Chapter 7 – The First Level Up

At Hee-na’s question, the snail explained very cleanly.

Rank increase → Creation of a comfortable space → Peace of mind and body → Achieving world peace.

“…You’re no different from the system either.”

No, it went a step further than the system. Achieving world peace through cleaning! There was no exaggeration like this.

‘It’s not like maintaining oneself, managing the family, governing the nation, and bringing peace to the world.’

Hee-na was briefly plagued by skepticism, wondering if she had asked something unnecessary. However, Hee-na’s determination… no, her Persistence stat of 20 was still the same.

Instead, she decided to ask a slightly more specific question.

“If the Homemaker rank rises, can I move to a better house than this?”

Possible.

It was a positive answer.

“Really? You mean I can move to a better place!”

Hee-na strengthened her resolve to escape this shabby studio apartment someday through 167 hours of training.

It was at that very moment that the grime of the linoleum was stripped off by her forceful mopping. The yellow linoleum peeked out, showing its face.

“Heavens, was the floor originally this color?”

To think that the gray floor she had been scrubbing and wiping for three hours was originally yellow!

Hee-na was deeply shocked. So she picked up her cell phone and took a photo of the floor where the grime had been removed.

The contrast between the place where the mop had passed and the place where the grime remained was as distinct as light and darkness.

“This is on the level of magic.”

It was absurd, but Hee-na quickly recovered her energy.

It was a room of only 3 pyeong anyway. Just a little more, and she would be able to set her feet on a clean floor.

Hee-na excitedly changed the mop’s disposable cloth.

For reference, Hee-na was of the group that thought using disposable products was a waste. However, considering the terrible condition of the room, she deliberately chose disposable cleaning products.

Because once it brushed past this dirty place, any cloth was bound to become unusable again.

“Wow, it feels so refreshing!”

As she scrubbed the floor with a clean, new cloth, the bare face of the linoleum floor finally began to show.

The system window also shook a tambourine in time with Hee-na’s cheerful mopping.

“Mmh, hm, hm~ mmh~.”

A hum naturally escaped. She watched the floor become clean with every scrub. Hee-na thought, ‘This is indeed the joy of homemaking.’

It was at that moment. A pop-up window suddenly appeared before her eyes.

“Wow…”

Hee-na let out an exclamation. She had thought of the system as an unfriendly forced seller until now, but it was surprisingly generous.

‘Just because I thought homemaking was fun, it gave me 500 proficiency?’

The system shaved off 83 hours and 20 minutes out of the 167 hours Hee-na had to fill in an instant. It wasn’t an outlet; it was a massive bargain sale.

“If it keeps going like this, it’ll be doable. Right, snail? It’s fun to rapidly raise the skill proficiency. Just like a game.”

Hee-na spoke to the snail, which had crawled from her shoulder up to her head. The snail also chimed in.

Effort 99 + Enjoyment 1 = Anything is possible.

Although it was a maxim that seemed likely to appear in a self-help book.

Still, seeing the results with her own eyes made her work efficiency soar. Hee-na wiped the floor, forgetting her fatigue.

After removing the old stains with the mop, she entered true hard labor. The mop was not satisfying enough. Hee-na rolled up her sleeves, knelt down, and began to wipe the floor directly.

Her waist and arms ought to have ached, but in her state of trance, Hee-na felt no pain at all. She wiped the floor frantically.

The floor where Hee-na’s hands passed was sleek and shiny. As long as one was Korean, it was a clean linoleum floor that made one want to lie down spread-eagled just by looking at it.

“Finished!”

Finally, Hee-na finished mopping every corner of the room. As she did, momentum gathered, and it took only 20 minutes to completely finish the mopping.

A total of about 3 hours and 20 minutes.

For a room of only 3 pyeong, it took a long time to clean, but anyone who saw the result would understand.

The yellow linoleum floor was so shiny that an ant could do figure skating on it. It was not a skill of this world.

“So proud!”

Only then did Hee-na relax her body and lie down flat on her back.

Warning! Warning! Watch out for falls!

The snail that was on her head cried out noisily as it rolled off. Hee-na apologized to the snail that had rolled into the corner of the room.

“Sorry. I forgot you were there for a moment.”

Caution requested in the future.

“Alright. I’ll be careful.”

It was when she was talking quietly with the snail. Before the eyes of the lying Hee-na, some glittering letters suddenly appeared with a pop.

It was the system window. The letters flashed in rainbow colors as if truly celebrating the level up.

“Level up rewards?”

Hee-na jumped up from her spot. As the saying goes, one would even drink lye if it were free; there was no reason not to accept.

“Yes! I want it!”

The word ‘Drawing’ appeared. Somehow, she felt a little anxious.

‘Why does it give level up rewards through a draw?’

It was when she was wondering. The system displayed a congratulatory message.

Hee-na did the correct action a user should do when receiving a lousy probability reward in a game.

Swearing at the system.

“What is this trash-rate game?”

Hee-na grumbled a lot as she looked down at the bed mattress that popped up in front of her.

Fortunately, except for looking a bit worn out, there seemed to be no sunken parts.

Although the ‘Shabby Frameless Mattress Bed’ was an E-rank item, it possessed an immense additional function. It was a function that recovered 1 extra point of Stamina per hour.

Considering the market price of stamina recovery potions which cost millions or tens of millions of won, it was a considerably good function.

Hee-na had hit the jackpot. If she sold it like this, she could earn the price of a decent car.

“Well, although it’s an item that is only E-rank… it’s better than sleeping on the bare floor, right?”

However, Hee-na, who was a novice to the awakener world, had no idea of such facts. She merely comforted herself, thinking, ‘This much is not bad.’

“Ah, I’m so tired just from cleaning the room. I should do the rest tomorrow.”

Lifting her phone to check the clock, it was already 8 PM. Even though she had eaten three rolls of gimbap earlier, a rumbling sound came from her stomach once again.

“Is there any more food?”

Hee-na crawled over and rummaged through the grocery bag. Fortunately, besides the gimbap, she had bought some snacks to eat.

First, as an emergency, she quickly stuffed the snacks into her mouth. She felt alive again.

Floor. Snack crumbs dropping.

The snail, which had followed Hee-na, nagged in tiny details.

“Alright, alright. I’ll clean after eating.”

Hee-na replied casually to the snail, then opened her eyes wide.

“Uh?”

Because she detected some change.

“Snail, was the color of your house originally like this?”

The color of the snail shell, which had been a dull gray, had brightened. A gloss spun on the matte shell, and colors were faintly visible depending on the reflection of light.

Level up effect.

The snail shook its antennae. Somehow, it looked pleased.

Hee-na swallowed the remaining snacks and praised the snail’s beauty (?).

“It seems the color of your shell changes when we level up. It has already become this pretty, so I wonder what will happen when the level gets higher.”

Splendid!

“Right. You’ll become splendid? That would be quite grand.”

The snail’s antennae shrugged. Hee-na quietly looked down at that sight and spoke.

“But if we are going to continue living together like this, shouldn’t you have a proper name? I can’t keep calling you snail, snail.”

Agree.

“What would you like me to call you?”

At Hee-na’s question, the snail replied immediately.

Dwelling Manager!

“…That’s not a name. That’s too cold. Hmm, what would be good? You’re a snail, so Paeng-i?”

Completely half-hearted.

The snail opposed the simple naming sense.

“Then how about Osaek-i?”

Osaek?

At the snail’s question, Hee-na pointed her finger at the snail’s shell.

“If I quietly watch your house, it glimmers in five colors. So, Osaek-i.”

…Under deep consideration.

“Come on. You liked it. Even your antennae are twitching in joy.”

Hee-na gently teased the snail. She felt as if they had grown much closer after spending a few hours together.

Acceptance. Osaek.

Finally, the snail accepted Hee-na’s proposal. Then, as if showing off its prettified shell, it spun around in place a few times.

To see that sight was extremely cute, so Hee-na was able to forget all her worries for a moment and laugh out loud.

The Homemaker of the Dungeon