The notification window displayed four photographs. A couple in their thirties and their two young children. They were pictures of the family next door. After a moment's thought, I posed a question to the system. “What happens if I don’t grant citizenship?” [Entities without citizenship will be expelled from the Homebound Area.] [Are you sure you want to refuse citizenship?] Just as I thought. This wasn't an idle question. The system understood my words. Or perhaps it could read my mind. Otherwise, how could it have understood my intent to store only the ramen from the bowl, or just the oil from the canister? The skill of the Hearthbound Dweller. While I didn't understand its true nature, I suspected it allowed for some degree of two-way communication. Of course, the system was hardly forthcoming with explanations. It didn't teach me everything. Being expelled from the Homebound Area... I had no way of knowing the exact method, but I had a strong feeling it wouldn’t be a gentle process. “Grant citizenship to all four of them.” [Citizenship granted to Choi Hyeong-jun, Park Hye-won, Choi Na-yeon, and Choi Seo-yeon.] After granting citizenship to the family next door, I immediately opened my skill window, expecting to see a new skill related to citizen management. But… “Huh? Something else?” The newly awakened skill had nothing to do with managing citizens. The Hearthbound Dweller’s Eye Lv. 1 - Within the Homebound Area, nothing can escape the Hearthbound Dweller’s Eye. I realized at once that the strange phenomenon I'd just experienced was this skill in action. So where are the citizen functions? Ah, found it. To my surprise, the citizen-related functions were nested within the Hearthbound Dweller’s Proclamation skill. Hearthbound Dweller’s Proclamation (Passive) Lv. 6 - No one may invade the Homebound Area without the Hearthbound Dweller’s permission. ᛗ Citizen Management Within the skill’s description, a new button for Citizen Management had appeared. Pressing it revealed brief profiles alongside the four photos I’d seen earlier. □ Choi Hyeong-jun (Trust: 24) (Lv. 9) □ Park Hye-won (Trust: 18) (Lv. 5) □ Choi Na-yeon (Trust: 33) (Lv. 3) □ Choi Seo-yeon (Trust: 42) (Lv. 2) Current Population: 4 / 600 “Six hundred people?” The number at the end had to be the maximum number of citizens I could accept. The “4” in front of it made that much clear. But the number itself seemed ridiculously large. I’m supposed to accept 596 more people? Isn't that a bit much? Instinctively, I knew this function was going to be crucial. “Choi Hyeong-jun.” As I spoke his name, a more detailed window appeared in my mind. 『Name: Choi Hyeong-jun (Lv. 9) Trust: 24 Awakening Ability: None Experience Distribution Rate: 0% Settlement Money Distribution Rate: 0% ★ Quest Assignment 🖾 Expulsion』 Experience Distribution Rate and Settlement Money Distribution Rate. This meant I could claim a portion of the experience and money my citizens earned from hunting, and I could control how much. Could it be? Had this function been there all along, not just something I'd gained by leveling up? Was the only reason I couldn't grant citizenship before that there was no one else in my home? It was strange from the beginning. I’d always thought my skill was abnormal. While it created a perfect safe zone limited to my apartment, I was the one trapped inside it. But if I could have granted citizenship from the start, that changes everything. If I'd had a roommate when this all began, I could have just made them a citizen. The experience they earned from hunting would have been funneled directly to me. So that's how I was supposed to grow? One thing became clear after fighting the Shardbeak: my abilities were more formidable than I’d realized. I wasn't sure how strong Level 27 actually was, but it seemed to be enough to fend off most monsters. If I had just awakened this skill back at my hometown, none of this would have been a problem. My parents lived in a two-story house. If I had awakened my powers there, everything would have been different. I could have kept my family safe, and I would have had no trouble growing stronger. Hunting wouldn't have been an issue either. Given how I’d dealt with the Shardbeak, I could have easily killed monsters without ever leaving the house. Just open the front door and strike from the safety of the entryway. In retrospect, my isolation was purely a consequence of awakening on the 30th floor of a high-rise. If I’d been on the first floor, I could have stabbed goblins through my living room window and leveled up that way. Without a string of luck, I would have been helpless. I might have even died. This ability was clearly meant to grow by commanding citizens from the start. And now, I finally could. Fortunately, it all worked out in the end. All things considered, I’d come out of it okay. But what’s this? One item in Choi Hyeong-jun’s profile caught my eye. “Quest Assignment.” Ding! The quest assignment window had fields for Content, Time Limit, Success Reward, and Failure Penalty. As an experiment, I filled in each one. “Goblin Hunting, no time limit, no reward, no failure penalty.” Ding! 《Quest Assignment》 Quest Content: Goblin Hunting (0/1) Time Limit: 168 hours 00 minutes 00 seconds Reward: Small amount of experience points. Failure Penalty: None. [Do you want to grant the quest as is?] [Yes / No] The quest window materialized, reflecting my input. The reward was strange, though. Even though I'd selected "None," a small amount of experience was offered anyway. Is there a default reward? In that case… how far can I push the failure penalty? It wasn't malice, just a grim curiosity to see how far the system would let me go. I confirmed the quest wouldn't be issued just yet. “Adjust failure penalty to death.” Ding! 《Quest Assignment》 Quest Content: Goblin Hunting (0/1) Time Limit: 168 hours 00 minutes 00 seconds Reward: Small amount of experience points. Failure Penalty: Death. [Do you want to grant the quest as is?] [Yes / No] “...No.” [Canceling quest assignment.] …I’d suspected as much. I had control over the quest's content and time limit, but the lack of any restriction on the failure penalty was… significant. It meant that I could, at any moment, choose to end the lives of my citizens. The power of life and death was in my hands. It wouldn't even be difficult. For a quest as simple as killing a single goblin, all I had to do was set the time limit to one second. It would be an instant death sentence. “Insane.” A shiver ran down my spine as I confronted the true potential of my skill. The lives of four people were in my hands. The weight of it felt staggering. For the first time, I was afraid of my own power. So this is the power of the Hearthbound Dweller… True to its name, my authority within this dwelling was absolute. What do I do now? There were countless ways to use them. I could exploit them with quest assignments, turning them into pawns to carry out my will indefinitely. Just as I’d tested, I could set the failure penalty to death and force them into any goblin hunt I chose. “Crazy.” The true scope of my Hearthbound Dweller skill was dawning on me, and a profound fear washed over me. How should I handle this? I could use them in so many ways. In the most extreme case, I could use quests to enslave them, making them my pawns. But a citizen like Choi Hyeong-jun was only level 9. To compel him with a penalty like death, I'd have to send him on dangerous hunts. His level was high enough for a goblin, which were usually around level 6 or 7, but sending him into a world stalked by monsters like the level 27 Shardbeak was a death sentence in itself. Besides, even if I issue a quest, will they even try to complete it? Can they even succeed at that level? One or two goblins might not be a problem, but they wouldn't survive long if a dozen of them swarmed. To rescue my parents, I need people who can handle a goblin horde, or a team of that caliber. The solution was simple enough. The existence of the experience distribution rate meant that citizens could grow by hunting monsters. I could just assign them an endless stream of hunting quests. But forcing them to complete quests felt wrong. It wasn't just inhumane; it would breed resentment. That resentment could become an unpredictable variable in the mission to rescue my parents. In the worst-case scenario, it could put Han Eun-sook and Han Dong-chul in even more danger. I didn't want pawns who simply followed orders. I needed allies who would act for my sake because they wanted to. Forcing them with quests won't achieve that. To recruit someone, I had to win them over first. People need to be persuaded, not coerced. Let's aim for a win-win scenario. With my mind made up, I started for the apartment next door. But as I passed the hallway mirror, my own reflection stopped me. My unkempt beard and worn-out tracksuit gave me the classic look of a shut-in, and I was still slick with sweat from the fight with the Shardbeak. First, I need to clean up. I was well aware of how much first impressions mattered. Shhhh... As the warm water cascaded over me, I checked the skill window again and noticed something new. “Huh?” [Hearthbound Dweller’s Shop Lv. 1 +] You can purchase items registered in the shop. [Skill Points Available: 3] [Hearthbound Dweller’s Dignity Maintenance (Passive) Lv. 1 +] Restores the dwelling’s essential functions for maintaining dignity. [Skill Points Available: 3] [Hearthbound Dweller’s Warehouse Lv. 1 +] An extra-dimensional space for item storage. [Skill Points Available: 3] There was a plus sign next to the skill levels. I can level up my skills! Finally, I could register new items in the shop. As I thought, I can't level up the Hearthbound Dweller's Proclamation skill with points. The only skills with a plus sign were the Shop, Dignity Maintenance, and Warehouse. My Wallet skill was already maxed out, so it was no surprise that it couldn't be raised further. The Hearthbound Dweller’s Eye, which I’d just acquired, was at level 1, but it had no plus button. Maybe there's a proficiency system? Either way, it didn't matter. It seemed the skills I could upgrade were predetermined. [Are you sure you want to raise the level of the Hearthbound Dweller’s Shop skill?] “Yes.” The skill window flashed with a golden light. Whoosh! [The Hearthbound Dweller’s Shop skill has reached Lv. 2.] [The number of registerable items has increased to 20.] [All item prices are discounted by 10%.] “Oh?” I’d expected the increased registration limit, but a price discount was a welcome surprise. “Not bad at all.” Now I only had two points left. I checked the shop skill again out of curiosity, but the plus button was gone. “So there must be a condition for each level up.” A possibility immediately came to mind. “Maybe if I fill all twenty registration slots, I can advance it to the next level?” In any case, I already knew what I wanted to register. My first priority was unused essentials. Things like toiletries and toilet paper. “Let’s get to it.”

Chapter 5: A Dweller's Solemn Duty