Housekeeper in the dungeon

EPISODE 103

Hee-Na crossed her arms and shook her head.

“Jin-hyeon, as I explained to you last time, this skill doesn’t trigger when I want to cast it. It triggers at the whim of the system.”

This wasn’t a skill that could be cast at will like other Awakened in the Battle Realm.

It could only be triggered in a situation called ‘Domestic Peace’. And it didn’t matter if it was urgent, sad, or happy.

There was too much room for interpretation. You could put an earring in your ear, a nose ring in your nose, etc.

“How am I supposed to use a skill that …… triggers like this?”

Hee-na glanced at Kang Jin-hyeon. For the first time, Kang jin-hyeon looked very ugly.

“You think low-ranked non-combatant Awakened is the same as S-ranked Hunters, huh?

I felt like I was being advised that I could only rank first in the country if I studied the textbooks and practiced hard.

It didn’t help at all.

“Ms. Hee-na, can you please stop looking at me with…… eyes like that?”

Her eyes must have stung. Kang jin-hyeon sullenly averted his gaze.

“So, what I was saying is, why don’t we make the specific conditions under which the skill is cast controllable by Hee-na?”

“How do I do that?”

Hee-na asked, and Kang began to explain.

“You can’t just took the language of the system at face value. The scope of a skill’s use can vary widely depending on how well you understand the skill description.”

Just as martial arts masters would gain great enlightenment by deepening and broadening their understanding of a passage in the Martial Arts Journals, the Awakened had to work to reinterpret their skills.

“Wasn’t that also the case with Ms. Hee-Na’s condition: the moment her instincts tell her, ‘At this moment, the peace in the household could be disturbed,’ the system triggers the skill?”

On reflection, I realize she was not wrong. The skill was triggered when Hee-Na’s emotions got a little too intense.

“Mmm……. Yeah. That’s right.”

“What if, on the other hand, you create the moment when you want to cast the skill so that your instincts recognize that ‘peace in the house could be disturbed’?”

“Create a moment when I want to cast a skill?”

Hee-Na’s mouth dropped open.

Kang’s words made sense and didn’t make sense at the same time.

“What nonsense?

It was a matter of instinct. How do you control it?

The question was clear on his face.

Kang jin-hyeon led the dazed Hee-na to a nearby tree limb and sat her down on a nearby tree stand, while he flopped down on the ground and spoke.

“You need to change your thinking. In your case, it shouldn’t be difficult.”

“What’s not difficult? How to disturb the peace at home? Fight with my brother, or put him in danger and have me save him?”

Hee-na blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

To her surprise, Kang jin-hyeon called her on her nonsense.

“Something like that.”

“Similar?”

Kang smirked at her parrot-like repetition of his words.

“You know, the fact that if Hee-na is in danger, the peace at home could be shattered.”

“Oh?”

Hee-na was speechless for a moment at this common-sense statement.

“If Hee-na is gone, Hee-won will be very sad and worried, and so will I. And so will Go and Oh-sake, don’t you think?”

“Uh……. That’s right.”

It was like that in the last kidnapping case.

Hee-won, Oh-saek, and Baduk were all surprised and very angry. It was the reaction of a family member.

I was nodding my head slowly when Kang jin-hyeonspoke up.

“Think about it. Ms. Hee-na’s safety is very closely related to the peace in the family. The moment Hee-na is in danger, the ‘domestic peace’ will be shattered in an instant.”

“Oh…….”

It was an incredibly logical explanation. Hee-Na’s mouth dropped open as she organized her thoughts.

“……So you’re saying that since my safety is directly tied to the peace of the home, defeating someone who threatens me is the same as defeating someone who threatens the peace of the home?”

It was a bit of bullshit, but when I forced myself to put it together, it made sense.

“So that’s how you can interpret the ‘Exterminate Pests’ skill…….’

As I was marveling at this bizarre logic. The system window flashed before my eyes.

“Can you be, Dungeon Fist King……?”

Required Quest: Defeat 50 monsters using the ‘Exterminate Pests’ skill (0/50)

This only counts if you use the Exterminate Pest skill to land a critical hit.

Time Limit: 99 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, 49 seconds

Penalty for failing the quest: Random drops to your Health, Strength, and Agility stats.

Quest Reward: ‘Exterminate Pests (C)’ Skill Rank Up, ???>

Hee-Na stared blankly into space.

“A quest?”

Kang jin-hyeon asked, noticing her.

“Yes. When I said I’ve gained enlightenment on the ‘Exterminate Pests’ skill, a related quest popped up.”

“What’s it about?”

“It asks me to use the ‘Exterminate Pests’ skill to catch monsters by myself.”

Hee-Na read the quest carefully once again. Some phrases that hadn’t caught her eye at first stood out.

‘You can take the Gorep Bus……. ‘Exterminate pests’ is just a tap away…….’

It was a mix of unfamiliar terms, but I understood what they were saying.

It seemed to mean that I could get help from a higher-ranked person to hit the last one.

‘It was a B-ranked quest, so it was pretty specific.

For Hee-na, who had only received quests of undetermined difficulty, it was like honey.

“But I heard that I can just take the Goreb bus and hit the last button……. Is this a reference to Mr. Jinhyun?”

As Hee-na explained the quest’s details, Kang Jin-hyeon’s frown relaxed.

“That’s a risk worth taking. ……I’ll be by your side to catch the monster, you just need to cut off its last breath.”

“Yeah, I think I can do that.”

Hee-na was thankful that Kang jin-hyeon was there.

Thanks to him, she could go for a walk safely, and he gave her a chance to rank up her only offensive skill after her epiphany.

“If it wasn’t for Mr. Jin-hyeon, things would have been complicated.”

When I expressed my gratitude, Kang jin-hyeonheld out his hand.

“No, it’s nothing compared to what Hee-na is doing for me. If you have any problems, you can tell me anything. I’ll help you in any way I can.”

With that, he stood up and held out his hand in a friendly gesture. A large, callused hand was placed in front of her.

“Shall we call it a day? You’ve had a big epiphany today, and I’m sure you’ll need some time to collect your thoughts.”

He was acting like a knight asking for an escort, and sometimes his politeness made Hee-Na feel unnecessarily excited.

“You don’t have to do this…….”

“I’m part of your family…… now, so please treat me with respect.”

“Yes.”

Hee-na blushed, took his hand, and stood up.

Kang’s hand was rough and hot, but his touch was extremely careful, like touching glass, and her heart skipped a beat.

One of the words he said stuck in my mouth, and the way he said it made it all the more special.

“New family, new family.

I felt like I had gotten closer to Kang Jin-hyeon, who had seemed so distant before.

* * *

Hee-Na frowned.

“Do I have to ……?”

An indifferent reply came back.

“Then what are you hoping for, Hee-na can’t take on an A- or S-class monster, can she?”

Kang Jin Hyeon then looked down at the white rabbit at his feet. Its fluffy fur was creepily cute.

“Hit it quickly. It’s fainted.”

True to his word, the rabbit’s ears twitched as if it was about to wake up.

“Aaaaah…….”

Hee-Na looked at the rabbit in disbelief, then squeezed her eyes shut and slammed down the wad of newspaper.

Hee-Na didn’t see it, but the status window flashed for a moment, indicating that the skill had been cast.

There was a poof and the sound of something being crushed. It felt like a newspaper being lifted off the ground.

No wonder. I was about to punch a cute little bunny to death…….

“Oh my God.

I kept my eyes closed, not daring to look at the gruesome scene in front of me.

Then I heard a low voice with a hint of laughter.

“Open your eyes.”

“I don’t want to see a dead rabbit, I’m going to have a bad mood for the rest of the day.”

“I’ve told you many times, it’s not a rabbit, it’s just a monster in rabbit form. Don’t be fooled by what you see.”

“Ugh…….”