Chapter 51
“Then I’ll go take care of some work for a bit, so absolutely do not open the door even if someone else asks you to.”
“Yep. Got it.”
After playing hard outside and coming home for dinner, Ophelia said she had some work to do and would step out for a bit, and today I don't have any home workout routine or anything else to do.
I'm stuffed from eating bungeoppang outside and a ton of snacks, and after having so much fun, my body that had been aching from the dungeon feels better somehow?
“Ugh... Ophelia must be tired. She goes out to work every day.”
I don't really know what she does outside, but I guess she has work to do. It's 7 PM now, so there's still a long way to go before bedtime.
“Doggo, come here. Honestly, tell me—you used a calculator during the math duel, didn't you!”
Beep?
“This little guy is pretending not to know! Hey!”
We did a math duel and bet the snack money on it, and Doggo definitely used a calculator. It's a phone in the first place, right? Wasn't that way too unfair a matchup? After that, I lost to Minyum in the punching machine contest and to Suri in whack-a-mole too.
Still, when I played rock-paper-scissors with Ophelia at the end, I won three straight. In the end, I ate three fish-shaped buns.
“Let's browse Hunter Gallery for a bit..!”
After conquering the Desert Mausoleum dungeon—called the Ansan Royal Tomb on Hunter Gallery—I became a total superstar. Not just on Hunter Gallery, but even on the board where actual hunters hang out, the praise for me was nothing but compliments.
My SNS follower count had somehow reached 310,000, and since I'm already A+ rank, if I go up one more rank next time I'll be S-rank. The SNS livestream almost caused trouble, but Nova Guild's legal team is basically top-tier in Korea, so...
Even if it turns into a courtroom battle with the Dungeon Management Association, there's almost no chance I'd lose. Doggo did cause one huge incident, sure, but I got quite a bit out of it.
“Doggo! Want a piece of gum?”
Beep!!
“You little glutton. You like everything edible?”
Doggo ate a few mana stones last time too, but there's no real visible change. Just a new feature that lets it detach the camera and use it separately. Contrary to its grand ambition of becoming Godzilla, it's still just Doggo.
“Hmm... maybe not? Did it get a little bigger?”
The size does seem to be the same, but honestly, even if it weren't mana stones, shouldn't it have gotten a little bigger just from eating? Since Doggo's a machine, does it not gain weight?
“Hehe, no idea.”
Actually, Doggo is cutest at this size. If it got a little bigger, I might feel a little sad.
[인셍안망헷다 : Today was fun
Snow is the best]
-ㅇㅇ : You like snow because you're a kid..
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : Go outside and play too, snow's nice
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : @인셍안망헷다 : I'm a civil servant, so I had to go out for snow removal duty today, yeah
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : @ㅇㅇ Sorry.. hang in there...
-도슝좍 : Has Hunter Gallery's greatest output arrived
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : Have I already become that much of a big shot?
ㄴ 도슝좍 : lol
-다라몽 : Did you go out and have fun today
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : It's my day off
“Oh? It's been a long time since I've seen this person.”
The gallery nick Daramong feels really familiar after so long. Wasn't this person supposed to be really impressive?
“Daramong... Daramong... what was this person doing again...? Ah!”
I remembered.
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : How's the West Sea Gate going?
ㄴ 다라몽 : Still in a stalemate
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : Want me to help, lol?
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : I can.
ㄴ 다라몽 : If you come, we're good
He was an A-rank hunter dispatched to the dispute zone around the unranked gate that had appeared on the West Sea side. He wasn't with Nova Guild, but with the Korean Hunter Management Association, and he was so strong they said he was the type to be mobilized for national-level incidents.
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : How do you even use Wi-Fi?
ㄴ 다라몽 : Praise satellite Wi-Fi
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : Ohh.
Being the same A rank doesn't mean everyone's combat power is roughly the same. Actually, once you're A rank or above, you usually have one specialized field, like Chaerin unnie who's especially strong at large-scale combat.
Even though hundreds of tons of Desert Mausoleum debris came crashing down on Team B, not a single person died thanks to Chaerin unnie's plant-vine ability. Right before the floor shattered, she wedged vines between the broken tiles and bundled everything together so it wouldn't fall on the people.
She was definitely a very capable S-rank hunter, but... I think there were some A-rank hunters whose one-on-one combat against boss-type entities was better than Chaerin unnie's.
Being S-rank doesn't mean you're an all-rounder who can do everything. Chaerin unnie is great at impenetrable defense and battlefield control against swarms of trash mobs.
I remember Daramong as one of the people who could beat Chaerin unnie one-on-one.
“Then what am I even good at.”
For one, my scouting ability is good too, right? If I have Doggo and Suri, I can keep track of things in real time without going myself. With Minyum, I can fight well too, and Doggo has a translation function. Ophelia can cook and clean too. There's nothing she can't do.
Then I'm basically a jack-of-all-trades, aren't I?
“I'm more amazing than I thought...!”
One thing I do regret is that my long-range attack ability is a little lacking? Should I ask Chaerin unnie for a tank or something later? What are you going to do if I start blasting away with a cannon?
Ordinary gunpowder weapons made before the Gate incident mostly don't work on monsters that have mana. Mana seems to affect things in a way that basically supersedes ordinary physical laws.
If you slash monsters with a mana-infused sword, they get sliced apart in a flash, but bullets without mana don't work, apparently.
I also heard ordinary firearms don't work well on awakeners. That's why America went crazy for a while. Even D-rank awakeners are barely affected by tasers or bullets, so if people like that committed a mass shooting, it'd be a complete disaster.
I guess there are a lot of awakened cops now. Still, public safety isn't as good as Korea's.
“The West Sea Gate...”
My goal is to rebuild the kingdom, but I still don't have the slightest clue how to do that. I guess I just keep getting famous...? And making all sorts of golems to get stronger seems like the way to go, but I don't know when that would actually rebuild the kingdom.
Honestly, I don't even know what a kingdom is.
“A kingdom... what even is a kingdom.”
I turned on my phone and asked the AI what a kingdom was, and it just gave me some random answer. A kingdom being a country ruled by a king... I know that already.
“If it's a kingdom, shouldn't there be tons of soldiers? Like 20,000 knights.”
Then... I'd need space for 20,000 Minyums, but our house is way too small right now. To fit 20,000 Minyums, wouldn't one Minyum have to be shrunk down to the size of a hair?
I think Ophelia said she was going to buy a new house before. Still, it feels like you'd need at least a park to fit them all. Honestly, shrinking them down to hair size is hard, but if they were figurine-sized, 20,000 of them would fit in a park.
“Ugh, this is hard. What is a kingdom, anyway.”
And somehow... I can't really imagine adding more golems from here. If mana stones or something show up, it'd be better to give them to Suri, Minyum, or Doggo and strengthen them further. Do I really need to make another one?
[인셍안망헷다 : Hey, what do I need to build a kingdom
I need to rebuild the kingdom]
-ㅇㅇ : Do you even have land, lol
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : Whoa
“Yeah... what about the land? If the house is the kingdom, that feels weird.”
A kingdom should at least have a huge, impressive castle or something. Land in Seoul is insanely expensive, too. And even if I bought land, it'd still be a stretch to build a new kingdom... Can you really make an independent country inside South Korea out of nowhere?
“Sigh, this is hard!”
I wonder what Ophelia is doing.
* * * * *
“Ah, you've arrived.”
“Has the payment been confirmed?”
“Ahaha... yes, yes, everything's done. Once you stamp it, that should be the end of it.”
The middle-aged man, with slightly graying hair neatly combed back on both sides, bowed his head and stood up from his seat upon seeing Ophelia.
“Is this the latest copy of the registry?”
“Yes, I got it yesterday. The mortgage lien cancellation has all been confirmed too.”
Ophelia took the papers in her gloved hands and checked the contents. By now, the ten million won seed money had been grown enormously through stocks.
It was sitting in an account managed under Ophelia's newly created name, a balance that Eve's allowance card couldn't even show.
“A young lady going into such a nice place... are you perhaps a hunter or something? From what I can tell, this was originally a place someone from Nova Guild was going to move into....”
“That's about right. Since that's not necessary small talk, I'll keep it brief.”
“Ah, yes. Right.”
After checking everything she needed, Ophelia nodded.
“Verification complete. Thank you for your hard work.”
As the contract for H City Apartments Building 307, Unit 2302 in Songpa-gu, Seoul completed, Eve's new home was secured.
“It's not a bad temporary residence.”
* * * * *
Ring-ring, ring-ring
“Ooh. It's Ophelia.”
“Princess. Are you resting?”
“Yep, Ophelia. What's up?”
“I called to ask if there's any furniture among the things to be brought into the house that you might need.”
Suddenly furniture? For our house? It feels like it'd be cramped if anything else came in. Besides, she's been taking care of everything so well that I don't really feel any inconvenience. A bed would be nice, though, but putting a bed in a studio apartment is a bit much, isn't it.
“I don't really know... hehe. I just think it'd be nice if Ophelia were here right now.”
“..Is that so.”
Just as Ophelia was about to be moved by Eve's words.
“I spilled cola on the mattress. Sorry.”
“..Understood.”
There was a reason I needed Ophelia.
“From now on, please don't drink beverages on the mattress.”
Yeees....