Life in this world had become far too extreme.
People had said the same thing in every era, but now that Gates had appeared, the phrase carried a somewhat different meaning.
In Korea, the term ‘hunter’ mainly referred to people who crossed into North Korea to hunt monsters.
‘Was it four years ago? We closed every Gate that had opened across the country.’
South Korea had been fairly fortunate.
To begin with, the country was relatively small, while the number of hunters per capita was high.
Thanks to that, they had successfully cleared every Gate that had opened throughout the country.
New Gates still appeared from time to time, but most were cleared almost immediately, so the country was effectively safe.
Nearly every nation in the world operated its hunters in much the same way.
Ultimately, there were only two possible outcomes.
‘Either you clear and close every Gate that appears in your country, or you fail and the country is destroyed.’
There was no other option.
Either most of the civilians survived, or everyone died.
As long as a Gate remained open, monsters continued accumulating inside it.
Then, once they reached a critical point, it would suddenly go—
BOOM-!
Once monsters poured out through the Gate, the surrounding area transformed into a hellscape in an instant.
‘North Korea is the prime example of a country that collapsed that way. There are still quite a few Gates they haven’t managed to close, so I heard the area around the 38th Parallel is still hell on earth.’
That was why Korean hunters went into North Korea.
North Korea had already become a paradise for monsters, transforming into a Demonic Zone.
The South Korean government had established defensive lines using the Imjin River, the Hantan River, and other natural barriers, and barely managed to hold back the monsters descending from the north.
The one saving grace was that the monsters had formed their own ecosystems, with different species killing and devouring one another.
Thanks to that, they were not pouring southward in an endless tide.
In any case.
‘The Awakened ultimately make money by becoming hunters and killing monsters. They have to hunt things that can casually tear a human being apart just to earn money and raise their stats...’
In the current state of the world, however, Hae-jin faced a much more immediate problem.
[Job: God Landlord]
“How the hell am I supposed to kill monsters?”
Even healer classes, which were Supporters, possessed at least some minimal offensive skills.
They could call down lightning from the sky or, failing that, at least imbue their weapons with divine power.
But no matter how hard Hae-jin searched through his skills, there was not a single combat skill among them.
“What the hell am I supposed to do with this, damn you, God? Charge monsters rent or something? Oh dear! Too bad I don’t own any land or buildings!!”
He crossed his arms and glared into empty space.
He had awakened, sure.
But since his abilities seemed completely useless in combat, that presented a problem.
Holed up in his room.
Hae-jin racked his brain as hard as he could.
Then, suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind like lightning.
‘Wait. Now that I think about it, haven’t I played a game with a similar concept before?’
He remembered a game he had played not long ago.
It was the game he had enjoyed before starting the real estate tycoon he was currently playing.
A game titled <Demonic Zone Survival>.
‘It had a pretty unusual concept.’
The protagonist was a hunter who became stranded in a Demonic Zone that resembled another world and had to survive inside it.
The player gradually developed civilization while hunting monsters, before eventually returning to modern society and reaching the ending.
Simply put, it felt like the hunter version of a zombie apocalypse game.
‘And the most important thing in Demonic Zone Survival was... a safe base.’
It was a survival game, so staying alive naturally came first.
In that respect, it was especially similar to reality.
A Demonic Zone did not necessarily consist only of natural environments such as forests and plains.
Take North Korea, for example. Pyongyang had been completely overrun by monsters.
But houses, apartment buildings, commercial buildings, and the like—
Most of the structures people had built still remained, albeit half-ruined.
Of course, many of those buildings were now monster nests or were covered by unidentified plant monsters, so actually using them was out of the question.
“Hmm. I feel like I might be onto something here.”
He organized the thoughts in his head.
-A safe base, the most important element of survival.
-A real estate tycoon where land generated money.
-And the skills he had gained after awakening as a God Landlord.
“Hmm?”
The pieces gradually began fitting together.
“Could this... actually work?”
BEEP!
“That’ll be 4,800 won.”
“Card.”
“Yes, payment went through. Thank you.”
Even after awakening as a God Landlord, Hae-jin still had to make money.
If he had awakened to a halfway decent Job, he would have quit his part-time job immediately, but that was hardly an option right now.
Since it was already time for work, Hae-jin headed to the convenience store near his home.
“Haa... at least I’m almost done.”
Hae-jin worked the night shift at the convenience store.
He could finally leave work only around six in the morning, when the sun began to rise.
Normally, he would have had to walk about twenty minutes to get home.
‘I got a skill, so I might as well use it.’
But now there was no need.
[Go Home]
-The user can move to any property they own at any time.
-Only the skill user and the belongings they are carrying can be transported.
-Traveling with other people is impossible.
Using the ‘Go Home’ skill was simple.
Before opening any door, he just had to activate the skill and then open it.
CREEEAK-!
“Ooh!”
He opened the convenience store’s storage-room door and stepped through—
And found himself at home.
‘This is ridiculously convenient. Wait, when you think about it, isn’t this basically teleportation? Maybe this Job is better than I thought?!’
Naturally, the semi-basement studio apartment where Hae-jin lived was not actually his. He rented it monthly.
However, perhaps because he had signed a proper lease before moving in, the skill apparently recognized it as ‘property he owned.’
‘Whew... Okay. In that case, I might be able to find some decent uses for my other skills too.’
During the boring convenience-store night shift, he had spent hours thinking until one particular idea came to him.
Now he intended to test it.
Hae-jin hurriedly changed his clothes and left the apartment at a brisk pace.
“Today, I’m buying real estate!”
Of course, he was not talking about residential property in Seoul or Gyeonggi Province.
If he had enough money to buy a home in the Seoul metropolitan area, he would not be worrying about any of this in the first place.
‘I looked it up earlier, and apparently there are people selling houses and land near monster-occupied territories.’
Hae-jin was aiming for provincial areas close to North Korea.
Because those regions bordered the defensive line, the residents had all evacuated, leaving land that had been abandoned for years.
The villages had become ruins infested with monsters, but despite the damage, the buildings constructed by humans were still standing.
And when he checked real estate websites, surprisingly, there were actually people trying to sell those properties.
‘For example, Cheorwon in Gangwon Province. That seems like the best option for now.’
Not a single civilian currently lived in Cheorwon.
Monsters that had pushed southward from the Demonic Zone that North Korea had become were still roaming the area.
Hunters were carrying out extermination operations, but because Cheorwon lay north of the Hantan River, it could not be protected by the current defensive line built around the river.
As a result, Cheorwon had been completely abandoned long ago.
‘Even if everything’s wrecked and collapsing, ruins still count as real estate, technically, right?’
Hae-jin intended to buy some.
Of course, he had no idea whether that would actually be possible in practice.
Still, it was certainly worth trying.
It did not look easy, but he intended to throw himself at the problem and see what happened.
He bought one.
For just one million won.
And it was not merely a house or a plot of land.
He had bought an entire vacation lodge.
“Whoa... I’m a building owner nowww... Ahahahaha.”
The moment he arrived in Cheorwon, he walked into the first real estate office he saw and successfully signed a contract within five minutes.
Even though he was purchasing a building in an area civilians were strictly forbidden from entering, the woman running the real estate office did not ask Hae-jin a single question.
If anything, she merely smiled at him as though she had found the perfect sucker.
[Gangwon Province, Cheorwon, Dongseong-eup, Odoek 4-ri, Lot XXX-XX, ‘The Forest Lodge’]
[Owner: Lee Hae-jin]
After leaving the real estate office, he stared blankly at the documents bearing his name.
He had really become a building owner.
And not just any building.
He now owned a five-story vacation lodge overlooking the beautiful Hak Reservoir.
“Ha... unbelievable.”
It had been so much easier than expected that he could hardly believe it.
-A new property has been acquired!
-The list of available properties has been updated!
Of course, this meant he had perfectly fulfilled the conditions required for his skills.
Granted, the property was a crumbling ruin in the middle of a monster-infested area.
But it was still real estate acquired through a ‘legitimate’ contract.
[Owned Properties – 1]
[Leased Properties – 1]
The owned property was the lodge he had just purchased, while the leased property was the semi-basement studio where Hae-jin lived.
“All right... now comes the real test.”
He had spent one million won of his precious savings.
Now it was time to find out whether he would actually get his money’s worth.
There happened to be a public restroom near the real estate office.
After confirming that no one was watching, he entered the restroom and grabbed the door handle.
“Let’s go home!”
He activated the skill and forcefully threw open the door.
And beyond it—
“I-it worked!”
Instead of the foul-smelling restroom, he saw a village overgrown with trees and grass.
He had traveled directly to the vacation lodge he had just purchased.
For the moment, Hae-jin calmly looked around.
“So this is Odoek 4-ri.”
A large reservoir stretched out before him.
Its clear waters glittered beneath the midday sunlight.
But unlike the peaceful-looking reservoir, the surrounding area was a miserable sight.
An abandoned convenience store stood in the distance, along with a gas station blackened as though it had burned.
Beyond them were numerous buildings, including a school and various shops.
Back before Gates existed, the area had been popular for university group retreats and tourism, so it had been fairly developed despite being out in the countryside.
Besides, this was also the center of the township.
“The lodge is in better condition than I expected too.”
Since it had been dumped onto the market for only one million won, he had expected it to be completely destroyed.
There were plenty of damaged walls here and there, but the building had not collapsed and still retained its overall shape.
There was even furniture and miscellaneous belongings left inside, probably because the previous occupants had fled in a hurry.
The same was true of Odoek 4-ri as a whole.
Everyone had simply evacuated in a rush, leaving the basic skeleton of the village intact.
“Good! This is it! Damn it, this is exactly what I wanted!!”
It was exactly as he had imagined.
No.
The village had actually been preserved far better than he had expected.
As he looked around, Hae-jin could no longer contain his excitement.
And for good reason.
“I’m quitting that damn convenience-store job immediately. From now on, I’m going to...”
Without looking back, Hae-jin sprinted toward the abandoned convenience store.
The house?
The lodge?
He did not care about those.
The entire reason he had bought this property, and Hae-jin’s actual plan, was—
Hunting monsters? No, no. Not a chance.
Looting abandoned ruins? Yes, yes!! Now that was more like it!
“I’m changing Jobs to Scavengerrrrr---!!”
That had been his plan all along.