Laborer Mr. Kim Reaps Sweet Rewards with Auto-Hunting - Chapter 52

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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 52

Yun Ha-jun, twenty-three years old.
A manager at the Personnel Management Office with some experience under his belt now.
He’s fairly confident in his ability to interpret the speech patterns of his workers.

“Boss? Coffee, yeah? Need some?”

Arthur’s way of talking?
Easy.
Translated: get me some coffee.

“Yep. Obviously, drink some yourself.”
“Ah, perfect!”
“Even this mage needs to recharge my magical power now and then.”

Unjang-style speech is the same way.
That last one meant: I’d appreciate a cup too.
That’s what it means.
But…
Rani’s still hard to figure out.
Even this time.
What does “Bokdeong” mean?
I can’t get a read on it, so when I ask—

“Bokdeong is Bokdeong! When the boss goes Bokdeong, we all become happy!”

That’s the only answer I get.
Still, I suppose…
I’m getting a rough idea of it.

“It’s something that affects the workers somehow…”
“Heh!”

No.
Stop laughing and actually answer me.
Even poking her for specifics doesn’t work—
she just giggles and refuses to give a straight answer.
This one’s stubborn in her own way.
Well, there’s nothing for it.

“Anyway Rani, we need to make this first. You’re okay with that, right?”

Once we make it, I’ll understand anyway.
Why bother pressing her now?
First, let me handle the commission I received.
Then I can watch her work and figure it out.

“What is it?!”

What do you mean, what is it?
This.

——-
[Crafting Commission]

Requester: Ralph Carter (USA)
Requested Item: Armor
——-

The customer who bought the axe came back again.
And this time, they brought materials with them.
Seems they were satisfied with what they got.

“Hmm… Armor? I love it!”
“Okay, let’s start with that then. I feel better tackling the commissioned work first.”
“Yeah! Rani likes it! But there are so many good materials here—can I pick and use whatever I want?!”

Of course.
Naturally.
What else would I say?

“Use whatever you need, take as much as you want.”
“Whoa… Rani can’t use all of this! There’s so much!”
“Well… don’t use all of it… just pick what you want and take it.”
“That works!”

Open the inventory.
Rani.
She bounces over and starts shopping right away.
Then, after picking this and that—

“All set! Rani will make it right away!”

A hammer in one hand.
Materials clutched tightly in the other, she hurried straight to the workroom.
And then?

“Hehe.”

Clang, bang, clang, bang.
Beaming with a smile, she started hammering.
Better switch to the Training Ground first.
The neighbors would complain.

[Training Ground ON]

Ah.
Perfect soundproofing, as expected.
It’s completely quiet now.

[This is the living room, wow! Everyone! Do you see the view? That’s the famous Han River view—]

“Hey, bear guy, you watching that?”
“Worker Arthur, do observe that view. It’s simply breathtaking, is it not?”

That bear doll.
Watching Han River view videos again today.
Is he really into that?
Honestly, I’m not sure…

“Todd, you said you were looking into a new place?”
“Yes, Manager. We’ve left that with the subcontractors.”
“Then when we go, we’ll get to see it to our heart’s content.”
“Ah… Thank you, Manager.”

Still, anything nice is nice.
Once we move to the new place?
How can anyone endure this Han River view?
Since I left it with the Truth’s Eye people, an answer should come soon.
Whether it works or not….
If nothing else, I hope we can save them.
Todd would be thrilled about it too.

“Manager, want to grab a coffee?”
“Me? Nah, I’m fine.”
“Manager needs a break too — once you head up there, you’ll be swamped and won’t get a chance to rest!”
“Up there?”
“Yeah! Up there!”

Hmm.
What exactly is up there?
The Workers mention it pretty often these days.
Since they said it was easy up to the 60s, it must be the 70s or so….
Sounds like it gets pretty intense up there.

“But then again… even if I go up there, won’t I still be the same?”
“Well… I suppose so, Manager.”

Right.
What I can actually do comes down to….
Raising my Unique Skill grade?
For that, I’d need to complete Commissions, but that’s not exactly easy.

[Quest Log]
1. Chaos Tower 60th Floor Clear (58/60)
2. S-rank Dungeon Cumulative 5 Clears (3/5)

Number one’s straightforward.
Just the 59th and 60th floors—should be done in a day.
The problem is number two.

“Todd, there’s no intel on S-rank Dungeons, right?”
“No, sir. I’m looking into it separately, and I’ve told the Subcontract team to focus on that information, but nothing’s come through.”
“Well… you did say they’re hard to come by.”

Sigh. No point dwelling on it.

“Arthur, I’ll take a coffee too.”
“You got it! Arthur makes coffee that’s absolutely first-rate!”

Yeah.
Let me take it easy for now.
Everyone except Rani is resting—if I’m the only one running around, they’ll notice and feel awkward about it.
Besides, there’s nothing to do anyway….

“Two-two-three, here you go.”
“Thanks.”

Though it’s not actually two-two-three.
Whenever I order a mix, Arthur says two-two-three anyway.
But you know what.
If it tastes good, that’s all that matters.
Sip.
One cup of coffee, and just like that—the tension melts away.

“Ahh… this hits the spot.”

Right.
This is peace.
It’s nice to have some breathing room for once.
I wish it could stay like this.

* * *

Around that same time.

“Nice! Got it!”

Number one ranking in the USA.
Ralph Carter clenched his fist tight.

[Successful Bid!]
[Please enter the commission details.]

“That lunatic Arthur Brent, does he really want to throw down like this?”

The reason’s obvious enough.
His pride got hurt.
But….
Is this my fault?
The guy who threw out that ridiculous offer is the one at fault.
Snickering behind my back from the start?
That’s not Ralph’s style.
And I’m not about to give ground either.

“So I’m supposed to take this one and cede the next? When we don’t even know if there’ll be a next one? What kind of….”

Well, maybe another manufacturing commission will come my way someday.

“Just not anytime soon.”

How can I be so sure?

[Anonymous Korean Hunter Breaks World Record on Floor 58! What Awaits Beyond?!]

That story keeps popping up.
It’s definitely got to be the Personnel Management Office chief.
From what I’ve heard, the timing when he started was about the same.
The way he keeps pulling off impossible stunts too….
It’s just who the Personnel Management Office chief is.

– That hunter from Korea’s going to hit floor 60 any moment now….
– Still, won’t he get blocked starting at floor 61?
– Probably? The difficulty spike from there is insane.

That’s what the public’s saying.
Hmm.
Is that really so?

“If they saw how Hu Woong performs, they wouldn’t say that….”

The new axe, Hu Woong.
It’s got a goofy name….
But the performance is stunning.
Compared to this, the axe he used before is basically a toy.
Was his old axe really that bad?

“No, that’s right—everyone else was raving that it’s a weapon they’d use for life.”

Ralph’s thoughts ran the same course.
Unless one climbed past the 70th floor.
A better weapon in the 60s?
Impossible to find, he’d thought.
But then.
The moment he used Hu Woong on the 67th floor, he felt the difference immediately.

“The Personnel Management Office director is a god.”

67th floor monster: Giant Stone Worm.
Similar to a Sand Worm, except its entire body was stone.
Rock-hard because of it.
With his old weapons, he could barely scratch it.
What—
Even wrapped in buff potions and debuff items, he’d scraped away its health with difficulty.
Hu Woong was different from the first strike.

Crack!

It wasn’t like cutting tofu or anything.
The Giant Stone Worm just—sank right in, over and over….
That sensation was still vivid.
Once he’d tasted that feeling, how could he hold back?

“Still, dumping 174 items into it is quite the drain….”

No, wait.
He’d get both a weapon and armor out of it anyway—always a profit.
Materials, well….
He could gather them again from here on.
If Arthur from the UK had received the weapon instead?
Ugh….
He might’ve caught up to the tower entirely.
Though now there’s no way he ever could.

[Requester: Ralph Carter]
[Requested Item: Armor]

“Ahhh….”

Hu Woong plus armor from the Personnel Management Office director?
He might just blast straight through to the 70th floor.
Arthur from the UK, he’d be furious—but what could he do?
This is capitalism, after all.
If he’s got a problem, let him show up with deeper pockets.

* * *

The victor, Ralph Carter, was savoring his success.
Arthur Brent, defeated in the competition?

[Bid Failed]

“Damn it!”

Crash!
He brought his fist down hard against the desk, the message glowing before his eyes.

“Even if he is American, does this make any sense?”

Arthur felt it instinctively.
If not for this opportunity.
He’d never catch up to Ralph.
So he’d pulled out every trick in his arsenal.
And the result was failure.
What the hell.
He shows up with just 174 base materials?

“Materials worth at least hundreds of billions, and he’s just bringing them here?”

That madman.
How good must that first weapon have been to make him lose his mind like this….

“Damn.”

When was the last time his anger burned this uncontrollably?
He couldn’t remember—not since his Awakening.

“Manager, ever since that bastard showed up, nothing’s gone right.”

This frustration.
He wanted nothing more than to vent it. Was there any way?

* * *

“Did you see? They say he bid successfully with just 174 base materials from floors 61 to 65?”
“Yeah. As if we wouldn’t know.”
“Still, it’s a direct contract from the Manager….”

Right.
Even now, it felt unreal.
A small-time Private Detective Guild like us, subcontracted by the Manager himself?
Pinch your cheek—yep, it stings.
So it’s real.
Not a dream.

“There you go again.”
“What? Ever since we saw Guan Yu, I keep thinking I’m dreaming.”

Good grief.
Guan Yu, of all people.
The actual Guan Yu.

“Still… I never dreamed our Manager would tear China apart like that.”
“Tear apart… yeah, that’s the word.”

A perfect way to put it.
That’s exactly what it was.
And even now, the Premier’s office sits vacant.
The hunter departments are in total chaos, from what I hear.

“But hey, they had it coming.”
“Yeah.”
“I remember being so scared we’d die back then… hell, I still wake up from nightmares. Those bastards deserve whatever they got.”

Not just scared we’d die.
Our benefactor.
If Guan Yu hadn’t come, we’d all be dead now.

In fact.

“I’m grateful you saved us, but you’re giving us work too? We owe you our loyalty.”
“Agreed. And honestly, if we’d kept doing private detective work, we’d have starved to death by now.”

Huh.
Was that really the case?

“To be honest, I never thought I’d see this much money in my entire life.”
“That’s true enough.”

The first commission from the client.
Setting up an office in China.
The result?
A complete success.

“Well done. This is a reward from our Manager because he was satisfied with your work. Accept it.”

What Komori brought over afterward was….
High-grade Magic Stones.
Fifty of them each.
Good heavens.
Five hundred million won for doing one job well?

“If the next assignment also produces results, there will be rewards to match. Give it your best effort.”

Along with those words came two new tasks.

1. Safely convert the Magic Stones given separately from the performance bonus into cash.
2. Gather information about S-rank Dungeons.

Task one is simple.
The quantities are absurdly large, but.
I just need to take my time and convert them gradually.

The problem is the S-rank Dungeon….
Hmm.
Honestly, I have no idea about that.
They don’t appear that often.
I’ve placed a commission with a firm that handles global information, but….
Well, will anything turn up?

Beep-beep-beep!

“Hmm…. An S-rank Dungeon appeared in the UK?”

Well, look at that.
It turned up after all.

* * *

I’ve rested enough. Time to head back to the Tower.
I called all the Workers together.

“Come on everyone, gather at the Training Ground.”

Clang, bang, clang, bang.
Our Rani’s still at it with that hammer.
That’s a shame.
That’ll be something Rani loves.

“We do it together! Safety! Good! Good! Good!”

There he goes, Arthur.
When it comes to chants, his pronunciation is flawless.

“Good! Good! Good!”
“Oink! Good! Good! Oink!”

Robin, Unjang, and all the orc workers too.
Chanting together in perfect harmony — we’re ready to go.
Now let me run through a quick briefing.

“Today we clear just floors 59 and 60. That’ll give us an A-rank Key, and we’ll tackle that together tomorrow.”
“Sounds good!”

Okay.
Preparations are done.
Ready to head out?

[Worker Dispatch]
– Tower

I’m about to send them in—

“Oh? Manager, we just got a call from a subcontractor. An S-rank Dungeon has opened up.”

What?
Then we need to head there instead.
Where is it?

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