Absolute Dweller-Chapter 220

The world is engulfed in darkness.

A thick shadow opens its mouth, beginning to devour the starlight that adorns the night sky.

The stars and the moon are helplessly swallowed by the black sky, from which an unknown terror is felt.

It feels as if one is staring into an abyss.

Everything is returning to nothingness, buried in darkness, disappearing, and eventually becoming utterly empty.

In the boundless darkness that completely covers the sky, I feel as though I am no more than dust, sinking into an endless despair.

And then, a flash―

In the center of the darkness, a faint light flickers.

At the same time.

“Ugh!”

Jang Ho-won awoke and found that his entire body was drenched in sweat.

“Hah, hah.”

Though he had clearly been asleep, his heart was pounding as though he had been running a marathon.

It felt as if he had experienced that scene firsthand.

A dream so vivid, so lifelike.

‘It’s a prophetic dream.’

Jang Ho-won didn’t normally have dreams.

But when he did dream, it was almost always a prophetic dream.

That being said, not all of them were significant.

Most of the time, it was just him briefly seeing scenes from daily life, like having a meal or something similar.

Also, since he could never know when a dream would come true, he usually forgot about it until he encountered that scene in reality.

So, 90% of the prophetic dreams he had weren’t of much use.

However.

‘Prophetic dreams always come true.’

He wasn’t sure when, but every dream he had ever had had eventually come to pass.

‘But...’

A dream so terrible.

It was a scene that felt like facing the end of the world.

He couldn’t even begin to imagine it.

After all, his life was peaceful and prosperous these days.

‘For now, I’ll have to report it.’

After foreseeing the explosion at the Gori Nuclear Power Plant, he had made it a rule to report significant prophetic dreams to the government.

‘Time...’

It was 3:30 in the morning.

Even though it was a time when he could sleep again, Jang Ho-won couldn’t fall asleep.

He felt that if he slept now, he would see that same terrifying scene again.

The darkness was too frightening, too terrifying to ever want to see again.

In the end, after tossing and turning all night, he had no choice but to get out of bed.

“Phew.”

The morning came, and the day was still overcast.

The clouds were thick enough to block the sun.

The clouds blocking the sun felt strangely like the darkness he had seen in his dream, and it made him feel an odd sense of fear.

Jang Ho-won looked up at the sky with uneasy eyes and checked his smartphone.

9 a.m.

It was time for the government to start work.

He quickly found [Director Kim Da-bin] in his contacts and pressed the call button.

Ring­ring­ring­

Before the call could even finish ringing.

[Yes, I’ve received the call.]

She picked up the phone.

“Hello, this is Jang Ho-won.”

[Yes, I know. Since you’re calling at this hour, did you have a prophetic dream?]

“...Yes.”

A brief silence hung in the air.

Kim Da-bin intuitively asked first.

[Given the atmosphere, I’m guessing it’s something serious. What was the dream about?]

“The content was so ominous…”

[It’s okay. If we know in advance and prepare, it will definitely make a difference. You were able to save the people from the Gori Nuclear Power Plant when I warned you about it, right? It’s the same this time. If we prepare in advance, the future will be different.]

Despite Kim Da-bin’s reassuring words, Jang Ho-won couldn’t feel certain.

‘Well... it’s just that the only nuclear power plant I knew about was the Gori Nuclear Power Plant.’

As a result, the Gori Nuclear Power Plant didn’t explode.

But didn’t an accident occur elsewhere?

Not only that.

There were also the seemingly trivial prophetic dreams, ones that only showed scenes of daily life.

Even if he tried to avoid those scenes consciously, he would often experience them just as he had seen in the dream.

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

‘Prophetic dreams can’t be avoided.’

Despite his certainty.

‘...But maybe, if it’s Je-hyun, he might be able to change the future?’

He held on to that hope.

Though he couldn’t do it himself, perhaps people like Kim Da-bin or Kim Jae-hyun could change the despairing future he had seen.

Carrying that hope with him.

“So…”

Jang Ho-won cautiously spoke about the dream’s content.

Hoping that the dream would not become reality.

“...I think I saw the end of the world. In my dream.”

[...What?]

She urged him to continue.

[Could you tell me more in detail?]

“Alright. So…”

***

After hearing the details of Jang Ho-won’s dream, Kim Da-bin’s expression grew slightly serious.

‘The darkness consuming the entire world.’

The content of the dream itself wasn’t that significant.

It was merely a scene of the world being engulfed in darkness.

But what mattered was the emotion Jang Ho-won felt in the dream.

A sense of despair, as if falling into an endless abyss.

It was difficult to gauge just how intense it was through the phone call, so she decided to meet him in person to hear more.

‘His expression told me it was real.’

He truly believed he had seen the end of the world.

If that was the case, at least from Jang Ho-won’s perspective in the dream, it must have been a profoundly despairing scene.

‘Jang Ho-won’s prophetic dreams are more accurate than expected.’

He had foreseen many things before.

Once, he had predicted the collapse of a parking garage in an apartment building.

The monsters had appeared just after the repair work had been completed, and the garage had collapsed shortly after.

It wasn’t exactly their fault; the problem lay in the insufficient rebar when the building was originally constructed.

In any case, just as Jang Ho-won had predicted, no one was injured, and everything was resolved.

‘And the eruption of Baekdu Mountain.’

To be precise, he had said that a volcano was likely to erupt, and although he wasn’t certain it would be Baekdu Mountain, he had mentioned that there would be no direct damage to their side, so they hadn’t paid it much mind.

Then, Baekdu Mountain really did erupt.

‘The only thing that hasn’t come true yet is the meteor shower from the sky.’

Unlike the other predictions, he hadn’t heard much about the extent of the damage from the meteor shower.

But he wasn’t overly concerned.

‘I’ve already reported it to Je-hyun, and he said he’d handle it.’

Kim Da-bin knew well that Kim Jae-hyun had the ability to solve such matters.

‘When you see him in action, you can’t help but believe it.’

She had seen the photos Kim Geon had sent after the undead army came down from the North.

The photos showed vast destruction, as if a nuclear bomb had fallen.

Even if an artillery brigade fired endlessly, it wouldn’t be possible to cause such widespread devastation.

She hadn’t heard it directly from Kim Jae-hyun, but she suspected it was one of his abilities.

‘He used something similar to a meteor before, I heard.’

And there was one more thing.

‘...Jang Ho-won’s prophetic dream has taken it a step further.’

The end of the world, with the sky engulfed in darkness.

To bring that about, at least the meteor strike crisis must have been avoided, right?

‘It’s really maddening.’

First, monsters and beasts had covered the world, and now meteors were falling, and the world was ending by some unknown force.

It seemed like there was no end to the challenges.

And then.

‘That black energy...’

One of the unsettling thoughts that had come to mind when she first heard about Jang Ho-won’s prophetic dream.

Kim Jae-hyun’s power, which had a pitch-black color.

‘If Je-hyun’s worries become a reality...’

She had heard from him directly.

That perhaps another being might take over his body.

That the origin of this power, and its true intentions, were unknown.

She had heard his anxieties, and she knew about them.

If those concerns came true and the worst-case scenario happened...

‘Could that be the kind of end that is approaching?’

Kim Jae-hyun’s power was far too vast and immense for one person to control.

If he decided to, it seemed entirely possible that he could bring such an end to the world.

If some other being took over his body and used his abilities, she felt that maybe, just maybe, the end of the world could actually happen.

‘No.’

Kim Da-bin shook her head.

‘I believe Je-hyun will overcome this.’

It was a blind belief, but she truly, from the bottom of her heart, supported and trusted him.

Somehow, no matter what, she believed he would overcome it and protect them.

That belief, no matter how ungrounded, existed deeply within her.

[Je-hyun. I have something to tell you.]

***

Upon hearing Kim Da-bin's report, I fell into deep contemplation.

"Hmm."

I had heard the detailed content of Jang Ho-won's prophetic dream, the images, and Kim Da-bin’s concerns about it.

‘There is definitely a possibility.’

The dark energy.

I had already confirmed that it was trying to consume me.

If that being’s presence continues to grow, it could indeed become a reality.

‘In fact, even now, when the whole of Korea is covered in darkness, the scene in his dream could easily be replicated.’

The only hope was the faint light that flickered in the darkness.

‘But the fact that it was faint isn’t all that hopeful.’

It was likely just a final struggle.

Darkness covering the world and a faint light.

Would that even be an opponent?

‘Am I really going to be consumed by that thing?’

And will the being inside me try to bring about the end of the world?

‘But that doesn’t seem to be the case.’

It’s a strange thought, but I vaguely understood that what it desired wasn’t the end of the world.

Look at the state of the world right now.

The end would have come just by leaving things alone.

"Hmm."

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

The purpose may be unclear, but it was certain that this being had lent me its power.

Because of that, many people had regained the peace of their lives.

At that moment.

-Poke?

While I was deep in thought, Kkami poked my cheek.

I smiled and petted Kkami.

There were many things to worry about, such as the newly arrived US military, the situation in mainland America, the mutated creatures in Japan, rescuing survivors, and dungeon expeditions.

There were too many things to pay attention to.

With new concerns arising, my head was starting to hurt.

But.

-Poke!

Watching Kkami play, it felt like all those worries were insignificant.

"Yeah. What good is worrying?"

-Pip! Pip!

When I laughed, Kkami also happily danced around.

Watching it made me feel a little better.

No matter how much I worried, the fact that such a future could come wouldn’t change.

If I wanted change, then at least I had to change something about myself first.

‘In the end, nothing will change.’

In the past, when situations like this arose, I learned from others.

From the advice of people wiser than me, from the ways people rise above sorrow, from the ways those in trouble face problems head-on.

After accumulating such experiences, I was able to find the answer on my own.

‘What I can do now is enough.’

Instead of worrying, I needed to act.

I needed to find a divine power to fight against the dark energy and absorb it.

Even if, in the end, it might only be a faint light.

‘Struggling with all my might. That’s the answer.’

For now.

[The forward base has been completed at 'John A Kennedy'.]

I should first assess the status of the divine powers spread across the world.

Grrrk! Grrr­k! Grrrrrrrr-!

(No! Go back! I won’t give you any work!)

Grrrk! Grrk?!

(What?! Why?!)

Grrrr Grrrk, Krrrr?

(Didn’t you know that the underground parking lot you were in charge of collapsed?)

Toriyong, who was overseeing the distribution of all tasks.

He had the strongest authority among the first-generation Toriyong.

There was a definite reason why both the first and second generations respected him.

It was because he himself didn’t do the work but instead made the noble and sacred sacrifice of passing the tasks on to the other Toriyong…!

Toriyong A tried to protest.

Grrrk...!

(But...!)

Goo! Grrrk Grrrk Grrrk.

(Alright! During the punishment period of one week, your team has no work.)

However, he wasn’t even given that chance.

Gguk!

(Krgh!)

In the end, Toriyong A, who had caused the accident, had to step back.

His authority was respected.

After all, the sacrifice of doing the work was such a noble act.

Grrrk...

(But one week... that’s too...)

Grrrk... Grrrk?

(Team leader... Are we finished?)

Goo...

(Sigh...)

In fact, Toriyong A’s team had every reason to feel wronged.

They had simply restored things to their original state, and yet, it turned out that the design had insufficient rebar!

They were frustrated and angry.

Grrrk. Grrrk Grrrk. Grrk Grrk Grrk!

(This can’t continue. Just restoring things isn’t enough. Such things must never happen again!)

To avoid such an unjust situation in the future.

Grrrk. Guk! Grrrrrr. Grrrrrrrrr!

(Just having the mindset to restore isn’t enough. Yeah! I’m going to create it. A more perfect, safer, and unbreakable building!)

Thanks to the proper system of rewards and punishments, the Toriyong’s skills were improving every day.