CHAPTER 3

The Absolute Ruler of the House (3)

It has already been a week since I was lucky enough to hunt the Kelikan, level up my skills, and acquire new ones.

"Purchase Jin Ramen Mild."

[Do you really want to purchase this?]

[Yes / No]

"Yes."

Bzzzz—

A bright light burst from the store window, and when it faded, a pack of five Jin Ramen Mild appeared.

I picked it up and checked the expiration date.

'The expiration date is later than the one I bought a few days ago.'

It was exactly three days later than the expiration date of the ramen I had finished this morning.

'So even the expiration date gets updated.'

Of all the new skills I had obtained, the most useful one was undoubtedly The Absolute Ruler of the House's Store.

A skill that allows me to register necessary items in the store and purchase them as I please.

Honestly, the only reason I hadn't starved to death so far was because of this skill.

'It's a shame I can only register up to ten items, though…'

There were a few things I had figured out while using the store.

I could only register ten items at a time, and once an item was registered, it couldn't be deleted.

And—

'The state of the item at the time of the initial scan determines the condition of the items sold in the store.'

For example, when I first registered the ramen, it had three months left before expiration.

So every time I bought ramen from the store, it always had exactly three months of shelf life remaining.

In other words, the store would always provide an item in the exact same condition as when it was first registered.

'Well, three months is plenty of time to finish it all.'

With no proper side dishes and food delivery unavailable, ramen was my best option.

Trickle, trickle

I filled a pot with water, placed it on the gas stove, and turned on the heat.

Click, click— whoosh!

Once I confirmed the flame, I added the dehydrated vegetable packet and the seasoning powder, waiting for the water to boil.

So, once again, my lunch today was…

"♪ Ramen again~ Is it ramen again, oh~ ramen… ♪"

Humming a tune, I suddenly stopped and felt a wave of self-loathing.

"..."

The world had collapsed, and I didn't even know if my parents were alive. Yet here I was, enjoying a meal and singing to myself.

And all of this inside the house my parents had spent their life savings to buy for me.

Sigh—

Bubble, bubble

Still, I needed to eat to survive.

As the water boiled, I dropped the noodles in.

I absentmindedly watched them cook, occasionally stirring with chopsticks.

At just the right moment, I cracked an egg and added it in.

A little later, I transferred the perfectly cooked ramen into a bowl. The noodles had reached peak chewiness.

After repeating this process for days, I had gotten quite good at it.

Slurp—

The taste didn't disappoint, but something felt slightly off.

'Am I getting tired of eating ramen every day?'

I had been living alone for over three years, but this was the first time I had eaten ramen continuously for so long.

At least once a week, my mom would visit.

Even when I told her to just relax, she would always clean the house, make side dishes, or cook curry for me.

After she left, the fridge would always be full, and all I had to do was cook rice.

Since I needed to finish all the side dishes before they spoiled, I rarely had a reason to make ramen.

"…Mom."

It had only been a week since I last had her cooking, yet I missed it so much.

I didn't even miss it this much in the military.

Plop.

A single tear fell.

I absentmindedly wiped my face and thought to myself.

'Am I losing my mind?'

Just a moment ago, I had been singing while making ramen, and now I was tearing up while eating it.

Even I could tell that my mental state wasn't in great shape.

'I need to get a grip.'

Half the ramen was still left, but I had lost my appetite.

'I should throw it away.'

Food waste.

Normally, I would try to minimize it, and when it did pile up, I'd store it and dispose of it later. But now, I had another method.

"Open storage."

I activated my storage skill and looked at the bowl of ramen.

"Store the contents of this bowl. The noodles, the broth, and all the toppings."

[Would you like to store this in the storage?]

"Yes."

A bright light shone from the storage, engulfing the ramen bowl. When it faded, the bowl was completely empty, as if it had just been washed.

This way, I could store any leftover food.

Through various experiments, I had confirmed that food stored inside didn't mix together or spoil.

'It's pretty useful. If I ever run out of food, I can eat it later.'

With that, my meal was finished. I rinsed the bowl and placed it in the sink.

—"Son! You need to wash the dishes right away!"

Seeing the pile of dirty dishes stacked up like a mountain, I couldn't help but recall my mom's nagging voice, which made me feel depressed all over again.

"Sigh. Open shop."

[Absolute Ruler's Home Shop]

Classic Non-Slip Dumbbells 3kg (16,990 KRW)

Jin Ramen Mild (3,100 KRW)

Jeju Samdasoo, 2L, 12-pack (12,400 KRW)

Gomgom Korean Rice 5kg (14,890 KRW)

Gomgom Special Eggs, 10-count (3,950 KRW)

Easy-to-Digest Milk, 930ml, 2-pack (6,220 KRW)

Yangban Olive Seaweed, 24-pack (9,800 KRW)

Canola Oil, 900ml, 2-pack (12,330 KRW)

Half-Used Ottogi Tomato Ketchup, 500g (3,350 KRW)

Tangerine Peel (300 KRW)

ᚠ Available Funds: 1,893,340 KRW

▶ Register Item

A total of 10 items were currently registered in the shop.

Starting with the dumbbells I had listed to hunt goblins, everything else—ramen, water, rice, eggs, milk, seaweed, and cooking oil—were all essential daily necessities.

Then there was my first mistake: the "half-used ketchup."

"I thought registering an item in the shop would automatically turn it into a brand-new product."

But to my surprise, it ended up labeled as "half-used."

When I bought it back as a test, it was exactly as I had registered it—a half-used, secondhand ketchup bottle.

At least I had only ever registered unopened, brand-new products before that. That was a relief.

And then, at the very bottom of the list:

Tangerine Peel (300 KRW)

Just looking at that made my blood pressure rise.

After realizing that items registered in the shop retained their condition, I got curious. That curiosity led me to register a tangerine peel.

I simply wondered, "Would even trash like this be accepted?"

"What an idiot."

Curiosity came at a price.

Right after that, when I tried to register a shampoo bottle, I was greeted with a message:

[You can no longer register any more items in the shop.]

"I should have been more careful."

I hated my past self for acting without thinking, but there was no undoing it now.

"It's fine. The shop skill seems to have levels, so there must be a way to level up. That should increase the number of items I can register."

It made no sense for something called the "Absolute Ruler's Shop" to only allow ten registered items.

Besides, shampoo and conditioner weren't immediately necessary, and the ones I had were still unopened.

"I just need to level up before I open any new products."

That way, I could ensure everything I bought was in perfect condition.

As I stared at the shop screen, deep in thought—

"Huh?"

ᚠ Available Funds: 1,893,339 KRW

Even though I hadn't done anything, my balance had dropped by 1 KRW.

"What the hell?"

After thinking it over, I came to a conclusion.

"…The 'Dignity Maintenance' skill must be costing me money."

Electricity, gas, and water.

It seemed like money was being deducted to keep those utilities running.

Even though I wasn't doing anything, cash was still being drained—probably because the refrigerator was running.

"This is bad."

I had plenty of expenses, but no way to earn money.

The only way I had to make money was hunting goblins. But that was no longer an option.

"Damn goblins."

They were way too quick-witted.

The day I killed a few by dropping dumbbells on them, they shrieked at me for a moment—then promptly packed up and moved elsewhere.

As a result, in the past week, I had only managed to kill 13 goblins.

And most of those were from the first day.

Since they relocated, I had only caught two more.

"This is way too inefficient."

The first day had been pretty profitable.

I could buy a set of dumbbells for 16,990 KRW, kill two goblins, and get about 5,000 KRW back.

Back then, goblins had gathered right under my living room window.

That made it easy to hit them, even if I threw randomly.

"But now, I'd be lucky to kill even one goblin after throwing ten dumbbells."

It cost nearly 170,000 won just to take down a single goblin.

At this rate, even the 2 million won earned from luckily hunting a Khellican would be gone in no time.

'If that happens, it's over.'

Once that money runs out, not only will food be scarce, but the Absolute One's Dignity Maintenance skill will also be cut off.

'Damn it. Isn't there anything worth hunting around here?'

In the past, looking down from the apartment's walkway, there were always a few goblins roaming around in groups. But now, their appearances had become far too rare.

He had to spend an entire day staring out the window just to find one or two groups, and even then, the number of goblins that wandered into range where he could drop a dumbbell on them was barely a handful.

'At least that thing attracted some goblins.'

The remains of the Khellican's corpse, left behind by the goblins.

Thanks to that, goblin groups had shown up a few times.

But since the corpse was too far away, summoning a dumbbell from storage wouldn't work for hunting, meaning he had to throw them himself.

Of course, the accuracy was abysmal.

'Not a single one in sight today.'

To make matters worse, the situation was deteriorating.

Perhaps the goblins had spread the word, because he hadn't seen a single goblin group all day yesterday or today.

'I need to find a solution.'

Something drastic was necessary.

'Like, maybe, a Khellican flying straight into my window.'

Thinking about it again, that had been sheer luck.

'If not for that, I would've slowly starved to death.'

Without the massive amount of experience points to level up his skills, he wouldn't have awakened the shop or the Dignity Maintenance skill. By now, all his proper food would have been consumed.

He probably would've been chewing on raw rice by now.

'Ugh, isn't there some dumb Khellican flying by?'

Maybe it was too laid-back a thought for the situation, but the sky outside the high-rise apartment was completely clear, without a single cloud.

"The weather's nice."

And then—

"…?"

A small black dot appeared in the deep blue sky.

It grew larger and larger, soon becoming the size of a fist.

'That's…?'

Only then did he recognize what it was.

He had seen the exact same thing about a week ago.

'Khellican!'

A massive monster bird, the Khellican.

It was a situation he had imagined countless times over the past week.

He already knew exactly what to do.

"Aaaah! Over here! You monster—!!"

He flung the living room window open and waved his arms wildly.

He jumped up and down, shouting at the top of his lungs to make sure it noticed him.

'Please!'

Pouring all his desperation into his cries—

"Here! Over here—! You damn monster bird!"

He was drawing aggro.

And it worked.

'Yes!'

Their eyes met.

The Khellican was flying straight toward him.

'Nice!'

If the frenzied Khellican slammed into this place, it was game over.

Just like last time, it would lose consciousness and plummet to the ground.

There were no goblins around this time to finish it off, but that didn't matter.

'I can just take care of it myself with a dumbbell.'

The Khellican was charging at him with terrifying speed.

But unlike before, there was no fear—only excitement setting his heart ablaze.

'If I take that thing down, I'll level up for sure.'

On top of that, this one was even bigger than the one he had seen before.

Which meant it had a higher level.

That meant more experience and more money.

A total jackpot.

"Come at me, you bastard—!"

Just as he taunted it with all his might—

Whoosh!

A powerful gust of wind blew just before the Khellican hit the window.

"Ugh!"

He instinctively shut his eyes against the sudden blast.

And when he opened them again—

"…Huh?"

The Khellican was gone.

'What the hell…?'

Where did it go?

A sudden chill ran down his spine.

'No way…'

Slowly, he lifted his head.

And there it was.

Perched rigidly on the rooftop of the apartment, looking down at him.

Their eyes met.