Starting a Reversal in Life From the Time of Release

38 – Building a House in Front of the Gate (2)

“Ha… damn…”

A man sat at his desk, clutching his head and sighing heavily.

It was Nokyang’s representative, Kim Ji Han.

After Seo Ha Neul and Lee Yeoreum pushed him aside and left the guild.

Nokyang’s situation was gradually falling into ruin.

The morale of the remaining hunters was at an all-time low, and the other employees were no different.

They simply lived mechanically, just struggling to survive.

Some of those who couldn’t withstand the atmosphere, like others, also submitted their resignations.

I should have chased away that bastard Nam Bora instead.

Although he regretted it belatedly, it was already too late.

All he could do was sigh and regret.

“…Son of a b*tch.”

As he contemplated the fundamental reason this happened, someone’s face came to mind.

It was the face of Yoo Si-hoo, who unjustly framed him.

Blaming him was only half correct, but the thought that things had gone awry since then wouldn’t leave his mind.

He rationalized that nothing had gone right since that bastard appeared.

Should he chase him away now, even at this point?

Kim Ji-han sighed, thinking of Nam Bora who was probably still having a fit.

How could he avoid deeper regret?

It was Kim Ji-han’s biggest concern.

Suddenly, the thought occurred that it was uncomfortable.

It was because it took too long to get here from the demilitarized zone.

No matter how well the roads were maintained, the fundamental distance was too far.

“Should we move?”

Without realizing it, the words “move” slipped out of his mouth.

And Mari, who had expectations for me, asked with raised eyebrows.

“Move?”

“Yeah. The demilitarized zone is too far. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to move now…?”

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“Moving… Shihu will sacrifice too much for that. Don’t do it.”

Mari expressed her opposition, saying that there would be many inconveniences if we moved up there.

I thought she would be happy to be able to go to the gate quickly…

I was really grateful that she put me first.

So while thinking if there was a better solution, a thought sprung up like a spark.

“How about… building a house over there?”

“A house? On that land?”

The idea of building a house seemed intriguing to Mari as her eyes widened.

“Well, then the people over there can cross safely. It might even be usable as a forward base… What do you think?”

Mari hesitated for a moment, tightly clutching my arm before speaking, glancing sidelong and opening her mouth.

“That’s great. I’ll talk to my mother later about covering the costs. We’ll find a way to afford it.”

“Huh? No, don’t do that. I want to do this myself.”

“Even if we don’t know how things are here, it’s embarrassing for a man to pay for this kind of money. So just accept it.”

“But still, it doesn’t seem right…”

“Strictly speaking, I should take on more responsibility. Anyway…”

Mari drew a firm line, signaling me not to say anything more.

It felt awkward and sorry for leaving her in such a vulnerable position.

But because Mari was so determined, I couldn’t stop her.

In the end, I had no choice but to nod my head.

“Oh, by the way, what about the land over there? Can we just go in and build a house? Or do we need to go through the proper procedures?”

“We’ll need to go through the procedures. First, we’ll make the land state-owned and allow those with priority to buy it at a low price.”

Hunters who can participate in joint operations are not exactly broke.

In fact, it’s practically getting the land for free.

But since it’s so remote and undeveloped, there was no one willing to buy it.

It would be difficult for an ordinary person to live there, especially with such intense magic.

“So there shouldn’t be any major objections?”

“Well… there won’t be people willing to go there for construction. It’s dangerous. Even if we manage to bring in building materials… we’ll probably have to build the house ourselves.”

Building a house by ourselves is hard labor.

And even more so without facilities or experts.

I thought Mari’s expression had hardened because of that.

But then, she said something that I couldn’t have expected.

“Well… why not just get a container house?”

Container house.

I was taken aback by an unexpected remark from Mari.

Not only was I surprised that she said something like that, but it also seemed very plausible.

Thanks to her, ideas started popping into my head on what exactly we should do.

It felt like a dam had burst open.

The next day, after making our plans.

I immediately went to a company that builds container houses and placed an order.

When I ordered five containers in cash, the owner’s eyes lit up.

Of course, I wrote the contract meticulously to minimize any disadvantages.

In the meantime, I met Mr. Hwang Doo-sik and even had a drink, but the taste of alcohol was still bitter.

Fortunately, thanks to the careful consideration of Mr. Seo Ha-neul, I am managing relatively well.

“Cleaning the demilitarized zone? Seriously?”

I met the person I had planned to meet for several days. After preparing artifacts and other items.

I invited Mr. Seo Ha-neul and Ms. Lee Yeoreum to my house and revealed the plan.

I still kept the details about the gate a secret.

I just mentioned that I wanted to clean the demilitarized zone.

Ms. Lee Yeoreum was surprised and asked because of that.

“Yes. I plan to clean as wide an area as possible. I also plan to build a base similar to a front-line base over there.”

“Do you have to? Really?”

“Yes. There is a need for it.”

Ms. Lee Yeoreum looked uneasy and alternated her gaze between me and Mari.

“Is it because of that person?”

The person Ms. Lee Yeoreum was referring to was Mari.

And it was not wrong to say that I was doing this because of Mari.

That’s why I nodded.

“Yes. Once we establish a foundation, I want to go up higher.”

“That’s a good idea.”

Mr. Seo Ha-neul, who had been quietly listening, naturally interjected.

So it was natural for our attention to be drawn to Mr. Seo Ha-neul.

Mr. Seo Ha-neul seemed uncomfortable with our gaze and cleared his throat softly before speaking.

“The development in the north is still ongoing, right? So eventually, the demons will disappear from the north, and then we might benefit according to our contributions. Of course, cleaning the demons comes first… But people, you know.”

“Kind of like people’s greed.”

This seemed to imply people’s ambition.

Not only me, but even Mari and, surprisingly, Ms. Lee Yeoreum seemed to have that kind of thought.

We just nodded in silence.

“Well, that’s your situation. Anyway, we need to open up the road to Mari’s house. What’s the use of having so much land? It just makes maintenance difficult.”

“That’s true.”

I thought there was reason in Ms. Lee Yeoreum’s words.

Just as if he found it bothersome to speak, but with a very clear sense of purpose.

“Anyway, the current goal is just to clean up the unarmed zone, right?”

“Yes. We will only clean up certain areas. It’s too wide to handle.”

There is a limit to killing monsters, as well as to stamina and mana.

So, first comes the truck that carries the container house.

In addition, they planned to only clean up the area near the gate.

When the story was almost complete, Seo Haneul, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.

“I understand. When will you depart?”

“Tomorrow. Is that possible?”

Though it would be a fairly tight schedule by tomorrow.

Seo Haneul and Yi Yeoreum readily agreed.

“Yes. We are currently unemployed, so we can prepare today and come see you tomorrow. Is that okay?”

“That’s fine. However, since the cleaning might take a while, you should regularly go back and forth to the nearby area….”

“It’s alright. I will send someone to take care of Shihu’s house. If you drive the car once a week for maintenance, it should be fine. What do you think?”

“Thank you for the consideration.”

If the house is well managed, there would be no reason to come all the way here.

If they just stop by the nearby area as close to the base as possible, that would be enough.

It could be considered a very good suggestion.

“Then let’s meet in front of the house tomorrow. Shall we conclude the discussion with this?”

After Mari signaled the end of the conversation, the two slowly stood up.

If they were to depart tomorrow, they needed to start preparing now.

“Yes. See you tomorrow.”

“Take care.”

Mari and I saw them off to the front door.

Before leaving towards the elevator, I caught a glimpse of Mari, who seemed to want to say something.

“I feel like there was something he wanted to say… Or am I mistaken?”

“Well, if he really has something to say, wouldn’t he contact us separately?”

Mari took out her phone from her pocket and shook it.

If there was really a need for contact, she would definitely make a call.

“Guess so.”

I also agreed with those words, so I simply empathized.

I didn’t feel the need to argue or have a reason to.

“We should pack up our things too, right?”

As soon as Mari entered the living room, she brought up the idea of packing.

It was a very valid point.

“Let’s just bring one spare outfit. We have the purification stone.”

Using the purification stone made clothes clean and refreshed, as if one had taken a shower.

So it was enough to prepare for when the clothes were severely torn.

It was quite plausible for there to be a joke that purification stones were more important than equipment.

When your body gets dirty, fatigue accumulates twice as much and it becomes difficult to recover.

“I’ll take care of the clothes and the tent, just in case, I’ll also bring an artifact.”

Since Mari was taking care of the tent and the artifacts, I needed to prepare food.

So instead of going to the room, I immediately turned my gaze towards the entrance.

“Then I’ll buy the food. Just wait for a moment.”

Usually, meals during missions are mostly based on military combat rations.

Because there are many options and it is convenient.

However, we didn’t need to bring water separately.

Because Seo Hanuel had it.