The Third Tutorial (5)
As soon as I heard the door creak open, I leveled my sword at the figure stepping inside.
“Kyaaak!”
The high-pitched scream and the woman who stumbled backward in shock made me quickly lower my blade. It was Kwon Soyeon.
“What the hell? It was you?”
“…Well, who else would open the door and walk in if not a monster…”
Watching her grumble in that timid little voice, I let out a soft chuckle and reached out to help her up.
“There are monsters that can do that, actually.”
“Don’t even joke about something like that.”
“Does it sound like a joke?”
She probably hadn’t seen the goblin shaman boss or Kucharak yet. The fact that the door was still intact was proof enough—those things could open and close doors without a problem.
“…Is that really true?”
“Believe it or not. Close the door and get some rest. I’ve got things to do.”
This wasn’t my castle, so as long as it wasn’t a monster, I didn’t care. After telling Kwon Soyeon, who was still standing by the door, to rest, I turned away to start searching the building.
“Ah, um…”
“What? Got something to say?”
“No… It’s nothing.”
She looked like she had something on her mind, so I asked, but she just fidgeted under my gaze and shook her head. I had no idea what it was, but since she said it was fine, I went back to what I was doing.
Man. The world really isn’t easy.
Back when the first tutorial ended, she was the type to speak her mind. But after everything we’d been through, she seemed completely withdrawn. Especially Kwon Soyeon—being pushed out of the group halfway through probably made it worse.
‘Seriously, why the hell did you drink that beef soup? Tsk tsk.’
I’d thrown that out half as a joke and half out of curiosity. I never expected it to work so well. People really are that simple. I’d just casually mentioned it and she’d latched right on.
So yeah, I felt a little bad. But only a little.
In the end, she was the one who chose to eat it.
Kwon Soyeon watched Yoon Iseo’s back as he climbed the stairs and let out a long sigh filled with complicated emotions.
“Haa… Well, at least I’m alive.”
She had almost died again.
At first, things had been good. Yoon Iseo and the knights had carved a clean path through the enemy, and the knight named Gilling had led the hero candidates and soldiers around hunting goblins. It had been incredibly easy.
Until now, every fight against goblins had been a desperate battle. This time, it felt more like an actual hunt. Gilling would dart around killing goblins left and right, sending them into a panicked frenzy. All the candidates had to do was stab them with their spears as they ran past.
Seeing a chance to copy points, Kwon Soyeon had stepped forward and thrust her spear too. She had earned more points than ever before.
But of course, it couldn’t end that simply. This was still a tutorial.
Suddenly, black smoke had filled the sky, and people started losing their minds, stabbing their own allies. The worst part was when Gilling was stabbed in the back by one of his own soldiers. Thankfully, the wound wasn’t fatal, and he kept giving orders, but then orcs appeared from behind, cutting off any chance of escape.
After that, Kwon Soyeon hadn’t had time to figure out what was happening. She had just swung her spear desperately to stay alive. When someone screamed and started running, everyone else followed. Realizing she would die if she stayed, she ran too.
Reaching the castle had been pure luck. The goblins and orcs chasing them had split off to pursue the other fleeing people, and after running blindly, she suddenly found herself in front of the castle.
She had been shocked to see the dead knights lying outside, but when she didn’t see Yoon Iseo’s body among them, she hoped he might still be inside. She knew that in the tutorial, a hero candidate’s corpse would disappear upon death, but in her exhausted, adrenaline-fueled state, she hadn’t thought that far. She had opened the door with a strange flicker of hope.
“What the hell was I even hoping for?”
She must have subconsciously believed that since Yoon Iseo was somewhat close to her, he might help her out. Of course, that expectation had vanished the moment she stepped inside and they started talking.
“Huu…”
Now that the tension had finally drained away, Kwon Soyeon slumped down where she stood. She had survived, and meeting Yoon Iseo made her feel like she might actually make it through this tutorial. The relief hit her all at once.
Even though he preferred to work alone, she didn’t think he would complain if she followed him. In fact, Yoon Iseo never cared what others did as long as they didn’t interfere with his own plans. As long as she didn’t scheme against him like Kim Daekwon’s group had, he would probably ignore her trailing behind if it meant she could survive.
“Still… the points are the real problem.”
She had thought she might earn a decent amount this time, but it still wasn’t enough. She had earned more than in the previous tutorials, yet five hundred points still felt impossibly far away.
“I bet that guy opened several already.”
Kwon Soyeon bit her lower lip as she watched Yoon Iseo going in and out of rooms, searching for something. Considering the performance he had shown while breaking through with the knights at the castle wall and the points he must have earned by now, he had definitely opened at least two. She couldn’t be completely sure since she hadn’t opened even one yet, but most people who saw that scene probably thought the same. There was no way it was just one.
‘If I’m going to do it, it has to be now.’
At this rate, she would never gather five hundred points. All the knights who had united the people were dead, and Yoon Iseo had no intention of taking on that role. If he didn’t do what the knights had done, the scattered soldiers and hero candidates would never regroup.
She would either have to fight alone or team up with whoever was nearby, avoiding orcs while hunting goblins. Neither option would be easy.
Would she throw away her body to choose a future, or endure the hardship and live a life without shame?
Before coming here, Kwon Soyeon would have chosen the latter without hesitation. Even a life without shame had still guaranteed human rights and wasn’t completely devoid of money. She could afford the luxury of protecting her pride.
But the world she would return to had no human rights. It was a place where she could be raped and killed by monsters at any moment. In that world, power was pride.
Just look at Yoon Iseo. Only a few days ago, he had been an ordinary college student who enjoyed working out. Now, no one dared touch him. One glare from him and people cowered.
‘Just once. Just close my eyes and do it once.’
Having made up her mind, Kwon Soyeon stood up. She was about to climb the stairs to find him when—
“Ah, perfect timing. I actually had something I wanted to ask you.”
Yoon Iseo appeared, arms full of something, greeting her with a bright smile.
I had searched from the top floor of the castle downward, looking for hidden pieces, but nothing particularly interesting had turned up. Most of it was books or documents I couldn’t even read. I checked behind the bookshelves for hidden rooms, but there were none.
Slightly disappointed, I left the study and moved to the next room. The moment I opened the door, a massive bed came into view. It was obviously the baron’s bedroom.
Unlike the relatively tidy study, the bedroom was a complete mess. Either the baron had fled in such a hurry that he couldn’t clean up, or Kucharak and the goblin shaman had torn the place apart looking for valuables. I hoped it was the former, but the latter seemed more likely.
With low expectations, I searched the room anyway.
“Did they not check under the bed?”
Whether they had missed it or simply hadn’t looked, it didn’t matter. It was a good find. Excited, I lifted the bed and moved it aside to examine the safe.
As expected, it used a key rather than a dial, so there was no way to open it normally. Still, just in case, I grabbed the handle and pulled.
Click.
“Huh?”
It opened far too easily. Almost like someone had left it unlocked on purpose. I hurriedly looked inside, but of course, it was empty.
“Damn it. No wonder it was so obvious.”
Neither the shaman boss nor Kucharak had been carrying anything, so the valuables the Baron of Ricaun had taken while fleeing were probably what had been stored in this safe. Or maybe not. Either way, it was disappointing to get my hopes up for nothing.
“Sigh.”
I let out a deep breath as I stared at the empty safe and stood up. Even though the safe under the bed was empty, there was still plenty left to search in the bedroom. I opened the drawer beside the bed to see what was inside.
The carvings looked expensive, but the first drawer was empty. The second was empty too, which started to piss me off, but I held it in and opened the last one.
Inside were three small bottles containing some kind of unidentified liquid. They were about the size of the cosmetic ampoules people used to apply on their skin. I had no idea what was inside.
I wondered if they were some kind of elixir, but I didn’t feel any special energy from them, so probably not. The faint reddish tint made me suspect they might be potions, but would the Baron really have left potions behind while fleeing?
“I have no clue.”
It reminded me a little of the grass bundle I got in the second tutorial, but these looked far cleaner. Since they were in the baron’s bedroom, I decided to take them anyway.
After pocketing the mysterious liquids, I searched every other room in the castle for anything useful, but nothing else stood out. In the end, the only things I had were these unidentified liquids. I was pondering what they could be as I headed down the stairs when I spotted Kwon Soyeon.
‘Hmm. Should I make her try one?’
I didn’t want to test it on myself first. If it was an elixir or potion, I’d learn what it was without risk. If it was poison, I’d still learn what it was without drinking it. Of course, if it really was poison, I’d feel a little sorry for her.
‘I can just give her some points if things go badly.’
At this point, the points I got from killing goblins or orcs didn’t mean much to me anymore.
Owned Points: 3475pt
I had gained 1500 points for killing Kucharak and 1200 points for killing Cailen. Points were always better to have more of, but I had reached the point where killing a few goblins or orcs wasn’t worth the effort.
“Uh…”
“Ah, perfect timing. I actually had something I wanted to ask you.”
I put on my most fake-looking smile in a long time and walked toward Kwon Soyeon.