# Chapter 181
“It’s the same with clothes. No matter how well I maintain my work clothes from the workshop, they get grimy quickly. It can’t be helped. I have to constantly handle machine parts. But a few days ago, I casually looked at the laundry basket, and everything was excessively clean and crisp. Originally, these t-shirts would be limp with stubborn stains that wouldn’t wash out. Look at this.”
D.S finally unzipped her jumpsuit and pulled out the t-shirt underneath. Although the white t-shirt had some oil and dust stains from working in the workshop, it didn’t really seem grimy. If anything, it looked like a brand new t-shirt with a stretched neckline design that had only been worn as work clothes for a few days.
“This t-shirt is over three years old. And it’s white, you know. But how is it this white? There were definitely black stains all over it, but they’ve all disappeared. Like magic. How on earth did this happen? Do you know?”
“No…”
If Iyeon had known that, he would have changed careers from hunter to housekeeper.
“Most things in the house are like this. Did you know all the water stains in the bathroom are gone too? I thought someone had done a remodel. When I go home, everything sparkles…”
D.S’s voice finally became somewhat dreamy. She seemed overwhelmed.
“…But isn’t it a bit much for someone to touch your laundry?”
Iyeon asked skeptically. Cleaning was one thing, but didn’t laundry mean someone was going through D.S’s laundry basket? No matter how he thought about it, that seemed uncomfortable.
But D.S shook her head firmly.
“There are two baskets in our house for clothes after we wear them.”
“What and what?”
“Clothes to wash and clothes to throw away.”
D.S’s work clothes generally didn’t have a long lifespan. Exposed to all kinds of harmful substances and heat-emitting machines, the soft fabrics quickly frayed, developed smells, or became dirty, and these issues weren’t easily fixed no matter how much effort went into washing them.
So clothes that couldn’t be salvaged were collected separately to be thrown away all at once when she had time.
“Is that what you’re wearing now?”
“Yes. I don’t even touch the laundry basket for the washing machine. Only the clothes I was going to throw away end up like this.”
D.S adjusted her clothes again. It was amazing how it looked like a new outfit no matter how you looked at it.
“Are you that pleased about it?”
Given that D.S was usually stingy with positive emotional expressions, Iyeon’s curiosity gradually rose as she spoke like this. Instead of answering, D.S stood up and walked somewhere. She stopped in front of a door located in a corner of the workshop, which was so similar in color to the wall that at first glance, you might not even notice it was there.
Thanks to his frequent visits to D.S’s workshop, Iyeon knew of the door’s existence, but he had never gone through it. More accurately, he had no reason to do so.
Because it was the door to D.S’s home.
“See for yourself.”
D.S turned the doorknob without hesitation. With a creaking sound from the old hinges, the door opened. Iyeon carefully stepped into the open space.
His sense of smell was the first to notice something unusual.
D.S’s workshop, except in winter, always kept the entrance door wide open while operating. It served as both a notification that the shop was open and for ventilation. However, being a machine workshop, there were inevitably faint lingering smells of oil, metal, and melting solder. It wasn’t an offensive stench, but it was undeniably a characteristic smell unique to her workshop.
But as he crossed the threshold, an unexpected smell of sunshine poured out.
At first when D.S had mentioned sunshine, he thought it was nonsense, but the expression “sunshine” was precisely right. It was a slightly crisp yet warm and pleasant fragrance. It seemed like the smell of thoroughly dried laundry or the scent of a tree swaying by the window. It felt like a gentle breeze was about to blow from somewhere. This was despite the fact that the large window in the living room was tightly closed with curtains drawn, completely shutting out the outside.
“Wow…”
Iyeon involuntarily took a deep breath and let out a sound of admiration. He even felt excited by the stable and pleasant atmosphere flowing throughout the house. As if entranced, he took off his shoes and stepped up into the living room, with D.S following behind wearing an “I told you so” expression.
“See?”
Iyeon went into the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and even Mirae’s room where the door was open, but the smell was the same everywhere. Additionally, there was a pleasant soap-like scent from the oddly fluffy-looking bedding and various clothes. As D.S had said, there wasn’t a speck of dust on any of the furniture.
Since it was the actual home of D.S and Mirae, there were naturally signs of life, but it also had the pristine feeling of a hotel room that had received makeup room service. It was an incredibly strange sight.
“You’re not using a separate household robot like FT-4?”
Even as he asked, Iyeon knew that wasn’t the issue. Because even in Iyeon’s own home where he actually used an FT-4, this level of effect wasn’t achieved.
“I don’t know much about housework. After Mirae came, I made a new FT-8 for housework, but I only gave it basic functions by referencing existing home appliances. But this…”
D.S looked around. From any angle, it was clearly the work of a professional. D.S herself knew better than anyone that this couldn’t be explained by the FT-8.
“This is worthy of being called a ‘snail bride’.”
Iyeon muttered. The happy fragrance, which his nose had already grown accustomed to, wafted around like an addiction, making him deliberately sniff it.
“Let’s catch it.”
“What?”
D.S frowned at the resolute voice.
“You’ve seen it. It’s not causing any harm.”
“It’s still a stalker, though.”
“No…”
D.S was about to refute but stopped when she saw Iyeon. His usually blank, peaceful face had hardened with seriousness. Like when he was going to save Mirae…
“Let’s catch it and see its face.”
“…Why do you need to see its face?”
“I need to hear the story of how it became D.S-ssi’s snail bride.”
“Why?”
“You never know.”
“Know what?”
“Maybe there are special conditions? Surely it doesn’t discriminate based on the gender of the homeowner?”
“…”
Faced with those eyes steeped in self-interest, D.S lost her words and closed her mouth. It seemed Iyeon was ready to find out the conditions and immediately implement them to capture a snail bride and confine it in his home.
“Hey, are you jealous?”
“What are you talking about? I have the FT-4 that D.S-ssi gave me. I just want to get familiar with it for Mirae’s safety. Even a snail bride must have a phone, right?”
“…”
D.S looked disapprovingly at Iyeon who was spouting untrustworthy words and then surveyed the clean house once more. The snail bride hadn’t caused any harm so far, and she wasn’t too worried about the future, but… the term “Mirae’s safety” was something she absolutely couldn’t ignore. In fact, D.S herself had been reluctant to leave the house because of it.
“Finish before Mirae comes.”
“Just trust me.”
Iyeon muttered solemnly.
“Have you tried installing CCTV?”
“Well, I did at first.”
As could be inferred from the fact that she had created ChilChil and given it to Mirae in advance, D.S’s intuition was exceptionally good. The moment she thought someone other than herself and Mirae had touched her house, she immediately asked Mirae.
‘Mirae, have you seen any strangers in the house?’
While Mirae was mostly in the workshop with D.S while she worked, there were times when the child was home alone. The possibility that her young daughter might have been exposed to danger made D.S shudder.
Thankfully, to her anxious question, Mirae shook her head with a puzzled expression.
‘Huh? No!’
‘If you see anyone, you must tell mom.’
‘Of course.’
Mirae nodded resolutely. Finding it cute, D.S stroked Mirae’s head a couple of times and then pushed her away, telling her to go wash up. And while Mirae was in the bathroom, she made surveillance cameras and installed them throughout the house.
“The workshop basically has an intruder alert system. But since no alarm came from that side, it doesn’t seem like they came through the workshop. The only remaining places are the windows in the house, so I focused the installation there.”
D.S talked as if it were simple, but the surveillance cameras she actually installed numbered a whopping 10. It was so dense that not just a person, but even an ant would have difficulty passing through unnoticed.
“But it was never caught, I guess.”
The result was predictable. If D.S had caught the snail bride on the surveillance camera footage, the house would have returned to its original state long ago.
“But that’s… a bit strange.”
Even with surveillance cameras installed, D.S couldn’t monitor them in real-time. As skilled as she was, she had a lot of work.
She did glance at the surveillance monitors between work, but she didn’t catch anyone breaking in. However, the house was still being cleaned in real-time, so eventually, she sat down at dawn after closing the workshop and went through the surveillance camera footage. That’s how D.S discovered the snail bride’s method.
“Only when I’m not watching, it mysteriously turns the camera angle for a moment, and when I look, it restores it to its original position.”
“…Is that possible?”
D.S wasn’t a robot, and no one—not even D.S herself—could calculate when she would look at the camera screen.
“That’s why. Even if I tried to look at irregular intervals, it was useless. It’s enough to make ghosts weep.”
Around that time, D.S realized what this snail bride was doing in her house. The increasingly comfortable house felt unfamiliar, yet instinctively relaxing. Mirae still maintained that she hadn’t seen anyone besides her mother in the house. …Is it like a fairy? Even the utterly rational D.S momentarily thought so, as this mysterious snail bride was thorough and harmless.
“Can you show me those surveillance videos too?”
“Follow me.”
With a slight nod, D.S headed back towards the workshop. As Iyeon was about to follow her, suddenly something felt strange.
“…”
