[Prologue]
One Day, the World Suddenly Ended.
One day, the world suddenly ended.
There had been signs that the world was heading for destruction.
A global pandemic, wars breaking out like a cruel joke, economic recession and food shortages that followed, and finally, nuclear war.
Humanity was walking a clear path to self-destruction.
But, unfortunately, it wasn't humans themselves who dealt the final blow.
'It was something completely unexpected.'
The cause of humanity's downfall wasn't climate change, an asteroid, or nuclear war.
'Fucking monsters.'
Creatures straight out of cheap fantasy novels—goblins, orcs, trolls, dragons.
Those monsters were the ones who brought humanity to ruin.
'No, that's not right. It's not completely over yet. I'm still alive! And I'm sure I'm not the only one…'
It was at that moment—
KAAAAAHK—!
A monstrous bird, easily twice my size, was charging straight at me.
"Sh-shit!"
Startled by its momentum, I stumbled backward and fell.
I was inside my apartment's living room, on the top floor of a high-rise building.
Beyond the large living room window, the monstrous bird was hurtling toward me at terrifying speed.
With its velocity and force, it looked like it would smash through the window and tear me apart in an instant.
But—
CRAAAASH!
The monster crashed headfirst into the window and bounced off spectacularly.
It plummeted toward the ground, seemingly unconscious.
And then, a notification popped up before my eyes.
[Unauthorized entity attempted to enter.]
"Whew."
That's right.
Just like the cliché opening of a cheap novel, the world had ended, and I had awakened a status window and a unique ability.
[Absolute Sovereign of Home]
Home Declaration (Passive) Lv. 1
– No one can invade the sovereign's home without permission.
Maybe it was because I barely stepped outside my house before all this happened, but I ended up with a bizarre ability.
Still, that very ability had just saved my life.
Yeah, I get it. It's a useful power.
The only reason I was still alive was thanks to it.
"Hah, fuck."
But there was just one infuriating problem with this ability.
[The Absolute Sovereign of Home cannot leave their home.]
It's been three days since the world ended.
And I'm still trapped inside my house.
***
[Episode 01] Absolute Sovereign of Home (1)
I can turn the doorknob, at least.
But the moment I try to push the door open, I feel an invisible wall blocking me, and a message appears.
[The Absolute Sovereign of Home cannot leave their home.]
"Goddammit!"
The doorknob moves, but the door won't open.
'I need to get out of here somehow…'
I know.
Going outside right now is practically suicide.
It's been three days since the world ended.
The only reason I'm still alive is because of my ability.
The outside world is swarming with deadly monsters.
Even one of those monstrous birds that just slammed into my window could easily make me its next meal.
And yet, I still have two reasons for wanting to go outside.
The first is my family.
'Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma…'
All of my loved ones are out there.
[The Absolute Sovereign of Home cannot leave their home.]
"Sigh…"
There were complicated reasons why I wasn't with my family.
This apartment—a spacious 30-pyeong (around 99 square meters) unit with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen—was essentially my home alone.
My father had purchased this apartment by combining a 2-billion-won bank loan with our entire family's savings of another 2 billion won.
It was a gamble, but it paid off—within just six months, the value of our 4-billion-won purchase had skyrocketed to over 10 billion.
The reason I lived here alone wasn't for luxury but to meet the two-year residency requirement for tax benefits.
To avoid a massive tax bomb, we had to wait two years before selling it, so in the meantime, I was the one staying in the apartment.
But things didn't go as planned.
The economic collapse caused by COVID-19 and war hit the real estate market hard.
The apartment's value, which had once exceeded 10 billion, dropped to 7 billion.
On top of that, rising interest rates made repaying the bank loan even harder.
'Not that any of that matters anymore.'
With the world destroyed, who cares about bank loans or property values?
It's not like I can sell this place now.
'Please, just be safe.'
Praying for my family's safety, I pressed the call button on my smartphone.
[…Connecting…]
As expected.
Just like the past three days, nothing happened, no matter how long I waited.
Calls, messages, KakaoTalk—everything was dead.
Even though I knew it wouldn't work, I still opened KakaoTalk and typed a message.
Mom, you're okay, right?
"Please, just…!"
But the result was as expected.
⟳ Mom, you're okay, right?
Only the resend button appeared, and the message failed to send.
Then, it happened.
[A temporary error has occurred. Please try again later. (Error Code: 580, LO)]
A new message popped up, and then the KakaoTalk app shut down completely.
I tried reopening it several times, but the result was the same.
Just in case, I glanced at the top of my phone screen and saw the icon that appears when data is disconnected.
"…Damn it."
I had somewhat expected this.
Honestly, it was more surprising that the data had lasted for three whole days.
Major websites like Google and Naver had gone down on the very day the world collapsed.
I clenched my fist in frustration, but nothing changed.
'I have to do something.'
That wasn't the only problem.
'If I stay trapped like this, I'll starve to death.'
It wasn't just the internet—everything was shutting down.
Water, electricity, gas—
All the essentials for survival were disappearing by the hour.
'At least I have enough water.'
Thankfully, I had stocked up from Coupang.
I had twenty 2-liter bottles and forty-seven 500ml bottles. Every water bottle and cup I could find had been filled to the brim.
Originally, I had ordered them just because I was too lazy to fetch filtered water every time, but in the end, my laziness had saved me.
'The problem is food.'
Yesterday, when the power went out, the refrigerator shut down, putting an expiration date on all the food inside.
I had tried to keep the fridge door closed as much as possible, and the cold from the freezer was helping for now, but it wouldn't last much longer.
'I don't have much ramen left either.'
All I had left was three packs of Jin Ramen (mild flavor).
'If I had known this would happen, I would've stocked up on more ramen…'
Since my parents came by every week to refill my fridge with side dishes, I never thought about storing extra food.
As a result, I only had enough to last a week.
'Even if I ration it, it'll run out eventually.'
In the end, I had no choice but to go outside if I wanted to survive.
But—
[The Absolute Homebody cannot leave their home.]
"...."
Because of this ability, which completely protected me from the vicious monsters outside, I was inevitably going to starve to death.
Once my food ran out, I would slowly die of hunger.
'This is the worst.'
Desperately, I reached out toward the window.
If I could just get out, I was willing to escape through the window.
However—
[The Absolute Homebody cannot leave their home.]
"F*** this!"
I threw a punch at that infuriating message.
Pain shot through my fist as it collided with the solid wall.
'Absolute my ass!'
If I couldn't even step outside, what kind of half-baked power was this?
'…Pathetic bastard.'
Even though the world had ended, I was still the same.
A useless son who never stepped outside, living off his parents' support.
A 28-year-old who still relied on allowance money because he couldn't take care of himself.
A worthless parasite that contributed nothing to society.
"…Shit."
But then—
Ding!
"…Huh?"
For the first time in three days, a message appeared before my eyes.
[You have hunted a Kellykan (Lv. 23).]
'Kellykan?'
Immediately after—
[You have gained a large amount of experience.]
[Skill level has increased.]
[Skill level has increased.]
A flood of new messages appeared.
As I looked at them, I suddenly recalled the monstrous bird that had crashed into my window and fallen.
I leaned out of the window and looked down.
"Kraaah!"
"Kyack!"
Around the corpse of the monster bird, dozens of small green-skinned creatures—goblins—had gathered, feasting on it.
From this high up, they looked like a swarm of ants.
'Did they finish it off?'
It seemed like the goblins had killed the bird while it was unconscious.
Technically, though, I was the one who knocked it out, so I had earned the experience points.
Thanks to that, my skill had leveled up twice.
'Hah, what a joke. What's the point of leveling up a shut-in skill?'
But that was a mistake.
[You have acquired a new skill.]
[There is eligible loot nearby.]
[Commencing loot retrieval.]
"Huh?"
As soon as the mysterious notifications appeared, a change occurred.
"Keeek!!"
"W-what the hell?"
Startled by the sudden convulsions of the goblins, I hurriedly looked down at the ground again.
The scene there had changed slightly from before.
The festive atmosphere had completely vanished, and the surrounding goblins were screaming in agony.
'What's wrong with them?'
The reason for their convulsions was the change occurring in the corpse of the monstrous bird.
'It's disappearing?'
Parts of the monstrous bird's body were vanishing in real time.
From the goblins' perspective, it was as if their prey's meat was shrinking before their eyes.
Of course, they could do nothing but scream in despair.
[The loot settlement has been completed.]
Upon checking the message, I looked down again.
'A third of the corpse is gone…'
[2,203,241 won has been deposited into the Wallet of the Household Overlord.]
The moment I saw the numbers in the newly displayed message, I instinctively counted in my head.
'Ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million… Two million won? I suddenly got two million won?'
For someone like me, who lived off a small allowance, two million won was an astronomical amount of money.
'What the hell is going on…?'
Before I could even process the situation, another change took place.
Flash.
The living room became a little brighter.
Since it was broad daylight, the change was subtle, but the fact that it got brighter at all was important.
I slowly lifted my head.
The ceiling light in the center of the living room was shining brightly.
'…The electricity is back?'
I was sure the power had gone out yesterday.
I didn't know the exact reason, but with the emergence of monsters, the city's infrastructure must have suffered critical damage.
There was no way it could have been restored this quickly.
'It's a skill! I remember a new skill appearing just now!'
I hastily opened the status window to check the changes in my skills.
[Household Overlord]
Household Declaration (Passive) Lv. 3
No one may enter the household without the Overlord's permission.
Household Overlord's Dignity Maintenance (Passive) Lv. 1
Restores the household's essential functions to normal for the sake of dignity.
Household Overlord's Shop Lv. 1
Allows the purchase of registered items at a fixed price.
Household Overlord's Wallet Lv. Max
Current balance: 2,203,240 won.
Three new skills had been added.
Among them, the return of electricity seemed to be due to the Household Overlord's Dignity Maintenance skill.
'It restores the household's functions to normal?'
I immediately got up and ran to the refrigerator.
Vrrr…
The fridge, which had become a makeshift icebox due to the power outage, was now humming as its coolant circulated again.
Click.
I carefully grabbed the fridge door and slowly pulled it open.
"!!"
The moment I opened it, I was greeted by light.
'It's working! The electricity is really back on!'
And it wasn't just the refrigerator.
Water was running from the sink, and even the water purifier was functioning properly.
The gas stove and induction cooktop also turned on without issue.
Just to be sure, I checked my phone, and it was connected to Wi-Fi.
'Everything has really gone back to normal. Like before the world ended…!'
With the power restored, both the TV and computer turned on.
Of course, the TV was practically useless, displaying only static since there were no working channels.
At least I could play offline games on the computer, so it wasn't completely worthless.
'Still, just seeing the monitor turn on properly makes me feel relieved.'
Before the world fell apart, I had spent most of my time in front of a screen.
Maybe that's why, just looking at the computer booting up made me feel a bit calmer.
Like I had gone back to before everything was ruined.
'I'm connected to the internet, but… as expected, I can't access any websites.'
Before the blackout, some sites had still been accessible.
They had provided real-time updates on the worldwide monster appearances and the devastation they caused.
But now, not a single site remained accessible.
'The servers must have gone down.'
The last updates I saw on Seoul before the blackout had been catastrophic.
Monstrous creatures the size of skyscrapers were demolishing buildings whole.
'At least I should be thankful I'm in Busan.'
At the very least, there were no giant monsters the size of high-rise buildings here.
As I aimlessly browsed my computer, something caught my eye.
'This is…'
It was an old folder of photos from a family trip to Jeju Island.
Back then, my mom had just bought a digital camera and had been determined to get her money's worth, snapping hundreds of photos.
Among them, one photo stood out—one we had asked a stranger to take of the three of us together.
"..."
In the picture, I had an awkward smile, while my mom and dad were on either side of me, embracing me with warm, happy smiles.
"…Mom, Dad."
Hearing my own trembling voice, I felt like I was about to burst into tears.
'I have to save them. No matter what.'