LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 5
Sigh…
After finishing the dissection and cleaning up the splatters all over the room, I straightened my back.
The work was done, and it was the final stage.
Now, all that was left was to carry the disassembled monster pieces outside.
I glanced around, and the place that had been in chaos earlier was now much cleaner.
Shit. What am I even doing right now?
A sudden wave of self-loathing hit me, and I lowered my head.
What the hell is this?
Why do I feel a sense of fulfillment here?
“Wow, Junwoo, is this your first time doing this?! Why are you so good at it!”
“…Well, I did my part.”
“Did your part? You did almost everything by yourself!”
Their expressions and tone had completely changed compared to before, and I was taken aback.
It was just cleaning, after all.
Even if they praised me, it only felt ridiculous.
“Alright. Sanghyuk, how much time do we have left?”
“5 minutes.”
“Plenty of time. Great job, everyone. Let’s head out.”
We then left the boss room, each carrying a piece of the disassembled monster.
Not long after we started walking down the corridor, the exit came into view.
Just as we were right in front of the exit, following Team Leader Park in the lead…
“…What’s going on?”
Suddenly, my legs stopped moving.
Looking down, I saw that the blood from the dissection had covered my knees and reached my toes.
“Team Leader! This guy can’t move!”
“What’s going on?”
“There’s blood on me! We need something to pull it off—”
Han Sanghyuk and Moon So-yeon were frantically looking around, clearly panicked.
In the midst of it all, I was the only one who looked unfazed.
Well, this wasn’t the first time I’ve stepped in this kind of mess…
“Stop making a fuss. Everyone, step back.”
I calmly extended my hand toward my leg.
The centipede’s blood was incredibly sticky, almost like glue. The adhesive power was so strong that even I, back when I was a Hunter, couldn’t escape from it with just strength alone.
Naturally, ordinary methods wouldn’t work.
“Uphwa.”
I cast a fire skill with the intent of melting it. This should be enough.
[Skill Acquired: Combustion] [Skill Inactive] [This skill is locked.]
“…Ah.”
I forgot that all my skills were locked.
But there was no need to panic. I immediately started thinking calmly.
‘Hmm… This is bad, huh?’
I came to the conclusion that there was no way out.
“Sanghyuk! You brought rope, right?”
“Yes, here it is!”
“Quick, tie me up! Hee-jang, you grab from the back, So-yeon, you too!”
Despite the urgency, the team members continued trying various things.
“One, two, three!!”
The powerful voice of Team Leader Park echoed down the corridor.
Four people exerted all their strength, but it didn’t budge an inch.
Of course.
Even before my stats reached their peak in my previous life, I couldn’t break free by pure strength alone.
“Damn it, how much time is left?”
“1 minute… No, 55 seconds left.”
“We’re running out of time. Junwoo, take off your protective suit quickly!”
“Wait, the gas levels are too high! It’s too dangerous…”
“Then, do you want us all to get trapped here together?”
Team Leader Park shot a serious look at Moon So-yeon’s comment.
But I didn’t understand what he meant by “getting trapped together.”
What does that even mean?
I was the only one who couldn’t move—why would we all get trapped?
Cutting off a lizard’s tail is an extremely inefficient method.
But no matter how inefficient or costly, they’ll cut it off when the situation calls for it. It’s the only way to survive.
That’s what a last resort is.
But somehow…
“What are you doing?! I said take off your protective suit!”
“Let’s just take the top off and try pulling again with the rope!”
“Hey! Are you not paying attention, you idiot?!”
They were acting worse than a lizard.
“That’s not going to work. Everyone, out.”
“What?! What are you going to do?!”
“What do you think I’m going to do? The people who can survive should survive!”
“What about you, Team Leader?”
“Do you know why I’m the Team Leader?”
“Are you seriously going to say that again? This is actually really dangerous…”
“Get out now!!”
Once Team Leader Park confirmed that the others were turning their backs and leaving, he quickly started removing my protective suit.
As soon as my upper body was exposed, a sudden heat spread throughout my entire body.
But it didn’t last long.
Team Leader Park immediately took off his own protective suit and covered me with it.
“10 seconds left!”
Hearing Han Sanghyuk’s voice from outside the dungeon, my body moved on its own.
I hurriedly took off the bloodstained suit, and Team Leader Park quickly supported me, helping me run full speed toward the exit.
“2 seconds!!”
Just as we threw ourselves out of the exit—
Zing!
The dungeon vanished.
Gasp, gasp…
The heavy breathing of someone, along with the voices of the team members, filled the air.
Team Leader Park waved his hand, reassuring us that everything was fine.
Even so, there was a sense of relief that we had somehow made it out alive.
What is this?
After everything had settled down, I began to realize what had almost happened to me.
Did I almost die?
In a dungeon that had no monsters and was already cleared?
Was I really about to die just from cleaning up?
It was a shocking realization.
No, it was a huge shock, and I was still in disbelief when…
“Junwoo, are you okay?!”
Team Leader Park reached out his hand.
“Ah… well, yeah.”
“Luckily, the gas concentration wasn’t as high as we thought. That was a close call.”
“…Yeah.”
Taking Team Leader Park’s hand, I got back on my feet.
At that moment, I noticed the burns on his hands in several places.
It didn’t seem that severe, though. With proper first aid, he should avoid scarring.
“Phew, that was quite the trouble on the first dungeon of the day! Let’s just think of it as a bit of bad luck! Hahaha!”
Team Leader Park continued to laugh heartily, and the team members let out relieved sighs as well.
And just as I almost smiled unconsciously…
“…Wait a minute.”
Suddenly, I realized something strange in Team Leader Park’s words.
“Huh? What’s up?”
“You just said it was the ‘first dungeon’ today…”
“Of course! There are still a few more left.”
“How many more…?”
I asked casually, and Team Leader Park grinned, holding up his hand to show me all five fingers.
***
The operations team has 8 teams just in the Seoul headquarters.
There are 96 teams across all regional branches nationwide.
When counting in civilian guilds and freelancers not affiliated with the association, there are about 11,300 registered hunters in the country.
Given that hundreds of dungeons appear across the nation every month, that number seems reasonable when considering stability.
However, the dungeon cleaning teams at the Seoul headquarters consist of only five teams.
And the total team members are…
25 people.
In other words, each team must clean an average of 3.3 dungeons per day.
Of course, that’s just an average.
If luck is bad, a team might need to enter a dungeon five times in a day, as the team leader said.
Unfortunately, today was one of those “bad luck” days.
After surviving that, I had four more dungeons to clean.
“Alright. Since today’s a ‘bad luck day,’ it’s time for a company dinner!”
It was already past 10 PM.
After all the work was done, Team Leader Park announced.
“You’re not paying for this, right?”
“What are you talking about? The boss always pays for things like this.”
“Every time the boss pays, what does the boss eat? What’s the difference in our salaries? It’s fine. Let’s go Dutch this time.”
“Come on, give me a break today.”
Despite Im Hee-jang’s objections, Team Leader Park didn’t back down.
The team members shook their heads and followed him out.
“Junwoo, you’re coming too, right?”
Team Leader Park turned and called out to me.
By now, the “-ssi” honorific had disappeared from how he addressed me.
“You were the MVP today, after all. Honestly, I didn’t expect this much from you.”
“Just what kind of work did you do to know everything about dungeons?”
“Not just dungeons. You even know the monsters’ traits.”
Their attitude toward me was completely different from this morning.
“Alright, let’s move to a different place to talk more. I have a lot of questions.”
“Let’s go somewhere nearby. I’m tired.”
“You can come in my car. I’ll just call a driver.”
“Hey, what are you doing? Hurry up!”
“…I didn’t say I was going.”
At my words, the mood grew cold.
I had expected this, but I definitely wasn’t planning to join in.
But that’s that…
“Uhm…”
After hesitating, I finally spoke to Team Leader Park.
“Uhm… today…”
“Hm? Don’t worry too much. I’m not forcing you to come to the dinner. I’d prefer it if you didn’t! Hahaha!”
“No, it’s not that… never mind.”
I couldn’t find the words and gave up.
I turned my back and left without saying goodbye.
As I took a few steps away, I heard a voice.
“Good job today, you bastard.”
It was Han Sanghyuk.
And then…
“…See you tomorrow, Junwoo.”
Moon So-yeon’s voice followed, softly.
***
When I arrived at my rundown house, I collapsed onto the bed.
Team Leader Park isn’t the one.
The person who killed me in my previous life wasn’t Team Leader Park.
He wasn’t ruthless enough to have someone killed for personal vengeance.
Then who could it be?
If there’s someone among them who has a grudge against me…
Tch, damn it.
There are too many suspects.
Looking back now, every single one of them seems suspicious.
The youngest member of our team, Yang Gwan-mo, who used to yell at me all the time.
Hwang Dong-hwi from the Control Team, who would always throw insults my way.
Min Yoo-jin, who fought with me and left in a rage.
And so on.
I was racking my brain, trying to figure out who it could be, when suddenly…
Sigh… What good is it now?
A wave of despair washed over me, draining all the strength from my body.
Everything felt pointless. After all, I was just a janitor with no skills.
And the person who killed me probably wasn’t even someone I knew in this life, so what meaning was there in seeking revenge now?
In the end, if I truly wanted revenge, the first thing I needed to do was clear away this damn karma and return to my past life.
And to do that…
The Secretary-General of the International Ability Association…
I scratched my head in frustration.
Damn it, if only I had skills, I could at least try to fight back.
Whether I became a Hunter again, or joined the Control Team, either way, I’d quit being a janitor right away.
Sigh, if only I had skills…
I was lost in my thoughts when a sudden memory flashed through my mind, making me sit up straight.
“System open!”
[To unlock existing skills, you must meet the requirements for each one – Click to view details]
That’s right.
Earlier in the morning, I hadn’t been able to properly check due to the situation, but I could unlock them by meeting the conditions.
Alright.
Now that this was the case, I’d focus on regaining my skills, forget about being a janitor for now.
Finding the culprit or becoming the Secretary-General could come after that.
With that hope in mind, I opened the unlock conditions.
[Archangel – Unlock condition: Dungeon cleaner’s average annual salary over 60 million KRW]
[Breakthrough – Unlock condition: Dungeon cleaning team competition rate over 30:1]
[Omnipotent – Unlock condition: Dungeon cleaning job, 20s preferred job rank #1]
[Rolling Paper – Unlock condition: Dungeon cleaner’s full-time conversion rate over 50%]
…
[The Demon King – Unlock condition: Unknown]
“Shit.”
At the same time, I felt a wave of despair.
Every single condition was related to the cleaning team.
This is too much.
And the conditions practically screamed for me to bury myself in the cleaning team for good.
Damn karma… so thorough…
Once again, all my energy drained away.
I collapsed back onto the bed and pulled the blanket over my head.
But it didn’t last long.
[Passive skill acquired: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder]
[Passive activated]
“Agh, damn it…”
I sat up again, looked around the pigsty of a room, and began cleaning.
***
That night.
Perhaps I was more tired than I realized, because I fell into a deep sleep.
[Unlock condition met]
[First day of work]
Faintly, I heard a voice in my mind.
[Skill acquired: Hyper Boost – Unlock complete]