Chapter 6: Jung Hayeon
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 6: Jung Hayeon
“Are you going to kill me?”
Her voice was slightly fearful, but it came through clearly. Hearing it, I had no choice but to think things over.
When I thought about the quest, the information immediately flooded my mind.
[Quest - Time to Hunt!: Many humans are still alive in the Tutorial Forest. Continue to hunt them. (12/30)]
Killing this woman wouldn’t complete the quest. I had already run a few experiments, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to see if there was anything else to confirm. Thinking I was hesitating, she spoke again, her voice now urgent.
“Plea… please, save me. You’re… human, aren’t you?”
“We’ll see… Kiruk.”
Strictly speaking, only the one on the inside was human. The one on the outside was a vicious goblin. As I answered in a listless tone, she grew even more anxious, and sweat began to bead on her forehead. She was probably struggling to understand how she’d ended up in this situation.
She had opened her eyes to find herself in a strange place, was attacked by monsters moments later, and just when she thought she’d barely escaped, she had wandered right into a goblin den. To top it all off, the goblin that captured her might have been ‘human.’ I could hardly imagine how confused she must be.
My own experience in the Tutorial hadn’t been easy, but this woman was truly going through an extreme ordeal.
And yet, the venom in her eyes was very real.
“I… I know where the other humans are.”
In the end, she was spilling information she didn’t have to. It wasn’t surprising, of course. On the contrary, it was a very human choice. Anyone would have done the same in her position.
They were all strangers, gathered from different cities. Not family, not friends. There was no way they’d feel any sense of camaraderie. The words the woman had just said to me came to mind.
‘Plea… please, save me. You’re… human, aren’t you?’
It was enough to make a dry laugh escape my lips. I may be human on the inside, but humans are truly amusing.
*
And so, a night passed. By morning, quite a few goblins had gathered.
“Kiruk!” “Kireuk!”
After listening to Jung Hayeon’s story last night, I confirmed that it matched the information I already had. The place where she was first summoned was on the complete opposite side from us. Unlike our group, the humans over there had survived their battle with the goblins.
It had been a close fight, which led to a split in their group: one faction wanted to hide safely for the 100 days, while the other insisted on completing the quest. Jung Hayeon was part of the group that chose survival, and she eventually met up with other survivors in a cave. That was the gist of her story.
Their battles had been defensive, so I heard that no one had completed the quest.
I didn’t remember that group well, but I recalled them completing the Tutorial one way or another. Still, there was no one particularly outstanding among them.
Since there were quite a few of them, I shared this information with the Goff Clan and the other goblins. That was why the goblins were shouting loud enough to shake the entire camp this morning.
Naturally, we were taking Jung Hayeon with us. I promised some of my subordinates their own humans and entrusted her to them, much to their delight. I was once again reminded that the goblins who joined me really loved to secure an advantage for themselves.
“I will surely repay this favor. Kiruk.”
“Not at all. Kiruk. Kiruk.”
And so, the goblin settlement of our faction set out, guided by Jung Hayeon. I also remembered their approximate location, but putting her in charge was a simple prank. I wanted to instill a little guilt in her, and though it was unlikely, I was worried she might try to backstab us. I wasn’t usually this thorough, but I think the trauma from what I saw at the end of my last life still lingered.
Jung Hayeon’s guidance began in earnest at the cave where yesterday’s fight had taken place. The sight of her, tied up tightly beneath the Blood Dagger Clan’s banner and pointing the way with only her hand, was quite something to see.
“A trail. Kiruk.”
As we advanced a little further, a few goblins ran to the site of the battle and began to rampage.
“It’s a trail, Chieftain! Kiruk! Kiruk!”
It seemed they were from our side. I gave a slight nod and stood before them. Looking around, it was obvious a battle had taken place here without anyone needing to say a word. Various traces caught my eye. I couldn’t find any corpses, as the surviving goblins must have taken them, but I could see blood staining the trees, rocks, and ground, as well as equipment so damaged it looked unusable.
I glanced at Jung Hayeon, and she was pointing precisely at a thicket of bushes.
“They went that way. From here, I’m not really sure…”
“You’ve done enough.”
It seemed the two groups had split up here. As I gave her a brief reply, her face brightened a little, as if she thought there was hope. A considerable number of humans had passed through here, leaving traces everywhere. Broken branches, trampled patches of grass—it was all so obvious.
Even someone who wasn’t an expert archer could easily follow this trail.
Around this time, I ordered our goblins to stick leaves and other things on their heads and shoulders. It was embarrassing to even call it camouflage, but since the Blood Dagger Clan was uncharacteristically taking the lead to find the path, I thought it was necessary.
The Goff Clan and the other goblins were following us from a short distance. We had been walking for a long time, but they didn’t seem too impatient.
“I think this is about the right area… Mev, what do you think?”
“I’m not sure either, kiruk… It’s such a mess.”
I had hoped she might have learned how to read tracks when she evolved, but it seemed she was still clumsy at it. In the case of humans, they gained some ability to read trails after advancing to the Archer class. Since monsters have more developed senses, I expected better performance than humans, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
“A shame…”
I glanced at Jung Hayeon, who was looking around with an anxious expression. Then I remembered that we had an excellent piece of bait with us.
I asked the Goff Clan and the other goblins to wait and placed Jung Hayeon in the middle of the forest. The scene was quite picturesque. By human standards, she could even be called a ‘beauty.’ I hadn’t said it out loud, but my heart was pounding too. I took the flagpole she was tied to and secured it roughly in place by digging a hole and using some rocks.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
Her face turned pale in an instant, as if she thought I was about to harm her. I turned to her and spoke quietly.
“You need to scream for help.”
“Ah… b-but…”
“Who knows? If we lose, you might just get rescued.”
She looked startled for a moment, but then she nodded her head vigorously, as if she understood my intentions. A moment later, Jung Hayeon began to scream her lungs out.
“Help me!!!”
“Help me! Please!!”
*
Kim Hangyul was a sort of leader, responsible for the survivor camp here. This was his second day in this place. He had fallen asleep praying it was all a dream and woke up hoping to find himself in his warm room, but reality was cruel.
The moment he arrived here, green monsters had swarmed him while he was still clutching the sword and shield that had appeared in his hands. They weren't particularly fast or strong, so he and the others who had weapons managed to fend off the first attack.
That night, the monsters attacked again, but this time, the humans won. Thanks to that, Kim Hangyul himself completed the quest and finished his class change to a General Warrior.
After the class change, his sword and shield were replaced with slightly better ones, and his body felt much stronger. He had never learned swordsmanship, of course, but basic sword forms began to surface in his mind. He was unconsciously mastering how to ‘block and strike.’
That wasn’t the only thing he realized.
‘I have to fight to survive.’
That was the first thought that came to him after he changed his class and gained power. The moment he completed the first quest, a second one appeared. If he killed 30 of them, not only would he become stronger, but his chances of survival would increase even more. Some people looked at Kim Hangyul, who had gained a special power, with jealousy, while others looked at him with admiration.
But among them, the most prominent expressions were:
‘I can do that too.’
Separate from the desire to survive, the number of people who wanted to obtain special powers had increased. A day passed like that, and just as they had gathered early in the morning to hold a meeting and decide their future course of action…
“Help me!!!”
“Help me! Please!!”
A voice began to echo from somewhere. It was unmistakably the voice of a young woman.
“Hangyul-ssi.”
“I hear it too.”
“Shouldn’t we go rescue her?”
He didn’t know how a woman had gotten isolated in the forest, but they weren’t the only ones hearing that sound. They had nearly wiped out the monsters they fought, but there was a chance that other monsters could hear the sound and flock to the area.
Kim Hangyul instinctively looked around. He saw fear in some eyes, but in others, he saw greed. They were probably thinking they could hunt any monsters that might be nearby.
Kim Hangyul was no different; he felt the greed as well. He had survived two battles and risked his life. He believed that if they prepared well for ambushes or surprise attacks, they could handle the smaller monsters. That made him even more greedy.
Since many of them had chosen the ‘stay and fight’ option, the group was quite belligerent. In the end, Kim Hangyul had no choice but to nod.
“We’ll organize a rescue party and move out immediately.”
A rescue party in name only. In reality, it was a group hell-bent on racking up achievements. The fact that the woman was still screaming and alive meant they had time. There was a high chance there were no enemies, and even if there were, their numbers wouldn't be large.
Kim Hangyul immediately began to pick out those who could fight with a sword and shield. He wanted to move with a small, elite group, but they had to be careful. The system was like a game, but this world was definitely not a game.
And so, the combat-capable members of the survivor camp began to move toward the sound of the voice.
“Hangyul-ssi.”
“I know.”
The monsters might be able to follow their tracks, however clumsily, so they chose to take a roundabout route to their destination. He wasn’t remarkably strong, but Kim Hangyul was rational. And so, his unit began to move, stealthily but swiftly.
They weren’t the only ones hunting.
After moving for a good while, the woman came into view. Her long hair was disheveled, her clothes were torn, and she was tied to a large flagpole. Her pale white skin was enough to make one gulp. Even as he looked at her, a question kept nagging at his mind.
‘Something about this is wrong.’
“S-save me! P-please! Sa…!”
“Tsk… No monsters, but looks like we hit the jackpot today…”
The self-proclaimed combat group here had assaulted the women in the survivor camp several times under the pretext of ‘protection.’ The most vicious among them, Choi Deokpal, swallowed hard and nodded, and the rest of the group nodded along with him.
“Kuh… Makes my mouth water.”
‘Fucking idiots…’
Kim Hangyul wasn’t innocent of touching the women either, but these guys were excessive. To be thinking such thoughts even in a situation like this… Finally, sensing the unnatural, staged feeling of the scene, Kim Hangyul quickly spoke up.
“We’re retreating.”
“Shouldn’t we take that woman with us? Hehe.”
“Dammit… I said we’re retreating. If we don’t pull back now, I’m going back alone.”
“Then go back alone. We’re gonna take this girl and have some fun. Don’t come asking to borrow her later.”
As he watched the combat group start moving toward the flagpole, Kim Hangyul swallowed dryly.
“Hey… We’re here to rescue you.”
“Hey… you there, woman. What’s in it for us if we save you? We risked our lives to come help, you know… There should be a little gift, don’t you… think…… Gaaah!”
Just as he expected, green monsters swarmed in from all directions. These were different from the ones they had fought before. Centered around a large one, green monsters poured in from all sides, and the other men collapsed without even a chance to defend themselves. Every time the monster, who was significantly larger than the others, swung its sword, the flesh of the humans who hadn’t even completed their first quest was torn apart, and screams erupted.
“Gyaaaaaaah!!!”
“Kyaaaaaaaaak!”
The woman, terrified, was screaming continuously, watching the scene of slaughter unfolding below her. She closed her eyes and screamed toward the sky, though it was unclear who she was screaming at.
“You said you’d s-save me!? You said… you’d save me!?! Don’t attack me. I’m… I’m… on your… side… on your side!!”
‘Shit.’
He couldn’t understand what was happening, but Kim Hangyul ran. It was a fight with no chance of victory, even at a glance. Not only were they outnumbered, but the monsters’ ferocity was on a different level from the ones they had fought at night.
‘Dammit… dammit… This is all fucked up.’