Chapter 95: Rock Dom Spicy Fish Soup

Managing the building was getting annoying, but this worked out perfectly.

The Nightmare Queen blocks leaking sounds, and the bromide blocks peeping holes—so even if someone spied, it wasn’t a big deal. But since she’s the one feeling guilty about it, she’s acting like that.

I decided to tease her a bit.

Cleaning around the building, wiping hallway windows, polishing the elevator.

Especially the stuff I hate most: peeling labels off recyclables, wiping up spilled drinks and food broths, all that.

I put her on it.

“Man, she’s cute, though. Too bad her personality’s a little off.”

There’s a storage room on the top floor that could technically be used as a rooftop attic if I forced it.

I completely emptied everything in there.

“Rearranging furniture is kinda fun.”

I placed an aquarium here.

A few otherworld fish are swimming in it.

I soaked some seaweed labeled <Sea Weed> in this tank, and the tiny tropical fish—fry-sized at first—grew bigger after eating it.

Especially the rock dom; it’s gotten nice and plump.

Not wild-caught—otherworld-caught.

The clams in the tank are gradually growing too; every time they slightly open their mouths, light glimmers inside, like there might be pearls.

I’d love to try filleting the rock dom the way fishing YouTubers teach, but I can’t stop thinking how delicious a spicy fish soup would be.

“Rock dom maeuntang.”

Not many people in the world would eat rock dom that way, and no restaurant would sell a menu like that.

Guess I’ll have to cook it myself.

CatMan, who’s obsessed with fish, loves soupy dishes too.

I got the tank from a previous tenant who abandoned it; the landlord had been holding onto it. I raised some in a bowl of tap water in the corner.

[Why did you call me?]

“Hey, you like high places, right? Guard this spot starting today.”

[You humans never stop testing us.]

“What are you talking about?”

[Making a cat guard a fish market—isn’t it to test whether our kind would betray our master for mere fish?]

“I’m just assigning you because you have Maritime Creature Specialty Level 83 over your head, dude.”

There’s no label or visible stats, and they’re just fish, so it’s not a huge threat—but they’re still otherworld beings.

The sea weed I’m mainly feeding them also bulks up their bodies, and they could crawl onto land and become terrifying fish.

I stationed CatMan—the grim reaper to these fish and worse.

“Let’s see.”

Now that I can use the management office, the rooftop attic, and 203, things feel a bit more spacious.

Plus grandma’s house.

I moved useless stuff from the room there first and checked the previous day’s CCTV.

Anyway, there’s footage of me knocking out 103’s friend Hyunmin with the stone, so I need to delete that part.

As I fast-forwarded through the CCTV…

Thanks to losing their memories, 103 and Hyunmin must have dramatically reconciled—they left for school together in the morning.

“Overflowing with love.”

I should evict them all.

The landlord can’t (or doesn’t) date, so why should tenants?

I’ll add a “no dating in studios” rule.

The Bahraini student in 406 lays out a carpet in the hallway and actually prays.

“What the…”

Then the Pomeranian girl in 504—alternating between guys?

In the evening, she comes in arm-in-arm with some middle-aged man who looks forty or fifty, sees him off…

About an hour later, she checks her phone, heads out, and greets a completely different man like it’s the first time.

What is she, really?

“Why is there not a single normal person in this building?”

This goes beyond abnormal—it’s giving me cold sweats.

Maybe she’s just dating two guys?

I hope that’s it.

I don’t want some illegal prostitution ring blowing up in my studio building.

Owning the place really makes you worry about all sorts of things.

While watching more CCTV, yesterday’s footage shows 204’s door opening.

Wow, first time I’ve seen that person go out or even open the door.

“Have you seen them?”

“When we signed the lease, some older guy claiming to be their father came. After that, I never saw their face. Every time they go out, hood pulled low, mask never off. Doesn’t talk either. I figured maybe some illness, so I didn’t say anything harsh. Mental illness is still illness, right?”

Between the wall-banging 202 and the world-guarding 203, there are plenty of problem tenants, but 204 is the overwhelming champion among the second-floor hallway elevator trio.

At least I communicate with 202; she’s weird, but her antics are funny, so I don’t hate her.

204 is the real deal, so I asked around out of curiosity.

I need info on what they do to plot an eviction, right?

Ghost commotion, CatMan deployment, fish deployment, Nightmare Queen charm—all that.

“Huh? They’re way smaller than I expected?”

The person from 204 who came out looking around was not the chubby type I imagined—petite and frail build.

Mask, hat pressed down, hoodie, and a raincoat even though it’s not raining.

Total nutcase.

I don’t want to approach, but keeping them around gives me chills.

Gotta evict that one.

“Since you mixed dog and rice cake, it became dog rice cake. With your synthesis effects, what if we add sashimi, rice, and vinegar?”

[Obviously sushi, right?]

“Yeah.”

I was discussing synthesis with RiceCookerMan.

<Dragon Bone>, the aluminum mop handle, <Thread of Connection>, and meteoric iron.

Plus the complex healing sikhye made from otherworld hot spring water with blue mushrooms added—blue sikhye.

All that to make a dragon bone spear; I’m planning to grab a proper weapon.

How long am I going to keep using a fly swatter?

The monsters are gradually getting bigger.

“The aluminum feels a little iffy, though?”

The collapsible aluminum mop handle fits just right, like an umbrella.

If I used the world tree sacred wood or millennium tree roots growing with the Fairy Princess, it’d be a wooden spear shaft—but they’re too small.

Main materials are the extendable/retractable aluminum mop handle for easy storage and the palm-sized dragon bone.

“Who knows. We don’t make stuff anyway. We just offer what we can.”

“Don’t know!”

An unknown path that even the two otherworld beings don’t know.

‘I enjoy researching, but making things? I’m nobility-born, you know. Ahem.’

I don’t even expect anything from the Hermit of the Hovel anymore.

Good thing her one-trick charm blocks adult video sounds.

Otherwise completely useless.

“But we have three dragon bones, so unless you’re making a chain weapon, trying synthesis wouldn’t be bad.”

“You’re really pushing for it?”

I was the one who raised dexterity for synthesis experiments and consumed dragon bones, but the Nightmare Queen keeps egging me on.

Wondering why, I asked.

“If bones and flesh run out, we’ll probably need a new dragon, right?”

If the dragon bone weapon fails and we need more bones—catch the dragon girl and use her?

“Didn’t you two make up?”

“Nope! That white dragon destroyed my palace!”

“Come on, it wasn’t the dragon girl who wrecked it. Why take it out on a kid?”

“I believe children pay their parents’ debts.”

“I recovered the stuff installed on your smartphone.”

“If we’re keeping score, the giant has helped me the most. My chest feels tight.”

Hey, stop.

[I’ve seen the blueprint. Shouldn’t be hard. Let’s try.]

RiceCookerMan’s telepathy arrives just in time.

Feed it a mental blueprint, and the synthesis furnace outputs accordingly.

The design is this:

Drill holes in the dragon bone like osteoporosis and fix it to the aluminum triple-section rod with the thread of connection.

A primitive harpoon made by simple threading—now possible thanks to the thread.

The aluminum mop handle worries me a bit, but using wooden roots like millennium tree would be meaningless synthesis since the roots are too small.

For a proper anti-dragon spear I can use, the shaft needs to be long.

“You got it right? The sharp tip has to pierce the enemy, the aluminum rod acts as support. If needed, thread connects so I can reel in a skewered opponent.”

[Understood!]

“Here, offer some rice too.”

Since I can enchant with mana now, I added all sorts of materials—especially food ingredients—as extra synthesis components.

This adds extra stats to the spear; if stat boost effects attach, the multiplier goes higher.

Lining up all the synthesis materials in front of RiceCookerMan, it says:

[You’re holding an ancestral rite in front of the rice cooker!?]

“Yes, please let the Kim dynasty in my name last over three generations in Korea. Let descendants gain just enough weight to live long.”

[It’s possible! Here we go.]

“Good, start.”

Attempting weapon synthesis in the rice cooker furnace—steam gradually rises.

Even with coating, the surface reddens, heat boiling around it.

“It’s hot!”

The whole room temperature rises that much.

“Are you a heater?”

[O-overclocking. Arghhh!]

What rice cooker overclocks?

“Hey, you’re not gonna explode, right?”

[Ku, need cooling.]

“W-wait, what rice cooker needs a cooling system?”

[It’s an electronic appliance!]

Sigh.

A rice cooker needing a cooler?

Luckily, I have the perfect thing for cooling.

The limit-break fan.

Blowing the limit-break fan gives RiceCookerMan some breathing room.

Still hot, so I froze the surroundings and circulated cold air.

[Good. Maximum overclock.]

“Do you even have a CPU?”

These days, former figure-skating fairies advertise rice cookers boasting how pretty they are.

This one’s not like that.

Pop!

“Gah?!”

Like Heungbu’s gourd bursting with treasures from the swallow, the lid flies open with massive steam.

It was sauna-level heat, but autumn’s dry air cools it fast.

[Synthesis complete. Please check the finished product!]

“Ooh, good work. Let’s see.”

The synthesized item emerges from the steam.

Did it turn out well?

Why am I so nervous over this…

<Dragon Bone Fishing Rod>

Dragon-effective. Additional Strength +500.

“…Hey, rice cooker.”

[Yes, sir!]

“I told you to make a weapon, you bastard! Why a fishing rod!?”

Three dragon bone fragments, and one became a fishing rod.

And it even got a strength bonus.

It’s not even mini—hard to carry around.

[I-I’m wronged!?]

“What’s wronged? The blueprint was perfect. You rice cooker bastard! You said you understood?”

[W-well… As you said, it can pierce with the sharp part, support with the rod, and reel in the opponent!]

He’s technically right—it matches a fishing rod description.

I asked for an anti-dragon weapon for great dragon battles, and this…

Shaking the rice cooker by the collar won’t change that it’s a rice cooker.

Sigh.

When do I have time to go fishing?

I have a tank, but tormenting otherworld invader fish?

<Bone Fishing Hook>

“Almost like an artifact from near the Bangudae petroglyphs.”

The aluminum rod separates like a triple-section staff; the eternal thread that stretches finitely became the line.

But oddly, the hook is exactly gate-sized?

“Hmm, wait.”

Just in case, I took CatMan’s feed and threaded it onto the dragon bone hook.

No float, but searching fishing stuff—there’s handline fishing without a rod.

Funny, I keep joking about Bangudae petroglyphs; they didn’t have modern rods back then.

Hilarious. Would this actually fish across the gate?

“Huh?”

Was my thought that funny?

The dragon bone hook gets sucked straight into the gate; the thread of connection keeps extending, whipping through the air with a whoosh whoosh whoosh.

Then suddenly the thread on the rod stops, and soon…

It goes taut.

“Did something really bite?”

I pull just in case—it doesn’t come up easily.

“Whoa?”

That one spot guys who don’t work out still train gets pulled.

Not that I don’t exercise.

[The eternal thread shortens with mana power.]

[The dragon bone fishing rod lightly reels with mana power.]

[The user’s strength overwhelms the opponent’s resistance.]

With these messages, the thread visibly shortens.

“What the—?”

It actually caught something?

<Terror Jaws LV 2332>

As the name suggests, a fish with an enormous mouth drops out.

It has a level, so not some peaceful plankton-eater from the otherworld sea.

Definitely a long-lived yokai or demonized creature.

Commonly called Terror Jaws, but it’s clearly an anglerfish.

The Terror Jaws thrashes on the hook, then opens its maw wide…

<Suction LV100>

Inhales and devours anything.

Level 100 skill?!

The Nightmare Queen’s Hellfire is only 95.

[Kuhk, such trickery, you otherworld bastards! I’ll swallow you all!]

It activates suction, pulling in surroundings—wow.

Even the dead skin on my toes flies off.

Insane suction power.

The Terror Jaws—clearly an anglerfish—vacuums up all the cat hair and dust in my room, dozens of times its body size.

‘Hmm. If I capture it alive, stick it on a pole, and whack it whenever I clean to trigger the skill, I won’t need a vacuum cleaner.’

[Kahahaha, daring to summon me. I’ll devour everything.]

Terror Jaws looks around; like a bottom-dweller, it can’t see upward.

Not quite a flounder or halibut, but eyes that can’t look up.

For all that bold laughter, it’s weakly flopping.

[Huff, huff… Heuk…]

It’s starting to struggle.

So I lowered my head to shade it and said:

“Hey, want some water?”