Chapter 81
Chapter 81
Civil Servant Hunter’s S-class Resignation Log – Chapter 81
Do Jun-young looked shocked at Seong Ja-rim's words and asked,
"Is that possible?"
"I can't say for sure. But the possibility isn't zero, right?"
"I'd like to hear why you think that. I'll report today's events to the Association President, so please give me a proper explanation later. Get some rest for now."
"Uh, okay."
Seong Ja-rim blinked at the clean resolution. She had clearly expected a barrage of questions.
"Ms. Yoon Se-ra, thank you for coming all the way here late at night. Are you heading back now?"
"Ah, I..."
Se-ra glanced at Ja-rim, who was still spacing out. She didn't want to leave her alone on a night like this.
"I'm planning to stay here tonight."
"Then we'll take our leave."
"Yes. Thanks for your hard work."
"You did all the hard work."
Yoon Jae-hun patted Se-ra's shoulder. Pride filled his face as he looked at his suddenly grown-up little sister.
They left after saying they were heading back to the hospital.
Se-ra sat the still-dazed Ja-rim on the sofa and cleaned up. A gate had formed, but since the apartment was mostly empty except for essential furniture, nothing had been damaged.
"Want to go shopping this weekend? You'll need a coffee pot and air fryer. Air fryers are all the rage these days. Oh? You can't live without one."
A faint smile finally returned to Ja-rim's face at Se-ra's deadpan seriousness.
"I know. I saw it on YouTube. That's why frozen foods are selling like crazy, huh?"
"No joke. I'll show you the new world of single living."
Se-ra gave a thumbs-up, dusted off her hands, and plopped down next to Ja-rim.
Word must have spread that the situation was over, as footsteps and voices started filtering in from outside.
The sound of people living was far better than the eerie silence. It even had that human touch.
"Must've been a shock, getting swept into a dungeon in the middle of the night."
And of all things, it had to be Baskar.
"A place that hadn't opened in a hundred years, opening twice in three months. Did anything unusual happen when it opened this time?"
"I was asleep when it happened, so I didn't see anything. By the time I woke up, the gate was already forming. But I did see something when I returned."
This was new information.
"The passage to Earth opening was due to a system error."
"A system error?"
"Yeah. An error occurred, dimensions twisted, and a door connecting the two planets opened."
"Was it an error on Baskar's side?"
With the planet destroyed and the administrator's previous contractor dead, Se-ra wondered if it was related.
But Ja-rim shook her head firmly.
"No. It was Earth's error."
"Our side? Nothing happened here back then."
"I only got a notification that an error occurred, so I don't know the details. If you want to know, ask the administrator here. That'd be fastest."
Se-ra's head snapped up toward the direction where she felt the administrator's gaze. But as usual when they talked about this, there was no response this time either.
What was the reason for the silence? Was it because he didn't want to tell her, or because she wasn't asking properly?
"You're sure the administrator knows the exact reason?"
"Yeah. The System Administrator manages everything about the system, after all. They can't fix errors, but they know why they happen."
"Can't fix them? But they're the administrator."
"Administrators aren't omnipotent. Doesn't the name give it away?"
"The name...?"
Seong Ja-rim looked straight at Se-ra. Unlike usual, her golden eyes gleamed coldly, devoid of any playfulness.
"An administrator literally just manages an already created system. They can make minor tweaks, but that's the limit. They're not the designers who created the system."
"Designers...?"
It was the first Se-ra had heard of this. She hadn't even known about the administrator for half a year yet, so there was no way she knew anything.
System Administrator and System Designer.
This was surely knowledge only Seong Ja-rim, who had lived over a hundred years in another dimension, possessed. Gates had only appeared on Earth for a mere twelve years.
"What's that?"
"Interstellar Gatesomething that designed the gates that cross planets and the system we use. That's all I know. Even the administrators probably don't know their true nature."
"I had no idea... something like that existed."
"Doesn't matter if you don't know. You can't meet them anyway. From what Elona and Eg heard, they're practically the universe itself."
The scale was getting bigger and bigger. Se-ra pressed her temples as if her head hurt.
"Some absolute being created a system that pierces the universe, and administrators were selected for each planet to make it easy to use."
"That's why there are so many restrictions. I wondered why an administrator couldn't do much with the system."
Couldn't prevent dungeon breaks, couldn't interfere with gates, couldn't even talk to her at first.
Now she understood the reason.
"Even administrators can't escape the designers' hands."
Se-ra felt a bit sorry for nagging the administrator about only sending emojis. She hadn't known the backstory.
"Then why did the error happen on Earth...?"
Se-ra recalled what happened right before Ja-rim appeared.
The day before... the day the damn Holy Tower and Holy Hunt clashed, leading her to impose fines. The rift dungeon had burst, and with the administrator's help, she'd wiped out all the ghosts.
"Ah."
That day. The first day the administrator had sent a normal message instead of an emoji.
Not exactly sure, but synchronization probably started around then. That might have been the issue.
"Looks like you have a guess."
"Do you know about synchronization?"
"An event between an administrator and their contractor. Elona went through it too. I see. You're in the middle of it."
Ja-rim nodded knowingly a few times. She explained slowly.
"The higher the synchronization, the closer the bond between administrator and contractor, and the more the administrator can provide. Think of it like regular growth. Of course, there are differences."
"What happens at 100% synchronization?"
"No idea. Elona only reached 30%. And she said synchronization events vary completely by the administrator's dispositionprogress and process. So comparing to Elona is useless."
It was something all contractors experienced. Knowing that put Se-ra's mind at ease.
Of course, the administrator wouldn't let anything bad happen to her, but psychologically, knowing versus not knowing made a big difference.
"Could that synchronization be linked to the system error you mentioned?"
"If a problem arose during the synchronization process."
"Not sure. Nothing struck me as problematic then."
"When did you first learn about synchronization?"
"Uh, when I leveled up in the Cheorwon Dungeon... Come to think of it, it was already at about 15% then."
"Then a problem could have occurred without you knowing. That's the only possibility."
Se-ra couldn't guess what.
Just as she hadn't noticed during the 15% synchronization progress, something likely passed by without her knowledge.
The administrator didn't seem inclined to answer, so she couldn't ask.
"You're asking a lot of questions this time. Before, you said your safety and peace were most important, so you weren't that curious about the administrator's identity."
The first day her identity as a contractor was revealed, she'd said that. Remembering brought a smirk to Se-ra's face.
"That was months ago. I've changed my mind."
"Not like you to throw away your safety and peace. So, you want to know about the administrator now?"
"Yeah. A ton."
Se-ra answered without hesitation.
"Getting closer through synchronization made me curious about who he is. I want to know more, talk more, and meet him."
The administrator was silent now too, but he surely felt her sincerity.
With Cheorwon's revenge complete, now she'd live for herself.
Meeting the administrator was her first wish.
"The administrator seems to adore you. He'd love hearing that."
"No reaction right now, though. Probably shy."
Ja-rim's gaze on the playful Se-ra was affectionate, laced with relief.
"Good thing. You're loved by your administrator. I was worried this one's might be scary too..."
The playfulness vanished from Se-ra's face.
"This one too? What do you mean? Don't tell me..."
"Baskar... Actually, I wasn't the only one who fell there."
Ja-rim, sunk deep into the sofa, began her story slowly.
It was the first time. Hearing properly about life there.
"I used to solo. My personality made joining a group unappealing. Guilds occasionally requested collaborations for dungeons, though. As an A-rank, work never dried up."
It wasn't surprisingmany hunters preferred soloing.
"But only about half the raid escaped the gate. Half of those died, and the rest were trapped alive."
After that, it was hell, she said.
The ore zone without plants was brutal for Earth humans, who couldn't digest ore like the local lifeforms.
Three out of five starved to death.
"I barely got a skill by killing enemies: 'Slaughterer's Spear,' which steals health. That kept me alive."
But the one who survived with her wasn't so lucky and eventually died.
They'd endured a full twenty years by then.
"I just wanted to live, but I was severely ostracized there. Especially their administratorhe hated me intensely. Sent countless ore monsters to kill me."
"Why?"
"No idea. Elona blocked them multiple times, saving me."
"Sounds like a good person."
"Yeah. Too good. So good that... when a dungeon break hit the labyrinth dungeon there, she threw herself to stop it."
The existence of a labyrinth there was shocking, but Elona's choice even more so.
As Se-ra sat speechless, Ja-rim gripped her hand.
"Se-ra, if something like that happens here, don't do it. It doesn't end well. Even a contractor can't fully stop a labyrinth."
At her plea for a promise, Se-ra nodded.
Her safety and peace were still top priority. She wanted to enjoy peace herself, not build it on her own sacrifice.
"I fought the monsters pouring from the labyrinth to protect Elona. But Baskar's administrator used the chance to try killing me."
"What? Why? She was protecting your planet."
"No idea. He was furious, like I had a grudge against him, but I did nothing. Just a dimensional traveler trapped after entering a gate."
Over decades, constantly skirting death due to the administrator, Seong Ja-rim's mind had begun to wear down.
In the final moment, she couldn't hold on and lost her sanity.
When she regained consciousness, the monsters from the labyrinth had massacred most of Baskar's people.
Aside from the 'Baskar's Returnee' title gained upon returning to Earth, the other two unlocked then.