Today Is Your Funeral
Min Hyeokju.
The day of humiliation at that bastard's hands had not faded from my memory in the slightest.
It had only been a few days ago. The bitter pain I'd tried not to think about while keeping myself busy came flooding back the moment I saw his punchable face.
"What, you know this guy?"
"Yeah. Heh heh. That piece of shit is Haneul's ex."
"Ah~ That one? The guy who charged at you?"
"Yep. I heard he was going in and out of dungeons, but I never expected to run into him in a place like this. Small world, huh."
Min Hyeokju and his colleague yammering right in front of my face. I couldn't stand the contempt in the looks they threw my way. I wanted nothing more than to wipe their mana clean right then and there.
But the situation wasn't favorable. Using my ability on them while they were covered head to toe in mana-coating suits was about as possible as plucking stars from the sky. Even if I just walked up and swung a fist at the only exposed skin on their faces, they'd block or dodge it easily enough.
I had more than enough power to drag that bastard down to rock bottom — and yet right now, there was nothing I could do. I ground my teeth and hurled every curse I could think of at him in my head.
The chance will come. It always does. Just hold on a little longer.
I closed my eyes and tried to shut out their scornful stares. Then, for reasons I couldn't fathom, Min Hyeokju started walking toward me. I needed to get out of here before he started his shit.
"Someone named Lee Daeman from your company is currently engaged with a large number of monsters. Please join him as soon as possible. The other rescue teams should already have linked up. This way."
With mana-enhanced vision, they could confirm Lee Daeman's position easily enough. It wasn't even that far. So please, just go quietly. Go save your own company people. Don't pick a fight with me.
Min Hyeokju gave me a greasy smile.
"Hmph. If the seniors already went, we don't need to rush over right away. It's just an E-rank dungeon. Well, I guess you wouldn't know how strong we are, would you? Our dear ex-boyfriend over here. Heh heh heh."
I forced myself to ignore his blatant provocation. With his colleagues right next to him, even if I succeeded in wiping his mana, my ability would be exposed nationwide in no time. Even if I walked away alive, the fallout was inevitable. The government would make a huge fuss about me reducing the number of precious national assets known as Awoken, and they might even haul me off for human experimentation.
So right now, in this moment, I had to endure no matter what.
"I've delivered the message I was asked to pass on, so I'll be taking my leave. A civilian like me wouldn't be any help anyway. Good luck."
"Haha. No pride at all, huh? What happened to the guy who came charging at me like he wanted to kill me back then~"
I dismissed Min Hyeokju's words behind me as pure garbage. For now, I needed to grow stronger. I needed to raise subordinates who would play dead at a single word from me. With the abilities I had now, that wasn't impossible at all. And that would be the moment I took proper revenge on that bastard.
So for now... just get through today. It wasn't like I had to see his face every day.
I clenched my fists until they nearly broke and headed for the Gate. But his nasty provocations didn't end there.
"Aah~ Aah~ Once we wrap this up quick, I've gotta go have a round with Haneul~. She keeps praising me, saying I'm incomparably better than her ex — I haven't been able to sleep lately. Oof, my back."
I heard every single word. But I pretended not to and walked straight out through the Gate. Blood began to trickle from my bitten lip.
"Haa... Fuck..."
Putting off revenge was cancelled. That piece of shit wasn't even worth grinding up and drinking. After hearing that, there was no way I could hold back anymore. No matter what it took — today. I would shove that bastard down to the bottom of hell before the day was out.
I swore it again and again: I would make today the worst fucking day of his entire life.
That said, I had no intention of going back into the Gate to find him. I'd wait for him to come out. Until then, I'd plan how to get close to him.
As I stepped out of the Gate with those thoughts, camera flashes exploded around me, completely indifferent to my mood. The reporters were still camped out in front of the Gate. The crowd of onlookers seemed to have thinned somewhat, but the scene looked even more chaotic.
The cars parked on both sides of the road had all been smashed — the Diamond Guild rescue team must have bulldozed through them on arrival. Even the cars that had still been intact when ours got wrecked were now completely destroyed. The victims, who'd kept quiet while the Awoken were around, were now raising hell with the transport company employees now that everyone had disappeared into the dungeon.
Ah, wait — not a transport company? It looked like a major corporation after all. Looking at the logo on the equipment trailer, that trailer belonged to Diamond Guild too. Must be nice.
Still, now that I was finally safe, things I hadn't noticed before started catching my eye. But fuck... those camera flashes are blinding. Stop taking pictures, you goddamn vultures.
I collapsed onto the ground. I was completely exhausted. I'd only been inside the Gate for about thirty minutes, but it felt like a month had passed.
As I sat there on the ground, someone came running over. A woman. She asked if I was okay, and I told her I wasn't hurt anywhere — I'd thought she was approaching to give me first aid, but that wasn't it. She was a regular employee of Diamond Guild, and she'd come to properly recover the suit and weapons I was wearing.
Goddamn Diamond bastards. Every last one of them was pissing me off.
Right after the Diamond employee arrived, someone else approached. It was the middle-aged civil servant I'd seen earlier. The one who'd asked to be called "Manager"? According to him, there was a shower inside the management building I was free to use. And my colleague was already using it.
Senior Kim Chan-il, who I'd been worried might be dead, had apparently escaped just fine on his own... leaving his junior behind, no less. Well, I understood — I probably would have done the same — but for some reason, I still felt a strange pang of disappointment.
"Hoo..."
If I could shower, I needed to go do it right away. My whole body was caked in sap from plant stems, with pollen stuck all over it on top of that — a complete mess. Every time I swallowed, a bitter taste filled my mouth, so I kept spitting. I just wanted to wash clean and drink a single glass of cold water.
I'd already returned the weapons and radar I'd been carrying to Diamond. And I was supposed to take off the suit at the shower room. But this Diamond employee woman had zero flexibility. She insisted on following me all the way to the shower room, and in the end we ended up walking together.
Did this person have no sense of shame? Sensing my irritated stare, she offered an explanation.
"I don't actually think you'd run off while still wearing the suit. You couldn't even if you wanted to. But it's company policy. I don't have a choice. If you do similar work to us, please understand."
I didn't answer — just sighed. Like she said, we were in similar lines of work. I'd just roughly understand.
We entered the management building and found the shower room. Whether it was for the civil servant guy's personal use or shared among other officials, I didn't know, but there was a small overnight room with shower facilities further inside. I could hear water running from within — Senior was washing up inside.
"Should I take it off as is? Or would you like me to rinse it with water first?"
The woman looked conflicted. She'd probably find the plant sap stuck all over it disgusting if she just took it as is. She'd been following me from several meters away this whole time because of the pollen spreading from my body.
"Uh... just take it off, please. Carrying something wet is also a hassle..."
"Huh? Mana-coating suits don't absorb water. You didn't know?"
"Ah... right. Then please do that. Shake the water off well. We'll rewash it on our end anyway, so just... get rid of the sap, please."
She sure had a lot of demands. I shouted toward the sound of running water.
"Senior! Is that you in there?"
"Huh? Huh? Junghyeok? Thank god you're alive. I thought you were dead."
"Yeah. I got lucky. I need to wash up too — is it spacious in there? Is it single occupancy?"
"Yeah, come in. There's room for three or four easily."
I opened the shower room door as I was. It wasn't as spacious as Senior claimed, but there was enough room for two men to wash. There were exactly three showerheads, though three people washing at once would be a bit tight. Senior had shampoo foam all over his head — he must have been washing his hair. He couldn't even recognize me. He'd probably just guessed it was me from my voice alone.
Huh?
Something flashed through my mind. Min Hyeokju would definitely be fighting monsters inside the dungeon too. Which meant his whole body would naturally end up caked in sap. There was a high chance he'd wash up in this same shower room before heading back, just like me.
I started formulating a plan in my head for how to mess with that bastard.
Just wait, Min Hyeokju. Today is your funeral day.
At the thought that I could finally take revenge on him, a vile smile spread across my face. I didn't know when he'd come back from the dungeon, but this wasn't some complicated plan requiring elaborate preparation. Just a high-probability operation. Growing impatient, I hurriedly started washing my body.
Then a woman's voice came from outside.
"Excuse me. How long do I have to wait?"
Ah, right — I still needed to return the suit. I'd been so absorbed in thoughts of revenge against Min Hyeokju that the woman's voice from outside the shower room snapped me back to reality. I briefly turned off the shower and picked up the mana-coating suit I'd thrown on the floor, shaking it out.
"Hey, what are you doing? You're splashing water. I'm already done washing."
"Ah, sorry. You heard her too, Senior. The woman's voice. She wants the suit back ASAP."
"So why'd you come in wearing it? You could've just left it at the trailer like I did."
"You did that, Senior? Ah, well, you didn't get attacked by monsters. I was completely covered in sap..."
"What does that have to do with anything? People return suits stained with monster blood as is all the time."
Thinking about it, he was right. This suit would need to be rewashed by the company either way. Why had I been so carefully shaking off the water for her? Was it because the woman waiting outside worked at the same company as Shin Haneul, and I was trying to make a good impression? We'd already broken up — what was I being so considerate for...
Seeing that bastard Min Hyeokju's face again must have brought out old habits without me realizing it. The thought made me want to throw up. Back then, I'd done every ridiculous thing imaginable to get on Shin Haneul's friends' good side.
Hock, spit. Disgusting.
I picked up the suit sprawled on the floor. Gloves and socks. Top and bottom. Even a head protector — there were so many pieces. C-rank suits were one-piece, whereas this one was all split by body part. Which meant the mana coating had to be applied separately to each part, so the cost must be way higher. I'd heard they even layered it two or three times, right up to the limit.
The thought that a mere set of clothes like this cost more than I'd earn in a lifetime filled me with self-loathing.
No. I had a mysterious ability now too. Given enough time, I could earn as much as I wanted. I shook my head and tried to think positively.
"Hey, what now? I said you're splashing water."
"Sorry. I'll go return the suit real quick."
I stepped out of the shower room as I was.
"Here. Take this. Don't forget the gloves and socks and then blame me — check the count."
But the woman's reaction was strange. She wasn't looking at the suit — she was looking somewhere else.
Ah. I wasn't wearing anything right now. So what? It's not like showing it means she gets to keep it. Still, she was staring pretty blatantly. At least she wasn't screaming, so no big deal.
I ignored the woman sitting there blankly staring at my lower half and went back into the shower room. Then I remembered something I'd forgotten and opened the door again.
"Ah, sorry, but..."
The woman was grabbing both her breasts with her own hands and kneading them. What the hell was this woman doing?
"......"
Our eyes met, and she said nothing. She just sheepishly pulled her hands away and hid them behind her back.
"Sorry, but once you take the suit, could you bring me my clothes and phone that I left at your company's trailer? Lee Daeman and I have completely different builds, so you'll recognize them right away. My phone is a Samsung. Please hurry. I can't stay naked in the shower room forever."
The woman still didn't answer. She just slowly nodded once.