Vacation (1)
[Do you know about intranet?]
[Intranet? You mean the thing used in companies or the military?]
[Yes, that's right.]
You can think of it as a downgraded version of the Internet-in simple terms, a small internet that is only accessible within that specific organization.
[There's someone who independently set up an intranet server.]
[Alone?]
[Yes. We suspect that they used the newly established communication network we built to create the server.]
[You're saying one person made that?]
[We still don't know if it was an individual or a group who built the server.]
Even though the communication network had been rebuilt, such a task couldn't have been easy.
Curious, I asked Kim Dabin,
[How can I access it?]
[If your computer is connected with a LAN cable, you should be able to access it right away. I'll send you the address by text.]
When I entered the address Kim Dabin sent, a community bulletin board appeared.
Somehow, new posts had already been going up for the past few hours.
[What is this place? (1)]
[Aaaaargh (3)]
[Hello. (11)]
Among the many posts, there was one that appeared to be written directly by Kim Dabin.
[I would like to meet with the server administrator. (49)]
Hello. This is Director Kim Dabin from the Administration Department. The reason I'm posting here is... (abridged)... We promise the best treatment. I sincerely wish to meet with you. I'll be waiting for your contact. Thank you for reading this long message.
- Whoa, the offer is crazy.
L
Well, with that kind of skill, it's only fair.
L But is making one community enough to deserve this kind of
treatment?
L
Huh? It's not just a community. They made this when all Internet access was down.
- Kim Dabin... Is it really them?
L
L
Could be.
Why go to such lengths if it's a fake? Would someone really bother faking all that?
L
Lmao who would go through the trouble of this nonsense?
- TL;DR please.
L
L
If you're curious, read it yourself ;;
Ugh, whatever.
That place captured the exact vibe of the Internet from before the monsters appeared.
I immediately used the Ring of Communication to speak to Kim Dabin.
[This is incredible. But how is it possible? You said last time it would take a long time to set something like this up.]
I stayed silent for a moment, waiting for a reply.
But no telepathy came from Kim Dabin.
Considering how they usually responded instantly-day or night—that was strange.
"The Eye of the Absolute."
I used the skill right away.
The area filled with desks gave off the feeling of a modest mid-sized company office-but it was in chaos.
"Director Kim! Director! Please wake up!"
Kim Dabin had collapsed on top of the desk, and people with pale faces had gathered around.
And then-
'...Blood??'
Blood was slowly soaking the top of Kim Dabin's desk.
"Open Gate: Dongdaemun."
Without thinking, I teleported directly to where Kim Dabin was.
"Summon spirit, Kim Dajeong."
Then I summoned Kim Dajeong, who had healing abilities, and began speaking.
"Everyone, please calm down and return to your desks."
The chaotic atmosphere settled with my voice.
Everyone knew who I was, so they quietly followed my instructions and returned to their seats, allowing Kim Dajeong to step forward.
After examining Kim Dabin for a moment, Kim Dajeong began using her healing power.
Wooooong.
I asked Kim Dajeong,
"What happened?"
"Acute fatigue. In simple terms-overwork."
"Overwork? Can someone bleed just from overwork?"
"It's a nosebleed, just a pretty severe one."
Kim Dajeong added with a serious expression,
"Acute fatigue isn't something to take lightly. People can die from
overwork. From what I can tell, this person is in a very dangerous state. They must rest."
People around us began agreeing with her, chiming in one by one.
"That's right. Director Kim really needs to rest."
"She works late every night, and she's always the first to arrive..."
"She's really been overdoing it lately."
If even the people who've worked most closely with Kim Dabin were all saying this in unison, then it must have been truly serious.
Among them, there were a few familiar faces.
"What do you think, Yoo Hyerin?"
Yoo Hyerin cautiously opened her mouth.
"I don't think unnie's been going home..."
Even just looking at the massive piles of documents on Kim Dabin's desk, it was clear her workload was no joke.
'... Have I been dumping too much work on her?'
Ever since Kim Dabin awakened her telepathic abilities, nearly all operations had been entrusted to her.
Not only was she competent, but I appreciated how meticulous she was-handling even the tiniest details herself.
Her flawless execution had always impressed me. But to think it came at the cost of pushing herself to the brink...
Bzzz
Even after receiving healing for a while, Kim Dabin still couldn't get up. That showed how severe her condition was.
'Seriously, how hard has she been pushing herself?'
It wasn't like Kim Dabin had a weak constitution.
She was a Retainer and had leveled up to 45-her physical abilities far surpassed those of an ordinary person.
People's enhancements vary, but she definitely had strength beyond that of a normal human.
'And yet she pushed that body to its limits...'
Was it that her mental energy got strengthened more than anything else because she wasn't fighting in combat?
That was the only explanation that made sense.
"Anyway, understood. First, we need to get Dabin home. Dajeong, could you come with me for a moment?"
"Yes, understood."
Using an invisible hand, I gently lifted her and activated the Gate of the Absolute to teleport to Kim Dabin's apartment-unit 1701.
As soon as there was a sound at the entrance, people came out from inside.
"Who... gasp!"
Kim Minho recognized me and quickly bowed his head.
"L-Lord Jaehyun. What brings you here?"
"Where is Dabin's room?"
"Uh, over there."
I carried Kim Dabin into her room.
That's when it happened.
"D-Dabin!"
An older woman, upon seeing Kim Dabin floating unconscious in the air, gasped in shock.
It was Kim Dabin's mother.
"W-What happened?! What's going on with my Dabin?!"
"There's no need to worry."
I gently laid her down on the bed and said silently in my mind:
'Assign Quest: Target, Kim Dabin.'
[Citizen Kim Dabin has completed the quest.]
[Quest cost: 100,000,000 won.]
As the full recovery reward was granted, the dark circles that had heavily clouded Kim Dabin's eyes vanished.
I turned to Kim Minho, who was standing blankly beside me, and asked:
"When does Dabin usually come home?"
"Noona? Hmm..."
After thinking for a moment, Kim Minho answered honestly.
"...I'm not really sure."
Then, his flustered mother looked at me and asked:
"Come home? Dabin told me she was living on her own elsewhere..."
"Oh, right. She did say she lived somewhere else," Minho added.
Feeling something was off, I used the Ring of Communication to ask Yoo Hyerin.
[Hyerin. I have something to ask. Feel free to answer casually.]
"Yes, Lord Jaehyun."
Since I was watching her with the Eye of the Absolute, we could communicate even from a distance.
[Has Dabin been living near the office?]
"Huh? No?"
[Your family seems to think you're living outside the house, Da-bin.]
"Ah....."
Yu Hye-rin looked like she'd realized something, so I asked,
[Do you have any idea why that might be?]
"Yes... maybe she's just been staying at the office all the time? I dropped by the office early one morning because of some work, and she was there."
[...Is there even a place to sleep in the office?]
"No. I mean, if you sleep with your head on the desk, you can sleep..."
From the perspective of an omniscient narrator, the office was roughly scanned-but there didn't appear to be anything like a cot or a makeshift bed.
'Wow.'
This definitely looked like it required some drastic action.
***
As soon as Kim Da-bin opened her eyes, she was puzzled.
'Why am I in my own bed?'
She'd gotten so used to dozing off at her desk that waking up under a blanket felt completely foreign.
Then, the memory of what happened before she passed out came rushing back.
'I was supposed to ask Jae-hyun to find the server creator...!'
On top of that, her workload had piled up like a mountain:
Road maintenance, monster activity in Ulsan, power generator refurbishment, dungeon status reports, sewage plant activation, recruitment of organizations around the Nakdong River, and more.
As Kim Jae-hyun's territory expanded across all of Busan, the administrative issues that needed to be handled multiplied massively.
There were also numerous facilities that needed to be activated for people's basic convenience, and they needed teams to explain the system to groups-like those along the Nakdong-who still didn't understand the current situation.
Since every administrative matter had to go through Kim Da-bin for final approval, she ended up involved in almost everything.
By the time she realized it, she had her hands deep in multiple projects.
On top of that, to improve efficiency later, she was also handling paperwork-though it might speed things up in the future, it was just adding more to her plate right now.
Her mind grew tangled as soon as she woke up, but she didn't let it bother her.
At some point, Kim Da-bin had realized she didn't get tired even without much sleep so she spent most days just working and barely sleeping.
If she reduced her sleep, she could make up for the time she just lost.
'7:30 AM'
She'd been unconscious for nearly four hours.
She felt a sense of urgency.
'But they still brought me all the way back here.'
She was about to waste even more time.
'First, I need to get back to the office.'
That was the most efficient place to get work done now.
She couldn't afford to be away from there even for a moment.
'Tsk. I should at least get a folding bed for the office.'
That way, even if something like this happened again, she'd wake up in the office-not at home.
As she changed into comfortable clothes and opened the door, she sent a telepathic message to Kim Jae-hyun.
[Jae-hyun, did you check the address I sent you?]
And then-
"Yes, I checked it."
Usually, Kim Jae-hyun's voice would echo in her head-just like her own telepathy.
But now, it was coming from right next to her, as clear as day.
'Huh?'
Noticing something was off, Kim Da-bin turned toward the living room.
There was a lavishly set table with enough food to make the table legs wobble. It was a scene very unfamiliar to her, who normally ate light meals.
Three people were seated around the table.
First, she saw some familiar faces.
Her one and only mom and her younger brother, Kim Min-ho.
She'd been so busy lately that she barely had time to see them. Now they were both staring at her with concerned expressions.
And then, she saw the back of one more person.
"Impressive. I know why you reported it to me. But something more urgent has come up."
The voice was all too familiar.
He slowly turned his head.
"Jae-hyun? Jae-hyun, what are you doing here...?"
Kim Jae-hyun smiled and said,
"Da-bin. You're officially on vacation for the next week."
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]