The Dungeon Cleaning Life of a Once Genius Hunter

The Korea Dimension Management Association.

Commonly known as the Association, it has four main teams:

The Command and Control Team, which monitors dungeon occurrences and collects information about the dungeons.

The Hunter Support Team, which manufactures appropriate weapons and items for individual hunters and supports their overall activities.

The Operations Team, which physically enters the dungeons to hunt monsters.

And…

“Hi, Hwi, are you disinfecting?”

“I am, but the passage is wider than I expected. I think we might run out of disinfectant.”

“If we spray it wide enough, it should be enough. Sanghyuk, check the boss room location. Sooyeon, monitor the internal gas levels!”

“Yes, understood.”

“The boss is quite large, so it will take some time to dismantle it. Let’s hurry.”

The dungeon cleaning team, whose work I didn’t even know about.

I watched them walking in a line from the back, and all I could think was one thing:

“Seriously, why do they have to act so busy?”

That was understandable. Commands were coming and going up front, but I could hardly hear them from the back.

To be honest, I didn’t really want to hear them either.

As I walked absentmindedly, lost in thought, I suddenly heard a voice.

“Uh, uh? Junwoo! Where are you going?!”

Team Leader Park urgently called out to me.

“Sorry?”

“This is a cave-type dungeon. You can’t just wander around on your own like that, it’s dangerous!”

“You said you were going to the boss room, right?”

“Exactly! So follow me closely. The boss room is over there.”

“That’s not right. The boss room is this way.”

“…What?”

At my words, everyone’s attention shifted to me.

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

“Let’s ignore him and just go our way.”

“If you don’t want to do it, just say it.”

I was met with a barrage of complaints.

“Hey, this is the dungeon map that the Command Team gave us. Take a look with your own eyes and see where the boss room is.”

Sanghyuk, who had been spouting harsh words since earlier, handed me the map he had been holding.

This is a cave-type dungeon.

The dungeon was characterized by its maze-like, complex pathways and numerous rooms.

Even experienced hunters could easily get lost if they made a mistake, but…

At this point, the dungeon had already been cleared.

It meant the mapping had been done by the hunters who participated in the operation.

And since the map was created by the Control Team based on that, it was impossible for there to be any errors…

“The map’s wrong. Anyway, it’s this way.”

I hadn’t expected much from the Control Team, but I couldn’t believe they were handling things like this.

“This is driving me crazy. Team Leader! Is this guy on something?”

“Why do you say that with such certainty?”

In the end, Team Leader Park approached and asked.

There was a serious look on his face, unlike before.

“What certainty? This dungeon was cleared by…”

I stopped speaking and let out a long sigh.

Forget it.

What was the point in saying anything? They wouldn’t believe me anyway.

“This dungeon was cleared by…?”

“It’s nothing. Just keep going.”

I shook my head and said.

The team continued walking down the damp corridor, still glaring at me, and I once again followed behind them.

Team Leader Park, perhaps concerned about my unease, had moved beside me instead of at the front.

We continued moving deeper into the dungeon in silence.

“By the way… what did you mean when you said there were 45 minutes left earlier?”

The question I’d been wondering about suddenly came to mind, and I casually asked Team Leader Park.

“That’s the time remaining before the dungeon closes. Have you heard of that?”

Ah, that’s what he meant.

All dungeons naturally disappear after a raid is completed.

The time it takes for a dungeon to close varies slightly, but on average it’s about 2 hours after the raid is finished.

Of course, for hunters who leave the dungeon right after the raid, it’s an insignificant detail.

So, I suppose it’s not surprising that I completely forgot about it…

But for the cleaning team entering after the raid, it becomes something different.

“To be honest, I don’t understand why we need a cleaning team for a dungeon that’s just going to disappear anyway.”

“Haha! You don’t know?”

I had asked the question sarcastically, but Team Leader Park simply seemed glad for my interest and laughed heartily.

“A dungeon doesn’t disappear; it enters a resting period. It stays like that until monsters repopulate it.”

“I know that much.”

“Then you understand quickly. But think about this—if the dungeon opens again and there are still monster corpses and other debris left inside, what would happen?”

“I don’t think it would matter much.”

Team Leader Park shook his head.

“First of all, hunters would have a hard time finding their way. And monster corpses decompose, releasing deadly gases. If left unchecked, it could be dangerous. More than that, if we don’t know what’s left in the dungeon, it restricts the hunters’ actions. And that directly affects the success of the raid.”

“…Ah, I see.”

“Well, to put it simply, our main job is to handle the monster corpses. We clean up any byproducts left in the dungeon and make sure no traces of the hunters remain. If necessary, we also rescue any hunters left behind. Though, that’s never happened so far.”

Of course, that’s not likely.

The idea of a cleaning crew rescuing hunters was something I had never heard of in my life.

‘But still…’

It wasn’t just about goofing off after all.

“We’ve arrived. According to the map, it’s that room.”

A large entrance located at the end of the passage.

The team members who had been walking ahead entered without hesitation.

“What’s this?”

Soon after, a panicked voice came from Han Sanghyuk.

When I, along with Team Leader Park, followed them into the room, we too reacted the same way as Han Sanghyuk.

The room was spotless, not a single monster corpse or even a strand of monster hair in sight.

“I told you. It’s not this one.”

“What? It really isn’t.”

“How could this…?”

Han Sanghyuk and the rest of the team had expressions of disbelief.

“Well, since we’re here, let’s just call it a day and head back.”

“What should we do, Team Leader?”

“How many minutes are left until the limit?”

“22 minutes.”

“22 minutes, huh…”

The atmosphere suddenly turned heavy.

Their voices became calmer.

“…What’s going on?”

I asked, but Team Leader Park seemed lost in thought, not responding.

“I think we have enough time. What about you all?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Better than getting caught.”

“Looks like we’re all in agreement. Let’s head back.”

The only woman in the team, Moon So-yeon, took matters into her own hands and made a decision.

In that moment, I was the one who became flustered.

“Wait, wait! What do you mean by ‘enough’?”

“Enough for what? We have to work, of course.”

“You said there’s 22 minutes left. What happens if the dungeon closes in that time?”

“A dungeon that’s closed will reopen in about a week, at the earliest. If it’s later…”

“Could take a year.”

“Then we’ll be trapped here, that’s all.”

Team Leader Park chuckled.

In other words, we’d die.

“You guys are crazy. You’re risking your lives over cleaning up this dungeon?”

“It’s always been like this. It’s just part of the job.”

“Fine, if you want to go first, go ahead. I didn’t expect much anyway.”

“Forget it. We’ll go on our own. This seems like your first dungeon, right?”

“…”

Han Sanghyuk and Im Hee-jang clicked their tongues and shot insults.

Moon So-yeon didn’t say anything but wore the same expression as them.

It was a look I had never seen in my life.

‘Hah…’

I’d been in the dungeon business for 15 years.

In all that time, I’d never failed a raid even once.

The result of that was being the world’s first to achieve SSS rank and rank first globally.

No one could criticize my dungeon career.

And yet…

Being ignored in a dungeon?

Kim Junwoo, of all people, ignored in a dungeon?

“There’s a small passage inside this room.”

“That guy’s starting again…”

“Shut up and follow me.”

I shot back coldly, and Han Sanghyuk’s eyes widened in surprise.

“The distance from here to the boss room is about 500 meters. If we take this passage, the shortest route, we can get there in 8 minutes. If we run, we can make it in under 5 minutes.”

“…Huh?”

“You’re going to the boss room, right? This time, I’ll be leading. If you have any objections, you can go ahead and leave.”

Without waiting for a response, I turned and started walking.

***

I sprinted down the maze-like passage.

There was no need to check the map.

Since I had already memorized the layout of this dungeon from the previous raid.

So, I didn’t even need to look at the expressions of the others following closely behind me.

They were probably all thinking the same thing.

‘What the hell is wrong with that guy?’

Before long, we arrived back at the boss room.

As expected, a massive monster lay dead in the middle of the room, its sticky green blood spilling everywhere.

Fox Trot Centipede.

A boss monster over 10 meters in size.

Looking at the state of the room, I could imagine what the battle must have been like.

It had been a fierce fight.

If it were a team of 20, there would probably be at least 5 or 6 casualties.

‘But still, somehow, they found the weak spot.’

The weak spot of the Fox Trot Centipede was the concave area right above its massive jaw.

There were clear signs that a sword had been driven into that exact spot.

“Is this your first time seeing a monster?”

“…What?”

“I was just wondering since you were staring blankly. It’s fine if you can’t touch it; you can step back. We’ll handle the dissection.”

As I continued to observe the dead monster, Im Hee-jang intervened.

Her tone was stiff, but there was no hostility like Han Sanghyuk’s.

“This is ridiculous.”

I grabbed the large dagger Im Hee-jang was holding.

“What… What are you doing?”

“You said you were going to dissect it. If you just jam the knife in without knowing what you’re doing, you’ll lose your wrist first.”

I moved closer to the centipede’s body.

Without a moment’s hesitation, I inserted the knife between the segments of its exoskeleton.

“As you can see, the knife only goes in between the 3rd, 6th, and 12th segments. The head and tail are off-limits, so don’t waste energy trying there. Looks like its nerves are still active, so it might twitch while you’re cutting. Don’t worry, it won’t attack, just ignore it.”

“…”

“What are you doing? Just watching?”

The team members stood there, stunned, with expressions of disbelief.

After I prompted them, they each drew their knives and came up alongside me.

“If you just poke it like that, it won’t get cut. You need to insert the knife at an angle and push up!”

“…”

“Don’t touch the tail. There have been hunters who died from its poison.”

“…”

“Also, there’s no poison in the blood, but it’s extremely sticky, so don’t step on it. If you do, you might be stuck forever.”

In the boss room, the only sounds were the scraping of knives and my voice.

But that didn’t last long. Soon, I could hear Han Sanghyuk and Team Leader Park whispering beside me.

“…Team Leader, you showed that guy the control team files earlier, didn’t you?”

“No.”

“Don’t lie. There’s no way a complete newbie would know that kind of thing. Like when we were looking for the boss room earlier. You showed him the file to make the rookie look good, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t show him anything… There’s no such info in the control team files.”

A brief silence.

I felt several eyes glancing at me.

“Then… how does that guy know about this?”

“How would I know?”

I didn’t bother to get involved in their conversation.

It was too bothersome to answer or explain, so I silently continued dissecting the centipede.

It was a strange situation, but as I worked, I didn’t question it at all.

Why had I suddenly jumped in to help with this?

Why was I disassembling the monster’s body and wiping the blood splattered around?

In fact, I didn’t even realize it.

[Passive Skill Obtained: Obsessive-compulsive Disorder] [Passive Skill Activated]

I was so engrossed in the task that I completely ignored the voice ringing in my head.