Go Byeonggap was tangled in a mess of emotions.

He’d just made six million won off a single run, which felt like cause for a naked jig, and yet…

A few things nagged at him, leaving a grimy feeling—like stepping into a bathroom and walking right back out.

That’s why, back in his studio, he stood in his boxers, scratching his crotch and staring up at the tacky ceiling wallpaper.

“Fuck. Did I just go into a rift with ghosts or what?”

First thing home, Byeonggap had hit the internet. He planned to dig up info on the four he’d worked with today.

But there was nothing about them. A name search only turned up a few hunters with the same names—and not a single S-rank among them.

Normally, any S-rank worth the title has at least one news article.

-[Breaking!] Korea’s 450th S-rank Awakener Born! The Identity Shrouded in Mystery?

-450th S-rank Awakener Baek Gahui: ‘I Haven’t Decided on a Career as a Hunter Yet.’ Still weighing options. Are major guilds making backroom moves?

-[Exclusive!] Hunter Baek Gahui Joins the Afro Guild! ‘I’ll Be a Hunter Who Contributes to Society!’ Wave of support for her humble statement.

Something like that, at least.

But all that came up was junk like…

-[Love Gossip] Kang Hancheol Dating a Hunter 10 Years His Junior? ‘We’re Still Getting to Know Each Other.’ Who Is She?

Trash like that.

For the record, that Kang Hancheol was a B-rank hunter whose life was about an 80/20 split between celebrity and hunter work.

‘Was she using a fake name? Or an unregistered hunter? I knew something was fishy!’

The post Kim Hana had put up was already deleted. So much for trying to trace an ID number.

‘If it’s just an alias, fine, but if she’s an unregistered hunter…’

Article 1, Clause 1 of the Special Act on awakeners read:

Awakeners not registered as hunters may not engage in hunting or gathering activities within rifts.

Who the hell came up with that law? I sort of get it, sort of don’t, but that’s the law.

If word got out that he’d been through a rift with an unregistered hunter, it looked bad from every angle.

‘Better not run my mouth anywhere.’

Here he was, strutting like a peacock because he’d matched steps with an S-rank, and the bitch was a Jane Doe. Live long enough, and you see it all.

Thankfully, the rift had opened in a remote spot. As long as he kept his trap shut, no one was likely to call him out.

‘Anyway… what the hell was that thing?’

Byeonggap closed his eyes for a moment, recalling the instant his sword had met the Raven’s.

—Aberrant being. What are you?

It had all happened in a split second, but Go Byeonggap remembered it vividly.

That was definitely Raven’s voice. Not a sound reaching his ears, but a voice transmitted directly into his skull.

The bastard’s words still seemed to echo in his mind.

‘An aberrant being? …Well, I suppose I am a bit aberrant.’

A human-born Goblin Lord. From any angle, that was a product of incongruity.

If he was being honest with himself, Go Byeonggap still hadn’t fully accepted what had happened to him.

Sometimes he’d wake up and wonder if all of it had just been a dream.

But what always greeted him was the hard, unyielding reality.

‘So Raven can talk too. I guess even monsters have their own world out there?’

If a goblin kingdom could fall, why couldn’t a raven kingdom? Who was to say there wasn’t one?

For all he knew, there might be a kingdom somewhere far, far away where monsters lived together.

If so, would its name be something like ‘Those Ishibeollum Bastards’?

“Tch, whatever.”

Go Byeonggap let out a hollow laugh.

He pulled his hand out of his underwear and swept it back through his hair. Then he suddenly recalled the moment he’d clashed with Raven.

“Goddammit. Even blocking the attack, the impact was still that strong. Felt like getting hit by a goddamn cargo truck.”

He’d thought he’d gotten absurdly stronger compared to before…

Cliché as it sounded, there was always someone higher.

“Still got ten thousand miles to go. Shit.”

How many more elixirs of Growth would he have to drink to fight an A-rank monster on equal footing?

And how much stronger would he need to get after that before he could even think of competing with an S-rank who’d dice up A-ranks like pickled radish?

“Hoo.”

He exhaled a sigh, pushing himself up. Lying around scratching his crotch wasn’t going to make blind rice cakes fall from the sky.

Go Byeonggap gathered his clothes piece by piece, dressed, and crossed over to Asvillam.

‘What’s that smell?’

A damp, fishy stench hung over the rocky mountain. Tracing its source, he saw goblins roasting the horned wolf they’d caught a few days ago over a fire. Looked like they were having a late lunch.

«Ah! My Lord. You’ve come.»

«Lord. You here?»

«My Lord.»

The goblins greeted Go Byeonggap with warm, friendly smiles.

Seeing the goblins, Go Byeonggap felt an odd sense of familiarity. Like he’d come home.

‘Guess I’m not all there either.’

He laughed inwardly. The laugh leaked out.

Go Byeonggap let out a pleasant sigh as he approached the goblins.

«Yeah, your hyung’s here. You guys eating?»

* * *

The goblin population of Asvillam had grown to 142. Considering it started at 33, that was a considerable increase.

Go Byeonggap sat the fifty-two new goblins down and lost himself in thought.

Fifty-one normal goblins and one hob goblin.

What the hell was he supposed to do with them?

‘Can’t put them to work if I don’t have enough pickaxes.’

Even setting aside the immediate lack of tasks, he needed to broaden his perspective.

‘Think long-term.’

Sure, he could just toss a few pickaxes at the goblins and wash his hands of it—still get some compensation somehow.

They’d keep mining crystals anyway,

and those crystals would let him buy this and that. But that was thinking only one step ahead.

‘At first, I didn’t give a damn about Asvillam’s reconstruction or anything.’

Asvillam, whatever.

He’d just seen it as the goblins’ problem.

So he’d had no intention of rebuilding their kingdom or making sure they ate well and lived well.

In the short term, that might’ve even been the right call.

Work the goblins a bit, buy some elixir of Growth, pick up a few manuals to study…

Hell, even that would’ve improved his life over before.

But this shitty bottom-feeder existence of his—

to turn that life of hunting rifts day after day, paying off debt from a cramped studio, one-eighty degrees around, he needed a long, grand goal.

And that grand goal ended up aligning with ‘Reconstruction of Asvillam.’

In the end, goblins and Go Byeonggap were a community of fate.

Go Byeonggap turned his head. The goblins sitting before him turned theirs in unison.

Their gazes landed on a fog that stretched all the way to the sky.

‘Someday, I’ll have to get past that too.’

Right now, all they had was a sliver of a rocky mountainside. No matter how much they stirred and cooked here, it was just child’s play.

To achieve something big, you had to move to a wider stage.

‘I’ll need to bring in some female goblins too.’

Recruiting goblins by jumping in and out of rifts had its limits. To boost the population, they’d need to breed.

‘Then I’ll have to set up infrastructure in advance for the future population boom.’

Even now, didn’t he lack pickaxes to get them working? Not to mention there was no space to house the new goblins.

The lack of preparation was beyond lacking.

‘…Alright. Let’s focus on Asvillam for a while.’

The five million won he got as a bounty last time,

the one million won reward for completing the emergency subjugation,

and the six million won Kim Hana gave him today.

Plus the money he’d earned hunting rifts with the goblins.

He’d already made as much as two months’ wages from previous years.

He could take it easy on rift-hunting for two to three weeks without any major issue.

Go Byeonggap solidified his resolve and rose to his feet.

«All of you, follow me.»

«Yes, sir!»

Where he led the goblins was the western forest.

A forest thick with broadleaf trees. Beyond it, a small stream ran through the undergrowth.

‘There’s a river nearby too. This spot should do.’

«I’m going to step out for a bit. You lot, clear the ground and level it while I’m gone.»

«C-clear the ground?»

«Means flatten the earth. Pick up the loose stones scattered on the ground and pile them in a corner. Do the same with any branches or debris you find.»

«Understood!»

Go Byeonggap left the goblins to their leveling work and slipped out of Asvillam.

Back in his rented room, he rummaged through a drawer he’d never once opened before. Luckily, he found what he was looking for: a shabby notebook and a pencil.

Go Byeonggap sat down, arms crossed, and stared at the blank paper.

‘Clothing, food, shelter. And production.’

Three necessities for survival. What you wear. What you eat. Where you sleep.

If you were stranded in the wild, solving those three would be your biggest headache.

‘It’s not like Robinson Crusoe stirred up all that fuss just because he liked to make a scene.’

But for Go Byeonggap, it wasn’t that big a problem.

Let’s start with ‘clothing.’ Asvillam had a warm climate day and night. As long as the goblins wore the rags they already had on, they’d get by just fine.

Of course, the place had seasons, so if winter came, he’d have to rethink it. But in a pinch, he could always whip up clothes through alchemy.

Next was ‘food.’ Goblins weren’t picky eaters. They’d tear into rank monster meat without a second thought.

Whenever supplies ran low, he could just pop into a rift and stock up. No risk of starving them to death.

‘No. That’s not enough.’

Go Byeonggap decided to go a step further.

‘I need to build Asvillam its own food supply system.’

Feeding them like hamsters had its limits. It wasn’t like he had a fridge to store things long-term.

If the goblins ate rotten meat and all got sick, nothing could be more troublesome.

But unfortunately, the stream only had minnows, and the trees bore no fruit.

That left only one answer.

‘I’ll have to get them raising livestock and farming.’

It wouldn’t be easy. It wasn’t something that could be done in a day or two. But to secure the future, he had to lay the groundwork now.

Last was ‘shelter.’ This too could be solved simply.

He could hit up junk shops and furniture disposal sites, grabbing whatever was usable. The cost would be pocket change.

‘Once I have some spare crystals, buying them a few houses wouldn’t be a bad idea.’

Go Byeonggap jotted down his thoughts in the notebook. The blank paper was soon filled with black letters.

‘I’ve never even planned my life out this meticulously.’

He chuckled.

Hospital bills for his mother. Debt to repay. He’d spent every waking hour scheming how to make money. For a man like Go Byeonggap, ‘Rebuilding a Fallen Kingdom’ had become a surprisingly entertaining game.

After clearing his head for a moment, Byeonggap picked up the last topic.

‘Production.’

The most critical part. Because his assigned task wasn’t just ‘raising goblins’—it was ‘building a nation.’

He’d been mulling this section over for a while. The notebook margins filled up fast.

“Alright, plans done. Time to move.”

He slipped out of the house, practically buzzing. He had a long list of stops to make.

* * *

“Oh my. Thank you, boss!”

“Yes. About when could you deliver?”

“I’ll have it to you by tomorrow. Shall I ship it to the address you mentioned?”

“Yes. I’ll be waiting there. Just give me a call before you head out.”

“Right, right. Got it.”

“Okay. See you tomorrow then.”

“Yes, yes~ Take care.”

Byeonggap hung up with a satisfied grin. He’d just bought a hundred pickaxes, twenty axes, thirty shovels, and fifty hoes.

It was a stroke of luck finding a supplier that sold quality gear at a low price. All together, it barely cost 2.5 million won.

Even if some tools sat idle for now, that was fine. He planned to start expanding the goblin numbers in earnest anyway.

‘Farming tools—done.’

Without missing a beat, Byeonggap dialed again. A different supplier this time.

“Hello, you’ve reached us.”

“Ah, yes. Hello. Is this Mr. Park Sangjin?”

“Yes, that’s right. Who’s calling?”

“I’m reaching out after seeing your blog. You’re the one selling potato and sweet potato seed stock, right?”

“Ah, yes, yes! That’s right!”

Park Sangjin’s voice shifted instantly into full sales mode.

Byeonggap grinned and continued.

“Right. I’d like to buy some potatoes and sweet potatoes.”

The real buildup was starting now.