Pink....
Pink....
"It's the body fluid of the Spell Worm, the boss of the Screaming Cave Dungeon. It was an unexpected attack, so I couldn't dodge it."
Lee Chaerim answered, pretending to be nonchalant at my question.
Black slime was smeared on her uniform pants and coat hem.
It hadn't been long since she finished the dungeon raid; the slime was still wet and dripping.
At the same time, a disgusting, rotting stench that pierced the nose and an unpleasant, soul-scraping aura of sorcery wafted over.
She came all the way here in this state?
That Lee Chaerim?
She was someone who hated having even a speck of dirt on her body, let alone her clothes.
-A neat appearance reflects a person's attitude.
She was the one who emphasized to every single guild member how important it was to wear the uniform.
Because of that, all Hunters in the Hunters Guild below A-grade wore the exact same uniform.
The white uniform she was wearing right now.
"Isn't the Screaming Cave an A-grade dungeon that appeared recently?"
"That's right."
"And you couldn't dodge an attack from an A-grade dungeon boss?"
"......It was such a sudden ambush."
If it were anyone else, I'd think it was possible.
But coming from Lee Chaerim, it lacked credibility.
I'd spent years raiding dungeons with her.
Her reflexes were the best among all the Hunters I knew.
There was even a saying that while it might be possible for others, it was impossible to catch Lee Chaerim by surprise.
As I looked at her with suspicious eyes,
"Don't look at me like that. It was real."
Behind her, as she spoke confidently, Seo Yerin popped her head out and waved.
"Oppa, long time no see~! The shop is nice and clean. I couldn't come when you opened because I was in the middle of a dungeon raid, but you made it look great."
Like Lee Chaerim, she was a Hunter belonging to Hunters Inc.
A shaman from a famous temple, she stood next to Lee Chaerim in an outfit so bold you wouldn't believe she was a temple shaman.
Her signature languid gaze was still there.
With her flowing, dazzling blonde hair, she looked more like a successful celebrity than a Hunter, with a flashy and sophisticated style.
But the most alien and eye-catching thing about her flashy appearance was something else.
It was her pink eyes that emitted a mysterious light.
They weren't artificial like colored contacts.
They were proof of powerful spiritual power, manifested as the price for accepting the divine power of the spirits from the temple she served.
She looked at me with those dreamy yet sharp pink eyes and smiled.
I had asked her once before, given how she didn't look like a temple shaman at all.
Whether it was okay for a shaman to walk around in such an outfit.
I think she said something like, "I've lived tied down enough, so why do I need to keep it up outside the temple?"
That free-spirited outfit was still the same.
"Long time no see. Are you praying well?"
"Of course."
She approached me with quick, short steps and whispered in a low voice.
"When I saw it, she had plenty of time to dodge. She let it hit her on purpose. She had time to put up a barrier, and plenty of time to dodge! This is definitely to boost your shop's sales......."
"......Seo Yerin. Be quiet."
Lee Chaerim glared at Seo Yerin with cold eyes, but the tips of her ears were slightly red.
"Don't say useless things."
"Yup."
For sales, huh.
I think she said that when I quit being a Hunter's porter, too.
-I'll visit often when you open a shop.
She didn't really have to keep that promise, though.
"Ahem, that's not it. It wasn't on purpose at all......."
"I know. It was just an... acci... dent."
"Y-yeah. That's right."
Lee Chaerim cleared her throat and changed the subject.
"Anyway, is cleaning possible? I came as quickly as possible, but......."
At those words, I looked at Lee Chaerim's clothes.
"First, could you take it off?"
"Understood."
She took off her uniform coat and handed it to me.
Since her shirt underneath was also soaked with contaminants, black filth dripped onto her white uniform.
[Using Cleaner's Detection.]
[Contaminant: Spell Worm body fluid and curse residue]
[Feature: Parasitic substance of the heat-type. It uses mana as nutrients and tries to burrow into the fibers.]
Looking closely at the contaminants on the white uniform.
The black contaminants were still wriggling, trying to burrow deep into the fibers.
[It manipulates the burrowed fibers to encroach upon the victim's body; targets contaminated for a long time can be parasitized by it and collapse.]
[Handle with caution.]
"A parasitic substance?"
"Is there a problem?"
"...You need to take it off quickly."
"Take it off?"
"That outfit. First, take it off immediately."
"G-give me an explanation at least......."
Lee Chaerim was flustered.
"The slime from the Spell Worm on your clothes right now is a parasitic creature that burrows into fibers to control the opponent. I suspect the zombies in that dungeon are also victims who were parasitized by it."
"......."
She checked her body, looking surprised.
"Parasitic....... But I can't take it all off right here......."
"Is there a problem?"
"I came as fast as I could to avoid further contamination, so I don't have a change of clothes......."
She said in a flustered voice, her face turning red.
Then, Seo Yerin next to her was startled and looked at her.
"Huh? Eonni, you definitely had a change of clothes in case of an emergency......Eek!"
Lee Chaerim stepped hard on her foot.
The temple shaman couldn't dodge the movements of Lee Chaerim, who used fast sword techniques.
"Be quiet."
At that one word, Seo Yerin shut her mouth.
"Yup......."
Seo Yerin covered her mouth with both hands.
I sighed at the sight.
"You can wear my clothes. I have spare clothes in the shop, so please wear them for a moment."
"C-can I?"
"Isn't that something that happens often in dungeons?"
"Ahem! W-well, that's true."
"What? Chaerim eonni, did that happen before too?"
Leaving Seo Yerin, who had her eyes wide open, behind, I rummaged through the cabinet and took out a loose, plain t-shirt and gray sweatpants I usually wore and handed them to her.
"The size will be very big, but the laundry will be done quickly, so please bear with it for a little while."
"T-thanks. I'll wear it well."
"You can leave the clothes you took off outside the changing room. I'll do the laundry right away."
"O-okay. Sure."
Lee Chaerim took the clothes I handed her carefully, and unlike the usual cool-headed guild leader, she headed to the changing room with quick, short steps.
Click-.
The changing room door closed, and soon the sound of water, swish-, began to be heard.
"Eonni is something else. I think it would be better to be honest in times like this."
Seo Yerin muttered with a meaningful smile.
I turned my gaze to Seo Yerin.
"Don't you have anything to drop off?"
"I don't have anything~. I just came to play following eonni today. You opened a shop, but I haven't been able to come even once because I was busy. I came to see your face and talk about old times. But......."
Seo Yerin's eyes landed on Elena, who was next to me.
"There's another mysterious person here?"
For a moment, the air in the laundry shop hall became strangely heavy.
Seo Yerin, the shaman of the temple.
Elena, who was excommunicated but was once a saintess of the Church.
The unique spiritual waves of the two people who serve, or served, God were sharply probing each other.
"......The energy is quite clear. It seems you also serve the ones above?"
Seo Yerin asked, her signature languid eyes shining. It was an intuition worthy of a shaman who serves spirits.
"I used to."
"Is that so? Looking at the saintess outfit, it seems you belong to the Church of Light, so by any chance, are you the one who was excommunicated a few months ago......?"
"That's right."
"Then you do know the way, so......."
She asked with a smile.
"Would you like to serve a guardian spirit for once?"
"Excuse me?"
"No, well. You were kicked out by the people who believed in the same god, right? Even so, if you still have divine power, it means you have spiritual energy. So I was wondering if you'd like to serve a spirit like me."
"I have no intention of serving such strange, heretical powers."
At Elena's firm refusal, Seo Yerin smacked her lips.
"Is that so? I smelled a kindred spirit."
"......."
"Ten million won is enough."
"Excuse me?"
"If you deposit just ten million won, I'll introduce you to a spirit that suits you, Saintess-nim. I'll introduce you to one among those who treat the Goddess you believe in politely."
At those words, Elena's eyes sharpened.
"That is blasphemy."
"I think you were the one who insulted me first? Calling it heresy and what not."
Crack.
The divine power of the Church of Light and the spiritual power of the spirits sparked in the air.
Both of them had quite the temper, so neither showed any sign of backing down.
These people are going to ruin someone else's laundry shop.
"Alright, alright, that's enough."
I stepped in between the two.
"Seo Yerin, if you use even a little more power here, I'll kick you out immediately, so stop it. And Elena, if you're going to act like that to a customer, I won't pay your salary?"
As I said that firmly, furrowing my brow, the tense energy between the two subsided like a deflating balloon.
"That's really petty. I was just joking."
"Sa-salary is a no-go. This month is a bit tight."
"Didn't you get a lot as an incentive this month? Why......."
"It's a secret."
Elena shut her mouth.
At that sight, Seo Yerin tilted her head.
"I heard a rumor that you touched the offering money when you were excommunicated, is that not true?"
"That's not it. I just left on my own feet."
"Aha, is that so?"
"Thanks to that, I realized the importance of money. And that if you sprinkle divine power and grace for free, people take it for granted. I also realized that a saintess needs to receive a little compensation to make a living."
"I agree with you on that part. It feels uncomfortable to cast blessings for free, right?"
Seo Yerin approached Elena, her eyes shining.
It was an attitude that made me wonder if they were the same people who were trying to kill each other just a moment ago.
"That's right. In the past, while raiding in a dungeon together, I just cast a buff, and they took it for granted and treated me like a tool......."
"Exactly. I had a similar experience. They didn't even treat the buffer like a person. Whenever I entered a party, if they didn't greet me, I would immediately abandon that party. Honestly, aren't buffers or healers the aristocrats in a party?"
"Because borrowing the Goddess's power is a tremendous thing."
The two people who suddenly hit it off.
The two people who had suffered the same hardships stuck together and began to share the things they had been through.
Is the treatment of buffers like that?
Most of the parties I experienced were mostly organized by large guilds like Hunters Inc.
What kind of hell is a wild party, anyway?
Thinking that, I looked at Lee Chaerim's uniform coat.
Meanwhile, the Cleaner's detection ability analyzed additional information about the contaminants and listed it.
[Contaminant: Spell Worm body fluid and curse residue]
[Feature: Parasitic substance of the heat-type. It uses mana as nutrients and tries to burrow into the fibers.]
[It manipulates the burrowed fibers to encroach upon the victim's body; targets contaminated for a long time can be parasitized by it and collapse.]
[Handle with caution.]
[Recommended washing method]
[It is recommended to freeze the contaminants using cold, then remove all contaminants that have permeated the fibers.]
[Since it is a parasitic substance that reacts to mana and heat, killing it completely with cold is the priority.]
It means it's practically a living creature.
"Hmm."
Heat-type parasitic substance.
As soon as I saw the analysis results, the estimate came out perfectly.
Usually, when something gets on clothes, it's natural to reflexively scrub it with detergent in warm water.
But if you used such a common-sense washing method on this guy, you'd see the clothes get completely contaminated by this filth and rot away immediately.
Water is no good, and heat is no good.
A typical magic-trap-like contaminant.
"If I had left it to magic laundry or a regular laundry shop, I would have ruined the clothes 100 percent."
Coming to me was the best choice.
If she had tried to wipe it off awkwardly, it would have gotten even dirtier.
I observed the surface of the uniform stained with slime from a very close distance, as if I were putting a magnifying glass to it.
"Huh?"
Looking closely, it was strange.
Clearly, terrible slime was covering the uniform, but the contaminants were not permeating into the fibers and were hovering on the surface.
Like water droplets dropped on a glass plate.
[White Magnolia Uniform]
Grade: S-grade (Purified)
Classification: Armor / Uniform
[Contamination has been perfectly purified.]
[No longer susceptible to curses.]
This White Magnolia Uniform that Lee Chaerim is wearing is a masterpiece I laundered.
It was the one where I washed away the curse that had originally dwelled in it and added a new effect on top of it.
Perfect cleaning.
Perhaps because of that, it even had the added effect of not being susceptible to curses?
The power of these parasitic substances that enter the fibers and control the clothes didn't work at all.
They were struggling to get into the fibers, but they couldn't get in at all.
"I did it, but I really did a good job, didn't I?"
Crazy.
Kim Jinsoo.
Were you this good?
Since I confirmed it hadn't permeated the fibers, there was only one thing I could do.
I immediately finished preparations for freezing magic.
Freezing washer.
A special washer made to be used in special situations like the Magic Resonance Washer.
It was a washer that had its own built-in freezing magic.
I sprayed mana water, put it in the washer, and put in Lee Chaerim's uniform.
Operation immediately.
Whirrr-!
The uniform froze completely.
The contaminants on the surface froze solid.
And the contaminants, having lost their adhesive power, fell off just like that.
"Done."
I stored the completely separated contaminants separately and held up the uniform, which was perfectly cleaned without a single stain.
The clothes, which melted rapidly as soon as they came out of the washing machine, were damp with mana water.
"Nothing else, right?"
I checked here and there to find any potential contaminants, but fortunately, no additional contamination was visible.
'Crazy.'
You pulled it off this perfectly?
Again?
You cleaned an S-grade uniform this perfectly?
"Crazy. There's not a single flaw."
Finally, after putting it on the drying rack that dries in an instant.
The contaminated uniform was reborn in an instant as a fluffy white uniform.
"Haa, it's perfectly peeled off."
I exclaimed in admiration, holding the uniform up to eye level.
"You sucked up that terribly sticky stuff from every nook and cranny without a trace. Look at this white bare skin revealed thanks to the coating. The smell is also amazing. I want to keep touching it."
It was then, as I was holding the uniform to my nose and inhaling the subtle scent deeply in satisfaction.
"Y-y-you, what are you doing to my clothes right now......!"
Startled, I turned my head, and Lee Chaerim was standing at the shower room door.
Wet hair with water dripping.
Her face, wearing only the loose gray t-shirt and baggy shorts I lent her, was flushed bright red down to her neck.
"......Yes? The laundry was done so well that I was admiring it."
"P-peeled off?! Bare skin?! Sucked it up?! You, you crazy pervert, seriously......!"
Lee Chaerim covered her front with a wet towel and stepped back.
No, I didn't mean I peeled off her bare skin, I meant I peeled off the contaminants from the clothes.
"Guild Leader-nim. I think you've misunderstood something severely......."
"Misunderstood, my foot! W-was my scent that good?!"
Her pink lips, shouting, twitched strangely.
For someone who was angry, the corners of her mouth seemed to be twitching slightly.
"Boss, that was really perverted just now."
"Oppa......."
"Were you this kind of person?"
The two women looking at me.
"N-no, you guys know, you saw why I said that just now."
"I already knew the boss was a pervert. Even if you go to prison, I'll make sure to deposit money for you regularly."
"It seems the Spirit-nim says you cannot be forgiven."
These terrible women.
Look at them joining forces to tease me somehow, even though they were fighting among themselves just a moment ago.
I looked at Lee Chaerim.
"Let me explain calmly......."
"You pervert!"
As I tried to approach, she lifted her foot and kicked me in the chin.
"Gah!"
It was a truly reflexive movement.
A woman who reacts like this just because I moved a little, couldn't dodge the Spell Worm's blood?
Does this make sense?
Falling to the floor, I saw the inside of the training pants fluttering due to the intense movement.
'Pink.......'
Thump!
"O-eonni?"
"Boss!"
"......Huh?"
The urgent voices of the three women faded away.