Laborer Mr. Kim Reaps Sweet Rewards with Auto-Hunting - Chapter 36

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

Episode 36

Fixed Team Management, Expansion Conditions.

1. At least 2 top-tier workers.
2. All workers must be mid-tier or higher.

Once Arthur reached top-tier, we satisfied condition one.
The problem is condition two.

“Squeak?”

Right.
I need to get those guys to mid-tier….
My head’s starting to throb.

“Boss, what’s wrong?”
“What do you mean mid-tier all of a sudden?”

Yeah.
Brooding alone won’t solve this anyway.
Let’s put our heads together.

“A message just came through. To expand the Fixed Team Management slots, all registered workers need to be mid-tier or higher.”

I laid out the essentials.
Their reaction?

“Weak little runts, get stronger…?”
“Hmm.”
“The orc fellas need to level up?”
“Squeak-squeak?”

Everyone’s heads tilted in confusion.
Fair enough.
The orcs.
They started as low-tier, after all.
Mid-tier only came through not long ago.
But now, top-tier…?

“Arthur himself was only mid-tier a few hours ago.”
“Boss is right! Arthur, you got strong real fast!”

That’s true enough.
And besides….

“Even before reaching top-tier, there was a huge gap between me and the orcs.”
“That’s the truth! Those runts are weak!”
“Squeak!”

The orcs nodded along, acknowledging it.
Which just shows how far they’ve got to go….
The bigger problem is, I don’t even know how to get them there.

“This is rough.”
“Well… one option would be to remove the orc squad from the Fixed Team and recruit different workers instead, sir.”

Wait.
How could you say something like that in front of the people involved?

“Squeak!”
“Gomdori, that’s not nice!”

But honestly, he’s not wrong.

“Squeak-squeak?!”

Look.
I have to give credit where it’s due.
Truth is, that method really would be the simplest.
But.

“I’m not really keen on it. Let’s reject that proposal.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Squeeeeak!”

Last time.
I felt it when we removed the slimes from the fixed team.
Squirm, squirm-squirm.
The way they twisted about in distress and all.

[A worker grows disheartened by unilateral contract termination.]
[The Personnel Management Bureau chief’s words spread among the workers awaiting assignment.]
[Reputation decreases.]

Messages like that, too.
If you remove someone from a fixed team, they don’t just wave goodbye coolly.
…It’s something like that, I guess?
So that’s a bit awkward.

Yoon Ha-jun, twenty-three years old.
Occupation.
Personnel Management Bureau chief and laborer.
So I know it well.
Form a team to work together, then tell them to leave for no reason?
I can’t let that slide.

“Squeak! Chirp! Squeak-squeak-squeak!”
“Um…. We’ll work hard, so please give us just one more chance. That’s what the orcs are saying!”

Look at that.
How am I supposed to kick them out?
I mean, if they weren’t pulling their weight, that’d be one thing.
The orcs?
They’re earning their keep just fine.
I can’t kick them out.

“The real issue is whether we can actually raise them to a higher rank….”
“Hmm…. Arthur, I’ve been thinking about it…. I think we might be able to!”

Oh.
Really?

* * *

How do you raise someone’s rank?
From experience.
The conditions needed varied by rank.
First, Lower Rank to Middle Rank.
That was easy.

“You just stack experience through training, then give them an appropriate weapon once they’re maxed out.”
“Exactly.”

Next, Upper Rank to Peak Rank.
That one’s simple too.
When you think about it, it’s the same principle.
They’d reached their experience cap, and the moment they obtained gear that matched their potential, their rank jumped.

“So, Arthur’s thinking—what if we give the weak ones Upper Rank weapons first, then train them? They’ll rank up, right?”
“Hmm….”

In other words.

“We’ve been doing it backwards—stacking experience first, then handing out weapons. What if we flip that?”
“Hah, our boss is sharp! Exactly right!”
“But isn’t that just Zhaosanmosa?”
“Zhaosan? What’s that…? Arthur doesn’t know hard words.”
“It’s neither here nor there, Worker Arthur.”
“What? They’re different! Upper Rank weapons? Takes lots of strength!”

Ah, so it’s like a Sand Bag thing.
Though, come to think of it….
Training with a Sand Bag does work well.
But doesn’t it wear you out?

“Arthur thinks—to make weak ones strong? Got to push hard! Arthur will run them through it!”
“Squeak! Squeeeak!”
“You all ready?”
“Squeak!”

Wait.
When did he put on that red cap?
Meanwhile, the orcs are throwing their hands up and cheering along.

“Arthur’s gonna make these ones into people!”
“Squeak! Squeak!”
“Um… Arthur….”

I’ve told him this several times.
They’re not actually people to begin with….
They’re orcs.
Still, I’ll grant them this—they’ve got spirit.

“Whoa! The orc gentlemen like it too! So Lani should make them, right?! Lani likes this!”

And Gomdori’s in on it too.

“But can you make them now? You must’ve been exhausted making Arthur’s shield just now.”
“Mm… it is a bit hard, but I can do it! Lani wants to make them! Should Lani do it right now? This one’s quick!”

She can make them right now?
Then there’s nothing more to discuss.
Let’s get it done.

“Feel free to take materials from here, Worker Lani.”
“Wow! Gomdori, hooray!”
“Urgh-.”

There it is.
Look at that teamwork.
The moment we need materials, he’s already bundling them up.
Thanks to him, we started hammering right away.
And the result?
Came together in no time.

“Ta-da! Clink, clink, boom! Sejin’s special edition!”
“It’s the same weapon as before.”
“Yeah! You said you liked this one!”

Can’t fault someone for their taste, right….
Though it looks similar on the surface—is something actually different about it?

“Oink-oink?”

Thud!

I was curious, so—
the moment he picked up the new weapon, an orc went flying backward, and I understood right then.
Ah.
Yeah, it’s definitely different.

“Oink?”

Just holding it requires real strength.
And once you swing it—

Whoosh, whoooosh!

Good grief.
The thing spins in circles for several rotations.
He can’t control it at all.

“How am I supposed to go up a Rank like this?! I’m doing it right!”
“Oink-oink! Oink!”

Still….
If he’s going to keep trying, I should cheer him on.

“You can all do this.”

Even if they struggle now, reaching the next Rank is totally worth it.
These orc guys.
Wonder if they’ll develop Special Abilities once they Rank up.
Usually from the next Rank onward, they get abilities like that.
That’s something to look forward to.
We’ll see….

* * *

China, Beijing.
Once a pillar among the Five Great Nations, now fallen to obsolescence.
Yet the Central Awakener Management Bureau was in chaos.

“Director, there’s another call from the higher-ups….”
“Again? What is it?”
“They’re asking why there’s been no word on the Personnel Management Bureau Director’s naturalization….”
“Sigh….”

This is absolutely maddening.
I’m already drowning in work as it is.
And now I have to listen to this absolute nonsense on top of it.

“Naturalization, of all things….”

This bastard from the Personnel Management Bureau.
He won’t even return my calls about making a single weapon….
No.
It’s not like he’s extracted that much from me.
I should be able to craft a weapon or two, right?
The man has no conscience.

“When do you think Chen Wei will be combat-ready?”
“It will still take some time. We’re only clearing Layer 57 at the moment….”
“Damn it. If that bastard from the Personnel Management Bureau had just made the weapon, we’d have reached Layer 60 by now.”

The more I think about it, the more infuriating it is.
I wouldn’t mind if he’d just taken materials and potions.
But he took the Robin Hood’s Bow Fragment and the Potential Increase Elixir both—and then went completely silent?
Out of sheer spite, I decided to investigate more deeply.
To find something, anything.
The problem is….

“I’ve conducted the investigation the same way I always do, but we still can’t pick up his trail.”
“What? How is that possible? Are you telling me this guy’s actually a ghost or something?”

Was the Personnel Management Bureau chief the only Awakener hiding his identity?
Of course not. There were quite a few.
And most of them got caught eventually.
In the modern world, money trails don’t stay hidden.
Especially with Awakeners.
The more they earn, the more they spend.
Magic Stone conversions are anonymous?
What good does that do?
Spending the money always leaves traces.

“The Personnel Management Bureau chief…. I thought with how carefully he’s hiding, it wouldn’t be easy, but this time I was sure we could find him….”

But….
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Unbelievable.
The more we dig, the less sense this man makes.

“Wasn’t the Personnel Management Bureau chief currently sweeping through S-Rank Dungeons?”
“Yes, sir. He cleared the Dungeon in India and finished one in Egypt as well.”
“Does he just enjoy clearing Dungeons for their own sake…?”

S-Rank Dungeons.
Back when Wei Jin was alive, we cleared one in China.
And at that time, surely….

“We got a hundred high-grade Magic Stones alone.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“And he just carries all those Magic Stones around without spending them? The man’s insane.”

No.
Don’t the Korean guys obsess over houses and cars?
If he’s not even buying those….
What kind of Taoist is becoming one?

“I’m afraid this is….”

That bastard, the deputy director.
He’s carefully choosing his words.
He’s going to tell me to give up.
Yeah, I admit it.
Even I think there’s something off about that Personnel Management Bureau director.
The more I dig, the worse the feeling gets.

“Right, so Chen Wei will climb up to the sixtieth floor over time, and if problems arise before then, I could always….”

Go back and ask the Personnel Management Bureau director for another favor.
Maybe I could present him with terms he’d find acceptable, but….
Just as my resolve was beginning to crumble this way, bit by bit.

Ding!

“Director, a list of Awakeners recently registered in Korea just arrived in my email.”
“What? Why did that come to the deputy director’s mail?”
“I’m not sure either….”
“Isn’t that the list we tried to get our hands on and failed?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Who sent it?”
“It’s anonymous, but I’ll trace it right away.”
“Yeah, do that.”

Though we probably won’t be able to trace it.
These are people who got information we couldn’t obtain and sent it to us—they wouldn’t leave a trail.
Still, though….
Who in the world are they?
Information capabilities that surpass even China’s.
On a global scale, there aren’t many groups like that….
Anyway.

“Let me see it for now. Let’s take a look.”

Who they are.
I don’t know what their purpose is in sending this.
But still.
It’s the material I wanted.
I’ll turn a blind eye and accept it.

* * *

The Hunters who’d fled India.
And the civilians—all of them missed home.

“Today especially, I’m missing the view of the Ganges River.”
“Tell me about it….”

A beloved homeland they could never see again.
They dreamed of it every day, yet couldn’t return.
The moment you crossed the border, monsters swarmed everywhere—how could anyone get back?

“What if all the Indian Hunters gathered together? Wouldn’t something change?”
“Wake up.”
“Yeah, wake up. Most of them are in the middle-low forties, and a lot of countries are taking them in anyway, so they’ve all naturalized by now….”

Impossible.
So I gave up.
Until unexpected news reached me.

[BREAKING: Korean Awakener and Head of Personnel Management Bureau Successfully Clears India’s Sealed S-Rank Dungeon!]

“The Head of Personnel Management Bureau? Didn’t he resolve China’s S-Rank Dungeon? Why is he involved with this one?”
“That’s what I’m saying. I heard his asking price is astronomical….”

The rumor mill had been turning long enough that I knew.
The Head of Personnel Management Bureau.
How much he’d walked away with from China.
The crisis was resolved, sure, but he’d taken an enormous sum.
Well.
In truth, if a national disaster can be solved with money, that’s a bargain.
The problem is.

“Our India doesn’t exactly have the funds to hire him, does it…?”

Of course we don’t.
The country’s ruined—what money would there be?
Whatever little we had, the old power brokers already looted it all, supposedly.
Could it be….
They’re the ones who hired him?

“Fat chance. Just heard that those politician bastards were too busy sending money to England.”
“Then who?”
“The refugees pooled together and hired Korea to help them.”
“What? There were refugees with that kind of money?”
“No. Even combined it was pocket change. That’s what makes the Head of Personnel Management Bureau so remarkable. Squeeze China because they’re flush with cash, but you—a nation in collapse—he just helps you out. That’s got to be what it means, right?”
“My goodness….”

A hero like that still exists in this world?
It doesn’t make sense….
He’s not expecting something in return, is he?

“A country that’s already fallen apart—what could we possibly give him…. And Egypt? They say he helped them without asking for anything in return? How is that not heroic?”
“Egypt too?”
“Yeah. After helping us, he flew straight there and helped them.”

My goodness….
That’s right.

“He’s a hero, truly.”

Hero of India and Egypt, Head of Personnel Management Bureau.

The rumor spread fast.
From the mouths of Indian people, from the mouths of Egyptian people.
And from the mouths of people across the entire world.
Even ordinary folk who knew nothing became aware of the name: Head of Personnel Management Bureau.

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