▶ Chapter 20. Money and a House (3)
“Yes… This is the kitchen.”
“Are all of these mana-stone appliances?”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t help but be impressed.
There was a robot vacuum, an air purifier, and an air conditioner in the living room too.
The kitchen had a refrigerator, a kimchi refrigerator, an air fryer, a dishwasher, and even a blender.
There’s even a hand blender and a food dehydrator?!
One of the three brothers definitely knew how to cook.
On the balcony, I could see a washing machine, a spin dryer, a dryer, and even a Styler.
The bathroom was also large and clean, with every necessary item already prepared.
There’s even a jacuzzi bathtub!!!
Something I had only ever seen in American TV shows was right in front of me.
Just as Han Dongju had enthusiastically explained earlier, the storage room was filled with refined Mana Stones that could be used as batteries.
There were also plenty of medicines and ingredients.
I get to live in an amazing house like this!
I was ecstatic!!!
“You really like it!”
Even though I should have looked like nothing more than a mass of divine power to him, Han Dongju easily figured out what I was thinking.
I wondered how he knew.
…Oh.
I was dancing.
And not just any dance.
I was shaking my butt!
The hidden-master item is the best…
Thankfully, because I was in Divine Power Enhancement Mode, he probably couldn’t properly see my butt.
I was so embarrassed that I wanted to crawl into a mouse hole.
No! There’s no way a house this amazing would have a mouse hole!
“Yes. I like it.”
I straightened myself and acted as though absolutely nothing had happened.
This was the survival technique of a former office worker!
“I’ll accept this house as payment for the three bracelet items.”
“Here. We’ll give you our keys.”
The three brothers each held out a red, blue, and green key.
“If there’s someone you want to bring in here, just give them one of these. No one can enter without a key, so you don’t have to worry. We won’t come here either.”
Han Dongju grinned as he made the promise, then placed down a box of cash.
“This is the remaining 14 billion won.”
Han Yonghwan took something out of his inventory.
It was a black Mana Stone about the size of a fist.
“This is what came out when we opened the Grade 10 box for the first time. It belongs to you, Hunter Anham. Here, take it.”
Since it was the first one of its kind ever discovered in history, it was literally something whose price could be named by the seller.
There was definitely strong desire in the eyes of the three brothers as they looked at the Mana Stone.
But that was all.
None of them acted on that greed.
I smiled and accepted it before putting it into my inventory.
“Then I think we’ve finished exchanging everything. Ah, I still need to pay Hunter Han Dongju for opening the Grade 10 boxes.”
“No! After Hunter Anham poured divine power into them, we started getting good results, remember? I should be the one giving you something!”
Han Dongju took something out of his inventory.
It was a medicine with a description saying it would keep your skin clear and beautiful for the rest of your life.
“We got three of these, so I’ll give you one.”
There was no way I could refuse this!
“Do you want to open boxes together again on the seventh of next month? I’m sure today’s amazing results were thanks to you, Hunter Anham!”
“Yes. If I can, I’ll participate again next month. But… did we really get good results? Five Grade 10 boxes were completely empty…”
“Normally, you don’t get that many blanks. But instead of receiving a lot of useless things, getting even a small number of extremely rare items that perfectly suit our needs is far better.”
“Really?”
“Yes. In the end, the results were super-super-super-super-super amazing! Though you did get a bad skill, Hunter Anham…”
The joy of suddenly becoming incredibly rich and getting a new house had made me forget about it for a moment.
My new skill.
7dol Alarm.
My mood instantly sank.
“About the Skill Abandonment Ticket, should I register a request with the auction company? You’ll have to pay an additional fee, but if you register the type of item you want in advance, they’ll notify you immediately whenever one appears.”
“Yes, please do that.”
“I will. Then we’ll get going. Contact us anytime!”
Han Dongju smiled brightly and vigorously waved his left hand, which now wore the bracelet I had sold him.
“We’ll see you again.”
Han Yonghwan and Han Junggeun bowed politely.
I smiled sincerely as I said goodbye.
Then, once I was alone—
“I HAVE MONEY AND A HOUSE NOW!!!”
I shouted in pure joy at the top of my lungs and started doing my butt dance again.
After leaving Safe Room No. 1, the three SS-rank brothers returned to the Wish Guild’s ritual room.
It was a place no one approached on the seventh day of every month.
After opening the boxes, it was part of the three brothers’ routine to sit there together and eat the food that had been placed on the ancestral ritual table.
“Maybe we should’ve given her some of this food?”
Han Dongju suddenly said while eating enthusiastically.
“She seemed interested in it.”
“Then give her some next time.”
It was Han Junggeun who answered.
“Yeah. I will. I’ll put even more effort into making it!”
Every single dish placed on the ritual table had been made entirely by Han Dongju, from beginning to end.
He believed that putting this much devotion into the food would help them obtain better things from the boxes.
“…A woman in her early to mid-twenties. She doesn’t seem to be a university student, so she was probably an office worker. No, more accurately, someone who used to work.”
Han Yonghwan continued.
“She has some connection to the neighborhood near the studio apartment where the Grade 5 Gate appeared, and she’s a woman in her early to mid-twenties who recently quit her job.”
Han Dongju nodded.
“Right. That’s probably it. Doesn’t sound like she’d be that hard to find.”
“Yeah. Probably not.”
However—
“We’re not going to investigate her. We shouldn’t dig into things she doesn’t want us to know.”
Number one in both Korea and the world rankings.
A powerful Hunter who had dealt with a Grade 9 Break in less than five minutes.
A huge customer—
No.
An absolutely enormous customer who sold them all kinds of monster materials and Mana Stones.
And on top of that, someone who even gave them incredible items!
And…
For some strange reason, she was also someone they couldn’t help but worry about.
Naturally, they needed to maintain a good relationship with her.
The right thing to do was respect her wishes.
“I also plan to interfere with anyone else who tries to find Hunter Anham.”
“Agreed.”
Han Junggeun shared the same opinion as he looked down at his left wrist.
The bracelet that increased every stat by a staggering five points was wrapped snugly around it.
Thanks to this bracelet, it was practically the same as if he had gained five entire levels.
And so, at his current level of 26—
[Magic Power 80
Divine Power 45
Mental Strength 80
Stamina 80
Strength 78
Agility 76
Luck 50]
His stats had already been outstanding thanks to Excalibur and its scabbard.
Now, they had become even more incredible.
Han Junggeun was currently an SS-rank Hunter, but his combat strength was considered comparable to an SSS-rank.
He was also known as the second-strongest swordsman in the world.
And now his stats had risen even further.
At this level, I won’t lose to Victor Heide when we fight again.
He truly owed Hunter Anham an enormous debt.
A benefactor.
As someone who understood gratitude and proper conduct, Han Junggeun wanted to treat her well.
It also seemed as though she had lived a difficult life before becoming a Hunter, and he felt sorry for her because of that.
That was why he had strongly supported Han Dongju’s suggestion to give her Safe Room No. 1, the best of all their safe rooms.
“Agreed.”
Han Dongju raised his left hand high into the air as he voiced his agreement too.
“When do you think Hunter Anham will come again?”
“She’ll need to move her belongings, so it’ll probably take some time.”
“I’m going to run some experiments until then. My success rate went up by a whole seven percent, so I have tons of things to try.”
Han Dongju’s eyes were shining.
It was exactly the expression you would expect from a craftsman.
Han Yonghwan gave a faint smile and nodded before asking,
“Does the increased success rate help with refining the Grade 9 boss Mana Stone?”
If it did, they might be able to find their youngest sibling sooner.
“No. It doesn’t. I can’t shorten the refining time.”
“That’s a little disappointing.”
“Yeah. Still, I’m really happy!”
Han Dongju kept stroking the bracelet.
“Hunter Anham really is our treasure! I’m definitely going to become even closer to her from now on!”
“You two looked like old friends.”
Han Junggeun said that.
In truth, the two of them had felt more like siblings who constantly bickered with each other.
But while they still had not found their own youngest sibling, he couldn’t bring himself to say something like that aloud.
“I’m done eating, so I’m off!”
Han Dongju disappeared so quickly that the wind whistled behind him.
Han Yonghwan and Han Junggeun finished the rest of their meals at a normal pace before returning to their respective duties.
They needed to keep up with their personal training and check the Guild’s schedule, of course.
But discussing what they should do with the enormous amount of monster materials and Mana Stones they had obtained from Hunter Anham was more urgent.
As Han Yonghwan headed toward the meeting room, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
We should’ve eaten together before moving to the Safe Room.
For some strange reason, he found himself feeling rather disappointed that they had failed to feed Hunter Anham.
It had already been a week since I moved out of my old, cramped, uncomfortable studio apartment and into a dazzling, state-of-the-art 100-pyeong Safe Room.
And yet, every morning when I opened my eyes, I still shouted the same thing.
“THIS IS SO NICE!!!”
“Quack!”
Whenever I was home alone, I let 12세 out of my inventory, and it quacked happily too.
“Right? You like it too, 12세?!”
“Quack!”
The way it flapped its tiny wings so excitedly might simply have been because it enjoyed being outside my inventory.
Or maybe it was because I had ordered the newly released extra-garlic fried chicken and beer for it.
A duckling having chicken and beer…
I had seen it so many times by now that it didn’t even surprise me anymore.
Anyway.
Next—
