Chapter 92 – Escaping the Kidnapper

Won Deok-sam sat flat on the floor, muttered something under his breath, rummaged through his pockets, and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter.

Then, he lit the cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled the smoke. As expected of a bad person, he had no hesitation about smoking indoors.

The acrid smell of cigarettes stimulated the tip of Hee-na’s nose. Inhaling the cigarette smoke exhaled by someone else was not very pleasant, but thanks to the acrid aroma, her mind snapped back to alertness.

‘First, I have to escape from here. What if that person harms me severely to pry out more of my secrets?’

Spilling any more secrets than this was unacceptable.

Hee-na put force into her toes again and dragged the chair backward with a scraping sound.

“Ah, noisy! Be quiet for a moment, young lady!”

Whether the sound was annoying to him, the man smoking the cigarette shouted loudly.

He seemed extremely exhausted after using that strange skill on Hee-na. It was a relief. It felt like a good idea to run away while his energy was temporarily drained.

‘Hup!’

Regardless of the man’s shouting, Hee-na rocked her body back and forth to back away.

As the chair tilted backward, before she knew it, the backrest hit the wall with a tap. She felt the solid wall at her fingertips tied behind her back.

“Ah, my head… This damn penalty.”

The man scratched his head roughly, threw the cigarette butt, and crushed it with his foot. While his gaze was directed at the floor, Hee-na cast the ‘Home Sweet Home’ skill.

A door appeared behind the chair, and Hee-na fumbled around to find the door handle. Although it was not easy to move because her wrists were tied, her desperation was greater than that.

‘…Here it is!’

Finally, while fumbling against the wall, Hee-na grabbed the handle. Turning the door handle while twisting her bent wrists caused pain as if her muscles were tearing. However, in the face of escape, such pain was not important.

Hee-na clutched the handle and checked the man’s reaction. He was still groaning and holding his head, as if the headache had not subsided.

He looked helpless, but he was at a distance where it wouldn’t be surprising if he suddenly jumped up and lunged at Hee-na at any moment.

Her heart pounded for fear that she would be caught before she could turn the doorknob completely.

And…

Click.

The sound of the latch unlocking resounded quite loudly in the quiet storeroom.

‘Was the sound of opening the door always this loud?’

Cold sweat trickled down Hee-na’s back.

“What is that sound again?”

The man also seemed to have heard the sound, as he raised his head while pressing his temples.

It was then that the front door opened. With a click, the door behind Hee-na opened, and fluorescent light leaked in through the slightly ajar front door.

“Huh? Wh-what is this?”

The man seemed startled and flustered by the sudden light, but he quickly found his balance and staggered to his feet. Then, he tried to snatch Hee-na, who was shifting her body in the chair.

‘Ah, no!’

Hee-na grit her teeth and rocked her body back and forth. She leaned her upper body forward as much as possible, then used the recoil force to push the chair backward.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

At that moment, the man reached out to grab Hee-na.

However, Hee-na slipped past his fingers by a hair’s breadth.

Instead, her body tilted backward along with the chair. As the center of gravity shifted to the back legs of the chair, the backrest pushed the door open.

“Kyaah!”

Hee-na tumbled onto the floor with a thud while still tied to the chair. However, she had no time to feel the pain spreading through her entire body.

“H-help me! Go away! Get lost!”

Hee-na screamed at the top of her lungs while collapsed in front of the familiar shoe rack at the entryway.

Meanwhile, the man quickly regained his composure.

“What is this? Is this that space-related skill?”

He cautiously approached the open entryway of ‘Home Sweet Home.’

‘No! I have to close it!’

Hee-na stamped her feet in her mind. Because her body was bound, she could not close the wide-open front door.

‘If it were a small house like before, they would have noticed the commotion quickly and come out to check!’

Hee-na resented the expanded state of ‘Home Sweet Home’ for the first time. The house had become so spacious that the commotion occurring at the entryway did not seem to be heard properly.

“Young lady, let’s talk about this skill slowly.”

The man’s eyes seemed to glint sharply.

At the chilling threat, Hee-na desperately called out for her family.

“Help me! Oppa! Osaek-i! Baduki! Help! Aaargh!”

Thud!

It was in an instant that a huge shadow lunged at the man.

“Ugh!”

The man, who was approaching Hee-na, was body-slammed by something and fell flat on his back.

It was Baduki.

“Baduki!”

Hee-na shouted the name of Baduki, who had appeared like a hero.

After examining Hee-na’s condition, Baduki stamped its roots on the floor as if extremely angry, then rushed at the man like an enraged bull.

Tadadak!

With a clattering noise, Baduki climbed on top of the fallen man.

“M-monster!”

The man hastily pulled out a knife from his inventory.

However, the palm-sized knife was only useful for threatening people, and was far from enough to deal with Baduki, who had grown to nearly two meters.

He couldn’t even properly scratch a single leaf of Baduki, who had been trained through dungeon walks.

Baduki raised its arm—no, its leaf—high up, then swiftly struck down on the man’s face.

Slap!

“Ugh!”

Along with the sound of a satisfying slap on the cheek, the man’s scream echoed loudly. However, there was no mercy for Baduki, the house guardian.

Slap! Slap! Slap!

Baduki slapped both of the man’s cheeks, alternating its leaves.

A striking sound so strong was heard that it made her wonder if such a noise should even come from a human face.

Landlord?! Landlord?! Bee-bo bee-bo ♨ ☎Emergency Dispatch 112!!!! ☎Emergency Dispatch 112!!!!

In the meantime, Osaek-i, who had rushed like an arrow within the limits of speed a snail could manage, hovered around Hee-na.

Whether Osaek-i was extremely shocked by Hee-na’s state, it kept drawing ‘112’ largely in the air.

“What…? What happened while I was washing…!”

Hee-won, who seemed to have been washing, came out in only his underwear, and his mouth fell wide open at the mess unfolding before his eyes.

“Hee-na? What on earth is this state!”

Seeing her brother’s foolish appearance in only his underwear made her snap out of it.

Hee-na shrieked.

“Oppa! Don’t just stand there, untie me!”

“Ah, okay!”

Hee-won rushed over in a flurry and untied Hee-na’s bound hands and feet. Although he seemed extremely flustered, there was no hesitation in untying Hee-na’s limbs.

Hee-won was a ten-year veteran hunter who had even experienced life as a slave in his own way. He knew how to deal with emergencies quickly.

“What on earth is this? Why are you tied up like this? Did you get human trafficked? Huh?”

“Something like that. I was kidnapped.”

“How?”

“How should I know?”

Hee-na massaged her numb limbs and stood up abruptly.

Outside the open door, the satisfying slapping sounds of slap, slap, still echoed. It was the sound of Baduki punishing the man.

“Is that guy the one? The one who made you like this?”

Hee-won asked, pointing at the man pinned beneath Baduki.

“Yeah. I think that man kidnapped me.”

“That bastard…!”

A sharp blade appeared in Hee-won’s hand, seemingly retrieved from his inventory. With a fierce look in his eyes, he strode toward the man.

That sight felt incredibly reassuring to Hee-na.

…Even if he was only wearing his underwear.

Hee-na slinked toward the man, following behind her brother.

Slap! Slap! Slap!

The man lay spread-eagled, getting slapped on the cheeks by Baduki. The swing of the leaves was as unusual as the brutal sounds.

“Baduki, wait a moment.”

Hee-na stopped the excited Baduki.

It would be troublesome if the opponent died like this. Of course, there was no better way to silence someone than killing them to destroy evidence, but she had too many things to find out.

‘I need to know how he found out about Oppa’s peanuts, how he associated me with the peanuts, and why he kidnapped me.’

There was no guarantee that this man would be the last person to harm Hee-na. She had to find a countermeasure.

Meanwhile, as Baduki stopped swinging its leaves, the man’s body went limp. He had fainted from getting slapped too hard on the cheeks.

Hee-na brought the rope that had bound her and handed it to her brother.

“Why? Should I strangle him to death?”

Hee-na glared as Hee-won made such a chilling remark.

“No. Tie this man up. I have a lot to ask.”

There was a great deal to interrogate him about.

* * *

His jaw was stiff, and he felt a tingling pain in his face.

“Oh my…”

Won Deok-sam opened his eyes with a groan. Then, bright light leaked through his eyelids.

At the same time, an unfamiliar sight unfolded before his eyes.

[Kya-kya-kyak! Kya-kya-kya-kyak!]

[Kiyoooooot! Keuoooooot!]

Monsters were flying in circles in the vast, towering sky. A faint salty scent wafted along with the sound of waves crashing.

“W-where is this? Is it a dream?”

Won Deok-sam tried to move his hands to rub his eyes, but his body didn’t move as he wanted. His arms and legs were tied tightly to the chair.

“What? What’s going on?”

He rolled his brain to recall his memories right before waking up.

He had tracked down the source of the rare peanuts that went into the inventory and found a woman who seemed to be related to it. She was an employee belonging to the Blue Dragon Guild.

Her exact department was unknown, but seeing that she had been in the cleaning division until recently, she had to be a non-Awakened or a non-combat Awakened.

…Which meant she didn’t seem dangerous at all.

Won Deok-sam was the type who didn’t like to make a big deal out of things, so he had intended to tail the woman first.

But what was this? While following the woman, a quest popped up.

The Homemaker of the Dungeon