Chapter 3

3. Meal Time

‘You want me to raise money for power generation by mining crystals?’

Ko Byeong-gap looked intently at the hologram. There was no difficult word in that short sentence, but he didn’t understand it easily.

‘What crystals, and how am I going to mine them?’

He thought hard and went out of the cave. He spoke to the gathered Goblins.

“Anyone, go and get some thick branches.”

“Oh, I see!”

The Goblins rushed.

“Uh, I just need one or two. Tsk!”

Even though they tried to look cute, he still felt frustrated. Still, the Goblins did as they were told. They broke a bunch of twigs and brought them to Ko Byeong-gap.

He took a lighter out of his backpack and started lighting them up. However, because it was a raw tree, it didn’t stick well.

He shouted in a fit of anger.

“Hey! You should bring dry branches. What did you think about bringing these? It won’t catch fire!”

“Woo…”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”

The Goblins bowed their heads with a sullen look.

Ko Byeong-gap thought he might be a little bit blunt, but he couldn’t help it. It happened by itself since the others were monsters. In fact, in the back of his mind, he said that he should’ve brought a gun and shot them to death right away.

“Phew.”

Ko Byeong-gap sighed and patiently started the fire. A few moments later, a plausible bonfire was created.

Several Goblins clapped timidly.

‘I made a fire.’

“Hey, you.”

Ko Byeong-gap pointed to a Goblin, and it looked at him with a face asking, ‘Me?’

“Come here.”

“Oh, I see!”

A Hob Goblin was at least honorable, but there was nothing better than going to a lower normal Goblin.

“Take it off.”

“What?”

“Take off your clothes and give them to me.”

He called it clothes, but what the Goblin was wearing was just a cloth. The Goblin opened its eyes wide and looked alternately at the crowd and Ko Byeong-gap.

“I’ll make a torch, so take it off.”

It shook its head.

The Goblin shook its head with a pitiful look. Ko Byeong-gap frowned and pulled at what the Giant Goblin was wearing. The Goblin also endured not to be taken away.

‘What are they thinking?’

“Hey! You can get another one later! Give it to me!”

“Kiiiing, kiiing!”

At last, tears filled its eyes. God, he never thought he would see a Goblin’s tears.

“Uwwww.”

“Lord, mercy…”

The Goblins watching the scene looked restless. They said they couldn’t stop him, and it was painful to watch him. At that point, even Ko Byeong-gap noticed. He felt like he was a born son of a bitch.

“Ah, you’re so petty! Yeah, I don’t need it, man! I’m so dirty.”

Ko Byeong-gap let go of the Goblins with a temper. He then nervously took off his coat. It was a checkered shirt that he had purchased at a discount store for 10,000 won per three sheets.

‘What a waste.’

He tied his coat to a thick branch and lit it. A pretty good torch was built despite the haste.

And as soon as the torch was completed, Ko Byeong-gap lamented his stupidity. He just wanted to stop by and bring a lantern… Anyway, the torch was completed, so he took it and entered the cave again. That time, another hologram came to him.

[Crystal Cave]

-A cave rich in crystal.

-Mine crystals.

He ignored the hologram and walked inside, illuminating the interior with the torch. The cave was cool, but just as he thought it would be perfect to come there in the summer, something shiny caught his eye.

It was a crystal. The reddish crystal showed off its presence on the wall.

“A crystal!”

When he saw the crystal, he was excited. That was because he had a strong feeling that it would cost money even if he didn’t know what kind of crystal it was. He held the crystal with one hand and pulled it straight out, and gave his hand strength, but it wouldn’t budge.

“A little more… It’s holding up…”

Ko Byeong-gap used his fist to strike around the crystal or kick it with his feet. However, the crystal didn’t come out.

It was hard to pull out the crystal that was firmly embedded in the wall.

‘I need some kind of tool.’

He needed a pickaxe to mine that thing.

“How much is a pickaxe worth?”

He left the cave with a bitter taste. The torch’s lifespan was also at its end.

The Goblins gathered and stood by in front of the cave. When Ko Byeong-gap came out and let out a ‘Woo…’, the Goblins took a step back. Ko Byeong-gap burst into laughter because it was somehow amazing.

“Hey, don’t you have a pickaxe or something?”

“Pickaxe?”

“What?”

“We work. We wear a lot of clothes, but we can’t have a pickaxe.”

“Woo…”

He walked past the Goblins to where he left his backpack. He had to go back home and bring his pickaxe back.

“I, I… Lord…”

Suddenly, a Hob Goblin stepped forward and spoke to him. Ko Byeong-gap replied in a sour manner.

“What? Why?”

“He, he….”

“What, dude? Stop dawdling and say it!”

“My stomach. I’m sorry.”

“… What?”

The Hob Goblin was sick with a face saying he was going to die.

“My stomach. I’m sorry.”

“Lord, rice. I want to eat.”

“Hungry. Tired.”

“Give me something to eat. Give me something to eat.”

Even the Goblins behind him were buzzing.

Ko Byeong-gap found it so absurd that he was speechless. He blanked out for three or four seconds and managed to answer.

“There’s a river. Go and eat some fish.”

“I went there yesterday. There are no fish.”

“There weren’t any fish? What if I’m there?”

“Well, there were small fishes, but we don’t have enough small fish.”

The Hob Goblin stuttered. Apparently, they were really hungry.

‘Fuck, how do I feed the Goblins?’

Ko Byeong-gap didn’t mind skipping meals in his subjugations, but it was nonsense to feed the Goblins.

The Hob Goblin continued to appeal in a gloomy state.

“Yesterday, today. Nothing. I couldn’t eat. I am hungry.”

“No, wait a minute? You guys don’t have to eat, do you?”

Ko Byeong-gap felt a lot of doubt.

He wasn’t a monster, so he had never even heard of monsters living in the world eating their meals. If they did, there was basically nothing to eat in that world.

Moreover, some of the cracks hadn’t been attacked for years. There were places where hunters didn’t even try because of their high level of difficulty.

If monsters starved to death, it wouldn’t make sense that there were unattended cracks. The monsters would starve to death before that. However, as if it destroyed Ko Byeong-gap’s common sense, the Hob Goblin appealed for hunger.

“Before, I wasn’t hungry. But now, I’m hungry.”

“You’re going crazy.”

He looked around at the Goblins with his forehead creased. One, two, three, four…

There were 33 of them. Moreover, that Giant Goblin looked like he needed to eat at least five servings.

‘How much does a Big Mac cost?’

Even if one meal was somehow solved, the real problem laid behind it. Ko Byeong-gap’s wallet couldn’t afford to feed more than 30 snouts.

In other words, with his bloody hospital bills and debt, his back was already breaking. The potions he used for the Goblins were already a waste of money, and now he needed more for food? And even though he thought of that…

‘Ha… But I can’t starve them to death.’

If they were going to starve to death, he wouldn’t have treated them with the potions.

“Are there really no fish?”

“Big fish. No fish.”

“What do you guys eat?”

“Anything. I eat.”

“Anything?”

‘Would they eat some kind of sawdust or something like that? The price of dog food is pretty high these days.’

He was troubled by that serious internal conflict. Suddenly, at one moment, a brilliant idea crossed his mind.

“You said you’d eat anything, didn’t you?”

“Anything. I eat.” The Hob Goblin answered immediately.

Ko Byeong-gap grinned and said, “If you complain about side dishes, you’ll die.”

* * *

Ko Byeong-gap loaded himself into the small car. It was an old car with a mileage of more than 270,000 kilometers, and his number one treasure, even though it was shabby.

He had a hard time paying off his debts, but he was driving a car? You could swear at him for it. However, you wouldn’t know about it. For hunters, it was a “must-have” item.

Couldn’t he take public transportation when he needed to go all over the country looking for cracks since he didn’t have much luggage?

Guilds took care of everything from moving to preparing supplies for their hunters, but free hunters like Ko Byeong-gap had to solve the whole process independently. It had been a long time, but to sum up, a car was necessary.

Before he left, he checked his cell phone. The app “Hunternet” created by the association contained information on cracks that occurred across the country.

Hunters set a crack to attack based on that. Ko Byeong-gap mainly searched for F-rank cracks according to their degree of danger. The most he could do as a D-class hunter were the low-risk E and F-rank cracks.

He soon found what he needed. His destination was a village called Hyun-ri, located in Gapyeong-gun.

‘It takes two hours.’

When he looked at it on the navigation, it was quite a distance. He couldn’t help it though. All nearby cracks were preoccupied. Those days, subjugations were also a race of speed.

When he went, he stepped on the accelerator, hoping that the tough guys hadn’t taken his place.

“An yu-woo~ Anyu woo~” Ko Byeong-gap hummed, enjoying the drive.

As it was daytime on a weekday, the national highway was quiet. It had been an hour and two that had passed. Ko Byeong-gap arrived at his destination 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

After parking in a suitable vacant lot, he packed his luggage and approached the crack. It was a rural village, so the surrounding area was quiet.

‘If I die in this crack, will it be found in a few days?’

Ko Byeong-gap always felt the same way before entering a crack.

As a solo contender, there was a high probability that his dead body wouldn’t be found if he died in the Back World.

After burning two cigarettes in a row, Ko Byeong-gap checked his condition once again. Rifle status, ammunition, supplies. Everything was fine.

Also, the Karma Meter was used to reconfirm the grade of cracks. It was an F-rank crack. In addition, no one seemed to have already entered.

Come on, let’s not think about that.’

After getting ready, he threw himself into the crack. It looked the same as the outside world, but the other side of the world where monsters lived. He calmly looked at the world behind him. Unlike the sunny sky outside, the sky was dark.

It wouldn’t be as wide as that was an F-rank crack. It was about a kilo at most. Ko Byeong-gap moved cautiously.

“Kiik! Kiik!”

A monster quickly appeared.

The monsters living in those cracks were called ‘Ground Ghosts.’ It was the most common monster found in F-rank cracks. It looked like a monkey with a dog’s face on it. Overall, it was grayish and had no fur, so it wasn’t attractive.

“You look like shit, too.”

The risk wasn’t too much of a threat as it was a G-class monster. However, if you thought of it as a puppy in the neighborhood, you might get hurt badly since its teeth were comparable to that of a wild beast.

“Kieh…”

Bang!

“Gasp!”

The Ground Ghost rushed in with its arms floundering. Ko Byeong-gap quickly fired a shot and blew its head off. The Ground Ghost was shot straight away. After hearing the gunfire, the Ground Ghosts that hid everywhere appeared.

Ko Byeong-gap breathed out and lowered the gun. It wasn’t himself who was going to deal with those monsters. He relieved his mind and opened the door to Ashvilam. Soon, there was a whirlpool of light in his solar plexus.

“Everyone, come on out!”

He shouted, and then, the Goblins poured out like water spewing out of a hose. All the Goblin held a crude hand ax or club. Their eyes changed when they spotted the Ground Ghosts. They looked at them like one would stare at prey.

Ko Byeong-gap said with a smirk, “Come on, it’s mealtime. Come out and eat them all.”

“Kereuk!”

“Keruk!”

As soon as his words were over, the Goblins drooled and rushed in.