Laborer Mr. Kim Reaps Sweet Rewards with Auto-Hunting - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 001

Construction Site.
In rougher terms: a labor yard.

“Hey, Kim. Come grab this drywall for me, would you?”
“Yes, boss.”

The young man called Kim moved quickly, hauling up the drywall.
Yun Ha-jun.
That was his nickname on the job site—Kim.
His work was simple.
Labor assistant.
He did whatever he was told, lending a hand to the skilled workers.

“Aigo, look at him trembling away with both hands. Kid’s got no backbone. Back in my day, I could lift this with a single finger, you hear me?!”

Ah.
Listening to reminiscence stories was apparently part of the job description too.

“Come on now, boss. Kim here’s pretty sharp for his generation, all things considered.”
“Yeah, and he’s got the good sense not to show off about being a Hunter or whatever. That alone puts him ahead of most.”
“Exactly. A person’s got to learn a trade!”

Sirs.
If you’re going to compliment me, at least get my real name right.
It’s Yun Ha-jun, not Kim.
I threw out the hint, but nothing came of it.

“There was this guy years back, used to work great. Kim was his name. You look just like him when he was young. He went off to be some Hunter, right? You stay put till the end. Skill—that’s the future.”

That’s all I ever heard.
Anyway, so the old Kim was a Hunter too.
Hearing that for the first time today.
What even is a Hunter?
About thirty years ago, roughly.
When the Towers and Dungeons appeared, they came into being alongside them.
Put simply, they’re people who’ve Awakened to supernatural powers.
Their job is straightforward.
Climb the Towers. Clear the Dungeons.
What if they don’t?
All hell breaks loose.
If they don’t regularly conquer them, monsters spill out into the world, or so I’ve heard.

“Speaking of which, that Kim guy was bragging about buying a building not long ago….”
“Wow…. They make serious money. Can’t help but be jealous.”
“But they’re risking their lives out there. Ain’t safe like what we do.”

Fair point.
What good is all that money
if your life’s on the line every moment?

Yun Ha-jun was twenty-three, young blood coursing through his veins.
Once upon a time, he’d dreamed of being a Hunter.
But then?
He watched a few dungeon-clearing videos and quit on the spot.
Skills flying everywhere like an action movie, blood spraying left and right. Ugh, too brutal.
Not for me.
He shook his head slowly, then froze.
But wait….
If you can buy a whole building, honestly, wouldn’t you be envious?

“I’d be pretty jealous, actually.”
“Then what are you doing, you fool. Who’s going to make you a Hunter?”
“True. That’s the thing. You need an Awakening first, then you can do it or not.”
“Exactly. A pine caterpillar lives long only by eating pine needles. Don’t get greedy over useless things and just quietly learn a skill, will you?”
“Yes, sir.”

[Congratulations.]
[You have become an Awakened one.]

What?
Wait, what is this….

* * *

I’d Awakened.
Just like that.
Brother, I don’t think I can stomach those pine needles after all.
The absurd thought faded quickly.
First, let me figure out what I’ve actually Awakened to.
I focused inward.
A strange window materialized before my eyes.

——-
Name: Yun Ha-jun (Lv. 1) / South Korea
Profession: Worker Management Director
Unique Skill: Worker Summoning (Grade – Iron)
——-

Simple enough.
But… Worker Management Director?
Hmm….
Is this some kind of job tailored for day laborers?
Well, no.
Then again, Jo-gong became a Worker Management Director overnight, so maybe it’s a promotion of sorts.
Anyway, what’s this Worker Summoning about?
I’m curious….

“Hey! What are you doing?! I asked for a piece, didn’t I?!”
“Oh! Yes, here you go!”

I held back for now.
It was too early to brag around the neighborhood.
Instead, I asked carefully.

“Brother Min-uk, if you ever Awaken, what would you do? Would you run off to become a Hunter like that guy with the building?”
“Awaken? Kid, I’m fifty-three this year. What Hunter? I’ll just keep living like this.”
“Really? But if it’s a high-grade Profession, wouldn’t you just rake in the money?”

Awakening is a lottery.
You become an Awakened one?
You’ve won, that’s for sure.
The question now is how big the prize is.
And fortunately, it’s easy to find out.
First:
Register with the Awakened Management Bureau and say, “I’ve Awakened!”
After that?
They measure the strength of your ability.
According to the Bureau’s standards.
What if a high Rank shows up there?
That’d be incredible. Absolutely incredible.
High-Rank Hunters are elite personnel.
Normally the Bureau supports them in every way so they can comfortably raise their specs in safe Dungeons.
And when the moment comes, they just handle the dangerous Dungeons or high-level Tower raids, and that’s it.

“Money? Sure, it’s nice. But is it worth more than your life?”
“Ah….”

He was right.
Now that he thought about it, that was true.
Say a high Rank does show up.
Then they just handle the dangerous Dungeons or high-level Tower raids when the time comes, and that’s it?
But who does the raiding?
Does some ancestor come down and do it for you?
No.
It means you end up having to run in there yourself.
‘Me, going into a Dungeon?’
He couldn’t even watch Dungeon raid videos without shaking.
It was ridiculous.

“So quit talking nonsense and just give me the Mana there.”

Right.
A pine caterpillar’s got to eat pine needles.
Let’s just work.

“Yes sir, right here!”

* * *

“Thank you all for your hard work today!”
“Good job, everyone.”
“Come on, let’s head out.”

Twenty-three years old, a hungry young man named Yun Ha-jun.
He didn’t own a car yet.
Didn’t have the money for one either.
His commute usually meant hitching rides from the older guys on their way in and out.
Tonight?

“I’ve got plans nearby, so I’ll head out on my own today!”
“Hey, don’t overdo it on the drinking. If you pull that thing again where you suddenly can’t come in the morning with some excuse, that’s it—you’re done.”
“Yes sir! Understood!”
“Watch your mouth, kid.”

He sent the older guys off first.
Then.
He slipped into the construction site bathroom.
After a short while, he cracked the door open.

“Ugh, the stench….”

By the time the acrid stink of the squat toilet had started to cling to his clothes,
the site had fallen silent.
He slipped out and looked around.
Sure enough, no one was there.
Anyone done with their shift had left immediately.
Those working the night shift had gone to eat.
Yun Ha-jun?

“Well then, let me scratch this lottery ticket.”

A pine caterpillar must eat pine needles.
He’d accept that.
But?
Since the ticket was already a winner.
He ought to check what prize it was.
Who knows?
Maybe it’s the jackpot.

Even if it’s a dud?
It doesn’t matter.
No one around.
He’d already confirmed there were no cameras.
In other words, only Yun Ha-jun knew this fact.
If it was blank, he’d simply keep his mouth shut and go eat pine needles.
So then.

“Worker Summoning.”

The die was cast.
All that remained was to see the result.

[Summoning workers!]
[Grade – Iron]
[Summoning Range: All lower and intermediate targets]

The result came immediately.
Messages appeared in succession.
Flash!
Light blazed bright.
And then—

“Squeak!”

What?
Squeaking?

* * *

Worker Summoning.
Something did appear.
Five orcs.

“Squeak!” “Squeeeeak!”

This is right?

“Personnel Manager, it says….”

It was written clearly.

[Job: Personnel Manager]

Personnel management.
Management of people….
But that.

“Squeak!”

No.
Even if you puff out your chest and make a show of it, you’re still monsters.

“A lottery jackpot’s got nothing on this.”

That’s what someone once told me.
The exact method for confirming Awakening rank is self-reporting to the Management Bureau.
But.
Without even going there, you can figure it out well enough, supposedly.
How?
Just by looking, they say.
Good jobs or skills reveal themselves once you actually use them.
That’s how it goes, or so I’d heard.
I get it now.
This is a dud.
And I mean a dud times a hundred.

“Damn it…….”

Truth be told, I’d been hoping.
You know what I mean.
Like that Hunter ranked first in Korea?
Get some broken-overpowered ability.
Live in a Han River View Apartment.
Expensive car, top-tier everything, right?
Escape the semi-basement one-room grind?
I’d been hoping.
But when I opened it up….

“Squeak-!”

Alright, alright.
Stop trying to impress me.
It’s dangerous — put that hammer down.

“What? A hammer?”

Looking again, something felt off.
Why was this orc wearing a hard hat?
And each one was carrying tools in their hands — power drills, hammers, that sort of thing.
They looked like actual construction workers.

Confused, I checked.
The messages.
But there were quite a lot of them.

[Worker Summoning (Rank – Iron)]
[At your current rank, you may summon all entities classified as Mid-tier or Low-tier.]

[You have used Worker Summoning for the first time.]
[Profession Bonus: You have been granted one High-tier Worker One-Time Experience Ticket.]
[※ The High-tier Worker One-Time Experience Ticket has a small chance of summoning a Top-tier Worker.]

“Huh….”

A one-time experience ticket?
Like a sample spoon?
Reading through it all, a spark of anticipation began to kindle.
Top tier.
Just from the name alone, it sounded like something special.
The problem was the phrase “slim odds.”
Well, I could find out about that later.

“So why are you two just standing there?”
“Squeak!”

They’d even brought tools with them, of all things.
But they only made sounds and didn’t move.
What was I supposed to do?
That’s what I was thinking.
Then another message appeared.

[Summoned workers move according to settings.]
[Manual Mode] / [Auto Mode]

Currently, I was in Manual Mode.
So that meant.
Right now they weren’t doing anything because Manual Mode was active.
Would they work if I gave them an order?

“Um… you, the one on the left? Go move that over there.”

I pointed at the pallet piled high with drywall.

“Squeak!”

Would you look at that.
The orc snapped its right arm up in a salute.
Then.

Boom!

“Oh….”

It moved the pallet.
The entire pallet, no less.
You mean to tell me it lifted all that weight in one go?
And that easily, too?

“Wait, maybe this isn’t a dud after all?”

Of course, I had no intention of becoming a Hunter.
Even with an orc around, it’d be dangerous for me.
But instead?
I saw a way to put this to good use.

For example.
If I summoned these guys at construction sites and put them to work?
The orc does the heavy lifting, and I pocket the money.
Isn’t that just a goldmine?
Besides, the goldmine hadn’t finished unboxing yet.

Manual Mode works fine.
But what about Auto Mode?
Would they just move around on their own?

[Manual Mode] → [Auto Mode]

I switched the settings, eager to see what would happen.
It was even more ridiculous.

“Hup! Hup! Hup!”

They loosened up their bodies with light stretches.
And then, of all things, they started raising their fists at each other and chanting slogans.
Wait—was that a rhythm?

“Safety! Good! Good! Good!”

Unbelievable.
Before I knew it, I was following along.
Light warm-up exercises.
And the chants, sharp and earnest.
It was the familiar morning scene of a construction crew.
So, were they heading out to work now?

“Hup!”

Yes, they were really going.
But where?
Just in case, I kept Manual Mode ready to switch back to at any moment.
For now, I hung back and followed.

“Hup! Hup!”

Third floor, second floor, first floor.
I followed the orcs down the stairwell.
When we reached the basement.
I saw something that had no business being at a construction site.

“Insane—is that a Gate?”

The entrance to a Dungeon—a Gate.
What was it doing here?
I had to report this. Right away.
In my panic, I was fumbling through my pockets.

“Hup!”

The orcs filed through one by one.

“Wait, why are they—”

And at that moment.
A strange message appeared.

[The workers are entering the Dungeon.]
[Auto-hunting mode is starting.]

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