The Dungeon Cleaning Life of a Once Genius Hunter - Chapter 361

362

362. Epilogue Episode 1 Retirement (1)

“Why did you book a place like this?”

A high-end restaurant located in Cheongdam-dong.

Lee Ah-young, who had just entered the store, greeted me with a very surprised expression.

Whether we like it or not, we’re always clashing at work, so it’s been a while since we’ve had dinner together, so what’s so new?… It’s been a

while since I’ve been in a mood like this, so it’s not like I can’t understand her reaction.

When Lee Ah-young sat down across from me, the waiter brought wine and poured it into our glasses as if he had been waiting.

“Well, you and I have been pretty busy these days. “It feels like it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.”

“Well, it was hectic one way or another.”

Under the soft table lighting, Lee Ah-young smiled, resting her chin.

“But now I can take a breather. “All preparations for the end have been completed… Now it’s really time to go back.”

Lee Ayoung said.

“It’s a world without dungeons and hunters… We’ve seen these things since we were born, but it’s hard to imagine them disappearing.”

“I guess it’s too late.”

“I think it was actually faster?”

Lee Ah-young continued speaking, supporting her chin with both hands.

“If it weren’t for you, we might have been destroyed by monsters one day. Or the International Association has swallowed up the whole world.”

“You’re good at saying terrible things.”

I shook my head at her horrifying words.

Then Lee Ah-young smiled and raised her glass.

“Shall we have a toast?”

“….”

I clinked glasses with her without saying a word.

Preparations to end the full-scale alienation dimension crisis, which began with the Future Dream project, are now almost at their end.

Thanks to the tremendous support the Future Dream project received, trust in WDSO has increased dramatically.

Thanks to this, voices of concern and criticism about us gradually disappeared, and we succeeded in building an alternative industrial infrastructure for subjugation around the world without any hindrance.

Of course, the process was not easy.

The worldwide project was carried out in just two years.

Of course, the budget was astronomical, and most of the time had to be spent on airplanes to raise the money.

Above all, this project was only the foundation for officially ending the alienation situation.

In other words, there was absolutely no benefit to us from this.

WDSO sold all of its stock and real estate holdings and reinvested all of its assets into building infrastructure.

Accordingly, all associations in each country were dissolved one after another, and as of yesterday, the American association was dissolved, making WDSO the only remaining association in the world.

And WDSO also goes through formal dissolution procedures three days later.

What that means is that the destruction of Eden is scheduled to proceed in three days, and that the supernatural dimension situation will soon officially end.

And at the same time…

“This boring life will end in three days.”

It also meant that it was my retirement day after working in this industry my entire life.

“You deserve it. “You lived your whole life as a hunter, and now you live your whole life as a janitor?”

“that’s right. “Even though I returned to the past, I couldn’t escape the industry.”

“It would be embarrassing if other people heard it.”

“I can’t believe I went back to the past.”

I shrugged my shoulders and answered, and Lee Ah-young nodded slightly.

“Anyway…”

Then he opened his mouth again.

“What kind of person were you in that world?”

“…!”

I almost spewed wine at the sudden question.

“Why is that suddenly…”

“We’ve never talked about why before. Honestly, I’ve been really curious about this for a while. “I wonder what it would have been like if such an amazing person had been a hunter.”

“….”

I lowered my gaze and fiddled with the glass.

Although she couldn’t open her mouth easily, Lee Ah-young’s eyes just twinkled, as if she knew what she was feeling or not.

Once I took a deep breath, I made up my mind and said those words.

“Not really… he wasn’t that good of a person.”

“huh?”

“No, it would be correct to say it was trash.”

Lee Ah-young’s eyebrows waved as if it was an unexpected answer.

Memories of the past creeping in with that one word.

The Regen dungeon incident, which remained a trauma, and the incident with employee Ha Eun-hye, which I tried hard to erase from my memory.

Obsession with rankings.

The subjugators did whatever they could to get rid of them.

The result was the world’s first SSS rank and the title of a genius hunter.

These are meaningless ranks and modifiers given by the International Association.

I had no doubt that it would make me truly strong, but I was deceived by that and did not know what was really important.

No, these are all excuses.

At that time, I just….

“There must have been a reason.”

At that time, Lee Ah-young said those words.

“…What are you talking about.”

“I know? “You can pretend to be bad, but you can’t be a bad person.”

“….”

“If you were trash, there must have been a reason why you had to be trash.”

He speaks as if he knows everything about me.

It was a ridiculous answer from my point of view, but…

“For example… you tried to climb up to a high place by any means necessary to make sure no one died?”

“….”

If you look closely, it’s so sharp that you might think it’s a shaman.

“Well, I just tried it. Because you are not a great person who will become a bad person for no reason. Of course, people around me might have misunderstood it.”

“It’s more of an interpretation than a dream.”

“I think it’s to cheer up my boyfriend.”

Lee Ah-young raised the corners of her mouth and answered.

“….”

I couldn’t say anything.

She was the one who silently followed whatever choice I made until now.

The memory of what I had done to her was still vivid, and I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut due to that guilt.

In that brief moment, all kinds of complex emotions were swirling in my head, but Lee Ah-young just stared at me with unwavering eyes, as always.

Yes, as always.

We just looked at each other in silence for a moment.

Soon after the meal was served, our silence came to an end, and Lee Ah-young took advantage of the break to change the mood and bring up another topic.

“Anyway, what are you going to do when you retire?”

“Uh…”

That was also a fairly sudden question.

“Actually, even though I’m retired, I’m still young. “Anyway, if you want to make a living from now on, you’ll have to find something else to do, right?”

“I don’t know. “I’ve never thought about it.”

Feeling dazed for a moment, I tried to answer calmly.

This is not an empty remark; it was something I had never really thought about.

In recent years, haven’t we been obsessed with just putting an end to this situation?

I could never even imagine what happened after that.

But if you think about it, even if the supernatural situation ends, doesn’t that mean that my life will also end?

“It looks like Kim Jun-woo, who was always looking ahead, is having a hard time planning his retirement.”

Lee Ah-young raised her eyebrows and said.

“it will work out somehow. Even if you get a job at a small company, it will be enough to make a living on your own.”

“…alone?”

And at that moment, her voice became cold.

“What are you talking about?”

“huh?”

The moment I uttered that short word.

Looking at the life-glimmering face, I felt the fear of death for the first time in my life.

***

“….”

Office of the Secretary General.

I continued to take deep breaths while holding my hair.

Still, nothing calmed down.

retirement.

The pressure and burden that one word brought was truly that much.

I have lived half my life as a hunter and the other half as a janitor.

To add a little bit of exaggeration, you could say that life itself is all about conquering and cleaning dungeons.

But what should I do if this entire floor suddenly disappears?

‘No, that’s not the problem….’

Well, let’s put aside the fact that your career is lost.

Aren’t you still young? Now is the age to start something again.

As I said, get a job at a small company or open a chicken restaurant with the money you save.

If that doesn’t work, just work part-time to survive.

If you’re alone, you can somehow survive with that much.

Yes, if you’re alone…

‘Aren’t you going to marry me?’

Restaurant last night.

The moment I heard Lee Ah-young’s words, I was lost.

The timing for the answer was missed, and Lee Ah-young didn’t say a word until he returned.

That cold expression I’ve never seen before…

even thinking about it now makes my spine tingle.

“So…”

the person sitting in front of me began.

“I understand that someone as high as the Secretary General is having a love quarrel at the company, but why did you call me?”

“It seems like it’s been a while since you’ve been this serious…”

It was none other than Planning Director Yu-bin Han and Operations Director Kim Min-ju, who had returned to Korea after the American branch was disbanded.

“I told you in advance, do you hate me getting involved in other people’s fights and taking someone’s side?”

“Don’t say that, Yubin. This is the first time the teacher has shared his concerns with us. “I can listen to this much.”

“No, how many times do two people fight in the first place! Is there anything else that is just useless? “You forgot the anniversary…”

The two general managers were bickering as usual.

“It looks like he was thinking about getting married.”

“….”

“….”

The two people’s faces suddenly hardened at the words they said.

“We had dinner yesterday for the first time in a while, and I thought I was going to propose there.”

“Suddenly?”

“It was a pretty upscale restaurant.”

“Ah…”

“But… I’ve been so busy preparing for the end of the war these past few days, do you even have time to think about marriage or anything like that?”

“….” As

Han Yu-bin’s mouth opened slightly, Kim Min-ju asked this time.

“Teacher, how long has it been since you met Ayoung?”

“A little over three years.”

“Are you saying you’ve never once thought about getting married?”

In response to Minjoo Kim’s question, I nodded slightly.

“…the teacher was wrong.”

“It was my luck that I came back from there alive.”

Then, for the first time, the two people showed the same facial reaction.

“Is it that much?”

“Is it out of the question to seriously ask that now?”

“If it’s just the two of you, it’s actually too late now.”

Han Yu-bin and Kim Min-ju shook their heads with disgusted expressions.

I sighed softly.

“Anyway, it was their fault this time. Even from now on… No, honestly, it’s still too late now….”

“Well, I guess I should think seriously and prepare from now on.”

As the two people spoke seriously, I sighed involuntarily.

And then take a moment to rest.

“Actually, it’s not that I didn’t think about it.”

I opened my mouth cautiously.

“What do you mean? “It’s not that I didn’t think about it, but I didn’t think about it?”

“It’s a bit complicated.”

Han Yu-bin immediately snapped, and I sighed once more and continued.

“As you both know, I have lived two different lives: one as a hunter and one as a janitor.”

“But.”

“My previous life, when I was a hunter, a lot of things were different from now. My goals were different and my relationships with people around me were not very good. “No, I would say it was very bad.”

I took a moment to catch my breath.

“And it was the same with my relationship with Lee Ah-young.”

“….”

“….”

“At that time, I had Director Lee Doo-sik accused of various things and dismissed from the association, and in the aftermath, Lee A-young was demoted from the Hunter Support Office and appointed as my assistant.”

The way it was before when we first talked about it.

I expected them to be quite shocked, but the two people just listened to what I said with calm expressions.

“To be honest, I pampered myself a lot. I swore a lot and there were times when I used my weaknesses and acted unreasonably. Thanks to that, my confident personality changed in just one year.”

“….”

“Of course, I know that Ayoung Lee back then and Ayoung Lee now are different people. It’s not like she has memories of another world. But not me.”

I remember Lee Ayoung from back then.

So we can’t just dismiss it as something that never happened.

“I have already made Ms. Lee Ah-young like that once, and now I am qualified to continue a deep relationship with her… I haven’t found the answer yet.”

I looked at the two people in turn and expressed my conclusion.

“And unless I find that answer, I don’t think I’ll be able to marry Lee Ah-young.”

I couldn’t apologize to Lee Ah-young at that time.

No, I couldn’t apologize to everyone at that time.

It’s just hypocrisy for me to ignore everything that happened back then and live here as a completely different person.

Therefore, I….

“What are you saying?”

“I don’t think it’s something to take very seriously?”

“…?”

My eyes widened at the two people’s unexpected answers.

“Oh no. “I think it’s easy to say because the two of us have never experienced it before, but this is such a simple problem…!”

“Do you remember what you said when you first started preparing to end the Supernatural Dimension Incident?”

“what?”

At that time, Minju Kim brought up an unexpected story.

“Currently, subjugation has become an indispensable industry. If it disappears, the international community will experience stagnation for several years. “Many people will lose their jobs.”

Kim Min-ju recited the content of my speech at the time, and Han Yu-bin continued.

“But if you choose to stay in the present for that reason, the future will never come. In order for our next generation to live in a world without monsters or hunters, we must let go of the present. “That is why we must move forward despite our regrets.”

“….”

“Honestly, it was a bit cringy at the time, but if you think about it, it’s true.”

“More than anything, isn’t this just a story about you? “Will you give up on the future because of the regrets of the present, or will you put the regrets aside for the sake of the future?”

Minju Kim looked at me and said.

“Anyway, it’s a problem that needs to be resolved with Ayoung.”

“Well, to be honest…”

Han Yu-bin just smiled.

“I don’t think Ayoung would care about that?”

“I agree.”

“….”

The two left after saying those words, and I stayed there for a while after that.

Many complex thoughts passed through my head, but putting them all aside, there was one thing that was most important.

The speech the two people just gave.

‘That was ghostwritten by the team leader…’

Since I said so, I wrote it. Kkkkkkk.

Anyway, how should I tell Ayoung?

You should have tried this before!

…Even if you do regression, you don’t know what you don’t know.