Goblin Lord
"9.8 kilos of low-quality magic stone. I'll set the price at 498,000 won. Would you like to receive the payment in cash, or do you want me to transfer it to your account?"
"Please transfer it to my account."
"Very well, it will be deposited into the linked account within the next few days."
"Hey…"
"Go ahead."
"I know this is an auction item, but can I get an advance payment?"
"What?"
Counselor Kim Seul-gi tilted his head.
What was this man talking about? A sense of embarrassment spread over Ko Byeong-gap's face.
"I was wondering if I could get at least 100,000 won in advance."
"Hunter Ko Byeong-gap, your father's items must be auctioned off for you to receive the proceeds."
"Yes, of course, I know, but I was wondering if I could get it in advance."
"I'm sorry, but you can't receive any proceeds for products that haven't been awarded a bid."
"Oh, yeah… Then, is there any loan…?"
"A loan?"
"Oh, loans are made at the bank. I'm sorry, I've been out of my mind lately." Kim Seul-gi nodded nervously.
Ko Byeong-gap got up from his seat with his bag. Kim Seul-gi gave a formal farewell to him and called the next customer.
"Customer ninety-seven!"
Ko Byeong-gap walked out of the association with heavy steps. The weather was terribly clear.
"Oh, this is fucked up."
He'd somehow managed to meet that month's quota. The problem was, after that, there wasn't a dime left in his pocket.
There should be a place or two where he could get some pay…
He was currently at the limit with his loans.
"What am I going to do next? I don't even have any living expenses right now."
Class D Hunter, Ko Byeong-gap.
He was a hunter, albeit among the lower ranks. He'd gotten quite a few years of experience by now. His profits weren't bad either. If he did well, he could earn six to seven million won a month. And yet, he was always broke.
It was due to the bloody hospital bills and debt that only increased even if they were cut.
On second thought, it had been a mistake to touch his private loan.
Growl.
His stomach fluctuated. Looking back, he hadn't eaten a meal today.
"…Okay, let's have a meal."
He went to a soup restaurant near the association. He ordered soup and checked his account through internet banking. The price of the gemstone sold that day had been deposited.
-KBC Bank
Balance: ￦4,609,420
If he ate the bowl of soup thoroughly without anything left, he would still have about 30,000 won.
A bitter smile crossed his face; he was stunned. He wondered if it was fair that he had less than one percent of the 4.6 million won of what he had earned.
He didn't know what he was going to do for a whole month.
-Expeditionary forces who had traveled to Lithuania returned home to Korea around 3 p.m. today….
Meanwhile, the news told Ko Byeong-gap stories about the rest of the world.
-Three class-S Hunters who were on an expedition to Lithuania returned home safely. Thanks to them, the alliance between nations has become stronger, national status has increased, and the K-Hunter boom is rising…
Ko Byeong-gap drank a lethal amount of soup.
"You're asking me to feel relative deprivation."
Ko Byeong-gap was calm.
Gone were the days of jealousy over stars that couldn't be reached.
He just wanted his father's items to be auctioned off as soon as possible and to get the next reserved fund.
He finished his bowl of soup in five minutes and left the restaurant. He immediately put a cigarette in his mouth. He couldn't quit smoking, even though he didn't have a living. There was nothing he could do about it, even if people called him an idiot.
Even in the midst of bartering nicotine for life, his struggling ankles continued to irritate. They'd been hurt while he was fighting back during his recent subjugation.
Ko Byeong-gap pulled a glass bottle out of his backpack. About a third of the red liquid was left in the vial.
It was a healing potion.
Should he use it or not?
"I have to save it…."
The lowest-grade potion was worth 150,000 won per 100ml. He stared at the potion and put it back in his backpack. He decided to go home and settle for a cold compress.
"I'm the only Hunter who saves on potions, damn it."
He threw the last bit of the butt into the ashtray.
"Oh my God, my life is ruined."
He went back to his house.
* * *
Twenty-eight years ago, cracks had broken out across the globe.
The world had been thrown into great turmoil by unprecedented events. The apocalypse cried out for an end, and the leaders of each country declared states of emergency at the highest level.
At that time, mankind had been in danger like an impending time bomb.
So what about now, after twenty-eight years? Surprisingly, the planet was very peaceful.
Humankind hadn't perished, nor had it suffered a decline in civilization. Rather, humans ate well, lived well, and made rapid progress in science and technology.
How did they do that?
Inside the crack, horrible monsters were lurking in the "Back World." Yet, they didn't directly damage the outside. The monsters were stuck just inside the crack.
However, humanity couldn't stand by. The cracks emanated an undefined force field ranging from several to hundreds of meters in radius, depending on their size, and the area exposed to the force field quickly turned barren.
The buildings collapsed, the plants dried up, and they would get sick and die if they stayed there for a long time.
So, humans had to smash the cracks, but there was just one problem.
Ordinary people lost energy and enthusiasm for unknown causes just by being exposed to the force field of the cracks.
What would happen if they entered the "Back World" in that situation?
They had expected themselves to come out like a dry squid. Then, as if by fate, people known as the Awakeners appeared in a car that did things no other could do.
They were different from any ordinary person. They had gained great strength after being exposed to the force field of the cracks.
The Awakeners were armed with the spirit of sacrifice and selflessness…. They did things others couldn't, and also defeated the rift and gained enormous rewards, fame, and the desire for power.
Whatever their intentions were, the world somehow regained stability thanks to the bloody show put on by the Awakeners.
In fact, it hadn't just regained stability but developed a completely festive atmosphere. That was because of the "magic stones" produced by the monsters, which had considerable value.
Twenty-eight years ago, the "catastrophe" had been more of a blessing than a disaster, as countries had even fought over ownership of cracks on their borders or Antarctica, and…
Ko Byeong-gap, a twenty-five-year-old guy from South Korea, had put on a show that day to pay off his mounting debts, but that show was likely to be his last day.
'I'm fucked!'
Ko Byeong-gap hid behind a building and breathed heavily. Then, he popped his head out slightly and looked around.
The Hob Goblins were drooling around with poison in their eyes.
'Fuck! This is a variant crack!'
Variant crack.
That was when the energy value observed outside the crack was different than the actual energy value. In an easy analogy… looked at from the outside, it was an anchovy farm, but once inside, it was a shark den.
If he had noticed it sooner, he would've run away, but to make matters worse, he'd gone too deep.
'I'm almost out of ammunition.'
Ko Byeong-gap stroked the extra bullets on his waist. He had ninety rounds left at most. It was regrettable that he hadn't prepared enough ammunition since he only had a few pennies left.
"Oh…"
Ko Byeong-gap frowned and stroked his side. Arrows shot by the two young Hob Goblins had sideswiped him. But it wasn't that big of an injury, and hey, he was no boy. He could heal it anyway. Ko Byeong-gap took his healing potion out of his backpack.
Currently, there was less than a centimeter left. He poured all the remaining potion on his side. Wounds at the level of the abrasions were quickly treated even with the small amount of potion he used.
'What should I do?'
There were three options. One, to hold his breath and wait for a rescue team—other Hunters—to come. Two, to go back the way he came to escape the crack. And lastly, three, to catch the boss of the world and to destroy the crack.
Whatever he chose, he would be closer to death than to life. That was why the association avoided solo missions. If one were trapped in a crack, they would certainly die.
'What will my mother do if I die?'
There was another person on the line if Ko Byeong-gap died. If he didn't pay for her hospital bills, his mother would die.
'I can't die like this.'
After making up his mind, he threw away his backpack.
Then he removed all the baggage from his body except for the rifle and spare bullets.
'If I run away with all my might, I might somehow reach the escape portal.'
He stared at the exit with glaring eyes. The Back World was imitating the land behind the crack, like the world in a mirror.
His current location was a small town. The surrounding area was all rice fields, and there was a private house in the center.
After escaping from the private house and running about a kilometer through the rice fields, he could reach the escape portal.
'One, two…' he counted to himself. "Three!"
"Surprise, motherfucker."
"Oh, shit!"
Pakak!
A heavy club flew in. Ko Byeong-gap managed to escape by moving his body reflexively.
'That fucking goblin just said surprise….'
"Kereuk! Kereuk!"
'Did I hear it wrong?'
Well, there was no way monsters could talk to people.
Ko Byeong-gap rolled several turns before he pulled the trigger.
One of the Hob Goblin's bodies jolted due to the gunshot. The Hob Goblin, who had been hit in the heart, collapsed without a moment's delay.
The Hob Goblin's rank was E-class.
It was a weak monster that could be killed with a single bullet if hit at a critical point, but the problem was…
"Kereuk! Kereuk!"
"Keehek!"
"Kereuk! Kereuk!"
"Ha… Fuck."
There was a swarm of goblins everywhere.
The Goblins had flocked at the sound of the gunshot.
He thought there were about sixty or seventy of them nearby. Ko Byeong-gap began to run in a straight line.
Crude arrows and bamboo spears flew at his back. Some even passed breathtakingly over his head.
"Those bastards!"
Ko Byeong-gap turned around and fired.
The E-class and F-class Hob Goblins and Normal Goblins fell like dominoes.
"Kereuk!"
"Kek!"
A goblin threw his hatchet. The hatchet flew in a curved line and struck the thigh of Ko Byeong-gap's old armor. The blade was blunt, and his flesh wasn't cut, but he was bruised, and his thigh cracked.
"Aaah!"
Ko Byeong-gap screamed and emptied one of his magazines before he immediately turned around and resumed running. However, he couldn't run properly because his injured leg hurt.
"Kereuk!"
"Kereuk! Kereuk!"
Dozens of goblins chased the single, sick man. It was a bloody chase, pure and simple. He fired from time to time, knocking down the goblins. As a result, the race to death came to the beginning of its end.
Two hundred meters to the escape portal!
"Heh heh-eok!"
He then heard a scream behind his back. A monster of incredible size appeared; another Goblin.
A Giant Goblin. Like Ko Byeong-gap, the monster was D-class.
'Fuck, how many Giant Goblins are there?'
So far, Ko Byeong-gap had eliminated seven Giant Goblins in that rift, and yet there was still one left!
'Damn it. I need to be a C-rank for this crack!'
Ko Byeong-gap instinctively threw his body to the side when he felt the top of his head grow cold.
The Giant Goblin's fist fell to the spot where he had just stood.
Bang!
"Crazy!"
Ko Byeong-gap, who had rolled a couple of laps on the floor, braced quickly and pulled his gun out.
Bang! Ta-da-da-da-da-da!
The bullets flooded into the Giant Goblin's torso. However, even after five or six bullets, he didn't collapse.
On the contrary, it seemed to only stimulate his temper.
'Damn, calm down! Calm down! I have to aim for the head!'
Ko Byeong-gap calmed his trembling hands. He put the Giant Goblin's head on the gauge and took a breath.
"Heh heh!"
"Now!"
The best moment… He pulled the trigger.
Clap clack!
"…?!"
"Heh heh!"
"Kuck!"
The Giant Goblin's vicious kick flew in. Ko Byeong-gap flew five or six steps and rolled along the floor. Three or four of his ribs felt like they had been wrecked.
'Fuck, I failed….'