Chapter 88 – Garden of Heaven

As she opened the door thinking, ‘a dungeon I have never visited,’ a scene she had never seen before unfolded before her eyes.

This time, it was a meadow with a wide expanse of green grass. The soft leaves were wet and damp with morning dew, and the morning sunlight shattered brilliantly, emitting multicolored hues.

“Wow, this place is truly… like the Garden of Heaven.”

Hee-na marveled quietly.

Although a dungeon was an extremely dangerous place, on the other hand, it was also a space where nature was perfectly preserved.

Hee-na was sometimes completely overwhelmed by the wonder that dungeons provided. Just like today.

“To think danger is lurking in such a peaceful-looking place. I can’t believe it.”

Hee-na strolled across the meadow with Kang Jin-hyun, leaving Badugi to roam nearby.

Whether it was due to Kang Jin-hyun’s momentum or the Robe of Stealth Hee-na wore, the party did not encounter a single monster during their walk.

Badugi ran around, *splat, splat, splat*, roaming through the morning grass. He also sniffed and scanned the ground.

Hee-na and Kang Jin-hyun [1] walked side by side, watching the scene. Badugi was always hyperactive, so watching him meant she was at least not bored.

*Swish!*

Badugi, who had been running and playing alone for a long time, suddenly raised his flower bud.

“What is it, Badugi? Is there something there?”

Hee-na slowly approached Badugi while checking the quest status window, which was eighty-eight percent complete. It seemed that if she let him play for about twenty more minutes, the quest would end.

“Badugi?”

Badugi quickly got up from his spot. Then he looked alternately at Hee-na and Kang Jin-hyun standing behind her.

“What’s wrong?”

When she asked, puzzled by his sudden action, Badugi reached out his hand… no, his leaf. It was like the gesture one made when offering a handshake.

“You want me to hold it?”

A nod. At Badugi’s response, she reached out her hand without any reluctance and held the leaf firmly. Then, as if he felt good, the leaf on his tail spun round and round like a propeller.

Badugi feeling extremely good smoothly extended the remaining leaf on the opposite side toward Kang Jin-hyun.

Kang Jin-hyun twitched his eyebrows, then uncrossed his arms and held Badugi’s leaf.

Holding Hee-na and Kang Jin-hyun on both leaves, Badugi suddenly dragged the two forward.

“Uh, uh? Where are we going?”

Hee-na looked at Badugi while being half-dragged by him.

However, Badugi only slowed down his walking pace to match Hee-na’s steps and gave no answer.

Of course. Badugi had no mouth.

Surprisingly, Kang Jin-hyun allowed himself to be dragged by Badugi submissively.

“It seems there is something he wants to show us.”

“Ugh. I hope it’s not something like a boss monster.”

She quickly turned on the ‘Where is my home’ skill and inspected the dungeon map. Fortunately, Badugi was not heading toward a boss monster.

Badugi held their hands and climbed up a low hill. Because her stats were better than before, she was not out of breath or struggling.

‘My stamina has indeed improved.’

Just as she was feeling proud of her much stronger limbs.

Her vision suddenly opened up wide.

“Wow!”

Before she knew it, they had climbed all the way up the hill. She had thought it was just a low hill, but having climbed it, the terrain was higher than the surroundings, making her feel as if she had ascended to the top of the world.

The wind blew at the right moment. With a *swoosh*, the green grass leaned their bodies in one direction and then stood back up.

The dew drops that hadn’t flown away reflected the sunlight and sparkled in silver. It felt like stepping into a scene from a masterpiece painting.

“Did you want to show this to us, Badugi?”

When she raised her head to look at Badugi, Badugi nodded his bud. Somehow, in that movement, emotions like pride or boastfulness seemed to be mixed.

“It’s a refreshing view. Thank you.”

She praised him while caressing the leaf she held tightly. Badugi’s roots wriggled in excitement as if performing a tap dance.

Hee-na let out a chuckle at his busy movements.

“We’ll be viewing the scenery here, so you go out and play, Badugi. I have to go to work in a little bit.”

Badugi nodded his bud deeply as if understanding. Then he turned his head left and right, looking alternately at Hee-na and Kang Jin-hyun.

“Why? We’ll be waiting here. We’re not leaving, so don’t worry.”

Thinking he was worried they might leave him behind, she patted Badugi. However, Badugi’s concern did not seem to be that.

Badugi busily turned his head to look at the two, and then gaped his flower bud as if making up his mind.

A crunching, grinding sound that did not match the pretty bud was heard. Of course, she was not curious at all about what this sound could be.

Badugi, who had been roaring(?) for a moment, finally stacked the two leaves that were holding Hee-na and Kang Jin-hyun’s hands gently together.

Naturally, the two hands holding the leaves came into contact with each other.

Hee-na was startled and recoiled at the hot body temperature touching the back of her hand. But Badugi did not care. Instead, he placed Kang Jin-hyun’s palm over the back of Hee-na’s hand.

And then, he patted the held hands and nodded. He looked very satisfied.

“Badugi?”

Badugi pretended not to hear Hee-na’s question and slipped back. The hands that Badugi had forced together naturally seemed to fall apart, but…

“…Ah!”

Hee-na let out a sharp cry.

It was only an instant that Kang Jin-hyun grabbed Hee-na’s hand. His large, firm hand gently wrapped around her entire hand.

“J-Jin-hyun?”

Startled, Hee-na looked at Kang Jin-hyun.

He was staring at Badugi, who was running far away, with an nonchalant expression.

“Since Badugi wishes it, let us stay like this for a moment.”

There was a hint of laughter mixed in his voice. It was as if he was teasing the startled Hee-na.

Getting competitive, Hee-na turned her head sharply.

“Sure. Since Badugi wishes it.”

However, somehow she could not hide her face burning red.

She had been too busy making a living to even make friends properly, so there was no way she had ever dated a male friend. Thanks to that, Hee-na was extremely vulnerable to this kind of contact.

Even if it was Kang Jin-hyun, whom she had regarded as a handsome still object all this time, holding hands directly like this brought all kinds of thoughts to her mind.

The more she wiggled her captured hand out of embarrassment, the firmer the grip holding onto her hand became.

Contrary to his cold impression, Kang Jin-hyun’s hand was extremely hot. It was so hot that she even had the foolish worry that her captured hand might melt away.

It was when she was swallowing hard, conscious of the warm body temperature.

Kang Jin-hyun suddenly opened his mouth.

“Even after this quest ends, it would be good to go out for walks like this occasionally.”

“Walks?”

“Yes. Badugi likes walks a lot, so if we end the walks like this, he will probably be very disappointed. Of course, not alone, but under the assumption that you accompany me.”

“Well… that’s not bad. Please visit our house often.”

However, she hadn’t expected that the person who fussed over Hee-na’s safety more than anyone else would bring up such a topic first.

“Is it that surprising?”

Reading her expression, Kang Jin-hyun chuckled and asked.

Hee-na answered hesitantly.

“Honestly, I did think it was a bit surprising. For you to say such a thing, Mr. Jin-hyun…”

“I am also a person with some degree of flexibility. And I’ve grown quite attached to Badugi too.”

Then he fell silent for a moment, and slowly continued speaking.

“Because of that, there is something I want to tell you.”

His voice was cautious. A firm strength also entered the held hands.

Along with that, the tension was transmitted to Hee-na as well. Hee-na swallowed hard.

“W-What is it?”

“…Could I continue staying in your house, Ms. Hee-na?”

It was a sound that even felt embarrassing. Unfortunately, Hee-na did not know well what kind of answer she should give to such words.

“Uh…”

It was while she was biting her lip and contemplating how to interpret these words and how to respond.

The system window rang with rings, announcing the completion of the quest. Before she knew it, the progress of Badugi’s dungeon walk quest had reached one hundred percent.

“Did the quest completion window appear?”

Kang Jin-hyun asked quickly. Hee-na nodded, reading the letters that appeared in front of her eyes frantically.

Since her level rose by fifteen, the level-up rewards to be received were also fifteen. It was cumbersome to check them one by one.

“Yes. I’ll receive them all at once.”

As soon as she accepted receiving the rewards, the usual ‘Drawing’ message appeared. Since it was fifteen level-up rewards, it took quite some time.

After some time had passed, a flashy effect exploded in front of Hee-na’s eyes like fireworks.

“Special rewards?”

“…Fragment of the Piece of Space?”

A piece of space was a piece of space, but what on earth was a fragment of it?

If it was a fragment of a piece, was it not like a crumb of space?

Just as she was thinking that.

Watching the system window, Hee-na’s eyes opened wide.

‘Apartment expansion?’

The Homemaker of the Dungeon