Chapter 34 – A Mana Stone Contract

“My mistake of carelessly entrusting the dungeon byproduct to someone else was large, so I will pass it over as if I don’t know. As long as that piece doesn’t pose a threat to others, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like byproducts from dungeons don’t suddenly appear and disappear.”

“Thank you so much! I was really worried that I would get fired and sued at this rate.”

Hee-na let out a sigh of relief. At that, Kang Jin-hyun stroked his chin and muttered.

“Indeed. It might have been better to wait for you to get fired and then ask you to be my personal chef instead, Miss Hee-na.”

At the chilling words, Hee-na looked at Kang Jin-hyun with eyes full of betrayal and covered her mouth.

“Ah, that is!”

“It was a joke.”

Kang Jin-hyun excused himself belatedly.

However, if they had seen Kang Jin-hyun’s serious expression, anyone, not just Hee-na, would have surely taken it as truth.

“If you can’t believe me at all, I’m willing to even make a promise placing a mana stone on the line.”

Kang Jin-hyun pulled out a small mana stone from his inventory. Then he placed the mana stone on his palm and declared.

He was so rapid that Hee-na didn’t even have a moment to stop him.

“I, Kang Jin-hyun, swear that I will not hold any responsibility for the ‘Piece of □□’ that Miss Hee-na lost.”

Soon, the mana stone about the size of a pinky nail flashed, and then vanished into light with a whooshing sound.

The system window announced the conclusion of the contract.

‘Gasp, that expensive mana stone…’

Hee-na knew for a fact that a single mana stone like that commanded a price of millions, no, tens of millions of won.

It was a fact she found out while looking up the market price of the mana stone that someone had slipped into her pocket during the last gimbap incident.

Although the uses of mana stones varied, mana stones of such a small size were often used for contracts between Hunters.

She didn’t know by what principle, but if a Hunter made a promise through the system with a mana stone on the line, that promise had to be kept without fail.

It was because if the contract was broken, the system applied a penalty to the Hunter. It started from status ailments in mild cases, to even losing one’s life in severe cases.

‘…But!’

Kang Jin-hyun had made such a promise in front of Hee-na out of the blue.

To the shocked Hee-na, Kang Jin-hyun spoke.

“I keep my promises once made. How about it? Do you feel a bit more inclined to become my personal chef now?”

“W-Well.”

Hee-na stammered. It seemed like something he did to score points in his own way, but to Hee-na, it was another point-deducting factor.

‘For a person to be this hasty!’

To Hee-na, an extreme safety-first person, Kang Jin-hyun was too much of a typhoon-like presence.

She hadn’t even thought about Kang Jin-hyun’s proposal seriously in the first place, but having such a person as an employer felt like it would make life miserable.

In any case, since she had to verify the facts, Hee-na questioned him again.

“Then you are really treating the lost piece case as if it never happened, right?”

Kang Jin-hyun nodded.

“Yes. I will record in the report that it vanished along with space transportation.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. If you review my proposal positively, I can do even more than this for you.”

Hee-na was a bit afraid of Kang Jin-hyun, who made a spirited expression as if telling her to trust only him.

‘Just where did that principled appearance from when we first met disappear to?’

Woo Min-ah also surely cursed Kang Jin-hyun’s rigid character… but she couldn’t find such an appearance now.

‘Can a person really change this much just because of food?’

Hee-na glanced at the clock and hurriedly packed the empty lunch box. The lunch box tier, which was heavy enough to require both hands, had become incredibly light.

“Yes. Yes… As for the proposal, I think I need to think it over slowly, so I’ll put it on hold for now. And since lunch time is ending, I think I should get going.”

“Ah, is that so? I will escort you back.”

Kang Jin-hyun stood up with a polite attitude and led Hee-na to the door.

Hee-na muttered with a daze.

“We are in the same building, so won’t that be unnecessary?”

“Danger is always lurking.”

“I am really fine.”

Showing others that S-class Hunter Kang Jin-hyun, the best in the Blue Dragon Guild, was hosting a mere cleaning team member with extreme care?

Stranges rumors were bound to spread widely in the Blue Dragon Guild. Hee-na detested that kind of attention.

Hee-na barely dissuaded Kang Jin-hyun, who offered to escort her to the workplace.

“Just opening the door for me like this is more than enough for me to be grateful.”

“If you insist, then it can’t be helped.”

Kang Jin-hyun personally opened the office door, feeling extremely regretful.

Hee-na stepped outside, bowing repeatedly, not knowing what to do with the favor.

“Please review it positively. And if there is anything you need, do not worry and come find me immediately. The door toward you, Miss Hee-na, is always open.”

Kang Jin-hyun did not forget to appeal himself until the very last word. His persistence was truly worthy of an S-class.

Because it was so burdensome, Hee-na could only let out a sigh of relief after the door closed.

‘I’m dazed. Anyway, since using up the Piece of Space has been passed over, is it a good thing in conclusion?’

Hee-na tried to think that way for now.

‘And I should think over Hunter Kang Jin-hyun’s proposal together with my brother. Since it’s too excessive of an opportunity for me, somehow I feel uneasy.’

Hee-na’s dream was to live a long, thin, and peaceful life, even if it was a bit humble.

On the contrary, Kang Jin-hyun was too big of a figure. For Hee-na, who had already awakened with the special class of ‘Homemaker,’ no more specialness than this was needed.

Besides, she got some hunch. Hee-na did not blindly believe in intuition, but trusted it to some extent.

From Kang Jin-hyun, she got the intuition that ‘If I get involved with this person, my life will become complicated.’

And Hee-na’s intuition was correct to some extent. Because after this day, Hee-na’s daily life began to twist.

* * *

– …Compared to the previous quarter, the dungeon reset cycle has become about 1.32 times faster. It is still too early to be certain because sufficient data has not accumulated, but… the cycle is in a trend of getting shorter.

– So the dungeon reset cycle has become faster. What does this mean? Please explain once more for our viewers.

– Dungeon reset cycle refers to the cycle from defeating a dungeon’s boss monster to when a new boss monster appears. It varies for each dungeon, but a term of about 2 to 3 months is average. Because of this, dungeon raids must be conducted periodically. Otherwise, the population of monsters will increase explosively, and a phenomenon called ‘Dungeon Break’ could happen.

– Dungeon Break. That’s the term referring to the dungeon gate breaking and monsters coming out of the dungeon, right?

– That’s correct.

– But if the dungeon reset cycle becomes shorter, won’t there be a problem in defending dungeon gates? Even now, the number of managed dungeons compared to the guild is at its limit.

– In preparation for this, the Guild Coalition plans to hold a conference…

A familiar dungeon-related current affairs program flowed from the television that someone had turned on.

The program, which started with an analysis of dungeon activities in the first half of the year, reported where dungeon gates newly opened and what the current situation was for domestic B-class dungeons whose suppression cycles were drawing near.

Hee-na was just about to clean the Hunter lounge using the news noise as background music.

The gazes of the Hunters moved busily. Everyone was glancing at one place.

‘Gasp?’

Hee-na’s pupils, turning her head along the Hunters’ gazes, also shook as if an earthquake had hit.

Woo Min-ah, who was lying down long in a corner of the lounge, spoke representing everyone’s mind.

“What’s this, did something happen? Oh… what brings a guy here who never even showed his nose in the lounge, complaining it’s noisy?”

Everyone murmured in curiosity.

However, Hee-na thought she knew the reason. It overlapped with the reason most Hunters came to the lounge.

It was to enjoy Hee-na’s touch.

Of course, Kang Jin-hyun’s goal was a more advanced kind, which was ‘To draw Hee-na into his home kitchen!’

‘Ugh. The moment that is said, I think other Hunters will go wild too.’

Hee-na grew tense, preparing for the oncoming disaster.

“…Does there have to be a reason to come to the lounge? I believe this place is open to all Hunters.”

Fortunately, Kang Jin-hyun did not speak of what business brought him to the Hunter lounge. He only replied testily.

“Hmph, nonsense.”

At that reply, Woo Min-ah grumbled, and Hee-na swept her chest, thinking it was a narrow escape.

‘He seems to have some tact.’

Anyway, thanks to Kang Jin-hyun, she could start cleaning the lounge in a quieter state than usual. Since everyone seemed to read his expression, the childish acting-out completely disappeared.

‘It would be comfortable if it’s like this every day.’

Hee-na also liked the boisterous atmosphere of the Hunter lounge, but she also liked the situation where she could quietly focus on cleaning like this.

– The Guild Leader of Blue Dragon briefed about the large-scale raid in the summer…

While mopping and listening to the news, a Hunter approached and whined.

“Please organize my bed… I missed the bed touched by your hands so much, Miss Hee-na.”

It was a face she saw after almost fifteen days due to the dungeon raid. Hee-na smiled brightly in welcome but spoke with concern.

“You must have suffered a lot going to the dungeon. You came back looking so thin.”

“This time was really the worst. It was an insect-type monster colony, and the bugs constantly popped out so I couldn’t sleep a wink, you know? Just when I was about to sleep a bit, something would pop out and all.”

While cleaning the bed and talking quietly about the current situation, someone slipped beside them.

How secretly he moved with his tall height; Hee-na turned her head to the side and was startled out of her wits.

“What a surprise!”

It was Kang Jin-hyun.

The Homemaker of the Dungeon