The Dungeon Cleaning Life of a Once Genius Hunter

A spacious office.

The man sitting at the desk wore an obviously displeased expression.

It was clear my visit wasn’t welcome, but… I didn’t have any other options.

No matter how many times I brought this up to the management department staff, they would just say that it wasn’t approved from higher up. And as a cleaner, I couldn’t exactly cause a ruckus either…

“Well, aside from everything else, this is the fastest way anyway.”

I glanced at the man with his graying hair, then shifted my gaze to the nameplate on his desk.

The name written on the plate: Seo Min-cheol.
Position: Director of the Seoul Branch, Association for Extra-Dimensional Management.

In other words, the man sitting here was the highest-ranking official in the Seoul Branch, where I worked.

“Hmm, Seo Min-cheol…”

From my memory, he was the new appointee around this time.

As soon as he took over as director, his “line” brought in a string of parachute appointments. The influence of the “Seo Min-cheol Line” on the association was massive, to say the least.

Under normal circumstances, someone like me wouldn’t even be able to approach him.

But if I wanted results, I had to start at the top.

“So…”

Seo Min-cheol, who had been silent, finally spoke.

“You want me to increase the cleaning team’s budget?”

“Yes.”

“If it’s about that, you should’ve gone to the management department.”

He sounded as if even responding to me was a chore.

“Do you think any hunter is going to bother with small fry during a raid? It’s all about taking down the boss.”

“…Oh, are you a hunter?”

“No, I’m a cleaner.”

“…”

Seo Min-cheol’s gaze shifted several times in a brief moment.

“So, let me get this straight. A cleaner has come directly to the branch director to ask for a budget increase?”

“That’s correct.”

“Not the team leader, but a regular team member?”

“Yes.”

“…Well, I guess you’re at the age where you don’t know any better. I’ll let it slide.”

The director looked me up and down as he spoke.

It was blatant disregard, but being called young wasn’t entirely unwelcome.

“But what does a cleaning team even need a budget for? You don’t have many expenses to begin with.”

“That’s exactly why I’m asking for more — because the budget is smaller than our few expenses.”

“Hah, haha! Look at this cheeky kid. They say ignorance is bold. You’ve got some nerve to—”

“There was an incident.”

I cut him off in the most somber tone I could manage, maintaining a serious expression.

“The protective suits we use are old, but we don’t have the budget to replace them. Because of that, we had no choice but to keep working in them. One of the suits tore, and a team member ended up exposed to monster toxins.”

“…I haven’t received any such report.”

“It just happened.”

The unexpected information seemed to catch Seo Min-cheol off guard.

He didn’t seem to believe me, but it didn’t matter. Sooner or later, he’d find out whether he wanted to or not.

“I understand wanting to save money on the cleaning team, I really do. But at the very least, you need to prevent accidents. Not giving us enough budget to buy protective suits is just absurd.”

“It’s an unfortunate situation, but the branch doesn’t have the money. Do you think we wouldn’t give it if we could? We’ve allocated it as evenly as possible. The cleaning team hasn’t been shortchanged.”

“No money, you say?”

“Exactly, kid. …Then again, you probably wouldn’t understand the association’s financial situation. Looks like you haven’t been here long.”

At his words, I let out a small smile.

“No money, huh? I don’t think so.”

“…What?”

“This year’s budget was massive. Just the allocation to the Dimensional Operations Department was in the hundreds of billions, and 70% of that went to the operations teams.”

Suddenly, Seo Min-cheol’s eyes sharpened.

“H-how do you know about that?”

“You know just as well as I do, Director. You’re not going to use it all anyway. Especially considering there hasn’t been a single ‘Red-level’ dungeon this year. I can already imagine the end-of-year scramble to burn through the leftover budget with ceremonial raids or joint operations. So instead of wasting it, why not put a little more where it’s truly needed?”

“…!”

“What do you think? It doesn’t seem like such a difficult request, does it?”

A rigid expression.

Seo Min-cheol, the branch director, stared at me sharply before slowly speaking.

“…Who are you, really?”

“I told you, didn’t I? I’m a cleaner.”

In contrast to him, I wore a soft smile.

“And this isn’t just about the cleaning team. You should consider your own position as well, Director. It’s been, what, three months since you took office…?”

“…Two months.”

“Right, two months. It was hard enough to reach your position, so you should hold onto it for a long time. With the cleaning team already infamous for poor treatment, imagine how much trouble it would cause if the public found out that an accident happened because there wasn’t even enough budget for protective suits.”

***

“Are you threatening me?”

“Of course not. I’m just saying.”

His eyes tried to pierce through me, scrutinizing every detail.

The director’s face was completely different now from when I first walked in.

But only for a moment.

“…Fine. I get your point.”

Seo Min-cheol let out a faint sigh.

It worked.

“So, how much are you asking for?”

“Whatever amount you see fit.”

Whether it was 10 won or 100, as long as there was an increase, that was all I needed.

“Well, if that’s all, I guess we’re done here. I’ll take my leave—”

“Wait.”

Just as I began to rise, Seo Min-cheol raised his hand to stop me.

“Do you, by chance, know Hunter Kim Min-joo?”

“…Why do you ask?”

“So you do.”

A satisfied smile spread across Seo Min-cheol’s face.

I couldn’t understand his intentions.

Why was that name coming up now?

What did Kim Min-joo have to do with this?

“I’ll review the budget increase and contact you by tomorrow. You can go now.”

“…Understood.”

With a slightly puzzled expression, I left the office.

A cleaner?

Yeah, right.

The moment the door to the office closed, Seo Min-cheol let out a quiet chuckle.

Then he immediately picked up the phone and dialed an internal line.

“Yes, Director?”

A familiar voice came from the other end.

“Hey, Soo-yong. A cleaner just came to my office. I think it’s that guy you mentioned before. The one Kim Min-joo was learning swordsmanship from.”

“…What?! What kind of lunatic… How does a cleaner even think of visiting the branch director?!”

“No, no. That guy isn’t just a cleaner.”

“…What do you mean? Then what is he?”

“I don’t know. But he’s definitely not just a cleaner. Considering he seems to know all about our internal information, I think he’s someone connected to the association. He just made a case to me about increasing the cleaning team’s budget… but I’m almost certain that wasn’t his real purpose.”

A brief silence followed.

“…But for now, he is part of the cleaning team, isn’t he?”

“That’s true, but why?”

“Perfect timing. I’ve already mentioned this before, haven’t I? We need to make an example of someone. We can’t keep letting them get too comfortable.”

“An example?”

“They need to learn how to bow their heads to those above them.”

***

Early morning.

As soon as I arrived at work, Team Leader Park handed us an official notice from above.

But his expression was unusually dark.

The entire team read the notice together, and everyone was left stunned.

“Dis… disciplinary action?”

“What the hell?! They should be compensating us, not issuing disciplinary action!”

Moon So-yeon had received a disciplinary warning.

“Hunter! This doesn’t make any sense! This is seriously unfair!”

“…I’m just as shocked as you are,”

Han Sang-hyuk raised his voice, but Kim Min-joo also seemed just as bewildered.

The reason for the disciplinary action was none other than violating the no-moonlighting clause.

The rationale was that “fatigue from moonlighting caused the accident,” which led to the rejection of both the industrial accident claim and compensation.

That’s right.

Moon So-yeon had secretly been working a night shift part-time without the association’s knowledge.

From the looks of it, Team Leader Park and Han Sang-hyuk seemed to have known about it.

So that’s why she had been so exhausted all the time.

Well, that aside, the real problem was elsewhere.

Specifically, the additional lines at the very bottom of the notice:

“The incident was caused by personal negligence.”

In other words, there was no evidence that the equipment was outdated, so the budget increase request was also denied.

“Ha, what the hell… seriously.”

I grabbed the document as if I were about to rip it apart.

For the first time in a while, genuine frustration surged within me.

I didn’t even notice Moon So-yeon approaching.

“Uh… Jun-woo, don’t worry too much about me. I’m really fine!”

“…What?”

“Even if it’s disciplinary action, it’s just a warning… Honestly, I wasn’t expecting the industrial accident claim to go through anyway.”

“…”

What nonsense is she spouting?

“Hey, I’m impressed, man. I didn’t think you’d shoulder the burden for us and actually go meet the branch director. I knew you were crazy, but you’ve really proven it now.”

“Yeah, Jun-woo. What you did was already more than enough. Don’t let the outcome weigh on you too much.”

“Sir…”

Suddenly, my teammates started comforting me.

Had they all eaten something bad?

I was utterly perplexed, but only for a moment.

‘No, but seriously… something’s off.’

The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

This wasn’t something that should have escalated this far.

I wasn’t asking for a massive amount of money, nor was I filing a lawsuit for damages. So why go so far as to dig into her moonlighting just to reject the claim?

I had only asked for a little extra from what was essentially surplus funds. This extreme reaction felt deliberate.

‘Why?’

What reason could they have to treat us with such hostility?

“Do you think it’s because of me…?”

At that moment, Kim Min-joo spoke hesitantly, her face clouded with worry.

“What are you talking about? Why would it be because of you?”

“Well, when I took my last vacation, I mentioned the cleaning team to my team leader. Knowing how much he values hierarchy, I figured he wouldn’t take it well… but maybe this is some sort of retaliation to set an example.”

“Wait, what’s your team leader’s name?”

“Team Leader Lee Soo-yong from Operations Team 1. Do you know him?”

“…Ha. Haha.”

Well, that explains it.

Now it all makes sense.

Lee Soo-yong.

A prime example of Seo Min-cheol’s faction.

He had parachuted into the role of team leader, and not just any team—the elite Operations Team 1.

There’s no way I could forget that bastard. I used to be on his team back then, too.

A guy with no real skills who only knew how to abuse his authority.

‘So that’s why Seo Min-cheol asked if I knew Kim Min-joo.’

It’s clear now. That bastard and Seo Min-cheol cooked this up together.

They must’ve decided that I was “getting too bold” and wanted to make an example of us.

‘These damn parasites…’

Without realizing it, my grip tightened, crumpling the papers in my hand.

So this is your answer, huh?

If they want to play this kind of game, I’ve got my own moves to make.

I really didn’t want to use this method, but there’s no other choice.

‘…I’ll just have to give up, won’t I?’

What else can I do?