Chapter 8 – Grilling Meat for a Hunter

* * *

Hee-na clapped her hands and cheered.

“It’s finally almost finished!”

Osaek also followed Hee-na, who was clapping her hands, clapping her cute antennae together.

“Wow, I can’t believe I actually achieved this. It’s a human victory, a human victory.”

Hee-na praised herself as she gulped down the bottled water in her hand like it was beer.

It’s already been three days since I started cleaning my studio apartment. On the first day, I fell asleep while mopping the floor, and on the second day, I cleaned the bathroom all day.

The bathroom was no joke when it got dirty. There was black mold on the joints.

Hee-na placed toilet paper soaked in bleach on top of it. And in the remaining time, I scrubbed the sink and toilet with a cleaning brush.

Cleaning the bathroom alone was so tiring that on the second day, I ate a total of twelve rows of kimbap.

But, fortunately, the ‘Smart Fingertips’ skill did its job well.

The more I concentrated on cleaning, the smoother the tiles became. Dirt and mold that seemed like they would never come off were eradicated by Hee-na’s ‘smart fingertips’.

It took an incredible amount of time, a full day, to make that happen… … .

On the third day, I cleaned the sink that came with the studio apartment. Fortunately, cleaning the sink wasn’t much of a cleanup compared to cleaning the floor or bathroom.

In the meantime, Hee-na raised the level of the ‘old basic studio’ from 2 to 5.

When I finished cleaning the bathroom, my level went up two steps at once, and when I cleaned the sink, my level went up one step.

I also received level up rewards.

At first, it was quite a shock to Hee-na to receive an E-class mattress bed, but then she received an ‘all-purpose bidet that relieves constipation when you sit down (A)’, a ‘refrigerator that doesn’t produce ice but is usable (C)’, and a ‘mold exterminator (A)’.

Considering the probability of the random draw, it wasn’t a very bad result.

The five colors also became a little brighter.

Hee-na looked at the five-colored shell that softly sparkled like mother-of-pearl craftsmanship and thought, ‘I should have named it Yeongrongi…’ … .’ I suffered from late regrets.

It seemed like if I leveled up just a little more, it would really shine brightly.

Hee-na lay down in her room while thinking that.

“Ugh. That’s pretty much it. I’m going to take care of the wallpaper mold slowly. I’m tired now.”

Daengbeol. “Blob.”

For some reason, Osaek, who knows everything, agreed.

A clean house in a short period of time… … , No, it was as if my mind had relaxed into the shell of myself that had become brighter in a short period of time.

“Then, shall we check the job search results?”

Hee-na turned on her cell phone with a heavy heart. There was still no reply from my brother.

And there was no contact from numerous companies where Hee-na had submitted her job applications. It was a tacit refusal.

“How can this be?”

I was tearing out my hair at the miserable reality. Even though the economy is difficult and finding a job is difficult, I never thought it would be this difficult.

But Hee-na did not give up easily. Out of frustration, I started sending out applications to other companies.

Even though it hadn’t even been a week since she was forced to become unemployed, Hee-na was a person who couldn’t stay idle.

To be precise, I couldn’t bear the situation of not making money.

“After doing this, I’m sure at least one place will contact me. Right, Five Colors?”

“No definite answer.”

The little snail struck the candle, but Hee-na wisely resolved the situation by pretending not to see the answer.

Then, I took out a crumpled business card from my apron pocket. It was a business card that Minah Woo Hunter gave me, telling me to contact her again.

“I didn’t think it was an empty remark…”

Hee-na looked down at the business card intently. The business card had a blue dragon drawn on it, and the words ‘Blue Dragon’ were nicely engraved on it. Hee-na knew this too.

“It’s the Blue Dragon Guild.”

The Blue Dragon Guild was one of the five major guilds in Korea. It was famous for belonging to S-class hunter Kang Jin-hyeon.

‘Is that why you treated me so comfortably?’

Hee-na nodded, thinking about how Woo Min-ah treated Kang Jin-hyeon comfortably.

‘No matter how much they are employees of the same company, such a scary person… … . ‘Woo Min-ah Hunter must be a great person too.’

While I was thinking about it, I searched the three letters of the name ‘Woo Min-ah’ on the Internet and the results popped up on the portal site.

[Woo Min-ah (26 years old): Korea Hunter Ranking 23rd]

The first thing that popped up was Woo Min-ah’s ranking. Hee-na opened her eyes wide.

‘You were a great hunter, ranking 23rd in our country, right?’

Because it was an ambiguous ranking, not in the single digits, their faces seemed unknown, but just being in the top 100 in the country meant that they were extremely strong.

“You must have a lot of money, right? I was planning to treat you to a meal as a thank you…”

Hee-na sighed as she thought about the amount left in her bank account.

“…But I still have to say thank you, right?”

It wasn’t a lot of money, but it was enough to treat everyone well.

Moreover, Hee-na was a person who knew how to be grateful. This is because I lost my parents at a young age and experienced first-hand how harsh the world can be.

“I should try contacting you via text first.”

Hee-na grabbed her cell phone and entered a text message, one by one.

She introduced herself as Lee Hee-na, and that she was the person who was buried under the leaves in the E-class jungle dungeon that he rescued last time. The self-introduction was a bit strange, but it was for the best.

Rrrr… … .

As soon as I sent the text, I received a call within a few minutes. It was Woo Min-ah. Hee-na hurriedly pressed the call button.

“hello?”

– I finally contacted you! how have you been doing?

“Yes. I wasn’t able to contact you right away because I was in a hurry. I was doing well.”

Then Woo Min-ah smiled brightly and said.

-Ahaha! You still speak beautifully! By the way, do you have time today? I’m off today, would you like to have a meal?

“Ah, yes. Me too… I’m fine today.”

Hee-na was overwhelmed by Woo Min-ah’s momentum and suddenly accepted her request for a date.

Woo Min-ah quickly announced the appointment time and place and hung up the phone.

“In an instant….”

For some reason, I felt incredibly swayed.

But Hee-na consoled herself that it was a good thing since it was true that she had intended to buy a meal anyway.

* * *

“I said it was here…”

Hee-na lingered at the entrance of the meat restaurant. Since the appointment was at 3:30, there were almost no people in the restaurant.

However, only one tall customer was eating grilled meat. But somehow, the back of the customer looked familiar.

‘Could it be, Woomin, a hunter?’

The customer seemed to feel the gaze and turned his head. It was Woo Min-ah.

“You’re here! Come quickly. Sit down, sit down. I ate too much. So I was eating to fill up my stomach beforehand.”

Woo Min-ah waved her hand happily. Hee-na bowed her head and sat in front of her.

“Hello. How have you been?”

“I’ve been doing well. But you seem to have become a bit thin lately? You must have been going through a lot of trouble?”

To be precise, I suffered a lot physically.

I must have lost some weight after working hard for a few days cleaning my studio apartment. Unfortunately, there was no trace of the dozens of rows of kimbap I had eaten so far.

Woo Min-ah made a pitiful face and placed an additional order.

“You should eat a lot too. Boss, here are three more servings of pork belly!”

Since there were only two guests, Hee-na and Woomin, the meat came out quickly.

“Oh, I’ll grill the meat.”

Hee-na blocked Woo Min-ah’s hand from lifting the meat tongs. It was against etiquette to have a benefactor grill meat.

And above all, Hee-na firmly believed that she was an expert at grilling meat. So, even when working at the company, regardless of rank, Hee-na always grilled the meat.

With an appetizing sound, the pork belly was placed on the moderately hot grill.

‘It sounds delicious.’

Hee-na’s mouth was watering as she had been filling her stomach with only convenience store food for the past few days.

‘It should be really delicious.’

The moment I thought that, the quiet system window announced the casting of a skill.

Hee-na was surprised by the suddenly cast skill, but continued grilling meat as if nothing had happened. It was forbidden to think about anything else while eating meat.

“Wow. You cook meat really well! The color is different.”

Woo Min-ah was impressed by the elegant hands that flipped and cut the pork belly.

“I was originally in charge of meat at the company.”

He answered and placed the cooked meat in a circle around the edge of the grill. This meant that it was okay to eat now.

“Eat it. The one I baked today looks especially delicious.”

Hee-na placed a piece of meat on the plate in front of Woo Min-ah. Then he picked up a piece of meat and put it in his mouth.

“delicious!”

Woo Min-ah was impressed. Hee-na also agreed with her words.

As soon as I chewed it, the juice came out in my mouth. It tasted like a meat fairy doing ballet in my mouth. It means that it was perfect in many ways.

And at that moment, Hee-na and Woo Minah’s gaze came together. And we connected. Immediately Woo Min-ah raised her hands and shouted loudly.

“Boss, here are three more servings, no, four more!”

Hee-na and Woo Min-ah ordered meat as if they were going to eat the whole restaurant. And without saying a word, they repeated grilling, eating, grilling, and eating.

How much time has passed?

Of the two, Hee-na was the first to come to her senses. Because my stomach felt like it was going to explode.

“I’m full…”

I was panting and clutching my bulging upper abdomen. Then Woo Min-ah also suddenly came to her senses, as if she had woken up from a dream.

“Wow. You didn’t say a word and just ate all the time, right?”

“That’s right. I was completely focused on eating.”

As she answered in a hazy voice, Woo Min-ah suddenly grabbed Hee-na’s hand.

“Hee-na. Do you want to be my younger sister? I’ve never seen anyone in my life cook meat so well. The meat I just ate is the best meat I’ve ever eaten, really!”

Hee-na completely twisted the 23rd place in Korea’s hunter ranking by grilling meat.