I woke up early in the morning and headed to my parents’ house with Ara. Today was the day to introduce my parents and Seon-ah to the dungeon.
“Picnic~! Piiicniic!”
When I told everyone we were going on a picnic to the Dungeon of Gluttony, Ara was so excited she was already singing. Sitting on my shoulders, Ara’s feet were happily kicking.
Squeak squeak- deet deet-
As soon as we entered the house, my mother greeted us eagerly.
“Oh my, is our Ara here?”
“Grand Lord! It’s picnic time!”
“Yes, Granny has prepared everything perfectly for our picnic with Ara.”
“Wow!”
Although I had said there was no need to prepare anything extra since we already had camping gear, my mother had packed various things. Among them, I noticed children’s clothing.
“Mom, what’s this?”
“I bought it for our Ara to wear.”
Hmm, cute indeed.
As we were looking at the clothes my mother bought, my father came out of the room carrying a bunch of stuff.
“You’re here.”
“Yes, Father.”
My father was dressed as if he were going hiking, with his hands full of fishing gear.
“But is there really a place to camp and fish where you’re staying?”
“Yes, don’t worry about that. You’ll be pleasantly surprised when you see it.”
It was too late to express any doubts as he was already fully prepared and enthusiastic.
Since Seon-ah hadn’t arrived yet, we decided to wait for a while. Meanwhile, I discreetly brought out the strawberries I had harvested the day before.
“Oh, did you grow strawberries too?”
“Yes. I just harvested them yesterday. Please try some.”
My father was already reaching out without a word. Ara, watching him expectantly, had a hopeful look on her face.
Crunch!
“How is it? Is it delicious?”
Despite Ara’s eager question, my father remained silent for a moment. My mother, seeing this, also picked up a strawberry and popped it into her mouth.
“How is it?”
Ara’s excited shout echoed emptily.
Ara, instead of waiting, why don’t you try one too?
I plucked the stem off a strawberry and handed it to Ara, who accepted it without hesitation, her lips puckered like a duck’s bill, looking adorable.
“Mm, it’s delicious.”
My father finally responded, albeit belatedly. My mother also nodded vigorously, cupping her cheeks.
“How can the strawberries be this delicious? Do you have a lot?”
“Yes, we have plenty. It’s good timing since you and Seon-ah love fruits.”
Technically they’re vegetables, but let’s call them fruits for now.
Ara, meanwhile, had crawled into my mother’s lap and started devouring the strawberries. Seeing my mother gently stroke Ara’s head, I asked her softly.
“Mom, can you make strawberry jam with these?”
“Oh! Of course, I can! That would be great. I even bought sandwich bread for the picnic. We can spread it on the bread.”
“Will it take long?”
“It’ll be ready by the time Seon-ah arrives.”
My mother immediately stood up with the strawberries and headed to the kitchen. I followed her to see if there was anything I could help with.
“It’s just a matter of simmering them, so you don’t need to stay here. Go and try on Ara’s new clothes.”
“Yes.”
I stood Ara in front of me, who was diligently eating strawberries, and laid out the clothes one by one. As expected, everything looked adorable, thanks to my mother’s good taste.
“Ara, shall we try these on one by one?”
“Okay!”
Soon, my father and I started a fashion show, changing Ara into each outfit. Every time we changed her clothes, my mother would come out from simmering the strawberries and take pictures of Ara in the living room.
“Oh my, our Ara looks so beautiful.”
“I am beautiful!”
Ara proudly puffed out her chest, her nose held high. Though one might find her arrogance annoying, I just found her endlessly adorable.
‘…Am I just a doting parent?’
I’d thought this many times before, but I couldn’t deny it. Our Ara is the cutest in the world.
Ara seemed to like the clothes my mother bought, trying them all on while still holding a strawberry in one hand. And my mother happily took pictures each time.
“Mom, what about the strawberry jam?”
“Oh my, I forgot. I hope it didn’t burn.”
Thankfully, the strawberry jam was fine, and my mother quickly stirred it with a spatula. The sweet aroma of strawberries filled the entire house.
Beep beep-!
“I’m here. Oh! Araaa.”
As soon as Seon-ah came in and saw Ara, she rushed over and started rubbing Ara’s cheeks.
“Oh, our Ara is here.”
“Hey. Ara doesn’t like that.”
“What are you talking about! Ara, don’t you like it?”
Ara glanced at me, then broke into a smile.
“Seon-ah Seon-ah, it’s good.”
“Hehehe. See? Ara likes it too!”
“Alright.”
It was just a bit of playful teasing, so I had nothing more to say. Still, after helping her with her assignments, it was a bit disheartening to be ignored like this!
“What’s this?”
“It’s a strawberry!”
Ara raised the strawberry in her hand high and then brought it to Seon-ah’s mouth.
“Say ahhh~!”
“Ahhh~.”
As Ara fed the strawberry to Seon-ah, she accepted it, and soon her eyes widened, and she started hitting my shoulder.
“This is crazy, crazy.”
“Hey, hey. Stop hitting me.”
It must have tasted really good. Having tasted it myself, I could understand Seon-ah’s reaction.
“No wonder the whole house smells like strawberries.”
“Mom’s also making strawberry jam inside.”
“It’s just finished.”
My mother said as she came out of the kitchen.
She had a spatula covered in strawberry jam, and after blowing on it to cool it, she handed it to Ara.
“Ara, this is the strawberry jam Granny made. Want to try it?”
“Yes!”
Ara wriggled out of Seon-ah’s arms, clenched her hands in front of her chest, and brought her mouth to the jam-covered spatula.
“Yum!”
“Is it good?”
“It’s delicious! Granny is the best!”
Oh, Ara?
Feeling a bit dejected at losing the top spot, I watched them in a daze as my mother handed the spatula to us.
“Try some. I tasted it, and it’s so good even without any added seasonings because the ingredients are so fresh.”
Seon-ah was the first to taste it with her finger, followed by my father and me, each taking a little on our fingers to taste.
“Yum!”
The already strong strawberry flavor had intensified.
But to be honest, it felt a bit overwhelming.
“It’ll taste great spread on bread.”
“Right? I thought so too.”
It seemed that spreading it on bread would make it taste much better. I also thought it would be delicious to buy cream cheese and bagels and make strawberry bagels.
“Now, let’s put the strawberry jam in jars… and since Seon-ah is here, shall we head out right away?”
“Yes.”
We left all the packing to Bokkeum and set off for my dungeon. Since it wasn’t far, we soon arrived and carefully walked along the mountain path to reach the entrance.
“I think I came here once a long time ago, but it’s been a while.”
My father said, looking around the entrance.
“Picnic! Piiicnic!”
“Haha. Our Ara is very excited.”
“Yeah!”
Ara grinned as she stepped towards the entrance.
“I’ll show you around!”
“Alright. Our Ara will be our guide?”
Seon-ah had been here once before with Jae-seong, so she didn’t seem particularly surprised. However, since it was before I discovered the Dungeon of Gluttony, I was looking forward to everyone’s astonished faces.
“Oh, so this is the field.”
My father and mother showed interest as they saw the garden on the first floor of the dungeon.
On the first floor, I had continued to cultivate the tomatoes and carrots that I had planted initially, and Layla, which resulted in the crops leveling up.
[Magical Cherry Tomato LV.2]
[A crop imbued with magic]
[Harmless to the human body]
[When consumed, it grants poison resistance for 5 minutes]
[When consumed, it detoxifies the body.]
[When consumed, it increases a small amount of magic power for 5 seconds.]
The level had increased from 1 to 2.
The effect duration had also increased from 3 minutes to 5. Initially, not all the crops harvested were level 2; they were mixed with level 1 crops. However, by making seeds only from level 2 crops, eventually, all of them became level 2.
By continuing this process of cultivating superior crops, I could gradually increase their levels.
“Let’s go down!”
“Oh, there’s a ladder going down? There’s a basement too.”
“Basement?”
My mother was intrigued, and my father looked at me with surprise.
“I discovered it by chance. I thought this was the end too, but there was more.”
“Did the landlord know?”
“I’m sorry, but I kept it a secret. I didn’t tell you or mom.”
“You did well.”
If the fact that there was a basement, or even the Dungeon of Gluttony, was known, we would never have been able to buy the dungeon at that price.
Following Ara’s lead, we descended to the basement, revealing a vast field spanning a 1000 pyeong (approx. 3,300 square meters).
Squirm!
All the slimes seemed to be in the basement and greeted us.
-Grr?
“Oh, oh! That bear!”
Seon-ah, spotting Gomgom tilting his head, rushed over. Her excited demeanor was quite intimidating, and Gomgom froze in place.
“Hey, Kyu-seong! Can I touch this bear?”
“Yeah. It’s not dangerous. But you’re too aggressive. You’ll scare Gomgom.”
“His name is Gomgom? Honestly, your naming sense…”
“Ara named him.”
“Of course, it’s Ara! Only our Ara could come up with such a cute name.”
What’s with the preferential treatment?
Contrary to her hurried rush, Seon-ah carefully extended her hand to Gomgom. Gomgom sniffed Seon-ah for a moment before spreading his arms wide.
-Roar!
“Oh, what’s this? Is he welcoming me?”
“No, he’s threatening you.”
“…No way. I can’t believe there’s such a cute creature besides Ara.”
While listening to Seon-ah’s nonsense, I introduced the field to my parents.
“This is where I grow all my crops. There’s another new field further in, but I’ve just planted the seeds there, so this is pretty much everything.”
“Have there been any crops you couldn’t harvest yet?”
“Strawberries were the last.”
“So, what’s in the new field?”
“Peppers, lettuce, onions, garlic. And one new crop that only comes from the dungeon. I was planning to plant rice too, but something came up…”
“Planting rice too? Isn’t that too much?”
My father asked worriedly.
But I smiled and pointed to the slimes bustling around.
“These little guys handle most of the work. I only help with plowing new fields, planting seeds, and a bit during the harvest.”
“You’ve got it easy, don’t you? You little bee.”
“…Haha. That’s a funny joke, Dad.”
Whether he thought it was genuinely funny or not, my father looked pleased with himself.
After touring the field, we finally headed towards the Dungeon of Gluttony.
My heart was pounding in anticipation of my family’s reactions.
“Wow, what’s this? Where are we now?”
Seon-ah looked around with curious eyes as we entered the space with the altar. Ara, holding Gomgom under one arm, urged her on.
“Here! It’s here!”
“Wow, there’s another path there?”
“That’s right!”
As we walked further in, stairs came into view.
Everyone looked at the sudden appearance of the descending stairs with puzzled expressions.
“Stairs in a place like this?”
“Kyu-seong, did you make these?”
“No. They were already here. And below is where we’re heading today.”
Alright, everyone, get ready.
This is an invitation to a wonderland!
Cliche Novel 