The Magical Hunter Girl Decorates the Dungeon! - Chapter 97
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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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The Magical Hunter Girl Decorates the Dungeon! Episode 97
Someone let out a sigh.
“So Hae-cho Hunter volunteered for this herself…… This really is a dangerous situation.”
No one, including Hae-cho herself, contradicted this. The Vice Association Chairman nodded, his expression darkening.
“Which is why you all need to listen carefully to this briefing. Dungeon creatures possessing intellect is common enough…… but the Dinosaur Doctor’s own Magical Power is estimated to be at the level of an F-rank Hunter.”
“His Magical Power didn’t increase when the Dungeon upgraded?”
“That’s precisely what troubles me. It means he’s not the operator who runs that Dungeon.”
Gwak Do-gi threw up his muscular arms and shouted.
“Explain it more simply, please!”
“Normally, Dungeon operators are one with their Dungeon. When the Dungeon grows stronger, so do they. When the Dungeon takes damage, they take damage too. Even their logic for defeating or absorbing intruders is simple.”
“If he eats them, both the Dungeon and he get stronger?”
“Exactly. But the Dinosaur Doctor sought to use intruders as a resource despite gaining no direct benefit himself. He set up an exploitation system and actively kept the Dungeon Gate open.”
“That’s…… human-like.”
A woman wearing glasses interjected. An explanation followed.
“It’s identical, isn’t it. The same mechanism by which people extract Magic Stones from Dungeons, develop them, and advance civilization.”
“……You’re right, Layla Hunter.”
“Thank you.”
“That’s what I’ve been worried about. To put it plainly—”
The Vice Association Chairman’s voice grew heavy and grave.
“Just as we use Dungeons for the advancement of human civilization, someone within a Dungeon might seek to use humanity.”
……
Silence descended upon the Meeting Room.
Only the hotheaded Gwak Do-gi muttered something like “What, pfft, seriously, what’s all this talk about pigs biting people,” before falling quiet.
Here sat Hae-cho, the S-rank Hunter who had just returned from that Dungeon, quietly accepting that conclusion—and doing so with a far too serious expression for her usual demeanor.
“According to Hae-cho Hunter’s account, the Dinosaur Doctor used the phrase ‘Contract with the Ruler.’ Should you encounter similar keywords during your operations, report immediately.”
“Understood.”
“And naturally, report any other clues you discover. Let’s wrap up this matter here…… One more brief item remains.”
The Vice Association Chairman pulled up a PowerPoint presentation. The fact that he wasn’t using paper meant the item was minor. Everyone stretched in their seats with the expression of people about to take a breather.
“A small F-rank Dungeon has been discovered on Taekwon Road. It was caught up in the expansion of the pseudo-Dinosaur Dungeon, but after the Dungeon Break, it regained its independence.”
“Is it truly F-rank?”
“The research lab combed through it grain by grain. No Magic Stones, no monsters.”
“……It’s worthless, then.”
“For now, we brought this to the table because it’s in a Station Area. Does anyone wish to bid on it?”
This was a common occurrence in the committee.
When a Dungeon came on the market, they would discreetly inform the committee members and give them first bid rights.
No one raised a hand.
“Very well.”
The meeting was adjourned.
* * *
Hunters Net—the nation’s largest anonymous Hunter community.
A place overflowing with low-substance posts.
A place where one can glimpse the most common reality of Hunter life.
Of course, there were cases where Hunters exposed themselves even when they didn’t mean to.
Title: Is it normal to X in the Dungeon?
Post: Be honest with me, I’m dead serious
My Magic Stone company bans building bathroom use for new hires and anyone below E-rank
Says it’s too much hassle to maintain
12-hour shifts, about 5 hours on Dungeon duty
When the Gen-Z new hires complained, the supervisor said everyone just handles it in the Dungeon anyway, so we save money on sewage processing…… Is that true? This is my first contract since awakening, so I’m not sure
[Comments]
-I stopped taking my stomach meds after reading this post
-Yep, it’s real, but the proper etiquette is to kill your supervisor and process the supervisor in your own personal dungeon on the way out
-Tell your supervisor to throw the body in their own burial dungeon, save on funeral costs
Title: Where do we report when our employer acts like X?
Post: A new legend story comes out every day
[Comments]
-Build up experience and get into a top guild that offers the 4 major insurance benefits, that solves everything^^!
-Back when the Hunter Association was scrambling to organize Hunters, they couldn’t get anyone to listen to them either
I’d just toss the shoddy material and move on
-Call the so-called Warrior of Justice, pretty much every crime-guild got cleaned up, and now the non-crime guilds are probably next to get swept
Title: Do you guys believe in the Warrior of Justice?
Post: I believe in him
Because of that bastard, our factory went bankrupt!!
[Comments]
-Spill the tea
-[OP] Supervisor had a change of heart > Working conditions are unacceptable > Factory production halted > Boss runs away
-Then it’s your boss’s fault, you wage slave
-The warrior doesn’t intervene unless employees are actively getting hurt, so your factory workers must’ve been butchered
Title: These days the Warrior shows up even without anyone getting hurt?
Post: If you know anyone among Dungeon contractors who’ve been improved by Hunter intervention, ask them
Seems like he hears rumors through the grapevine
[Comments]
-I’m the bathroom post guy, will he come visit?
-↑If you’re gonna call the Warrior, for god’s sake call before anyone has a workplace accident in that dungeon. If you upset my Warrior and he retires, I’m coming to kill you, and I mean it
-↑Call him for me too, I’ll protect the Warrior
At this point, Jin Si-heon, who had been lurking in the community, paused his scrolling and deliberated for a moment.
He understood the bathroom situation was a serious human rights violation, but did Lee Ji really need to be the one to find it?
‘No. Isn’t there a faster way?’
Title: Look at the bathroom dungeon post guy above
Post: Should know about that / The curious story X / Just file a report to PT Notebook and they’ll come running excited
Most of the time the attitude changes right when ‘the investigation begins’
[Comments]
-Thanks, thanks, why didn’t I think of that
-Hunters never do office work so they try to solve everything with their fists
Jin Si-heon exhaled in relief. It seemed he’d successfully handed off the task of going public to the appropriate department.
It had already been several weeks since Lee Ji received information about an unlicensed hospital director and set out to defeat villains.
Hunters had come to believe in the existence of the “Warrior of Justice” who breaks into Dungeons with unfair contracts and defeats their owners or corrupt supervisors.
Jin Si-heon’s timely propaganda posts had played a large role in this.
‘I’m glad I succeeded in establishing the childish term “Warrior of Justice.”‘
Had any crucial information like “child” or “magic” gotten out, it would’ve become troublesome, so he’d deliberately chosen words like “mister” instead.
Thanks to this, no one knew Lee Ji’s true identity, and everyone only praised her.
After the rumor of the “Warrior of Justice” spread, he’d heard that quite a few companies improved their working conditions of their own accord.
The Warrior was functioning as a totem.
‘The problem is what comes next, though……’
Not long ago.
On the day she’d defeated a villain for the first time since returning alive from the Dinosaur Dungeon, Lee Ji had confessed to him with a gloomy expression.
‘I think I’m going to have to go to cram school three times a week from now…… Because sister’s worried.’
‘What does your sister’s worry have to do with cram school? Are you bad at studying?’
‘That’s not it! When I came back from the Dinosaur Dungeon, sister was so worried. She kept saying what if I go far away and play while she’s not around and get dragged into another Dungeon.’
‘Your sister rescues you from Dungeons? That’s quite a dream she’s got.’
At his oblivious comment, Geum-hui jabbed Jin Si-heon in the ribs. Jin Si-heon recoiled once and took a deep breath.
‘But sending someone to cram school is usually the parents’ decision, not the sister’s…… Oof!’
Geum-hui jabbed him in the ribs one more time. Damn it. Even at F-rank power, wearing a heavyweight bear pelt made things no joke.
Lee Ji, for her part, was taken aback in a different direction.
‘Oh, I didn’t mention! My parents passed away a long time ago, so it’s just me and sister living together.’
‘……Ah. Sorry. I didn’t know.’
‘It’s okay! My sister is really pretty and kind. Do you want to see a photo?’
‘Not interested. And don’t go showing your sister’s photos to random people either. You didn’t get her permission.’
‘Aww…… Okay.’
A sister who kept her younger sibling’s schooling in mind would be at least a middle or high school student. For an older sister of an eight-year-old, the age gap was considerable, but she was still a minor.
It seemed inappropriate to chime in about how pretty a child’s photo was.
‘So two Girl Heads of Household living together.’
Something caught in his chest at this unexpected turn of events. If he’d known the situation beforehand, might he have been kinder to this child?
In the end, Jin Si-heon had swallowed the personal question he’d been carefully considering asking Lee Ji that day.
‘I wanted to ask about that person.’
May 8th.
The day the Dinosaur Dungeon collapsed, he’d wanted to ask about Hyun-ji, the nurse who had stood out so starkly among the crowd gathered at the Taekwon Road intersection.
The ICU nurses had said she was raising one child alone, so it was likely—
‘That she’s Lee Ji’s mother.’
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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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