Absolute Dweller

[Episode 08] Summon Familiar (1)

The S&W M60 was a .38 caliber representative revolver used by the South Korean police.

Of course, it was rarely used in reality.

Despite being just one gun, it was about to bring significant changes.

‘I can’t display this at the store.’

Displaying the gun had many advantages.

It would instantly make people more proactive in hunting monsters.

Ordinary people under level 10 could also easily hunt orcs.

If there were several citizens with guns, they could handle even more powerful monsters.

‘The experience and settlement money earned by citizens would also increase exponentially.’

However, there was a significant drawback as well—too much risk.

‘It’s difficult to trust all citizens.’

The way I accepted citizens was random.

There was no standard or verification process.

I accepted them all without any checks because I was confident that I could control them regardless of what happened. The increasing population also brought about many advantages.

But having firearms changes the situation a bit.

‘There’s no guarantee that there aren’t problematic individuals among these people.’

It was obvious what problems could happen if citizens were allowed to possess firearms without proper verification.

Envy, resentment, jealousy.

Accidents could happen for various reasons, and in the worst case scenario, people could die.

Put extremely, giving guns to mentally unstable people would undoubtedly lead to disaster.

‘It should only be distributed to verified individuals.’

The criteria was simple.

‘Only give it to citizens with high loyalty. Filter out the ones that are ineligible.’

There might be dissatisfaction with this blatant discrimination, but it was better than accidents occurring.

Granting firearms only to those with high loyalty could also induce an increase in trust and loyalty.

‘The first person who should receive it has already been decided.’

A person with no mental issues, high loyalty, and the ability to maximize firearms.

Moon Byeong-ho was given a newly-purchased gun and 100 rounds of ammunition.

Zing—

As Moon Byeong-ho suddenly received a gun and ammunition from the air, he promptly bowed his head towards the empty space.

‘Not in that direction.’

Although he bowed his head in the wrong direction, I understood his meaning.

Ha Dong-geon’s party quickly arrived at the shelter where the survivors were hiding following the guidance of the mouse, and returned with them without any major issues.

“We’re almost there. Shall we go down together?”

“Mr. Jae-hyun too?”

“I was thinking about taking a walk since it’s been a while.”

Heading down with Seo Ye-jin, I walked along the promenade and took a deep breath.

“Hooo… Haah.”

The air was refreshing.

With the rapid expansion of the homebound area, the promenade was included.

It was a new experience to see it after nearly a month.

[Unauthorized entity attempting entry.]

It seems that Ha Dong-geon’s party and the thirty-five survivors have arrived at the main gate.

[A being satisfying the conditions to be recognized as a citizen has been found.]

[Would you like to offer citizenship?]

‘Offer it.’

This way, 35 more citizens joined.

‘Not this time either.’

I checked each citizen’s information, but there was not a single person with awakened abilities.

Among the 200 new citizens who joined through the area expansion from leveling up, there were no awakened individuals.

Awakened individuals were valuable, and those with Grade A abilities like Seo Ye-jin were even rarer.

‘Granting awakened abilities is not possible even as a quest reward.’

I’ve already experimented with it.

I tried to grant awakened abilities to Nam Ji-ho, who had the best performance among the citizens, but it showed as an ‘impossible quest reward.’

It wasn’t an alert about lack of funds but an impossible quest reward.

‘There’s nothing I can do about a person’s inherent nature.’

So, the only way to turn an ordinary person into an awakened individual was through vassal registration.

However, even vassal registration was a system that favored awakeners, so it was safe to assume there were genetic factors.

‘Let’s think about it slowly. Besides, there’s only one slot left for vassal registration.’

I had already filled ten slots.

The only remaining slot was the one that opened up when Moon Byeong-ho reached 100 loyalty.

‘Getting to 100 loyalty seems a bit difficult.’

I deliberately increased the time Ha Dong-geon’s party interacted with me (face to face), but their loyalty level refused to increase beyond a certain point.

To be honest, unless there was a special event like with Moon Byeong-ho, it seemed challenging to increase it to 100.

The 35 new citizens walked through the main gate into this area.

They seemed a bit disoriented as they looked around the apartment complex.

“Mom! Yo-jin!”

Seo Ye-jin ran to her family and embraced them.

“Ye-jin! Where did you go without saying a word? Do you know how worried Mom was?”

“Sorry, Mom.”

Even though they were only separated for a day, the mother and daughter tearfully reunited.

Seeing that scene, I couldn’t help but think of my own mother.

“Wow! Unni, you smell so nice! Did you take a shower?”

“Yeah. There’s warm water, and you can even take a bath.”

“Really?”

“Of course. There’s a bed, and you can have warm meals.”

The faces of the other survivors showed anticipation upon hearing Seo Ye-jin’s words.

I addressed Seo Ye-jin, “Miss Ye-jin.”

“Yes?”

“Unit 2701 was assigned to Miss Seo Ye-jin. Feel free to use it as you please, but it might be a bit cramped to accommodate over thirty people.”

“Oh…”

Seo Ye-jin realized the meaning of my words and looked at the faces of the people she had taken care of until now with a puzzled expression.

“So, what should we do…”

“I’ll provide three additional empty rooms. Miss Seo Ye-jin, you’re worth it.”

“Oh, thank you!”

Supplying electricity, water, and gas to 10 people a residence was a common condition applied to other citizens as well.

Due to this, there were quite a few citizens who endured inconvenience and lived together.

“You can use Units 2402, 2301, and 1902 in the same building.”

“We’ll do our best!”

[Citizen Seo Ye-jin’s trust has increased.]

[Citizen Seo Ye-jin’s trust has increased.]

Starting with Seo Ye-jin.

[Citizen Hong Dallae trust has significantly increased.]

[Citizen Seo Yo-jin’s trust has significantly increased.]

[Citizen Lee Seung-jun’s trust has increased.]

[Citizen Han Jung-soo’s trust has increased.]

······

······

Notifications of trust levels increasing were exploding.

‘It’s definitely changed.’

There were times before when the trust levels of citizens increased massively, like back when people gathered at Choi Hyungjun’s house for the goblin hunt.

At that time, when I used my ability to create food and water, their trust increased.

‘But there was never a case where it increased significantly.’

Now, with just a word, their trust levels rose rapidly.

It was clear that this was an effect of the increased level of Dignity Maintenance.

‘Come to think of it, I only raised the level without checking.’

An interesting feature had been added when the skill reached level 4.

ᛇSummon Management (0/10)

‘Hm…?’

Upon checking, there was a button to summon a familiar.

[Summon Familiar] (1,000,000,000 won)

‘…1 billion?’

It seemed that the new feature was a money-consuming pit.

At that moment.

“Mr. Jae-hyun. Do you have a minute?”

It was Yoo Hye-rin.

“What’s the matter?”

“…I have something to discuss.”

“Go ahead.”

“That’s…”

Seeing Yoo Hye-rin glancing at the other members, I spoke.

“Great job, everyone. Go up and rest.”

Seo Ye-jin’s group was busy dividing the people who would occupy the three rooms, and Ha Dong-geon’s party tactfully excused themselves.

After sending them off, I said to Yoo Hye-rin, “Shall we take a walk for a while?”

“A walk… Yes, sure.”

Yoo Hye-rin and I walked in silence for a while, and after a few minutes, she spoke first.

“I…”

Seeing her hesitating for a while, I said to her, “You can speak freely.”

“Yes, then…”

With her head bowed deeply, Yoo Hye-rin said.

“I’m really sorry, but I want to leave the party.”

It was as expected.

The feeling that something was coming.

She continued, as if feeling guilty.

“My abilities… I don’t have a presence in the party, and it might be okay even if I’m not there, so I thought…”

I spoke as gently as possible towards her who was rambling like she had committed a crime.

“You can speak honestly.”

Upon hearing that, Yoo Hye-rin bit her lips, then tightly closed her eyes and said.

“I’m scared!”

Her emotions began pouring out like a torrent.

“I’m so scared. I’m scared of goblins, fighting with orcs, that huge snake, everything is just too frightening.”

The erupted emotions soon turned into tears.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m a useless person. You went through the trouble of choosing me, but I couldn’t live up to your expectations… Huk¹Never wrote a footnote for this before but ‘Huk’/’Hyuk’ is a sniffling sfx..”

There had been signs of this before.

Even when going to rescue Moon Byeong-ho’s grandmother, honestly, Yoo Hye-rin’s contributions were nearly nonexistent.

In the final pursuit with the Red Tiger, she almost fell and died, and when hunting the orcs, she didn’t contribute much.

Her ability, Poison Mist, could potentially harm team members if misused, making it difficult to utilize.

While her physical abilities had improved, enhancing her archery skills significantly, it was questionable whether it was helpful.

Even Kim Geon was providing assistance to the team with Kaman’s²Kaman is his crow’s name. scouting, but Yoo Hye-rin wasn’t doing much.

She probably knew better than anyone else that she was objectively useless to the party.

Despite risking her life to accompany the party, the results were not good, making it understandably bitter for her.

It seemed like those feelings accumulated and accumulated, bursting out today during the encounter with the giant snake.

“Hyuk. Wahh.”

Yoo Hye-rin sobbed sorrowfully from the hardships she had endured.

More than fear, a sense of anger and frustration emanated from her.

I nonchalantly spoke.

“It worked out well. I just happened to need an extra pair of hands.”

“Sniff. Yes…?”

“Are you familiar with Kim Dabin who handles the public facilities on the 21st floor? She seemed to be struggling a lot. Probably because she’s trying to handle everything alone.”

“Sniffle.”

“Not just there, I plan to create and operate public facilities in each building. So, I needed someone trustworthy and capable of handling these tasks.”

Yoo Hye-rin, who was covered with tears and had a runny nose, looked up at me.

Extending my hand toward her, I said.

“If it’s you, Yoo Hye-rin, I believe I can trust you. Will you help me?”

While I comforted and consoled her, I thought it was a bit regrettable that I had registered her as a vassal.

[Citizen Yoo Hye-rin’s loyalty has increased.]

[Citizen Yoo Hye-rin’s loyalty has reached 100.]

[Citizen Yoo Hye-rin is already registered as a vassal.]

[Vassal registration limit has increased.]

‘What’s this?’

Reaching loyalty 100 for such a trivial matter.

“Huuaaah.”

When I approached her to console her, she bawled with her face covered by both hands. Suddenly, she clung to me tightly.

“I’ll work hard! Please leave it to me! Wahhh.”

I was momentarily surprised, but soon patted her on the back lightly until she calmed down.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Sniff, I’ll devote all my loyalty!”

“Yes, yes.”

After calming her down, I brought her to Room 2901 and returned home.

Then, I eyed one button.

[Summon Familiar] (Cost: 1,000,000,000 won)

‘Might as well give it a try.’

So far, every function that appeared had proven to be useful, and every expense had been worthwhile.

Moreover, money was not currently an issue.

‘Okay, let’s give it a try. Summon Familiar!’

[1,000,000,000 won has been consumed as the cost for summoning a familiar.]

Woooong―