CHAPTER 42
Busan Station (2)
"!!!"
This pain was qualitatively different from anything I had experienced before.
If the pain up until now had felt like my body was swelling, the pain I felt upon reaching level 20 was like having my entire body pierced with an awl.
It felt as if dozens of needles were breaking through my skin from the inside, extending outward.
"Jaehyun! Jaehyun! Are you okay!?"
Seo Yejin's urgent voice rang out, but I couldn't respond.
"Jaehyun! Breathe! You have to breathe!"
It took everything I had just to endure the pain coursing through me in real time.
Just as my consciousness began to fade from the prolonged agony—
The expansion of my domain was finally complete.
"Huff, huff…"
Cold sweat drenched my entire body.
As the pain subsided, my tense muscles suddenly relaxed, leaving me with an overwhelming sense of exhaustion.
A heavy fatigue washed over me, making me feel as though I could fall asleep at any moment.
I also felt a slight weight on my chest.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Seo Yejin, her face filled with alarm, pressing both hands against my chest.
With great effort, I parted my lips.
"…What are you doing?"
"I was about to start CPR…"
Lifting my arm, which felt as heavy as a waterlogged sponge, I grabbed her hands.
"…I'm fine."
I must have looked worse than I thought, as Kami, who had been sitting on the sofa, approached me with a worried expression.
—Beep?
"…I'm okay."
Instead of the sofa, Kami settled on my stomach and lay down.
As I gently petted him, a wave of drowsiness crept over me.
With my eyes closed, I activated the Absolute Eye to inspect my newly expanded home territory.
'It's enormous.'
The domain had expanded over a much larger area than I expected.
It had extended along the roads, carefully selecting only major thoroughfares. The expansion now encompassed not just Jeonpo Station, but also parts of Seomyeon Station and Bujeon Station.
The domain had swallowed every road within a 1km radius centered around an apartment complex.
It was absurdly vast.
'No wonder it hurt so much.'
Considering this was the largest expansion in history, the excruciating pain made sense.
'I'm exhausted.'
I desperately wanted to sleep for just five minutes.
But now was not the time.
I had to keep an eye on Ha Donggeon's party, which was carrying out a mission on my behalf.
Fighting off my drowsiness, I sat up and turned to Seo Yejin.
"Yejin, I'm sorry, but could you get me a glass of cold water?"
"Just a moment."
I didn't even have the energy left to use the Invisible Hand.
That was because all my energy had been exhausted just enduring the pain, whether mentally or physically.
"Here you go."
"Thank you."
Drinking the cold water made me feel a little clearer.
"Are you okay?"
"Thanks to you."
While observing Hadonggeon's party through the Absolute Eye, I checked my skill window.
It was to use the three skill points granted upon reaching level 20.
Among the skills with a [+] next to their level, I had already decided which one to level up first.
The most important skill for the current operation.
'Level up Absolute Eye.'
[The Homebody's Absolute Eye skill has reached Lv. 4.]
[Multi-vision function has been added.]
I immediately tested the newly added function.
As the name implied, multi-vision allowed the Absolute Eye's field of view to multiply.
I could now observe multiple places simultaneously.
I could feel the number of views increasing.
'Three is my limit for now.'
Using the Absolute Eye had become as natural as breathing, but with three separate views, my concentration was reaching its limit.
To enhance my focus as much as possible, I closed my eyes completely, dedicating myself solely to the Absolute Eye.
'It feels like sitting in a security room, staring at a collection of CCTV monitors.'
Three different views appeared simultaneously.
One still showed Hadonggeon's party. Another displayed Kim Dabin, who looked incredibly busy.
And the last one revealed a new area—people on the street.
"What's going on?"
"I don't know. The goblins' heads suddenly exploded, and then they disappeared without even dropping money."
It was Lee Junhyuk's party, who had recently joined us.
They had been helping us gain the experience points we lacked through goblin hunting.
"Junhyuk oppa! Look over there!"
A woman pointed toward an alley as she spoke.
"It looks like the goblins can't get in this way?"
Even though Lee Jun-hyuk had approached right in front of them, the goblins couldn't do anything. Even when they swung their kitchen knives or weapons, they were blocked by an invisible wall and bounced off.
On the other hand—
Pwoosh!
"Kwaaak!"
Lee Jun-hyuk, however, was able to attack the goblins.
"This is totally a jackpot!"
His party members were ecstatic at the sight.
"Hey! Let me in! I haven't taken down a single one yet!"
"You're not the only one! I haven't either!"
"Move aside! I'm shooting an arrow! If you don't want to get hit, get lost!"
Sensing that something was off, the goblins instinctively tried to run away, but it was already too late.
Chased down by the group, six goblins lost their lives in an instant.
"Huh? It's real. Weird messages are popping up in the air!"
"This is your first time seeing them?"
"Yeah, this is my first kill. Jun-hyuk was way too aggressive today, you know?"
Surprisingly, they were hunting goblins as if it were second nature.
'So that man's words weren't just empty boasting.'
Right now, leveling up allowed me to hunt from within the safe zone, but they must have already fought at least ten goblins even before this.
Yet, not a single one of them showed any signs of tension.
That meant they were truly accustomed to hunting goblins.
'Among the groups of ordinary people I've seen, this one is top-tier.'
They were enjoying the hunt.
And they had no hesitation in killing.
Not just a few of them—everyone here was the same.
Whether only those with such tendencies had survived, or they had naturally gathered together, these people seemed to treat goblin hunting as nothing more than a fun game.
"But is this also that person's ability? This wall that's blocking the goblins?"
"Probably. It feels like an extension of the transparent barrier we experienced before."
"Wow. That's an incredible power. Wait a minute…"
One of Lee Jun-hyuk's group members spoke up, their expression turning uneasy.
"If we ever fall out of favor, won't our heads go flying like those goblins just now?"
"….."
"….."
The party members, who had been overly excited, all fell silent at his words.
"So, was that just now a kind of warning from him? Telling us to behave?"
A heavy silence settled over the entire party.
"Did we… do something wrong?"
Just as that fear began to spread, Lee Jun-hyuk stepped forward.
"As long as we don't fall out of favor, there's no problem, right?"
"What did you say, Jun-hyuk?"
"You've all experienced it firsthand. A proper bathroom. A house where you can take a warm shower. A place where we can cook warm meals and sleep under warm blankets—all thanks to that person."
Lee Jun-hyuk looked around at his party members and continued.
"So, we just have to make sure we don't mess up. Keep it clean, be smart, and act properly."
[Citizen Lee Jun-hyuk's Loyalty has exceeded 30.]
[Citizen Lee Jun-hyuk has met the conditions for vassal registration.]
Right on cue, Lee Jun-hyuk met the minimum requirement to be registered as a vassal.
'Vassal registration, Lee Jun-hyuk.'
At that moment, a bright light burst from Lee Jun-hyuk's body.
"Huh?"
"W-what's happening?"
"Jun-hyuk oppa!"
[Name: Lee Jun-hyuk (Lv. 40) [+]
Title: [Twelfth Bell] [Knight] [Mage]
Trust: 59 Loyalty: 31
Awakening Abilities: Create Water, Water Bomb, Control Water
EXP Distribution Rate: 0% (+100%)
★ Quest Assignment Available]
{Mage}
Skill power increases by 100%.
Water Bomb (A Rank)
Summon highly pressurized water and detonate it. The power increases proportionally to the mental energy consumed.
Control Water (S Rank)
Consumes mental energy to freely manipulate the water summoned.
'Hmm?'
An S-rank ability?
Considering his original ability was only B-rank, I hadn't expected things to turn out this well.
'Was it because of his high level?'
At the time of registration, he was level 33—the same level as when Oh Won-joo was registered as a vassal.
'This doesn't seem like just luck…'
I wasn't sure of the exact reason, but what mattered was that the result was good.
'Anyway, this is amazing.'
With this, the second S-rank ability user was born.
'Quest Assignment.'
"Quest Assignment"
Quest Details: Try using Water Bomb and Control Water.
Time Limit: 10 minutes 00 seconds
Reward: Mental Strength Enhancement.
Failure Penalty: Mental Fatigue.
The citizens could not see their status windows. Naturally, they also had no way of knowing any information about the new awakened abilities they had gained.
It was possible that, over time, they would naturally figure out how to use their skills. However, a direct method like this, where the skill names were explicitly provided, resulted in much faster mastery.
"Junhyeok, are you okay? Just now, your body was glowing…!"
"Hold on a second."
Lee Junhyeok carefully read through the quest I had given him and then stretched out his hand into the air.
And then—
"Water Bomb."
Kwaaang!
A powerful explosion erupted in midair.
And then—
Ssshhh—
The water droplets from the explosion turned into a downpour.
The rain now falling over the heads of Junhyeok's party members was all created by him.
"Control Water."
At that moment—
The cascading water suddenly stopped in midair.
Moonlight scattered through the suspended droplets, creating a dreamlike atmosphere.
Everyone was momentarily mesmerized, as if watching a grand magic performance.
"Ugh."
However, the moment Junhyeok's concentration wavered—
Sssshhh—
The suspended water droplets all came crashing down to the ground.
"!!"
"What the heck?"
"Junhyeok, was that you?"
But their words didn't seem to reach Junhyeok.
"Haha, hahahahaha!"
Laughing like a madman, Junhyeok suddenly started looking around frantically before bowing deeply toward the apartment complex.
"Thank you! Thank you!! I will never forget this grace!"
His unexpected actions left his party members staring at him in shock.
And I was no different.
[Citizen Lee Junhyeok's trust has increased significantly.]
[Citizen Lee Junhyeok's loyalty has increased significantly.]
[Citizen Lee Junhyeok has completed the quest.]
[70,251 won has been deducted as quest costs.]
'Wow. What's with him? This is a bit too much.'
Was this really something worth bowing his head over?
Sure, he had awakened a great ability, but his reaction was far too intense.
Still, seeing him so genuinely overjoyed, like a child, was nice to watch.
'Assigning another quest.'
I gave him the same quest two more times, allowing him to complete the daily quest in one go.
[Citizen Lee Junhyeok has used up all available quest attempts for today.]
[Evaluating the quests completed by Citizen Lee Junhyeok.]
[… Evaluation in progress …]
While the daily quest evaluation was underway, I seriously considered how best to make use of him.
'Would it be better to merge him with Ha Donggeon's party?'
At this point, pulling Junhyeok out and placing him in Ha Donggeon's party didn't seem appealing.
Ha Donggeon's party was already well-balanced.
If Junhyeok were suddenly added, it would likely disrupt their teamwork, just as it had when Oh Wonjoo was first introduced.
'More importantly, removing Junhyeok from his current group would significantly reduce their value.'
His group was tightly united around him.
If he were to leave, there was a high probability they would fall apart and become disorganized.
It seemed best to let Junhyeok continue leading his group for now.
[Evaluation complete.]
[Mental Strength has greatly increased.]
'Huh?'
It was extremely rare for the phrase "greatly" to be attached to a daily quest reward.
Maybe once in a hundred times, if even that.
And yet, it had just happened now.
'Lucky.'
I had been feeling exhausted from the intense pain that came with leveling up, but thanks to the increase in mental strength, it became much more bearable.
At that moment—
'Hm?'
I sensed commotion coming from Ha Donggeon's party.
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