Chapter 20 – A Sudden Disappearance

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The sanitation team gathered together and worked overtime to clean up the 8th floor, which was flooded by the Hwawon Lake.

“I’m sorry, because of me….”

Hee-na felt bad about having to work overtime all of a sudden and didn’t know what to do, but the cleaning team members didn’t mind.

“It’s been a while since I worked overtime. But these days, it’s been a bit more comfortable because there’s been less fuss.”

“Oh my. It’s going to decrease a bit. I thought next month’s overtime pay would be reduced so much that my salary would be cut in half.”

“Don’t make a fuss.”

The team members chatted loudly and cleaned up the flooded break room.

I moved the bed, took out the sheets and changed them. Hee-na also wore an apron and a scarf and helped hard.

“I like Hee-na because she works quickly. She also has a good work ethic.”

Someone next to him praised Hee-na. Since Hee-na came, the number of accidents and fatalities among hunters has decreased significantly, and the number of overtime shifts has decreased significantly.

“Wow. Did this happen a lot in the past?”

I was horrified and asked, and the answer was yes.

“Well, then. There was a time when they fought among themselves and completely remodeled the entire 8th floor!”

Someone lowered their voice and shouted back.

“Oh my, oh my. They cause so many accidents… There are no gangsters in the neighborhood. Our salary is not that high for no reason.”

Members of the environmental cleanup team gossiped about how many accidents the guild’s hunters cause. Hee-na listened to the story blankly.

‘Even if strong people get into accidents, the scale is different.’

As we cleaned up while chatting about various things, the cleaning was almost finished before we knew it.

“I’ll take care of the rest of the chores. Please go in first.”

Hee-na was in charge of the 8th floor, so there were a few chores left to do. I was left alone on the 8th floor after barely getting rid of the team members who repeatedly asked if I wanted to help them.

I gathered up the cleaning tools lying around and moved them. And I checked every corner of the 8th floor to see if there was any remaining moisture.

“Uh, what is this?”

It was then that I noticed dark water droplets dotting the floor.

‘Did any dirt splash while moving the cleaning tool?’

Hee-na brought a mop and thoroughly mopped the floor again.

The water droplets were scattered sparsely like pebbles. Hee-na moved with the mop, following the trail of black water droplets.

One step, two steps, three steps… … .

‘Here.’

Hee-na finally reached the final source of the stain and raised her head.

At the same time, an unfamiliar yet familiar voice was heard.

“What’s going on?”

“……Hunter Jinhyeon Kang?”

Again, it may have been a bit long to say that, but in any case, it was Hunter Kang Jin-hyeon once again.

Jinhyeon Kang was sitting at a desk in an empty office and writing something.

There was some paper and pens on the desk, a black plastic bag filled with something, and a cup of coffee.

At the same time, Hee-na realized the identity of the black water. It was a trace of spilled coffee.

‘Is it true that you drank coffee? ‘Isn’t that what you brought with you, almost all of it spilled?’

I glanced at the coffee cup and saw that it was half empty.

According to Hee-na’s guess, she didn’t drink it, but spilled it on the floor. That’s how much liquid Hee-na wiped up on her way here.

Kang Jin-hyeon asked Hee-na again, who was staring at her coffee cup in silence.

“What’s going on?”

Hee-na quickly came to her senses and smiled awkwardly.

“Ah. Something fell on the floor, so I followed it while wiping it… and ended up here. I think it was a coffee stain.”

Kang Jin-hyeon looked down at his coffee cup and said, “Ah.”

“Ah… I’m sorry. I tend to spill things a bit.”

It seemed like it wasn’t spilling a little, but rather a lot.

Instead of correcting what he said, Hee-na asked what she was curious about.

“I knew you were clearing the dungeon. I guess you came back?”

“Yes. We finished it a little earlier than planned, so it came out today. We haven’t made an official announcement to the press yet, so you shouldn’t tell anyone else.”

Kang Jin-hyeon seemed blunt, but he gave a fairly common sense answer.

There was a heaviness that was different from the thunder-baked hunters Hee-na had seen so far. He had a calmness that was uncharacteristic of someone who had just spilled half a glass of coffee.

At that sight, interest in the human Kang Jin-hyeon suddenly arose.

“You must be tired since you came out today. I guess you have work to do?”

“I am writing a report.”

“A report?”

“There is a report that must be written after completing a dungeon attack. It is a ritual to record whether there have been any changes or unusual details compared to the previous strategy.”

Kang Jin-hyeon thoroughly answered Hee-na’s questions, which may have been annoying. He seemed to have a very different personality from his first image, where he just said what he wanted to say and left, leaving me feeling unlucky.

‘I guess he’s the type of person who does his best at what he does.’

It was like that when we first met. Even though it was only an E-level dungeon, I was working as seriously as I did when I entered an A-level dungeon.

Hee-na thought that this was why Kang Jin-hyeon was number 1 in Korea.

‘I guess you can’t trust first impressions.’

As I was nodding my head in admiration, Jinhyeon Kang opened his mouth.

“But… are you part of the beautification team?”

“Yes. By the way.”

“Then, could you please help me find a suitable mop or dishcloth? I needed it, so I tried to look for it, but I couldn’t find it.”

“Ah. The sprinkler on the 8th floor exploded today. I gathered them all together for cleaning, so it must have been difficult to find them.”

Hee-na took a dry dishcloth out of her apron pocket and handed it to her.

Kang Jin-hyeon carefully received the dishcloth. Then, he began to polish a piece of iron that looked like a 500 won coin.

However, the piece of iron was not cleaned at all, and was torn in half like a dishtowel. I had no idea how someone could tear a dishcloth like that and eat it.

“What is that?”

Hee-na couldn’t hide her curiosity and asked about the identity of the piece of iron.

At that question, Jinhyeon Kang sighed and placed the piece of iron on the desk.

“I’m not sure. The leader of the attack unit said he felt a strange energy, so I brought it with me, but its purpose and source are still unknown. It doesn’t look dangerous, so I’m showing it to you like this…”

Hee-na bent down and looked at the piece of metal that looked like a coin.

It was a piece with a lot of rust, but when I looked closely, I saw what looked like strange letters. As if it was a by-product of the dungeon, a system explanation appeared.

“It is covered with indelible rust, and no trace of the past can be found. If a special touch is applied, will the rust disappear…?”

As Hee-na read the explanation window, Jin-hyeon Kang looked at her in surprise.

“Was it Hunter?”

Hee-na waved her hand.

“No. I’m just an ordinary beautification team member. Although I’m an awakened person, I’m class D and don’t have any attack skills.”

“ah.”

Kang Jin-hyeon nodded as if he understood. However, he did not sound curious or surprised like other hunters. That attitude somehow made me feel at ease.

“Can I clean this? Please tell me if I’m not allowed to touch it.”

That’s why I made a pointless suggestion. I wanted to be of some small help to this plain and simple S-class hunter.

“It’s okay to touch it. It’s so rusty that it doesn’t react even if someone touches it.”

Kang Jin-hyeon pushed a piece of metal in front of Hee-na, as if asking her to feel as much as she wanted. Then he buried his back in the chair and muttered.

“No matter how hard you try to clean it, it probably won’t help. You’ve already tried so many times…”

“Is it clean because I wipe it with a dishcloth?”

“…but it wasn’t cleaned at the time.”

In response to Hee-na’s answer, Jinhyeon Kang half-raised his body. And I looked at the silver piece of metal regaining its shine in Hee-na’s hand.

Then, without realizing it, he grabbed Hee-na’s wrist.

“……oh!”

Hee-na gasped in surprise at the feeling of a large hand wrapping around her wrist.

Meanwhile, Kang Jin-hyeon paid no attention to Hee-na’s reaction and was busy looking around at the wrist he was holding. It looked like a spectator looking for a magician’s trick.

“What on earth did you do?”

“I just wiped it with a dishcloth and it came off?”

Hee-na answered honestly, but Kang Jinhyeon was not one to easily believe her words.

“No matter how much physical and magical stimulation I applied, there wasn’t even a single scratch? It was so easy to wipe it off with just a dishcloth?”

Hee-na also murmured in agreement with Kang Jin-hyeon’s monologue.

“I see. Why couldn’t you clean something that could be cleaned so easily…?”

To be honest, Hee-na had a strong suspicion that the hunters who tried to clean this piece of iron were all idiots.

Didn’t Kang Jin-hyeon just tear up the dry dishcloth instead of cleaning the piece of iron?

Hee-na showed Kang Jin-hyeon a shiny, shiny piece of silver metal.

“Now that I’ve cleaned it up, could you please let go of my wrist? It hurts a little.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

It was when Kang Jin-hyeon apologized and was about to let go.

A bright light burst from the piece of metal in Hee-na’s hand. A blinding white light filled the room.

“Tsk!”

Hee-na and Jinhyeon Kang raised their hands to cover their eyes from the intense light. Something, something unknown, was happening.

“What is happening…!”

Squirt!

Hee-na’s screams were cut off for a moment along with the sound of the harsh wind.

A few seconds after that, the light that had filled the room subsided.

Eventually, the scene inside the room was revealed.

The office was quiet.

All that remained was an unwritten report and a half-empty coffee cup, and Hee-na and Kang Jin-hyeon, who had been there until just now, had disappeared everywhere.

Housekeeper in the dungeon