CHAPTER 40
Assembly (4)
Kim Da-bin had been incredibly busy from yesterday until today, barely having a moment to breathe.
Since taking on the position of team leader, she had hired fourteen people she had been keeping an eye on. Including Yoo Hye-rin, whom Kim Jae-hyun had personally introduced to her, she was now managing a team of fifteen.
Supervising and cleaning the communal facilities were tasks that could be taught quickly. With three communal spaces now available, people were more spread out, significantly easing the workload.
Just when she thought she could take a breather, a giant appeared yesterday, throwing everything into chaos. From that moment, an influx of new arrivals had been pouring in, keeping her overwhelmed.
"So, there are six of you in total?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"You'll be assigned to Unit 503 in Building 113."
As Kim Da-bin watched them leave, she did a quick calculation in her head.
"That makes forty-nine people in Unit 503. Can I squeeze in a few more? It's cutting it close."
All the newcomers were being accommodated in the communal facilities.
In reality, calling them communal facilities was a stretch—it had practically turned into a refugee shelter.
Dozens of people were crammed into small rooms, barely able to stretch out their legs while sleeping.
At that moment—
"Da-bin! The cleanup on the sixth floor is done!"
Choi Hyung-jun approached her to report.
It was perfect timing—Unit 503 was on the verge of bursting at the seams.
"Great work. Now, please take care of the fourth, sixth, and seventh floors of Building 110."
"Building 110. Fourth, sixth, and seventh floors. Got it! See you!"
"Yes, thank you."
Choi Hyung-jun's role was essentially cleaning.
He was in charge of clearing out furniture and unnecessary items and tidying up the space—anything to make room for more people.
With his exceptional strength, he handled the work effortlessly on his own.
♩♬―
[You have arrived at the 21st floor.]
[The doors are opening.]
Just as Hyung-jun left, the elevator arrived, and a group of people spilled out.
Their darting eyes and cautious movements made it clear—they were newcomers from outside the apartment complex.
"Excuse me, but who is Kim Da-bin?"
As expected.
"That's me. Are you new arrivals?"
"Yes. We were actually supposed to come yesterday, but after washing up and eating, time got away from us."
"Wait, what? What do you mean...?"
Newcomers shouldn't have had the means to bathe and eat properly.
Then, Da-bin noticed something unusual about the weapons they carried.
They were armed with orc spears and bows.
"Which means..."
Catching on quickly, Da-bin turned to the man who seemed to be their leader and asked—
"Did you meet with Jae-hyun?"
"Yes, we did. He told us to ask you about anything we didn't understand..."
The fact that they had met Jae-hyun before her meant he considered them important.
Realizing this, Da-bin put on her best business smile and asked—
"What would you like to know?"
"They say that if you defeat a monster, you get money. What does that mean?"
"It means exactly what it says. When you defeat a monster, you receive money—think of it as a kind of point system. You can use it to buy food, or even resources like electricity and gas. The best way to understand it is to experience it yourself. Since you're already equipped, why not go outside and try hunting a monster yourself?"
The man nodded but didn't leave his spot.
Wanting to send him off quickly so she could get some rest, Kim Dabin asked,
"Do you have more questions?"
"I heard there's a store…"
"As the name suggests, it's a shop where you can buy things. But what makes it special is its advanced technology. When you place an order, the item is created on the spot—like a kind of kiosk. It's on the first floor, so I recommend going there and using the money you earn from hunting monsters."
"Hmm, I see."
It seemed like the man had no intention of leaving.
After staring at Kim Dabin for a moment, he suddenly extended his hand and introduced himself.
"I'm Lee Junhyuk. Nice to meet you, Dabin."
Having received more than enough attention from men throughout her life, Kim Dabin could instantly read his intentions.
'So, he just wants an excuse to shake my hand. My popularity never fails to cause trouble.'
Pretending not to notice, she shook his hand and responded.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Kim Dabin."
"Haha. I feel like I had another question…"
Just as Lee Junhyuk continued speaking while still holding her hand, a sharp voice interrupted from behind.
"Junhyuk oppa, let's go hunt monsters. We're late."
"Huh? Oh, right. Let's go."
Kim Dabin mentally thanked the sharp-eyed woman glaring at her.
'Finally, he's gone.'
Just as she was about to sit down and close her eyes for a brief rest—
"Excuse me. I was told to find Kim Dabin."
When she opened her eyes, this time, a family of four was standing in front of her.
"Sigh."
After letting out a deep breath, she called them over.
"Come this way!"
In the middle of handling her endless workload—
"Team Leader Kim."
"Oh! Jaehyun!"
"You're working hard."
Kim Jaehyun had come to see her.
"It's just a job I'm getting paid for."
"I appreciate your dedication. Are the public facilities sufficient?"
"They're still enough for now, but at this rate, they'll become insufficient soon."
Hearing this, Kim Jaehyun summoned a notebook out of thin air and handed it to her.
"This is a list of new housing units designated for public use."
The list contained over fifty unit numbers.
Kim Dabin's eyes widened in surprise.
"With this much, we should be fine for now!"
"That's a relief. Also…"
Noticing the apologetic look on Kim Jaehyun's face, Kim Dabin felt a sense of unease and urged him to speak.
"Please just say it, Jaehyun."
"Well… I was hoping to borrow Yoo Hyerin for two days."
"…Excuse me?"
Yoo Hyerin was the only one on her team who had been fully trained to take over most of her tasks.
In other words, she was the only person who could replace Kim Dabin in this role.
'That means…'
Realizing what this meant for her immediate future, Kim Dabin's face turned pale.
Jaehyun, with a calm smile, spoke the cruelest words.
"Then I'll leave things in your hands for the next two days, Team Leader Kim."
"Ah… o-of course!"
For a moment, Kim Dabin seriously considered her options.
Then, with a determined look, she called out to him.
"Jaehyun."
"Yes?"
"…Would you mind paying the night shift allowance?"
Jaehyun Kim readily nodded.
"I'll pay you double."
After finishing negotiations with Kim Dabin, I returned to find Yoo Hyerin and Seo Yejin waiting for me.
As soon as I entered, Yoo Hyerin, who had been sprawled out on the sofa, immediately straightened her back in tension.
"Did you get some rest?"
"Yes."
"Then shall we start again?"
Yoo Hyerin stood up from the sofa and raised both hands into the air.
At that moment, thick purple poisonous mist began to billow out of nowhere.
'Storage deposit, Poison Mist.'
Since the storage capacity was 100 kg, it could hold more gas than expected.
Because of that, Yoo Hyerin's mental strength was depleting rapidly.
Even at a glance, she looked exhausted.
'This won't do.'
I immediately opened the guardian management panel and leveled up Yoo Hyerin.
It cost 50 million won, but I didn't regret it at all. I was now a billionaire.
As soon as her level increased from 25 to 30, Yoo Hyerin was the first to notice the change and tilted her head.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
"I suddenly feel stronger."
The rate at which the poison mist formed had doubled compared to before.
'Good.'
Her mental strength and skill proficiency had definitely improved.
[Storage capacity exceeded.]
"That's enough. You can stop producing it now."
"Oh, okay!"
The lingering purple mist gradually faded away as Yoo Hyerin willed it to disappear.
"But are you sure I don't have to go in person?"
"It's fine. Just keep producing the poison mist here."
After finishing the preparations, I turned to Seo Yejin.
"You can start now."
"Got it!"
As Seo Yejin sat cross-legged and activated sensory sharing, the Absolute Eye revealed a dark basement.
The thick darkness was filled with the stench of rotting corpses and the rattling sounds of wheezing breaths.
This was the subway track at Central Station, overrun by zombies.
'Open storage.'
Pshhhh—
As soon as the poison mist began to pour out of storage, a rat scurried across the tracks.
[Tamed Rat (Lv. 3)]
The small, unevolved rat was trailing behind a cloud of purple poison mist.
"Uooohh—!"
"Kraaaagh!"
The zombies, drawn to the hissing sound of the mist, started rushing forward in excitement.
But—
"Guuhk—!"
The moment they inhaled Yoo Hyerin's poison mist, their movements visibly slowed down.
The poison mist had a built-in paralysis effect.
At first, it gradually slowed them down, then made them collapse as they lost control of their bodies. Eventually, it paralyzed their diaphragms and intercostal muscles, causing them to suffocate—a lethal type of paralysis poison.
Before long, zombies began dropping one by one.
'Good. Paralysis works.'
I had been slightly worried about whether the poison mist would be effective since zombies were technically corpses, but fortunately, it had no trouble immobilizing them.
However, no matter how much time passed, the zombies wouldn't die.
'As expected.'
Zombies were already dead.
Not being able to breathe for a long time wasn't enough to kill them.
Still, rendering their muscles useless was a significant achievement.
That's why we had a Plan B.
"Yejin, I'll leave it to you."
"Okay!"
The hidden rat squad emerged from the darkness.
They immediately pounced on the fallen zombies and mercilessly tore into their necks.
Crash!
[You have hunted Zombie (Lv. 11).]
[You gained experience points.]
[120,085 KRW has been deposited into the Absolute Ruler of the House's wallet.]
[You have hunted Zombie (Lv. 12).]
[You gained experience points.]
[212,112 KRW has been deposited into the Absolute Ruler of the House's wallet.]
······
······
Dozens of mice began slaughtering the paralyzed zombies, who had succumbed to the paralysis poison.
Bzzzz—
Some of the creatures gained experience and evolved during the zombie hunt.
[Tamed Giant Rat (Lv. 7)]
The now-enlarged rats tore into the zombies' throats with even greater ferocity, rapidly accumulating experience points.
'Are they sharing the experience points I allocated to Seo Ye-jin?'
I had already distributed an additional 100% experience on top of the base 100%.
Which meant the mice were effectively earning double the experience points through hunting.
Then, suddenly—
The mice that had consumed zombie blood began to writhe in pain.
'What's going on?'
Moments later, their titles changed.
[Tamed Zombie Rat (Lv. 5)]
Some remained their original small size but turned into zombie rats.
[Tamed Giant Zombie Rat (Lv. 9)]
Others evolved into larger zombie forms while retaining their increased size.
'That was close.'
It seemed that contact with zombie blood triggered zombification.
This was particularly dangerous for frontline fighters like Oh Won-joo, who attacked with claws and teeth, increasing their risk of infection.
Fortunately, thanks to the rat-based strategy, we had avoided the worst-case scenario.
"Huh? What… what's going on?"
Seo Ye-jin looked flustered.
She, too, could sense that something had happened to her beloved mice.
"How are the zombified mice behaving? Are they still following orders?"
"Huh? Uh… They seem to be listening to me, but they're acting more aggressive."
"That's a relief. Let's continue our operation."
Once again, Yoo Hye-rin flooded the warehouse with her toxic gas. Seo Ye-jin used her ability and the Absolute Ruler's Eye to paralyze the zombies. The zombified mice then finished them off.
By repeating this process, we swiftly exterminated the zombies along the railway line from Jungang Station to Jagalchi Station.
Meanwhile, Ha Dong-geon's party had entered the tracks at Beomnaegol Station and was heading toward Choryang Station.
'Everything's going smoothly.'
The operation was progressing as planned.
If we could reach Jagalchi Station safely, the goal would be within reach.
For the first time, it felt like we might actually be able to save our families.
Then—
[An unauthorized entity is attempting to enter.]
A now all-too-familiar alert sounded.
[A group of individuals eligible for citizenship has approached the vicinity of the house.]
[Would you like to offer them citizenship?]
The unusual part was the number of new arrivals.
'157 people?'
Had a group of survivors been hiding somewhere and finally decided to show themselves?
The moment they accepted citizenship—
[The number of citizens has reached 3,000.]
[With the population reaching a certain threshold, the skill 'Economic Activity Income Support' has been unlocked.]
{Economic Activity Income Support}
You can assign job titles to citizens and distribute financial support. The support funds are separate from the cash in the Absolute Ruler of the House's wallet.
※ Daily Wages
Employee: 100,000 KRW (0/300)
Assistant Manager: 150,000 KRW (0/100)
Manager: 200,000 KRW (0/30)
Deputy Director: 250,000 KRW (0/10)
Director: 300,000 KRW (0/3)
A highly lucrative skill had just appeared.
READ MORE CHAPTERS HERE : ko-fi.com/pokemon1920