Hunter Kindergarten, Dolphin Class! - Chapter 40

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 040

 

As soon as I heard the doctor say it was okay to be discharged, I immediately rushed out of the hospital room.

 

Coming out of the building, the first thing that caught my eye was the dark evening sky after sunset. The street was quiet, fitting for a weekend afternoon.

 

Except for some people from Hunter Companies with their work-life balance destroyed and a few employees from the nearby broadcasting station, hardly anyone was visible.

 

‘Just how many hours was I lying there.’

 

I’m sure it was early afternoon right before I had a nosebleed and fainted.

 

‘I wasted an entire Saturday in an instant…’

 

I held back a sigh, slung my bag over one shoulder, and headed straight to the nearest convenience store.

 

And I started sweeping up snacks from the display as soon as I saw them.

 

“How about this?”

 

[ Good! ]

 

“What about those choco pretzels?”

 

[ So good. ]

 

“Don’t I need to buy candy?”

 

[ Right! Right! You need to buy candy too! ]

 

I could feel the part-timer glancing this way, but when I put wireless earphones in my ears, they looked away.

 

The basket filled with various snacks and treats was placed on the counter.

 

“…That comes to 124,800 won.”

 

This was the first time I’d spent over 100,000 won at a convenience store.

 

When I handed over my card, somehow worried eyes alternated between me and the basket full of snacks.

 

‘It’s not for me to eat.’

 

Of course, I have no idea how Nabi, who only shows her hands, will manage to eat all those snacks.

 

‘That’s… something to worry about later.’

 

I recalled the tense conversation I had with Nabi right before leaving the building.

 

 

At that moment, I really wanted to squeeze my eyes shut.

 

 

Throughout this entire conversation, imagine hearing the sound of seams being torn from the doll attached to my bag.

 

‘It felt like carrying a timed bomb on my back.’

 

Now… fortunately, it seems to have stopped?

 

“Thank you.”

 

[ Thank you! ]

 

Taking the plastic bag, I left the convenience store.

 

The alley leading home was dark with only occasional street lamps.

 

Even the garbage bags dumped by the wall required very close inspection to barely tell they weren’t people lying down.

 

Fortunately, when I looked around lightly, I couldn’t see a single person passing by.

 

‘This should be fine.’

 

I took out a cookie snack from the plastic bag and passed it behind my back. Then… the sound of seams being torn could be heard clearly again.

 

-Tudududuk.

 

-Tudududuk.

 

-Duduk ttuk.

 

I could feel a light weight settling into my bag, and past the smooth texture touching my fingertips…

 

The snack disappeared.

 

-Crunch.

 

-Crunch.

 

“…”

 

Gulp.

 

…So she can eat. When I glanced back out of curiosity, I could see a single white dog doll dangling at the end of my bag.

 

And if I looked closely at it…

 

Something other than cotton visible through the torn back of the doll.

 

The more clearly I tried to recognize what form it was, the more dizziness began to spread through my head like paint bleeding.

 

The moment I recognized that my vision was getting slightly blurry along with nausea, I shook my head left and right and looked straight ahead.

 

Stop.

 

I don’t think anything good will come from looking any further.

 

‘Focus ahead. Just focus ahead.’

 

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

 

-Crunch.

 

-Crunch.

 

And so, after our dramatic reconciliation, we were able to head home. Throughout the journey, I continued to hand over snacks, and Nabi continued to receive and eat them.

 

‘Good. Now it’s somewhat peaceful.’

 

***

 

Baek Cheonhyeong walked slowly, unusually lost in thought.

 

He walked and walked through the long, long hallway, quietly mulling over the burning sensation he had felt in his palm.

 

‘What was that.’

 

That reaction from earlier.

 

While tracing that unfamiliar sensation, he had arrived at his destination before he knew it.

 

Opening the door connected to the hallway and entering, he could see his Personal Secretary and Assistant Secretary in turn.

 

He showed a gentle smile to the Assistant Secretary who had recently joined and bowed his head slightly.

 

…While still replaying the fading sensation in his palm in his mind.

 

Entering the office space in the deeper area, Baek Cheonhyeong turned to look at his Personal Secretary who had quickly followed behind and asked.

 

“Do abilities get dull if you don’t use them?”

 

His voice was excessively light, as if asking a meaningless question.

 

“I’m not sure exactly what you mean by ‘getting dull,’ but in terms of control, that could be possible. After all, using abilities ultimately depends on ‘intuition.'”

 

A textbook secretary’s answer.

 

However, that wasn’t what he was curious about.

 

“Even if an A-grade uses it against a D-grade?”

 

“That would be no different from a tiger charging at a wild dog.”

 

As expected.

 

‘That’s nonsense.’

 

Baek Cheonhyeong nodded readily. That didn’t mean he completely understood though.

 

Because something had just happened that could refute those words.

 

He quietly looked down at his right palm that was trembling faintly.

 

‘So, why did this happen.’

 

To find the cause of that ‘nonsensical thing’ he had directly experienced earlier, Baek Cheonhyeong decided to gradually review the events that had occurred today.

 

…Actually, unlike what he had told Teacher, he hadn’t come to the company because of overtime work.

 

‘Do I even have a concept of overtime.’

 

Company work poured in every day. Documents that accumulated anew every minute and second, and meetings scheduled constantly filled each day to the brim.

 

Thanks to that, he was handling meals and lodging at the company.

 

However, since he had no intention of explaining such circumstances to Teacher as they were, he had made up something plausible.

 

Anyway, during the early afternoon when he was processing boring documents one by one as usual.

 

Unexpected news arrived.

 

News about an EX-grade Dungeon that had appeared for the first time in nearly a year.

 

He immediately sent the Field Team working weekend shifts to the site.

 

He wanted to go himself, but decided to hold back since it would be troublesome if he couldn’t handle the piling work on time.

 

But then.

 

-Clea…

 

-Clear?

 

The voice of the Field Team Employee bringing news over the phone sounded unusual.

 

-It’s been cleared! And with full survival too, it seems to be a rare clear case even among EX-grade Dungeons. And…

 

-And?

 

-And among the survivor names, ah, why is this person here again? There’s no way it could be someone with the same name… No, there wouldn’t be.

 

The tone sounds troubled as the words trail off.

 

At the same time, Baek Cheonhyeong’s head tilted to one side.

 

-Field Team Na, Team Leader Moon Chae-yeong and among the kindergarten teachers under that company, there’s a Teacher Na Hwi-yeon… Also…

 

-Haha.

 

‘What an interesting combination?’

 

With that thought, curiosity about the supposedly rare EX-grade Dungeon took a backseat.

 

Baek Cheonhyeong immediately recited to his executive secretary the company’s simple position on the EX-grade Dungeon and several matters to negotiate with the government, then stood up from his seat.

 

It was an impulse to go to the field site and see their faces directly while hearing about the situation.

 

However, before he could even leave the Company Building, they appeared first.

 

…One was carried in unconscious with blood smeared all over his face.

 

The other passed by his side with an expressionless face.

 

The woman also disappeared, following the man being moved to the hospital room.

 

Baek Cheonhyeong briefly stopped his previously unhesitating steps.

 

And after staying like that for a while… he returned with equally unhesitating steps to his seat piled high with documents.

 

‘I don’t know why I did that.’

 

Even thinking about it again, it was surprisingly hasty and pointless action.

 

‘What was I planning to do by going to find them in that situation?’

 

When what I need to do is already decided.

 

Even seeing Baek Cheonhyeong who had gone out earlier and returned, the executive secretary said nothing.

 

The two simply worked silently together, putting their heads together to find appropriate responses to the flood of questions from Media Company, the company’s position, and somehow extract profit from the cleared EX-grade Dungeon.

 

Then… evening came.

 

 

When evening came and the relief team arrived to give them a breather, the executive secretary spoke.

 

‘I didn’t have much appetite anyway.’

 

With that, he wanted to go visit as a gesture of consolation regarding the unfortunate incident related to the previous Underground Dungeon.

 

However, when he actually entered the hospital room, the other person was just sleeping like the dead.

 

He considered just going back, but…

 

‘Since it’s just a brief break anyway, it should be fine to sit for a little while.’

 

He sat in the hospital room Chair with his eyes closed, feeling his tightly wound brain cool down as if touching a cooling system.

 

Lately, being confined only to Indoor Area was killing him. His body was restless and his brain was frayed from overwork.

 

Baek Cheonhyeong.

 

He is one of only four in the Republic of Korea.

 

He is one of only two S-grade hunters at BOND.

 

Moreover, he’s a talent literally specialized for the field, with Combat Power as his main ability and Mental-type Skills as a secondary skill.

 

However, he was now confined not to the field but to an Indoor Area forming mountains of Documents.

 

If it were 30 years ago, he would have inevitably wandered around Dungeon or Battlefield, but in the current ‘peacetime,’ even he had to move according to his assigned role.

 

Moreover, the unwanted position of representative prevented Baek Cheonhyeong from getting up from his Chair even for a moment.

 

His small dream was for his younger brother Cheonji to mature quickly so he could hand over the company and return to the field himself.

 

‘Sitting still and working doesn’t suit my nature.’

 

Just as the thought of wanting to abandon everything and run away somewhere suddenly surged up.

 

Baek Cheonhyeong slowly opened his closed eyes.

 

It was because he detected the very subtle sound of someone stirring.

 

The dark hospital room, relying only on a single orange light, seemed insufficient for examining the patient.

 

 

Baek Cheonhyeong readily stood up from his seat.

 

The Man was squinting his eyes, trying to get a better look at the approaching figure.

 

 

Baek Cheonhyeong naturally asked about his physical condition and kindly added an explanation that this was a hospital room for the man who had been brought in unconscious.

 

Perhaps due to the unexpected appearance of this person, the other party looked flustered.

 

He quickly judged that smooth information gathering would be impossible given that state.

 

At least, he thought this wasn’t the right timing to extract information from someone whose face had turned pale white.

 

‘Having gone through such a major incident, the margin of error in memories due to trauma would be significant right after.’

 

Anyway, if a circumstantial investigation were to be conducted later, he could easily hear about today’s events then.

 

So regrettably, he decided to just offer comfort and visit as originally intended before leaving.

 

Baek Cheonhyeong showed the kind of pleasant smile he only displayed when people from major Hunter Companies and government officials came by.

 

On top of that, he even attempted jokes, something he rarely did normally.

 

While recalling the interesting rumors about Teacher that had been circulating in the company.

 

Namely, the ridiculous rumor that he was a spy from other Hunter Companies.

 

 

To him, who knew Na Hwi-yeon’s true circumstances, it was quite an amusing notion.

 

Having completed even a background investigation because the resume and interview alone weren’t sufficient, it was laughable to him.

 

‘He was surprisingly a model student.’

 

There had been some questionable behavior during his school days, but he thought that wasn’t a big problem since everyone goes through a period of wandering once.

 

Thus, whether it was the effect of using even baseless rumors as joke material, the atmosphere wasn’t too bad.

 

Since he had confirmed that Na Hwi-yeon’s complexion had become quite human-like.

 

However, he decided to do a bit of checking before returning to the office.

 

Specifically, he planned to use his Sub Skill to get at least a fragmentary overview of what Na Hwi-yeon had experienced today.

 

Furthermore, if the ability to manipulate past memories was needed, he was prepared to use that as well.

 

Considering the skill penalty that would cause him to suffer from fever like someone with body aches for a while, it would be better to restrain himself…

 

But suddenly he thought that this level of kindness should be provided as employee welfare for special situations.

 

‘Just making the horrific scenes a bit blurrier should be enough.’

 

With such light intentions, he planned to take a look and if counseling seemed necessary, assign the company’s dedicated psychiatrist.

 

However…

 

The moment Baek Cheonhyeong reached his hand toward Na Hwi-yeon’s head and used his ability.

 

The ability was repelled along with a burning, stinging pain.

 

…He looked down at Na Hwi-yeon, who was wearing a patient gown before his eyes.

 

Certainly, there was no particularly noticeable aura.

 

‘That was strange.’

 

He wasn’t even a Nullification Awakener.

 

‘Could such a thing happen?’

 

But his confusion didn’t last long. He immediately withdrew his hand from Na Hwi-yeon, who was looking up at him with a puzzled expression.

 

He made up an excuse about dust being on his hair and hurriedly left the place.

 

Ah, though he couldn’t help but blurt out his impression just before leaving.

 

 

Thus, having returned to his office now.

 

Baek Cheonhyeong tapped the top of his desk with his index finger.

 

The person who cleared an Underground Dungeon where no boss was found and came out of that place as the only one maintaining consciousness.

 

‘The first time could be coincidence.’

 

But…

 

He had once again returned alive and well from an EX-grade Dungeon that was determined to be a special case today.

 

In addition to the ridiculous articles about Na Hwi-yeon that the company had desperately blocked.

 

Articles that were patchworks of various citizen interviews surrounding him.

 

‘The content was so absurd and inconsistent that I ignored it.’

 

He had simply thought it was exaggerated in the process of word transmission, but…

 

‘Could this time also be coincidence?’

 

…Finally, even the ability backlash he had experienced just moments ago.

 

So, the fact that when he, an A-grade, used his ability on Na Hwi-yeon, a D-grade, it not only didn’t work but was repelled…

 

To quote what his executive secretary would say, wasn’t it no different from saying a tiger pounced on a wild dog but the wild dog scored a victory?

 

Tap.

 

Tap.

 

The index finger that had been moving up and down suddenly stopped.

 

A crooked smile appears on Baek Cheonhyeong’s face.

 

“What a truly fascinating person he was. Our Dolphin Class Teacher.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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