The Visit

“Officer Han is officially scheduled to return to duty next week. Let’s all give it our absolute best today, team!”

“Yes!”

I assumed it would be just another routine morning briefing, but I hadn’t expected such highly encouraging news to be announced. At the Team Leader’s words, I cross-referenced the desk calendar, and the corners of my mouth involuntarily tilted upward.

Once tomorrow wrapped up, it was the weekend. Right—in just three short days, Officer Han would finally be back.

“…….”

The sheer anticipation of Officer Han’s return left me feeling more animated than ever. Reining in my restlessly bouncing shoulders, I logged into the operational compensation server and opened the working files I had left unfinished yesterday.

“Ah, by the way, Youngest.”

“Yes.”

“You haven’t received any particular contact today, have you?”

“Ah.”

The trajectory of the Team Leader’s chin pointed toward that exact familiar spot. Shifting my gaze to the vacant desk beside me, I gave a small nod.

“No, sir.”

“It feels strangely bizarre having him gone after he’s been occupying that seat continuous-like.”

“I can’t help but wonder if he’s skipped out today to plot some other elaborate scheme entirely.”

“…….”

The team’s ongoing skepticism was rooted in thoroughly legitimate precedent. After all, a massive incident inevitably detonated without fail every single day Kim Se-hyun chose to leave his seat vacant.

…Maybe I should shoot him a text message later?

“Since the Association didn’t deploy any independent personnel to the field for this operation, you can process the current compensation documents exactly as they are.”

“Understood.”

While Kim Se-hyun’s absence felt massive, I had absolutely no leisure to be side-tracked by it right now. Today, I needed to take over Officer Han’s duties and verify the structural damage mapping instead of Officer Park.

Finalizing the specific hunter headcount I had archived earlier, I concluded the financial calculations and immediately booted up the live theater map Officer Han usually managed.

“…….”

Although the entirety of the affected zones hadn’t been fully cataloged yet, well over half of the region was already mapped out, rendering it entirely possible to conclude the verification process within the day. I glanced over at Officer Park, who was scheduled to head out to the field today, and our eyes locked just as he was stretching his arms wide.

What’s up?

Scanning the immediate perimeter covertly, Officer Park merely mouthed the words. While I hadn’t intended to initiate a full conversation, I felt an unspoken obligation to offer something. Gesturing subtly toward the water dispenser, I moved my lips in a silent query.

Would you like some coffee?

“Grab a cup for me too.”

“Gasp.”

“Look at you two, whispering and keeping secrets between yourselves.”

Because I had strictly mouthed the words without a single shred of audio, I thought no one else would notice. Yet, following Officer Kim’s immediate chime, even the Team Leader threw out a playful complaint, rendering me thoroughly embarrassed. I instantly pursed my lips tight.

“Hey, I was totally planning on asking everyone else after checking with him first. Right, Youngest?”

“Yes.”

Although the sudden eye contact with Officer Park had prompted the immediate offer, I truly had been on the verge of checking with the rest of the team. Well, since they had already vocalized their requests, the need to ask was officially redundant. Rising from my seat, I navigated toward the dispenser.

“By the way, Team Leader, you positioned yourself highly close to Sector A-8 yesterday. Did any particular word filter out from inside?”

“Nothing specific.”

“Oh, come on, don’t be like that. Approaching the perimeter of that sector is agonizingly difficult for anyone else, so I figured you must have witnessed something extraordinary.”

I wondered why he had been so uncharacteristically quiet. Hearing Officer Park lower his voice to probe about Sector A-8 brought an involuntary smile to my face.

“Who knows.”

“Did you manage to scale the perimeter wall? What does the interior look like?”

The wall he was referencing was undoubtedly that famous structural barrier—the two-story-tall perimeter enclosing Sector A-8 that perfectly replicated the traditional stone architecture of Changdeokgung Palace.

Reminding myself that not a single graphic detail of the interior layout had ever been leaked to the public, I strained my ears to catch the answer.

“Drop it. Do you honestly think just anyone can scale that wall?”

“But ensuring the absolute safety of Prince Edward’s entourage falls strictly within our operational jurisdiction, doesn’t it?”

“Receiving confirmation from the security checkpoint is more than sufficient.”

I had harbored a faint glimmer of hope, but it seemed entering the absolute interior was a bridge too far even for the Team Leader. Preparing the hot beverages and distributing them to everyone, I returned to my desk and immediately entered “Sector A-8” into the search query.

“…….”

Driven by a sense of lingering curiosity, I combed through the results, but true to form, nothing substantial appeared. Sorting through a digital ocean of speculative concept images mocked up by netizens, I restored the main interface.

Whenever a major dungeon materialized, articles analyzing the crisis would flood the media like mushrooms after rain for days on end, meaning fresh updates were undoubtedly pouring out at this exact millisecond. It was precisely as my eyes drifted toward the real-time trending search keywords on the right side of the portal.

“Uh?”

Why on earth is the Hunter Department currently sitting on the real-time trending search rankings?

Spotting our department name so abruptly out of the blue was profoundly jarring. Clicking the keyword link, I rapidly scanned the news updates. The coverage seemed to have broken just minutes ago, as only five articles were indexed. Selecting the top headline to analyze the text, my brow involuntarily furrowed the exact millisecond I spotted the journalist’s byline beneath the title.

“…….”

To think I would encounter Choi Eun-jae’s name again in a place like this.

Memories of her aggressive tracking during the previous A-Rank dungeon crisis flashed through my mind. Scrolling back to the crown of the article, I verified the headline once more.

[The Dungeon the Hunter Department Failed to Contain—British Prince Swept into the Crossfire]

Reading the title rendered the underlying mechanics of why the Hunter Department had spiked on the trending search list entirely transparent. Closing Choi Eun-jae’s article and scanning a few alternative headlines, I raised my hand.

“Team Leader, articles have just broken claiming Prince Edward was forced to evacuate into Sector A-8 due to yesterday’s variables.”

“Is that so?”

“I hope this doesn’t ignite a massive media circus driven by malicious coverage.”

True to his nature as a resident conspiracy theorist, Officer Park immediately voiced his anxieties. I promptly detailed the current reality.

“The thing is… the negative coverage has already gone live.”

“What?”

Evidently unprepared for the sheer velocity of the media backlash, both Officer Park and Officer Kim’s faces turned into pictures of absolute shock. I vocalized the headlines I had just parsed, including Choi Eun-jae’s malicious title.

“They truly never miss an opportunity to dig their teeth in the moment they catch even a microscopic whiff of a narrative.”

“Don’t let it shake you. Considering a Clam Worm was active in that zone, our deployment concluded the operation at an exceptionally rapid pace.”

Just as the Team Leader stated, dungeons housing Clam Worms were agonizingly difficult to clear rapidly due to the monsters’ sheer physical scale compared to standard entities. Furthermore, slicing the creatures into segments didn’t instantly terminate their motor functions, amplifying the tactical difficulty tenfold. There was a legitimate reason why experts argued that any dungeon containing a Clam Worm should automatically baseline at a B-Rank difficulty rating.

“…We just have to pray the high-ranking officials view the metrics with that same logic.”

Ah—right.

Setting aside the negative public perception engineered by netizens, whether the upper echelons of the bureaucracy would interpret this coverage favorably remained a massive unknown variable.

“Everything will sort itself out. We executed every single tactical countermeasure within our power.”

“Let’s table the anxiety and prioritize our immediate caseload first. Even if they attempt to fabricate a dispute, they can’t touch us as long as our paperwork is thoroughly ironclad.”

Hearing the unwavering composure in the voices of the Team Leader and Deputy Team Leader caused my creeping anxieties to dissolve completely. Terminating the browser window, I restored the field mapping interface to full screen.

I spent a long interval focusing intensely on the structural charts, connecting disjointed grid sectors and cross-referencing the field notes against the map coordinates. It was precisely when I was deeply immersed in the paperwork that a sudden, sharp ring shattered my concentration.

Ring— Ring—

The distinct tone belonged strictly to the Team Leader’s direct emergency line. Rotating my chair around, I locked my eyes onto him.

“Oh, come on.”

“There’s no way it’s already happening.”

“…I think you need to pick it up first, sir.”

Right—just as the others muttered, I desperately hoped the call wasn’t what we assumed. But that hope proved to be nothing more than a wish.

“Ha! Are you seriously calling that an analysis right now? If you have the leisure to place a call of this nature, why don’t you cross-reference global metrics first to see how many hours it takes other nations to contain a Clam Worm dungeon! It was an absolute blessing that the Association deployed two A-Rank hunters to the field; otherwise, the vast majority of the infrastructure within that radius would have been reduced to absolute rubble!”

“…….”

My worst fears had materialized—the call was indeed a direct administrative strike regarding the dungeon operation.

Watching the Team Leader’s neck veins bulge as he raised his voice down the receiver was profoundly painful. If the individual on the other end of the line could see the countless adhesive bandages plastering his hands, or the structural scars etched beneath them, they wouldn’t be able to toss out such detached criticisms so effortlessly.

“I have stated this over and over! If you find our operational velocity so unsatisfactory, why don’t you step inside a dungeon and clear it yourself! According to my personnel on the ground, another three of our contract hunters resigned today! And S-Rank assets aside, three B-Rank hunters walked out! We are already operating with a critically depleted headcount, so how can you continuous-like demand elite results when you’re stripping away our core members!”

The departure of three contract hunters—and B-Rank assets at that—was a catastrophic blow to our infrastructure. Attempting to mentally tally the remaining hunter assets currently contracted under Seoul City, the realization that our numbers couldn’t even dream of hitting a three-digit baseline caused me to let out a silent groan.

“Ah, I don’t give a single damn what that Member of National Assembly says! Our absolute priority is shielding human lives, not managing whether we’re falling out of political favor with the oversight committee!”

“…Don’t tell me the friction originated from that sector again?”

“It’s highly probable if it’s them. They view the Hunter Department as an absolute thorn in their side, after all.”

While I didn’t comprehend the exact political landscape of who “they” were, one reality was crystallized: while certain factions championed our department, an equally powerful contingent harbored an intense animosity toward us.

“…….”

Under the current circumstances, it was perhaps entirely inevitable for a specific face to flash across my mind. The moment the image of Assemblyman Lee Young-jin materialized, my hand gripping the mouse tightened involuntarily.

“Tell them we executed our duties to the absolute threshold of our utility! But if they order us to take the fall regardless? Then we’ll take it, what other choice do we have! I’m hanging up!”

Thoroughly incensed, the Team Leader slammed the receiver down with immense force. His shoulders were heaving violently, indicating his fury had reached an absolute boiling point. Navigating quickly to fetch a glass of crisp cold water, I extended it to him. Stealing a silent glance at me, the Team Leader addressed the entire room, prompting me to square my posture.

“Everyone, prepare yourselves to draft formal letters of apology for negligence!”

“A letter of apology?”

“Is that the absolute extent of the disciplinary action, sir?”

“Who knows! We’ll have to wait and see if they slap a salary reduction on us next!”

Although the formal reprimands and salary cuts hadn’t been officially institutionalized yet, hearing those words broadcasted so plainly left me feeling intensely demoralized.

Stealing a covert glance around the room, I noticed that the rest of the team members maintained their standard, everyday expressions, causing an unidentifiable surge of emotion to well up in my chest.

“…….”

In stark contrast to my own breathlessness, every single team member looked thoroughly at peace. Right—as if an administrative strike of this nature were an entirely routine occurrence in their lives.

We had run ourselves ragged to ensure the civilian population emerged completely unscathed, yet when the absolute fruit of that labor returned in the form of administrative disciplinary action, it drained every ounce of my energy. I felt like I finally understood exactly why capable hunters continuous-like abandoned the public sector to affiliate with the Association instead.

“Whew, consuming some cold water goes a long way in soothing the system.”

Draining the glass in a single gulp, the Team Leader wiped his mouth and let out a chuckle. Although it was his usual boisterous laugh, I found it impossible to mirror his humor. Standing silently before his desk, I let my shoulders drop as he reached out to gently pat the crown of my head.

“Don’t let it crush your spirit too much, Youngest. If we maintain our course continuous-like, the upper echelons will eventually be forced to shift their perspective.”

“Naturally! We might have to swallow their administrative orders for now, but it’s not as if the general public is blind to our sacrifices!”

“…Yes.”

Right—even if the high-ranking bureaucrats continuous-like dismissed the utility of the Hunter Department, the vast majority of the population was fully cognizant of the immense hardships we endured on the front lines, meaning there was absolutely no reason to hold my head low.

As long as I dedicated myself even more fiercely to the workload, a day would inevitably dawn when the upper echelons could no longer ignore our value. And when that day arrived, we would at least never have to endure this type of systemic mistreatment again.

Squeezing my hands into two ironclad fists, I silently vowed to immerse myself even deeper into my duties.