I Will Save the World and Retire Chapter 331

Muddy (2)

The corpses that the fairy pulled out of the mud were exactly thirteen. I wondered if they were all the hunters who had lost their lives in this dungeon. I couldn’t bring myself to ask.

Tati climbed up the tree branch as a captive, oblivious to the human’s troubles. The disgusting mud was still dripping down her legs, but she rocked back and forth like a child.

Even though he buried the body in his own house.

And there are more than one or two.

“Hmm….”

Hong Seok-young looked through the corpses with a serious expression. The corpses were covered in mud, but the damage to them was not severe. With a little imagination, it was possible to guess what they looked like in life.

Hong Seok-young, who had been quietly observing, suddenly raised his head.

“What is this? Why is it so far away?”

I took another step back.

“Why are you getting further away?”

“Please… look at that too.”

“hmm?”

Hong Seok-young followed where my gaze was directed and burst into laughter.

“No, haven’t you ever been in a dungeon?”

“I went in.”

“If you’re at that level, you must have been there quite often.”

“I managed to get in somehow.”

“But is this your first time seeing a dead body?”

“That’s not it.”

I frowned.

“This is different.”

Hong Seok-young also frowned following me.

“Is that so? It doesn’t seem to be much different.”

“I said it’s different.”

I clicked my tongue and grumbled. But Hong Seok-young shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t understand what I said.

“Isn’t it the same if you die in battle?”

battle….

Yeah, it’ll be a battle.

“Are you asking when he died? Freshness?”

“Don’t use that word to people!”

“No, what… .”

Hong Seok-young looked at me quietly for a moment and then nodded.

“You, have you ever been in an uncharted dungeon?”

“… … .”

“There are more hunters left in the dungeon than I thought. Not all monsters eat humans.”

I have nothing to say.

I don’t want to refute that either, because it’s true.

I said, kicking the floor.

“… Putting everything else aside, be careful what you say. Don’t you have to raise a child now?”

Hong Seok-young chuckled.

“Do you miss your father’s embrace?”

“You shouldn’t joke in front of a dead person.”

“I feel very relieved because I think I raised him well.”

Hong Seok-young got up, shaking his knees.

“That’s right. This kind of thing isn’t supposed to be seen by kids. Can you go over there for a moment?”

“… I’m not a kid.”

“Children are always children in front of their parents.”

This time, I wanted to say something in rebuttal, but I couldn’t. Hong Seok-young smiled and gestured after seeing me like that. I hesitated and approached Hong Seok-young.

“But you can’t avoid it. It’s rude.”

“…These guys too?”

“I told you not to use that word to people?”

Hong Seok-young smiled faintly.

“Regardless of your purpose, once you enter the dungeon, you must bring humans.”

Hong Seok-young glanced at Tati on the tree.

“You could say they helped save our world. We shouldn’t avoid those people.”

Hong Seok-young’s words are sincere. But in the meantime, he even tried to see that fairy. He is an amazing person in many ways. To the point where I’m suddenly scared of whether I can follow him or learn from him.

The eyes that had been paying attention to the fairy behind me turned back to me. Hong Seok-young smiled happily when he realized that I understood. It was the same smile as his father.

I avoided his gaze as if I was being burned and looked at the thirteen corpses.

As Hong Seok-young said, this is not the first time I have seen a corpse. There have been times when people died in front of my eyes. That is how dungeon raiding works. Even if I am skilled enough to protect myself, even if I am strong by general standards,

You can’t protect everyone.

My father was very protective of me. I knew that even then. But that’s why he was so open about what was happening in the dungeon.

Hunters who don’t know what will happen in the dungeon are the ones who will die first.

‘Ugh. I told you I’m not a hunter.’

‘But you never know what might happen in life. Back in the old days, not so long ago. Don’t you remember when you were young? Back then, dungeon breaks happened a lot.’

‘You can prepare now.’

‘You never know what will happen in life. If you don’t know how to do it, you won’t know, but if you can do it, you shouldn’t let your guard down.’

It wasn’t that I didn’t understand what my father said. Rather, I was convinced, so I obediently followed his words.

I went into a dungeon, and got scolded while running a dungeon with my older sister. I also spent the whole day sparring with my father, who heard my sister’s story.

“Besides, even if you don’t know how to do it when you’re just attacking, you need to know how to do it now.”

Hong Seok-young took out a pair of leather gloves from his bosom.

“I don’t know what will happen in the future. I don’t want to make you do it, but…”

Hong Seok-young turned the body over with his gloved hands. His hands were free of hesitation, perhaps because he was looking for something.

“There’s a difference between knowing how to do something but not doing it and not knowing how to do it, right?”

Hong Seok-young lifted the collar of the nearby corpse and dragged it down. The armor was strong, but there was nothing he could do when he tore it off with force.

A dark line was visible between the shoulder blades. It was not known exactly when he died, but the condition was good enough that the sun drawn by the dark line and the hand supporting the sun were immediately recognizable.

There was no Atlas to be punished. All that remained were the sun, the hand, and the arm. It was a picture with a strange atmosphere.

“Hey, Tati.”

“huh?”

Hong Seok-young called Tati.

“Did the rest of the humans have this picture too?”

“huh!”

“okay….”

Despite Tati’s answer, Hong Seok-young carefully examined the body.

It’s not that I’m weak-willed, and it’s not the first time I’ve seen a dead person, but this… this is something I’ve never done before.

But I know why Hong Seok-young called me over. He explained it kindly because he thought I might not understand. So I quietly watched what Hong Seok-young did.

Couldn’t he notice that he was doing it slowly on purpose as if to show me off? I watched Hong Seok-young’s hand with the determination not to miss a single thing.

If you think about it, Hong Seok-young is currently the leader in the investigation of the Awakened. There are several other hunters in the world who are said to have similar skills to Hong Seok-young.

But can those people do the same thing that Hong Seok-young does? That’s a different story. The opposite is also true. Each has a different area of ​​expertise.

To be honest, as someone who worked at the management office, there were times when I felt frustrated because my father was such an excellent hunter. It was also a waste of manpower for such a hunter to be investigating Awakened criminals instead of going out to conquer high-difficulty dungeons.

Of course, the Management Office does not handle crimes committed by the Awakened. However, if a Korean Hunter causes an accident, the responsibility is bound to fall on the Management Office.

Sometimes, especially when an accident occurs in an overseas dungeon, it is difficult to find the person responsible. Then, the blame is usually passed on to someone other than the local hunter. By the same logic, the management office runs around trying to protect the local hunters.

As I told Kang Tae-woo, I want to create an investigative agency. At first, I vaguely thought about creating the Management Office again, but I thought that in today’s Republic of Korea, there is a greater need for an investigative agency in charge of the Awakened. It’s the same even if I think about it later.

If that’s the case, then you shouldn’t feel uncomfortable about things like this.

“Actually, you shouldn’t keep digging like this.”

Hong Seok-young suddenly muttered something disheartening as if he was mocking my determination.

“For something like that….”

Even though he says no, Hong Seok-young’s hands are unstoppable.

“You’re good at it.”

I shouldn’t say this, but this isn’t the first or second time you’ve done it. … There was no hesitation even when you were digging through Kim Yu-hwa’s body.

“Isn’t this an emergency? We can’t afford to waste time.”

“You’re not just talking big, are you?”

“What are you talking about! According to the original procedure, you should record the situation at the time of discovery. If possible, take pictures. If not, draw a picture. Right, did you go to an art school? If it were me, I would have sent you… Should I send Irok to an art school too?”

“Don’t digress.”

“Ahem. Anyway, you have to look at everything carefully. Even the surroundings. You have to check whether it’s human or monster’s doing.”

Hong Seok-young, who had finished checking the nape of his neck, took out a wallet from Hunter’s arms. A rough leather wallet. It was probably connected to a subspace.

“Sometimes, you kill someone and then blame it on a monster. You have to be careful.”

“… Well, that’s right.”

“In this case, the cause is clear, though.”

Hong Seok-young was about to scratch his head as usual, but stopped when he saw the gloves. Even though he was Hong Seok-young, it was a bit much to touch a corpse.

“Originally, you have to do all the training.”

“Even if he’s a criminal?”

“Even if he is a criminal.”

Hong Seok-young spoke strongly.

“But right now… we’re in a situation where we’ve sneaked into the dungeon too, right? It’s hard to even get these people out.”

“So you’re only clearing out the subspace?”

“You wouldn’t be walking around in a dungeon just carrying something in your hand. At the very least, you would have put your cell phone in there.”

Since there is no lock like in my subspace, anyone can easily open it.

I nodded.

Let me see. I’m sure I have some gloves somewhere.

Gloves are something that I don’t usually wear, but I feel regretful without them.

I helped Hong Seok-young collect all the things that seemed to be subspaces. I didn’t plan on staying here long. I already had a lot of work to do. Hong Seok-young also said that he couldn’t stay in Korea for long.

Hong Seok-young collected the subspace pile and shook his hands thoroughly.

“Tati.”

And we didn’t forget to question our only suspect and witness about the circumstances.

“When did these guys come into the dungeon?”

“Huh?”

Tati blinked and answered forcefully.

“Long ago!”

“… … .”

It’s impossible to check that in a dungeon where there’s no day or night. Hong Seok-young groaned and moved on to the next question.

“Did these guys come in all at once?”

“Huh? No!”

“Share it?”

“huh.”

“Do you remember who came in with whom?”

“no!”

Tati answered brightly.

I answer questions diligently, but being diligent doesn’t mean that everything in the world will be solved.

Hong Seok-young and I both let out a sigh at the same time. It was because we had a feeling about how this interrogation, which wasn’t really an interrogation, would go.

Fortunately, this monster is still friendly to us. Moreover, it seems to be better socialized than Uirok.

To our surprise, Tati started to watch us.

“Uh, uh, those guys… .”

It was also at that time that Hong Seok-young’s voice became much softer.

“Anything is fine. Do you remember anything about these guys?”

After groaning for a while, Tati began to nod her head wildly.

“That’s right! Yeah, that one. That’s it.”

“Him? Who is that?”

“Him.”

Tati pointed to the body I had last seen. It was in unusually bad condition.

Blackened dead skin and a painfully distorted face. The inside of the mouth is blocked with mud. Considering that Tati had soaked the gate in mud, I think he probably died in the mud. It was a stark contrast to the others.

Tati’s face crumpled. The mud that had fallen to the floor rose up, overflowing with life.

“He, Hijae, chased after me.”

Fantasy, contemporary,