The Second Tutorial (12)
The village was now completely deserted, but it still had most of the necessities for daily life. The torch I was holding in my hand was one of them. No matter how medieval these people were, they wouldn't have lived without fire at night. They must have gone outside from time to time, so almost every house had candles and torches.
Relying on the torchlight, I returned to the spot where I'd hidden earlier. I extinguished the flame, stayed concealed until the goblins had all passed by, then followed their tracks once more to find the cave.
This time it wasn't a skeleton that appeared, but another goblin corpse. I sliced open its belly, only to find some kind of unidentified grass inside.
“Fuck, there's no way I can eat this shit.”
It looked like ordinary grass with white spots scattered across it. Since it had been inside a goblin's stomach, it was covered in all sorts of filth. Even after washing it with water, the stench wouldn't go away. On top of that, unlike the first elixir I'd eaten, I couldn't feel any kind of energy from it. Eating this would probably fuck me up for real.
With no choice, I gave up on consuming it for now. I stuffed the mysterious grass deep into my bag and descended the mountain.
“Die! You fucking goblins!”
When I arrived at the village, the sounds of battle were clearly audible this time. Everyone was definitely fighting.
“Yeah. That's how it should be, you little shits.”
I smiled in satisfaction and entered the village. The goblin bastards charged at me without fear, but after my aura had increased, they weren't a threat at all. No matter how many swarmed me, I could simply leap high and retreat backward. The goblins would just stand there dumbfounded, staring into empty air. There was no real danger.
Creak.
“Did you find anything?”
“Senior!”
After cleaning up the goblins to a reasonable degree and returning home, Song Dayeong greeted me with excessive enthusiasm. Since there was no reason for her to welcome me like this, I grew slightly wary and took a step back.
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down. What's going on? Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”
“I found a suspicious place.”
“You found one?”
At the word found, I relaxed my guard and stepped closer.
“Yes. You know that Lim Do-geon and his group, right? They left all the decent houses behind and are living deep inside the forest. If there wasn't something there, there's no way that many people would gather and live in a place like that.”
She had a point. There was no reason to camp out in the forest when perfectly good houses were available. Especially when they were already exhausted from killing goblins. Of course, that didn't necessarily mean the key was hidden there in a usable way, but it was worth checking out.
“Okay. Lead the way.”
“So they went that way, huh?”
After dealing with a suitable number of goblins, we arrived at the location Song Dayeong had mentioned. From here, it didn't look like there was anything special. Part of that was because it was nighttime, but the dense forest also made it hard to see anything.
“If you're that scared, just stay here.”
“No. I'll go with you.”
Even though she was trembling from fear in the dark, ominous atmosphere, she still insisted on following and stuck close to my back. I shrugged and took the lead into the forest.
I advanced cautiously with my sword drawn in case something appeared, but nothing did. It seemed the area wasn't designed for goblins to escape into. Out of all those countless goblins, not a single one had fled toward the forest.
In moments like this, it really showed that this was a tutorial. Just as expected from a place artificially created by angels, nothing existed outside of what had been deliberately designed. It was very different from reality.
After reaching a certain point, I relaxed a little. Come to think of it, there was no way anything dangerous would appear in a place where those weaklings lived. I'd been overly tense for no reason.
As we continued walking through the forest and carefully scanning our surroundings for anything suspicious—
“Senior, over there.”
Song Dayeong called out to me quietly and pointed somewhere with her finger.
“A goddess statue?”
When I looked where she was pointing, I saw a familiar goddess statue. It was partially hidden between large trees and hard to see clearly, but considering this was a tutorial, it was probably the same one I'd seen in the first tutorial.
Yeah, it's the same.
Up close, it was identical. The only difference was that while the previous one had simply been a statue, here it was accompanied by a church-like building. So this was where all those people had been staying. It was definitely larger than the buildings in the village, as expected of a church.
“Then let's go in.”
She seemed to have relaxed a bit after confirming it was a church. She nodded with a much calmer expression than before.
Creeeeak.
When I opened the church door, the sound of old hinges accompanied the sight of the chapel. The group of dropouts must have been eating and sleeping here. The chairs had all been pushed to the sides, and blankets were scattered messily everywhere. Other than that, there wasn't anything particularly noteworthy.
It seemed to be just a place where the villagers came to worship. Aside from the goddess statue on the altar, there was nothing eye-catching.
“You check that side. I'll search around the altar.”
Still, if there was going to be anything, it would probably be here rather than anywhere else. Churches, both in the past and present, tend to have a lot of valuable stuff. There might even be a hidden safe somewhere.
With that expectation, I searched everywhere. There were rooms on both sides of the altar. One was an empty room covered in dust, and the other seemed to be where the priest stayed, as it had signs of daily life. I thought there might be something hidden in the priest's quarters, so I searched thoroughly, but there was nothing. At most, a few miscellaneous items. There were also several books that looked like diaries, but I couldn't read them, so I just took them with me. They might be useful later.
After gathering them and returning to the altar—
“Did you find anything?”
“No. There's nothing here that the key would be useful for.”
“Really?”
Another bust. I let out a frustrated sigh and leaned against the altar, lowering my head. I was already exhausted enough to die, and with nothing to show for it, the fatigue hit me even harder.
I was about to tell Song Dayeong that we should just head back when I noticed a carpet with a geometric pattern beneath the altar. I hadn't paid it any attention since it didn't look suspicious, but now that I thought about it, I couldn't see what was under the carpet.
“Bingo.”
When I lifted the carpet, I saw an iron door with a keyhole. It was obviously suspicious. I immediately took out the key, inserted it into the hole, and turned it.
Click.
Along with the sound of the key turning, I felt the lock release in my hand.
“Did you find it?”
“Yeah. Just in case, you wait here.”
“Huh?”
Ignoring the bewildered Song Dayeong, I lifted the door and stepped inside. The interior was wider than I'd expected. At my height of around 185cm, I didn't even need to duck, and the space was quite spacious. But the important thing was—
“Tsk. This isn't what I was hoping for.”
I'd expected something that could make money, or an elixir, or an inner core. Since it was a church, maybe even some potions. But instead—
“It's just a storage room.”
It seemed the real key to the tutorial was discovering this place first. Spears were lined up in storage, along with sacks of flour and water, all neatly organized. Honestly, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed.
Well, what can you do.
Still, just in case, I searched every corner, but there really wasn't anything.
“Why are you coming out empty-handed?”
“It's just a storage room. There are some weapons inside, but nothing particularly useful. Sigh… If I'd spent this time hunting goblins instead, think of all the points I could've earned.”
Grumbling, I closed the door and took out the key again to lock it properly. Song Dayeong asked why I was bothering to lock it if it was just a storage room.
“If it's just a storage room, why lock the door again?”
“Why lock it? So I can earn a lot more points.”
“What?”
Song Dayeong looked like she didn't understand what I meant.
“If I leave this door unlocked, Lim Do-geon and his group will find the weapons, right? Then what do you think will happen?”
“Ah…”
She finally seemed to understand. She let out a small exclamation and carefully laid the carpet back over the door.
“Let's go now, Senior!”
She looked proud as she glanced once at the carpet she'd laid down, then urged me to leave. But something felt off.
Did something happen?
I didn't know exactly what, but from her current reaction, it was clear there had been some friction with the dropout group. I wasn't particularly curious, so I ignored it and exited the church.
“What the hell are you guys?! Why are you here?!”
Lim Do-geon, who seemed to have returned after hunting goblins, spotted us and shouted while brandishing a crude wooden spear. The people behind him immediately raised their spears as well. Their teamwork had certainly improved after fighting together.
“What? It's not like we came somewhere we shouldn't. How about you lower those spears? Keeping them up like that won't do you any good.”
“How can we trust you people?”
“What kind of bullshit is this now?”
If they didn't trust us, what were they going to do about it? Fight? The way they were acting aggressively while spouting nonsense was so ridiculous I could only let out a hollow laugh.
“You want to fight? Then say it now. I'll send you straight to your friends.”
“You fucking bastards! So that's why you came here after all!”
“What the hell is that guy even saying?”
He was clearly speaking Korean, but the conversation wasn't connecting at all.
Is what I'm saying that difficult to understand?
I thought I'd spoken pretty simply.
“I don't know. Maybe if I hit you once, you'll understand even if you don't want to.”
I immediately raised my aura, kicked off the ground, and dashed forward like I was flying, stopping right in front of Lim Do-geon. Seeing me suddenly appear before his eyes, his pupils shook. He swung the wooden spear at me, but—
Smack.
I caught it with one hand, yanked it away with raw strength, then used my other hand to flick him hard on the forehead.
Thud!
The sound that came from his forehead was far too loud to be called a simple flick, but he probably wouldn't die from it.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
He let out a pained scream as if he were dying. It must have hurt like hell.
“Seriously, why can't you understand when I speak nicely? Do all of you need to get hit once like him before you come to your senses?”
At my words, everyone watching from behind quickly shook their heads. I waved my hand at them, shooing them back, then poked the still-rolling-on-the-ground Lim Do-geon with my finger.
“Hey. Why are you acting like this? You used to hold it in pretty well. Why can't you endure it now just because you killed a few goblins?”
“Fuck, you guys came here to kill us first!”
“What the hell are you talking about? Why would I kill you guys?”
When I asked back in genuine bewilderment, Lim Do-geon finally seemed to grasp the situation. His face turned pale with panic as he trembled and spoke.
“That bitch Song Dayeong… Didn't she bring you here for revenge because we said something to her earlier?”
“What are you on about? We just came because we saw this church and wondered if there was anything inside.”
“Ah…”
“So what exactly did you say that made you shit yourselves the moment you saw me, thinking I'd come for revenge?”
At this point, I was actually curious. What kind of exchange had happened that made him think this the second he saw me?
“Tell me. What did you say?”
“…Whore.”
“Hmm… That is pretty harsh.”
Strictly speaking, she was closer to a sugar baby than a whore, but that wasn't the important part.
“What do you want me to do about it?”
“Huh?”
Song Dayeong jumped in surprise at my sudden question.
“How should I handle it? Want me to beat him half to death? Or should I make him kneel and apologize?”
She must have brought me all the way here for this very reason. Of course, she had genuinely thought there was something suspicious here too. But she'd probably anticipated something like this would happen and brought me along on purpose.
Hiding your intentions is annoying, though.
That was something I could punish her for separately. For now, since someone within my boundaries had been insulted, it was only right that I resolve it.
“…Beat him half to death, please.”
“Please! I was just worked up, this is too much!”
The moment Song Dayeong made her decision after some hesitation, Lim Do-geon turned deathly pale and screamed.
“What can I do? You make a mistake, you pay the price.”
“Uwaaaaaah! Help me! Fuck!”
I grabbed the back of Lim Do-geon's neck as he tried to run, slammed him to the ground, then stepped on him to keep him from escaping.
“Please…”
Watching him cry and drool in terror didn't exactly feel good, but I'd promised her.
I swung my fist down. Or rather, I tried to.
The 4th invasion has been completed.
For the 5th invasion, to maintain balance with the goblin faction, restrictions will be placed on Hero Candidate Yoon Iseo.
Thud!
“Ack!”
Shit. I couldn't hold back at the sudden nonsense.