Chapter 8: Jackpot
"What the hell is this?"
I stared blankly at the object in my hand. It was definitely a sturdy steel pipe, as thick as a person's forearm, just rolling around in the junkyard yard. But the end that had smashed into the goblin's crown was grotesquely crumpled like molten candy that couldn't withstand the impact from moments ago. Even the grip part was deeply indented in the exact shape of my fist.
The steel had collapsed under the density of my grip strength and mana.
"Uh... hyung. I didn't mean to rip it apart on purpose."
"What the...?"
Kim Taesoo suddenly gaped, freezing in place.
"...Hold on."
His voice began to tremble faintly.
"Hey, Daesung."
"Yeah."
"You just smashed that goblin's head with a mana-infused steel pipe, right?"
"Yeah, you told me to do exactly that. Hit it like I was trying to burst it open."
"Does that mean the goblin actually evaporates?"
His eyes swirled with thick shock and disbelief. Even for the lowest-grade monster like a goblin, a normal blunt strike might tear off some flesh, but the whole body exploding was unheard of.
"You... you really got combat certification today, right? Weren't you barely scraping by the cutoff?"
"Yeah, that's right."
To my dry response, Kim Taesoo let out an incredulous chuckle.
"Damn. Man, hyung feels so left out. You hiding something from me?"
A sharp interrogation. Kim Taesoo shook his head in a daze, staring at me. Panicking or making lame excuses here would just fuel suspicion. I tossed the crumpled pipe to the ground with a thud and fired back in a perfectly dry, pragmatic tone.
"Hiding what? If you're that suspicious, we can disband the party right here and you can head home. Oh, but you'll have to pay the full repair fee for your weapon in cash on the spot."
"...Re, repair fee?"
"Yeah, repair fee."
"Ah, no, of course. Goblins can burst. Their skin must be thin or something."
"Right?"
"Exactly! I was wondering when that bastard would pop. Haha!"
With an awkward fake laugh, Kim Taesoo hurriedly turned toward the goblin remains. A veteran's perfect, capitalistic compromise.
I rummaged through the blood-soaked dirt and picked up a thumb-sized E-rank mana stone gleaming iridescently, stashing it in my inventory. I'd fully grasped the sensation from that last hit.
This insane destructive power... it's all thanks to the Dragon Heart.
I could vividly feel the hot pulse near my heart surging through my veins to every corner of my body.
"Kieek!"
"Grrrruk!"
Maybe drawn by the thick stench of the exploded goblin's blood. A pack of over a dozen goblins burst through the gray mist. And behind them lumbered two D-rank hobgoblins, each three times the size of a regular goblin, wielding massive clubs.
Kim Taesoo's face stiffened.
"We'll talk later. Hey, Daesung, that's dangerous! Fall back for now...!"
He yelled in panic, but I kicked off the ground without hesitation. I don't know why. Those hideous, hulking monsters just looked like utter pushovers to me.
Boom! The dirt cracked like a spiderweb as my foot slammed down.
"Kiik?!"
The lead goblin panicked at my sudden appearance and swung its rusty dagger. Slow. Unbelievably slow. The dagger's arc through the air looked like it was in slow motion to my eyes.
I lightly swung the crumpled pipe at its solar plexus.
Splat! The goblin's body flew back like it'd been hit by a cannonball, smashing into a thick tree trunk.
"Hey!! Daesung!!"
Kim Taesoo's urgent shout came from behind, but I didn't stop. Hunting these monsters only made the Dragon Heart in my body resonate joyfully, speeding up my mana's circulation.
I tossed the fully broken pipe aside without regret and grabbed a crude goblin longsword from the ground instead. Injecting mana into the blade, the dull scrap metal began emanating sharp blue cutting power.
Slice! No need to get covered in blood. The mana-honed edge cleaved the goblin's thick neck like soft tofu.
It took barely 15 seconds to slit the throats of the dozen or so.
"Kyaaak!"
Then, enraged by their deaths, a hobgoblin raised its massive club overhead and brought it smashing down. This time, I dodged. Twisting my body slightly to deflect the club, I kicked the exposed brute's thick knee joint.
Crack! Thicker than a log, the goblin's leg bone snapped like a twig, sending it crumpling.
I grabbed its massive head with both hands and slammed it straight into the ground.
Spluuurt! A massive crater formed with the violent impact. The goblin's head was pulverized down to its spine, embedded in the earth. Instant death without even a death rattle.
"......"
Dead silence fell inside the gate. I wiped the blood from my mouth with the back of my hand and turned around. Kim Taesoo stared at me with a completely dumbfounded expression.
"What... are you?"
"What else? Junkyard owner."
Clearing the gate after that was a breeze. An E-rank gate that would take a standard five-man party at least two hours? We swept it clean and exited the control line in just over 40 minutes.
True to his word, Kim Taesoo transferred today's mana stones into my bag.
"Hey, Daesung. If you're really hiding this strength, keep it hidden from now on. If word gets out sloppily, the Association or guild scouts will hound you."
"Am I that strong?"
"Yeah, man. Even in my prime, I couldn't crush a hobgoblin's skull barehanded like you. What... some circumstances you can't talk about?"
I lied shamelessly.
"Yeah."
"Got it. I won't say a word. Don't worry, hyung's lips are sealed today."
He dropped me off in front of the junkyard and drove off in his beat-up van. I pulled down the shutter and went inside.
The junkyard fell silent. I stripped off my blood- and dirt-caked leather jacket and sank deep into the workbench chair.
"Hoo......"
Closing my eyes, I checked my body's condition. Instead of fatigue, a strange sense of fullness and vitality swirled through me.
Is this really okay? I muttered while clenching and unclenching my fist experimentally.
Honestly, when I drank that potion from the Multidimensional Secondhand Market and it said a Dragon Heart had formed, I'd been half-doubting. Even with the stat screen numbers up, I'd lived my whole life as a non-combat repairman—could I really use it in real fights?
But after today's action, it hit me bone-deep.
I'm actually pretty damn strong now, aren't I?
Even with a system that duplicates money, without power I'd have fretted about it getting stolen. Now, perfect force to protect that capital was in my hands too. A thick grin spread across my face.
Kuhuhuhuhu.
Then—
Ding!
My smartphone vibrated with a notification from my pocket. I checked the time: exactly 9 PM.
"Ah, right."
I straightened up and hurriedly unlocked the screen. The blind auction for the elementary school lab discard flask I'd listed on the Multidimensional Secondhand Market had just ended.
Who got it? The Royal Alchemist who'd been clinging and whining to me from the start? Or the Elder of the World Tree Forest who'd thrown in that preemptive bid last time?
I scrolled down slowly, tense with anticipation.
◈ Awarded automatically to the highest bidder.
"Oh ho?"
The thrill of a blind auction was exactly this. No one knows who bid what, driving the flask-obsessed maniacs to dump insane amounts at the last second.
I swallowed dryly and eyed the most crucial line: the final bid price.
The moment I saw the number, I couldn't believe my eyes.
"...Fifteen million?"
A gasp escaped me. No matter how I rubbed my eyes and recounted, the zeros didn't shrink.
Fifteen million points. Equivalent to 1,500 D-rank mana stones. In Earth money, roughly 1.5 billion won—an astronomical sum no normal person could touch in a lifetime.
"??? For real ???"
A worthless glass flask shoved in the corner of my workshop had turned into the price of a house. The ultimate jackpot.