Chapter 6

Chapter 6

With a pounding heart, Haejin checked the new Skill and Trait he had obtained.

[Trait: You have acquired ‘My Comfortable Home’!]

[Skill: You have acquired ‘The Weight of a Landlord’!]

Gaining any kind of new ability was automatically a benefit.

What mattered now was just how good the abilities he had rolled actually were.

‘So... what the hell do these do?’

Just like before, his strange God-Tier Landlord abilities were difficult to guess from their names alone.

So he was about to open their descriptions like last time when.

“Ugh!”

Zap-! His head suddenly grew hot.

It felt as though information was being poured directly into his brain.

He instantly understood the new abilities he had acquired.

He staggered from dizziness for a moment, then opened his eyes again a few seconds later.

Was this supposed to be some kind of convenient service?

“Oh, this is better than I expected.”

The effects of the Skill and Trait he now understood were quite impressive.

[My Comfortable Home]

-All recovery rates increase by 100% while inside your own property.

-Your property always remains in ‘perfect’ condition.

At first glance, it didn’t seem all that impressive.

But the effect Haejin had understood was different.

‘Whether it’s a temporary structure or whatever, electricity, water, heating, and everything else all work perfectly. And the facilities just repair themselves automatically? Wow... Isn’t this ridiculously good?!’

Especially for someone as stingy as Haejin, it was an incredible ability.

No matter how run-down a property he bought, wouldn’t this completely eliminate remodeling costs?

Just look at the collapsing pension he owned now.

It had been too run-down for anyone to live in, and naturally its water and electricity had long been cut off, causing plenty of inconvenience. But now he could restore it perfectly.

Next came the Skill.

[The Weight of a Landlord]

-Attack power increases in proportion to the value of properties you own.

-Leased buildings provide no effect. Only real estate you personally own is recognized.

There was nothing complicated about it. It was simply a great Skill.

‘Especially since I hunt while invincible with Safe Property. That means attack power matters more to me than stamina or other stats, so this came out perfectly, didn’t it?’

Of course, with the cheap pension being the only property he actually owned right now, the effect was a little underwhelming.

Haejin checked his stat window.

Sure enough, his attack power had risen by the tiniest amount, down to the decimal point.

‘Feels like maybe a 0.1% increase. Damn, that won’t even be noticeable right now. It said the boost depends on the pension’s value, and I practically got this place for free.’

Honestly, the pension had almost no value. That was precisely why Haejin had been able to afford it.

He felt a little disappointed.

But before long, his imagination began racing again.

‘Still, if you think about it, this is a late-game scaling Skill, right? It straight-up raises my raw attack power.’

All he had to do was make lots of money and buy expensive buildings.

What if he owned a building in Seoul, where land prices were absurdly high?

Instead of 0.1%, his attack power might rise by 100%.

Maybe even more.

‘Then I could kill stronger monsters than Garbage Dogs with a single spear thrust, right?’

His attack power would skyrocket, after all.

Once he focused on that hope, the future suddenly looked much brighter.

‘All right, then. I’ll rest for today and start hunting hard again tomorrow, shall I?’

In the end, nothing had changed.

Make lots of money, buy real estate, then become a God-Tier Landlord Hunter exactly as his class name implied.

A life of easy-mode hunting and easy-mode living.

There was nothing Haejin wanted more in the world.

And today, he had undoubtedly taken another huge step toward that goal.

* * *

Haejin’s daily life remained mostly unchanged afterward.

He woke up in the morning, commuted to the pension, grilled meat to lure monsters and kill them, then took their corpses to the Hunting City exchange and sold them.

That routine continued for over a week.

Living so diligently, he eventually reached Level 7.

Considering that Hunters usually took at least six months, and sometimes more than two years, to go from Level 1 to Level 7, his growth was absurdly easy.

Even more so when you considered that ordinary Hunters truly risked their lives and got injured in battle.

But this routine couldn’t continue forever.

One day, while grilling meat as usual to lure monsters, Haejin noticed something strange.

“Tch... They should’ve shown up ages ago. What’s going on?”

It had already been over three hours since the smell of meat started spreading.

Normally, three or four monsters should have appeared by now, or at least one at the bare minimum.

Yet strangely enough, not a single monster showed up today.

He waited several more hours just in case, but the result was the same.

Haejin clicked his tongue and let out a small sigh.

‘Did I wipe out all the trash mobs around here?’

Monsters weren’t infinite, after all.

Without meaning to, he had practically exterminated the monsters in the area and purified it.

That might be good news for everyone else, but from Haejin’s perspective, it was deeply disappointing.

‘What do I do now, then? Should I get another property in a different area? Hmm...’

He was thinking realistically while trying to hide his disappointment when.

Rustle, rustle-!

He heard the faint sound of leaves brushing together.

It wasn’t the wind. Something living was definitely approaching.

Haejin immediately brightened and hurried over to grab his long spear.

As he cautiously watched something approaching from the distance.

“Huh?!”

Haejin’s eyes went wide when he finally saw what it was.

He had naturally assumed it was a Garbage Dog.

But what appeared in front of the pension wasn’t a Garbage Dog.

It was just a dog.

Literally, a large white dog with filthy, matted fur.

“Wait, there’s a dog alive out here?”

This was a remote region that had become a Demonic Realm.

With neither people nor wild animals around, how could he not be shocked to suddenly see a dog?

Whine- Whine-

The dog cautiously began approaching Haejin.

It whimpered in a rather pitiful voice.

Now that it was closer, he could see its fur was completely tangled and it was so thin that its ribs showed.

It seemed it hadn’t eaten properly in a long time.

“You’ve been trying to survive somehow... You must’ve had it rough.”

The dog looked cautious, but its face seemed incredibly gentle.

Haejin couldn’t help feeling sorry for it.

He slowly called the dog over, cut off several pieces of the meat he had been grilling, and tossed them to it.

Whine-!

The dog quickly rushed over and lowered its head to sniff them.

But despite obviously being starving, it didn’t eat right away and instead stared at Haejin.

“It’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with it. I’m not a bad person either. It’s for you, so you can eat.”

He spoke in a gentle voice.

Perhaps the dog somehow understood him.

It lowered its head once, then began wolfing down the meat.

Haejin stared blankly for a moment before bringing over a bowl of water for it too.

‘It eats well. It really must’ve been starving for a long time. And it seems really gentle. Feels like an abandoned dog.’

He couldn’t shake the pity he felt.

And then.

Ding!

[A powerful bond has formed!]

[Would you like to appoint ‘Dog’ as your property’s guard dog?]

“W-what?!”

A message appeared without warning.

A guard dog? That hadn’t been mentioned anywhere in his Skill window.

‘My abilities had a taming function too? Is this some kind of hidden Skill? What the hell is this?’

Judging from the term guard dog, it seemed he could tame the dog.

There was nothing to lose, so Haejin immediately chose to accept.

At that moment.

Flash!

A brilliant light began pouring from the dog that had just devoured two chunks of beef.

Even though it was a bright afternoon, the light was dazzling enough to make him squeeze his eyes shut.

When he slowly opened them again, a new status window floated in front of him.

[‘Dog’ has been registered as a Guard Dog!]

[Name: Dog (Unregistered)]

[Class: Guard Dog]

[Title: Guard Dog of The Forest Pension]

[Owner: Lee Haejin]

[Level: 1]

[Trait: None]

[Skill: None]

[Please give your new family member a name!]

It wasn’t his own status window, but that of the dog he had just met.

“D-does this even make sense?!”

It even had a level, Traits, and Skills.

Didn’t that mean his guard dog could level up, learn Skills, and grow stronger just like he could?

Once Haejin realized what this meant, his jaw dropped.

‘My God-Tier Landlord class really was insanely broken.’

He had discovered an ability he had never even imagined.

Woof woof-!

Perhaps because it had been registered as his guard dog.

The dog that had previously been stopped at the entrance by his Skill had somehow entered the pension and was now standing beside Haejin.

“Oh, you can come inside now. Did you enjoy the food?”

As though answering, the dog affectionately rubbed its head against Haejin’s leg.

Then it began gently licking his leg with its enormous tongue.

The sight was so adorable that Haejin crouched down and thoroughly petted its head.

“Ah, right. It told me to name you.”

A large white dog that seemed to be some kind of mixed breed.

Calling it ‘Dog’ forever would be strange, so after thinking for a while, Haejin chose a name.

“You’re the guard of our pension, so how about Pasu, short for guard?”

“Woof woof!”

“You like it? Heh, good. From now on, you’re Pasu. You’ve got to guard our home properly, okay?”

Pasu, now a new member of the family, barked energetically.

After playing with him in the yard for a while, Haejin took Pasu inside the pension.

Thanks to the ‘My Comfortable Home’ Trait, the pension had automatically restored itself to its original condition for a free remodel, and the disconnected electricity, gas, and water now flowed freely.

“First, you need a shower, Pasu. You’re way too filthy to sleep with me like this.”

“Wh-whine...”

“If you want to live with me, you’ve got no choice. Accept your fate.”

He took Pasu into the bathroom, turned on plenty of hot water, and washed him.

Apparently he had lived as a stray for a long time, because filthy black water poured off him for ages.

Maybe it was because he hadn’t felt warmth like this in so long.

Pasu had hated it at first, but quickly adapted, eventually surrendering himself to Haejin’s hands and even lying down on the bathroom floor.

After more than two hours of bathing, the freshly cleaned Pasu looked quite impressive.

“You’re even cuter when you’re clean! How did such a sweet, reliable guy end up a stray? Whew... You must’ve been through a lot too.”

Somehow, Haejin had ended up adopting a dog he had never planned on raising.

But the sudden addition to his family was actually welcome.

A guard dog.

Especially since he had discovered an entirely new ability of the God-Tier Landlord class.

“Let’s do our best together from now on, Pasu. Okay? I’ll feed you beef every day.”

“Bark bark!!”

Haejin smiled contentedly as he stroked Pasu.

And the panting dog seemed to be smiling too.