The Skill Maker

“Huh? The store?”

“Yeah, the landlord suddenly increased the rent. It seemed like he wanted to bring in a franchise…the landlord said they weren’t making a lot of money, so they were contemplating whether to close it or not.”

“Why a franchise all of a sudden?”

“They wanted to give their son the store since he graduated school, but since there’s a lot of customers at the store, they’re getting greedy.”

Hyun-Soo had an idea after hearing his mother’s explanation.

Like his mother mentioned, the location of the store was a good location.

So that’s probably why they wanted it for themselves.

‘This happens to a lot of people. But, it is pretty unfair.’

Situations where the landlord kicks out the owner of the store so that they can run the store themselves isn’t rare.

Since the landlord increases the rent to the point where the store owner can’t pay, the owner has no choice but to close it.

‘There are landlords that kick out the owner and run the same type of business.’

It also meant that the previous store owner would be losing their customers as well.

Despite the fact that landlords have a lot of money, they desire more.

And it seemed like the store that his mother was working at was in the same situation.

‘She would always come home after closing hours, so there must be a lot of customers.’

It’s possible that the landlord thought of it as a good spot to make more money.

“There are rumors that the company that your father is working for are letting people go…I’m not sure what we should do if I end up having to quit my job.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Huh? Oh, I was just mumbling to myself. It’s nothing, really.”

Hyun-Soo asked when she suddenly mentioned his father, but his mother quickly shook her head.

It seemed like she accidentally said it from overthinking.

But, Hyun-Soo already heard it.

When Hyun-Soo was about to ask more, his mother stopped him.

“It’s really nothing. Don’t worry. We’ve been in worse situations before, but we managed just fine. It’s not a big deal so don’t worry about it.”

Her expression still looked gloomy.

When Hyuna came back after washing the dishes, his mother went to her room to rest.

“Huh? Is mom sick?”

“It’s not that. She’s probably tired.”

“It’d be nice if mom could take a break from work.”

Hyuna looked towards their mother’s room with a worried expression.

“How about convincing her to quit her job? You’re a hunter now. Isn’t it okay for her to take a break?”

Hyun-Soo had the same thought before.

There was a time when he told his parents that they could take a break because he became a hunter.

However, his parents refused saying that they were still young.

‘It’s not like our survival is at stake, so why are they keeping that unstable job?’

But, Hyuna thought differently.

“Hyun-Soo, that’s not it. Don’t you know our parents?”

“What? Isn’t it good for them to take a break?”

Their son was a hunter. Was it so bad to rely on him?

‘There are millions of people that would be willing to eat and play if they win the lottery. Even though this can’t be considered the same as winning the lottery, it can be considered second place, so they should be able to rest.’

“I think mom and dad feel like they’re somewhat achieving something by working. But, asking them to suddenly quit their jobs like that may be more shocking to them.”

Hyun-Soo had an idea of what Hyuna was trying to say.

‘When I was younger, there was a time that I decided to give up on becoming a hunter because of family circumstances. I’m not sure why I thought that being a hunter was the only way.’

He thought that his life wasn’t valuable enough because he didn’t become a hunter and that nothing really mattered.

He blamed it all on his family.

Because of that, Hyun-Soo made friends with the wrong people.

‘I was such a dumbass back then.’

Anyways, Hyun-Soo had an idea about what Hyuna was talking about.

They were probably working because they didn’t want to burden their children.

But, like Hyuna said, it’s possible that they may feel satisfied from working and achieving something with their own two hands.

If that was the case, then asking them to quit was something I shouldn’t have asked..

For different reasons, people that used to work end up staying home, and rather than feeling free, some feel lonely and empty.

In that sense, quitting wasn’t the best option.

‘But the jobs that they have now are too exhausting…’

They work more than 12 hours everyday and have to work night shifts every two days, so it’s only natural that they would be exhausted.

Hyun-Soo was in a dilemma.

‘Should I buy a store for them?’

His parents wanted to continue working.

Even if it wasn’t for money, they’ve always worked, so it seemed like that’s what they wanted to continue doing.

Asking them to rest at home might be a more difficult task for them.

But, as their children, it’s only natural for them to be worried since they always look exhausted.

His mother’s shop and his father’s job were unstable.

Finding a different job before anything worse happens might be the better option.

‘That’s not a bad idea.’

Buying a store where his parents will be the owner.

It was a random idea, but he thought it was a great idea the more he thought about it.

‘Even I think it’s a pretty good idea. A store…since mom is a great cook, opening a restaurant would be the best, right? Mom can work in the kitchen and dad can work at the register. She’ll need helpers in the kitchen and they’ll need servers too.’

He was planning it out in his head.

‘If they run the business themselves, they’ll be able to control the time and the hours they’ll work. Not bad. But, finding a place is the issue. Getting it started is the most important, so we can start by paying monthly and slowly find a way to purchase the building.’

Hyun-Soo counted the money that was in his account.

He saved it up so that he could buy a house, but using it to buy a store wasn’t so bad.

‘I was going to buy a house, but I keep on using it.’

But, it was a good…no, it was a really good idea.

‘No. I should save a bit more and just buy a building.’

He’ll keep saving anyways.

Purchasing a building wasn’t such a crazy idea.

After forming a contract with Kim Yoo-Na, he stopped creating fake scrolls and selling them.

But, he continued hunting.

And he was sure that he was going to continue.

On top of that, he obtained a new skill.

It was a C rank skill that was strong and he was able to control its power at will.

So buying a building wasn’t impossible.

But, he would have to save up as much as he can.

‘I’ll work hard and earn a lot of money!’

Hyuna returned to her room to study and Hyun-Soo laid down in the small living room.

Different thoughts were running through his head.

***

The next day.

Kim Yoo-Na arrived right on time.

A familiar red sports car arrived at the location they agreed to meet.

“Get in.”

‘I want to drive my own car too.’

But, it was too early to purchase a car.

Hyun-Soo just smacked his lips in disappointment.

Hyun-Soo’s desire to purchase a car increased.

Driving a sports car was every guy’s dream, but the color was a bit too much.

Swimming through a crowd of people that were looking at the sports car was pretty difficult.

‘Driving the car itself is more fun than riding in the passenger seat.’

However, even if he told her that he purchased a car, Kim Yoo-Na would still tell him to sit on the passenger side.

“Where are we going today?”

Hyun-Soo asked when he realized they were heading to the suburbs.

“We’re almost there. I registered two portals today. Is that okay?”

Even if it wasn’t okay, he was silently being pressured to say it was okay.

“Since you’re used to using the developed skill, we’ll use one so that you can test it out and after taking a break, we’ll go to the next one.”

‘Sounds good to me. It might be difficult, but still.’

It’s because he was in a hurry to make money.

‘I was always in a rush to make money, but I was going to take my time in saving up for a house. But, there’s something else I need to take care of as soon as possible.’

Their jobs were unstable right now.

On top of that, there was a lot they would have to do in order to start the business.

If he really planned on purchasing a building, money would become even a bigger necessity.

People always said to dream big and for Hyun-Soo, instead of purchasing a store, he was seriously thinking about purchasing a building.

His mother was on the verge of losing her job because of the landlord, so buying a building might be the better option.

‘Finding a good location is key.’

He planned on looking at a couple of locations first and then telling his mother.

Since she’ll be the one running the store, she’ll have to come up with things to sell.

“The other one is a request.”

“A request?”

“Yes. They said it’s a blue portal that didn’t have much time left.”

‘A blue portal..!’

Hyun-Soo only hunted in green portals.

He trained in portals that had easy, weak monsters.

‘But, a blue portal?’

Even though he was familiar with the new skill, Hyun-Soo was still a D rank.

Even though he only needed a couple more experience points to become a C rank, he was currently a D rank.

C and B rank hunters usually hunted in blue portals.

Hyun-Soo knew it would be useless for him to go.

“Then, will you be hunting the monster in the blue portal by yourself?”

“By myself? Why would I do it by myself when you’re here?”

“Well, I’m still a D rank and I’ll most likely just get in the way.”

“Don’t worry. That won’t happen.”

Kim Yoo-Na answered confidently.

“Also, we won’t be the only ones hunting the monster. Even though I’m an A rank hunter and we’re hunting in a blue portal, you can be in danger, so a couple of hunters will join us.”

Well, it would be difficult for her to hunt a monster in a blue portal by herself even if she was an A rank hunter.

On top of that, she had to protect Hyun-Soo.

‘I don’t think I’ll be much help in the blue portal.’

Not getting in the way would be a big help.

“I honestly wanted to decline the request, but it’s a request I couldn’t deny…there are some faces I don’t want to see, but I thought it would be a good experience for you so I agreed to do it. You’re okay with it, right? There won’t be much for you to do though.”

“Of course I’m okay.”

It’s not everyday he gets to experience a blue portal.

What Kim Yoo-Na said was a bit odd, but since she didn’t say any more about it, Hyun-Soo just stayed quiet and looked straight ahead.

They arrived at the foot of a mountain.

<New Face #1> End.