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The dungeon had definitely been cleared. But Hands Faster Than Eyes still had not paid out the designated quest reward. That could only mean one thing.
Hands Faster Than Eyes was clearly planning to insist that the moment of dungeon-clear reward collection counted as the quest-clear point.
“…Don’t tell me?”
Having reached that suspicion, Hyeonseong hurried over to the gatherer named Jihwan.
“Hey, why did you suddenly bring up something like that?”
Hyeonseong asked in an urgent voice.
“Th-that is…”
Jihwan glanced at Hyeonseong’s expression. His reaction showed that something was going on. When Hyeonseong pressed him to answer quickly, Jihwan reluctantly spoke.
“Actually, a Constellation gave me a sudden quest. They said they’d pay money if I took people outside…”
The answer Hyeonseong had expected came out. When Awakened people made strange decisions out of nowhere, at least half the time it was because of a Constellation’s quest.
“Which Constellation?”
“I don’t know. The requester was listed as anonymous…”
The moment Jihwan answered, a Constellation’s chatter message appeared. From the look of it, this was indeed that bastard’s doing.
“…Alright. But whatever the reason, using people’s rank like that was entirely your fault, okay? You need to apologize for that.”
Hyeonseong spoke through clenched teeth with a forced smile. Jihwan reluctantly nodded.
“Then let’s check your condition. It looked like you got hit by a skill earlier…”
As Hyeonseong tried to check how badly Jihwan was injured, a system message appeared.
The contribution was a little higher than expected. She hadn’t expected first place, but since C-rank Hunters had severed the head of the Pseudowyvern corpse, she thought she’d rank around third.
The contribution being one rank higher than expected made the reward tempting, but Hyeonseong put off checking it for now. Something else was more important.
“…How are you feeling right now?”
Hyeonseong asked Jihwan.
“It still stings… Ooooh…”
Jihwan let out an exaggerated groan. It was an obvious attempt to make sure the F-rank Hunter who had kicked him heard.
“Th-then who told you to look down on someone as F-rank?!”
The F-rank Hunter snapped angrily. This time, Hyeonseong turned her gaze toward the F-rank Hunter.
“You didn’t exactly do well either, you know? Just because you’re angry, what are you trying to do by beating up an unarmed person with a skill?”
Hyeonseong snapped irritably. Knowing the quest was about to get messed up, there was no way her words could come out nicely.
Perhaps sensing Hyeonseong’s irritation, the F-rank Hunter quietly avoided her gaze.
‘Come to think of it, I shouldn’t be venting my anger at them.’
The one she really should be angry at was Hands Faster Than Eyes. If that bastard hadn’t given such a forced quest in the first place, there would’ve been no reason to get angry.
“…Anyway, you two sort it out yourselves, and you, sir, go to the hospital quickly. Or at least pop an injury potion.”
“H-huh? Sir? I’m not that old yet…”
“Enough. So is it serious? Minor? Is the hospital better, or do you have a potion?”
A monster’s status was provided by the interstellar network, but an Awakened’s condition couldn’t be freely examined without a skill or item.
Hyeonseong hadn’t brought an item to check people’s conditions today, so she had to rely on Jihwan’s own words.
“It’s not serious, but it hurts more than a minor injury… No status effects… And I don’t have any potions.”
“Then hurry up and go to the hospital.”
After hearing Jihwan’s suddenly timid reply, Hyeonseong immediately left him to the other gatherers. She had no obligation to escort him to the hospital.
The message arrived the moment Hyeonseong turned away from Jihwan. Hyeonseong’s eyes widened as she checked it.
“You son of a—hey!”
Hyeonseong shouted at the empty air. The fact that enforcement stopped the moment she shouted only made her angrier.
People nearby stared at Hyeonseong strangely as she suddenly shouted curses.
Hyeonseong immediately opened the interstellar network system screen.
She didn’t care about other people’s looks. When an Awakened talked to empty air, it was usually understood as speaking to a Constellation.
But that wasn’t the issue right now.
‘What I need to say from here on isn’t something others should overhear.’
At times like this, she needed to use an item that made her voice audible only to Constellations, or use the interstellar network system to chat directly.
Using an item on Hands Faster Than Eyes felt like a waste of money. Hyeonseong searched for Hands Faster Than Eyes on the interstellar network and initiated a one-on-one chat.
The moment the chat request was accepted, Hyeonseong fired off the message.
That was true. It meant the system recognized this bastard’s absurd argument as something worth accepting.
Still, it didn’t seem to have accepted it completely. After all, the enforcement had stopped when Hyeonseong lost her temper.
Hyeonseong judged that this was the angle worth digging into.
Hyeonseong’s hand went to the back of her neck. The one twisting logic was that bastard, and if Hyeonseong had gotten better at it, it was entirely because of him.
She’d seen that kind of bullshit more than once—if her ability to deal with it hadn’t improved, that would’ve been stranger.
The Constellation replied lightly. Whether he had something to rely on or another scheme up his sleeve was still unknown.
Either way, since the other party agreed, Hyeonseong decided to call the network administrator.
As soon as Hyeonseong requested mediation, system messages were displayed. She took a deep breath and typed her argument.
With an argument like this, the system would side with her unless something extreme happened. Above all else, she had to stop the special penalty of confiscating Ghost Coins.
‘What is that bastard planning to argue?’
While Hyeonseong typed her long message, Hands Faster Than Eyes didn’t send a single word. He stayed silent until the full five minutes of argument time expired.
Hyeonseong stared at the system messages with tense eyes.
Fortunately, Hyeonseong’s argument was accepted. She let out a sigh of relief.
Even though she’d done this more than once, it was impossible not to get nervous every time. The network administrator’s thinking was always impossible to predict.
Hyeonseong frowned at the patronizing tone.
Messages from the Constellation came in succession. As expected, he was planning to skim the reward again.
Hyeonseong’s hand went back to the back of her neck. The bastard who had snickered earlier was now pretending innocence.
The bastard dragged the interstellar network back in.
As if waiting for it, the system message appeared.
“You bastard…”
The taunting message came through blatantly. Hyeonseong ground her teeth.
Anger was anger, but reward was reward. It wouldn’t be full again this time, but if it was being given, she had to take it.
“What?”
Hyeonseong shouted at the ridiculous ratio.
Before Hyeonseong could send a message asking if he was joking, another message came in. Her hand trembled.
Hyeonseong’s hand went to her neck for the third time. This time it wasn’t just her mood—her neck actually felt like it was seizing up.
“Hyeonseong-ssi?”
As Hyeonseong rested one hand on the message keyboard and massaged the back of her neck, the mage spoke cautiously. Hyeonseong waved him off roughly, signaling not to worry.
Sensing another attempt to quietly withhold part of the reward, Hyeonseong spoke firmly.
The moment Hyeonseong sent the message, a system message appeared. Exactly half of the amount was paid as the reward.
Her teeth ground again. But since she had received it, there was nothing more to argue about.
As soon as the one-on-one chat ended, chatter messages appeared. Some Constellations asked what had happened, while others clicked their tongues as if they understood the situation.
‘I swear, one day I’m going to kill that bastard.’
Hyeonseong muttered angrily while rubbing the back of her neck.
“…Hyeonseong-ssi?”
The mage called her again. Only then did Hyeonseong turn her head.
Seeing her response, the mage hurriedly explained the matter at hand—what to do with the gathered materials and hunted monster corpses.
“Ah, right, we need to deal with that.”
All the items obtained in the dungeon were in Hyeonseong’s possession. Without her opening the Infinite Corridor where the items were stored, settlement and distribution were impossible.
A contract guaranteed by the interstellar network had been signed before entering the dungeon, so there was no risk of Hyeonseong running off with the items.
Even so, the mage pressed her because too much time had been wasted on pointless matters.
‘…I really am going to take that scammer bastard’s head someday.’
Hyeonseong ground her teeth again, fueling her anger toward Hands Faster Than Eyes.
After rubbing the back of her neck one last time, she left the front of the abandoned building with the mage, the warrior, and the remaining gatherers. She planned to return home after the settlement was handled by the guild the mage and warrior belonged to.
A sudden dungeon evolution, wasted items, a fight between gatherers, and that scammer bastard on top of it all.
In short, it had been a truly, utterly unlucky day.
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