The reason Kim Jaehyun had called Lee Jun-young was simple.
[Citizen Lee Jun-young’s Trust Level has increased significantly.]
[Citizen Lee Jun-young’s Loyalty Level has increased significantly.]
Jaehyun had already been keeping an eye on him since he had awakened an A-rank ability, but today alone, his na had appeared multiple tis in system notifications.
And then—
[Citizen Lee Jun-young’s Trust Level has reached 100.]
[Ability ‘X-ray Vision’ has been acquired.]
His trust level had suddenly maxed out, granting him the X-ray Vision ability.
‘This is a first…’
For citizens who had joined early, it wasn’t unusual for their Trust and Loyalty levels to rise.
Simply recognizing Jaehyun’s abilities and na had been enough for people’s trust and loyalty to grow.
But it was his first ti seeing the word “significantly” attached to a notification like this.
‘I’ve seen levels increase rapidly before, but never this drastically.’
Even the usual rapid increases had only occurred when he t soone face-to-face.
Yet, he had never t Lee Jun-young before.
And this was the first ti that Trust had hit 100 before Loyalty.
‘There aren’t many of my vassals who have reached 100 in Trust either…’
This was nothing but good news for Jaehyun.
After all, it ant that another person had t the conditions to use “Descent” (강림).
The fact that he could borrow the awakened ability of soone with 100 Trust was nice, but what truly mattered was that it increased the number of tis he could use Descent.
‘I have to make him my vassal.’
That was why he had invited Lee Jun-young.
Using telepathy, he reached out to the young man, who had just finished clearing the goblin dungeon.
[Would you be willing to et face-to-face for a conversation?]
“Y-Yes! Of course!”
As soon as he received permission—
Dongdaemun, open.
A shimring Dinsional Gate appeared in front of Lee Jun-young.
Ziiing!
Instead of opening the Dongdaemun (Dinsional Gate) inside his living room, Jaehyun had opened it at the entranceway.
This was because only vassals could enter his ho freely.
For anyone else, the entryway was the only place accessible through the portal.
Beyond the space connected to his front door, Jaehyun saw Lee Jun-young.
He extended his hand and spoke.
“Nice to et you. I’m Kim Jaehyun.”
But instead of shaking his hand, Lee Jun-young responded stiffly, looking exactly like a nervous new recruit in the military.
Since he was still holding his rifle in a formal “at attention” position, he looked even more like a fresh conscript.
“I’m Lee Jun-young! It’s an honor to et you, sir!”
Jaehyun, still holding out his hand, asked,
“Do you dislike handshakes?”
“N-No! It’s just that… My hands are dirty with goblin blood…”
However, his hands were completely clean.
“Huh?”
He hadn’t realized that when goblin corpses disappeared, so did all the blood they had spilled.
Lee Jun-young looked down at his clothes, murmuring to himself.
“Wait… I’m clean…?”
“Goblin corpses vanish after a hunt. Any blood they shed disappears along with them.”
Understanding dawned on Lee Jun-young’s face.
“Oh, so that’s why. This was my first ti fighting them in hand-to-hand combat, so… Ah!”
Finally noticing Jaehyun’s still-extended hand, he quickly grabbed it and shook it.
“Thank you for helping back there! I nearly got overwheld by the goblins, but thanks to your tily intervention, I barely managed to survive.”
“…Huh?”
For a mont, Jaehyun was confused.
He hadn’t done anything.
But he quickly realized what had happened.
‘So that’s why his Trust skyrocketed.’
For so reason, Lee Jun-young had reinforced his belief in at the crucial mont during battle.
As a result, his Trust had surged, activating the Power of Trust, which increased all of his stats by the sa value as his Trust level.
Since he had awakened with an A-rank ability and was already level 30, he must have felt the power boost intensely.
‘And because of that, he mistakenly believed I was the one giving him power, which pushed his Trust to 100.’
Well, it wasn’t exactly wrong.
After all, the Power of Trust was an effect of Jaehyun’s skill.
So in a way, it was power granted by him.
“Thank you so much, sir!”
Jaehyun casually checked Lee Jun-young’s Citizen Status Window and saw that his Loyalty had reached 98.
Seeing that, he smiled slightly and asked,
“Would you be interested in becoming my vassal?”
He hadn’t even explained the benefits, rights, or responsibilities of being a vassal yet.
But Lee Jun-young imdiately shouted,
“I accept!”
And in that instant—
[Citizen Lee Jun-young’s Loyalty has increased.]
[Citizen Lee Jun-young’s Loyalty has reached 100.]
[Citizen Lee Jun-young has been registered as a vassal.]
[The maximum number of vassals has increased.]
His Loyalty hit 100, and he officially beca a vassal.
Wuuuung!
A brilliant light radiated from Lee Jun-young, signaling his transformation into a vassal.
“…You’re full of surprises today.”
“?”
Now that he was a vassal, there was no need to keep him standing in the entryway for this conversation.
“Co inside.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Would you like coffee or tea? There’s also water.”
“I’ll have coffee, please!”
As the water boiled in the kettle, Jaehyun decided to give him a small gift.
“You have twelve team mbers, correct?”
Lee Jun-young’s eyes widened slightly.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Here, a present.”
Twelve smartphones appeared on the kitchen island in front of them.
They were brand-new, freshly purchased from the Shop.
“Since the data network isn’t fully restored yet, you won’t be able to browse the internet or watch YouTube. But once activated, they can still be used for calls and text ssages.”
“Seriously?”
Even though the network infrastructure was down, these were still fully functional smartphones with working caras and video recording capabilities.
But Jaehyun wasn’t done yet.
“In addition to that, I’ll also give you two apartnt buildings.”
“!!!”
The apartnt complex where I currently lived was the most coveted residential area among citizens.
This was because everything had developed around this apartnt complex, centering on the fact that I was here.
Thanks to that, this place was now considered the most expensive apartnt complex.
Of course, no actual transactions had taken place.
That was because I directly controlled all rights to the hos.
The people currently living here were mostly those who had originally resided in this place from the beginning.
Regardless of whether it was a sale, a lease, or monthly rent, I only recognized the rights of those who had already been living here.
As a result, nearly half of the apartnts were still vacant, and I granted them to those who had made contributions or possessed abilities.
Even if it seed unfair and selfish, there was nothing else I could do.
"You don’t need to purchase rights for electricity, water, or gas from the store."
"Th-thank you."
"There’s no need to thank ."
There was a very valid reason for to offer such treatnt.
"Do you rember the accident site in Jamsil?"
"...I rember."
"You people are always the first to be deployed to such dangerous sites. That ans you face that much more risk."
The privileges and rights granted to them were in exchange for that danger.
"You may lose your life."
I looked straight into Lee Joon-young’s wavering eyes as I asked.
"Will you still beco my retainer?"
If he refused, I was prepared to let him go.
After all, since my loyalty had reached 100, I had unlocked an additional slot for a retainer.
It was a bit regretful to lose 100 trust points, but I couldn’t force him to give up his life.
At that mont—
Bubble, bubble—
The sound of boiling water reached its peak, and the electric kettle shut off automatically.
I used it to make two cups of coffee and handed one to Lee Joon-young.
After accepting the coffee, he quietly began to speak.
"Life in Seoul was hell. Honestly, it was a continuous cycle where it wouldn’t have been strange for to die at any mont. Back then, even having regular als like now was unimaginable."
Lee Joon-young’s eyes glead as he continued.
"I like it here. As long as my comrades and I can continue this life, I’m willing to stake my life on it."
His eyes were good.
I smiled, pleased, and extended my hand to him.
"I look forward to working with you."
"I’ll do my best!"
Having accepted Kim Jae-hyun’s offer and formally becoming a retainer, Lee Joon-young was able to return to his original location through the still-maintained East Gate.
Kim Tae-hyun looked at him with concern and asked,
"Joon-young! What happened?"
Lee Joon-young grinned and emphasized the box he was holding in his arms.
"Guess what this is?"
"What is it?"
"A smartphone."
"...? A smartphone? Out of nowhere?"
"I just found out today, but apparently, calls and texts work here."
"What? How?"
"I don’t know either. They said you have to activate it at the Central Hub, though…"
"That’s insane."
The re fact that communication was possible was astonishing.
"Damn, if I had known, I would’ve kept my phone."
During their long days as vagrants, very few people had held onto what was essentially a useless brick of a smartphone.
"Oh? Really? I still have mine."
"Ah, too!"
"You too, unnie?"
Seo Ji-hyun and Lee Seo-young turned out to be among those rare cases.
"I kept it because I didn’t want to lose my pictures. This is great. I’ll check it when I get ho."
"Unnie, do you have a charger?"
"I’ll just buy one from the store."
At that mont, Kim Tae-hyun pulled out a phone box and said,
"There should be a charger in here."
"My phone’s an iPhone, so it won’t work with a Type-C charger."
"Then I guess this is useless to you."
"No! Of course not!"
As Lee Joon-young watched his comrades chat with bright expressions, the dungeon administrators, who had been silently observing, finally spoke up.
"If you’ve finished the raid, please assist us with returning your firearms."
"Oh, right."
As they handed in their weapons and prepared to return ho—
"Huh?"
They spotted a familiar face approaching.
"An Ki-tae?"
These were the people who had joined the JHS cult under Lee Young-jun’s persuasion in the past.
As soon as they had joined, an incident had erupted, leaving Lee Young-jun with lingering guilt toward them.
"Hello, Joon-young. You’re safe, I see."
"...I’m glad to see you safe as well, Ki-tae."
Lee Joon-young quickly bowed his head in apology.
"I’m sorry for what happened the other day. I had no idea what kind of place that was…"
"It’s fine. I know you wouldn’t have done it if you had known. Honestly, I should be thanking you instead. Thanks to you, I ended up here."
With a sigh of relief, Lee Joon-young replied,
"I’m grateful you see it that way. But since I did sothing wrong, please take this."
An Ki-tae tilted his head as he looked at the smartphone Lee Joon-young handed him.
"A smartphone?"
The device was brand new, still wrapped in its original plastic packaging.
"Yeah. If you activate it at the Central Hub, you can use calls and texts."
"...You’re saying calls and texts actually work?"
"Yep. Isn’t this place incredible?"
"…It really is. Thank you for the valuable information."
"By the way, are you three tackling this raid alone?"
An Ki-tae scratched his head with a wry smile before answering.
"Well, we have firearms, after all. And all three of us were in the special forces."
"That’s impressive. Then, I’ll see you next ti."
"Yeah, see you around."
***
An Ki-tae slipped into Jeonpo Station under the cover of darkness.
With movents as swift as a shadow, he dashed toward Exit 3.
That exit connected directly to Konkuk University Station in Seoul.
After checking his surroundings, he leaped into the gateway without hesitation, vanishing into the unknown.
And behind him—
Swoosh—
Moving soundlessly in his wake, a transparent figure trailed after him.
It was Moon Byeong-ho, completely invisible.
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