Chapter 102 – An SSS-Rank Newspaper

It felt like taking a self-defense class for ordinary people would be much more helpful.

Hee-na’s capability was far too lacking to understand the combat perspective of an S-class Hunter. It might have been more rewarding for a national athlete to teach an infant instead.

“Finding the right weapon is more important than developing your skills.”

However, Kang Jin-hyun was very firm.

“I am sorry to say this, but you lack talent, Hee-na. As such, you need a tool that can make up for your lack of talent.”

Separately from coaxing Hee-na with various nice compliments, he did not believe in Hee-na’s talent at all.

In other words… Kang Jin-hyun wanted Hee-na to rely on the power of her gear.

“No, well… from your perspective, Jin-hyun, wouldn’t there be very few people in the world with combat talent?”

She made a mumbled excuse, but Kang Jin-hyun flatly shook his head.

“No. Regardless of the rank, there is such a thing as basic sense. You lack that, Hee-na.”

“Still, I am probably better than my brother.”

Hee-na got huffy for nothing and dragged the innocent Hee-won into it.

It felt unfair because Hee-won had also been receiving various training sessions from Kang Jin-hyun in his spare time, and he had said nothing about him.

“Hee-won has been living as a Hunter for a long time, so his basics are established.”

On top of that, while carefully watching Hee-na’s reaction, Kang Jin-hyun even threw in a compliment, saying that Hee-won had quite a good sense for a non-combat Awakened.

Hee-na cried out, huffing for no reason.

“My reflexes are better than my brother’s!”

She had her own reasoning.

‘When a bug infestation broke out due to an error in “Home Sweet Home” last time, I caught far more bugs than my brother!’

How busily Baduk-i had moved its bud to pick up and eat the bugs Hee-na caught!

The shocked look in Hee-won’s eyes as he watched Hee-na’s incredible martial prowess was still vivid in her memory.

Kang Jin-hyun, who was quietly listening to Hee-na’s boastful explanation, slowly stroked his chin.

“Hmm. You said Hee-won used a frying pan, so what kind of tool did you use, Hee-na?”

“Me? Of course, it’s a newspaper for catching bugs.”

Of course, it was no ordinary newspaper.

Because it was the SSS-rank Useful Newspaper received as an epic reward.

Hee-na took out the SSS-rank Useful Newspaper that had been sleeping quietly in her inventory and showed it to him.

“It’s an item from a dungeon, and while the rank is high, it is actually just a normal newspaper.”

“This is…”

Receiving Hee-na’s SSS-rank Useful Newspaper, Kang Jin-hyun looked lost for words for a moment.

It was natural. He had probably never seen such a trivial-looking SSS-rank item before.

“May I inspect it for a moment?”

“Of course. Feel free to inspect it. It’s nothing special. It’s good for catching bugs, and… oh, right. It was warm to sleep under.”

Hee-na recalled her experience sleeping outdoors in the B-rank mushroom dungeon. She had a memory of it being quite comfortable despite being just a thin sheet of paper…

With a profound expression, Kang Jin-hyun tried folding the newspaper, unfolding it, and even pulling it as if to tear it apart.

Although it could have been torn to shreds or crumpled under his strength, the SSS-rank Useful Newspaper never lost its shape.

Meaning it maintained its ordinary, moderately folded appearance.

He even took out a flint to light the newspaper on fire and poured water from a water bottle onto it.

Surprisingly, the newspaper did not burn in the fire, nor did it get wet by the water. True to its SSS-rank, its durability was incredibly tough.

‘It’s quite impressive for a newspaper!’

Hee-na gave extra points to the SSS-rank newspaper in her heart.

“Hmm.”

Meanwhile, Kang Jin-hyun let out an unreadable low hum while observing the newspaper here and there.

After examining the newspaper for some time, he rolled it up and handed it to Hee-na.

“Would you like to try swinging it?”

“This?”

Swinging a newspaper was ten million times easier than swinging the A-rank spear she was holding just a moment ago.

According to Osaek-i’s expression, this was easier than ‘eating cold lettuce.’

*Swish, swish.* The rolled-up newspaper sliced through the air. Since she had experience catching bugs, her wrist snap was extraordinary.

‘Is this how I’m supposed to do it?’

Feeling a bit embarrassed by her attempt at showmanship, Hee-na giggled and checked Kang Jin-hyun’s reaction.

Surprisingly, his expression was extremely serious.

“It is good.”

When he suddenly declared, “It is good,” giving a sign of approval, Hee-na was somewhat bewildered.

“What is?”

“The compatibility between you and the newspaper is excellent.”

In response to her question, Kang Jin-hyun evaluated the compatibility between Hee-na and the newspaper.

“Of course, it is a bit regrettable that you have to choose a mere newspaper as an offensive weapon, but… it balances well with you, and since its strength and durability are outstanding as expected of a triple-S-rank, it can sufficiently serve as a substitute weapon.”

It was an evaluation that they were a perfect match.

“T-This?”

Hee-na broke into a cold sweat out of embarrassment.

Recalling all the splendid weapons Kang Jin-hyun had brought, she felt embarrassed first and foremost.

‘Bypassing all those weapons, the thing that suits me best is just a newspaper?’

Although she was not a combat-type ability user, Hee-na also had a romance about cool weapons.

‘But a newspaper, of all things!’

Sensing Hee-na’s dejected mood, Kang Jin-hyun hurriedly added an explanation.

“First of all, this is no ordinary newspaper. It is a triple S-rank item. It holds a rare value with only a few of its kind existing in the entire world. That is not all. Just the fact that you can handle it skillfully is a huge advantage. After all, a familiar tool is always the best.”

Hee-na muttered, following Kang Jin-hyun’s words.

“A familiar tool…”

Indeed. Out of all the items Kang Jin-hyun had brought so far, there was nothing Hee-na could handle properly.

She had even trembled while wielding the B-rank fruit knife that Woo Min-ah had given her as a housewarming gift.

Even though it was a knife she had used so usefully when prepping fruits or vegetables!

‘Then is this a psychological problem?’

Indeed. Hee-na was not the type to raise her voice at others, and she had lived a life far from conflict.

There was no way such a Hee-na could easily wield a knife as soon as she grabbed it.

“You tend to hesitate first whenever you hold a weapon, Hee-na. You get intimidated just by the fact that you are holding a weapon that can harm someone. That is why you keep making mistakes.”

Kang Jin-hyun also pointed out the same thing, as if he shared a similar thought.

“However, a newspaper is a much more everyday tool than the weapons I have presented. Perhaps because of that, I do not see any hesitation when you swing the newspaper, Hee-na.”

“…That is true.”

Hee-na agreed with his words.

No matter how great it was, a newspaper was just a newspaper. Could it harm anything more than a bug at most? She did not feel that it was dangerous at all.

“It is true that it suits me because it does not look dangerous, but then, doesn’t that defeat the purpose of a self-defense weapon?”

Hee-na’s question was valid.

‘Shouldn’t it be somewhat threatening to protect oneself? This looks way too lacking!’

Indeed. The newspaper looked too shoddy to be considered a ‘weapon.’

Perhaps a commercially available stun gun or pepper spray would perform more powerfully than this.

To the puzzled Hee-na, Kang Jin-hyun began to explain step-by-step.

“Making this threatening is what you have to do from now on, Hee-na.”

“How?”

“You need to train your ‘Pest Extermination’ skill.”

“Pest Extermination? But the activation condition for that is strict…”

Hee-na pulled up the system window and read the description of the ‘Pest Extermination’ skill.

“Pest Extermination. C-rank. Eradicates existences that threaten the peace of the home. Active skill.”

The activation condition for Pest Extermination was a bit ambiguous. This skill activated unconditionally as long as it was at a level that threatened the peace of the home.

Hee-na’s ‘Pest Extermination’ skill had activated a total of four times since her awakening.

The first time was during her first encounter with Osaek-i.

She had a memory of receiving -100 proficiency after striking the suddenly appearing snail, thinking it was a bug in the house.

The second time was in the dungeon where Hee-won was performing forced labor.

When her family member Hee-won fell into danger, the system must have felt that ‘the peace of the home was threatened’ and automatically cast the skill.

Thanks to that, Hee-na was able to defeat the opponent threatening Hee-won’s life.

The third batter to taste the ‘Pest Extermination’ skill was her family member Hee-won.

It was truly ironic that Hee-won, whose life had been saved thanks to Hee-na’s skill, ended up getting hit by the Pest Extermination skill.

She presumed the reason for the skill’s activation was that the peace of the home had briefly cracked because Hee-won got on Hee-na’s nerves.

The last time she cast the ‘Pest Extermination’ skill was relatively recently.

It was when bugs swarmed the house due to an error in the Home Sweet Home system.

At that time, the ‘Pest Extermination’ skill had formed a fantastic combination with the SSS-rank Useful Newspaper.

‘Even then, the peace of the home was breaking down in its own way. Since a bunch of bugs came out and made the house a mess.’

Counting them up, it was clear that all four of these cases were related to the ‘peace of the home’ just as the skill description said.

‘But…’

The Homemaker of the Dungeon