Chapter 55
Chapter 55
Civil Servant Hunter’s S-class Resignation Log – Chapter 55
The first Grade 2 Gate outbreak in Korean history, the one that ushered in the coldest winter the nation had ever known.
Countless hunters had fought desperately to take down the boss before a dungeon break could occur, but in the end, they failed to conquer it.
Innumerable lives were lost in Cheorwon, and innumerable people were left to swallow their grief.
And among them was Se-ra, who was barely ten years old at the time.
Se-ra's mother, Hyeon Jae-hee, had died because of that dungeon.
Everyone insisted it hadn't been a meaningless death. She had slain a monster that burst out from there and, by sheer luck, obtained a lock, preventing an even greater catastrophe.
Even though she herself had fallen to the boss monster afterward, her single sacrifice had saved everyone else.
But had she really saved them all? Was she truly a hero to everyone?
To her young daughter, who was left with nothing but longing in the end, she could never be called a hero for the rest of her life.
'Of course, I'm not resentful about it anymore.'
Twelve years had passed since then, and the grown-up Se-ra was no longer the little girl who cried for her mother every night.
Yes, that was true, so why did her chest feel so heavy?
"...Hey."
Se-ra clenched her fists tight. Her chest felt so heavy that even her fingertips had gone cold.
"...Ra-ya."
The stiff sensation, like her hands had been dipped in ice water, felt strange, so she clasped them together and rubbed her fingers. But she still couldn't feel any warmth.
Just like the final moments of that hero from long ago, who had supposedly saved everyone before dying.
"Se-ra!"
Se-ra bit her lip hard. Calm down. Don't make a fool of yourselfget it together.
"Ah."
At the sight of the sparkling emoticon floating before her eyes, her rationality snapped back into place. She hadn't even noticed Ja-rim approaching while she was lost in thought.
"You okay?"
Se-ra wiped her face. Even pretending otherwise, it seemed she hadn't forgotten the past after all.
"I can still do the job."
She had to. This wasn't just any issueit was the theft of a key.
If they weren't careful, something horrific could happen, so Se-ra slapped her own cheeks to snap herself out of it.
After the interrogation wrapped up, the two headed back to the Seongtap Guild headquarters to search for any chance the guild master had hidden the key somewhere inside. If it wasn't here, they'd have to brace for the worst.
"Where's Guild Master Cha-sa?"
She asked one of the Accident Investigation Unit officers combing the interior with Jeong Ho-young, and he pointed toward the back.
"Searching the guild master's office. Looking for a hidden safe."
"Thanks."
They entered the guild master's office, where the door stood wide open, and saw Jeong Ho-young tearing into the wall behind the desk. Crack, crunch, smash. Chunks of hardened cement and what looked like rebar came spilling halfway shattered onto the floor.
Had walls always been that easy to demolish?
"You must be incredibly strong."
"The lady next to you could do this with ease, too."
Jeong Ho-young tossed a hefty chunk of cement aside like it was nothing, speaking in a bored tone.
"Perfect timing. There's a safe here."
Embedded in the broken wall was a small box-like safe.
"The basement warehouse was a bust. If it's not here either, the key's not in this place."
"Please open the safe."
The guild master, who would have known the code, was dead. But surely opening a safe didn't rely solely on a password?
Se-ra glanced at Ja-rim, who flashed a reassuring smile that said not to worry. Then she grabbed the safe door and yanked it right off.
Crunch! Crack-crack!
"..."
Though she'd asked for it herself, watching that sturdy safe door come off so easily left Se-ra deeply unsettled.
I'll have to treat Ja-rim better from now on. Or I might end up like that safe.
"Se-ra, I've got no good news for you."
Jeong Ho-young, rummaging through the safe, made a regretful face. Just some gold bars, jewels, and a few documentsnothing like the all-important key anywhere.
Which meant...
"Looks like the guild master was carrying it in his inventory after all."
An Awakener's inventory was the ultimate secret vault in this modern age. Once something was stored inside, there was no way to steal it.
Unless, of course, the owner died.
When an Awakener died, everything in their inventory came spilling out.
"He definitely found the key. Look hereevidence he was planning to sell it at auction."
Se-ra took the documents Jeong Ho-young handed her and examined them.
Auctions were different from the system-run item shops. They were shadowy venues for discreetly trading items too risky to sell in traceable stores.
These papers detailed plans to buy and sell the key at such an auction.
"Money was the goal, as expected. The WDO and Association offer rewards for finding locks or keys, but auctions have buyers willing to pay even more."
Se-ra tapped the documents and sighed. Trading lives for cash. How could anyone be so foolish?
"The Seongtap Guild massacre perpetrator might be someone they contacted through the auction. They already knew about it, so they skipped searching the safe or warehouse and went straight for killing people."
"What about the hunting side?"
"Checking alibis."
Nothing definitive yet, but Se-ra believed he was innocent. Baek Geon-tae's face when he cried out about the stolen key had been genuine.
'Plus, just from the traces left here...'
The widespread, sticky bloodstains and the mutilated bodies moved to the morgue all bore the mark of raw emotion.
It was volcanic rage.
Just someone from the auction? Why had they committed such brutality, as if driven by personal grudge? She couldn't figure it out.
"We need to prepare for the worst."
First, contact the World Dungeon Management Organization and request heightened security around the dungeon locked by that padlock.
As far as Se-ra knew, there were only five locked dungeons worldwide. Excluding those in Korea, they were all Grade 1simpossible to conquer without the lock's power. If word got out, the whole world would go into emergency mode.
Se-ra let out a deep sigh and slipped out of the guild master's office alone. There was something she needed to check.
"The saved contact is 'Absolute Damage,' but somehow I'm always the one calling you."
Even after something like this, the regressor Kang Se-jun still hadn't said a word. Se-ra dialed his number.
Sorry, but I didn't withhold it on purpose. I didn't know either.
His response made Se-ra doubt her ears.
"What, again? Hey, come on. How many lives have you really lived? First with Seong Ja-rim showing up, and now thiswhy do you know so little?"
Being a regressor doesn't mean I know everything. Reality is that even the tiniest detail can change outcomes.
"Ugh, so this incident never happened even once? What about the conflict between Hunting and Seongtap?"
Hm... I don't remember minor stuff, so no idea.
Unbelievable. What a useless regressor.
You're not thinking I'm useless right now, are you?
"Don't get perceptive only at times like this. What about the Seongtap massacre? You must remember something that big."
...Sigh. That one, yeah, I remember clearly. It never happened.
Se-ra furrowed her brow at Kang Se-jun's firm declaration. This might be even more headache-inducing than she'd thought.
Locked dungeons have opened before. But not in Korea, and the key wasn't stolen. The U.S. opened one with a key they found by chance.
"Cheorwon was never opened even once?"
Yeah, that's definite.
"Could you come to Seongtap Guild HQ and investigate traces of the key thief? You can use magic of all attributes, right?"
Send the address. I'll head there now.
After sending the Seongtap HQ address, she called Do Jun-young to report the situation. If Kang Se-jun could find traces, greatbut if not, they were in serious trouble.
Se-ra absently massaged her heavy shoulders. That dark sense of foreboding still clung to her back, refusing to let go.
* * *
That day, the whole world was soaked in damp gray.
Se-ra sat alone in the spacious living room with its floor-to-ceiling windows, staring blankly up at the sky. The relentless drizzle felt like it was weeping, putting her in a foul mood.
I'm the one who wants to cry, so why's the sky doing it? The cruel sky that took my mom.
Today was her parents' funeral.
Her mom had reportedly died fighting some monster. Her dad had fled at her mom's final request but succumbed to his wounds in the end.
That was all pieced together from the chirping of nosy people. Aunt Han-na and her brother wouldn't tell her such things.
Se-ra couldn't tell if it was a blessing to hear it or better not to know.
Click-clack. Someone unlocked and opened the door, but Se-ra didn't turn her head, staying still by the chilly window.
Only then was she enveloped in the large, generous, warmand achingly lonelyembrace of the person who had lost her most beloved friend.
"Se-ra."
Her shoulders grew damp.
"Se-ra, my niece."
Se-ra hadn't attended her parents' grand funeral in Seoul. Aunt Han-na had insisted she stay away so the orphaned siblings, whose parents had sacrificed for everyone, wouldn't face people's whispers.
Though her brother Jae-hun had defied her and gone, Se-ra had stayed home obediently.
"Don't stand out."
She hated the watchful eyes monitoring her every move, just like they'd hounded her parents.
"I'll protect you. I'll make sure you can live quietly, away from everyone's gaze."
That was what the chirping sparrows had said.
Both parents were Awakeners, and the mother was S-rank to bootsurely the kids would turn out the same. Those kids will sacrifice for everyone too, just like their parents.
People tried to shackle her with their assumptions.
Se-ra hated that.
"Se-ra, I promised I'd keep you from being crushed by that weight."
She didn't want to be strong. She didn't want a life of protecting others.
She just wanted an ordinary life, free from fretting over safeguarding anyone else.
Like her family had before the world fell apart.
"Mom and Dad are idiots."
But all the young girl could say was that much.
Like the gray sky, Se-ra's sleeves soon grew soaked too.