Absolute Dweller

[Episode 13] Building the Foundation (4)

Ha Dong-geon opened his eyes.

Dazzling sunlight poured into the bedroom as he pulled open the blackout curtains.

The sun was already high in the sky.

This was his newlywed home.

Since Kim Jae-hyun’s area expanded to the entire apartment complex, he had moved and lived here with Kim Ga-yeong.

Moon Byeong-ho, his grandmother, Kang Deok-su, and Kim Geon were originally staying in Room 2901. Room 2902 was Kim Da-jeong’s home, but it was now shared with Yoo Hye-rin and Oh Eon-ju.

When Ha Dong-geon and Kim Ga-yeong lived here together, the house felt cramped, so as soon as conditions allowed, they moved.

‘The smell of soybean paste stew¹된장찌개 – Doenjang-jjigae).’

When he opened the door and stepped out, he saw his mother-in-law and Kim Ga-yeong cooking together in the kitchen.

“Are you up?”

“Where’s Myung-hwan?”

“He went hunting early in the morning.”

“Without eating breakfast?”

“You have to go really far if you want to hunt goblins.”

Currently, although a considerable portion of the roads had been repaired, there weren’t many people with intact cars.

As a result, they had to walk over 2km to hunt.

“Myung-hwan is also working hard.”

“He wants to be like us.”

Ever since Kim Myung-hwan witnessed Ha Dong-geon’s party fighting, he had been going out for monster hunting every day, trying hard to achieve results.

In order to be chosen by Kim Jae-hyun, he had to become someone who could produce results through hunting.

“I hear he’s doing well these days.”

He heard that Myung-hwan had formed a hunting team with people his age and was active. Their performance was not bad.

“Myung-hwan is talented with a bow, just like me.”

Of course, Kim Myung-hwan not only had talent but also a good bow.

Because Ha Dong-geon and Kim Ga-yeong had supported him with bows and spears from the beginning, so his starting point was different from others.

“Ha-seobang (son-in-law)²Son-in-law Ha is too much of a mouthful, so I’m going to use ‘-seobang’ instead of ‘son-in-law’., come sit.”

“Thank you.”

Ha Dong-geon smiled as he looked at the table full of Korean dishes.

“Ever since mother-in-law came, the food has become very plentiful.”

Kim Ga-yeong immediately tackled him.

“Oh, was I not generous enough before?”

“We had a lot of delivery back then. Pizza, chicken, yukhoe³Yukhoe (육회) – Korean raw meat dish. Sounds weird, but think of it like beef tartar.…”

“C’mon! I cooked for you at least three or four times a week!”

“Yeah, ramen, fried rice, spam, all of it was delicious.”

“Ahem.”

Mother-in-law covered her mouth and chuckled.

“I’m sorry. I must’ve raised our Ga-yeong too preciously. Still, I thought she would do well on her own after getting married….”

“Ga-yeong is really good at cooking ramen.”

After the noisy meal with the three ended, Kim Ga-yeong said: “Should we grill meat for dinner tonight?⁴Or ‘Should we eat barbecue tonight?’”

“Sounds good.”

“Mom! We’ll go grocery shopping!”

“Okay.”

As they stepped outside, chilly air brushed against their cheeks.

“Should we walk for a bit? To digest.”

“Sure.”

Kim Ga-yeong took Ha Dong-geon’s hand and led him along the walking trail.

Perhaps because the weather had turned cold, there were only the two of them.

Kim Ga-yeong asked.

“Are you okay?”

“What?”

Kim Ga-yeong grumbled as she watched Ha Dong-geon answer nonchalantly.

“Just tell me if it’s hard. I understand, okay?”

“I got it.”

“Ugh, it’s cold. Let’s quickly buy some meat and go back.”

Ha Dong-geon had accumulated over several hundred million won from hunting.

Thanks to his central role in the party, he could earn a lot of money with just the basic salary.

It wasn’t only Ha Dong-geon. Everyone in the party were also millionaires, if not worth hundreds of millions.

‘It’s peaceful.’

Unlike the fierce battles they fought outside, the inside of the homebound area was incredibly peaceful.

The streets were lonelier now that the weather got chillier, but being able to walk without worrying about monster attacks felt like a blessing.

When they arrived at the store, they bought enough meat and vegetables and returned home.

Kim Myung-hwan returned around sunset, and they had dinner together.

“Noona, listen! Today, I finally succeeded in hunting orcs for the first time!”

“Orcs? You? How?”

“I pierced its head with an arrow! Mae-hyung⁵Mae-hyung – elder sister’s husband/brother-in-law., you should have seen that scene!”

That evening was filled with Kim Myung-hwan’s heroic tales.

After a hearty dinner, they dispersed to their respective rooms.

Kim Myung-hwan went into the small room at the end of the hallway and quickly fell asleep. His mother-in-law also slept in what used to be the guest room.

Ha Dong-geon and Kim Ga-yeong went into the master bedroom and lay down on the bed.

“Good night.”

“You too.”

There was silence for a while.

Then.

“You know?”

Ha Dong-geon’s voice echoed in the darkness.

“I… why can’t I seem to cry?”

“Dong-geon ah.”

“I’m not an unfilial child, right? But should I say that it doesn’t feel real? It was clearly my home, and the bloodstains were obvious, but it feels like they’re still alive somewhere.”

Ha Dong-geon’s calm voice didn’t contain any sadness.

He continued in a calm, unaffected voice.

“I sleep more than usual, and the food tastes good. I should be sad, I should be grieving, but strangely, I can’t seem to do that.”

Kim Ga-yeong slowly moved and held Ha Dong-geon in her arms.

“Ga-yeong?”

Ha Dong-geon didn’t cry.

No, maybe he couldn’t cry.

Therefore, it was Kim Ga-yeong’s role to cry in his stead again today.

“Ga-yeong, I’m really okay.”

“…It’s because I’m not okay.”

Kim Ga-yeong said in a crying voice, “Let’s stay like this for a little longer.”

Ha Dong-geon wanted to wipe away Kim Ga-yeong’s tears, but he didn’t have the energy to do so.

It was too hard to lift his hand.

‘I’m sleepy…’

Sleepiness overwhelmed him.

He seemed to be sleeping a lot these days.

It wasn’t like this before.

No matter how much he slept, he couldn’t get rid of his fatigue, as if his mind was foggy.

Would the sun be in the middle of the sky when he woke up again tomorrow?

The days seemed incredibly short.

It was the first time in his life that he had been so lazy, and Ha Dong-geon couldn’t quite adapt to this lazy self.

Still, it was too bothersome to do anything.

He would just spend another day like today, breathing.

Kim Ga-yeong said, “I’m sorry.”

Her trembling voice turned into a lullaby, and Ha Dong-geon felt his eyelids growing heavier.

‘Don’t cry.’

He wanted to say it, he wanted to comfort Kim Ga-yeong, but he didn’t have the strength.

He had no choice but to surrender to the overwhelming drowsiness.

“It’s okay. It will be okay soon.”

Kim Ga-yeong’s embrace was warm.

Like her words.

Time flew by.

Over the past ten days, everyone worked together to clean up the city, and stability was quickly restored.

Talented individuals emerged from everywhere.

The ones making the most significant contributions were those who had experience working on construction sites.

“Hey, Mr. Kim! Over here!”

“Start from here!”

They operated heavy machinery to quickly repair the city destroyed by Cyclops.

Experts from various fields stepped up to assist each other.

However, there was a problem.

‘The economically active population⁶I did a little research, but labor force/workforce/economically active population/active population are all the same thing. It comprises of “all persons of either sex who furnish the supply of labor for the production of economic goods and services. is full!’

Currently, there were two main ways for citizens to earn money: becoming part of the labor force and receiving a daily wage, or hunting monsters.

While the workforce increased along with the population, it was not unlimited.

I could provide temporary relief by delivering wages through quests, but this was only a temporary solution.

Inevitably, people had to resort to hunting monsters to make a living.

Especially students.

For them, who had no experience or specialized knowledge, contributing to the labor force was not easy.

Even jobs like cleaning bathrooms or taking care of trash were difficult to find due to intense competition.

Ultimately, the only option left for them was to hunt monsters.

‘The problem is that the level of monsters has risen too high.’

For ordinary people who had just started hunting, the only prey they could aim for was goblins.

No, from the perspective of ordinary people, even dealing with goblins was considered quite dangerous.

However, there weren’t many places to hunt goblins.

‘Except for some areas, all that’s left are powerful monsters like marine monsters or orcs.’

The area where goblins appeared was beyond Hwangnyeongsan Mountain in Yeonsan-dong.

Currently, that was the only spot goblins were appearing.

Of course, the place was already occupied by veterans who were accustomed to hunting goblins. It was a tough world for children who had just been granted citizenship to live in on their own.

Many of them managed to survive thanks to the welfare system’s free distribution centers.

‘We have to give them a chance!’

Sometimes, there were cases where students were picked up by those who could afford it. However, this was mostly among close friends or acquaintances, and there were still children who fell into blind spots of attention.

‘If only there were enough goblins…’

During the time the territory was expanding, there were plenty of goblins around and there was no problem.

People could easily hunt goblins with crude weapons, and they would gradually grow.

‘I never thought there would come a day when I would wish for the existence of monsters.’

It was ironic.

The monsters that were once like nightmares had now become necessary for maintaining society.

While grappling with this problem, a welcome notification sounded.

[Citizen Lee Joon-hyuk has defeated the leader of the ‘Lizardman Swamp’.]

[You have obtained 10 crystals as a reward.]

[You have completely conquered the dungeon for the first time.]

[You have obtained 100 crystals as a reward.]

As planned, Lee Joon-hyuk’s party successfully completed 10 conquests of the D-grade dungeon.

‘Thanks to the first-time reward, I now have 400 crystals.’

The number of crystals needed for the Amazing Draw was 300.

‘There might be a solution in the draw.’

As I was looking forward to what I would get this time with the draw.

[The conditions have been met.]

[The ‘F-grade Instant Dungeon {Goblin Lair}’ has been added to the list of constructable items.]

“Huh?”

I couldn’t help but tilt my head at the strange notification.

‘I can build dungeons?’

-F-grade Instant Dungeon {Goblin Lair} (13,000,000 won)

A hunting ground for low-level citizens.

A 2x basic salary will be applied to citizens below level 20.

Can be conquered 100 times, with approximately 80-110 goblins appearing each time.

※Up to 10 can be installed at once.

‘…This?’

An instant dungeon.

It was a facility that could not only solve the hunting problem but also help nurture new hunting teams.

The ability to create monsters.

I had some awareness that my ability was fundamentally based on ‘creation’.

Maintaining a shop, dignity maintenance.

It could be said that my ability included creating gas, electricity, water, and other things.

But I never thought I could create monsters.

‘I’ll use it for now.’

It was a function that was desperately needed in the current situation.

‘I need to explain it to everyone now.’

I contacted Kim Da-bin right away.

[Ms. Dabin.]

[Yes, Mr. Jae-hyun.]

[Please gather all the head managers.]

[Understood.]

Through Kim Dabin’s telepathy, the heads quickly gathered.

“There will be dungeons within the area in the future.”

Some of the heads were already aware of the dungeon that Lee Joon-hyuk’s party was conquering.

“Do you mean the dungeon with the Lizardmen?”

“No, it’s a bit different. The dungeons that will appear in the future will be much easier.”

“Then…”

“Yes. It’s a dungeon with goblins.”

The reaction of the head managers upon hearing about the dungeon with goblins was split in half.

“What happens if we fail to conquer the dungeon?”

There were those who were cautious about the dungeon.

“If it’s a dungeon with goblins, then it’s quite welcome. There are quite a few people thirsting for goblin hunting.”

And those who welcomed it.

I said to them.

“There won’t be anything exceedingly dangerous in the dungeon. However, unlike the dungeon that Lee Joon-hyuk’s party is currently targeting, you will have to conquer it a total of 100 times, and each time you will need to defeat almost 100 goblins. I think it could be quite a dangerous challenge depending on the level of the party.”

It was an instant dungeon to support those who made a living by hunting.

If someone were to lose their life or get seriously injured there, it would be absurd.

“Therefore, I want to establish a clear standard for parties so they can handle fighting 100 goblins.⁷Not sure if this came across correctly but Jae-hyun means he wants to make sure the party is capable of fighting 100 goblins before they enter, so they’re going to make clear standards for that.“