The Wise Cleaning Life Of A Returning Genius Hunter [EN]: Chapter 95

094

Suncheon Branch Building.

“Did you see their faces?”

A guild member, walking down the hallway with Guild Master Shim Hyun-soo, spoke up.

“They looked utterly pathetic. Just a cleaning company, after all.”

“Looks like they haven’t been in this business for very long either.”

Other guild members chimed in, one after another.

While they were disparaging them with extremely unpleasant tones, Guild Master Shim Hyun-soo wore a somewhat uneasy expression.

“……What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s just that one of them looked familiar.”

Where had he seen him before? He racked his brain, but he couldn’t recall.

He had only seen him fleetingly on the news, so it was no wonder he couldn’t remember.

“Their attitude is really bothering me… Should we give them a little initiation ceremony?”

“How so?”

“It’s nothing much. Just giving the cleaners some cleaning work to do, you know.”

“Well… do as you please.”

Shim Hyun-soo waved his hand dismissively, as if he couldn’t be bothered to think about it.

“……You’ve arrived.”

Department Head Kang Hyung-won greeted them as they reached the second floor.

Even though he approached and offered his greetings first, Guild Master Shim Hyun-soo held his head quite stiffly.

Department Head Kang Hyung-won didn’t respond further and led them to the office, where the two soon sat facing each other across a table.

Shim Hyun-soo’s visit to the branch was for coordinating operations with the operations team this month.

The reality was that they were relying on private guilds for nearly 20% of the dungeons, so these monthly consultations were necessary.

As the representative of the largest guild in Suncheon, Shim Hyun-soo was responsible for receiving dungeons from the branch and distributing them to surrounding guilds.

In fact, according to the rules, the branch had the right to decide the number of dungeons to be transferred, but…….

“We’ll be taking 10% more of this month’s operations.”

The roles had long been reversed.

“Why are you doing this? We’re already operating at a loss and struggling…….”

“I don’t know how you can claim to be operating at a loss while signing contracts with cleaning teams.”

“…….”

He looked as if he was wondering how they found out, but only for a moment.

Department Head Kang Hyung-won urgently spoke up.

“Dungeon raids are done together by the operations team and the guild, but cleaning isn’t.”

“So, you’re saying that while you contract with outside companies, you’re going to abandon us, who are risking our lives with you?”

“……That’s not what I’m saying.”

“What do you mean it’s not? If that’s the case, then the branch can just raid everything on its own.”

“……Haa.”

Those trash-like bastards.

Ever since they realized that they couldn’t meet the raid quota without them, they had always acted like that.

‘If only the operations team had enough personnel, we wouldn’t have to deal with these thugs…….’

Kang Hyung-won groaned inwardly.

He had already requested additional personnel from headquarters several times, but the response was always ‘insufficient personnel to assign.’

Well, who would want to come to a remote branch like this when they could get paid more and work at a branch in a big city?

He understood, but the situation was still difficult.

‘Why do those guys always have to follow him around?’

Kang Hyung-won glared at the guild members who had followed Shim Hyun-soo, gritting his teeth inwardly.

In fact, Department Head Kang Hyung-won was vaguely aware.

It was absurd for the guild to be using dungeons to bargain with the branch.

Bringing the guild members along was probably to put psychological pressure on him so he couldn’t make rational decisions.

“Anyway, please take good care of us. Let’s get through these tough times together.”

“…….”

Guild Master Shim Hyun-soo clenched his fist and spoke forcefully, then stood up as if he was done with his business.

Department Head Kang Hyung-won frowned even more.

Just when he thought they were leaving, Shim Hyun-soo turned his head again.

“Ah, right. About that cleaning team you contracted with this time.”

“……Yes.”

“Please assign their work to the dungeons we’ve raided.”

Kang Hyung-won was momentarily startled.

It was a request with an unknown motive.

Could it be that this guy knows that the representative of the cleaning team is former Headquarters Director Kim Jun-woo?

Is that why he’s trying to get in his good graces?

“……Is there a reason for that?”

“It’s nothing much.”

Guild Master Shim Hyun-soo vaguely brushed off the question.

“Then, please take care of us this month as well.”

With those words, the Baekje Guild members left the office in a rush.

“Ha, those damn bastards…….”

Only the sigh of Department Head Kang Hyung-won, left alone, echoed long and loud.

***

After returning to Seoul, we continued to visit other branches and proceed with contracts.

In the midst of that, we received a request from the Suncheon Branch, and I immediately dispatched Team 1, led by Moon So-yeon.

As it was their first official task, I was also inwardly nervous…….

The dungeon they were assigned to was a Green-grade ‘Ancient Ant’ dungeon.

It had no particular risk factors, and above all, they were veterans who had already done the same work hundreds of times at headquarters.

I thought there wouldn’t be any major difficulties.

However, I had to change my mind after seeing Team 1 return to the office after finishing their work.

“Why do you all look like that? Was there some kind of problem?”

Moon So-yeon and the other team members all had dark complexions.

It was more than just the tension of their first task.

“Ah, no. We finished the work well and came back.”

Moon So-yeon replied, looking around cautiously.

“Then why…….”

“Really, it’s okay. Surely we didn’t cause any trouble from our first dispatch? We’re just a little tired from traveling such a long distance.”

She waved her hands repeatedly, denying it.

She spoke so firmly that I couldn’t ask any further.

“……I understand. If there’s any problem, please tell me immediately.”

“Yes, of course.”

Moon So-yeon smiled brightly.

……Right, what could have happened on the first day?

The first day passed like that.

However, after that, whenever they returned from the Suncheon Branch, their complexions were very poor.

Even if I asked what happened, they would only give the same answers, such as ‘nothing happened’ or ‘I’m just tired,’ and wouldn’t open their mouths.

“Something seems to be going on.”

In the office, after everyone had left work and only the two of us remained.

Lee Ah-young also seemed to have noticed something strange.

“Since it’s our first contracted branch, they seem to be holding back to avoid causing problems…….”

“Does that make sense?”

“You know So-yeon’s personality. She might think that if she says something, she’ll be causing trouble for you.”

That was definitely a valid point.

That’s exactly the kind of person Moon So-yeon was.

It was incredibly frustrating.

“The person in charge is Department Head Kang Hyung-won, right? He doesn’t seem like someone who would demand unreasonable work.”

“If anything, he seemed like the type to be easily swayed.”

I stroked my chin as I replied.

“Should we go there ourselves?”

“That’s one way to do it, but…….”

There was no guarantee that we wouldn’t face the same problems if we went.

It wasn’t a fundamental solution, at least not for now.

‘Haa, how long has it been since we started?’

I put my hands behind my head.

To be honest, I want to ignore all the problems and everything else.

My main purpose isn’t dispatch work anyway, and once I establish my position, I don’t care what problems arise below.

‘But it’s not as easy as it sounds…….’

If they keep acting like that and end up quitting, then it becomes a problem.

The immediate problem is the shortage of personnel to dispatch, and it also creates problems for future contracts.

Not only that, but it’s also a headache internally.

Where else can we get that many experienced people?

‘Well, even if I can handle all those problems, the most frightening thing is the association president…….’

Hadn’t he repeatedly told me to treat them well?

If there’s a mass exodus, that old man won’t stay still.

“For the next dispatch, let’s assign it to Team 2, led by Han Sang-hyuk. He’s not the type to hide anything if something happens.”

“How about Yoo-bin instead?”

“That guy is someone who will create problems even if there aren’t any.”

“……That’s true.”

“Ah, and give all of Team 1 a day of compensatory leave.”

“Yes.”

Chief Lee Ah-young replied with a smile.

After adjusting the dispatch schedule, a few days later.

Han Sang-hyuk quietly called me out after work.

He looked quite hesitant, unlike his usual self.

“Looks like something did happen.”

I casually brought it up first, and Han Sang-hyuk carefully opened his mouth.

“Well, something did happen…… Is the guild usually the boss of the branch over there, instead of the operations team?”

“……Huh?”

It was quite an unexpected question.

“That’s true, but…… Does that have anything to do with it?”

“All the dungeons we were assigned to were raided by those Baekje Guild guys or whatever.”

“Hmm.”

That was definitely strange.

Was there a reason to assign a fixed dispatch team?

“But those bastards are really vicious.”

“For example?”

“First of all, they raid so messily. To the point where you wonder if they really need to go that far. Thanks to that, the dungeon conditions are completely messed up, so the amount of work is considerable.”

It’s hard to see that as a problem. After all, a raid is just a raid.

I couldn’t conclude that they deliberately raided messily.

“And they leave their trash inside the dungeon.”

“What?”

“You know, chocolate bar wrappers, water bottles, that kind of stuff. It seems like they all left at least one behind.”

“Seriously, I’ve never seen such thugs…….”

“And there was household waste too.”

“……?”

My eyebrows twitched.

“Starting with standard-sized garbage bags, plastics, cans, etc., it seems like they just brought all the trash from their homes and dumped it there. There was also some food waste.”

The reason why the Baekje Guild would do such a thing was obvious.

It was a petty retaliation for being disliked at the first meeting.

I’ve never seen such despicable bastards.

Even if personal feelings were involved, they were clearly acting that way during work.

“Don’t tell me you just stood there and did nothing?”

“Honestly, I just let it go. I mean… I’ve seen worse at headquarters, so that’s nothing.”

“What else was there?”

“I don’t know much about it, but…… Is it normal to have to pay money to enter a dungeon that’s been allocated to a guild?”

What kind of nonsense is this?

“They demanded money when we went to the dungeon to work. They said we had to pay a guild development fund to enter a dungeon allocated to the guild…….”

“……So, did you pay?”

“They said we couldn’t enter if we didn’t pay, so what else could I do?”

“Seriously, I’ve never seen such blatant thugs.”

Strictly speaking, if a dungeon is allocated to a guild, it’s true that the guild has the right to raid that dungeon.

However, that only means they have the right to carry out raids, not that they own the dungeon.

A guild demanding money to enter a dungeon?

That’s something I’ve never heard of in my life.

‘Wait. So, Moon So-yeon has been paying out of her own pocket all this time?’

What on earth was that guy thinking…….

“I honestly understand her.”

“You understand……?”

“I was going to protest to the branch that they shouldn’t be demanding money, but…… they told me to go ahead and do it if I wanted to be blacklisted in this industry forever…… It seems like they’re quite close to the chief of the branch’s general affairs department.”

“If they can’t say anything even to this extent, it seems like they’re not just close, but being blackmailed.”

I shook my head.

Yeah, if it came to that, it’s understandable that Moon So-yeon wouldn’t be able to say anything.

She’s the type of person who would think that if she made things worse and the contract was terminated, it would all be her fault.

She probably thought that she should endure it, even if it meant she would suffer, rather than cause harm to me.

‘I don’t know if she’s ignorant of the world or just stupid…….’

She’s just an employee.

Why is an employee trying to bear the company’s losses?

Han Sang-hyuk opened his mouth in a barely audible voice.

“So, I wasn’t going to say anything either, but…….”

“If you don’t say anything, then are you going to keep cleaning up other people’s trash? Business is about image. If we can’t say anything here and just stay still, we’re just going to be pushovers.”

“…….”

Well, it’s best to ignore what thugs do, but…… If they demanded money, then this is a different matter.

I can’t just let this go without losing face.

However, if I respond clumsily, I’ll only create a reason for them to blackmail me.

It might act as a weakness in future contracts.

“Anyway, I’ll take care of it from now on, so you don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

It’s already far beyond what an employee can handle.

As I was about to go back into the office, a hurried voice followed me.

“Hey, hey! What are you going to do! What if the contract really gets terminated because of that…….”

“What if it gets terminated?”

“……Huh?”

“What if we lose the contract? There are plenty of other places to contract with anyway. And who are you to worry about that? Don’t overstep your bounds and think about company matters, just do as you’re told and clean.”

Han Sang-hyuk looked quite flustered at my slightly sharp tone.

It might be harsh words depending on how you take it.

However, since there’s a clear reason, I don’t have the heart to consider personal feelings.

“Originally, this is something for the guy sitting at the desk to solve.”

There’s a limit to how much you can act up.

If you don’t know that, I have no choice but to teach you myself.