Chapter 5: Cleaning area

Demons, demon gods, the Holy Church serving the One God, and mages…

The stories I’d heard were so absurd that my brain struggled to keep up. 

But I couldn’t exactly dismiss them either. 

I’d witnessed that crazy woman casting actual magic, and right in front of me, Rio had shown me a small fireball, claiming it was a specialty of the Hongma tribe.

Why?

I was just playing a game and fell asleep… 

So why the hell was I suddenly transported to this world? 

And with the abilities of a cleaning game of all things? 

Who did this? 

For what purpose?

“Are you a half-breed, mister?”

“Half-breed?”

Amidst all this, Rio thought I was a half-breed. 

That woman from earlier had said the same thing… 

When I asked why she thought that, Rio explained that in this continent, black hair is considered a symbol of human-demon hybrids.

And apparently, such half-breeds are shunned, unwelcome by both humans and demons…

What kind of world is this?

But that’s the world I’m in now? 

Oh, damn it.

“Haa… Let’s move for now.”

“Huh? Where to?”

“Let’s get outside first. You said you found a door and came in from there, right?”

My head was pounding, but instead of overthinking, I decided to act.

Now that it was clear this wasn’t a dream, I couldn’t just stay in this unknown space, casually cleaning. 

Besides, this place was nothing but a corridor covered in strange slime.

***

“A demon half-breed? And one who can use high-level magic?”

“Yeah… He easily dispelled my magic and wielded water magic far superior to mine at an incredible speed!”

After receiving urgent treatment from a priest and regaining her senses, Archna recounted everything she’d witnessed to her comrades.

“…Hah, a half-breed wielding magic that powerful?”

“Aren’t half-breeds supposed to be half-baked?”

The people listening to Archna—demon hunters—exchanged opinions and murmured among themselves. 

Honestly, they found it hard to believe her story. 

But seeing Archna, the second strongest among them, return in such a pitiful state, it didn’t seem like she was lying.

“Exactly! And he let me go on purpose! Probably to figure out our location!”

“Oh, come on… Even if that’s true, what’s he gonna do with our location?”

Unlike Archna, who was sweating nervously, her comrades remained calm. 

They’d been hunting demons for over five years. 

They’d taken down all sorts of cunning demons and were now even hunting entire demon villages. 

The idea of being intimidated by some half-breed didn’t faze them—they were brimming with confidence.

But one among them, a man with green hair, listened to Archna’s story with a serious expression.

“…Could it be a dungeon?”

“…?!?!”

“What, a dungeon?!”

At the words of the green-haired man, Rox, the group froze for a moment, stared at him, and then burst into laughter.

“Hahaha! No way!”

“Right! A new dungeon popping up now? Impossible!”

Dungeons. 

Mysterious spaces formed around an object called the “Dungeon Core.”

An artifact that grants the title and power of “Dungeon Master” to a chosen demon. 

The greatest threat to humanity, endangering the Holy Empire of Eukrasia. 

However…

“When was the last time a new dungeon appeared?”

Dungeons, those enigmatic spaces, vanish when their “core” is destroyed. 

But even if a dungeon is destroyed, new ones tend to appear somewhere else on the continent, as if maintaining a certain number of dungeons…

On the flip side, if no dungeons are destroyed, no new ones appear.

“Thanks to the late Emperor’s policy of maintaining dungeon numbers, no new dungeons have appeared in nearly 80 years. And now you’re saying one’s popped up?”

“And what, if a dungeon did appear… the Dungeon Master is that half-breed?”

“What? Not even a full demon, but a half-breed? That’d be hilarious! Hahaha!”

Thus, the group didn’t take Rox’s words seriously and continued their lighthearted chatter. 

But Rox ignored their reactions, focusing solely on Archna as he asked.

“You said there was a strange entrance in the middle of the forest, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“You remember its location, don’t you?”

“Yeah… Why?”

“Why, you ask?”

Stroking his beloved weapon—the Sacred Relic—Rox flashed a wicked grin.

“You think our location’s already been exposed, and that guy’s scheming something by figuring out where we are, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“Then it’s simple.”

With a light swing of his spear, the Sacred Relic Baikal, glowing with green light, droplets of an ominous-colored liquid dripped from its tip.

“Gah! Watch it!”

“What the hell, Rox?! Trying to kill us all?”

The hunters, who had been laughing and making noise, scrambled away in panic as the droplets hit the ground, slowly melting it and releasing green smoke.

“Lead the way, Archna. I don’t know what that half-breed’s plotting or how he gained that kind of power… But if you’re that worried, I’ll kill him for you.”

***

Swoosh…

“That’s so cool! Are you a mage, mister?”

“I think it’s pretty cool too.”

As I sprayed water from the [Pressure Washer], cleaning the filth stuck to the dark corridor and slowly moving forward, Rio trailed behind me, staring at my [Pressure Washer] with fascination. 

I’d brushed it off earlier thinking this was just a dream, but it is a strange device.

What’s the mechanism? 

Did some science nerds finally invent a Bluetooth showerhead?

No matter how much I examined it, I couldn’t figure out how it worked, so I let it go. 

You might wonder why I’m bothering to clean the corridor with cleaning tools instead of just heading out…

[+10p]

“There it is!”

The system message I’d been waiting for finally appeared. The moment it popped up, I set down my cleaning tools and opened the [Shop].

***

[Shop]

Categories: 

• [Equipment] 
• [Cleaning Agents] 
• [Furniture] 
• [Staff] 
• …

***

A window resembling an online shopping mall appeared before my eyes. I’d suspected as much since I started earning points… 

Nice. 

The [Shop] functions exactly like it did in the game.

I navigated the [Shop] window with ease and found the item I wanted.

[Cleaning Mask (Lv. 1)]: 30p

Found it.

I immediately purchased the item I’d been looking for. 

I was curious how the purchase would manifest, and sure enough, a pristine white mask appeared in my hand with a pop.

“Rio, wanna try this on?”

“Like the one you’re wearing?”

“Yup.”

Thanks to my [Cleaning Mask], I couldn’t smell anything, but I vividly remembered the horrific stench from when I briefly took it off. 

Even though I’d cleaned part of the corridor, the lingering odor was still there, and naturally, Rio was smelling it too.

After treating Rio’s injuries and following her lead through the corridors of this suspicious structure, I noticed her expression wasn’t great and belatedly realized she was suffering from the smell.

So, thinking I could tough it out, I took off my [Cleaning Mask] and offered it to her…

The staff member’s rank is too low to equip this item.

That message popped up, and the mask rejected Rio.

Only then did I recall that I’d registered Rio as a [Staff Member]. 

I opened the [Staff Management] window to check her details.

***

[Rio]

-Race: Hongma Tribe

-Can use [Incinerator].

-Can clean contamination zones classified as ‘Fire’.

-Rank: 1 Star (★☆☆☆☆)

-Can be promoted upon meeting conditions.

-Traits

[Effort]: Promotion EXP increases 20% faster. Less likely to slack off during work.

[Trust]: ‘Desertion’ events will not occur.

[Endurance]: Does not complain even under harsh cleaning tasks.

-Talent: (Locked)

Unlocks at 2 Stars or higher.

-Status: Normal

***

It’s mostly similar to what I remember.

There were a few differences. 

For one, the ‘Hongma Tribe’ race didn’t exist in the game. 

Occasionally, you could hire ‘Mutant’ races for cleaning radioactive zones, but I swear, there was no such thing as the Hongma Tribe in the game.

Other than that, the [Staff] system was largely the same as I knew it from the cleaning game… 

But the part about her 1-Star rank caught my eye. 

Come to think of it, in the game, the equipment a staff member could wear depended on their rank…

Could it be?

That’s why I suddenly started cleaning, earned enough points, and bought a [Cleaning Mask (Lv. 1)] instead of my max-level gear to give to Rio…

***

“Wow! I can’t smell anything!”

“…Phew, good.”

Thankfully, this time Rio was able to equip the mask without issue. 

Seeing her so happy warmed my heart a bit, but…

…What the hell is this system, really?

Watching the cleaning tools, [Shop], and [Staff] functions work perfectly only deepened my confusion.

Why do I have these abilities…?

“Light!”

“There it is! That’s the door I came through!”

It wasn’t as far as I thought. 

Well, considering Rio’s condition earlier, she couldn’t have walked too far, so it makes sense that it’s close.

But what do I do once I get out?

If this really is the strange otherworld Rio described… 

What can I even do once I leave this weird structure?

From what Rio said, black hair seems to be a symbol of discrimination in this world… 

If I step outside, am I just going to run into racists and get killed?

…I don’t know. 

I have no idea what to do next, but for now, I need to get out of this filthy place…

Thud!

“Ow!”

“Ah! Mister! Are you okay?”

“Ugh… What? What did I hit…?”

-You cannot leave the cleaning zone until the cleaning task is complete!

“…What?”

To be continued