Chapter 08
But I’m the Owner! Huh?
So the urgent matter was… using the bathroom?
Judging by how he was running with all his might, it must’ve been really bad.
Even a Constellation couldn’t escape an emergency bathroom call.
Since Hae-ryeong had just taught me the recipe, I decided to pretend I didn’t notice—for his sake.
“When you come back to the hot spring, you just need to say the password with the Hot Spring Master Key.”
Yeong-gye gave me instructions just as I was about to turn the doorknob.
“Where did I put that again?”
“Around your neck, isn’t it?”
I patted around my neck while rummaging through my pockets. My hand soon landed on a small golden key.
‘When did it shrink…?’
“The Hot Spring Master Key adjusts its shape to best suit its owner. That way, it’s easier to carry around.”
So even the key was EX-rank.
“What’s the password?”
“You can set it the first time you use it. But once you choose, you can’t change it, so pick wisely.”
That wasn’t too hard.
“Got it. By the way, you’ve helped me a lot, but I haven’t done anything for you yet. Next time I come, I’ll make you a mugwort latte!”
“I’m fine, really!”
Waving at Yeong-gye, I turned the doorknob while picturing my room.
“I said I’m fine—!”
[Guide ‘Yeong-gye’ wails in despair at you.]
He didn’t need to refuse so loudly. As I left, his dramatic protests echoed behind me.
♨
The moment I stepped through the door, I was back in my room.
This is just like Anywhere Door from Dora*mon!
Maybe I could use this to travel the world someday?
Just as I was getting excited about the idea, I heard the front door open.
“Total waste of time today. Why was the gatekeeper lying there like a corpse?”
“Come on, Hyung, if we knew that, we’d be inside the 46th floor by now.”
I heard Park Si-woo and Ji-ho talking in the living room.
Looking out the window, I saw the sky had already darkened. Checking the clock on my desk, I blinked.
It’s already 1 AM?!
The bright lights inside the hot spring had made me lose track of time.
“Ah, right—my clothes!”
I suddenly realized I was still in my hot spring outfit.
If Si-woo and Ji-ho saw me like this, they’d definitely get suspicious.
I didn’t want anyone to know I had awakened.
I was already attracting more than enough attention as it was. Any more would be unbearable.
Peeking outside, I saw reporters still gathered below my apartment.
Persistent leeches.
“Noona, are you in your room?”
I was scowling at the reporters when I heard Ji-ho calling for me.
I need to change first!
I quickly yanked off my hot spring outfit and grabbed the nearest clothes off the hanger.
“She’s not in the living room, so she’s probably locked in her room binge-watching *etflix again.”
Park Si-woo’s voice continued, speaking as if he knew exactly what I was doing.
Park Si-woo, did you install CCTV in my room or something?
I subtly glanced around, just in case.
Honestly, if I hadn’t suddenly awakened and gotten dragged into the hot spring, I would have been watching *etflix.
“Noona, I’m coming in.”
I heard Ji-ho’s footsteps approaching my room.
I hastily shoved my discarded hot spring clothes under my blanket.
“What? You were awake? Why didn’t you answer? I thought the reporters might’ve kidnapped you.”
Ji-ho sighed in relief after confirming I was inside.
“There’s no way anyone would try that with two S-rank hunters in the house.”
With crazy Park Si-woo and Ji-ho, who go berserk at anything related to me, nobody would even dare.
“You’d be surprised how many lunatics are out there.”
“Fair point.”
Including you and Park Si-woo.
“Were you about to head out? There are still reporters outside.”
Of all things, the outfit I had randomly thrown on was a tracksuit and a padded jacket.
It was my signature ‘homebody going outside’ look.
“I just snuck out to buy some ingredients. It’s cold, and I wanted to make something warm.”
“You? Cooking? Who are you? Our Park Don-don wouldn’t abandon her bear-patterned pajamas for such a reason.”
Si-woo narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously.
Park Si-woo looked at me in my track pants with suspicious eyes.
The ‘bear-patterned’ he mentioned referred to my beloved sleeping pajamas covered with bear faces.
I practically lived in it.
Even before I got dragged into the hot spring, I had been wearing it.
So it made sense that Ji-ho and Si-woo were eyeing me weirdly.
If I wanted to dodge their suspicions, I needed to change the subject.
“It’s freezing outside. Want me to make you guys something warm?”
For some reason, they both fell silent.
Then, as if on cue, they turned to each other and exchanged glances before simultaneously reaching for my forehead.
“Fever…”
“None.”
Wow. They were so in sync they might as well be twins.
“So, do you want it or not?”
“Before that, let me ask one thing.”
I was starting to get annoyed when Park Si-woo asked with a serious expression.
“It’s actually edible, right?”
Seriously, should I just kill him?
“If you don’t trust me, then don’t eat it.”
“I never said I wouldn’t eat it.”
After all that nitpicking, Park Si-woo still followed me out of the room, trailing behind as I carried the bundle of ingredients.
“I want some too, Noona!”
Ji-ho widened his eyes like a rabbit and walked beside me, matching my pace as we headed into the kitchen.
“Do you need any help?”
Ji-ho seemed uneasy about leaving the cooking entirely up to me.
“Just trust your noona and go sit over there.”
For the first time in my life, I had made something edible and even received a decent review for it, so my confidence was swelling like a high tide.
“Still, if you need help, call me, okay?”
“I’m telling you, there’s no need. I even practiced, so don’t worry and just sit down.”
Unable to win against me, Ji-ho reluctantly plopped down next to Park Si-woo, who had already taken a seat.
“What’s on the menu?”
“Mugwort latte.”
“And where did you even learn to make that?”
“YouTube.”
Since it was rare for me to be in the kitchen, Park Si-woo seemed curious about every little thing.
It was a bit distracting, but I focused on pouring the milk into the kettle and placing it on the induction stove while carefully taking out the ingredients from the bundle.
Now, what was the recipe again?
Too lazy to check, I simply recalled the time I made mugwort latte for Hae-ryeong and started adding the ingredients to the cup by eye.
Now, all that was left was to pour in the hot milk once the kettle boiled.
My hands seemed to remember how to make it after doing it once before.
People really do need to experience things firsthand.
Maybe I have a hidden talent for being a barista?
“Don-Don, it looks like the reporters will calm down sooner than expected. You heard about it too, right?”
“Heard about what?”
Bored from waiting for the latte, Park Si-woo was tapping his fingers on the table, but he couldn’t hold back any longer and spoke up.
“You seriously don’t know? This is what happens when you binge *etflix all day.”
“If this turns out to be nothing, you’re going to live the rest of your life in total ignorance.”
Faced with my thinly veiled threat of sending him into eternal slumber, Park Si-woo quickly backed down.
“An EX-rank hidden field opened today.”
My hands froze mid-pour.
No way… it couldn’t be.
I never told anyone about the EX-rank hot spring.
Besides, these two definitely don’t know I awakened.
“It started as a dried-up hot spring, but then the spring water erupted, turning it into an EX-rank hot spring.”
Wait—how does he know that?
Park Si-woo even knew that the hidden field was an EX-rank hot spring.
“And how exactly do you know that?”
“How could I not? It was plastered all over the system notifications in real-time. That’s why half of the reporters outside left.”
According to Park Si-woo, while his guild was struggling to get into the 46th floor, an all-server notification popped up in the Hunter System.
[Awakened ‘Dried-Up Hot Spring Owner’ has obtained ‘Dried-Up Hot Spring Master Key.’]
[Hidden Field ‘Dried-Up Hot Spring (EX)’ has been unlocked.]
Apparently, it was the first time anyone had ever seen an awakening notification in the global chat, a hidden field being unlocked, or even the existence of an EX-rank.
The chatrooms had been buzzing about it all day.
“So now everyone is going crazy over this mysterious EX-rank awakened.”
Wait, hold on—what?
“Did you just say EX-rank awakened?”
“Yeah! Nobody knows who they are, but everyone’s calling them a monster rookie. I swear, I’ll do whatever it takes to find them first and recruit them into Jippil.”
Park Si-woo’s eyes sparkled with anticipation, while my face twisted in disbelief.
I’m the hot spring owner though?!
Thank you for reading! ♡
