RGRB 8

Episode 8 — This House Is Mine Now (1)

[After deducting a 7% fee, your sales proceeds have been paid.]
[Sale amount: 50 Gold 787 Silver.]

“What the…?”

The amount was far larger than expected — about 507,870 won in cash terms.
For a single chair, that was several times a day’s wage.

‘If the fee’s 7%… that means the original value was even higher.’

He was dazed — and a quiet thrill began to rise in his chest.

‘Is this… a message?’

He vaguely remembered Min-soo mentioning that players could leave notes through the auction system.
Apparently, this was it.

“Let’s see…”

He opened the message box.

[Hello, I’m Elena, Vice-Master of the Blackout Guild. About the furniture you made…]
[We’re the Harvest Guild, a production guild. We’d like to establish a relationship with you…]
[Your craftsmanship is impressive…]
[May I ask your class…?]

Recruitment offers were flooding in.

‘People actually want my chair?’

At his old company, all he did was walk on eggshells.
Manager Lee’s nagging was always the same.
But this — this was different.

Someone wanted what he made.
That one fact was everything.

‘This is fun.’

For the first time, the smile on Aren’s face was genuine.

‘Is this how Dad used to feel?’

Back in the real world, all he could do was bow his head and endure.
Whenever Manager Lee found fault, Aren had no choice but to nod and stay silent.
Day after day of helpless monotony.

But now — things had changed.
Someone acknowledged his work.
Someone wanted what he created.

The realization sent a shiver of pure exhilaration through him.

‘It’s fun! This is really fun!’

It was thrilling.
So much better than filling out pointless reports behind a desk.

‘Still, they don’t seem to know who I am… probably because my ID’s private?’

In the auction system, seller IDs were hidden by default.
Buyers couldn’t see who made the item.

‘Then I’ll keep it that way for now.’

There was no reason to reveal himself yet.
If needed, he could always disclose it later.
For now, anonymity worked fine.

‘50 Gold 787 Silver.’

That was his current worth — the value the world had placed on his work.
Not too much, not too little.

But Aren had no intention of stopping there.

‘Let’s start by fixing that house.’

He turned back toward the decrepit building.

‘I might need to rebuild the pillars… and redo the flooring…’

There was so much to fix.
Now he understood why so many players had abandoned this quest.
The cost and time didn’t seem worth the reward.

But Aren wasn’t like them.
He’d been a carpenter — and for him, quitting wasn’t an option.

His hands itched to work.
He could already feel the weight of a hammer in his grip.

“Guess there’s no other way.”

He made up his mind.

“Let’s tear it all down first.”

* * *

“Wait, you’re going to… tear down the whole thing?”

“Yes.”

Aren had returned to the Carpenter’s Guild.
He needed new materials before starting reconstruction.

“It’s worse than I thought,” he explained.
“The floor’s rotted through, the walls creak when you touch them, and the draft’s unbearable. Honestly…”

“It’s a ruin.”

Yuel’s eyes widened slightly.

“It’s beyond repair,” Aren continued.
“Even if we reinforce it, the frame’s already decayed. It might hold for a while, sure. But what about in five years? Or even one? You can’t just look at the present — you have to think about the future. People are supposed to live there.”

Yuel fell silent, eyes round with realization.

She had only thought of it as another simple repair job.

‘But he’s right.’

It wasn’t just a structure.
It was someone’s home.
Someone had probably spent their savings to have it built — proud to finally have a place of their own.

And if that house collapsed a year later?

The thought chilled her.

“You’re right… That makes perfect sense.”

[Yuel’s Favorability has increased.]
[Through you, Yuel has come to understand the pain of those deceived by shoddy builders.]
[For this transaction, material prices are reduced by 10%.]

“But… can you really do it?” Yuel asked hesitantly.
“Building a house isn’t easy. Don’t you need special abilities and a higher level for that?”

In this world, what players called skills, NPCs referred to as abilities.

Constructing a house required far more expertise than making a chair.
Normally, one would need specific crafting skills and a certain level before the system allowed it.

‘Skills are basically licenses. Even if you want to build, the system won’t let you without the proper one.’

“It’s fine,” Aren said.

“Huh?”

“Having an ability would make things easier, sure.”

Skills simplified the process — with enough proficiency, players could instantly erect structures using the right materials.
Naturally, most relied on that convenience.

‘It’s the built-in system, after all. Only a fool wouldn’t use it.’

But that didn’t mean it was impossible without it.

‘I made a chair without any skill. A house isn’t that different. It’s just bigger.’

It would take more effort, but Aren didn’t care.

‘That’s what makes it fun.’

Building a House

He was going to build a house.

He had helped his father build houses several times before.
He knew how to do it — he had done it, learned it, practiced it.
He could do it.
His hands were already itching to get started.

“It might be hard,”
said Yuel, her voice tinged with worry.

“It’s fine,”
Aren answered with a gentle smile.

“That’s what being a carpenter is all about.”

---

* * *

The company operating Illusion was called The Black.

Within The Black, there were numerous operation teams.
Each of them served as a lubricant of sorts, ensuring that the game ran smoothly — handling bugs, errors, or punishing those who exploited or cheated the system.

Among them, the First Operations Team managed the overall flow — the true “operations” of Illusion.

---

“Huh?”

Oh Kyung-tae, a team member, pushed up his glasses and stared curiously at his monitor.

“Team leader.”
“What?”
“You’d better see this.”
“Haaaam… what is it now?”

Team Leader Kim Jun-ha yawned loudly and got up from his seat.

“This here.”
“What is it?”
“See this quest? The one in the abandoned village?”

Kim Jun-ha thought for a moment.

“Ah! That one? What about it?”
“There’s a player who accepted it… is that okay? You know what’s in there, right?”
“Oh, that? Don’t worry about it. You’re talking about the hidden piece, right?”

Oh Kyung-tae nodded, and Kim Jun-ha gave a carefree laugh.

“Doesn’t matter.”
“But that hidden piece… you get it if you rebuild the house, don’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“Then…”
“There’s a catch.”
“A catch?”
“Yeah.”

Sipping his coffee leisurely, Kim Jun-ha explained:

“You only get that hidden piece if you rebuild the house without using any active skills.”
“Without skills?”
“Yep. No skills — only manual work. Passive abilities don’t count.”
“Ahh~”

Now Oh Kyung-tae understood why his team leader was so calm.
Who in their right mind would rebuild a whole house manually when they could use skills?

“There’s no way some crazy player would actually do that.”
“Exactly. So don’t worry about it.”
“Got it.”

They both returned to their work — unaware that somewhere in Illusion…

“Alright, demolition first. This is going to take a while.”

…that crazy player had just picked up a hammer.

---

* * *

This was practice.

Aren’s reason for playing Illusion was simple — he wanted a house of his own.

Rising costs, absurd housing prices — even with loans, owning a home was nearly impossible.
But still, Aren wanted one.

“A home that’s truly mine. A place where I can rest, safe and at peace.”

Rent.
Leases.
None of that mattered — he wanted a place no one could take away from him.

“I never want to go through that again.”

When his father passed away, the workers and clients who once surrounded them vanished as if on cue.
What remained were mountains of penalties and debt.

Aren struggled desperately, but the workshop still went to auction.
And then, the house.

He was kicked out, left sitting on the roadside, rain pouring down on him as he spent the night outside.
The humiliation of that day was beyond words.

“Can’t afford one in reality… then there’s only one thing left to do.”
“I’ll build it myself.”

He had enough materials — thanks to raising his affinity with merchants, he’d gotten a 10% discount.

“And the quest changed too, right?”

[Let’s Build a House]

• Rank: C

• Description: It’s too late to repair the abandoned village house. Tear it down and build a new one.

• Success Condition: Construct a new building.

• Reward: Experience, Title, 10 Gold.

• Failure Penalty: Reputation decrease.

The quest had upgraded from “repair” to “rebuild.”
The rank went up from D to C, and so did the rewards.

“Well, I was going to do it anyway.”

Aren took a deep breath, looking at the crumbling house before him.

He had to demolish and rebuild the entire thing alone.

---

[You need the skill “House Repair” to proceed.]
[Skill not found.]
[Required Level: House Repair LV.5]

Normally, this quest would be impossible for him.
But since he wasn’t using any skills, the restriction didn’t apply.

“It’s going to be tough, but…”

It would be hard — exhausting, time-consuming — but a smile spread across Aren’s face.

“This is going to be fun.”

His heart pounded violently —
like he was finally home again.

---

* * *

That day, Aren demolished the old house, salvaged a few usable materials, and then logged out for work.

The next day, after returning from his job, he began digging the foundation using a shovel he bought from the Carpenter’s Guild.

Day 5:
After work, Aren reinforced the ground and began shaping the foundation with a plane.
He carved pillars.
Prepared walls.
There was still a mountain of things to do.
Then, he went to work again.

Day 7:
Unfamiliar with the tools after so long, he made mistakes.
The pillars were crooked — he had to recut them.
Then off to work again.

Day 10:
He raised the pillars, nailed down the roof, and built the walls.
Cut boards for the floor and laid them down to form the interior space.
Then, once again, he went to work.

---

* * *

The break room had long since become a makeshift meeting room.

Kim Min-soo glanced at Joohyun and said,

“You’re insane.”
“What now?”
“You’re actually building that house by hand?”

Kim Min-soo already knew roughly what Joohyun was doing in Illusion.

“While everyone else is hunting and leveling up, you’re… working?”
“Working? What are you talking about?”
“Building a house — that’s work!”
“That’s not work.”

Joohyun snorted and took a sip of coffee.

“That’s my hobby.”
“What?”
“Building a house, to me, is like fighting monsters to others.”
“How could that possibly—”
“To me, it’s the same thing.”

His voice was firm. Kim Min-soo opened his mouth to argue, then sighed instead.

“Fine. If you’re enjoying it, okay… but don’t overdo it.”
“Overdo it?”
“Look at yourself.”

He handed him the small mirror from the counter.

Dark circles.
A gaunt face.
He looked less like a man than an undead.

“You’re so worn out even Manager Lee gave up scolding you.”
“Really? No wonder it’s been quiet.”

He’d thought Lee had finally given up nagging him.
Apparently, the man had just been afraid of “finishing him off” if he said anything more.

“I get that you love the game, but take it easy, man.”
“It’s fine.”

Joohyun smiled faintly as he drained his coffee.

“It ends today.”

Today — the construction would be complete.