"Ace Party (5)":
It was a dark room.
'Where… am I?'
In one corner, there were scorch marks as if a fire had been lit, and in another, supplies like food were gathered.
I started walking toward it, curious to see what was there.
Splash
"…Huh?"
A cold, slightly sticky sensation crept up from the soles of my feet, shaking me to my core.
Once I realized it was blood, I noticed the countless corpses sprawled across the floor.
Their pale skin, as if all their blood had been drained, and their wide, unblinking eyes conveyed a deep sense of injustice—they hadn't even been able to close their eyes in death.
I was overwhelmed by the vivid scene of death.
Then—
Gasp!
All the corpses opened their eyes simultaneously.
Shocked, I stumbled backward.
Thud
Something bumped into the back of my calf, and I turned around.
"Sniff… sob…"
Children were crying.
Yang Hayoon, who represented the group of five children, looked up at me with tearful, resentful eyes.
"Why did you do that? Why did you accept those bad people?"
"I…"
I wanted to explain, to make an excuse, but my mouth was sealed shut. I couldn't say anything.
I tried with all my might to speak, but my body wouldn't obey.
The children cried loudly, blaming me.
"Waaaah! It's your fault, mister."
"Because of you, my mom died."
My head began to spin, and then, suddenly, the children stopped crying.
With blank expressions, they looked at me and said,
"Please save us. You can bring our mom back, can't you?"
How did those kids know?
Aside from Oh Eonju, even Ha Donggeon's party didn't know that detail.
Then—
"Jaehyun."
Oh Eonju's voice came from behind me.
When I turned around, she was looking at me with sad eyes.
"You told me before, remember? That it wasn't the end."
"I miss Siwoo… I want to see him again."
She stepped closer, grabbing my shoulders, pleading with me.
"I've done my best all this time. Haven't I?"
When I still didn't respond, Oh Eonju's expression turned cold.
"…Is it because it costs too much money? Is that it?"
Right after she said that, her body swelled grotesquely, and a bear's gaping maw opened toward me.
Just as I shut my eyes tight—
Sniffle…
The overwhelming sensation vanished, and I began to hear faint sobbing.
When I slowly opened my eyes, I saw Kim Gayoung holding a bloated, waterlogged corpse, weeping like a drowned rat.
Tears streaming down her face, she slowly looked up at me.
"Is it true? You really can't save my dad? Why not?"
Ha Donggeon, Kang Deoksu, and Kim Geon slowly turned to face me, surrounding Kim Gayoung.
They didn't say a word, but their gazes seemed to be asking me:
You risked everything to find our families—now is there really nothing more you can do for us?
That's what their eyes demanded of me.
Then the background began to darken, and more and more people started to appear.
They stretched their hands toward me and began to approach like zombies.
I couldn't run.
There were already people crowding behind me.
They kept muttering as they got closer.
"Jaehyun."
"Jaehyun!"
"Kim Jaehyun!"
My name echoed like a chorus, and eventually, the hands of those who had closed the distance reached me.
Thud thud thud
"Ugh!"
Rough hands pressed down on my entire body.
And from those hands, intense pain began to erupt.
It felt like my body was going to explode—as if I was experiencing the agony of my territory expanding.
My head… my head felt like it was going to burst.
"AAAAAAAH!!!"
And then—I woke from the dream.
"─Aah!"
I jolted up from bed, instinctively checking my entire body.
No pain.
I was perfectly fine.
Huff, huff.
As I gasped for air, I slowly realized I was in the master bedroom of my house.
It seemed like Seo Yejin had personally carried me back here.
Thanks to her, I'd been able to sleep well.
'Though I did have an incredibly vivid nightmare!'
The blackout curtains were drawn, and it was the middle of the night, so the room was shrouded in darkness.
Just like the scene from my dream.
I activated the Dignity Maintenance skill and turned on the lights.
Flash!
As the room lit up, I finally felt a bit more at ease.
"Huff, hoo."
I have nightmares every day, but today's was especially vivid.
Was it because I saw a corpse up close?
"Come to think of it, why were those corpses still there?"
At that time, even the vampires had already acquired citizenship. They had entered my territory.
And yet, the corpses of the citizens they had killed remained as they were.
"Do human corpses not get cleaned up? Or was it because they had citizenship?"
Either way, it was a scene I'd rather not witness again.
I should probably create a special achievement for vampires, so that even if it's triggered accidentally, it won't be a problem.
Ding!
[Achievement has been set.]
If a person with citizenship becomes a vampire, their abilities will be severely limited, and like a murderer, a mark will appear on their face.
With this in place, I shouldn't need to worry too much.
"I got 3 skill points!"
I already knew where I'd use one of them.
"Let's level up the Shop skill first…"
[The Shop Skill of 'Absolute Ruler of the House' has reached Lv. 6.]
[The number of items that can be registered has increased to 1000.]
[All product prices are discounted by 30%.]
So far, these were the expected effects.
With the shop, every even level tended to grant an additional 10% discount.
But then—
['Enchant' function has been unlocked.]
[Requirements fulfilled.]
['Enchant Workshop' has been added to the list of constructible facilities.]
This was an unexpected bonus feature.
"Enchant? Is it that enchant?"
It looked like I'd need to build the Enchant Workshop to use it.
"Construction Mode."
Vrrrr—
The cost to build the newly added Enchant Workshop was 5 billion.
It didn't require much space compared to its price.
"I'll place it right next to the shop."
That spot happened to be empty.
Even though Kim Dabin had done some cleaning, there were still traces left behind by goblins.
Building the Enchant Workshop there would take care of that mess.
"Build Enchant Workshop."
Ding!
[Please select the location to build the Enchant Workshop.]
"Room 102."
[Time remaining until Enchant Workshop is completed:]
– 71 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds
At that moment, I noticed a button I hadn't seen before under the countdown timer.
{Complete Instantly}
"Hm?"
Curious about the new feature, I tapped it without thinking.
[Do you want to instantly complete the construction of the 'Enchant Workshop'?]
[8 Crystals are required to instantly complete this facility.]
Apparently, one crystal reduced construction time by about 10 hours.
I currently had 100 crystals left.
Considering I needed 300 crystals to draw a divine item, I couldn't afford to waste them like this.
"Cancel."
[Instant completion has been canceled.]
"Now that I think about it, I heard there's an unidentified dungeon in the newly expanded territory. I should go check it out."
I couldn't say exactly where, but I had a rough idea of the area where the dungeon had appeared.
"I wonder what kind of dungeon it'll be this time."
Last time, I gained quite a bit from dungeon exploration, so I had high hopes again.
"Just 200 more crystals and I can draw another divine item."
The Ring of Communication and the Crown were both extremely useful. It was clearly most efficient to use crystals only for divine item draws.
"Now I have 2 skill points left."
I'd need to think carefully about where to invest them.
"It's getting harder to level up as I grow stronger."
Who knows when I'll reach level 30?
Perhaps because I'd had the frustrating experience of filling all the shop slots without being able to level up, I couldn't help but become cautious in how I used my skill points.
"In the end, to level up quickly, you have to hunt high-level monsters."
Sure, the small monsters gave some experience, and that helped, but it was nothing compared to the amount gained from a single high-level monster like the advanced vampire we hunted this time.
Thinking of Ha Dong-gun's party, who played a huge role in taking down that vampire, made me smile with satisfaction.
"As expected from the ace party."
Ha Dong-gun's party had made a spectacular return right out of the gate.
They earned billions while wiping out vampires, and just from defeating the advanced vampire, they brought in a whopping 36 billion.
Other hunting teams might work for an entire month without achieving that kind of result, yet they pulled it off on their first day back.
Truly worthy of being called the ace party.
"They've got good luck too!"
Even excluding the blessed character Moon Byung-ho, who had given me all sorts of help early on, the rest of Ha Dong-gun's party was also remarkably lucky.
Few parties encountered high-level monsters as frequently as they did.
And even among those that did, not many had the ability to hunt or drive them into a corner like this party could.
"After all, both earnings and experience increase exponentially with level."
You could see the difference clearly when comparing the experience from hundreds of goblins under level 10 to that from a single orc in the high teens. Sometimes, the orc even gave more.
This trend only became more pronounced at higher levels.
Just a one-level difference could result in a difference of several billion.
"The problem is that there are very few monsters of that level, and they're incredibly dangerous."
This time, we were able to take down the advanced vampire thanks to Ha Dong-gun's party's outstanding performance, but to be honest, it was a close call.
"If there had been two of those advanced vampires, even Ha Dong-gun's party wouldn't have managed without taking damage."
Ultimately, hunting high-level monsters was necessary for fast leveling, but those monsters were scarce and carried serious risks.
"And there's no guarantee that I'll keep encountering high-level monsters like this."
I had no intention of recklessly going around looking for them, either.
In that case, my leveling speed was inevitably going to slow down.
"So I'd better save my skill points for now."
There was a good chance I'd fill the shop slots again before reaching level 30.
"The Eye of the Absolute."
As I habitually activated the Eye of the Absolute, I first checked on Choi Hyung-jun's place, where I had entrusted the children.
Seven kids, including Choi Na-yeon and Choi Seo-yeon, were sleeping tangled together under blankets spread out across the living room floor.
They seemed to have grown quite close in just a single day, as children do.
"Next…"
I checked the floor directly below, where Kang Deok-soo and Kim Geon lived now.
The place I'd given to Ha Dong-gun's party was now occupied solely by those two.
Moon Byung-ho was living with his grandmother in a different unit I had provided, and Yoo Hye-rin was staying with Oh Won-joo at Kim Da-jung's home.
"Snorrrrk~ snore…"
There were still empty liquor bottles rolling around, but Kang Deok-soo and Kim Geon weren't drunk—just asleep.
Naturally, I moved on to 2902, Kim Da-jung's home.
I thought everyone would be asleep, but Oh Won-joo was still awake.
She was quietly flipping through pictures of Si-woo on her now outdated smartphone.
…
I used the Ring of Communication to speak to her from afar.
[Ms. Oh Won-joo.]
Startled, she looked up.
[Could you come upstairs for a moment?]
There was something I wanted to ask.
When I opened the front door, she carefully stepped inside, waiting for my question.
"A vampire of that level… it seemed worth putting a quest on. Why didn't you ask for the opportunity?"
"Ah…"
Though I had worded it gently, as soon as I mentioned "quest," Oh Won-joo realized I was referring to resurrection.
After a brief pause, she began to speak.
"That day… I experienced a miracle. Thanks to you, Jaehyun."
She gave a bitter smile and continued.
"But after that, I saw Gayoung's father pass away. I saw comrades grieving for their lost loved ones. I also heard Da-jung's story."
"Watching everyone suffer and push through their pain made me think. If I kept insisting on seeing Si-woo again, it would eventually cause problems. The longer you drag things out, the more likely you'll get caught. That might lead to you being burdened, Jaehyun, or even throw this society—which has only just regained stability—into chaos."
"I don't want my son to become the seed of conflict."
"That's…"
"Everyone carries their own pain. And still, they go on living. I decided there was no reason for me to be the only exception."
Oh Won-joo bowed to me, then smiled.
"Thank you for granting Si-woo and me that miracle. Being able to say goodbye… it still feels like a dream. It brought me so much comfort."
Her expression had completely changed from when I first met her.
Back then, she had seemed unstable. Now, her calm demeanor gave off a sense of peace.
"Thank you for caring. Sleep well."
In that moment, I was reminded that she was much older than me.
Strangely, her words—saying that she had found comfort—ended up comforting me.
I felt like I could finally fall asleep peacefully.
***
After that.
A month flew by like an arrow.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]