I Will Save the World and Retire Chapter 221

Mud Dungeon (2)

‘The dungeon where I obtained this sword?’

A woman with deep wrinkles between her eyebrows opened her mouth in a curt tone.

‘Why, do you think you’ll pick something up if you go in?’

‘… … .’

‘Arthur. I closed the door as I came out, and more than anything, there… .’

The woman who had been tapping her chin laughed with a peck of air.

‘It’s really dirty.’

* * *

Swish… .

It was raining so hard that it was hard to see even an inch ahead. It’s hard to describe this rain with the word “heavy rain.” It’s to the point where I wonder if there should be another word.

I had expected it to be of little use, but the raincoat I had brought just in case became useless as soon as I entered the dungeon. It was quite an expensive item. Even the raincoat made from Yeti hide was useless in this kind of rain.

The ground was already muddy because of the rain. My feet sank up to my knees every time I walked.

The only good thing is that there are no monsters that swim underwater and bite your ankles. If there were, the difficulty of clearing the dungeon would have increased dramatically.

“… ! … … !!”

I can’t even hear my own voice properly, so it’s no different when someone else is making noise. No matter how hard I strain, all I can hear is the sound of rain falling like a waterfall.

Even in such rain, if you look up at the sky, you can see a sky full of stars. It is a strange sight. A clear sky. Rain falling from a sky without even a single cloud.

I waved my hand toward Hong Seok-young. I gave him a simple hand signal to follow me, and he replied that he understood. I explained it to him before I came in, but this is my first time entering this dungeon. I hope my older sister didn’t omit it because she was teasing me.

Swish… Swish… .

“… … .”

I walked silently, taking in the pouring rain. My clothes, soaked and clinging to me, hindered my movement.

The splashing water didn’t rise above knee level. With this much rain, it wouldn’t be strange if the water reached my knees or even my chin.

So then there is a hole somewhere for the water to drain through, or… .

Dungeons are confined spaces. Unless the gate opens, monsters inside the dungeon are trapped here. You can get out of the dungeon by collecting things like plants or items, but I have never heard of creatures classified as monsters being able to leave the dungeon without a dungeon break. Even if it looks like a plant, if it is a monster that attacks humans, it cannot leave.

If it had been before when I hadn’t heard the identity of the dungeon from Hope, I might have guessed some of its mechanisms now.

In the past, I wouldn’t have understood the sudden downpour in a dungeon. But now that I know that this dungeon is a spaceship trying to protect alien life forms, it’s obvious.

The environment inside the dungeon is tailored to the passengers. Monsters that die when leaving the dungeon cannot be taken out, but it doesn’t matter if some parts are taken out. Even if the plants for creating the environment die because they can’t adapt to the outside environment, if the passengers are still inside, isn’t that enough to fulfill its purpose?

This rain, the water level is just below the knees, and it doesn’t get any lower or higher, and that’s probably why. If it’s the monsters in this dungeon that I heard about from my older sister… . Hmm.

I barely managed to find the cave entrance after wading through the sticky mud.

Fortunately, the ground was a little higher, so it didn’t take long. The entrance wasn’t completely blocked by mud. Still, the rainwater was pouring down the narrow entrance of the cave.

The entrance is… roughly my waist height. It’s not big.

“… … .”

After sending a signal to Hong Seok-young to be right there, he broke the glow stick he had brought and threw it into the cave.

The inside of the cave is sloping. The glow stick slid down along the flowing rainwater and mud. I took out another glow stick from my bag and carefully entered the cave while illuminating my feet. The sturdy body of the Awakened would not be damaged by slipping in the cave, but it would not hurt to be careful.

As he walked in from the entrance, the sound of rain grew distant. Hong Seok-young shook his head.

“What’s the rain… This dungeon is bad for your joints.”

“Retire.”

“… … .”

“what.”

Hong Seok-young shook his head.

If a person of that man’s level speaks weakly, it is a deception. You should not accept it.

“Let’s do what we have to do and then leave quickly.”

“Um… Do I really not have to do the strategy?”

“It would be good if you did it, but you said you were going to look around and see what the condition was like, so if you do a strategy, it’s a bit much. You said you’d get it done in one day, so you have to be punctual.”

Hong Seok-young looked at the cave wall with a disgusted expression. There were scratch marks. Sharp, like scratches from a claw or something.

“There’s no dungeon I haven’t entered and conquered.”

“There will be a lot more of these in the future.”

“…many?”

Even Mont Saint-Michel has failed to be conquered. No, even at this point, there are probably dungeons that have just appeared without being conquered, so I don’t know why I keep making such pointless jokes.

My nerves are getting tense here and there… .

Clicked his tongue.

“But this won’t be recorded. Just don’t get caught.”

“You said you were a civil servant? Is that okay?”

Hong Seok-young asked, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand to see if rain had gotten into his eyes.

“I told you, you just have to not get caught.”

Saying this makes me sound like some kind of corrupt government official. That’s not true… There’s a complicated reason for all this.

… No, that would sound like a really pathetic excuse from a corrupt official. That’s not true.

Could you explain a little bit about the Administration Office? Like Hunter Go, this time the Administration Office may be able to be built on a stable foundation.

I opened my mouth and walked into the cave, following the claw marks.

“Although the management office is a state agency, the process of its establishment was quite… messy.”

Hong Seok-young glanced at my face and guessed the reason, so he didn’t ask me deeply about it.

Most of the troubles are connected to the incident in Myeongdong. Hong Seok-young has heard enough of my stories to know that.

“It was the Office of Abilities Management, and that’s why your rank was the director. The ranks and the internal structure were somewhat… a mess.”

This was not something I could sort out even if I wanted to. It was something that happened because political issues were intertwined in the early days of the establishment and were not properly resolved and became entrenched.

Since it was running independently from other organizations, there were no major problems, so no one took care of it. So I left it as it was, but organized it by separating the work of internal employees. The ranks were meaningless. I even felt angry when I saw that the strategy team had been writing, submitting, getting approval, and even making payments for strategy support items.

Hunters are annoying and contradictory beings who like to talk weakly as much as they have high self-esteem.

Normally, all remaining supplies should be returned after the conquest is over. But since there was no one to stop them, the supplies were so abundant that they overflowed, and they all ended up in the hunters’ personal pockets.

Yes. Yujin, even my sister did the same. Do you know how betrayed I felt when I found out? I believed that even if everyone else did the same thing, my sister would never get involved. Even my father knew about it and turned a blind eye to it.

Now that I know the circumstances, I can guess why my sister did that. She probably wanted to prepare as much as possible. Just in case. The potion wasn’t a miraculous spring that could bring back a dead person, but there were times when it saved someone’s life when they were on the verge of death.

… So, you should have told me. Then I would have pretended not to know.

“In addition to that, there was a lot going on externally as well. Since we couldn’t touch what was happening inside the dungeon, there was a lot of pressure on the management office.”

“I think I have a rough idea. It’s not that different now.”

“The situation got worse after the Magic Meter prevented dungeon breaks. There were many restrictions on hunters. As the perception that the gate was safe spread, there were quite a few civilians who set up camp around it and blocked entry.”

Han Tae-kyung often went to court fighting those guys.

If I just say this, it might seem like I’m defending Han Tae-kyung, but that’s not true. Han Tae-kyung had a talent for magnifying the scale of things that could have just been overlooked.

“But that doesn’t mean we can treat hunters coldly, right? That’s why we let it slide as long as they don’t commit crimes blatantly.”

I shrugged.

“As long as you don’t get caught, that’s it. Based on the principle of presumption of innocence.”

“… When you hear that, I can’t refute the claim that you’re creating a private army.”

“That’s half true.”

“So you’re saying the other half is a lie?”

“The other half was Nu, Yu Ji-eun’s private army.”

Hong Seok-young finally made an expression like a five-year-old child who realized the true identity of Santa Claus.

It seemed like it needed a little coaxing.

“But I didn’t overlook the crime.”

“That’s as it should be.”

“Just about clearing the dungeon… Oh, and I didn’t even tolerate anyone interfering with the clearing process.”

“It’s quite comforting.”

“I pretended not to know that they were giving me some support supplies.”

The problem was that hunters didn’t know how to do things properly.

Hong Seok-young nodded, waving his hands. No, really.

I worked so hard to organize the management office, but this is so unfair.

“If we create an administrative agency this time, I hope we do it right from the beginning.”

“hmm….”

Hong Seok-young walked silently for a while without saying a word. Fortunately, the cave was only small at the entrance, but it got wider as he went in. The slope gradually became gentler.

“Then why don’t you make it yourself?”

“Me?”

I looked at Hong Seok-young with eyes that said, “What kind of crazy stuff are you talking about?”

“They say I established the administration office… . I know myself well. I was able to establish the school with the help of this hunter. If the future me runs it well, it won’t be because of my ability, but because of the help of others.”

“… This hunter helped me a lot.”

“Look at that.”

Hong Seok-young laughed heartily.

“Things are much better now, right? If we can create an administrative office in a stable situation, we can get things off to a good start.”

“… You seem to have forgotten, but I am now a criminal.”

“You’re not saying no?”

In any case, my future of working at the Ideal Management Office related to Hong Seok-young was drawn up quite easily.

I don’t want to take the lead and take responsibility for the management office, but I don’t want to miss the opportunity to build a solid foundation from the ground up, as Hong Seok-young said.

“And as I said last time, that problem can be solved very easily.”

“… You have a talent for changing the subject.”

“It’s a talent that you can usually acquire when you’re my age.”

“Can I not say anything?”

“no.”

I sighed.

“If only you would become my son….”

Krrrr!

However, Hong Seok-young’s words did not continue until the end.

The cave shook so much that it was difficult to stand upright.

Fantasy, contemporary,