The Target of Revenge

"Darkness Blade!"

"Darkness Aura!"

"Darkness Charge!"

"Darkne—*Aaaaargh!*"

"What in the world...?"

Countless Lee Juns swarmed from all directions.

Even in my confusion, I kept running as a video feed captured by a drone popped up in the corner of my vision.

In the video, Choi Soyeong was hiding behind a building, her hands clasped together as if in prayer.

A moment later, another Lee Jun emerged from her body like a clone and materialized.

The clone immediately charged into the battlefield.

I had no idea what was going on, but now wasn't the time to question it. I had to bring down the multipedal walking tank right now.

"Darkness Slash!"

"Darkness Bomber!"

"Darkness Prison!"

"Mr. Juhyuk!"

"Mr. Juhyuk! You can do it!"

"Dark—*cough, cough, cough!*"

The multipedal walking tank was completely overwhelmed trying to deal with the swarming Lee Juns.

I ran right up to the front of the tank.

"CC!"

"On it!"

The last remaining drone materialized in front of me.

As I leaped and stepped onto the drone, CC propelled it upward, launching me on top of the multipedal walking tank.

Whirrrrrrrr—!

The minigun's barrels spun to face me, but it was already too late. Once we allowed this close of an approach, victory was ours.

Evading the hail of bullets with a Roll, I grabbed onto the tank's antenna module.

"CC!"

"Going in!"

Countless windows overlapped before my eyes as letters and numbers cascaded down.

Meanwhile, the multipedal walking tank spun violently to shake me off.

With my original body, I could have held on easily, but with the short limbs and weak muscles of my Goblin avatar, I had to cling on with everything I had.

I activated Strong Arm, using every ounce of its enhanced strength to hold on until the very end.

And then, finally.

Another perspective overlapped with my own vision.

It was the world as seen through the eyes of the multipedal walking tank—a sensation I had experienced once before.

A full 360-degree view, infrared heat signatures, and predictive cameras that could even map ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out the hidden areas behind buildings.

"We did it..."

"Did we win?"

"Did he hack it?"

"Really? Seriously?"

"The multipedal tank?"

"My god."

"Unbelievable."

The numerous Lee Juns, who had been getting torn to shreds second by second, lowered their swords and stared at me with wide, disbelieving eyes.

In the distance, I saw Choi Soyeong running toward me.

"Mr. Juhyuk!"

I steered the multipedal walking tank toward her.

"Eek!"

"It's fine. I'm controlling it now."

I raised my hand, and at the same time, lifted one of the tank's massive legs.

"Mr. Juhyuk... how... how can you hack a machine species?"

Choi Soyeong approached cautiously, her voice trembling.

"It's a secret."

"Even if you told me, I doubt anyone would believe it..."

"What about you? What's with all these Lee Juns?"

"Ah, it's my skill. It's called Prince on a White Horse."

"A skill?"

"Yes. I can summon as many Lee Juns as the amount of time I've spent as him. Ah, they're already disappearing. I summoned too many, so they don't last very long."

A skill again.

The tracksuit guy, Dae-nyang, and now Choi Soyeong... every time someone wields some absurd, out-of-spec power, they just call it a "skill."

"You saved my life. They made great decoys."

Choi Soyeong giggled awkwardly.

"But aren't you a B-grade? No matter how good the skill is, for a mere B-grade to..."

"My computation capacity is actually S-class."

Choi Soyeong squirmed embarrassedly.

"But to customize the Lee Jun avatar exactly to my taste, I added so many details... Just rendering the avatar itself takes an immense amount of processing power. That's why my computation grade drops to B-grade when I'm wearing it..."

That was terrifying.

I was using a Goblin avatar just to barely maintain an E-grade, while she was using an avatar so heavily customized it dragged her S-class down to B-grade.

No wonder every single pore on his face looked perfectly sculpted and glowing.

"So, what do we do now?"

"We achieved our goal. Time to go back."

"Step back."

I aimed all the tank's weapons at the sky.

"Fire."

Every ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠weapon equipped on the multipedal walking tank discharged into the empty air. A moment later, the tank was reduced to nothing but a sturdy tin can.

Only then did I let go and climb down.

"Run!"

"Wh-what?"

We ran toward Uijeongbu Station.

Looking back, I saw the weaponless tank slowly turning around.

The next day, I visited the Sprout office after being summoned by the Guild Leader.

"Guild Leader, it's Yoon Juhyuk—"

"Juhyuk-ssiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!"

Yoo Hyeyeon rushed over and hugged me.

On paper, it sounded like a heart-fluttering situation... but in reality, she had picked me up and was bouncing me up and down like a baby. I could almost hear an auditory hallucination of someone cooing, "My sweet little baby~".

"Is this for real?! First a drone, and now a multipedal walking tank?!"

"Hyeong-niiiiiiim!"

*Slam!* The door burst open, and Kang Yeolchan charged in.

Kang Yeolchan scooped up both Yoo Hyeyeon and me together, jumping up and down.

"I knew you could do it, Hyeong-nim! This is an achievement that will go down in Maetan's history!"

The two of them couldn't contain their excitement, leaving me to sway helplessly back and forth in their combined embrace.

By the time they finally came to their senses, I was already starting to feel nauseous.

"This is a massive deal. Maetan is even considering giving the player Lee Jun an exemplary employee award and promoting her to an executive position."

Yoo Hyeyeon didn't hide her delight, beaming from ear to ear.

"And for our Sprout Guild member, Yoon Juhyuk! Ohoho! The player Lee Jun mentioned that without your outstanding help, completing the Event Zone would have been impossible! Thanks to that, a reward is coming your way too!"

"Congratulations, Hyeong-nim!"

"First, a performance bonus of twenty million Maetan Points will be paid out as a baseline. They said they'd give you some physical goods too, but I don't know what it is yet. Either way, you should look forward to it!"

Twenty million!

My funds were dipping below six million, so this was a lifesaver.

With this, I could live comfortably without worrying about money for a while.

"But I never imagined it! To think we'd see a multipedal walking tank on the Internet!"

"Maetan is planning to stage a mock battle centered around players. They're recruiting players who are confident in their survival skills. The ultimate goal is to dismantle it on-site and reverse-engineer it."

I had asked Choi Soyeong to keep the fact that we fought and hacked the tank a secret.

Thanks to that, only the "discovery of an Event Zone featuring a multipedal walking tank" was reported to Maetan.

"Ohohoho. And thanks to this, I got to talk big at the Guild Leaders' meeting! Oh, the sound of that wench Han Seri grinding her teeth was music to my ears. Ohohoho."

"...Han Seri is the Guild Leader of 'Sleeping Forest'. She's an old friend of my mom's."

Kang Yeolchan kindly explained so I could follow along.

"And for our Juhyuk, I have a personal gift from me as the Guild Leader."

Yoo Hyeyeon placed a small box on the table.

Opening the lid revealed a gold ring and a silver ring.

"They are the Gold Ring and Silver Ring. Normally, you wear both. When you need it, you throw the silver ring, and a perfect clone of yourself will appear."

Yoo Hyeyeon slipped both rings onto her ring finger, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠then pulled off the silver one and tossed it across the table.

Without any warning, an exact double of Yoo Hyeyeon materialized right there.

The only difference was the gold and silver rings on their respective fingers.

"The clone basically possesses the exact same abilities as the original. It disappears after about twenty minutes, or if it gets too far from the main body. It also disappears if either the clone or the original removes their ring."

When Yoo Hyeyeon pulled off the gold ring on her finger, her clone vanished, and the silver ring fell to the floor with a metallic clink.

"Retrieving the ring is a bit of a hassle, but I'm sure you'll find a good use for it, Juhyuk."

"Thank you."

I accepted the rings.

"Congratulations, Hyeong-nim! That's an amazing item. Especially for a combat-focused player like me, it instantly doubles your fighting power."

"Do you want it then?"

When I offered them to him, Kang Yeolchan showed me his ten fingers, which were already completely covered in rings.

"No, Hyeong-nim! I don't even have any empty fingers left to put it on."

As expected of the Guild Leader's son, he was fully geared.

Ironically, Yoo Hyeyeon only wore a single silver ring on her right ring finger.

"My, why are you staring at my fingers like that... Are you planning to slip a ring on one of them...?"

Yoo Hyeyeon cupped her cheek with her hand and shyly extended her right hand.

"Actually, Guild Leader, I have a request."

"What is it? Do you want to become Yeolchan's dad or something?"

"Hyeong-nim as my dad...?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Kang Yeolchan wore a complicated expression.

I did my absolute best to ignore Yoo Hyeyeon's joke and spoke.

"I want to learn a skill."

Intra-Maetan was in a festive mood.

Maetan was distributing free food on the streets, and stalls were selling toys and snacks themed after the multipedal walking tank.

Extra editions of newspapers scattered everywhere carried hopeful headlines like "The Prelude to Humanity's Counteroffensive."

"We've done nothing but lose until now."

Since the war began fourteen years ago, humanity had experienced nothing but steady defeat. The younger generation in Maetan had never known victory. But now, at long last, they had found hope that they could defeat an enemy they once believed to be invincible.

Maetan had been mired in a gloomy atmosphere, but this event was acting as a much-needed shot of adrenaline.

I slipped out of the plaza and headed toward the Goblin's Forest.

I sat on a rock near the entrance, waiting for my contact.

A moment later, a woman with messy hair and thick glasses, her face wrapped in a cloth, approached cautiously.

It was Choi Soyeong.

With the thick glasses and the cloth covering her head, her face was almost completely unrecognizable.

"What happened to the Lee Jun avatar?"

"...The Lee Jun avatar is out of the question... People strike up a conversation everywhere I go. Even though I need to keep using it because of my skill..."

A tear rolled down Choi Soyeong's cheek.

"My peaceful life is ruined..."

"Isn't this what you wanted? You wanted attention enough to stream."

"I wanted attention, but not this much!"

Choi Soyeong vented her frustration, took off her glasses, and wiped away her tears.

"Anyway, why did you call me here today?"

I climbed down from the rock and stood in front of her.

Since I was in my Goblin avatar, the height difference forced me to look up at her.

Sensing the heavy atmosphere, Choi Soyeong fidgeted nervously.

"I have a favor to ask."

"A favor?"

"After seeing what you did this time, I want to trust you with something."

"Oh, stop it, 'what I did'... What is the favor?"

"I'm looking for someone."

"Who? ...Is it a woman?"

I nodded.

"Alright. What's her name? Age? Give me her basic profile."

I spoke the name I'd kept in my heart.

"Her name is Choi Minseol. Currently thirty-eight years old. Former soldier, final rank of Colonel, and Commander of the Shushine Unit."

Choi Soyeong tapped the air.

She was likely taking notes on a console only she could see.

"Thirty-eight... nine years older than me. What's your relationship with her? Family? Friend? Or... a lover?"

I fell into a brief silence.

I couldn't think of a single word to describe the relationship between her and me.

After a short contemplation, I spoke.

"She is the target of my revenge."