Chapter 24: 24

[Translator – Rainypup]

Chapter 23 – Song Eun-young (4)

[The field ‘Catch the Black Orcs!’ has been cleared.]

[All orcs have been killed.]

[Calculating the results.]

[Total +0]

Maybe it was because I hadn’t done anything, but as expected, I didn’t get any Merit Points. The association employees I had seen previously came running towards the park.

It wasn’t just the association employees.

The hunters who remained after taking care of the orcs in the area came running to the park after feeling the disturbance.

“You are…”

“What? Did you kill it?”

“No, that…”

Among the hunters that came running was Min Seong-taek.

Around me, there were about 10 dead orcs, including the boss Black Orc.

There were signs of a swordfight… And then there was me, who had a sword and stood in the middle of everything. 

Looking at the disappearing corpses of the orcs, I scratched the back of my neck.

Since no one could see how many Merit Points someone else had, it was easy for misunderstandings to occur.

I gave up trying to explain.

***

A few days later.

Having finished the expedition, I went to the Aria Guild’s headquarters.

Hunters who were affiliated with a guild had to write a report within two weeks after the dungeon expedition.

This was the law.

Although it was called a report, there wasn’t anything to it.

I just had to follow the format of ‘Something like this happened in the dungeon, so this happened, and I came back with all my limbs intact.’ 

The guild organized the reports of team members and passed it on to the association.

Then, they analyzed the information about the dungeon or other hunters and their relationship with one another. It was kind of like an evaluation form.

If the reported events didn’t match up or something seemed suspicious, they also called people in to investigate.

In regards to expeditions to high-level dungeons, I heard that finishing the report takes as much time as the expedition itself.

However, in the case of C-rank dungeons, which were already well-documented, it didn’t really take that long.

“This is so annoying.”

Even if it only took 2-3 hours, work was still work.

Sitting in the cafeteria located in the middle of the Aria Guild headquarters, I diligently typed into the form to fill in the required word count.

For some reason, a man suddenly approached me as I was enjoying the free Americano.

He was a handsome guy who looked to be in his twenties.

Putting the coffee cup down, I stared up at the man.

“I don’t want to share my table so please go somewhere else.”

At my words, the man blinked in surprise.

“Business.” #I don’t think this works that well in English but wasn’t sure what would.

At that moment, I knew that what the man wanted wasn’t to share my table or to take a chair, so I drank all the coffee that was still in my cup.

“ I’m Kim KangWoo from the Secretariat. Someone is looking for you.”

“Who?”

If it was someone who could order a secretary around in the guild, I was certain it was someone who was pretty high up.

I had a few guesses as to who it could be, but I landed on Park Si-woo, one of the three guildmasters.

Currently, he was the only one who had a reason to call me over.

But the timing was weird.

There had been several opportunities for him to call me over before.

‘Did he not do so because he was busy?’

I thought about it for a moment, but that couldn’t be the reason since I’d been in the guild for three months.

For him to call me over like this meant that something must be up. The only thing that came to mind was the dungeon expedition a few days ago.

Though that couldn’t be the reason since I hadn’t submitted the report yet.

Kim KangWoo didn’t answer my question. It didn’t seem like it was because he was looking down on me, but that he was worried about being overheard.

I closed my laptop and stood up.

“Please follow me.”

I followed Kim KangWoo out of the cafeteria. Opening the door to the emergency exit, I saw that there was a private elevator.

Getting off on the 45th floor, I saw three large doors.

Kim KangWoo opened the door in the middle. As I was about to enter, he asked.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“Coffee, please. A hot Americano. And if there’s chocolate, that’d be great.”

At my order, Kim KangWoo nodded. I turned away from him and entered the office.

Although the view from the cafeteria at the Aria Guild wasn’t bad, the view from such a high floor was really something else.

The office was pretty ordinary. A white floor, modern shelves, a hard iron desk, and a chair.

It was a bit dreary for a guildmaster’s office.

It was a bit of a disappointment for me, who had been expecting a luxurious and antique design.

“You have pretty bad taste.”

“Sorry for my bad taste.”

Park Si-woo stood up from his chair and approached me.

With the looks and height of a celebrity, Park Si-woo, who was wearing jeans and a clean shirt, didn’t look like the guildmaster of the Aria Guild, but more like the CEO of some startup company.

‘He could be an actor or model. He’s very photogenic.;

His friend, Choi Soo-hyun, on the other hand, looked like a suffering office worker who had worked one too many overtimes.

“I didn’t mean to comment on it or anything. Preferences are all subjective, anyway.”

“Have a seat.”

We sat on the sofa, facing each other. Right on time, Secretary Kim KangWoo came in with tea and coffee.

Maybe it was because it was more expensive, but the taste of the coffee was completely different from the one in the cafeteria.

I don’t mean to say that the cafeteria coffee didn’t taste good.

We both focused on our drinks without a word. It wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable. Rather, we sat there like really close friends.

Park Si-woo knew me, and I also knew Park Si-woo very well. Park Si-woo was the guildmaster, so he probably knew what I had been up to. On the other hand, I had looked him up on the Internet.

Unlike Choi Soo-hyun, there wasn’t much information about his dungeon expeditions or skills, but Park Si-woo was still famous for other reasons.

Why else would the lip balm he put on as he came out of the Association become famous on the Internet? I heard that although the lip balm wasn’t anything expensive, it sold out within a day.

“I heard that you were on the Jeongbalsan field, is that correct?”

“You’re talking about the dungeon break, right? It broke right after we got out of the dungeon.”

Park Si-woo and I talked nonchalantly. You wouldn’t be able to tell that we had just met for the first time. Park Si-woo also seemed used to dealing with people like me.

“We received a complaint from the Raon Guild.”

“A complaint? Against who?”

Park Si-woo nodded his head slightly. His gaze seemed to say that there were only the two of us here, so who else would it be about.

I didn’t ask because I didn’t realize this fact.

It just came out reflexively since I was so surprised. Park Si-woo explained despite my dumbfoundedness.

“The Black Orc Temple was the dungeon being raided by the Raon Guild. Knowing that there was a dungeon break, they say that you stole their kill when they were going to take care of it themselves.”

“As far as I know, once an area turns into a field, any hunter in attendance can kill monsters?”

That was the reason the others in my team had run in after all. 

Park Si-woo ate a piece of chocolate before replying.

“It seems you don’t know what the word ‘moderation’ means?”

Park Si-woo crossed his arms and glared at me. It seemed like he was talking about the park.

“I wasn’t the one who did that.”

I hadn’t said anything because I was so confused, but it seemed like I should have made things clear. Park Si-woo tilted his head in confusion.

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“The reports submitted by your teammates say that you are the hunter who took care of the Black Orc. Raon Guild also stated that you did it.”

Park Si-woo said in a questioning tone that asked for a more detailed explanation.

“Are there no CCTVs in the park? Watch the CCTV footage. I didn’t do it.”

At my words, Park Si-woo clicked his tongue in annoyance. He seemed to ask if he really had to do something like that for a mere C-rank dungeon.

Even though he looked like a serious guy, he seemed to get annoyed easily.  It seemed like that guild, Leon or Ribbon or something, though I had stolen the monster they had been planning to kill.

At the very least, I wouldn’t feel so annoyed if I was receiving suspicion after killing the monster.

“How do they know whether I did it or not? Do they have proof? Ugh, whatever. But I didn’t do it. Let them do whatever they want. This is so unfair! Really. Why is everyone saying I did something I didn’t do?”

I leaned back on the sofa while feeling very wronged. I didn’t even do anything, and yet they were lodging a complaint against me.

“You’re more interesting than I expected.”

“You think this is interesting? I’m pretty annoyed, alright?”

“I’ll look into the CCTV.”

“It’s not like you’re going to do it yourself.”

As the master of a guild, Park Si-woo was merely responsible for giving commands to those under him. At my words, Park Si-woo remained quiet. I suddenly thought of something.

“You’re not going to ask me to pay for the repairs of the park, right?”

“Do you have the money for it?”

“If I did, do you think I would be like this?”

“I heard that you have an 8 million dollar debt to Soo-hyun.”

“It’s 8.5 million dollars. If you’re not going to pay it for me, don’t even mention it.”

I thought he was going to leave it be, but he had asked me to pay it back as a debt. The cheap bastard.

At my reply, Park Si-woo shook his head and changed the subject.

“When are you going to submit your report?”

“It’s not due until 6 tonight. I was doing it before this. Don’t act like a parent nagging their child to finish their homework.”

The dungeon expedition this time wasn’t ordinary. I didn’t know how to explain the events that were related to the corrupted entity.

‘Even though I want to write in broad terms, I can’t since I don’t know what the others are going to write.’

Circumstances being what they were, I couldn’t help but be more mindful of the report.

“Just so you know, all of your other teammates have already submitted their reports.”

“I thought so. What did they say?”

“Why don’t you just ask if you can read their reports?”

[Translator – Rainypup]

Park Si-woo scoffed in disbelief at my question. Within the guild, there were plenty of reports related to the ant cave. It was only C-rank, and there were plenty of reports about it, so there was no reason a guildmaster like Park Si-woo would take care of it.

A guildmaster didn’t have that much free time.

“If I decided to write ‘the dungeon expedition was normal, and nothing unexpected happened.’ would you send me to the interrogation room in the guild basement to be questioned?”

Park Si-woo tossed a business card in my direction. The card didn’t even have a name and only had an email address embossed on the back.

“Time.”

“A week.”

“Two days. I froze your guild account, so don’t even think about running away into a dungeon.”

“No matter how I think about it, this is an abuse of power.”

“Haven’t you been receiving special treatment?”

“Alright, I’ll send it to this email. And there was something I was curious about.”

“Say it.”

“How much do you know?”

Park Si-woo and I had a short staring contest. Park Si-woo looked away first.

Park Si-woo went to his desk and came back with something.

Inside the glass bottle that seemed smaller than a finger, there were glass fragments. It seemed like there were at least 4 or 5 pieces. They looked similar to the ones I had.

“Recently, there has been an increase in cases where monsters act strange in the dungeons. Some of the hunters that returned alive said that they found fragments like this from the monsters’ corpses.”

Park Si-woo narrowed his eyes. It was obvious that he was suspicious of me.

“Fragments of the Shikon Jewel?”

“You’re not serious, right?”

“I’m half-serious. If they’re fused together, they might become something spherical.”

“Really talking nonsense.”

All the pieces had their own unique shape, so fusing them together was almost impossible.

Park Si-woo’s cellphone vibrated. It seemed like someone was calling him. He answered the phone and put it back down after a short conversation.

“So?”

“So what?”

“I’m asking if you found a fragment.”

“That’s classified information.”

Honestly, if Park Si-woo ordered me to give him the fragment with his authority as a guildmaster, there was nothing I could do.

“Cooperate.”

“You’re not telling me to give you the fragment?”

“I already have a lot. It’s not like it’s something very useful.”

Park Si-woo shook the bottle slightly. I was certain he had reached such a conclusion after experimenting and researching it since he had so many fragments.

“But what are you asking me to cooperate with?”

“My god is interested in you. Let’s leave it at that. I’ll contact you about the details at a later date.”

I wasn’t sure if he was being careful, but Park Si-wo stopped talking. Seeing Park Si-woo put on his coat, I figured he was readying to leave, so I took out my laptop from my bag.

“I can finish my work here, right?”

Looking at me, who had already taken out the laptop and comfortably put it on my lap, Park Si-woo didn’t answer.

5-star hotel in Gangnam, Seoul.

Choi Soo-hyun had rented a 10-people room in the buffet. With that money, it would have been cheaper to eat a full-course meal at a restaurant at the hotel. Putting down a plate, Choi Soo-hyun sat down in front of me.

“Let’s just go to a restaurant. If we order a course menu, they would serve us the meal and pour us wine. Why pay a lot of money to rent a room at a buffet?”

“It’s my business, brat. Are you the one paying? So many complaints when you’re eating for free.”

I stabbed one of the strawberries from the plateful that Choi Soo-hyun had brought over and put it in my mouth.

Maybe it was because strawberries were in season, but there were several events related to the fruit everywhere. I told Choi Soo-hyun about my meeting with Park Si-woo.

“So you came out after writing your report there? Wow, there should be a limit to your shamelessness. Do you have a conscience?”

“Then should I have left such a quiet workspace and gone down to the noisy cafeteria?”

“A D-rank hunter like yourself should be thankful for a cafeteria! Back when I was younger, D-rank hunters weren’t even considered hunters!”

“Wow. Damn, boomer. And I’m already a C-rank, alright?”

“Already?”

Choi Soo-hyun took out his phone. He searched for my info and was surprised when he found out I was telling the truth.

“So fast? Did you use a beginner’s package by yourself or something?” 

“It would be great if I had something like that. Oh, right. Could you look for someone for me?”

“You should go to the police if someone’s gone missing.”

“It’s a woman.”

“Do you want to die? Do you know how many women there are in Korea?”

The impatient Choi Soo-hyun cut me off with a grumble.

“Let me finish talking.”

Seeing my empty water glass, Choi Soo-hyun waved his hand at the person on the other side of the glass partition. A waitress holding a water pitcher entered the room.

“At the very least, you should tell me what they look like, what they do for a living, and how you two met.”

“I was going to, okay? So, hmm…”

I thought about how to explain everything for a moment. In the meantime, the waitress finished pouring Choi Soo-hyun a glass of water and approached me.

Turning my head and making eye contact with the woman, I subconsciously said,

“Nevermind. Found her.”

“What?”

The woman was surprised, and Choi Soo-hyun looked at me as if he were looking at a crazy person.

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