Absolute Dweller

<Episode 10> Busan Station (3)

‘What’s going on?’

Kim Ga-yeong, who had regained consciousness, was crying bitterly.

“Huhuh. Dong-geon, sniff.”

Ha Dong-geon comforted Kim Ga-yeong, holding her in his arms.

“You must have seen it wrong. It’s okay.”

Kim Ga-yeong shook her head.

“I saw it. Huk, dad, I confirmed it. I definitely saw him…”

She couldn’t continue her sentence.

At first, he thought Kim Gayoung, who had hurt her head, was just talking nonsense.

“Huuk. Dad, our dad, he’s so pitiful, what should we do?”

But judging from the atmosphere, that wasn’t the case.

Kim Ga-yeong’s drenched figure meant she had been in the water more than once.

She had seen her father’s fate inside the lake.

Dragged in by the Sirens, her father had gone into the lake.

“Dong-geon, our father’s fate, what should we do? Huhuh.”

Ha Dong-geon silently embraced her. Kim Ga-yeong sobbed in his arms.

Seeing her like that was heartbreaking.

She didn’t seem like herself.

I suddenly felt uneasy.

Kim Ga-yeong had coincidentally met her deceased father, and I wondered if I would be confirming the death of my family too.

Such thoughts crossed my mind.

‘Even in the worst case scenario, there’s always a way.’

Plan B.

If my family were to die, I planned to resurrect them with my abilities, no matter the cost.

I realized that the current situation could solve one of my long-standing curiosities.

‘Quest assignment, target Kim Ga-yeong, quest reward – resurrection of her father.’

However…

[Impossible quest reward.]

It wasn’t a notification about a lack of money.

It was a notification of an impossible quest reward.

In other words, it meant that it was impossible to resurrect Kim Ga-yeong’s father.

…Was it true?

Oh Eon-ju’s son died within the homebound area. However, Kim Ga-yeong’s father died in a completely different place, Busan Station.

That was the difference.

‘Not all deaths can be reversed.’

There were cases where resurrection was possible and cases where it was impossible.

Only deaths that occurred near the homebound area, under the influence of the Absolute Dweller’s Declaration, could be resurrected.

‘That means–‘

If my family had already died, no matter how much money I gathered, resurrection would be impossible.

Ugh…

For some reason, seeing Kim Ga-yeong grieving for her father’s death made me feel like I was looking at myself.

‘Sigh.’

I wanted to urge her to move, but I couldn’t bring myself to give such an order to Kim Ga-yeong, who was grieving the loss of her family.

She had enough sadness, enough pain.

“Aaaahhh.”

Within the heavy silence, only Kim Ga-yeong’s sobbing echoed for a while.

That was when Ha Dong-geon spoke.

“Let’s bring your father out from there.”

He gently patted Kim Ga-yeong’s back.

“Let’s lift him out from there. I’ll go and bring him back.”

“Mm.”

Seeing Kim Ga-yeong desperately nodding her head with her eyes closed tight, I felt a pang in my heart.

Ha Dong-geon gently kissed the sobbing Kim Ga-yeong and immediately went back into the lake.

Splash!

Ha Dong-geon’s headlamp pushed back the darkness underwater and illuminated the scene.

‘It’s terrible.’

The bottom of the lake was like hell itself.

There, the bodies of monsters and people who had been dragged in by the Sirens were tangled together. Goblins, orcs, and humans were intertwined in a grotesque display.

‘No wonder there was nothing around here.’

It was similar to the time with the Red Tiger.

It wasn’t just because of the giant’s rampage; there was nothing around because it was also the territory of the Siren.

Ha Dong-geon calmly swam through the lake and stopped in front of a man.

Honestly, the man’s face was so swollen that it was impossible to recognize.

But there was a way to distinguish him.

The Korail employee uniform he was wearing and the name tag attached to it.

「Kim Deok-hoon」

Seeing the name written on the tag, Ha Dong-geon’s expression turned grim.

I could tell from his expression.

‘This man is Kim Ga-yeong’s father.’

There was a good reason why Kim Ga-yeong was so sure that he was her father.

Ha Dong-geon tried his best to pull him up, but his lower body was wedged between concrete and reinforcement, making it difficult.

In the end, I had to step in.

‘Warehouse storage, Kim Deok-hoon’s body.’

Zzing—

Ha Dong-geon watched as the body disappeared and seemed to understand what was happening. After confirming that the body had disappeared, he emerged from the water.

‘Summon!’

When Kim Deok-hoon’s body appeared, Kim Ga-yeong called out to him in a trembling voice.

“Dad…”

Kim Ga-yeong gently stroked her father’s name tag, then covered her mouth with both hands and cried.

Why?

This time, the expressions of the others around her stood out more than Kim Ga-yeong’s crying.

Oh Eon-ju, with her reddened eyes; Kim Da-jeong, with a bitter expression; Kang Deok-su, looking shocked; Kim Geon, biting his lip; and Ha Dong-geon, with tightly closed lips.

I realized after seeing their expressions.

They had the same eyes as me.

Everyone here felt the same way, worried about their families’ life and death.

‘Was that so?’

I knew.

The wish to see their families and worries about their safety wasn’t just my own.

Others also had families and naturally worried about their well-being.

But I pretended not to know.

Because rescuing my family was the priority.

‘They all gave way to me.’

I knew it in my head, but actually realizing it was like the difference between night and day.

I was grateful and sorry to them.

And my heart felt heavy.

What should I have done?

Was I being too selfish?

Even so, I couldn’t give up on my family.

Moon Byeong-ho, who had been nervously fidgeting as if he were a sinner, spoke to Kim Ga-yeong.

“How about asking Mr. Jae-hyun to keep the body for a while? There’s no suitable place nearby, and we can make a grave near the apartment complex…”

Kim Ga-yeong slowly shook her head.

“Dad would like it here.”

“What?”

“My dad was a workaholic. He had great pride and even in death, he wanted to be buried near the railway.”

She uttered in a trembling voice.

“If possible, I’d like to bury him on the railroad tracks.”

The next moment, I once again transported his body to the warehouse.

It was to help them move Kim Deok-hoon’s body, but Ha Dong-geon’s party seemed a little embarrassed when they saw it.

Oh Eon-ju spoke with difficulty.

“Um… how about coming back to Busan Station after completing the mission?”

It seemed like I was rushing the operation.

To clear up the misunderstanding, I assigned a quest to everyone.

<Party Quest Assigned>

Quest Content: Make a grave on the railroad tracks.

Time Limit: 1 hour 00 minutes 00 seconds.

Reward: Small amount of experience points.

Failure Penalty: None.

[Would you like to assign this quest?]

[Yes/No]

‘Yes.’

It was a little uncomfortable that this was the only way to convey my intentions.

But there wasn’t a major communication issue. It was just a matter of correcting this.

With my intention conveyed, Ha Dong-geon’s party began to move towards Busan Station.

“Mr. Jae-hyun, are you okay? You don’t look so good.”

When I opened my eyes, I saw Seo Ye-jin looking at me with concern.

“Ye-jin…”

“Yes?”

For a moment, I almost said, ‘It must be nice.’

Since Ye-jin’s family had safely returned to her and were together with her.

I almost said I envied her for it.

Fortunately, I managed to keep my string of reason.

“–Spread mice around Busan Station to see if there are any monsters. If it seems dangerous, immediately inform Ha Dong-geon’s party.”

“Got it.”

I almost showed an embarrassing side of myself.

How could I be jealous of someone who had safely reunited with their family?

‘I’m the worst.’

It seemed that my concentration had weakened, as my sight was now reduced into two, one focusing on the Ha Dong-geon party and the other on the Lee Joon-hyuk party.

Lee Joon-hyuk was returning from hunting since I hadn’t given him any quests.

Suddenly, I remembered that I still had 2 skill points left.

‘Come to think of it, I still have 2 skill points left!’

I had been so focused on the multiple views created by upgrading the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes that I had momentarily forgotten about the remaining skill points.

‘As for the second skill to level up…’

Next to the Dignity Maintenance skill, I saw that the level up button was activated.

Without hesitation, I chose to level up the Dignity Maintenance skill.

‘Dignity Maintenance level up!’

[The Absolute Dweller’s Dignity Maintenance has reached level 5.]

[A new feature, Amazing Draw¹It’s a gacha system., has been added.]

[You have received 300 crystals.]

‘Crystals?’

It turned out that crystals were needed for the new feature called Amazing Draw.

300 crystals were provided for one gacha draw.

There was no reason to refuse.

‘Amazing Draw.’

Whoosh!

Similar to when I summoned Kkami, a magic circle with an intricate pattern began to form in the air.

At the climax, the golden rays emitted by the magical circle gathered and condensed in one place.

Then, with a tinkling sound, something fell on the living room floor.

‘A ring?’

It was an ordinary-looking gold ring, but it contained a special power when viewed through the eyes of the absolute ruler.

<Communication Ring>

A ring that delivers the voice of the Absolute Dweller to vassals.

‘Hmm, not bad.’

Communication was still not difficult for me.

Using quest assignments, I could convey commands easily.

By using quest descriptions to convey orders and then canceling the quests, I could transmit information without any loss.

When it came to conveying complex information, I could also write letters and deliver them using the Warehouse skill.

‘Should I give it a try?’

When I put on the ring, it fit perfectly on my finger, and I immediately understood how to use its power.

I spoke to Ha Dong-geon’s party, visible through the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes.

[Everyone, can you hear my voice?]

Ha Dong-geon’s party, who were just entering Busan Station, looked up at the sky with surprised expressions.

[It seems like you can hear me.]

“Yes, we can hear you.”

[Let’s communicate like this from now on.]

The grave was simple, made next to the railroad tracks.

After Oh Eon-ju laid the body in the ground and covered it with soil, it was done.

“I thought it was impossible, but my dad’s wish came true.”

Kim Ga-young finished her short prayer at Kim Deok-hoon’s grave and said.

“Let’s go now.”

[You can stay a little longer.]

“It’s enough. I was able to fulfill my dad’s wish.”

Kim Ga-young opened her mouth as she stood in front of her father’s grave, staring blankly.

“Thank you for listening to my stubbornness. My feelings have been relieved a lot.”

As such, Ha Dong-geon’s party began to move towards Jagalchi Station again.

After using it, I realized that the ring had many more advantages than I had initially thought.

First of all, the biggest advantage compared to other methods was the ability to provide immediate feedback.

‘Using quest assignment takes time to deliver information, after all.’

There was also a limit to the quality of the information delivered because it had to be given in a format that could be assigned as a quest.

Moreover, there was no room for misunderstandings like before. If I took any action, an explanation could be given immediately.

It became possible to communicate in real-time.

‘Isn’t this surprisingly good?’

There were also several other advantages.

‘This would be of help with Kim Dabin.’

As I thought of Kim Dabin, I remembered something I had forgotten.

‘Right. Kim Dabin also awakened, didn’t she?’

More precisely, she had reached 100 loyalty and was automatically registered as a vassal.

Naturally, she would have gained awakening abilities as well.

‘Citizen Information, Kim Dabin.’

「Name: Kim Dabin (Lv. 25) [+]

Title: [Eleventh Vassal]

Trust: 77 Loyalty: 100 Awakening Ability: Telepathy

★Quest Assignment」

Seeing her awakened ability, a smile formed involuntarily.

‘Amazing.’

How did she awaken such a perfect ability for her job?

When I used the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes to see the 21st floor and inform her about her new ability.

‘Hm?’

I noticed Kim Dabin, surrounded by citizens and looking troubled.