Absolute Dweller - Chapter 18: Quest Reward (3)

[Episode 04] Quest Reward (3)

Using his teleportation ability, Mun Byeong-ho arrived at the home ahead of the rest of the party and quickly entered.

Click.

He inserted the key, opened the front door, and headed straight to the bedroom where his grandmother was.

Moon Byeong-ho, upon finding his grandmother lying in bed under the blankets as usual, breathed a sigh of relief. He approached carefully and spoke.

“Grandma, I’m here.”

“Hmm?”

When his grandmother woke up, she looked momentarily confused but soon reached out with both hands to cup Mun Byeong-ho’s face. Shortly after, she burst into tears, crying like a child.

“Sniff. Grandma, I’m sorry. I wasn’t too late, right?”

While comforting his grandmother and sharing a moment of understanding, Mun Byeong-ho made a vow.

‘Mr. Jae-hyun, I will dedicate my life to you.’

***

I watched with satisfaction as Moon Byeong-ho and his grandmother reunited.

‘Great.’

From my perspective, Moon Byeong-ho could only be looked upon favorably.

Rapidly increasing trust and loyalty.

Honestly, how many people would dislike someone willing to believe in themselves and pledge loyalty?

Even just saying the right things would make that person look good, but in my case, it was visible in numerical terms, so it was even better.

‘This guy hits the jackpot every time.’

Among Ha Dong-geon’s party, he was the first to be recognized as a vassal, awakening the A-rank ability Teleport as he reached level 30.

Even when playing mobile games, you tend to like getting high-rarity characters in gacha draws.

Moreover, Moon Byeong-ho was not a character in a game, but a real person with a top-tier ability.

And this time, he even earned skill points.

‘There’s really no goose that lays golden eggs.’

At that moment, when Moon Byeong-ho, who had been hugging his grandmother and crying, raised his head with a determined expression, a new notification appeared.

[Citizen Moon Byeong-ho’s loyalty has increased.]

[Citizen Moon Byeong-ho’s loyalty has reached 100.]

[Citizen Moon Byeong-ho is already registered as a vassal.]

[Vassal registration limit has increased.]

“Huh?”

I immediately opened the skill window and checked the Vassal Management tab.

ᛇVassal Management

1. Choi Hyeong-jun (Lv. 20) [+]

2. Moon Byeong-ho (Lv. 30) [+]

3. Kang Deok-su (Lv. 25) [+]

(3 / 11 members)

The number of slots had increased from 10 to 11.

“Ha, hahaha.”

I was so happy that I burst out laughing.

‘Moon Byeong-ho, you’re totally a god-tier character, a god-tier.’

If you’ve played an RPG game, you’ve probably heard the term before.

God-tier (blessed character).

Enhancing, acquiring items through hunting, or opening randomly obtained boxes—characters who perform significantly better than others.

I couldn’t find a term more fitting for Moon Byeong-ho now.

‘I’ll definitely nurture you.’

I resolved to provide Moon Byeong-ho with everything I could in the future, whether it was leveling up or quest rewards.

Regardless of the cost.

The value of what he had already earned for me was easily worth billions.

Leaving aside everything else, just ‘skill points’ had that much value.

‘Even if it wasn’t that much, it was still close.’

I was worried because all 40 slots were almost filled.

No matter how I looked at it, it seemed that I would run out of store slots before I reached level 10.

But now that I had skill points, there was no need to worry. All I had to do was level up immediately after filling the slots.

‘Come to think of it, how much money do I have left?’

Upon checking, there was about 11 million won left in the Absolute Dweller’s wallet.

Despite spending quite a bit, there was still some left thanks to the mass hunting.

I have earned millions of won from goblins alone.

Although the goblins killed alongside the expansion of the homebound area didn’t count for bonus settlements since they were considered killed directly by me, the sheer number earned me quite a fortune.

‘Let’s check how much it costs to level up our soldiers.’

I pressed the [+] button next to Moon Byeong-ho’s level.

And I was shocked by the amount.

[Insufficient cash to level up.]

[To raise the level of Vassal Moon Byeong-ho, you need 100,000,000 won.]

[Increase your cash holdings and try again.]

“……”

Faced with the overwhelmingly shocking message, I stood frozen for a moment.

‘Ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million, ten million… hundred million.’

100 million.

To raise Byeong-ho’s level by one, a whopping 100 million won was needed.

‘Sorry, Byeong-ho.’

Unless something special happened, Byeong-ho’s level was unlikely to increase in the future.

‘But I’ll give you daily quests every day.’

Even if it required spending more money to lower the difficulty, I intended to have Moon Byeong-ho complete all of his daily quests.

Accumulating day by day, Moon Byeong-ho would quickly become stronger.

Observing Byeong-ho carrying his grandmother back here through the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes, I thought to myself.

‘If the jackpot hits just one more time, then I’ll seriously consider leveling him. Really.’

I didn’t expect much.

Just one more time.

‘Huh?’

At that moment, I felt someone arrive on the 30th floor through the elevator.

‘Who is it?’

Turning the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes in this direction and checking the corridor, I saw a muscular man and a woman with a slim figure coming with something in her hands.

‘It’s them.’

The average level of adult men was around 7 to 8, but the man was at level 15.

The woman accompanying him also had an impressive level of 11.

They got off the elevator, glanced at my house, then headed towards Choi Hyeong-jun’s house, pressing the doorbell.

♬♪♬♩~

Park Hye-won opened the door and greeted them.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Kim Dabin (Da-bin), and this is my younger brother, Kim Minho (Min-ho). We live in Apartment 1701.”

“Oh, I see. What brings you here?”

“We have a favor to ask.”

Kim Dabin spoke with a serious expression.

“I know it’s shameless, but could I use your shower just once?”

I wondered what significant request they had, but it turned out to be merely taking a shower.

“A shower?”

“Yes, a shower.”

Park Hye-won nodded readily as if understanding.

“Of course, come in.”

“Thank you so much!”

As Kim Minho entered the house, he extended a box to Park Hye-won.

“Ma’am, may I know where I can put this?”

“Oh, what’s all this?”

“I brought some canned goods and various things.”

“Really?”

The box he was holding was full of useful items, spanning from cans of tuna to whelks, chicken breast, spam, and more.

[Footnote: Golbaengi, a type of seasoned food made by mixing moon snails with vegetables.]

‘Burn all of that for just one shower?’

During times like these, non-perishable food with a long shelf life was considered as valuable as treasure.

Naturally, it was excessive compensation for just one shower.

“Oh my. You really don’t have to.”

“No! When you come barging into someone else’s house and make an inconvenient request, you should come prepared for this much, right?”

Kim Minho, who had been acting nervously, revealed his true intentions afterward.

“For the future, please take good care of us a bit more… hehe.”

Only then did their intentions become clear.

‘Well, that makes sense. It seems like they mean to ask for showers occasionally in the future.’

It could be seen as a very clever strategy.

In this ruined world, they had realized early-on the value of having electricity, water, and gas.

Perhaps they intended to secure that value with bold investments at the beginning.

However, from the following conversation, it became apparent that their goal wasn’t solely that.

After glancing at Park Hye-won, Kim Dabin cautiously brought up the topic.

“Um… do the people carrying the bow and baseball bats live next door?”

“Yes?”

After a moment of pondering, Park Hye-won clapped her hands as if realizing who they were talking about.

“Oh, those people. They aren’t the neighbors. Originally, they lived in a different neighborhood… It’s a bit complicated, to be honest. Anyway, there’s only one person living next door.”

After hearing Park Hye-won’s words, Kim Dabin asked.

“By any chance, is it the person with pale skin who can create things out of thin air and such?”

“Oh, right. You know about them?”

Upon hearing this, Kim Minho chimed in with his answer.

“Well, you see, we saw them fighting monsters in the corridor yesterday. Among them, that person was something…”

While speaking, Kim Minho shivered.

At that timing, Kim Dabin continued his words.

“That person was emitting an unusual atmosphere.”

“More than that, it was somewhat… scary.”

In response to Kim Minho’s continued answer, Kim Dabin asked with a puzzled expression.

“Scary? Coming from you with that physique?”

“No, I know. It’s just that… there was some instinctive fear, you know?”

At that moment, Park Hye-won spoke to them.

“First, don’t just stand there in the entrance like that. Come inside.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Following Park Hye-won’s guidance, they entered the house and soon met Choi Hyeong-jun.

Choi Hyeong-jun was doing squats in the living room.

“Oh, sir! You’re exercising. But doing squats like that will ruin your knees!”

When Kim Dabin exclaimed, Kim Minho immediately approached Choi Hyeong-jun and corrected his posture.

“Widen your legs a bit more, and pay attention so that your knees don’t go beyond your toes. Move your hips a bit more to the back.”

“T-Thank you?”

Choi Hyeong-jun looked at his wife, Park Hye-won, with a gaze that seemed to seek an explanation.

Instead of answering, Park Hye-won took out a can of tuna from the box brought by Kim Dabin and shook it.

Meanwhile, Kim Minho, who was correcting Choi Hyeong-jun’s posture, was surprised and said.

“You… no, Boss. You seem to exercise a lot regularly. Your muscles are amazing.”

[Footnote: 사장님 – Boss.]

“It’s not like that…”

“No, but why is your posture…”

Park Hye-won spoke to the confused Kim Minho.

“Feel free to shower over there. Ms. Dabin can take a shower in the master bedroom. You can use the towels inside.”

At that point, I released the Absolute Dweller’s Eye.

‘Not bad.’

First of all, they seemed like decent people.

Even without them, I was thinking of forming another team with high-level individuals. Adding a few more people to these two would create a suitable combination.

‘I guess I’ll go once they finish showering.’

After registering the canned goods they brought, it would be possible to level up the shop.

‘I should chat with them a bit.’

I planned to assign the new team tasks such as procuring supplies and rescuing survivors in other apartment buildings.

It was then.

[Citizen Choi Hyeong-jun has completed a quest.]

[Quest cost: 78,145 won.]

[Citizen Choi Hyeong-jun has used all available quest attempts for today.]

[Citizen Choi Hyeong-jun’s completed quests are being evaluated.]

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

In the meantime, the quest given to Choi Hyeong-jun had ended.

‘The efficiency isn’t great.’

I gave him the same strength-enhancement quests that had been given to Kang Deok-su, but despite significantly increasing the number of reps, the quest cost did not decrease much.

‘It’s probably because of his awakened abilities.’

For Choi Hyeong-jun, who had the ability Gorilla’s Might, regular body exercises were likely too easy.

‘Can’t help it.’

For now, even if it cost money, I planned to continue providing opportunities for growth to those who became vassals.

I also found out that the additional daily quest rewards were better than I expected, so it was well worth the investment.

Just like in the case of Moon Byeong-ho, if a jackpot came out, it would be a huge success.

‘Wait a minute. Come to think of it, isn’t Choi Hyeong-jun exercising skill proficiency training? If so, would I get skill points again if the jackpot is hit?’

My dreams were short-lived.

[Evaluation complete.]

[Strength has slightly increased.]

Choi Hyeong-jun promptly betrayed my expectations.

‘…Dammit.’

[Footnote: 김새네 – To lose spirit or energy because joy or excitement has disappeared.]

Because there was such a huge additional reward last time, this reward felt disappointingly shabby.

However, at that moment.

[You have hunted a Red Tiger (Lv. 27).]

[You have gained a large amount of experience points.]

[39,783,200 won has been deposited into the Absolute Dweller’s wallet.]

[Skill level has increased.]

[A new skill has been acquired.]

‘What?’

I urgently opened the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes to check the situation of Ha Dong-geon’s party.

“Huff, huff.”

There, a dead Red Tiger was lying beneath Moon Byeong-ho, who was panting while covered in blood.

‘What happened?’

Before I could properly grasp the situation:

‘Ugh!’

The pain began.