The Unemployed Life of a Hunter 17

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#17

“Hunter Do Ha-seong, we need you to immediately deploy to the next gate.”

Commands to move straight to the next gate as soon as one dungeon was resolved endlessly made the pager ring.

“Ha-seong, please…… save me……”

The colleague who had just been fighting alongside him and watching his back was now bleeding and dying.

“Civilians died again! What exactly are the Hunters doing?!”

Many of his colleagues died trying to protect ordinary citizens. Yet people pointed fingers saying they couldn’t properly protect even one citizen.

“You are the nation’s dogs. If you were born as Hunters, fulfill that mission.”

“Ha-seong…… you’re strong……”

“What kind of Hunter can’t even protect citizens properly?!”

Stop. Ha-seong couldn’t overcome the sounds echoing in the dark space and covered his ears. Someone’s wailing and anger, injustice and sadness. The voices mixed with emotions continued to torment Ha-seong.

It was time to shout for it to stop.

Ring ring-

“Huk……!”

Ha-seong, startled by the alarm sound, sprang up from bed like a spring. Cold sweat was beading on his forehead, perhaps because of the dream.

“Ha…… what a lovely dream that was.”

Ha-seong let out a self-deprecating laugh and ran his hand through his hair. He didn’t usually dream much, but the first one he’d had in a long time had to be a nightmare. He got goosebumps thinking about what would have happened if the alarm hadn’t gone off. Come to think of it, it was strange that he hadn’t had any dreams about the old days since coming here.

Ha-seong felt as if the vivid pain he’d felt for the first time in a while still lingered throughout his body. When he got out of bed thinking he should at least wash up, his body felt incredibly heavy. Was it because of that dream? It seemed like all those negative emotions from the dream had crossed over into reality and were clinging to Ha-seong’s ankles.

But there was no choice. Today was his first day commuting to Nameless, so he couldn’t slack off. Ha-seong quickly went into the bathroom and cooled his head with cold water.

When working as a freelancer, even though income was unstable, there was the advantage of freedom in commuting. Having to wake up regularly like this and prepare for work was, how should he put it, a bit annoying. So this is why office workers think about wanting to go home as soon as they wake up.

After washing up like that, Ha-seong roughly ate cereal for breakfast and set out for work. Still, compared to his past life, how could this compare? Back then, there was no concept of commuting. In the previous world where Ha-seong lived, there was something called the ‘Awakened Association.’ It was an institution that played a similar role to this place’s Hunter Management Bureau, and Ha-seong’s daily routine was sleeping in the on-duty room there, barely able to go home.

Perhaps because of the dream he had today, he strangely found himself thinking a lot about the old days.

Ha-seong sat at the bus stop, looking at trees whose leaves were turning red as autumn was just beginning to arrive. A wind carrying a chill blew pleasantly, brushing through his hair. On the large outdoor electronic billboard of a building, advertisements featuring famous Hunters were still playing.

Was it because of the dream after all? Just seeing things like that made him feel inexplicably restless.

After sitting and feeling autumn for about 10 minutes, the bus Ha-seong was to take arrived at the stop. Since it was a different direction from when he went to the item street, it felt a bit unfamiliar. Perhaps because he had prepared early and left early, the bus was quiet enough that there were still several seats available. Ha-seong went and sat in an appropriate spot.

As usual, Hunter-related advertisements played on the radio.

It had become a world where private consultant companies that developed Hunter abilities had emerged. If you could become S-rank by attending such academies, wouldn’t everyone become S-rank? Ha-seong grumbled inwardly as if being spiteful.

Then Cha Do-hyeok couldn’t be the only S-rank in this world. That guy must be pretty tired too, he thought. Even though this was an atmosphere that treated and looked up to that unique S-rank, since he was the guy standing alone at the pinnacle of awakened beings, there must be pressure.

Of course, since his expressions changed so little, this was just his own speculation. Perhaps because he had a nightmare, useless thoughts kept circling in his head. Ha-seong turned his gaze out the window, trying to shake off his reverie. Clear skies. Sunlight warmly shining down on the road. Unlike Ha-seong’s complicated mind, it was utterly peaceful.

It was while Ha-seong was spacing out looking at the scenery outside.

Thud-

Huh? Suddenly the bus tilted with a loud noise and began vibrating severely. The bus instantly became chaos due to the sudden vibration. People lost their balance and fell, each screaming.

The bus driver also tried turning the steering wheel this way and that to regain control of the vehicle, but it was already too late. Because.

‘It’s a gate.’

The black scenery visible before his eyes was clearly the entrance to a dungeon. In the chaotic bus, Ha-seong was the only one standing and maintaining his balance. Holding onto a bus pole, he slowly stood up from his seat and watched ahead. Through the wide front windshield, the black scenery began expanding wider and wider.

“Shit, they should at least do some ritual or something.”

Ha-seong clicked his tongue and sighed. He thought about jumping out the window right now, but it was already too late. More than half of the bus was being sucked into the gate.

* * *

“Ha……”

Ha-seong sighed while slumped on the dirt ground. Why was nothing going right lately? Why do unlucky things happen consecutively? Had heaven punished him for being too cocky about his good luck until now?

A wind of a different quality from before brushed past Ha-seong’s hair. Bleak and damp air. Ha-seong looked around his surroundings. Why did it have to be this kind of dungeon?

That’s because the place where Ha-seong had suddenly dropped while trying to go to his first day of work was a jungle. The damp and humid air kept hitting his skin. Ha-seong turned his head to look at the one bus that had pitifully fallen behind him.

The ordinary citizens who had been riding inside had lost consciousness, but fortunately, they didn’t seem to have suffered major injuries. Ha-seong first erased all traces of the citizens’ presence. Just in case they were discovered by monsters before being rescued.

“Well then.”

Ha-seong got up from the damp ground and slowly approached the bus. Then he threw open the door. With a creaking sound, the door opened easily.

“Hey, pig! Come out.”

Ha-seong shouted into the bus where only silence lingered.

“I already saw you secretly following me out this morning, so come out.”

[Kyu?]

Then the pig poked just its face out from the back seat. Of course. He had wondered why it hadn’t thrown a tantrum this morning asking to be taken along, but apparently it had chosen the strategy of secretly following.

[Hehe. How did you know?]

“Is that what’s important right now? What’s important is that I’ve dropped into a dungeon again.”

Ha-seong was about to scold the pig that had secretly followed, but decided against it. Because he had his own problems to worry about right now.

[I was surprised too. These days, gates suddenly opening happens quite often.]

“Is that so?”

When he was in the previous world, gates would open suddenly all the time. Ha-seong, who was sick and tired of being familiar with such situations, just shrugged his shoulders.

“But pig.”

[Yes?]

“You seem to have gotten bigger somehow?”

Ha-seong measured the pig’s size with his palm. It definitely seemed about twice as big as when it was in the real world.

[Ah, that’s probably because we came inside the dungeon! My body is very compatible with dungeon energy.]

“Well, I suppose.”

Ha-seong nodded. Right, this guy’s original home was a dungeon.

[Ha-seong-nim, what will you do now?]

“What can I do? What can a mere Purifier do in a dungeon? I have to wait until rescue comes.”

Ha-seong activated his search skill while talking to the pig. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any monsters in this vicinity. He planned to hide here quietly and wait.

The jungle was damp and unpleasant, but it was a perfect place to hide. He could find better places to hide than here, but he couldn’t just leave the citizens who had come on the bus with him. Even though he had erased their presence, just in case. So he planned to quietly wait for rescue here.

[But Ha-seong-nim really has bad luck. Getting caught up in a gate on your first day of work.]

“Are you still not giving up on your dream of becoming roasted? I know that too, so be quiet.”

What’s the big deal about getting caught up in a gate? They said that ‘being caught up in a dungeon’ was now included in legitimate reasons for tardiness or absence anyway. So there wouldn’t be a problem.

‘But does that apply within guilds too?’

Ha-seong suddenly had that thought. If you’re an ordinary office worker who’s not a Hunter, getting sucked into a gate would count as an unavoidable reason, but does that apply to guild employees too? What if it doesn’t? Ha-seong groaned and became lost in thought. No matter how much Cha Do-hyeok had proposed this suspicious contract first, being late from the very first day of work was still not great, right?

Moreover, Ha-seong was scheduled to be assigned as Do-hyeok’s dedicated staff. For a team directly under the Guild Leader to be late from the first day wouldn’t look good.

Ha-seong was too busy racking his brains about what to do to hear it. The rustling sound of something moving inside the bus.