Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Goblin Red Light, Green Light (2)
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Of the 29 people currently in the staff room, there were 15 boys and 14 girls.
"Ugh......"
"What do we do?"
The boys took a step back, glancing nervously at the girls.
They had no choice but to believe the goblin's words about his particular fondness for women.
Dokgo Hyun decided to observe for the time being.
Stalling for time was beneficial for everyone.
The 14 girls exchanged grim looks.
"25 seconds... 24 seconds... 23 seconds......"
The goblin counted leisurely.
"L-Let's do rock-paper-scissors."
The delinquent girl stepped forward.
"Honestly, it's better than all of us dying, right? Hurry up and get ready."
"Um... that's kind of..."
A girl wearing a name tag that read Kim Seo-ah tried to voice her opposition.
"We have no choice. One of us has to sacrifice to buy even a minute."
"......Are you serious?"
"Yeah. Dead serious."
The delinquent girl swept back her dyed-yellow hair.
True to form as a delinquent's girlfriend, she seemed utterly accustomed to sacrificing the weak.
But Kim Seo-ah appeared to think differently.
"Th-that's like us offering up one of our own as a sacrifice! What's the difference from us killing each other?!"
Kim Seo-ah raised her voice, condemning the delinquent girl.
At that moment.
"If you don't play, you lose!"
The delinquent girl quickly struck a rock-paper-scissors pose.
"Rock-paper-scissors!!"
Whoosh!
Thirteen of the 14 girls joined in.
Only Kim Seo-ah, who had condemned the delinquent girl, stood there dumbfounded and missed out.
"Kim Seo-ah. You're it. You didn't play, so you're going out."
"Ah......!"
At that instant.
"Your personality is truly rotten. You're the winner."
"Huh?"
Fwosh!
Splat!
The goblin charged at the delinquent girl's side and impaled her with the horn on its head.
"Gahk......"
"Kyaaah!!"
The girls who had played rock-paper-scissors and Kim Seo-ah screamed and backed away.
"Wh-why......?"
"Heehee. I find rotten-personality bitches the tastiest. I pretended to give you a chance just to sniff her out."
The goblin yanked the delinquent girl off its horn and flung her to the floor.
"Krrk......!"
The delinquent girl died in agony.
"Hiiik!"
"Mooommm!!"
A few boys and girls alike bolted for the staff room's back door and windows.
The moment they opened the door or windows to escape.
Boom!!
Their heads exploded, killing them.
"Ahahaha! What idiots!"
The goblin laughed, then suddenly scowled.
"Didn't the mission window say you'd die if you leave the mission area without permission?"
The goblin glared at the survivors.
"Playtime's over. Get ready."
The real Red Light, Green Light began.
Thud... thud...!
The goblin's footsteps were surprisingly slow.
Like a middle schooler who was notoriously bad at running.
'Why is it so slow?'
Dokgo Hyun dodged the goblin while puzzling over it.
He recalled that the goblin's horn only glowed when it charged at high speed.
'Straight-line charges using the power in its horn are fast. But its running speed using its legs is surprisingly slow.'
Having finished his analysis, Dokgo Hyun shouted.
"Hey! Everyone, don't freak out!!"
Dokgo Hyun bellowed loud enough to make the staff room ring.
"Ugh, shut up. Why are you yelling all of a sudden? You crazy?"
The goblin glared at Dokgo Hyun.
Dokgo Hyun grinned.
"This goblin bastard can't chain charges! Like a skill in a game, it needs a cooldown!!"
Dokgo Hyun shared his discovery with everyone.
"Huh? Now that you mention it......"
"Th-then, maybe we can handle it?"
At that moment, the goblin's horn glowed.
"Tch. You even figured out the cooldown. Guess I'll have to kill the closest ones first, in order."
The goblin's horn aimed at the boy right in front of it.
The boy freaked out and yelled.
"Freeze!"
Crackle...!!
A thick pillar of ice formed around the boy.
"Whoa?!"
Everyone watching was stunned.
"It really turns into ice?"
"And the ice pillar is pretty thick!"
The ice pillar was nearly a meter in diameter, centered on the player.
And then.
Bam!!
The goblin charged at the ice with its horn.
Thud...!
Crackle... clatter...
Ice shards fell, and ice dust scattered.
"Tch."
The ice surface cracked, but the goblin's horn couldn't pierce through.
In other words, the ice's hardness far exceeded the goblin's physical abilities.
"Turning to ice lets you survive......!"
Everyone realized it.
"Freeze!"
"Freeze!"
The players all started shouting "Freeze."
"Take care of the rest! Freeze!"
"If everyone freezes, we're all dead, so a few hold out! Freeze!"
"......Screw it! Freeze!"
Before long, almost all the players were shouting "Freeze" in chaos.
Dokgo Hyun yelled in frustration.
"Hey! You stupid, selfish bastards! If we all shout freeze, the whole team fails the mission!!"
That was right.
A frozen player couldn't be tagged by the seeker.
But if every player froze, it was total failure.
Everyone would die.
And moreover.
'This is bad. Fewer places to dodge.'
The more thick ice pillars formed, the less evasion space for the runners.
Of course, the seeker's vision was also blocked by the ice, which was advantageous for the players in dodging.
But considering the psychological states of runners versus the tagger, the disorderly clutter of ice pillars was nothing but a disaster for the players.
"Kekeke! Such selfish pricks."
The goblin sneered.
The few who hadn't shouted freeze hesitated and backed away.
"Those who safely shout freeze to save themselves live, while those who don't take the fall and die. That's life, right?"
The goblin pierced right to the heart of it.
"Ngh."
One boy, after agonizing, reached for an ice pillar.
"Tag!"
Poof!
The ice melted away.
"Huh?"
The unfrozen boy looked around in confusion, then got angry at the one who had thawed him.
"Hey! The game's not clear yet—why'd you thaw me? Freeze again!!"
Crackle!
He dove back into an ice pillar.
The cooldown between "Tag" and "Freeze" was very short, so they could just freeze again after being tagged.
"What the hell! If all you selfish jerks hide in ice! The rest of us die!"
One girl cried out in despair.
"Kekeke! Gotcha!"
"Kyaa!"
Splat!!
The goblin slunk between the ice pillars, targeting those who hadn't shouted freeze.
And in the brutal game of tag, it killed them.
Splat!! Splat!!
Before long, only two survivors hadn't frozen remained.
Dokgo Hyun and Kim Seo-ah.
"Huff, huff......"
Dokgo Hyun was out of breath too.
There was still more than half the mission time left.
"Wow, you're dodging like a pro. Hee hee hee!"
The goblin laughed.
Dokgo Hyun had memorized each ice pillar's position and minimized his movements to evade, but limits would come soon.
'Stamina drain is worse than expected!'
That was the nature of Red Light, Green Light.
If there were many runners and one tagger, the tagger tired first.
But if most runners listlessly froze?
Then the tagger gained leisure, while the motivated runners tired rapidly.
"Sob, hee hee sob......"
Kim Seo-ah huddled in a corner, crying.
She had completely lost the will to fight.
The goblin left her for last, focusing solely on Dokgo Hyun.
"Hoo, just one question, goblin."
"What? If you're stalling with deep breaths, I'll kill that girl first."
"Not that. If everyone shouts freeze, do we all drop dead like the mission says?"
"Of course! If everyone freezes, the ice all shatters, and you die looking like red ice slush! Tasty stuff, too. Hee hee hee!"
The goblin licked its lips, confirming it was true.
'Then there's only one way.'
He hadn't wanted to use this method, but the time had come sooner than expected.
Dokgo Hyun pulled out the knife he'd taken from the delinquent and approached the frozen players.
"What are you doing right now?"
The moment the goblin tilted its head.
"Tag."
He touched the ice pillar, thawing it.
"Huh?"
The unfrozen guy dazedly looked around.
Stab!!
Dokgo Hyun plunged the knife into his throat.
"Guhk......!"
"Kyaaak! What are you doing!!"
Kim Seo-ah screamed.
To her, Dokgo Hyun looked like a madman team-killing.
"Coin recovery."
Dokgo Hyun's voice was cold, like a machine resolved to its task.
"What?!"
"I hate senseless murder. But what I'm doing now is murder with reason."
Dokgo Hyun gritted his teeth, steeling himself.
Dokgo Hyun despised killing others without reason.
But.
'We win.'
A resolve beyond mere survival—to victory.
'Your lives would just vanish meaninglessly, cowering cowardly in ice. So then.'
Bloodshot veins filled Dokgo Hyun's eyes.
'I'll use them for my victory.'
Dokgo Hyun's gaze embodied that resolve.
"What the......!"
The goblin flinched at Dokgo Hyun's eyes.
In that moment of hesitation.
Thud!
Dokgo Hyun thawed frozen players left and right.
"Tag! Tag! Tag! Tag!"
Thawing them in one go.
Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!
Killing them in one go.
"What are you doing!"
The goblin was aghast.
Cases of humans suddenly stabbing other humans were exceedingly rare.
There were killings born of distrust and hatred, but coldly recovering coins like Dokgo Hyun was doing? Almost unheard of.
"Ngh!"
The goblin belatedly tried to catch and kill Dokgo Hyun, but he shoved corpses aside or used them as shields to evade pursuit.
He racked up 1,800 coins in a flash.
"You. What the hell are you really doing? Explain."
The goblin asked in disbelief.
"Recycling."
"What?"
"These trashes didn't shout freeze to win—they did it to dodge death. So I'm killing the trash and turning them into coins. What else would you call that if not recycling?"
Using freeze as a hideout in Red Light, Green Light led to annihilation.
To fight the tagger, it had to be turned into a weapon.
'Kill the spineless runner bastards, use their coins to save the rest!'
"Then let's recycle even harder! Tag! Tag! Tag! Tag!"
The last four players were thawed.
"Uh......?"
"We froze though......?"
Dokgo Hyun stabbed the bewildered ones.
Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!
A total of 2,400 coins acquired.
'All into Stamina.'
-Your Stamina has increased to 46!
"Good. Feels way sturdier now."
Dokgo Hyun thumped his chest with his fist, the impacts thudding solidly.
With Stamina double his Strength, punching himself barely hurt.
His ragged breathing eased, heart rate and hormones stabilized, mind sharpening.
"You're a real psycho."
The goblin was utterly flabbergasted.