Chapter 4

Huina had walked out of the gate with Mina an hour earlier.

They’d parted ways after a simple goodbye, and she’d been handed over to some rescue workers.

Since she had no serious injuries, she received some simple first-aid, left her name on the list of victims of the dungeon gate, and returned home.

Or... tried to.

“My place!”

Huina sobbed. Her mental fortitude had not given way before the monsters in the dungeon, but it was now in shambles.

The dungeon gate had swallowed up everything in its vicinity. The surrounding area had been laid completely to waste.

As she’d been at her workplace late at night before getting sucked in, she had expected that her company building probably hadn’t been safe from the devastation.

“So the company building is gone! So be it! But why did my home have to disappear along with it?”

It hadn’t occurred to her that the radius of the gate would be so large.

She’d been staying in a rented villa near the company for an easier commute. When she trudged home, however, all that remained of the building was a broken-down brick wall.

There was no other trace of her home—not even household items that could have been salvaged. They’d all been taken by the dungeon.

“Goddamned thieves!” Huina swore, shaking her fist at the sky.

The rescue worker who’d been tending to her realized that her injury was one of the heart, and a massive one at that, instead of being physical in nature.

To a Korean, the home was a resting place for the soul.

“So your home was caught in the effective range of the dungeon. There’s a temporary shelter set up in an elementary school nearby. Would you like me to take you there?” the rescue worker asked, gingerly patting her on the back.

Huina panted in a rage, and only after a while did she manage to say, “I’m fine... I know where that is. The elementary school I can get to on my own.”

She was grateful for the kind offer, but she was in no state to walk with anybody. The frustrating reality of her situation filled her with anger.

What do I do? The company building is gone, which means I’m out of a job. And as for the villa... I wonder how much compensation they’ll offer me. They won’t give me much. My home! My deposit! My furniture and my money! What do I do now? Being kicked out of my house with only the shirt on my back would be more hopeful than this!

It was a small, shoddy villa, but the deposit had represented Huina’s and her brother’s blood, sweat, and tears.

Even if she didn’t get to go home often because of her overtime work, it was one of the few places where she could rest easy without any worries on her mind.

“And now it’s gone, damn it! My place! My goddamned place!”

Reality wasn’t just harsh. It was downright miserable. She was about to lie down on the ground, thumping her chest, when a notification appeared.

<System: Congratulations! You unlocked the hidden skill “Home Sweet Home (D)”!>

A System message window filled her vision. She stared at her status window and muttered blankly, “Hidden skill? Home Sweet Home? What is all this?”

The window contained kind instructions that answered her questions.

<System: What’s a hidden skill? It is a type of skill that can only be discovered when certain conditions are met.>

Huina rapidly pored over the skill window.

<Home Sweet Home (D): Grants the user of the skill a home. Active skill. *Unlocked when a Housekeeper desperately wishes for a “home” while “homeless.”>

The description was just as unhelpful as ever, and the condition for its unlock was not only miserable, but absurd.

What were the chances of a rare breed, the Housekeeper, losing their home and wailing about it?

But such things didn’t really matter to Huina, since the skill itself represented a beacon of hope.

It gives you a home? A home... from a skill?

In a sense, a free house had dropped right out of the sky into her palm.

This skill was luckier than winning the lottery!

She couldn’t believe it was real, but she sure wanted to.

Don’t tell me it’ll ask me to bring materials like Cozy Bed?

Doubtful to the end, she activated the skill.

“Home Sweet Home!”

There was a faint glow, and a door appeared in the wall that was falling apart. She quickly went around to look behind it. There was nothing behind the door.

Gulping air, she pulled it open, but she couldn’t see anything beyond it.

What will I find inside?

She couldn’t even imagine what she was about to see. Inhaling quietly, she stepped into the doorway.

She immediately realized that the air around her was hazy.

“You call this a house?” she muttered, and a System window appeared.

<System: Welcome. You have activated “Home Sweet Home (D)” for the first time. The state of the home will be automatically adjusted to match your stats. Please be patient. This may take some time... (Calibrating)...>

“What’s with this damned System and its long loading times?”

Huina nibbled on a finger nervously, tasting grass and dirt.

That finger held onto the egregious fragrance of the dungeon, a memory so impactful she never wanted to recall it again.

She stood there waiting, circling around, for god knew how long. A second felt like a minute, and a minute like an hour, in that empty space.

Her patience was running out when she got another message.

<System: Calibration complete!>

It couldn’t have come any sooner. Huina gulped nervously.

What will I get?

Her heart raced. She couldn’t predict what she was about to see at all.

Then, fireworks went off in her vision.

<★Congratulations★ Your Home Sweet Home Is Ready!>

“Whoa!”

The fancy effects nearly fried her optic nerves. The font and colors were so bright, she felt like someone had stabbed her eyeballs with daggers.

“My eyes!”

Huina sank to the floor, covering her eyes and groaning for a while. The flashing lights had come without warning, and the black floaters lasted quite a while.

“Ugh...”

She slowly opened them again some time later. Her eyelids felt stiff. Something existed within her bleary line of sight, and this time, the haze was gone.

She seemed to be inside some kind of building.

Do I really have a home now?

She hadn’t even inspected the interior properly before a series of notifications popped up in front of her.

<System: Providing housing suited to the caster’s “Home Sweet Home” rank.>

<System: Housing can be upgraded in quality and shape based on skill proficiency.>

<System: User of D-rank. Revealing offer: “Old, Basic Single-Room Studio Apartment Lv. 1.”>

“Old, basic single-room...?”

Huina read the notifications, closed them, then looked around slowly. The space she was standing in seemed to be about nine square meters.

There was a small sink in one corner, and a door that presumably led to a bathroom on one wall. It was just big enough to house a single person and no more.

It was more than good enough for Huina, who currently had no place to sleep other than the broad gym of the elementary school that was being used as a temporary shelter.

But still…

“Why is this place so dirty?”

She was shocked at the state of the place.

The wallpaper was yellow and discolored, and she saw a dark, moldy patch in one corner of the room.

She didn’t know what it looked like on the outside, but there were some cobwebs, and the floor was so dirty she would have no qualms about wearing dirty shoes indoors. In fact, she was willing to bet the asphalt roads outside were cleaner than this.

While Huina balked at the horrible state of the place, the System asked her if she wanted it.

<System: Sign a real estate contract for this studio apartment? Y/N>

Huina ignored it and strode toward the bathroom. When renting a home, the most important part was the bathroom, she believed.

<System: Sign a real estate contract for this studio apartment? Y/N>

The System itself gave her sketchy-real-estate-agent vibes, apparently eager to sell the place off.

It kept on bringing up a new window to ask her the same question. More windows with duplicate messages appeared, as if to distract her.

Was it forcing this place on her?

“Don’t you take me for a fool!”

Huina scoffed and threw open the bathroom door.

As soon as she did so, an odd stink filled her nostrils.

“Ugh! What the hell?”

The bathroom smelled like it hadn’t been cleaned for months. The spaces between the floor tiles were completely black with grime, and the mirror was so stained it looked almost rusty. The sink and the toilet, which should have been white, were instead yellow.

“You call this an apartment?” Huina exclaimed, stamping her feet and fuming.

She’d never seen a home in a worse state. This had zero appeal in the real estate market.

“Forget it! Show me a different place!” Huina shouted into the air.

The window reappeared.

<System: Sign a real estate contract for this studio apartment? Y/>

The “no” button had vanished. She was flabbergasted.

“Where is the ‘No’ button? I choose ‘No’! ‘No,’ you hear! No! I don’t want it!”

She repeated herself over and over, but the System ignored her.

<System: Sign a real estate contract for this studio apartment? Y/>

“Show me something else!”

<System: Sign a real estate contract for this studio apartment? Y/>

“No!”

<System: Sign a real estate contract for this studio apartment? Y/>

“Why can’t I select ‘No?’”

<System: Sign a real estate contract for this studio apartment? Y/>

If the System had been a real person, she would probably have grabbed it by the hair.

It was immaterial, however, and had no physical form. There was only one thing Huina could do under the circumstances.

“Fine, you fraud! Yes! I’ll take it!” she snapped, furious.

The System finally seemed happy.

<System: Congratulations! You successfully entered into a real estate contract for this apartment. Your satisfaction is our mission. Until next time.>