Absolute Dweller-Chapter 186

Hunting Team 31.

A squad of nine members, they had participated in both the Seoul Reclamation Operation and the Daejeon Domain Construction Operation.

While they hadn’t made any notable contributions during the Seoul campaign, they had distinguished themselves in Daejeon, earning personal recognition from Kim Jae-hyun.

Moreover, Kim Jae-hyun himself had promised generous rewards.

Now, all nine members were in celebratory spirits, downing drinks in a festival-like atmosphere, all because of that reward.

"Cheers!"

Gulp, gulp, gulp—

A man who had just downed a frosty mug of draft beer in one go let out an exaggerated gasp before speaking.

"Hahhh—! So, this means that’s really our home now, huh?"

"This is insane! Absolutely nuts!"

The reward they had received was two apartment units in the same complex where Kim Jae-hyun lived.

Of course, they had been promised additional financial and administrative benefits, but to them, the most valuable reward was their new homes.

At that moment, a woman whose face had already turned beet red from drinking suddenly stood up and shouted.

"You bastards, I told you I’d prove myself this time!"

"Team Leader! Three cheers!"

"Wooooo!"

The team members all joined in, chanting her name.

"Kim Hye-na! Kim Hye-na! Kim Hye-na!"

It was basically chaos, but no one complained.

After all, the entire bar was in a similar state.

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Kim Jae-hyun had rented out the entire establishment, hosting a massive celebration for the hunting teams that had contributed to the Daejeon Domain Construction.

At that moment, a man sipping his drink from the side murmured to himself.

"...Is it really that great?"

Suddenly, all eyes turned to him.

It was as if he had poured cold water over the heated celebration—causing Kim Myeong-hwan to hurriedly clarify himself.

"Ah, no, I mean—think about it! Aren’t there tons of vacant apartments these days? As long as you file the paperwork, you can move into an empty unit anytime, right? I mean, if it’s just an apartment...."

He wasn’t entirely wrong.

It wasn’t like Cyclops-level monsters were common, and there were far more intact apartments than collapsed ones.

Plus, as the safe zone expanded, there was no real monster threat either.

In places like Haeundae or Gwangalli, there were even larger, more luxurious apartments available.

His logic was sound.

But—

"Yeah, of course you’d say that! Our dear rich-boy Myeong-hwan, who’s been living there since day one, wouldn’t understand the joy of us common folk finally getting a home!"

"I’m not rich—"

"Myeong-hwan, you are officially banned from our club house."

"Wait, what—"

He was met with fierce resistance from the team.

The one who issued his clubhouse ban, Lee Min-young, spoke up, explaining the real value of what they had received.

"Do you even know how much those apartment rights are trading for right now?"

"A-apartment rights?"

Kim Myeong-hwan tilted his head in confusion.

"Aren’t empty apartments managed by the administration?"

"You idiot! The people who originally lived there—whether they rented, leased, or owned—all had their rights recognized. The administration even authorized property sales."

Anyone who had been living in a unit—whether as a renter or owner—was granted legal ownership of their home after the monster invasion.

And naturally, those with ownership rights had the ability to sell their properties.

Recently, the market value of these properties had skyrocketed to insane levels.

"That place is worth 3 billion won."

"...What?"

Completely uninterested in property values, Kim Myeong-hwan was shocked speechless by the number.

‘Wasn’t that apartment worth around 800 million won before?’

He remembered the price because it had been his older sister, Kim Ga-young’s, newlywed home.

But now, its value had quadrupled.

"That expensive?"

"Yep."

"But... why?"

To him, the price jump made no sense.

Seeing his confusion, Lee Min-young began patiently explaining.

"First off—because Jae-hyun lives there."

That alone had given the entire apartment complex an insane premium.

"Secondly—it’s the heart of the safe zone."

With Kim Jae-hyun’s power constantly expanding, it was common knowledge that his home was the center of the ever-growing safe zone.

"Then there’s the fact that many of the high-ranking retainers live there, the unparalleled transportation convenience, its status as the absolute safest place to be, the high concentration of shops, gyms, and amenities—and the fact that an entire commercial district is now forming around it!"

As Kim Jae-hyun’s power expanded, the difference in location value naturally manifested.

"And the biggest reason— there are tons of people who want to buy, but almost no one selling!"

There were vacant units in the apartment complex.

But they were all owned by Kim Jae-hyun and only distributed as rewards.

Meanwhile, in other apartment complexes, anyone could simply find a vacant unit and move in—no special process required.

The imbalance of supply and demand had driven the prices sky-high.

"And the craziest part? There are no banks handing out mortgage loans anymore! That means if you want to buy a place there, you need to pay the full 3 billion won in cash! Fucking insane! You know how many damn orcs you’d have to hunt to get that kind of money? Or goblins? Probably a million of them! You get it now?!"

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With spit flying as she passionately lectured him, Kim Myeong-hwan could only nod silently.

"I admit it. I had no idea it was worth that much."

"This bastard! You’re such a T, aren’t you?"

"...Huh?"

"Your MBTI! You’re totally a T!"

"...Excuse me?"

Why the hell was MBTI coming up in this conversation?

Frankly, Kim Myeong-hwan didn’t care much for categorizing people into just 16 personality types.

So while he knew about MBTI, he’d never actually taken the test.

"I knew it! You’re the type that needs cold, hard logic before you understand anything! You’re such a goddamn T. Everyone’s happy, don’t ruin the mood, got it?"

"Ah..."

To be fair, he did feel bad for killing the vibe.

‘I was just curious...’

Regardless, thanks to Lee Min-young, the atmosphere quickly heated up again.

"Forget about this idiot—let’s drink!"

"Woohoo! Betrayer! Rich boy!"

"Senpai, you’re dumb!"

The mood quickly reignited, and the team continued their drunken revelry.

"Geez..."

Now isolated for ruining the mood, Kim Myeong-hwan chuckled and sipped his drink alone.

Just then, Kim Hye-na, the team leader of Hunting Team 31, as always, slid into the seat next to him.

"Senpai. What are you doing?"

"Just sitting here."

"Then drink with me! I’ll pour for you!"

"Go ahead."

He emptied his beer mug and handed it °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° over.

Grinning mischievously, Kim Hye-na started pouring his drink.

"Uh...? Hye-na?"

"Yeah?"

"That’s... a lot of soju."

"Pfft! That’s the way it’s supposed to be! It tastes better this way!"

Kim Hye-na’s signature somaek (soju-beer mix) was a lethal cocktail—

Nine parts soju, one part beer.

It explained why she was already so wasted.

‘She’s got a pretty high level, so I was wondering why she got so smashed this quickly...’

A 500cc beer mug filled almost entirely with soju, with just a tiny splash of beer for flavor.

Proudly, Kim Hye-na pushed the deadly mix toward him.

"Cheers! Cheers!"

"...Yeah, cheers."

Unlike Kim Myeong-hwan, who had been pacing himself with small sips, Kim Hye-na chugged the entire glass in one go.

"Ahhh! Why didn’t you finish yours?!"

"We’ve got a dungeon raid tomorrow."

"Hehe. Oh, right."

Her half-lidded eyes were even glossier now.

When Kim Myeong-hwan smirked, she followed suit, giggling along with him.

"Senpai, thank youuuu."

"For what?"

"It’s all thanks to you! Tatatatata!"

She mimicked dual-wielding guns, pretending to shoot wildly in all directions.

Instinctively, Kim Myeong-hwan placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair.

"You worked hard too. You got even stronger after switching to Spirit Caster."

Truthfully, Hunting Team 31’s reward—two apartment units—

Had been largely thanks to the efforts of both Kim Myeong-hwan and Kim Hye-na.

Kim Myeong-hwan had switched to Marksman, overwhelming the goblins with his firepower.Kim Hye-na, now a Spirit Caster, had shielded the barrier multiple times using her contracted Earth Spirit.The two of them had played a crucial role in securing Daejeon’s domain, which had been swarming with goblins.

"Ehhh. I didn’t really do much. We got the apartments because of you, senpai. Thank yooouuuu~"

She pressed her palms together and bowed her head onto the table.

"You really like it that much?"

"Of course! It’s my first real home!"

Unlike the other team members, Kim Hye-na had already been living in the apartment complex.

But her situation had been different—she had been in a shared housing unit, living with ten people in a dormitory-like setup.

She had joined Jae-hyun’s domain fairly early when his territory was just beginning to expand.

Then—

"And—"

Kim Hye-na leaned against his shoulder, her voice soft.

"It’s close to your place too, senpai..."

"...?"

Before he could ask what she meant, he glanced down—

Only to see her completely passed out.

Instead of waking her up, he simply adjusted his posture so she could sleep more comfortably.

“How pure.”

Watching their little romance drama unfold through Absolute Dweller’s Eye, I found myself cheering for them as a viewer.

It helped that the male lead, Kim Myeong-hwan, was a familiar face.

He was Kim Ga-young’s younger brother, someone I had known for quite a while.

Recently, I had been keeping an eye on him—

Particularly because of his performance during the Daejeon Domain Construction.

With so many goblins, there had been frequent attacks on the barrier during territory expansion.

And Hunting Team 31 had held the line every time.

You could say they were lucky, but luck alone wasn’t enough.

They had the skills to seize the opportunity.

‘Didn’t he say his goal was to become a Retainer?’

Apparently, he had been grinding away at monster hunting—

All because he wanted to follow in his sister’s footsteps and become a Retainer like her.

His words weren’t a lie.

[Status Window]

Name: Kim Myeong-hwan (Lv. 33)

Trust: 75

Loyalty: 70

Class: {Marksman}

Titles: [Goblin Slayer] [Orc Slayer]

Awakening Ability: None

Experience Distribution Rate: 100% (+200%)

Earnings Distribution Rate: 0% (+200%)

★ Assign Quest

 Expel

***

"Level 33, huh."

For an ordinary citizen, he was within the top 0.1%, one of the strongest non-Retainers.

It was proof of his dedication to constant hunting.

And the fact that he had both ‘Goblin Slayer’ and ‘Orc Slayer’ titles

Showed just how much effort he had put in.

Those were, in fact, the only monster-related titles I had created so far.

‘The real shame is that he hasn’t awakened yet.’

I liked his mindset, his personality, his ambition.

Even now, he was pacing his drinking to ensure he could hunt first thing in the morning.

There weren’t many people this disciplined.

‘If he awakens, I’d seriously consider making him a Retainer.’

Feeling a bit regretful, I decided to give him a small gift.

Everyone who had joined the Seoul Reclamation was already receiving a boosted experience distribution rate.

All of them were set at 100%, meaning they gained more EXP than regular citizens.

But for Kim Myeong-hwan—

‘Adjust Experience Distribution. 300%.’

I set his EXP rate to the maximum allowed for a citizen.

From now on, he would absorb all experience from the monsters he killed.

And as an added bonus—

‘Adjust Experience Distribution. Kim Hye-na, 200%.’

If the level gap between them became too wide, their relationship might suffer.

I considered it a small push for the couple I was rooting for.

‘May your hard work help you grow even faster.’

Satisfied, I shifted my focus elsewhere.