The Secret of Strength
I quickly covered her mouth again and growled.
"Do you want to die?! I told you to shut up!"
"Mmph! Mmmph! Mmph!"
> Based on the syllables and pitch variations of her voice, she is saying: 'Let me go, you rapist!'
"Shut up!"
"Mmph! Mmm-mmph! Mmmph!"
> She says: 'Please don't do this. I have someone I love.'
"I was telling you to shut up!"
"Mmmph! Mmmph!"
> She says: 'You can have my body, but you will never have my heart...'
"Dammit."
After a brief struggle, I managed to tie the woman to a chair.
She seemed to have finally calmed down, sitting with her head bowed, trembling. Occasionally, she stole glances at me as I searched her apartment, but she quickly looked away whenever our eyes met.
"Nothing special here."
> There are a lot of comic books published before the war. Oh, I know this one! It's a legendary romance manga that even got an anime adaptation. It's about the son of a lord in the Provence region who adopts a peasant's daughter, and later, the lord and his son end up in a love triangle over her...
"Shut up."
"Hic!"
The woman let out a sudden hiccup, thinking I was talking to her.
There really wasn't much in the house.
I searched for any information that could help trace her identity, but there was nothing that could pinpoint who she was.
Comic books and novels. Hand-printed manga from after the war stood out. They were hard to find, but not particularly valuable.
Did she only receive verbal instructions?
On the battlefield, to prevent information from leaking to the AI, we used messengers who memorized short messages and delivered them in person.
If she was also a soldier, there was a high probability she was using the same method now.
I slammed my combat knife into the armrest of the chair where her arms were bound.
"Hieek!"
I tilted the blade slightly, angling the edge toward her fingers.
With just a little force, three of her fingers would be cleanly severed.
"I don't do petty things like cutting them off one by one. Just know that you won't get many chances."
The woman nodded, her face drenched in tears.
I removed the gag from her mouth and asked quietly, "Speak. Why were you tracking me?"
"W-Who... who are you, mister?"
Is she acting?
I changed the question.
"Let me ask again. Why were you tracking the Goblin?"
"How do you know about that?!"
Her eyes went wide and round.
...
Something was off.
> Since she didn't directly interfere with the hacking but used delaying tactics instead, she might not know we noticed.
No, that wasn't what was off...
What was with this amateurish reaction?
Is she really a Wizard?
I tilted the combat knife further and growled, "Just answer the question!"
"Hieek!"
She closed her eyes and turned her head away.
After trembling for a moment, she peeked open one eye, confirmed her fingers were still attached, and let out a sigh of relief.
Looking at her sweat, tears, and raw reactions, there was no way this was an act.
"I-I wanted to know... the secret to your strength..."
"The secret to my strength?"
"Y-Yes... With a low-tier avatar like a Goblin, you... you dodged all of my attacks... and even beat me... I wanted to know what kind of trick you used... and if you were... cheating..."
"Your attacks?"
"Y-Yes..."
She looked straight at me, slowly nodding her head.
"I am Lee Jun."
Who the hell is Lee Jun?
CC answered the question rising in my mind.
> That's him. Dark Warrior Lee Jun, mister.
The name "Dark Warrior" brought a single figure to mind.
A white-haired bishounen clad in black, carrying a massive greatsword.
> The B-Rank Player who always challenges you and gets his ass kicked.
"...I'll have to verify that."
"Huh?"
I pulled out a USB cable, connected one end to my NexHub, and prepared to plug the other end into hers.
We had agreed beforehand that if my interrogation failed, CC would directly hack her NexHub to extract the information.
The interrogation hadn't exactly failed, but I still needed confirmation.
"H-Hieek! W-Wait a minute!"
She tilted her head back, trying to hide her NexHub.
I grabbed her chin to hold her face still. Her cheeks squished under my fingers, making her lips pout.
"Stay still!"
"T-This... this is my f-first time doing a direct connection with a man who isn't family... hehe..."
She blushed furiously and gave a shy laugh.
CC let out a soft exclamation.
> Wow.
Physically connecting NexHubs between people was called a direct connection.
Living in Maetan, it was something people did dozens, if not hundreds of times. No one attached any special meaning to it.
"I-I'm ready now. I've prepared myself."
She bowed her head. When I brushed her hair aside to clear her neck, she let out a bizarre, high-pitched squeal.
As soon as I plugged in the USB, CC began her search.
> Uh... let's see... Her name is Choi Soyeong, age 29... Checking her NexHub data... Yep, it's her. Dark Warrior. Wow... it seems she's telling the truth. There's absolutely no information about who you are, or about me. It's purely data on the Goblin's combat patterns and... ooh... manga... novels... anime... Whoa, she's watched a lot of the same stuff I have. Her tastes are a bit biased, but she has great taste in picking titles!
Even CC couldn't find any ulterior motive behind her tracking me.
Did she really track the Goblin, and not me?
"...So you really were tracking the Goblin?"
"Y-Yes..."
"Why?"
"Because he's inexplicably strong..."
Soyeong's eyes sparkled as she spoke.
The terror she had shown just moments ago was completely gone.
"That Goblin is ridiculously strong. He dodges all my attacks, never misses an opening, and above all, his spacing is perfect. There's no way someone with that kind of skill would be doing low-computation NPC work. So I thought, Ah, this person is hiding something. I got curious about the secret to that strength, so I looked for you... I couldn't find anything in the end, but... now I know. Mister... you're that Goblin, aren't you?"
Soyeong's eyes were filled with pure admiration.
I sheathed my combat knife and slowly stood up, speaking to CC in my mind.
Is my identity safe?
> Yes, she seems purely fascinated by the Goblin.
"Y-Yes! Absolutely! I understand now. Mister, you're hiding your true power, aren't you? I realized it when you searched my NexHub just now. That speed, that precision, searching all my hidden folders in an instant... It's impossible to explain unless you have an SS-class computation grade! Mister, you're pretending to be a low-rank player, right? Am I right?"
Soyeong looked at me with absolute conviction.
It seemed she thought CC's rapid search of her NexHub was my own doing.
CC spoke up.
> Just play along here.
When I hesitated, she urged me again.
> Trust me. I've seen this kind of situation plenty of times. Put your hand on her shoulder and say, 'I cannot answer that.' Just keep it short.
Following CC's instructions, I placed my hand on her shoulder.
I could feel her shoulder trembling. It was definitely a different kind of trembling than before—not from fear.
"I cannot answer that."
"I knew it...! It's okay. I understand. Of course, there's always a reason to hide one's strength... and yet, choosing the words 'cannot answer' to leave room for interpretation... Ah, no, it's fine. I won't pry any further."
> There we go. This girl will keep your secret. I saw it when I searched her NexHub—she's the granddaughter of a high-ranking Maetan official. If we kill her, it'll likely trigger a massive investigation, so it's best to leave her be.
CC guaranteed that Choi Soyeong would never speak a word.
Though I had my doubts, if she was indeed the granddaughter of a high-ranking official, there was no need to stir up trouble.
I wasn't a professional assassin. I didn't know when or how I might leave a trace.
I quietly muttered my conclusion.
"So I can't kill her..."
"Gasp..."
Soyeong gasped, her face flushing red.
I didn't know why, but she seemed to get overly excited at every single word I said.
I untied her ropes and said, "Do not follow me anymore. Do not pick fights with the Goblin either. Naturally, everything that happened here never happened. Understood?"
Nod, nod.
Soyeong nodded her head vigorously.
I tapped her NexHub and continued, "I know everything about you. If you approach me again..."
"Everything about me... Y-Yes! I will definitely keep this a secret!"
I slowly walked toward the door.
Soyeong sat in her chair, hands tightly clasped, watching me.
Just then, CC spoke.
> Mister, don't go through the door. Go out through the window. You can do that, right?
An incomprehensible instruction.
> The rooftop is right above you, so jump out the window and leap up to the roof. You might have questions, but just do as I say. Absolutely!
It was rare for CC to insist so strongly.
I turned away from the front door and headed toward the window.
I opened it and checked to make sure no one was outside.
Taking one last look at the woman, I threw myself out the window.
Flutter!
My worn-out jacket caught on something, tearing off and drifting away on the wind.
Scaling the wall, I looked down to see Soyeong poking her head out the window, staring intently at the old jacket as it drifted into the distance.
"I have decided to give up on the Goblin. From now on, I will focus on my main job as a Player."
Intra-Maetan, break room.
On the massive monitor mounted on the wall, Dark Warrior Lee Jun was broadcasting his graduation stream to his fans.
Watching the broadcast, Handaxe Goblin Senior spoke up.
"I wondered why that guy hadn't been around lately. Guess getting beaten by our rookie took a toll on his pride... He's even retiring..."
"Listen closely. He's only retiring as a streamer, he said he's focusing on being a Player. That's probably better for him anyway. Hey, rookie, it's not your fault, so don't sweat it."
Longsword Goblin Senior spoke up, trying to reassure me.
I nodded and focused on the screen.
Just then, a message window popped up in front of my eyes.
Sender: Yoo Hyeyeon
As I opened the window and read the message, the corners of my mouth twitched upward.
If I hadn't been wearing my Goblin avatar, everyone would have looked at me like I was a freak.
"Hey, rookie! Time for work!"
"Alright, shall we go die in style today?"
I followed the two seniors out the break room door.
As we stepped through, the dry, sterile interior of the break room dissolved, replaced by the lush, towering trees of the Goblin's Forest.
And standing right in the middle of it were two people.
"Oh, you're finally here? Did you see my message?"
"Hyeong-nim! It's been a while!"
She had just sent the message, but she was already here. Talk about impatient.
Yoo Hyeyeon and Kang Yeolchan.
They were waiting for me in the Goblin's Forest.