Six goblins emerged, fully armed. They sized up the situation in an instant.

—Fwap!

The giant lug launched its half-severed tongue again. Turka thrust a shield forward, guarding Byeonggap. The attack glanced off, useless.

«Krrrk!»

Changsik and Taesik blurred forward, claws flashing. Chunks of the giant lug’s tongue flew through the air.

As the panicked frog-monster tried to recoil, a lightning-spear shot forth, piercing its maw.

“GRAAAAAAGH—Kgh!”

A dark sphere slammed into it right after, detonating. The entire left shoulder joint vanished.

The massive body crumpled, lifeless.

Flawless chain coordination.

Byeonggap felt like clapping, but the commotion had drawn a horde of monsters. He shelved his satisfaction for later.

‘Giant lugs… and lizards?’

New faces. D-rank lizards.

They were filed under D-rank only because their karma fell short, but they were dangerous. Lizard-type monsters came wired for combat.

«Changsik, Taesik—stay behind me. Rest of you, take positions.»

«Yes, Hyung!»

«Stay sharp. These are tough ones.»

“GYAAAH!”

«Go!»

The seven-member raid team clashed with a mob of fifteen-odd monsters.

Go Byeonggap lunged forward, his sword already swinging. He deflected a flying spear and closed the distance in a single breath. A straight thrust—and the lizard in front of him lost its head cleanly.

The corpse hadn’t even finished crumpling before a shadow fell over him. A giant lug had leaped high and was plummeting straight down.

—Crack!

“Grrrk!”

But its gaping maw never reached Go Byeonggap. Kiriyan intercepted the beast at just the right moment.

“Gyaaahk!”

A lizard rushed him, thrusting wildly with its spear. Go Byeonggap sidestepped easily, then swung his blade in a wide arc with his whole body behind it. The lizard’s torso split open—spear shaft and all.

He glanced sideways. Changsik had climbed atop the giant lug’s head and was driving into its brain. On the other side, Taesik was locked in a duel with a lizardman. Naturally, Taesik was dominating without breaking a sweat.

‘More wolf than goblin, really.’

Beast goblins transformed in battle: snouts jutted forward, brown fur bristled thick across their bodies. They looked almost like wolves.

“Gyaak!”

“Hmph.”

A lizard’s spear drove toward his temple. Go Byeonggap leaned back—just his upper body—dodging lightly, then grabbed the shaft with his free hand and yanked. The lizard stumbled forward, helpless.

His sword rose in an upward slash. The lizard died, its body split diagonally.

-Crack!

-Boom!

Explosions rippled across the field. Chunks of blasted and seared flesh spattered through the air. At least here, no monster could withstand Kiriyan and Dorma’s ranged attacks.

Go Byeonggap carved through a giant lug’s hind leg like slicing tofu. A pack of lizards caught his eye—they were swarming toward Kiriyan and Dorma, likely trying to take out the ranged attackers first.

Not a chance.

«Wooooorgh!»

Turka and Orka roared, blocking their path. Two massive shields formed an impenetrable wall; there was no gap to slip through.

Turka even slammed his shield forward, pulverizing one lizard outright. The disoriented lizards lashed out wildly, but none of their strikes got through.

Moments later, ranged fire tore them apart into meaty chunks.

‘One left.’

Only a single giant lug remained. Desperate, it charged like a bull. Changsik and Taesik moved to support Go Byeonggap.

«No need! I’ll finish this!»

Go Byeonggap shouted, then gripped his sword with both hands. In an instant, his arms swelled taut.

“Grrrrrrooook!”

Go Byeonggap recalled the slash Yeom Jeonghwa had shown him—the way she propelled herself by detonating the karma inside her body.

For Byeonggap, that technique was out of reach. The karma he had was barely a speck of dust in his core.

So he did the next best thing: he contracted every muscle to its breaking point. No teeth? Then he’d bite with his gums.

“Hwaaah!”

The moment the giant lug lumbered into range, Byeonggap let out a battle cry and whipped his sword through the air. All that coiled tension released at once, unleashing monstrous force.

Shunk!

“Grrk…!”

The giant lug’s bulk split clean in two. The halves toppled in opposite directions, blood cascading down to stain the river red.

“Phew.”

Byeonggap shook out his arm and grinned. Slicing a D-rank giant monster in one clean stroke—not bad for someone who’d started from nothing.

He looked down at the mess of monster corpses scattered around him, then asked over his shoulder.

«Everyone alright? Any injuries?»

«Yes, Lord! We’re fine!»

«Us too. No. Problems!»

«And you, our Lord? Are you unharmed?»

«Of course. I’m perfectly fine.»

«What a relief.»

No casualties.

‘They’ve all easily surpassed C-rank now.’

The goblins, trained with the elixir of Growth and the manual, were comfortably above C-rank.

Of course, passing C-rank didn’t mean they were close to B-rank. An insurmountable wall stood between those two grades.

Still, there probably wasn’t anything in this rift that could stand against Byeonggap’s raid team.

Byeonggap opened the portal to Asvillam, and soon goblins came pouring out.

They busily began hauling away the monster carcasses.

By the time Byeonggap had finished a cigarette, everything was cleared. He tossed the butt carelessly aside and did a few easy stretches.

«Alright, let’s keep going. One more haul today, then we head back and rest.»

«Yes! Sounds good!»

The raid team moved without hesitation. Before the brutal violence they rained down, the monsters stood utterly helpless.

A C-rank rift really did have a lot of monsters.

A D-rank rift topped out at a hundred or a hundred-thirty at most, but in here, the baseline was a hundred and fifty.

Back in his old days, he’d have thought the monsters were endless. He might have gotten sick of dealing with the constant waves.

But now—

‘This is way easier than I expected.’

Byeonggap didn’t bat an eye. Ever since he’d gone into that dungeon, anything short of an overwhelming flood felt like child’s play.

Which made sense—he’d survived a dungeon where monsters poured in without a moment to breathe, hadn’t he?

Compared to that, this was nothing.

‘Ah, so that’s the campsite from before.’

Pushing deeper into the hidden world, Byeonggap found himself at the lower end of the valley. Tents dotted the riverside here and there—remnants of vacationers’ camps.

But every tent he saw was a ghost. A leftover from when the rift first formed—three days ago, now. These things had existed in a time already gone.

It felt like stargazing. The stars a person sees with their own eyes are always the past, aren’t they?

He was musing over that useless thought when Dorma spoke up.

«This seems to be a place where vagabonds gather.»

«Huh? Where’s that coming from, all of a sudden?»

«Don’t humans normally live in brick buildings? When I saw the tents pitched by the river, that’s what occurred to me. Am I wrong?»

«Nah, not at all. This is just a spot people come to play in the water.»

«Play… in the water, you say?»

«Yeah. Gets hot in the summer. So folks come down to the river to relax. Grill some meat, drink some soju, that kinda thing.»

«Oh. I think I understand.»

Dorma nodded, a look of wonder on his face.

‘If we’re talking resorts, though, Asvillam’s the best there is.’

The weather there was never too hot, the water was crystal clear, and the scenery was breathtaking. If he opened a campground in Asvillam, he could make a fortune just from site fees alone.

‘Dream on, though.’

Who would come to a resort swarming with goblins?

«Ah, hey. Speaking of which, I’ve got something I’ve been wondering.»

«Ask us anything.»

Go Byeonggap stroked his chin for a moment before speaking.

«Back when you were in the rift.»

«Yes.»

«Why didn’t you ever come out?»

Byeonggap’s question was, in truth, the entire human race’s question.

Twenty-eight years ago, after Deep Impact, rifts had opened all over the world. And inside those rifts, bizarre lifeforms that didn’t exist on Earth swarmed.

But the monsters never budged. In the twenty-eight years since the first rift appeared, there’d never been a single report of a monster escaping one.

Just—why?

Scientists had racked their brains trying to find the answer.

Because only by figuring it out could humanity free itself from the gnawing fear that someday, the monsters might come pouring out.

After repeated studies, a few hypotheses emerged. The most compelling was the ‘Unsuitable Environment Theory.’

To sum it up in one sentence: ‘A mackerel and a deer can never share a habitat.’

Just as a mackerel can’t live on land and a deer can’t live in water,

an ordinary human can’t live inside a rift, and an ordinary monster can’t live outside one.

The Unsuitable Environment Theory had become almost an established fact. The evidence and experiments backing it were solid.

Still, Byeonggap wanted to hear the monsters’ side of the story.

«Umm…»

The goblins fell into thought, unable to answer easily.

It was Kiriyan who spoke first.

«I just felt an ominous presence.»

«An ominous presence?»

«Yes. It felt like we shouldn’t go beyond that place. So I just stayed still.»

«I felt the same.»

Dorma picked up, his gaze sweeping the surroundings.

«This deeper area feels more comfortable than the spot where Lord first summoned us. I never even considered going outside.»

«So the escape portal area feels uncomfortable?»

«That’s right. Near where Lord calls the escape portal, I feel my strength drain. It’s not severe… but it is a bit unpleasant, I admit.»

The other goblins wore expressions of agreement.

«Oh-ho. I didn’t know that.»

Go Byeonggap nodded with satisfaction.

Then, without warning, a strange howl rang out.

“Grrrk! Grrrk!”

«So those bastards must have come here looking for the most comfortable spot too, huh?»

«Probably.»

Go Byeonggap grinned and looked ahead. There, a horde of monsters clustered.

In the middle of them stood a Volcano Lug. The boss of this rift.

A Volcano Lug.

Smaller than a Giant Lug, its whole body was covered in crater-like protrusions. Hot steam billowed from them without pause.

The textbook way to deal with those things was from range.

«Kiriyan, Dorma. Take that red frog.»

«Understood.»

«Leave it to us!»

«Turka and Orka, stick close to them. Changsik, Taesik, follow me.»

«Yes, sir!»

Go Byeonggap, Changsik, and Taesik tore through the valley. The monsters’ attention naturally snapped toward them.

“Grrrk! Grrr—Gaaak!”

The moment the Volcano Lug turned its head to chase Go Byeonggap, a lightning spear struck it.

It leaped up, roaring with fury. But it barely rose before a dark sphere slammed into it, sending it crashing down.

Dorma followed up with consecutive spells. Black chains erupted from the ground in an instant, binding the Volcano Lug tight.

«Good. Keep it pinned.»

Go Byeonggap sprinted through the monsters, sword swinging.

He could feel his Sword Mastery and Body Tempering Mastery climbing noticeably. Now he could slay a lizard with one or two strokes.

«Krrrk!»

«Wooaaaaah!»

The goblins pulled their weight too.

Crushed bodies piled up at the feet of Turka and Orka. Where Changsik and Taesik had swept through, the ground was littered with monsters whose necks and heads were riddled with puncture holes.

The grunts were all dealt with in no time.

«Now kill that thing too.»

«Yes. Understood.»

At Go Byeonggap’s command, Dorma finished off the volcano lug.

The rift’s boss didn’t even put up a fight worth the name, reduced to a heap of meat.

The C-rank rift subjugation drew to a successful close.

* * *

“Oh, Mr. Byeonggap, you’re here?”

“Yes, hello.”

“Came to see your mother, I take it?”

“That’s right.”

Nurse Lee Jiyeon, manning the hospital desk, always asked Go Byeonggap the same question whenever he showed up: “Came to see your mother?”

And Go Byeonggap would give an awkward smile and say yes.

“Go on up, then. Hee-hee.”

“Take care.”

Go Byeonggap bowed his head once and headed up to the ward.

“Oh my god, Ms. Lee! That’s him, right? The son of the lady in Room 403!”

Kim Yubi asked with theatrical excitement. Lee Jiyeon furrowed her brow slightly and nodded.

“Yeah, that’s him. You saw him last time too.”

“Whoa. Was he always built like that? Last time I saw him he seemed kind of lanky.”

“That’s true. Mr. Byeonggap wasn’t this broad before.”

Senior nurse Seo Hansuk chimed in agreement with Kim Yubi.

“Right, right? You see it too, Ms. Seo?”

“He must be working out or something. What’s with all the fuss?”

When Lee Jiyeon asked in a flat voice, Kim Yubi latched onto her arm.

“Ms. Lee! Ms. Lee! You said you know him well, didn’t you? So you must know what he does!”

“I do, but why?”

“What does he do?”

“I said, why?”

Kim Yubi gave a meaningful smile and twisted her body coyly.

“Oh, no reason~ Just thinking it’d be nice to get closer, you know? I’ve got a thing for big guys. And his face isn’t bad either. Heh-heh-heh.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk!”

Lee Jiyeon wrinkled her face in disgust and clicked her tongue.

“You’ve really lost it. Of all people, you want to flirt with a patient’s guardian?”

“Oh, come on, Ms. Lee! ‘Flirt,’ she says! I just want to get to know him. And look at him—he’s no slouch. Not just anyone fits my standards.”

Kim Yubi said haughtily.

Lee Jiyeon looked exasperated, while Seo Hansuk just laughed.

“Ms. Seo. What do you think?”

“Dunno. He doesn’t even seem interested, and Nurse Kim is way overdoing it.”

“Whaat? I’m not overdoing it at all!”

“Then try starting a conversation with him later.”

“Oh, Ms. Seo! How can you say that? What if she actually does it!”

“So what? It’d be great if Nurse Kim and Mr. Byeonggap hit it off. She could even cover his mother’s hospital bills.”

Kim Yubi flinched. She gave an awkward laugh and scratched her cheek.

“Ahahahaha… I don’t want anything that deep—just a casual, enjoy-the-moment kind of thing.”

“Ugh. Seriously, she’s the one dragging the whole nurse profession through the mud. Have some self-respect.”

“Does self-respect put food on the table? I don’t think so.”

The three nurses huddled around the desk, their chatter stretching on for a good while.

About an hour must have passed when the elevator doors slid open and Go Byeonggap stepped out.

“Oh! I’ll be right back—gotta go somewhere real quick!”

“What? Where are you going all of a sudden…”

Before Lee Jiyeon could stop her, Kim Yubi darted out from behind the desk.

Lee Jiyeon followed her with her gaze and froze. That crazy woman was actually going through with it.

“Ms. Seo, what do we do! She’s lost her mind!”

“Why? This is just entertaining.”

Kim Yubi walked up to Go Byeonggap and said something to him.

Lee Jiyeon and Seo Hansuk ducked behind the desk, peeking out to watch.

Lee Jiyeon felt her stomach knot with anxiety. Why was she so nervous about this?

About three minutes later, Kim Yubi turned around and came back to the desk.

But for some reason, her expression was sour.

Seo Hansuk stifled a laugh as she asked.

“Oh-ho? Looks like it didn’t go well from that face of yours? What happened—did he say he has a girlfriend?”

“Ha! Seriously! I can’t even!”

Kim Yubi fanned herself with her hand. Her face was flushed bright red.

Lee Jiyeon asked urgently.

“What? What did you two talk about?”

“Well, I just asked if he wanted to grab a meal sometime, you know? And you know what he said?”

“What did he say?”

“He said he’s busy!”

“…”

Silence settled over the desk.

“That’s it?”

“Yes! He just said that and turned around and walked off! I mean, really! I’m at a loss!”

Kim Yubi still seemed fuming.

“How can he just cut me off like that? And what does he mean he’s busy—how busy can he be? Does he not even have time to eat?”

“Pfft! Puhahaha!”

“Aah! Ms. Lee, don’t laugh! I’ve got a huge dent in my pride here!”

“Oh, sorry, sorry.”

Lee Jiyeon barely managed to wipe the grin off her face.

‘Ah, what a relief.’

She felt a small wave of reassurance inside.