Absolute Dweller

With Cha Hyun-seung's addition to the group, the pace of survivor rescues accelerated significantly.

Hundreds of beasts moved in perfect coordination, and each of them was far stronger than the average monster, making a huge difference in their operations.

Excluding the retainers, only about 300 citizens were directly participating in the Seoul reclamation mission.

This was the result of strictly selecting only the top-tier forces—those who had reached at least level 30.

The number of citizens who met this requirement was incredibly low.

In total, only about 0.3% of the entire population—approximately 1,700 people—had reached level 30.

And among them, only the top 300 had been selected to take part in the rescue operation, highlighting just how dangerous Seoul truly was.

‘Monsters over level 30 are as common as ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ pebbles on the street.’

Some were even fully covered in iron armor, while others were immune to physical attacks, making them impervious to gunfire.

One wrong move, and death was inevitable.

Naturally, caution was necessary.

Seo Ye-jin’s mice were used to scout for nearby dangers and survivors, allowing them to set the safest possible route before proceeding.

Yu Han-gil’s clairvoyance ability was deployed in real-time to identify threats, while Kim Jae-hyun coordinated the movements of his retainers accordingly.

To prepare for emergency situations, they even relied on Shin Dong-hoon's time distortion ability.

Even if it only lasted a few seconds, the ability to turn back time proved incredibly effective in preventing fatal situations.

Yet, despite these precautions, there were still casualties—people suffering serious injuries or even dying in the field.

This was why Cha Hyun-seung’s beast army was nothing short of revolutionary.

Not only were they all exceptionally high-level, but their diverse species and unique characteristics allowed for adaptive strategies in various situations.

However, the most important factor was that Cha Hyun-seung was well-known in the area.

When they found survivor groups, convincing them to leave their hideouts was always a difficult task.

But with Cha Hyun-seung himself leading the rescue efforts, the situation changed completely.

Survivors who had been too terrified of monsters to show themselves began stepping forward voluntarily.

The impact of this change was greater than expected.

‘Thanks to that, we’ve managed to absorb most of the scattered small-scale survivor groups nearby.’

The territory radius of 3km centered around Sindorim Station had now been fully incorporated.

More than 30,000 people had been settled within the Viscount’s Territory, governed by Ha Dong-geon.

And then, at that very moment—

[‘Count’s Territory’ construction has been completed.]

Finally, the 5km territory centered around Seoul Station was complete.

The moment the territory was fully established, Oh Eon-ju collapsed from exhaustion.

Kim Da-jeong, who had been standing nearby, immediately caught her.

Wuum—

A warm, healing light enveloped Oh Eon-ju, restoring her condition.

[Please take care of Oh Eon-ju.]

“Yes, Jae-hyun-nim. Leave her to me.”

A 5km-wide territory centered on Seoul Station.

In essence, they had now completely secured the heart of northern Seoul.

‘Now comes the real challenge.’

The first phase of reclaiming Seoul was to create a large-scale movement.

Seoul and Gyeonggi Province together accounted for half the population of South Korea.

Within that, Seoul alone had about 10 million residents—three times the population of Busan.

Even assuming a low survival rate due to the high-level monsters roaming the city, there were still countless survivors out there.

It was logistically impossible to rescue all of them with their current manpower.

This was where Kim Da-bin’s strategy came into play—leveraging word-of-mouth.

The same approach had already proven highly successful in Busan.

As many new citizens were joining Seoul, Busan was also seeing an influx of survivors.

And this was all thanks to Kim Da-bin’s "Giving Tree" project.

The core of the project was surprisingly simple.

Newly absorbed survivors—who had no idea what was going on—were given full-scale support from the start.

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Food, medical aid, electricity, gas, and clean water were freely provided.

They were also given access to shops, welfare facilities, and had the entire trading system explained to them by Kim Da-bin and her administrative team.

Additionally, hunting teams were actively dispatched to exterminate monsters outside the safe zone.

And then—something incredible happened.

The survivors who benefited from this spread the word.

Before long, the influx of new citizens, which had previously stagnated, skyrocketed.

People from **Gimhae, Yangsan, Gijang, and Gadeokdo—**who had been hiding for survival—began moving toward Busan in droves.

The rumor of "Paradise in Busan" had given hope to those struggling to survive.

So much so that they were willing to risk their lives traveling there.

‘Now, we do the same thing in Seoul.’

All available earth golems—except for the ten assigned to the Job Research Institute—were deployed to rebuild the area around Sindorim Station.

And unlike in Busan, where instant dungeons were built inside territories, in Seoul, they took a different approach.

Instead, they provided maximum support—firearms, ammunition, and supplies—to those willing to hunt.

‘As a result, more and more new citizens are choosing to hunt monsters themselves.’

After all, Seoul was a monster-infested warzone.

No matter how many monsters they killed, goblins, orcs, and other creatures kept appearing in swarms.

As new survivors began actively hunting, word of mouth would spread.

And—

‘The major survivor factions have already been informed.’

According to Commander Lee Hak-gi, there were seven large survivor factions in Seoul.

Three of them had already been successfully absorbed: