Chapter 62 – The Insect Invasion

Did she need a paid service this time too? Thinking about having to obtain a mana stone again made her vision grow dim.

Perhaps reading Hee-na’s expression, Osaek-i fluttered his antennae.

Simple error. However, the troubleshooter successfully ran.

At this, color returned to Hee-na’s face.

“Really? I don’t need a mana stone this time? No need for the system’s paid service?”

Absolutely.

Osaek-i wiggled his head while using outdated slang. His antennae, which were a bit stiffer than usual, somehow seemed proud.

“By the way, where is Baduki?”

True to his self-proclaimed title of ‘Baduki’s Daddy,’ Hee-won looked for Baduki first. Osaek-i shook his antennae from side to side and answered.

Baduk. Extremely excited. In the middle of a wild party.

“A wild party?”

It was an out-of-the-blue remark. The pest control system had broken down, so what did he mean by a wild party?

It was a moment of bewilderment. *Patter, patter, patter.* The sound of Baduki running around the linoleum floor echoed in the living room.

“……Baduki?”

Hee-na and Hee-won reached out from the entrance and turned on the living room light. And they were shocked by the amazing sight that unfolded.

“Aargh!”

*Bzzzz.* Somehow the vibration sound felt exceptionally loud, and it was no mere tinnitus. It was the sound of gnats fluttering their wings.

Gnats as large as fingers were loudly flying around here and there in the brightly lit living room. It was a horrific scene.

“I thought you said you restored the pest control system! Why are there so many bugs?”

When she shouted in alarm, the system popped up a window as if to answer.

It seemed to mean that because the restoration was not complete, the rampant bugs had not disappeared.

Free restoration. Speed is slow. T_T

Osaek-i added as if making an excuse. In the end, this mess had occurred because there was no money… no, no mana stone.

“Once the system is fully restored, all the bugs will disappear, right?”

No. Pest extermination = Manual.

Moreover, as expected, it was just as she feared. They had to catch the remaining bugs themselves.

“How do we catch all of these? Why on earth is this vacation such a mess?”

*Bzzzz.* It was the moment Hee-na was making a tearful face while watching the gnats fly loudly around the house.

*Patter, patter, patter, snap!*

A green afterimage quickly flashed past and snatched up a large gnat. Hee-won immediately recognized the identity of that green afterimage.

“Huh? Baduki?”

Baduki fluttered its leaves as if welcoming Hee-won. The flower bud, which had always been closed, was crunching and chewing on the gnat.

Gnats are a very good source of nutrition for a hungry Baduki.

Osaek-i gave a narration like a scene from Animal Kingdom.

*Crunch, crunch.*

Baduki nodded its flower bud at Osaek-i’s words and lifted a leaf.

Thumbs up!

This was a gesture she could understand without Osaek-i having to translate it. It meant it was delicious.

Baduki, who thrust its leaf out like a thumb, began running around the living room like a ghost not long after. It gulped down the large gnats with a snap, snap, snap.

“I raised the kid hungry…”

Hee-won mumbled as if his heart was breaking.

Meanwhile, the pest control system was restored very slowly.

Baduki’s speed of eating the gnats was impressive, but the speed at which the bugs multiplied was faster.

In other words, they could not leave the situation to Baduki alone.

“We should catch the bugs too.”

Hee-na and Hee-won rolled up their sleeves solemnly.

‘Isn’t there any tool to catch bugs?’

She looked around, but no suitable tool was visible.

“Newspaper is perfect for catching bugs…”

However, households subscribing to paper newspapers were rare in this day and age.

…Thinking up to that point, Hee-na suddenly recalled an item sleeping inside her inventory.

‘Ah, right! The SSS-class Useful Newspaper!’

The SSS-class Useful Newspaper was an item obtained together when she picked up Baduki’s seed in the Giant Mushroom Dungeon.

Whether it was actually useful or not remained to be seen, but fitting for its high rank of SSS-class, it even had a rank-hiding function.

Today was the day the modifier ‘Useful’ attached to the item would live up to its name.

Hee-na pulled the SSS-class Useful Newspaper out of her inventory.

When she rolled up the newspaper and held it, it fit comfortably in her hand. The grip was excellent. It was SSS-class in useless details.

Before she knew it, Hee-won also appeared holding a frying pan.

“I’ll buy you a new one after using this.”

And then he struck the air. With a cheerful clang, a gnat fell down unconscious.

*Chomp, chomp, chomp!*

Baduki dashed out and devoured the gnat Hee-won caught.

“Baduki, I may not know about eggshells, but I will feed you bugs to your heart’s content today!”

Hee-won was focused on a strange thing and burned with fighting spirit.

‘His enthusiasm… is good.’

Hee-na also tightly gripped the SSS-class newspaper. The system restoration rate was still at 90%, and the gnats were gradually increasing in number. At this rate, the house was about to be filled with bugs.

When she focused her mind and watched the gnats in the air, a system window appeared.

It was a solemn phrase.

Hee-na’s eyes flashed as she swung the newspaper in her hand. At the same time, the skill window flashed.

*Whoosh!*

As Hee-na swung her arm, the sound of tearing through the air echoed grandly.

It was the moment Hee-na’s ‘Pest Extermination’ skill formed a fantastic first combination with the SSS-class newspaper. The newspaper, which had absorbed the ‘Pest Extermination’ skill, struck the air mercilessly.

*Thwack!*

A somewhat destructive noise erupted for just striking a mere bug.

In the path where Hee-na’s newspaper passed, only about ten gnat corpses rolled on the floor. It was like a master of swordsmanship facing odds of one against a hundred.

Baduki was quick to assess the situation.

It immediately realized that rather than staying by Hee-won’s side, who only dealt with one gnat at a time, going to Hee-na’s side would allow it to gather and eat far more gnats.

*Pitter-patter, chomp! Chomp, chomp, chomp!*

Baduki moved its legs… no, its roots, patter-patter, and ran toward Hee-na.

“Huh? Baduki! Where are you going? Come here!”

Hee-won called Baduki desperately, but it did not even look back.

Baduki was a cold dungeon plant that became infinitely heartless in front of food.

“Hee-yah!”

Hee-na shouted a battle cry and swung her hand randomly.

Every time she did so, gnats fell down pattering like rain. It was a creepy yet secretly satisfying moment.

*Chomp, chomp.*

Baduki pressed its head to the floor and sucked in the bugs like a vacuum cleaner. It was a mystery where those large volumes of gnats disappeared into that thin stem.

While Hee-na was mindlessly clearing out the gnats filling the house, a system alarm chimed a few times.

However, engrossed in defeating the enemies, Hee-na had no time to read the messages.

Exterminating the gnats served as excellent nourishment for the ‘Pest Extermination’ skill.

The experience points each gave were not very high, but because their numbers were astronomical, the experience rose significantly.

*Thwack! Smack!*

It was when she eliminated the last gnat with a solemn wrist snap.

Finally, the system window declared Hee-na the victor.

Along with that, Hee-na’s only combat skill, ‘Pest Extermination,’ ranked up.

“Uaaah……”

As soon as she checked the window, Hee-na flopped onto the floor. This was because the strength had completely drained from her limbs.

Moreover, since she had even used the skill ‘Pest Extermination,’ the stamina consumption was even greater.

*Rumble.*

Despite having just eaten, a sound like thunder erupted from her stomach. To recover her exhausted physical strength, the ‘Power of Rice’ skill was automatically cast.

“Hee-na, are you okay?”

Hee-won, who had watched his sister’s active performance blankly, slowly approached and examined Hee-na.

At that question, Hee-na shook her head.

“……I am not okay.”

“You look it. Should I help you up?”

“No, never mind that, Oppa. Is there any rice left in the rice cooker?”

“Why rice?”

“I’m hungry. Give me rice.”

She was so hungry that she felt like she could eat an entire pot of plain rice right now.

*Rumble, growl.*

At the sound of the loud rumbling echoing once more, Hee-won rushed to the kitchen. Hee-na shouted at his running back.

“Quickly! Bring the whole pot!”

The Homemaker of the Dungeon