Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: I'll Give You a Chance to Call Me Sister!
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For some reason, it felt like I'd had a strange dream.
In it, I'd told an ancient spirit something like, "I'm gonna contract with you and have an easy life—," or "You, become a worker at my café—," "Do you prefer cleaning dirt over washing dishes?—" I'd spouted off all sorts of nonsense like that...
It was a bizarre yet vivid dream.
'Though I doubt anything like that would actually happen.'
To make an ancient spirit do chores, how much would I have to pay it?
Honestly, I couldn't even fathom it.
If I had a spirit that could move earth, carve mountains, and cycle life itself do the dishes... wouldn't I have to hand over an entire house as payment?
I might end up losing everything I'd earned just to get some relaxation from a single chore.
"Hmm..."
That absolutely couldn't happen.
I must have been pretty exhausted from that large-scale gate raid.
I'd blurted out those words without even thinking about the cost.
'Wait a sec. If I dreamed about an ancient spirit...'
Could it be a sign that it's sprouting!?
With a sliver of hope, I peered into the flowerpot by my bedside.
But there was no sprouting seed or system window saying conditions were met.
"Hm..."
What on earth could that 'specific condition' be?
It'd be nice if it gave me a hint at least.
Guess I'd have to wait and watch a bit longer.
While using Heal on it occasionally and talking to it, of course.
Snore, snore—
Even though I'd slept plenty, my eyelids kept growing heavy.
I could feel fatigue rising from deep within my body.
'Ugh... so tired...'
There was one thing I'd definitely realized from this raid.
'No matter how I look at it, I'm not cut out for gates...'
I'd keep my distance from gates from now on.
And fighting monsters too.
I was sick of dealing with every variable inside them.
Especially after getting trapped in a maze, isolated, and feeling the terror of actual death throughout my whole body—it hit even harder.
'Seriously, absolutely never going in again.'
I didn't need to walk the line between life and death; there were more than enough ways to make a living.
I could tend to my Lumina flower field with care, brew and sell mana expansion potions,
and just sell a few gathered items using my Nature Affinity ability—I could live comfortably for life.
Then hole up in my house with that money and live a cozy, peaceful life.
'While getting my dopamine hits now and then.'
And once I had enough customers wanting 'secret deals'.
I'd buy another gate and open a shop just for trading goods.
Franchise it, hire part-timers...
Expand my own world without ever stepping into a gate...!
'Today, I'll just do nothing and take a long nap.'
Warm sunlight, fluffy blanket.
Nothing more to ask for if I drifted off like this— that's when.
Ding-dong—
Someone rang the doorbell.
Glancing at the clock, it was still only seven in the morning.
'Who'd come looking for me at this hour...?'
Unable to shake off the sleep, I opened the front door with bleary eyes.
And there.
"Ah, ahaha, hello Healer! Sorry for coming so early in the morning... you must be surprised."
"......"
Standing side by side in front of the door were the Bloom Guild Master and a cute little girl.
"Ah, let me introduce her first. This is our guild's blacksmith, Master Hwang Chilbok!"
She looked a head shorter than me.
Her eyes slanted up like an angry cat's.
Her chubby cheeks were like she had a big candy in her mouth.
And in one hand, she casually held a hammer as big as her head.
I rubbed my still-sleepy eyes and looked down at the girl I'd never seen before.
'First time looking down at someone since my body changed.'
At that moment, the girl's eyes flashed, and she snapped sharply.
"Hey!! You just thought I was short, didn't you!"
Seemed like height was her complex.
She was getting mad and using informal speech right from the first meeting.
Maybe because I'd dealt with all sorts lately.
I wasn't even that surprised anymore by people jumping straight to informal speech on first sight.
"Gasp! How did you know?!"
"Eeeek...!!"
When I teased her a bit, the girl's face quickly turned red with anger.
"Chilbok."
At that moment, Song Yu-hwa spoke in a low voice.
"Do you already forget whose house this is, and why we're here today?"
Her calm but firm tone slowly drained the color from the girl's heated expression.
"We're here to make a request. Show the Healer proper respect."
Song Yu-hwa gave one more warning, then bowed her head toward me.
"Sorry about that, Healer. Our blacksmith is top-tier in skill, but a bit lacking in social graces..."
"No, it's fine!"
Whatever the case, I couldn't keep guests standing at the door.
I flung the front door wide open.
"Come on in first?"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Song Yu-hwa got straight to the point as soon as she sat down.
"I heard you obtained a relic-grade blueprint as your personal gate reward."
It hadn't even been a full day since I came out of the gate...
How did she know already...?
As I stared in surprise, Song Yu-hwa smiled softly.
"Our info network is the fastest when it comes to items."
She continued.
"You haven't sold the relic equipment blueprint yet, right?"
"Yes."
No sooner had I confirmed I still had it.
The fidgety girl next to her lunged forward and shouted.
"Sell it to me!"
Two buckteeth popped out between her widely grinning lips.
"You won't regret selling it to me! I'm the best at making weapons in Korea! Armor too, accessories, and uh..."
The girl poured out words without catching her breath.
But after 'and uh,' she seemed to lose track, her tongue tripping over itself.
"Chilbok, hold on."
Song Yu-hwa pressed the girl's shoulder down and continued.
"It's no exaggeration to say that right now, Master Chilbok is the only one in Korea who can perfectly recreate a relic-grade blueprint."
The girl nodded frantically beside her, chiming in, "That's right! No one but me can do it!"
"If you wish, we can offer custom equipment on top of the blueprint payment. So how about handing it over to Bloom Guild?"
From their reactions.
This relic-grade blueprint must be way more valuable than I'd thought.
'I was planning to put it up at auction...'
But maybe it was better to give it to people I had a connection with.
'Especially since I've received so much from Song Yu-hwa.'
The necklace protecting my body, the bracelet, the ring boosting weapon performance.
And the unopened boxes I hadn't gotten around to yet.
'I always thought I'd repay this debt someday.'
Looks like now was the time.
"Sure. I'll give it to Bloom Guild."
"What!? For real??"
At my answer, the girl's eyes widened, and she bounced up on her chair with a 'boing.'
Her two fangs gleamed between her beaming lips.
"Yee hawww!!"
Then she started some bizarre step-dance, flailing her arms wildly and stomping the floor with both feet.
Her fists trembled in the air several times.
Her butt wiggled and jerked like a broken toy.
"Great, great! Coming first thing in the morning was worth it! Totally worth it!"
A spectacle of strange, captivating moves.
I bit my lip desperately to hold back laughter.
"Chilbok, this isn't the time for that, right?"
"Ah, right! Not the time!"
The wildly dancing Chilbok plopped back into her chair and pulled out a small metal terminal from her waist.
Beep—
A short mechanical sound, and my phone vibrated.
⚙ DEPOSIT NOTIFICATION ⚙
+1,000,000,000 Won deposited. Depositor: Hwang Chilbok
My eyes went wide at the number of zeros I'd never seen before in my life.
'Eek... how many zeros is that...?'
It was a whopping 1 billion.
I'd heard blacksmiths made good money, but.
I hadn't realized they had enough to toss around sums like this casually.
"Done! Totally done! No take-backs! The blueprint's mine!"
...Gotta stay on good terms with her.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The deal wrapped up more simply than expected.
Song Yu-hwa bid polite goodbyes with her courteous smile to the end, while Hwang Chilbok clutched the blueprint tightly and grinned nonstop.
I saw them off to the front yard.
Song Yu-hwa strode out with her long legs, and Chilbok followed with short, hopping steps—hop hop hop.
As the two were almost out of the yard.
Chilbok suddenly stopped, whipped her head around, and looked at me.
"Hey, how old are you?"
Out-of-the-blue question; I blinked slowly.
"Twenty-two."
"What! Then I'm your sister?"
Chilbok's eyes sparkled in an instant.
Her lips curved up all the way to her ears.
"Ahem! I'll specially give you a chance to call me sister!"
Cold sweat beaded on my forehead the moment those words dropped.
'...Call her sister?'
My mind went blank.
I'd never once uttered the word 'sister' from my own mouth in my life.
"Say 'sister'!"
"...Sis..."
My throat clogged up; the rest wouldn't come out.
"Sis..."
This must be my last shred of pride.
"What? You saying I don't look like a sister?"
"N-No... that's not it..."
How was I supposed to explain this...
As my thoughts tangled in confusion.
Chilbok spotted something, jumped in fright, and bolted to hide behind me.
Shiver shiver—
The small body pressed against my back trembled uncontrollably.
'What did she see?'
I turned to follow her gaze and...
"......"
Not far off, the next-door neighbor was glaring fiercely with wide, shocked eyes.
"That woman's scary..."
Chilbok whispered softly in my ear.
She desperately covered her chubby cheeks with her tiny hands.
Maybe she'd had her cheeks pinched by that suspicious woman like I had.
'...Come to think of it.'
Chilbok's plump cheeks were so tempting, you couldn't help but want to grab them.
Even I, who had zero interest in other people's bodies, had thought about pinching them the moment I saw her.
"Don't worry. I'll protect you."
Sure, she might be older than me.
But seeing Chilbok trembling behind me strangely stirred my protective instincts.
Led by this new feeling I'd never experienced, I shot a fierce glare at the neighbor.
"......!"
"......"
Luckily, my glare worked.
The neighbor turned around in a daze and went back into her house.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
After safely escorting Chilbok back to Song Yu-hwa's place.
I dragged my limp body straight to the bedroom.
Just in case, before lying down, I didn't forget to check the flowerpot by my bedside.
And then.
"Oh!"
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[Sprouting conditions fulfilled.]
A translucent message floated above the flowerpot.
'...I thought there'd be some complicated process.'
Looks like one of my offhand actions had satisfied the seed's 'specific condition.'
Anyway.
To sprout it quickly, I should pour plenty of Heal into the pot.
'Plants love Heal, after all.'
I stretched out both hands and poured light toward the flowerpot.
The moment the light from my fingertips seeped into the soil.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
['Ancient Spirit Seed' rejects 'Heal.'] ['Ancient Spirit Seed' spits out 'Heal.']
A 'plop' and ripples splashed in the pot.
"...Huh?"
Tilting my head, I poured more Heal into the pot.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
['Ancient Spirit Seed' desperately rejects 'Heal.'] ['Ancient Spirit Seed' spits out 'Heal'—ptui.]
But the seed rejected Heal, even 'desperately.'
"......What?"
Does it have a Heal allergy or something?