It was relaxing. The sound of rain hitting the glass windows was heartwarming.
Lying down on the sofa and listening to the purring of Peace, who was stuck right to my side, both the inside and outside of my stretched-out body became soft.
As expected, being free with nothing I needed to do was the best.
Both Yoohyun and Yerim had gone into dungeons. Kim Sunghan was also participating in the new A-Rank dungeon attack. I was wondering how I should use my skill on him, when I decided to start by growing his stats first. Since it would be a waste to miss the initial experience points for the new dungeon. Just in case, I tried using it focused on stat growth, and it worked.
Myeongwoo's ten thousand knives sharpening was also going smoothly. Although there was an instance where he sharpened a thousand in one day and then unfortunately wasn't able to even get out of bed the next day. Now, he had compromised by doing about four to five hundred a day.
The Dokkaebi didn't appear again after that day. Even if you said they had an ambiguous identity, they were receiving other people's requests, so it wouldn't be hard to get their contact information. But I didn't have any intention of purposely tracking them down right now.
'When would I be able to loll around like this again?'
From now on, I would get busy so I should rest when I could. Though this would also end right away.
It had already been three days since Yoohyun started the dungeon attack. If nothing big happened, he would come out around today or tomorrow.
Ahh, I wanted to relax more.
I wanted to relax my entire life.
I wanted to become Extra[1] 1 that didn't have to do anything.
'Even before the regression, I lived diligently, so why do I have to live diligently again?'
I suffered a lot with my young dongsaeng and then suffered a lot again when the world changed. At least I wasn't suffering anymore, so maybe that was a relief.
"Anyways, should I eat?"
Normally, I had just irregularly filled my stomach with whatever, but lately I was regularly taking care of three meals. Since the food was tasty.
I went to the kitchen and opened the fridge door. I saw the containers of side dishes that were neatly stacked.
That green onion kimchi was really good. I hadn't known spicy and piquant green onion kimchi on top of white rice could taste so good. I had thought that meat needed to be added for grass to be worth eating.
Of course the meat sides were obviously delicious. The soy sauce braised beef with shishito peppers was the best. The braised short ribs that softly melted on your tongue was also impressive. The sausage fry was past surprising and was to the point of being fascinating. It outwardly looked similar to the ones from school lunches, but it was impossible to compare the taste.
'I'm already starting to get depressed thinking of that guy Myeongwoo leaving the house.'
How did the cooking capabilities of that guy who had said he could boil ramen at least, progress this much? It was definitely a scam. Now that I knew him, wasn't that guy Myeongwoo the most OP[2]?
I heated the soft tofu stew that suspiciously might have drugs in it and set the table, and then when I took a bite, it felt like I would start crying.
I guess he wouldn't live off me even after he gets the SS-Rank skill. Definitely. Even three days ago, it wasn't to this extent. If his capabilities grow even more like this, really, fuck, what should I do? Should I cut him off at least now? Should I tell him to stop cooking? This must be why they said if you're pretty, 3 months, if you cook well, the rest of your life.
"It's sad… Could I get some side dishes from him from time to time?"
I cleared the table and fed Peace. Even though he got bigger, the amount of food he ate didn't have a big difference. He still ate two magic stones and just the amount of meat increased a bit.
-Kkeueung, kkeueung
After eating, Peace turned his head toward the entrance and whined. He was impatient over not being allowed out starting from the day after the training ended. It seemed like he was bored from being confined after playing all day to his heart's content.
"Sorry, sorry. After just the negotiations are over, I'll take you to the training room and play with you every day."
-Kkeureureu
I tried to soothe him but Peace turned his body around and sat himself down in front of the entrance's inner door. The tip of his tail frustratedly slapped the floor.
"Our Peace, are you sulking?"
-Kkoooooo
"You must be angry because you can't go out. Sorry."
-Kkieueung
"Let's put up with it a little, okay? Uncle Yoohyun will come out soon."
-Kkiiing, kkeuoong
Even while readily replying, he didn't turn back to look at me. He was firmly in a sulk.
"Then should we play with a ball?"
At the words, 'play with a ball', the tapping tail stopped. The drooping ears perked up and he tilted his head towards me.
"But you can't get too excited and break the TV like last time. You have to play carefully."
-Kkiang!
Peace replied confidently while bounding over. Though I didn't know if he meant he really was going to be careful or if he was just excited. Eh, if it broke I could just buy another one. There was still a lot money left over from selling the magic stones.
Like that, it was when Peace had broken the sofa instead of the TV.
Briiing
The doorbell rang. Did Myeongwoo come back already? It was too fast.
"Who is it?"
[It is Suk Simyeong!]
I heard the reply from over the intercom. Why was this ahjussi coming all the way here? And his voice somehow seemed to have lost its composure.
"Peace, just wait a minute."
So that Peace wouldn't run out, I checked to make sure the inner door[3] was closed before opening the entrance door. I saw Suk Simyeong's face, which was completely rid of his usual composure and was past excited to being flushed. What, what was going on?
"All the way to here, why did you-."
"Han Yoojin-ssi!"
Suk Simyeong, who had come through the entrance and slammed the door shut, said. Then he suddenly pulled me over and hugged me. Was he Myeongwoo wearing a mask of Suk Simyeong?!
"It is slime!"
"Sorry? Whoa!"
Suk Simyeong lifted me up like he was going to toss me up into the air. Fuck, wait. Calm down.
"Wait just, ack, don't shake me! Don't turn around either!"
Was he crazy, really!
"My goodness! Where could a treasure like this come from!"
Suk Simyeong didn't listen to me at all and laughed loudly. Fuck, let me down. Are you going make it obvious that you're stat B-Rank! The F-Rank is going to die of sadness!
It was when I couldn't escape from Suk Simyeong's rough grasp and was only cursing.
Bam!
-Kyaaang!
The closed inner door shook hard and a fierce howl was heard.
"That right now-."
"Let me go right now! Peace, it's okay!"
The kid was alarmed because you were acting so loud! Suk Simyeong lowered me down, taken aback. As soon as I opened the inner door, Peace, with his fur bristling up, jumped forward and wrapped his front paws around one of my legs. Then he fiercely bared his canines at Suk Simyeong.
-Keureureureu
"It's okay, Peace! Calm down!"
I quickly held Peace and petted the puffed-up mane.
-Keuheung, geureureung
"Right, right. It's okay. He's not a bad person."
Though he wasn't a good person either. He was sort of on our side but gray.
"I had heard about it, but he really does listen well to Yoojin-ssi."
Suk Simyeong looked at me and Peace with eyes filled with awe. Did he finally calm down a little?
"So, you mean that the new A-Rank dungeon was a slime dungeon?"
"Yes. Han Yoojin-ssi's prediction was correct."
Madness started to whirl around in this ahjussi's eyes again. Calm down, calm down. Relax.
"We shouldn't do this here – let's go inside first."
I should pou- no, make him drink some cold water.
"It seems like the attack has ended?"
I asked, taking out and giving ice water to Suk Simyeong, who was sitting at the dining table. The fridge in my house even had a water purifier. Though I had only used old ones with just one door flap before.
"Yes, I received contact just a while ago."
Suk Simyeong said, after drinking the water in one gulp. Stuck right next to my side, Peace warily glared at him. Maybe he didn't like him at all, because he would occasionally wrinkle his nose and growl.
"I heard that it really was a slime dungeon."
It would've been. As long as the future didn't change.
"Really, a slime…"
"Please drink some more water."
And don't get excited. This time, Suk Simyeong gulped down about half the glass. Then he spoke.
"What do you think about moving to a place that has a little better security?"
"Excuse me?"
"This place is managed with A-Rank Hunters in mind, so the crime prevention facilities are lacking. And there is a surveillance camera only at the entrance. Also, it would be better if a tracker-."
"I refuse."
It was enough having just one, that dongsaeng guy, obsess over my safety. I completely didn't have the patience to listen to someone else's nonsense.
"But-."
"But nothing, I don't want to."
Was he Han Yoohyun wearing a mask of Suk Simyeong? It was that guy's 'but' again. At my resolute words, Suk Simyeong wrinkled his forehead.
"It seems that Han Yoojin-ssi does not know his own value."
"I know roughly."
My value, you say. Before my regression, I probably would have been rolling pebble number 5,912.
"Raising high rank familiars, and predicting dungeons, indeed are abilites that would bring about an incredibly large impact."
"It is not at the level of being incredibly large. Especially in the latter case, it wouldn't be at the level of guilds, but the entire country could put itself forward."
Was that what the American guys were thinking? Well, it was information that you could use to manipulate the world, if you could grasp it. But.
"Predictions about dungeons are still uncertain. It isn't that an exact rule was discovered; it is a hypothesis that relies about half on luck."
Not only did I not actually calculate it out, I wouldn't be able to remember anyways if it wasn't a famous place like this slime dungeon this time. It wasn't like there were only one or two dungeons – how would I remember all of them?
"In the end, the only skill I actually have is the magic beast trainer skill. So, as long as the negotiations end well, there is no need for excessive protection."
Even with just raising the familiars, my worth would be full and overflowing with enough left over, but compared to the rules of dungeon formation, it was weak. You could take valuable dungeons before others, and raise the stability of new dungeon attacks, and stop undiscovered dungeon breaks.
Above all, if you had that information in your hands, in one stroke, all guilds would lie at your feet and you could stand high up alone. If it was several years later when the rate and number of high rank dungeons increased, you could be able to shake entire nations.
"Even if you say it is still a hypothesis, isn't it possible for it to become a rule someday?"
"Of course that is so, but it is truthfully beyond my capabilities. I haven't properly studied those kinds of things. Instead, there is Suk Hayan-ssi."
"Are you speaking of the field of statistics?"
It was nice that I didn't need to explain at length. I nodded my head.
"If I leave the research to Suk Hayan-ssi, it won't be long until they become rules. It would be even better to find several more researchers who are trustable."
Let's dump this on Suk Simyeong too. I didn't have the ability to track down, not even Awakened People, but normal scholars.
"Give support at a guild level, is that what you are saying?"
"That would be good. Thanks to the slime dungeon, wouldn't funds not be lacking to a reasonable extent? While you're at it, why don't you make a research facility on, of course dungeons, but also including Awakened People? In addition, I have agreed to supply the data regarding dungeons."
"Supply the data."
Suk Simyeong was about to say something before stopping and closing his mouth. I really was quite suspicious. Still, what was he going to do about it? I was the guild leader's older brother and brought over an S-Rank, and now even I myself was a useful special skill holder. You should let a few suspicious points slide.
"I will try to favorably consider the matter of a research facility."
"Instead of considering, why don't you just decide? Acquiring things first is the best. You have to quickly start to quickly get the outcomes."
Even if you started now, it would take years. At my words, Suk Simyeong nodded his head.
"If we extort a facility from the giant guilds through the matter of familiars, then we will include it there."
"Sorry? Exort what?"
"Won't it be impossible for you to raise monsters here? It wouldn't be just one or two. We were going to push away the building nextdoor and build a new one. Of course, we wouldn't use our own money."
The snake said, smiling slyly. There would be several monsters I'd have to look after in the future, so it definitely would be hard to care for them here, but I had thought they would build something in the outskirts or something. His generosity sure was large. And with others' money at that.
"Is that okay? If we incur a blacklash in vain…"
"Of course, the landlord will be Han Yoojin-ssi."
"It is okay, completely okay."
I mean, what jackpot was this? To think that I would get an extra benefit that I hadn't expected. It was to the extent of seeing Suk Simyeong as not a red-banded snake, but a mottled snake.[4] Of course, a mottled snake was still a snake.
"I was thinking of putting it as one of the negotiation conditions. It would be better to be located closer even for the other guilds, so it wouldn't be hard to extort it."
Landlord, and a new building's landlord at that. Calm down, the corners of my mouth. Let's not act too obvious.
Then I could move Myeongwoo over to the new building instead of here. I would put a large equipment workshop there and provide a place so that we wouldn't have to give away a commission fee to the Association when selling and just directly do it.
"If you're building a new building, it would take quite some time, so you would probably need to provide a temporary venue."
"That is not necessary. Since there are Awakened People and equipment that increase stats. And if you add assistance skills and dungeon by-products, the construction time will be able to be shortened to a certain extent."
That they would stick in Awakened People and dungeon items in simple construction, it was senselessly throwing around money. The construction fees would be higher than the land cost, the building cost.
Though it didn't have anything to do with me since it wasn't my money.
Anyways they were giving me a building. Since it was at a killer location and would have special facilities with enormous materials costs, I couldn't gauge the market price of even just the building. And even if I brought in only Myeongwoo and Suk Hayan, crazy, you could only say the value would be crazy. Of course, I would be there too.
'No, instead of just moving the location of Myeongwoo and Suk Hayan, should I make them affiliated with me?'
I was originally thinking of putting him in Haeyeon after he got his skill, but if a place to put Forge appeared, my building, I didn't necessarily need to do so. The same for Suk Hayan.
It would be incredibly unfortunate for Suk Simyeong, but there were some worries about putting too many things in one basket called Haeyeon, which hadn't grown enough yet. It would be enough with Yerim plus raising Kim Sunghan.
In the first place, Haeyeon was a Hunter guild prioritized on dungeon attacks.
If you pushed in, in a short period of time, magic beast rearing and equipment production and even dungeon measurement, it might become poison.
'No matter how precious and good for your body the food is, you should eat only enough to digest.'
Instead of combining without countermeasures, it would be better to divide the group and collaborate. Then, once we unyieldingly take our places, we could combine.
'Good, let's divide.'
I looked pityingly at Suk Simyeong, who was chattering about future plans. I was sorry because it felt like I was giving and then taking it back, but still, Haeyeon was number 1, so please be satisfied with that.
"...What?"
While there was a commotion over the appearance of a slime dungeon, Haeyeon quietly alerted the giant guilds and the Hunter Associaion about the magic beast rearing skill.
The reaction was of course explosive, and the negotiations were smoothly progressing, when.
"Coming here? To meet me?"
I stared dumfoundedly at my dongsaeng, who came to relay the news to me. I mean, did these guild leader people have so little to do that they would deign to directly come here?