I’ll Retire After Saving the World - Chapter 3
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Chapter 3 – Unwanted Opportunity (2)
The mana around the dungeon gate was distorted.
This was due to the refraction of mana caused by the dimensional passage, which became more unstable as the dungeon break approached.
That’s why mana detectors were installed around the gate to measure the danger level.
A level 1 danger meant the dungeon could collapse at any moment. So when the danger level reached 2, a raid team was quickly dispatched to close the dungeon.
This was the modern method of dungeon management.
However, dungeons remained a mysterious phenomenon, with their origins still unknown.
Occasionally, a dungeon would unpredictably spike in danger level, behaving erratically.
No matter how diligently the Ability Management Office worked, there was no way to prevent such incidents when they occurred.
“What the hell!”
“What’s happening?”
People in the bar were startled as their phones simultaneously emitted a piercing alarm. The deafening alert signaled a dungeon break, notifying the entire nation regardless of location.
“A dungeon collapse?”
“A dungeon collapse? Where?”
Naturally, I received the notification too.
If it was the Bangi-dong 1 Dungeon, that was what Yoo Jieun had warned about. She’d be bragging about her foresight for days.
But that wasn’t the issue. Before I could make a call, my phone rang. I answered immediately.
― S-sir, it’s a disaster!
A frantic voice assaulted my eardrums. I moved the phone slightly away from my ear and spoke.
“I’m aware. It’s the Bangi-dong dungeon, right? It’s a D-class dungeon, so nothing too serious should come out. It’s in a densely populated area, so the damage will be significant, but… Request immediate assistance from all guilds in Seoul.”
“It’s not at a D-class level!”
“What?”
“Something enormous has emerged! Half of Songpa District has been obliterated!!!”
What?
“The Director has already deployed the hunters who were on standby at headquarters, but honestly, I don’t know. We’ve never seen anything like this!”
The voice of the situation room staff was on the verge of panic.
This wasn’t some newbie; it was an experienced employee.
This made no sense.
“Kyungmin, calm down. Take a deep breath. I’m coming up. You can arrange for a helicopter, right? Send it. I’ll be there immediately.”
“Please hurry…”
Half of Songpa District, gone? In this day and age? Unbelievable.
But if the Director had taken charge, it should have been resolved quickly. He was the strongest hunter, after all.
By the time I arrived in Seoul, it would probably be over.
Still, if it became known that the chief was on vacation while a dungeon broke, there’d be another hearing. Just when I had finally taken some time off.
Grinding my teeth, I downed the rest of my drink and left the bar.
* * *
“Depart immediately.”
“Yes, sir.”
I sighed as I settled into the police helicopter.
My phone kept pinging with alerts. Dungeon break notifications were relentless.
Dungeon break area. Hunters dispatched. Evacuation advisory for Songpa District.
But this time, the alert wasn’t just from my phone. My mana watch was also going off.
Why would my mana watch be alerting now…
“Sir?”
The police officer piloting the helicopter called out in a trembling voice.
“Th-there, on the highway, is that… a monster?”
I opened the holographic display.
Dungeon Danger Level Overview.
!!Busan Hwamyeong-dong 1 Dungeon (E) – 00000000000
!!Gyeongnam Yangsan 13 Dungeon (C) – 00000000000
!!Seoul Gwanak Mountain 3 Dungeon (C) – 00000000000
!!Gangwon Taebaek 9 Dungeon (A) – 00000000000
!!…
!!…
!!…
“Shit. What the hell is this?”
Unless my mana watch had gone crazy, every dungeon in South Korea was exploding like fireworks.
* * *
Seoul was burning.
“There.”
I wasn’t even sure how I had managed to arrive in Seoul.
The screams of people echoed continuously below the helicopter.
I didn’t look down. There was no way to save them.
I just considered it a stroke of luck that we hadn’t encountered any flying monsters.
“Forget about getting back to Busan, and since we didn’t see any flying monsters on the way here, look around and see if you can find any survivors. If it gets too dangerous, find somewhere that looks safe.”
I wasn’t sure there were any safe places left. But I said it anyway.
“Whatever you do, don’t go near the city center.”
In this situation, leaving someone who isn’t a hunter alone is tantamount to a death sentence. The police officer knew this too.
But I couldn’t take him with me either.
“What about you, sir?”
“I’m heading that way.”
I pointed towards the city center, where the Ability Management Office was located.
Starting from the Bangi-dong Dungeon, every dungeon in Korea had exploded.
During the flight to Seoul, both my phone and my mana watch had fallen silent. I had stopped checking them midway through the trip.
I didn’t know what had emerged from the Bangi-dong Dungeon.
Whatever it was, Seoul was now finished.
The city was burning, and the Han River was blackened. The stench of decay permeated the air, undeterred by the flames on the water.
No matter how this situation was resolved, Seoul was no longer habitable.
“…”
The police officer looked at me with a complex expression.
He and I were in the same position. There was no way to survive this.
Knowing this.
“Good luck.”
“…You too, sir.”
Leaving the police helicopter behind, I walked towards the Ability Management Office.
As expected, there were no signs of life. What remained in Seoul were flames, the remnants of buildings, and monsters.
“Kieee!”
“…”
I obtained my hunter license in high school.
Renewed it a few times in college to raise my rank.
After graduating, I joined the Ability Management Office. Since then, I had been working at a desk job.
Even though I was a desk worker, the Director had taken me hiking every weekend. He would make me train in a clearing near the mountain’s summit.
Excited, that I could soon raise my rank again. Not me, the Director.
What had the old man said back then?
“Hwijae, you need to learn skills to survive.”
I didn’t think that skill meant this, but…
He was right.
I picked up a sword lying at my feet.
A charred corpse lay a little further away.
While tigers leave behind their skins when they die, unknown hunters leave behind their weapons.
Navigating past the monsters I encountered, I kept moving forward.
There weren’t many monsters, whether they had been killed by hunters in Seoul or burned together in the fire.
I proceeded cautiously.
In the last news I checked inside the helicopter, the same phenomenon was occurring worldwide. It wasn’t just Korea; dungeons were collapsing everywhere.
“What the hell is going on?”
Ever since I left the research lab, the future I desired was simple.
Hand off all the annoying tasks to others and just enjoy the comfort that comes with it.
That’s what the lab director had said.
Thanks to the oversight lady, that vision had become a bit more concrete. In human society, the higher you climb, the more you can enjoy.
I had lived for that.
There wasn’t much time left now. The sturdy road had been laid out.
My desired future was worthless without someone to support me.
That’s why I had to check if there were any survivors.
…I had to check.
“Shit, shit, shit…”
I checked the mana watch again.
mana watches could be linked to each other.
There was only one connected mana watch.
The Director had grumbled about privacy violations, but in the end, he shrugged it off, saying, you are my son after all.
If a parent’s heart wanted to check if their child was safe and sound, who could blame them?
Had the old man confirmed that I was safe? Had he peacefully passed away knowing that I was still alive?
[Director]
No response.
No signal of any kind.
The old man was dead.
Korea’s strongest hunter was dead.
From Songpa to crossing the Han River, I followed the trail that continued to be pitch black.
It was in the direction of the Ability Management Office.
Occasionally, polluted puddles were visible. Signs of battles had occurred.
Near Namsan, I saw part of the creature. It looked like an insect’s leg. A single leg was larger than me.
The neatly severed section was the old man’s handiwork.
There were traces of other hunters that I could recognize. They must have all died too.
The stench hit my nose. It smelled like decay emanating from the severed body.
The bodily fluids themselves were toxic. They didn’t disappear despite the flickering flames.
This fire wasn’t an ordinary fire; it was filled with unpleasant mana.
What on earth had happened?
“Cough!”
“…!”
It was the sound of coughing.
A survivor!
“…Parachute?”
She had been so irritating just before she left, but now I was tearfully glad to see her face.
There was only one person who would call me like that.
“Ajumma!”
“Cough, damn it. Don’t call me that.”
“Hunter Yoo Jieun shouldn’t call me a parachute either.”
We exchanged sharp words as usual. Actually, it was a much kinder tone than usual.
I ran to Yoo Jieun’s side and inspected the wounds.
There wasn’t a single spot on her from head to toe that wasn’t injured.
The most serious was her abdomen. I didn’t know what had pierced her, but the bleeding hadn’t stopped.
Blood gushed out every time Yoo Jieun opened her mouth.
“Cough… damn it, I told you something was wrong.”
“What happened?”
“If I knew, would I be like this?”
The vomited blood was black. It was poison. The stench rose from the wound. I grimaced.
I knew it was futile, but I took out the emergency potion I carried with me.
Yoo Jieun scoffed.
“Why? It’s expensive.”
“You’re the one carrying it, so it must be good. But you know it’s useless.”
“You won’t know until you try.”
I applied the potion to the wound. Bubbles bubbled up and then subsided. The bleeding stopped briefly but started flowing again.
Yoo Jieun chuckled.
“You said we had to strategize.”
“Who’d listen if you say something feels weird out of the blue? Even Hunter Yoo Jieun wasn’t sure.”
“Ignoring a hunter’s instincts?”
“What else is less reliable than that?”
“Fair point.”
I emptied several high-grade potions in succession. The wound remained unchanged. The bleeding didn’t stop.
I grabbed the potion bottle in frustration and threw it.
“Hey, I’m done for anyway.”
“…What do you want me to do?”
“Take this.”
Yoo Jieun reached out her hand.
Clang.
As it touched my hand, I immediately realized what it was from the sensation.
“The teacher’s… No, you couldn’t possibly know.”
An identification tag with a worn leather strap.
A familiar name was engraved on the identification tag made of thin metal.
Hong Seokyoung.
I clenched the identification tag tightly. The item, originally meant for a different purpose, now only retained its original appearance.
“I brought just this in case. It was lucky.”
“What’s lucky about it?”
“Still, it should be held by his son.”
“I’m not even his real son.”
“You’re the only one left who could be the teacher’s son. Let’s at least give him a proper funeral.”
Yoo Jieun said casually.
“Without a body?”
“Have you seen a hunter hold a funeral with a body?”
I closed my mouth, realizing she was right.
Yoo Jieun remained silent for a long time after that. With her eyes closed, she almost looked like a corpse.
Feeling a sudden fear, I spoke.
“Yoo Jieun, I won’t give you a hunter’s funeral, so don’t die.”
“Kid. Even if you say that, it can’t be changed.”
“I’m telling you not to die.”
“Is that up to me? Just staying alive this long is a miracle.”
Yoo Jieun coughed up a black lump along with blood.
“Hey.”
“…..”
“Woo Hwijae.”
“…..”
“…Why.”
“Let me see your face.”
Yoo Jieun, the head of the office and my adoptive father’s favorite student, smiled even as she was dying.
“Do you remember when you were little you used to follow me around calling me ‘big sister’?”
“When did I ever…?”
“You were cute then, but as you grew up, you lost that charm…”
Yoo Jieun chuckled.
“Hwijae.”
No matter what I did, the bleeding wouldn’t stop. The blood kept flowing. There were no more potions left.
“Look over there.”
“Stop talking.”
“Over there.”
“I said shut up.”
“I have my sword.”
“Call me ‘big sister’ one more time and I’ll shut up…”
“I know you took after the teacher and learned to use a spear, but still, take it. It’s a good weapon.”
I looked up at Yoo Jieun.
She smiled broadly. It had been more than ten years, but Yoo Jieun’s face still retained the look of the high school girl I first met.
“You have to live.”
Those were Yoo Jieun’s last words.
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