Housekeeper in the dungeon

Episode 29

“Is it possible that your house is bigger now because your skill ranks have been increased by paying for it?”

“It seems so. When I reached Rank C, I unlocked the ‘Aged Basic Two Room’ skill.”

Hee-na opened the skill window and checked the status.

My rank was now C, and my status had changed from ‘Dilapidated Basic One Room’ to ‘Updated Basic Two Room’.

The level of the house was still at 9, regardless of rank.

“At least this house is cleaner now that I’ve gained some levels.”

Hee-Na walked around the house to get a feel for her new home.

Luckily, the household items from the studio room hadn’t disappeared, and they were well-organized and in their proper places.

“Usually, after a studio, there are 1.5 rooms, right?”

Hee-na muttered to herself, curious.

It was common for people to move from a one-bedroom to a one-and-a-half-bedroom with a living room, and then to a two-bedroom.

I didn’t mind that Hee-Na got a better house, but it was a bit strange considering the system’s subtle tricks.

“System coding problem. Room □. Where □ = natural numbers that are only 1, 2, 3, …….”

Next to me, Oh Sacky listed a bunch of math textbook words.

Roughly, it seemed to mean that the system could only give a clear number of house structures, such as one, two, or three rooms, but not an ambiguous number, such as 1.5 rooms.

Hee-na quickly dismissed Oh’s complicated explanation from her mind.

Whatever happened, it was all for the best in the end.

“Wow. Isn’t it unfair to discriminate against a fellow Hidden D-class soldier? Some people get a cozy house like this, while I can’t even dig a hole without a dungeon.”

As Hee-won grumbles, Hee-na opens her phone to show him a picture of the old dirty studio.

“I cleaned it up and decorated it, so it looks good. It was like this before I leveled up. The system initially sold me this crappy house as a D-grade.”

“But I got tons of experience in cleaning. Landlord, you need a positive outlook.”

Oh sneakily sided with the system, saying that he had gained a lot of experience and leveled up thanks to cleaning. Hee-na glanced at him.

“You’re only saying that because you’ve been doing nothing but ‘cha cha cha cha,’ and I’ve been working hard!”

“Snail, no hands and feet. Uncleanable.”

Whatever excuses Oh Hyeon-yi was making, Hee-na didn’t care and claimed the room.

“This room is mine!”

It was the slightly larger of the two rooms. The system thought this should be her room, too, and placed her bed in the larger room. It was an E-class “old mattress bed with no frame,” the first random pick.

“Okay. If the landlord wants the bigger room, who am I, the tenant, to stop him?”

Hee-won shrugged and agreed with Hee-na. The power of the landlord was exhilarating.

Anyway, the situation was sorted out. Hee-na took out the underwear and sweatpants she had purchased and handed them over.

“Then you should go wash up.”

As she explained things to him upon entering the house, Hee-won hadn’t even bathed yet. Now that I’d assessed the situation, the next priority was to remove the grime.

“The house looks a little old, do you think the water pressure here is okay?”

Hee-won asked with the concern of a big brother. Hee-na nodded.

“It should be fine. I used to live in a studio room that was worse than this one, but the water was fine. Anyway, wash up and get out. Let’s eat. I’ll get some shovelfuls of pork belly.”

I giggled.

As soon as he mentioned pork belly, a growl rumbled in Hee-won’s stomach. Hee-won laughed in disbelief and said something that sounded completely unbelievable.

“Take your time. I’m fine.”

Then, embarrassed, she slipped into the bathroom.

Soon after, she heard the water running and exclaimed, “It’s so cool!”

“Don’t bother showing off.

Hee-Na shook her head and grabbed two shopping bags. She was going to buy a lot of food for her brother, who was looking like a bloated dog.

“Maicer!”

Hee-won clapped her hands as she stuffed lettuce wraps into her mouth.

His eyes were filled with excitement. He hadn’t eaten meat in a long time, and with Hee-na’s flavor skill, it was hard not to burst into tears.

“This flavor is my life!”

Hee-won gulped down the meat and grinned from ear to ear.

Hee-na looked at him a little wistfully, a little pathetically.

“Eat up, I bought three cuts of meat, and I’ll roast as much as you want. I also bought some digestives, so eat to your heart’s content.”

“My sister is the best, Lee Hee-na, Lee Hee-na!”

Hee-na pushed the grilled meat and lettuce in front of her brother, who chanted her name.

“Don’t interrupt my meal!”

Just then, a snail the size of a fist popped its head out of the pile of lettuce.

“Where did you go? Why are you in the lettuce colander?”

Hee-na picked it up and took it out. Where the snail had been, there was a lettuce with a hole in it. Hee-na asked in surprise.

“What’s this, Oh, do you eat lettuce too?”

She had never seen him eat anything before. Then, as if it wasn’t a big deal, he answered.

“Dinner.”

Well, even for a housing manager, eating lettuce in the form of a snail wasn’t that strange.

“Oh, by the way, I have a question.”

Heena asked what she’d been wondering all along.

“What?”

“I can enter and leave this house by casting a skill.”

“Oh.”

“So you can’t enter or leave this house without me?”

This was an important question.

There was no point in having a new house if Hee-won could only follow Hee-na, who had the Home Sweet Home skill, into the house.

A house is a family space, and everyone should be able to come and go as they please.

“I understand the landlord’s concerns. Live-in partner: no problem.”

The snail flicked its antennae from side to side as if to say, “Don’t worry about it at all.” Then it crawled over and landed on the back of Hee-won’s left hand.

Hee-won was busy dipping pork belly in ssamjang, enjoying the flavor of Hee-na’s hands, whether the snail was on the back of her hand or not.

“Family. I can provide a spare key.”

“Spare key? You mean you can give my brother a spare key to get in and out of here?”

“Uh-huh. Do you agree to provide a spare key?”

O-saek asked, and a system window popped up.

“Yes.”

As soon as Hee-na nodded, the words ‘Family 1: Lee Hee-won’ popped up on one side of the skill window.

The registration was followed by a series of questions.

It seemed that this was the spare key that Oh was talking about. “Yes,” Hee-na said without hesitation.

“Okidoki.”

As soon as Hee-na answered, the shell on the back of Hee-won’s hand began to glow in a rainbow of colors.

It glowed brightly for about ten seconds before the light faded away.

“Done.”

The five colors descended from the back of Hui Yuan’s hand. In its place was a golden key, like a seal.

Even Hee-won stopped eating the pork belly and looked at the back of his hand.

“Is this the key?”

“Uh.”

With an insincere reply that even Yi Ning could only recognize as one, Ouyang Yi began to explain.

The long and short of it was this.

With the spare key, Hee-won could unlock the door to Home Sweet Home. But like Hee-Na, she can’t open the door anywhere she wants.

She could only open the door to Home Sweet Home in one place.

In other words, unlike Hee-Na, who could summon a door in any space, the guest’s “door” location was fixed.

“So can I specify the location of the front door, or is it random?”

Hee-won asked. Wu replied.

“You can set the location for free for the first time. However, from the second time, you will need to pay to change the location.”

“Money again?”

The topic of charging came up again, but Hee-won was still saying that she could choose the location of the front door herself.

“At least the first one is free, Hee-na.”

Hee-won said something nice, and Hee-na shrugged.

“Yeah……. Anyway, I’ll have to make sure the front door is off the beaten path.”

“Proper location is key.”

Oh, Sahng echoed Hee-na’s words.

Hee-won clenched her jaw and muttered as if thinking of a suitable location.

“Let’s see. Where can I find a place that’s close to the station, not too crowded, quiet, and not too far away from living facilities?”

As it turns out, I had a lot to ask for. If such a place existed in downtown Seoul, it would have been developed long ago.

So Hee-na answered her brother’s question honestly.

“It would be faster for us to buy an expensive house after working nonstop for over 100 years than to look for such a place.”

“That’s true…….”

Hee-na chuckled at Hee-won’s point. She hadn’t said anything wrong.