NOVEL NEXT chapter 20
Episode 20
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The beautification team worked overtime to clean up the flooded 8th floor.
“I’m sorry, it was me…….”
Hee-na didn’t know what to do about the sudden over time, but the beautification team members didn’t mind.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve worked overtime, but it’s been nice to have a little less chaos these days.”
“Oh no, it’s not less. I thought I’d lose half my paycheck next month because my overtime pay would be cut in half.”
“Don’t fuss.”
The team chatted and cleaned up the mess in the break room.
Beds were moved, sheets were pulled out and changed. Hee-na put on an apron and headband and eagerly helped.
“I like Hee-na because she’s a fast worker, and she has a good haircut.”
Someone next to her complimented her. Since Hee-na came to work, the number of accidents among the Hunters had decreased dramatically, and the number of overtime shifts had decreased significantly.
“Wow. This used to happen a lot?”
I ask in disbelief, and he says yes.
“Yeah, yeah. There was even a time when they fought amongst themselves and remodeled the entire eighth floor!”
Someone else chimed in with a lowered voice.
“Oh, boy, boy, they get into so much trouble……. We’re not paying our salaries for nothing.”
The members of the environmental beautification team were gossiping about how the Hunters in the guild were accident-prone. Hee-Na listened in disbelief.
“It’s different on the scale of accidents for powerful people.
As they chatted and cleaned up, the cleanup was soon completed.
“I’ll take care of the rest of the chores, but you can go inside first.”
Hee-na was in charge of the eighth floor, so she had a few chores left to do, and she was left alone on the eighth floor with her teammates who kept asking her if she wanted to help.
She gathered up the cleaning tools that were scattered around and moved them. I checked every nook and cranny of the eighth floor one last time to see if there was any water left.
“Uh, what is this?”
That’s when he noticed the dark droplets of water on the floor.
“Did I splash it when I was moving the cleaning tools?
Hee-na grabbed a mop and wiped the floor again.
The droplets were like pebbles, sparse and continuous. She followed the trail of black droplets with the mop.
One step, two steps, three steps…….
“Here.
When she finally reached the last source of the stain, she looked up.
At the same time, she heard an unfamiliar yet familiar voice.
“What’s going on?”
“……Kang jin-hyeon Hunter?”
Once again, maybe a little too soon to say, but once again, it was Hunter Kang jin-hyeon.
He was sitting at his desk in an empty office, writing something.
On the desk were some papers and pens, a black plastic bag full of something, and a cup of coffee.
At the same time, Hee-Na realized the identity of the black water. It was a coffee spill.
“Did you drink coffee,” she thought, “or did you spill almost all of it?
She looked at the coffee cup and realized it was half empty.
Hee-na guessed that she didn’t drink it, but spilled it on the floor. That was the amount of liquid she had wiped up on her way here.
As Hee-na stared at her coffee cup, Kang jin-hyeon asked her again.
“What’s wrong?”
Hee-na awkwardly smiled as she regained her composure.
Kang jin-hyeon looked down at his coffee cup and realized.
“Oh……. I’m sorry. I tend to spill things.”
It wasn’t a little spill, it was a lot.
Instead of correcting him, Hee-Na asked a question.
“I thought you were on a dungeon run, but I guess you’re back?”
“Yes. We finished a little earlier than planned, so we came out today. I haven’t made an official announcement to the press yet, so don’t tell anyone else.”
Kang jin-hyeon seemed blunt, but his answer was quite common sense.
There was a heaviness to him that was different from the thunderous, bumbling Hunters Hee-Na had seen before. It was a calmness that didn’t belong to someone who had spilled half a cup of coffee.
It piqued her interest in the human, Jinhyun Kang.
“You must be tired after coming out today. Do you have work to do?”
“I’m writing a report.”
“A report?”
“There’s a report I have to write after every dungeon raid. It’s just a ritual to note if there were any changes or anything unusual compared to the previous run.”
Kang jin-hyeon answered Hee-na’s questions, which could have been annoying. It was a far cry from the first image of him as a jerk who just said what he had to say and left.
‘He seems to be the type of person who does his best at his job.
The first meeting was like that. Even though it was only an E-level dungeon, he was working as seriously as if he was in an A-level dungeon.
Hee-na thought, “This is why Kang jin-hyeon is the number one ranked player in Korea.
‘I guess first impressions aren’t always reliable.’
As she nodded in admiration, Kang jin-hyeon spoke up.
“By the way……, are you a member of the beautification team?”
“Yes.”
“Then could you please find me a suitable mop or dish towel or something, because I need one, and I’ve been trying to find it, but I can’t find it.”
“Oh. The sprinklers on the eighth floor went off today, and we’ve been cleaning them up, so I’m sure that’s why you had trouble finding them.”
Hee-na pulled a dry dishcloth out of her apron pocket and handed it to him.
Kang jin-hyeon took the dishcloth carefully. He took it carefully and began to wipe the lump of iron, which looked like a 500-won coin.
But the lump of iron didn’t come out clean at all, and the dishcloth was torn in half with a thud. I couldn’t figure out how it was possible to tear a dishcloth like that.
“What is that?”
Hee-na couldn’t hide her curiosity and asked what the lump of iron was.
Kang jin-hyeon sighed and placed the iron on the desk.
“I don’t know, the captain of the assault unit said it had a strange aura, so I brought it with me, but I still don’t know what it’s for or where it came from. It doesn’t seem dangerous, so I’m just showing it to you like this…….”
Hee-na bent down and looked at the coin-like piece of iron.
It was a rusty piece, but upon closer inspection, she could see some strange writing on it. She realized it was a byproduct of the dungeon, and a system description popped up.
As Hee-na read the description window, Kang jin-hyeon looked at her in surprise.
“Do you mind if I clean this? Let me know if I shouldn’t touch it.”
“It’s okay to touch it. It’s so rusty that it doesn’t react to anyone touching it.”
“Probably nothing will work if I try to clean it, I’ve already tried a lot……”
“Didn’t you try wiping it with a dishcloth?”
“I did ……, but it wasn’t wiped then.”
Then, without warning, he grabbed her wrist.
Hee-na gasped, startled by the feel of a large hand wrapped around her wrist.
“I just wiped it with a dishtowel, and it wiped.”
Hee-Na answered honestly, but Kang jin-hyeon wasn’t in a position to believe her.
Hee-na muttered in agreement with Kang jin-hyeon’s monologue.
“Yeah. If it wipes off so easily, why didn’t you wipe it off……?”
Hee-na showed Kang the shiny, polished silver piece of iron.
“Now that I’ve cleaned it, can you let go of my wrist? It’s a little sore.”
Kang apologized and was about to release her hand.
Hee-na’s scream was cut off by the sound of a harsh wind.
Seconds later, the light that had filled the room subsided.