I’ll Retire After Saving the World

Chapter 24: Business Ethics (3)

But I failed.

It was inevitable. There was no way around it. From the beginning, the premise of being a time traveler was far-fetched. Doesn’t it sound like a setup for a miserable life ending in a lonely death?

“Teacher.”

“What?”

“Your main weapon a sword, right?”

Lee Seung-yeon and Soon Soon-jin, both holding wooden swords at their sides, approached me.

I closed the notebook where I was drawing runes. It was something Lee Mi-seon had requested from me.

‘Please reveal all the runes you have. No, what has Hunter Hong been doing without asking this?’

Indeed….

I reflected on my actions. To just tell them to disclose things on their own without any guidance, and then completely wash my hands of it. This must be why Hong Seok-young suddenly started talking about my achievements and complicated things.

“Sword? No, I’m….”

I can handle most weapons to some extent, but my main weapon is the spear.

I almost answered without thinking but managed to stop myself.

Since I awakened in my childhood, I learned how to fight from the old man. My main weapon became the spear because of him. If I use a spear, which is familiar in my hands, it will be obvious. If an insider of Ark moves exactly like Hong Seok-young, there is no excuse.

“Why?”

“By any chance, could you teach us?”

I raised an eyebrow.

“With the strongest hunter in South Korea around, you’re asking me?”

“But we use swords.”

Although Hong Seok-young uses a spear, he can handle a sword quite well. He can defeat an average A-rank Hunter with his eyes closed, even with just a sword. That’s Hong Seok-young.

“He said he might have to leave school often from now on, and told us to learn from you.”

“…From me?”

Well, I guess it’s not incomprehensible.

A Hunter of Hong Seok-young’s caliber can’t be tied down to teaching kids all the time.

He’s in his mid-forties now. If he were a civilian, his body would start breaking down, but as a Hunter, he’s in his prime. He should be out raiding dungeons, not just teaching here.

I told Lee Seung-yeon and Soon Soon-jin to wait for a moment and asked Hong Seok-young.

“Ah, I was going to tell you. Since there are more staff now, the principal doesn’t need to be at school all the time, right?”

“The principal, of all people, should be stationed at the school.”

“Our school isn’t a typical school, so it can’t be helped.”

Hong Seok-young said calmly.

“Teacher Kim will take care of our young Mages…. And for runes, they just need to draw the ones you teach anyway, right?”

When he puts it that way, it sounds like I’m just getting paid for nothing. I haven’t even received my first salary yet.

“It’s hard to bring in more outsiders until the runes are revealed….”

“There are plenty of Hunters at Daseon, right? Ask Lee Mi-seon to bring them.”

“She’s too picky to lend her people.”

Hong Seok-young shook his head.

“And even if they come, they’re still outsiders. It’s better to entrust it to you.”

“…What do you trust in me?”

“I can tell by looking in your eyes.”

“…….”

“They say eyes are the window to the soul. That saying is spot on.”

How did this man survive to become the strongest?

“Anyway, I’m not letting the kids use mana, so just watch their movements. Even just sparring with them will teach them something.”

It’s a teaching method where only the strong survive… I barely survived it too.

“What about the other kids? Will you watch them too?”

“I’ve already told them, so they’ll probably come sneaking up to aim for your neck.”

“My neck?”

“I told them they’d get a reward if they hit your head.”

“…….”

“…….”

This is strange. Why do I have to fight for survival even as a teacher?

What choice do I have? I’ve already signed the slave contract.

“Then what about that child? The healer?”

“Hye-eun? I asked Teacher Kim to handle her.”

Mages and healers have similar aspects. If they haven’t awakened long ago, learning from Kim Chae-min will be greatly beneficial.

“Understood…. But are you leaving right now?”

I pointed at the bag Hong Seok-young was packing. It didn’t seem like he had much to pack, but he kept stuffing things in.

“Yes. Teacher Kim will take the kids. You should ride along.”

“…If I don’t want to sleep here, I guess I have to. Are you going on a dungeon raid?”

“Well, it’s a raid if you put it that way….”

Hong Seok-young said as he closed his bag.

“I’m just planning to check out the Songpa District Dungeon.”

“…What?”

“Just checking if there’s anything suspicious….”

“What about me?”

“You?”

“Yes.”

“We don’t know what the Ark might have done, so it’s dangerous.”

“……”

Hong Seok-young waved his hand and patted my shoulder.

“I’ll be back soon after checking, so keep an eye on the kids.”

* * *

“Just remember one thing.”

While the mages were taking Kim Chae-min’s mana control class.

I took the remaining kids to an open space. But calling it an open space is now a stretch. Lee Mi-seon had brought many things here over the past few days. There were parasols, sunbeds, and a drink bar. A hunter who follows Lee Mi-seon when she comes to school usually occupies the drink bar. It’s empty now, though….

Honestly, just looking at this, it’s not an open space, nor is it a school playground. Given the surroundings, it’s almost like a… resort?

“The one who survives is the strongest.”

“If you say things like that seriously, it sounds silly, teacher.”

The kids burst into laughter. Their carefree laughter was pitiful. Without the Ability Management Agency, dungeon raids would be even more hellish.

“Has anyone been in a dungeon?”

I asked, ignoring the kids’ laughter. As I didn’t respond to their laughter, the giggling subsided.

I asked again.

“Has anyone been in a dungeon?”

“……”

“…Me.”

Then, a child raised his hand.

It wasn’t a kid from Myeong-dong. It was a child who would cautiously bow his head and greet me when our eyes met occasionally. His name was.

“Seo Han-seong?”

“Yes.”

Even sitting down, he was a head taller than the other kids. He was tall but skinny, probably still growing. With his height, if he gains some weight, he’ll be much more powerful. Hunters specializing in close combat benefit greatly from a solid build.

Unlike his initial hesitation, Seo Han-seong spoke firmly in a low voice.

“I’ve been in a dungeon.”

“Really? How was it?”

“……”

Seo Han-seong bowed his head deeply. The other kids quietly closed their mouths.

“It’s not the survivors who are strong.”

Seo Han-seong also has no record in the mana watch. Actually, unless you’re someone like Oh Hyun-wook or Park Seo-hyun, there wouldn’t be any records. I only knew about Lee Seung-yeon because Lee Mi-seon kept mentioning his name.

Hunters who were active before the Ability Management Agency was established couldn’t help it. Seo Han-seong or Soon Soon-jin likely either died or retired before then. Even if I don’t know about the others, Lee Mi-seon would have taken Soon Soon-jin to the guild, but there were no records….

“Only the strong survive.”

…It was actually a random statement I threw out to scare the kids.

Seo Han-seong’s eyes glowed strangely. Unlike Park Seo-hyun’s obsession with perfect runes, his eyes were dark in a different way.

Does he have bad memories of a dungeon? If he entered a dungeon at that age….

Oh.

He must be one of those cases.

The young awakened ones who were used as meat shields. The decisive reason why Hong Seok-young decided to establish this pilot school.

Was he one of the rescued ones?

If Hong Seok-young intended to leave such kids in my care, he should have given me a heads-up.

Well, Park Seo-hyun is also dismissed as a change of style, so I shouldn’t expect that kind of sensitivity.

I nodded at Seo Han-seong’s words.

“Then how can one become strong?”

“By building up skills.”

“Skills? What kind of skills?”

Seo Han-seong couldn’t answer. Probably because he hadn’t properly raided a dungeon, he could only think of the textbook answer.

He realized that wasn’t the answer I was looking for.

I made eye contact with each child. Without the mages and healers, five children were sitting there.

According to Hong Seok-young and Lee Seung-yeon, there used to be a few more. But after the incident where the children who went for field training in Myeong-dong got isolated, worried parents took their kids back. It’s understandable. I would have done the same if I had children.

“Seo Han-seong, how was it when you went into the dungeon?”

“The dungeon?”

“Yes, how was it?”

Seo Han-seong swallowed hard.

“It’s different. Just… different.”

“Right. There is a theory that it’s another dimension.”

Even twenty years later, the existence of dungeons remains a mystery.

Humanity has merely adapted. To the monsters that emerge from dungeons and the dungeons that appear randomly.

“There are no humans inside a dungeon. So for a human to survive, they have to abandon their humanity.”

Seo Han-seong listened intently, his face focused.

If Seo Han-seong had said he wanted to give up his life as a Hunter when he was rescued by Hong Seok-young, Hong Seok-young would have listened. Not every awakened person becomes a Hunter.

But Seo Han-seong is at the piloy school. It means he gave up living as a civilian.

The others are the same.

I had a moment of choice too.

On the day I awakened, the old man gave me a choice.

‘Hwijae.’

‘Yes?’

‘You don’t have to become a Hunter just because you awakened. You’ll need to register as an awakened, but after that, you can just live doing whatever you want.’

‘Whatever I want?’

‘Then I will let you do anything you want.’

‘Then I don’t want to be a Hunter.’

I was a kid with a firm career plan. I later got a Hunter license because it gave extra points for entering the Ability Management Agency.

Unlike me, these kids want to become Hunters.

In the past, in the original timeline, I don’t know how far the old man took these kids. There are no records left, and considering the Myeong-dong incident, it’s safe to say old man’s plan failed. Not because of a lack of effort, but purely due to external factors.

But now it’s different.

No one in South Korea knows more about dungeon raids than I do.

These kids should be grateful to me.

Just like those mages over there struggling through class, I will raise these kids to be perfect Hunters.

Since Hong Seok-young has given permission… where should I start their training?

Hmm.

Since it’s a special occasion, should I imitate Yoo Ji-eun? If it were Yoo Ji-eun, she would definitely say something like this.

“Don’t place too much value on the fact that you’re human.”

I recalled when Yoo Ji-eun gave a special lecture at the academy. It sounded quite convincing when Yoo Ji-eun said it.

“Outside the dungeon, even Hunters pretend to be human…. But inside the dungeon?”

I looked at Seo Han-seong.

“Hunters must move purely on instinct inside the dungeon.”

When Hong Seok-young took me out of the training center, he took Yoo Ji-eun’s sword from me. Before entering the Bangi-dong Dungeon, he gave me a wooden sword with the same length and weight as that sword. Honestly, since it’s the same weight as a real sword, calling it a wooden sword is a stretch.

I held the wooden sword and kicked the ground lightly with my toe.

Judging by their expressions, there are more kids who have entered dungeons besides Seo Han-seong. Oh Hyun-wook must have gone in too. But I didn’t point it out. People might have pasts they want to hide.

“Your principal has emphasized practical experience, right?”

“Yes….”

When I beckoned with my hand, the kids hesitantly got up.

“The method is similar.”

I smiled broadly.

“But I’m not as kind as the principal.”

If you get beaten up like in actual combat, you’ll learn something, right? Didn’t he say he put a reward on hitting my head?

“I’m going to awaken your instincts. I won’t kill you, so try to survive well.”

When you aim for someone else’s head, you must be prepared to risk your own.

No, well.

It’s not that I’m taking out my frustration because I couldn’t enter the Bangi-dong Dungeon.

I’m not such a petty adult.

I’m not.