The hallway was a charnel house.
It was narrow, barely wide enough for two people to pass, and the dim, fluorescent lights flickered, casting long, nauseating shadows. The air was thick with the stench of copper and offal.
Two Goblins were crouched over a body. Or, what was a body. It was his neighbor from 304, the loud college student who always played music too late. Now, he was just... [Meat].
The Goblins hadn't noticed him. They were too busy fighting over their prize.
Amateurs.
Seo-jun stood in the shadows, his back pressed against the peeling wallpaper. He raised his hand. He focused on the cold, hollow center of his being.
['Void's Hand' activated.]
He didn't target the Goblins. He targeted the fire extinguisher hanging on the wall behind them.
He pushed.
The 5kg limit of his skill was just enough. The heavy, red-painted cylinder was wrenched from its flimsy bracket. It flew through the air and slammed into the back of the nearest Goblin's head with a sickening, metallic thunk.
The Goblin shrieked, dropping its prize and spinning around, clutching its skull. Its companion, startled, looked up, its yellow eyes wide.
They both saw him.
"Meat!" the uninjured one snarled, and charged.
This was the one he'd been waiting for. Seo-jun had already ripped a metal support leg from a broken chair in the hallway. It was flimsy, but it was pointed. A makeshift spear.
The Goblin ran, its head down, like a rabid animal. Seo-jun didn't brace. He didn't try to be a [Warrior].
He waited until the last possible second, then used ['Void's Hand'] again. This time, he pushed the Goblin's ankle.
The creature's charge became an uncontrolled, stumbling fall. It yelped as it lost its footing, pitching forward.
It fell right onto the metal leg Seo-jun was holding at waist-height.
The sharpened, hollow tube punched through the creature's thin, leather-like chest. It didn't have the sense to stop, its own momentum driving the makeshift spear deeper.
It gurgled, black ichor pouring from its mouth, and collapsed.
[You have slain 'Starving Goblin' (Level 1).] [You have gained 5 EXP.]
The first Goblin, the one hit by the extinguisher, was just getting to its feet, shaking its head. It saw its companion dead. It saw Seo-jun.
It hesitated. Its 'Berserk' state was fading, replaced by a dawning, animalistic fear.
It turned to run.
"No," Seo-jun said.
He [Devour]-ed the essence of the Goblin he'd just impaled. The cold, icy rush. He needed more.
He charged. His 'Agility: 1' was pathetic, but the Goblin was disoriented. He tackled it, his 60kg of human mass slamming it against the wall. He still had the broken chair leg in his hand.
He did not give it time to scream.
[You have slain 'Starving Goblin' (Level 1).] [You have gained 5 EXP.]
He was panting, his entire body screaming from the exertion. His stats were still '1'. Every fight was a desperate, life-or-death struggle.
He [Devour]-ed the second Goblin. The cold rush was stronger this time.
[Essence of 'Starving Goblin' (F-Rank) has been devoured.] [Your 'Authority' has gained a minuscule amount of experience.]
He looked at the two corpses. Then at the body of his neighbor.
He felt... nothing. No remorse. No pity. No fear.
Just a cold, clear, purpose.
This was the 'Tutorial'. And in his past life, he had failed it. He had hidden in his room until a 'Party' of other survivors had found him. A party led by Park Jin-ho.
His stomach twisted. Jin-ho.
He'd been so desperate for their protection. He'd been... weak.
"Never again."
He spent the next hour clearing the gosiwon. Floor by floor. It was a methodical, brutal process.
His ['Void's Hand'] was his greatest weapon. He used it to create distractions. To set traps. He'd pull a stack of boxes down on a Goblin, then finish it while it was trapped. He'd push a door open, pull it shut when the Goblin charged, and kill it through the flimsy wood.
He was not a warrior. He was a predator.
With every kill, he [Devour]-ed.
After his tenth Goblin, a new message appeared.
[You have devoured 10 (F-Rank) Essences.] ['Void's Hand' has absorbed sufficient essence.] ['Void's Hand' (Level 1) -> 'Void's Hand' (Level 2)] [Weight Limit: 10 kg. Cooldown: 8 seconds.]
His skills could level up.
He continued. He cleared all three floors. Seventeen Goblins in total. His own Level was still '1'. The EXP was pitiful. But his [Authority] stat felt... heavier. His ['Void's Hand'] was his ace.
He reached the final room. The ground-floor office of the gosiwon owner.
In his past life, the owner was a fat, greedy man who had been eaten by his own tenants when the food ran out.
Seo-jun tried the knob. Locked.
He heard a sound from within. Not a Goblin's snarl. A... whimper.
He used [Monarch's Eyes] on the door.
[Reinforced Steel Door (D-Rank Durability)]
And behind it...
[Gosiwon Owner - Kim Chul-soo (F-Rank)] [Level: 1] [State: Terrified, Hidden.]
A survivor.
Seo-jun's hand, raised to knock, paused.
A survivor. A human.
In his past life, he would have been overjoyed. He would have banged on the door. "We're safe! We're together!"
He stood there, silent.
What is the 'value' of this human? he thought.
[Potential: None.]
The answer was cold. Clinical. None.
This man was just... a liability. Another mouth to feed. Another person to betray him.
Seo-jun turned, and began to walk away.
He stopped.
His memory, his ten years of knowledge, suddenly sparked.
The gosiwon owner. Kim Chul-soo. He remembered a rumor, years later. A rumor that a 'Unique' item had been found in this very building, long after the 'Tutorial' was over. A D-Rank Hunter had found it. He'd said the gosiwon owner had hoarded it.
Seo-jun turned back. He looked at the D-Rank door.
He knocked.
"Go away! Go away!" a man shrieked from inside. "I'll call the police! I swear!"
"The police are dead," Seo-jun said, his voice flat. "I've cleared the building. The monsters are gone. You can come out."
A long silence. "H-how do I know you're not... one of them?"
Seo-jun sighed. "I don't have time for this."
He used [Monarch's Eyes] on the lock. [Simple Tumbler Lock (F-Rank)].
He focused his ['Void's Hand']. The 10kg force was not enough to break the D-Rank door.
But a lock?
He pushed the internal tumblers. A sharp click.
The door swung open.
The owner, a fat man in a stained undershirt, was cowering behind his desk. He stared at Seo-jun, his eyes wide. "You... you..."
Seo-jun walked past him. His eyes scanned the room. It was just a cheap office. A desk, a computer, a mini-fridge.
And a small, wall-mounted safe.
[Old-Style Safe (D-Rank Durability)]
"What... what do you want?" the owner whimpered. "I have no money! The 'System'..."
"The code," Seo-jun said, pointing at the safe.
"I... I don't know what you..."
Seo-jun activated ['Void's Hand'] and pushed the 20-liter water-cooler bottle off its stand. It crashed to the floor, water flooding the cheap carpet.
The owner screamed.
"The code," Seo-jun repeated. "Now."
"It's... it's my wife's birthday! 0-4-1-8!" the man sobbed.
Seo-jun walked to the safe. He typed in the code. 0-4-1-8.
It beeped and the handle clicked.
So the rumor was true.
He opened it.
Inside, there was no money. No gold.
Just a single, small, black-velvet box.
Seo-jun picked it up. He opened it.
Resting on a bed of faded white silk was a dagger. It was simple, unadorned, and carved from a single piece of what looked like dull, black stone.
[You have discovered the 'Hidden Piece': Ebon Dagger.] [Ebon Dagger (F-Rank, Growth-Type)] [Description: A simple dagger that hungers. It feeds on the 'essence' of its wielder and the 'blood' of its foes.] [Ability: 'Essence-Drinker' - A portion of all 'essence' devoured by the wielder is fed to the dagger, allowing it to grow.] [Current Kills: 0/100]
A Growth-Type weapon.
The single most valuable kind of item in the entire 'System'.
Seo-jun's hand closed around the hilt. It was cold, but it thrummed with a faint, familiar hunger. A hunger that matched his own.
"You... you can't take that!" the owner stammered, finding a sudden, stupid burst of courage. "That's mine! I found it!"
Seo-jun turned, the dagger in his hand.
He looked at the whimpering, useless man.
[Potential: None.]
"You're right," Seo-jun said.
He used ['Void's Hand'] and pulled the man's chair, toppling him onto the wet floor.
Seo-jun walked out of the office, the dagger in his hand. He closed the door, and with a push of his 'Void', he jammed the broken lock from the outside.
The man screamed, banging on the door. "Wait! Don't leave me! You can't! There are... there are still monsters out there!"
Seo-jun walked away.
He stopped at the gosiwon's shattered glass entrance. The city... his city... was on fire. The screams were no longer close. They were a city-wide symphony.
He looked at his dagger. He looked at the burning university in the distance.
In his past life, that university had become the first 'Dungeon'. A 'Goblin's Nest'.
It was also the place he'd first met Park Jin-ho and Lee Hye-jin. They'd been hiding in the library.
Seo-jun's grip tightened on the dagger.
This time, he thought, the reunion would be... different.
He stepped out into the dying world, the screams of the man he'd left behind fading into the noise.
He had his class. He had his weapon.
The real hunt was about to begin.