I’ll Retire After Saving the World

Chapter 26: A Nonsensical Dream (1)

Honestly, I don’t remember such trivial matters.

She just started singing about needing to conquer that one dungeon at some point.

‘Hey, Parachute. We need to raid that.’

‘What is it? Submit a report.’

‘Parachute, Parachute. We need to raid it, I’m telling you.’

‘I said, submit a report.’

Still, considering the long time we’ve known each other, I decided to listen a bit more. Besides, I didn’t like seeing the raid team leader just hanging around the secretary’s office drinking coffee.

Does she have no work? She must not, that’s why she’s like this!

‘What exactly do we need to raid? A dungeon? I don’t recall any recent dungeons with changing danger levels.’

As I was saying that, I suddenly realized.

If there had been an alert via the mana meter, Yoo Ji-eun would’ve gathered her team and rushed out instead of coming to poke at me.

And yet, she came to find me and was nudging me?

‘Woo Hwijae.’

Something was definitely up. Yoo Ji-eun only called me by my name in that coquettish voice when it was unfavorable for her. Normally, she just called me Parachute.

‘No.’

So I refused reflexively. It was instinctual.

‘At least hear me out before saying no.’

‘Seeing you act like this makes me even more certain. Absolutely not.’

‘Hey, fuck. Woo Hwijae. Just listen to me.’

‘Ah, I need to work, so get lost. Don’t you have work? You haven’t submitted the raid report from the last dungeon yet. Submit it quickly, no more delays.’

‘Woo Hwijae.’

When I first joined the Ability Management Agency, I used to fall for that commanding tone. Those were my innocent days.

But now, I knew Yoo Ji-eun too well to be deceived by her serious gaze and low voice.

I scoffed.

‘The report.’

‘Fuck, I said we need to raid!’

‘So what exactly?’

‘…The one in Songpa District.’

There are so many dungeons in Korea, how could I know just from that? There are hundreds of dungeons in Seoul alone.

‘Songpa District?’

‘………Bangi-dong.’

Her voice was almost inaudible, quite unlike her earlier shouting.

She knew how I would react.

Of course. If it’s the Bangi-dong Dungeon in Songpa District, there’s only one thing that comes to mind.

‘Are you talking about that dungeon? The one with the mana stones?’

Yoo Ji-eun averted her eyes.

‘Has the danger level suddenly increased there?’

The alarms were quiet. Yoo Ji-eun knew it, and so did I.

Nothing more needed to be said.

‘I wondered what you were talking about….’

‘I don’t have a good feeling about it.’

‘You can’t just raid a dungeon based on a feeling….’

‘I went in there once before, remember?’

‘Did you gain a third eye or something?’

‘I’m not joking.’

‘Neither am I.’

‘Let’s raid it.’

‘Get out. I need to work.’

‘Parachute.’

‘I said get out.’

‘Raid….’

‘Get out!’

Yet Yoo Ji-eun was persistent.

After that, she kept coming to me whenever she had the chance, singing about the Songpa District, Bangi-dong, and the dungeon.

And she never submitted the report. She knew that formally requesting wouldn’t work, so she aimed to get my permission through persistent nudging, expecting me to take care of the aftermath.

Where did she learn such awful tactics?

But I’m a kind boss. I’m not a rude superior who blatantly ignores their subordinates. Ah, well… Yoo Ji-eun isn’t exactly my subordinate, but it feels that way.

Anyway, to show that I at least listened, I checked the Bangi-dong Dungeon. It was a stable dungeon, and I only occasionally checked if the mana stones were being produced properly.

D6-grade dungeon.

The lowest grade except for E, where no monsters are found.

The lowest grade, 6, based on the mana stability around the dungeon gate.

A D-grade dungeon wouldn’t cause any damage even if a dungeon break occurred.

Raiding such a dungeon is a waste of manpower. I relayed this message exactly as it was.

‘The Bangi-dong Dungeon? I checked it out and it’s just a D-grade dungeon.’

Yoo Ji-eun was immovable.

‘I’m telling you, it really feels bad.’

If I could meet Yoo Ji-eun again, I’d definitely tell her.

Why didn’t you just secretly go in and raid the dungeon?

She always pretends not to hear what I say, so why did she quietly wait for my permission this time?

Just… just raiding it would have been better.

If she had done that….

“……”

I opened my eyes wide.

I looked out the window. The sun was just rising.

To dream about Yoo Ji-eun. What an absurd, nonsensical dream.

The old man used to say you should buy a lottery ticket if a celebrity appears in your dream. So he said to always buy a lottery ticket if he appeared in my dream.

…Yoo Ji-eun was somewhat famous in her own right. Should I buy a lottery ticket? Or will something good happen to me?

But Yoo Ji-eun would never do something good for me….

After pondering for a moment, I unfastened the mana control device on my ankle. Since coming here, I had taken it off so many times that I could do it with my eyes closed now.

I wasn’t planning to check my mana watch. Just….

I recognized the mana pattern and opened my wallet. I turned it upside down and tapped it over my palm.

I used to carry a lot of emergency potions, but I had used them all on Yoo Ji-eun just before coming here, so now there were none left.

What fell onto my palm were a few specks of dust and my Hunter license. And a small piece of metal.

A dog tag engraved with Hong Seok-young’s name.

“Damn it.”

This is all because of Yoo Ji-eun. Why did I have to dream about her now of all times?

I put the wallet away and picked up the mana control device.

The sun had fully risen by now. It would soon be time for the children to go to school.

I might as well go to work. Working is the best thing to do when your mind is complicated.

* * *

The children had started to dislike me.

Hong Seok-young, who left saying he was going into the Bangi-dong Dungeon, hadn’t returned for four days. It wasn’t a dungeon with much to see, so I didn’t understand why it was taking so long.

Anyway, with Hong Seok-young gone, there was no Lee Mi-seon pushing me to draw runes quickly, and no bartender… no, Daseon’s Hunter making non-alcoholic cocktails. What could I do but spend a joyful time with the children?

Whether they were happy or not wasn’t my concern.

Since yesterday, Kim Chae-min had sent Choi Jin-woo and Park Seo-hyun to me, perhaps finding my antics with the kids amusing. Honestly, those two seemed reluctant.

But the more they hesitated, the more Kim Chae-min pushed the young mages forward.

‘Even if a mage doesn’t know how to beat someone with a staff, they should know how to run away!’

She was right. In a dungeon, other Hunters couldn’t always protect the mages. Mages needed to know how to survive on their own.

And the director had also said something similar in the past.

‘Kids need to eat dirt like this to boost their immunity.’

…Or was it something like that?

“Alright, are you all rested? Shall we start?”

“Teacher, we’re sorry.”

Lee Seung-yeon, who was lying haphazardly on the dirt ground, raised his hand. There wasn’t a spot on him that wasn’t covered in dust from head to toe.

“Sorry? What are you sorry for?”

“I don’t know, but I’m sorry.”

Soon-soon Jin, lying next to him, muttered gloomily.

“Guilty of aiming for the teacher’s neck, blinded by the moment’s prize….”

“You need that kind of spirit to be a Hunter.”

“We’re going to die before becoming Hunters.”

Even Seo Han-seong agreed.

I looked at the kids with a dumbfounded expression.

“Do you think I’m going to kill you?”

Despite appearances, I’m careful not to injure them. Sure, there were a few bruises, but no broken bones. My annoyance was with Hong Seok-young, not the kids. I wouldn’t take it out on them.

“We’re already dead inside.”

“Are you already giving up? You didn’t say that when you were with the principal?”

“The principal didn’t push us so relentlessly.”

Finally, the last student from the pilot school, Han Eun-young, who had been reluctant to talk, started to grumble. Despite her cold demeanor, her physical responses spoke volumes. Earlier, she even cursed while blocking my attacks.

Strangely, the kids were very wary. Was it because they had only been among themselves all this time? I could understand Seo Han-seong since he had experienced certain things, but I didn’t know why the others were like that.

Still, it was a relief that they were starting to let their guard down around me. Building rapport had been tough, but I wondered when I would finally get to train them properly.

At least the mages would be different, right? I had praised them a lot.

I checked on Park Seo-hyun and Choi Jin-woo.

“……”

“……”

If it weren’t for their faintly rising and falling chests, I might have thought they were dead.

“Hey, kids. Want some water?”

Yoo Hye-eun, feeling sorry for her dirt-covered friends, struggled over with a cooler box.

As a healer, Yoo Hye-eun couldn’t be trained like the other kids. Even though healers were awakened beings, they were physically weaker. They were sturdier than civilians but couldn’t be trained like melee fighters. Ultimately, she ended up being excluded and took mana control classes from Kim Chae-min instead. It seemed she felt guilty towards her friends for this.

The kids sprang to life like zombies and rushed towards the cooler box that Yoo Hye-eun brought. Watching them, I felt a pang of conscience.

Despite their complaints, they still had enough energy to get up and move, which made me frown.

They still have stamina? I guess I can push them harder.

Brrr.

“……?”

An annoying sound caught my ear, so I turned away from the zombie horde to the direction the sound was coming from.

A taxi was approaching from a distance.

“What?”

The kids, who had been pouring ice-cold water over their heads and necks, also poked their heads up one by one, having heard the car.

Even Kim Chae-min, who had been sitting under the parasol in a white dress, slowly stood up.

From Kim Chae-min’s sports car to Lee Mi-seon’s SUV, and now a taxi. It seemed the standard was dropping.

Neither Hong Seok-young nor Lee Mi-seon would take a taxi.

Then who could it be? Hardly any civilians would come all the way out here. Even though it was near the pilot school, it was still close to an unmanaged dungeon, so it was practically abandoned.

The taxi stopped at the entrance of the pilot school. After a short wait, the rear door opened, and a girl in a school uniform got out. She had her back to us, but I recognized the uniform from the village with the dormitory. It was from the only middle school there.

“I came all the way here because you’re a student!”

The driver’s angry voice leaked out through the open window.

“I wouldn’t come here for anyone else! Got it?”

“Th-Thank you….”

“I mean, what business could you have here. School, whatever.”

The girl bowed her head repeatedly, thanking the driver. It wasn’t a pleasant sight. She handed a bundle of ten-thousand won bills, which seemed like too much for a taxi fare, through the window. Only then did the driver stop grumbling.

The girl’s shoulders slumped. She looked desolate as she watched the taxi drive away.

I made eye contact with Kim Chae-min. Whether middle schooler or not, a visitor was a visitor. I wondered why she had come all the way here and was about to approach her.

“You!”

Yoo Hye-eun, who had thrown aside the cooler box, ran towards the middle schooler.

“What are you doing here!”

“Unnie!”

The girl turned to Yoo Hye-eun with a delighted voice.

…What?

“Why aren’t you at school?”

“I left early!”

“Why are you smiling! Oh, I can’t live like this. Did you hit someone at school?”

“Ah, do you think I’m always hitting someone?”

“Then why are you here?”

Yoo Hye-eun grabbed the girl’s cheeks, whom I assumed to be her younger sister, and squished them. Finally, she sighed. As Yoo Hye-eun dragged her sister towards us, I became more certain.

“I came because I missed you, unnie!”

“Yoo Ji-eun. Tell the truth before I get mad.”

“No, but it’s true. The school even told me to go see you quickly.”

Long ago, I had greeted this girl in the pilot school uniform.

‘…Is this the really the teacher’s son?’

‘Yes. Hwijae, this noona is my student. Say hello.’

‘…….’

A pale complexion without a hint of a smile. Eyes that shone brightly. She exuded a melancholic aura that made it hard to approach, but when our eyes met, she faintly smiled.

‘Hello. I’m Yoo Ji-eun.’

“Why? You didn’t really cause trouble, did you? Don’t tell me you broke the staff room window again?”

“I didn’t!!”

“Oh, I really can’t take this…. Teacher! I’m sorry. This is my younger sister…. Yoo Ji-eun! Quickly greet him. I told you before, right? That there’s the new teacher.”

A young face looked at me.

‘Make it out alive.’

The face that had coughed up blood overlapped with hers.

“Hello!”

So… she was a girl who could smile like that.

“I’m Yoo Ji-eun, Yoo Hye-eun’s younger sister!”

I said I had that nonsensical dream, this must be it.

It really was just a silly dream after all.