Chapter 12

Chapter 12

I eyed Yoon Juyeong with a somewhat uneasy look, but for now, I kept my mouth shut and quietly sipped the tea.

It wasn’t particularly sweet or bitter—kind of bland, but with a strangely refreshing taste. At least it was mild enough that even I, who absolutely hates bitter things, could drink it without a problem, so I quickly relaxed and sipped the tea while staring at the TV screen.

Naturally enough, the news program was still chattering on about yesterday’s events. Most of the talk was about the ‘Administrator’ who had suddenly appeared, and the rest was mostly about the newly emerged dungeon.

Ah, this is about me. I focused intently as the female announcer said, “Due to the residential damage caused by this dungeon’s creation, attention is now focused on the government’s response to the situation.”

‘Well, they said there’s a subsidy, so I shouldn’t worry too much, but…’

Still, from my position, where my livelihood had suddenly become precarious because of the recent explosion of incidents, I couldn’t help but feel on edge in many ways.

After all, my usual workplace had gone silent ever since they abruptly gave me five days of paid leave because of the last incident…

Even though being a hunter is a profession with a high death toll, mortality rates in low-difficulty dungeons are a different story. There’s a reason they’re called low-difficulty dungeons in the first place.

They get that name because they’re extremely easy and relatively safe dungeons, with a death rate that never exceeds 1%… but when two people die in a place like that, the government can’t just let it slide.

Of course, the company must be getting squeezed hard by the government over management issues…

‘If that backlash reaches me, I’ll have to start preparing to change jobs immediately…’

Honestly, from the government’s perspective, they’re just doing what they have to do, and I don’t have any complaints about that, but there are practical problems too.

I pressed my lips to the teacup and stared intently at the TV screen.

—I heard the resident was a hunter. If they lost all their equipment too, wouldn’t their livelihood be in immediate danger?

—That’s possible. The government is reportedly preparing legislation to provide special disaster subsidies if such dungeon-related disasters affect the victim’s work life.

—If that happens, our citizens who are worried about the various damages from sudden dungeon creation can breathe a little easier. Oh, speaking of which, there was news about the ‘Tutorial’ that the Administrator revealed this time.

What, did they already form a tutorial strike team or something? I sipped the tea touching my lips and stared at the male anchor adjusting his glasses.

—According to investigation results, the newly created dungeon has been determined to be of a difficulty that doesn’t reach what’s called a ‘high-difficulty dungeon.’ In other words, for the A-Rank and below hunters who must participate in this raid, it’s a valuable opportunity to safely obtain expensive equipment.

Oh, that’s actually good news for a change.

I’ve heard that B-Rank hunters, who are the first ones that come to mind when you say ‘A-Rank and below hunters,’ often have trouble acquiring equipment in many ways.

I’m a C-Rank hunter, so I’m grateful even for the basic dungeon drop equipment sold everywhere, but it’s a different story for B-Ranks.

Unlike C-Ranks, from the perspective of those who need to seriously raid dungeons, A-Ranks take all the decent equipment, and if they use the cheap gear that C-Ranks use, they can’t perform well in dungeons—I heard that from my former boss, who was both a B-Rank hunter and an administrator.

‘Come to think of it, what is Yoon Juyeong planning to do about equipment?’

Now that he’s become S-Rank, he’ll naturally need to get equipment of an appropriate level, but I have no idea what he’s thinking.

I glanced at Yoon Juyeong, who was drinking tea with the elegance of some rich young master, then stared back at the TV screen.

Since he wasn’t an ordinary person who suddenly awakened, but someone who had been living as a hunter all along, I figured he’d take care of it himself.

…He is taking care of it, right? He’s not forgetting because he’s too focused on thinking about his… master due to the skill’s influence, is he…?

—Oh, speaking of which, I heard there’s talk about giving priority for this dungeon entry to some of the hunters who suffered damage from the dungeon’s creation.

What’s this now? I stopped sneaking glances at Yoon Juyeong and jerked my head up, staring intently at the TV screen.

On the other side of the screen, the neatly dressed male anchor was answering the female announcer in a very calm tone.

“I think you can consider it almost a done deal. It’s a chance to safely obtain dungeon drop equipment while accompanying S-Rank and A-Rank hunters. Naturally, competition among B-Rank and lower hunters for this dungeon run is already fierce… so the idea of giving priority to those who suffered damage came up.”

“Ah, that sounds like very good news.”

So, to sum it up, it seemed like if there were hunters who suffered damage from this dungeon’s creation, they’d be given priority to join the dungeon raid party.

Well, when I thought about it, this was a dungeon run accompanied by an S-Rank hunter and an A-Rank hunter, no less.

And it wasn’t one of those high-difficulty dungeons that S-Rank and A-Rank hunters usually frequented, nor was it a common low-difficulty dungeon that B-Rank or C-Rank hunters often went to.

Naturally, from the perspective of so-called “lower-ranked” hunters, it wasn’t wrong to call it a golden opportunity in many ways.

‘Besides, it’s only priority, not mandatory…’

For someone like me who had no intention of going to the dungeon anyway, it wasn’t a bad deal since I could just refuse.

I relaxed the tension that had crept into my body and took another sip of tea. Since I planned to just live out my life as an ordinary C-Rank hunter, I didn’t particularly want to join that kind of dungeon run.

“Seohee, are you going to give up that priority?”

“Well, yeah… I’m leaning toward giving it up for now. It’s not like I’m at risk of starving to death right now, so there’s no need to go somewhere dangerous just to get some expensive gear.”

Of course, as the anchor said, with S-Rank and A-Rank hunters accompanying, it probably wouldn’t get especially dangerous… but you can’t leave out the “what if” in any situation in life.

And since I was someone who’d already been blindsided by that very “what if,” I was genuinely even more reluctant about this dungeon run.

“It’s not like I’m a high-ranked hunter who needs to clear dungeons right now. Staying home safely is the best option for me. Oh, but Yoon Juyeong, you’re still going, right?”

“Huh?”

“You’re an S-Rank hunter now, and honestly, you don’t have any decent gear, do you? I mean, considering what you bought for me, I guess you were using gear good enough for a B-Rank hunter… but S-Rank is a different story.”

The equipment an S-Rank hunter uses is, naturally, on a completely different level from what lower-ranked hunters use, and it has to be.

After all, the dungeons that S-Rank hunters cleared were, from the perspective of a low-ranked hunter like me, nothing short of otherworldly hellscapes. There’s no way people who went to places like that would use ordinary gear meant for lower-ranked hunters.

Those kinds of people often had their own unique equipment, the only one of its kind in the entire world.

‘Even the Sword Emperor uses some incredibly impressive and strange weapon.’

What was it called? I think I heard it was a sword that changed its form, number, and even abilities depending on the situation.

They said it could enchant itself with fire, wind, or lightning attributes depending on what the user wanted, and it could take the form of a greatsword when needed or a rapier when needed…

‘That kind of thing is only manageable because it’s the Sword Saint using it.’

It was definitely an amazing and powerful weapon, but it only shined because the right person was wielding it. If someone who couldn’t handle it had it, it would be nothing more than a collectible.

Anyway, with that in mind, I was thinking that Yoon Juyeong should find his own equipment soon. After all, now that he’d debuted as an S-Rank hunter, he’d have to regularly clear dungeons of at least A-Rank or higher.

“Come to think of it, I heard that participating in this dungeon run gives pretty good equipment as a quest reward. How about actually joining? For you, Yoon Juyeong, who needs gear right now, it wouldn’t be a bad—”

Just as I was in the middle of talking, my smartphone suddenly blared out a familiar melody.

A call at this hour? Who could it be?

I set down the teacup I was drinking from and immediately pulled my smartphone out of my pocket. Under the light, the clear screen showed the words “Orphanage,” of all things.

‘What’s this? Did something happen?’

The Director, who hated asking for help from former residents and kept contact to a minimum, was calling. Something big must have happened. I immediately pressed the green call button and brought the phone to my ear.

“It’s been a while, Director. …Did something happen?”

To cut to the chase, something big really had happened. And it was the kind of problem that was the root of all troubles in the world — money.

* * *

‘When things go wrong, they really go wrong.’

That cheerful call with the Director — the first in nearly a month — was, separate from how nice it was to hear from them, filled with nothing but negative news.

They say bad things come in threes, and I was no exception. Letting out a deep sigh, I glanced at the notepad where I’d jotted down the necessary details while talking to the Director.

“Is something troubling you?”

“Well, the troubles of people living in this world are pretty obvious, aren’t they…”

I’d barely lived thirty years, but even I had learned one thing for sure in this life.

Most of the worries and troubles people have in this world can be solved if you have money. And the new worry I’d just acquired was exactly that kind of problem.

‘Mana rejection syndrome and a congenital mana absorption constitution…’