The Second Tutorial (8)
As I thrust my sword forward to block the entrance, their panicked faces came into view.
“Senior! It’s us! We’re not suspicious people!”
“Who said you were suspicious? I’m asking why the hell you secretly followed me.”
Everyone here was from the same school, so there wasn’t really anything suspicious about them. The only issue was whether we were close or not. Most of us at least knew each other’s faces. The three guys cowering in front of me right now were familiar too. The one in front was Kim Daekwon, the one with the sports haircut behind him was Oh Janghyuk, and the tall one was Park Yongwon.
I’d never exchanged a single word with them back at school, but we’d fought together during the first invasion, and I at least knew their names.
“We didn’t mean to follow you secretly… We saw you leaving, Senior, so we just followed in case something happened.”
“That’s exactly what secretly following someone means. You wanna keep bullshitting?”
Their ridiculous excuse made my face harden. I pressed the sword I was holding a little closer until it touched the neck of the guy in front. The moment I moved even slightly, his throat would get sliced open. His face turned deathly pale as he screamed.
“We followed because we thought you were hiding something! That’s really all it is!”
“That’s really all?”
“Yes! Absolutely! Not a single lie! So Senior, could you please just move the sword a little… Hiiik! Okay, okay! Don’t move!”
I gave a warning to the guy who was sneakily trying to push the blade away with his finger, then scanned the expressions of the ones behind him. They were all trembling and frozen stiff. It didn’t look like they were lying.
For now, I lowered my sword and, just in case, made the three frozen guys stand facing the wall.
Watching them obediently stand with their faces to the wall at my command, I let out a deep sigh.
How the hell should I deal with these guys?
I knew something like this would happen eventually. If I were in their shoes, I’d be curious too if the number one ranked person disappeared right after finishing a mission. Still, if they got caught, it was their own damn fault. They probably followed thinking nothing would happen.
But I had no intention of letting them off easily. If I sent them away nicely and they thought I was a pushover and followed me again, what then? I’d even left Song Dayeong behind because I didn’t want anyone knowing about the hidden piece.
So leaving these bastards here didn’t make sense. It really didn’t.
Hmm… What kind of punishment would stop them from following me again?
I wanted to scare them, but nothing appropriate came to mind. Should I just chop off their arms and legs? As a warning, that would be the most effective. If they returned to the village missing limbs and the rumor spread, no one would dare follow me like this again.
But I couldn’t send the high-ranking ones back like that. If I crippled their arms and legs, they’d inevitably die during the next invasion. Looking at the current trend, the number of goblins was only going to increase. No matter how easily I could slaughter goblins thanks to my aura, handling that many alone would be brutal.
In that situation, turning the top three combatants from the first tutorial—ranked 2nd, 5th, and 7th—into combat liabilities was too wasteful.
“Um… Senior.”
“What.”
“Are we just going to stay like this?”
“Shut up. I’m thinking.”
I silenced the impatient Kim Daekwon and pondered for a moment before slowly opening my mouth.
“Take out everything you have.”
It wasn’t like I was some neighborhood thug shaking them down, but it was the only thing that came to mind. If I couldn’t maim them, I might as well rob them. It wasn’t a bad idea. They probably had more stuff than Han Seungwoo’s gang. Taking a little wouldn’t starve them.
“You’re really squeezing blood from a stone…”
“If you don’t want to hand it over, want to get beaten instead? That’d be easier for me.”
Maybe it stung his pride as the second-ranked person, because Kim Daekwon kept grumbling. When I raised my sword and spoke, he quietly started pulling things out of his bag.
But the items he took out were… underwhelming.
“Guys, if you’re going to hide stuff, at least do it properly. You think I’ll believe that’s everything?”
When I told them to take everything out, all they produced were a few pieces of bread and some leftover jam from a milk carton. I glared at them, wondering if these bastards really needed to be beaten to come to their senses. They looked back at me with aggrieved expressions and pleaded.
“This is really all we have.”
“It’s true. We shared all our food and barely saved this much.”
Whether they were truly wronged or just lying, I couldn’t tell. Since I had no way of knowing what kind of rewards the second-place person received, I couldn’t distinguish truth from deception.
Now I understood why web novel authors wrote regression stories. Even if I wanted to act like an overpowered protagonist, I didn’t know anything, so nothing came easy. If you’re going to possess someone, at least drop them in a familiar place. Why the hell possess someone and throw them into a completely unknown world?
Whoever did this to me is definitely a fucking asshole.
“Last chance. You taking your clothes off, or you taking everything out?”
My eyes must have been mixed with irritation because the three of them tensed up and exchanged glances. Among them, the tall one, Park Yongwon, checked the others’ reactions before stealthily pulling something from his back pocket and setting it down.
“When the hell did you pick this up behind our backs?”
“I didn’t pick it up secretly. I found it in a desk drawer while searching the village. I thought it might be useful.”
“Shut up. What kind of key is this?”
“I don’t know either, Senior. I was just looking for anything useful and grabbed it just in case.”
“Then why did you hide it?”
“It’s not that I hid it… I just forgot about it since it didn’t seem useful…”
“Ugh. Fine. All of you, get lost now.”
Doing something I wasn’t used to was giving me a headache.
“We’re sorry. We’ll be going then.”
I watched the three of them bow deeply and quickly leave the plaza, even waving back at them. Seeing myself do that, I realized I still had a long way to go before fully adapting. Waving goodbye just because they bowed? In a situation like this, I should’ve cut their throats the moment we met. I wasn’t sure if I could actually do that.
Killing people and killing monsters felt completely different from the start. That part worried me.
Anyway.
After some dark-fantasy-style self-reproach or feedback, I picked up the key they’d left behind and exited the cave. I’d wondered if they might be hiding outside the cave, but… they really had a long way to go before adapting too. Not even trying to hide.
Or maybe running away the moment you see someone stronger is actually the proper way to adapt. I don’t know what the right answer is.
It’s like someone who only traveled abroad through YouTube videos writing posts online pretending they actually went. All I can do is fantasize about how a real dark fantasy protagonist would act based on what I’ve read in web novels.
I don’t know if this is actually helping me adapt or not.
Before the second tutorial began.
Kwon Soyeon, who had been abandoned by the group of dropouts, steeled her heart.
No matter what, I will prove myself.
She intended to show those trash who had thrown her away that she could do it alone.
Honestly, when she was kicked out of the group, even though it was unfair, she had given them a reason, so she accepted it to some degree. But what truly broke her heart came after that.
Whether they thought she couldn’t hear or deliberately spoke so she would, she didn’t know. But the fact that she had to quietly listen while everyone around her called her a whore who sold her body for a single bowl of beef soup filled her with unbearable rage.
She had never been treated like this in her entire life. Kwon Soyeon had always received praise and envy for her excellent grades and beautiful appearance. Yet now, after being forced to kneel before a man, she was being labeled a whore. The humiliation burned inside her.
She understood reality well enough to know she couldn’t force an apology out of Yoon Iseo. But she believed that if she risked her life, she could at least stand tall in front of Han Seungwoo’s group and make them apologize.
But.
The moment she entered the second tutorial, that belief was completely shattered.
At first, they had grouped up to block the incoming goblins and kill them. But that crazy bastard Han Seungwoo started luring monsters over, completely destroying their balance. Suddenly swarmed by goblins, Song Dayeong could only run for her life. The bastards she had sworn revenge on were captured by goblins during the first invasion, raped, and then eaten alive.
Even though the people she had been sharpening her teeth against were dying horribly, she didn’t feel any satisfaction. Instead, the terror that she could end up the same way made her body tremble so violently that her legs wouldn’t move. She nearly suffered the same fate.
If Yoon Iseo, who happened to be passing by, hadn’t killed the goblin in front of her, Kwon Soyeon might have truly met the same end. Only after watching a goblin’s head fly off right before her eyes did her legs finally start working again. It was inevitable.
After that, she ran desperately, hid inside a random house, and endured until the first tutorial ended. She had no idea how time passed. The thought of earning points never even crossed her mind as she stayed holed up inside.
Naturally, her ranking was at the very bottom. The only reward she received was one hard piece of bread. It kept her from starving, but it wasn’t enough to replenish the energy she burned while fighting and running.
Still, the hunger sharpened her mind. Realizing that continuing to run away like this was pointless, during the second invasion she decided to test the waters.
Yoon Iseo will definitely clean them up first.
She didn’t know how he was so strong, but during the first invasion, goblins were no match for him. So she assumed he would step up again, hid inside the house, and waited for the number of goblins to decrease.
It was selfish, but no matter what happened outside, she plugged her ears, ignored everything, and waited. Every time a scream rang out, the face of the person screaming flashed in her mind, but she hardened her heart.
Clearing out the goblins took Yoon Iseo longer than expected, but after enduring and waiting, they were eventually dealt with.
Kwon Soyeon watched carefully. The moment Yoon Iseo swept past the front of her house, she stepped outside and began hunting goblins.
Hunting goblins was much easier than during the first invasion. After Yoon Iseo had swept through, even when groups appeared, there were only one or two at a time. That much, Kwon Soyeon could handle if she fought with the resolve to die.
As she moved around killing goblins, she spotted Song Dayeong and Yoon Iseo talking in the distance. The two didn’t seem particularly close, so seeing them converse made her curious. She hid a good distance away to watch, but the pair soon disappeared into an alley.
She knew she shouldn’t, but the curiosity was too strong. Song Dayeong was one of the people who had labeled her a whore. She couldn’t help wondering what that girl was talking about with Yoon Iseo. Risking danger, she crept closer.
What she saw was pure shock.
Slurp.
The sight of Song Dayeong—the same girl who had called her a whore—kneeling in front of Yoon Iseo and sucking his cock was utterly shocking. It was the first time she had seen someone else do it, but what hit her harder was the double standard. The person who had insulted her as a whore was now acting like one herself.
The shock was so great that she nearly tripped while watching. Fortunately, she managed to escape while they were pulling up their pants, but she had thought she was done for.
In truth, she should have stopped tailing them there, but she couldn’t hold back. Just what kind of promise had they made that they would do something so shameless in a public place? With the sole intention of confirming that, she continued following them. Watching them hunt together, she felt a deep sense of futility.
While Kwon Soyeon desperately hunted and killed five goblins, Song Dayeong only had to follow along and still ended up with ten kills.
Is… is that really the right way?
For a moment, Kwon Soyeon’s values shook. She was certain that what they were doing was wrong and that she was in the right. But looking at the results, it seemed like she would be the one left behind.
Unlocking a single talent cost 500 points. That meant killing 100 goblins. She wondered if she could really do it. She still needed to kill 95 more. Ninety-five sounded simple, but it was practically impossible.
There was still the third tutorial left, but it was obviously going to be harder. It was difficult to stay optimistic.
What did it truly mean for a woman with no foundation to be culled in this place?
As she watched Yoon Iseo walk away into the distance, Kwon Soyeon’s eyes grew complicated.