Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Civil Servant Hunter’s S-class Resignation Log – Chapter 5
"Shall we head out now?"
Thanks to the blessing from the Administrator, her stats were neatly concealed. Yoon Se-ra made her way toward the gate, picking up the items scattered on the dungeon floor along the way.
Wow, as expected of a Grade 3 dungeon. Look at the quality of these magic stones. Werewolf hide? Gotta grab that. This is exciting.
Feeling like she was looting a treasure trove all by herself, Se-ra's face broke into a wide grin.
'But where are my shoes?'
The jacket wrapped around her feet was a bit uncomfortable, but she didn't want to walk barefoot through the blood-soaked cave. She headed to the gate just like that.
What a truly eventful day.
"Hmm. Since I have to hide that I've become S-rank, I can't exactly get revenge on Park Jin-yong. Ah, that's a shame."
But she couldn't reveal her identity just to punish that one guy.
I should mention it to the Section Chief.
Do Jun-young, gruff yet with a kind side, might just smack the back of that jerk's head for her.
And soon enough, Se-ra realized that thought was very, very wrong.
Exiting safely through the gate that opened after the boss monster died was fine and all...
But why on earth was the park, which had been perfectly fine before she entered the dungeon, now completely devastated?
"What the hell happened here...?"
And that wasn't all. In the middle of the destroyed park stood two men. Or rather, one wasn't just standinghe was hoisting up a burly, bloodied man by the throat.
"...Section Chief?"
Section Chief Do Jun-young was there, choking the battered Park Jin-yong.
'How...?'
Se-ra's face stiffened slightly.
Do Jun-young, the manager of the Management Office and the second strongest in the Association, was a seasoned A-rank hunter. He was a bit stronger than Park Jin-yong, sure, but they were the same rank...
Yet Park Jin-yong looked utterly demolished. No matter how she looked at it, it seemed like Do had overwhelmed him. How could there be such a gap between two A-rank hunters?
As if responding to her doubt, a message appeared.
Name: Do Jun-young (S-rank)
Trait: Combat-type Swordsman
Contracted Entity: Creator of the Holy Sword
Special Notes: Currently masquerading as an A-rank hunter
'Gasp.'
Se-ra swallowed hard for a moment.
Being able to check others' info like thisit was something only the most special Awakeners could do. And now she could too. No cheat character was this cheat.
But hey, her own cheat character? Pretty nice.
'So the Section Chief's been hiding his strength.'
Maybe because she'd checked his info, but she could now feel the power swirling around Do Jun-young, to the point where it was weird she hadn't noticed before.
So that's it. That's the power of an S-rank.
'Good thing I asked to hide my power. If I'm like this, he must have noticed my change too.'
Her decision had been spot on. Se-ra let out a sigh of relief and slowly approached him.
"Section Chief."
Do Jun-young, who had been glaring coldly at Park Jin-yong, flinched and whipped his head around.
"...Hunter Yoon Se-ra?"
The moment he shot her a look of disbelief, Se-ra made up her mind about what to do next.
"Section Chief... I, I just barely escaped the dungeon, ah..."
I'm a patient from now on.
Se-ra spoke with great difficulty, then clutched her head as if suddenly dizzy and collapsed limply to the ground.
It was an impeccable performance worthy of an S-rank Awakener.
She easily ignored the Administrator's are-you-insane stare.
"Hunter Yoon Se-ra!"
The poor, innocent Do Jun-young, unaware of her masterful acting, tossed aside the Park Jin-yong he'd been holding like trash and rushed over in a panic.
"Blood...!"
Blood? Se-ra, deep in her act, rolled her eyes in confusion. This was just playing sickthere was no way she was bleeding...
Oh.
"What the hell happened in there?"
Do Jun-young's gaze was fixed on the jacket wrapped around her feet instead of shoes.
It was soaked through with thick fluid. It looked so bad that anyone would think there was a serious gash somewhere.
'Oops.'
Se-ra panicked. She knew it was bloody, but she hadn't expected this reaction.
And why not? It was 99% blood from the wolf monsters she'd one-shot with her EX-rank weapon, mixed with 1% of her own.
Se-ra suddenly felt terrible for worrying Do Jun-young like this.
"It's not my blood. I got it on me while running away. I'm fine."
She was glad to get rid of the monster blood anyway, since it felt gross. She unwrapped it, revealing her pale feet with just a few minor scrapes on the soles.
"See? Nothing serious."
Se-ra gave a slight smile. But her trembling lips screamed that she'd been through hell.
Do Jun-young's face hardened even more as he immediately called someone. Soon, an ambulance arrived.
"Y-Yoon Se-ra!"
The door flew open as soon as it stopped, and Jung Tae-seok came rushing out.
She didn't look hurt, so why was he in the ambulance? Then she caught him glancing at Do Jun-young. He'd probably hidden in there out of fear after seeing the Section Chief go wild on Park Jin-yong.
"You okay? Safe? Uhehehehk! You have no idea how worried I was that something happened to you!"
Jung Tae-seok collapsed to his knees, sobbing with tears and snot streaming down his face. It wasn't a pretty sight, but his feelings were understandable, so Se-ra responded with a weary smile.
"Yeah, I'm okay..."
Even she thought she didn't look okay at all.
"We'll transport her to the hospital immediately. There's still the gate issue, so Team Leader Jung Tae-seok, please accompany Hunter Yoon Se-ra in my place..."
That was when Do Jun-young spoke. The gate, still glowing blue in one corner of the park, began to shrink and then vanished completely.
The gate had closed.
"...Se-ra, did you take down the werewolf...?"
Tae-seok turned to her with a shocked face. She'd anticipated this from the moment she exited, so Se-ra calmly shook her head without a hint of panic.
"How could I? I nearly died to regular wolves..."
Se-ra made her arms tremble as if still terrified. It looked so convincingly traumatized that neither Tae-seok nor Jun-young pressed further.
"Can you stand? Oh, and no shoes. Maybe the ambulance has spares..."
Thankfully, Do Jun-young changed the subject. She was about to say she'd walk since it was just a short way.
But she missed her timing thanks to the message popping up.
"..."
What? A gift? Not just any shoes, but soft fur slippers...?
She hurriedly opened her inventory, and there it wasa pair of fluffy slippers neatly placed next to her EX-rank weapon, Heat. With a dazed face, she took them out and held them.
Just as the name said, they were incredibly soft. And in flower-pink bunny shapes, no less.
Don't make that excited face...! Don't look at me with such expectant eyes...!
Se-ra gripped the slippers like she wanted to explode them.
As Do Jun-young and Jung Tae-seok's faces turned subtly weird at the sudden appearance of the flower-pink bunny fur slippers, Se-ra really wanted to chuck them away. But...
Her petty Administrator, who blessed her, was watching...
In the end, Se-ra slipped them on with a glum expression.
'Fine. They are really soft...'
No lie, thanks, Administrator. They'd be perfect for home...
"...Shall we move?"
"...Yeah."
Se-ra looked at them with a face begging them not to ask anything. Fortunately, Tae-seok and Jun-young silently got into the ambulance with her.
"Oh, uh, what about that guy?"
Tae-seok pointed at Park Jin-yong, still sprawled on the ground. Do Jun-young's face twisted unpleasantly.
"We punish him, obviously. Contact the Association and put a watcher on him. Jail would be ideal, but..."
Do Jun-young sighed reluctantly. Se-ra could guess why.
She'd been thrown into the dungeon but survived without major injuries, so it was hard to impose harsh punishment. Plus, he'd already given the guy a beating.
Understanding his frustration, Se-ra smiled and said it was fine. That only made his face harden more.
"We'll discuss the punishment with the Association President. Team Leader, please draft a protest letter to Cheongrang Guild. I'll send it myself."
"Yes, sir."
Do Jun-young's face was so menacing that Jung Tae-seok shut his mouth.
Soon, the ambulance blared away from the park.
Finally, it was all over. Se-ra leaned back with a sigh. But instead of relief, she felt utterly depressed.
'Having to go to the hospital in these attention-stealing bunny slippers.'
Is it okay if only you're satisfied?
Administrator, let's talk later.
* * *
"This is why I like the Section Chief... He's so respectable."
Lying in the hospital bed, buried deep under the covers, Se-ra let out a blissful moan.
She was in a two-person room, but with only her as the patient, it might as well have been private. And the Association was covering all the bills.
"Plus, two days off work. Awesome."
No real injuries, but with the mental trauma, they approved one day hospitalized and one resting at home before returning.
Se-ra didn't refuse the consideration. Of course not. How huge was the mental shock?
Jumping from F-rank to S-rank out of nowhere.
"...Suddenly feeling down."
She gazed sadly at the slippers by the bed. She'd had to wear those things all the way to admission, and it had been pure agony for her mind and soul.
The kids had ogled them; she'd wanted to just hand them over. But the Administrator threw a fit, so she couldn't.
'Thanks to the Silver Veil blessing, no one noticed my rank change, and my excuse was solid, so no suspicions.'
Only after settling into the room did Se-ra briefly explain the dungeon events to Do Jun-young and Jung Tae-seok.
"There were two werewolves. But they were fighting each other over territory, tearing into one another. The wolf monsters too, so I slipped through the chaos and hid."
"The werewolves killed each other off. Most wolves were down too, so I made it out through the gate just in time."
It was a common dungeon scenario, so Se-ra lied smoothly.
Otherwise, the only way a bottom-tier hunter survives a Grade 3 dungeon is contracting an entity. And both knew Yoon Se-ra was too weak for that.
The issue would be if they insisted on a check...
"Administrator, there's a way to test for entity contracts, right? Would that reveal my contract with you?"
A contract with the unknown System Administrator.
If that got out, she'd be the center of global attention, dragged around as a communication terminal for the Administrator.
Being treated like an object? Hard pass.
Name: Yoon Se-ra (S-rank)
Trait: Unique Ability-type Sniper
Contracted Entity: None
Special Notes: Sole contractor of the planetEarth's Administrator
At the reassuring message, Se-ra's eyes widened.
She was clearly the Administrator's contractor, yet no contracted entity?
'So the System Administrator is a god, unrelated to entities?'
There'd been theories that the System was run by gods. If not, what was he?
'And that special note is too weird. PlanetEarth's Administrator? Other planets too?'
She'd never encountered this even as a civil servant. Though as a low-level one, her access was limited.
But one thing was clear: if this got out, she'd be at the eye of the storm.