Chapter 95 – The Mana Stone Oath

The siblings’ suspicion was reasonable.

For an information broker who supposedly held Asia in his hands and shook it, Won Deok-sam’s caliber seemed too small.

“If you are such an information broker, shouldn’t you be stealing secrets from government agencies? Rather than kidnapping and blackmailing someone like me.”

“Where is the hierarchy in information? It is merely divided into information that makes money and information that makes less money. And from what I saw, this peanut matter was information that could make a substantial amount of money!”

Won Deok-sam hurriedly made excuses. Meanwhile, he added word by word.

“Actually, I agree with the fact that I kidnapped you hastily, lady. But I couldn’t help it. A quest popped up to kidnap you, so how could I just pass it by without doing it?”

Although the reward for quest success was a reward in itself, the penalty for failure was too fatal.

It staked the erasure of the ‘Truth Debate’ skill, which was practically Won Deok-sam’s livelihood and lifeline.

“…Because the situation was like this, I had no choice but to kidnap you. Would someone like me do this because I like threatening ordinary citizens? Dealing with Hunters who have been through everything is several times more comfortable.”

At his words, Hee-na and Hee-won exchanged glances. Both were thinking the same thing.

‘The system handed down a quest?’

The system had always behaved favorably toward Hee-na. She could not believe that such a system would urge her kidnapping.

No, she did not want to believe it.

“Do you not know why the system told you to kidnap me?”

Hee-na asked urgently.

However, Won Deok-sam twitched his eyebrows as if she were asking something strange.

“The system is just the system. How could there be any intention? It is regrettable for me to say this with my own mouth, but… you simply suffered a kind of natural disaster, lady.”

Nonsense Warning♨ Nonsense Warning♨

Osaek-i wiggled its antennas, as if it did not agree.

Hee-na patted the round head of the excited Osaek-i. It was bouncy like a rubber ball.

“Anyway, we can’t be sure whether you are Mr. Won or whoever. Do you have any evidence that can verify that?”

Hee-na did not easily discard her doubt and questioned him sharply.

Hee-won, standing behind Hee-na, secretly made a throat-slitting gesture. It meant he would kill him if he didn’t answer properly.

Won Deok-sam quickly rolled his eyes.

‘What is there…? Should I blow a government secret? But would those people even believe it?’

He tried to recall dozens of ways to prove his identity.

However, with the flying monster screeching ‘kiak-kiak’ overhead and the plant-type monster rolling up grass leaves in front of him, it was difficult to think of a proper method.

“Then let’s do this.”

It was Hee-na who preempted him.

“Make an oath on a mana stone. Swear that you are ‘Mr. Won,’ and that you will pay a heavy price if you are not.”

Meanwhile, she rummaged through her apron pocket and pulled out a glass bottle about the size of a fist. It was filled with sparkling mana stones.

It was an item Kang Jin-hyun had abruptly handed over in the past, calling it coffee money.

‘I never expected to use this in this way.’

Hee-na opened the cork lid and shook a handful of mana stones onto her palm.

Those red like rubies, green like emeralds, blue like sapphires, and so on were caught in her hand. They were all mana stones that had pretty good transparency but were deep in color and small in size, failing to receive a high-grade evaluation.

Although they were not suitable to become materials for items, they were appropriate for making an ‘oath.’

“I can do it!”

Won Deok-sam nodded his swollen face up and down. Desperation overflowed on his face.

Hee-na placed a mana stone in Won Deok-sam’s bound hands.

“Repeat the oath after me.”

“Y-Yes. Understood!”

“Henceforth, I shall speak only the truth within the ‘Home Sweet Home’ area, and if I speak a lie, I shall immediately lose all the abilities I possess.”

“…Henceforth, I shall speak only the truth within the ‘Home Sweet Home’ area, and if I speak a lie, I shall immediately lose all the abilities I possess.”

Won Deok-sam falteringly recited Hee-na’s words.

Preventing him from lying at all was an oath that was almost violent to him, who lived by his mouth. But what could he do?

‘Life is more important than that.’

Soon, a faint light emitted from between his fingers holding the mana stone. The mana stone disappeared, and the contract was concluded.

Hee-na threw a question as a check.

“What is your name and age?”

“My name is Won Deok-sam, and I turn forty this year.”

Seeing that his surname was Won, it seemed ‘Mr. Won’ was correct, and though he was slightly aged-looking, his age and appearance roughly matched.

“Is your identity really the information broker Mr. Won?”

“Yes! I am indeed the information broker Mr. Won! I have not spoken a single lie!”

Seeing that nothing happened, his story was clearly the truth.

Hee-na asked a few more things she had wanted to inquire about while interrogating him.

“Do you have a faction behind you?”

“No. I planned this all on my own.”

“Have you ever leaked this information to anyone around you?”

“I haven’t done that either. I am of the belief that information must be monopolized, so I don’t share such things with others…”

Seeing a hint of greed creep onto his face as he spoke of information made him seem even more trustworthy.

“Then that means there’s no chance people will come tracking me down because of you?”

“Yes. I have no family and work alone, so there’s no one in particular to look for me…”

Won Deok-sam wore a slightly lonely expression for a moment, then shook his head.

“…Well, that is the case. However, other bastards might also smell money in the peanuts like I did and track you down, lady. Of course, they won’t be able to dig up information as quickly as I did, so it will take a long time.”

Won Deok-sam poured out facts he hadn’t even been asked about.

“Hmm… Brother, what do we do? Do we really have to ask the guild for help?”

Hee-na had a troubled expression.

According to this man, Won Deok-sam, more kidnappers like him could appear.

“Indeed. This doesn’t seem like something we can handle on our own.”

The siblings whispered and discussed.

“Let’s wait at least until Jin-hyun returns. Jin-hyun might have a good idea.”

“Yeah. It might be dangerous, so hold out with your vacation until Jin-hyun comes.”

“Understood. I plan to do that too.”

For a moment, the faces of the ordinary Hunters who had been eagerly anticipating Hee-na’s food flashed through her mind, but it couldn’t be helped.

Her own safety took priority over company welfare.

‘I have to be alive in one piece to cook for them anyway.’

It was when she was reasoning thus.

“I can help you!”

Won Deok-sam noisily wagged his tongue.

The gazes of the siblings, Hee-na and Hee-won, focused on him in an instant.

“How can you help us?”

As Hee-na pressed, Won Deok-sam wriggled his body and proposed.

“First, if you promise absolutely not to harm me, I will help you.”

“Won Deok-sam, you know what state you’re in right now, don’t you? Does a proposal for a deal come out of your mouth in this situation?”

Hee-won snapped, displeased.

Baduk-i, who was sitting quietly behind Hee-won, also made a crunching sound as it ground its teeth in tandem.

Won Deok-sam’s swollen face turned pale.

“N-No, still, can’t I at least beg for a guarantee on my life? I don’t ask for much. If you just return me alive in one piece, I will do anything for you.”

His appearance was so desperate that had his hands not been tied, he might have rubbed them together in begging.

Hee-na bit her lips repeatedly. And she whispered something to Hee-won.

As the conversation grew longer, Won Deok-sam’s expression became more anxious. His back was already drenched in cold sweat.

“Please… spare my life.”

After talking with her brother for a long time, Hee-na turned around.

“…Then let’s do this. My brother and I will let you live. Instead, there are a few conditions.”

And she held up three fingers.

“First, you will not leave my space, ‘Home Sweet Home,’ for a week.”

This was a condition to prevent Won Deok-sam from fleeing before Kang Jin-hyun, who would help the siblings, arrived.

“Second, no matter what happens, you will not cause any mental or physical harm to my brother, myself, Osaek-i, and Baduk-i.”

The second condition was for the safety of Hee-na’s family.

They had to keep him confined in the house for at least a week until Kang Jin-hyun came, but by the siblings’ common sense, they couldn’t leave him tied up like this.

So, they had prepared a safety measure in case they untied him.

Then Hee-na recited the final condition.

“Third, Won Deok-sam will help us with all his heart and strength so that we do not fall into danger. …If you keep these three conditions, I will not lay a hand on you during your week at our house and will release you alive.”

Of course, she had left out the most important part.

‘We won’t lay a hand on him, but if a problem arises after he is released, Jin-hyun or the guild can handle him instead.’

The quick-witted Won Deok-sam immediately noticed the loophole in this deal.

“That’s a bit unfair…”

But in the current situation, the Hee-na siblings were the absolute dominant party, and Won Deok-sam was merely the subordinate.

Just leaving this place alive without dying right now was something to be deeply grateful for.

“Do you have an objection? We have other corners to rely on. It doesn’t have to be solved by you.”

Hee-na threw a bluff.

The Homemaker of the Dungeon