Chapter 79 – Badugi’s Special Fertilizer

“Yeah. As you said, he is a Hidden Class Farmer in name, so wouldn’t there be something special?”

Simultaneously with those words, Hee-won sprang up from his seat.

“Let’s go to the field and check.”

The siblings moved to the field, and Hee-won crouched in front of a plant the size of a fingernail.

“What is this?”

Hee-na also sat next to her brother and asked about the identity of this weed-looking thing.

“It’s spinach. I sowed the seeds not long ago.”

Hee-won looked down at the green spinach sprouts with a pleased gaze. Then, he went, ‘Huh?’ and inspected the spinach this way and that.

“What’s wrong, Oppa? Is there a problem?”

Was this actually a weed rather than spinach, just as Hee-na thought? While she wondered, Hee-won shouted.

“A description window pops up for this too. It wasn’t here until recently?”

Hee-na was startled and blamed Hee-won for his carelessness.

“What? Even though you’re a Farmer in name, you didn’t even know such a description window popped up until now, Oppa?”

At that, Hee-won replied as if feeling wronged.

“Until recently, this kind of content didn’t pop up. In the first place, before Badugi sprayed the fertilizer, it barely grew… Ah!”

Hee-won, who was muttering, stood up abruptly as if he had realized something.

“Badugi’s fertilizer!”

Hee-na recalled the golden powder emitting from Badugi’s body. It was pretty poop dust.

“What about Badugi’s fertilizer?”

“Crops began to grow rapidly after Badugi started spraying fertilizer in the field, right?”

“Yeah. That was indeed the case.”

Since weeds as well as crops began to grow rapidly, Hee-won had become busy enough to have no time to breathe.

“After that, I got too busy to check the crop status window even once. So… could it be that this efficacy arose as Badugi fertilized it?”

“So you mean this is an efficacy that arose thanks to Oppa’s farming skill and Badugi’s fertilizer?”

“Right. At least, that’s what I think. Before receiving Badugi’s help, it was just an ordinary crop.”

Now, Hee-won was completely convinced.

“Okay. If you say so, Oppa, then that must be it.”

Hee-na accepted Hee-won’s judgment and looked closely at the small spinach.

As she looked at it thinking she should check the description window, characters really popped up in front of her eyes.

‘It was the same with the peanuts…’

Perhaps all crops grown in the dungeon could have their status windows checked.

Hee-na slowly read the words floating before her eyes.

“Undergrown spinach…”

It was written that eating this spinach would temporarily increase the Strength stat by 1. Since it was still undergrown spinach, the efficacy did not seem complete.

“Anyway, this is no joke.”

No matter how ignorant Hee-na was of Hunter common sense, she could quickly tell that this spinach was extraordinary.

There were only a few ways to raise an awakened person’s stats.

First, there was a way for the awakened person to rank up themselves to increase their overall stats.

However, since an awakened person’s grade was virtually innate, ranking up was practically close to impossible.

Second, there was a way of using items. Wearing items that increased stats to raise the stat values.

However, this was also not easy. Because those types of items were extremely rare and expensive.

Third, they could drink potions. Usually, Hunters used this method a lot. It was a way of amplifying stats by drinking potions.

However, the downside was that the stat values increased by potions only lasted temporarily.

“This is almost potion-grade!”

Hee-na marveled quietly.

The efficacy of such a tiny spinach was already this much, so she looked forward to how great of an effect it would show once the spinach was fully grown.

‘In addition, it said that if cooked with a special touch, a better effect might be seen… and that probably refers to my cooking skill, right?’

It meant that if Hee-na cooked the spinach Hee-won grew, a dish no different from an average potion would be created.

“Hee-na, we’ve hit the jackpot. Seriously.”

Perhaps Hee-won also had the same thought as Hee-na, as he repeatedly let out exclamations.

“Seriously, this is gold, gold!”

This was grand enough to shock even Hee-won, who said he had no interest in big money or troublesome work.

Hee-won declared with a serious expression.

“We really can’t sell this directly outside ourselves. These items are way beyond our capacity. We should sign a confidentiality agreement with the Blue Dragon Guild and trade.”

* * *

Hee-won whispered in Hee-na’s ear.

“Wow. As expected, the Blue Dragon is indeed different. It is huge and nice. I knew it, but… you work for a good company?”

The siblings were now at the highest floor of the Blue Dragon Guild. It was to sign a contract regarding Hee-won’s crops.

“Oppa, you remember what I said, right? Don’t think of anything foolish.”

Walking to the Guild Leader’s office, Hee-na earnestly requested Hee-won.

Since the Guild Leader was a person with a mind-reading skill, she meant that he should avoid thinking about things they wanted to keep secret as much as possible.

“Yeah, yeah. Got it. You worry too much.”

“But you are too carefree, that’s the problem, Oppa!”

The two bickered and arrived in front of the Guild Leader’s office. When they knocked, knock, knock, a voice telling them to enter was heard right away.

“Team Leader Lee? Come in.”

Whether the title ‘Team Leader Lee’ was funny, Hee-won giggled. At any rate, he didn’t have a shred of tension.

“Welcome.”

Guild Leader Kim Kyu-hee brought up the main topic as soon as the siblings sat down.

“Groundnut purchase price is set at around 6 million won per 100g. It’s roughly equivalent to paying 60,000 won per peanut.”

While Hee-na opened her mouth wide at the huge price, Hee-won cheekily fired back.

“Aey. You’re undercutting us too much.”

“Undercutting? That’s an interesting opinion.”

Hee-won, not even showing fear of the Guild Leader whose eyes shone like a lion’s, spoke fluently.

“Considering that a single peanut can replace a meal and can even be carried in the inventory, shouldn’t we receive more than that?”

“Uh… Oppa?”

Hee-na nudged her brother’s side while checking Guild Leader Kim Kyu-hee’s expression, but Hee-won’s face did not change one bit.

“Don’t you know the value of dungeon byproducts? 6 million won for 100g… is a dirt cheap price among dirt cheap prices. The Blue Dragon Guild has its reputation to maintain, so surely you aren’t planning to rip off us siblings who are just ordinary commoners?”

On the contrary, rather than calming down, he even went a step further and provoked the Guild Leader.

At this, the Guild Leader chuckled.

“Ripping off… That’s a funny expression. However, peanuts that do not receive Team Leader Lee Hee-na’s touch only last for one to two hours of satiety per peanut.”

“Whether you eat one peanut or three, it is the same that the volume is less than a single meal. And it’s natural that the energy efficiency will be much better than things like dried rations. Furthermore, the only food that can enter the inventory so far is jerky made of monster meat. It is dreadfully tasteless and can barely satisfy hunger. Considering that, these peanuts are no different from an innovation. You know very well that the biggest issue in long-term raids is the Hunters’ food problem, don’t you?”

Hee-won, who had lived the life of a bottom-tier Hunter, knew. Other items could be crafted as dungeon byproducts and stored in the inventory, but food was the exception.

Food became a burden for the Hunters and greatly affected mobility. In long-term raids, it was to the extent of needing separate porters to carry food.

‘Even I frequently went in and out of dungeons as a porter for high-ranking Hunters.’

However, if Hee-won’s peanuts are introduced to dungeon raids, the story changes.

“We can reduce cost by cutting the number of porters, and above all, we won’t need to take responsibility for the safety of low-grade porters, so the raid efficiency will rise.”

Hee-won counted on his fingers, persuading her of how great a value the peanuts he grew possessed.

To the extent that even Hee-na, who was watching from the side, forgot the Guild Leader’s existence for a moment and fell into Hee-won’s words.

‘Was Oppa a person so familiar with transactions like this?’

Hee-na was surprised by this unexpected side shown by her brother.

It was hard to believe he was the same person who always went around laughing, saying this is fine, that is fine. He looked very experienced and worldly-wise.

‘Indeed, although Oppa was a D-grade, he did Hunter work for ten years.’

Hee-won had survived tenaciously with a low grade, and even in a non-combat class. Unless one possessed an extraordinary grit, it would have been difficult to have that much survivability.

‘Oppa…’

Hee-na thought about how fiercely her brother must have lived. A corner of her heart stung.

“We siblings are not pushovers. Didn’t you promise to treat Hee-na generously? Don’t test us for no reason.”

While Hee-na was lost in sentiment, Hee-won finished what he had to say and sat with his shoulders squared. Even though his opponent was the Guild Leader of the Blue Dragon Guild, he looked confident as if he had nothing to be intimidated by.

‘Amazing! Oppa had this kind of side to him too.’

Hee-na clapt for Hee-won in her heart. For the first time in a long while, she felt her brother was cool.

“Team Leader Lee, you have a good brother.”

Fortunately, Guild Leader Kim Kyu-hee also seemed to have accepted his bold attitude pleasantly.

The Homemaker of the Dungeon