* * *
Clank, clank.
The grotesque noise of metal striking metal grated on my ears.
And that sound was gradually getting closer to me.
I had clearly finished another exhausting day as usual and gone straight to bed for tomorrow’s part-time job. I also had to wake up earlier than usual to go send love calls to the Dullahan.
I was sleeping soundly like that, and then.
“…….”
I wanted to open my eyes and check what the noise was, but I couldn’t move at all, as if I were pinned under scissors. My body had frozen in the exact position I had fallen asleep in.
Clank…
At last, the noise reached right beside my head.
Shing-.
The sound of metal scraping against the hard floor.
When the chilling air brushed past my nape like a lick…!
“Chihuahua, open your eyes!”
“Huff!”
The moment I shot up, I reflexively grabbed my neck.
So it was a dream….
My whole body was drenched in cold sweat.
“Wow… I thought the Dullahan came for revenge because I kept tormenting it with noise pollution….”
“Huh? How did you know?”
Brownie, who had saved me from the nightmare, flew around me and asked in a lively voice.
The place I slept was a room attached to the inner part of the office, so no sunlight came in at all, but I could roughly guess the time from the brightness of the torch.
The torches—one of the few light sources in the dungeon—strangely dimmed during the day and burned brightly at night.
The torch was still blazing.
That meant it was the middle of the night.
Had this dirt potato of a fairy gone mad!? What kind of wicked demon wakes an office worker in the middle of the night when it’s not even the weekend!
“Phew, but… what do you mean, how did I know?”
“The Dullahan. It came to find you.”
What kind of terrifying thing was that to say?
“Am I still dreaming?”
I quickly pinched my cheek hard.
“Ugh…!”
It hurt a lot. So this was reality….
“If you’re awake, come out quickly. I left it standing in the lobby.”
“Was it a prophetic dream…. Did I annoy it so much that it really came to kill….”
“What if it changes its mind and suddenly leaves while you’re dawdling? Hurry out!”
Brownie pulled at my hair and urged me on.
Because I had just woken up, my curly hair was sticking out in all directions, and Brownie was practically tangled and buried in it.
“All right. I’m going, I’m going.”
The Dullahan suddenly came to the dungeon directly? Was there another Dullahan somewhere?
I was so stunned that my brain wasn’t working properly.
After splashing water on my face, I went out to the lobby, and there really was a Dullahan standing there in pitch-black armor.
Headless, too.
“Whoa…. It’s real.”
The Dullahan was the monster I could look at without taking off my glasses, second only to the slime.
Even though the fact that it had no head was eerie, on the outside it was practically just walking armor.
I didn’t know what it was like inside… and I didn’t particularly want to imagine.
‘Calm down.’
Still, it was just as scary.
‘Pull yourself together. I’m the manager.’
I suppressed my fear and spoke as calmly as I could.
“Hello, Dullahan? I’m Gong Choi, manager of the Hermit’s Dungeon….”
“Chihuahua.”
“Eek… Chihuahua! It’s an honor to meet you in person.”
“By the way, I’m a director. Call me Director Brownie.”
I switched into business hospitality mode, adopting a warm and gracious attitude. We could skip the handshake, right?
“…….”
“Excuse me, but may I take your visit to our dungeon as a positive response to the employment offer?”
“…….”
I hadn’t expected it to greet me back, but I hadn’t thought it would remain completely silent either. It didn’t even stir from its posture of resting on its greatsword.
What on earth had it come for? It had been hiding so much in the forest.
“Um… shall we discuss the details inside? I feel bad leaving you standing in the lobby.”
If there was no response again this time… should I take it as a dungeon raid?
I didn’t know if monsters also came to attack dungeons.
I subtly extended my hand and pointed to the stairs leading to the office.
At that, the Dullahan slowly began walking, following my guidance. A sigh of relief escaped me.
At least it was willing to talk, right?
When we arrived at my personal office, Brownie created a chair large enough for the Dullahan to sit in.
But seeing the Dullahan remain standing, I first carefully sat down in the chair across the desk. Then the Dullahan followed and sat down as well.
I had no idea what it was thinking.
With no face, I couldn’t read its expression.
It didn’t speak, so we couldn’t converse.
Perhaps it could hear but had lost the ability to speak.
‘Let me try talking to it first. Then maybe I’ll get some kind of reaction.’
“I’m delighted to have this opportunity to formally introduce our dungeon. You must have been confused since I’d only been giving you fragmentary information until now, right?”
“…….”
Still no response.
But if I also fell silent, only awkward silence would fill this narrow space.
In the end, I had no choice but to keep opening my mouth, like eating mustard while crying.
“You came all the way here in person, and our dungeon may be more modest than you expected, which might have disappointed you. However, our dungeon is a growth-oriented enterprise, with consistent management from the leadership and—”
At this point, I wasn’t even sure what I was saying anymore.
It was while I was chattering on about our company’s vision like that.
“Boksil.”
I jumped to my feet, startled by the husky female voice that suddenly echoed through the office.
“What? Was that you, Brownie? Did you say something?”
“Huh? I didn’t say anything.”
“Then who on earth—”
“Boksil, skip the boring stuff.”
Again, that pleasant husky voice reached my ears.
If it wasn’t me and it wasn’t Brownie, then there was only one possibility.
I creaked my neck around like a rusty robot to look at the Dullahan.
Don’t tell me that just spoke….
No, wait—it could talk all along!? Then why had it been silent until now?
“I’m very interested in that welfare benefit. You said you’d find lost items.”
“Wow, that voice is insane….”
The admiration slipped out before I could stop it. I almost scolded it for having such a good voice and not saying a single word until now.
It was a voice sweet enough to melt your ears. Just listening to it made the strength drain from my body.
Once the Dullahan began speaking, its attitude changed as well.
It loosened the stiff posture it had held like armor on display and leaned back in the chair, taking a completely comfortable position.
Should I say it felt like a monster that had been moving like a machine suddenly felt human?
“Do you find things other than objects too?”
“Yes, yes… We’ll find anything for you.”
Honestly, was it really a Dullahan and not a siren?
As if bewitched, the words “I’ll do anything for you” nearly rolled off my tongue.
“Then can you find the head I lost too?”
“Of course!”
We already found it before calling you here!
“Really? Then shall I become an employee like our Boksil wants?”
“Wait, hold on! Just a moment!”
Just like that? Then why had it been avoiding me all this time?
I woke up at dawn and ran around the eastern forest shouting like a madwoman to win you over!
“Um, excuse me, but may I ask what changed your mind…?”
“It’s not so much a change of heart—”
The way it drew out the end of its sentence was thoroughly seductive. It matched its voice so well that I worried I might actually lose my heart to it.
Suddenly, the photo of Sabira in the pendant came to mind. Though the photo showed a childhood version, the features had been quite striking.
If she was that pretty as a child, how much more beautiful must she have grown?
I’m sorry to the deceased, and it currently has no head, but…
I unconsciously found myself imagining a grown-up Sabira based on the photo in the pendant.
It felt as if an elegant and beautiful female knight, like a noble, was sitting before me.
“I finally remembered. Who I am.”
“……!”
You finally remembered?
“Until now, I was so dazed I couldn’t think at all. I just wandered without even knowing where I was supposed to go.”
So the Dullahan I had been witnessing—the one that only walked silently forward—had been in an abnormal state?
“Thanks to our Boksil barking so noisily, I was able to come to my senses. Of course, I’m still far from fully recovering my sense of self. But truly, thank you.”
“Ah…….”
So my efforts had helped it regain its sense of self—I hadn’t expected that. Shouting my lungs out into the empty air hadn’t been for nothing!
And the Dullahan’s words didn’t end there.
“So here’s the thing—you can negotiate the salary however you like, Boksil. I don’t care how much money I receive.”
At those ear-perking words, Brownie shot out in front of the Dullahan like a bullet.
“Really!? Hey! Don’t take it back. Absolutely no take-backs! I heard you clearly! Chihuahua, you heard it too, right? Not caring how much you receive means not receiving anything is also fine—!”
I barely managed to cover Brownie’s runaway mouth.
“Haha… but may I ask why you’re calling me Boksil?”
“Ahh, you resemble a dog my friend used to raise. She had fluffy fur like yours too.”
“A dog….”
Don’t tell me, the one I know…?
“What was her name again? Ah, Chocho. I wonder if she’s still alive?”
“…Not Chacha?”
“It’s Chocho. Chacha is Chocho’s puppy.”
So it was definitely Ragner’s friend.
A friend who, in pairs, treated me like a dog….
