CHAPTER 11

Driven Hunt (1)

After finishing their meal, Ha Dong-geon's party was the first to head down to the first floor of the apartment.

"Dong-geon, do we really need to check the first floor? From what I saw earlier, all the glass windows were shattered, and it was a complete mess."

"We still have to check. You heard what Jaehyun said, right? We're here as a rescue team."

Their first mission was to search every survivor scattered throughout Building 114 and send them up to the 30th floor.

Kim Geon adjusted his glasses and asked,

"...But do we really need to find the survivors? Can't we just start the operation?"

Moon Byung-ho shot him a cold look before speaking.

"Are you doubting him right now?"

"...No, it's not that. I just mean…"

At that moment, Ha Dong-geon stepped in to explain Kim Jaehyun's intentions.

"You all heard the plan—our main objective is to lure a massive number of goblins into this apartment. If everything goes well, we'll take them all out, but if something goes wrong, the survivors on each floor could be in danger. That's why we're securing them first."

Although Kim Jaehyun had never actually explained it that way, Ha Dong-geon's reasoning sounded convincing.

"So that's what it's about! This is all to ensure the safety of the survivors! Okay, okay!"

Kang Deok-su nodded enthusiastically and added,

"I knew from the first impression that he wasn't an ordinary guy, but wow, he's incredible."

At his words, the two women in the group chimed in excitedly.

"Yeah, totally."

"Don't you think he's really handsome too?"

"Oooh, what's this, Yoo Hye-rin~? You interested?"

"Hmm… maybe a little?"

"Oh-ho, you sound serious."

"Unnie, I've been single for three years. It's about time I started dating again."

"Haha, you're too much."

Kim Geon glanced at his companions with a slightly uncomfortable expression.

'...Everyone's acting weird.'

He couldn't understand how they could trust that man so completely after only knowing him for a short time.

'...Sure, he seems like a good guy, and I'll admit he's competent, but…'

Kim Geon had never been one to trust people easily.

He prioritized rational judgment over emotions and valued logical thinking, so his friends' behavior struck him as oddly unnatural.

'...Especially Moon Byung-ho, that bastard.'

Ever since that man had offered to help save his grandmother, he seemed to have turned into his devout follower.

Just then, Ha Dong-geon spoke up.

"Enough chit-chat. Let's get started. We don't know when goblins might pop out, so stay alert."

"Okay."

"Yessir~."

With that, the search for survivors began.

"Let's start with Unit 101."

Fortunately, entering the first-floor apartments wasn't difficult.

The doors to both Units 101 and 102 were wide open.

"Ugh…"

The condition of the first-floor apartments was even worse than expected.

Unit 101, which had once been home to a horde of goblins, now looked no different from a wild animal den.

The creatures had only been there for a few days, yet the traces left behind by dozens of goblins were beyond horrifying.

"Ugh, the smell."

Rotting corpses and goblin excrement filled the air with an unbearable stench.

"Start the search."

Even without specific orders from Ha Dong-geon, the group instinctively split up to check the interior.

"There's no one here."

"Same in this room."

"Nothing here either."

Just as they were about to wrap up with no results—

"Ugh… UWEHHH!"

A retching sound came from inside one of the rooms.

Rushing over, Ha Dong-geon found Yoo Hye-rin vomiting up her entire dinner.

"Hye-rin, are you okay?"

"U-Unnie… Th-There, in there… There are human corpses…"

Inside the bathroom, the remains of human bodies, half-eaten by goblins, were piled up in gruesome heaps.

The sheer number of dead was staggering—just in that small bathroom alone, there were dozens of corpses.

They had seen plenty of dead bodies over the past ten days of fighting goblins, but never anything this horrific.

Ha Dong-geon clenched his jaw and said,

"...There's no one left here. Let's move on."

Unit 102 was in a similar state.

The entire apartment was filled with broken furniture, and in the corner of the bathroom, another pile of rotting human bodies lay stacked on top of one another.

The only silver lining was that they hadn't encountered any goblins during their search.

"...Let's move up to the second floor."

The situation on the second floor wasn't much better.

With the glass windows broken, goblins could easily enter from outside, leaving the survivors completely vulnerable.

It wasn't until they reached the third floor that things finally started to improve.

The hallway was still covered in goblin filth, but the front door was firmly shut.

Boom, boom, boom.

Ha Dong-geon knocked lightly and spoke.

"Is there a survivor inside?"

Boom, boom, boom.

"If you're inside, please respond!"

However, starting from the third floor, a different problem arose.

There was no way to open the sturdy iron doors, meaning they couldn't check inside.

Because of that, if there was no response after a reasonable attempt, they had no choice but to give up.

"Let's go up."

Then, when they reached the fifth floor—

Boom, boom, boom!

"Is anyone there? We're here to rescue you! If you're inside, please respond!"

At that moment, while knocking with little expectation—

Click.

For the first time, a door opened.

But it wasn't fully open.

A security chain was still latched, preventing the door from being forced open from the outside.

Through the slightly open gap, a man peeked out, scanning Ha Dong-geon's group before asking,

"A-Are you really the rescue team?"

"Yes, we are."

The man still looked doubtful and made a request.

"Then… could you give me some water? I'm so thirsty…"

At those words, Ha Dong-geon pulled a 2-liter bottle of Samdasu from his backpack and handed it over.

"Here you go."

As Ha Dong-geon passed the water without hesitation, the man stared at him blankly, as if surprised, then asked again,

"Are you really the rescue team?"

"We're not part of a government agency, but we are here to rescue the survivors in this apartment. If you come with us, you won't have to worry about food or water anymore."

The man stared at Ha Dong-geon for a moment, then, with a resolved expression, shut the door.

"..."

And a moment later, the door opened again.

Click.

This time, the chain was removed.

Standing at the entrance, the man had two children behind him—a boy who looked like a high school student and a girl who seemed to be in middle school.

"I don't really understand what's going on, but… I'll trust you. If we follow you, we won't have to worry about food, right?"

"Of course."

The man nodded, then extended his hand.

"I'm Hong Jung-soo. Please take care of us."

After a brief handshake, Ha Dong-geon turned to his teammates and gave instructions.

"Ga-young, Hye-rin, take them up to the 30th floor, then regroup with us."

"Okay."

"Understood."

Hearing that, Hong Jung-soo hesitated before asking,

"The 30th floor? Aren't we going to the first floor?"

Having hidden in his home ever since the monsters appeared, Hong Jung-soo was completely unaware of the current situation.

At that moment, his daughter spoke up.

"Dad, come on. There must be a helicopter. Let's hurry up!"

She was just as clueless.

Kim Ga-young turned to them and explained,

"That's not the case, but if you go up, you'll be able to eat a warm meal and take a shower."

That caught the attention of Hong Jung-soo's son.

"A shower?! Really?!"

Kim Ga-young smiled at him and answered,

"Of course. With warm water, too."

At that, the boy urged his father.

"What are you waiting for, Dad? Let's go up!"

"O-Oh… Okay."

.....

[The number of citizens has reached 90.]

[The experience points and settlement funds earned by citizens have increased by 90%.]

With this, the total number of citizens had reached 93.

Checking the newly joined members' stats through the citizen management interface, there was nothing particularly special.

"Only one awakened individual out of 93 people, huh?"

Ha Dong-geon was the only one with an awakened ability.

"Still, some of them seem quite capable. I should form a team."

Among the 83 people Ha Dong-geon had rescued so far, some had relatively high levels.

The common trait among them?

They all had well-maintained, fit bodies from consistent self-discipline.

Among them, there was even a man at level 15—his entire body was packed with muscles, as if he were a bodybuilder.

"Absolute Eye."

When I activated the skill, I could see the emergency exit from above. Six newcomers were standing there, catching their breath.

"This way."

Following Ha Dong-gun's guidance, they headed toward Choi Hyung-jun's house once again.

The front door of Choi Hyung-jun's house was wide open, allowing a full view of the interior.

The first thing that caught the eye was the sheer number of shoes filling the entrance.

There were so many that they spilled outside the doorway, forming a row along the hall.

It looked like the entrance to a university MT (membership training) room, where a large crowd had gathered.

"You can go inside."

"…Alright."

But the real sight to behold was inside the house.

It was packed with people, almost like a home party was in full swing.

In a space barely 30 pyeong (about 99 square meters), over 90 people had crammed in, leaving little room to sit or lie down—most were standing.

Choi Hyung-jun's house had essentially become a refugee shelter for survivors.

"Who hasn't received a rice ball yet?!"

"Here! It's our turn!"

"Could you all help pass these along to them?"

Meanwhile, Park Hye-won had taken on the role of a cafeteria lady, cooking non-stop.

In a corner of the kitchen, Choi Na-yeon and Choi Seo-yeon—who should have been sleeping in the master bedroom—were dozing off, huddled together.

They had been kicked out of their own room due to the influx of unexpected guests.

'…I feel kind of bad.'

But there was no other choice.

I wanted to take some of them into my own house, but the only ones allowed to enter were me and Choi Hyung-jun, who was registered as my retainer.

'Should I bring the kids instead?'

Choi Hyung-jun's family was now eligible to be registered as retainers.

Their trust level had surpassed 50, and their loyalty had even broken past 30.

I wanted to register the two kids right away and let them sleep in my bed, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

'What a waste.'

Registering someone as a retainer meant their level would skyrocket, granting them special abilities.

On top of that, they would gain experience and money at twice the rate of regular people.

But I couldn't send kids who hadn't even started elementary school out to hunt monsters.

'I have to save the retainer slots for Ha Dong-gun's party.'

Or, I could use them on the newly arrived survivors with high levels.

♬♪♬♩~

A ringtone sounded, prompting me to deactivate the Absolute Eye skill.

I walked to the entrance and opened the door.

"Open."

The one who had rung the bell was Ha Dong-gun.

Since he hadn't yet qualified as a retainer, he could only step as far as the entrance. Standing there, he began his report.

"The newcomers are the last of the survivors."

"You've already checked every floor?"

"Yes. We just finished checking the 29th floor."

"Good work."

It was a shame we hadn't reached 100 survivors, but 93 was still a decent number.

'Choi Hyung-jun's house is nearly full anyway. This should be enough.'

A whopping 90% bonus experience.

Even after distributing 70% of that to Ha Dong-gun's party, we would still be gaining 120% experience.

"Hold on a moment."

Standing before Ha Dong-gun, I closed my eyes and activated my skill.

"Absolute Eye."

This time, I focused not on the house, but on where Choi Hyung-jun was.

He was by the emergency stairwell, working diligently on something.

He was cutting, peeling, and reconnecting materials, laying them out on the stair floor.

After a while, he straightened his back and stood up.

"Deactivate Absolute Eye."

The preparations were complete.

I turned to Ha Dong-gun with a meaningful smile.

"Alright, let's move on to step two of the goblin herding hunt."