I’ll Retire After Saving the World

Chapter 21: Basement’s 5th Floor (4)

TL: SHW

Two days later.

“……”

“……”

“…Is there something on my face?”

“No.”

It’s peaceful.

The events at the training center feels like a lie.

Could it actually be a lie? Could all of this be a huge dream happening inside my brain?

“Then what are you doing here?”

“Just sitting.”

No, I asked what you are doing.

A girl with straight, short hair was crouched in a corner of the playground. The girl, who had been staring intently at my face for a long time, seemed to get bored and lowered her head to look at the dirt ground. An ant was passing by.

…What?

“Are you watching the ant?”

“No.”

“…Then?”

“Just sitting.”

Seriously, what is this….

Lee Mi-seon was like this at the training center too. She looked at me with strange eyes but never spoke to me directly.

Did Hong Seok-young tell Lee Mi-seon about me? Judging by how she blabbered about Ark, it seems like Lee Mi-seon is somehow involved in this too. I don’t remember seeing her name in the reports related to Ark. Did I miss something?

Could she dislike the fact that an unknown guy saved her niece?

Anyway, Lee Mi-seon said she would investigate the training center further, and Hong Seok-young took Kim Chae-min and me out.

And now here we are.

Peaceful… reed field and a girl with short hair.

“…Understand?”

Kim Chae-min, sitting under a parasol, was teaching two young mages.

“You shouldn’t consider mana as just a simple force. Especially for us mages. In some ways, it’s as important as oxygen.”

A new staff member joining has finally brought a timetable to this so-called school.

Isn’t it amazing?

It’s been over two months since the school opened, and there wasn’t a timetable until now?

If I were a parent, I wouldn’t send my kid here.

But I am not the parent of the short-haired girl, and like the other kids, the poor short-haired girl was going crazy in this school.

“Where is Lee Seung-yeon? Why are you alone?”

In the end, I spoke to the short-haired girl again. She usually sticks close to Lee Seung-yeon, but today she was alone.

I had nothing to do, and I needed to slowly get closer to the other kids besides the mages.

As the weather got hotter, the kids’ clothes changed too. The long-sleeved uniforms and gym clothes turned into short sleeves. Normally, gym clothes don’t have name tags, but the short-haired girl had a name tag on her gym uniform sleeve.

Soon Soon-jin.

A unique name you can’t forget once you hear it.

Since I don’t remember it, she must be one of the kids who died early or quit. Judging by how she performed in Hong Seok-young’s class, her skills aren’t bad….

“It’s a strategy.”

The problem is her curt way of speaking.

I looked at Lee Seung-yeon. Earlier, he seemed to be training with Hong Seok-young, but now he was fighting with Oh Hyun-wook. Where did that old man go, leaving the kids alone?

“Strategy?”

“We can’t beat Oh Hyun-wook with just the two of us.”

Soon Soon-jin still spoke while looking at the ant.

Oh Hyun-wook is a guaranteed talent. Like other famous Hunters, his talent stood out from a young age. It’s hard to believe he will become so fat in ten years that he’ll earn the nickname ‘pig’, given his current skinny frame and agile movements….

Compared to him, the others?

If we exclude Yoo Hye-eun, who is a healer….

To be brutally honest, they have no potential, and frankly speaking, they are just average. Not completely lacking, but how should I put it.

Still, Soon Soon-jin is a talent that will definitely shine if well-trained.

Her skills of exploiting her small frame to attack the opponent’s blind spots are still rough. But if well-polished, she will be very useful when dealing with humanoid monsters.

Monsters like the Minotaur in the Myeong-dong Dungeon, which are huge, aren’t hard to deal with. Any random attack works on them.

The truly troublesome ones are the humanoid monsters. The difficulty spikes when they have special mechanics like the Siren that killed Kim Chae-min.

That’s exactly why a Hunter like Soon Soon-jin is needed when dealing with those kinds of enemies.

“Um, teacher.”

“Huh?”

“Could you stop watching them….”

“Them?”

I tilted my head and looked at Soon Soon-jin. She briefly looked up at me before quietly averting her eyes again.

Hmm.

Next to Soon Soon-jin’s feet was a short wooden sword.

I see.

Lee Seung-yeon and Oh Hyun-wook, who had been fighting at the edge of the clearing, were slowly getting closer to this side.

So that’s what’s going on.

“Whose idea is this?”

“…Seung-yeon said we should try it this way.”

“I think this method will work better.”

“…Really?”

“Want me to help with the timing?”

“No.”

Soon Soon-jin shook her head.

“It’s only meaningful if I do this myself.”

“That’s commendable.”

It’s an attitude many adult Hunters should learn from.

Soon, the timing Soon Soon-jin was waiting for arrived. Soon Soon-jin knew it too. She quietly moved her hand to grasp the wooden sword.

See, this kid is quite something…. She has a good eye.

Soon Soon-jin glanced at me. Her playful wink made me chuckle. Are all high schoolers of this era like this?

Soon Soon-jin, gripping the wooden sword, launched herself from her sitting position. Her target was Oh Hyun-wook’s neck, which Lee Seung-yeon had been diligently pushing towards us.

Barely audible footfalls and swift movements put her right behind Oh Hyun-wook in an instant.

But Oh Hyun-wook wasn’t just going to take it quietly.

Sensing Soon Soon-jin’s presence, he twisted his waist from his position where he was about to attack Lee Seung-yeon. He leaned back almost to the ground and spread his legs for balance.

Soon Soon-jin’s sword swiped through where Oh Hyun-wook’s head had just been, and Lee Seung-yeon’s sword swung through where his waist had been.

“Shit, Soon Soon-jin!”

Oh Hyun-wook planted his hands on the ground and flipped backward to create distance.

“You shouldn’t let your guard down.”

Soon Soon-jin withdrew her sword, looking slightly disappointed.

“That’s cheating!”

“How is that cheating?”

Lee Seung-yeon’s eyes widened.

“Don’t you remember what the teacher said? In a dungeon, you never know what might happen.”

“Wow. Seriously, this is unbelievable.”

“If you’re mad, why don’t you team up with someone else?”

“Wow….”

Oh Hyun-wook looked at Lee Seung-yeon and Soon Soon-jin with an incredulous expression.

At that moment.

A pitch-black SUV entered the demonstration field.

It drew attention in a different way compared to Kim Chae-min’s bright yellow sports car. Though it didn’t enter the field as aggressively as Kim Chae-min’s, the SUV smoothly circled the field, changed direction, and stopped in front of us.

More precisely, it stopped in front of the confrontational Lee Seung-yeon, Oh Hyun-wook, and Soon Soon-jin.

A man I had never seen before got out from the driver’s seat. He was armed. Just as I was about to ask his purpose while sending the kids back, the man turned around and opened the backseat door.

Click.

A woman, who had roughly tied her hair into a ponytail and was dressed in a black suit like the one I saw at the training center, stepped out, gracefully accepting the man’s escort. She wasn’t chewing gum this time. Lee Seung-yeon recognized her first.

“Aunt!”

“Are you doing well, kid?”

Lee Seung-yeon immediately frowned.

“I told you not to call me that!”

It must be embarrassing to be called ‘kid’ in front of friends.

“If I don’t call you ‘kid,’ what should I call you?”

Of course, Lee Mi-seon pretended not to hear Lee Seung-yeon’s words. Instead, she looked at Soon Soon-jin with a pleased expression.

“Soon-jin, you gotten better in such a short time.”

“Really? I’ve been practicing a lot….”

Soon Soon-jin answered, twisting her body awkwardly.

…Did she eat something wrong? What’s with that behavior?

“Good thing I left you with Hunter Hong. Keep up the good work. Oh, if only our youngest were half as diligent as you.”

“Ah, Aunt!”

“I spoiled him too much, so he gives up the moment things get tough…. A boy needs to have some perseverance.”

Lee Mi-seon let out a dramatic sigh and then looked at Oh Hyun-wook.

“Hyun-wook, you’ve grown taller already? Our youngest is still stuck to the ground…. I noticed your movements have improved too. How about joining our guild? Your noona will treat you well.”

“Stop calling yourself noona. You’re an ahjumma.”

“Hey, kid.”

“…What?”

“That’s why you don’t have a girlfriend.”

Lee Seung-yeon was left speechless by his aunt’s sudden attack.

“Don’t you remember your elementary school days? That girl… What was her name? Yeon-gyeong, wasn’t it?”

“Whoa! Stop! Aunt, stop it!!”

“If you had listened to your aunt’s advice, you wouldn’t have been dumped by her….”

“Aunt!!”

“There isn’t a single person in our family who hasn’t had a romantic relationship. You know your dad and mom got so sick of dating each other that they ended up getting married, right? They say blood runs thicker than water, so why are you like this?”

Lee Seung-yeon pouted and muttered.

“Because I take after you, Aunt.”

“Youngest.”

“…What?”

“I choose not to date, but you can’t get a date.”

“People who can’t date always say that.”

“……”

“……”

“Youngest, you, come here right now!”

I had heard a lot about how Lee Mi-seon adored her youngest nephew.

But… the scene unfolding before my eyes was just that of an ordinary aunt and nephew. It was so normal that it was almost strange.

Lee Mi-seon had conducted several charity projects under Lee Seung-yeon’s name. I thought their relationship was more affectionate….

Or maybe? Is their relationship so good that it appears ordinary? If only I had an aunt, I would know.

…Still, it wasn’t an unpleasant scene. Lee Mi-seon seemed much more human compared to her grumbling self at the training center.

“Oh, you’re here?”

Hong Seok-young, hearing the commotion outside, came out of the staff room container and greeted her. Kim Chae-min had also stealthily approached nearby. Behind Kim Chae-min, like goldfish poop, were Park Seo-hyun and Choi Jin-woo.

Hong Seok-young checked the time.

“Alright, it’s lunchtime! Since Seung-yeon’s aunt brought lunch, everyone say thank you.”

“Thank you!”

“Teacher Woo and Teacher Lee, please come in for a moment. We have something to discuss.”

* * *

As soon as Lee Mi-seon entered the staff room, she got straight to the point.

“I bid on that dungeon in Songpa District.”

Bid?

“I didn’t want to, given that the dungeon management law might change after the Myeong-dong Dungeon incident…. But I had no choice. There’s no other way to get compensated.”

I suddenly understood what Lee Mi-seon was talking about. Currently, guilds bid for dungeons to manage them. It’s also the most important way for the state to make money.

As Lee Mi-seon said, once the Myeong-dong Dungeon issue is resolved, this bidding method will disappear.

“Still, everyone is being cautious, so I didn’t spend much money. The newly opened dungeon has a low estimated grade….”

“Is the grade not properly determined?”

“Unfortunately, the Myeong-dong Dungeon broke out the day before. It’s been delayed.”

“You haven’t gone inside yet?”

“No. I’ve kept it sealed off from everyone.”

“Then let’s enter it as soon as possible….”

Lee Mi-seon folded her arms and leaned back on the sofa.

“…The problem is the Myeong-dong Dungeon.”

Everyone fell silent.

The Myeong-dong Dungeon was closed by Hong Seok-young himself after defeating the Minotaur. Kim Chae-min was also there.

“We need to understand what it means for the dungeon to have failed….”

“Teacher Woo, do you have any idea at all?”

“No. If I knew, I would’ve said something by now.”

Yesterday, I thoroughly searched through the Mana Watch. There wasn’t any useful information.

However, given how extensive the organization had spread, it’s possible they had engaged in activities related to dungeons.

“Hmm…. There’s no way to deal with a dungeon that’s already closed. Let’s focus on the Songpa District dungeon first and then decide what to do.”

The dungeon in Songpa District was the one where the centipedes crawled out, the Bangi-dong Dungeon.

I wonder… is there any way to close the dungeon early by linking it to the Ark?