Landlord (6)
Yoo Joonghyuk stared at Lee Jihye and Yoo Sangah blocking her path, bloodshot eyes fixed on them as she spoke.
"Out of my way… Lee Jihye, Yoo Sangah. I'm going to cut that insolent bastard down in one stroke."
"C-Calm down, Master! If that oppa's gone, we won't get to eat chicken or tteokbokki anymore!"
"Jihye's right, Joonghyuk-ssi! Without Jinwoo-ssi, we won't have the daily necessities or meat we need…! A-Anyway, it'll be a real problem!"
Lee Jihye and Yoo Sangah threw out every reason they could think of, throwing themselves between Yoo Joonghyuk and Park Jinwoo as the regressor glared murderously with her Jincheon Paedo already drawn.
"Ha…! What are you gonna do, just glare at me? You gonna hit me or something?"
"…I'm going to kill you."
Drunk and flushed red, Park Jinwoo looked at Yoo Joonghyuk with an arrogant little smile and kept needling her. The provocation worked; her stare only grew more lethal.
"Ah! Seriously?! Stop provoking her and just sit still, Jinwoo-ssi!"
"Th-That's right, Jinwoo-ssi! You're really going to get yourself killed!"
"Hyung! Get a grip!"
Jung Heewon, Lee Hyunsung, and Lee Gilyoung saw Park Jinwoo aiming the anti-materiel sniper rifle at Yoo Joonghyuk and latched onto his arms, the gun, and his legs respectively, holding him back with everything they had.
"…This is a complete mess."
A majority of Constellations nod in agreement with Incarnation Kim Dokja's words.
A minority of Constellations are thoroughly enjoying the complete mess.
Enjoying it, my ass…
Kim Dokja clutched her head at the five-minutes-to-total-chaos situation unfolding in front of her.
"Hyunsung-ssi! Gilyoung! Hold Jinwoo-ssi's arms and legs tight! I'm just going to knock him out!"
"U-Understood!"
"Yes, Heewon noona!"
Lee Hyunsung nodded with a solemn expression and tightened his grip on Park Jinwoo's arm. Lee Gilyoung looked a little conflicted, but he didn't really object and clung firmly to Park Jinwoo's legs.
Once Lee Hyunsung and Lee Gilyoung had him secured, Jung Heewon reversed her grip on her blade, laid the flat of the sword against the back of Park Jinwoo's neck, and spoke.
"Jinwoo-ssi. Don't move. If I mess this up, your spine breaks."
Thud!
"Huh? What did you— gack!"
Jung Heewon brought the flat of her blade down on the back of Park Jinwoo's neck to knock him out. Fortunately—if you could call it that—he went down in one hit.
"There we go."
As the unconscious Park Jinwoo started to tip backward, Jung Heewon caught him at just the right moment.
"Nice work, Heewon-ssi!"
"Heewon-ssi! Nice!"
"Well done, Heewon-ssi!"
"Noona, you're the best!"
With the drunk Park Jinwoo finally put down by the flat of Jung Heewon's blade after his not-quite-a-rampage, Kim Dokja, Yoo Sangah, Lee Hyunsung, and Lee Gilyoung all turned bright smiles on her and heaped on the praise.
"You too—calm down already. He's completely wasted. He probably won't even remember any of this properly."
"………Tell that drunkard this: 'There will not be a second time. If something like this happens again, I will cut his head off without fail.'"
Shing.
Jung Heewon carefully laid Park Jinwoo on the floor and spoke to Yoo Joonghyuk in a tone that said they should let it go just this once. Yoo Joonghyuk clicked her tongue, sheathed the Jincheon Paedo, and looked at her as she answered.
Jung Heewon nodded at those words. Yoo Joonghyuk stared at her a moment longer, then turned and spoke to Lee Jihye.
"We're leaving."
"Y-Yes, Master!"
Lee Jihye flinched at the summons and answered. Yoo Joonghyuk and Lee Jihye walked off somewhere together and soon vanished from sight.
"Haa… What the hell was that sudden circus for."
"I know… I really thought we were done for this time."
Once Yoo Joonghyuk was gone, Jung Heewon and Yoo Sangah dropped onto the floor and muttered their complaints under their breath. Lee Hyunsung and Lee Gilyoung gave small nods of agreement.
"All thanks to this drunken mess of a gentleman, I suppose…"
Kim Dokja shot a sidelong glance at the Park Jinwoo sprawled on the floor, then turned back to the group.
"Everyone, good work for now. Let's rest a bit and then…"
Time remaining until the Third Scenario activates: 4 hours.
"……Hmm. We've still got four hours left, so everyone rest easy."
"Um, Dokja-ssi? Shouldn't we also be looking for one of those rooms they call Green Zones…?"
Kim Dokja flinched for a second at the scenario message that floated up in front of her, but the fact that four whole hours remained put a clear look of relief in her eyes as she spoke to the group.
Yoo Sangah, however, raised a hesitant hand and asked whether they still needed to find a room of their own.
Kim Dokja nodded at her words.
"Sangah-ssi's right. Normally, yes."
"What do you mean by that…?"
Yoo Sangah tilted her head, not following.
"We have a cheat key, so we don't particularly need to go hunting for a room."
"Ah!"
"…Honestly. Jinwoo-ssi is capable—he really is. It would just be nicer if he caused fewer incidents…"
Hearing that, Yoo Sangah finally understood what Kim Dokja was getting at and gave a small, admiring nod.
Jung Heewon also thought again about how impressive Park Jinwoo's abilities really were—then immediately undercut it with a quiet grumble that she wished he'd cut down on the frequency of his disasters.
"We'll rest for about two and a half hours, then wake Jinwoo-ssi up."
The group all nodded at Kim Dokja's words and settled in to rest.
Time remaining until the Third Scenario activates: 1 hour 30 minutes.
"Ugh…! Ha! Even just sitting still and resting is kind of hard."
"Ahaha… It's probably worse because we've been resting so comfortably in Jinwoo-ssi's My Little Hideout these past few days."
Jung Heewon and Yoo Sangah, who had been sitting face-to-face chatting and then dozing for a while, got to their feet as they spoke.
"First, let's wake up the guy sprawled over there."
"Understood. Jinwoo-ssi? Jinwoo-ssi! You need to get up now!"
"Jinwoo hyung, time to wake up."
At Kim Dokja's words, Lee Hyunsung and Lee Gilyoung—who were closest to Park Jinwoo—grabbed the shoulders of the man lying on the floor and shook him back and forth.
Constellation, Demon-like Judge of Fire, is extremely pleased with the current situation!
Constellation, Demon-like Judge of Fire, gazes upon the three comrades' bond with passionate eyes!
500 Coins have been sponsored.
Having gone far too long without any proper comradeship content, the Constellation Demon-like Judge of Fire seemed to be in the grip of a severe comradeship drought—and this sudden downpour of it had her so excited she sponsored coins to Kim Dokja's party.
"Mmm… Ow, my head…. What? Is something going on? I was sleeping just fine…"
"The Third Scenario is about to start, so we had to wake you in a hurry, Jinwoo-ssi."
"Hm? Already? Ugh… W-Why does the back of my neck hurt so much?"
Park Jinwoo tried to sit up quickly at Lee Hyunsung's words, only to crumple his face at the pain in the back of his neck and carefully rub the spot.
"Ugh… Why do my head and the back of my neck hurt this much?"
"D-Do you not remember, Jinwoo-ssi?"
"Did I cause another incident?"
"If you don't remember, then that's fine…"
Lee Hyunsung turned away with a look of pure enlightenment and got to his feet. Park Jinwoo watched him go, tilting his head. Then he decided he didn't particularly care, and sprang up from where he'd been lying.
"An hour and a half left, huh… Hmm………"
Checking the scenario message, Park Jinwoo stroked his chin with one hand and sank deep into thought.
"Hey, Jinwoo-ssi. You're not about to cause another incident this time, are you?"
Kim Dokja looked at the deeply contemplative Park Jinwoo with a worried expression.
"No, no incidents this time. I was thinking of combining a little business with a little good deed."
"Business and a good deed?"
Kim Dokja tilted her head, not quite grasping it, and asked again.
"Earlier we made a pretty decent pile of coins selling stuff down here on B2 with all of you, but because of that woman Yoo Joonghyuk I burned through three thousand coins. Gotta make that back."
"But how are you planning to make it back?"
"So I thought about it. I'm going into the lodging business."
"Lodging business? Don't tell me…?"
Kim Dokja's eyes went wide at Park Jinwoo's words. The rest of the group still hadn't caught on and just looked back and forth between Kim Dokja and Park Jinwoo with puzzled faces.
"Dokja-ssi's guess is correct. I'm going to run a lodging business with the My Little Hideout I have. Huh? Wait a second, what's this?"
Park Jinwoo had been speaking to Kim Dokja with complete confidence when he checked some message and his expression shifted to pure shock.
Exclusive skill Shop User's skill level has increased!
As Shop User's skill level rises, the variety of products available for purchase from the General Shop and Dokkaebi Bag increases slightly.
As Shop User's skill level rises, the quality and durability of products purchased from the General Shop and Dokkaebi Bag increase slightly.
As Shop User's skill level rises, a Coupon system usable in the General Shop and Dokkaebi Bag has been created.
This Coupon system generates at a low probability whenever a product is purchased.
"Wait, did my skill level go up just from buying Murim Dumplings?"
Park Jinwoo grimaced at the messages and started rummaging through Shop User and My Little Hideout. Then he found the anti-materiel sniper rifle and nearly jumped out of his skin as he turned to Kim Dokja.
"W-What? What's this? Why is there an anti-materiel sniper rifle in my My Little Hideout…? Dokja-ssi, do you know why this is in here?"
"You really don't remember…"
Kim Dokja let out a long sigh at his words.
"You truly don't remember drinking soju while eating chicken earlier?"
"Soju…? Ah……!"
Park Jinwoo flinched hard, as if the memory had finally slammed into him.
"Fuck… I bought this while blackout drunk? This shit costs two thousand coins…! Goddammit! My two thousand coins!"
So because of Yoo Joonghyuk he'd lost three thousand coins, and then he'd spent another two thousand buying this—meaning a total of five thousand coins had vanished in a single instant?!
Park Jinwoo's blood pressure spiked so hard at the thought of five thousand coins evaporating like foam that he nearly grabbed the back of his own neck.
"Hoo… hoo… C-Calm. Stay calm. Coins can be earned again. Stay calm, my heart."
"F-Fuck! Don't come near me…!"
"………………Scared the absolute shit out of me, you bastard."
Click-clack!
"Jinwoo-ssi? Don't tell me you're—!!"
Just as he was barely managing to cool his temper, some middle-aged man's curse-laced voice reached him. Park Jinwoo quietly chambered a round in the anti-materiel sniper rifle and aimed in the direction of the sound.
And then.
Bang!!
He fired.
Pew! Crash!
"Huh………? Wh-What?"
The middle-aged man who had been swinging tools and threatening people around a single-person Green Zone while spewing curses jumped at something that whipped past right beside his face, then turned around with a blank expression.
Behind him was a completely shattered screen door.
"Hey, ajusshi. You scared me. Thanks to you I almost had a heart attack. How are you going to compensate me for that?"
"Wh-What…?"
Park Jinwoo walked over without a word and spoke to the man. The man flinched at the voice, turned his head toward Park Jinwoo—and went dead white the moment he saw the sniper rifle in Park Jinwoo's hands.
"I said, how are you going to compensate me?! You not understanding me?!"
"Eek…! H-How should I compensate you…?"
"Ha, ajusshi, I just lost a ton of coins and I'm really sad about it. So I decided to start a lodging business. I'll specially welcome you as my very first customer—how about it?"
"L-Lodging business? What on earth is that supposed to…"
Click-clack.
Park Jinwoo looked the man over with a blank face and quietly chambered another round.
"A-Ahaha… So you're running a lodging business…! Th-Then, uh, how much is it…?"
"Four hundred coins a day. Meals separate."
"Th-That's! Way too expensive…!!"
"More expensive than your life?"
"…………O-Of course I'll pay! Absolutely! Four hundred coins is actually super cheap! A-Ahaha, hahahaha!!"
"Good choice, ajusshi! And don't worry so much. It's safer than these Green Zones. Now hand over the coins."
"Uuuugh………… Here…"
Incarnation Oh Jeonghwan has paid 400 Coins to Incarnation Park Jinwoo.
The man burst into tears as he paid Park Jinwoo the coins.
Once the man had properly handed over the four hundred coins, Park Jinwoo smiled in satisfaction, put a hand to the screen door beside him, and generated a door to My Little Hideout.
"Get in."
"Y-Yes!"
The man stared wide-eyed at the door that had just appeared right next to him, then looked at Park Jinwoo—but Park Jinwoo offered no explanation, only the order to go inside.
Looking thoroughly terrified, the man opened the door and stepped into My Little Hideout.
"Alright, Dokja-ssi! We've only got an hour left! Let's hurry up and kidnap—threaten—no, advertise to people! We don't have time!"
"Crazy kidnapper bastard… Good deed, my ass……"
Kim Dokja looked at Park Jinwoo with pure contempt at the kidnapping drama unfolding right in front of her.