The Dungeon Cleaning Life of a Once Genius Hunter

As soon as Lee Soo-yong, the leader of Operations Team 1, returned to the office late at night after observing the cleaning team, some good news awaited him.

Today, he had personally confirmed with his own eyes that the janitor in question was back at work.

And coincidentally, there had been no intercept incidents reported.

Despite his frustration over the past few days from not having solid evidence to back up his suspicions, this seemed to be the breakthrough he needed.

‘That damn janitor dared to cross the Operations Team?’

Intent on making him pay dearly, Lee Soo-yong grabbed his phone.

“Director! I’m certain. It’s him. Ever since that guy returned, there hasn’t been a single intercept—”

“Soo-yong.”

“Yes!”

Though the Director interrupted him, Lee answered firmly.

“Give the cleaning team more budget.”

“…Sorry? What did you say?”

An unexpected response struck him like a bolt from the blue.

“What do you mean by that? The evidence is solid! We should catch him and penalize him immediately! You’re not seriously thinking of letting this slide, are you?!”

“Just now, an anonymous donation was made to the Abilities Operations Department. And it was earmarked specifically for the cleaning team.”

“…A donation?”

“Two million won. It’s not a large sum, but interestingly, the estimated profit loss from the intercept incidents matches that amount.”

“Then isn’t this even more incriminating? Right after the intercepts, the exact amount gets deposited for the cleaning team. It’s obvious who the culprit is!”

Lee Soo-yong’s voice grew increasingly heated.

Budget expansion for the cleaning team had been rejected.

Then, intercepts happened. Shortly afterward, a matching amount was anonymously donated to the cleaning team.

Could there be a clearer case?

“It’s exactly because the culprit is obvious that this is even more of a problem. A janitor intercepting dungeons? Does that even make sense to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it the other way around. If you had the skills to intercept dungeons, would you stay on the cleaning team?”

“….”

It felt as if he’d been struck over the head.

For a moment, Lee Soo-yong couldn’t find the words to respond.

“Would I stay? Absolutely not. Who in their right mind would stay and do such filthy work when they have the ability to rise higher?”

“Well… I suppose you’re right, but…”

“It’s not just their ability. The more I think about it, the more everything feels off. Skipping all middle management and going straight to the Director, having intricate knowledge about the association’s inner workings despite being just a janitor… And then blatantly acting as if they want to be suspected. It’s clear, Soo-yong.”

The Director’s voice grew cold and firm.

“There’s someone in the cleaning team who doesn’t belong there.”

“T-Then who the hell is that janitor…?”

“As I’ve told you before, it’s likely someone from inside the association. And judging by this, they’re from a pretty high-up faction.”

Hearing this, Lee Soo-yong’s heart sank.

“…It’s not someone from the Chairman’s circle, is it?”

“It wouldn’t be impossible. The Chairman didn’t seem too thrilled when I was promoted to Director. He even warned me that he’d cut me loose the moment I gave him an excuse.”

‘So that’s it…’

Suddenly, everything that had happened over the past few days began to make sense to Lee Soo-yong.

The janitor’s teammates couldn’t have been unaware of his involvement, yet they openly protected him. Even when the offer of a transfer was on the table, they didn’t bite.

‘They must have already known he’s connected to the Chairman…’

Damn it. How could he have overlooked such a possibility? He should’ve been suspicious from the beginning when things were so blatant.

Lee Soo-yong’s face twisted into a grim scowl.

“This might be a warning. A reminder that they’re watching us. If you don’t want to lose your job, you’d better do things properly. And you know as well as I do—if my head rolls, yours will too.”

Though he stayed silent, he could already guess what the Director was about to say.

Lee Soo-yong hung his head and ruffled his hair in frustration.

“Soo-yong, I think… we’ve messed with the wrong person.”

***

Fortunately, it seemed like the intercept incident was being quietly swept under the rug.

Two more days had passed without any further mention of it.

‘Well, that’s a relief for me…’

The only thing left was to see when the allocated funds from the donation would be distributed.

The delay was making me a bit anxious, but surely they wouldn’t blatantly pocket it, would they?

With that thought in mind, I had just finished the final task of the day and was stepping out of the dungeon when I saw something.

“What… the heck is that?”

A massive pile of boxes was sitting outside the dungeon. They hadn’t been there when I went in.

“Team leader, did you order something to be delivered here?”

“…No?”

Everyone looked equally baffled.

At first, I wondered if it was some sort of lesson or warning being sent to us, but thankfully, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“What the—these are protective suits!”

Unable to contain his curiosity, Han Sang-hyuk had already opened one of the boxes.

“There’s also a ton of chemicals. This’ll last us over a year.”

“Filters, gloves… there’s a ton of stuff here. Did headquarters send this?”

“No way.”

While everyone was busy opening a box or two, I picked up a sheet of paper resting on top of one of the boxes.

It was an official notice from the association.

It seemed the donation had finally been processed and allocated.

The contents were predictable.

Something along the lines of, ‘These supplies were donated anonymously,’ no doubt.

Still, there seemed to be quite a lot for just two million won.

As I skimmed through the notice, I muttered to myself.

“…What the?”

Thinking I must have counted wrong, I carefully traced the numbers with my finger.

One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand…

“Holy crap.”

I hadn’t misread.

The additional budget allocation:

200,000,000 won.

The amount had jumped tenfold from the donation I’d made.

“W-what the hell…?”

I stammered in shock, completely thrown off.

Where on earth had this kind of money come from?

“What are you mumbling about? Let me see.”

Han Sang-hyuk grabbed the notice from my hands and started reading it aloud.

“‘Upon further review, the association has determined that outdated equipment caused by budget shortages played a significant role in the recent incident. Therefore, the Seoul headquarters of the Dimensional Abilities Association has decided to allocate additional funds, albeit modestly…’”

“What?!”

“Additional budget?!”

Team Leader Park and Moon So-yeon’s eyes went wide.

There were still a few lines left, so Han Sang-hyuk continued reading.

“‘Furthermore, we would like to express our deepest regret and apology for the incident involving Moon So-yeon. While no amount can truly make up for what you’ve endured, we will be providing a token of compensation…’”

Then he reached the final line, and his pupils began to tremble violently.

“‘Compensation for workplace injury…’”

100,000,000 won.

Another hundred million.

Moon So-yeon covered her mouth with both hands and shook her head in disbelief. Tears began welling up in her eyes.

Her gaze soon turned to me.

“J-Junwoo… Did you… do this?”

“…No.”

When I answered, Han Sang-hyuk’s eyes shifted to me as well.

“Hey, what the hell did you do?”

“I told you, it wasn’t me.”

I was just as confused as they were. Completely bewildered, I vented my frustration, feeling wrongly accused.

“Wow, the association actually changed its stance? Guess sticking around long enough pays off!”

Team Leader Park clapped a hand on my shoulder as he spoke.

“T-Team Leader! Isn’t this strange to you? There’s no way a decision made by headquarters would be overturned like this! And with such an amount…!”

“What do you mean it’s impossible, you fool? It’s written right there in the notice—they re-evaluated.”

Team Leader Park’s gaze grew serious.

“So, let’s just leave it at that. We’ll act like we don’t know who did what or how it happened… because we don’t.”

He gave my shoulder a firm pat, emphasizing his point.

Even though Han Sang-hyuk still looked like he had a million questions, he let out a small sigh and closed his mouth.

“Well, anyway, we need to move all this stuff to the office. Seriously, they could’ve just delivered it straight there!”

“We… have an office?”

“Of course we do! Not that we ever use it, but still.”

Team Leader Park spoke with pride.

As I silently nodded, Kim Min-joo spoke up.

“Where is it?”

“W-What?”

“I’ll take these there with the teacher. Everyone else can head home.”

“No way. You can’t just move all this by yourselves. We’ll help!”

“No, really, we can handle it. Right, teacher?”

“…What if I say no?”

Kim Min-joo just grinned in response.

I let my head drop with a sigh.

And then it happened.

[Condition Met] [Dungeon Cleaning Team Budget Expansion] [Skill Acquired: Hellfire – Unlocked]

A voice echoed in my head.

***

“You’re the one, aren’t you?”

As we carried the last box through the dimly lit street, Moon So-yeon suddenly spoke up.

“The one what?”

“The one who carried out the interceptions over the past two days. It was you, wasn’t it?”

I frowned, my steps coming to a halt as I turned to look at Kim Min-joo.

“So what if it was? What are you planning to do about it?”

“Don’t give me that scary look. Do you think I’d report you just to earn some brownie points?”

“Then why bring it up at all?”

My voice grew sharper without me realizing it.

“The budget increase and the compensation—it’s from the money you earned from those interceptions, isn’t it?”

“…You knew?”

“Not just me. I think the whole team knows. They’re just staying quiet because they don’t want to make things difficult for you. It’s not like it’s hard to figure out.”

I was stunned.

So, they’d already figured it out. I’d thought I was being so careful, but clearly not…

“They’re all really grateful, you know.”

“Of course they are. Who wouldn’t be, with an extra two hundred million won suddenly showing up?”

“No, I mean beyond the money.”

Kim Min-joo smiled.

“Still, you got lucky this time.”

“Yeah, lucky. Everyone’s memories were a little fuzzy, so I didn’t get caught.”

“You know the saying, ‘A needle hidden in a bag will eventually poke through’?”

I gave her a puzzled look.

Of course, I knew what it meant, but what was her point?

“Your skills are at a level where it’s impossible to keep them hidden. Even if you dodged attention this time, the association will notice you eventually. When that happens… staying on the cleaning team won’t be an option anymore.”

“…Is that so?”

For a moment, my face brightened.

Maybe they’d put in a word upstairs to transfer me to the operations team? If so, why not just say so now?

“But you want to stay on the cleaning team, don’t you? You absolutely don’t want to join the operations team.”

“…Huh?”

“I want to help you. So you can stay on the cleaning team forever.”

…What the hell is she talking about?

Staring at her unblinking eyes as she calmly cursed me with eternal service on the cleaning team, I found myself frozen in place.

“Of course, someone like me, a measly B-rank, probably isn’t much help. But once I reach A-rank—or get even stronger—then I’ll definitely be of use. So, please…”

“…”

“I need your help right now.”

This…

She’s definitely messing with me, isn’t she?