Absolute Dweller

[Episode 12] Savior (1)

After a short chat, Grandpa said he was going to work and went up to the rooftop.

The rooftop was filled with a variety of plants, but the most striking was the appearance of the World Tree trunk surrounding the entire house.

It was fascinating how the structure still allowed sunlight to reach the rooftop.

“How are you doing?”

“Same as usual?”

Wooong—

“I’ve been well.”

Grandpa spread green vitality in all directions.

It seemed that he was supplying vitality instead of water since it was cut off.

Towards Grandpa, I said, “Grandpa, can I show you something cool?”

“Hmm?”

I reached out towards one of the small vegetable gardens that Grandpa had made.

There was a hose that usually supplied water to the garden, but it had dried up due to lack of water.

But then, a stream of water started to spray from there.

“How about that, Grandpa?”

Looking at it, Grandpa frowned and said, “Are you using water from the water tank? Jae-hyun, even using the bathroom is not enough.”

Since the house was pretty old, there was a water tank on the rooftop.

When I checked it, water was almost running out.

We also used LPG¹LPG – Liquefied petroleum gas. instead of regular gas, but that was already used up.

“No, Grandpa.”

I created water in the air and held it in my palm.

“I’m making it.”

Grandpa looked closely at the water floating in the air and asked, “Is this real?”

“Yes. I filled the water tank and gas. Electricity will come in too.”

“All of that is part of your ability?”

“Yes. From now on, we can live as usual. There won’t be any monsters coming in either.”

“What are you talking about?”

I briefly explained my ability to Grandpa.

I also transferred over the authority of the people who were with Grandpa to him.

“When you increase trust, loyalty opens up. If you raise it to 30, you can do something called ‘vassal registration.’ Since you’re the chief, you can register up to three people.”

“Uh…”

I could tell from his reaction that he didn’t quite understand the system.

It seemed that the concept might be a bit difficult for Grandpa. He hadn’t played computer games before, and he wasn’t familiar with using smartphones yet.

‘I’ll teach him slowly, and he’ll get used to it!’

I wanted to make sure he understood the vassal registration system.

Grandpa silently continued his work.

Watching him pick persimmons and harvest lettuce, I said, “I’ll go down.”

“Sure.”

I could have walked down, but I activated the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes to test out the new skill.

Then, looking at the living room on the first floor…

‘Teleport.’

Whoosh—

I was able to immediately move to where Mom and Grandma were.

Other than some slight dizziness, there were no problems.

‘So it can be used like this!’

Teleportation was also possible through the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes.

‘It’s quite useful!’

While the Absolute Dweller’s Door required a door, Teleport had no such limitation. The only burden was increased mental power consumption as distance increased.

Thanks to diligently increasing my mental power, teleporting once was not much of a burden.

“Mom.”

“Jae-hyun? Didn’t you go up to the rooftop? What about Grandpa?”

“He’s working upstairs. How’s Grandma doing?”

“She just looks like she’s sleeping. Fortunately, she looks healthy, and there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong.”

Mom had worked in a nursing hospital for a long time, so she could distinguish whether Grandma’s condition was serious or not. Thanks to the regular supply of vitality from Grandpa, Grandma was in very good shape.

‘That’s a relief.’

I watched Mom, who was taking care of Grandma with a worried look.

‘I’ve gained Mom’s ability.’

Subordinate Contracts.

After Mom’s trust reached 100, I got her ability to awaken 100 individuals.

Immediately, candidates for awakening came to mind.

‘Those with high loyalty, and those who are actively hunting.’

Among them, those who had good abilities could become vassals.

‘Generally, those who have higher stats when they become vassals gain higher levels and better abilities.’

As I planned while checking the skill window, there was one list faintly shining.

Summon Familiar (1/10)

‘What is it?’

Upon checking.

‘Huh?’

[Summon Familiar] (10,000,000,000 Won) (Activated)

The 10 billion won ‘Summon Familiar’ button was activated.

Summon Familiar.

There was no need to hesitate as I had already seen the ability the Three-Legged Crow possessed.

It was worth the investment.

‘Summon Familiar.’

[Summon Familiar will consume 10,000,000,000 won.]

Immediately after.

Wooong.

Faint green light spread in all directions, drawing a complicated pattern.

The moment the magic circle filled with intricate patterns was completed.

Poof!

A green-colored egg appeared.

It was surrounded by lush leaves.

Soon, the leaves began to open wider, and something was revealed inside.

With pink clothes like flower buds and wings, it was a fairy.

「Fairy (Lv. 1)」

It smiled with its small mouth and fluttered its wings.

Every time the fairy flapped its wings, glittering powder scattered around.

After a few attempts, it finally succeeded in flying.

It circled around me, then landed on my shoulder, opened its arms wide, and hugged my face.

‘Cute.’

Just then.

“Ahem.”

The door opened, and Grandpa appeared.

He had finished his rooftop work and come down.

As soon as Grandpa came down, he immediately checked Grandma’s condition.

Woooong.

The moment he spread green vitality evenly over Grandma’s body.

Flutter.

The fairy quickly flew over and absorbed the green energy emitted by Grandpa with its whole body.

“Huh? What’s this?”

[The Fairy’s level has increased.]

[Natural recovery rate in the area increased by 100%.]

Just as Grandpa’s expression was about to turn scary.

Shalala—

The Fairy fluttered around Grandma, scattering sparkling powder.

At that moment, as if it were a lie, Grandma opened her eyes.

“!!!”

With groggy eyes, Grandma looked at Grandpa’s dirt-covered hands and said.

“Dear. How many times did I tell you to wash your hands after coming down from the rooftop…”

And.

“Why am I so sleepy….”

Yawning with her hand over her mouth, Grandma fell back asleep.

A beat later.

“Sweetheart! Dear! Wake up!”

Grandpa nudged Grandma, but she just breathed peacefully with a relaxed face.

Then, Grandpa turned to the fairy.

“Was it you? Did you do this?”

He then spread green life force towards the fairy.

“Just once. Just try it one more time!”

However, the fairy stretched as if tired and then fell to its side, falling asleep.

“Just try it one more time!”

“Grandpa.”

“Huh?”

“Calm down.”

I could see tears in my agitated Grandpa’s eyes.

Pretending not to notice, I spoke.

“Please also regularly supply vitality to this fairy in the future too. As the fairy’s level increases, the time Grandma spends awake will gradually lengthen.”

And someday, Grandma would fully wake up.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

It seemed that the summoning of the fairy was not just random.

‘It’s related to the World Tree.’

That meant that there were conditions for other summons as well.

[Citizen Shim Kyung-taek has died.]

Since earlier, messages of citizens’ deaths had been appearing.

They were most likely citizens who had recently been accepted in the annex.

While the apartment complex area had relief teams out treating people, that was not the case here.

‘Hundreds more will die.’

I wanted to bring them here if possible, but the relief team was currently busy rescuing people outside the area.

Regardless of where they were, people were dying.

But whether they lived or died depended on where they were.

‘It’s not just here.’

People were dying all over the country, and maybe even worldwide.

People who died from monsters, starved to death trapped in their homes, or died while fighting monsters.

Countless people would die like that.

‘Why did this happen?’

That had always been the question lingering in my mind.

Why did the monsters appear, and why did so many people have to die?

But the world never gave me an answer.

‘I’ve achieved the first goal.’

Saving my family.

I was really lucky.

Thanks to the fact that my whole family was Awakened, we were able to survive in this world.

Now, if only Grandma woke up, it would be perfect.

‘As for the second goal…’

There was always a question that accompanied me, about why the world had changed so much.

Why was I given such immense power?

Compared to ordinary Awakened individuals like Ha Dong-geon, Oh Eon-ju, Kim Da-jeong, and Seo Ye-jin, my abilities were overwhelmingly huge.

The only person whose abilities could be compared to mine was Grandpa, but even he fell slightly short compared to what I possessed.

Perhaps my family was given these powers not just because they are my family.

But if that were the case, then why again, was I given such immense power?

I kept asking, but as always, the world did not show me an answer, and I had to find the answer myself.

‘There’s a saying that with great power comes great responsibility!’

It was a famous line from a movie in my memories.

The fact that the line from the movie’s protagonist still remained in my mind meant that it had significant meaning to me.

‘As for the second goal… It’s a bit embarrassing, but it’s to save my country!’

Honestly, I’m not sure about the whole world.

But if I continue to level up steadily and build outposts or annexes with the money I earn, I might be able to save South Korea with my own hands.

‘At least, as much as I can.’

Currently, the total population I can grant citizenship to is 220,000.

I should at least fill that up.

Among them, only 10,000 people had been filled in by me.

‘Come to think of it, wasn’t there a message that citizens could acquire jobs after reaching 10,000 people?’

They said that citizens would be able to acquire jobs, but there was no change in the Citizen Management window.

‘Do we have to build the Job Research Institute first? Construction mode.’

List of available construction options:

-직업 연구소 (2,500,000,000 원)

-Job Research Institute (2,500,000,000 won)

A research institute that studies citizens’ occupations.

Once research is completed, citizens can autonomously acquire the job.

Currently researchable jobs:

-Hunter: Acquires by-products of prey.

It seems that the Job Research Institute required a large separate area.

Fortunately, there was a flat land in the area that the Cyclops had created a mess of.

I imagined constructing the Institute in that place.

‘Constructing the Job Research Institute.’

[This facility requires 30 citizens during the construction period (7 days).]

[Citizens residing there during the construction period will receive a daily wage of 200,000 won.]

[Would you like to proceed with the installation?]

[Yes/No]

It seemed that I would need to talk with Kim Dabin to recruit 30 construction workers.