Chapter 90 – Cooking for the Hunters

Once a month was not a difficult task. Moving her hands to make something for someone to eat was quite enjoyable.

There was even a nice kitchen in the guild just for Hee-na.

Moreover, considering the salary she received, which was generous to a fault, she felt it would be fine to work a little more.

Even without that, she felt guilty and bored because it felt like she did nothing but idle away her time at the office every day.

“Then, could you put in a good word for me with Team Leader Kang Mok-hyun…?”

No matter how great Choi Sang-hoon was, HR Team Leader Kang Mok-hyun did not seem to be an easy opponent. Choi Sang-hoon covertly gauged Hee-na’s reaction.

“Yes. I will tell him that I will do it. Surely he wouldn’t say anything when I say I’m fine with it?”

Hee-na readily accepted Choi Sang-hoon’s proposal. Choi Sang-hoon’s face brightened up.

“Really? Thanks for making a good decision, Hee-na. The other guys will make sure you are handsomely rewarded.”

He laughed out loud, grabbed Hee-na’s hands, and shook them vigorously.

* * *

HR Team Leader Kang Mok-hyun approved Hee-na’s request with surprising ease.

It was hard to believe he was the same person who had coldly rejected the hunters’ suggestions dozens of times.

“If Team Leader Lee Hee-na wishes so, I cannot stop you. Besides, from the guild’s perspective, it helps boost morale, so the positive aspects are greater.”

At the same time, he proposed additional pay for managing the regular hunters. Since the amount was absurdly large, Hee-na shook her head.

“No. I am not going to do anything grand enough to receive such a huge amount of money.”

Receiving that much money felt more than just burdensome; it made her feel as though she would have to overwork herself instead.

“Then at least an additional budget proposal…”

Hee-na barely managed to dissuade HR Team Leader Kang Mok-hyun, who went so far as to suggest a grandiose additional budget proposal.

“The budget we have right now is already overflowing. You are giving me more than enough to feed the people here every day, so it is fine.”

Scared of what kind of monetary windfall she might get hit with if she sat there any longer, Hee-na jumped up from her seat and fled.

“I will take that as an approval, so I will head out now! Goodbye!”

“Please do not overexert yourself. Come see me if there is any problem.”

“Yep, I understand! Have a nice day too, Team Leader Kang!”

Hee-na barely paid attention to his reply as she walked out of the HR Team Leader’s office.

As soon as she closed the door with a thud and turned around, Hee-na was startled. Dozens of eyes suddenly focused on her.

“Uh… uh?”

Hunters were clustered in a noisy crowd right outside the HR Team Leader’s office. Hee-na’s earlobes turned red at the unexpected attention.

“Well… do you have business with Team Leader Kang?”

“No. Our business is with you, Hee-na.”

“What is it?”

“How did the talk end?”

“He said he would support me as much as possible in managing the regular hunters as long as it wasn’t too hard on me… Ah!”

When she answered cautiously, someone suddenly picked Hee-na up and carried her on their back. Then, with that person leading the way, the hunters began to move in a herd like a pack of buffaloes.

Everyone was extremely calm and quiet, as if their mouths had been zipped shut.

‘Uh, u-uh?’

By the time she snapped out of it, she was already sitting in the hunters-only lounge on the 8th floor. As soon as Hee-na sat down in the lounge, cheers erupted in the previously quiet room.

“Waaah!”

“You are the best!”

“We finally get to experience it too! That hand taste!”

“Gimbap! Gimbap!”

“Peanuts! Peanuts!”

All kinds of voices overlapped, making it impossible to fully make out, but it seemed to mean they were extremely happy to finally experience Hee-na’s hand taste.

Looking at the people in the lounge, they were all familiar faces. They were the hunters who had been treated to gimbap and peanuts by Hee-na.

“Don’t tell me you were all waiting for the HR Team Leader’s permission?”

When she asked, dumbfounded, someone answered.

“Of course! Do you have any idea how important this is!”

Soon after, someone’s thunderous shout was heard.

“Uwohh! Abolish rank discrimination! Abolish it! Hunter liberation!”

Hee-na scratched her cheek, thinking that no matter how good her hand taste was, calling for hunter liberation was going a bit too far.

It took some time for the hunters’ excitement to die down.

The hunters, who had been sweeping through the lounge as if throwing a festival, came to their senses one by one and glanced at Hee-na.

Hee-na thought she knew what they wanted. The glistening saliva at the corners of their mouths revealed their true intentions.

“Alright. I will make you something delicious tomorrow afternoon. In return, I get to decide the menu. OK?”

“O-K!”

The hunters shouted in unison, their voices ringing out.

They looked so innocent that Hee-na felt as if she had become a kindergarten teacher instructing oversized children.

Hee-na returned to the office under the extreme escort (?) of the hunters.

Even though they didn’t even know what tomorrow’s menu would be, they were already gulping down their saliva. And how their eyes sparkled… She felt a strong desire to live up to the hunters’ expectations.

“Hmm. A menu that can be made in large quantities but requires as little hands-on effort as possible… What is there?”

Opening and closing the refrigerator and cabinets, she pondered over various menus. Having only cooked meals for a few people at home, she had never done such large-scale cooking before, so she was deeply worried.

“It seems a bit awkward to just set out a few side dishes… A menu that is filling enough to serve as a proper meal and also has plenty of nutrition…”

As she was contemplating deeply, a dish suddenly popped into her head.

“Ah! Curry!”

It was curry, which was delicious no matter what ingredients were put in.

“I can just make the curry myself and ask the cafeteria to make the rice.”

Since large-scale cooking would be difficult in the kitchen attached to the office, she figured she would have to borrow the cafeteria kitchen as well.

When she called on the extension to ask if she could borrow the kitchen tomorrow when they were free, she was readily granted permission.

When they asked if they should also purchase the ingredients in bulk for her, she replied that it was fine. Since she happened to have nothing to do today, she planned to go to the market to see and choose the ingredients herself.

‘Grocery shopping is fun.’

Scouting around here and there to buy high-quality ingredients at good prices was one of Hee-na’s hobbies. Furthermore, the taste of the snacks she would eagerly gobble down while browsing the market was also highly satisfying.

Hee-na quickly finished preparing to go out. In one hand she held a shopping bag, and in the other, she held the Blue Dragon Guild corporate card.

She would have to shop for roughly 40 to 50 servings, but she was not afraid of the weight of the shopping bag.

Hee-na was now a C-class Homemaker, and the sum of her stamina, strength, and agility stats safely exceeded 30. She had gained enough strength to easily carry average loads.

“As expected, stamina, strength, and persistence are the best for housework.”

Praising the three great virtues needed for housework, Hee-na stepped out of the Blue Dragon Guild.

Perhaps because it was an awkward time right after lunchtime had ended, there were not very many pedestrians.

While she was lingering by the main road to catch a taxi, a strange sensation washed over her.

Should she call it an itchy feeling on the back of her neck? She felt as though someone was watching her.

‘Hmm?’

Hee-na looked around. She wondered if there was someone from the Blue Dragon Guild nearby.

However, there were only unfamiliar pedestrians around, and no familiar faces were in sight.

‘Strange. I thought I felt eyes on me. Was it an illusion?’

Feeling puzzled, she hailed an approaching taxi and headed to a nearby market.

‘Pork, potatoes, onions, carrots… what else is there?’

Inside the taxi, she was too busy calculating the ingredients and quantities to put into the curry, so she quickly forgot her curiosity about the strange gaze.

Before long, the taxi arrived at its destination.

“Thank you. Have a good day.”

Hee-na thanked the driver as she got out of the taxi.

Closing the car door with a click, the familiar air of the market filled the depths of her lungs. Although it was not crowded since it was a weekday afternoon, it was bustling with the lively scent of humanity.

Hee-na strode into the market. She looked at the goods displayed on the stalls, asking and negotiating prices. She even joked around, unlike her usual self, asking for a discount.

Midway through, her mouth felt a bit lonely for no reason, so she bought and ate some spicy red fish cakes. Accompanied by the refreshing and spicy broth, three skewers disappeared in an instant.

Hee-na smacked lips.

‘It is so great to be able to buy and eat plenty of snacks without worrying!’

These were market snacks that she would have held back from buying nine times out of ten due to worries about living expenses.

Now, thanks to her salary that was more than enough, she could eat as many fish cake skewers as she wanted.

‘Ah, this is indeed happiness.’

Hee-na felt immense happiness from just three fish cake skewers.

After finishing off the snack, she checked the time and realized an hour had already passed. She had lost track of time while looking around the market and enjoying the snacks.

“Now I really need to go buy the ingredients.”

Hee-na walked along the market street, counting the shops she had earmarked earlier.

Then, something caught Hee-na’s attention: it was the word ‘Hotteok’ nestled in a corner of the market alley.

‘Hotteok!’

Hee-na’s eyes sparkled.

To discover a hotteok shop in this summer, when it was hard to find one even in winter! For Hee-na, a hotteok lover, this was a sweet spot she simply couldn’t pass by.

‘It looks delicious…’

She felt as though the flavor of melted hot brown sugar was already lingering in her mouth. Having just eaten something spicy, she craved something sweet even more. She could hold back on other things, but she couldn’t resist hotteok.

Hee-na walked deep into the market alley as if possessed. At the same time, she firmly resolved not to wander off track again after this.

‘Seriously, I will just eat this, buy the groceries, and head back to the office.’

It was at the moment when she was gulping down her saliva and fiddling with the 1,000 won bill in her pocket.

A suspicious shadow brushed past Hee-na’s back as she entered the dark alley.

Ssshk.

Sensing her hair standing on end, she instinctively looked back.

“…What is it?”

However, there was no one behind her. Hee-na scratched her cheek and murmured.

“It was like this earlier too, and now I feel strange again…”

It was when she turned her head forward again.

Hee-na’s eyes widened in an instant. A dark shadow blocked the path without a sound.

The Homemaker of the Dungeon