Chapter 75 – Excessive Worry

“How…”

Hee-na could easily anticipate the words that would follow.

‘He’ll make a fuss, asking how I could leave behind food that I made, right?’

“……Even if it is you, Hee-na-ssi, how could you leave behind food that you made? Unless there is an issue with your sense of taste or your health, that is impossible.”

“Well, there are days like today, too.”

Although she reacted indifferently, Kang Jin-hyun was extremely serious.

“There is an affiliated hospital of the Blue Dragon Guild. Would you like to get a health checkup?”

“I got a health checkup from the national insurance corporation last time. I’m fine.”

“It might be a problem that isn’t caught by a general checkup. Should I call a healer? No, I will call a healer.”

Kang Jin-hyun, unable to contain his worry, sprang up from his seat.

Hee-na hurriedly reached out, fearing he might vanish in a flash with S-class speed.

“I’m really fine! It’s normal to lose one’s appetite for about a day, so don’t make a fuss!”

Somehow, a slightly stern voice came out. However, the effect was immediate.

“……Understood. I seem to have overdone it again.”

The excited Kang Jin-hyun calmed down placidly. To Kang Jin-hyun, Hee-na’s firm tone was always instantly effective.

Hee-na had a thought that would be very rude if caught by someone.

‘Indeed, both for dogs and humans, the words of the person who feeds them seem to be the best.’

No matter what she was thinking inside, Hee-na did not show it and pushed the side dish bowl in front of Kang Jin-hyun.

“Anyway, Jin-hyun-ssi, make sure to eat a lot. I can just prepare and eat food when I’m hungry, but that’s not the case for you. Didn’t you say you’re entering a dungeon this afternoon? Won’t you only be eating combat rations for a while?”

“Yes…… that is correct.”

Kang Jin-hyun furrowed his brow slightly. Combat rations were not very tasty food to begin with.

There was no way that he, who had a more sensitive palate than anyone else, could enjoy eating such combat rations.

“How long did you say the schedule is this time?”

“It will likely take about a week to ten days.”

Failing to eat proper meals for a whole week. It was something unimaginable to Hee-na.

“For now, I’ve prepared a lunch box so you can have at least one meal this evening.”

Hee-na gestured toward the lunch box container sitting on the sink. It was a lunch box with a five-tier container filled to the brim in preparation for him to share with others.

“Thank you, Hee-na-ssi… Meeting you, Hee-na-ssi, is like the greatest blessing of my life.”

Moved with emotion, Kang Jin-hyun looked at Hee-na with moist eyes.

The power of his excessive melodramatic eyes was still the same, and thanks to that, Hee-na’s ears turned a little red.

“Don’t mention it. Your praise is excessive. It’s work I do for money, so of course I should take care of you to this extent.”

“No. Even if it is work done for a price, there is no such thing as a taken-for-granted devotion.”

Hearing it, it was not a wrong statement, so she had nothing to say back.

But hearing such words from someone who roamed through danger for the safety of people made her feel strange.

‘Wasn’t Jin-hyun-ssi’s devotion the one being taken for granted…?’

Until he received Hee-na’s care, Kang Jin-hyun was living a very tiring life.

To others, it looked strong and glamorous, but in reality, it was a ruined life where he could not rest or eat properly like other people.

If Hee-na had been placed in such a situation, she might not have wanted to properly bear any duty.

However, Kang Jin-hyun had silently done everything he needed to do in his position…

Without a single complaint. Without showing it.

Once again, Hee-na felt how great of a person this taciturn Hunter was.

“When you return from the dungeon, I’ll prepare a feast that will bend the table legs.”

At that encouragement, Kang Jin-hyun let out a low laugh.

“I will finish as quickly as possible and return.”

Hee-na balled her hand into a fist.

“Please tell me what you want to eat. So I can make it in advance.”

“For me, anything you make, Hee-na-ssi…”

“Not things like that. At least whatever was the most delicious among the things you’ve eaten so far!”

They continued their light conversation like that for a while.

Thanks to that, Hee-na’s lost-appetite incident was quickly forgotten.

Conveniently, starting from the next morning, she began to feel hungry again as usual, so it seemed it would end as a temporary episode.

However…

* * *

“This quantity is really huge. What should we do?”

“I know. Should we set up a street stall on the road?”

The siblings, Hee-na and Hee-won, looked down at the pile of peanuts with serious expressions. Because Hee-won’s farming had gone so well, the peanuts were stacked almost like a mountain.

“Where and how do we sell something like this?”

Hee-na groaned, mmm, and muttered.

Although she had spoken to Hee-won in a scolding tone to make a living through farming, she wasn’t serious. It was meant more as telling him to rest safely since she would play the role of the breadwinner now.

In the first place, it wasn’t a large field, but farming on a site of a few meters around ‘Home Sweet Home’, so she thought that even if there was a harvest, the quantity would only be enough for Hee-na to eat a little and share a little around.

‘But I never imagined in my dreams that the harvest would be this huge!’

In addition, come to think of it, peanuts were not a crop that could be eaten in large quantities as a staple food.

It might be different if they ate rice made of peanuts, braised peanuts, peanut soup, and peanut kimchi for three meals a day.

On top of that, since Hee-won had a mild peanut allergy, he didn’t even put peanuts in his mouth.

Hee-na shook her head, thinking of an alternative.

“This is too much quantity to share. I think it would still be left over even if I distributed it to all the people in this apartment.”

Hee-won was startled by his sister’s monologue.

“How can we just give this away? These are my babies mixed with my blood, sweat, and tears! I should at least receive a single 1,000 won bill and sell them!”

P;ㅠ

Osaek-i, who had crawled over, typed out unknown symbols, as if agreeing with Hee-won’s words.

“What is that?”

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

“Ah…”

While she was dumbfounded by Osaek-i’s reply, Hee-won suddenly turned his head and grabbed Hee-na.

“Hee-na, your company is huge, right?”

Hee-na answered, bewildered.

“It’s the Blue Dragon Guild… so it’s quite big.”

“You also know many people at the company, right?”

“Not many… but not a few either.”

Hee-na was on familiar terms with the employees to some extent.

In particular, the Hunters who clearly felt the ‘Comfortable Bed’ buff liked Hee-na quite a lot.

What did they say it was like, watching a strange herbivorous animal?

‘Of course, it must also be thanks to tasting the gimbap I rolled…’

Hee-na shrugged, proud of her cooking skills. It was a hand-taste that captured even the palate of an S-class Hunter.

However, that was not what was important right now. Hee-na looked at Hee-won suspiciously.

“But why are you asking that now?”

She had an inkling, but she wondered if her brother would seriously make her do such an embarrassing thing.

But as expected, her suspicion was correct.

“Originally, this kind of thing is sold through word-of-mouth through acquaintances. Let’s use your company network. Hmm?”

Hee-won sat close affectionately and played a ridiculous trick. He even blinked his eyes prettily, but it was an unbearable sight.

‘If Jin-hyun-ssi did this, it would be one thing. But Oppa… Ugh.’

Leaving behind her desire to wash her eyeballs in running water, she struck Hee-won’s side hard with her elbow.

“Aaack! I’m dying!”

Even though it wouldn’t have hurt much thanks to his solid fine muscles built from labor, Hee-won made a dying sound.

“It’s farming you did, so you should sell it yourself! Why sell my connections? Don’t you know anyone, Oppa?”

When she snapped, Hee-won chuckled with an embarrassed expression.

“Well… All my connections are low-ranking Hunters, so they are mostly one-time relationships… On top of that, the people I contact occasionally are all penniless like we used to be. Rather than buying peanuts from an acquaintance, they would want to save even one more penny.”

And the excuse he made was that ‘he was so busy making a living that it was hard to build friendships’ or something?

Indeed. Hee-na was also too busy earning money to have a single proper friend of her age left.

It was only recently that she began to interact with people outside of work. Making friends was something that could only be done after having material and mental leeway.

“Making things troublesome and ordering your younger sister to do this kind of work…”

Hee-na grumbled aloud for no reason, pretending not to notice a sting in a corner of her heart.

Because her past weary and harsh days came back to her memory vividly. Those days when she didn’t even have the leeway to make a single friend…

It couldn’t be helped that her heart weakened slightly at the old memories.

“Well then… Nothing can be done about it. I’ll do it just this once. But if the company says no, then it’s a no. At that time, search for another way, Oppa.”

Hee-na humph-ed and crossed her arms.

“You’re indeed my sister. How would I have lived without you? Hmm?”

As if trying to lighten the briefly heavy atmosphere, Hee-won giggled.

Hee-na chuckled at her brother’s transparent flattery and pondered how she could sell off that mountain of peanuts.

* * *

In the end, what Hee-na chose was the direct approach.

Here, the direct approach Hee-na thought of referred to a method of letting consumers taste the peanuts and inducing them to purchase.

‘Since Oppa’s peanuts are really delicious, letting them just taste them will make them sell out pretty quickly.’

However, the worry was whether the Blue Dragon Guild would overlook activities that a street vendor would do.

Since the closest Woo Min-ah was away on a month-long dungeon raid, and the next closest Kang Jin-hyun was away on a week-long dungeon raid, there was only one person left to ask.

In response to Hee-na’s cautious question, HR Team Leader Kang Mok-hyun replied as follows.

“Do as you please.”

“Is that for real, HR Team Leader?”

“Yes. I don’t care.”

The Homemaker of the Dungeon