Hiss! Lucy's Warning

Lucy let out a fierce hiss!, putting Han Ji-woo's nerves on high alert. She'd always been so docile and fluffy up until ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠now, but to bare her fangs like that...

His gaze flicked back to the quest window.

'So the crossed-out part was the original quest, huh?'

The system message had said the dungeon's creator had weakened the quests with their lingering will. Instead of ten monsters, a single King Goblin was coming.

That meant not some random mob, but a boss monster.

'Is this really weakened?'

He couldn't tell. It was impossible to judge.

Hiss!Nyaargh!

Lucy hissed even more viciously, her fur standing on end like spikes. Facing this situation for the first time, Han Ji-woo tensed up and rose to his feet.

'A monster? A King Goblin?'

He swallowed hard. In twenty-four years on Earth, he'd never encountered such a thing. A monster—a creature that killed humans without hesitation. The thought of facing one for real wrapped his entire body in terror.

And he had no idea just how strong a King Goblin might be. That made it all the more frightening.

But he couldn't let fear take over. That would leave him paralyzed.

"Huuu... Let's go back to high school days for a sec. When I wasn't scared of shit."

Han Ji-woo had once been called a monster himself. Back when he'd conquered every high school in Chuncheon with his fists alone—that was his nickname. Back when he didn't know the ways of society, even though he hadn't exactly chosen to dominate Chuncheon, he'd felt invincible. He thought he was the best.

That cocky, reckless era of his life—the one he'd forgotten amid the exhaustion of adult life. He called it back now.

After several deep breaths to calm his mind, he opened the creation window.

The only weapon he had right now was bricks. So he combined mud and flame flower petals to craft twenty bricks.

Sticking close behind Lucy, who was bristling fiercely, he peered outside.

Something dark was approaching through the fallen night. From its silhouette in the moonlight, it looked about 150 cm tall, extremely scrawny, with glowing yellow eyes.

Above the silhouette's head floated the name: King Goblin.

"Grrr..."

The King Goblin groaned like a moan as it slowly approached the building.

Hiss!

As the distance closed, Lucy hissed even more aggressively. The King Goblin froze in place.

'Sizing up the situation?'

"Grraaah."

As it groaned again—

Nyaargh!

"Lucy!"

Before Han Ji-woo could stop her, Lucy leaped forward and swiped her front paw at the King Goblin.

Lucy's base stats were about double his own. But this was a King Goblin! Even if goblins were low-grade monsters, this was the boss.

Thud thud thud!

Han Ji-woo charged after her a step too late. His mind flashed with an image of Lucy getting smacked and tumbling away.

"Lucy!"

But then—

Wham!

"Lu... huh?"

The one tumbling across the ground wasn't Lucy—it was the King Goblin.

"Grraaah... grrrk."

It lay there on its back, groaning and unable to get up easily.

Han Ji-woo opened the creation window and dashed to the apple tree.

'Torch recipe was thick branches, dried dungeon weeds, and flame flower petals, right?'

He checked the blueprint, shoved ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the materials into the creation window, and synthesized.

A blazing torch appeared.

'Okay!'

One torch and one brick in each hand. He cautiously approached the fallen King Goblin and thrust the torch forward.

"Eek!"

The King Goblin flinched in terror and raised a hand, shouting.

"S-Spare me! Th-This is weird. Ferrofero didn't say anything about this. He said just stay still and it'd be fine. B-But... but why...?"

"What the hell are you?"

Han Ji-woo stared at the King Goblin. In the dark, he hadn't noticed, but up close, it was skin and bones—barely able to stand. It was trembling like a leaf in the wind from sheer fright.

"You really a King Goblin?"

Han Ji-woo asked in Korean. The goblin's language had come through naturally interpreted anyway, so he figured it'd understand him too.

Sure enough, it did.

The goblin nodded vigorously.

Y-Yes! King Goblin! That's me."

"But you look like shit..."

"St-Starving. Starved for so long."

The King Goblin was far less threatening than he'd imagined. It had gone flying from Lucy's swipe, and it couldn't even stand properly—it was that weak.

Still, it was a monster at heart, so he kept the torch threateningly close and pressed on.

"How'd you end up starving?"

"Our home... attacked by human mages. For a fortnight, we couldn't eat properly, just fled... on the verge of starvation, suddenly pulled into the dungeon."

"Suddenly?"

"Y-Yeah."

Han Ji-woo wondered if it had been kidnapped into the dungeon without reason, just like Earth's people.

The King Goblin kept talking.

"After coming here, we fight humans on the plains. Kill all humans, we get to eat human flesh. But we always die. Revive, fight humans again."

"Fight humans?"

"Yes. Humans always more numerous. Stronger. We goblins fight with our lives, but can't even kill half before we die first. Last time too. But revived again. Weird though. No sign of my minions here."

"Hold up. How many times you died and revived fighting humans?"

"Uh..."

The King Goblin counted on its fingers diligently.

"Ten. Ten. Almost ten."

So nearly thirty times, then.

Han Ji-woo furrowed his brow in thought.

'There were 26 mass disappearance incidents. Mine makes 27.'

That meant the King Goblin had been dragged into the dungeon and forced into wars against humans the same number of times.

And sure enough, he was separated from the other abducted humans.

"So normally, you'd be fighting humans with your minions today, but you ended up here alone?"

"Yes."

A moment ago, Ferrofero had used an item to split Floor 3's quest into the Hidden Space.

'So the others abducted with me are elsewhere!'

Why Floor 3 specifically? Unless it held special meaning, they'd probably cleared down from Floor 1 step by step.

'And I got their Floor 3 quest split off to me.'

With the situation piecing together, he could infer this much: The goal for those abducted here was reaching the dungeon's deepest floor, with new quests per level. Reaching the bottom meant return to Earth.

'Just my guess, not 100% accurate.'

But unlike Han Ji-woo's doubts, his inference was spot on.

Grinning at the terrified King Goblin's face.

'Maybe... I can get home after all.'

If those on Floor 3 somehow met the return condition, maybe he'd benefit too as one of the abducted. That would kick off his lottery-fueled life reversal!

Of course, no abductees had ever returned. So it wouldn't be easy. But hope was born, and that satisfied him.

Having sorted his thoughts, Han Ji-woo continued the conversation.

"You said you revive even if you die, right?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry then, but you gotta die."

"W-Wait! Don't kill me! Spare me! It h-hurts! Dying hurts so much! And the feeling... unbearable! Weird feeling! P-Please, spare me!"

"Spare you?"

"Y-Yes!"

"What if I do, and you kill me?"

The goblin shook its head frantically.

"Never! I swear! On King Goblin's honor!"

'King Goblin's Honor' wasn't a skill the King Goblin gained upon entering the dungeon. It was earned through achievements after repeated deaths.

It had two powers. First, absolute command over other goblins. In truth, the King Goblin had never led from the front against dungeon humans. It was too starved to even walk properly, and so were its minions. But once this skill awakened, its mind-controlled minions had to obey orders to fight humans despite the hunger.

The second power was exactly this: pledging one's life as collateral to another.

The dungeon system had never lied to Han Ji-woo. With a life-on-the-line skill activated, he decided to trust it.

But he needed to tweak ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the terms a bit.

"Instead of just sparing you, become my slave, and I'll consider it."

"Sl-Slave?"

"Yeah. Obey my every command unconditionally."

His pride on the line, the King Goblin hesitated before speaking.

"Even as your slave... I'll die anyway."

"Why?"

"Hungry. No food. Thinking about it, I'll die either way. Just kill me."

'This guy's smarter than he looks.'

He'd assumed it was a dumb monster that just loved slaughter, but no.

But Han Ji-woo wasn't planning to keep a goblin that would obviously starve to death as a slave. He pulled something from his inventory and held it before the King Goblin's face.

Its eyes lit up!

Th-That's!

"Yeah. Fish. Be my slave, and you won't starve."

"C-Can I eat fish? Every day?"

He had no idea how many fish were in the lake, so he couldn't promise for sure. But...

"Yeah."

He bluffed anyway.

Gulp!

The King Goblin swallowed hard and nodded.

"O-Okay. I'll be your slave."

Before the gnawing hunger that could digest even his pride, reason flew out the window.

"Deal."

Han Ji-woo shoved a masou trout into the goblin's gaping maw. It ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠devoured it like a man possessed.

Crunch! Chomp! Nom nom!

Gulp!

After swallowing the whole fish, the King Goblin stood with a much livelier face. It knelt on one knee before Han Ji-woo and bowed its head.

"Thank you for saving me, Master. I offer my life in service from now on."

'Oh?'

Han Ji-woo was surprised yet pleased to learn pets could be made this way. Living alone here had been lonely, but now he had his cute cat and a loyal servant.

"Lemme see... What name suits you?"

"Damn it!"

"Aaaah! S-Spare me! Please!"

"Jeong-sik!"

"My leg! My l... glurk!"

"Kyaaah! Koi! Koiii! Koi's dead! Koi's gone!"

The 63 survivors who'd descended to Floor 3's plains fell into panic.

As soon as the sun set, over forty goblins swarmed them. More accustomed to the dark than humans, the goblins suppressed them from afar with stone throws and dagger tosses. Then they closed in with their signature agile movements.

For people whose only monster encounters had been five kobolds on Floor 1, a horde of forty goblins was pure terror incarnate.

In truth, the goblins were all emaciated, fighting with death already at their door—but no one had the luxury to judge that.

In the blink of an eye, five died, and two suffered major wounds.

"Don't panic! Fight back! They're numerous, but we have skills too!"

Mitchell Hoff shouted, preparing to cast Fireball. The skill enhancement from Floor 2's rewards had gone to him by majority vote. In a monster fight, Fireball offered the strongest power right now.

Its potency was greater now, and it flew faster too.

The problem? It wasn't infinite. It cost 5 mana each, and his max was 30. Six casts, then he'd wait for regen.

'Maximize gains with those six shots!'

As he aimed at the densest goblin cluster—

A cascade of system messages followed, and the goblins dropped their weapons en masse, flattening themselves to the ground.

Another miracle courtesy of Han Ji-woo.