Chapter 74 – Completing the Walk

“I guess the Badugi walk event was held to teach us this.”

Though she didn’t quite understand why the subject of the walking quest was Hee-na rather than Hee-won.

‘Is it because the ability to move through space whenever a door is opened belongs to me?’

It was a fairly plausible hypothesis.

At any rate, this quest made it certain that Hee-na’s Homemaker class and Hee-won’s Farmer class were related to some extent.

Although she didn’t know what kind of arrangement the system had made to give the siblings such peculiar classes, she instinctively felt that opportunities for their work to entangle like this would increase.

* * *

Encouraged by the first walk that had ended without difficulty, Hee-na and Badugi also went on a second and third walk.

Fortunately, those two walking spots were not places where they would struggle much either.

The Robe of Stealth hid Hee-na well, and the Bracelet of Protection was reassuring. Even Badugi, who had grown to a size of two meters, was as powerful as any average monster.

Chomp, crunch, munch, munch!

Badugi swallowed a small monster that lunged at him in one bite and chewed it, crunching.

It made a sound like breaking and eating a delicious candy. She didn’t know how ravenous and brave he looked.

‘I would have been safe even without the Robe of Stealth.’

Thinking so, Hee-na glanced at the quest window. Before she knew it, the progress of the walk quest had reached 100%.

“Badugi, let’s go inside now!”

When she waved her hand to urge Badugi, who was running around in excitement, Badugi turned around without regret. He now knew well that they would go out for a walk again next time.

Hee-na and Badugi tramped back into the safe zone of ‘Home Sweet Home’.

“You’re back?”

Hee-won, who was sitting at the entrance, welcomed Hee-na and immediately took over Badugi.

“Let’s go to the cabbage patch today, Badugi!”

As Badugi’s fertilizer-spraying ability (?) reached its peak, Hee-won became busy lately.

This was because plants that used to wither and die for no reason or grow slowly began to shoot up rapidly under Badugi’s gold dust.

But it wasn’t just the crops that grew well. The weeds that stole nutrients from the crops also grew rapidly.

Naturally, there was more work for Hee-won, the farmer who tended the fields. Hee-won wrestled with weeds all day long.

Hee-na suggested buying pesticides and spraying them, but Hee-won shook his head firmly.

It was a conviction of sorts that he didn’t want to pollute the organic dungeon soil with things like pesticides.

‘Since when did you love the earth so much…?’

She wanted to retort sharply, but thinking he might have felt something while working in the Farmer class, she suppressed her thoughts.

Since Hee-na had also realized various philosophies of housekeeping after awakening as a Homemaker.

“Hee-na, we can harvest the peanut field now.”

After spraying fertilizer with Badugi in high spirits, Hee-won, who took a look around the fields, tipped her off. Peanuts were a crop Hee-na particularly liked, so they were planted specifically for her.

“Already? Hasn’t it been only a short while since you planted them? It was two months ago when you asked me to buy seedlings. Do peanuts grow that fast?”

It was just the other day that he was sighing about the seedlings not growing well, and yet it was already harvest time? Hee-won answered Hee-na’s doubt.

“I was worried because they weren’t growing well, but after getting hit by Badugi’s gold dust these past few weeks, they grew rapidly day by day. I dug up one root to check, and the peanuts are plump and well-ripened.”

A smile as wide as a basin spread across Hee-won’s face, showing how proud he was.

“You’re not even going to eat them, so why are you so proud?”

Hee-na asked discreetly. In fact, if Hee-won ate peanuts, his skin would itch, so he never touched them.

So this was farming purely for Hee-na.

“Of course. You don’t discriminate against plants based on whether they’re edible or not.”

Hee-won answered coolly. And then he opened his mouth again.

“Do you want to watch me dig up peanuts?”

Since Hee-won gestured with his chin while putting on gloves, Hee-na nodded in a daze.

As soon as Hee-won put the trowel to the ground, peanuts shot out of the dirt floor.

Every time she saw the abundant peanuts popping out one by one from the soil, it felt like a ten-year-old clog was being washed away. She felt fully refreshed.

‘Are peanuts originally crops that get pulled out so easily? Or is it because Oppa is a farmer that he does the work so well?’

For Hee-na, who was illiterate when it came to farming, there was no way to know.

However, even Hee-na could tell that her brother’s peanut farming had hit the jackpot.

The peanuts attached to the soil roots were very large and abundant. Even digging up just one root seemed like it would yield a whole container.

“I want to try eating this.”

Crouching next to Hee-won as he farmed, Hee-na peeled and ate a raw peanut. Along with the crunchy texture, a savory, fresh aroma filled her mouth. It was a mouth-watering taste.

‘Wow! Amazing.’

Good heavens, that such a delicious peanut existed in the world.

Hee-na forgot all the worries of the world for a moment and peeled and devoured the raw peanuts. Because the nuts were large and plump, just putting in a couple of them filled her mouth.

She ate the peanuts so enthusiastically that the system even notified her of her status.

‘It notifies me of all sorts of things.’

Hee-na dismissed the system notification indifferently.

Meanwhile, Hee-won, who had finished harvesting peanuts in the not-very-wide backyard garden, looked back. He screamed upon seeing the pile of peanut shells fallen at Hee-na’s feet.

“Hey, what are you doing? You’re going to eat all my peanuts at this rate.”

“Oppa, this farming is a jackpot. I’ve never eaten peanuts this delicious before.”

As she stuffed a bunch of peanuts in her cheeks and mumbled, the corners of Hee-won’s mouth twitched.

“Are they that delicious?”

“Absolutely. We could sell them like this.”

Hee-na raised both thumbs up.

Double thumbs up!

Osaek-i, who had crawled over before she knew it, chimed in with the outdated slang.

“I’m curious about the taste. Feed me a bite too.”

“Oppa, you have a peanut allergy, don’t you?”

“Still, wouldn’t it be okay to try just one? I’m curious since it’s the first crop.”

Since Hee-won opened his mouth wide like a baby bird, Hee-na threw a peanut, dirt-covered shell and all, into his mouth.

While she had the intention of preventing him from eating it due to his allergy, above all, it was a price for receiving his ugly and creepy demand to be hand-fed.

“Ptooey, ptooey! Hey! Lee Hee-won!”

Hee-won spat the dirt and peanut out of his mouth.

“Who taught you to stuff dirt into your brother’s mouth!”

He ran wild and threw a handful of dirt onto the bridge of Hee-na’s foot. It was his own revenge.

“Ah! My sneakers!”

When she shook off her dirty white sneakers with a crying face, Hee-won grinned.

“Revenge.”

But that laughter did not last long.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!

This was because Badugi, who had been staying far away, ran over.

Whether Badugi thought Hee-na and Hee-won were playing some kind of dirt-throwing game, he rapidly dug up the loose dirt floor with his leaves and roots. Dirt flew in all directions in the air.

“Aaack!”

“Badugi! Stop!”

Forbidden! Forbidden! Stop!

The siblings and a single snail had no choice but to take the dirt Badugi showered like rain.

Only Badugi, the center of all this disaster, tilted his head as if he knew nothing.

Drying her wet hair, Hee-na let out a sigh, phew.

“Ah, I feel alive!”

Thanks to a super-sized whale named Badugi entering a shrimp fight, her whole body became a mess.

But thanks to that, Hee-won gave up on putting the peanuts he grew in his mouth.

Hee-na shook off her dirty clothes, put them in the washing machine, and washed her dirt-covered body clean.

Fanning her warmed face with her hand, she called her brother, who was out in the field.

“Oppa! I’m all washed. You come in and wash up too.”

“Yeah. Got it. Just a second.”

Hee-won was busy cleaning up the peanut field.

“By the way, what should we do for dinner? Is there something you want to eat?”

She slipped out and asked Hee-won.

Usually, weekend meals were decided by Hee-na based on what she wanted to eat at the time, but today she was strangely not hungry. There wasn’t much food that came to mind.

‘It must be because I ate a lot of raw peanuts earlier.’

However, it was already past 7 o’clock. Mealtime had to be observed.

“What is the occasion that you are asking me what I want to eat?”

“Because I’m not very hungry.”

As she answered half-heartedly, Hee-won thought it over and suggested.

“Let’s order chicken. It’s a special day.”

Her brother’s choice, after all, was delivery food.

It was welcome news to Hee-na, who was secretly too lazy to prepare a meal because no menu came to mind.

“That’s good. Order whatever you want to eat, Oppa.”

“Yay! Chicken after a long time!”

Hee-won grinned and turned on the delivery application on his cell phone.

* * *

Kang Jin-hyun asked with a highly worried face.

“Hee-na-ssi, are you okay?”

Hee-na, who was rummaging through her rice bowl with her chopsticks, suddenly raised her head.

“Yes?”

“It seems you are barely eating. I’m worried if you are not feeling well.”

Kang Jin-hyun pointed at Hee-na’s rice bowl, which was hardly empty. At this, Hee-na thought to herself, oops.

‘Did I pick at my food too much at the dining table…?’

Strangely, she had not been hungry since yesterday evening, so she had no appetite.

No, the food made by Hee-na’s hands was indeed delicious. However, it did not whet her appetite.

Should she say it felt like having consecutive meals right after eating a massive amount of food?

‘Yesterday I ate only a single piece of chicken, and this morning I even skipped my meal because I wasn’t hungry, so why am I like this?’

Skipping breakfast was unlike Hee-na, who usually ate three square meals a day unlike busy modern people.

‘Is it a stomach disease?’

However, to say she had some illness, her body was too energetic. She was just not hungry.

In the end, Hee-na laid down the spoon she was holding. She felt that forcing herself to eat food she didn’t crave would only upset her stomach.

“Strangely, I’m not hungry at all today. The food doesn’t go down well.”

At Hee-na’s answer, Kang Jin-hyun opened his mouth slightly in disbelief.

The Homemaker of the Dungeon