

Until I heard words that I personally couldn’t ignore.

The moment I couldn’t stand it anymore and turned towards them.

“What team are you two with?”

Kim Min-ju appeared from behind the two hunters.

“I’m asking you. What team are you with?”

“Who are you?”

Kim Min-ju has a friendly and gentle voice.

It seemed they took her lightly because of that.

“What team am I with? Would you know if I told you?”

“…Hey, hey!”

“Ah, let go! Hey, why are you talking down to me?”

“Y-you idiot! That’s our senior!”

“…What?”

“Kim Min-ju, our team’s senior!”

Fortunately, one of them, who was quick on the uptake, urgently stopped the other.

The two of them fell silent in an instant.

Kim Min-ju nodded and opened her mouth.

“Oh, so you’re on our team.”

“…W-we’re sorry!”

“We’re sorry, Senior!”

The two hunters bent over at a 90-degree angle. But Kim Min-ju had a bewildered expression.

“What are you sorry for?”

“For not recognizing you as our senior…”

“Why is that something to be sorry for? I didn’t know you were on our team either.”

“…Yes?”

“You got the order wrong. Before apologizing for not recognizing me…”

The friendly and gentle voice suddenly became sharp and cold. At the same time, Kim Min-ju’s eyes pierced through them.

“You should have apologized for not being fully human.”

The two hunters were silent.

After standing in front of Kim Min-ju, fidgeting and glancing at each other, they slowly slipped away.

“…I’m sorry.”

Kim Min-ju apologized to us.

“They must be new recruits. I don’t recognize their faces either.”

“New recruits… then it’s understandable that you’re angry.”

Even though I didn’t feel good, I could understand.

Since it was someone else’s budget anyway, it wouldn’t matter to B-rank or higher hunters, but it was a different story for the new recruits.

Since a large sum of 200 million won [roughly $150,000 USD] had been cut, they had to reduce something, but they couldn’t cut the allowances of the high-ranking hunters.

So the damage would naturally go to the D and E-rank hunters.

“They’re just not fully human. It wouldn’t be much of a loss anyway. When you look at it like this, there’s always one of the new recruits who thinks they’re something special. The reality is, they barely managed to get an E-rank… Anyway, I’m really sorry. It’s my fault for not training my juniors properly.”

“Ah, no. We’re okay. We don’t really care.”

Moon So-yeon forced a smile and replied.

Kim Min-ju refrained from saying anything more.

The words they had heard wouldn’t disappear, but at least they could pretend to be okay.

“Oh my, when did everyone gather here?”

At that moment, Team Leader Park, who had been checking equipment elsewhere, joined us late.

Team Leader Park, who had no idea what had happened, still had a cheerful voice.

“The Hunter is here again today! Shall we start working right away?”

Kim Min-ju smiled bitterly at Team Leader Park’s words.

It had been a week since Kim Min-ju started working.

Whether she was a quick learner or not, she was now doing her part as a full-fledged member, not just helping out.

She was practically a cleaning team member now… but that was only until today.

“No. I came to say goodbye today.”

“…Hmm?”

She didn’t enter the dungeon and bowed to us.

“I’ve learned a lot during my time here.”

The team members seemed a little taken aback, but soon everyone nodded.

A week.

For a whole week, a hunter had been helping the cleaning team with their work.

Everyone knew that it didn’t make sense in the first place.

So there was no need to ask Kim Min-ju, who was saying goodbye, why she was leaving or if she had any regrets.

“I think I need to spend some time on myself from now on.”

“Okay. Thank you for your help during this time.”

“No, I’m more grateful because I was able to meet a good team thanks to you.”

“What, is someone dying? Why is the atmosphere like this when someone’s leaving?”

“Hey! It just means we’ve grown attached to each other.”

“Unnie…” [Korean term for older sister or female friend]

At Moon So-yeon’s wistful voice, I couldn’t help but turn my head.

Unnie, when did they get so close?

“Please come visit us later.”

“Of course.”

Kim Min-ju smiled brightly.

Everyone exchanged small farewells, but unfortunately, I didn’t have anything to say.

She didn’t seem to expect to receive a greeting from me either.

That’s because… the reason Kim Min-ju was leaving the cleaning team was none other than me.

– Don’t come out starting tomorrow.

Last night, I told Kim Min-ju those words.

Kim Min-ju seemed quite shocked by those words, but she quickly realized what they meant.

The words ‘don’t come out’ meant that I had decided to grant her request.

Kim Min-ju seemed to want to learn direct techniques, but honestly, I didn’t have anything to teach her.

Rather, she needed to hone what she already had, so I suggested that she return to the team.

And I set up a subjugation schedule for her.

Based on my schedule when I achieved S rank for the first time in the country, it’s a schedule based on all the information and experience I have.

I even told her the list of items she can acquire, so if she follows it closely, she should be able to achieve A rank within half a year.

‘Tsk, I’m crazy, giving this away for free. If I had sold it to a private guild, I would have received at least several hundred million…….’

Well, even if I say that, I obviously had no intention of doing so.

The current me can’t build a career like the first S rank in the country or the first SSS rank in the world.

Of course, someone will achieve those things in my place.

Since I’m giving it away anyway, I decided it would be better to pass it on to Kim Min-ju rather than giving it to some unknown guys. It’s better than giving it to someone I don’t even know.

Of course, it’s not because of that nonsense about letting her stay in the cleaning team forever if I help her.

The higher Kim Min-ju’s rank rises, the higher her influence will be, and if I use that influence later, it will be much easier to meet the unlocking conditions.

In other words, I’m planning to raise Kim Min-ju into the best hunter and use her as a bargaining chip for negotiations with the association.

‘In my past life, they said she was a disposable tool…….’

I’m sorry, but you’re just a tool in this life too.

There are no personal feelings.

If you’re going to blame someone, blame your fate for being used and discarded by me for the rest of your life…….

“Teacher.”

“…Huh? Oh, what is it?”

“Thank you. Sincerely.”

“…….”

I scratched my head, feeling awkward.

“I doubt it will happen… but if there’s anything I can help you with, please contact me anytime.”

“I know, so hurry up and leave. You have a subjugation coming up soon.”

“……Yes.”

Kim Min-ju answered with a hint of regret.

But that was only for a moment.

“I’ll come again next time.”

With those words, Kim Min-ju turned her back.

***

Kim Min-ju had only been gone from the cleaning team for a day.

A problem arose in just one day.

“This…….”

Han Sang-hyuk, who saw it first, trailed off.

Even he, who had a lot of experience, seemed to be seeing this situation for the first time.

“What the hell happened?”

The dungeon we just entered for cleaning.

But the dungeon’s condition was completely messed up.

Monster corpses were scattered everywhere, and the entire passage was covered in blood and mucus.

That’s not all.

“‘You b*stard’… you wrote that, right?”

All sorts of profanity seemed to be written in monster blood.

There was no need to think about it.

“It’s those bastards’ doing.”

I clicked my tongue and said.

Kim Min-ju’s juniors.

It was clear that those bastards were venting their anger on us after Kim Min-ju beat them.

“This is too much…….”

“Oh, my…….”

Moon So-yeon and Team Leader Park expressed their anger in deep voices.

‘Tsk, this is quite elaborate too.’

They must have taken the time to do this even though they were busy with subjugation and returning.

“Should we contact Min-ju unnie [Korean term for older sister or female friend]?”

“She’ll be busy, that kid.”

“Hey, Kim Jun-woo! Let’s go complain! This is not cool!”

Han Sang-hyuk shouted, but I didn’t move.

‘Cool, my ass.’

Since when did the cleaning team get such treatment?

I shook my head and opened my mouth.

“Even if we go to complain, they’ll just deny it. It’s more likely that we’ll get more insults. Given the situation… let’s just ignore it and move on.”

“What?! You’re telling me to move on after seeing this? Aren’t you angry?!”

“What are you going to do if we don’t move on? They’ll stop on their own if we don’t react to this.”

I deliberately answered in a weak voice.

It was to calm down my excitement.

Fortunately, it seems to be working. Han Sang-hyuk was still fuming, but that was it.

The most important thing to avoid is a confrontation between the operation team and the cleaning team.

The operation team is the team most closely related to the cleaning team, and it’s also the team that can directly influence the cleaning team.

If we get on their bad side, it could cause problems with future unlocking.

Well, those guys seem to think we made the first move……. It’s not hard to turn a blind eye to childish pranks.

‘Yeah… a senior should be tolerant.’

…Or so I thought for a day or two.

And three days passed.

As if to mock my expectations, those bastards didn’t stop even on the third day.

“Really…….”

Moon So-yeon was almost crying.

The dungeon was such a mess that she always had to work close to her limit, and that was physically quite exhausting.

But more than that, Moon So-yeon was mentally struggling because of the graffiti and drawings that were hard to even put into words.

“Team Leader, this is really not okay! I’m going to go to the operation team and cause a ruckus to bring them in!”

“……Don’t.”

“Ah, Team Leader!!”

“I already went once. I was going to talk to their team leader, but he’s on a business trip for a few days. The guys are denying it, just like Jun-woo said.”

Team Leader Park shook his head.

But Han Sang-hyuk couldn’t back down this time either.

“Th, then let’s at least talk to Hunter Min-ju…….”

“Enough.”

The moment Han Sang-hyuk took out his phone, I opened my mouth.

“What?”

“I said enough. Don’t contact her.”

“Seriously. What, are you going to just ignore it again? We came here to work, not to get insulted…….”

The moment Han Sang-hyuk, who was bursting with anger, turned his head towards me.

When his eyes met mine, he stopped talking and immediately closed his mouth.

“Don’t contact anyone. I’m going.”

“…….”

I turned my back as it was.

Even though I was leaving the dungeon, no one stopped me.

“Ah, and…….”

Suddenly, I remembered one thing I had forgotten.

“Don’t clean here.”

I left those words to everyone and left the dungeon, entering the main road.

They’re really amazing guys, full of passion and persistence.

It’s amazing that they’ve been doing this for 3 days straight, and it’s also amazing that they came up with this idea even though they’re hunters.

But what’s most amazing of all is.

[Acquired Passive: Mysophobia]

[Passive Activated]

That they genuinely pissed me off.

You sons of b*tches…….

‘I’m already tired to death, and you’re making me work 15 hours a day?’

Thanks to you, I’ve missed the last train all this time, you damn bastards.