The Unemployed Life of a Hunter 29

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#29

Kang Won-hyeok’s morning routine before work was always consistent. After waking up and taking a shower, while eating breakfast he would browse through all the communities to see if anything had been posted about him, then change clothes and leave the house – exactly at 8:30. Well, occasionally when malicious posts about him appeared on cafes or communities, he would spend 5 or 10 minutes frantically commenting on them, which only Won-hyeok knew was his secret.

But today was a perfect day. He had slept well and felt refreshed, and the toaster temperature was just right so the bread was perfectly toasted. Taking a delightful bite of bread topped with cream cheese, when he entered the internet community, wouldn’t you know there was even a post praising Won-hyeok.

“Isn’t Kang Won-hyeok handsome enough?”

As soon as he saw that title, he hit all the likes and recommendations. Of course, he didn’t look at comments left by other people. Won-hyeok, who left the house precisely at 8:30 like that, got in his car.

The roads that were always congested during commute time were a bit quiet today, and the traffic lights changed cooperatively at just the right timing. This is what you call one of those days.

“Today is a day when anything will work out.”

If only he could discover a rare weapon in a dungeon or something. Today he had a good feeling for some reason. When he parked his car in the guild building parking lot, wouldn’t the elevator be stopped exactly in the basement as if it had been waiting for Won-hyeok to ride it? Today was definitely his day, no matter what anyone said.

Right. It would have been. Until he arrived in front of the Vice Guild Leader’s office. More precisely, until he discovered guild members gathered around, peeking in front of his room.

“The Vice Guild Leader hasn’t come to work yet, right?”

“When is he coming?”

“He must be commuting now. Let’s wait a bit more.”

“Isn’t he late again because he’s commenting on his own posts?”

“Hey, shut up. We all agreed to keep that secret. Shh.”

No, were those guys trying to throw some surprise party? But today wasn’t Won-hyeok’s birthday nor was it any guild-related anniversary. Won-hyeok slowly approached the crowd that was murmuring meaningfully.

“You guys, what are you all gathered here doing?”

“Huh? It’s the Vice Guild Leader!”

“Ah, why are you only coming now?”

“Fortunately, there were no hate comments today!”

The guild members were looking at Won-hyeok like a mother bird who had come to find a chick that had fallen away from the flock and was left alone.

“No, what’s with this?”

Won-hyeok was busy shaking off the guild members one by one who were grabbing his arms and making crying sounds.

“Vice Guild Leader, we’re in big trouble!”

“Why are you making me anxious again? What big trouble?”

Everything had been perfect until before coming to work. Won-hyeok was trying hard to shake off the creeping anxiety.

“No, last night, well, it seems like there was an intruder!”

“Huh? An intruder?!”

At the quite shocking statement, Won-hyeok’s voice became severely loud.

An intruder. That was ridiculous. Nameless was currently a solid 1st-place guild. Where would there be a person bold enough to intrude into a 1st-place guild filled with capable guild members? Moreover, there were CCTVs installed everywhere, and guards and security systems for protection were all maintained at the highest level.

When Nameless had just been established, some stupid thief had tried to intrude, but they were caught before even getting past the entrance door where you scan ID cards to enter the building. Since then, this was a place where even the letter ‘i’ in ‘intruder’ was out of the question.

“No, why are you telling me this now! You should have called immediately!”

“We just found out too……”

“Where did they intrude? What items are missing?”

“Ah, that’s what’s strange. There aren’t really any missing items. It seems like they only intruded into the basement 1st floor, so we’re also a bit……”

“Basement 1st floor?”

There were no facilities there other than the training room. It was a space created for the hot-blooded guild members to comfortably practice and improve their skills, so all that was in the training room were mats, tracksuits left for comfortable wear during training, and a measuring device to gauge ranks.

“Ah, what? Then it’s not that an intruder came in. What would there be to steal there that they would only go there?”

Won-hyeok barely calmed his startled heart. No matter how stupid a thief might be, they wouldn’t have gone only to the basement 1st floor where there was nothing. Moreover, it was strange that the alarm was quiet when an intruder had entered.

“No! It’s definitely an intruder! Otherwise, how could our guild’s pounding machine be broken beyond recognition!”

“……Hey, wait. What did you say?”

At one guild member’s shout, Won-hyeok’s face hardened.

“The measuring device is completely smashed! There’s no one among our guild members who would smash that!”

That was a machine that remained fine even when S-rank Cha Do-hyeok hit it.

“It must be that guys with grudges against Nameless gathered in groups and broke the machine!”

“We need to find them immediately, Vice Guild Leader!”

“W-wait. Let me see with my own eyes first. I can’t believe it until I see it.”

It was a machine that had steadfastly guarded its place since the day it was brought in. Even when guild members ignorantly beat on it trying to get high numbers, it was sturdy through any storm. Just once, Cha Do-hyeok had used too much force and scratched a corner, but it had never been broken.

So Won-hyeok couldn’t believe it. Surely those guys were filming a hidden camera to tease Won-hyeok.

“……”

But when Won-hyeok went down to the basement 1st floor and faced the measuring device in its miserable state, his legs gave out and he ended up sitting down.

“You see it, right? Right?”

“Hahaha…… Kids, why is this like this?”

Won-hyeok pointed at the machine that was broken beyond recognition with an almost insane laugh.

“That’s why we’re saying it’s the intruders’ doing.”

“Haha…… This was really expensive…… Hahaha…… Can’t even repair this, right?”

Won-hyeok held his forehead with a devastated face. Just what kind of bastard planned this!

“We already checked the CCTV too, but only last night was deleted!”

But even so, Won-hyeok found it hard to accept. Even if, as the guild members said, guys with grudges against Nameless had gathered with one heart and one mind to cause trouble, why specifically the measuring device? Wouldn’t it have been more effective to smash things on other floors?

No, more than that, if they had intruded in such groups in the first place, the security system couldn’t have failed to activate.

“Kids.”

Then there was only one place to ask and one likely suspect.

“Did that bastard Cha Do-hyeok come to work?”

As soon as he heard someone’s report that they saw him going up to the Guild Leader’s office earlier, Won-hyeok rushed into the Guild Leader’s office like lightning.

“Hey, Cha Do-hyeok!”

“What’s with the noise from early morning?”

Do-hyeok seemed to have just arrived as he was hanging up his outerwear while making a deep frown.

“What do you mean what! It’s you!”

“So what is it? If you cut off the beginning and end, how am I supposed to understand?”

“Breaking the pounding machine! It’s you, right!”

“……I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He definitely hesitated. It definitely took 3 seconds for that answer to come out! If he really didn’t know, he should have immediately made a serious face and said something like “What kind of bullshit is that?” or “Did you eat the wrong breakfast?” Moreover, that guy avoided Won-hyeok’s gaze!

“What do you mean you don’t know? The measuring device is completely smashed. Plus, some of last night’s CCTV was deleted, and the only person who can do that is you with the highest authority!”

“……So why would that be me?”

“Oh, Do-hyeok. Why would it be you? Who else in this guild could break that thing besides you?”

Won-hyeok held his forehead. In the first place, Cha Do-hyeok was the only one who had even scratched that sturdy machine. After that, he had told him not to touch the measuring device if possible. But that guy had finally caused trouble.

“There could be someone.”

“What?”

“There could be someone else besides me.”

Do-hyeok slowly recalled last night’s events.

* * *

“Do it quickly. The method is as I said earlier. You remember, right?”

Ha-seong nodded and loosened up his body. Do-hyeok stepped back slightly. Even when he had tried it recently out of boredom without Won-hyeok knowing, it had shown an error, so Ha-seong would probably be the same. Or at least it would show 900 or higher, Do-hyeok vaguely expected.

“This is kind of nerve-wracking.”

Ha-seong, who had been wondering what skill to use, decided to just use enhancement skill. As it should be, this kind of thing had to be tackled with pure strength.

[Enhancement Skill (S) is activated.]

Ha-seong concentrated the enhancement skill entirely on physical strength. Then he clenched his fist tightly and struck down on the machine with all his might.

As soon as he struck, the sound of numbers moving could be heard clearly. Ha-seong, Do-hyeok, and Han Shin-woo who was acting as lookout all held their breath and watched the screen where the numbers would appear.

Making a beeping sound, numbers frantically went up on the screen. Then the numbers slowly stopped.

“Huh?”

And the number that appeared was.

[0]

Ha-seong and Do-hyeok’s brows furrowed simultaneously. No, 0? That couldn’t be right.

“Hey, is this machine broken……”

It was when Ha-seong was turning around, telling him to try it once.

Thunk-

Suddenly a heavy sound was heard and the machine split exactly in half.

“……”

The machine split in half slowly collapsed and began to completely break apart. In an instant, the entire training room fell into silence over the machine that had quietly turned to ash as if it had done nothing wrong.

“Hey, Cha Do-hyeok.”

“Yes, hyung.”

“……Is that thing very expensive?”