Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: The Mansion Owner
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Outskirts of a provincial city somewhere in South Korea.
Koreans were so concentrated in the capital region that people even joked about it being the Seoul Republic. As such, that city transformed into a typical rural landscape the moment you strayed even a little from the urban center.
Optimistically, it was pastoral; pessimistically, it was backward.
But to those who had lived there since long ago, it was simply a familiar and comfortable place.
Especially for those who had moved to Seoul chasing success and weathered the fast-paced, cutthroat competition of city life, it was a warm hometown that soothed their weary hearts.
And if precious family waited there, it was all the more so.
“Grandma!”
A brand-new bright red foreign luxury car slowed to a stop, and a woman inside called out to an elderly woman walking along the roadside.
“Oh my, my baby! What brings you here without even calling?”
“I missed you, Grandma!”
The woman parked by the roadside and got out. She swiftly took the basket from the elderly woman’s hand.
“That’s heavy.”
“We’re putting it in the car anyway. And if it’s heavy, I should carry it.”
The woman loaded the basket into the trunk.
“What kind of car has empty space up front?”
“Expensive ones are like that, Grandma.”
The woman’s car was a model with the engine in the back and a trunk up front. The elderly woman seemed quite intrigued by it.
“Get in. Let’s go home.”
“Is it okay for an old lady like me to ride in this?”
“There’s no such thing as okay or not okay when it comes to riding in a car.”
A rural elderly woman in slacks did look mismatched with the bright red luxury foreign car. But the woman didn’t care in the slightest.
If some tactless fool dared to mock her grandmother by comparing her to the car, she’d gladly slap them across the face.
The woman and the elderly woman got into the car. The elderly one kept peering around the interior, clearly fascinated.
“Like it? Should I give this to you, Grandma?”
“No thanks. What would an old lady like me do with a car like this?”
“If you want it and can afford it, you drive it around. Or is there another car you’d prefer?”
“I said no. What need do I have to drive around in the countryside?”
“That’s exactly why you need one in the countryside.”
“Enough, enough.”
The elderly woman waved her hand dismissively.
The woman pouted. She had the wealth to buy dozens of cars like this without batting an eye, but her grandmother refused to take any money or gifts she offered.
‘Buy some meat with it.’
That was always her grandmother’s response.
It was absurd to the woman, who enjoyed all sorts of gourmet delicacies, but the elderly woman stubbornly refused to change.
As the saying went, peace and gratitude end when you dislike them. The grandmother steadfastly clung to her old ways of life.
So the woman visited often. The elderly woman would grumble but accept it when she came in person to take care of things.
“No busy schedule today?”
“I do need to log in briefly. But I’ll wrap it up before dinner.”
Most of her income came from Arc-related activities, and the rest stemmed from the fame she’d gained through Arc. Naturally, she had to diligently log into Arc and stay active.
That was why she had installed a Virtual Reality Device at her grandmother’s house.
“Anything you want to eat?”
“Pork stir-fry!”
“Again?”
“What do you mean again? I could eat your pork stir-fry three meals a day for the rest of my life, Grandma.”
The woman said excitedly.
“Got it. We’ll stop by the butcher on the way.”
“OK!”
As if echoing her elated mood, the car roared to life with a powerful exhaust note and sped off.
“By the way, I saw your picture at the town mart.”
The city had been officially upgraded long ago, but the grandmother still called it the town center.
“What picture?”
“You know, that one about the size of a person standing next to a TV.”
“Oh, the ad they shot recently.”
With her striking beauty and fame in Arc, she worked as a model for various ads. It seemed the grandmother had spotted one.
“They said it turned out pretty. I got scolded for wanting to take it home.”
“Of course it’s pretty. Whose granddaughter is it? If you want one that badly, should I ask them to send you a copy?”
“Oh, that’d be great.”
She turned down expensive cars and money but lit up with pure joy at the thought of displaying her granddaughter’s poster. The sight made the woman smile involuntarily.
That was when the two were chatting warmly.
“Hm?”
The woman craned her neck forward as if spotting something curious. A car was approaching from the opposite direction—a Bentley, a famous luxury brand. A rare sight in these parts.
Of course, she wasn’t just surprised by the car itself. What was curious was where it was headed.
The Bentley turned off the road onto a side path. There was only one place that path led to.
“That must be someone from that mansion.”
“Looks like someone actually lives there.”
A house built atop the nearby hills. Construction had finished not long ago, but no one who seemed like the owner had ever been spotted.
People did come and go, but anyone could tell they were delivery folks or cleaning crews.
Today, though, someone who looked like the owner had appeared.
“Has to be, right? The workers wouldn’t be driving a Bentley.”
“Bent... what?”
“That’s the car’s name.”
“Expensive?”
“Very.”
“Then it must be the owner.”
The grandmother nodded.
Rumors had long swirled that the house’s owner was wealthy. It was no surprise now.
The two women’s conversation soon shifted to other topics.
They were merely indulging a neighbor’s mild curiosity about the mansion with no visible owner. Far more important was the pork stir-fry they’d have today.
“By the way, that game of yours... what’s it called again?”
“Forgot again?”
“You try getting old. My memory isn’t what it used to be.”
Pouting, the woman still answered.
“Western Flower Garden. My name’s Seo Hye-won. It’s named after that.”
“Oh, right.”
The grandmother looked relieved to remember her granddaughter’s game ID again. But the woman eyed her with concern.
“Grandma, you’re not getting dementia, are you? Should we go to the hospital?”
“Dementia my foot. I had a full checkup a month ago, and they said I’m perfectly fine, you rascal.”
“That’s a relief.”
And so the grandmother and granddaughter caught up on lost time as they headed to the elderly woman’s nearby home.
* * *
Yusung got out of the car. He first carried all the food from the trunk into the house. All the while, his mouth never stopped chewing something.
And he felt just as much happiness.
Incredible. The world already had so many kinds of food, and each one tasted entirely different.
With his limited experience with food, Yusung had even doubted it was possible.
Yet among everything he’d eaten so far, not a single dish had tasted the same.
He lined up the food-filled boxes in the living room. Then he picked up the laptop by the TV.
The copying must have finished, as the screen was off in standby mode.
‘I asked for one.’
He put the laptop he’d already owned on his wrist and stored the other in his inventory.
That wrapped up everything he needed to do in this world.
‘About five minutes left.’
He’d set a countdown on the laptop’s clock right after arriving, so it should be accurate.
‘Oh, right, that too.’
Yusung headed to the kitchen. He’d decided to take one cooking tool back to the other world.
But the fridge was too heavy, and the induction stove was built-in, so he’d have to rip it out.
In the end, he settled on the convection oven with microwave functions recommended by the strategy guide.
Yusung sat by the box.
‘It said a purple circle appears one minute before return.’
The Purchase Window didn’t open in this world. But items held during otherworld travel could be included via the strategy guide.
Four minutes still remained. Yusung didn’t even think about what to do with them.
He rummaged through the box and pulled out one more food item.
A sandwich. Ham, cheese, vegetables, and such sandwiched between bread, it was called. He tore open the packaging and took a big bite.
“Mmm!”
The nutty bread, salty ham, crisp vegetables, and rich cheese aroma—all of it stimulated every cell in his body.
Gulp!
He chewed as long as possible before swallowing. Then he took another big bite.
Food everywhere he looked. In this heavenlike situation, the four-minute wait felt short at all.
A purple circle appeared. Nearby objects tinged purple as well. Yusung kept stuffing sandwich into his mouth while waiting.
It was when he popped the last piece in.
His view shifted.
He was already back in his original world’s hideout.
In the past, he might have moved with a heavy heart. But now, his mood was light.
Thanks to the food he’d brought, of course.
‘Check first.’
Yusung opened the Purchase Window.
‘As expected.’
Both Otherworld Travel (3 Hours) and Otherworld Travel (1 Hour) were grayed out. The trick of using both separately to get four hours wouldn’t work.
‘Then let’s check the rewards.’
As the strategy guide had said, the quest reward window popped up the moment he returned to this world. Rewards for the items he’d brought and the info from Iron Robotics.
“Ha, haha!”
Yusung burst out laughing.
He didn’t care about the quest window’s detailed explanations. Only the amount credited to him mattered.
47,684,300G.
An enormous sum.
He’d bought high-cost items like cooldown reductions and spent a fair bit of gold on this expedition, so his finances had been worrying. But this reward blew those concerns away in one go.
He pulled a small PET bottle from the box. Orange juice. He twisted off the cap and chugged it. The sweet-tart flavor filled his mouth.
“Kaaah!”
A satisfied groan echoed through the base.
“Ah, bliss!”
With no worries left, Yusung declared it so.
* * *
Yusung returned to his routine. Log into Arc, level up, make money. Sleep when tired. Utterly familiar.
But one thing was starkly different from before.
Ding!
He opened the oven door at the alarm, took out steaming sausages, and set them beside the already-warmed instant rice and opened can of tuna.
Then he started eating.
‘Delicious!’
That was his only thought. He restrained his jaw from speeding up, savoring slowly. He ignored his stomach’s protests to hurry.
Laying out three kinds of food and eating—this ultimate luxury couldn’t be rushed.
He devoured it all, drank a bottle of soda, and finished with black bread.
A lifestyle that brought smiles naturally.
Thud! Thud!
Something knocked at the hideout entrance.
In the past, he’d tense up. Nothing in this world knocked except monsters or beasts hunting him.
But now, he had another suspect in mind.
Yusung cautiously opened the door. His smile deepened.
Transfer complete, Master.
His robot, ABR-025, stood there cradling the luggage he’d entrusted to it.