The Mess Left Behind
"What on earth is this supposed to be?" Mina sighed as she sorted through the mountain of documents piled on her desk. She had returned to the company after her vacation, but she wasn't sure if this could really be called a return.
"Paperwork?" That was the news she heard when she arrived back at Hanshin and was immediately summoned to her department by Manager Oh.
"It seems they think it's too much to send you out into the field right away." It was so absurd that she almost wanted to believe it was a lie, but Manager Oh himself looked just as unconvinced as he spoke. After all, they were talking about assigning an A-grade hunter to desk work instead of actual operations. Considering how A-grade hunters were usually treated, it was downright ridiculous. Maybe they were just beating around the bush and telling her to quit?
As she stared at the stacks of papers on her desk with an indescribable expression, Manager Oh continued. "After everything you've been through, they're worried about PTSD, so they want you to focus on office work for now." He slid a document toward her as he spoke.
The moment Mina took it and checked the contents, she realized the real reason she had been given paperwork had nothing to do with what Manager Oh had said. The documents were an absolute disaster.
When hunters belonging to the guild obtained monster byproducts from a cleared gate, ownership went to the guild, which then evaluated the value and quantity of the materials, assigned performance points to the hunters involved, and paid out the calculated amount. Before transferring departments, Mina had often handled the task of organizing these records into reports that even A-grade hunters would find acceptable. That was why she could immediately see how problematic these documents were.
"The dates the byproducts were obtained and the gate grades are all jumbled up." Some entries even claimed that byproducts from monsters that only appeared in lower-grade gates had been obtained from higher-grade gates. "And why are the purchase prices like this?" Some amounts were suspiciously high or low compared to the actual value of the byproducts, enough to make her wonder if embezzlement had occurred. Yet there were enough normal entries that it was clear most of the mistakes could have been avoided with a little care.
Curious about who had done this, she checked the author's name and immediately understood. It was Manager Kim Si-a—the very manager of the department she had once belonged to.
When she unconsciously nodded in understanding, Manager Oh tilted his head but still seemed puzzled. "What about Section Chief Koo or Assistant Manager Shim?" There had clearly been people who should have stopped things from reaching this point.
Manager Oh glanced around cautiously before whispering, "They left while you were on leave. Section Chief Koo for family reasons, Assistant Manager Shim for health issues."
"Good grief." Mina finally understood why things had gotten this bad. Everyone who had been sharing Manager Kim's workload—including Mina—had disappeared. There were other people, but none of them had the time or inclination to take on extra work. The mess had simply piled up and spiraled out of control.
Mina nearly pressed a hand to her forehead, forgetting she was even at the office. "I'm counting on you. I'll treat you next time." Since the settlement team for the department she had transferred into happened to be her old one, there was no helping it. If she didn't handle it herself, she wouldn't even get paid.
"At least they're counting it toward performance points. That's something." Back in the present, she had been buried in paperwork for nearly three weeks. She had cleared the backlog that had accumulated during her absence, but new work kept coming in.
"Team Leader Lee, I brought coffee!" Mina looked at the coffee being offered beside her. She had said instant was fine, but he had gone out to a café for takeout anyway.
"Ah, thank you." As she accepted it, he smiled awkwardly and sat down next to her. He was the intern she had been assigned to train three days ago. She still couldn't understand why, on top of her own transferred workload, she also had to teach an office intern, but there was no choice.
"They say there's going to be a department reorganization soon, so just hang in there until then, okay?" She couldn't refuse Manager Oh's earnest request. The reorganization was long overdue because Hanshin, despite being a large corporation, had organized its office staff in a completely haphazard way. In a hunter guild, office positions were often treated like afterthoughts or support roles, which might explain the delay, but thinking about all the trouble it had caused made her resentful.
And it wasn't something she could feel entirely good about. "In the end, the fundamental problem isn't going away." If anything, the number of people suffering would only increase. Mina sipped her Americano, sensing that the newly integrated settlement team would be walking on thin ice.
"Ugh." The bitter taste of the coffee—completely unsweetened—made her grimace, and the employee beside her noticed.
"There's syrup. Would you like some?"
"It's fine. I'll drink it like this." She had decided to stop using sugar or syrup altogether.
As she forced herself to take small sips, he spoke up. "You said you used to be in our department, right?"
"Yes, though it wasn't that long ago." Mina nearly stiffened at how uncertain she suddenly felt about her own transfer, but she held it in for the sake of the intern who would suffer once the departments merged.
Good thing I became an A-grade hunter. It was a terrible thought, but if she hadn't reached A-grade, she might have been the one stuck in his position.
"Did you always do this kind of work?"
"No. I used to focus on field support."
"Then why—"
"Shh! Be quiet." She cut him off and looked around. The office was empty except for the two of them, which clearly puzzled him, but her sharpened hearing caught the sound of approaching footsteps.
"Ji-un, could you hide your coffee under the desk for a moment?"
"Huh?" He looked confused, but when Mina hid her own cup by her feet, he quickly did the same. Soon, the sharp click of high heels echoed through the office. Ji-un's eyes widened as he tried to say something, but the door opened first.
"Team Leader Lee! You here?" The woman who entered had long, light-yellow hair and lips painted with an alarmingly vivid red lipstick. Her heavy makeup was striking.
"Manager Kim? What brings you here?" She was one of the reasons Mina had ended up with this job, but Mina kept her expression neutral, as if she hadn't expected the visit.
"Why? Can't I drop by?" What kind of relationship does she think we have? Mina barely managed to keep her face composed. At least she no longer had to do her original work and was only handling Manager Kim's instead, so hiding her emotions was easier than before.
Manager Kim scanned Mina and Ji-un with narrowed eyes, clearly displeased about something. "I came to check if you're properly training the new hire. You are doing it right, aren't you?"
Mina knew this was just an excuse. Even before Ji-un arrived, Manager Kim had frequently come by to dump her own paperwork on Mina or complain about one thing or another.
"Yes, at this rate we should finish before the holidays."
"Already thinking about resting? Why don't you finish your own work properly first?" The moment Mina mentioned the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, Manager Kim immediately seized on it. She didn't seem to realize that the work Mina was doing was originally hers.
Then she sniffed the air. "What's that? Coffee? You went to a café? You said instant was enough, but now that you're an A-grade hunter, your tastes have gotten fancy, huh?"
Mina almost admired her. She had deliberately chosen a mild iced Americano to avoid detection, yet somehow Manager Kim's nose had still caught the scent.
Only then did Ji-un realize why they had hidden the coffee. Manager Kim turned to him. "Ji-un, if Team Leader Lee starts acting up, just tell me. Even if I'm only B-grade, my position is still higher than hers."
Wow. She actually believes that. Mina found it surprising that anyone in a hunter guild could think that way, but she let it go. The office staff situation was already difficult enough.
"Ah, no, she's been very kind and helpful."
Ji-un!? Mina was shocked when he answered. No matter how much she was teaching him, she technically belonged to another department, and he would be working under Manager Kim from now on. She appreciated that he thought well of her, but it would have been better if he hadn't said anything that could cause trouble later.
"Hmm, is that so?" The way Manager Kim looked him up and down made Mina certain that Ji-un's time at the company wouldn't be smooth. In an office full of female employees, the factional battles were suffocating and precarious—watching a naive newcomer walk straight into that made her dizzy.
Just then, the door opened again. "Mina? Still here?"
Manager Oh, you're a lifesaver! Mina cheered inwardly at the sight of him. He knew Manager Kim came looking for her whenever he was out on gate raids, and even though he must be exhausted, he still came to check on her after work. She had always been grateful, but today she was especially so.
"Oh, Manager Oh♡" Ugh, that act again. Mina watched as Manager Kim instantly switched to a nasal, cutesy voice and approached him, wondering if the word "vixen" had ever suited anyone better.
She checked the time and whispered to Ji-un, "It's time. Grab your coffee and let's get out of here quickly."
"What? But the work—"
"If we don't leave now, we're in for a much bigger problem." Specifically, dealing with Manager Kim's clumsy attempts at seduction.
"We'll be heading out first."
"Oh, sure, go ahead." Mina thanked the intern with a wink as they left the office together.
"Whew, that was close. Really close."
"Um, did I do something wrong?" Ji-un seemed to have belatedly sensed that something was off.
"It's not that." The problem is that Manager Kim just doesn't like you. It wasn't exactly a mistake, but… Mina looked at him with pity as he relaxed, then turned away.
"I'll head home first."
"Ah, wait! Should I give you a ride?" He held up his car keys, but she shook her head.
"I'll just walk."
"O-okay." As she walked, Mina pulled out her smartphone and opened the yellow messaging app.
[Seok-jun, it's almost Lunar New Year. What are you up to?]
It had already been nearly a month since she met Seok-jun.