Slice.
A razor-sharp dagger sank into a Hobgoblin corpse.
Fluids splattered and a foul stench filled the air, but I didn’t stop. I discarded the heads, neatly cut the hides from their backs and bellies, and stacked them in a pile.
“You’re quite skilled.”
“…Thank you.”
It was Team Leader Choi. The kindness in his voice made me feel guilty. How childish was I, getting jealous of someone like him?
Especially when I’d dragged up an illusion I’d already decided to forget.
What am I, going through puberty?
I finished the job with my face burning red.
A little over ten minutes, so about twenty seconds per corpse? Even Im Kkeokjeong sidled over, drawn by the speed, and his mouth fell open.
“Damn, have you been doing nothing but this?”
“Plenty of people can do this much.”
“Plenty, my ass. You’re a total professional.”
Hmm. That made me a little proud.
I’d played modest a second ago, but Im Kkeokjeong was right. There weren’t many Hunters who could butcher this cleanly at this speed.
“I’m just fast with my hands.”
I’d worked factory jobs back in school. I’d even glued eyes onto dolls. In a way, I’d started doing this kind of work before I ever became a Hunter.
“I kept it up during raids, too.”
“You switched over to doing this full-time?”
“No. I did both. It was a side job.”
“A side job?”
Team Leader Choi, who’d been listening quietly, cut in.
“Uh, yes.”
“What exactly did you do?”
“I’d use the breaks after each fight to process the corpses.”
“Do you receive additional pay?”
“Of course. It’s still work.”
“How long have you been doing it?”
“The whole time. From the beginning until now.”
Im Kkeokjeong was floored.
“You relentless bastard. I couldn’t do it.”
“You get used to it. It helps build stamina, too.”
“Your life’s on the line, and you’re building stamina? Hahaha. Team Leader Choi, didn’t I tell you? There’s nobody who works as relentlessly as this kid.”
You told him that?
“Hmm.”
Instead of answering, Team Leader Choi studied me for a moment, then turned away.
“Now that the work is done, shall we get moving again?”
What was that reaction supposed to mean? As I stood there bewildered, Im Kkeokjeong gave me an unreadable smile.
“Keep working hard.”
No, seriously. What’s going on?
The raid went smoothly. The E-rank Hunters had fought together for so long that they moved as one. Once they thinned out the monsters, Team Leader Choi took over.
Slash—
Every swing of his sword sent up a fountain of blood.
I watched every second of the battle unfolding before me.
He really can fight.
Of course, I couldn’t help thinking about Murim.
I’d seen real martial arts with my own eyes—and even learned them. Not the dance-like moves I practiced in the city park at dawn.
…Wait.
No way. But what if?
It was ridiculous. There was no way it would work, but I could at least try.
It won’t work. It won’t… but it would be nice if it did.
Just as I was about to cautiously take a step—
“Mr. Taekyung. Please handle the cleanup.”
Team Leader Choi’s voice snapped me back to my senses.
I’ve completely lost it.
I’d let myself get distracted in the middle of a raid.
Get a grip.
Whatever I wanted to try later, the raid came first for now.
That was the least courtesy I owed my teammates—and the principle that would keep me alive.
“Yes. Coming!”
I ran over like the wind and started taking the corpses apart.
Team Leader Choi and Im Kkeokjeong hovered nearby throughout the entire break, as if they weren’t tired at all.
This is seriously getting on my nerves.
Im Kkeokjeong came over again at the next break, right on cue.
“Taekyung. How long have you been using a spear?”
“Seven years.”
“Wow. That practically makes you a master. A real master.”
“…?”
He came back during the break after that, too.
“Taekyung. You said you graduated top of your training class, right?”
“Yes. But I was only first among the F-ranks, so it doesn’t mean much.”
“You punk. That’s still impressive. I graduated dead last.”
“You’re impressive too, hyung.1 But I need to get back to work.”
“Oh, right.”
Then he came back during the next break, and the next, and the one after that.
“Taekyung. Taekyung. Taekyung.”
“Hyung,1 I think my cochlea just ruptured.”
“How many years did you say you worked at your old Guild?”
“Ah.”
I wanted to switch classes and become a mage right then and there, just so I could cast a silence spell on the man’s mouth.
This is driving me crazy.
There was only one way out: finish the work before blood actually started pouring from my ears. I clenched my teeth and kept my hands moving.
Slice. Slice. Slice.
“Taekyung.”
Save me.
I sent a distress signal to Team Leader Choi, who was sitting nearby, but he answered by quietly slipping away.
“The work’s done.”
I stood and shouldered the bag, now noticeably heavier than before. Hobgoblins were generous monsters. Poison-resistant hides, a few usable weapons—and they had even dropped two E-grade Magic Gems.
The hides are in good condition, and there are two Magic Gems. This could be worth a decent amount.
Team Leader Choi had contributed the most, so he’d probably take about half. But with so few people, it was still a profitable deal for the other team members.
Not me, of course. According to the contract, the 300,000-won2 base pay was all I would get.
If he’s in a good mood, maybe he’ll throw in a little extra.
Team Leader Choi was a fairly generous employer. He was a C-rank Hunter far beyond my level, yet he always spoke to me politely. His personality was a little unusual, but by the standards of this industry, he was practically a saint.
And he’s skilled enough to trust.
Thanks to him, we’d made it this far at a steady, rapid pace.
Only the final section of the Gate remained.
The Boss Zone.
If we opened the stone gate in front of us, the Gate’s boss monster and the mana field that would send us outside should be waiting beyond it.
“Man, all that work made me hungry.”
“Let’s finish this quick and go get some gukbap.3 Taekyung, you’re coming too, right? You too, Team Leader Choi.”
“No, thank you. I’ll order sushi separately.”
“…”
Talking about food with the Boss Zone right in front of us. And then there was the guy planning to order sushi by himself.
Should we really be this relaxed?
Of course, I had no room to talk. I’d already earned a full day’s pay just by carrying luggage and butchering monsters between fights.
Until I found a job with a new Guild, I couldn’t ask for anything more than Team Leader Choi calling me regularly. A sweet gig like this? I’d do it a hundred times over.
“Well, shall we head in?”
“Yes.”
At Team Leader Choi’s answer, Im Kkeokjeong slammed his tower shield into the stone gate.
Boom!
The gate blew apart, and stone dust and dirt poured down. I followed the others into the Boss Zone.
And there…
—Keuruk.
It stood.
A shaman?
That was the first word that came to mind.
An old Hobgoblin wearing a robe covered in strange patterns. It held a withered staff in one hand and a sharp dagger in the other.
—Karruk. Chwi. Akto.
Despite the deafening crash of the doors breaking apart, it continued muttering without so much as a glance our way. With each syllable, black energy rose from the corpses scattered around it.
Wait. Corpses?
I hadn’t imagined it. Nearly a hundred dead Hobgoblins lay sprawled across the altar. Looking closer, they were the monsters we should have been fighting in the Boss Zone.
What the hell is going on?
Everyone, myself included, froze at the unfamiliar sight.
Team Leader Choi’s voice cracked like thunder.
“Get outside! Now!”
At that moment, the unknown old Hobgoblin turned its head.
Clink.
Its staff shook lightly.
—Mita. Allo.
The air shuddered.
Magic was taking form.
“Behind the shields!”
The tanks hurriedly raised their tower shields.
But that was the wrong call.
It hadn’t cast an attack spell.
Boom. Boom. Boom!
“It’s behind us! The passage is being blocked!”
“Run! Hurry!”
Damn it. Too late.
As if the clock had been turned back, the shattered stone gate stood intact again.
And it didn’t stop there.
The rubble on the floor rose into two, then three layers of walls, and vines from the cave walls wrapped around them, binding them tight.
“Everyone, out of the way!”
It was Im Kkeokjeong. His muscles had swollen like they were about to burst—probably a Strength Enhancement Skill. Tower shield in hand, he charged the stone gate.
“Haaah!”
Bang! Crack!
“…Goddamn it.”
Im Kkeokjeong dropped his heavily cracked tower shield, his face blank with disbelief. An E-rank Hunter had used a Skill and still failed to break through. All he had managed to do was wreck his shield.
Enhancement magic?
Whatever it was, one thing was certain.
An old Hobgoblin capable of magic this powerful had to be at least one or two tiers above the monsters we had faced so far.
And…
Whoosh!
There was someone among us who could fight it.
When did he—?
Team Leader Choi was already rushing toward the creature, as if he’d known from the start that we wouldn’t be able to reopen the passage.
“The wind takes hold. Haste.”
His body slid forward. More than a hundred meters4 vanished in an instant. With five paces left, the sword came free from Team Leader Choi’s waist.
Whoosh!
A full-power attack from a C-rank Hunter.
But the old Hobgoblin merely gave him a sinister grin.
—Karruk. Chwi. Akto.
The change happened in an instant.
Whoosh—
The hundred-odd corpses scattered across the altar shriveled, then dispersed like sand. The black energy, fully pulled out of them, gathered into one mass and smashed into Team Leader Choi’s side.
Thud!
“Ghk.”
Team Leader Choi bounced back fast. With a twisted face, he said,
“We have to stop it. Right now.”
“…That thing?”
It was already too late.
Only a few seconds ago, it had been nothing more than energy given form. Now it was rapidly taking shape.
A hulking body nearly three meters5 tall. Muscles swollen to the point of bursting. A monster wielding an enormous greatsword.
“What the hell is that…?”
Someone muttered in a daze. Like me, they had clearly never seen anything like it.
Only Team Leader Choi knew what the creatures were.
“A Hobgoblin Great Warrior. A C-rank Rare Monster.”
The fact that something so huge was a Hobgoblin was shocking enough, but it was nothing compared to what came next.
A C-rank Rare Monster?
Fuck, why is that thing showing up here?
Rare Monsters were creatures that appeared only infrequently within a given Gate. And since that Great Warrior was C-rank, it was something neither I nor the other team members should ever have encountered in our lives.
…Of course, not anymore.
“You want us to fight that thing?”
“Those things.”
Team Leader Choi pointed at the old Hobgoblin.
“A Hobgoblin Priest. Also a C-rank Rare Monster.”
“Ah, fuck…”
The curse slipped out before I could stop it. Im Kkeokjeong asked, his face rigid,
“What are our chances? Give it to me straight.”
“If we take out the Priest first, we have a chance. But to do that…”
Boom. Boom.
Team Leader Choi trailed off.
The Great Warrior was coming toward us.
One step. Then another.
The cave floor shook.
“We need to hold that thing back for a little while.”
Who?
“Us?”
“No. All of you.”
“Kuwooooh!”
The Great Warrior’s roar sent a stalactite dropping from the cave ceiling.
Team Leader Choi turned with a resolute look I’d never seen on him before.
“The wind takes hold. Haste.”
Hey, you bastard.
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