Chapter 47 – Meeting the Guild Leader

The guild leader introduced herself as Kim Kyu-hee. The wild appearance she had shown earlier when pulling Kang Jin-hyun’s ears was nowhere to be found, and she looked very refined.

As she held out her hand to request a handshake, Hee-na bowed and shook it as if she had no spine.

“Ah, yes. Thank you. As you may already know, I am Lee Hee-na.”

“Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you, Ms. Lee Hee-na. I heard you’ve been a great help to the guild.”

Although she had no idea what kind of rumors they were, she smiled brightly and pretended to understand.

“You flatter me.”

“Well, since it sounds like Hunter Kang Jin-hyun’s impatience is burning up all the way to here, let’s keep the introduction at this.”

The guild leader, Kim Kyu-hee, sat down with her legs crossed.

“First, I’d like to know if it was really Ms. Lee Hee-na who defeated the dungeon boss. I heard you’re a low-ranking, non-combat class. How were you able to clear a dungeon boss?”

Hee-na had expected this question. Even Woo Min-ah had been curious about it just moments ago, hadn’t she?

“That… I can only explain it as being lucky.”

“Would you care to explain in detail, Ms. Lee Hee-na?”

Pondering how she should explain this, Hee-na pulled out the A-rank mold remover from her inventory window. Then she placed it on the table between them.

“I happened to have an A-rank mold remover that I used for cleaning. I remembered hearing that mushrooms are similar to mold, so I sprayed it, and it was actually effective.”

Hee-na spoke the truth without adding or subtracting anything.

“Hmm…”

Kim Kyu-hee examined the mold remover that Hee-na had presented, looking it over. She stared straight into Hee-na’s eyes for a moment, then nodded.

“It is the truth. Indeed, unless you were hiding your abilities, there seems to be no other way to handle a B-rank dungeon boss than this. You were lucky.”

‘The one I caught was a B-rank dungeon boss… Right. That was it.’

Hee-na swept her hand over her chest in relief once again.

It was extremely fortunate that the A-rank mold remover worked on the giant mushroom.

Looking at statistics that appeared in newspapers and the like, dungeons between C and D-rank were generally the most common.

Considering that there were only about ten A-rank dungeons in Korea, the danger level of a B-rank dungeon, which was the step right below, was immense.

“Among all the people who have cleared a B-rank dungeon, you might have the lowest rank. Let’s find out if we can put you in the Guinness World Records.”

Woo Min-ah chimed in from the side, saying something that was hard to tell if it was a joke or serious.

“Tsk.”

The guild leader, Kim Kyu-hee, gave her a look to be quiet. Her gaze was quite chilling.

Hee-na thought that the guild leader was amazing.

‘Even Mr. Kang Jin-hyun is sitting quietly, looking like he wants to speak so badly.’

Even Kang Jin-hyun, who had just delivered a passionate proposal(?) to Hee-na, kept his mouth shut and was listening intently to her words. It was no ordinary charisma.

“We have resolved the matter I was most curious about… Regardless, Ms. Lee Hee-na is a regular employee. A regular employee being sucked into a dungeon is also a huge accident. This is our guild’s mistake.”

Guild Leader Kim Kyu-hee offered her sincere condolences and asked what happened after she was pulled into the dungeon gate.

At the same time, she did not forget to subtly hint that Hee-na should not report the guild to the Ministry of Employment and Labor regarding an industrial accident.

“…Once the sequence of events is understood, we will make sure to pay you a generous compensation.”

“Ah, yes.”

Hee-na nodded and explained what had happened in the dungeon.

She had followed Kang Jin-hyun to where the boss monster was, and after talking about this and that, she had used her ‘Cozy Bedding’ skill on Kang Jin-hyun’s A-rank sleeping bag.

And Kang Jin-hyun had lain down in the sleeping bag, unable to resist her urging, and fell fast asleep… that was the gist of the story.

“I was flustered because he didn’t wake up even though it was time for the giant mushroom… no, the boss monster to wake up. I was scared, too.”

Recalling the helplessness of that time, her chest felt heavy. Kang Jin-hyun apologized to Hee-na.

“I am sorry. Such a thing will not happen again, but if a similar situation occurs, please wake me up even if you have to hit me.”

“Ah… Yes.”

Hee-na decided not to bring up the fact that she had already slapped his cheeks with all her might. It was an unnecessary detail.

As she made up her mind and rolled her eyes, she locked eyes with the guild leader. Her gaze was so intense that it felt as if she were peering right through the thoughts in Hee-na’s head.

‘Gasp.’

Hee-na froze like a mouse in front of a snake. It was an eye contact that felt like a thousand years.

“Haha!”

It was thanks to the guild leader’s low laughter that she snapped out of it. Emboldened by her smile, Hee-na asked cautiously.

“…Did I do something wrong?”

At this, Guild Leader Kim Kyu-hee waved her hand lightly.

“No. Well… keeping a moderate amount of secrets is helpful in life. You’re unexpectedly on the aggressive side, Ms. Lee Hee-na.”

It was accompanied by words that were half incomprehensible. Hee-na tilted her head and finished her explanation.

“And as I said earlier, I defeated the boss monster with the mold remover. After that, actually, I don’t remember very well. Once I got the rewards, I was tired, so I just fell asleep right there.”

Having spoken up to this point, Hee-na subtly watched their reactions. This was because she was worried that they might ask her to hand over the rewards. Of course, she had no intention of handing over the magic stone.

‘After all the trouble I went through to get it!’

While she was clenching her fists in her mind, Guild Leader Kim Kyu-hee spoke up at the right moment.

“Do not worry about the boss monster clear rewards. Since Ms. Lee Hee-na defeated it, they are entirely yours.”

She added that since they had signed a regular employee contract and not a hunter contract with Hee-na anyway, there was no need to take a guild commission. It was a relief.

Hee-na breathed a sigh of relief and asked what she should have asked earlier.

“By the way, is Hunter Kang Jin-hyun’s body alright? I was worried since he wouldn’t wake up.”

To be precise, she was worried because she had kicked, rolled, and dragged the sleeping Kang Jin-hyun around.

Of course, since he had an S-class body, it would be exceptionally sturdy, but there was always a chance.

“If he couldn’t wake up to that extent, is there something wrong with his body?”

She then added her personal question.

“I know my skill is effective, but no one has slept this deeply before. I know because I clean the beds almost every day as the breakroom manager. While the skill does have fatigue recovery and deep sleep effects, I didn’t think it would be to this extent…”

No matter how much he received the stacking effects of the A-rank sleeping bag, and no matter how much the caster’s strong will was embedded, Kang Jin-hyun was an S-rank hunter.

He shouldn’t have fallen so completely for a C-rank Homemaker’s C-rank skill.

“I can explain that.”

Kang Jin-hyun stepped forward quietly. Guild Leader Kim Kyu-hee nodded. It was a gesture telling him he could speak.

‘What is going on that he even needs permission?’

Hee-na tilted her head.

“After entering the sleeping bag infused with Ms. Hee-na’s skill, I slept for another half a day.”

This meant he had slept soundly for over two days without waking up. It could be seen as an almost superhuman sleeping ability. Hee-na’s mouth fell open.

“Th-That’s amazing.”

“Thank you.”

Kang Jin-hyun accepted Hee-na’s praise humbly. And he continued.

“As I mentioned before, I cannot sleep deeply. This is because I am extremely sensitive to the presence of my surroundings.”

At those words, Hee-na thought.

‘But you didn’t wake up even when I slapped your cheeks…’

Coincidentally, Kang Jin-hyun also spoke about that.

His mouth, which wouldn’t open easily unless necessary, was now explaining the situation fluently.

“Of course, this time was an exception. It was the first time since I awakened. To fall into a deep sleep without feeling any disturbance… It was a sweet sleep I haven’t had in almost ten years. It seems all the accumulated fatigue had rushed in at once. Because of that, I couldn’t wake up and put Ms. Hee-na in danger.”

The point was, ‘I’ve been suffering from insomnia for ten years, but this time, because I finally had a proper sleep after a very long time, I couldn’t wake up at all.’

Anyway, it was understandable since the reason he couldn’t wake up was due to not resting properly for a long time.

Moreover, if they assumed he was paying off ten years’ worth of fatigue at once, Kang Jin-hyun had actually slept very little.

“That is why I somewhat hastily brought up the live-in housekeeper job to Ms. Hee-na. The meals are meals, but above all, you are someone who can grant me a deep sleep.”

Kang Jin-hyun’s eyes became moist again. If the situation allowed, he looked ready to kneel down and present his card key again.

Perhaps sensing this, Guild Leader Kim Kyu-hee gave Kang Jin-hyun a ‘wait’ sign.

“Calm down a bit, Hunter Kang Jin-hyun. Why have you become so talkative, unlike yourself? At this rate, we won’t even be able to have a proper conversation.”

“…Yes.”

At that, Kang Jin-hyun cast his eyes down anxiously like a large dog waiting in front of a snack.

Meanwhile, Kang Mok-hyun, the head of the human resources team and Kang Jin-hyun’s older brother, finally spoke up.

“In any case, this is how the situation turned out… We would like to make a new proposal to Ms. Lee Hee-na.”

Kang Mok-hyun handed Hee-na a sheet of paper.

‘What is this?’

The paper was blank except for the title section. At the very top, it was written:

‘Employment Contract.’

“…We propose a department transfer to Ms. Lee Hee-na.”

The Homemaker of the Dungeon