The Girl, Day of Revenge

Four days after the strength control education began.

Unlike her previous inexperience, Neon had now perfectly mastered strength control for her goblin body.

“With 10% of your strength.”

Crumble—

The pebble grasped in Neon’s hand crumbles into gravel.

“Now with 30% of your strength.”

Rumble—!

The rock Neon struck is swallowed by cracks and collapses like pudding.

“Good, now with 50% of your strength!”

Crash—!!!

The rock wall Neon kicked with her foot sinks down as if collapsing with a fierce vibration.

“Last! With full power!”

Boom—!!!!!

The rocky mountain Neon threw soars into the sky and then plunges into the ground with a roar.

Inhuman scenes caused by using the strength Neon could use at each stage.

By now, Neon had become able to perfectly handle her strength to the extent that she couldn’t be carelessly compared with even ordinary A-rank hunters.

And after confirming the results Neon had produced while ordering a series of actions, I patted Neon’s shoulders standing in front of me with a satisfied smile.

“Now it’s perfect! I thought it would take at least two weeks, but you learned much faster than I expected. With this, the lecture on strength control is over.”

“Thank you, Shin-yeon!”

Neon bowed her head with a bright smile at my praise.

Although I didn’t like that she still hadn’t dropped formalities even after four days, what could I do since she said she would do it when she felt comfortable?

‘I was hoping to have a friend-like person around my age to talk comfortably with…’

That was the hope with which I had allowed Neon to speak casually, but it seemed it would take a bit more time before I could hear casual speech from her.

However, seeing her much more relaxed behavior compared to four days ago, it seemed that would also be soon, so I chose to be patient rather than unnecessarily rushing.

After finishing such a pointless resolution in my mind, I looked at Neon, who had now perfectly mastered strength control, and recalled once again the points I had taught her so far.

“How much strength did I say to maintain usually?”

“You said 5% (5 parts out of 100).”

“Right, maintain about that much to appear like a normal human. But when fighting a slightly stronger enemy?”

“You said it’s okay to use up to 30-40% strength.”

“That’s right. That much is enough to kill most humans or monsters, so always think while fighting. You can release up to 60% depending on the situation.”

5% when walking around normally.

About 30% up to a maximum of 60% when engaging in battle.

Neon answered with the standards I had taught her in advance every time I asked.

However, this was merely a recommended standard, and it was nonsense to set a standard for Neon, who had goblin strength, and tell her to move only within that.

I raised one finger and added one more thing I hadn’t said until now.

“But this is just something to keep as much as possible. If there’s someone you really dislike or you just want to use your strength, you can use it. Of course, you should at least be careful of the surrounding situation and gazes.”

“…Thank you so much, Shin-yeon.”

“Why are you thanking me again? More importantly… are you thinking of going for revenge now?”

My question that could be seen as sudden.

However, to such a question from me, Neon simply nodded calmly and answered.

“Yes. I’m going right now.”

“Then what about this morning when Yeon-ah said she could mobilize manpower to clean up the small fry?”

“No. If the General Management Team takes action, my father will know they’re backing me and run away. And… I want to do this revenge alone from start to finish.”

I couldn’t help but smile at Neon’s answer, which had no part I disliked.

Then, seeing Neon trembling slightly, caught between fear of trauma and excitement about going to shatter it, I gently stroked her head.

Plop—

It was an action that Neon subtly showed dislike for, feeling like she was being treated as a child when hands were placed on her head, but I ignored it and roughly stroked Neon’s head, and in the end, it was Neon who moved first.

“Th-then I’ll be going to the slums now! What will you do, Shin-yeon?”

“I’ll follow you on my own. Go ahead first.”

“Then I’ll be going ahead!”

Watching Neon’s back as she moved her steps while half panting, a deflating laugh burst out without me realizing.

A laugh that made me wonder if this was how it would have felt to have a younger sister, as I was an only child.

And at Neon’s expression that seemed to have appropriately released her emotions before embarking on the path of revenge washed in blood, I inwardly let out a sigh of relief and quietly watched her walk away.

Neon gradually became smaller like a white dot as she walked, and finally completely left the dungeon.

Only after confirming she had left did I grasp the Hwa-gon I had been carrying on my back and create one object.

“Come out, goblin’s hat.”

Poof—!

A cloth hat appeared with smoke as I struck my palm with Hwa-gon.

More precisely, after creating the goblin’s hat, an object containing goblin mysteries that completely hides the appearance of the wearer, I put the hat on my head and followed the path Neon had walked.

“Shall we go now too?”

『The slums… I’m looking forward to it.』

The footsteps of one girl I followed along with Hwa-gon, who was full of expectations like me.

One invisible goblin disappeared from the dungeon.

---

“Father, is it alright if I go out for a while?”

“Hm?”

At Raje’s words, Cha Baek-gi, the leader of the Hyeonhwa organization, put down the dumbbell he was holding and turned to look at her.

Cha Baek-gi’s eyes asked what this sudden nonsense was.

That was natural, as Raje always acted as the action leader by Cha Baek-gi’s side except for physiological needs, so it was an inevitable question.

And to such questioning eyes of Cha Baek-gi, Raje calmly uttered a lie-filled answer.

“I heard that an item I had my eye on before is up for auction today. I was asking if it’s okay to just participate in this auction and come back.”

“Ah, well. Do you have enough money?”

“If it’s not enough, I can just kill the guy who bought the item instead of me, right?”

“Hahaha!! That’s true too. Alright, go ahead.”

Cha Baek-gi burst into hearty laughter as if he really liked Raje’s answer and gave permission.

Raje bowed her head in gratitude at his permission and left the room.

Click—

“Phew…”

As soon as she left the room where Cha Baek-gi had been training his body just now, the dirty and humid air of the slums filled her nose.

However, breathing in that air deeply into her lungs, which now felt even refreshing, Raje narrowed her eyes viciously.

“…I need to check for myself.”

The reason Raje had come out even lying to Cha Baek-gi was none other than because of the precognitions that had been poking at her mind for the past few days.

Clearly a precognition of one piece of trash who had stumbled and fallen.

But that precognition began to stab Raje’s mind more strongly as days passed, and finally today, Raje, who could no longer endure, had come out to examine the precognition herself.

“Even if I tell Father, he definitely won’t listen. Haa… my head is killing me.”

The fact that precognitions overlapped this much meant that no matter how impossible it seemed, it would surely happen in reality, but her father Cha Baek-gi was a person whose stubbornness was stronger than iron horns in this aspect.

Nemon… no, was it Neon? Cha Baek-gi never guarded against a child he had once remembered as trash.

Those who had already been abandoned rotted to the fullest at the bottom of the slums, were worn down to the fullest, and didn’t even have the strength to rebel once, so it would rather be strange to guard against them.

Therefore, knowing that telling Cha Baek-gi about this precognition repeatedly would only be ignored every time she spoke, Raje had no choice but to take this method.

“One piece of trash is causing trouble…”

However, if asked whether Raje was raising her guard against Neon that much because of this, that was not the case either.

Raje also thought that trash was just trash.

It was a rule that trash from the bottom could never become the sun no matter how hard they tried.

She had only come out to directly handle Neon, who was the cause of the precognition now even causing headaches.

“Damn trash child…”

Raje came down from the upper floor to the 1st floor and gestured to one subordinate guarding the entrance of the building as she left the entrance.

“You, follow me. We’re going on patrol.”

“What? Ah, yes! Understood!”

The woman who was startled for a moment at Raje’s order soon answered with a tense voice and followed behind Raje.

As if knowing well that she would die if she gave any unnecessary answer now, the woman answered while bowing her head 90 degrees.

Raje came out to the streets of the slums with the woman following briskly behind her like that, and took angry steps to find Neon who would be somewhere.

“It’s that bitch.”

『Thankfully, she came out on her own.』

Without realizing that there was one goblin watching her.

---

On top of a building in the 7th District.

From the rooftop of a building that was neither too high nor too low, Neon let out tense sighs over and over as she looked straight ahead.

“Phew… I can do it. I can do it.”

What was straight ahead was none other than the huge wall enclosing the 8th District slums.

Of course, it wasn’t as big as the defense city’s wall, but Neon had no choice but to steel her heart several times at the quite high wall built to disconnect the general districts from the slums.

It wasn’t because she had become afraid of taking revenge now.

The reason Neon was tense was none other than worry about what would happen if what she was about to do now failed or was discovered.

“Will it… be possible?”

The building Neon was standing on now was similar in height to the slum’s wall, and Neon was thinking of jumping up from here to cross over the wall.

After all, when escaping from the slums, she had passed through that hole full of insect and rat corpses and sewage without any thought, but she had not the slightest intention of crawling through that hole again to enter the slums.

She didn’t want to dirty these new clothes she had received from the General Management Team with corpse fragments and sewage, and above all, that hole was so disgusting that just recalling it made her want to vomit.

But she couldn’t boldly walk in through the main gate where guards were standing either, so the only method left for Neon was to jump over the wall.

“It shouldn’t be impossible, but…”

She knew it wouldn’t be difficult to jump and fly across this distance of only about 300 meters after testing goblin strength for the past four days.

However, apart from knowing it in her head, she couldn’t help but feel nervous when trying to actually do it.

Moreover, using abilities arbitrarily within the defense city was illegal.

Although it didn’t matter whether she used abilities or killed people inside the slums, where Neon herself was now was clearly a general district.

“Inhale… Exhale…”

But after being afraid like that for a while.

Soon, Neon began to put strength into her legs as she recalled the revenge she was about to carry out, the past, and what Yeon-ah had said.

“She said she would cover everything from minor things to serious acts…”

Indeed, if an ambiguous person had said such words, she would have taken it as a simple joke, but when she, the leader of the General Management Team, said those words, there could be no more reliable statement.

Yes, what was backing Neon herself was none other than the General Management Team.

Although it would be wrong to abuse their power, thinking that she would rely on that backing just this once, Neon straightened her legs that had been bent with strength.

Boom—!!!!!

Then, with a huge roar, Neon’s body flew through the air, half-destroying the rooftop of the building.

Looking down at herself entering the slums while flying through the sky, Neon slowly drew out the blade hidden in her determined heart.

“…Let’s start the revenge.”

Now that she could finally wield this blade that had been sharpened sharply over the years.

Thud—!!!

In front of the Hyeonhwa organization’s building, Neon’s body landed, causing cracks.