Absolute Dweller-Chapter 188

Before the full-scale monster apocalypse broke out, South Korea was already a country at war.

To be precise, it was a nation in a truce—a state of temporary cessation of hostilities.

However, since a truce is not the same as an official end to war, there were still real military clashes, such as the Cheonan warship incident and the Yeonpyeong Island bombardment.

That was why.

Right now, before my eyes, stood a tank painted in the distinctive camouflage pattern of the Ministry of National Defense.

It’s been a while.

A K-9 self-propelled howitzer.

When fully loaded, it weighed close to 47 tons—one of the South Korean Army’s main artillery pieces.

Having served in the artillery during my time in the military, I had seen it a few times in person.

Of course, I was part of the 155mm artillery unit that used weapons from the Korean War era, but I had once watched a K-9 in action from afar during a live-fire exercise.

I never thought I’d see one again.

Even though I had completed my full-term service in the artillery, I had never seen a self-propelled howitzer outside of my active duty period.

After all, my reservist training was in Busan, which was in the deep rear, far from the front lines where weapons like these were stationed.

Even during reserve training, self-propelled howitzers were nowhere to be found.

I had thought I would never see one again in my lifetime.

Yet here I am, looking at it once more.

With the expansion of the Absolute Territory into Seoul’s satellite regions, it became possible to absorb the mechanized infantry division’s firepower stationed in Gyeonggi Province.

And it wasn’t just the K-9.

“We have successfully secured 102 K-1 tanks, 133 155mm self-propelled howitzers, 60 105mm howitzers, and 30 military helicopters, including transport and attack models.”

Due to the prolonged state of war, these were battle-ready, top-condition weapons—well-maintained and prepared for combat.

As I listened to Kim Da-bin’s real-time briefing, I used the Absolute Eye to scan the military base.

The sight was grim.

Blood was splattered across the entire ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ facility.

There was human blood, but most of it belonged to monsters—their mangled corpses strewn everywhere.

The living quarters were riddled with bullet holes, and some buildings looked as if they had been bombed. Monster corpses and the bodies of soldiers, still clad in their uniforms, lay tangled together in the wreckage.

The sheer desperation of the battle that had taken place here was evident.

One particularly shocking detail was that the ammunition depot remained intact.

Given the state of the battlefield, it was clear that soldiers had sacrificed themselves to protect it.

The sheer number of monsters that had perished was made evident by the overwhelming stench of rotting blood seeping into the ground around the depot.

Another surprise was the fact that survivors had been staying here until very recently.

“The total number of survivors rescued from this base is 2,885, and they are currently undergoing orientation and education. Once they complete their adaptation process and settle into the residential areas...”

Even though the safe zones were expanding and these people would be granted citizenship, that alone didn’t mean they had been truly saved.

Integration teams were the real starting point for survival.

Until then, even if they were freed from the immediate threat of monsters, they would still be clueless about key survival systems like the settlement funds or the marketplace.

As long as they didn’t understand how to utilize the system, their lives were still in a prolonged survival mode.

The only difference was that the survival difficulty had decreased since the monster threat was gone.

This had happened many times before.

People who had finally entered a safe zone, only to end up dying anyway because they couldn't adapt.

That was one of the main reasons why I used the Absolute Eye to monitor emergency resource distribution for survivors—to prevent such avoidable tragedies.

The rescue teams have been struggling as well.

Even though our manpower had been increasing, we were still short-staffed.

[Citizen Jang Ji-won has died.]

Even now, the death logs were continuously being updated.

No matter how hard we tried, saving everyone was impossible.

All we could do was save as many as we could and keep doing our best.

...So this place was basically a base camp, huh.

There were clear signs of habitation near the ammunition depot.

Large 24-person tents, abandoned mattresses, and sleeping bags were scattered around.

Well, it makes sense.

With monsters constantly appearing, they would have needed a steady supply of ammunition.

In order to keep the supply line intact, they must have risked their lives to protect the depot.

The fact that they set up camp next to it was enough to tell me how desperate their situation had been.

Until the Absolute Territory was established in Seoul, the people here must have been locked in an endless, brutal battle against monsters.

The mass grave not far from the depot was further proof of that grim reality.

This makes one thing very clear.

Guns were effective against monsters.

Especially against goblins and orcs—as long as there were enough armed personnel, those creatures could be dealt with.

And yet, I was left wondering—

What had the South Korean Army been doing all this time?

How had things gotten this bad?

The answer was right in front of me.

They had barely managed to protect themselves.

The monsters had appeared suddenly, without warning.

One moment, everything was normal—then, in the blink of an eye, they were there.

In living rooms where families were gathered.

At amusement parks, where children played.

Over the heads of people taking afternoon naps.

The monsters had manifested instantly—some had been goblins, others hulking orcs, or worse—massive abominations the size of skyscrapers.

The only reason people had survived...

Was pure luck.

Compared to other locations, the military bases had actually been fortunate.

Because they had guns—clear and effective weapons.

In that regard, they had been luckier than the average South Korean citizen.

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

The military bases had a significantly higher survival rate compared to other locations—this was an undeniable fact.

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Unlike other areas where powerful Awakened were necessary for survival, the military bases had a high survival rate despite being composed of ordinary people.

It was a harsh truth, but the presence of well-maintained mass graves was proof of this as well.

At the very least, they had the luxury to bury their dead properly.

Compared to ordinary citizens who had been leading peaceful lives in society, soldiers were far better prepared.

Not just because of firearms, but also due to rigorous physical training and teamwork, both of which contributed to their survival.

The problem is that even then, they were barely managing.

They had no room to go out and rescue civilians.

Just surviving with the weapons at their disposal was already pushing them to their limits.

As these thoughts ran through my mind, Kim Da-bin’s briefing continued.

“For the howitzers, we believe that deploying them to forward bases and bombarding monster habitats will allow us to secure a significant amount of experience points.”

“Can they be deployed immediately?”

“Yes, of course. Many of the survivors here are not just ordinary people but trained personnel capable of operating military equipment.”

That was to be expected.

South Korea’s military strength wasn’t limited to just active-duty soldiers.

The reserve forces weren’t just for show.

If you walked into the middle of the street in Korea and asked, ‘Anyone here know how to operate a self-propelled howitzer?’ you’d probably get a few hands raised.

“If we assign them according to their military specialties, we should be able to get them operational immediately.”

“Have you decided where to deploy the forward bases for the howitzers?”

“We were considering the forward base in Gangwon Province as a candidate.”

“That sounds good.”

Gangwon Province’s terrain was dominated by the Taebaek Mountain Range.

I had personally confirmed that the monster population in that area far exceeded the human population.

Firing artillery rounds indiscriminately into those regions would generate massive amounts of experience points and settlement funds.

Register supplies.

[Would you like to register the item?]

Yes.

With high-explosive rounds priced at over a million won each, I couldn’t afford to fire them recklessly.

The ammunition stored in the military depots was essentially free, so I could use it liberally for now, but once it was depleted, I’d have to purchase additional stock from the shop.

...Should I call it a relief that the country was at war?

Even for a capital defense unit, obtaining this much firepower would have been nearly impossible under normal circumstances.

Now that I think about it, my storage limit was increased to 30 tons.

For tanks and K-9 self-propelled howitzers, which exceeded this weight limit, transporting them via the storage system was impossible.

However, 105mm howitzers and 155mm howitzers were light enough that some could be stored and transported.

And, most importantly—

Most of the ammunition can be transported using storage.

That meant scavenging ammunition from forward depots across the front lines was a viable strategy.

Instead of establishing new forward bases, I could just send Moon Byeong-ho and Kim Ga-young to collect the ammunition.

I’ll deal with that later.

As I continued registering tanks, ammunition, and various supplies into the shop, a notification appeared.

[You can no longer register any more items.]

It’s been a while since I saw this message.

Absolute Dweller’s Shop Lv. 6 [+]

[Available Skill Points: 1]

Due to item bundling, where similar items were grouped into a single slot, it took a long time to fully occupy all available slots.

In reality, if I had really wanted to, I could have filled the shop slots sooner, but there had been no need—all essential items had already been registered.

The only reason to fill up the slots was to level up the shop skill.

And now, I had finally reached that point.

Perfect timing.

Thanks to the Avatar’s effect, I had accumulated skill points, leaving me with an extra point for the shop skill.

Without hesitation, I upgraded the shop skill.

[Absolute Dweller’s Shop Skill has increased to Lv. 7.]

[The maximum number of registerable slots has increased to 10,000.]

[A new feature, Enhancement, has been added.]

...What?

Enhancement.

It was a feature that allowed enhancing purchased items—but only items bought from the shop.

“...Enhancement?”

I muttered to myself, prompting Kim Da-bin, who had been waiting nearby, to tilt her head in confusion.

“Is there a problem?”

“...No, it’s nothing.”

I wanted to try enhancing the tank in front of me, but unfortunately, since it wasn’t purchased from the shop, it couldn’t be enhanced.

That said, buying a K-9 self-propelled howitzer just to test this feature would be insane.

One of these things cost 4 billion won.

It’d be better to test it on something else first.

Since there were too many people watching here, I decided to relocate.

“For now, Da-bin, I’ll leave the situation here in your hands. Let me know once you’ve finalized the forward base locations and personnel assignments for the howitzers.”

“Understood.”

With that, I opened the Dongdaemun Gate and returned to my home in Busan.

Enhancement, huh...

The first thing that came to mind was weapons—the kind that hunting teams and dungeon raiders used the most.

Let’s start by enhancing a gun.