The Golden Goblin
Choi Seoyeon watched the messages scroll up before her eyes, then turned her gaze back to her uncle.
She'd known he was strong.
He had to be — no ordinary man could tear the Blood Bird Guild apart single-handedly.
But this? This was something else entirely.
He'd caught a goblin with nothing but a thrown pebble, without moving a single step from where he stood. And to make it worse, he was now brazenly taunting her with that you saw that, didn't you? face.
"Nope, doesn't count. Doesn't count! How am I supposed to copy that?"
"Shouldn't you just be checking whether I'm actually skilled? You think I'd say anything that could hurt you?"
"... W-well, no, but still."
"Exactly. So Seoyeon, why don't you practice with your uncle today? You want to get stronger, don't you?"
W-wait, this isn't how it was supposed to go?
Choi Seoyeon was thoroughly flustered. This was not the plan.
The plan had been to teach her uncle what she knew about gates, nag him a little, keep things light and easygoing. She'd bask in his praise, then show off to the viewers who always worried about her — look, I have an uncle like this now! That was the scenario Choi Seoyeon had written for today.
But what was actually unfolding had veered completely off script.
"No. Your blade angle is too high. With your build, cutting upward from below the waist is far more efficient."
"What? But this way feels more natural to me."
"If it's inefficient, you change it. You want to live comfortably, take a blade to the throat, and then still insist you're fine because it felt comfortable?"
Choi Seoyeon wasn't teaching her uncle — her uncle was teaching her.
And he was driving her into the ground.
"Again. This time your front foot drifted too far forward. Think before you move."
Why does everything he say sound SO infuriating?!
She was pouring out grievances in her head, but she didn't dare let a single one past her lips. Because strangely enough, whenever she did as her uncle instructed, her movements genuinely improved.
And honestly, that was the most annoying part of all.
Then again, if she really wanted to be petty about it, the viewers' reactions scrolling past might have been even more infuriating. Her audience — the ones who always took her side — had at some point quietly become her uncle's cheering section.
Oh, come ON!
"Again. This time, keep your weight on the balls of your feet—"
"I DID that!"
"Last time your heel was digging in. Again."
Choi Seoyeon could only grit her teeth at her uncle's total lack of concessions or courtesy and keep swinging her sword.
"AHHH! I said NO!"
Seoyeon's cries of injustice echoed through the D-rank gate.
"So this is the place?"
Meanwhile, outside an apartment complex in Guro-gu, a woman stood wrapped in a long black coat.
With beauty that turned heads wherever she went, she entered the complex at a measured pace. It went without saying that her appearance drew attention — among the countless Awakened in the country, she was by far the most popular.
Striking looks, an unimpeachably upright character, and an appearance that was always immaculate — this woman was Kang Iseol, Guild Master of White Night.
"I have to win them over, no matter what. Kang Iseol."
Her expression, however, was anything but bright.
Being the most popular Awakened in South Korea didn't shield her from everything. If anything, it was precisely her uncompromising integrity that had the other guilds of Yeongdeungpo grumbling about White Night's policies.
And that wasn't all. The neighboring guild alliance was squeezing White Night over a dozen different interests, and Kang Iseol desperately needed someone in her corner.
Until a few days ago, the situation had looked utterly bleak — the Blood Bird Guild of Guro had been one of the alliances pressuring her.
But then came word that Blood Bird had collapsed, and someone new had claimed its territory. Confirming that rumor wasn't difficult. Government officials were forever tiptoeing around the guilds, and no matter how besieged White Night might be, it remained the unquestioned power of its district.
Thanks to that, Kang Iseol had learned that the one who had taken Guro from the Blood Bird Guild was a girl of eighteen named Choi Seoyeon.
It did seem implausible — how could a young girl pull off something like that? But an Awakened's power had never had anything to do with age. Once an S-rank trait blossomed, an Awakened could grow as strong as they pleased.
After all, Seo Jinwoo — the Iron Wall who now ruled Gangnam with the Xuanwu Guild — was rumored to be a teenager himself.
The real problem was that White Night was almost certainly not the only one to have gotten hold of that information.
I don't know what kind of person she is, but I hope we can at least talk.
Curious about Choi Seoyeon, the girl who had newly claimed Guro, Kang Iseol made her way carefully up the apartment stairs. Why the person who ruled a whole district would live in such a shabby building she couldn't guess — but that was something to confirm in person.
She reached the fourth floor not long after.
But just short of the landing, she had no choice but to suppress her breath and conceal her presence entirely.
... What are they?
Someone had beaten her to apartment 401.
Three someones, no less. All in black, caps pulled low, one of them fiddling with something at the door while the other two scanned both ends of the corridor like sentries. If Kang Iseol hadn't possessed a stealth-type skill, she would have been spotted long before now.
Holding her breath, she listened in on their conversation.
"Hurry it up. We grab the kid inside, and the game's over."
"One sec, the lock's an old model, so—"
"Old means easier. Or just rip the thing off. Don't know why she went into a D-rank dungeon, but there's no telling when she'll be back."
"Almost got it."
Kang Iseol's eyes narrowed.
The kid.
According to her intel, Choi Seoyeon had a ten-year-old little brother. Their goal was obvious — take the boy hostage and squeeze any number of demands out of Choi Seoyeon. It was exactly the sort of thing that alliance had been up to lately.
I have to stop them.
She closed in on the men slowly. If she could capture them, she'd owe Choi Seoyeon a favor — but more than that, she could not simply stand by and watch a family be taken hostage. And if Choi Seoyeon capitulated to that alliance, there was no denying White Night would not last much longer either.
Kang Iseol crept forward, ready to strike. The men who had come to Choi Seoyeon's home weren't especially skilled, and fortunately, even at close range none of them sensed her.
It was only natural, really. The reason a woman so young could become Guild Master of White Night and rule Yeongdeungpo owed much to her stealth ability.
Drawing up behind them, she quietly readied her weapon.
"Got it!"
The man wrestling with the door handle shouted — and in that instant, a strange tone rang out.
Ziiing—.
An odd sound seemed to reverberate through Kang Iseol's skull, and her world spun.
"Wh-what is this? Is this a skill?"
"Did you do something to the door?"
"No! I just touched the—"
Kang Iseol wasn't the only one thrown into confusion. The suspicious men loitering at the door couldn't hide their alarm either.
Through it all, she forced herself to stay as calm as possible, closing her eyes and trying to read the situation. Her dysfunctional vision was doing nothing but clouding her instincts — of that much she was certain.
It was definitely not a skill. If an Awakened skill had been used, she should have felt the caster's aura. But she detected no such energy anywhere nearby.
If anything, this felt closer to space itself having shifted.
Like stepping through a gate.
"... An illusion?"
But when Kang Iseol opened her eyes again, the words slipped out of her before she could stop them.
Nothing remained around her — and the world was drenched in blood, from horizon to horizon.
"HYAAAAH!"
With a battle cry, Seoyeon ran her sword straight through the goblin's heart. Jeokah's blade drank in the creature's green blood before flicking it away in one smooth motion.
"Hah... hah... I can't do any more. Just kill me."
Slumped on the ground, Seoyeon panted hard as she spoke. Sweat had soaked her from head to toe, and the hand gripping her sword trembled faintly.
It was understandable. Barely an hour had passed, but learning precise form turned out to be far more grueling than she'd expected.
"I was planning to stop there anyway."
So I told her. Her skill still wasn't much to look at, but for a first day, I judged the results not half bad.
"You— seriously! Everything you say comes out so infuriating! I thought I was actually going to die!"
"You won't. I'm going to make sure of it."
I said it with a smile, and to my relief, her talent wasn't bad.
"While you rest, breathe the way I showed you."
"What? Now you're teaching me how to BREATHE?"
I glanced at the device floating above Seoyeon's head, then sent my voice straight into her mind. Basic or not, the Blood Heaven cultivation method was not something to be chattering about on a livestream.
[Listen carefully.]
"Wh-what?"
Startled by the sudden voice in her head, Seoyeon tilted her head — then quickly realized it was me and stared up at me wide-eyed.
[Inhale slowly. Long and deep, until I give the signal. Feel it sinking all the way into your lower belly. Now — exhale, slowly, as slowly as you possibly can.]
Seoyeon soon began following my instructions, practicing the breathing technique step by step. Watching her, one thing was clear: her desire to grow stronger was fierce, even if she'd never say so herself. And apparently, as someone had said in chat, she was a surprisingly obedient type.
I was giving the chat window floating before Seoyeon a passing glance when I felt it — something odd.
Hm?
I turned my gaze toward the presence I felt overhead, and there it was: a goblin, hefting an enormous sack, emerging from the trees and peering down at Seoyeon.
"Huh?"
Seoyeon lifted her head, following my line of sight, and spotted it too.
"A g-golden goblin?!"
The moment the words burst from her mouth, it was obvious why — the goblin in the trees glowed gold all over its body, unlike anything ordinary.
I had no idea what it was, but the answer came from the people watching her stream before Seoyeon herself could offer one.
I looked away from the chat, picked up a nearby pebble, and flung it at the creature.
Ting.
The stone streaked toward the goblin — and I watched it bounce off an invisible barrier just shy of its body.
"Kirik—."
Up in the tree, the golden goblin laughed, looking thoroughly amused.
I stared at the thing and slowly began to circulate my inner energy. It was the supreme pinnacle of lightness skill, known as Void-Treading — the art of walking upon empty air.
In an instant I shot up to where the goblin perched, and staring down into its startled, bulging eyes, I said:
"Gotcha."