A Monster No Coin Count Could Explain
Ralph and Won-goo.
The two of them were entangled like wild beasts, tearing at each other. Both were soaked in blood.
Flattering, you'd call it a battle of apex predators. More accurately, it was a plain, filthy brawl. They were tangled up so close that every手段 — every tool, every technique — that could be used in a clinch was being used to hurt each other.
Everyone was stunned by the turn of events, but the ones most shocked were Ralph's own crew. They had never once seen Ralph fight like this — a scrappy, grinding dogfight. Ralph had always fought by crushing opponents flat with overwhelming physical superiority.
And yet there he was, brawling like a thug in an alley.
What was even more astonishing was that after trading all that punishment, the other man was still moving without a scratch of hesitation.
Crack!
Ralph's headbutt. Won-goo swayed.
Holding Won-goo in his grip, Ralph kept hammering him with headbutts, while Won-goo pounded at Ralph's body with the warhammer.
On paper, Ralph's attacks looked like they were doing far more damage. Won-goo had the warhammer in hand, but at point-blank range there was no room to swing it — all he could do was jab at Ralph's back and flanks.
Even that much wasn't landing with any real force behind it.
By any reasonable read, Ralph was coming out ahead.
And yet Ralph was the one growing anxious.
No opponent, not once, had ever withstood this much of his offense. Stranger still, the man's attacks were getting stronger as the fight went on. Stack that on top of Won-goo's absurd toughness, and Ralph was slowly falling behind in the exchange.
Crack!
This time Won-goo answered with a headbutt of his own. Ralph's brow buried itself into his philtrum, and the moment Ralph staggered, Won-goo spat out the mouthful of blood that had pooled in his mouth.
Ptui!
Blood had splashed into Ralph's eyes, blinding him — for just a moment.
Whoosh! Thooom!
A wrestling move, sunk in fast.
Won-goo pretended to fall backward, then scooped Ralph up and hurled him clean over his shoulder in a German suplex. The angle was viciously dangerous, and Ralph couldn't counter it at all — because it had never occurred to him that anyone's strength could exceed his own.
No technique, however refined, meant anything in the face of a fundamental gap in raw power. However strong a kindergartner might be, no child throws a full-grown, powerfully built adult. To Ralph, every other survivor had been exactly that kind of child.
That was how far his specs towered above the rest, here and now.
Ralph's skull met the floor directly.
An impact hard enough to crack the stone.
A blow that should have killed him outright — and yet Ralph was shaking his head, pushing himself up off the ground.
Only, his reactions weren't what they had been. He was slower.
Which meant it was the turn of Won-goo, who was still relatively intact.
His specs had never included the ability to crack stone flooring. The truth was that the direct stat investments he'd made before entering the dungeon were what carried him through. Even so, Ralph dragged himself upright, fighting to clear his head.
Recovery power nothing short of phenomenal — but the conclusion was already written.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Occiput, temple, temporal bone, eye socket — nothing was off-limits. Won-goo hammered nothing but the head.
Turnon's Warhammer wore down whoever it struck, a little with every blow. It carried the glaring weakness of requiring multiple hits — and yet it was an epic item without peer. Whoever took it properly could never escape.
"Me, I'm the type that warms up as things go on. How about it? Fun, right?"
Won-goo grinned and swung again at Ralph's face as the man tried to rise.
Crunch!
This time the warhammer caught his nose — and incredibly, Ralph's nose was pulped to pieces.
And it didn't regenerate.
"Hyper-regeneration, enhanced recovery, whatever you want to call it — those abilities all have a ceiling too, you know."
Ralph couldn't even answer. He just stared at Won-goo with terrified eyes, one step from toppling over like a drunk. He couldn't keep his own body upright — the phrase had never fit anyone better.
Won-goo seized him by the hair.
"Sh*t……."
The curse slipped out of Sde before he knew it. Even a dungeon veteran like him couldn't help but be shaken by what he was watching.
Ralph grabbed with both hands the fist gripping his hair. The Ralph of any other day could have shattered an arm from this very position. He couldn't now.
What the hell IS that monster……?
Sde's face twisted. It was the first time he'd felt this since the world turned upside down.
Thud!
Another blow landed on Ralph's head. This was for finishing it clean.
BOOM!
Right at that moment, a violent report rang out — and smoke billowed up around them without warning.
"Everyone watch out! Hold your positions!"
Won-goo shouted, still gripping Ralph by the hair. Fortunately, Ralph was still in no state to recover.
It didn't take long for the smoke to thin enough to see again.
"Sound off! Everybody okay!"
Won-goo bellowed again. He hadn't even bothered checking where the enemy was — he already knew they'd popped the smoke to run.
Judging by how fast it spread and how thoroughly it killed visibility, this was no ordinary smoke. A Gift or an artifact, almost certainly. In that situation, the best move was not to move at all — hold your ground and wait.
Just as predicted, Sde and the rest of Ralph's crew were already gone.
"Jeon Hye-ji!"
"Here!"
"Good, that's all I need. Hyun-sung."
"Yes, Hyeong-nim! The Yang sisters are here as well."
"Right. Let them go, then. You see that? Must not have treated your crew too well either — they ditched you and bolted."
Thud!
The hammer came down on Ralph's head once more — and that was enough to knock him out cold.
"Disgusting bastard. How many coins did you shove into yourself, huh? Hye-ji."
"Yes?"
"How dangerous did he look? Same league as Sde?"
"Practically identical."
"Hyun-sung."
"Yes."
"This one's a serious threat, so tie him up good with rope from the pack. Wrap him up like a mummy if you have to."
"Understood, Hyeong-nim!"
"And……."
Won-goo turned his head toward the Yang sisters. Yang Jin-seon, tears streaming down her face, was lunging for Ralph. Won-goo stopped her at once. He didn't need to hear a word to guess what her party had been through.
"That was a rough one. You lost people?"
"Those bastards…… they're absolute scum. They need to die right now."
"I know you went through hell. But that's what this catch is for, isn't it? We came in knowing exactly what we were walking into."
"Director — those things eat people."
"…What?"
At Yang Jin-seon's words, everyone froze mid-motion. Every head turned toward her.
"They're cannibals. They eat people."
"Hmm. So that was how they stocked food? To survive in the dungeon?"
"No. They just… eat people. Casually. Like it was the most natural thing in the world."
"Ha!"
Won-goo let out a hollow laugh.
Thwack!
He kicked the fallen Ralph once.
"You're something else. Chewing, tearing, tasting, savoring — you did the whole menu, didn't you? properly."
"They're properly insane, all of them."
"Which is exactly why we can't just kill you. A specimen like this? Bounty's worth one hundred percent."
"Director!"
"I get that you want your revenge, but that's not the kind of thing you settle on the spot. You know that. Why are you doing this?"
"That's……."
"Don't forget the contract. Look at it. This is what happens when people work without one — those bastards pulled their little vanishing act the second things went south. Among survivors, contracts come before everything else. Number one, always."
"……."
Yang Jin-seon, seething, ground her foot hard against the floor in one slow, furious drag.
"Jo Mu-sa. Look after her people's wounds. Nobody badly hurt, right?"
"Yessir!"
ratatatat! Wham!
"Hey! What's this about—!"
Unable to hold it in, Yang Jin-seon kicked Ralph across the head. Unconscious, he couldn't feel a thing.
"I want the contract amended."
"Amend a contract that's already executed? How, exactly?"
"Director. Is the trust between us really only worth that much?"
"There's plenty of trust. It's just… this industry's full of people who'll stab you in the back first chance they get."
"That won't happen with this offer."
"Which is?"
"Our people's bodies…… we have to bring them home."
"Where are they? If you left them behind, they won't exactly be intact. Kobolds have sharp noses."
"No. They're in a backpack."
Won-goo's expression hardened all over again.
"In that crew's backpack?"
"Yes."
"So they really were raving lunatics. That wasn't hunger — they just plain enjoyed it, didn't they?"
"I can't stand watching that ever again. We follow them. We catch them."
"And if you do?"
"We're giving up this dungeon. I'll admit it. We weren't cut out to farm dungeon cores."
"That was bad luck, is all."
"You had the same luck, Director. And you still won."
Yang Jin-seon spoke with an expression caught somewhere between a dozen emotions. Her eyes were brimming again. Her lips trembled as she talked — she was doing everything she could to overcome that horrific memory.
By facing it head-on.
That was the burden the leader of a party had to carry.
"Fine. We'll do it that way. We just recover their Subspace Backpacks, right?"
"Yes. Please understand."
"I do. I'd have done the same."
"Um……."
The deal had only just closed when Geum Chul-soo cut into the conversation. Normally the crew kept quiet or stuck to their own tasks while Won-goo talked with outsiders — and that held now too. Everyone was busy with the work that followed a fight; there was always more of it than you'd think.
Above all, anyone who fled in a hurry left plenty behind.
"What is it, Chul-soo?"
"Um, well……"
"Well, if you're going to interrupt the adults' conversation, might as well speak up."
"Mage-nim is gone. I can't see him anywhere."
"Hmm?"
At that, the whole crew stopped moving again and scanned their surroundings. They'd all assumed everyone was present — but Mu Beob-sa had vanished.
"Hyeong-nim. Mage-nim really isn't here."
"N-no, he isn't."
"Hye-ji. Did you sense anything off?"
Jo Mu-sa asked.
"I didn't notice anything. I just assumed he was right beside me."
Jeon Hye-ji's face went stricken.
"Relax. None of this is your fault, Hye-ji. In a scene like that, you can lose track of everything around you."
"Hyeong-nim, Mage-nim……"
"He got taken, obviously. They were after Hye-ji and grabbed him instead."
"Then……"
"They'll try to trade him for this Ralph bastard, I'd bet. Leave it be."
"Well, well. Looks like you've got a reason to head out after all, Director."
Yang Jin-seon pounced on the opening at once. Won-goo, without a flicker of concern, tossed her a stale, harsh-smelling cigarette.
"Funny — I was about to say I've found a reason not to."
He put the cigarette in his mouth, and Lee Hyun-sung was already there, striking a light. Won-goo looked thoroughly pleased and thumped the bear-sized man on the back with a solid whack. Lee Hyun-sung bowed crisply in return.
"What did you just say? You're not going?"
"The old man got dragged off instead, so it's fine."
"Director — even if Mage-nim is… less than useful, how can you——"
The way everyone looked at Won-goo changed. Jo Mu-sa especially seemed to be seeing a different person entirely. The thought was creeping in: was the Director we trusted and followed always like this?
Won-goo met the frost gathering around him with perfect ease, drawing long on his cigarette.
"Why's everyone giving me that look? I'm not abandoning a crew member — that old man doesn't need worrying about. He's terrifyingly good at fighting. If he actually gets serious? Doesn't matter who in here he goes up against — they lose. The old man's a monster."