Chapter 33 – Homemade (1)
“I decided to go to bed.”
It was the moment when the idiot, who was only eating rice in the corner of the house, proudly announced that he would become independent as a member of society. But my expression wasn’t very good. Yu-jeong, who was drinking coffee in front of me, opened her eyes wide and was delighted.
“Oh, is that so? Congratulation. But it’s a bit sudden. What happened?”
I closed my eyes and remembered what happened a few days ago.
*********
I haven’t been able to talk to him since the fountain show in front of him. We only had short conversations about our current situation without making eye contact, and breakfast was awkward.
My father looked at me in amazement every time I entered the room. I couldn’t concentrate on my meditation because I was afraid my father would suddenly come in again. In a way, the trace was inevitable. It was because he needed a trail to meditate undisturbed. So last night at dinner I said:
“Father. Mother. I’m trying to take a nap. Now that… Apparently, since I am a hunter, the time I come in will be a bit irregular, and now I can ‘train’ alone at home…”
“Kheup!”
My father must have heard the case, and he cleared his throat after eating. The mother looked pathetically at my husband, who interrupted her son’s momentous talk. Father drank a glass of water and nodded to see if he had calmed down, allowing him to continue talking.
“…I have to train, but I think it would be a bit uncomfortable in many ways. I think it’s right for me to go out and live on my own.”
“Okay. Good idea boy When you become an adult, you should try to live on your own.”
Behind his mother’s bright voice, he could see his father nodding his head and silently eating.
*********
I opened my eyes again. Yujeong senior and Ichie were staring at me. I said.
“No, nothing happened. Even at home, I meditate or train by myself, but it’s uncomfortable when there are family members around.”
“Do you meditate at Suhyeon’s house?”
“Yes. I heard that it helps to train the mind and body.”
Senior Yujeong nodded her head again. Ichie looked at the two of us and asked me.
“Soo Hyun-sang. Are you living alone now?”
“Yes. I decided to get out of the house. It’s not that there’s anything bad about it, it’s just independence. Rather, I think I did it a little late.”
“Then where did you get the room?”
Ichie asked me that. I shook my head and said.
“I haven’t found a room yet. I need to find out slowly from today. Because I said I would be independent now.”
Ichie heard that and said.
“Jangan-dong. Come to Jangan-dong. I like to live in Jangan-dong,”
“Jangan-dong?”
It was where Ichie lived. Senior Yoojeong always dropped off Ichie at the corner of the street in Jangan-dong. Senior Yu-jeong cautiously intervened in my conversation with Ichie.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to visit several places? I think it’s good to have a place near the academy if possible. It’s convenient when going to and from school.”
“It’s close to Jangan-dong.”
Ichie continued to appeal to Jangan-dong. Is Jangan-dong such a good place to live? Hunter support money comes out very generously, so I didn’t have to worry about money problems on a self-catering basis. Is it in Jangan-dong or near the academy? Perhaps noticing my troubles, senior Yoojung turned on the app and after looking around a few times, she showed me a room.
“Look. Here in front of the academy. Deposit 70 per month on 30. Room size is 15 pyeong. How are you?”
“Uh? Are you okay?”
“Would you like to go see it now?”
“Maybe?”
Ichie glanced at me while fiddling with his phone. She still looked clumsy on her cell phone. Yoojung and I got up together. Ichie trudged behind her, heading for her crosswalk. I called the landlord through the number Yu-jeong gave me.
“Ah yes. Hello. I contacted you after seeing the ad. I’d like to see your room, when do you have time?”
The young landlord from across the street replied:
“Come see me now.”
I hung up the phone and said.
“You are very young, master.”
“Looks like a Hunter. Hunters that go above grade A roll several buildings. This is also near the Hunter Academy.”
She said that as if senior Yoo-jeong didn’t care. Because the higher the hunter level, the more expensive materials she can get, so the higher the hunter level, the better her earnings were. So, among the hunters, there were people who took A rank, earned a lot, retired, and played around with building a few buildings.
I asked Ichie.
“It makes sense. What do Ichie look for when looking at a room?”
“When I came here, my dad did it. So I don’t know.”
It seemed to her that when she came here alone, she didn’t recognize her room. I nodded her head and Senior Yoo-jeong said.
“Miss Ichie. Better to find out for yourself next time. Because when you live alone, you can definitely know the uncomfortable or good things when you see them yourself.”
Ichie listened to Yoojung-senpai’s words and nodded. I called again in front of the building. The building was an ordinary one-room apartment. The gray-white concrete walls were smooth, and the windows were neat and tidy. There was a peculiar smell of a newly built house.
“Yes, hold on. I will go down now.”
I heard footsteps coming down the stairs to the studio. A neat-looking man came down wearing a shirt and shorts. He was wearing slippers, and he seemed to be the landlord and also lived here. He looked us over and then asked:
“Do you live with three people?”
“No. No. I am alone.”
Senior Yoo-jeong laughed at those words, and Ichi-ae licked her lips and smoked her voice. The landlord blew a whistle lightly and laughed. He said.
“Come up. Right now, the rooms are vacant on the 2nd and 5th floors. 2nd floor… I can’t show you because it’s under construction right now, so I’ll show you the 5th floor.”
We followed the landlord up to the fifth floor. There was a large glass window on the stairs leading up to the 5th floor, and the end of the academy could be glimpsed through the window. Ichie said.
“Fifth floor. It is too high.”
“Aren’t you the Hunters?”
The landlord questioned Ichie’s complaint, unable to hide his laughter. It was absurd to see a hunter who had to catch a monster the size of a house complain about the height of the 5th floor being too high. Senior Yoo-jeong couldn’t hold back her laughter and the corners of her mouth twitched, and despite her reason, she closed her lips tightly as if she knew she had said something stupid.
Senior Yoojeong asked a question to change her topic.
“I think you are a hunter. Is that right?”
“Yes. She made it to class C and then retired. The stock is going to hit the jackpot.”
“Ah.”
Senior Yoojeong nodded her head. The prediction that she was a hunter was correct, but she was not of a very high rank. She was a little envious of the story that the stock had hit the jackpot. He pointed to the academy outside the window and said, as if it reminded him of the old days.
“Are they all students at the same academy?”
“No. I am now a mentor who has entered D-class. These two are apprentice hunters who are currently attending school.”
“Hey, Apprentice Hunter? What’s your nickname? You might become very famous later, so you should know.”
“Ichi (1).”
She answered Ichie briefly. Hunter’s landlord looked at Ichie’s tone and asked:
“Are you a foreigner?”
“I am from Japan. ‘1’ Ichigaya Ichie.”
“Ah, you are Japanese. Somehow, the way he spoke was peculiar. What about that one?”
“…It’s a bomber. Bomber Jeong Su-hyeon.”
I was moderately evasive. It didn’t look like he was holding a pad, so I thought I’d explain the situation slowly when I signed a separate contract with the landlord later. The landlord nodded and admired the word bomber.
“Ah, the bomber! The bomber is cool!”
He said that and looked at Ichie and Yujeong once. Then he looked at me again and smiled. Why do you act like this when you just say bomber? Senior Yoojeong looked at me with a bitter smile.
The entrance on the 5th floor had a password. After explaining how the lock worked, the landlord opened the door wide. One TV and one air conditioner. A simple and tidy room with a washing machine and a refrigerator was revealed. There was a sink and gas stove right next to the door, and there was no shortage of cooking.
The windows were large, so the air seemed to come through, and I didn’t seem to hear any noise from the next room. Senior Yoojeong turned on the toilet and sink water and looked down the toilet. There was no water leakage, and all the lights came on well.
Senior Yoo Jung said.
“Is it nice here?”
Ichie looked around the room and kept his mouth shut. She seemed to have something to say, but she strangely kept her silence. In the meantime, the landlord took a look at his cell phone and said to me.
“Look at it slowly. I’ll call you in a minute.”
As soon as the landlord left, Ichie said with a frown on her face.
“He is a suspicious person.”
“Are you suspicious?”
Senior Yoo-jeong also reacted as if he did not know the English language. I couldn’t help but tilt my head at her words. She was the landlord because she seemed like a perfectly normal person. She said in ichi.
“That person. It smells strange.”
“Does it smell strange?”
Senior Yu-jeong and I sniffed at her and looked everywhere, but I couldn’t smell anything like that. She said to Ichie.
“It doesn’t smell like that. That… It has a unique energy. The energy you feel in people who do bad things.”
“Ah, does it smell suspicious?”
“That’s right. It smells fishy. That person obviously has something.”
Senior Yoo Jung said.
“However, given the surrounding conditions, this is the cheapest. Look at Ichie-chan. In terms of location, this is the closest and cheapest. In other places, the basic deposit is now 200, 300, and it starts at 40 per month, but here it is 30 per month with a deposit of 70.”
And it was very close to senior Yoo-jeong’s room. Senior Yoo Jung said.
“Hunters all have a bit of a suspicious feeling. All the hunters who stayed at the gate for a long time said that. Our ark is also comfortable in a place like a training ground. In private, he is very picky. Could it be because of my mood?”
“Is it because of the mood?”
“Yes. It must be because of the mood. What will you do, Suhyun?”
It’s because of the mood. What should I do?
