Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 8

8. Top-Grade Crystal Moss (1)

Hyeon-woo momentarily struggled to recognize the face he hadn’t seen in so long, but he quickly placed it. Yu-min’s face was filled with astonishment.

“What on earth… what are you doing there?”

Where should he even begin? Hyeon-woo wanted to spill everything, from start to finish, right then and there. But before Hyeon-woo could open his mouth, Yu-min added another question.

“No, seriously, how could you even be there?”

“Huh?”

Hyeon-woo lowered his head. Now that he thought about it, it was strange that Yu-min had shown up exactly where he was, and at such perfect timing.

Hyeon-woo suddenly looked around again. Only then did the familiar scenery come into view. He was standing at the entrance to the industrial complex’s sewage treatment plant. He hadn’t recognized it immediately because he had never seen it from this angle before.

“Ah, so this wasn’t a place to be playing in the water.”

Hyeon-woo casually walked up the slope. He bounded up the concrete waterway, which was nearly at a 70-degree incline, in one go, causing Yu-min to step back, startled.

‘Oh, right.’

If the residue of crystal moss flowing out of the industrial complex seeped into the skin, it would cause mana poisoning in non-ability users.

The symptoms ranged from paralysis of the limbs to, in severe cases, paralysis of the entire body, including the organs, leading to death.

Hyeon-woo had been rolling around in the entrance of the treatment plant, where such residue was pouring out, and had even been drinking it.

“Are you… are you okay?”

“Feels great to take a shower after so long.”

Hyeon-woo couldn’t stop laughing. Yu-min looked at Hyeon-woo with a complicated expression. Hyeon-woo’s appearance was a mess. Covered in blood and rags, he had even been rolling around in sewage filled with deadly toxins.

Anyone would think it was right to avoid him. But instead of avoiding him, Yu-min took off the rain gear she was wearing and handed it to Hyeon-woo.

“Let’s move somewhere else for now.”

***

Hyeon-woo thought Yu-min was showing sudden kindness, but it turned out to be a kind of isolation measure.

In the eyes of Yu-min, a mana studies major, Hyeon-woo seemed to be in a state of biochemical contamination.

She stubbornly wrapped Hyeon-woo tightly in the rain gear, even as she got soaked in the rain, and then took him to her bathroom and pushed him inside. Then, she handed him a cleanser with all sorts of foreign words written on it.

“It’s a mana contamination remover. Wash up and come out.”

“Why does a regular person have something like this?”

“You’re the one who handles crystal moss residue, Hyeon-woo, and you don’t have one of these?”

She seemed to have become proud now that her major field was brought up. Hyeon-woo didn’t argue any further, as she wasn’t wrong. And the moment he turned on the shower, the faint dissatisfaction in his head disappeared completely.

‘Ah.’

It had been so long since he had washed with hot water that he felt like he would melt away. Hyeon-woo slumped and squeezed out some shampoo.

The shampoo smelled like Yu-min. Hyeon-woo was briefly embarrassed, but he figured it was better than wandering around a woman’s house smelling like sewage.

He wanted to stay under the shower pouring out hot water forever, but at the same time, he was curious about what had happened in the meantime.

“Hey, what’s the date today?”

“Huh? It’s September 11th.”

When was that? Hyeon-woo tried to recall the date he had gone to hell, the day he had been notified of his father’s death. And Hyeon-woo was slightly taken aback.

“We met yesterday?”

The answer came a little late. In a voice full of suspicion.

“…The day before yesterday. You didn’t even show up yesterday, did you? And you didn’t answer your phone when I called. I had to work alone, thanks to you.”

Hyeon-woo paused.

‘Only two days have passed?’

The time he had spent in hell, even adding up all his survival times, was at least ten days. If he assumed a day passed each time he revived, it would be about a month.

It felt like a hundred years to him.

But Yu-min was saying that only two days had passed.

Come to think of it, the first place he had used the return stone was his studio apartment. The place he had used it in hell was somewhere in Seoul, but he had arrived at a drainage ditch in the industrial complex, far from his home.

‘Why is there such a difference?’

Hyeon-woo couldn’t understand this difference in time and location. But he thought it was fortunate. If it had happened in units of years or if he had fallen into a place like the ocean, he would have been in trouble.

“But what on earth were you doing there, Hyeon-woo? Looking like… like a bandit.”

It seemed like she was trying to politely say he looked like a crazy person. Hyeon-woo laughed hollowly. How much would he have to tell her for her to believe him?

“Just took a tour of hell.”

“Excuse me?”

Yu-min turned her head as if he was making a joke. That’s when Hyeon-woo opened the bathroom door and came out. Hyeon-woo was covering his lower body with a towel, but his upper body was exposed. Yu-min froze when she met Hyeon-woo’s eyes, but she didn’t look away.

“Y-your body is… nice.”

His body was nice? Hyeon-woo looked down at his body with a puzzled expression. He was definitely a bit skinny before, but now he had quite a bit of dense muscle.

Moreover, it seemed like his height had also increased slightly, as if the distorted frame he had before had been corrected as his body changed.

‘Is this also because I became an ability user?’

Come to think of it, he had heard that there were no obese or underweight people among ability users.

He had heard that the stats engraved in the body forcibly corrected the body. Hyeon-woo was amazed that something he had only heard about had happened to his body without him even knowing. Hyeon-woo was amazed by the changes in his body, but Yu-min was staring at him intently. It was enough to make Hyeon-woo feel a little embarrassed.

“Hey, if you stare too much…”

“Ah, ah! I, I don’t mind at all?!”

“No, that’s not something you should be saying.”

Besides, her face was so red that it looked like a ripe tomato about to burst, considering she didn’t mind at all. Yu-min seemed to finally snap out of it and turned her head.

Hyeon-woo was a guest in someone else’s house, but he couldn’t see his clothes where he had taken them off, so he couldn’t help it.

“Where are my clothes? I left them here.”

Yu-min quickly pointed to one side with her head turned. It was next to the trash can. Hyeon-woo’s clothes were sealed in a bag with a biohazard symbol on it. It was the obvious way to handle clothes contaminated with crystal moss residue.

“Normally, I should have taken you to the hospital, but you seemed so confident and healthy, so I brought you here. If you’re an ability user, you don’t have to worry about mana contamination. But Hyeon-woo, you were an ability user? Then why were you working as a gatherer?”

“Ah, I became an ability user relatively recently.”

In this time, it hadn’t even been two days. Yu-min seemed surprised by Hyeon-woo’s answer and quickly turned her head again.

Then she looked at Hyeon-woo’s body and froze again, then turned her head again, then looked back as if she had thought of something else to ask. Watching her, it was like a fan’s neck turning.

“Hey, it’s fine if you want to ask something, but I’m a little cold. And it’s a little awkward for both of us to keep being like this.”

“Ah, ah! Ah! Th-then, you can wear mine! I have big sizes!”

“No, but underwear is a bit…”

“I’ll buy the underwear!”

Yu-min quickly passed Hyeon-woo and ran out. Hyeon-woo was left alone in the woman’s house and fell into a somewhat complicated mood.

‘Should I check my inventory to see if I have anything to wear?’

Hyeon-woo opened his inventory and checked the items he had. He had plenty of things that would help him catch monsters, but he didn’t have any ordinary clothes to wear. If he took out even one of them, Yu-min would suspect his intentions. That’s when Hyeon-woo found a strange item at the bottom of his inventory.

[Gold Box: A box obtained as a quest reward.]

Obtained as a quest reward? Hyeon-woo wondered and reached out to the box. The moment he did, the box clicked open, and ten silver cards floated before his eyes. Among them, only one card was shining gold. The moment Hyeon-woo’s gaze was fixed on the gold card, the narrator’s voice rang out.

[The reward is increased due to the influence of the ‘SSS-Grade Luck’ title.]

Several of the silver cards suddenly burst into flames and began to turn gold. Anyone could tell that the gold cards were a jackpot reward.

The dozens of cards soon began to burn one by one and disappear into ashes. As if turning a roulette wheel, the gold card flickered as if it would disappear precariously among the burning cards.

Several gold cards were also engulfed in flames and disappeared. Hyeon-woo gritted his teeth in disappointment. Soon, most of the cards had turned to ashes and flew away, leaving only one card left.

A card shining with golden light.

[You have acquired the Legendary Skill: Battle Helper.]

Hyeon-woo clenched his fist tightly. At the same time, he was flustered.

‘Legendary? A legendary-grade skill?’

Most ability users either have no skills at all or have common-grade skills. If you have a rare-grade skill, you are treated as a group leader or a special hunter.

And then there are legendary-grade skills, and it is known that there are only 7 people in the world who possess this level of skill.

But just now, that number had increased to 8.

***

Yu-min, receiving curious glances from the convenience store clerk while buying men’s underwear, finally realized what she was doing.

‘I’m crazy, I’m crazy!’

Bringing a grown man who was splashing around in a drainage ditch full of toxic substances to her house, washing him, and even buying him underwear.

What on earth was this?

In fact, it wouldn’t have been strange if she had reported him to the police on the spot.

But before that, she remembered Hyeon-woo, who had spoken to Yu-min first when she was at a loss near the industrial complex’s drain, Hyeon-woo, who had helped her when she had a difficult time in the drain, and Hyeon-woo, who had admired dungeons just like her.

Of course, it was a relationship where she had hired him for money.

‘It’s okay to show this much kindness, right? It’ll be okay. It’s within a reasonable range.’

Yu-min tried to soothe herself.

But the moment she opened the front door of her house, Yu-min had to rethink her decision.

“…Hyeon-woo? What are you doing?”

“Ah.”

Hyeon-woo, who had been swinging his fist in the air, stopped abruptly. As a result, the towel he was wearing around his waist slipped down. But fortunately, the towel stopped as if caught in a precarious position. Hyeon-woo quickly grabbed the towel.

“Sorry. There was a mosquito.”

Yu-min didn’t even hear Hyeon-woo’s words. Only the scene of the towel slipping down, albeit for a very brief moment, came to her mind.

‘Of course, there is a way to hang a towel without using both hands.

A method only possible for men.

But is that possible in everyday situations without aiming for it? Is that possible with the size of an Asian man?’

‘…No, that can’t be.’

Yu-min reassured herself that she had seen something wrong and deceived herself once again.

Hyeon-woo received the underwear and t-shirt from Yu-min and changed in the bathroom. There were also sweatpants that were a little small for Hyeon-woo.

‘The t-shirt and underwear fit perfectly.’

Hyeon-woo was newly creeped out by how closely Yu-min had observed him.

They both cast suspicious glances at each other, but they didn’t reveal it. When Hyeon-woo came out after changing his clothes, Yu-min nodded.

“It fits well. I’ll dispose of the clothes you were wearing at the waste disposal facility at my school.”

“I could just throw them away in the industrial complex… I don’t know if I can keep relying on you like this.”

“I’m already relying on you for something, so let’s just call it even.”

Hyeon-woo thought for a moment. It wouldn’t be right to keep relying on her like this.

Then, Hyeon-woo suddenly remembered that Yu-min was helping with the gatherer work because of the crystal moss. Hyeon-woo opened the inventory window and said.

“Come to think of it, Yu-min, you said you were researching crystal moss, right?”

“Yes? Yes.”

“Then would you like to see this?”

What Hyeon-woo held out was a 1kg chunk of crystal moss that sparkled brilliantly.