Absolute Dweller

[Episode 10] Busan Station (2)

“!!!”

This pain was qualitatively different from the pain he had experienced so far.

If the pain before had been like his body swelling up, the pain he felt at level 20 was like being stabbed all over with needles.

It felt like dozens of needles were piercing his skin from inside and stretching it outwards.

“Mr. Jae-hyun! Mr. Jae-hyun! Are you okay!?”

I could hear Seo Ye-jin’s urgent voice, but I couldn’t respond.

“Mr. Jae-hyun! Breathe! You have to breathe!”

Just enduring the pain transmitted in real-time was overwhelming enough.

Finally, the area expansion was completed.

“Phew, whoo.”

Cold sweat was all over my body.

As the muscles that had contracted due to pain suddenly relaxed, a sense of exhaustion came.

I felt a slight weight on my chest, feeling like I could fall asleep at any moment.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Seo Ye-jin, looking alarmed, with her hands on my chest.

Struggling to speak, I asked, “What are you doing…”

“I was trying to do CPR…”

I raised my arms, which felt like wet cotton, and grabbed her hands.

“…I’m okay.”

My condition seemed serious enough for Kkami, who was sitting on the sofa, to come over and look at me with a worried expression.

-Cheep?

“…I’m fine.”

Kkami decided to settle on my stomach instead of the sofa.

As I gently stroked him, I felt the drowsiness creeping in.

With a lethargic feeling, I closed my eyes and checked the expanded homebound area with the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes.

‘It’s huge.’

The area had expanded over a wider area than I had thought.

It extended along the road, including a wide area that reached as far as Seomyeon Station and Bujeon Station, swallowing up all the alleys within a 1km radius of the apartment complex.

A bloody vast area.

‘No wonder it hurt so much.’

Since it was the largest expansion so far, the pain could only be considered natural.

‘I’m tired.’

I desperately wanted to sleep for just five minutes.

But now was not the time.

I had to watch over Ha Dong-geon’s party, who were performing their mission for me.

Sitting up to wake myself, I asked Seo Ye-jin for a favor.

“Ms. Ye-jin, sorry to bother you, but could you pour me a glass of cold water?”

“Just wait a moment.”

I didn’t even have the energy to use Invisible Hand.

I had exhausted all my energy enduring the pain, both mental and physical.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you.”

After drinking the cold water, I felt a little clearer-headed.

“Are you okay?”

“Thanks to you.”

While observing Ha Dong-geon’s party with the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes, I checked the skill window.

I had received 3 skill points for reaching level 20, and it was time to use them.

Among the skills with a [+] next to their level, the first skill to level up was already decided.

The most important skill for the current operation.

‘Level up the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes.’

[The Absolute Dweller’s Eyes skill is now level 4.]

[Multi-perspective functionality has been added.]

I immediately tested the newly-added feature.

Multi-perspective was exactly what it sounded like—a function where the perspective using the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes expanded to multiple viewpoints.

It became possible to observe several places at once.

I felt the number of perspectives gradually increasing.

‘Is three the limit?’

Now, using the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes had become as natural as breathing, but with the increase to three perspectives, I found my focus reaching its limit.

To increase my concentration slightly, I closed my eyes and began to concentrate solely on the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes.

‘It feels like sitting in a security room with CCTV screens.’

I could see three perspectives simultaneously.

One was still showing Ha Dong-geon’s party, another showed the busy Kim Dabin, and the last one illuminated people on the street in the newly expanded area.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. Suddenly, the goblins’ heads exploded, and then they disappeared without paying?”

It was the party led by Lee Joon-hyuk, who had recently joined.

It was this party that had helped fill the experience points that were lacking from hunting goblins.

“Joon-hyuk, look over there!”

A woman pointed towards an alley.

“I think the goblins can’t come this way?”

Even when Lee Joon-hyuk approached them, the goblins couldn’t do anything. When they tried to swing their knives and weapons, it bounced off an invisible wall.

On the other hand.

Pwooook!

“Kwajaeak!”

Attacking goblins from Lee Joon-hyuk’s side was possible.

“This is totally awesome!”

His party members were ecstatic.

“Hey, me too! I haven’t killed a single one yet!”

“You’re not the only one! I haven’t either!”

“Get out of the way! I’m going to shoot my bow! If you don’t want to get hit, get out of the way!”

Feeling something unusual, the goblins instinctively tried to flee, but it was already too late.

Chased by the people behind them, six goblins lost their lives in an instant.

“Huh? There are strange messages appearing in the air, do you see them?”

“Is this your first time seeing them?”

“Wow. It’s my first time catching them. Joon-hyuk is unusually active today.”

Surprisingly, they were hunting goblins familiarly.

‘The man’s words back then weren’t just empty boasts.’

Now, it was possible to hunt within the safe zone, but they were probably battling with at least ten goblins or more before.

Yet, not a single person showed signs of tension.

It meant that they were truly very familiar with hunting goblins.

‘At this level, they are among the top tier of ordinary groups I’ve seen.’

They were enjoying the hunt.

And they had no hesitation in killing.

Not just a few of them, but everyone gathered here was like that.

Whether they were able to survive due to such tendencies or by gathering together, they seemed to perceive goblin hunting as a fun game.

“But is this also the ability of that person? This wall that blocks goblins, I mean.”

“Probably. It seems to be an extension of the transparent barrier we encountered at first.”

“Wow. It’s an amazing ability. Wait a minute…”

One of Lee Joon-hyuk’s group members spoke with a worried look.

“If we leave his line of sight, wouldn’t our heads also explode like those goblins just now?”

…

…

…

His statement silenced the excited party members.

“S-So, was that just now some kind of warning sent by that person? Like, ‘listen carefully’?”

A heavy silence descended upon the entire party.

“D-Did we do something wrong?”

As fear began to spread, Lee Joon-hyuk stepped forward.

“Isn’t it okay as long as we don’t leave then?”

“W-What do you mean, Joon-hyuk?”

“You’ve all experienced it. Normal bathrooms. Houses where you can take a warm shower, where you can cook and eat warm meals, and sleep in warm blankets.”

Lee Joon-hyuk looked around at his party members.

“So, let’s make sure nothing happens. Behave well, cleanly, and sensibly. If we do that, everything will be fine.”

[Citizen Lee Joon-hyuk’s loyalty has surpassed 30.]

[Citizen Lee Joon-hyuk has fulfilled the requirements for vassal registration.]

Just at the right time, Lee Joon-hyuk fulfilled the minimum requirements for vassal registration.

‘Vassal registration, Lee Joon-hyuk.’

At that moment, a bright light emanated from Lee Joon-hyuk’s body.

“Huh?”

“W-What’s going on?”

“Joon-hyuk oppa!”

Name: Lee Joon-hyuk (Lv. 40) [+]

Titles: [Twelfth Vassal] [Knight] [Wizard]

Trust: 59 Loyalty: 31

Awakening Abilities: Water Creation, Water Bomb, Water Control

Experience Distribution Rate: 0% (+100%)

★Quest Assignment 』

{Wizard}

The power of skills is increased by 100%.

Water Bomb (Grade A)

Summons highly-compressed water and detonates it. The power increases proportionally to the consumed mental strength.

Water Control (Grade S)

Consumes mental strength to freely manipulate the water summoned.

‘Hm?’

He awakened an S-grade ability.

Since Lee Joon-hyuk’s initial ability grade was B, I didn’t expect it to work out so well.

‘Is it because of his high level?’

At the time of vassal registration, he was at level 33, the same level as when Oh Eon-ju was registered.

‘It doesn’t seem like just luck…’

I didn’t know the exact reason, but the result was good.

‘Anyway, this is amazing.’

This marked the birth of the second S-grade ability user.

‘Assign quest.’

《Quest Assignment》

Quest Content: Try using Water Bomb and Water Control.

Time Limit: 10 minutes 00 seconds

Reward: Mental strength enhancement.

Failure Penalty: Mental fatigue.

Citizens couldn’t see their status windows. Naturally, they wouldn’t know the information about their newly-acquired awakening abilities either.

While they might naturally realize how to use their skills over time, directly informing them of the skill names like this made it much quicker to learn.

“Joon-hyuk, are you okay? There was light coming from your body just now…!”

“Wait a moment.”

Lee Joon-hyuk read the quest I gave him and then reached out into the air.

Then.

“Water Bomb.”

Kwaaaang!

A powerful explosion erupted from the air.

And…

Shooaaaah!

The water droplets from the water bomb turned into a downpour.

The raindrops falling over Lee Joon-hyuk’s party were all created by Lee Joon-hyuk.

“Water Control.”

At that moment.

The water stream that was pouring stopped in midair.

Moonlight scattered on the suspended water droplets, creating a dreamy atmosphere.

Everyone was momentarily mesmerized by the sight that was reminiscent of a large-scale magic performance.

“Ugh.”

However, a moment later, Lee Joon-hyuk’s concentration wavered.

Shooaaaah—

The water droplets all fell to the ground at once.

“What’s this?”

“Did you do this, Joon-hyuk?”

But it seemed like their words didn’t reach Lee Joon-hyuk.

“Haha, hahaha!”

Lee Joon-hyuk, who was laughing like crazy, suddenly looked around and bowed towards the apartment complex.

“Thank you! Thank you!! I will never forget this grace!”

Lee Joon-hyuk’s sudden actions left his party members staring at him blankly.

[Citizen Lee Joon-hyuk’s trust has increased.]

[Citizen Lee Joon-hyuk’s loyalty has increased.]

[Citizen Lee Joon-hyuk has completed a quest.]

[Quest cost: 70,251 won.]

‘Why is he doing that? It’s too much.’

Was it really necessary to bow down and hit his head?

Although he did awaken a good ability, his reaction was too intense.

However, it was nice to see his pure joy, like that of a child.

‘Assign the quest again.’

I assigned the same quest two more times, completing the daily quest in one go.

[Citizen Lee Joon-hyuk has used up all available quest attempts for today.]

[Citizen Lee Joon-hyuk’s performed quests are being evaluated.]

[······ Evaluation in progress ······]

While the daily quest evaluation was ongoing, I seriously thought about how to use him.

‘Should I add him to Ha Dong-geon’s party?’

It wasn’t very appealing to just add Lee Joon-hyuk to Ha Dong-geon’s party now.

Ha Dong-geon’s party was already well-balanced, and inserting Lee Joon-hyuk might disrupt their teamwork, similar to when I first inserted Oh Eon-ju.

‘More importantly, Lee Joon-hyuk’s departure would significantly lower the value of the group he’s currently leading.’

They were united around Lee Joon-hyuk. If he were to leave, there was a high probability that the group would fall apart.

‘I guess for now, it’s better for Lee Joon-hyuk to continue with his current group.’

[Evaluation complete.]

[Mental strength has increased greatly.]

‘Hm?’

It was really rare for the daily quest reward to include the word ‘greatly’.

It was like winning the lottery, happening maybe once in a hundred times. And yet, it happened now.

‘Lucky.’

Even without this stroke of luck, dealing with the pain of leveling up was incredibly exhausting. But with the increase in mental strength, it became more bearable.

At that moment, I sensed some commotion coming from Ha Dong-geon’s party.