A Lazy Morning and an Unexpected Vacation
The alarm on her phone blared through the quiet apartment—beep beep beep!—and Mina instinctively reached out to silence it. She nearly drifted back to sleep, but then—
Riiiiiiing! Riiiiiiing!
“Woof woof! Grrrr! Bark!”
“Eek! Okay, okay! I’m up! I’m getting up!”
The clamor from the alarm clock was nothing compared to the chaos that followed. Her dog, Pommi, came charging at her, stomping all over her with his paws and barking furiously as if demanding she turn the damn thing off. Mina let out a scream and jolted awake for good.
She dragged herself out of bed and ran a brush through her messy hair, letting out a long sigh. It would be nice if she could wake up naturally every morning and start the day like a normal person, but sadly, this was much closer to her everyday reality.
The moment the alarm stopped, Pommi went quiet like a switch had been flipped. He hopped onto the bed, claimed the warm spot, and sprawled out like he owned the place. Mina stared at him, seriously wondering which one of them was actually the owner.
Still, since she was already up early, she headed to the bathroom first.
“Ah, right. I was out of body wash.”
Mina sighed again and made do with the tiny bit left in the bottle. As she brushed her hair afterward, she hit a nasty tangle and yanked a little too hard.
“Ow!”
A few strands snapped. Then, while getting dressed, she stubbed her toe hard against the bed frame.
“Why is everything going wrong today?!”
She finished with light makeup and changed into her suit, then checked Pommi’s automatic feeder one last time before heading out the door.
“Pommi, I’m off to work!”
“Bark!”
Mina hurried toward the office. The sun was still half-asleep, lazily glowing a pale yellow and refusing to rise properly. The winter morning already felt freezing, and the sluggish dawn only made it worse.
“Haa… I wonder what kind of lecture I’m in for today…”
But when she thought about yesterday’s events, it didn’t seem all that nerve-wracking. She wondered if she could even keep working at Hanshin after this.
Considering how quickly Seok-jun had been released, it must have been ruled as self-defense. Still, Gu Gang-woo had been a capable hunter. That was probably why the Hanshin Guild had pulled strings to get him out of police custody—only for him to end up dead shortly after. Like it or not, Mina had been at the center of that mess. She doubted anyone would have anything nice to say about her.
And she’d already been treated like an outsider in the guild. This would only make things worse.
Vrooooom!
It was still early, and a motorcycle roared past, spewing thick white exhaust into the air. Mina paused on the sidewalk until the smoke cleared, then continued walking. Soon she reached a familiar street and the familiar convenience store on the corner.
“Welcome!”
Even though it was practically dawn, a young male employee greeted her with surprising energy. Mina gave a small nod and immediately headed for the triangular gimbap section. There were lunch boxes and hamburgers too, but she only glanced at them before checking the rice triangles.
“Ugh.”
She couldn’t help but grimace at what was left. The only options were strawberry and chocolate flavored gimbap—neither of which appealed to her in the slightest.
“Why do they make such weird stuff?”
She’d bought strange convenience store items before out of curiosity, but sometimes they really went too far. She pushed the odd flavors aside and found a combo pack of bulgogi and spicy pork gimbap. At least those were edible. She grabbed a can of iced coffee from the warmer and went to pay.
“That’ll be 3,800 won!”
“Here you go.”
Mina sat at the small table inside the store, quickly ate her breakfast, and left with a cheerful goodbye from the part-timer. Her heels clicked against the quiet street as she walked. Before long, a large building came into view, its blue sign emblazoned with the name Hanshin hanging on the corner. She had chosen to live nearby precisely because the office was so close.
As soon as she stepped inside, the reception desk came into view.
“Hey, she’s here. She’s here.”
“I heard she caused a huge incident this time?”
They were trying to keep their voices down, but Mina heard every word. The news had already spread. Even the reception staff were whispering. She swallowed a familiar sigh. The fact that she didn’t get along with the female employees meant bad rumors traveled especially fast.
She had always found it exhausting, but today the worry and irritation hit harder than usual. She’d hoped that moving to fieldwork would keep her from getting tangled up with them.
She scanned her ID card and headed to her department.
“Mina, you’re here?”
“Manager Oh?”
Sure enough, the moment she entered the office, a man called out to her. He was still wearing a coat over his suit—probably because the heater hadn’t warmed the room yet. It might look like an ordinary coat, but it was definitely hunter-grade equipment.
Hunters often had to rush out on emergencies, so most commuted in suits. But those suits weren’t normal either; they were specially made hunter gear. Hanshin encouraged its hunters to wear them for safety. Still, the guild’s internal culture played a big part. Only managers and higher could wear even simple coat-style equipment like that.
He was a senior hunter who had reached A-grade long before her. He had been the leader of her raid party during gate clears, but they hadn’t known each other long enough for things to feel comfortable yet.
“I heard you almost got into big trouble yesterday?”
Just as she expected. The fact that someone who usually arrived later than her was already here probably had everything to do with yesterday’s events. He must have noticed her tension, because he smiled gently.
“I’m not here to scold you, so don’t worry too much. Gu Gang-woo was the one in the wrong, wasn’t he?”
“M-Manager Oh?”
Gu Gang-woo had technically been his direct superior. She glanced around nervously, wondering if it was okay for him to speak like that. But no one else had arrived at the office yet.
“It’s fine. Who cares about a dead guy? I heard you suffered a lot when you were still in admin.”
“You… knew about that?”
She hadn’t expected him to know, but she certainly hadn’t expected him to say it so bluntly. It didn’t feel like he was criticizing her, which only made the situation more confusing. The previous manager before she became an A-grade hunter had constantly hounded her. If it had been because she couldn’t do the work, she might have accepted it. But the more she heard, the more it sounded like he was just echoing Gu Gang-woo’s arrogant attitude. It had left a bitter taste in her mouth.
“You were in a different department before, so you might not know, but that man had a reputation for being crazy.”
“I see…”
Mina pressed her lips together tightly. If she joined in badmouthing a superior, it would only come back to bite her.
“Anyway, there’s no point dragging this out. Here, take this.”
When she straightened her posture and swallowed nervously, he shook his head and handed her a single sheet of paper. The word Vacation Request was written at the top.
“Vacation? I’ve only been here a few days…”
“You know he was still a pretty capable hunter, right? They probably figured things would get noisy for a while, so they told me to give this to you right away. It’s paid leave, so take it easy and rest up.”
By the time Mina came back to her senses after accepting the document, she was already standing outside the building. She wondered if it had all been a dream, but the vacation form was still firmly in her hand.
“…How am I supposed to rest easy?”
She could tell that Manager Oh was much kinder than her previous boss, but she had still caused a major incident shortly after transferring in. How could she not feel awkward about it?
She sighed and trudged along, but she had no idea where to go. Normally, when she had free time, there were plenty of things she wanted to do. But now that she suddenly had an abundance of it, nothing came to mind.
“What am I even doing?”
Now that work had been taken away from her, she felt strangely anxious just wandering the streets without purpose. Even though she finally had some leisurely time, the thought that she should be doing something refused to leave her alone.
“Maybe I should pick up a short-term part-time job? Or clear a low-grade gate…”
Various ideas came and went, but none of them felt quite right. Finding a part-time job that fit her schedule wasn’t easy, and while she might be able to solo a D-grade gate or lower depending on the environment inside, the risk was too high. Skilled hunters could clear and close high-grade gates alone, but for someone who had barely reached A-grade, it was still too much.
Besides, even low-grade gates were usually cleared in parties. Dungeons inside gates could twist, mutate, or cause strange phenomena for reasons no one understood. Hidden spaces occasionally spawned monsters above the gate’s rank. That was why so many hunters formed stable parties with people they trusted.
“Maybe I should just go home.”
Deciding that killing time like this was pointless, Mina turned back toward her apartment. Because she had returned much earlier than usual, the place felt strangely unfamiliar as she stepped inside.
“Sniff?”
Pommi was sprawled on the sofa. He lifted his head and looked at her as if asking why she was back so soon.
“Haa… Pommi. I think I need to look for a new job.”
Hanshin had called it vacation, but the more she thought about it, the more it felt like a grace period before she was fired. She had tried to tell herself it was fine, but the more she dwelled on it, the stronger the sense of unfairness and depression grew. She flopped onto the sofa and buried her face in Pommi’s fur. He wriggled in annoyance but still stayed close, sharing his warm body heat with her.
Ah, this feeling.
The soft, warm sensation against her face eased her mood a little. There was nothing quite like a dog’s natural warmth, soft fur, and round belly. She rubbed her face against him happily, but Pommi swatted at her head with his long tail, trying to push her away.
“Mmm, just a little longer.”
“Grrrr!”
“Okay, okay! If I keep going you’ll bite me, right?”
Thanks to Pommi—whether he liked it or not—she managed to pull herself together and sat up. A good idea had just occurred to her.
“Pommi, want to go for a walk?”
He didn’t seem interested. The way he stayed sprawled on the sofa made it look like he was telling her to go by herself.
“Come on, let’s go~”
“Grrrrr.”
She tried to nudge him, but all she got was a threatening growl.
“Other Welsh corgis get excited when you say the word ‘walk.’ Why are you so lazy?”
It would have been nice if he were as energetic as other dogs, but unfortunately her dog was a particularly lazy specimen. Still, he was cute, so she couldn’t complain too much.
“Should we go to a café instead?”
With the walk option off the table, Mina decided she couldn’t just sit around doing nothing. The reason she thought of a café was simple: the man who had saved her yesterday kept coming to mind.
“It’s an unmanned café… I wonder if I’ll run into Mr. Seok-jun.”
If she really wanted to see him, she could just call since she had his business card. But contacting him without any particular reason felt rude. There were plenty of cafés closer to home, but this one wasn’t too far either. After walking a bit farther, she arrived at the unmanned café.
“Mina?”
“Ah, Mr. Seok-jun.”
Luckily, she ran into him just as he was coming down the stairs.