It had been a while since Seo Jun-Ho had watched a memory projection. He quickly skimmed through the blood kobold lord’s daily life. 

‘I don’t have much time, so let’s do 3x speed...’

The video sped up. When the blood kobold lord was born, it had been similar to the other blood kobolds, but it grew faster than them. Its body had already resembled a normal blood kobold when it was only a year old, and when it was two years old, it became the strongest warrior of the pack. And when it turned three, it awakened its magic and rose to the position of a lord. The blood kobold strongly believed that it was fated to become a king. 

‘It kept going after that.’ 

The kobold lord absorbed other packs through invasions and wars, and as time passed they got bigger and bigger. Eventually, they numbered seven hundred blood kobolds and five hundred regular kobolds. He became the ruler of the Hainal Mountains, with an army numbering over a thousand. 

It had thought that the world was under its feet, but it was wrong. And one day, they found him. 

‘The fiends.’ Seo Jun-Ho turned on the volume of the video. 

“Is it this guy?”

“It should be. Unless there are two blood kobold lords in the Hainal Mountains.”

“Let’s get right to it, then.”

It had taken only one woman and one man to neutralize the entire army in twenty minutes. The kobold lord was currently kneeling at their feet. 

‘They’re definitely stronger than I am right now.’ Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes narrowed. The two fiends in the video seemed even stronger than Kal Signer. Being at that level, their names and faces would be somewhat public…But Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t recognize them at all. Though to be fair, they were both wearing masks that covered their entire face and only their eyes were visible. 

“Is he some nouveau riche? It’s all shiny,” the woman commented.

“We don’t have time to chit-chat. Hurry up and feed it the demon jade.” The man urged. 

“Yes, yes~,” she said sarcastically, raising a black gem. 

‘Demon jade? Is that what it’s called?’ 

The gem seemed to be a form of condensed demonic energy, and it was two fingers big. The woman let out a low laugh and approached the blood kobold lord. 

“Here, you like gems, don’t you? I’ll put it in your chest so you won’t forget me.”

She swiftly buried the demon jade into the blood kobold lord’s heart. 

“Krrrr…Kuh! Kung!” 

The sky filled the screen, and the scene shook as if the blood kobold lord had fallen to the ground. The blood kobold lord thrashed in pain. 

“Kung! Kuuhhh…Kuh!” 

The blood kobold lord rolled on the ground as if it were on fire, and it looked down at its chest. Its body trailed with gems, partially covering its sculpted muscles. Above them, black veins had started to spread, like the roots of a tree. 

The fiends talked casually as they watched the blood kobold lord thrash in pain. 

“But why a blood kobold lord? I feel like we skipped a few steps here,” the woman said. 

“After the commanders’ meeting, they told us to bring concrete results, so it can’t be helped.”

“Oh my, why must they be so meddlesome when we do all the dirty work? Do they have a death wish or something?”

“Watch your mouth. If the commanders heard that, you’d be dead.”

“...Hmph, criticism is unavoidable when you have that much power.”

“Anyway, we’re just following orders. It’s still nice that it’s easy.” 

Unlike the woman, the man didn’t seem remotely angry. He tapped the blood kobold lord’s head. 

“It doesn’t seem like it hurts anymore, so get up before I tear your heart out,” he said calmly. 

The blood kobold lord panicked and scrambled up. But because it was so big, it ended up looking down on the two fiends. 

“Ah, my neck hurts…” the woman muttered, eyes narrowing. The blood kobold lord understood and got down on its knees. The two fiends nodded as they watched. 

“Looks like the dosage was right,” the woman commented. 

“Hm, there don’t seem to be any side effects either… It recognizes its superiors too, so I’d say that’s a success.”

“We’re testing intelligence and military power, right? Do you think this guy will be able to take down Gilleon on its own?”

“I’m not sure. I suppose we won’t know until we try. The higher-ups just want research material anyway. They want to see how monsters perform with the demon jade… That way, they can decide whether or not it’s worth investing in.”

“Hmmm.” The woman knocked on the blood kobold lord’s head. “You stink, you big dog. Since you live in the Hainal Mountains, you know where Gilleon is, right?”

The camera shook as the blood kobold lord rolled its eyes in confusion. The woman sighed and stomped on its hand with her high heels. 

“Idiot.”

“...!” It swallowed a cry of pain, whimpering. The woman pointed somewhere. 

“If you walk that way, there’s a city, okay? That’s Gilleon. Your job is to attack the city and overtake it. There’s no time limit, so you do your best. Understood?” 

As the woman took out a wet wipe for her hand, the man spoke, “Let’s get going. We have to go get the ingredients now.”

“...Haaa, what in the world is she making? Why do we need to get those sorts of ingredients?” The woman sighed.

“I don’t know. We just need to follow orders. That’s the easiest path we can take.”

“Yes, yes. You obedient little fucker~ Must be nice getting all their approval~”

“You should listen to orders too. You always get in trouble because you don’t listen.”

The two fiends left, and the video ended. 

“Hmmm.” Seo Jun-Ho went through it again, but nothing else in the blood kobold lord’s life was helpful. 

‘Demon jade…’ 

If a monster absorbed such a gem, it would become even more powerful, and it would be able to use demonic energy. According to the memories, it was still in the testing stages.

‘But if they get more material about the demon jade to study…’

The fiends might be able to train even stronger monsters, maybe even boss monsters, which would have to be hunted in raids by Guilds. 

“That would be bad…”

Countless people would die. This blood kobold lord had become incredibly intelligent to the point that it was able to plan a landslide to bury the humans alive.

‘The only good thing is that they have to wait several months for every experiment.’ 

It had already been a few months since the blood kobold lord had been given the demon jade. Of course, the fiends could conduct multiple experiments at once, but seeing as there was no news, they couldn’t have done much harm yet. 

‘I have to get stronger as fast as possible.’ 

He had thought so before, but the fiends were dangerous.

Seo Jun-Ho’s face was stiff as he walked toward the broken wall to step out. 

“Stop.” The Frost Queen, who had been keeping watch, shoved her hand in his face and shook her head. “NG.”[1]

“...NG?”

“It won’t be dramatic if you come out so plainly. Stumble a bit when you step out with sweat pouring down your face. And lean on the wall with your shoulder, if you’d like.” She commanded. 

“All the sweat has dried up.”

“Can you not use Booster? Hurry up!”

She sure had a lot to say today. 

‘Deep breaths… This is all for PP. The PP…’ 

Seo Jun-Ho obeyed the director’s instructions. He went back inside the walls and drenched himself in sweat with Booster. 

“Huff, huff…” He stepped out with great difficulty, gripping the wall. He leaned his shoulder against it like he was in a Hollywood film, and looked up at the glaring sun.

“The sun… is so bright…”

“Cut!” The Frost Queen clapped as she yelled, “that was a great shot. I’m impressed.”

“How was the line?”

“Hm? Oh… About the sun, you mean? We’ll cut that, of course.”

She was ruthless. Seo Jun-Ho scoffed.

He retrieved Cruel Executioner and started walking down the hill. Below, the battle had already ended. 

“Seo Jun-Ho,” Baek Geon-Woo called as he approached. “You look very tired. Let me lend you my shoulder if you’d like.”

“Shoulder…” Seo Jun-Ho’s surprise showed on his face. 

When he was Specter, he had been a hero and the hope of all humanity. No matter how tired or hurt he was back then, he could never show his fatigue or pain because he was a hero. If he was tired, the entire world would be on edge. 

‘But now…’ 

Seo Jun-Ho gave a tired smile. He felt a bit happy that he could lean on someone’s shoulder when he was worn out.

“I’m really happy…”

Baek Geon-Woo stopped in his tracks. “What do you mean… By that?” he asked carefully. 

“I’m just happy that we won.”

“...I see.” Baek Geon-Woo seemed a little warier now. 

Seo Jun-Ho leaned against Geon-Woo’s shoulder as they walked toward the battalion. Weaver and Rhodi wiped the blood from their swords and approached them. 

“...Player Seo Jun-Ho.”

They didn’t say anything and simply patted his back. Even though the knights were of much higher status than people like Players and Adventurers, they looked at Seo Jun-Ho with deep respect. 

“Thanks to your heroic deed, 497 people were saved,”

“We will submit a detailed report of your outstanding performance to the city lord.”

“...More people survived than I expected. It’s a relief,” Seo Jun-Ho said.

“It’s all thanks to you.” 

Weaver’s armor was covered in blood as he scanned the kobold corpses covering the mountain. “Let us return to our city,” he whispered. 

***

Even though it had only taken one day to get there, it took them two days to return. The mountain path had been destroyed by the landslide, and there were multiple people injured, so it only made sense that it had taken them longer to come back. When they arrived at Gilleon, they were greeted by medics. Seo Jun-Ho was resting after receiving basic treatment when Phivir approached him. 

“Player Seo Jun-Ho, you made an overwhelming contribution to the competition and placed 1st. Soon, the city lord will summon you to award your merits,” he said.

“I’ll be waiting,” Seo Jun-Ho replied. 

“...Let me thank you once again, in place of my subordinates.”

The knights left, and the Players and Adventurers split off to go for drinks. Of course, they didn’t forget to thank Seo Jun-Ho. 

“We lived thanks to you, sir Black Knight. I personally don’t like Players very much, but I’ll be supporting your work.”

“Did you film a video again? You should edit and upload it as soon as possible so you can take advantage of the buzz.”

“...I will repay you one day.”

“If you ever come to the Mad Slide guild house, we’ll treat you like a king.”

When everyone else left, one man remained. The man looked squarely at Seo Jun-Ho. 

“...No matter how I think about it, I’m very glad that I participated in the competition,” Baek Geon-Woo said. 

“Did you level up a lot?”

“No.” Baek Geon-Woo shook his head and smiled, looking up at the darkening sky. “I shouldn’t have spent so much time focusing on strengthening my body.”

“...What?” Seo Jun-Ho was confused.

“You’re a wolf in sheep’s clothing. From now on, I will focus more on training my mind, not just my body…”

“Oh, okay…” Seo Jun-Ho wasn’t sure if Baek Geon-Woo’s decision was the right one. However, it was the path he had chosen after thinking it over by himself, and Seo Jun-Ho knew that Baek Geon-Woo wouldn’t give up halfway. 

“This is my community ID. Please contact me if you need any help at all.”

Seo Jun-Ho accepted the small post-it and nodded. “I’ll contact you. And I’m not just saying this… Baek Geon-Woo, you will become strong.”

“Hahaha, is that so? I know you have a good eye. I’ll train hard.”

As Baek Geon-Woo left, the Frost Queen spoke, “Contractor.”

“What is it?”

“Can I scold you now?”

“...Can’t you wait a little longer? Let me eat and take a shower first.”

“Hmmm.” She thought for a second and shrugged. “With my endless benevolence, I will show you mercy this time. I shall scold you tomorrow.”

“Thanks a lot.”

If her benevolence were truly endless, couldn’t she just let him go?

Seo Jun-Ho started to walk toward Dewdrop Inn. 

1. Stands for “no good”. ☜