A heavy silence settled over the conference room as the sudden appearance of supplies left everyone stunned.
The first to break the silence was Commander Lee Hak-gi.
He walked over to the nearest box, his footsteps echoing through the room, and opened it.
The flickering candlelight inside the conference room barely illuminated the contents.
When he saw the cup noodles inside, he let out a dry chuckle.
"Heh."
Commander Lee tore open the lid, inspecting the contents to ensure they were intact before turning his gaze to Moon Byeong-ho.
"Are you Kim Jae-hyun?"
"No. I am merely a messenger delivering his words."
"Then, are you the one who created all of this?"
"No. All of these supplies were created by Jae-hyun-nim himself. Even now, he is watching this conversation and listening to our discussion."
"Haha... from Busan, you say?"
"Yes, that is correct."
Commander Lee pulled a chocolate bar from another box and unwrapped it.
The rustling of the packaging echoed softly in the room.
He took a bite and said,
"He's as good as a savior."
"He is a great man."
With that, the room erupted into chaos.
"This is real? All of this...?"
"Is this actually edible?"
"There's no poison in it, right?"
"Gulp, gulp, gulp—! Here! There's clean water!"
Under the dim candlelight, people scrambled to inspect the supplies, their desperation evident.
Only Commander Lee, who had been the first to verify the supplies, remained still, his gaze fixed on Moon Byeong-ho.
Then he spoke.
"Silence."
His commanding presence instantly halted the frenzy.
As the room fell quiet again, his voice alone filled the space.
"You said that the person behind all this is watching us right now, correct?"
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"Yes, that is correct."
"Then I would like to ask him directly. What does he want from us?"
At that moment, I activated the Ring of Communication and relayed my message to Moon Byeong-ho.
[Tell them that all we ask is for them to accept citizenship and join our faction.]
Moon Byeong-ho repeated my words verbatim.
Commander Lee was silent for a moment before asking again.
"Is that truly all? We are at the brink of destruction. To put it bluntly, if it meant ensuring survival, I would accept even slavery. So, please, be honest—what do you truly want?"
"Commander!"
"Slavery?!"
Concerns erupted from various corners of the room.
But Commander Lee remained unfazed.
"Do you not want to live? If not, do you have any other way to save the citizens?"
"......"
After glaring at the officers, he turned his attention back to Captain An Ki-tae.
"Captain An Ki-tae, I have a few questions for you."
"Yes, sir. Please ask."
"Since joining this organization, have you developed a sense of admiration or reverence for this 'Kim Jae-hyun'?"
An Ki-tae hesitated briefly before answering.
"...To be honest, yes. But not in the way you're worrying about. It was my own personal judgment."
His words stirred murmurs throughout the room.
"That sounds like he could have been brainwashed."
"I thought he was speaking too favorably about them."
"There may be some exaggeration in his report."
But Commander Lee shut them down with a single statement.
"Even if he has been brainwashed, are you all really willing to reject the supplies in front of you? Colonel Eom Jin-su, are you prepared to return to your starving family empty-handed?"
"...No, sir."
"Then it's settled. A wise decision. But don't worry too much."
Taking full control of the room, Commander Lee turned back to Moon Byeong-ho.
"As you can see, we are prepared to accept any terms. However, I do have one question. If we join your faction, will we be subjected to 'brainwashing'?"
I chuckled at his words.
I had already figured out why he was putting on this show.
『Lee Hak-gi (Lv. 25)』
Awakening Ability: Ear of Truth
A power that allowed him to discern the truth of any statement he heard.
Moon Byeong-ho responded.
"I'm not entirely sure, but there may be something similar to that effect."
Huh?
He continued speaking seriously.
"From the first moment I met Jae-hyun-nim, I felt a certain degree of reverence and admiration. But I can’t say for sure whether that was due to his power or simply because he went to great lengths to help save my grandmother. In the end, it was thanks to the strength he granted me that I was able to rescue my only family member, and so, I pledged my loyalty to him."
His overly candid response deepened the look in Commander Lee's eyes.
***
Commander Lee Hak-gi was inwardly shaken.
‘Everything is true.’
Every word spoken by the mysterious man, who had introduced himself as Kim Jae-hyun’s representative, was the truth.
‘No matter the circumstances, it’s unnatural to feel reverence and admiration for someone from the /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ very first encounter.’
Since the world had turned upside down with the emergence of monsters, it wasn’t far-fetched to believe that someone could possess the ability to manipulate minds.
After all, even he himself had gained the power to discern truth from falsehood simply by listening to someone speak.
‘But that man’s response wasn’t something a brainwashed person would say.’
If he had truly been brainwashed, he would have said something like, "There’s no such thing as brainwashing in our organization."
‘How strange.’
Even though the possibility of brainwashing had been acknowledged, he somehow felt more inclined to trust them.
Lee Hak-gi glanced around at the boxes filling the conference room.
This amount of supplies would be enough to put out the immediate fire.
‘An Ki-tae’s words were all true as well.’
The true nature of Kim Jae-hyun’s power remained unknown, but the claims that he had established a land where monsters couldn’t invade, that food was abundant, that firearms and ammunition were stocked in large quantities, and that the refugees had access to electricity, water, and gas—all of it was true.
‘This is...’
The answer had been clear from the start.
‘There’s no choice but to accept it.’
Rejecting the offer meant they would all die together.
There was no alternative.
Even if brainwashing was real, he had already decided—he would lead his people and join that organization.
The only reason he had prolonged the questioning was for the sake of those who did have another option.
The elite Awakened group.
Those strong enough to fend for themselves should be given a choice.
‘But...’
After hearing that man’s response, he was beginning to think that it might be better if they all joined together.
It was just a hunch, but something told him he could trust this man.
However, he couldn’t stake the lives of hundreds of thousands of people on a mere gut feeling.
After deep contemplation, Lee Hak-gi finally spoke.
"Would it be possible for me to meet your leader in person?"
The man responded immediately.
"Of course."
The ease with which he accepted the request surprised Lee Hak-gi.
"Let’s head outside for now."
Before stepping out, Lee Hak-gi gave orders to his officers.
"Distribute all these supplies to the citizens."
"Yes, sir!"
As they walked through the hallway following the man, they eventually came across a window with a view of the sky.
That’s when the man said something strange.
"Please take my hand."
"...?"
"This will be faster."
There was complete sincerity in his voice.
Because of that, Lee Hak-gi took his hand without hesitation.
And then—
Shwoosh—
"Guh—!"
A wave of nausea and dizziness hit him as his footing suddenly disappeared.
Before he could even begin to gag—
"Just hold on for a moment."
Shwoosh!
The second teleportation made his head spin even more.
By the third jump, he finally landed on solid ground.
"Uweeeek!"
And promptly vomited up the chocolate bar he had just eaten.
The dry heaving continued, but since he hadn’t eaten much in days, nothing else came out.
It was then—
Step. Step.
Footsteps echoed from below, coming from the subway entrance.
Lee Hak-gi stopped retching and instinctively looked down.
A man with an almost otherworldly presence was slowly walking up the stairs.
His hair was neatly trimmed, without a trace of oil or disorder.
His face was flawlessly clean, without a single blemish.
His clothes were spotless, devoid of even the smallest stain.
But most striking of all—his clear, tranquil eyes, as if they could see through everything.
"Ah..."
The moment Lee Hak-gi met his gaze, he felt an overwhelming sense of submission creeping over him.
At a glance, he knew—this man was special.
And it wasn’t just because of his appearance.
His aura, his presence, his sheer charisma—something deep within Lee Hak-gi was stirring with reverence.
Then, the man spoke.
"It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Kim Jae-hyun."
***
After meeting Commander Lee Hak-gi in person, his organization was rapidly absorbed into ours.
As a result—
[The number of citizens has reached 500,000.]
[Due to the population milestone, the ‘Inventory’ feature has been unlocked.]
Eventually, the number of citizens surpassed 500,000.
[The skill level of ‘Absolute Dweller’s Warehouse’ is insufficient to activate the Inventory for citizens.]
[Please level up the skill.]
Even without further explanation, I immediately understood what this meant.
‘So citizens will now have personal storage?’
According to the next system message, it seemed I needed to level up the Warehouse skill in order to activate the Inventory feature.
‘There’s no need to rush.’
I had already used up all my skill points just before entering Seoul.
Besides, Warehouse’s current level was only 37.
I would need to level up three more times to gain enough points to unlock it.
‘There’s no need to waste skill points on this.’
The citizens had already figured out a makeshift alternative to an Inventory.
They were using the Marketplace.
Each person had 20 available slots for listings.
By placing personal items for sale at exorbitant prices and simply waiting 24 hours, the item would fail to sell and be automatically transferred to their personal storage, where it could be retrieved for up to a week.
Because listed items didn’t degrade or spoil, this method had gained immense popularity—especially among monster hunters.
‘There’s no need to waste skill points unlocking an Inventory when they’ve already adapted.’
Unless, of course, free skill points happened to fall into my lap...
And then—
[Citizen Moon Byeong-ho has exhausted today’s available quest attempts.]
[Assessing quests completed by Citizen Moon Byeong-ho.]
[...... Evaluating ......]
Recently, I had been assigning daily quests to my retainers to support Lee Hak-gi’s people in safely relocating to Konkuk University Station.
Nothing unusual.
Just a standard quest completion notification.
But then—
[JACKPOT WINNER!]
[Congratulations.]
[You have earned skill points.]
An unexpected reward had dropped.
‘Moon Byeong-ho... it’s you again?’