Housekeeper in the dungeon

EPISODE 111

It took a long time for Yu to calm down.

He rambled on and on about the fundamentals and ethics of research.

Hee-Na, of course, listened from one ear to the other, and then kindly offered him a glass of cold water.

“Drink some cold water and get your shit together.”

It was necessary to shut him up, to stop his rambling, nonstop mission that, sadly, was completely unrelated.

“……Yes. You’re not an alchemist like the rest of us. I don’t understand why you didn’t think to test yourself to see exactly what your talents are, but you’re right, a normal person’s intelligence might not have gotten you there.”

“A normal…… person’s…… intelligence?”

“Yes. You know, someone like you, who doesn’t have my extraordinary intelligence.”

My fists clenched at the smugness in his voice.

Maybe it was because I had been learning offensive skills from Kang Jin-hyeon lately, but I felt like punching him whenever he was around.

“I’d love to punch that little head of his!

I clenched my fists and gave him a sullen glare, but he waved his hand away.

“Ah, no. What I mean is that if you and I work together, something good might come out of it……. You’ve never analyzed skills from a research perspective before.”

Speaking of smart, he seemed to vividly remember Hee-Na’s physical touch.

Yu yunyi excused herself and pointed to the countertop.

“Anyway, if we don’t have any data to analyze, we’ll just have to build it up from now on, so let’s watch you cook.”

“Okay.”

It was an unexpectedly pleasant sound. Hee-Na smiled widely.

It was much better to get her body moving than to ramble on about hypotheticals and boring things.

“I’m good at cooking, and it’s fun.

It was a little exciting to imagine Yu yumYi’s jaw-dropping at her cooking skills.

“What shall we make first?”

Yu yunyi interjected from the side.

“Why don’t we start with spinach salad? It seems like the most basic dish.”

“Spinach? Yeah, that’s not a bad idea.”

I admit, when I think of spinach, the first thing that comes to mind is a savory, sesame-oil-soaked spinach salad.

“Well, I’m going to start now, so keep your eyes peeled.”

Hee-Na put a pot of water on the stove and prepared to boil.

Then she heard a cry “Wait!

“What?”

“What’s the capacity of the pot? What’s the bottom size? What brand? How many milliliters of water will it hold? …… You’re not going to use it without measuring, are you?”

Yu Yunyi, notebook and ballpoint pen in hand asked one question after another. Hee-Na shrugged.

“Why do you need to measure water to blanch spinach? You just add enough to cover it and boil it.”

Yu yunyi’s eyes widened in shock.

“There is no such thing as ‘just right’ in my life! Just one wrong condition can completely change the properties of a substance!”

“That’s for reagents. You can blanch this spinach in a wide pot, or a narrow pot, and it’ll all be the same.”

I was about to put the water on the stove when Yu yunyi stopped me.

“Cooking is a science! You have to follow the methodology used in science!”

“Are you saying that because you know how to cook?”

“No.”

He looked like he couldn’t cook his meal.

Hee-Na huffed and cocked her head.

If someone else had said the same thing, she might have listened, but he was the worst kind of first impression, so it didn’t matter.

“If you don’t know what you’re doing, stay put.”

“Hey, hey, if we’re going to do research together, shouldn’t you at least listen to me?”

Yu Yunyi paced around the kitchen with a pale scowl on his face.

Then he noticed a bowl pushed to the corner of the countertop.

“What is this?”

It was the spinach frittata he had hidden because it was a B-grade. Yunyi grabbed the bowl and examined the food.

“Ugh, that’s……! It’s spoiled food!”

“It doesn’t look like it……. It’s still the same color and shape.”

“But……! Hey, don’t look!”

Hee-Na was about to snatch the plate away, but he glanced at the status window and noticed something odd.

“What? Why is this a B? The one on the table over there was an S. Did I get a skill failure?”

“Nope. It’s not a skill failure.”

Yu yunYi raised an eyebrow as if he had heard something interesting.

“Then why is there such a big difference in grade?”

Hee-Na finally pouted at the direct question and admitted the truth.

“I don’t know. I don’t know why this is so…….”

“You don’t know?”

Seeing Yu Yunyi’s eyes shine in a formidable way, Hee-na unwittingly added an excuse.

“……Anyway, Ki, the guild leader said that it doesn’t matter if the quality is uneven as long as the buff attributes are good!”

Yu Yunyi’s eyebrows wiggled as he watched Hee Na stutter.

“What, you don’t even want to know why?”

“That’s because…….”

Of course, I was curious about the reason, which is why I decided to participate in this collaborative research.

But I didn’t want to go there right now. I didn’t want to talk about it right now because I felt like I was losing.

While Hee-Na hesitated to answer, Yu Yun-Yi began to point fingers and deduce the reason for the B-grade frittata.

“It’s a manufacturing process problem. From what you said earlier, it sounds like you’re roughing up the cooking utensils, temperature, and ingredient quantities, so of course the results are different every time you make it!”

In other words, Hee-Na’s cooking is not scientific. It was a nagging feeling, not unlike the ones I’d heard before in my excitement.

“S-rank and B-rank? That’s a huge difference. If you want to rank up to a higher skill, you should start by reducing the error in your output.”

“Reduce output error?”

Hee-Na was taken aback by the unfamiliar term, and Yu Yun-Yi puffed out his chest in embarrassment.

“When you use a skill, the output should be consistent, only then will your skill level rise properly and your skill refinement increase, you really don’t know anything, do you?”

He looked at himself with a truly pathetic expression, and Hee-Na cringed and snorted.

“How are you supposed to figure that out on your own when there’s no one to teach you?”

Even though she had become a special Awakened class called ‘Housekeeper’, Hee-Na was still as close to a civilian as she could get.

The things Yu YunYi was talking about might be essential common knowledge for Awakened, but not for her.

She didn’t need to know that because her unique abilities were useful enough.

“If you don’t know something, why don’t you tell me?”

Hee-Na snapped at Yu yun-Yi.

“Once again, it’s you and the Blue Dragon Guild who should be disappointed if the research is shoddy, not me. I don’t even have to go that far. I applied for the research purely out of curiosity……. If I have to work with this kind of behavior, I won’t.”

I didn’t forget to make a lot of faces. The effect was immediate.

“No, I didn’t mean to scare you…….”

Yu Yun-yi clenched and unclenched his palms in frustration. He paused for a long moment before turning to the pack.

“Isn’t it a waste that such a …… good ability is rotting away without being properly developed?”

Again, the same words, but different, and this time much more pleasant to hear.

Hee-na’s irritation eased a bit.

“You should have said something nice earlier.”

“You’re such a picky person…….”

“Bitter, I told you to be careful with your words.”

“……cheat.”

Hee-Na glared at the grumbling Yu Yu-Yi, then crossed her arms and stood stiffly.

“So what you’re saying is that the reason my skill results are jagged is because I’m cooking by eye and by hand without accurate measurements?”

“Probably. But I can’t say for sure because I don’t have a comparison group.”

“So the only way to find out is to make the same dish the same way?”

“……Hmmm. You’re not completely out of your mind.”

“What did you just say?”

“Yeah, I was just saying that you’re right!”

“Ugh.”

Anyway, as was the case in our first meeting, Yunyi’s tone was condescending. He never had anything nice to say about anything.

“Should I just send him back and wait for another alchemist to be assigned?

For a moment, the thought crossed her mind, but Hee-Na shook her head.

“I’ll have to answer his questions while he’s gone.

Besides, Yu Yun-yi’s lack of a boss was a big problem, but in terms of ability, she seemed to be very good.

The head of the HR department, Kang Mok-hyun, had vouched for her, so she could be of use to Hee-na in any case.

Hee-na quickly gathered her thoughts and clapped her hands together.

“So, shall we get started?”

“Start what?”

“What do you mean, cooking in that ‘scientific way’ you talked about, since you’re so good…… let’s see how you can fix my problems.”

“Yes! I’ll show you how great I am!”

Yu yun-Yi, who had been stunned by Hee-Na’s non-provocation, instantly brightened up.

He was secretly worried that Hina wouldn’t do the research with him.

She clicked her tongue inwardly at the cheap but simple alchemist.

‘Tsk. You should have gotten better.