Chapter 51

Chapter 51

“Especially that comment yesterday… ‘a taste for being dominated by an older woman’ — that was truly shocking.”

I was still mulling over that scene, which could be called the solo climax of yesterday’s chaos, when Guild Master Kang Mujin, who had been keeping an odd silence all this while, finally began to speak in a voice that had shed its hesitation.

“I’ll get straight to the point. The ‘technical-type awakener’ our guild has decided to scout — would you, Hunter Yoon Seohee, be willing to take on that role?”

“…Huh?”

What kind of out-of-the-blue nonsense was this? I blinked blankly for a moment, chewing over Guild Master Kang Mujin’s words.

‘So he’s telling me… to do what the Administrator demanded yesterday?’

Clearly, yesterday the Librarian had demanded an S-Rank awakener who “possessed a skill” from humanity.

So, as anyone with basic common sense could guess… the “S-Rank skill-holding awakener” the Librarian demanded would likely refer to a blacksmith capable of crafting and repairing equipment, or an alchemist who could brew potions.

‘No, no matter how I think about it, I don’t fit into that category at all.’

Naturally, I didn’t know how to make equipment or brew potions. I’d never even touched anything like that in my entire life.

A little embarrassing, but to tell the truth, I was a typical consumer-type human, not a production-type one.

“Well, setting aside my personal preferences, is that even possible? I’ve never learned any… skill in my life.”

“The ‘technical-type awakener’ the Administrator demanded is, to be precise, an awakener who ‘can produce S-Rank results,’ not an awakener ‘who possesses an S-Rank production skill.’”

“Ah… now that I think about it, that’s true. But then, wouldn’t I have to reveal my ‘Ruler’s Garden’…?”

“Not at all. From what I’ve heard from Hunter Jeong Seojin and Hunter Yoon Seohee, your skill is not the kind that should be disclosed to the public.”

Whether I should call that fortunate or just obvious — Guild Master Kang Mujin seemed to be aware that there was nothing good about making my skill official.

Then what exactly did he mean by “technical-type awakener”?

I didn’t let the question simmer inside me; I voiced it right away.

“Then what exactly do you mean by asking me to become a ‘technical-type awakener’?”

“…Currently, there are two major things Hunter Yoon Seohee can do with that skill. First, the domination of living beings, and second, the domination of non-living things… that is, equipment. Am I correct?”

“Yes, at least as far as what’s been revealed so far.”

“As I said, the first area is not something that can be made public. So what I’m referring to is the second — the equipment domination part.”

I nodded, meeting Guild Master Kang Mujin’s eyes to signal him to continue. He caught my intent immediately and smoothly resumed his explanation.

“From what I’ve heard, Hunter Yoon Seohee can alter the options of equipment she dominates.”

“Hmm, yes. I haven’t actually tried altering anything yet, but as the skill holder, I can give you a definite answer. It’s possible.”

“Have you considered making use of that very ability?”

“…That ability meaning… changing equipment options?”

“Yes. It’s generally accepted that the options of completed or dropped equipment are permanent and cannot be changed by any method.”

“…That’s… right.”

By this point, I had a rough idea of what Guild Master Kang Mujin was getting at. I swallowed dryly and looked at him with nervous eyes.

“And right now, standing before me is someone who can change the options of such equipment however she wishes.”

“……!”

“Hunter Yoon Seohee. Have you ever considered stepping out into the world as an ‘equipment adjuster’?”

Guild Master Kang Mujin asked my intentions with a serious face that held not a trace of a smile.

* * *

To Guild Master Kang Mujin, who asked with an utterly earnest expression whether I’d like to work as an equipment adjuster, the only words I could leave were, “Give me enough time to think it over.”

Fortunately, Guild Master Kang Mujin seemed not to expect an answer right away, saying he’d listen after I’d thought it over enough on my own.

He’d shown some surprising sides last time, but this really made me think that Guild Master Kang Mujin was a person with a truly upright character.

And so, after parting ways with Guild Master Kang Mujin, I ended up heading home with none other than Jeong Seojin.

That was because Mr. Yoon Juyeong had accepted a dungeon subjugation request from the government and was dispatched to that dungeon, and Avan was off somewhere else handling a personal favor I’d asked regarding the orphanage.

In my heart, I wanted to just go alone, but if I’d done that, Mr. Yoon Juyeong and Avan would definitely have cornered me for hours and lectured me, so in the end I’d asked Jeong Seojin, who was managing equipment at home, to come with me.

“Isn’t that a pretty good deal? Kang Mujin said he’d accommodate everything to suit you, right?”

“Looking just at the conditions, there’s nothing bad for me. Financially, and in terms of my own safety too. But… well, you’ve been with me long enough to know, but I don’t really like being the center of attention.”

Maybe it’s because I got a lot of strange looks growing up as an orphan. I tend to strongly dislike being stared at.

During my school years, I was semi-forced into roles like class president and vice president, so I got a lot of attention back then, but after becoming an adult, I thought that would stop and I’d live without standing out…

“Actually, that’s why it’s still burdensome in a lot of ways. Even though there was that explanation last time, it’s not like there aren’t people still paying attention to me.”

“Well… if that’s the case. I never planned to force you into something you don’t want in the first place. And we’re here now.”

“Ah, yes.”

I unbuckled my seatbelt at Jeong Seojin’s words, opened the car door, and stepped outside.

Unlike the car’s interior, which was cool from the air conditioner running on low, outside it was a bit muggy, as early summer weather tends to be.

“Come to think of it, Jeong Seojin, don’t you do dungeon raids?”

“I do. I’m away for two or three hours a day, aren’t I?”

“…You’re not telling me you clear a dungeon in just two or three hours, are you?”

“Yeah. Oh, the dungeon I’m targeting for an item lately is A+-Rank, so it’s not that hard a place.”

“Even if it’s lower than your own rank… it’s still a dungeon.”

Considering that the average time to clear a dungeon is generally estimated at around ten to twelve hours, Jeong Seojin’s claim was not just extraordinary — it was the kind of thing no one would believe.

I reflexively started to ask if that was even possible, but then I suddenly remembered that he wasn’t just an S-Rank hunter, but an S+-Rank hunter, and shut my mouth.

‘Right, the current Jeong Seojin is stronger than even Mr. Yoon Juyeong, who I saw up close being absurdly powerful.’

Maybe it was because I’d seen an S-Rank hunter’s prowess right in front of me. I could accept Jeong Seojin’s unbelievable claims more easily than I’d expected.

After saying, “I guess S+-Rank hunters really are something else,” I picked a spot in the shade and walked toward the front gate.

‘The password… got it.’

I entered the password Mr. Yoon Juyeong had told me once, and as I passed through the opened gate, the garden that Mr. Yoon Juyeong and Avan had carefully tended came into view.

Even though I’d seen it several times by now, the garden was still beautiful. I passed by the colorful flowers blooming in season and approached the house.

“Boss.”

“Yes?”

“There’s some mail here.”

While I was crossing the garden and getting right up to the front door, Jeong Seojin, who was still standing by the gate, pulled something out of the mailbox.

I took my hand off the doorknob and looked at Jeong Seojin, who was walking toward me.

“Is that Mr. Yoon Juyeong’s? I haven’t changed my residential address yet.”

“There’s one for Yoon Juyeong and one for you.”

“Huh?”

One for me too?

I hadn’t told the orphanage where I lived, so it couldn’t be from the Director, and it couldn’t be from my old workplace either.

Not only had I not given my address to the workplace, but I’d submitted my resignation and had it accepted before going into that tutorial dungeon last time.

I grabbed the doorknob again, opened the door, and took the letter Jeong Seojin held out as he came up to where I was. As he’d said, one was addressed to Mr. Yoon Juyeong, and the other was addressed to me.

I turned the doorknob and checked the sender’s name written on the envelope.

“Oh?”

“Ah… that guy.”

The sender’s name on the envelope belonged to someone very familiar. Forgetting to step inside through the open door, I stared blankly at the two characters written in rough handwriting on the envelope.

“That’s Louis, isn’t it? The ‘Dragon King.’”

“Yeah, that’s him. Fancy alias, but in reality, he’d lose even to the Sleeping Dragon, the boss monster of an unclaimed dungeon.”

“Well, to be fair, that could happen with an unclaimed dungeon. There’s a reason they’re called unclaimed dungeons.”

An unclaimed dungeon referred to a place with such an absurd difficulty level that even two or more S-Rank hunters couldn’t clear it.

In Korea, as Jeong Seojin had mentioned, there was a representative unclaimed dungeon called the ‘Sleeping Dragon’s Cave,’ whose boss was a monster named the ‘Sleeping Dragon.’

…Ah, come to think of it.

“Didn’t you, Mr. Jeong Seojin, once try to take it on alone and fail?”

“…Not anymore.”

“But you still failed back then, right? Once.”

“…….”

Jeong Seojin didn’t answer and avoided my gaze. He seemed reluctant to admit his defeat.