I’ll Retire After Saving the World - Chapter 2
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Chapter 2 – Unwanted Opportunity (1)
19 years later.
Seoul, Jung-gu, South Korea, Third Floor of the Ability Management Office, Second Meeting Room.
A large screen covering one wall displayed a map of Seoul. A man in a perfectly tailored suit stood in front of it and spoke.
“Yeongdeungpo Dungeon 2 and Inwangsan Dungeon 1 have both been upgraded to danger level 2 as of 9:42 AM and 10:17 AM respectively.”
Though his voice was monotonous, he spoke quietly.
The hunters, who had already been briefed on the dungeon raids, listened to the man’s explanation with a lazy posture.
The man frowned.
“Are you not paying attention? Even if they are classified as B and C level dungeons, the interior becomes unstable once the danger level increases. Stay alert. Don’t fumble when you go in.”
Only then did the hunters sit up straight. The man, looking dissatisfied, continued his explanation.
“Team 2 will handle the B2 level Yeongdeungpo Dungeon. Team 2, any changes?”
“Nope.”
A woman sitting at the very back of the meeting room answered indifferently. The man ignored her attitude.
“Team 1 is at the Taean Dungeon, and Teams 3 and 4 just returned from a dungeon and are resting. An external guild will handle the Inwangsan Dungeon.”
This was already known information.
“Supplies are ready. Team 2 leader, check again to make sure nothing is missing. Entry time for the dungeon is 2 PM.”
The man glanced at the clock. It was just signaling lunchtime.
The man looked at the hunters with a displeased expression and spoke.
“Any questions?”
“…”
“I didn’t think so. Then go have your meal, and Team 2, review the dungeon information and stand by. The situation room will cover for me while I’m gone. Dismissed.”
The man unilaterally ended the meeting. Since it was just a dungeon raid briefing, no one objected.
After the hunters rushed out, only the man and the woman sitting at the back of the room remained.
The man frowned at the woman, but soon his expression softened, and he smiled brightly.
“What is it, Hunter Yoo Jieun?”
“The dungeon I mentioned?”
“Dungeon?”
The man tilted his head to the side and then slowly said, “Ah, that one.”
“The Bangi-dong Dungeon? It turned out to be just a D-level dungeon.”
Yoo Jieun frowned.
“Dungeon grade and danger level are different. I’m telling you, it needs to be raided.”
“The danger level is 6. Dungeon raids start at danger level 2. You remember that, right? With your experience, you should know.”
“I have a bad feeling about it.”
The man sighed openly.
“If we start raiding a D6-level dungeon just because of a bad feeling, it would be problematic. Do you know what resources come from the Bangi-dong Dungeon? Mana stones, mana stones. If we close it carelessly, who knows what ridiculous headlines will come out in the news.”
“Hey.”
“No matter how much of an S-rank hunter you are, you can’t ignore procedures. Do you know what people call that? Abuse of power, it’s called abuse of power.”
“That’s what you’re doing, parachute.”
The man’s eyes widened.
“Have you ever seen such a capable parachute?”
“If you weren’t doing your job well, I would have already canned you.”
“If a hunter attacks a civil servant, it won’t end with just a simple assault charge.”
The man gathered his briefing materials and walked past the woman, indicating he wouldn’t listen anymore.
The woman hesitated and then spoke.
“…I really have a bad feeling about that place.”
“So if you want to raid it, come back with solid evidence. There’s nothing less reliable than a hunter’s intuition.”
“You have a hunter’s license too, you know?”
“Exactly, which is why I don’t trust it.”
The man looked at her and then smiled gently.
“If I were you, I’d spend my time preparing for the raid rather than making pointless suggestions. Oh, and…”
His smile turned into a smug smirk.
“You’re Yoo Jieun, after all. I’m sure you’ll handle it just fine without me. Feel free to waste as many supplies as you like.”
“Seriously? You’re really leaving? Right before a raid? Aren’t you supposed to work?”
“I’ve already done more than enough work.”
The man turned his back to her and headed for the door.
“As it happens, I’m on vacation starting at 2 PM. Don’t contact me.”
“Hey! Woo Hwijae!”
He added in an irritatingly sweet voice.
“Not that you could contact me once you’re in the dungeon anyway. Perfect timing.”
The woman’s face twisted in frustration.
* * *
Two days later, at night.
Busan, South Korea. A luxury bar with an ocean view.
Soft jazz played in the background as a commotion arose at a window-side table.
“Oh my, so this is what they were talking about in the news?”
A man in a fine suit rolled up his sleeve, revealing a rugged watch that didn’t match his outfit.
With a sheepish smile, he replied.
“It’s the ambitious project of the government and the Korea mana Research Institute. It’s still in the testing phase, so there are only two of these in all of South Korea.”
His words were very modest. At least, that’s what I thought.
Why?
Because this was one of only two prototypes in the entire world, not just South Korea!
“Wow…”
I looked at the women with pride.
Normally, I’d be sipping a drink alone in a high-rise hotel, gazing at the night view. But today, I was on vacation.
Talking with civilians instead of the hunters I see every day was a nice change of pace. It was also a good chance to see what people thought about the Ability Management Office.
…Oh. Maybe I shouldn’t mention that I work there.
“That’s really amazing, isn’t it?”
It’s incredibly amazing.
The struggles I went through to develop this flashed before my eyes.
“You must be a really impressive hunter!”
Listening to the innocent admiration of civilians felt calming after hearing the nonsensical chatter of hunters all the time.
“I do have a license, but I’m not a hunter.”
“Then…?”
“Didn’t you say you work for the Ability Management Office?”
They seemed confused by the idea of having a hunter’s license but not being a hunter. It’s understandable that civilians wouldn’t know the inner workings of the office.
If you’re not interested, you wouldn’t know.
I smiled kindly.
“Yes. But the Ability Management Office employs more than just hunters.”
The Ability Management Office oversees all hunters and dungeons in South Korea.
Since modern society can’t function properly without hunters and dungeons, the office tends to concentrate a lot of societal power.
Given the importance of this work, we can’t just leave it all to the hunters, who might not be the sharpest tools in the shed. While hunters are the core of dungeon raids, there are other individuals handling all the additional tasks. I’m one of them.
Or rather, I’m the one who manages those people. That’s me.
Would an ordinary employee have a prototype that only exists in two units in all of South Korea?
“My role is to support hunters so they can focus on dungeon raids. I’m directly under the Director-General.”
“The Director-General of the Management Office! The greatest hunter in our country!”
Their initially indifferent reaction changed dramatically. It’s handy to drop his name at times like these.
I smiled and nodded.
I had more stories up my sleeve for moments like this.
“Yes. Embarrassing to say, but he’s my father.”
“Your father?”
“Technically, he’s my adoptive father.”
“Oh…”
The women responded automatically.
“I lost my parents in an accident when I was young. The Director-General saved me, adopted me, and raised me.”
It’s not a lie.
It’s true.
He really did save me, and he did adopt me.
“I studied hard to repay his kindness, and now I work under him. Ah, but please don’t misunderstand—I’m not just a nepotism hire.”
That part’s a lie. It was really nepotism.
But it’s not like I didn’t deserve it. I just used the system to become a civil servant.
Extra points for a hunter’s license and such.
I didn’t create a system out of thin air; I just used what was there. That’s not really nepotism.
Not at all.
Maybe someone as rigid as Yoo Jieun would think otherwise, but even during the Director-General’s confirmation hearing, there was no issue.
The women in front of me seemed to think the same.
“Of course. He’s known for being fair and just.”
“Actually, it’s cool that a father and son work together.”
When people hear about an orphan adopted after losing their parents in an accident, they usually react like this.
“So how did you end up in Busan? On a business trip?”
“It’s a vacation to celebrate my promotion. I didn’t plan on coming, but I was forced to take a break since I hadn’t taken a single day off since last year.”
This was half-true.
But my playful remark made the women burst into laughter.
“Haha, working too much isn’t good either. You need to relax sometimes.”
“So you’re all on vacation too?”
“Yes, we’re on vacation as well.”
“Oh, I hope I’m not intruding on your time…”
Just as they had flattered me, I returned the favor. This give-and-take builds trust in modern society, doesn’t it?
That’s how we help each other.
“Thanks to you, we got to see something cool. Can you show it to us again?”
One of the women pointed to the device on my wrist.
“What was it called? I heard it earlier, but it was too long…”
“It’s a hunter-exclusive miniature multimodal communication device. We just call it a mana watch. It has more functions than a regular watch.”
Developed under the government, it will be distributed primarily to hunters in the Ability Management Office. It will take at least another ten years before it’s available to the public.
This watch will become the center of dungeon raids…
“It just looks like a regular watch.”
“That watch is pretty ugly too.”
“I’m not saying Hwijae wears ugly watches.”
The women giggled among themselves.
“I need to brag about this at work. Hwijae, can I take a picture of it?”
I shook my head.
I just wanted to hear genuine admiration for once, tired of dealing with hunters who didn’t appreciate the value of this watch. But I wasn’t about to reveal confidential information to civilians.
“Sorry, it’s still classified.”
“Wow, it’s classified…”
“The information will be public soon enough, but I can’t risk any unnecessary gossip.”
“Of course, we understand.”
As a public servant, avoiding unnecessary scandals is crucial.
There’s an old saying that the pen is mightier than the sword.
A good saying.
Invisible power can be more dangerous than visible power.
“It looks just like a watch, but it’s not just a watch, right? How do you use it?”
“You register a mana pattern so that only the owner can use it. Hold on, I’ll adjust it so you can read it too.”
I changed the settings on the mana watch. Since only two units existed, not all functions were active, but the basic ones worked fine.
It’s already helpful in my work…. I needed something impressive to show the civilians.
This will do.
A holographic screen appeared above the watch. The screen, usually patterned to be visible only to me, was adjusted to be readable by anyone without a hint of mana power.
“Wow…”
“What’s this? A list of… dungeon threats?”
I glanced at the screen and explained.
“It’s the status of all the dungeons in the country. It’s linked to a mana detector, so we can check the dungeon status in real time.”
Seoul Yeongdeungpo 2 Dungeon (B) – Danger Level 2
Seoul Inwangsan 1 Dungeon (C) – Danger Level 2
Chungnam Taean 3 Dungeon (A) – Danger Level 3
…
“They’re sorted by danger level… Dungeons from level 2 and above are immediate raid targets. These three are currently being raided.”
“Oh… I saw this on the news.”
“They went in a couple of days ago, so they should be finishing up soon. It’ll probably be on the news tomorrow as a completed raid.”
The women marveled at the holographic screen while I leisurely sipped my cocktail.
Sometimes, it’s nice to enjoy a vacation.
“Uh?”
“Umm… Hey, Hwijae?”
“Yes?”
“This dungeon… its danger level just shot up. Is that okay?”
“What?”
I urgently checked the info screen. Dungeons with rapidly changing danger levels appeared at the top.
One dungeon was blinking, its numbers changing rapidly.
Seoul Bangi-dong 1 Dungeon (D) – Danger Level 5
Seoul Bangi-dong 1 Dungeon (D) – Danger Level 3
Seoul Bangi-dong 1 Dungeon (D) – Danger Level 1
“…!”
I jumped up from my seat.
!!Seoul Bangi-dong 1 Dungeon (D) – 00000000000
The dungeon had exploded.
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