Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Instead of digging into my relationship with Yoon Juyeong or pressing me relentlessly, the two of them seemed to have decided to genuinely worry about me. I blinked my eyes wide in surprise at the sudden concerned attitude Jeong Soyeon and Kim Seongmyeong showed me.

“Well, with an S-Rank hunter protecting you… I suppose you won’t actually need me, but still, if there’s ever a situation where you do, contact me. At least I can listen to you. You saved my number, right?”

“O-of course. I already have both Kim Seongmyeong’s number and Jeong Soyeon’s number saved.”

“Good to hear. I’m saying this so you don’t misunderstand, but I really like you, Seohee.”

“Ah, me too! I also really like Seohee—”

“When Kim Seongmyeong says something like that, it sounds like romantic interest, you know?”

“What?! Th-that wasn’t my intention.”

The two of them seemed to want to make sure I didn’t feel burdened, so they lightened the heavy atmosphere of the conversation with jokes.

I let out a soft, deflated laugh as I recalled Jeong Soyeon teasing Kim Seongmyeong with a mischievous face until the very end, and Kim Seongmyeong, his face bright red, passionately insisting that wasn’t the case at all.

“Master?”

“Ah, sorry. I was just lost in thought for a moment.”

It seemed thinking about Kim Seongmyeong and Jeong Soyeon had taken longer than I intended. I pulled myself out of the long train of thought and focused on the most important reality right in front of me.

[Compensating rewards (00:39)]

“I wonder what’ll come out as a reward… My contribution was so low, I doubt anything good will show up.”

“Your very existence is a contribution, Master. What are you saying?”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit too much flattery? No, more importantly, that title… Ugh. Forget it.”

The title I’d barely managed to change to “Lady Seohee” by grabbing hold of Yoon Juyeong had reverted back to “Master,” as if it had been reset.

Honestly, I wanted to snap at him to get rid of that damned “Master” title, but…

“That image of him crying his eyes out back then just won’t leave my head…”

The sight of Yoon Juyeong hugging me and crying like the most wronged person in the world had a power that even the coldest person couldn’t endure.

To erase that image of Yoon Juyeong still lingering in my mind, I deliberately focused on the blue window in front of me.

[Compensating rewards (00:05)]

I wasn’t even hoping for a decent reward—just please, don’t let it be some weird trash. I clasped my hands together and prayed to God, Buddha, and Allah, none of whom I’d ever believed in before.

[Reward compensation complete (00:00)]

And then, the reward I’d earned from this dungeon run revealed itself in a bright light.

[Reward: Gardener’s Scissors of Life]

“…Gardener?”

Not something normal like a “Dagger of Life,” but “Gardener’s Scissors of Life”?

I blinked blankly, staring at the blue window floating before me. Thinking maybe I’d misread it, I scrutinized the blue window over and over, but the letters on it didn’t change.

[Reward: Gardener’s Scissors of Life]

Surely it wasn’t literally a pair of gardener’s scissors?

Considering that items from dungeons often had names that didn’t match their actual appearance, this thing might just be called gardener’s scissors but actually be a dagger or a longsword.

Clinging to that faint hope, I lightly tapped the “Gardener’s Scissors of Life” on the blue window.

And then, a pair of scissors that looked exactly like what a gardener would use dropped from the air with a thud.

“……”

“……”

It was more antique-looking than regular gardening scissors in many ways, but it was definitely a pair of gardener’s scissors through and through. My eyelids trembling, I used the item inspection function on the scissors in my hand.

<Gardener’s Scissors of Life>

Scissors for an insolent gardener.

(Exclusive item)

“……”

Setting aside the item name that clearly reminded me of someone, the most important part was the phrase at the very end. With a voice trembling from the pent-up frustration and unfairness I couldn’t spit out, I read the final line.

“Exclusive… item…”

A bare-bones item with no visible options to speak of, and it’s an exclusive item. At this point, anyone could figure out my situation.

I was screwed.

And I mean, really, really screwed.

“Q-Quest rewards…!”

Come to think of it, I still had the quest rewards left. I turned my gaze toward the quest settlement rewards that should have already been completed along with this dungeon’s reward payout.

<Tutorial 1 Completion Reward: 500,000 Pt>

※Can be converted to cash according to each country’s exchange rate.

“……”

Considering that the points from quest completion rewards roughly multiplied by ten when converted to Korean won, the money I received was five million won.

Naturally, that was far from enough to cover the lump sum needed for Yujin’s equipment.

“…M-Master.”

“Sorry, just a moment. Could you please leave me alone for a bit…?”

In my life, hardly anything had ever gone my way, but still, this was too much. I never thought my rotten luck would screw me over like this again.

I covered my face with both hands, filled with the despair and anger I couldn’t spit out, and let out a long, heavy sigh.

After clearing an A-Rank dungeon, all I got was a gardener’s scissors (exclusive item) that looked completely worthless and five million won. This was a situation that couldn’t be explained by just saying I had bad luck.

‘Why? For what reason? Even the lowest-tier reward from an A-Rank dungeon is usually at least two million, isn’t it? So why did this item drop, and on top of that, I’ve never had anything bound to me before, so what’s with the exclusive tag?’

For certain special items, once they undergo a process called ‘binding,’ they become untouchable and unusable by anyone other than the owner.

A representative example of such special items that can be bound is the ‘Prophet’s Pendulum’ used by Hunter Juyun, ranked 7th.

…Yeah, if an item at least on that level had dropped as exclusive, I wouldn’t be this upset.

But what I held in my hand was a gardener’s scissors with no options at all.

“……!!”

In the end, I grabbed my temples with both hands and started headbanging in rage, and Yoon Juyeong, who had been watching me anxiously from the side, hurriedly grabbed me.

“Master, calm down! If it’s a money issue, I’ll help you—no, please let me help you!”

“That’s not the problem…! Of course, money is! A problem too! But aside from that, why am I the only one getting this… this…!!”

Ah, and there was one more problem. The fact that the trash item that dropped for me was specifically a ‘gardener’s’ scissors was a huge issue in itself.

‘Normally, it doesn’t seem like the Administrator directly interferes much, but still, the Administrator can influence the system, right? So this is a hundred percent that, isn’t it? Isn’t it? They know about my skill and that doll… no, Avan, and sent this, right?’

I really, desperately wanted to dismiss all this as my own paranoia, but unfortunately, I wasn’t that stupid.

‘Ruler’s Garden,’ Avan, who called me ‘Ruler’ and himself ‘Gardener.’

And the ‘Gardener’s Scissors of Life’ with no options that fell into my hands.

‘Am I being targeted? Am I really being targeted?! Why?! For what reason?! At this point, I can’t even deny it!’

For that ill-tempered manager, ‘targets of observation’ are always one of two things: a powerhouse on the level of an S-Rank ranker, or someone they want to pick on.

Considering all the bizarre incidents that had happened to me so far, there was only one conclusion. A hundred percent the latter. I was targeted by the Librarian. As someone to mess with!

“Master, there’s still hope!”

“……!! …Ah, huh? Hope?”

In the middle of spinning my head around like a so-called crazy woman, Hunter Yoon Juyeong’s urgent voice pierced my eardrums.

I finally tidied my hair, which had become a mess like some ghost’s, and looked at Hunter Yoon Juyeong. Meeting my eyes, he nodded vigorously and immediately opened his mouth.

“What you received, Master, is only the reward for ‘participation.’”

“R-Right.”

“And the reward for contribution is still pending.”

“…Well, that’s true, but that’s not something I can hope for.”

“No, think about what happened inside the A-Rank dungeon. When you were suddenly… kidnapped by that damn thing.”

For a moment, Yoon Juyeong’s cold gaze turned toward Blackie, who was eating dog food over by the living room wall.

Blackie seemed to notice the cold gaze directed at him, jumped in place, looked around, and spotted Yoon Juyeong. Then, as if it was nothing, he went back to eating.

‘That Blackie… either has guts or is just plain stupid.’

Even when Yoon Juyeong kept sending killing intent his way, Blackie was only startled at first. Once he figured out the culprit was Yoon Juyeong, he’d just go back to whatever he was doing as if it was nothing.

Honestly, from an outsider’s perspective, it almost looked like animal abuse, but then again, when I thought about how that puppy eating over there was originally a monster that took the form of a black wolf bigger than a human… Hmm.

‘No, this isn’t the time to be thinking about that.’

I quickly turned my gaze away from Blackie and back toward Yoon Juyeong.

“Anyway, just get on with what you were saying.”

“Ah, right. Since you returned from that place on your own after being kidnapped.”

“Surely that can’t count toward contribution?”

“The exact criteria for contribution haven’t been revealed yet, so I think there’s plenty of possibility.”

After all, every quest has ‘rewards based on contribution.’