Happy Our Home - 2

"How many points do we have left right now?"

"Hmm, just a sec."

Ding!

"What a mess."

Thanks to running around like a puppy that just saw snow for the first time, I've collected all sorts of quirky currencies. 38 million won left after assembling summons. One gold piece I squeezed out of the big guy at the Chaegeundam, plus two more from treating that rich pig. Roughly 12,000 points from the first tutorial. Then 50,000 from the second, 100,000 from the 0.5th floor, and finally 50,000 from the first floor.

"About 210,000 points left. I burned through half of the thousand gold I exchanged."

"You spent quite a lot."

"Most of it went on your cake and the tent, you know?"

Sunny looked away again. The cake money was only around two gold at most. No matter how much angels love sweets, how much could one really eat? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The real problem was the tent that drained money with a few flicks of the fingers.

"Of course it had to take after me."

"You mean its abilities resemble Han Ga-eul's?"

"Yeah."

It's the kind of power that turns a hill into a mountain in the blink of an eye if you keep pouring resources into it.

"If it's copying me, it'll definitely get better eventually, but the early cost-efficiency is just awful."

"I see."

—Chik, chik.

"Phew— How much is housing around here?"

"The small rooms that first-time climbers rent go for about two to three gold a month."

"Sounds like a studio apartment."

That would be around 300,000 won monthly. No matter where you go, you need a place to live. If I don't want to keep renting expensive 30-gold hotels every time I sleep or rest, getting a house soon seems like a smart move.

The rooftop room I'm living in now is a little over eleven pyeong. That's already pretty spacious for one person and more than enough for two. After five upgrades, the tent has grown to about six pyeong. A few more purchases and it'll be big enough to actually live in properly.

"Hold on, let me do the math."

"What are you calculating?"

"Because of my ability's traits, certain perks unlock at specific stages, and there are sweet spots for cost-efficiency."

The tent started at ten gold. If I double it each time up to stage ten, I'll need ten thousand gold.

"Exactly 10,230 gold."

"Your calculations are incredibly fast and precise. How can mental math be that quick?"

"I used to be an engineering student. This kind of stuff is second nature. Not that I wanted to be this good at it."

I picked up a wooden stick and scribbled on the dirt floor while Sunny watched closely.

"I'm going up to stage ten, so there are ten terms with a common ratio of two."

"What is a common ratio?"

"It doubles each time."

"Suddenly it feels cheap."

"Just listen. Since the first term starts at ten gold, using the sum formula for a geometric series gives us this."

Sunny tilted her head while studying the ground.

"Han Ga-eul, is this what you're really like?"

"What do you even think of me? This is basic stuff every Korean high school student learns."

"I thought you solved everything with brute force."

I poked Sunny's side and she flinched.

"You saw me solving problems in the tutorial, right?"

"I did."

"It's the same principle. You can even use function graphs to find intersection points."

"Please teach me more."

Maybe because her job is Scribe, she seems genuinely interested in numbers. I learned something new about Sunny today.

"Let me give you an example. A wicked mage once spread an incurable poison over a village."

"The people must have suffered terribly."

"Right. The village would have been abandoned. But since it's a material substance, it's not truly permanent. Even so-called permanent materials are just figures of speech, and even incurable poisons eventually fade with time."

Baek Seol was using Sunny's body as a playground, climbing all over her, yet Sunny stayed completely focused. She's no ordinary angel.

"But sending watchers for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠years just to monitor when the poison disappears would be impractical. Instead, by measuring the half-life of its energy and taking short-term readings, you can calculate roughly when the toxin will vanish."

"An excellent technique."

"The point isn't that the calculation itself is special—it's where you apply it that matters."

Sunny nodded, then tilted her head again.

"Haven't you mostly solved everything with force until now?"

"Smashing idiots doesn't usually require math."

"Ah, why are you two fighting when the admin's right there!"

These two are the worst kind of rivals. Their personalities are complete opposites, so they clash the moment they meet.

"Players can block the gaze of the divine seats."

"Oh? Keep this up and I'll block both of you."

"So stop fighting and leave the admin alone."

Whether my threat worked or not, the two divine seats finally quieted down.

—Chik, chik.

"Phew—"

"Han Ga-eul, I want to learn that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠calculation method."

Sunny, who usually only gave advice and help, was asking for something for the first time.

"Teaching you is easy enough."

"I'll teach you too if you get the chance, Star."

The noisy situation seemed to have calmed down for now.

"Sunny, exchange 11,173 points into gold for me."

"Yes."

Clink.

When Sunny opened her palm in the air, two large gold coins and several smaller ones rained down.

"They even have high-denomination coins?"

The biggest coin had "10,000" stamped on it.

"I can't give you ten thousand individual gold coins, after all."

"Fair enough."

Seeing exactly 200,000 points left put me in a good mood.

"By the way, is this gold exchanged from what I already had?"

"The Tower provides it. I only have the authority to dispense it."

"That's interesting."

The cost from stage five to ten is 9,920 gold. Materials ready, all that's left is to tap the upgrade button. Even if early efficiency is poor, the later stages will scale exponentially with the investment. I can't wait to see how good it gets.

"Let's do this."

When I raised my hand, Baek Seol scurried inside the tent. She wanted to watch it grow.

Ding!

"Kuu!!"

"It got bigger?"

"Yeah!"

Ding!

"Kuuu!!"

Ding!

"Huh?"

From the third upgrade onward, I couldn't hear Baek Seol's voice anymore. Maybe she passed out from how big it got.

"Baek Seol?"

I looked at Sunny, who shook her head. She couldn't hear her either. I rushed inside and suddenly heard Baek Seol's energetic voice again.

"Kuuuuuu!!"

Baek Seol was shaking her head vigorously while looking around everywhere.

"Looks like it gained a soundproofing function."

"It seems so. That aside……"

Sunny answered, then looked around and wore an extremely surprised expression.

"It got huge, right?"

"Yes. It was cramped just moments ago. This ability is absurd."

The inside of the tent, which had been about six pyeong, was now larger than the rooftop room I lived in.

"Roughly fifteen pyeong now."

It wasn't mind-blowingly huge, but for a tent, it was ridiculous. I wasn't even sure if the inside counted as a tent anymore. Only the exterior looked like one—the walls were clearly made of pretty bricks with a strong Gothic feel.

"More than enough space for the three of us."

"Do I live here too?"

"You don't have a place of your own, right? Stay until you find one."

Sunny slowly nodded while looking around.

"Let's finish the rest."

"Fun!"

"You like it, Baek Seol?"

"Yeah!"

Baek Seol ran around the still-not-that-large interior. Since I exchanged ten thousand gold just for upgrades, there was no need to hold back.

Ding!

At the ninth upgrade, the house ballooned outward and the ceiling shot upward in an instant.

"Oh, a second floor."

Baek Seol, who had been scurrying around, dashed up the newly appeared stairs.

"Baek Seol got to the second floor first?"

"I did!"

"Baek Seol, it's going to get even bigger. Don't stick too close to the walls just in case."

"Okay!"

The final, tenth upgrade.

Ding!

I was expecting another big change, but nothing happened.

"What the—"

While I was looking around the unchanged interior, Sunny raised her hand beside me.

"There's a door over there."

"Eh?"

I turned around and saw the original entrance still rippling like a black portal.

"Why are there two entrances?"

"It looks like…… outside?"

Following Sunny's questioning gaze, I saw a lush green landscape through the newly appeared window.

"What? This isn't a tent anymore?"

Sunny, who had been answering everything until now, had no response. Even the clever angel seemed to be experiencing this for the first time.

"Let's go check it out."

As I walked toward the new door, Sunny and Baek Seol followed closely. Click.

The moment I opened the beautifully crafted wooden door, the fresh scent of grass filled the air. A pleasant breeze blew in, making the grass sway and rustle softly.

"Eung?"

—Chik, chik.

"Whoa—"

A gasp escaped me along with cigarette smoke. My hand automatically reached for a cigarette, which told me without looking that this place was really nice.

"An inside inside inside inside inside inside?"

"What does that even mean?"

"Uh……"

Trying to explain made my head spin. It was a space inside a tent inside a tower inside a new world inside a training ground inside Earth.

"Whatever. As long as it's good."

If this kept going, I'd end up crawling all the way to the underworld.