Healing After Sweeping Spirits with an Almighty Skill - Chapter 45

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 45
45. Undine Coin Laundromat
If asked which building in the Spirit Realm had lost the most meaning, Jung Ryong would unhesitatingly answer: the Nest.
It was built as a dormitory for spirits, but now it served only as a rest stop.
Today, however, was different.
While Jung Ryong napped off his postprandial drowsiness, every spirit in the Spirit Realm had gathered at the Nest—for the convening of the First Grand Spirit Assembly.
[Beloved spirits!]
Pung Ho-gi presided. He wore a goat-shaped mustache made of downy fur as he read the opening remarks.
[Our Spirit Special Zone has developed rapidly through all our efforts. Yet as our population has exploded, so too have the problems that accompany such growth!]
At his words, Su Ho-gi and several of the Undines nodded solemnly.
[And the greatest problem of all is this!]
Pung Ho-gi swept his stern gaze across the entire assembly hall and made his declaration.
[Who gets to sleep beside Jung Ryong!]
At once, voices laden with grievance erupted from all sides.
[That’s right, that’s right!]
[Oooh!]
[I want to sleep on Jung Ryong’s chest too!]
Pung Ho-gi raised his hand to quell the torrent of complaints.
[Now, now, everyone. This is not a forum for grievances—it is a place to propose solutions. Those wishing to voice opinions, please raise your hands one at a time.]
Small hands shot up from every direction. Pung Ho-gi pointed to them one by one and listened to their suggestions.
[Let’s implement a Jung Ryong allocation system!]
[Allocation system is perfect! Let’s set a rotation schedule!]
[Honestly, shouldn’t we go by seniority rather than rotation?]
[Ooh! In fact, since newcomers have spent less time with Jung Ryong, shouldn’t it be by newcomer order!]
Every voice made sense, yet each differed slightly from the others. They had reached no conclusion that would satisfy everyone.
Whoosh.
A hand went up. It was To Ho-gi.
[To Ho-gi. Stand and speak, please.]
At To Ho-gi’s rising, all the spirits fell silent. Gnomes spoke little, but when they did, they often struck to the heart of things with wisdom.
[Oo. Ooo?]
Indeed. This was no exception.
The spirits mulled over To Ho-gi’s words and looked at one another.
[That works, doesn’t it?]
[Sounds right to me.]
[Typical Gnome wisdom.]
[Wisdom and experience—what a Gnome!]
Seeing all heads nod in agreement, Pung Ho-gi conjured a gavel from thin air.
[Excellent. Then the Jung Ryong allocation system shall be established according to To Ho-gi’s proposal!]
Bang, bang, bang.
It was a historic moment—the First Grand Spirit Assembly had reached successful consensus.
* * *
At last, Undine’s laundromat opened at Boru.
– Undine Coin Laundromat
Perhaps because of the novelty of having spirits involved, crowds thronged the opening even though the shop sat tucked away in a corner of Boru.
“Everyone! At our Undine Coin Laundromat, we wash anything! Bedding, clothes, shoes—even contaminated Magic Stones!”
I gave the signal, and Su Ho-gi and the Undines poured water over the contaminated Magic Stones.
Splash—!
In an instant, the contamination vanished from the Magic Stones.
“Huh? That’s not possible?”
“That’s insane! Is that the Purification Skill?”
The eyes of those who had come merely to watch widened in amazement. I seized the moment and held out a cleaned Magic Stone to a customer who appeared to be an Awakened One.
“See for yourself.”
The customer took the Magic Stone with bewildered eyes, then gradually widened them in surprise.
“It’s real! It’s actually become a pure Magic Stone!”
The Magic Stone passed from hand to hand among several Awakened customers, drawing exclamations of wonder each time.
…
The last customer to hold the Magic Stone glanced furtively about for a moment, then tried to slip it into their pocket.
Smack!
It was To Ho-gi who stopped the thieving hand.
[No.]
To Ho-gi, clad in armor forged at the Blacksmith, brought a long rod down in a sharp crack across the thief’s wrist.
“Ah, no—I was just wondering if the size would fit in my pocket….”
The thief stammered excuses and hastily retreated. The crowd applauded To Ho-gi’s handiwork once more.
[Ooh.]
To Ho-gi puffed out his chest proudly at the applause.
Beyond To Ho-gi, several Gnomes clad in armor they’d crafted at the Blacksmith had taken on guard duty of their own accord.
“They’re adorable though?”
“Spirits in armor—that’s rare.”
Those who’d photographed the Gnomes would soon upload them to their internet accounts.
Free advertising without spending a coin—that’s what this amounted to.
A hand shot up. Someone asked me a question.
“How much do you charge for laundry?”
“Please check the notice over here!”
I pointed to the sign posted on the wall.
— Price List
— Standard Laundry: 10,000 won flat rate. (Drying not included)
— Specialty Laundry: 10% of the item’s value.
For the record, our laundromat has neither an ATM nor a coin exchanger.
It stands to reason that in modern times, nobody walks around with twenty 500-won coins; I’d built my business model around specialty laundry instead.
‘It works better for the customers too.’
Standard laundry was better handled at other coin laundromats—better for them, better for me.
But why specifically call it a “coin” laundromat?
That’s just the trend.
“Jung Ryong! This is the Hanyang Guild! Would it be possible to make a guild-wide reservation or something like that?”
Several Awakened Ones looked at me with tense eyes. I shook my head firmly.
“I’m sorry, but the Undine Coin Laundromat doesn’t accept guild-wide reservations, large-scale job bookings, or advance reservations. We operate on a walk-in, first-come basis only.”
At my declaration that I’d prioritize small guilds and independent teams over the big ones, several Awakened Ones cheered.
The major guilds and I weren’t going to be at odds anyway. They move by calculation. So if I was going to put on a show of principle, I might as well do it for the small-time operators.
“We have items to entrust to you!”
So called out a party that had apparently just returned from an expedition, covered in grime.
“Our first customers! This way, please!”
I loaded Magic Stones and Monster Byproducts into two separate washers. Two Undines entered each machine with the cargo, and I pressed the ‘Start’ button.
[Tee-hee-hee!]
[Kick-kick-kick!]
As the washers spun to life, joyful laughter echoed from within—the Undines at play.
All eyes fixed on the transparent window. Inside, the Undines frolicked in the water, spraying jets at the soiled areas.
Thirty minutes later.
The washers contained nothing but Magic Stones and monster hides as good as new.
“Ooooh!”
The party leader, trembling, received them with shaking hands.
Then tears began to flow freely.
“Sniff—sniff! With this, I can afford to buy my daughter a wedding dress!”
The price difference between a contaminated Magic Stone and a clean one easily exceeded a hundred-fold. Such tears were entirely justified.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
The party leader grasped my hand, bowing repeatedly. I smiled and straightened him up.
“No need to thank me so much. We’re not doing this for free either, after all.”
“Right, right! Ten percent! I’ll pay you right away!”
Even accounting for the ten percent cut, they’d earned over a hundred times their investment—a staggering profit.
[Tee-hee-hee!]
The Undines smiled contentedly, watching the party’s gratitude.
To be honest, I’d expected the spirits to dislike this work—being so far removed from the Spirit Realm and all.
But the response was stronger than anticipated, and everyone threw themselves into it.
‘Good little ones.’
I’d have to stop by a convenience store on the way home and get them each a drink of their choice.
Being the grand opening, I’d spent the entire day at the laundromat. As a result, various people came by just to see me.
One of them was Geum Ji-seong, Master of the Yeon-geum Guild.
“Haha. Congratulations on the opening, Jung Ryong! If I’d known beforehand, I’d have sent a wreath.”
“Ah, the shop’s too cramped to put anything. I hear your new product research is going well?”
“Thanks to the Artgar Fruits from the Spirit Special Zone! The quality is unlike anything I’ve seen before!”
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, I asked Geum Ji-seong about the Mandrake.
“A Mandrake that understands speech and even expresses its will? And it can uproot itself and move around on its own?”
Among those in the tower, few possessed expertise in herbs quite like the alchemists did. Yet even Geum Ji-seong, for all his knowledge, wore an expression of genuine wonder at my account.
“Are you certain it’s a true Mandrake? Not some sort of plant spirit or something like that?”
“The Information Window clearly displays it as a Mandrake.”
“Hmm. Then it’s one of two things—either a new species of Mandrake, or your Skill has somehow affected it in an unexpected way.”
“A new species?”
“Ordinary Mandrakes have the nature to consume surrounding plants as they grow. But your medicinal garden remains untouched, does it not?”
It seemed our Mandrake was indeed a rather unique specimen.
“Would it be possible for me to visit the Spirit Realm sometime for research purposes?”
“Of course. Come whenever you wish.”
The Spirit Special Zone never ran short of peculiar and wondrous occurrences.
* * *
By the time I closed the laundromat and returned to the fortress, the sun was nearly touching the horizon.
[Yay! Home!]
[We’re back!]
The spirits riding in the cart covered with monster hides cheered, yet none of them climbed down. Instead, they simply raised both arms toward me in unison.
They looked like nestlings begging for food, and I couldn’t help but smile wryly as I lifted each one and set them gently on the ground.
[Giggle-giggle-giggle!]
[Hee-hee-hee!]
The spirits delighted in being carried about like cargo, as they always did. Once they had all disembarked, the cart revealed its true cargo—materials intended for construction.
Magic Stones received as commission from the laundromat, a Solar Panel Generator, and Walkie-Talkies.
┼ Construction Available List
└ Lighthouse LV. 4
└ Material: Steel (20kg/20kg)
└ Material: Solar Panel (1/1)
└ Requirement: Intermediate Fire Spirit (3/3)
└ Spire LV. 3
└ Material: Mithril (10kg/10kg)
└ Material: Magic Stone (5kg/5kg)
└ Material: Walkie-Talkie (1/1)
This completed all the preparations for the final buildings before reaching Level 10.
‘I’m certain another Skill Evolution awaits me once I reach Level 10.’
With anticipation swelling in my chest, I activated the blueprints for both structures.
Beginning construction of the LV. 4 Lighthouse.
Beginning construction of the LV. 3 Spire.
Speaking of the Walkie-Talkie, though.
Neither I nor Jung Jin had ever laid eyes on one before. According to what the owner of the general store—whom Jung Jin had barely managed to track down—had said, it was supposedly something like a radio.
‘A Walkie-Talkie as a material for the Spire, then.’
I wondered what sort of new effect the Spire would gain.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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