Chapter 94

Chapter 94: Second Dungeon Activation

I must have rolled roughly 270 rolls of kimbap today.

I made 200.

Ria rolled about 70 in the latter half of service.

Of those 70, the first 3 rolls she made were not at a quality level fit for customers.

They would have been perfectly fine by any regular kimbap shop's standards, of course.

But at a Rift restaurant where a single serving cost 600,000 won, they could not be served.

Ria and I set those aside for ourselves to eat later.

However, after the initial attempts, Ria found her groove and consistently maintained high quality.

'Ria really does pick things up fast.'

I had taught her kimbap before, too.

This time, she had properly honed her skills through the service.

After the service ended, Ria looked at the plate of kimbap we had set aside and said,

"Would this be good enough for our future child's field trip lunchbox?"

"Absolutely. At this level, you could open your own kimbap shop."

"Haha, really?"

"Of course. Right, Rin?"

Rin was sitting beside me.

I had brought her through the Gate portal so we could eat together after the service.

"Yeah! The kimbap is pretty."

Ria's face brightened at Rin's answer.

"Then you try some kimbap too, Rin."

"Okay!"

Rin's kimbap was not ordinary kimbap.

It was buckwheat kimbap.

Instead of rice, I used buckwheat, and instead of pickled radish or ham, I filled it with fresh sprout vegetables, rolled small.

It was meant to be dipped in yuzu ponzu sauce.

Rin took a bite.

"How is it, Rin?"

"Yummy!"

She gave a thumbs up.

I had worried she might be put off by the seaweed, but fortunately it suited her palate.

She kept dipping the small buckwheat kimbap rolls into the yuzu ponzu sauce and eating happily.

Ria watched her with satisfaction.

"Rin is so cute."

"Hehe."

Ria and I continued eating as well.

The assorted kimbap with tempura and gnocchi tteokbokki set.

Having street food for the first time in a while was delicious.

The rolled egg buckwheat kimbap was especially tasty.

I had made an adult version alongside Rin's portion while preparing her meal.

So it had not been served to customers.

"Next time, I should sell a set of udon and buckwheat kimbap."

"That would pair well together."

After the meal, I went to check on the dungeon.

Stepping through the portal inside the storage unit —

'The dungeon is gutted.'

The walls had been carved wide open in every direction.

Like entrusting fish to a cat and finding nothing but bones.

Leaving the erdotte stone dungeon in the hands of dwarves had turned the entire entrance area into one enormous cavern.

'At this pace, they will strip the dungeon bare within four weeks......'

The dwarven race was frighteningly diligent.

They seemed to work over seventeen hours a day.

"My liege, you are here? Haha!"

Maxim greeted me with a bright face.

"Yes, Sir Maxim. It has only been three days, and the dungeon entrance is already wide open."

"Of course. The work is an absolute joy! Haha!"

"What makes it so enjoyable?"

"Well, you have created a dungeon where we can quarry to our hearts' content, you provide three delicious meals a day, and you even give us plenty of alcohol. How could we not enjoy the work? Hahaha!"

A smile spread across Maxim's face.

"Still, it must be tiring. Please pace yourselves. And do not just sleep rough here in the dungeon — sleep comfortably in the lodgings outside."

"Understood. I think everyone is so excited about having a goal that they are working without feeling the fatigue. I will make sure no one overexerts themselves. And today's meal was truly delicious. That thing called kimbap was wonderful. Everyone enjoyed it."

"I will make it for you often."

***

The S-Rank trio and the knight order had been hunting together frequently on their off-duty days lately.

Each outing lasted about two days before they returned.

'The S-Rank trio developed a taste for hunting after forming the Sovereign's Bond.'

Each time they returned, they brought back monster meat.

If it looked edible, they brought it regardless.

Eriksson had told me:

-Your stats going up means ours go up too. We will gather all kinds of meat — you just cook it and eat it.

I did like raising my stats.

But sometimes they brought back meat that was genuinely revolting no matter how I prepared it.

The worst ones would not trigger the Blessing of Dexterity even after tossing in Glace Mushrooms to neutralize the toxins.

'Those three returning from a hunt is terrifying these days.'

It had gotten so bad that Ria scolded the S-Rank trio once.

Telling them to show some restraint.

And so, peaceful days continued.

I was in the middle of creating another dungeon.

This time, a dungeon with soil that seemed ideal for the plants Rin had selected.

While expanding it together with Rin —

[Dungeon Creation skill level has increased.]

The Dungeon Creation skill reached Level 2.

As expected, continued dungeon creation raised the level.

[Dungeon Creation Lv. 2 Additional Effect: Special Environment Cultivation.]

Reaching Level 2 unlocked the ability to cultivate special environments based on dungeon terrain.

With this, I could create mine dungeons like Eos had.

[TIP: Dungeon Creation level also affects the Special Environment Cultivation effect.]

In other words, even if I tried to create a mine now, the results would be underwhelming.

Probably only worthless gems would be mined.

I had no particular interest in mines anyway.

Then how about applying the Special Environment Cultivation to the dungeon Rin and I were currently building?

The current dungeon was primarily an earth-walled, somewhat cave-like space.

I used the environment cultivation effect.

A list of applicable cultivation options for the current dungeon appeared.

'Reptile habitat environment, spider habitat environment...... Why are there so many monster habitat options?'

I had no desire to cultivate monster habitats.

Rather than those, this one:

'Underground plant environment cultivation.'

That was the most appealing.

Then this it was.

I applied the plant environment cultivation effect.

A large amount of Mana drained away.

[TIP: Special Environment Cultivation effects do not occur immediately. Environment cultivation develops gradually.]

As expected, it was not instant.

On top of that, the dungeon was not yet complete.

Rin tugged at my sleeve.

"Seon-u, what did you do?"

"I will tell you when the dungeon is finished."

"Aww. I'm curious."

"You will have to be patient."

"Okaaay."

What if there turned out to be nothing impressive once it was complete?

Rin would be waiting excitedly for the big reveal.

If, say, there was just the odd weed growing here and there inside the dungeon —

Well, in that case, I could always take her to a botanical garden she had not visited yet.

***

I signed the building contract and made the final payment.

The building purchase cost 22 billion won.

Since it was nearly complete, the remaining construction would cost approximately 500 million more.

On top of that, interior renovation and the residential conversion work for the upper floors would add close to another 1.5 billion.

The total would exceed 24 billion won.

'The expenditure is larger than expected, but the building and location are both excellent.'

I would simply earn more money going forward.

After completing the registration procedures, Ria gazed up at the building that was now ours.

"It looks amazing, even seeing it again."

"It does. This is ours now."

"My husband is so capable, buying a building like this."

"You are the one who made that capability possible, Ria."

"There you go again."

"It is the truth."

Ria and I toured the building's interior floor by floor, discussing how we wanted to furnish it and what interior design choices to make.

Then we looked at floors five, six, and seven.

"This will be our home outside the Rift. Though we will probably spend more time at the Rift house."

"Do you prefer the Rift house, Seon-u?"

"Of course. It is where we met."

"Haha! Me too. Still, this place is spacious and nice. But is three whole floors not too much for just our family?"

"It is spacious. That is why I was thinking of making the fifth floor a guest space. What do you think, Ria?"

"I like that. Eriksson and Santos always book hotels when they are in Korea. We could offer them the guest rooms instead."

"Let us do that. So guild members can stay comfortably."

Even two floors would be more than enough.

'I should start thinking about how to use the extra space.'

A family home theater.

A playroom.

A study and library.

Should I put in a screen golf room too?

I had never played golf, having spent my entire life immersed in cooking.

What else could there be?

While I was happily deliberating, my phone rang.

"Hello."

-I heard the news, Seon-u. Congratulations!

The caller was Director Jeong Jae-yong of the Rift Management Bureau.

"Thank you. It is thanks to the connection you made, Director. I was able to acquire a great building."

-Haha! If you are grateful, buy me a meal.

"Of course. I will treat you to something extravagant."

-I look forward to it. Oh, and have you heard the news?

"What news?"

-About the Vice President's faction. The first trial verdict was reported in the news today.

"No, I have not seen it yet. What happened?"

-First, the Vice President received five months imprisonment for attempted kidnapping. Those who participated received fines or two-to-three-month sentences with one year of probation.

"I see. The outcome was better than expected."

Attempted kidnapping apparently rarely resulted in heavy sentences.

However, since the intent behind the kidnapping was coercion and intimidation, a prison sentence had at least been handed down.

Team Leader Shin had also been sentenced to three months imprisonment with one year of probation.

As a result, the Vice President and Team Leader Shin would soon be expelled from the Hunter Association.

They were also set to face a series of trials for illegal acts committed against other Hunters, which would increase their sentences.

'What a relief.'

Director Jeong continued.

-And regarding that Yu Seon-yeong......

"Ria is here beside me, but it is fine. Please go ahead."

-Understood. Yu Seon-yeong, as a cooperator in the attempted kidnapping and for hiring a private investigation firm to surveil and investigate you, as well as having a GPS tracker placed on your vehicle, was sentenced in the first trial to nine months imprisonment under the Personal Information Protection Act, the Location Information Act, and the Stalking Punishment Act.

Her sentence was actually heavier than the Vice President's.

"I see."

I felt neither good nor bad.

Just indifferent.

***

The second dungeon, which I had been expanding for over two weeks, was finally ready for activation.

I activated it immediately.

[Dungeon has been successfully created.]

The second dungeon was complete.

Unlike the first, this one had a special environment cultivation applied.

"Rin, want to go see the dungeon?"

"Yeah, I'm super curious!"

What if there was nothing to see and she was disappointed?

I did not know the result yet either.

I took Rin's hand and headed to the back of the house.

Ria came with us, of course.

"Opening it now."

"Okay!"

I activated the Gate portal.

The dungeon's interior shimmered through the portal.

But it was nothing but bare earthen walls.

'It is a bust......'

I could already feel the failure.

Rin had been so excited, and all there was to see were dirt walls.

It must have been too soon for the underground plant environment to develop.

'I will have to take a day off from the restaurant and bring her to a botanical garden......'

Resigned, I stepped through the portal with Rin.

Ria followed behind.

'Nothing but dirt walls, as expected......'

Rin tilted her head at the emptiness.

Then she sniffed the air.

"Rin, do you smell something?"

"Yeah! A sweet scent."

"A sweet scent?"

I focused on my own sense of smell.

"You are right."

It seemed to be a fruity fragrance.

We followed the scent through the dungeon.