Chapter 105 – Harvesting the Spinach

Kang Jin-hyun answered Hee-na’s question quickly.

“Well. I suppose I will only know the risk level of the mission once I get there, but if they have called even me, it is highly likely a case related to a dungeon gate.”

“Gasp.”

She inhaled at the emergency situation, which was as urgent as the calling alarm. All kinds of imaginations whirled in her head.

‘Don’t tell me another dungeon gate has appeared? Or a dungeon break?’

Hee-na had just about the level of dungeon common sense as an ordinary person. However, she knew at least the fact that unexpected dungeon activities like this were rare occurrences.

Especially recently, with dungeon research having progressed considerably, facing an unexpected dungeon gate was almost rare enough to be counted on one hand.

It was because numerous dungeon experts affiliated with the government predicted the expected gate generation areas and timings to prepare and defend against them.

Furthermore, since they assigned each guild to thoroughly manage the already generated dungeons, the probability of a dungeon break occurring was also close to zero.

‘…But even so, another emergency like this is occurring?’

Hee-na recalled the dungeon gate incident she had been caught up in along with her awakening a few months ago.

Since Hee-na was the very person swept into the gate and had been too distracted to pay deep attention, even then, the country was in an uproar for a while over the dungeon gate that appeared without any warning.

It was the first time in recent years that the Dungeon Management Office failed to capture signs of a gate generation.

‘The first time could have been due to bad luck. But for an emergency like this to occur twice in a row within half a year, isn’t the situation a bit serious?’

Hee-na nibbled on her lips.

‘I finally made a decent living, but don’t tell me another disaster is about to strike?’

Anxiousness welled up inside her. Fear crept in that she might have the peaceful daily life she had barely found snatched away.

“It would be better for you to eat first. It might be difficult for me to return for the next two or three days. If you have anything urgent to tell me, you can contact me through the communications team.”

Unfortunately, Kang Jin-hyun did not catch Hee-na’s anxious expression because he was explaining the situation while tightening his combat boots.

However, as he was about to leave the foyer, he stopped his steps for a moment, perhaps noticing something unusual.

“Hee-na, emergencies like this that the government doesn’t officially announce are common. It’s no big deal. Don’t worry too much.”

He read Hee-na’s anxiety incredibly well despite his blunt face.

“I-Is that so?”

“Yes.”

Kang Jin-hyun replied firmly. Then he reached out and lightly patted Hee-na’s shoulder.

“Above all, don’t you have me? I will return as quickly as possible.”

The fingertips touching her shoulder felt reassuring. A warm heat spread through her, riding on his fingertips.

Hee-na’s dark face brightened up considerably.

‘Indeed. With Jin-hyun by my side, what is there to fear? Besides, I have my brother who is experienced in Hunter work, Osaek-i, and Baduk-i next to me. I’ve also awakened and can protect my own body. It’s different from the helpless past.’

Hee-na clenched her fists.

For now, worrying about Kang Jin-hyun, who was running to a dangerous scene, came first.

“You should be careful too, Jin-hyun. There is no reason for us at home to be in danger.”

Osaek-i, who had crawled over before they knew it, also saw Kang Jin-hyun off.

※Safety First※

* * *

It was when she was having a meal without Kang Jin-hyun and enjoying a temporary sense of satiety.

Hee-won suddenly spoke.

“I have two pieces of good news, which one do you want to hear first?”

“Either.”

Hee-na answered indifferently. It wasn’t just a day or two that her brother had been talking nonsense.

“Aw, what an indifferent sister!”

“It’s probably news like Baduk-i’s fine roots grew by 1cm.”

“It’s not that this time. It’s a good thing that you should also check out.”

Hee-won lazily propped up his chin.

“You remember the spinach we sowed in the garden plot, right?”

Hee-na recalled the tiny leaves that had barely peeked out unevenly.

“Ah… Spinach. You mean the one that had the effect of raising either strength or physical power, right? The one we showed to the Guild Leader?”

“Yeah. That’s right. That spinach is fully grown.”

At those words, Hee-na jumped up from her seat. This was truly good news.

“Really? It’s already fully grown? When I saw it not long ago, it was literally smaller than a finger.”

“Yeah. It drank water, soaked up sunlight, received fertilizer, and grew up rapidly in the meantime.”

Hee-won smiled proudly. It was the smile of a farmer who had raised something wonderfully.

“How is the efficacy? Did you check the status window? Huh? Does it seem useful? Should we tell the guild?”

Hee-na poured out a rapid succession of questions.

Now that the spinach was fully grown, if its efficacy was good, they needed to schedule another meeting with the Guild Leader soon.

Hee-won shrugged, looking quite pleased with Hee-na’s fuss. With that, he led the way.

“Come along and check it out yourself.”

It meant he would show her the spinach garden plot directly.

Hee-na followed closely behind her brother. She was curious about how much the tiny spinach, which had looked like a shabby weed, had grown.

Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times

She also had a snail, which was showing off its refinement as much as it could, sitting on her shoulder.

“Wow! It grew so much!”

Hee-na gaped at the sight of the garden plot dyed deep green. The spinach that had been growing sparsely had filled the plot tightly before she knew it.

“It really looks like the spinach they sell at the mart! How fascinating.”

Was it because it was a vegetable she usually ate often? It felt much more fascinating than the peanut harvest last time.

Hee-na crouched down in front of the fresh spinach with excitement. As soon as she thought about bringing up the status window, letters popped up before her eyes.

“Strength increases by 9%?”

Hee-na tilted her head at the ambiguous percentage.

“Isn’t this worse? When it was baby spinach, Strength was +1. Now it only increases by 9%.”

Currently, Hee-na’s Strength stat was 9. If Strength increased by 9% after eating the fully grown spinach, it would be 9.81, not even reaching 10.

Even though she could instantly reach 10 by eating the undergrown spinach that raised Strength points by 1.

“I think it’s worse than expected.”

Though it was better than having no efficacy at all, it was an ambiguous number of 9%, not even 10%.

Besides, the effect only lasted for a mere 10 minutes… there was more than one or two disappointing points.

“It’ll be hard to get paid as much for this as the peanuts. There are alternatives like Strength-increasing potions too.”

Hee-na mumbled and listed the disappointments.

At that, Hee-won shouted back, asking what she was talking about.

“What do you mean worse! It’s an absolute jackpot! Even if we just sell it like this without cooking, we’ll be filthy rich!”

Hear, hear. Landlord = Clueless about the reality of the Awakened world.

Even Osaek-i beep-beeped its antennas and mocked Hee-na’s common sense. Judging by the serious print font, it was sincere.

Hee-won sat down with a plop on the ground and began explaining.

“An increase in stats by integers like 1, 2, 3… is only good for low-grade Awakened with low stats like us.”

“Why?”

“Think about it. In your case, because your stats are so low, even if you receive a percentage buff, it won’t make much difference. But let’s say, for example, your Strength stat is 100. Then the story changes.”

Hee-na silently did the math in her head. The number was 100, so calculation was easy.

‘If I receive a 9% buff on 100… it’s 109.’

Practically, it meant an increase of 9 stat points. It was much larger than the 1-point stat that the undergrown spinach gave.

Something flashed through her mind.

“Ah. I see. For high-rank Hunters with high stats, getting a percentage buff would be much more helpful.”

At Hee-na’s monologue, Hee-won nodded satisfyingly.

“Yeah. For a high-grade Hunter with excellent basic abilities, a percentage increase buff is far more advantageous than an integer increase buff. Their stats are in three digits, so would raising it by a mere 1 or 2 have much effect?”

“Aha. So this is what high-grade Hunters like, is that it?”

Only then did the spinach garden plot, which had looked useless, begin to look like bundles of fresh green bills.

Dungeon-related goods were basically expensive, and high-rank Hunters’ spending was beyond imagination accordingly.

“Besides, 10 minutes is a sufficiently long time. You might think it’s short, but during battle, every second is urgent. The effects of normal buff potions usually last about this long too.”

Hee-won counted on his fingers as he spoke of the spinach’s merits.

He also mentioned that 9% was an effect comparable to a top-tier B-grade potion.

“A B-grade potion!”

With low-grade potions costing anywhere from millions to tens of millions of won, to think it was a B-grade potion.

Hee-na opened her eyes wide. On top of that, Hee-won went a step further.

“And have you tried a potion? Do you know how terrible potions taste? There are even Hunters who can’t take potions because they have weak stomachs.”

At Hee-won’s words, Hee-na recalled the taste of the recovery potion she had tasted exactly once in the past.

‘Ugh.’

It was a taste so terrible she couldn’t describe it. She didn’t even want to think about it again.

“But this is spinach! It tastes decent even when eaten raw! Not to mention it’ll taste way better if you cook it.”

Good efficacy and good taste♬ Two birds with one stone♪

Osaek-i chimed in from the side.

Whether it had developed a taste for Hanja idioms, it had been talkative about ‘seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times’ and ‘two birds with one stone’ since earlier.

The Homemaker of the Dungeon