The Wise Cleaning Life Of A Returning Genius Hunter [EN]: Chapter 16

015

Association Seoul Headquarters.

Ability Management Department, Operations Team 1 Office.

I opened the door to a place so familiar to my regressed self.

“Hey, hey, he’s here again.”

“What? It’s a different guy today? Last time it was that so-and-so team leader.”

I could faintly hear the murmurs right away.

It’s a relief they’re just sitting at their desks. Saves me the trouble of having to look for them.

“Uh… how did you get here?”

Just then, a young man approached me and asked.

Judging by his clueless expression, he didn’t seem to be involved in this.

Without answering, I slowly scanned the office. Soon, I spotted two familiar faces in the far corner.

“Um… excuse me, but how did you get in here……?”

“Where is Team Leader Lee Soo-yong?”

“……He’s on a business trip.”

“When will he be back?”

“Well, I’m not sure about that…….”

“I see… that’s fortunate.”

I nodded and locked the office door with a click.

I glared straight at the two bastards and walked into the office.

The two guys who met my eyes still didn’t seem to grasp the situation.

“Hey, hey. He’s coming this way?”

“Whoa~ He looks like he’s about to throw a punch…….”

Thwack. Bang!

A cracking sound, as if something was bursting, once.

The impact of something hitting the wall, once.

And then.

Thud―

The wall cracked, and debris crumbled.

“……Wh-what!”

The guy next to him belatedly jumped up and shouted.

But his friend was already leaning against the broken wall, unconscious. His neck was half-twisted.

“Y-you, do you know where you are…!”

Slap―

A smack across the cheek made him yelp.

His body staggered violently. He seemed to have momentarily lost strength in his legs.

But only for a moment.

“Y-you Necromancer!”

[Unique Skill: Necromancer]

[Skill activation……]

Slap―

“Cut the crap.”

Using a skill in front of me without any fear.

It seemed a little harder for him to endure this time, as he collapsed to the ground.

I lowered myself in front of him.

“Didn’t you get hunter training? Using skills outside a dungeon? And against a civilian.”

The man looked genuinely surprised.

He must be taken aback that a janitor knows the hunter regulations.

“W-who are you to talk! Daring to use violence against a hunter?! You won’t get away with this…… Hiek!”

When I raised my hand again, he immediately cowered.

Sigh, a guy who gets scared by a few slaps, what kind of hunter is he…….

“Hey.”

“…….”

“Is it fun? Is it fun to do stupid things that even middle schoolers wouldn’t do and snicker behind our backs?”

The man was silent.

Though the subject wasn’t specified, he probably knew better since it was his own doing.

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t look down on the cleaning team. But you shouldn’t have looked down on me, at least. Coming at me with a hunter license that’s not even dry…….”

“W-well, I mean! You’re just a janitor anyway…!”

“This E-grade scrub is cutting me off right now?”

I glared at the man with wide eyes, genuinely dumbfounded by his attitude.

In all my life, only the cleaning team and one other person could interrupt me, how dare he.

“You only act tough to people weaker than you. You wouldn’t have even been able to make eye contact with me before, where do you get off.”

The man couldn’t say anything.

Even if he did answer, I wouldn’t have listened.

“Listen carefully.”

Tapping the man’s cheek, I continued.

“From today, we won’t clean the dungeons you guys are raiding.”

“……!”

“We’ll post everything you’ve done online. We’ll also report it to the reporters we know. How about that, doesn’t your future hunter life sound fun?”

“D-do you think the Association will let that slide? The Association always takes the hunter’s side…….”

“Hey, I think you’re greatly mistaken……. Do you think the Association will cover for an E-grade scrub like you?”

I gave the man a genuinely pitiful look, realizing he was under a big delusion.

The man’s pupils trembled greatly.

“If you don’t want to make things bigger, come to Cleaning Team 3 and apologize. Kneel down one by one.”

“Th-that’s…….”

“Why? You don’t want to? If you don’t want either of those, then take off your badges and let’s have a go in a dungeon. I’ll just kill you off for good.”

Of course, it was a joke.

Someone as gentle as me, fighting? That’s absurd.

But it seemed my bluff worked on the man. I could hear him gulping, even from where I was.

I stood up.

He probably understood by now.

Walking back to the office door, I turned to look at the man who had been wearing an innocent expression earlier.

“Please keep my visit today a secret.”

“Y-yes…….”

“You too. Don’t make me come back.”

I snapped at the man who was still sitting down, and just as I was about to open the locked doorknob.

“Wh-what! What’s going on!!”

Team Leader Lee Soo-yong appeared.

“What’s with the state of this office…… huh?”

His eyes met mine as he scanned the office, shouting at the top of his lungs. I sighed.

‘Damn……. This is bad.’

I’d been caught red-handed.

I thought if I kept everyone quiet, the word wouldn’t get out……. But with Lee Soo-yong seeing it himself, there’s no way to avoid this.

I used violence against a hunter… I’ll probably get fired at the very least.

Tsk, now that it’s come to this, maybe I should just beat this guy up a few times and walk out on my own…….

“Oh, uh… wh-what brings you here…….”

“……?”

Lee Soo-yong’s back suddenly bent over.

My back followed suit.

What’s going on? Who is this guy?

His eyes are different from when I saw him before.

“Perhaps regarding the budget shortage from before…….”

“Ah, no. It’s not about that…….”

I was momentarily taken aback by Team Leader Lee Soo-yong’s sudden change in attitude.

I glanced at the man cowering in the corner.

“Those guys were messing around while raiding.”

“…Messing around, you say?”

“Yes. Well… they were drawing graffiti on the dungeon with monster blood. They were also deliberately scattering corpses everywhere. I came to talk about whether they have a problem with the cleaning team.”

“L-lies! Team Leader! That bastard came in here and started throwing punches! That damn janitor……”

The man seized the opportunity and opened his mouth, which he had been keeping shut.

“Y-you crazy son of a bitch!!”

Lee Soo-yong’s eyes flipped.

He rushed to the corner and immediately slapped the man across the cheek.

“Who are you calling a son of a bitch right now! Are you crazy?! How long has it been since you became a hunter that you have no respect?! Apologize right now! Apologize right this instant!!”

What is this?

Why is the situation suddenly like this?

I could only blink, still not understanding the situation, when Team Leader Lee Soo-yong bowed deeply to me.

“I-I’m sorry. I’ll apologize on their behalf.”

“Ah, well…….”

I don’t know why, but if he’s going this far, it wouldn’t be polite not to accept the apology.

“……Ahem. Alright. Just be careful next time.”

“Yes! Of course. I’m truly sorry.”

Team Leader Lee Soo-yong kept bowing.

“Then, I’ve taken care of my business, so I’ll be going.”

“Yes, please be careful on your way!”

I straightened my back and walked out triumphantly.

Just as I was about to leave the office.

“Ah, and one more thing.”

I pointed at the two men again.

“I don’t want to see those guys in my sight anymore.”

“O-of course! I’ll take care of it right away!”

Team Leader Lee Soo-yong answered loudly.

I tilted my head repeatedly at the sight and left the office.

Did he eat something wrong?

***

“Did they apologize?”

The next day, in the morning.

I asked that as soon as I got to work.

Han Sang-hyuk and Moon So-yeon exchanged awkward glances and opened their mouths.

“It wasn’t so much an apology as…….”

“It was practically a wail, right?”

“They were grabbing onto our pant legs and crying their eyes out, saying they had committed a mortal sin and begging us to forgive them just once.”

Han Sang-hyuk even imitated the actions as he recalled yesterday’s events.

“So, what did you do?”

“What do you mean, what did we do? We told them to get lost.”

“Good job.”

I praised Han Sang-hyuk, which was rare.

If they were going to beg for forgiveness so late, they shouldn’t have done it in the first place. Stupid guys.

“But… what did you say to them that made them come looking so miserable?”

“I didn’t say much.”

There was something more effective than words.

Well, to be honest, I’m more curious about what Team Leader Lee Soo-yong said.

I told them not to let me see them, so they won’t be assigned to raids for a while… it would be nice if they were transferred altogether.

“Well… anyway.”

My gaze turned to Moon So-yeon.

“How about So-yeon taking a few days off?”

“……Yes?”

A bewildered expression at the sudden suggestion.

But at the same time, there was also a hint of joy.

“We can’t decide that on our own, but if the team leader allows it, I think it would be good for you to rest.”

“I’m all for it. You’ve been working almost non-stop with your side job lately. Why is a young kid so greedy for money?”

“I was going to talk about it today anyway. I think that’s the right thing to do too.”

“…….”

Moon So-yeon lowered her head instead of answering.

Knowing her personality, if she was going to refuse, she would have waved her hands first. The fact that she’s silent means she wants to do that too.

However, she probably thinks it would be a nuisance to us if she took a break when there are so few people.

Frankly speaking, of course, four people are better than three.

But in her current state, she’d be more of a hindrance than help.

“I’ve heard that many people call enduring hardship at work passion.”

So I opened my mouth to her, who was hesitating.

“Do you think so too, So-yeon?”

“Yes, yes? Of course…….”

“You’re wrong. If you break down while enduring work, you can’t use it. That’s not passion, it’s stupidity.”

Suddenly, my past with Kim Min-joo flashed through my mind.

A bit of tough love.

But I had to be firm right now.

“So-yeon, anyone can see you’re very tired.”

“…….”

Moon So-yeon’s big eyes began to get watery.

Why is she crying all of a sudden…….

Did I say something that could be misunderstood?

“Ah, no, I don’t mean that So-yeon is a tool or anything…….”

“Thank you.”

Moon So-yeon smiled brightly.

***

The incident was concluded like that.

But there was still one unresolved question.

That was Team Leader Lee Soo-yong’s sudden change in attitude.

Judging from the budget thing, something must have happened since then…….

“Do you happen to know?”

“I don’t know. Nothing comes to mind.”

Kim Min-joo shrugged.

“I was on leave for a week anyway. I wouldn’t know what happened to that guy.”

Kim Min-joo sat on the bench and sipped the canned coffee she was holding.

Late at night.

I took the time to meet Kim Min-joo at the park in front of her house.

Of course, I didn’t contact her because of this incident.

I just called her to let her know the next raid schedule.

But before I could even make the schedule, we’d already been chatting about today’s events for 30 minutes.

“Anyway, those guys are real assholes. It’s embarrassing that hunters are doing that kind of thing. …Well, I guess they’re E-grade since they can’t even recognize who they’re messing with.”

“Still, they apologized properly, and it seems like they were properly punished, so they won’t do it again.”

“They can’t even if they wanted to now.”

“Huh?”

“They were fired. Those two.”

Kim Min-joo answered calmly.

“……Fi-fired?”

“Yes. They were even forcibly dismissed, so they were deprived of their severance pay.”

That doesn’t make sense.

I told him to make sure they didn’t come into my sight, but he just fired them like that?

Even leaving the janitor who went to beat them up alone?

“That Lee Soo-yong of all people took the janitor’s side…….”

Why?