-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Visitor
-----------------------------------------------------------------
＊ ＊ ＊
When Ha-ra opened her eyes in the hospital, about a day had passed since the dungeon was cleared.
“Why haven’t you put her on an oxygen mask!”
“Ma’am, as you know, patient Kang Ha-ra is breathing too well on her own to need one…”
“So many people damage their lungs in dungeons!”
If it hadn’t been for her mother, she might have slept for a few more hours. In any case, the first thing Ha-ra heard upon waking was her mother's voice, which was so unusually sharp and aggressive that it strangely brought tears to her eyes.
“Mooom…”
At the sound of Ha-ra's voice, crying as she lay in bed, Hyeon-sook rushed over.
“Oh my god, sweetie! Are you okay?!”
Hearing the nurse who had been dealing with her mother call for medical staff—“Patient Kang Ha-ra in room 1601 has regained consciousness”—Ha-ra burst into tears like a child.
Even as the doctor came to check her condition and ask questions, her tears wouldn't stop. It reached the point where Hyeon-sook asked, “Why is she crying so much?!”
The doctor patted Ha-ra's shoulder, suggesting she must have been extremely tense inside the dungeon, and then left the room. Hyeon-sook felt so sorry for Ha-ra she didn't know what to do. She constantly moved about the room, wiping Ha-ra's cheeks and caring for her tenderly.
But that only lasted for the first day.
Once Hyeon-sook knew that the awakened Ha-ra was perfectly fine, she launched into a tirade of nagging.
“Your mother saw all the CCTV footage! Who do you think you are, trying to save that man!”
The nagging that began with those words evolved into cursing the doctors, the government, and the country, finally culminating in, “You tell them you can't do this anymore!”
“Oh, Mom. I'm perfectly fine right now, so I can't get a medical discharge…”
“How does that make any sense! We don't know what kind of aftereffects there might be!”
There was a way for Hunter Agency civil servants to get out of their twenty-year service: a medical discharge due to illness, injury, or dungeon aftereffects.
Unfortunately for Ha-ra, however, all her test results, from blood and urine tests to every other examination, came back normal. With not a single broken bone, a medical discharge was out of the question.
Hyeon-sook eventually pulled out the business card of the Mapo Station Chief, who had visited while Ha-ra was unconscious.
“Sweetie, I'm going to call your station chief.”
Ha-ra was horrified and clung to Hyeon-sook. Hyeon-sook finally put the phone down when Ha-ra cried, “Who has their mom call in to quit for them at thirty years old!”, but her nagging to “just quit” didn't stop. It was the same even after a few days.
When relatives called, Hyeon-sook would express her pride in Ha-ra, but always end the conversation with something like, “I'll have to stage a one-person protest to get her discharged. There's no other way.” Of course, she was only half-serious.
But Ha-ra, knowing there was a kernel of truth hidden in her words, couldn't bring herself to laugh.
“What kind of country doesn't let someone quit when they want to?”
Hyeon-sook grumbled as she went to the bathroom to wash the knife right after peeling an apple for her.
Shwaaa… Her mother's complaints echoed from the bathroom, accompanied by the sound of water rushing from the faucet.
The apple was certainly delicious, but listening to Hyeon-sook's complaints, Ha-ra couldn't tell if she was eating it through her nose or her mouth.
“Does this make any sense? Even military service is only two years, sweetie. The army would be better.”
Ha-ra had heard the “two years in the army” line about a hundred times when she became a civil servant. Ha-ra sighed.
“Mom, Ha-da didn't have to go to the army thanks to me. You talk like a mother who's actually sent a son to the military…”
If a sibling is drafted as a Hunter civil servant, any family members with mandatory military service obligations are exempted. That was why the only person in the family who had jumped for joy at Ha-ra becoming a civil servant was her younger brother, Kang Ha-da.
“And these days, military service is eighteen months…”
“It's just an expression, geez.”
Sighing, Hyeon-sook sat down again and asked.
“Haven't you heard anything from the broadcast station about compensation?”
“No, not yet. The insurance company said they need to discuss it.”
The situation was complicated. The broadcast station had admitted fault for the damage caused by their mishandling of the magic stone and promised compensation to the victims caught in the dungeon.
But Ha-ra's case was a little different. The insurance company was refusing to compensate Ha-ra, citing the fact that she was a civil servant with the Hunter Agency.
“There's CCTV footage from that time, and they're claiming I didn't fulfill my duty to evacuate even though I could have.”
“Those bastards.”
“I think there's going to be an audit, but since it's a high-risk job, the compensation won't be much anyway…”
“Ugh! This is so frustrating. They make you do all the dangerous work and don't even pay you for it. Is this even a country? They just take and take in taxes!”
Ha-ra kept her mouth shut and quietly listened to her mother's complaints.
It wasn't something she could solve anyway, and chiming in rashly would only double the length of Hyeon-sook's complaining.
“Your supervisor who went in with you managed to avoid it, but you didn't have the sense to do the same. Anyway, that person came to me and apologized, and I nearly fainted. A supervisor, of all people!”
“…”
“And I almost passed out watching the video of you getting sucked in. Didn't I tell you to cut that ghostly hair of yours? I'm dying cleaning up your hair every day! The house looks haunted! And do you know what a mess your room is? I went in to get your underwear, and I couldn't tell if it was a pigsty or a person's room…”
If she could have covered her ears, she would have. In any case, Hyeon-sook's nagging, which started with cursing the country and ended with Ha-ra's living habits, didn't stop for a long time. And it only ended because of a message someone sent to Hyeon-sook.
“This one never calls to see if I'm dead or alive, but sends a text after seeing the news…”
Muttering as she tapped on her phone, her mother suddenly looked up at Ha-ra.
“What?”
Ha-ra asked, but Hyeon-sook just glanced around nervously. After checking that the door was completely closed and looking under the bed and in the bathroom, her mother sat back down in front of Ha-ra and asked seriously.
“So, is there really nothing?”
I knew it. No wonder she'd been sticking by my side for days, leaving her beloved son at home. Here we go again.
Ha-ra sighed.
“What do you mean, 'nothing'…”
“You, really.”
Her mother frowned, crossed her arms, and asked again.
“Did you have that, uh, second awakening or whatever it's called?”
“Ah, Mom. I told you no…”
“You can tell your mother. Hye-ri's mom said that if you come out of something like this unscathed, it must be a second awakening, and Ha-da was making a fuss too. He told me to grill you for details. He said it's a really good thing. You can make money, too. Just tell me. Stop hiding things from your mother.”
Ha-ra shook her head, practically shuddering.
“N-No! I said no! How many times do I have to say it? It's not true!”
“F-Fine, if it's no, it's no! Why are you shouting?!”
In truth, ever since Ha-ra had regained consciousness, Hyeon-sook had been pestering her relentlessly, asking if she'd had a second awakening.
It was only natural. Whether on the news or in online communities, no one could believe that an E-rank Hunter had saved people from a B-rank dungeon.
The fact that all the Hunters present had seen the message about the B-rank dungeon's completion was also a key factor.
However.
“Kang Ha-ra, listen carefully. Don't you breathe a word of this to anyone. Let's hold off on announcing your rank-up for a while.”
The Mapo Station Chief, who had come to Ha-ra's hospital room faster than anyone else upon hearing she had woken up.
She had asked for the room to be cleared and spoke with Ha-ra alone.
Ha-ra haltingly confessed what had happened inside. That she had met a Constellation, as unbelievable as it sounded. But that calling her S-rank would be a misnomer.
It was such a ridiculous story that she wondered if Station Chief Jeong Yu-jin would believe her, but instead of laughing or looking shocked, Chief Jeong had said that. And with a very serious expression.
Ha-ra found herself asking.
“Why? Why is that?”
“Given the nature of civil service, if you rank up, a report on the details of your promotion has to be submitted. There will be massive media coverage, too.”
Details of the promotion. Ha-ra's mouth fell slightly open. Chief Jeong sighed.
“I've heard plenty of stories about how meeting Constellations only leads to shitty situations, but this is a first.”
“…”
“Listen up. If you become S-rank, the first thing that'll happen is you'll get your own team. And then you'll be worked to death. With your current stats and skills, can you enter the Sangam Dungeon?”
The S-rank dungeon of unprecedented scale that had opened in Sangam-dong. It still hadn't been cleared, so everyone knew it as the “Sangam Dungeon.”
Thinking about that dungeon, Ha-ra shook her head.
“No…”
“You know civil servants have to do whatever they're told, right? The moment the higher-ups find out you have even one S-rank skill, they'll treat you as an S-rank, whether you're a half-baked one or not. Your personal information will be completely exposed. And what if you accidentally cause a dungeon break in the process?”
The color drained from Ha-ra's face.
“You'll become a national traitor. If you don't want that, just stay quiet for now. Got it?”
Her words were born purely from experience. As an A-rank Hunter, the Mapo Station Chief had had similar experiences.
It was no exaggeration to say that the entire nation knew the faces of the only eight S-rank Hunters and the fewer than one hundred A-rank Hunters in the country.
When a dungeon break had occurred in Sinchon long ago, Jeong Yu-jin had happened to be on maternity leave. She couldn't even count how much backlash she'd received back then when it was reported that her maternity leave would be followed immediately by childcare leave.
That was why Station Chief Jeong Yu-jin was keeping her mouth shut and playing dumb, even before the Hunter Agency's disciplinary committee.
Some might say, “Are you just worried about getting criticized?” But the condition attached to Ha-ra's rank-up was an extremely personal matter.
Becoming S-rank by dating a man known by the entire population of South Korea... it was like a joke. The condition for her rank-up was so unique that it was uncertain whether it would even work.
But the skill was S-rank. A conditional S-rank. With such an ambiguous ability, she'd be dragged around everywhere, yet find it difficult to function as a proper S-rank.
“Becoming a national traitor might even be better. Have you ever considered a situation where the entire nation tries to play matchmaker for you and Anchor Yoon?”
Now, Ha-ra's face turned white with terror. Even now, all sorts of people were peeking into Ha-ra's hospital room. From reporters to other patients. They all peeked through the doorway at least once, to the point where the Mapo Station had assigned guards.
It was already a burdensome situation for Ha-ra. But the entire nation playing matchmaker?
“So let's postpone the public announcement.”
Ha-ra felt like begging her to do just that. And so, the announcement of Ha-ra's rank-up was postponed for the time being.
Let alone Yoon Se-heon…
“By the way, why hasn't that anchor guy, or whatever he is, come to visit?”
Hyeon-sook's words jolted Ha-ra from her thoughts.
Hyeon-sook had gone back into the bathroom and was washing Ha-ra's tumbler. Over the sound of running water, she complained loudly.
“Isn't he even grateful? You saved his life.”
“Mom, he's a patient, too…”
“Ugh, if it were me, I would have come to your room even in a hospital gown.”
“Uh, Mom!”
Everyone who had been caught in the dungeon that day was hospitalized in the same building. Everyone except Ha-ra was discharged quickly. Aside from Se-heon being stabbed in the back, there had been no other major injuries.
Hyeon-sook cursed the anchor who hadn't bothered to visit for days, even after her daughter had risked her life to save him.
“That Yoon Se-heon, or whatever his name is, that able-bodied man is so ungrateful…”
“I apologize.”
Ha-ra squeezed her eyes shut. Just as her mother was saying, “if it were me, I would have come even in a hospital gown—” someone quietly opened the door and entered.
“I'm a little late, aren't I?”
Yoon Se-heon was smiling awkwardly.
[The Constellation ‘Cupid’ is pleased.]
