Hunters Keep Coming To My House - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“What, what is this….”

Who is he to break someone else’s front door like this and invade without permission?

I put some distance between me and the unconscious man sprawled on the living room floor and began to cautiously examine his appearance.

The man only let out groans of pain, unable to regain consciousness.

Arming myself with a cushion from the sofa and a sword from my inventory, I approached the man slowly.

“Um, excuse me?”

“Ugh, ugh.”

“…Look at this?”

I tried to talk to him, but the man seemed completely out of his mind due to pain.

I temporarily put down the sword I was holding and tapped the man with my foot. Still, he didn’t open his eyes.

Quietly settling near the man, I squatted down to observe him.

Brown hair covered in dust and blood, facial features barely visible. Despite the blood-soaked high-quality black top and bottom, there were no torn edges. 

Once the face was cleaned up a bit, it seemed like a quite handsome face.

‘…I can’t see it, but why does he look so familiar?’

Upon closer inspection, cleaning the stains could reveal the man’s identity. 

Just as I got up to get a towel,

Roar!

A huge roar echoed.

I turned my head towards the source of the sound. 

“…Wow, what the.”

I stood frozen in place, turning my head in silence. Not only was my mental state completely shattered, but everything was falling apart.

The reason was, that the dragon-type monster, hatchling, which had broken in through the door that the fallen man came through, was approaching.

The blue hatchling, as if confirming that its prey was in my house, opened its mouth wide and let out a threatening growl with its tongue out.

The hatchling hadn’t noticed me yet.

Since it was slowly flapping its small wings towards my house, probably to eat the almost caught prey.

If that hatchling came into my house, I’d be a dead man. Because…

‘…That, that hatchling is at least S-level!’

Swallowing hard, I covered my mouth with my hand, wondering if even this sound would be audible to the hatchling, which seemed to excel in all senses. 

However, it was in vain.

Kuaaaaah!

Before I knew it, the hatchling had entered the yard, and our eyes met precisely. 

The hatchling let out a roar in response. 

I covered my ears at the sound, as it was so loud that without doing so, it felt like my ears might burst.

When the noise was somewhat blocked, I finally confirmed my situation. 

‘Ah, I’m going to die now.’ 

Was this life coming to an end here? Surely, it would make a sensational headline in the newspapers: Woman whose house fell through gate found dead at the gate.

‘If I’m going to die so absurdly, please let me be reborn in a more peaceful, or at least a world without monsters and gates….’ 

In the next life, let me suck on honey or something. 

Kuaaaaah!

Kuooo!

The hatchling’s roar grew louder and louder. Even with my hands covering my ears, the roaring sound penetrated, making my head spin. 

When that hatchling opened its mouth wide, I was certain that I would die instantly.

It was truly unfair to be an FFF-level, utterly powerless and unable to resist. To think that I had to helplessly die without being able to take any action.

Now that my life, which had just begun, was about to end like this…!

With a resigned feeling, I tightly closed my eyes. I wanted to die less frighteningly, even if I had to die. Thump, thump.

Thump thump thump!

The sound of my heart beating grew louder and louder. 

It would soon catch me and devour me, right? Wouldn’t it?

…Huh?

But why hasn’t anything happened yet? 

‘Should I count to ten or something?’ 

Hoping the situation would end if I counted to ten, I began silently counting numbers in my mind.

And it wasn’t until I reached 50 that I realized something strange. I could now discern that there was no sound at all. 

“Why, nothing is happening…?”

I opened my eyes with a puzzled expression. 

That’s when I saw the blue hatchling collapse in front of the entrance door. Even more peculiar, there was a transparent wall-like barrier between the hatchling and our house. 

At that moment, something flashed through my mind.

“Could it be…?”

I quickly checked the system window. 

In an instant, there were numerous windows open, and I swiftly moved my hands to inspect them.

[Skill <Safe House Inside the Gate> is activated.

?Seo Yeon-oh’s residence is currently the only and perfect safe House inside the gate. You can completely avoid monster attacks and recover from status abnormalities.

?When monsters attack the house, it absorbs the damage and returns it to the monsters. However, you are not yet defended against hunter attacks due to insufficient proficiency.

?The safe House follows the proficiency of the ‘Owner of the Safe House Inside the Gate.’]

And one more thing.

[Title ‘Owner of the Safe House Inside the Gate’ is activated!

Hidden skills are revealed.

?Auto Recovery (Proficiency 0%)

?The house is also a target for reinforcement! (Proficiency 0%)

?No unauthorized entry allowed! (Proficiency 0%)

?Cleanliness is key (Proficiency 0%)

?Save water and electricity! (Proficiency 0%)

However, the success rate of skills varies depending on proficiency.]

Lastly.

[Title ‘Shabby Homeowner’ is activated.

?Proficiency of the ‘Owner of the Safe House Inside the Gate’ skill increases rapidly.

?More items related to the house will appear.

?With each house upgrade, all stats permanently increase by 30.

However, the yard cannot be developed yet. Dominance over the yard is very low.]

I chuckled with a sense of emptiness, covering my eyes with my hand. Then, I lowered my hand and glared at the still-unconscious man.

“If it weren’t for this guy, I wouldn’t have had to tremble at the thought of dying!”

If only I had the time to check the skills and titles, maybe I wouldn’t have awaited death like this. 

Unsatisfied with just glaring, I pressed my hand firmly against the man’s forehead. He winced, narrowing his eyes at the pressure.

“Haah, let’s fix the door first; leave the painful guy alone.”

I moved towards the broken entrance. 

There was still an invisible barrier separating the hatchling and us. I touched the transparent wall with my hand.

To my surprise, my fingers passed right through the wall. 

As the system description mentioned, it seemed that monsters couldn’t enter this house. 

As long as I didn’t leave, I wouldn’t die.

“This is fascinating. Let’s fix it first.”

I took a deep breath and raised my hand to the transparent wall. Despite becoming somewhat accustomed to it since becoming a hunter, using skills still felt embarrassing.

Fortunately, I was alone. Well, there was that guy, but he was still unconscious.

“<Auto Recovery>!”

As I shouted the skill, the door gradually reappeared, centered around my palm. More precisely, it felt like the shattered pieces of the entrance were coming back together, and luckily, I didn’t have to dodge flying debris. 

Once the pieces were somewhat aligned, the cracks began to disappear.

“Wow, this requires more mana than I thought.”

Although my basic stats increased with the blessing of XXX, my mana pool was still quite limited. 

I bit my lip as I felt mana draining from my body.

Just as I began to feel that I couldn’t use any more mana, the system window appeared before me.

[Congratulations on fixing your first broken item! 

Excellent!

From now on, the ‘Entrance Door’ will be automatically repaired. 

Skill: Auto Recovery (Proficiency 5%)

?Automatic Repair Item: Entrance Door

Note: It consumes 10 of Seo Yeon-oh’s mana automatically.]

“That’s not much….”

Still, it’s a satisfying skill, I muttered, tapping the front door again and turning around.

“Oh! You surprised me!”

I gasped and sat down, clutching my heart. Right in front of me.

“Hello! My name is Han Seung-hoo.”

The man who had been unconscious was now looking at me with a very neat appearance. 

Moreover, Han Seung-hoo was someone I knew well. Of course, it was a one-sided internal sense of familiarity. 

“…Ranked 3rd, Han Seung-hoo?”

“Ahaha, you know me! That’s fortunate. I was thinking hard about how to introduce myself. I am indeed Han Seung-hoo.”

Ranked 3rd among hunters in South Korea.

He had brown hair that sparkled in the light and black eyes with a hint of purple, a genius who handled both light and darkness simultaneously. He was the most popular hunter among the public, known for his gentle image.

Therefore, he was also the most information-revealed person among the current rankers, compared to others.

It was already surprising enough that such an amazing person was lying unconscious in my house, but it was even more unbelievable that he was now looking at me as if I were amazing.

“…Did you see everything?”

“Ah, if you mean fixing the door, yes, I saw it all. It was fascinating!” 

Han Seung-hoo nodded with a bright smile.

His brown hair sparkled unnecessarily in the light, making his smile even more divine. 

‘I should have just died earlier.’

My face turned red with embarrassment at the fact that he witnessed all the scenes of me shouting the skill. 

It was even more humiliating considering it was in front of someone I admired.