Vacation (4)
"Gah!"
With a scream, Jang Howon woke from his dream, his face stiff as he tried to catch his breath.
Cold sweat poured from his body, soaking the bedding beneath him.
A dream...?
It had felt too real to be just a dream.
The outdated Unit 2 of the Kori Nuclear Power Plant had exploded.
As a result, an accident occurred in the spent nuclear fuel temporarily stored on-site, causing a chain reaction of explosions that escalated into a full-blown catastrophe.
The powerful radiation emitted from the site killed not only the humans stationed at Kori, but even the monsters, all within just a few days.
With no one left to contain the disaster, the remaining six reactors were doomed. One after another, they exploded, turning the Busan-Gyeongnam area into a living hell in the nightmare.
Was that... really just a dream?
Jang Howon had a reason he couldn't simply dismiss the dream.
He belonged to Lee Junhyuk's party and had once made a subordination contract with Kim Jaehyun, awakening a unique ability in the process.
The power he had awakened was precognitive dreaming.
He had the ability to dream about the future.
Kim Jaehyun had told him directly, so he remembered it clearly.
But since he'd only had ordinary dreams until now, he had mostly forgotten about the ability.
This dream, however, was different.
The texture, the detail, the vividness-
His instincts told him:
This wasn't just a dream.
In that case, there was only one thing he needed to do.
"I have to report this."
***
Kim Dabin had spent her one-week vacation in the most fulfilling way possible.
She spent the entire break going from café to café, indulging in desserts.
While enthusiastically chasing sweet treats, she was completely free from the pressures of work.
"It's already today, huh."
Waking up early in the morning, Kim Dabin savored the memories of the past week.
"Everything was delicious.
""
She'd filled up on desserts instead of meals, making up for the months she'd gone without satisfying her sweet tooth.
Thanks to that, she discovered a few hidden gems in addition to the cafés she'd found through community posts.
"Today, I'll go with the team.
The thought of having dinner at a decent BBQ place after work and then heading to a café made her smile with joy.
"I can't sleep."
Though she slept more than before, it still only amounted to about four hours a night.
It wasn't insomnia or anything.
It's just that after four hours, she would naturally wake up without meaning to.
And even that much sleep left her feeling completely refreshed.
"It's not normal, really."
She'd noticed it before-ever since she was chosen by Kim Jaehyun and awakened her ability, her physical capacity had far surpassed that of an ordinary person.
"Jaehyun's power."
Being chosen by him was a source of pride.
"I should work even harder."
As she mentally reviewed all the tasks she had to tackle today, she suddenly recalled something Kim Jaehyun had once said to her:
"If you want to keep enjoying the view you've helped protect, you've got to stay healthy, okay? I'm really thankful for how hard you work, but I hope you'll take it easy sometimes so you can stick around
longer."
The way he said he wanted her to stick around longer-to keep working for a long time-oddly warmed her heart, making her smile without realizing it.
"Yes, yes. I'll work while having fun and eating good food too.
""
With renewed energy, Kim Dabin jumped out of bed and tidied up the blankets. Then she changed into workout clothes and stepped outside for a light jog.
To work as long as Kim Jaehyun wanted her to, she needed to stay healthy.
"By now, the generator maintenance should be done. The dungeon system is pretty well-managed, so Hyerin probably took care of it. I wonder if we made proper contact with the people around the Nakdong River?"
After warming up with a morning jog, Kim Dabin cooled off with a cold shower and wrapped up her workout.
Then she opened the refrigerator.
Inside was a pink paper box containing a slice of cake.
With a happy expression, she took it out and began eating.
At that moment, a half-naked, muscular man walked into the living room.
Frowning, she scolded her brother.
"Could you please not come out here dressed like that? It's disturbing."
To that, Kim Minho looked down at his own body with an utterly confused expression and muttered to himself,
"...What exactly is disturbing about my body?"
Kim Dabin let out a small sigh, shook her head, and then asked him:
"You're going hunting?"
"Yeah."
"Ulsan?"
"That's right."
Kim Dabin, who had only received administrative reports about Ulsan, suddenly became curious and asked her younger brother a few questions.
"How is it over there?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean the monsters and all that. It looks like the vampires have almost been wiped out."
"Rather than wiped out, they've just gone into hiding. Occasionally, they're still found among the surviving groups in Ulsan."
"Still?"
"Yeah."
While Kim Minho stretched and answered casually, Kim Dabin continued to probe with curiosity.
"I heard the city is basically overrun with goblins now. Is that what you're going to deal with?"
"No. Goblins are always swarming everywhere. Today, I think we're heading to the mountains."
"Why?"
Kim Minho sighed as he continued stretching.
"To hunt orcs. Why are you so curious all of a sudden?"
Kim Dabin grinned and said,
"Today's the day I go to work. I wanted to gather as much info as I could in advance-work-related stuff."
"...You like working that much?"
"It's not so much that I like working..."
After a brief pause, Kim Dabin popped the last piece of cake into her mouth and continued,
"It's more about feeling responsible. And it feels rewarding when the job's done."
Though she had let go of the heavy burden she once carried during her conversation with Kim Jaehyun, she hadn't let go of her sense of responsibility.
Whereas before, she worked hoping at least one less person would die, now she worked hoping she could save even one more person.
It was similar-but different.
She no longer felt guilt, but pride.
And a few simple words of comfort from Kim Jaehyun had saved her.
'I want to live up to his expectations.'
In fact, she wanted to do even better than before.
But at the same time, she made sure to take care of herself-so as not to
cause unnecessary worry.
"Anyway. Be careful out there."
Kim Minho chuckled and replied,
"Be careful? For orc hunting? Sis, you must not know it yet, but I'm not who I used to be."
She had a decent idea.
She knew he was one of the chosen ones, with a hardening ability that strengthened his body.
And she knew he'd distinguished himself in the vampire war, becoming a key member.
But from Kim Dabin's perspective, that didn't ease her mind.
She knew all too well how many hunters lost their lives to monsters.
Even seasoned goblin hunters could vanish or die from a single moment of
carelessness.
As someone who regularly saw such cases, she couldn't help but worry about her brother's safety.
"Alright, alright. I'm heading to work now."
"Okay."
When she arrived at the office, she was greeted by familiar faces.
Maybe because she arrived right on time, most of the team had already gathered.
"Good morning, everyone."
Perhaps due to her week-long absence, the team greeted her a bit awkwardly.
"Nothing happened while I was gone, right?"
She noticed her team members exchanging glances and looking toward the corner of the office.
There was a small meeting room set up in one corner.
Inside, Yoo Hyerin was deep in conversation with two guests, all of them looking serious.
Kim Dabin walked straight up and pushed open the meeting room door.
"This is Director Kim Dabin of the Administrative Department. Excuse me, but may I ask the reason for your visit?"
The two male guests stood up and greeted her.
"I'm Lee Junhyuk. Nice to meet you."
"Im Jang Howon."
If it was Lee Junhyuk, he was even more influential than her brother, Kim Minho.
His party, both in terms of merit and individual power, was the highest-ranked one apart from Ha Donggeon's party.
'Lee Junhyuk... the kind of monster who can clear a B-rank dungeon solo.'
Though the ranks among awakened ones were somewhat ambiguous, the appearance of dungeons within Kim Jaehyun's Safe Zone had allowed for rough classifications.
Among the dungeons that had appeared so far, B-rank was the highest-and Lee Junhyuk was the only one who had cleared one solo.
For someone like that to show up with such a grim expression could only mean something serious had happened.
"What's going on?"
"The thing is...."
At first, she thought it must be something related to a dungeon emergency.
But it turned out to be something completely different.
"A prophetic dream?"
"Yes, that's correct."
The content of Jang Howon's dream was horrifying.
What made it worse was how realistic the dream was concerning issues that could very well happen.
"A nuclear power plant, seriously?"
An energy production facility derived from the most powerful weapon created by humanity.
Due to its strict management and the extreme care taken during construction, the risk of accidents was considered to be extremely low.
However, that assumption only held true under the condition of continuous management.
Unforeseen events like a massive earthquake or the sudden appearance of rampaging monsters had not been accounted for.
In a world where out-of-spec monsters like Cyclops roam freely, a nuclear power plant accident was more than plausible.
In fact, it was almost strange that nothing had happened until now.
"I came to your house first to report directly to you, Jaehyun-nim, but it seemed you weren't home. So I came here instead."
"You did well."
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Kim Dabin immediately used telepathy.
[Jaehyun-nim. This is an emergency.]
The vacation was over.
Hearing such serious news early in the morning left me in shock.
A nuclear accident, huh.
Just then, my dad, who was next to me, asked cautiously.
"Is something wrong, son? Did something happen?"
"It's nothing. So, do you like the gift?"
"Of course! How could I not, when it's from you?"
Dad, smiling brightly while driving the Bentley, looked genuinely happy.
It had cost over 3 billion won to restore and purchase the vehicle, but seeing the look on his face, it didn't feel like a waste at all.
"That's a relief."
"Thank you, son."
"Dad, do you maybe want any other cars?"
"Other cars?"
"Like a Ferrari or a Rolls-Royce, something like that."
"...Huh?"
While my dad was momentarily lost in a happy dilemma, I checked the system window.
Looking into Jang Howon's citizen information, it clearly listed "Prophetic Dream" under his awakened abilities.
I have to stop this.
If the prophetic dream was real, then that meant a nuclear meltdown was imminent.
A transparent barrier might block radiation, I thought, but...
Outside the domain, it would become a radioactive hell.
The entirety of Gyeongsang Province, including Ulsan and Busan, would be contaminated, making hunting impossible.
However, with the new vampire dungeon update, the experience points gained inside the domain now exceeded those earned outside.
That meant even if we were isolated, growth was still possible.
Experience and settlement rewards wouldn't fall short.
But...
That wasn't the real issue.
A massive number of people would die.
The problem likely wasn't limited to just the Gori nuclear plant.
There were hundreds of nuclear plants around the world.
Were they really all being safely managed?
Unlikely.
In any case, it was clear that the Gori plant-the one flagged as currently dangerous-had to be dealt with first.
And for that-
We'll need to send our strongest.
Who knows what kind of monster might be waiting there?
"Dad, do you happen to know where Gori is?"
"Gori?"
"Yes. The place with the nuclear power plant."
"Sure I do. It's just a little up from Gijang. But why do you ask?"
"I have a favor to ask."
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]
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