I’ve seen plenty of people who came to the Bureau with such naive thoughts, only to tear up their contracts later saying they wanted to quit being a guide.
It is a life-threatening job where you carry the burden of managing another human being and must enter gates at great personal risk.
‘Yeah, being an office-bound civil servant is definitely better.’
Of course, mountains of work pile up every single day—making daily reports, going on business trips to discuss deploying hunters to allied nations, finding matching partners for guides, managing the conditions of hunters and guides, and so on…
“Let me warn you in advance, guiding work is not that romantic.”
“I-I’m fine. I’m already prepared for it!”
“Hmm, according to the data, you have a 95% matching rate with Hunter Lee Seungjun from our bureau. The figure is unusually high, so you’ll have to be his exclusive guide.”
“Gasp, uh… by any chance, is that hunter handsome?”
“…I literally told you ten seconds ago that guiding work isn’t romantic. Manager Park, has Hunter Lee Seung-jun entered a gate right now?”
“Ah, no! He is staying behind to receive treatment for his injuries.”
“Perfect. Since he’s here, we’ll proceed with a guiding check. Please call Hunter Lee over.”
Great, one of my least favorite tasks remained.
This task, called a ‘guiding check’, was a test to see how much a hunter’s overload level stabilizes during actual guiding.
In other words, it meant I had to monitor the physical contact between the guide and the hunter in real time and record it meticulously.
‘I guess you get used to this too if you do it long enough.’
I left notes on the chart while watching the rookie guide and her assigned hunter move naturally into a passionate kiss beyond the glass wall.
“Guide Shin, please wrap your arms around Hunter Lee’s waist while kissing him.”
“Mph… l-like thith?”
“Yes, you’re doing great.”
As soon as the guide placed her hands on his waist and gently embraced the hunter, I could see the graph of the overload level dropping sharply by two levels at a time.
This was a truly perfect pair.
Does it seem unethical to force people to kiss someone they just met for the first time?
Fortunately, hunters and guides with high compatibility feel an instinctive attraction to each other.
Because of this, exclusive hunter-guide pairings often ended up dating and eventually getting married.
“Stabilization levels confirmed. I think this is enough for the test. Manager Park, please give the new guide her basic code of conduct training before she is deployed to an actual gate.”
“Yes, sir! Great job today.”
I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief after handing the rookie guide over to the training manager.
Sometimes I get this feeling. It’s like the world surrounding me is a fantasy universe full of love and adventure, while I am the only one living in reality.
[Remaining Debt Balance: 550,609,820 won]
“500 million… half is left. I’ve paid off almost all of it… I need to hang in there.”
Yeah, whether I reach retirement age here or successfully pull off a massive project to retire early, once I quit, I’m going to Hawaii to live as a barista.
Every single day, I’ll eat delicious tropical fruit on a blue beach and live my life looking only at handsome men who fit my type.
Knock, knock—
“Mr. Choi Doyoon, there’s a meeting in 30 minutes regarding the gate byproduct business.”
“Ah, yes. I’ll get ready.”
“Doyoon, your proposal was really well-written. Good luck with the presentation later!”
There is a reason why the civil servants at the Supernatural Ability Management Bureau get paid so much.
Aside from the exclusive tasks each department has to handle, the scope of work we have to take on is incredibly broad. In short, there is just an absurd amount of work.
‘I endure this only because of the salary.’
In addition to managing people with abilities, there were many external tasks to handle, such as executing government projects and forming partnerships.
To be honest, this current case was a disaster of my own making.
I lost my mind at the news that a special incentive of 10 million won would be given to the employee who submitted a good proposal.
The proposal I wrote ended up receiving rave reviews from upper management, and now it was right on the verge of execution.
[Project on Utilizing Gate Byproducts for Renewable Energy]
When you hunt monsters, they drop strange stones that emit light.
After the research team investigated the substance, I heard that a massive amount of energy was compressed inside, making it worth considering as an alternative energy source.
I thought that if handled well, it could be developed into a renewable energy business.
With that, the incentive would be mine… no, rather, it was a proposal written for the fine-particle-free, yellow-dust-free, prosperous lives of the citizens of the Republic of Korea.
Since it was an organization made up of geniuses from every field, there were occasionally people whose personalities didn’t match their brilliant minds.
I heard that in a newly established department recently, a rookie made a massive mistake, and the team leader got disciplined because she beat the rookie with her luxury handbag.
‘Get a grip, Choi Doyoon.’
I am already in my third year of career experience in this crazy place, so I’ve been through my fair share of ups and downs.
This proposal is truly well-written, so there’s no need to be nervous. I just need to deliver the presentation well.
Out of habit, I adjusted the tie around my neck.
“Hello, I am Choi Doyoon, the author of this proposal. I will begin the presentation.”
“Ugh, I’m so exhausted.”
After finishing the presentation and suffering through follow-up questions, I wrapped up the remaining work and left the office.
It was already midnight.
Considering I usually head home around 2 AM or 3 AM, today ended up finishing quite early.
I walked into the roughly 180-square-foot studio apartment provided by the government for Bureau staff and collapsed straight onto the bed.
I needed to take a shower and organize tomorrow’s to-do list… but whenever I lie down on the bed, I absolutely hate moving.
Like any ordinary office worker, I turned on my phone. Since I spent my college years bouncing around between part-time jobs and classes, I didn’t really have anyone to contact or any close friends.
Naturally, my hobbies after work were very simple.
Just scrolling through social media to check out cute cat videos, or—
“Ah, today is the upload day, right?”
Reading web novels, which I’ve been heavily into lately.
It was a mature, angst-heavy BL novel titled ‘The Rose Grows in the Emperor’s Cage’, affectionately dubbed ‘The Emperor’s Cage’, which updates three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
It was an angsty story where the incredibly beautiful protagonist, ‘Lucian’, is obsessively pursued by male leads, including the crown prince and the emperor.
Oh, by the way, a man reading BL novels is a very common thing in today’s world.
They say Korean society used to be extremely conservative regarding homosexuality before the appearance of hunters and guides, but no one cares about that anymore.
Stories of same-sex hunters and guides risking their lives for love pour out every single day not just on social media but also on public broadcast networks, breaking down the boundaries between genders at a rapid pace.
Actually, the reason I fell into novels was simple.
Because of the nature of my job, I watch people engage in passionate public displays of affection right before my eyes every day.
As a result, even if I watch romance movies, I don’t feel any fluttery emotions.
Even if a kissing scene comes up, my mind instantly drifts to thoughts like ‘What’s their matching rate? When can they be deployed to the field?’
Witnessing physical touch in person was more than enough at work.
That’s why novels, which allowed me to imagine freely using text instead of visual images, felt much more entertaining.
Anyway, today’s update was about the protagonist attempting his nth escape.
