Jeong-min greeted Leia and briefly told her about what happened today.
"You worked hard, Jeong-min. Shall we hear the details after you finish your training?"
Jeong-min nodded and prepared for training.
As Jeong-min put on the growth handcuffs and shackles, Leia said:
"Your stats must have increased significantly, right? From today, let's greatly increase the weight of the growth handcuffs and shackles for training."
Jeong-min drastically increased the weight of the handcuffs and shackles as Leia suggested.
Feeling his hands and feet sinking into the ground, Jeong-min struggled to lift his sword and stood facing Leia.
Leia smiled and said:
"Shall we begin then?"
********
Jeong-min sat across from Leia with a campfire between them.
After finishing the grueling training and taking a refreshing shower, the dinner they ate together tasted like honey.
Having finished a satisfying dinner, the two were now sipping cans of cola and chatting.
"A goblin lord that uses magic... You encountered a very rare one."
"Ah... I guess it's not a common goblin?"
Leia nodded and said:
"That's right. As you saw in the shelter battle you mentioned earlier, goblin lords mostly have large builds and use melee weapons. But occasionally... this happens not only in D-rank but also in higher ranks, very rarely a more powerful individual than the usual gatekeeper appears as the gatekeeper."
"Ah... I see."
"Being more powerful, the reward for defeating it is much greater than when it's a regular gatekeeper."
"Actually, I got this ring."
Jeong-min took off the ring and showed it to Leia.
Leia checked the ring Jeong-min handed over with her Eye of Appraisal and said:
"Ring of Protection... It's quite a good item for a D-rank gate. Although the number of daily uses is a bit low, it can automatically block attacks that the owner doesn't perceive... This ring will be extremely useful for you, Jeongmin. Have you checked how much impact the shield can withstand?"
"Yes. It was able to block my sword swings when I wasn't using any skills."
"Hmm... At that level, there probably isn't anyone in your current world who could break through that shield and deal damage. The reward for destroying the gate must have been quite substantial, right?"
Jeong-min nodded and said:
"Not just the item, but my stats increased a lot too. I plan to destroy every Drank gate I see from now on."
"..."
Hearing Jeong-min's words, Leia was silent for a moment as if thinking about something.
"...Leia?"
"Ah, sorry Jeong-min. I was just thinking about something... You said you'll destroy every gate you see, right?"
"Yes."
"Of course, it would be good if you could do that... but I think it won't be easy."
"Not easy? Why do you think that?"
"Probably..."
Leia, who was about to say something, shook her head and said to Jeong-min:
"Never mind. It should be fine since it's still the early stages of the [Trial of God]. Elan and Earth aren't exactly the same anyway... Anyway, try to destroy the gates you see as quickly as possible. Understand?"
Jeong-min looked at Leia for a moment before nodding.
Leia smiled at Jeong-min's response.
The next morning.
Jeong-min woke up inside the inventory and prepared to go out, opening the inventory gate.
"Huh?"
The scene visible through the inventory gate was very different from what Jeong-min had expected.
"The goblin corpses... are gone...?"
Expecting to see mountains of goblin corpses piled up everywhere, Jeongmin was shocked as he used Spatial Movement to exit the inventory and looked around.
The traces of yesterday's battle remained, but the goblin corpses had disappeared without a trace.
"What's going on... Did they really disappear like in a game? All those corpses overnight..."
"Kekeuruk!"
Jeong-min turned his head towards the source of the goblin sound he heard.
A group of ten goblins and one goblin champion.
A total of eleven goblins had spotted Jeong-min and were making screeching noises.
Only after seeing what the goblins were carrying in both hands did Jeong-min understand why the surroundings were so clean.
"Those guys collected all the goblin corpses. Are they trying to give their comrades a proper burial?"
The goblin group threw away the body parts they were holding and charged at Jeong-min.
Jeong-min easily dispatched the goblins with a swing of his sword.
'I guess they saved me some work. I was going to have the HR Manager do
this...'
Jeong-min shook his sword once and looked around, thinking:
'Well, I should do what I need to do today. Find gates and destroy them... If there's time left, I should visit the shelter too.'
Jeong-min climbed to the roof of a nearby building to survey the surroundings.
'There are no gates nearby, should I go a bit further?'
Jeong-min searched for gates while using Spatial Movement.
'Maybe because my intelligence stat has increased a lot, I don't feel a lack of mana.'
Moving from rooftop to rooftop using Spatial Movement while scanning the surroundings, Jeong-min soon found a gate.
'Ah, I found one... but...'
At the gate Jeong-min discovered, a battle was already taking place.
Jeong-min watched the gate from the rooftop and thought:
'Judging by the small number of people fighting, it's probably not shelterlevel, maybe a medium-sized guild's forces. But can they destroy the gate with that level of manpower?'
Jeong-min leaned against the rooftop railing and observed the battle.
After fighting hard for a while, the people gradually seemed unable to hold on and were pushed back.
Soon, with a signal to retreat, they withdrew from the gate like an ebbing tide.
The goblins chased the retreating people for a while before returning to the gate.
'Is it over? Is it my turn now?'
Having finished his thoughts, Jeong-min put on his armor.
Light started from his bracelet and enveloped Jeong-min's entire body. When the light disappeared, Jeong-min stood there covered in silver armor from head to toe.
Jeong-min immediately used Spatial Movement to get near the gate.
The surprised goblin horde charged at Jeong-min with screeching cries, and so the battle began again.
********
"Phew..."
Jeong-min deactivated his armor and wiped away the flowing sweat.
"There weren't as many goblins as I thought. Is this gate also one where many goblins were depleted, like the gate Daesung destroyed?"
Around Jeong-min lay numerous goblin corpses, including the body of a goblin lord that was much larger than the other goblins.
The gate that had stood in the middle of the goblin horde was destroyed without a trace.
Jeong-min looked at the fallen goblin lord and the large blade it held in its hand.
When he examined it with 'Eye of Appraisal', it turned out to be a weapon without any special options, so he just left it on the ground.
"It's definitely much easier when a regular goblin lord comes out as the gatekeeper. It's a shame there's no item to obtain though..."
Jeong-min opened his status window to check his stats with a hint of disappointment.
[Choi Jeong-min
Strength: 111(+30)
Stamina: 108(+20)
Agility: 106(+30)
Intelligence: 75(+10) [MP: 13/137]
Gold Held: 7250 Gold
Skills Held: Gate(Lv.2), Spatial Movement(Lv.4), Clairvoyance(Lv.2), Eye of Appraisal(Lv.2), Strike(Lv.1), Mana Recovery(Passive)(Lv.2), Detection(Passive)(Lv.1)]
"The stat increases and gold amount are a bit low. Probably because there were fewer goblins. Well, I guess I'll be satisfied with this much for today." When Jeong-min looked up at the sky, the sun had risen directly overhead.
'It's almost lunchtime. I'm getting hungry too... Should I go to the shelter for lunch today?'
Having decided on his destination, Jeong-min left to go to the shelter.
Shortly after Jeong-min left, a group of people appeared where he had been.
A large man who seemed to be the group's leader approached the goblin lord's corpse.
Picking up the blade from the goblin lord's hand, the man said with admiration in his eyes:
"To leave such a good weapon behind... They must be well-fed!"
A small-framed woman standing next to him said:
"You saw that ridiculous armor, right? It just flashed and put itself on and took itself off. Someone who has something like that wouldn't care about such an ordinary weapon."
The man gripping the blade gritted his teeth and said:
"That bastard... Taking the gate we've been struggling to conquer all this time by just showing up in the middle? Just wait. Next time we meet..."
"What are you going to do next time we meet? He ate up the gate all by himself."
Embarrassed by the woman's words, the man said:
"Well, I'm not saying I'll do anything, but... couldn't we at least demand some compensation? He destroyed the gate we were conquering without permission. We've been chipping away at the goblin numbers every day, so couldn't we claim some share?"
"Then try saying that if you meet him again."
"Well... I'm just saying we could try talking if we meet again, not that we definitely will..."
Looking at the man who was hemming and hawing with disdain, the woman said:
"Don't have such useless thoughts. In a world like this, if we get on the bad side of someone that skilled, a guild of our level could disappear in an instant. I've told you many times, don't think about treating people like before the Trial of God. This is a world where one wrong judgment can wipe you out in one go. We didn't put up a sign saying this gate belongs to our guild, how can you even think of claiming something like that?"
"Alright, I get it. I was just saying."
The man waved his hand to stop the woman's words.
"Sigh... What kind of Awakened is he anyway? To destroy a gate all by himself... He is human, right?"
"He looked human when he took off his armor... but his abilities aren't human-like, that's the problem. If we ever meet him again, absolutely, absolutely don't say anything provocative. Don't mention anything about compensation or shares, got it?"
"I said I get it already!"
The man grumbled as he looked in the direction Jeong-min had disappeared.
********
Jeong-min alternated between using Spatial Movement and walking to move near the Daesung shelter.
Two people were still standing guard at the entrance.
As Jeong-min approached, one of the men on guard duty said:
"Stop. If you come any closer, we'll consider you an enemy and attack. What business do you have here?"
"Hello. My name is Choi Jeong-min. There should be an official document about my entry permission."
As Jeong-min spoke, the man flinched and then nodded, greeting him.
"Ah, I know. Please come in."
The shelter door opened, and Jeong-min entered.
'I should eat something first... I saw before that they check meal eligibility with some kind of bracelet, but where do I get that bracelet? I should ask the HR Manager.'
Jeong-min started walking towards the HR department.
"Hyung-nim!!! Hyung-nim!!"
Startled by a loud voice coming from somewhere, Jeong-min looked towards the source of the sound.
Sang-do, with his huge build, came running towards Jeong-min with Jia in his arms, making thunderous footsteps.
Stopping in front of Jeong-min, Sang-do bowed and shouted:
"Hyung-nim, you're here! Have you eaten?"
"Hyung-nim! You're here!"
Jia, held in Sang-do's arms, giggled and imitated Sang-do's words.
Jia's appearance was different from when Jeong-min first saw her, now with smooth and white skin.
She seemed to have slept well too, with no dark circles under her eyes, looking as healthy as any other child.
Jeong-min greeted Sang-do and Jia with an awkward smile.
"Hello, Sang-do. Hi Jia. By the way, Sang-do, about calling me 'hyungnim'..."
"How else should I address hyung-nim but as hyung-nim? Please don't refuse."
'No, calling me hyung-nim with that face is too burdensome...'
Unable to voice his thoughts, Jeong-min asked Sang-do:
"You're with Jia today? Don't you have training?""Yes, this is a reward for successfully completing the gate destruction mission yesterday. Today is a day of rest without training, brother."
"Ah, I see. That's good. Please play with Jia a lot today."
"Yes, that's the plan. But what brings you here today?"
"Ah... I was thinking of meeting with the HR Manager."
"I'll guide you. Let's go, brother."
"Let's go, broder!"
After finishing his sentence, Sang-do strode ahead, and Jeong-min stared at him with a dumbfounded look.
'It's not like he doesn't know the way...'
Jeong-min shook his head and followed behind Sang-do.
They quickly arrived at the Human Resources department office, and Sang-do looked at Jeong-min and said,
"We've arrived. Please go in. If you need anything, please call me anytime, brother."
"Call me, broder!"
Jeong-min gently stroked Jia's head as she repeated Sang-do's words from within his arms, then said to Sang-do,
"It's alright. Go and play with Jia. It's a rare day off, you should make good use of your time. I'll go in now."
Sang-do bowed to Jeong-min, and Jeong-min opened the office door and went inside.
Inside the Human Resources department office, one employee was sitting at a desk.
Jeong-min strode in and abruptly opened the door to the small private office inside.
Gwak Jo-won, who was sitting at the desk in the office, greeted Jeong-min with a nonchalant look.
"You've arrived."
"You don't seem surprised? Did you know I was coming?"
"I received a report that you passed through the entrance."
"Hmm, no fun."
Jeong-min went into the office and plopped down on the sofa.
Looking at Jeong-min, Jo-won said,
"I actually had something to talk about, so this is good. You came at the right time."
"Something to talk about?"
"Yes."
Jo-won looked at Jeong-min for a moment before starting to speak.
"Did you perhaps destroy the gate?"