The First Dungeon

“I’ll work hard.”

The boss waved his hand half-doubtfully at my words.

“I’ll put you on Jungho’s team. There’s no dungeon raid today. We usually go once or twice a week. Sometimes three times if it’s busy. The nearest one is the day after tomorrow, so just come with Jungho then.”

He told me to look around the company today and left it at that.

I bowed and stepped outside.

“Hey, how’d it go?”

“I’m on the same team as you. He said to start coming with you from the day after tomorrow.”

“Nice!”

Hyung grinned widely, happier than I was.

As he showed me around the company, people greeted him everywhere we went.

“Huh? Why are you here on your day off?”

“Jungho, hi. I was bored so I dropped by. And… who’s this?”

“Our team’s new recruit. He’ll start working with us the day after tomorrow. This is Shin Jiho. Jiho, this is Kim Geon-gyu from our team.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Kim Geon-gyu smiled brightly at me.

“Wow, a new recruit in our team? We haven’t had one in years.”

He grabbed my hand and shook it enthusiastically.

The three of us had lunch together in the company cafeteria.

“This is one good thing about being under a major corporation. The cafeteria food is amazing.”

Hyung wasn’t exaggerating.

The food was truly good.

The benefits were excellent, and honestly, even the annual salary wasn’t bad.

Yet there were still few people willing to work as assistants.

Probably because only Hunters could do it.

‘If you work as a Hunter instead of an assistant, you can earn an assistant’s yearly salary in a single day.’

Unless you valued something other than money, it wasn’t easy to last.

In that sense, these two were unusual.

“Right. Even E-ranks would rather try Hunter work. Who’d choose assistant?”

“Exactly.”

“…But you two did.”

Kim Geon-gyu was D-rank like me.

Hyung was E-rank.

They were older than me, but still young enough to pursue Hunter work.

At my curious look, they both grinned.

“Ah, we’re a bit….”

“Special cases.”

“Special?”

“Yeah. I have a mental-type ability. Zero offensive power.”

“And I don’t really like seeing blood….”

Hyung made a face as if killing monsters himself was out of the question.

“I don’t want to risk my life fighting. Assistant work is safer.”

I understood.

After finishing the tour, I returned home in Hyung’s car.

Shin Jiho’s body was still recovering, and I was already exhausted from moving around.

“…The day after tomorrow.”

I would finally see Do Jiwan.

The Demon King.

The vessel of the seed of evil.

What kind of person would he be?

I was unbearably curious.

On raid day, Hyung explained the job to me.

“You’ve read fantasy novels, right? Think of us as the attendants in those.”

Porters.

Dungeon cleanup.

Cooking.

Washing dishes.

Running errands.

Things like that.

“But you don’t need to collect dungeon byproducts. That’s the retrieval team’s job.”

Assistant cleanup meant pushing corpses to the side so they wouldn’t get in the way later.

“Unless it’s undead, bodies don’t rot inside dungeons. Just endure the blood smell.”

“I see….”

“Even if we serve them, you don’t have to tolerate abuse. We’re paid to work. Don’t endure unfair treatment.”

After the briefing, we took the company vehicle to the dungeon.

Various equipment was already gathered at the entrance.

‘Hasn’t he arrived yet?’

There was still time before entry.

Hyung, Geon-gyu, and I were chatting when a luxury sedan approached.

“That’s the Guild Leader’s car.”

Hyung pointed.

Guild Leader meant Do Jiwan.

I steadied my pounding heart and looked.

The door opened, and long legs stepped out.

When his full figure appeared, I couldn’t suppress a gasp.

‘He’s insanely handsome.’

His mother had been a celebrity.

Do Jiwan looked like a living sculpture.

‘Seriously handsome.’

How could someone’s face look like that?

I couldn’t get tired of looking.

His languid eyes, hidden beneath long lashes, lifted.

He was a black hole.

A black hole that pulled in every gaze.

As I stared blankly, he turned his head and our eyes met.

But only for a moment.

Unlike him, Shin Jiho had no charm worth lingering on.

Embarrassed, I looked away too.

“What kind of person is the Guild Leader?”

“The Guild Leader?”

“…Not sure. Doesn’t seem like a bad person.”

Geon-gyu answered.

Hyung nodded.

“He doesn’t abuse his power. He’s just… like someone above the clouds.”

“I used to think chaebols would be picky, but working under him changed my mind.”

They said they hadn’t had bad experiences with him.

But not particularly good ones either.

“He’s… cold.”

Even after years, there was still a line separating them.

“Still, he’s not bad to work with.”

“Right. Doesn’t make unreasonable demands.”

The evaluation was surprisingly positive.

Hard to imagine him as a future villain.

Soon it was time to enter.

After the briefing, we stepped into the dungeon.

It was a cave-type dungeon.

“Man, lucky. Last time it was mountainous terrain. Nearly killed me.”

“Up and down nonstop….”

Their faces darkened at the memory.

There were fifteen Hunters, including Do Jiwan.

Six assistants, including me.

We didn’t serve individuals.

Whoever was free handled requests.

“Wait until called.”

Do Jiwan addressed the assistants.

It was my first time hearing his voice.

I was startled.

Even his voice was art.

‘This is crazy… it’s like an echoing cave.’

Back when I had no emotions, I wouldn’t have noticed.

But now I realized I liked voices like this.

Even felt a little envious.

He gave me a strange look when he caught me staring, then walked off.

After waiting a while, we were called in by radio.

Inside, monster corpses were scattered everywhere.

The Hunters had moved deeper.

“Ugh… the smell….”

Hyung grimaced at the metallic scent of blood.

We pushed bodies aside and shoveled over blood-soaked ground.

The smell lessened.

Another call came.

Deeper in was a large cavern.

More corpses lay around.

“It’s best to set up base camp here.”

The cavern resembled a palm.

One path led in.

Four passages branched out opposite it.

Like a hand without a thumb.

Two assistants cleared bodies.

Four set up camp.

Since Hyung avoided blood, he was assigned to base camp.

As his junior, I naturally followed.

“One person, come assist me.”

Do Jiwan called for an assistant.

I immediately raised my hand.

“Me! I’ll go!”

“Jiho, you don’t have to—”

“No, I’ll do it!”

Ignoring Hyung’s attempt to stop me, I hurried over.

Do Jiwan stood inside a tent that had been set up in advance.

It was used as a makeshift shower.

“I’m here. What do you need?”