Chapter 45

Slash.

The red eyes blinked meekly. So even a C-rank Rare Monster—the terrifying Hobgoblin Great Warrior—could make a face like that.

How had I never noticed?

With that passing thought, I flicked the blood from my spearhead. At the same time—

Thud.

Something heavy hit the ground. The Great Warrior saw what it was and, without meaning to, shuffled backward.

Well, fair enough. Its right arm had been snipped clean off below the elbow.

I thought you’d be a little different.

Jin Family’s Manoeuvre Technique. Yeah—I’d used that exact technique to drive in against its chest. The Great Warrior reflexively swung its right arm, but that space was already empty.

“Forgot already?”

I set the spearhead against the Great Warrior’s side and drove it upward in the same motion. Charged with internal energy, the blade split hard skin and muscle.

Slash—

Its left arm came off in a spray of green blood.

Both arms gone in an instant, the Hobgoblin Great Warrior bellowed, the sound a jumble of rage and pain.

—Kuwaaaaaargh!

But I still couldn’t let my guard down. Even without its arms, it was more than dangerous enough with just its body.

“Yeah. Come on in.”

Before I’d even finished speaking, its massive frame charged.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

As expected, this thing’s body was a weapon all by itself. Like the monster it was, it had primitive senses and strength beyond any human.

Swish. Slash.

Hooked claws grazed my forearm. A handful of flesh tore away, and blood poured out. Without flinching, I blocked the heel stomping down at the crown of my head.

Thud. Crunch.

The ground under my feet started to sink.

Incredible strength. At this rate, I might get buried standing up.

If I didn’t have internal energy, that is.

I drew up every last bit of internal energy in my dantian. Power flooded through my entire body. As my spear shaft slowly rose, the Great Warrior’s eyes wavered.

Too late.

If it had been whole from the start, maybe. After losing both arms, the Hobgoblin Great Warrior was no longer my match.

—Grrr.

In the end, it was the one that backed off first. And from that point, the fight was as good as decided.

I didn’t stop. I thrust the spear out.

Jin Family’s Spear Technique. First form.

The movements engraved into my body and mind unfolded in a rush.

Thrust. Cut. Block and strike with the shaft. Each movement was simple by itself, but changing the order and position created countless combinations.

That was martial arts, as I defined it.

Clang! Clang!

Swish. Swish-swish-swish!

Second form. Third form. Fourth…

The hooked claws, hard as steel, were sliced away. With every step it retreated, another wound opened and more blood spilled.

Then the Hobgoblin Great Warrior’s back hit the wall.

“Grrrk…”

A C-rank Rare Monster. This thing had seemed impossible to face, but those red eyes had already lost their will to fight a long time ago.

“Go. Now.”

Shunk.

Ghk. With a death rattle, the hulking green body slid down the wall.

And then—

Ding.

System

You have defeated Lv. 45 Hobgoblin Great Warrior!

Level Up!

The System notification rang. I’d thought I’d never hear it or see it again…

The System, out of nowhere?

But I wasn’t the only one confused.

“…Mr. Jin Taekyung?”

Team Leader Choi had already taken care of the Priest. His pupils trembled like they’d been hit by an earthquake as he looked from me to the Great Warrior’s corpse and back.

“What… are you?”

Yeah. I’d like to know that myself.

Heh heh. Heh heh heh.

“A Rare Monster?”

The cigarette dropped from the government official’s mouth.

He looked like a born civil servant, so this was anything but good news for him. Sure enough, the way he looked us over was nothing but unease.

“W-what rank?”

Team Leader Choi shook the Priest’s staff, looking tired.

Clank.

“C-rank Rare. Hobgoblin Priest.”

“C-rank?! For fuck’s—”

Hey, save the swearing. There’s one more.

I kicked the Hobgoblin Great Warrior’s greatsword, which I’d been using like a walking stick. At the dull sound, the official turned.

“And that?”

“Buy one, get one free. C-rank Rare. Hobgoblin Great Warrior.”

“Two mid-grade Rare Monsters? In an E-rank Gate?”

I understood his reaction. This had to at least make some kind of sense.

The official looked back and forth between us and the gear for a while, then finally nodded with a sad face.

“I’ll contact my superiors first.”

“Hey, mister. Hold on.”

Im Kkeokjeong had come to at some point. I was holding him up. He’d taken serious injuries—at least five broken bones.

“Call a healer. A pretty unnie.”

The E-rank trio dropped onto the ground as well.

“And potions! Potions! The good stuff!”

“Ah, for fuck’s sake, how did you people even manage this Gate?!”

“Our gear’s all smashed too, huh? What are you going to do about this?!”

Do about it? The government would cover everything.

There was an actual law covering situations like this. Every item consumed inside the Gate, along with medical bills and additional compensation, would be paid for.

So it was a show. Squeeze out a little extra.

Tsk, tsk. Even so, people are watching.

That was when I felt a stinging look from beside me.

“…Mr. Taekyung.”

Team Leader Choi.

“What are you doing?”

He was looking at me, confused. More precisely, at the hand holding my dagger.

Scrape.

Charged with internal energy, the dagger raked long lines through my seven-year-old leather armor, ruining it beyond repair.

“…”

“…”

“Team Leader Choi.”

I sighed hard enough to cave in the ground.

“The Hobgoblin Great Warrior. It was really strong. I made it out alive, but every piece of gear I had is ruined.”

“…”

“The armor that protected me for seven years—and now even my spear.”

“The spear looks perfectly—”

Right then, I pressed down steadily on the middle of the spear with one foot.

Under the majesty of a three-digit Strength stat, the iron spear bent like a stick of taffy.

“Looks perfectly fine? This?”

“…”

Team Leader Choi shut his mouth.

As the person in charge, Team Leader Choi was called away by the dispatched officials, and the other four were moved to an ambulance for treatment.

Instead of the musty break room, I was left alone in a spacious, comfortable office. Now that the moment had actually come, my heart started pounding.

St-Status Window?

At that half-doubtful call, the System answered.

Ding.

System

Status Window

Lv. 33 Jin Taekyung

Job: First Rate Martial Artist

Fame: 0

Titles: 2 (Title effects active)

• Novice Trainee (Training speed +10%)
• Gambler (Combat-related stats +10% in one-on-one matches)

Strength: 120  Stamina: 125

Agility: 121  Intelligence: 20

Charm: 20  Internal Energy: 15 years

Remaining Points: 30

Synchronization is complete. Changes have occurred to Titles and Fame.

“Fuck. It really came up.”

I stared blankly at the Status Window for a moment before noticing something strange.

The Status Window… changed?

The first two things that jumped out were Fame reset to zero and the missing Title. The last line gave me a rough idea why.

Because this isn’t Murim?

All five hundred Fame I’d stacked had been earned as a martial artist in Murim. The Title that had vanished, Scion of a Prestigious Family, made sense the same way.

Well, I’m not the son of some prestigious family here. And I’m definitely no Sleeping Dragon.

If I were getting a Title here, it’d obviously be something like Scion of the Common Folk, or Earthworm instead of Sleeping Dragon.

“How much else changed?”

For about ten minutes I turned every System function on and off one by one and tested them. The only thing that had changed was the Status Window.

No—there was one more.

The Quest Window.

Ding.

System

Quest

Traitor

You have discovered the traitor’s identity. Rejoin the main force, inform them that there is a traitor, and lead the battle to victory!

Grade: Peak

Restriction: Jin Taekyung

Mission: Eliminate the traitor (Incomplete)

Battle victory (Incomplete)

Reward: Vast EXP and Fame

Valuable iron chest

Failure: Death

It was the Chain Quest I’d received after killing Gwak Jun and the assassins. My thoughts grew tangled.

Am I supposed to go back? To Murim?

I knew it now. The Murim I’d been through wasn’t an illusion, and it wasn’t a game. A wildly unrealistic story, sure, but Murim was probably…

Creak.

I turned at the sudden sound. Team Leader Choi was standing in the doorway.

“Let’s go, Mr. Taekyung.”

Looked like the talk had wrapped up. I folded the thought away and stood.

“The others…?”

“They should be on their way to the hospital by now. They’ll need to stay for about a week. You don’t need to worry.”

I wasn’t particularly worried. They had the sturdy bodies of combat-type Hunters, not to mention potions and healing magic. They would be back on their feet soon enough.

And…

“How did it go?”

“They’ll contact us again in a few days. An investigator will probably visit you as well.”

An investigator.

Not a type I wanted to run into again. But that wasn’t the answer I’d wanted, so I asked again.

“What about the other thing?”

“Hmm.”

Team Leader Choi looked at me with an odd expression. Like he was studying some fascinating animal.

Did he tell them the truth?

I didn’t want my strength out in the open. Even less now, when I still barely knew why I could see the System in reality, or what it had to do with Murim.

An F-rank Hunter killing a C-rank Rare Monster alone was unheard of. An awl in a bag pokes through. I’d lived the opposite kind of life, nothing sticking out, so I had to be careful.

So I’d asked him:

“Could you keep anything about me a secret?”

It must have been a difficult request for Team Leader Choi. I was asking him to give a false statement for someone he’d only just met.

“Mr. Jin Taekyung.”

“Yes.”

His heavy voice made my heart grow heavy with it—and then:

“Let’s get some food.”

“What?”

“Look.”

Team Leader Choi held out his wrist. A glittering Magic Gem electronic watch pointed to two in the afternoon.

“It’s an N Company model carved from a whole C-rank Magic Gem. It’s enchanted with enhancement magic, so in an emergency, you can even use it as a shield—”

So that’s where he was going.

“…Let’s go.”

Impossible man to read.

“Let’s get some meat. Do you like Hanwoo?¹”

“Hanwoo?”

“Yes. Highest grade.”

And rich, too.

“I can never get enough of it.”

Not just any beef. Hanwoo. Top-grade Hanwoo at that.

System or whatever—first I had to fill a hungry stomach.