Chapter 26 – Homemaker in Wonderland

Kang Jin-hyun wrapped up the situation in a familiar manner.

He called out everyone in the labor camp and divided them into three groups.

The first were those among the forced laborers whose bodies were fine, and the second were those among them who had difficulty moving.

The last and third group were the human traffickers who monitored them. The human traffickers were tied up in a row like dried yellow corvinas.

After checking the head count, Kang Jin-hyun headed toward the dungeon gate with everyone.

Joy and excitement hovered on the faces of the laborers who were escaping the dungeon after several months. On the other hand, the faces of the human traffickers were dark, as if they had chewed on dung.

After they stepped out of the gate, things proceeded in a blur.

The police and media swarmed, and Kang Jin-hyun, who rescued them, became the center of attention in an instant.

Day after day, the media churned out headlines made of sensational words such as unregistered dungeons, forced labor, and human trafficking.

‘Ah, how complicated.’

Hee-na spent a hectic time herself. As a major witness of the human trafficking scene, she did a police interview, and she also quickly contacted her company, where she had unintentionally been absent without leave, to explain the whole story.

Perhaps because it was a matter involved with Kang Jin-hyun, the Blue Dragon Guild granted her an additional three days of paid leave without any comments.

Meanwhile, those who had gone missing were sent home after receiving medical treatment and police investigation.

Hee-na paced in front of the temporary incident headquarters, waiting for her brother. The front of the headquarters was crowded with people waiting for their missing family members, just like Hee-na.

Finally, a familiar head came into view. Hee-na waved her hand vigorously and called for Hee-won.

“Brother! Lee Hee-won! Mr. Lee Hee-won! Brother!”

Hee-won spotted Hee-na and approached with a brightened face. Although his face was gaunt, his expression was bright, perhaps because he had gained freedom.

“Did you wait long? You must be tired, so why didn’t you go home first?”

“No. I didn’t wait that long. Besides, you don’t know the way home, so we have to go together.”

“I’m not a fool. There’s no way I’d forget the home address just because I was away for a few months!”

At Hee-won’s joke, Hee-na glared at her brother. She resented him for acting as if it were no big deal after experiencing such a major event.

Feeling a bit spiteful, Hee-na bluntly spat out at Hee-won.

“No. You don’t know our home. The leasehold house is gone.”

At the sudden remark, Hee-won wore a bewildered expression.

“What do you mean by that? There’s still a year and a half left on the lease.”

“That house got caught in a dungeon gate, and everything vanished, leaving only the house site.”

“What?”

Hee-won’s face, which had remained calm the entire time, froze completely.

He was indeed a Korean. He seemed to be more deeply shocked by the fact that the rented house was gone than the fact that he was kidnapped and released.

“Then did we get compensation for the deposit? No, before that, where are you staying then? When did that happen?”

Hee-na put her finger to her lips as a sign to her brother, who was throwing questions at random, to be quiet.

“Shh. I’ll explain everything later. Let’s head to our home first.”

“Didn’t you say the house is gone?”

“I prepared it all on my own.”

“We haven’t even paid off the housing loan yet, how did you pull out another loan? You didn’t use loan sharks, did you, Hee-na? Huh?”

As Hee-won babbled nonsense, Hee-na was appalled.

“Are you crazy? Do I look like someone who would touch that kind of stuff?”

Hee-na, the ultimate safety-first person among safety-first people, using private loans was out of the question.

If she had to use loan sharks, Hee-na would have rather chosen to be homeless. That way was at least safer. At least, that was what Hee-na thought.

After dragging Hee-won to a quiet place where no one was around, she warned him.

“Brother, no matter what you see, you shouldn’t be loud. Got it? And you’ll see a snail from now on, but you must not call it a bug or hit it. This is very important. Remember it once more. You have to treasure the snail.”

Fearing that the house she had worked hard to decorate would be covered with floral wallpaper again, Hee-na warned Hee-won over and over.

At his younger sister’s serious expression, Hee-won muttered in a daze.

“A snail, what on earth does that mean? Anyway, where is our home?”

“Let’s go inside first and talk.”

Hee-na cast the ‘Home Sweet Home’ skill. Then, a front door appeared on the plain concrete wall.

Hee-won’s mouth gaped open at the magical scene.

“Quick, get in. Someone might see.”

Hee-na quickly opened the door and pulled her brother. Hee-won entered as if being sucked into the wide-open door in a daze.

This was the first impression Hee-won left upon entering Hee-na’s ‘Home Sweet Home.’

“W-What is this? What is this place?”

Hee-na, like a good sister, answered gently.

“It’s my home, Brother. So come in and sit down for now.”

She pushed Hee-won’s back and made him sit in the small room. The room, which was barely over three pyeong, looked almost completely packed when Hee-na and her brother sat down.

Condemn the landlord’s unauthorized sleepover! Condemn the unauthorized sleepover!

In the midst of the confusion, Osaek-i crawled from somewhere and pointed out Hee-na’s unauthorized sleepover.

To care this much about whether Hee-na, who was well over twenty, stayed out overnight, it was an extremely particular snail.

“Did you wait, Osaek-i? Sorry. Something suddenly came up, and I barely made it out after falling into a dungeon.”

?!

At Hee-na’s reply, Osaek-i’s antennae perked up. It seemed highly startled, and it looked as if it were checking if she had any injuries.

Hee-na’s heart felt touched for no reason at the little snail’s worried antenna movements.

“I am safe without any injuries. Thank you for worrying about me.”

Landlord’s limbs intact. Lucky.

While she was having a tearful reunion with Osaek-i, Hee-won suddenly popped his face in.

“A snail is speaking like a system? Am I dreaming right now because I wanted to go home so much? Hee-na, I’m so confused right now, so please explain the situation.”

A door created in the air, a small studio room inside that door, and even a speaking snail…

Due to the series of events, he had a truly bewildered look.

Reporting visitor’s identity is mandatory.

Osaek-i also demanded an introduction of the new face.

Hee-na introduced them to each other, with a snail on one side and a person on the other.

“Osaek-i, this is my brother. My real brother, and his name is Lee Hee-won. And Brother, this cute snail’s name is Osaek-i. It plays the role of the manager of this house.”

Osaek-i greeted first, tilting its antennae into a right angle.

Nice to meet ya.

At the friendly greeting, Hee-won also awkwardly waved his hand at the small snail about the size of his fist.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Hello, Osaek-i.”

As he did so, Hee-won gestured to Hee-na, earnestly requesting her to explain this entire situation. He looked very confused.

Hee-na spoke to her brother point-blank.

“I’ll explain everything now. First… Brother, I awakened.”

At this, Hee-won slapped his own cheek.

“Am I still dreaming?”

* * *

It took quite a long time to explain all the dynamic events that had taken place over the past few months.

Hee-na talked step-by-step, starting from when, how, and as what she had awakened, to the reason she got this house, joining the Blue Dragon Guild, and even how she ended up finding her brother.

“…And so, Hunter Kang Jin-hyun found you at that labor camp and rescued the people.”

Having finished the rough explanation, Hee-na went to the refrigerator and poured herself a glass of water.

“Kyah, delicious!”

Was it because she had found her brother whom she had been worried about all this time? The water was not only cool but also tasted like honey.

“So you’re saying this house is what you got through your skill?”

Hee-won kept asking questions as if he couldn’t easily believe Hee-na’s explanation.

He seemed to be more surprised by the ‘Home Sweet Home’ skill than by the fact that Hee-na had awakened with the bizarre class of ‘Homemaker.’

It was because Hee-won, like a typical Korean, tended to place a very large meaning on a house.

‘Indeed. An ability that creates a house, it is fascinating.’

They say people compare building owners to God and call them ‘God-lords’, so in a way, Hee-na had obtained a skill similar to a miracle of God.

“It’s narrow, but giving a house is a truly jackpot skill, isn’t it? No matter how much I think about it, it’s amazing!”

At Hee-won’s comment about the house being narrow, Osaek-i slipped right in.

Space narrow → Due to landlord’s lack of capability.

Osaek-i informed them that there was no problem with the skill itself, and that Hee-na’s low skill rank was the issue. And it added.

Residential area expansion possible through future self-development and billing.

“Huh? What does that mean?”

Hee-na asked in bewilderment.

The talk about self-development probably referred to ranking up, but what on earth did ‘billing’ mean? It was truly out of the blue.

“Billing? Isn’t that a term used when you spend real money in a game?”

The snail flicked its antennae.

Similar.

“Then if I pay money to the system, does the house get better? But how do I give money to the system? Do I just scatter it in the air?”

Hee-na muttered her questions. This cute snail was good in every way, but the problem was that it spoke too briefly.

‘Sometimes it even forgets and doesn’t tell me facts I need to know.’

While she was silently complaining, Osaek-i began to explain.

Billing = Paying ‘Pieces of Space.’

Residential area expansion upon paying ‘Pieces of Space.’

To understand roughly, billing here did not mean paying money, but seemed to mean having to pay something called ‘Pieces of Space.’

However, knowing one thing brought up another thing she didn’t know. Thanks to that, question marks were dragged out like a string of Vienna sausages.

“What is a Piece of Space anyway?”

When asked what a Piece of Space was, Osaek-i’s antennae slowly moved in a circle. It looked as if it were lost in deep thought.

…… (Searching for appropriate explanation) ……

It even actually added the description of its own state inside parentheses.

The Homemaker of the Dungeon