Landlord (9)
You have acquired 8,800 coins.
“Thankfully, all twenty-two of you have paid the rent.”
“Th-then…?”
“From this moment on, every one of you is a guest. Dear guests? Please rest comfortably here. Even if it’s only for one night.”
Snap!
3,000 coins have been paid to My Small Hideout.
The floor space of My Room expands from 20 pyeong to 30 pyeong!
Exclusive skill My Small Hideout has leveled up!
Due to the level-up of My Small Hideout, My Room gains an additional 5 pyeong of space!
Due to the level-up of My Small Hideout, the generation range for My Room doors increases to 1 meter!
Oh… nice.
The moment the words left his mouth, Park Jinwoo snapped his fingers, paid the coins, and expanded the room. The skill leveled up at the perfect timing.
The total space of My Room was now 35 pyeong. He split 15 pyeong for his party’s quarters and the remaining 20 pyeong for the guests.
A low rumble shook the chamber as the structure began to change. The space stretched outward, and furniture and daily necessities bloomed into existence where only iron bars had stood before.
Bunk beds, plush pillows, warm blankets, a toilet, a shower, towels, a washing machine, a dryer—every comfort appeared out of thin air. The people trapped behind the bars stared with eyes wide as saucers.
“W-what is this?”
“Furniture just… appeared in an empty room?”
“Whoa………”
Park Jinwoo smiled faintly at the guests’ varied gasps of wonder.
“I’ll place a restaurant-style call bell in each section. If you need anything, just press it. Now then, everyone—please rest well.”
With that, he walked toward the room where his companions waited.
“Heh-heh~♪ Coin balance check.”
Park Jinwoo checked his current coin holdings and broke into a wide, shameless grin.
With this much capital, he was almost certainly among the top one percent of wealth inside the Seoul Dome. That was a clear advantage—preparation for the mid-to-late scenarios in every sense of the word.
After all, with enough coins he could use Shop User to buy consumables, gear, materials, and anything else needed to clear scenarios efficiently or flexibly.
Yet he knew his strengths and his weaknesses in equal measure.
He had coins. That was all. His skill levels and close-combat experience were still pitifully lacking, and he was fully aware of it.
Which was why this monster wave felt like the perfect chance to raise those skill levels and scrape together even a little melee experience.
Thud!
“Ugh…! That hurt… Wait, my physical stats are higher now, so it doesn’t actually hurt that much?”
He had finished checking his coins and drifted into thought while walking. Before he realized it he had reached the door to his companions’ room and walked straight into it, forehead first.
Thanks to the boosted stats his body was sturdy enough that the impact barely registered, but he still rubbed his head gently as he opened the door and stepped inside.
“Oh? Jinwoo-ssi! Welcome back.”
“Welcome back, Jinwoo-ssi.”
“Jinwoo-ssi, you must be exhausted.”
“Hyung, welcome back.”
The moment Park Jinwoo entered, the party greeted him with warm smiles.
“Everyone resting well?”
He returned a small smile of his own at their cheerful welcome.
“Thanks to you, Jinwoo-ssi, we’ve been resting very comfortably.”
Jung Heewon’s words drew nods from the entire group.
“Glad to hear it. Ah—anyone want a late-night snack?”
“A late-night snack?”
“Now that you mention it, I am a little hungry.”
Lee Hyunsung and Yoo Sangah’s eyes lit up at the mention of food, and they licked their lips.
“Anything particular you want? You all helped with my little business earlier, so this round’s on me.”
“Me, me! I want jokbal!”
“I’d love some lamb skewers and beer after so long.”
“Something simple for me—cup ramen and convenience-store triangle kimbap.”
“Hyung, I want a hamburger.”
“I’ll have omurice.”
One after another, Yoo Sangah, Jung Heewon, Lee Hyunsung, Lee Gilyoung, and Kim Dokja listed their cravings.
For a fleeting second Park Jinwoo wanted to tease Yoo Sangah, Jung Heewon, and Kim Dokja about how late-night snacks would give them belly fat and ask if they really wanted to turn into pigs—but the mental image of becoming “Park / Jin / Woo” (as in, chopped into three pieces) made him keep the joke firmly behind his teeth.
He ordered everything they wanted. While the party dove into the food with abandon, he walked past them toward the window inside the room.
Rattle.
“Hey, Jihye. And Joonghyuk-ssi.”
“Huh? Jinwoo oppa?”
“……………”
When Park Jinwoo opened the window, Lee Jihye and Yoo Joonghyuk came into view outside.
Lee Jihye tilted her head at the sound of her name; Yoo Joonghyuk kept her eyes closed in silence.
“What’s up?”
“Just inviting you two inside. Resting out there in the Green Zone is fine, but my My Room is way more comfortable.”
“Huh? Is that okay?”
“Of course! Oh, and we’re having a late-night snack. Want some?”
“Really?!”
“What do you want?”
“Pizza! Order me a bulgogi pizza!”
“Drink? Cola or cider?”
“Cola!”
Park Jinwoo watched Lee Jihye beam at the thought of pizza and found the expression adorable.
“What about you, Joonghyuk-ssi?”
“I do not eat late-night snacks.”
“Worried about gaining weight? I understand completely.”
“…Stop with the cheap provocations. More importantly—what are you really after?”
“What am I after? About what?”
Yoo Joonghyuk fixed him with a sharp stare. Park Jinwoo answered with the blankest, most clueless face he could manage.
“Speak honestly. Are you truly hiding nothing?”
“Nope. Nothing.”
Incarnation ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ is activating Lie Detection.
Incarnation ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ has confirmed that Incarnation ‘Park Jinwoo’s’ words are false.
“Terminal-stage paranoia patient, or just a suspicion demon? Did you really need to activate that just to check?”
“I am merely being cautious. So—your answer?”
Yoo Joonghyuk half-lidded her eyes and glared at him.
“I just want to raise some skill levels. If you and Jihye stay out in the Green Zone, you might take indirect damage. That’s why I told you to come in.”
“You intend to fight the monsters?”
Yoo Joonghyuk looked at him with genuine surprise.
“I have more skills than most ordinary people, but the levels are low. I’m confident at range, but I’m weak in close combat because I have almost no experience. The fastest way to fix that weakness is real combat with my life on the line.”
“You will die. And if you die, the derivative ability of your skill My Small Hideout—My Room—will deactivate. Your companions will be thrown outside and slaughtered by the monsters. Even knowing that, you still insist on fighting?”
Park Jinwoo met her gaze and nodded.
“Everything you said is correct. If I die, the others will be in danger. But if I don’t fix this weakness now, I’m going to make a catastrophic mistake in the scenarios that come after.”
“What does that mean?”
“I have an absurd amount of coins right now. I can say with confidence that among every incarnation in the Seoul Dome, my wealth easily places me in the top one percent.”
He paused to steady his breath, then continued.
“But because of that, I’ve gotten a little arrogant. If I can become this arrogant so easily, then in the scenarios that keep getting harder I’ll only cause trouble for you, Jihye, Dokja-ssi, Sangah-ssi, Hyunsung-ssi, Heewon-ssi, Gilyoung… and everyone else I meet later. Guaranteed.”
“So you will stake your life as the wager to correct that flaw?”
“Well… yeah?”
Yoo Joonghyuk stared at him for a long moment, then closed her eyes.
“Do as you like.”
“Ah—one favor?”
“What.”
“Please keep the others from coming out of My Room.”
“…Tsk.”
She didn’t answer, only clicked her tongue—but Park Jinwoo understood that she had accepted the request.
“Then I’m counting on you. And sorry for asking something like this.”
“……………”
Finished speaking, Park Jinwoo generated a My Room door right in front of Lee Jihye and Yoo Joonghyuk.
Whether she had missed the entire conversation between her master and Park Jinwoo or simply didn’t care, Lee Jihye was still grinning ear to ear at the thought of pizza.
He handed her the bulgogi pizza and cola, then brushed past Yoo Joonghyuk.
A short while later, after confirming that both Lee Jihye and Yoo Joonghyuk had stepped through the door, Park Jinwoo took a slow, deep breath and faced forward.
“…Anyone with a weak stomach has probably already thrown up. Damn.”
When he turned his gaze ahead, the sights that greeted him were the people inside the Green Zone who had not received the scenario penalty—trembling, praying, soiling themselves, or simply sitting in despair—and the half-eaten remains of those who had been torn apart alive by monsters, along with the blood-smeared muzzles of the creatures themselves.
“Hah! Fuck, this is intense! Now this is a horror movie!”
Park Jinwoo looked over the packs of 8th-grade underground species “Grolls”—gray bears with black manes and sharp horns on their foreheads—and the swarms of 9th-grade underground species “Mole Rats,” and let out a small sound of admiration.
Constellation, ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire,’ is watching Incarnation ‘Park Jinwoo.’
Constellation, ‘Secretive Plotter,’ is watching Incarnation ‘Park Jinwoo.’
Constellation, ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband,’ is watching Incarnation ‘Park Jinwoo.’
Constellation, ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon,’ is watching Incarnation ‘Park Jinwoo.’
Constellation, ‘God of Wine and Ecstasy,’ is watching Incarnation ‘Park Jinwoo.’
Constellation, ‘Lord of the Riffraff,’ is watching Incarnation ‘Park Jinwoo.’
Constellation, ‘The Poet Who Died Dropping Drips,’ is watching Incarnation ‘Park Jinwoo.’
A Constellation related to the sea and war is watching Incarnation ‘Park Jinwoo.’
Constellation, ‘Bald General of Justice,’ is watching Incarnation ‘Park Jinwoo.’
Demon King, ‘Demon God of Wrath and Lust,’ is watching Incarnation ‘Park Jinwoo.’
The Constellations within the channel are watching Incarnation ‘Park Jinwoo.’
“Wow! I’m popular.”
Park Jinwoo grinned at the flood of constellation messages, then drew his Glock 19 and fixed the monsters ahead with a murderous stare.
Purchasing 10 flashbangs from the General Shop.
🪙 500 coins consumed.
Purchasing a fire axe from the General Shop.
🪙 150 coins consumed.
Purchasing a welding helmet from the General Shop.
🪙 300 coins consumed.
Purchasing high-performance noise-canceling earmuffs from the General Shop.
🪙 200 coins consumed.
He slipped the high-performance noise-canceling earmuffs over his ears, settled the welding helmet onto his head, and clenched one flashbang tightly in his fist.
“Alright, Constellations? You’re about to watch me massacre those monsters. So keep those eyes wide open, got it?”
The Constellations within the channel open their eyes wide, just as Incarnation ‘Park Jinwoo’ requested.
Click!
Satisfied by the messages, Park Jinwoo smiled, pulled the safety pin from the flashbang, and hurled it into the densest cluster of monsters.
BEEEEEEEEEP!!
Centered on the spot where the flashbang landed, an ear-splitting shriek tore through the air, and pure white light flared across the darkness of Chungmuro Station.