episode_0008

“Kim Jumugwan. Are you really going?”

“Yes. Senior. Shouldn’t you take care of the aftermath?”

“That’s just how it is… You don’t necessarily have to go by the manual. The person said they didn’t want to, right?”

Kim A-yeong, who was completely indifferent to what the senior said, moved busily. Carrying her document bag, she eventually took the hesitant senior and headed to the city hall.

As she got into the taxi, she turned to the senior.

“To be honest, I’m so worried that I’m going crazy.”

“Hey, then just make a phone call. Why are you taking me along?”

“You’re the one in charge of this project, right? You don’t have anything else to do anyway.”

“Ugh. Being in charge is freezing. I only did it because I was told to.”

Despite trying to ignore and forget, whenever she closed her eyes, the scene from that day kept vividly appearing before her eyes.

The person who was spitting blood suddenly changed his gaze.

He seemed a bit immature and eccentric, but he wasn’t a bad person. He was good-looking and somewhat cute, to say the least.

However, when he regained his senses, his gaze became so eerie that it sent shivers down her spine.

Kim A-yeong possessed abilities unique to the special class, being a Grade 8 ability holder.

While her ability manifested, it was of no use in daily life. According to assessments, she was deemed to possess an ability similar to a buff.

But due to its subtlety, it seemed not to be a strong ability, which left her in despair.

Yet she knew very well herself.

Since a young age, after an incident, she understood that her ability was far from insignificant.

Especially when she was angry, her ability erupted particularly strongly, causing changes in the other party.

An ordinary person could awaken, or even a normal person could turn into a villain.

“Surely that man hasn’t awakened.”

If awakening had occurred, it needed to be reported to the relevant authorities.

All Kim A-yeong hoped for was that all of this was just her overthinking.

“As expected, Seoul’s top player… It’s really gloomy here even at midday. Now I understand why people live near subway stations.”

Getting out of the taxi and looking up at the studio apartment, the senior shivered.

“Don’t belittle the area. Senior.”

“How is that belittling the area? It’s just that the neighborhood isn’t great.”

“What was the password again…”

“Hey, we’ve come this far, and you’re just going to barge in? Make a call, will you?”

Kim A-yeong opened her phone to check the text messages exchanged with the studio apartment owner.

“Oh, here it is. It was 0892*.”

“Hey hey, are you ignoring me? Call that reclusive guy.”

“You should call him a recluse. Do recluses like being called recluses?”

“From now on, you go alone.”

Click

The front door of the studio apartment on the first floor opened.

The civil servants walked up the stairs towards the second floor.

“It’s unusually quiet today.”

“Stay behind me, senior.”

“I was thinking of doing that anyway.”

Kim A-yeong turned her head and glared at the senior.

“Why? What? I’m just an ordinary person. Don’t stare at me. I’m your senior.”

“I’m an ordinary person too.”

“Shh. Lead the way.”

She sighed and stood in front of the recluse’s house.

Apartment 202.

It was the room where the young man Kim A-yeong was so worried about lived. She clenched her fist, hoping nothing would happen, and knocked on the door.

Tap tap.

“Seems like no one’s here?”

“No, they’re there. Mr. Kim! Are you home? It’s Kim A-yeong from Seoul City Hall.”

Kim A-yeong raised her voice a bit and knocked on the door again.

“It seems like someone’s there… Did you hear something?”

“No, I didn’t hear anything.”

Just as Kim A-yeong was about to knock on the door again…

Click.

The door opened.

But it wasn’t Apartment 202 where Kim A-yeong was standing; it was the door of Apartment 203 next to it that opened. No one came out; the door just opened slightly.

Click. Click.

At the same time, the door of Apartment 202 where she stood also opened.

And the door of Apartment 201 across the hall opened.

“Um, there… Mr. Kim? I’m Kim A-yeong, the official from Seoul City Hall. Kim…”

“Cough cough.”

Kim Ayoung was startled by the strange noise.

Her gaze slowly lowered and froze in place.

“Kim Jumugwan, what’s wrong? The door is open.”

Thunk.

“Huh…?”

“Se… Senior…?”

Kim Ayoung’s gaze fell on the senior’s thigh.

A knife was stuck in the thigh of a man making a face of not understanding English.

The one holding the knife wasn’t human.

It was an unidentified green creature that came out of Room 203. It had the small stature of an elementary school student up to the man’s waist.

The man, completely baffled by what was happening, trembled as he looked down at the person who stabbed his thigh.

“Se… Senior… Please endure it. Please… Please. Don’t shout… Please hold my hand…”

“…Mon… Monster… Suck…”

Kim Ayoung whispered to the senior.

She needed to avoid provoking and escape in the opposite direction.

The pale-faced senior thankfully nodded.

As Kim Ayoung slowly lowered her body, she locked eyes with the creature staring at her.

It was the green monster in the room where Kim Shin should have been, looking at her with malice.

“When I give the signal… you have to run… Got it…? Please, do as I say.”

“Oh, okay… M-My leg… hurts… Feels weird… Hot.”

“Don’t worry, the senior won’t die. I’m here…”

She had to calm the senior down somehow.

Was there anything different about her?

What on earth was happening?

She was terrified like crazy, feeling the fear of death. It was the first time she had seen someone stabbed with a knife. It was also the first time she had seen such a monster.

Kim Ayoung was so shocked that her heart felt like it would burst, and she was dizzy to the point of fainting.

If she made a rash move, she felt like she would really die. She tightly held the senior’s hand, filled with the instinct that she had to escape.

“My legs won’t move…”

Tears slowly welled up in Kim Ayoung’s bloodshot eyes. She bit her lower lip and kept turning her head, on high alert.

“Kekik.”

The door of Room 202 swung open, and the green monster came out wielding a knife.

Raising its arm, the green monster aimed the kitchen knife at Kim Ayoung. Growling, it exuded a fierce aura.

The one baring sharp teeth rushed towards Kim Ayoung.

“Se… Senior! Now!”

Thud!

Kim Ayoung precisely punched the oncoming monster in the face. With all her strength, the green monster slammed into the wall from her fist.

“Kwaeek…!”

The monster on the floor convulsed, spilling blood.

The man, with a knife in his thigh, threw himself towards the stairs. Rolling forward, he fell downwards.

Kim Ayoung also ran without looking back.

“Please! Please! Oh my god! Ahhh!”

She grabbed the back of the senior, who was crawling down the stairs, and ran madly towards the first floor.

She opened the front door and pushed the senior outside.

Covered in dust, they quickly got up from the ground.

“Ugh… Ugh. Haah, haah, Se… Senior… Are you okay?”

“I-I’m… fine… The m-monster…?”

“I don’t know! Let’s go to the main road. Don’t look back!”

Supporting the senior, Kim Ayoung ran.

Fortunately, the monsters did not chase them.

But someone was watching them from the second-floor window.

“…………”

It was the green monsters holding knives in their hands.

***

“What…? Did you guys fight?”

After going to the mart and coming back, Ilho was vomiting blood and collapsed.

Thankfully, he didn’t seem dead, but his condition was not good. Continuously convulsing and falling, it was worrying.

Soldiers were divided into Rooms 201, 202, and 203, and they all opened their doors to welcome me.

“I’m dying of frustration because I can’t speak. Hey, Ilho. Why are you like this? Explain.”

“Kekik. Kiriruk. Woowung. Kekik! Pipipik!”

Ilho’s gestures were peculiar.

Someone coming up the stairs and throwing a punch towards Ilho. In short, there was an intruder.

“Who’s there?”

“Kik.”

Ilho’s head went blank at the nodding response.

This was essentially being caught red-handed.

If that someone was a person and got into it with Ilho, reporting to SRS was obvious.

Who would stay still upon seeing a goblin?

This is the discovery of an unidentified paranormal entity beyond villains.

Under the Police Agency, Special Ability Response Division.

Commonly known as SRS, it was an execution unit composed entirely of super-powered individuals targeting villains.

By the way, the superhero Hyperion belongs to that unit.

“Damn it. Screwed… Ah, damn. Ugh. Really… Where should I go? Should I really head to the mountains?”

A hidden fortress. Mount Gwanak was behind the one-room apartment.

The goblins might not know, but how can someone like me survive in the mountains?

To increase soldiers, one must also mate regularly with females, which is daunting.

“Ugh. Ilho, snap out of it.”

He embraced the collapsed Ilho and carried him into the room, laying him on the floor.

He instructed the others to clean the blood off the corridor and fetched water to feed Ilho.

“Ilho. Hey!”

No response, just trembling all over.

There was nothing I could do.

It wasn’t a situation to take him to an animal hospital; I could only watch over him.

Thud.

Thump.

“Huh…? What… What’s wrong, are you okay?”

After a strange bone-twisting sound, Ilho rose from his spot.

Ilho, who had been groaning for a while, strangely felt his body growing larger. He continued to grow for a while.

“Cra… Crazy… My height… Wow. Amazing.”

Growing larger and surpassing my height, Ilho transformed into a stature I had to look up to.

“Keuk. Hng.”

Ilho clenched his fist, blood dripping, lowered his head, and flexed his body. Turning his head left and right, he made a thumping sound.

[The soldier has evolved due to an unknown force.]

[Hop Goblin (★★) has appeared.]