The Absolute Ruler of the House (3)
It had already been a week since I had luckily hunted a Kellikan, leveled up my skills, and acquired new ones.
"Purchase Jin Ramen Mild."
[Would you like to proceed with the purchase?]
[Yes / No]
"Yes."
Bzzz—
A burst of light emerged from the store interface, and where it settled, a five-pack bag of Jin Ramen Mild appeared.
I picked it up and checked the expiration date.
'The expiration date is later than the one I bought a few days ago.'
Compared to the ramen pack I had finished this morning, the expiration date on this one was exactly three days later.
'So the expiration date is updated to be as fresh as possible.'
Among the newly acquired skills, the most useful one was undoubtedly "The Absolute Ruler of the House's Store" skill.
A skill that allowed me to register necessary items and purchase them at will.
Honestly, the only reason I hadn't starved to death was thanks to this skill.
'It's a bit disappointing that I can only register up to ten items, though…'
Over time, I discovered a few things while using the store.
Only ten items could be registered at a time.Once an item was registered, it couldn't be removed.And most importantly—
'The condition of the item in the store is determined by the condition of the first scanned item.'
For example, when I first registered ramen, it had three months left before its expiration date.
As a result, every ramen I purchased from the store had exactly three months remaining until expiration.
In other words, the store provided items in the exact same state as when they were first registered.
'Well, three months is plenty of time to eat it all.'
With no proper side dishes and no possibility of food delivery in my current situation, ramen was the best option.
Swoosh
I filled a pot with water, placed it on the gas stove, and turned on the heat.
Click-click-click—Whoosh!
After confirming the flame, I added the seasoning packets and waited for the water to boil.
For lunch today, once again…
"Ramen it is~ Ramen it is, oh~ Ramen…"
Humming a song, I suddenly stopped and felt a wave of self-loathing.
"..."
The world had collapsed, I had no idea whether my parents were alive or dead, and yet, here I was, comfortably sitting at home, humming songs.
In the very house that my parents had poured their entire fortune into securing for me.
"Sigh—"
Bubble bubble
Still, I had to eat to survive.
Hearing the water boil, I dropped in the noodles.
As I absentmindedly watched the ramen cook, I stirred it around with chopsticks.
At just the right moment, I cracked an egg into the pot.
A short while later, I transferred the perfectly cooked ramen into a bowl, the noodles at peak chewiness.
After repeating this routine for days, I had gotten quite skilled at making ramen.
Slurp—
The taste didn't disappoint, but it felt… lacking, just a little.
'Am I getting tired of eating ramen every day?'
I had lived alone for over three years, but this was the first time I had eaten nothing but ramen for such an extended period.
At least once a week, Mom used to visit.
Even when I told her to just relax, she would clean the house, prepare side dishes, or cook curry for me.
After she left, the fridge was always stocked with food, so all I had to do was cook rice.
Because I was busy finishing off the side dishes before they spoiled, I rarely had to cook ramen.
"…Mom."
It had only been a week since I last ate my mom's food, yet I missed it so much.
Even in the military, I hadn't longed for it this badly.
Plop.
A tear fell unexpectedly.
As I absentmindedly wiped my face, I thought,
'Is my mind starting to break?'
Just moments ago, I had been singing while making ramen, and now I was crying with ramen in my mouth.
Even I didn't think my mental state was looking too good.
'I need to pull myself together.'
Half of the ramen was still left, but I had lost my appetite.
'I should throw it away.'
Food waste.
Normally, I would try to minimize it and collect what remained to dispose of later. But now, I had another method.
"Open storage."
I opened the Storage, looked at my ramen bowl, and commanded,
"Store everything inside the bowl—noodles, soup, toppings, all of it."
[Would you like to store this in the Storage?]
"Yes."
A light shone from the Storage, engulfing the bowl, and in an instant, it was as clean as if it had been washed.
This way, I could store leftover food without worrying about waste.
Through various experiments, I had confirmed that food stored inside did not mix or spoil.
'Pretty useful. If I ever run out of food, I can eat from the Storage.'
With that, I wrapped up my meal, gave the bowl a quick rinse, and left it in the sink.
—Son! You need to do the dishes properly!
Seeing the growing pile of dishes reminded me of my mom's constant nagging, and I sank into depression again.
"Haaah. Open store."
[The Absolute Ruler of the House's Store]
Classic Non-slip Dumbbells 3kg (16,990 won)Jin Ramen Mild (3,100 won)Jeju Samdasoo Water, 2L, 12 bottles (12,400 won)Gomgom Korean Rice 5kg (14,890 won)Gomgom Special Eggs, 10-pack (3,950 won)Easily Digestible Milk, 930ml, 2-pack (6,220 won)Yangban Olive Laver, 24 packs (9,800 won)Canola Oil, 900ml, 2 bottles (12,330 won)Half-used Ottogi Tomato Ketchup, 500g (3,350 won)Mandarin Peel (300 won)
ᚠ Available Balance: 1,893,340 won
▶ Register New Items
Currently, I had ten registered items—mainly essentials like dumbbells for hunting goblins, food, and cooking ingredients.
And then… there was my first mistake—the half-used ketchup.
'I thought registering it would make it a brand-new product.'
But instead, the store labeled it "half-used" and sold it in that exact condition.
Testing it confirmed my fears—the ketchup I purchased was precisely half-empty.
Luckily, I had only registered unopened items before that experiment.
And at the very bottom of the list…
Mandarin Peel (300 won)
Every time I saw that, my blood pressure spiked.
After realizing that partial items retained their state, my curiosity got the better of me, and I registered a mandarin peel.
'Can even trash be registered?'
That stupid curiosity had cost me.
Because when I later tried to register shampoo—
[You cannot register more items in the store.]
'Damn it. I should have been more careful.'
But there was no use regretting it now.
'It's fine. The store skill has levels. If I can level it up, I should be able to register more items.'
A store called "The Absolute Ruler's Store" allowing only ten items? That didn't make sense.
For now, I still had unopened toiletries. If I could level up before needing them, it would be perfect.
As I was staring at the store, thinking of a plan—
"Huh?"
ᚠ Available Balance: 1,893,339 won
My balance had dropped by 1 won—even though I hadn't purchased anything.
'What the hell?'
Thinking carefully, I came to a conclusion.
'…The "Dignity Maintenance" skill costs money too, huh?'
Electricity, gas, water—all of them required funds to keep running.
Even though I was doing nothing, my money was decreasing—probably because the fridge was running.
'This is bad.'
I needed a way to make money.
And right now, hunting goblins was my only option—except that had stopped working.
'Damn goblins.'
They had gotten smarter.
I needed a new plan.
And just then, I saw something—a black dot in the sky.
As it grew larger, I recognized it.
'Kellikan!'
A chance!
I flung the window open and yelled at the top of my lungs.
"Come here, you damn monster bird!"