Chapter 240: The Tutorial Floor (12)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 240: The Tutorial Floor (12)
Amid the cheers of the people, a group entered the camp.
There were about a dozen of them, all armed. Some even carried unique weapons, not the basic ones. They must have gotten them from a dungeon.
'So this is where all the hunters I saw in the clearing went.'
One E-rank and three F-ranks. The ones at the front definitely had better posture than the others.
The lone woman, a swordswoman, had a particularly impressive aura. Her magic power was F-rank, but in a real fight, she could probably handle an E-rank without much trouble.
Just as I was about to use my trait on the woman...
“It's a pleasure to meet you.”
The only E-rank, a man who seemed to be the leader of the combat squad, approached me.
“My name is Baek Jihyuk. I heard you walked out of a tree. Could we talk for a moment?”
He was tall with a constant, friendly smile—the kind of guy anyone would find likable.
But not me. The moment I saw him, I couldn't help but scowl.
Tiring—
「'Incomplete Moon's Eye' has been activated.」
「Name: Baek Jihyuk
Age: 29
Contracted Constellation: -
Affiliation: -
Authority: -
Exclusive Trait: Superior Leadership (C+)
Exclusive Skill: Frontline Command (D+)
Trait: Homosexuality (E)
Skill: -」
The word 'horrifying' came to mind.
Just how much of a disgusting gay do you have to be to have a trait like 'Homosexuality'?
Even I, with my promiscuous relationships with women, don't have traits like 'Nymphomania' or 'Harem'.
My masculine instincts were screaming at me to stay the hell away from him.
“...You seem to be quite shy.”
When I didn't accept his handshake, Baek Jihyuk looked a bit awkward but maintained his friendly smile. The stares from those around us grew sharp.
Thanks to that, I got a good sense of just how popular he was in the camp.
But I wonder, do these people know? That this bastard is a disgusting gay who's only after men's asses.
“I don't think we'll be seeing each other for long, so let's skip the introductions.”
I had no name to give a gay man.
“We didn't come here on purpose, and we have no intention of staying. We'll be on our way.”
“...You seem to be in a hurry.”
“I get that a lot.”
I'd earned a lot in the dungeon, but the daily quota was a separate matter.
If I had kept hunting mummies, it might have been different, but there were fewer than I expected, so I hadn't even met the quota the day before.
'Staying in a camp that could collapse at any moment will only make it harder to farm WP.'
The moment I tried to leave with the two of them, someone blocked my path.
A disheveled suit and sharp eyes. It was a familiar face.
“Well, look at this disrespectful bastard.”
Tiring—
「'Incomplete Moon's Eye' has been activated.」
「Name: Lee Gyuho
Age: 36
Contracted Constellation: -
Affiliation: -
Authority: -
Exclusive Trait: Opportunist (C+)
Exclusive Skill: Stab in the Back (C)
Trait: -
Skill: -」
It was the man from the clearing who almost got himself killed for talking back to the Administrator.
If I remember correctly, he jumped off his company's rooftop after failing to get a promotion due to office politics.
“When Jihyuk speaks to you nicely, you should be grateful and listen. Where do you think you're going, ignoring him like that—”
“Gyuho-ssi.”
Just as Lee Gyuho was about to start a pathetic fight, Baek Jihyuk, who had approached without me noticing, stopped him.
Lee Gyuho, his wrist caught, looked clearly flustered.
“He is not a member of our camp. Please show some respect.”
“S-Sorry, Jihyuk. I guess I overstepped.”
“You should be apologizing to him, not me.”
At those words, Lee Gyuho's face twitched subtly.
He was a textbook condescending old fool, unable to recognize his own fault and repulsed by the idea of apologizing to someone younger.
I could see why he'd lost out in office politics. He probably kissed up to his superiors while treating his subordinates like crap.
“...My mistake.”
He bowed his head reluctantly, but there wasn't a hint of guilt or shame in his expression. In fact, I could feel a faint killing intent from him.
It was absurd, but I didn't feel any particular urge to kill him. You find one or two guys like this everywhere you go.
That didn't mean I was going to let it slide, though.
I released just enough killing intent to keep him from fainting. Lee Gyuho broke out in a cold sweat and began to tremble violently.
Thud—
Ignoring him as he collapsed to the ground, I headed out of the camp. The stench of piss filled the air.
“I hope we can meet again next time.”
Baek Jihyuk called out a meaningful farewell as I left. I let his words go in one ear and out the other.
After all, we would never see each other again.
*
Time passed, and soon it was the fifth day.
Only two days had gone by, but a lot had happened.
「Current WP: 52,242」
My WP had finally surpassed 50,000.
If you included the WP the other two had, our total was around 80,000. It was thanks to hunting monsters fervently until dawn.
In that sense, we had already met the quota, but I had no intention of stopping. I wanted to reach a combined total of 100,000.
Of course, it wasn't all good news.
Starting last night, the number of monsters began to increase dramatically. It was probably some kind of event to weed out the survivors.
For the other survivors, it must have been a bolt from the blue, but for us, it was actually good news.
It meant prey was practically walking right up to us.
Thanks to that, I was able to gain an additional 1,000 WP just from hunting at night.
And this morning, a second event occurred that would surely horrify the survivors.
「There's no such thing as a free lunch.
You are a player candidate.
To enter the Tower, you must pay an entrance fee of 500 WP.
Failure means death.」
500 WP.
It was pocket change for me, but not for the others.
By simple calculation, that was the equivalent of killing 500 goblins.
'So they're not going to let anyone survive by freeloading.'
The announcement reeked of malice.
It would have been one thing if they'd told us from the first day, but now, there were only two days left.
From now on, the survivors would have to hunt monsters with deadly desperation to meet the quota.
But would it really be as easy as it sounded?
These were people who had survived until now without hunting monsters. To suddenly have to kill 500 goblins? It was impossible.
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, WP could be transferred.
If someone with a surplus shared their WP, others wouldn't have to risk their lives hunting.
But who on earth would do such a thing for a stranger?
This wasn't ordinary money. It was WP they had risked their own lives to earn.
Common sense dictated that no one would share, nor would they stand by and watch someone else share.
If one person started giving it away, it would create an atmosphere where everyone else felt pressured to do the same.
The survivors with no WP would grow more desperate as time went on.
Even if they hunted a few monsters with others during the safe daylight hours, it would be nowhere near enough to collect 500 WP.
And they'd be too scared to hunt in the middle of the night.
Before long, the camp would descend into chaos—a conflict between those trying to protect what's theirs and those trying to survive at any cost.
And as I've said before, if you kill someone, you get their WP.
It wasn't hard to predict what would happen next.
Of course, what happened to the others was none of my business.
Right now, the only things that mattered were the safety of Lucifer and Lee Serin, and farming more WP.
“Hyun-woo?”
The voice calling my name broke me out of my thoughts.
Shunk—
Coming to my senses, I immediately finished off the monster. It was the dungeon boss, a Goblin Shaman.
Tiring—
「You have defeated the master of the dungeon.」
「1,000 WP has been awarded.」
「You have acquired 'Goblin Shaman's Staff'.」
「Goblin Shaman's Staff
Classification: Item
Rank: E+
A Goblin Shaman's staff imbued with the power of nature.
Increases the power of magic.」
The reward was utterly disappointing.
Then again, it was probably greedy to expect a great reward from a mere goblin dungeon.
“Here, you use this.”
“Huh? Are you sure?”
Lee Serin's eyes widened as she took the staff.
“...Thank you. I'll treasure it.”
Watching her clutch the staff, looking deeply moved, made me feel a little embarrassed for some reason.
It's really nothing special.
*
The sixth day arrived.
And the third event began.
Tiring—
「From now on, the current WP of all player candidates will be made public.」
「Overall Rankings
1. Kang Hyun-woo - 55,372 WP
2. Lucy - 24,724 WP
3. Lee Serin - 15,370 WP
4. Yoo Ah-rin - 6,210 WP
5. Baek Jihyuk - 4,793 WP
˙
˙
˙」
“They're openly encouraging us to fight.”
That ranking board was a kind of warning to those who hadn't collected 500 WP.
It was telling them: if you want to live, kill people and steal their WP.
Even now, on the sixth day, not many people would have gathered 500 WP. And realistically, it was impossible to gather that much starting from now.
Just last night, so many monsters had appeared that the entire forest had been thrown into chaos.
No one would dare to hunt at night after seeing corpses scattered about.
In the end, there was only one option left.
“What are you going to do?”
Lucifer, who was lying on top of me, stared at me intently.
She seemed to be in a good mood, probably because she'd just had some sugar.
“The same as always. Hunt.”
Whether the people in this forest kill each other or not is none of my business.
All that matters is getting the remaining 4,500 WP to reach my goal of 100,000.
“The humans from the camp will be looking for us, you know.”
“I'm sure they will.”
They weren't idiots. They must know that the top three rankers are us. Catching even one of us would be a huge gain, so they'll be searching with bloodshot eyes.
“I'll try to persuade them with words first. If they still don't get it, I'll have to take care of them.”
Though I doubted they could be persuaded.
And my prediction was spot on.
Not long after I started the morning hunt, a group approached.
I saw some familiar faces.
“Finally found you!”
It was Lee Gyuho, the one who'd picked a pathetic fight and pissed his pants. Behind him stood a group of armed men.
Every one of them belonged to the camp's combat squad.
The way they radiated killing intent while fiddling with their weapons made it clear they weren't here to talk.
“You reek of piss. Don't come any closer.”
He actually did seem to smell a bit.
My taunt made Lee Gyuho's face twist in anger. By the way, that gay guy—no, Baek Jihyuk—was nowhere to be seen.
'Did they kill him already?'
The possibility was low.
His exclusive trait, 'Superior Leadership', was optimized for leading a group.
A guy who'd get stabbed by his own subordinate wouldn't have obtained a trait like that in the first place.
“Hoo... alright, I'll be the bigger man here. I won't say it twice. Leave the WP and the women quietly, and I'll let you live.”
The eyes of the men behind him turned to Lucifer and Lee Serin.
At their filthy, lecherous gazes, killing intent leaked out of me unconsciously.
“You little shit, when an adult is talking, you should at least—”
I gave the middle finger to Lee Gyuho, who was once again showing off his condescending attitude.
The men behind him immediately charged at me.
“So you're scared of monsters, but you think I'm a pushover?”
In that instant, a red light cut through the air, drawing a clear arc.
A shower of crimson rained down.
As the trees and bushes were stained red, a cold silence descended. Lee Gyuho stared blankly at the scene before collapsing to the ground.
Soon, the stench of piss filled the air again.
“You think I won all this playing poker?”
「Current WP: 61,419」