Absolute Dweller

Chapter 75: Eve of the Storm (2)

[Episode 16] Eve of the Storm (2)

I said to Moon Ji-hoon, who was staring at the frozen wall blankly.

[Mr. Moon Ji-hoon, please gather your party members and come up to the 30th floor.]

[Mr. Moon Ji-hoon?]

“Oh, yes, yes! W-What did you say?”

[Please come up to the 30th floor. It will only take a moment.]

“Oh, understood!”

After calling Moon Ji-hoon, I finished my meal.

“Thank you for the meal.”

“Yes, very.”

“Hehe.”

I placed the used dishes in the dishwasher, turned it on, and then sat on the sofa.

Kkami took over my lap, and I gently stroked him.

Cheeeep.

Seeing the relaxed Kkami, I smiled slightly, and Seo Ye-jin sat next to me.

“Kkami seems to have low energy these days. Maybe because the days are getting shorter.”

I chuckled and replied, “That’s how he’s always been.”

The image I had of Kkami was mostly of him lying under the sunlight with a languid expression, sunbathing.

“Oppa, want to watch a movie?”

“A movie?”

“Yes. It’s an old movie called ‘The Notebook’.”

“Where did you get it?”

“I don’t know. It was being sold. Ta-da!”

Seo Ye-jin hummed proudly while taking out a USB.

“Just a minute, oppa!”

“Sure.”

Running to the kitchen, Seo Ye-jin started preparing something with a rustling sound.

‘Things like this are coming out a lot these days.’

It wasn’t just movies.

Dramas, YouTube videos, novels, comics, music, and so on.

Various content was being traded among citizens.

Of course, most of them were files downloaded illegally.

Even if it was purchased legitimately with money, sharing it with others for a fee was illegal.

However.

‘With the world in chaos, does it even matter?’

In fact, one could argue that illegal downloaders were preserving humanity’s cultural heritage.

Anyway, there were quite a few people who exchanged videos or sold them directly for money.

The strange thing was that most of the small-scale transactions among citizens were conducted in ‘cash’. It was possible for citizens to trade money in their wallets.

But there was a ‘transaction fee’ like when I gave money to citizens.

To save on the 10% commission, most of the transactions used cash.

Because of this, about two weeks ago, there were citizens who smashed nearby ATMs or searched for vacant houses to get cash, calling themselves ‘Treasure Hunters.’

‘It was quite helpful.’

The fact that a new profession like Treasure Hunter had emerged was a welcome development.

Because there were limits to the economically active skill and monster hunting.

Furthermore, thanks to the cash they brought in, various transactions began to take place more actively.

The cash they brought in exponentially increased the number of ways people could earn money.

There were also used car dealers who found decent cars abandoned on the road and resold them, and various people selling food began to appear. There were also those who sold content, like the movie Seo Ye-jin bought.

Everyone started to earn money in their own way.

To what extent were cash transactions utilized? Among some people who made a living by hunting monsters, there were those who bought goods at the store, received cash, resold the goods, or those who bought cash with a 10% transaction fee.

This was because there were products that could not be traded without cash.

‘Well, in a way, you could say I was a Treasure Hunter too.’

Of course, I was a bit different from ordinary people.

While they were struggling to destroy ATMs or open doors of vacant houses to get cash, I used the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes and the warehouse to raid the bank vault.

Thanks to that,the small room in my house was still full of cash.

While I was lost in my thoughts…

Pop, pop, pop!

There was a sound like something popping in the kitchen, and the smell of popcorn spread throughout the house.

“Popcorn?”

“Yeah. It’s good, isn’t it?”

“The smell alone is great.”

After a while, Seo Ye-jin came with a bowl full of popcorn.

“Ta-da!”

I tried one; it was deliciously salty and buttery.

“You made it well.”

“This is basic¹Doesn’t require a lot of cooking skill, it’s one of the basics/fundamentals.!”

I ruffled Seo Ye-jin’s hair and said, “Thanks. I’ll enjoy it.”

She smiled broadly and plugged the USB into the TV in the living room.

After turning off the lights, a perfect movie theater was created.

Although the sound of the dishwasher running could be heard, it wasn’t bothersome.

As the movie started, Kkami’s eyes sparkled, and he began to watch the TV with a bright face.

Seo Ye-jin gently stroked Kkami’s head and said, “It’s going to be fun, right, Kkami?”

Cheep!

It was one of the few times Kkami appeared energetic.

‘Absolute Dweller’s Eyes.’

When I checked with the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes, I saw Moon Ji-hoon, Moon Sang-hoon, and Baek Seung-yeop gathering and preparing to head up.

[Mr. Moon Ji-hoon, I’m sorry but can you come early tomorrow morning?]

“Huh? Yes?”

[I have some urgent business.]

“Oh, I see. I’ll come early tomorrow morning.”

As I looked to the side, I saw Seo Ye-jin and Kkami deeply engrossed in the movie.

‘It’s peaceful.’

After watching them for a moment, I turned my head and watched the movie.

While watching the movie, I began to use the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes to look around the entire area.

First, I noticed the well-maintained roads.

There weren’t any destroyed or abandoned vehicles, and a small number of cars were driving by. It wasn’t as much as before the world changed, but traffic facilities like traffic lights were also operating normally.

‘It’s all thanks to the restoration skill.’

The Absolute Dweller’s Restore²This skill was previously just ‘Restore’, although it has Absolute Dweller tacked to it now. was a skill that wasn’t used much.

That’s because it required a lot of money, and there was no reason to spend it to repair broken windows or houses.

Other than repairing the window that Kkami broke when he transformed and the door of Room 2902 where Kim Da-jeong lives, I hardly used the skill.

I used the construction skill to build solar power generators or a gym in places destroyed by the Cyclops.

Therefore, there was no need to repair small things or collapsed buildings.

However, as the use of roads increased, there were many cases where I had to restore the damaged roads.

Immediately after realizing that it would be a skill I would use a lot in the future, I invested one of the two remaining skill points in the Restore skill.

‘That was a jackpot.’

As the Restore skill became level 2, a new function called ‘Clay Doll³토용 – clay/a doll made with clay. Production’ was created, which was a jackpot.

Just then, in the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes, I saw a road undergoing restoration work.

‘They’re working hard.’

It was a place where the Cyclops left behind a huge footprint, and the clay dolls were busy moving around.

Kugugugu.

When the clay dolls reached out their hands to the broken concrete, it slowly restored and regained its former appearance.

‘It’s definitely worth the high cost!’

It was a whopping 300 million for each one.

But I liked their performance so much that I filled all 30 of them, which was the maximum.

It cost 10 billion in total, but it would have cost several times more if I had used the Restore skill to repair all the roads in the past month.

‘Good thing I leveled up the Restore skill!’

I once again experienced the infinite possibilities of leveling up kills, but I still couldn’t easily use the last skill point.

There were many places to use the skill point.

Dignity Maintenance, which always had attractive functions, was good, but I also wanted to increase the limit of the warehouse, which was 200kg.

In addition, I was drawn to Absolute Dweller’s Eyes, which I used almost every day, as well as the Invisible Hand, Health, and the Door.

All of these skills were worth leveling up.

‘But…’

There was a reason I hadn’t used the last skill point for a whole month.

‘I’m still only level 25.’

I hadn’t experienced a level up ever since defeating the Higher Vampire and reaching level 25 a month ago.

‘It feels like the required experience points have skyrocketed!’

There hadn’t been any high-level monsters like the Higher Vampire, but I could proudly say that we’ve hunted plenty of monsters.

Ha Dong-geon’s party successfully attacked the new dungeon with a limit of 30, and when the attack count was over and disappeared, a new dungeon was immediately created.

‘Yet it still seems to be insufficient.’

I had to reach level 30 to acquire a new skill point.

But even getting to level 26 was so difficult, so reaching level 30 would be even harder.

Naturally, it meant that it would take longer than now.

‘The monsters around here have also significantly decreased.’

Thanks to the active hunting teams including Ha Dong-geon’s party, the number of monsters around here had dried up.

Now, it was necessary to go a long distance to hunt monsters, so it became standard to travel by car.

‘I need to create hunting points elsewhere.’

I was thinking of finding an area rich in monsters and creating an outpost there.

‘Once an outpost is created, the Absolute Dweller’s Door can be used.’

Moreover, there was a high probability that high-level monsters were established in other areas.

‘If there were a few more Higher Vampires, I would’ve reached level 30 in no time.’

However, I didn’t expect much.

I thought it was unlikely that there would be a bunch of high-level monsters.

At least for now.

“Ugh!”

A man lifted in the air clutching his neck struggled to survive.

He desperately scratched at the thick hand wrapping around his neck with his sharp nails in vain.

“Hey. What was your name again?”

“Ugh! Aargh!”

“I see. You can’t speak in this state.”

When he released his grip, the man who fell to the ground gasped for air.

“Ugh! Huff, hoo.”

Panting heavily, the man slowly raised his head and looked up.

The monster strangling his neck was huge. With a height that seemed to exceed 2 meters, and a body that was covered with solid muscles like rocks.

Just looking at its body, it seemed more like an orc than a human.

The monster opened its mouth.

“What’s your name?”

“..My name is Kim Jun-ho, gasp.”

Contrary to the rebellious look in his eyes, Kim Jun-ho spoke calmly and respectfully.

“Alright. Do you know Jeong Yeong-hoon?”

“!!”

Seeing Kim Jun-ho’s reaction, the monster spoke nonchalantly.

“Yeah, yeah, that son of a bitch who likes to act tough.”

Kim Jun-ho revealed his teeth and showed his hostility towards the monster.

“Did he send you?”

“What?”

The monster said with a frown.

“Do I look like I’m working for that idiot?”

The monster muttered with a look of deep displeasure.

“Tsk. Judging by the fact that you don’t even know that bastard is dead, you probably don’t know where he died either.”

“W-What? He’s dead?! That bastard?”

The monster, with a face now showing disinterest, waved its hand without a word.

Bam!

In an instant, Kim Jun-ho’s head flew off.

The headless body of Kim Jun-ho slowly collapsed forward. The monster reached out towards Kim Jun-ho’s body.

Gurgle.

All of Kim Jun-ho’s blood gathered and slowly floated up into the air. When the monster slowly opened its mouth, sharp fangs could be seen gleaming in the darkness.

Chomp!

The blood was sucked into the creature’s mouth, and after finishing its meal, the monster slowly stepped out of the office.

There, hell unfolded.

The bodies of dozens of vampires were scattered around, some of them still writhing and clinging to life.

The monster walked slowly towards them. Then, as it had done to Kim Jun-ho, it reached out its hand.

Gurgle.

Blood surged up and disappeared into its mouth again.

“Hmm.”

The monster who had been smacking its lips frowned and grumbled.

“Where the hell did that fucking bastard die?”