Housekeeper in the dungeon

The Dungeon keeper
Episode 7

In response to Hee-na’s question, the snail explained very neatly.

“Raise your rank → Create a pleasant space → Peace your mind and body → Achieve world peace.”

“……You’re no different from the system.”

No, I’m a little more clever than the system. Achieving world peace by cleaning! There was no such thing as overkill.

‘The receiver is not a good one.

Hee-na briefly wondered if she’d asked the wrong thing, but her tenacity…… No, her tenacity stat of 20 was still there.

She sighed and decided to be more specific with her question.

“Can I move to a better house than this one if my housekeeper rank increases?”

“Yes.”

I answered in the affirmative.

“Really? You mean I can move to a better place!”

After 167 hours of training, Hee-Na was determined to one day get out of this dingy studio and dry it out.

It was at that moment that a vigorous mopping with a rolling pin peeled off the sooty dirt. The yellowish-orange floorboards peeked out.

“Wow, was the floor originally this color?”

The gray floor, which had been swept and mopped for three hours, was originally yellow!

Hee-na was shocked. She picked up her cell phone and took a picture of the floor with the lye scrubbing.

The contrast between where the wheat straw went and where the lye remained was as sharp as light and dark.

“This is magic?”

It was ridiculous, but Hee-na quickly regained her composure.

The room was only three square meters. Just a few more steps and she’d be on a clean floor.

Hee-na excitedly changed the disposable mop on the rolling pin.

For the record, Hee-na is the kind of person who thinks it’s a waste to use disposable products. However, considering the horrible conditions in the room, she deliberately chose disposable cleaning products.

It was clear that any mop would be unable to recover after one pass through this filth.

“Wow, that makes me feel better!”

With a new, clean mop, I scrubbed the floor until I finally saw Jangpan’s bare face.

The system window shook its tambourine in time with Hee-na’s cheerful mopping.

“Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm~ hmmm~.”

I couldn’t help but hum. She watched the floor get cleaner with each scrub. This is the joy of living, Hee-Na thought.

That was the moment. Suddenly, a pop-up window appeared in front of her.

“Wow…….”

Hee-Na gasped. She had always thought of the system as an unfriendly salesman, but this was a big surprise.

“You’re giving me a 500 skill level just because I thought it would be fun to live?

The system quickly deducted 83 hours and 20 minutes of the 167 hours she needed to fulfill. It wasn’t an outlet, it was a Volkswagen sale.

“If it keeps going like this, it’ll be worth it. You know, snail? It’s fun to level up your skills. It’s like a game.”

Hee-Na spoke to the snail, which had now climbed from her shoulder to the top of her head. The snail chimed back.

“Effort 99 + pleasure 1 = anything is possible.”

It sounded like something out of a self-help book.

But seeing the results made her work better. Hee-na forgot about her fatigue and mopped the floor.

After removing the grime with a mop, she began the heavy labor. The rolling pin wasn’t enough. She rolled up her sleeves, got down on her stomach, and started scrubbing the floor by hand.

Her back and arms should have been aching, but she was in a trance and didn’t feel any pain. She frantically scrubbed the floor.

The floor was shiny and her hands passed over it. Being Korean, it was a clean slate that made her want to lie down on it.

“Done!”

Finally, Hee-na finished mopping every corner of the room. She accelerated, and it took her only 20 minutes to finish mopping the entire room.

A total of 3 hours and 20 minutes.

It took a long time to clean a room that was only 3 square meters, but the results would convince anyone.

The yellow slabs were so shiny that ants could figure-skate on them. It was out of this world.

“Be proud!”

Hee-na finally relaxed and laid down on her back.

“Caution! Caution! Fall!”

The snail on her head screamed as it rolled away. Hee-Na apologized to the snail as it scurried to the corner of the room.

“I’m sorry. I forgot you were there for a second.”

“Be more careful next time.”

“Okay, I’ll be careful.”

The snail and Hee-na were chatting away. Hee-na was lying on her back when a shiny text appeared in front of her eyes.

It was a system window. The words flashed in rainbow colors as if to congratulate her on her level-up.

“Level up the reward?”

Hee-na jumped out of her seat. If it was free, she’d drink lye, so why not?

“Yes! I’ll take it!”

The words “Raffle” appeared. I felt a little uneasy.

Why would they give away a level-up reward?

It was time to wonder. The system popped up a congratulatory message.

Hee-Na did the right thing a user should do when faced with a crappy chance reward in a game.

She cursed the system.

“What is this game, this shitty odds game?”

Hee-Na grumbled and looked down at the mattress that had just appeared in front of her.

Fortunately, it looked untouched, except for a bit of wear and tear.

The “Old Frameless Mattress Bed” is an E-level item, but it has a huge bonus. It restored one additional point of health per hour.

Considering the price of health potions that cost hundreds or tens of millions of won, this is a pretty good deal.

Hee-na was a steal. If she sold it as it was, she could make enough money to buy a decent car.

“Well, it’s only an E-grade item, but……. It’s better than sleeping on the floor, right?”

However, Hee-Na, who was new to the Awakened world, didn’t know any of that, and only consoled herself by thinking, “This isn’t so bad.

“Oh, I’m so tired even after cleaning my room, I’ll do the rest tomorrow.”

I picked up my phone and looked at the clock, and it was already 8 pm. Her stomach rumbled again, even though she had just eaten three rows of kimbap.

“Is there anything else to eat?”

Hee-Na crawled over and dug through her grocery bag. Luckily, in addition to the kimbap, she had bought some snacks.

She quickly shoved a bunch of snacks into her mouth. It seemed to work.

“Bottom. Crackers falling out.”

The snail, who had been following Hee-na closely, nagged her.

“Okay, okay, I’ll clean it up after I eat.”

Hee-Na mumbled something to the snail, then her eyes widened.

“Huh?”

Because she sensed something had changed.

“Snail, was your house always this color?”

The color of the snail’s shell, which had been a dull gray, had brightened. The matte shell had a glossy sheen to it, and faintly colored reflections of light showed through.

“Level up effect.”

The snail wiggled its antennae. Somehow, it seemed to be in a good mood.

Hee-Na finished her snack and complimented the snail on its beauty.

“I guess your shell changes color when you level up. You’re already so pretty, I wonder what will happen when you level up.”

“Brilliant!”

“Yeah. Colorful? That would be amazing.”

The snail’s antennae shrugged. Hee-Na stared at it, then opened her mouth.

“But if we’re going to stay together like this, don’t you think you should have a proper name? I can’t keep calling you Snail, Snail, Snail.”

“I agree.”

“What do you want me to call you?”

Hee-Na asked, and the snail immediately answered.

“Mr. Housing Manager!”

“…… That’s not a name. It’s too bland. Well, what should I call you, since you’re a snail?”

“Silence itself.”

The snail recoiled at the simplicity of the name.

Hee-Na rubbed her chin, lost in thought.

“What about the five colors?”

“Five colors?”

At the snail’s question, Hee-Na fingered her shell.

“If you stare at your house long enough, it glows with five colors. Hence the five colors.”

“…… Pondering.”

“Oh, come on. You like it. It’s got good antennae, and it’s twitching.”

Hee-Na teased the snail gently. She felt like she’d gotten to know it after being with it for hours.

“Accepted. Five colors.”

Finally, the snail accepted Hee-Na’s offer and spun around in place a few times to show off its beautiful shell.

It looked so cute that Hee-Na was able to giggle and forget all her worries for a moment.