Housekeeper in the dungeon

Episode 40

“I’ve been watering it, but nothing has sprouted yet.”

Hee-won shrugged and pointed to the hedge near the front door, where a sign read ‘Unknown Seed’.

Hee-won was right, nothing had sprouted.

“If we don’t even know what it is, will…… sprout?

Hee-na didn’t say the question out loud but waved her hand at her brother.

“Come in in half an hour. Dinner is almost ready, so let’s eat together.”

Hee-won replied stiffly.

“Okay, Chef, I’ve been enjoying your food lately, I’ll eat it!”

“Chi. Yunan.”

Hee-Na giggled and went to prepare the remaining side dishes.

It was a house in a dungeon, but a peaceful and ordinary day passed, no different from any other house.

* * *

As soon as lunchtime rolled around, Hee-Na grabbed her lunchbox and headed up to the rooftop garden.

The rooftop garden was mostly deserted. Most people ate lunch in the cafeteria, and afterward, they went to the break room to spend time.

This was especially true after Hee-na’s “cozy bed” skill was cast.

This allowed Hee-na and Kang jin-hyeon to meet on the rooftop garden without raising any suspicions.

“Hunter Kang jin-hyeon!”

Hee-na spotted him sitting in the corner of the garden and waved.

He bowed his head in response to her greeting. He was still scowling at her.

“It’s been three weeks and you’re still like this.

It had been almost a month since they had been lunchmates.

“I never thought the day would come when I would sit across from an S-class Hunter and forget my lunch.

Hee-Na shook her head in disbelief.

Then she remembered something that happened three weeks ago.

One day, Kang jin-hyeon realized that Hee-na had packed two lunches. He asked her whose lunchbox the other one was.

Of course, it was Hee-na’s.

When he realized this, he suggested that if everything was okay, they could share the packed lunch.

He gave the excuse that it was appropriate to eat alone, but in reality, he wanted to keep Hee-na’s cooking skills under wraps because he didn’t want anyone to see them.

Hee-na never imagined the latter reason and sat down across from Kang jin-hyeon.

“Today’s dish is spicy stewed tofu, do you like tofu, I love it.”

Today’s menu consisted of spicy stewed tofu, sweet beef bulgogi, freshly pickled daikon radish, and spinach sprouts.

Kang jin-hyeon’s eyes twitched as Hee-na described the menu. It sounded so delicious. He wanted to open the bento box and scoop up a big bowl of rice.

But he remained calm, like a good puppy being trained to ‘wait’. Hee-Na put the bento box on the table and helped him set up his cutlery.

“Enjoy your meal.”

Kang jin-hyeon didn’t pick up his cutlery until he heard Hee-na’s greeting. It was a few seconds that felt like a thousand years.

He first scooped up a spoonful of rice, which was still slightly warm from the insulated lunch box.

The sweet and savory aroma of white rice wafted to his nostrils. The smell of rice alone stimulated his salivary glands.

Without hesitation, I scooped the rice into my mouth. The grains of rice with the kernels still alive chewed fluffily and elasticly in my teeth.

I felt like I could have emptied a whole rice cooker with just the bare rice. The rice tasted fantastic today.

‘This sensation.

Kang jin-hyeon knew how precious the taste of this rice was.

After his awakening to Class S, all food had become too salty, blinding, and numb for him. Everything he ate tasted like he was chewing on a stone.

But he had to eat something to fill up on energy.

Every mealtime was an ordeal for him. His taste buds were assaulted by an unbalanced mix of salty, sweet, sour, and bitter flavors. No matter how great the chef, the result was the same.

The most painful thing was the memory of the flavors. I felt cursed that I would never taste the flavors I once knew.

Until the tiny woman in front of him appeared.

The food she touched was harmonious; no single flavor was overpowering or lacking.

It was flavorful, and most of all, it tasted like food. Food that people eat, not some horrible fodder that they have to eat to survive.

That’s why Kang jin-hyeon couldn’t let go of Hee-na.

“I have to recruit her no matter what.

Kang clung to Hee-na, who had been eating very satisfyingly lately, and that alone had a calming effect on his nerves.

“Don’t you have an appetite?”

Meanwhile, Hee-na looked worriedly at Kang jin-hyeon, who was chewing rice grains without speaking.

She secretly hoped that the food would be better since her ‘This is the taste’ skill rank had been raised to C yesterday.

But Kang jin-hyeon hadn’t eaten any side dishes and had been scarfing down plain rice for five minutes. Moreover, his eyes seemed to have relaxed a bit. As if he was addicted to something.

“Ah…….”

Kang jin-hyeon switched his chopsticks as if waking up to Hee-na’s question.

“No, the rice is delicious today, and I can’t stop savoring the flavor.”

Hee-Na couldn’t hide a small smile at his praise.

“That’s good, because I just raised my cooking skill rank to C yesterday, and it seems to be working, judging by the way Hunter is enjoying it.”

She bragged about her rank increase.

Kang’s eyes widened at the sound of that. He gulped down his food and said.

“Congratulations. Ranking up is difficult to achieve with any amount of practice, so it’s great that you did it.”

“I only have skills like cleaning and cooking, so it’s much easier for me to rank up.”

Hee-Na shook her head in humility. But the compliment felt good, so it was hard to hide her gaping mouth.

“I’m frighteningly excited about your future progress.”

Kang jin-hyeon’s eyes lit up and he stared at Hee-na.

“A D- and C-level skill like this, how great will you be if you improve further?

This was what he thought every time he ate Hee-na’s lunchbox, but he had to capture this kind of talent.

Kang jin-hyeon decided that he would hire Hee-na as his chef once again.

“The stewed tofu is delicious, please eat it quickly.”

Only Hee-na, a dull C-class housekeeper, didn’t notice his gaze, just chewing and swallowing the stewed tofu.

She was halfway through her lunch box. Suddenly, Kang jin-hyeon stopped chopping.

“They’re coming, they’re getting closer.”

“Oh, what should I do?”

Hee-na didn’t know what to do. If it was discovered that a member of the environmental beautification team and S-class hunter Kang jin-hyeon were secretly sharing a lunch box, she would be in the middle of an internal issue. She didn’t want that.

“The aura that’s coming with you is bad, I think we should get out of the way.”

Kang jin-hyeon put his arm around Hee-na’s shoulders. As he did so, he was also careful to grab the bento box they were eating from.

They had barely hidden themselves.

Bam!

The door to the rooftop garden opened.

“Hey! Hurry up! Over here!”

“……?

Hee-na’s eyes widened. It was Woo Min-ah, the owner of the squeaky voice.

Woo Min-ah pointed at the hunters who had followed them and where Hee-na and Kang jin-hyeon were hiding.

“There’s no one here! Throw them here!”

Kang jin-hyeon didn’t seem to recognize her.

“Hey, hurry up!”

“Be careful!”

There was something urgent about the situation. Following Woo Min-ah’s instructions, the Hunters scrambled to move something.

It was a large crystal ball with an ominous blue glow. The crystal ball hummed, threatening to explode at any moment.

“Throw it away before the gate opens!”

With Wu Min’er’s shout, the large crystal ball was thrown, slicing through the air like a shot put. Hui Na stamped her feet.

“Ouch! What the hell!

The ball was flying toward the spot where Hee-na and Kang jin-hyeon had taken cover.

“Don’t panic. I’ll move.”

Kang jin-hyeon didn’t panic, but held Hee-na’s body and tried to dodge the marbles.

But that’s when it happened.

Pow!

A blindingly cold blue light burst out from within the orb. At the same time, space cracked, and the void distorted. The hole began to suck in everything around it like a black hole.

Hee-na and Kang jin-hyeon were no exception.

“Kkkk……!”

Kang jin-hyeon’s forearm sprouted tendons as he grabbed the rooftop garden’s landscaper.

But it didn’t last long. The roots of the tree he was holding began to pull out little by little.

“Hey, Team Leader, is there someone over there?”

Someone shouted, spotting Hee-na and Kang jin-hyeon. Woo Min-ah squinted and looked at them.

“What is it, Kang jin-hyeon and……, Hee-na? Why is she here again?”

Sadly, they both looked familiar. She didn’t hesitate to throw herself into the gaping hole.

She wasn’t worried about Kang jin-hyeon, of course, but about Hee-na.

“The meat party is in three days!

……Maybe she was worried about the meat Hee-na was going to grill.

Pow!

But the mini-gate closed almost as fast as it opened. Woo Min-ah didn’t make it through the gate by the narrowest of margins.

She landed on the ground and stared into the void where the gate had been.

“Oh, this is crazy. How can I do this?”