Chapter 12
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Should I Just Kill Him?
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Should I just kill him?
“Alright, boys, get ready!”
“Yes, boss!”
“There’s a ton of entrances, so we gotta block ’em off tight.”
Lee Chun-bae split his men into four teams of five and moved to surround the school.
Schools had entrances everywhere by nature. If they all rushed in through one spot, they risked letting monsters slip away.
“First floor clear!”
“Clear!”
No matter how rushed they were, they had to check every floor meticulously before moving up.
The area around the school was packed with apartment complexes. If even one monster got out, who knew how many civilians would die.
Rising civilian casualties would tank the guild’s reputation, no question.
‘Can’t have that. Not after all the work I put into building this guild.’
A drop in rep could mean losing regional management rights to another guild. That was absolutely off the table.
He didn’t know who was up on the rooftop fighting, but he couldn’t half-ass the search just to save one person.
Right then, traces that looked like a survivor’s handiwork turned up.
“We’ve got goblin corpses here. Fresh kills, looks like. Wounds suggest they were bashed in with some kind of blunt weapon.”
“Three goblins taken down solo? Definitely an Awakener.”
If the survivor was an Awakener, that eased his mind.
From the looks of it, someone who could handle three goblins alone was upper-mid tier among 1-star Hunters.
Even if they were up against a variant right now, they could hold out just fine.
‘Well, if they can’t, nothing I can do about it.’
Lee Chun-bae climbed the stairs with a bored expression.
* * *
Blood was gushing out like a fountain, cold sweat drenched my body, and a sudden chill hit me. All the blood in me was draining through the wound.
Of course, I had no strength left to hold a weapon. Hell, I didn’t even have one anymore, and the thought of fighting was the last thing on my mind.
‘Damn it, am I really gonna die here?’
Small mercy: I’d trashed one of the hobgoblin’s legs. It was dragging the limb along as it moved.
Meanwhile, I clutched my injured arm and backed away step by step. Pain kept me from moving fast, too.
‘Damn, what’s with this bleeding effect? Not like I’m Darius or anything. Ugh, heavy bleeding’s no good... I need a hospital, stat.’
When the hell were the Hunters getting here? I swear I saw them arrive earlier.
Clang!
Lost in the retreat, my back hit a chain-link fence. Dodging the hobgoblin had backed me into a dead end without me realizing.
I’d forgotten for a second. These things were pros at herding prey.
‘This is it, huh...’
Illusion didn’t work. Stealth didn’t either. No place left to run. No weapons. Every card played out.
Crisis. This time, I was really in deep shit. Massive death was limping toward me on one leg.
“Guh!”
The moment death sank in, pain flared in the back of my left hand again. Damn Black Flame Dragon being a pain.
But it snapped me out of my daze. And I realized my injury wasn’t as bad as it felt.
Well, it was serious, but not instantly fatal.
‘Right. Last time Kim Cheol-min cracked my ribs and I still walked to the hospital myself. I can’t go down from this. You think I gritted my teeth through all that hell just to die like some punk?’
A shadow fell over my feet. The hobgoblin was right on me now.
But I wasn’t afraid of it anymore.
Feeling powerless against overwhelming strength? Old hat. I’d lived with this crap for three straight years.
The difference? The last three years, I’d just kept my head down waiting for time to pass. From now on, I wasn’t gonna play the fool and take it lying down.
‘Fuck it, do or die.’
I stared at the hobgoblin right in my face and asked,
“Hey, you know what’s the most bullshit thing in Dark Seoul?”
“Gruk!?”
The hobgoblin blinked in confusion. Yeah, no reason a monster would know what Dark Seoul is.
Dark Seoul: that brutal action game with insane difficulty. The most bullshit part...
“Kra-rak!”
“Ah, fuck, I wasn’t done talking.”
The hobgoblin’s machete cleaved my body in half. Not satisfied, it kept hacking down.
“Kra! Krararak!”
Pissed about its knee, it shredded the corpse to bits.
‘Not even realizing it’s an illusion.’
While it flailed at the fake, I snuck around behind it.
Nosebleed from overusing illusion, but I held out for a solid shot. And finally, it was ready.
“Hey! Up ahead’s ‘hell.’”
“Gruk!?”
I dropped the illusion, and where my “corpse” had been, a wrecked chain-link fence appeared. The hobgoblin whipped around in confusion, and I charged like I’d been waiting.
“Take this! Pikachu—Body Slam!”
Thud!
Full-power body slam sent the hobgoblin staggering back. It tried to steady itself, but with one knee smashed, no dice.
It kept getting pushed until suddenly it was airborne.
“Krak!?”
No fence to catch its fall.
“Krarak!”
Hobgoblin flailed in the air before free-falling straight to the asphalt below.
That’s right. This. The most bullshit thing in Dark Seoul: getting knocked off a cliff by an enemy or trap.
Death by fall.
“Die right here, you fucking bastard.”
I muttered that as I collapsed on the rooftop. No need to check—the level-up message confirmed the hobgoblin was toast.
[Level Up!]
[Cha In-hyeok. Lv 7. (96.8%)] [Mana 3/7]
[Strength 20, Agility 20, Vitality 15, Intelligence 20]
[Unallocated Stat Points: 8]
“Phew. Level-ups and all that jazz, but I’m gonna bleed out at this rate.”
[Vitality increases natural healing rate.]
“What? I thought Vitality was just for stamina and junk.”
[Vitality boosts endurance, recovery power, and physical resistance.]
Now I saw: Vitality wasn’t just endurance. It was a survival stat through and through.
Higher Vitality meant less fatigue, better resistance so you took less damage, and faster recovery.
If mine had been higher, that gash wouldn’t have gone bone-deep in the first place, and improved recovery would’ve closed it up on its own.
Assuming sky-high Vitality, anyway.
“Tell me that shit sooner.”
[System designed to provide only situationally appropriate advice. Dumping all built-in knowledge could take a full year of nonstop explanation.]
“Shut up. I hate you anyway.”
Just venting, and I get snark back. Acts just like a dungeon should.
Sure, the advice was spot-on and helpful, but it pissed me off anyway.
“Oh, so that bronze dagger’s attack power of 8 means... like, can’t hurt targets with 8+ physical resistance...?”
[Close. Damage is roughly weapon attack power plus Strength. Varies by force applied each time, so not a flat rule.]
So my earlier hit was dagger’s 8 + my 20 Strength = 28 damage.
Meaning a monster with 28+ Vitality might shrug it off?
“Ugh... dizzy.”
[Recommend returning to the dungeon. Ambient mana inside enhances the Master’s natural healing. Demonkin recover several times faster in mana-rich environments.]
“Nah. Healers’ll show up soon. I’ll get fixed then.”
[Not recommended. Demonkin cannot be healed by holy magic. Wounds may worsen instead.]
“What?”
Healing magic making it worse? If Hunters saw that, what’d they think?
Some rare constitution holy magic doesn’t work on? Or that I’m hiding something shady?
‘No need to risk it. Lesson learned.’
Blindly charging into unknowns is dangerous.
‘Dungeon it is.’
I headed downstairs looking for the door. Passed the unconscious Kim Cheol-min midway but ignored him.
I’d done my part. Live or die, that was on him now.
* * *
“Gate!”
“Two teams stay back on watch. Rest of you, rooftop!”
Lee Chun-bae split the Hunters. Goblins meant probably just a 1-star gate, but variants were possible.
Variants counted as 1.5-star. Needed 2-star Hunters to handle.
‘Two 2-stars for safety, though.’
Bit overkill, but he beefed up the watch: two 2-stars and eight 1-stars.
More than enough to squash any variants or goblins.
“Alright, we’re heading to the roof!”
He’d just stepped into the fourth-floor hall when a black shadow whooshed past the window.
Fell straight down from above. Too fast for details, but gray skin was clear.
“W-What the hell?”
“Hobgoblin?”
Lee Chun-bae stuck his head out the window. Sure enough, a hobgoblin corpse sprawled below.
Head smashed on landscaping rocks—blood and brains splattered everywhere.
“It’s dead.”
Looked up, saw shredded fence dangling precariously. He bolted to the roof.
Creeeak—
“Hm?”
Roof had no one intact. One guy dead with a broken neck, the other bleeding out from a severed arm.
Lee Chun-bae rushed to the wounded one and dumped a potion on him. Wound sealed fast, bleeding stopped. Miracle modern medicine couldn’t touch.
“Forcing a potion on some rookie... Still, if this kid took down the hobgoblin, worth the investment.”
Too late to reattach the arm, though. Needed a 3-star healer for that.
“But... did this punk really kill a hobgoblin? In this state?”
No way he could fight. But he was the only survivor around.
Lee Chun-bae narrowed his eyes, scanning the roof. Then a creak from a door opening.
“What’s that? Another exit? Check it.”
“Just a small tool shed, boss?”
“Yeah?”
Lee Chun-bae chuckled at his own jumpiness.
But questions lingered. So who killed the hobgoblin? This kid for real?
‘Well, he wakes up, we’ll know everything.’
* * *
“Ugh! Hurts like hell, gonna croak.”
“Master. Are you alright?”
Moemoe Kyun asked with a worried face. Without me around, she’d slipped into comfy clothes again. Nurse outfit would’ve been perfect right now.
“If Master wishes.”
She appeared in a pure white nurse uniform, so stunning it blanked out the pain for a sec. Nurse outfits were anesthesia and painkillers in physical form.
“Lost too much blood, huh. Keep having these dumb thoughts.”
I pulled up the Status Window and dumped all remaining points into Vitality.
Couldn’t get healer treatment, couldn’t hit a hospital yet. Boost self-healing for now.
[Cha In-hyeok. Lv 7. (96.8%)] [Mana 3/7]
[Strength 20, Agility 20, Vitality 23, Intelligence 20]
[Dungeon bonus active. All stats +3%.]
“What? A measly 3 percent!?”
[Yes. Plus weighting from remaining mana.]
“Didn’t you say healing multiplies several times?”
[Yes. Precisely 0.03 times higher.]
Should I just kill him?