Hell’s Handbook

ney there in case he suddenly died in a challenge.
This was money for his family.

Su Qing didn’t really find anything amiss about Su Jin’s answer, but from what she knew about her brother, Su Jin was someone who planned his finances very carefully.
He wasn’t being stingy.
Their family was just really very poor.

Su Jin went on to ask his sister about how school was and life in general, chatting for more than an hour before hanging up.
The next morning, Su Jin rushed back to S City.
Now that he had some money on hand, he wanted to move houses.
He didn’t have to stay in that tiny basement anymore.

S City’s property prices could be terrifying.
If Su Jin had exchanged all his points for money, he might have been able to buy something here.
But since he didn’t, he decided to just rent a place.

“You want to rent a place? No problem.
We’ve got plenty of available rooms and houses on hand.
Is there something you’re looking for? I’ll get you the place that best fits your requirements,” said the young middle aged property agent as she patted her fairly full bosom.

“My requirements? Hmm.
It’ll be great if it’s near to C Road, on the quiet side, and as for the size… I just don’t want somewhere that’s like ten square meters,” said Su Jin casually.

“You’re such a humorous person! Well, even if you wanted to find somewhere that’s just 10 square meters, our agency wouldn’t have any on hand.
But if you want something near C Road… it’s going to cost you,” said the agent with a smile as she looked Su Jin up and down.
Most people in her profession judged their potential client’s wealth from the clothes they wore.

Su Jin knew what she was driving at, so he smiled and said, “Don’t worry! My company’s paying for it, not me.”

“OH! In that case, no worries! I’ve got a few places in mind, so if you’ve got the time, why don’t we go take a look at them now?” The agent was no longer worried once Su Jin said that the company was paying the rent and even wanted to bring him around right now.

Su Jin happily went with her, and they looked at five different places in one morning.
Every apartment they saw was a place that Su Jin could only dream of in the past, but when he actually had to choose one, he wasn’t sure anymore.

“Mr.
Su, what do you think? You don’t like these apartments?” asked the agent anxiously when she noticed the perplexed look on Su Jin’s face.

Su Jin shook his head and said, “They’re not bad, but I don’t find them quiet enough.
I would like a quiet place.”

She was a little puzzled for a while.
It was common for people to look for a place in a particular area, but it wasn’t common to come across someone in the city who wanted somewhere quiet, since it would mean that such a place would be more inaccessible.
After thinking about it, she said, “There is a place that’s quite quiet around here, but the rent is three times the ones we saw earlier, and you need to pay one month in advance plus three months’ deposit.
I think that will come up to about $60,000 or so.”

“$60,000? No problem.
Let’s go look at it!” said Su Jin with a nod.
In the past, that would have been equivalent to his company bonus, but money was meaningless to him now.
Living his life well was more important, since he really had no idea how long he would live from now.

The agent led him further down the road and the area was a lot quieter than where they had walked from.
She eventually stopped in front of a double story bungalow.
This bungalow had six or seven rooms, was fully renovated and had a number of well-kept decorative plants in the yard too.

Su Jin immediately took a liking to this bungalow and said, “This place is not bad! Now the rent sounds cheap!”

“The house is really nice, but the location’s a little inaccessible, so it’s not very convenient when you need to buy groceries or shop for things.
But if you’re the type who stays home most of the time, this won’t be a problem!” said the agent with a smile.

Su Jin looked around and eventually settled on this place.
After paying the initial deposit, the agent said he could move in anytime, so he returned to his cellar and packed his things immediately.
He realized that he really had very few things.
If he ever had to escape for whatever reason, he wouldn’t even need a suitcase.

He moved into his new house that very night since the house was fully furnished anyway.
The next morning, he woke up at his usual time.
He had asked Brother Li to help him to apply for three days of leave, but surprisingly, everything was settled within just two days.
Since everything was already settled, he decided to continue going to work.

Even though Su Jin didn’t actually have to work anymore if he didn’t want to, he felt that it was better to work anyway.
It wasn’t really for the money but more for the sake of having some human interaction.
When he thought about how his future interactions would either be with Handbook owners like himself or some monster in the challenges, having interaction with normal human beings would become very precious to him.

But when he arrived at the office, he realized that his entire team was out.
He smacked his forehead and muttered under his breath, “You idiot! The company gathering’s today! How could I have forgotten?”

He quickly called a colleague to get the address of the restaurant they were eating at, and he quickly hopped into a cab to rush there immediately.
The moment he entered the restaurant, he saw his direct supervisor, a woman that he and his colleagues nicknamed “Your Worst Nightmare”1 standing in front of him and glaring straight at him.

“Good morning, Miss Tang!” Su Jin greeted her cheerfully.

“Do you know what time it is? Don’t you know how to call to take a leave on your own? How could you get someone else to take leave for you?” she shouted angrily at him.

“Your Worst Nightmare” – The original Chinese literally means one whom even a ghost dreads seeing↩