Chapter 12: Greed Has No Limits

YuWon scratched his head. No matter how many times he respawned, it made his head fuzzy for a while. But even then, he smiled. After all, he finally knew how to defeat the hobgoblin.

"I do," YuWon replied, taking away the sword from Min-Joon and giving it to Mickey. "Take this, but can I have your arm?"

"Uh... Boss?" Min-Joon mumbled. "Do you not trust me—?"

"Stop with the emotional bullshit," YuWon snapped back, taking the arm instead. "You won't need it, anyway."

Min-Joon looked at him, confused. How was he supposed to fight against the monsters without a sword? It wasn't like he wanted to fight to begin with, but not having a weapon felt strange.

But for YuWon, he couldn't trust Min-Joon with the sword. At least, not against an opponent, like the hobgoblin.

"So here's the plan," YuWon said, swinging the bone club. "Soo-Ah will keep the goblins busy with her skeletons, but don't kill them. As for Min-Joon, you stay close to Soo-Ah and protect her."

"Are you sure?" Soo-Ah asked. "Killing the goblins would make the fight easier, wouldn't it?"

"I'm the oracle, remember? Do as I say, and it'll be over before you know it."

Soo-Ah and Min-Joon were skeptical, but they had no option but to trust YuWon and pray he was correct. Meanwhile, YuWon stood before them, staring at the Hobgoblin.

This won't be the last time we meet, but it will be the first time I kill you.

Like before, the hobgoblin roared, ushering its minions to go ahead and get slaughtered. But not this time.

"Go!" YuWon shouted as he charged toward the monsters.

Following his lead, Soo-Ah instructed the skeletons into action. The goblins rushed to attack, but to their surprise, YuWon just vaulted over them, leaving the skeletons to deal with them.

The hobgoblin appeared to be taken aback by YuWon's strategy, but stood its ground. As YuWon got closer, it swung one of its massive clubs in a wide arc. However, the attack was slow and predictable.

YuWon slid onto the ground, ducking under the hobgoblin's legs just as the massive club smashed into the wall. With the hobgoblin's defenses dropped, he swung Mickey's arm to hit the hobgoblin's knee with all his might.

The creature roared in pain before dropping on one knee. Meanwhile, YuWon stopped and turned before running toward the hobgoblin again.

"Gotcha bitch!"

With the hobgoblin's back turned to him, YuWon used its hunched form as a stepping stone as he launched himself over the hobgoblin's head. With the skeleton arm over his head, he hit the hobgoblin's head with everything he had.

Exp and gold, the usual stuff. 12 attribute points and twenty respawn points... finally!

YuWon was happy to find one monster who could fill his respawn counter without having him kill dozens of monsters. Besides, the rewards were quite good. But the one thing that caught his attention was the...

Hobgoblin's Cache Key...

It was a weirdly shaped old rusty key. But that wasn't all. When YuWon picked it up, another notification flashed before his eyes.

[Hobgoblin's Cache Key]

Description: An old, rusty key that opens the hobgoblin's secret treasure room. It can guide its owner to the cache and let them choose one out of the seven rewards kept there.

One out of seven rewards, huh... Interesting.

Just then Soo-Ah and Min-Joon came running towards YuWon, worried that he might have been injured.

"Did you get the rewards too?" YuWon asked, returning Mickey's arm.

"Yeah!" Soo-Ah nodded in excitement. "I can't believe I'm level 10 already! I even got a new skill!"

"What about you?"

"I got nothing..." Min-Joon replied, sulking.

YuWon nodded while getting up. It made sense for Min-Joon to not get any reward. After all, he did nothing against the monsters. But it wasn't like he wouldn't get another chance to get some rewards.

"So what now?" Soo-Ah asked as YuWon leaned against the window.

"Now... we do this again."

"What do you— YuWon!"

Before anyone could say or do anything, YuWon jumped out of the window, plummeting to his death.

[Respawning at the last known checkpoint. Please wait.]

[Respawn Point: 729/1000]