Savior (3)
Bujeon-dong Officetel.
A woman lay weakly on a bed that took up most of the room.
'I'm hungry.'
She was so hungry that it hurt, but she had no options left.
She had already eaten everything edible in the house.
The convenience store she had risked her life to visit from time to time was no longer an option after the ground-crawling sharks appeared.
"Water…"
The last sip of water.
Lying down, she tilted the plastic bottle to drink every last drop.
Thud.
Her arm, too weak to hold on any longer, gave out first. The nearly empty plastic bottle slipped from her lips and rolled under the bed.
'Am I going to die like this…?'
If only she could think, 'It wasn't such a bad life.'
'What a miserable life!'
Baek Sora thought about how her life had been heading straight for rock bottom until the very end.
If there were ever a review session on her life, all she would get was pity votes.
Her only father was an alcoholic who hit her whenever he had the chance. The world she barely escaped into demanded money from her every single day.
Rent, utilities, food expenses, and so on.
None of them were small amounts.
To survive, she had to work relentlessly.
Just when she could finally catch her breath, the world ended.
'Why me…?'
Why was she born into such a family and forced to live such a difficult life?
It would have been better if she had never been born.
"Hhkk."
She just wanted a normal life.
Like everyone else.
With normal parents, eating three meals a day, making friends at school, and sometimes even dating—just an ordinary life.
To Baek Sora, that was nothing more than a dream.
And then.
Bang, bang, bang!
It wasn't her door.
From the vibrations traveling through the wall, it seemed like it was coming from downstairs.
The overwhelming despair that had filled the room vanished, replaced by the rapid pounding of her heart.
'A monster?'
Sometimes goblins would make their way up.
But if the door didn't open, they would lose interest and leave soon enough.
She curled up on the bed, praying desperately for the creature to leave.
…Even in this state, do I still want to live?
At that moment, she heard something unbelievable.
"This is the rescue team! Are there any survivors?"
At first, she thought it was just a hallucination.
A voice created by her desperate mind.
Bang, bang, bang!
But it wasn't.
"Is anyone alive? Please respond! This is the rescue team!"
It was definitely a human voice.
'A… a rescue team?'
Her heart started pounding for an entirely different reason.
"Here…!"
She struggled to her feet from the bed and staggered toward the front door.
"There's someone here!"
Just before opening the door, she froze with her hand on the doorknob.
'What if it's a monster imitating a human voice?'
In novels and movies, there were always creatures that mimicked people.
She hesitated, fear gripping her.
"Are you… really the rescue team?"
"Yes, we are. You're safe now."
Hearing the response from outside, Baek Sora cautiously opened the door.
A man stood with his back to her, wearing an orange uniform with "119" written on it.
He was handing a bottle of water to another man who looked like a survivor.
Seeing that, Baek Sora cried out.
"H-here! Me too…!"
The rescuer smiled and handed her a 500ml bottle of Samdasu water.
"Hello, we are here under the orders of Kim Jaehyun."
"…Excuse me?"
"We are a rescue team operating under Kim Jaehyun's directives."
"-??"
As ridiculous as it sounded, this had become an established guideline for the rescue teams.
Even among themselves, they jokingly called themselves a cult, but what could they do?
It actually worked.
"We will now be entering Kim Jaehyun's territory. Once inside, you will be safe."
Just hearing his name in a safe zone was enough to bring life back into survivors.
There were even cases where people on the brink of death managed to stand up after hearing it. It had become a standard part of rescue operations.
"We will be moving outside now. If you can walk on your own, please follow me."
One of the rescue workers led the relatively uninjured survivors out of the building.
"Bring a stretcher here! Move quickly!"
Some were in critical condition, but most could still walk.
Baek Sora followed at the front of the group, watching the rescuer's back.
And then—
Thud!
"Ow."
As she was about to step onto the chaotic road tangled with cars, an invisible wall blocked her path. Then, translucent letters appeared before her eyes.
[Access Denied.]
"…What is this now?"
Just as she was bewildered by the sudden phenomenon—
[Would you like to acquire citizenship?
[Yes / No]
New words appeared, and a rescue worker inside the barrier spoke.
"If you obtain citizenship, you can enter the area!"
Without much thought, she ended up acquiring citizenship.
Ding!
[You have obtained citizenship.]
The moment Baek Sora acquired citizenship, she felt a surge of energy filling her previously exhausted body.
'This…!'
A refreshing sensation coursed through her body.
At the same time, the words the rescue worker had spoken earlier came to mind.
"Was his name Kim Jaehyun? Could this power be his ability?"
This mysterious energy—was it his doing?
'What kind of person is he?'
Shortly after, she followed the rescue worker and arrived at a hospital on the third floor of a building.
The place was crowded with people.
"You can wait here for your turn."
The rescue worker immediately returned to the field, leaving Baek Sora to observe her surroundings. Most of the people here seemed to be in relatively good condition, like herself.
It appeared that those with more severe conditions were being transported elsewhere.
After a long wait, she finally faced a doctor wearing a white coat.
"Do you have any discomfort?"
"…No."
"Could you look at me for a moment?"
The doctor's eyes suddenly glowed blue as they scanned her entire body.
"You can go downstairs and take the shuttle bus."
"Huh? A bus?"
"Yes. Next person, please."
Although she had many questions, she had no choice but to move aside, as the doctor seemed too busy to answer.
When she made her way downstairs, she saw that a bus was indeed waiting.
Some of its windows were broken, but it was still a bus.
"We're departing!"
The bus, packed with people, started moving.
The roads seemed to have been cleared just enough for the bus to pass through.
The scenery outside changed rapidly. The landscape, once a mess of blood and corpses, gradually gave way to clean, well-maintained streets.
And then—
'Is that… the smell of bread?'
It was just a fleeting scent, but she caught it. Because she was hungry. Apparently, others had noticed it too.
Everyone's eyes turned toward one place.
There was a bakery operating as if nothing had happened. But it wasn't just the bakery. A nearby café had people lining up, waiting to order.
And—
'W-what's going on?'
The people waiting in line looked calm, as if they were just living their ordinary daily lives.
'Where are the monsters? The goblins?'
There were none in sight.
The scenery from the bus was a series of shocks.
As they entered an apartment complex, every sight that unfolded before her was even more surreal.
People walking their dogs.
Children riding bicycles.
Joggers casually exercising.
'Did this place somehow escape the apocalypse?'
Just moments ago, she had been trembling in fear of monsters. But this—this was too different.
Baek Sora sat in a daze, trying to process it all.
'Did a savior really appear?'
Had her desperate prayers finally reached the heavens?
She looked around the residential area with a bewildered expression.
***
[That concludes the report.]
Listening to Kim Dabin's report, I activated the Ring of Communication and responded.
[So, the key point is that public facilities have reached their capacity?]
[That's correct. Could you expand the public facilities?]
After gathering my thoughts for a moment, I spoke.
[Send those who have homes nearby back to their residences.]
[Will that be okay?]
[I plan to establish public facilities outside the apartment area as well—like community centers or district offices. We're also setting up convenience stores in multiple locations, so soon, people will be able to sustain themselves outside.]
I had expected that we would eventually reach our limit.
Fortunately, most of the recently arrived people had homes nearby.
With the expansion of our territory to a 1km radius, many residential houses had now fallen within our safe zone.
"If we send back everyone who has a house nearby, we should have some breathing room.
'There are so many empty houses.'
Houses had a significantly lower survival rate compared to apartments.
'It must be because their structure makes it easier for goblins to invade.'
Most survivors were clustered in high-rise buildings like officetels, studio apartments, and apartment complexes.
While using the Absolute Eye to check if there were any items to register in the store, I also selected suitable points to construct a convenience store.
'I should use the houses on the outskirts as bases for the hunting team. I'll set up a convenience store here as well and appoint someone to manage it!'
Traveling back and forth from the apartment complex would be inconvenient.
I was beginning to see the need for several outposts on the outskirts as maintenance hubs.
Managing these outposts would be a simple task—I could assign employees and delegate responsibilities.
As the total population increased, so did the number of economically active individuals, making it easy to distribute roles without concern.
[Mr. Davin.]
[Yes, Jaehyun.]
I briefly explained my plan to Kim Davin and instructed him to select personnel for managing the outposts.
[Leave it to me, Jaehyun.]
Next, I used construction mode to establish convenience stores at the selected points and designated locations for public facilities, ensuring they had electricity, gas, and water supply.
During this process, I also noticed the medical team working diligently. Naturally, I provided them with everything they needed for the hospital, and as a result, the use of medical equipment significantly improved patient treatment.
I ensured an ample supply of needles, IV fluids, and other essentials, instructing them to request anything they required.
'It would be great if I could secure a university hospital.'
Even having a regular hospital enabled many improvements, but the advanced medical equipment available in a university hospital was indispensable.
'I should find a way to utilize the forward base.'
Of course, there was still unfinished business to take care of first.
'I wonder how far they've gotten.'
Hadonggeon's party was currently racing towards Jangjeon-dong as fast as possible.
They had been able to advance smoothly to Gyodae Station using the poison gas strategy, but beyond that, they needed to carve out a path.
This was because the railway connecting Gyodae to Dongnae surfaced above ground midway.
From Dongnae Station onward, the subway turned into an above-ground train.
In an open area, the poison gas strategy had its limits, so Hadonggeon's party had no choice but to fight their way through the monsters.
The encouraging part was that the party had grown several times stronger than before.
"Blackie, tear them apart!"
The crow, now three times larger than a regular one, viciously bit into the Sky Blue Marlins.
[You have hunted a Sky Blue Marlin (Lv. 17).]
[You have gained experience points.]
[₩1,295,571 has been deposited into the Wallet of the Absolute Ruler of the House.]
This was the effect of Kim Geon's newly acquired skill, Rapid Growth.
The rapidly growing crow was handling dozens of Marlins on its own.
Bang! Bang!
Gunshots echoed from seemingly nowhere.
It was the attack of Moon Byungho, who had acquired an invisibility skill.
His bullets, striking precisely from concealed positions, shattered the monsters' heads in an instant.
"Rise!"
On the ground, Kang Deoksoo's summoned knights of steel aggressively cleared a path.
Thanks to their efforts, Hadonggeon's party could advance while engaging in only minimal combat.
As they smoothly followed the above-ground train tracks—
"Stop."
Their path was blocked.
The bridge connecting the train tracks had completely collapsed."
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