Translator: Nox

Became the Owner of a Poor Estate

Chapter 25

It seemed to refer to the other villages she hadn’t visited yet.

Lassen, the place where tomatoes were said to be grown, was likely one of them.

Donghee agreed with the status window’s warning that her favorability would drop back into the negatives as soon as she opened the next village.

It would be stranger if it didn’t drop.

Lost in thought for a moment, Donghee returned to the kitchen as soon as the status window vanished. She looked at Thelma and the head chef, who were still eating the fried Dural.

“Thelma, I’m going to my room for a bit. Chef, steam and fry the rest of the Dural I left outside.”

“M-me, My Lady?”

Scrooge, seemingly unable to eat another bite, sat beside them, stroking his bulging belly with a satisfied expression. The basket that had been piled high with fried Dural was now nearly empty.

“Then should I do it? You saw everything I did earlier, didn’t you? You have a sharp mind and excellent skills, so I’m sure you can make a much better Bura—no, Dural dish than I can. I’ll be expecting great things. Once you’ve cooked all of it, distribute it to the servants.”

Quickly correcting the word that almost slipped out, Donghee hurried up to her room.

She wanted to visit the newly opened areas around Borimdang as soon as possible.

At first, taking things from an ownerless shop felt very uncomfortable, but now it felt much more natural. It was like picking fruit from a wild tree that belonged to no one.

Above all, no matter how much she took, the items eventually respawned to their original state, which greatly eased her conscience.

By now, passing through the front door and changing into comfortable clothes in her studio apartment had become somewhat familiar. To move more easily within the activated areas, Donghee had started leaving her cumbersome dresses in the apartment a few days ago. Instead, she wore her old, worn-out pajama pants and a hoodie like a suit of armor.

“I’ll go into Borimdang first to fill the ten minutes, then check out the other places.”

When she stepped out of her apartment and stood in front of Borimdang, the number 10:00 floated up on the status window.

Separately, Donghee set the timer she had brought from her room to eight minutes. She didn’t want to make a mistake by rushing at the last second.

“Alright!”

Steeled with the determination of an athlete entering a competition, Donghee opened the door to Borimdang.

[09:59]

The timer on the status window began to count down the moment the glass door opened.

Having visited several times now, she knew exactly where everything was, as if she were the owner.

Since she had to gather items from other places as well, she only filled 100 slots of her inventory for now.

Instead of grabbing things blindly, she chose items that looked the most expensive, and time flew by. Thanks to setting her own timer to eight minutes, Donghee was able to leave Borimdang before her time ran out.

As soon as she stepped outside, shops that had been hidden until now emerged from the fog.

Simultaneously, the status window timer reset to 10:00, and Donghee restarted her handheld timer. She felt extremely anxious because she had to finish everything within eight minutes.

To the right of Borimdang were a gold exchange and a clothing store; to the left were another jewelry shop called Gold Diamant and a hot dog stand. She saw one more jewelry shop, but it was shrouded in fog and only half-visible. The atmosphere there felt eerie, so she decided it was best not to enter.

“Jackpot.”

Donghee decided to go into the gold exchange first.

After all, gold was king.

Now that a gold exchange was secured, it was as good as owning a gold mine.

The revival of the Grace Territory was practically a piece of cake now.

“Hehehehe.”

A sinister laugh escaped her lips as she stood before the gold exchange.

She stood there giggling for a moment before belatedly checking her timer and scurrying inside. Her heart was pounding.

Just like Borimdang, there was no sign of life inside the shop.

But the problem was…

“Why is there nothing here!”

The gold exchange was empty—not just of people, but of even a single scrap of gold.

There was even a thick layer of dust on the display cases.

With a horrified expression, Donghee dragged her finger across the gray surface of a display.

As her finger cleared away the dust, the empty case was revealed.

Dammit!

“It was a closed business!”

Suppressing a surge of irritation, Donghee brushed off her hands irritably and ran back outside. Because of her panic inside, over three minutes had already passed.

She had about seven minutes left on the system clock, but only five minutes remaining on the timer she held.

“Gold Diamant!”

In her haste, Donghee dashed into Gold Diamant on the opposite side.

She worried it might be another closed shop, but fortunately, the interior was filled with a variety of jewelry that rivaled Borimdang.

Relief washed over her at the sight of the full display cases.

“Thank goodness!”

Donghee practically threw the items she pulled from the cases into her inventory. Even though she tossed them in haphazardly, the smart inventory neatly stored the items in their respective slots.

Nice catch!

While the jewelry in Borimdang had a slightly older aesthetic, the pieces here featured many unique designs that younger people would prefer. In terms of gold content, many items were inferior to Borimdang’s, but she was more drawn to these designs.

Donghee worked diligently, glancing back and forth between her timer and the displays.

Since it was her first time here and she was in such a rush, her heart felt like it was going to jump out of her throat.

She felt like a very daring thief.

Beep, beep, beep, beep!

She had barely packed anything when the timer shrieked, signaling that only one minute remained.

“I have to get out!”

Without time to regret the unfilled inventory slots, Donghee bolted outside. There was still time left on the status window timer, but she had to return to her dingy studio apartment, so she couldn’t afford to be complacent. Donghee ran toward her apartment with all her might.

“Huff! Huff!”

She hadn’t run far, but her breathing grew heavy from the tension.

She couldn’t be foolish enough to linger and cause the newly opened area to close. There would be plenty of opportunities in the future.

There was no need to rush or push herself, yet her soaring greed made her feel hurried despite herself.

Fortunately, she reached her apartment before the ten minutes were up.

After the front door clicked shut just in time, Donghee collapsed onto her mattress.

As she lay there catching her breath, the ceiling—stained and blotchy from rain leaks—caught her eye. In the past, it had felt pathetic and sad, as if it represented her own lot in life, but now it didn’t bother her at all.

Donghee’s mind was entirely consumed by the jewelry shops.

“I wish the time limit would be lifted.”

Donghee looked over the items she had brought back with a sense of lingering regret.

She should have looked more carefully before going in.

Still, she told herself it was better than nothing, considering she had at least managed to visit Gold Diamant.

Leaving her regrets behind once her breathing steadied, Donghee left her apartment again and headed for the Convenience Store. She felt a renewed sense of gratitude that there was no time limit there.

Entering the Convenience Store felt as comfortable as entering her own home.

She quickly filled the remaining 100 or so inventory slots with food from the store.

Walking through the aisles with a much more relaxed pace, Donghee grabbed a bottle of Bacchus and gulped it down.

“Ahh, that’s refreshing.”

She couldn’t express how lucky she felt that the refrigerators in the shop were still running.

The reality of her situation hit her anew as she set down the half-empty bottle and looked around.

Running that short distance had made her hungry. Donghee stood up, walked to a shelf, and opened a cup of instant noodles.

It was the spicy cold noodles she used to enjoy often.

She tore off the plastic wrap and the lid, poured in the hot water, and sealed the lid shut by wedging it between a pair of wooden chopsticks.

Three minutes.

While the noodles cooked, Donghee did nothing but stare blankly at the lid.

Two very angry-looking chickens on the packaging were glaring as if ready to fight someone.

By the time the silence grew so heavy it made her ears ring, the three minutes were up.

Slurp, slurp.

The noodles were hot and spicy.

Her nose tingled and sweat beaded on her upper lip, but Donghee kept eating until she finished every last bit.

She was about to throw the empty cup into the trash can, but for some reason, she decided to leave it there and walked out of the store.

She was curious to see if the trash would still be there the next time she came, and a sudden streak of pettiness made her not want to clean it up.

Stepping back through the front door and checking her inventory, Donghee let out a deep sigh without realizing it.

For all her excitement about the expansion of the activated area, the results felt meager.

“I should have at least eaten a hot dog.”

She belatedly remembered the hot dogs that had been sizzling in the fryer at the shop next to Borimdang.

Even though no one was there, the hot dogs were mysteriously frying, turning a golden brown with chunks of potato embedded in them.

“If I leave them like that, do they burn? Or are they preserved in that state? If so, wouldn’t they be completely soaked in oil?”

Unable to let go of the thought of the hot dogs, Donghee decided she would have to check and taste them for herself next time.

After hiding the jewelry she brought back in the dressing room, she stepped into her bedroom to the sound of a knock.

“My Lady, are you inside?”

It was Thelma’s voice.

When Donghee unlocked the door, Thelma was standing there with an incredibly uplifted expression.

“Yawn, what is it?”

A yawn escaped her as she spoke.

Running around like a maniac inside the front door had brought on a wave of exhaustion. She felt like she needed to take a nap.

“My Lady! The servants ate every bit of the Dural dishes!”

That was welcome news. Her fatigue seemed to vanish instantly.

“Everyone is fine, right?”

“Yes! They said they were full and that it tasted great. They even asked if they could eat it again tomorrow!”

Thelma couldn’t hide her excitement, as if she still found it hard to believe even as she said it.

“See? I told you it was delicious. Tomorrow, let’s have all the servants of Grace Castle go and harvest some Dural.”

“Near the Black Forest?”

A hint of hesitation flickered in Thelma’s voice.

The face that had been full of smiles just a moment ago was now clouded with worry.

It was understandable.

Customs observed for a long time didn’t disappear overnight.

Even she wouldn’t have the confidence to casually plant grass from a cemetery in her own front yard.

She realized that for these people, Dural carried a level of discomfort far beyond that of graveyard grass.

“Anyone who is scared doesn’t have to go. Instead, tell them that those who do go will be paid handsomely. Of course, it’s a special allowance separate from their servant wages.”

“A special allowance?”