Housekeeper in the dungeon

EPISODE 105

Kang Jin Hyen answered Hee Na’s question quickly.

“Well, we’ll have to wait and see how dangerous the mission is, but if it’s dangerous enough to call me, it’s most likely related to the Dungeon Gate.”

“Hmph.”

I sucked in a breath at the urgency of the paging alarm. All sorts of scenarios swirled in my head.

“Could it be another dungeon gate? Or a dungeon break?

Hee-na had about as much dungeon common sense as a normal person. But she knew enough to realize that this kind of unexpected dungeon activity was not common.

Especially in recent years, when dungeons had been studied quite a bit, unexpected dungeon gates have became almost unheard of.

This was because many dungeon specialists in the government have predicted where and when gates are likely to spawn and were prepared.

In addition, each guild is assigned to a dungeon that had already been created and was thoroughly managed, so the chance of a dungeon break was close to zero.

“……And now there’s another emergency?

Hee-na thought back to the dungeon gate crisis she had gotten caught up in upon awakening a few months ago.

She had been the one who had gotten caught in the gate, so she hadn’t been able to think too deeply about it, but even then, the dungeon gate had appeared without warning, and the country had been buzzing for a while.

It was the first time in recent years that the dungeon management hadn’t been able to catch the gate’s creation.

‘The first time might have been due to bad luck, but for such an emergency to happen twice in a row within half a year, isn’t the situation a bit serious?

Hee-Na bit her lip nervously.

“I’m barely old enough to live, and I don’t want another disaster to strike, do you?

An uneasy feeling filled her. I didn’t want to rob him of the peaceful routine he’d barely found.

“You might want to eat first. I might not be able to come in for another two or three days. If you have any urgent news, you can contact me through the communications team.”

Unfortunately, Kang was too busy explaining the situation and tightening the straps on the walker to catch Hee-Na’s anxious expression.

But as he turned to leave the foyer, he paused, sensing something was amiss.

“Ms. Hee-Na, this kind of emergency, which is not officially announced by the government, is not uncommon. It’s no big deal, don’t worry too much.”

He put on a blunt face and read Hee-Na’s anxiety with aplomb.

“Well, is it?”

“Yes.”

Kang replied firmly, then reached out and patted Hee-na’s shoulder.

“After all, you have me, don’t you? I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

The touch on her shoulder was reassuring. Warmth radiated from his fingertips.

Hee-na’s dark face brightened.

“Of course. With Mr. Jin Hyeon by my side, what could I be afraid of? Besides, I have my brother, who is an experienced hunter, and I have Five Colors and Go. I’m awake and can protect my own body. It’s not like I was helpless before.

Hee-na clenched her fists.

Right now, she was worried about Kang Jin-hyeon, who was running through a dangerous scene.

“You should be careful, Mr. Jin-hyeon. There’s no danger for us at home.”

After a while, Oh Sack, who had crawled with difficulty, also saw off Kang Jin-hyun.

“*Safety first*”

* * * *

They ate their meal without Kang Jin-hyun and enjoyed their satiety for a while.

Hee-won suddenly spoke up.

“I have two pieces of good news, which would you like to hear first?”

“Anything.”

Hee-na replied dryly. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard her brother say something stupid.

“You’re such an inconsiderate little brother!”

“You’re supposed to be telling me that the roots have grown an inch longer.”

“This time, it’s not like that. It’s a good thing that you should check out.”

Hee-won rubbed her chin lazily.

“Do you remember the spinach I sowed in the garden?”

Hee-Na remembered the tiny leaves that were barely poking up.

“Uh……. Spinach. Do you mean the one that was supposed to boost your strength, stamina, or something? The one you showed the guild leader?”

“Yep. That’s right. That spinach, it’s all grown up.”

Hee-Na jumped to her feet at the sound of that. This was indeed good news.

“Really? Is it already grown? It was smaller than my finger when I saw it the other day?”

“Yes, it is. It’s been drinking water, eating sunlight, and getting manure.”

Hee-won smiled with pride. It was a farmer’s smile, the smile of someone who’s done a great job growing something.

“What about its potency? Have you checked its status window? Hmm? Do you think it’s useful? Should we tell the guild?”

Hee-Na asked a barrage of questions.

The spinach had grown, and if the potency was good, she would need to schedule another meeting with the guild leader sooner or later.

Hee-won shrugged, as if she was quite pleased with Hee-na’s bravado, and led the way.

“Follow me and see for yourself.”

He wanted to show her his spinach garden.

Hee-Na trudged along behind her brother. She wondered how much the tiny spinach, which looked like an ugly weed, had grown.

“I’m not sure I have a hundred questions.”

He even had a snail on his shoulder, showing off his strength.

“Wow, it’s so big, isn’t it?”

Hee-na’s mouth dropped open at the sight of the bright blue garden. The spinach that had been growing sparingly had now filled the garden.

“It looks like spinach from the supermarket! It’s amazing.”

Maybe it was because it was a vegetable she eats often, but it felt even more exciting than the last time she harvested peanuts.

Hee-Na squatted down in front of the fresh spinach with excitement. As soon as she realized she should open the status window, the words popped up in front of her.

“A 9% increase in strength?”

Hee-Na scratched her head at the vague percentage.

“Isn’t this worse? When I was a baby spinach, I had +1 Strength, and now I only have a 9% increase.”

Hee-Na’s Strength stat was now 9. As an adult spinach, her strength would increase by 9% to 9.81, which was less than 10.

If she ate younger spinach, which increased her strength by 1 point, she could easily reach 10.

“I guess it’s not as good as I thought.”

It was better than nothing, but it wasn’t 10%, it was a vague 9%.

And the fact that it only lasts for 10 minutes…… was more than a little disappointing.

“This isn’t going to pay as much as peanuts. There are alternatives, like strength potions.”

Hee-na mumbled her disappointment.

Then Hee-won shouted at her like she didn’t know what she was talking about.

“What’s wrong with it? It’s so good, I’d be a thunderbolt if I sold it without cooking it!”

“Right, right, right. Landlord = Awakened Muljeong.”

Even Oh Hyeok-yi beeped his antennae, mocking Hee-na’s common sense. Judging from the font, he was serious.

Hee-won squirmed on the floor and began to explain.

“Increasing stats by whole numbers like 1, 2, 3…… is only good for low-level Awakened like us.”

“Why?”

“Think about it. Your stats are so low that a percentage buff won’t make much difference to your stats, but let’s say you have a strength stat of 100, that’s a different story.”

Hee-Na did the math in her head. The number 100 was easy to calculate.

“If I get a 9% buff to 100, …… is 109.

In effect, her stats would increase by nine points. That was a lot more than the one-point stat boost from the undergrown spinach.

Something clicked in my head.

“Ah. I see. Higher ranked Hunters with higher stats would benefit more from a percentage buff.”

Hee-na’s muttering to herself made Hee-won nod in satisfaction.

“That’s right. Percentage buffs are much more beneficial than integer buffs for high-ranked Hunters who have excellent basic abilities. Their stats are in the triple digits, so just increasing them by one or two won’t have much effect, right?”

“Aha. So this is what high-level Hunters like?”

Suddenly, the seemingly useless spinach patch started to look like a stack of blue bills.

Dungeon-related items tended to be valuable by default, and the amount of money high-ranked Hunters could spend was beyond my imagination.

“Besides, ten minutes is plenty of time. You might think it’s short, but in battle, every minute counts. Even buff potions usually last this long.”

Hee-won pointed to his fingers and explained the benefits of spinach.

At 9%, he said, it was comparable to a top-grade B-grade potion.

“B-grade potion!”

A B-grade potion, when even lower-grade potions cost hundreds to tens of millions of won.

Hee-na’s eyes widened. Hee-won popped another one.

“And have you ever tasted potions? Do you know how horrible they taste? Some Hunters can’t drink potions because they have a weak stomach.”

At Hee-won’s words, Hee-na remembered the taste of a recovery potion she’d tasted only once before.

“Yuck.

It had tasted indescribably horrible. She didn’t even want to think about it again.

“But this is spinach! It tastes fine raw, and even better when you cook it.”

“Effective and delicious♬ Two birds with one stone♪”

Next to me, Oh Sae-gi thumped his foot.

The kanji sounded delicious, so they talked a lot, killing two birds with one stone.