I’ll Retire After Saving the World

TL: SHW

[Chungnam Seosan-20190126-0008]

[Initial Reported Rank B]

[December 2020, Rank A Classification]

[Appearing Monster Types – Nymphs and Giants]

[July 2021, Guild Museong, Giant Elimination Complete]

[Remaining Monsters - 2 Nymphs(Confirmation Required)]

---

“Aaaagh!!”

“Cut down on the unnecessary screaming.”

“……!”

At my words, Han Tae-kyung started opening and closing his mouth without making a sound.

It wasn't like I could kill him over that….

Still, considering how much he'd whined before entering the Dungeon, he was doing well without any further complaints. He probably knew it himself. Compared to when he'd first entered a Dungeon with me, his movements had become much cleaner. Watching him, I could somewhat understand why Father had left Han Tae-kyung alone despite how much he did whatever he pleased. His skill was certainly part of it, but….

Even though he could be a cheeky little shit at times, Han Tae-kyung basically listened to what I told him. It was hard to notice because of his usual obsessive attitude toward cats, but when I thought about it, Han Tae-kyung had always obeyed his superiors. He might fool around and act cocky, but whenever someone above him was present, he generally behaved himself. It wasn't as though he lacked a sense of responsibility, either. Most of the fights Han Tae-kyung got into were with people who had ignored safety regulations near Gates. That was why, despite the mountain of lawsuits filed against him, Han Tae-kyung had survived at the Ability Management Agency. Once a case went to court, things tended to favor Han Tae-kyung.

“Huaagh!”

With a bizarre battle cry, Han Tae-kyung sent the nymph's head flying.

After cutting away the useless habits he'd picked up in C-Rank and B-Rank Dungeons and making a few minor adjustments to his attack timing, he was practically flying around the battlefield. I didn't even need to step in anymore. A few words of advice had been enough to get him this far. I couldn't help thinking how nice it would have been if the Agency's rookies could manage even half of that.

Of course, the instant I thought that, I bit my tongue. I couldn't forget. That was Han Tae-kyung. The lunatic who handed over an Incident Report every quarter with a bashful look and announced that he'd gotten sued again. Even if Han Tae-kyung hadn't been the one to start those fights, that wasn't much consolation. And how many incidents had there been that never resulted in lawsuits at all?

The most hair-raising one had been when Team 1 got into a group brawl with some American Hunters who had visited Korea for a meeting. It was fortunate that both sides were at fault, so the whole thing had quietly been swept under the rug….

There was a reason Team 1 had stayed together without anyone requesting a transfer despite Han Tae-kyung being their leader. Anyone who couldn't handle it had washed out long ago, leaving only guys like Han Tae-kyung behind. Even if they hated cats.

I'd gotten sidetracked for a moment, but anyway, what Han Tae-kyung lacked right now was experience. Under normal circumstances, he would have slowly accumulated it over several years. Most people didn't do something insane like enter another Dungeon immediately after finishing a raid, and permission for that wasn't easy to get either. But we had Hong Seok-young's guarantee and Lee Mi-seon, our all-purpose fixer.

C-Rank or B-Rank might have been one thing, but entering an A-Rank Dungeon with only two people wasn't normally permitted. Especially during a period when, as Lee Mi-seon had said, everyone was particularly sensitive about safety.

But as I said, I had the weight of Hong Seok-young's name behind me and a powerful figure like Lee Mi-seon.

S-Rank Dungeons were still out of the question, but getting permission for anything up through B-Rank wasn't a problem. And for a Dungeon like this one, where the raid had already been mostly completed, entry permission had been granted easily despite it being A-Rank. Frankly, I'd been prepared for permission to be denied.

If that had happened, I'd planned to run through more B-Rank Dungeons instead. If we couldn't make up the quality, we'd make up for it with quantity.

Getting permission might have been fortunate for Han Tae-kyung, or it might not have been. Judging by the way he was enthusiastically fighting the Tree Giant summoned by the nymph right now…. Well, he seemed satisfied, so that was probably enough.

Thud!

“Hmm.”

I frowned and stepped back. Tangled tree roots burst from the ground where I'd been standing just moments earlier. Thin branches twisted around one another before extending into arms and legs. Once the creature had pulled the rest of itself free from the ground, it shook its head. Green leaves came raining down. Wherever the fallen leaves touched, the ground corroded black.

What was the name of the Guild that had supposedly raided this place again? Had those idiots seriously failed to realize that the Giant they'd killed was a golem created by the nymphs? Were their eyes just for decoration?

Well… most golems found inside Dungeons were made of dirt or stone, but wooden ones weren't unheard of. But shouldn't that have made them even more suspicious?! The Giant and the nymphs were made of the same material. Of course there was some kind of connection between them!!

I cut through the branches reaching for me. Their constant regeneration was annoying, so I wrapped the blade of my Sword in flames before cutting them away. Since its body was made of wood, the Tree Giant was naturally weak to fire. It staggered backward, flailing its severed arm. The remaining nymph, which had been attacking Han Tae-kyung, glared furiously at me.

It was the one that had attacked me when I'd been minding my own business.

This was why relying on instinct was a bad idea. Human or monster, everyone needed to know how to use their head.

“Pay attention!”

“Hahaha, I guess once we reach A-Rank, even you don't dump everything on me, sunbae!”

“Hunter Lee practically begged me.”

“What did she say?”

Han Tae-kyung pulled on the Chain. The nymph, whose ankle had been caught by it, struggled before falling over. Its dark brown skin, resembling that of an old tree, had dried and shriveled, and pieces of bark fell away every time Han Tae-kyung's attacks landed.

“She asked me to please not let anyone die inside the Dungeon.”

“Hahahaha!”

Han Tae-kyung burst into loud laughter as if he'd just heard a hilarious joke.

I simply laughed along with him. Lee Mi-seon had seemed completely serious, but he didn't need to know that much.

Once the nymph, the main body, lost its concentration under Han Tae-kyung's attacks, the Tree Giant also stopped moving. Considering that part of the Tree Giant had remained rooted in the ground while it moved, along with the surrounding environment… the Dungeon interior filled with dried, withered trees, several nymphs must have operated the Tree Giant together to protect the Dungeon Core. Almost like a single living organism.

There had been two nymphs remaining inside the Dungeon. One had just died at Han Tae-kyung's hands, so it was too much for the last one to fight Han Tae-kyung by itself while controlling the Giant at the same time. From what I could tell, controlling it seemed to require quite a bit of work.

When there had been two nymphs, Han Tae-kyung had struggled because he had to hold off both the Tree Giant and the nymphs, but now he was doing perfectly well without me interfering. Except for the occasional attack that came flying my way.

“Again!”

I stepped on the Tree Giant's shoulder and leaped upward.

“I told you to stay focused!”

“How am I supposed to help it when this bastard's so good at multitasking?!”

Clatter-rattle.

“That doesn't mean you just leave it alone!”

Han Tae-kyung grinned at my words and ducked low to avoid the nymph's branch.

Han Tae-kyung unleashed a fierce barrage of attacks at the nymph, or tree ghost. He seemed to be getting used to the Chain, because his movements were far more stable than when he'd first shown up with that insane Chain.

“Use the Chain more actively! Now!”

“I know!!”

The Chain moved like a snake and tangled itself around one of the nymph's tendrils, which was similarly crawling across the ground. Han Tae-kyung's Chain became an anchor, restricting the nymph's movements.

When he'd first brought a Chain and sickle, I'd found it so ridiculous and amusing that I'd played along, but Han Tae-kyung had been the first to give up on it. He seemed to like the Chain quite a bit, since he'd brought it again the next time, but not the sickle.

‘It was more useful than I expected, but not useful enough to go out of my way to use it.’

So Han Tae-kyung had brought a Sword and Chain instead.

What had he said again?

‘This thing's surprisingly versatile.’

For someone who'd said that, Han Tae-kyung still occasionally forgot to use the Chain while fighting. Still, he was gradually getting used to that too.

The Han Tae-kyung from Team 1 that I knew had never used a Chain. Even twenty years later, he'd still fought however he felt like. Today I feel like using a Sword. Today I feel like fighting with my fists. That sort of thing.

As long as he fought well, it didn't matter. Of course, if he'd kept carrying the sickle around instead of the Chain, I would have wondered if he'd lost his mind.

And the Chain turned out to be surprisingly useful quite often.

“This finishes it!”

Han Tae-kyung finally killed the remaining nymph as well. At the same time, the Tree Giant that had persistently targeted me crumbled apart.

“Haa…. As expected of me, Han Tae-kyung. A man who can raid an A-Rank Dungeon all by himself!”

“What do you mean, by yourself?”

I kicked the Tree Giant. Its body collapsed like rotten wood.

“I did everything!”

“Whose arm was it I cut off? Was it yours, Teacher Han?”

“Come on, you cut off one arm and now you're taking credit! Sunbae, aren't you completely riding on my back right now? I'm doing all the raiding, but your name still goes on the record!”

It took you more than ten Dungeons to notice?

I let out a deep sigh and walked past Han Tae-kyung. I headed in the direction the nymph had fought desperately to block. The Dungeon Core should be this way.

“Teacher Han.”

“…Y-yes?”

“Are you stronger than me?”

“…….”

“Then let's just break the core and get out.”

Han Tae-kyung quietly followed behind me.

The report said only two nymphs remained, but there was no telling for sure. We didn't let our guard down, yet we found the Dungeon Core almost anticlimactically.

Saplings that looked like they'd only recently been planted surrounded the Dungeon Core. Much like the Tree Giant summoned by the nymph, their thin stems were tangled together. The way they looked like arms and legs….

“Ah!”

I broke the core. Han Tae-kyung let out a disappointed sound beside me.

“You even took the Last Hit…!”

“…Last Hit?”

“Isn't smashing the core what makes raiding a Dungeon worthwhile?!”

“Is that what you've been thinking this whole time?”

Han Tae-kyung hunched his shoulders. I sighed.

“Anyway, let's head back to the Villa for today. Good work.”

“Yes, sir! Good work!”

Han Tae-kyung beamed.

“But sunbae. I've gotten a lot stronger now, haven't I?”

“Are you satisfied with that?”

“…….”

Han Tae-kyung flinched.

“I'll get even stronger!”

“That's a pretty confident statement from someone who was saying he was way too weak not long ago.”

“…Maybe I was a little crazy back then?”

“Well, it is true that you're weak.”

“No one's ever called me weak anywhere else….”

“So, Teacher Han. Are you stronger than me?”

“…….”

“Since you say you've gotten so much stronger now, we'll stick to A-Rank Dungeons from here on.”

“…….”

Han Tae-kyung looked like he wanted to pass out.

---

It was already late at night by the time we arrived at the Villa.

They'd said all we needed to do was kill two nymphs, but an A-Rank Dungeon was still an A-Rank Dungeon. I planned to rest properly for a few days before entering another Dungeon. There probably wouldn't be another Dungeon this easy, so maybe I'd have to start participating in the raids from next time.

“Oh, hyung!”

Woo I-rok only lifted his head slightly in acknowledgment. At first, he'd at least jumped to his feet to welcome me back, but now he didn't even bother saying hello.

“Why are you still awake at this hour? I told you to go to bed early.”

“Well….”

I frowned. The Daseon Hunters were gathered around as well. Lee Mi-seon smiled and waved at me.

A bunch of grown adults had crowded around one little kid and were… staring into a box.

“What is it?”

“Meow.”

…Meow?

“Look at this!”

Woo I-rok held out the box with a proud expression. Inside the small cardboard box… a fist-sized ball of fur was mewling loudly.

“It's a cat!”

“W-why, sunbae?!”

I got irritated for no particular reason and kicked Han Tae-kyung, who was standing beside me.

It was obvious what Woo I-rok was going to say next.

“I want to keep it!”

***

For more chapters, you can check out my Patreon here --> https://patreon.com/SHWTL

If you enjoy this novel, please review and rate it at Novelupdates. Thanks! 😊

To receive the latest update notifications or report mistakes, join our Discord server linked below.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!