Chapter 51 – Eradicating the Mold

The siblings worked like mules.

Thanks to that, before even half a day had passed, the house returned to a dry and fresh state. Even the water stains in the bathroom turned white, to the point of being dazzling.

“Ah, all done! Osaek-i! I’ll make sure there’s no reason to bring tears to your eyes from now on!”

Hee-na delivered a rather romantic line toward the snail on the dining table. From the side, Hee-won could be heard clicking his tongue.

But Hee-na was sincere. She even placed Osaek-i on her hand and cradled it.

‘How scared must it have been, thinking it would be left alone?’

She couldn’t even measure how lonely and isolated Osaek-i must have felt, thinking its family was trying to abandon it.

She regretted not resolving it through conversation earlier, thinking it was just simple jealousy.

‘If I had, the house wouldn’t have ended up in this state.’

Hee-na shook her head and opened her inventory window. The A-rank mold remover caught her hand.

‘I really picked this one well.’

Most of the items that came out as random draw level-up rewards were trivial, but the A-rank mold remover was helpful time and time again.

It cleanly removed the mold inside the house, and above all, it was the greatest contributor to saving Hee-na and Kang Jin-hyun’s lives.

‘I will pass this down as an heirloom.’

Hee-na firmly resolved in her mind and clapped her hands.

“Now it’s time to get rid of the mold!”

Wearing a disposable mask, she kicked her brother and Osaek-i out of the front door.

Hee-won went outside holding Osaek-i in his arms. Coincidentally, it was right before sunset, so it was time to water the field, he said.

“Good work.”

Osaek-i poked its head out over Hee-won’s shoulder, cheering Hee-na on.

Just as the ground hardens after rain, it felt like they had become closer after the storm. Hee-na smiled brightly and waved her hand at Osaek-i.

Thud, the sound of the front door closing was heard.

“Now. Shall we begin!”

Hee-na shook the A-rank mold remover in her hand.

Her attitude was as solemn as when she fought the giant mushroom. It was a precious house stained with Hee-na’s blood, sweat, and tears. She couldn’t allow mold to occupy it illegally.

Hiss! Hiss!

As she sprayed the remover in every corner of the room, the dark mold marks could be seen slowly disappearing. It was an amazing effect no matter when she saw it.

Since the effect was good enough to be visible, she naturally got excited. She was humming and spraying the remover when something popped up in front of her. It was a system window.

“Wow…”

Hee-na scratched her cheek. It was ridiculous that she had achieved the Slayer of a 10 Million Army achievement by eradicating mold.

“I guess mold is counted as a living thing.”

However, she felt no guilt at all for having destroyed that many lives.

Mold was one of the main culprits that ruined the comfort of a house. In Hee-na’s dictionary, there was no mercy to be shown to mold, mosquitoes, or cockroaches.

Like that, Hee-na sprayed the mold remover diligently, achieving the terrifying achievement of ‘Slayer of a 10 Million Army’.

“All done. It must have completely disappeared by now, right?”

Hee-na put the A-rank mold remover back into her inventory and shook her hands.

Her eyes stung because she had sprayed the spray inside the closed house.

“I should ventilate the place.”

Hee-na opened the front door, wiping away the beads of sweat that had formed.

As she opened the door thinking of where her brother was, a dense jungle-type dungeon spread out in front of the entrance.

And Hee-na marvelled slightly at the sight that unfolded before her eyes.

“Wow. Oppa, you cleared a lot. You must have used a lot of strength.”

A four-meter radius from the front door, which meant the space within the safe distance, was neatly organized. There were no weird-looking trees or grass. There was only a cleanly cleared vegetable garden.

“Are you all finished? It took longer than I thought.”

While she was taking off her mask and breathing in the fresh air, her brother suddenly appeared. Hee-won was wearing boots that came up to his knees and holding a watering can.

“Amazing, Lee Hee-won. You have grit.”

Hee-na clapped her hands for Hee-won. To cultivate this land, which was covered in all sorts of vines and trees and was chaotic. It was truly something that couldn’t be done without an ox-like persistence.

“I finished it a while ago. I feel proud every time I look here too.”

Hee-won laughed, boasting about the four-meter radius garden.

“Besides, maybe because the soil here is soft and moist, everything seems to grow well.”

The siblings sat down in front of the open front door and chatted.

“What happened to the cherry tomatoes you were growing in the other garden?”

“Those died. I guess they didn’t suit the dungeon.”

“Again?”

Hee-won scratched his head sheepishly.

This was because he felt embarrassed himself. He was a farmer by name, but he hadn’t grown anything properly yet. At most, a few heads of lettuce were all.

“Haha. Compared to how well I cleared the land, I’m not doing very well at farming, am I? I don’t know what is lacking, though.”

“Well, it’s because you’re a beginner. You’ll gradually get better.”

Hee-na comforted her brother.

“Cherry tomatoes. Expressing condolences. R.I.P.”

Osaek-i also chimed into the conversation from the side, as if to show it was there too.

“Right. Thanks, guys.”

Hee-won smiled and placed Osaek-i on his knee.

Before they knew it, it was sunset. The sky began to be dyed reddish. The three of them sat quietly watching the sun go down. Rest after labor was sweet. A peaceful atmosphere flowed.

“Ah. By the way, Oppa.”

It was Hee-na who broke the silence first. While talking about saplings and seeds, something had come to mind.

“Why?”

“What happened to the seed I gave you last time?”

“Seed? Which one do you mean? The seed left after the piece of space disappeared? Or the seed you happened to pick up in the mushroom dungeon?”

“The latter.”

Hee-na had long since given up on germinating the seed that came from the piece of space.

That meant the seed Hee-na was referring to was the one obtained from the mushroom dungeon.

Not long ago, when she fell into the mushroom dungeon with Kang Jin-hyun, Hee-na had obtained three items.

The first was the magic stone of the B-rank boss monster, the second was the SSS-rank newspaper, and the final third was the ‘unidentified seed’.

This was all Hee-na could know about the ‘unidentified seed’.

As could be seen from the name, she didn’t know what kind of seed it was, and the rank was not shown either. Furthermore, there was no way to know why the seed was abandoned in a dungeon full of mushrooms.

The only hint was the phrase ‘special attention and care’. It was similar to when she saw the information on the ‘Dirty Fragment of □□’.

‘The special touch mentioned there meant my touch as a homemaker.’

The thick rust was cleanly wiped away by Hee-na’s touch, revealing its true identity.

In a similar context, if Hee-won, who was a farmer, handled the ‘unidentified seed’, some reality might be revealed. This was just Hee-na’s guess, but it sounded like a plausible theory.

So Hee-na handed the ‘unidentified seed’ over to her brother, Hee-won.

Hee-won stared back and forth between the seed’s status window and his own system window for a long time, then declared that he would try growing it.

Surprisingly, the moment he received this seed, a hidden quest window popped up for Hee-won. He said the quest content was ‘Growing a Pet Plant’.

No information about this seed was given, but through the quest, he could know the rough sequence of how to grow it.

Hee-won took the seed and planted it carefully in a corner of the dungeon garden. He planted it right next to the ‘□□□ □□ Seed’ he had planted before, and paid attention to it every day.

Since Hee-na was busy handling the paperwork for the three houses received from the Blue Dragon Guild, she had forgotten about the ‘unidentified seed’ for a while.

But spending time leisurely like this made her naturally curious about the seed’s whereabouts.

“I planted it here, do you want to go and see?”

Hee-won said, pointing to a corner of the vegetable garden.

“It actually sprouted. This one grows rapidly just by giving it water. Is it because a quest is attached to it?”

Hee-na followed her brother and crouched in front of the vegetable garden.

In a few days, the seed had sprouted and grown two leaves about the size of a palm. Between the leaves, a sturdy-looking stem stood upright.

At the tip of the stem, something like a flower bud folded its leaves, which looked like a small tulip on the outside.

Perhaps because it had just been watered, water droplets glistened on the tips of the leaves.

“Cute.”

Hee-na extended her finger and tapped a leaf. At that, the water droplet on the tip of the leaf fell off.

“It will probably get bigger. I haven’t even grown it 10% yet. It says 3% grown on the quest.”

Hee-won added an explanation. Hee-na was surprised by that figure.

“If it’s this big when it has only grown 3%, won’t it become a tree when it’s fully grown?”

“Well. I’ll know once I grow it all.”

Farmer Hee-won shrugged at his sister’s alarm.

That was when.

Although no wind blew, the stem swayed and bent. At the same time, the two leaves began to move and flutter like wings.

The Homemaker of the Dungeon