—Ta-da-da-da-dang!

A deafening gunshot roar filled the subway station. The swarm of Kkeokchi trying to burst through the ticket gates popped like water balloons, scattering blood and flesh across the floor in a foul, metallic stench.

—Click.

The thirty-round magazine emptied in seconds. E-rank hunter Kim Sangseok swapped it out with practiced ease, reloading in just a few seconds.

He yanked the charging handle and was about to settle into his shooting stance when a sharp cry cut through the air.

“Uncle, watch out!”

The speaker was D-rank hunter Lee Yerim.

Kim Sangseok realized her gaze was fixed on something behind him. A chill crawled up the back of his neck. He spun around to see a single Kkeokchi lunging at him, its massive maw gaping wide.

In that split second, a dozen thoughts raced through his mind. Shoot it off, dive sideways, or sacrifice an arm.

‘Too late!’

Lee Yerim swung her gun toward Kim Sangseok in a heartbeat. But she couldn’t pull the trigger. The Kkeokchi was too close to him — a stray shot might punch through the wrong body.

In that split second, a swift figure blurred through her periphery. Go Byeonggap.

Byeonggap sprinted in, arms outstretched. The razor tip of his blade sank into the Kkeokchi’s maw and burst through its dorsal fin.

“Hyaaah!”

He whipped the sword down without pause, slamming it against the floor. The monster’s body twisted at a grotesque angle, thrashing. Byeonggap brought the blade down again like an axe, cleaving head from torso cleanly.

“Th-thanks…”

“Watch the front!”

Byeonggap shouted the warning to Kim Sangseok as he slashed diagonally upward. Crack! Blood splattered — the next Kkeokchi, mid-leap, split apart. Shadow-flame swordsmanship

Kim Sangseok snapped his focus back into place and resumed firing. In a confined space like this, you could never let your guard down—the moment you blinked, you could find yourself in a monster’s kill zone.

Go Byeonggap tossed his sword aside carelessly, then picked up the rifle he’d slung over his shoulder. He opened up on the Kkeokchi trying to clamber over the ticket gate, spraying indiscriminate fire.

Only after they’d burned through two whole magazines did the chaos finally subside. Around the gate, the bodies of Kkeokchi piled up like a mountain.

“Haaah! Haaah!”

Lee Yerim gasped for breath, her face flushed. She turned to look at Kim Sangseok and Go Byeonggap.

“You two okay?”

“No problems here.”

“I’m fine too.”

Go Byeonggap swapped his empty magazine for a fresh one, then scooped up the longsword he’d tossed on the floor.

Kim Sangseok approached him and bowed his head.

“Thanks for earlier. You saved my skin. And you too, miss—really appreciate it.”

“I didn’t do it for thanks.”

“Yeah, well. We’re all just trying to make a living here. Let’s finish this up, get paid, and get out.”

Lee Yerim fumbled at the magazine pouch on her tactical vest and frowned.

“How much ammo does everyone have left? I’ve only got one thirty-round mag.”

“About the same here.”

“Same for me. But it shouldn’t be a problem. There must be at least fifty of those Kkeokchi lying around here. Counting what’s outside, we’ve probably got twenty monsters left, give or take.”

“That’s true, but… not having bullets makes me nervous.”

“As long as we’re careful, it’ll be fine. Let’s move on.”

The three of them trampled over the bodies and passed through the ticket gate. It didn’t take long to get down to the platform.

“Kekikiik!”

The moment they stepped onto the platform, a Kkeokchi that had been hiding behind the stairs lunged at them. All three reacted without a second’s hesitation.

Lee Yerim and Kim Sangseok each swung their gun muzzles around. But by the time their fingers touched the triggers, the Kkeokchi was already split in two.

Lee Yerim’s face soured as she relaxed her grip on the stock.

“You’re no slouch with that blade. Are you a higher-rank hunter?”

“No. I’m D-rank.”

“Huh? D-rank? I’m D-rank too!”

“Hard to believe. You didn’t look like a lower-rank back there either.”

Among lower-rank awakeners, they say that D-rank is already beyond human limits. A freshly awakened D-rank novice is physically stronger than a lifetime’s worth of trained unawakened martial artists.

Even so, cleaving a flying monster in two with a single stroke was closer to genuine skill.

“It’s just…”

Go Byeonggap brushed it off vaguely. There was no need to explain that he’d been just another average D-rank awakener barely tens of minutes ago.

Go Byeonggap swept his gaze across the area. The screen door on the platform leading toward Bongcheon lay shattered.

“Let’s head that way. Does anyone happen to have a lantern?”

“I do.”

Kim Sangseok unclipped a lantern from his belt and attached it to his rifle.

Sangseok took point, with Byeonggap and Lee Yerim flanking him on either side, covering his advance.

The monster revealed itself within a few paces. From deep within the tracks, shimmering eyes came bouncing toward them.

A herd of over a dozen Kkeokchi.

“Fire!”

All three spoke the same word at almost the same instant.

In the next moment, the tracks filled with gunfire. The Kkeokchi couldn’t get within twenty paces before they dropped dead one by one.

The magazines ran empty. The barrels, searing hot, sent up wisps of steam.

Kim Sangseok shone the high-performance lantern forward. The crushed corpses of the Kkeokchi herd lay in a mess.

“Is the boss monster deeper in? Given how the monsters are clustering here, it feels like it should be nearby…”

He took a cautious step forward.

In that instant, Go Byeonggap felt an unnameable, visceral unease. He looked up on instinct.

“Above us!”

A monster clung to the ceiling. An E-rank lanky ghost.

A grotesque thing—human torso, spider legs. A creature with a taste for darkness.

The lanky ghost shot tentacles from its arms. A sharp tentacle pierced straight through Kim Sangseok’s arm.

“Agh!”

Lee Yerim immediately aimed upward and fired.

But—

Click.

“Damn it!”

Her empty magazine refused to spit out a bullet.

The lanky ghost scaled the wall with ease and shot tentacles downward. Yerim tried to dodge but tripped over the tracks and fell.

A cluster of tentacles rushed toward her. Go Byeonggap swung his blade like a baseball bat, slicing them all clean off.

“Keeeeeeek!”

The lanky ghost shrieked and recoiled.

He lowered his sword, grabbed his gun, and fired wildly—but the creature had already vanished into the dark.

Click.

‘Damn it. The terrain is terrible!’

Even though the thing was only an E-rank monster, the darkness and the walls boxing them in on all sides made it a nightmare to fight.

Go Byeonggap pulled the lantern off Kim Sangseok’s rifle. He bit down on it, gripping his sword with his free hand.

He bolted in the direction the lanky ghost had fled. Every time the lantern swept across wall or ceiling, a ghostly afterimage flickered past.

“Huff!”

A chill ran down his spine. Go Byeonggap spun around just in time—the lanky ghost was lunging at him, its spear-like legs poised to strike.

He hurled himself sideways. The lanky ghost’s leg punched into the floor, leaving a crater.

Go Byeonggap scrambled up and charged. A tentacle shot toward him, but he tracked it without trouble.

On instinct he swung his blade. The tentacle flopped away like a cut strip of taffy.

“KIIIIIIIIIK!”

The lanky ghost shrieked and started scrabbling up the wall.

‘Like hell I’m letting it run again!’

Byeonggap hurled his sword outright. The blade flew with impossible speed and punched through the lanky ghost’s chest—then kept going, burying itself in the wall.

He grabbed the hilt and ripped upward, finishing it.

“KIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!”

The tearing scream lasted only a moment. The lanky ghost split from chest to crown and died. Its filth soaked the floor.

With the boss monster dead, the hidden world began to collapse. An escape portal opened almost at once.

* * *

The rift that had appeared at Sillim Station was cleared in under fifty minutes. Fast work for a team of one E-rank and two D-rank hunters.

Kim Sangseok had taken a penetrating wound, but the association staff treated it on the spot with standard potions.

Go Byeonggap and Lee Yerim had no other injuries.

“Thank you for your hard work. The bounty will be deposited by the end of today.”

Go Byeonggap, who’d been promised a million won for the day, felt his mood lift. As he turned to head home, Lee Yerim—who’d joined the subjugation—caught his arm.

“Hey. Hang on a second.”

“What is it?”

“I wanted to thank you. Back there—thanks. If it hadn’t been for you, it could’ve gone really bad.”

“We all look out for each other.”

“But are you really D-rank?”

“Didn’t you see my badge when we signed? I’m D-rank.”

“I saw it. I just never met a D-rank hunter who handles a blade like you do.”

“Is that so.”

“So, uh… are you on any team right now? If not—”

“Sorry. I work solo.”

Go Byeonggap cut her off flatly. Lee Yerim’s face fell with disappointment.

“Is that so? Well, can’t be helped. Thanks again for today. Hope we run into each other again sometime.”

“Sure. Get home safe.”

On the way home, Byeonggap stopped at a butcher shop. He felt like buying some pork.

“Welcome! What can I get for you?”

“Pork hind leg. A pound for grilling—”

“One pound of hind leg?”

Byeonggap hesitated, then corrected himself.

“Give me twenty kilos.”

“T-twenty kilos? Oh! Right away!”

“Keep one pound for grilling. Cut the rest into chunks.”

“Yes, yes!”

The butcher set to work with a gleam in his eye, slicing meat excitedly.

Even at 20 kilograms, hind legs were cheap—only 150,000 won. And since Byeonggap was buying in bulk, the butcher knocked off 20,000 won.

Go Byeonggap trudged home carrying plastic bags stuffed with 20 kilograms of pork. Even with a longsword slung over his shoulder and a gun at his hip, the weight didn’t register at all.

He grabbed a portable gas burner, a frying pan, and a few bottles of soju¹, then crossed over into Asvillam.

The goblins were nowhere in sight. Probably all holed up in the cave.

‘The sun’s already setting—are they still at it?’

«Hey! Everyone out! Time to eat!»

Byeonggap called for the goblins. Only after a few more shouts did they start trickling out one by one.

«Knock it off and come eat. I bought meat.»

«Meat!?»

«Yeah. Not that garbage you guys eat—real honey-grade meat.»

Byeonggap laid out a spot, sat down, and started grilling the meat. He kept only what he’d eat himself and tossed the rest to the goblins.

‘Ahh. Hits the spot.’

The view of the rocky mountain paired with drink and meat was unmatched—nothing like the times he’d grilled alone at home.

The goblins wolfed it down raw at first. Then they saw Byeonggap grilling his portion and started copying him.

Turka hauled a flat stone slab from the stream. Hob goblins and normal goblins gathered firewood, and Kiriyan used his lightning ability to spark a flame.

They began roasting meat on the stone slab. The setup actually looked pretty decent.

Byeonggap glanced at his own little burner and felt a pang of shame—he looked pathetic next to them.

«You little bastards. Having fun grilling on that stone all by yourselves?»

«Yes! It’s delicious!»

«My Lord! Thank you. For the. Provisions!»

«I, I… Ehh.»

He took a long pull from his soju bottle and ambled over to the goblins. They were laughing and chattering, fishing meat off branches to eat.

Among them was the albino goblin, Kiriyan.

Byeonggap lit a cigarette, hung it from his lips, and struck up a conversation.

«Hey. Kiriyan.»

«Yes, Lord.»

«How’s it going. Settling in alright?»

It had been three days since Kiriyan came to Asvillam.

He had higher intelligence than a hob goblin and a better vocabulary—conversation flowed without a hitch.

Kiriyan smiled as he answered.

«Ever since returning to Asvillam, each day has felt like a dream. I’m truly happy.»

«Bullshit. You swing a pickaxe all day—what’s there to be happy about?»

«Thinking that my labor and my kin’s efforts lay the foundation for Asvillam’s reconstruction, it doesn’t feel hard at all. And the Lord takes such good care of us—I hardly know what to do with myself.»

Byeonggap let out a dry laugh.

Other people wouldn’t even touch pork hind leg if you paid them, yet here they were, acting grateful for it. And it wasn’t like the benefits were great either — all they got for a snack was a few scraps of bread tossed their way.

If anything, Go Byeonggap was the grateful one. Thanks to the goblins, his work had gotten easier in more ways than one. The elixir of Growth had also shown him a path beyond the limits of a lower-rank awakener.

«Right. Keep at it. I’ll bring in more folk soon enough… Huh? One of these days I’ll rebuild that Asvillam, or whatever it’s called, or stir-fry it — something like that.»

«Yes, sir! I trust you.»

Go Byeonggap was just rambling drunken nonsense.

«Hey! You little runt over there! Dance for me!»

«Giggle!»

That night, Go Byeonggap laughed and hollered with the goblins over meat and liquor.