Being A Full-Time Employee C8

Chapter 8

I couldn’t stand the thought of watching my partner go into battle against monsters looking so crushed and defeated. Even if we weren’t close, even if the only things I knew about him were his name and face, I just couldn’t.

“But if you’re not human, then neither am I. So let’s just get along as monsters together.”
“No room change?”
“No room change. Honestly, I’m not confident I’ll work well with you, Hunter Chae—but let’s try anyway.”

Something in Wonu’s eyes brightened. He looked like the type who’d be arrogant, armed with a sharp tongue, dripping with rumors about being foul-tempered and thuggish—but his actual gestures were strikingly removed from that image. He was closer to an animal, really. Like soothing a child, I tapped at his cheek.

“So don’t look so grim, Hunter Chae. If your spirit withers out there, I’ll be the one who dies. You wouldn’t know this, so I’m telling you.”

My hand was trembling slightly. Sweat was rising from my palm. No training time together, just thrown into battle like this. Fucking hell.

What the hell was he? Did the Bureau want to treat him as a precious rarity, or drag him through the mud? I couldn’t tell. They gave me no information—just shoved me alongside him like some accessory.

Out there, in the middle of true monsters, my life was tied to this one monster.
“You can keep me from dying, right?”

Wonu nodded.
“Good. Then trust me, and fight as much as you want.”

Outside, the helicopter landed. The roar of a military chopper was overwhelming. If not for the 30mm-thick glass encasing the Bureau, this place would have been torn apart by the noise alone.

As I turned to leave, Wonu caught my wrist and shoved something into my hand.
“How many seconds can you hold your breath?”

It was goggles and a waterproof bandana, almost identical to his, though subtly different.
“…I’ll last as long as I can.”

I steadied my nerves, recalling that I’d once scored first-class lung capacity, the significance of his question gnawing at me.

All that resolve soon dissolved into wet, miserable reality.
“Fuck!”

I raked my hair back. Pointless. I’d already fallen in eight times, and was guaranteed to fall in twelve more. Goggles were essential. Covering my face below the nose with the bandana, I realized what I really needed wasn’t cloth—but an oxygen tank.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Cursing, I adjusted my dagger grip. That was why they’d given me this instead of a gun. In a water-soaked battlefield, gunpowder was useless. And so I was forced into primitive combat.

My other hand gripped a serrated combat blade—one the U.S. Navy was said to favor. To an onlooker it might look like I was flailing wildly with both hands, but killing blows actually demanded far more force than one would think.

“God damn these stubborn bastards!”

Especially when waterborne monsters swarmed, like now.

Once a dungeon manifested, the zone around it was called the Zero Zone. Sometimes the ground collapsed like a sinkhole, other times it was blocked off as though a barrier had fallen. The thickness of these “energy veils” determined the dungeon’s grade. This one, mercifully, only a B-grade—not too severe.

But still…

“Hunter Chae Wonu!”

This dungeon zone had inconveniently manifested right on a road. Casualties: twenty-one. Whether drivers had escaped or not, their cars were wrecked, torn from the asphalt, suspended in the air. Some still intact, stacked three high like towers—good enough makeshift platforms to buy time.

I scrambled to the very top of the wrecked stack, tugging on fresh gloves. Just as I finished pulling them on—suddenly, water struck me hard from behind. My head rang. My gloves were drenched.

“Hunter Chae!”

I held my tongue, stopping just short of shouting, You little shit! His use of power was reckless, tossed around like a child throwing toys. And yet—wouldn’t two-person squads normally fight together? They’d deliberately split us two off into our own zone.

At my shout, Wonu turned, tearing a locked car door straight off its hinges. Inside the dungeon zone, hunters’ physical strength was greatly enhanced, their affinity aligning with the zone itself. He set the door beneath him and rode it like a surfboard. Posture and all.

“You can’t mean…”

There’s a reason our ancestors left behind the proverb about temptation killing a man—Wonu proved it true. With a flick of his hand, he raised a hideous wave of blood and flesh from below. Grotesque. My appetite vanished.

“You called?”
“…You couldn’t arrive normally for once?”
“In here, what’s normal?”

Bounding onto the wreck tower where I stood, his grin said wasn’t that fun?. My guts twisted. I should’ve paired with someone fit for speech.

“Well? Didn’t I ride that well?”

He fired rapid droplets of water at a flying monster swooping from behind me even as he spoke. I got showered in gore and glared at him.
“Great surfing, lousy fighting.”
“Really? I’ve always racked up the highest death counts.”
“It’s not quantity. It’s quality.”

As I slashed a bug-like monster lunging for his back, I twisted my grip, rotating hard to crack through its armor with a sickening crunch. Knowing its type carried mountain-like features, I planted a kick and shoved it off before the green blood could touch me, sacrificing one dagger in the process.

“You fight dirty. No fundamentals. Keep this up and you’ll die like a dog.”

Then behind us, a blue light flared—the Esper team had reached the dungeon’s core energy pillar. Only they could neutralize a dungeon’s core, which was why Espers, despite being near-useless in direct combat, were treated like treasures.

An alarm came through my earpiece.
“Fifteen minutes remaining.”

The countdown.

“Can’t we talk about this again in fifteen minutes?”
“If you’re still alive by then.”
“Ah, you’re joking, right?”

Wonu burst into loud laughter. Then, without warning, pulled me into his arms. Despite only an hour’s worth of coordination together, I knew instantly what he was about to attempt. With a sigh, I pinched my nose shut.

From below, countless beads of water rose and exploded. The air thickened with moisture. Thousands of water droplets split into bullets, each locking onto a target.

“When I do this, it really hurts.”
“And?”
“So hold me tight.”

Unbelievable little brat.

But wasn’t that exactly why I was hired? I yanked off the gloves, tore the bandana down, wrapped my arms firm around him, pressing our cheeks together.

“Raise hell. I’ll deal with it.”
“Exciting!”

Exciting? For me—it was hell.

I held my breath, knowing that once the countdown began, battle shifted drastically. The monsters’ eyes all burned crimson, frenzy descending. From now on, this was no measured fight. It was a pure street brawl, survival by brutality, while the Espers worked.

And in that chaos, Wonu’s ability dazzled. Before now, it had been impressive—but in this frenzy, it was blinding.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

The glowing monster eyes, the headlights flicked on in vehicles all around—reflected in the water droplets, glittered like Christmas tree lights. Red as blood, perfectly suited.

For an instant I just stared, dazed—until Wonu’s knees buckled without warning. I grabbed him quickly, hauling his arm over my shoulder. His body was hot. His face burned crimson, vessels burst in his eyes.

“Tell me the truth. You didn’t need to go this far, did you.”
“Of course not. They were all small fry.”
“Then why?”
“First team play. I wanted to look cool.”
“Don’t waste yourself like that again.”
“Why?”

There it was again—his endless curiosity, blind to circumstance. I yanked his belt open, slid my hand under his shirt, and braced his waist, answering:

“Because no matter how hard a kid tries to look cool, all he looks is cute.”
“Why say that? A younger one can look cool too.”
“Guess I’m conservative.”

Sliding down from the car hoods, I smashed a window with my useless gun, unlocked the door, and pushed him into the seat. Focus was impossible up there.

His face blazing, I cupped his cheek with my palm. I didn’t normally do this—once, a former partner and I had gotten so toxic we’d snarl just at seeing each other. Back then, when I’d tried this gesture, I’d been socked for my trouble. But embracing like this—that was the way.

If things dragged on, it might come to pressing foreheads together, but I dreaded that. Too intimate. Hopefully, this would be enough. After all—we hadn’t even known each other for more than a few days.

“Focus. The second wave is almost here.”

Every five minutes—the monsters spawned en masse. There’d be three such waves, so we’d better be ready. That’s why this reckless brat shouldn’t have shown off earlier.

“It feels like… all my heat’s draining out through your hand.”
“Good. That’s what we want.”

My heart pounded, heavy—for two hearts, pressed against my chest. It was crushing, suffocating, yet strangely addictive. My mouth dried. I licked my cracked lips, sweat trickling down my neck in this suffocating humidity.

“…Ah.”

Suddenly—fingers brushed up my thigh.