Chapter 37
I’m formatting the chapter into natural English prose and special styled blocks where needed. Next I’m finishing the full chapter output with consistent HTML and no Korean residuals.CHAPTER_TITLE: Cleanup
Hunter Bureau, first floor, Machine Upcycling Department.
Sunlight poured in.
Fresh air streamed from the purifier.
Even the faint aroma of coffee lingered in the air.
This was the first floor of all places—no ghosts were coming out here anymore!
Ahh…
“There really is nothing like heaven.”
Assistant Manager Park Gyu-tae basked by the window in the sunlight.
It seemed the joy of escaping basement life, where not a single ray of sun had ever reached him, still hadn’t worn off.
Is it really that good?
Du-ho’s gaze, while he sipped his morning coffee, came to rest on Park Assistant Manager’s implant arm.
Huh?
“You changed it?”
“Oh~ You noticed?!”
Park Assistant Manager brightened and came over.
Whirr—
He flexed his fingers lightly, then laughed a little sheepishly.
“The old one had power output, sure, but the noise was terrible. This one’s a precision-control model, so it’s a whole different league. It was expensive, but it really was worth the money.”
“It does look much better.”
“As expected of the function competition champion. Your eye for these things is different.”
The sudden praise made Du-ho scratch his cheek awkwardly.
“But still,”
Park Assistant Manager let out a sigh.
“I saw the number of installments and nearly had a heart attack. I’m stuck in this department for life now. If I get fired, I’m throwing myself in the Han River.”
Then—
“If that bastard comes to the Han River, I’ll throw him in first.”
Du-ho, who had moved to an apartment overlooking the river, felt a tic form between his brows.
Hoguai….
He really is getting more and more like Isto.
Mechromancer-nim, that’s an insult to me.
Eh?? What’s this long-stick freak saying?
Shut up, iron brain!
Ugh, so noisy.
And so the peaceful (?) morning continued, until—
Bang.
The door flew open and Department Head Na Yong-seok walked in.
“Good morning.”
When Park Assistant Manager and Du-ho stood and greeted him—
Honestly.
“I told you, there’s no need to be so formal.”
Na waved a hand and said,
“Come over here and sit. I’m going to tell you the department’s official name starting today.”
He sat at the meeting table and brought up a hologram.
“From now on, the department name will be….”
Reboot Center
Ohhh!
Park Gyu-tae clapped.
The sound of implants knocking together rang out loudly.
“Reboot Center! I like it.”
Na smiled with satisfaction.
“It carries both meanings: the existing upcycling work, and item repair and improvement.”
He looked at Park Assistant Manager.
“Park, you’ll continue handling the existing upcycling work.”
“Yes, sir!”
“And Im Du-ho will….”
Na trailed off.
“Handle item repair and improvement as his main duties. Item repairs won’t be an everyday thing, so when that’s quiet, you’ll also cover upcycling as needed.”
“Understood.”
Du-ho, now promoted to senior researcher, nodded.
The assignment had only been possible because Du-ho had insisted on staying in the Machine Upcycling Department.
And in truth, there was another reason.
Park Gyu-tae’s title had changed too, from assistant manager to senior researcher.
In other words, the two of them held the same rank, but the weight behind them was entirely different.
Awakened hunter, function competition champion, and the one holding exclusive “repair authority” over items—Im Du-ho.
He was, for all practical purposes, the real power behind the Reboot Center.
That was why Na had tried to send Park Assistant Manager—no, Park Senior Researcher now—to another department….
I want to stay here!
Your rank will be the same as Im Du-ho’s, you know?
Unexpectedly, Park Senior Researcher had accepted it without hesitation.
That’s fine too! Please let me stay here! I want to stay!
He’d wanted it so desperately that Na had actually been the one left flustered.
Anyway.
Not long after work began, Na approached Du-ho’s side.
“About Changcheon.”
“…Yes?”
“They gave an interview saying the 80th floor raid was intense. But there’s not a single repair request.”
Trying to make sense of what that meant, Du-ho watched as Na slapped the table.
“I was thinking we could start doing business with them by letting them off cheap on equipment.”
“Ah….”
“And now there’s not even one request? Aren’t they looking down on us?”
Of course, Du-ho knew the Changcheon Clan had two awakened production hunters.
“Even so, people ought to know their manners.”
Du-ho’s eyes rolled to the side.
Hmm….
The repair incentive was good, of course.
But I don’t really care if they don’t come.
Hearing Du-ho’s thoughts, Isto’s voice rang in his head.
Exactly!
We’ve got mithril, don’t we!
At the word mithril, a smile touched Du-ho’s lips.
“Senior Im. Something good happen?”
“Huh? No.”
“You were smiling to yourself.”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
As Du-ho smoothed his expression, Na instead looked vaguely reproachful.
Sigh.
“The clan hasn’t kept its promises just once or twice. I’m the fool for expecting anything.”
Still, there seemed to be some lingering disappointment.
“I thought Go Gyeong-taek might be different. Same old story….”
Just then, Na’s smartwatch rang.
He checked the screen, and his eyebrow twitched.
“The Lost and Found Center chief?”
He raised his wrist, and a hologram unfolded in the air.
The center chief’s face on the screen was rigid with urgency.
-Department Head!
“Yeah, what is it?”
-Please approve the release of an Entropy Scanner! It’s urgent!
Na narrowed his eyes.
An entropy scanner was a device used to measure the age of archaeological relics or dungeon byproducts.
It was an expensive item, and the moment it left the bureau, a budget report came trailing behind it.
So naturally—
“No. Costs money.”
…Huh?
The Lost and Found Center chief stood there opening and closing his mouth.
Du-ho and Park Senior Researcher both looked at Na at the same time.
He’s pretty stingy.
So he was a miser after all.
And yet this was the same Na Yong-seok who had invested so generously in the Reboot Center.
Both of them remembered that and felt grateful in their own way.
Seriously….
Don’t be ridiculous.
“I’m not joking. File the paperwork and go through the proper review process.”
The chief hurriedly blurted out an explanation.
-Department Head, if you hear me out, you’ll understand! Someone left ten burlap sacks at the Lost and Found Center, and the contents are anything but ordinary!
Burlap sacks?
“Ten of them?”
-Yes! There are even keepsakes from first-generation hunters from the 2000s among them.
At the words first generation, Na’s expression changed.
“Who brought them?”
-Most likely a Ghost.
“A Ghost?”
The chief took a breath and went on.
-We checked every CCTV in the area. Either nothing was caught, or the cameras had been deliberately turned away.
“Deliberately?”
-Yes. It’s too precise to dismiss as coincidence.
Na folded his arms.
“So you’re saying it was a Ghost?”
-A hunter who enters and leaves the Abyss without leaving a trace, who saved Seoul and still refuses to reveal his identity… who else could it be but a Ghost?
The chief continued,
-These keepsakes are things that had gone missing so long ago they were nearly impossible to find.
“Hmm.”
-You know this too, Department Head. If the first-generation hunters hadn’t broken through to the third floor, Seoul wouldn’t even exist now.
At that, Na’s heart wavered too.
“So, you need the entropy scanner?”
-Yes! We need to measure whether they’re genuine and return them to the families of the deceased.
Na fell silent for a moment.
But then….
“How did you even know the bureau had an entropy scanner? That’s classified, isn’t it?”
-Well, Section Chief Go Gyeong-taek said— no, that’s not what I meant….
Na didn’t miss that tiny slip.
He just said Go Gyeong-taek, didn’t he?
The flustered chief made another mistake.
-There are keepsakes among them from Chairman Han Hyeon-cheol’s older brother too… no, anyway, please help us! Brother! Big brother! Brother Yong-seok!
If it was Han Hyeon-cheol, then this involved the Changcheon Clan.
Na let out a long sigh.
“Tell Go Gyeong-taek I’ll bring it over personally.”
-And the entropy scanner that was mentioned….
Na glared, and the chief clamped his mouth shut.
* * *
Basement of the Lost and Found Center, keepsake storage room.
Thunk.
The moment the door closed, the air seemed to sink.
Han Hyeon-cheol stood in front of the table.
A rusted K2 rifle.
Dozens of dog tags.
Faded combat boots and a bulletproof helmet.
The scent of demonic beasts clung to them.
Each keepsake bore the date calculated by the entropy scanner.
Mostly relics from the Abyss’s earliest days.
Traces from the era when awakened people were shoved in with no system, no standards, no structure.
Back then, if it was the third floor….
It had been hell beyond comparison with today.
Awakened hunters had been cut down in droves.
And the names of those who never returned had piled up floor by floor.
Han Hyeon-cheol’s gaze moved to the end of the table.
Several plastic cards lay there.
His eyes settled on one of them.
Awakened Registration Card
Name: Han Hyeon-jun
780401-1××××××
Registration Date: 2001. 05. ××
Emergency Contact:
Han Hyeon-cheol (01×-×××-×××)
For a long while, Han Hyeon-cheol could not reach out.
He could only stare at the card.
At last, he picked up the registration card.
When he turned it over, a faded ID photo was revealed.
A young man in military uniform.
He had thought the expression was blank, but now that he looked again, it was the face of someone swallowing fear.
“…Big brother.”
The great sinkhole that formed in Yeouido in 1999.
That was the Abyss.
Soon after, people began awakening between the ages of sixteen and twenty.
Those people were thrown into the Abyss simply because they had awakened.
When he thought of the chaos of that time, the terrified look on Han Hyeon-jun’s face in the photo was only natural.
And because of that, even more so….
He had hated the country that forced sacrifice from its people.
He had hated politicians who enjoyed only rights and took no responsibility.
He had hated the structure that reduced awakened hunters’ deaths to mere numbers.
That’s why I chose.
Instead of looking for his brother, he chose the path of changing the world.
Instead of turning back to the dead, he chose the path of gathering strength.
To stand at the center of it all!
He went down and down with ruthless determination.
Deeper.
And deeper still into the abyss.
Han Hyeon-cheol bit his lip.
The taste of metal spread through his mouth.
The hand clutching the registration card trembled violently.
He had had dozens, even hundreds of chances in his life.
So why hadn’t he tried to find his brother?
Drip.
A single tear fell onto the registration card.
He’d thought his tears had dried up long ago….
Taking a slow breath, he forced himself to stop.
Carefully, he placed the card into the keepsake box.
When he lifted his head, all kinds of keepsakes lay on the table.
He remembered what the chief had said.
To think Ghost brought over so many of these….
He remembered the other day.
The moments when the clan executives, eager to flaunt their merit in the 80th-floor clear, had bared their greed.
While they were doing that, Ghost had been….
Collecting these things.
Han Hyeon-cheol pressed a hand to his forehead.
Shame came late, and that made it heavier.
* * *
Meanwhile, out in the hallway.
Sharp energy leaked from Na Yong-seok’s back.
He was an A-rank hunter at the bureau.
Go Gyeong-taek stood with his back to the door, blocking his way.
“Move, Section Chief Go Gyeong-taek.”
“Department Head. You should call it a day for now.”
“Call it a day?”
Na cracked his neck.
“This… is really starting to piss me off.”
When he took one step forward, an oppressive killing intent began to seep out.
Flinch!
Go Gyeong-taek’s hand reflexively moved toward the hilt at his waist.
Seeing that, Na frowned.
Just showing a little killing intent and he’s already thinking about drawing a blade?
He withdrew the pressure and spoke again.
“Section Chief Go Gyeong-taek, do you remember that our bureau agreed to handle equipment management in exchange for passing the gear on cheaply?”
“……”
“Then how do you explain the fact that there’s not a single repair request? What does that mean?”
Na’s gaze pierced through him.
“It means they took our bureau for fools.”
“That’s not the case.”
Na sucked in a sharp breath and let loose.
“Hey, that thing where you got our center chief all worked up about the entropy scanner—how exactly do you explain that? Do you even know where the maintenance costs for an entropy scanner come from?”
“That’s….”
“It all runs on taxpayer money. Just because you’ve got a little power, don’t go around acting however you please!”
As Na growled, Go Gyeong-taek took his hand off the sword hilt and said,
“I’m sorry about the entropy scanner issue.”
“And that makes it okay with just an apology—! Hah, this is absurd.”
Silence fell for a moment.
Go Gyeong-taek spoke first.
“Department Head.”
“Soon, Changcheon plans to show our sincerity on this matter… in a different way.”
Na’s eyes narrowed.
“A different way?”
“You’ll know soon enough. I’ll make sure to deliver the results you want, personally.”
Na stared him down for a long while.
Then,
“Section Chief Go Gyeong-taek,”
he said,
“don’t play games anymore.”
With that warning, he turned and left.
Go Gyeong-taek watched Na Yong-seok’s retreating back for a moment.
To think he had to endure this kind of treatment from even a bureau department head.
Ridiculous.
His maternal grandfather, Han Hyeon-cheol, praised only the clan members who had been sacrificed.
Even though it was he who had secured the items and built the strategy.
No matter how hard he worked.
No matter how desperately he proved himself.
No recognition ever came back.
If I’d been his biological grandson… would it have been like this too?
Go Gyeong-taek muttered lowly as he watched Na Yong-seok walk away.
This world didn’t put the capable man on top.
It put the well-born man there instead.
“So what.”
The board was rotten, but he had no intention of overturning it.
If this was a board where bloodline was everything—
I’ll climb to the very top.
Whatever it took.
* * *
An hour later.
In front of the Lost and Found Center.
As Chairman Han Hyeon-cheol emerged at the entrance—
Reporters rushed him at once.
“Chairman! What brings you here?”
“A visit to the Lost and Found Center is highly unusual!”
The questions poured in over one another.
And no wonder.
There had been news of a large number of hunters’ keepsakes being discovered.
And not just anywhere, but on the first floor of the Abyss, where destruction had been temporarily delayed.
In other words, it had to be Ghost’s doing.
On top of that, the head of the Han family, who had no direct connection to the matter, had personally come here.
It would have been strange if this hadn’t become an issue.
Han Hyeon-cheol took the plastic card from the box he was carrying and held it up.
“The reason I came here myself is because this is my older brother’s keepsake.”
The reporters’ expressions shifted subtly.
It was hard to believe that the mighty Chairman Han Hyeon-cheol had only now recovered a family keepsake.
Han Hyeon-cheol answered while looking into the cameras.
“I wish to express my gratitude to the Ghost who brought my brother’s keepsakes back.”
One reporter raised a hand.
“Do you plan to keep searching for Ghost from now on?”
“I do.”
Then,
one reporter asked provocatively,
“Can you say with confidence that the 80th-floor clear was achieved solely by Changcheon’s strength?”
For a split second, the other reporters stiffened.
And then….
Han Hyeon-cheol answered calmly.
“I believe the hidden contributor to the 80th-floor clear was… Ghost.”
At that moment—
the questions from the reporters came pouring down in a frenzy.