CHAPTER 9

Survivors (4)

I was carefully observing the walking trail, hoping they might reappear.

[An unauthorized entity is attempting to enter.]

"Huh?"

At the sudden alarm, I tilted my head in confusion, then was struck by an unsettling thought.

'Could there still be goblins left?'

I grew worried that something might have happened to Choi Hyung-jun.

'Eye of the Absolute.'

I immediately activated my skill to check the emergency exit.

And there, I spotted people dressed in a familiar manner.

"Huh? It says we can't get in."

"What do you mean?"

"Can't you see? A weird message popped up in front of me."

"What? Then how did that guy get in?"

"I don't know."

Six men and women, each gripping a different weapon.

'It's them!'

I didn't expect to make contact with them so soon.

'They're more capable than I thought.'

Choi Hyung-jun had done a much better job than I had anticipated.

As I deactivated my Eye of the Absolute skill to greet them, a new notification appeared before me.

Along with photos of the six individuals I had just seen.

[Entities meeting the conditions for citizenship have approached the vicinity of your home.]

[Would you like to offer them citizenship?]

This revealed a new fact to me.

'Citizenship has changed to an offer now.'

Unlike Choi Hyung-jun's family, who had been inside my domain from the start, these people had been outside of it.

'People included during the territory expansion are forcibly granted citizenship, but in cases like this, they're given a choice.'

An offer.

That meant they could decide for themselves whether to become citizens or not.

Which also meant—

'They can refuse.'

How could I eliminate the option of refusal from their minds?

As I pondered, a ringtone suddenly rang out.

♬♪♬♩~

The moment I heard it, an idea struck me.

'This is it.'

If I could make accepting citizenship feel like nothing significant, they would accept it without hesitation.

'Grant a quest.'

[Civilian Choi Hyung-jun is already undertaking a quest.]

[Would you like to reset the quest?]

'Yes.'

[Please reset the quest.]

The new quest was simple.

'Serve a meal to six guests.'

[The quest details have been updated.]

At the same time, I checked the situation outside via the wall pad monitor.

Choi Hyung-jun, who had been about to ring the doorbell, noticed the updated quest and tilted his head in confusion before heading toward the emergency exit.

Through the wall pad's speaker, I heard their conversation.

"Would you like to join us for a meal at my home?"

"Huh? But we can't even get inside."

At that moment, I mentally commanded:

'Offer citizenship to all six of them.'

[Offering citizenship to Ha Dong-gun, Kang Deok-soo, Kim Ga-young, Yoo Hye-rin, Kim Gun, and Moon Byung-ho.]

I played my trump card and stared intently at the wall pad screen.

"Oh! The invisible barrier disappeared!"

With an excited voice, a muscular man stepped inside the territory.

Seeing that he was holding a baseball bat, he was likely the one who had finished off the last of the goblin horde.

Then—

"It's real! As soon as I got citizenship, I could enter."

One by one, all six of them accepted citizenship and stepped into the territory.

At that moment—

[The number of citizens has reached 10.]

[Experience points and settlement funds earned by citizens increase by 10%.]

A notification I had never seen before made me smile.

'Bonus XP and extra settlement funds.'

The timing was perfect, as I was just about to send out hunting parties for monsters.

It was a welcome bonus.

'Citizen Management.'

Looking at the profiles of the six new recruits, I was satisfied.

□ Ha Dong-gun (Trust: 19) (Lv. 23)

□ Kang Deok-soo (Trust: 28) (Lv. 13)

□ Kim Ga-young (Trust: 17) (Lv. 17)

□ Yoo Hye-rin (Trust: 30) (Lv. 10)

□ Kim Gun (Trust: 15) (Lv. 11)

□ Moon Byung-ho (Trust: 11) (Lv. 10)

······

Current Population: (10 / 600)

As expected of a party that had decimated a goblin horde—their levels were in a different league.

Amazingly, all of them had double-digit levels, and one of them had even reached level 23.

'Level 23? That's on par with the Kellikhan I fought a week ago.'

When I checked his citizen profile, I understood why his level was so high.

[Name: Ha Dong-gun (Lv. 23)]

Trust: 19

Awakening Ability: Baseball Throw

XP Distribution Rate: 0%

Settlement Fund Distribution Rate: 0%

★ Grant Quest ❌ Expel

'He's an ability user.'

Focusing on his ability revealed a brief description.

Baseball Throw (D-rank)

Consumes stamina to increase the impact of a thrown object by three times.

So he was the one who had thrown the ball at the goblins in the beginning.

Anyone who has held a baseball knows—it's basically a rock.

And if its power was tripled by a skill, it could definitely be a lethal weapon.

The low trust levels were slightly disappointing, but that could be raised over time.

'Set their XP distribution to 70%.'

[Settings updated.]

I didn't bother with settlement funds.

There wasn't anywhere for citizens to spend money, so distributing it seemed pointless.

'Done.'

Now all I had to do was assign them monster-hunting quests, and I could earn experience and money passively.

It was practically automatic hunting.

Of course, I had no intention of treating them like money-making machines.

I planned to meet with them personally and build relationships.

They might even be the key to rescuing my family.

But before that—

'Let's take a closer look at them.'

Just as I was about to activate Eye of the Absolute again—

[Citizen Ha Dong-gun's trust is increasing.]

A sudden trust increase notification popped up.

'…What?'

I hadn't even spoken to them yet. How was their trust in me rising?

[Citizen Kim Ga-young's trust is increasing.]

[Citizen Yoo Hye-rin's trust is increasing.]

"Huh."

I needed to see what was happening for myself.

"Come on in."

"Excuse us."

Ha Dong-gun's party, having received an unexpected dinner invitation, entered Choi Hyung-jun's home in a group.

Hearing the door lock beep, Park Hye-won, who had come to greet them, was startled.

"Honey? What's going on?"

"I'll explain later. Can you prepare some food?"

"Food? I'll have to cook some fresh rice…"

"Please. It's his order."

"I see. I'll get it ready quickly."

At the mention of 'him,' Park Hye-won complied without question and went to prepare the meal.

Ha Dong-gun, observing her reaction, asked,

"What kind of person is he?"

"Hmm… I don't really know."

"You don't?"

"Yes. Other than the fact that he lives next door…"

Hearing this, Ha Dong-gun turned toward the opposite apartment.

The reason they had come here in the first place—

It was because of the strange man on the top floor who had been throwing down ramen and seaweed.

They had come, hoping to get more.

And now, they were beginning to understand just how powerful he was