Kim Min-ho leaped toward the approaching Pelican, grabbing it by the neck mid-air.
Crunch!
A chilling sound echoed as the Pelican’s neck snapped, its head lolling limply.
The creature flapped its wings briefly before plumting lifelessly to the ground.
Thud!
[You have hunted a Pelican (Lv. 25).]
[Experience points gained.]
[5,431,024 KRW has been deposited into Citizen Kim Min-ho’s wallet.]
“Hah…”
Fighting flying monsters was always tricky for Kim Min-ho.
It was challenging to handle them unless they ca at him directly.
But there were ways to lure them in.
“Sung-chul! Seo-jun! One more ti!”
“Yes!”
Kang Sung-chul and Ha Seo-jun aid their guns at the sky, firing at the circling Pelicans.
Ratatatat!
The gunfire provoked the Pelicans, triggering their aggressive instincts.
One folded its wings and dived straight toward Kang Sung-chul.
Yet Sung-chul stood his ground without flinching.
Just before the Pelican’s beak pierced his chest—
“Hup!”
Crack!
Kim Min-ho’s solid punch smashed the Pelican’s head clean off.
[You have hunted a Pelican (Lv. 24).]
[Experience points gained.]
[4,322,008 KRW has been deposited into Citizen Kim Min-ho’s wallet.]
The remaining Pelican, preparing to attack, froze at the sight of its companion’s decapitation.
With a screech, it fled back into the sky.
Clicking his tongue, Kim Min-ho muttered, “Tch. Smarter than I thought.”
“…Wouldn’t it be insane to attack after seeing that?” Sung-chul comnted, shaking his head at Min-ho’s reaction.
“Well, let’s leave the rest to Aunt Hae-ri and Uncle Ji-ho. These cowards won’t dare co back here.”
“Good idea.”
Kim Min-ho didn’t see the need to continue hunting the Pelicans.
He glanced toward Nam Ji-ho, who was scaling the apartnt wall like a rock climber.
Pelicans, aiming their talons at him, were incinerated mid-flight.
Fwoosh!
The fire was so intense that the Pelicans turned to ash before their remains could even hit the ground.
Screech!
The sheer heat vaporized their corpses in an instant.
‘That’s… way stronger than usual. What’s going on?’
Having worked with Ji-ho for a long ti, Min-ho knew his style.
While Ji-ho was capable of such fiery displays, he wasn’t one to waste energy unnecessarily.
‘Maybe Pelicans are just highly flammable?’
If that were the case, Ji-ho could be considered their natural predator.
Fwoosh!
‘They really burn well.’
Ji-ho’s overwhelming performance made it clear that Min-ho wouldn’t need to intervene further.
At that mont—
“Min-ho!”
Moon Hae-ri, who had been absent for so ti, reappeared.
“Huh?”
She wasn’t alone. Behind her were a scruffy-looking man and a small girl clinging to him.
“Survivors?”
“Yeah. I saved them.”
The unshaven man introduced himself.
“Nice to et you. I’m Oh Byeong-heon, and this is my daughter, Oh Yesul. Yesul, say ‘thank you.’”
The little girl lowered her head and whispered, “Thank you for saving us.”
Kim Min-ho smiled warmly at the sight.
Suddenly, a voice resonated in his mind.
[Evacuate all citizens to the safe zones imdiately.]
It was Kim Jae-hyun, relaying a ssage through the Ring of Communication.
[Attention, all citizens.]
[Return to the safe zones imdiately. Do not leave the safe zones until further notice.]
[Once again, I urge all citizens to return to the safe zones imdiately.]
The telepathic warning echoed across the minds of everyone nearby.
“Min-ho, this…”
“Yeah, sothing serious must’ve happened. Let’s head back right away.”
Their grave expressions left Oh Byeong-heon and Oh Yesul frozen in confusion.
“W-what’s going on?” Byeong-heon stamred.
Suddenly—
Rumble!
The ground began to shake violently.
“!?”
Crack!
The earth split open, bulging upward.
Byeong-heon stumbled backward in alarm.
“E-everyone, get back! There’s sothing underground—”
Before he could finish his sentence—
Boom!
The bulging ground exploded, collapsing in on itself.
Dust billowed into the air, revealing a massive shadow within.
Then—
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
From the cracks in the shattered earth, dozens of creatures crawled out.
“Aaah!”
Oh Yesul’s scream tore through the chaos as she saw them first.
The creatures were slightly larger than goblins, covered in fur, and bared their sharp front teeth as they charged.
Kim Min-ho instinctively stepped forward to shield the group, swinging his fist at the nearest one.
“Hup!”
Smash!
[You have hunted a Ratman (Lv. 16).]
[Experience points gained.]
[1,887,634 KRW has been deposited into Citizen Kim Min-ho’s wallet.]
‘Ratn?’
Now he could clearly see them—bipedal rodents of unusual size.
And—
Growl…
As the dust settled, a massive creature lood behind them, its appearance resembling the mother of the Ratn.
The giant rat monster glared at them, paralyzing everyone with fear.
Suddenly—
Fwoosh!
A fireball exploded in the beast’s face.
“Run!”
Nam Ji-ho’s shout was drowned out by the monster’s anguished roar.
Roar!
The cry jolted everyone back to their senses.
Kim Min-ho slung Oh Byeong-heon over his shoulder, and Moon Hae-ri grabbed Oh Yesul.
By the ti the colossal rat opened its enraged eyes, the group had already disappeared.
-Crrrk...!
Bang! Boom!
The ground shattered under the creature's furious thrashing, but its rage bore no solution.
As discussions about addressing the radiation crisis continued, Kim Da-bin spoke with a grim expression.
“It seems this wasn’t just a nuclear explosion.”
Her statent turned every head in the eting room toward her.
I looked at her and asked, “Can you elaborate?”
“Yes, Jae-hyun. Based on Captain Baek Seung-min’s report, the area where his team stayed was significantly far from the nuclear power plant where the incident occurred.”
She pointed to the map on the whiteboard and continued her explanation.
“The Wolseong Nuclear Plant is here, while Gangdong, where Captain Baek was stationed, is here. Nearly 10 kiloters separate these locations. The sudden reactions reported are impossible, even if all the enriched uranium at Wolseong exploded simultaneously.”
She turned to Captain Baek.
“You ntioned symptoms began appearing six hours after the explosion, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Such rapid reactions are implausible unless they were directly at the site of the explosion. We’ve seen this in incidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima.”
“So what does that an?”
Kim Da-bin nodded solemnly and said, “I’m certain sothing other than the nuclear ltdown is at play.”
Her firm assertion caused us to abandon our plan to send retainers to Wolseong.
If her suspicions were correct, the situation was too dangerous.
“‘Sothing else,’” I murmured.
Given the advent of monsters and awakened individuals with supernatural abilities, nothing seed impossible anymore.
“We need to determine the cause first.”
“Yes, we do.”
The most reliable way to uncover the truth was to directly investigate the Wolseong Nuclear Plant.
Thankfully, I had two retainers whose abilities made them ideal scouts: Seo Ye-jin and Yoo Han-gil.
Of the two, the most suitable for this task was—
[Yoo Han-gil, do you have a mont?]
—the retainer with the ability Clairvoyance.
Yoo Han-gil’s primary role was dungeon reconnaissance, a task for which he had been assigned an apartnt in the central domain.
Closing his eyes briefly to use his power, Yoo Han-gil opened them again and replied, “Of course, I’m available.”
[We’ll be heading to Ulsan together.]
“Oh… is it my turn already?”
By “turn,” he referred to the duty of maintaining the forward base.
For a forward base to function outside the declared domain, a citizen with at least a [Knight] title had to reside there.
Currently, Yoo Han-gil and Park Sae-rom alternated weekly shifts, and it was Park Sae-rom’s turn.
[Not exactly. I’ll explain in person. Can you co right away?]
“Yes, I can.”
I summoned him imdiately.
‘Summon Retainer: Yoo Han-gil.’
Buzz.
Appearing cross-legged on the eting room table, Yoo Han-gil looked flustered.
“Kim Da-bin will brief you on the details.”
Understanding my intent, Kim Da-bin explained the situation and the task he needed to undertake.
“…Given the circumstances, we need you to use your ability to scout the Wolseong Plant. Can you do it?”
Yoo Han-gil nodded confidently.
“How far is it from the Ulsan forward base to Wolseong?”
“Approximately 20 kiloters.”
“I haven’t tried a distance like that before, but it should be possible.”
“Then let’s move out.”
We transported to the employee lounge at Ulsan Hoplus, a location previously used as a command center during the vampire conflict.
Inside—
“Yes! Triple Go!”
“Oh, co on! You’re cheating again, aren’t you?”
Park Sae-rom was playing Go-Stop with her colleagues.
“Ah! N-noona!”
One of the players noticed and hastily flipped the table.
“Hey! What the hell are you doing? We were on a roll, and—!”
“L-look! Over there!”
“Huh?”
Park Sae-rom locked eyes with and froze like a statue.
An awkward silence followed.
“Ha-ha… Good evening, sir! By the way, where’s your crown today?”
(Side note: Upgrading the Storage skill to level 3 allowed to activate relic effects without wearing them, thanks to a dedicated storage slot. This feature didn’t add to the storage weight, making it far more convenient.)
I ignored her comnt.
“We’ll be borrowing this space for a while.”
“O-of course!”
They quickly cleared the gambling table. Yoo Han-gil settled on a sofa and announced, “I’m ready. Starting now.”
Closing his eyes, Yoo Han-gil focused on his ability.
Thanks to Kim Da-bin’s detailed explanation, he located the Wolseong Plant with ease.
The plant was in complete chaos from the explosion.
Corpses lay scattered, so with bloodied mouths, others burned as if roasted alive.
Then—
‘What… is that?’
Gurgle…
Amidst the debris, a massive green gelatinous substance writhed.
The blob engulfed an entire building before quivering violently.
BOOM!
With a deafening explosion, the green mass shattered, scattering its fragnts in all directions.
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