Chapter 358

With that, I dispelled the magic I had set up.

From now on, troublesome as it might be, I planned to occasionally sever the connection with the bird and return to this blond body to manage it myself.

By the way, I just realized something.

Even after crossing that vast universe, my way of thinking still hasn’t strayed very far from Alpharu standards...

For a while, I felt somewhat guilty about having used my abilities so carelessly.

But I did not waste much time dwelling on it.

I still had work to do.

Still, using the pigeon should fall within acceptable limits.

After that, my usual observations continued.

And after several more days of activity, I finally reached a small conclusion regarding the location of my base.

The seaside!

No matter how I thought about it, a home overlooking the ocean was definitely the best option.

Not even in terms of nationality.

Honestly, now that this body had left its original planet entirely and migrated somewhere else, I sometimes wondered why I still clung to that kind of attachment.

But still...

This isn’t because I’m an alien.

I simply couldn’t deny the instinctive sense of comfort I felt near the sea.

It’s just because, from now on, I have to live as a ‘Water Attribute Affinity Awakener.’

Several convenient justifications immediately came to mind.

Come to think of it, I saw something about this on the internet...

That water-element guy from China.

Zhan or whatever his name was.

They said his hometown was a fishing village too, didn’t they?

With reasoning like that, I settled on the general location of my future home.

Even these mammals tend to prefer living near rivers.

It’s only natural for living creatures to be drawn toward water.

I am definitely not displaying any alien tendencies.

And strangely enough, in South Korea, even if you settled near the coast, mountains were usually visible somewhere nearby as well.

Being able to constantly take in Earth’s distinctive landscape was undeniably another advantage.

How incredible.

Unfortunately, having a residence custom-built exactly the way I wanted was still beyond me because I lacked far too much cultural knowledge.

Well, naturally.

What business does an outsider like me have interfering with architectural design when I don’t even know the difference between regular jajangmyeon and seafood jajangmyeon?

Taking all of that into consideration, I spent several more days searching for possible homes.

And as a result, I became overwhelmingly convinced of one thing.

Humans truly were gods.

By now, I could say it with absolute confidence.

This place is amazing!

After roaming around as a pigeon for quite some time, I finally discovered an area within the country that genuinely appealed to me.

The instant I found it, I severed my connection with the bird.

Then, after returning to my human body, I picked up my phone and opened a real estate app.

A system that lets you check housing prices without even leaving your room?

This world even possessed technology that allowed people to inspect houses remotely.

From now on, I intended to use this otherworldly technology to secure the place where I would live for the next fifty years.

Excellent.

And then another thought suddenly occurred to me.

Until now, I had wandered from place to place without ever having a true home of my own.

But now, once I actually secured a house...

Does that mean I’ll finally become a proper resident of Earth?

The thought crossed my mind for only a moment.

After all, I had never taken any formal immigration exam.

At best, I would merely be solidifying my status as an illegal settler.

***

And time passed like an arrow.

<Two months later.>

Let us skip the boring details and get straight to the point.

During that time, the seasons in Korea had completely changed.

Autumn was short by nature, and this year the cold had arrived even earlier than usual.

[News Caption Service: Based on statistics from the past ten years, the first snowfall this year is also expected to occur around the middle of the month.]

...But more important than the changing seasons was something else.

Hmm.

Someone’s daily life.

The world had rapidly moved from late autumn into the beginning of winter.

Surely I had not simply been standing still all that time, had I?

Hehehe.

To elaborate—

During those two months, I had even managed to acquire a new home!

“Thank you all for your hard work.”

“Haha. Not at all.”

“Hunter, the refrigerator has been installed as well. Thank you very much for your cooperation.”

As that exchange should make clear, the remaining furniture had already been arranged.

Today was moving day.

Impressive.

I could still clearly remember the days when a single bowl of gukbap was enough to determine whether I had a good day or a bad one.

The seaside villa I had purchased had belonged to a wealthy owner who had recently died of old age.

However, the heirs already possessed homes of their own and apparently had little interest in maintaining a mansion that had barely been used even for summer vacations.

I spent a long time thinking about which house to buy.

I think I managed to find something genuinely rare.

If I had one minor complaint, it was that I had exceeded my original budget by a fair margin.

I was prepared to pay whatever was necessary, but I never imagined a house could cost almost ten billion won.

Well, I suppose everyone knows ocean views come at a premium.

Another reason the property had been so expensive was the sheer amount of land included with it.

Of course, that was also why the garden was so large and the surrounding walls so high, which suited me perfectly.

Even if word eventually spread that an S-rank Hunter lived here, very few people would be bold enough to trespass without thinking twice.

Even an alien like me can tell this place is luxurious.

Yes.

Expensive things really are worth their price.

Which meant that starting today, I could sleep in a two-story mansion with an astonishing eighty-three pyeong on each floor...

Heh heh heh!

I stood beside a window flooded with sunlight and savored the overwhelming sense of freedom.

At last!

My unemployed life is finally mine!

“_”

At that moment, images of ordinary Earthling hair colors flickered through my mind.

Black.

Dark brown.

The probability was low considering the person was A-rank, but even the image of someone with a shaved head briefly surfaced in my thoughts.

Uh...

No.

Surely not.

And even if my guess happened to be correct, it should not cause any serious problems.

It’ll be fine.

Eventually, I allowed myself to fully enjoy the life I had been given.

As for the lessons with Seo Esther, she had firmly refused them herself.

So that matter had been postponed, at least until I had completely recovered.

If she could become stronger, why would she refuse?

I suppose being the head of a major guild really leaves her no free time.

Come to think of it, ever since that curse caster Seo Esther visited my temporary laboratory, she had been subtly pressuring me to move somewhere else.

Somehow, that even resulted in me acquiring the reputation of:

‘Kim Giryeo, who finally purchased a residence worthy of an S-rank out of consideration for an acquaintance’s feelings.’

But anyway.

None of that mattered anymore.

I moved around the building with the energy of an octopus thrown back into water.

The long-awaited new house was truly magnificent.

The windows are enormous!

I can see so much of Earth’s scenery!

A super-single blanket.

A thin floor mat that allowed the cold from below to seep straight through.

And so on.

To be honest, living in my previous residences had been far from comfortable.

Having a place that actually belongs to me really is nice.

And this house even came with a basement intended for storing wine or something of the sort.

I planned to put it to good use in the future.

For the moment, I had safely settled into Kim Giryeo’s body.

Still, as I had thought before, life was unpredictable.

Having only one body makes me a little uneasy.

And I can’t keep ignoring these lung problems forever, either.

Eventually, I’ll need to begin researching some form of treatment.

Just as a precaution.

There was still plenty to do.

But the important difference was that these tasks existed because I personally wanted to do them, not because some employer had forced them upon me.

That made them surprisingly enjoyable.

This body was now completely unemployed.

Surely I had nothing to fear from a few remaining obligations.

Now that the move is finished, no more slacking off.

Let’s deal with the rest too.

My highest priority was reinforcing the security of the new house.

I organized what needed to be done and immediately began working.

Pouring my energy into it, I completed the most efficient barrier I could manage.

An astonishingly sophisticated intruder-detection system.

Stronger magic.

Longer duration.

Greater stability!

With a barrier that sounded as though it had been ripped straight from some exaggerated advertisement, there was no longer any need to worry about monster attacks or burglars.

Thanks to the [Infinite Power Core], this setup costs quite a bit.

But if it buys me peace in the future, it’s worth it.

Having roughly completed everything I needed to do, I decided to follow one of Earth’s customs.

That meant ordering jajangmyeon to celebrate moving day.

As expected of me.

I’m a genius.

I even checked in advance whether food delivery was available in this area before deciding to move here.

The television I had ordered had not arrived yet, so there were still a few minor inconveniences.

Even though I had to bend over and stare at the tiny screen of my phone, my good mood remained intact.

I was perfectly content even while watching the same daily news I always followed.

So today, some reckless drivers were illegally racing and ended up setting fire to a tunnel?

Earthlings really never change.

Haha.

Of course, regardless of how expensive the house had been, I was still an S-rank high-income earner in this world...

Should I check my bank balance?

My liquid account still held an astonishing nine billion won.

Even if the bank interest crawled along at only around one percent, that would still produce roughly seventy million won in passive income every year.

How many free bowls of gukbap is that?

With this much money, I obviously had nothing to worry about.

There was no reason for me to keep living modestly.

I was effectively guaranteed a very long period of unemployment.

So after only a brief moment of thought, I concluded there was no reason to hesitate any longer.

I was going completely off the grid.

Hmm.

Still, if a famous S-rank Hunter suddenly quit working for no obvious reason, the internet would obviously erupt.

I’d rather not have the name Kim Giryeo dragged through the mud for no reason.

And conveniently enough, it was winter.

As I looked out at the cold scenery, I was reminded of the [Inevitable Malice] incident.

Now that I had access to YouTube, that damned surprise press conference held after I dealt with the monster came vividly back to mind.

The timing is almost the same.

It might actually be symbolically appropriate.

I continued thinking as I ate the food that had just been delivered.

I think it would be best to officially cite illness as the reason for my retirement.

By the way...

I’m pretty sure Earth has a custom for this too.

Inviting acquaintances over after moving into a freshly cleaned, polished new home...

I understood the entire concept perfectly.

And yet I could not remember a single word that summarized the whole process.

What was it again?

It sounded something like...

Well, whatever.

Whether or not I continued observing those minor Earth customs, I decided that today, at least, I would celebrate the fulfillment of my wish by myself.

Heh heh.

I am now completely unemployed.

I can arrange every part of my life exactly as I please.

All right.

Once I finish the dishes, I can finally—

But do you know what the very first thing I did after thinking that was?

I lay down on the bed less than five minutes after finishing my meal.

Now I could watch YouTube to my heart’s content while lying on a piece of furniture worth five million won, personally recommended by the salesperson.

Ooh.

It’s so soft.

On top of that, I had even borrowed several books from the library shortly before moving.

Seriously.

What an incredible country.

As long as you were a citizen, the public library allowed you to access knowledge that had already been curated and verified—

Completely free of charge.

I chuckled to myself and rolled around on the bed.

And thus began the historic daily life of an unemployed alien.

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Ting.

[New Message]

[National Tax Service.]

[Sent via web]

Hello,

This is a notification from the National Tax Service.

Mr. Kim Giryeo, you are eligible for voluntary reporting of overseas income earned through hunting activities.

You may submit your report by February.

For details regarding the relevant income or instructions on how to file, please refer to the written notice previously sent to you.

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