Chapter 151
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 151
Chapter Title: Outdoor Opening
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After finishing the consultation and coming back, my lower body felt strangely damp for some reason.
Upon checking, my dick was smeared with pussy juices and semen.
"......"
The harpy was waddling around with a hugely satisfied look on her face.
While I was spacing out, she must have clung on, shaken her hips like mad, and stolen the cum.
"Rang, if you enjoyed yourself that much, you should clean up properly too."
「Gyaang?」
"Never mind."
That wasn't the important part anyway. I was planning to wash up regardless.
Heading up to the second floor, everyone had finished showering and was drying their hair.
"Wow, did Rang behave herself?"
「Gyaaaang!」
The Saintess cooed over her, and the little one grinned from ear to ear.
She looked absolutely ecstatic.
Rang made sure to greet everyone else first too. She hopped around with Sera, and even latched onto the usually no-nonsense Han So-hee, putting on all her cutest acts.
She definitely had a knack for getting along with people.
"Long time no see?"
And then the last one left. At Shin Seo-yeon's entrance, Rang threw everything she had into fawning over her.
She acted cute, fetched a cool drink from the fridge and offered it up, even played up her adorableness.
Shin Seo-yeon looked Rang up and down.
"But your look's changed a bit, hasn't it?"
At that, Rang put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest proudly.
「Kyaaang!」
It was like she was bragging about how grown-up she looked now.
The tilted chin, the confident pose—she took after someone in so many ways.
"......"
But she'd picked the wrong mark.
Shin Seo-yeon never lets anyone in the party who resembles her get away with it.
Sure enough, she narrowed her brows and zeroed in on Rang's upper body.
"What's this? Why do your tits look bigger?"
「!!」
"Wow, sneaking treats behind big sis's back, huh?"
As Shin Seo-yeon's expression soured, Rang panicked and flailed around, then grabbed some clothes and wrapped her chest tight. She thrust out her now shrunken chest proudly once more.
「Kyaaang!」
She was great at socializing, no doubt. Of course, it was all pointless struggling against the Crimson Flame Witch, who'd already decided to pick on her.
"What makes you think you've earned all that yowling from earlier? You're hurting my ears. Hmph!"
「Gyaang....」
In the end, Rang quietly slipped behind Shin Seo-yeon and started kneading her shoulders.
Normal monsters might climb over your head if you treat them too well, but our house harpy would never pull that. Someone was always there to keep her in line.
'Anyway, looks like no need to call them separately since everyone's gathered.'
I gathered the women and spoke up.
"Something urgent came up that we need to decide on."
"Decide on something?"
"Hm?"
I explained the situation to the group. About how the administrator had summoned me and frozen our funds.
"Damn, did we make too much of a splash?"
"Maybe we should've held back a little."
"Yeah, if we'd done just a day or two less..."
...As if two days would've made a difference, girls.
"But we have to spend all that money by today? That's tricky."
Yeah, lunch was already past, less than twelve hours left. We had to blow through 78 million points in that time.
It was tight.
Now that it came to spending it, the sheer amount made it hard to know where to even start.
It had been so long since I'd dealt with a sum this huge that for a moment, it even felt like I'd regressed to the late stages of the Selection Process.
'Back then, this was an amount I could never touch.'
...What a shame. But we had to spend it. Couldn't just let it vanish.
"Anyway, the money can only be spent on [Lodge Upgrades]. So I'm thinking of using it on an outdoor upgrade."
"Outdoor upgrade?"
"Yeah. Not just staying cooped up inside the lodge—we'd be able to go outside."
The group voiced their agreement in unison.
"Wow, great idea!"
"Not a bad plan."
The Saintess, who'd always loved the lake here, beamed and gave it her full support, while Han So-hee, who enjoyed the natural scenery, nodded too.
"Whatever oppa likes is fine by me."
「Gyaang!」
Sera and Rang were on board too.
Only Shin Seo-yeon was furrowing her brow.
"You're kidding, right? What are we even gonna do outside? Forget that—buy a ton of interior decorations instead. Sell 'em to people after."
"Sorry, but something that blatant would just bring more restrictions."
The goddess wasn't an idiot. She wouldn't let us profit off it like that.
"Tch, but still—is there really a reason to open up the outdoors? Just expand the rooms and live there; it'd save way more money. Do everything indoors instead. Add a courtyard, a pool."
Classic practical, no-nonsense Shin Seo-yeon.
"True, but indoors and outdoors aren't the same, no matter how much you mimic it."
"Still, ten million points is overkill."
I had to admit that.
If I were only thinking short-term, I'd agree with her completely.
"But if it's that expensive, there must be a reason, right?"
"...What do you mean?"
"Think back to Earth days. Goods or services—expensive ones always have a reason."
Not that it's always true, and I wasn't sure about this case.
But I had my own reason for insisting on opening the outdoors.
"Hm."
"Plus, there might be features that only unlock with the outdoors. Could be why it's pricey."
"...Fair enough. Money doesn't lie. Fine, do whatever you want."
Even as she said it, she seemed annoyed, like we'd been robbed unfairly. I patted her shoulder.
"No need to be too disappointed."
We hadn't lost everything.
We still had 1.17 million points left besides the 78 million.
And we could always earn more.
"So everyone's agreed to spend it on the lodge upgrade?"
Nods all around.
And so, the lodge upgrade passed unanimously.
Even if it felt forced, getting buy-in like this was crucial. Kept complaints from cropping up later.
Step. Step.
We all headed down to the first floor and stood by the entrance. The lake view stretched out before us. I opened the upgrade menu, went to the [Outdoor Expansion] section, and selected what I wanted.
[Outdoor Stage 1: 10,000,000 points]
[Description: Allows exit from the building.]
"Whew, alright—let's do this."
Yes. The moment I hit the button, a blue force field rippled out. A blue barrier rose from the building and spread outward, flowing out of sight.
"...Did it work?"
"Seems like it. Let's go check."
The group headed out full of anticipation. The door, which had never opened before, slid open smoothly, ramping up their excitement even more.
"Whoa, we can really go outside!"
"Yeah!"
They rushed out like they were competing, faces lit up with joy as if stepping into unknown territory for the first time.
But that joy crumbled in an instant.
"Eh?"
We couldn't stray too far from the lodge building. Like with the balcony, it was as if an invisible wall blocked us—we couldn't go any farther.
Han So-hee came back to the entrance, spread her legs wide, took exactly ten big steps, then stopped and said,
"...Radius of ten meters is the limit, looks like."
"Kinda narrow for the money we spent."
"Yeah."
"Can't even get in the lake."
The Saintess sighed wistfully, the lake right in front of her.
"Ha, seriously? This tiny bit is it? For ten million points?! ...Ugh, whatever."
Shin Seo-yeon started to vent but glanced at me and clamped her mouth shut. Something I never could've imagined from first-run Shin Seo-yeon.
Back then, she'd have exploded about wasting money, thrown a fit, demanded the manager, beaten them down, invested the cash somewhere random only to get wiped out, scammed, then caused another uproar...
That was daily life. This showed how much she was minding me now.
"Everyone, calm down. It cost a lot just to open it up. Expanding the land won't take much."
"Oh, really?"
Nod.
"How much?"
[1 pyeong = 10,000 points]
Shin Seo-yeon's jaw dropped.
"Hah? So 100 pyeong would be a million points? That's expensive!"
"Expensive, sure—but don't we have money rotting away right now?"
"Th-that's true, but still!"
My plan was simple.
Buy a ton of land. Farm it. Harvest the crops.
The group blinked at me after hearing it out.
"Farming?"
"Yes. Don't you all miss fruits and veggies from Earth?"
"Well..."
The women exchanged looks and nodded.
It'd been well over two months since leaving Earth. They had to be starting to crave home cooking.
Having rolled through ten years of the Selection Process, I knew firsthand—even after that long, Earth food didn't fade from memory.
Sure, the rest area sold related foods and ingredients. But not everything.
"I do wanna eat that stuff, like you said. But we've got more than a few problems right now."
"She's right. First off, where are we getting seeds?"
"Oh, that?"
I went back inside, dug out my backpack from the corner where it'd been stashed, and pulled out the seeds.
"!!"
"Whoa, Min-jun, you're amazing! You brought seeds too?"
"You are... thoroughly prepared."
"As expected of my oppa!"
I hadn't originally brought them to grow in the lodge.
Before entering the Selection Process, I'd prepped valuables for profit—and these seeds were one of them.
'Later, when guilds grow and the great lords appear, they start missing Earth food.'
So people buy seeds from those who brought them, grow crops in little pots.
'Brought these to sell at a premium. To the Golden Castle Lord, even. Who knew I'd use them like this.'
"Dickhead, you..."
Then I felt a sharp glare. Shin Seo-yeon was staring daggers, face full of questions. But in the end, she said nothing.
Looks like I'd sparked a misunderstanding, but this time it really was coincidence.
"So we've got seeds—now the issue is who does the work?"
"Ugh, don't put me on it. I know nothing about farming."
"I don't either, but I'll give it my best!"
"Yeah, me too!"
Shin Seo-yeon glanced around, then chimed in.
"I-I'll try too."
I chuckled.
"What are you talking about? We'll be heading to trial zones all the time, so if we farm, it'll fail. You girls focus on training hard at the training grounds and resting up."
"Huh? Then who's gonna farm?"
"We'll hire someone gradually."
Saying that, I turned to look at one spot.
The women followed my gaze, where Rang was pawing at the dirt—then she looked up at us and tilted her head.
「Gyaang?」