The Calm Before the Storm (1)
Baek Seung-yeop was raiding a goblin dungeon alongside the twin brothers, Moon Ji-hoon and Moon Sang-hoon.
"Kyaaaah!"
The goblins shrieked and began stumbling backward the moment they spotted the trio.
It was because all three of them carried the title Goblin Slayer.
The title not only triggered instinctive fear in goblins but also granted a 10% bonus to their base pay.
But their calmness in the face of the goblins wasn't solely thanks to the title.
There was another reason.
Ratatatatat—
They were each holding assault rifles rented specifically for clearing instant dungeons.
"Kkreeeek!"
A dozen or so goblins dropped like autumn leaves in a breeze.
Hunting goblins inside the dungeon was actually easier than dealing with the ones outside the safe zones.
After all, the weapons these creatures carried were little more than blunt stone knives.
They were far less threatening than the ones who came at you with stolen kitchen knives or scissors from someone's home.
Ratatat—!
Baek Seung-yeop frowned at the echoing gunfire that rang through the cave. He had earplugs in, but the constant shooting was starting to make his ears ring.
He was in the middle of finishing off the wounded goblins.
[You have completed the quest.]
[You have received your reward.]
[You have gained a small amount of experience.]
'So that's all fifty of them, finally.'
Baek Seung-yeop stretched his arms, having completed a quest that had become part of his daily routine.
Just then, the final goblin corpse vanished, and a dungeon exit portal shimmered into view.
Seeing that, he turned to his companions and asked,
"How many do you guys have left?"
"About ten or so?~"
"Same here~"
Each of them had to hunt forty goblins.
Even so, Baek Seung-yeop had finished his quest first.
Smiling smugly, he said,
"Then you two can handle the next dungeon yourselves. This big bro's clocking out early."
At that, Moon Ji-hoon pleaded,
"Come on, just stick with us for one more run."
"Heh. What would you guys even do without me? You gotta learn to be independent, y'know?"
The reason Moon Ji-hoon insisted he stay was because three was the minimum party size required to enter a dungeon. If Baek Seung-yeop left, they were in trouble.
As annoying as Baek Seung-yeop was, Moon Ji-hoon swallowed his pride and kept talking.
"Haha, come on, buddy. We'd never survive in a place like this without you."
"So true~"
The reason the twins were putting up with Baek Seung-yeop's attitude was because of the quest penalty.
Back when a giant had appeared in the city, they had chosen to run rather than take responsibility. As punishment, they were forced to continually complete goblin hunting quests.
And if they failed to finish those quests in time, they were hit with a minute of excruciating pain.
'That was pure hell…'
It didn't happen much anymore, now that dungeons were a thing, but back when goblins were scarce, they'd felt it often.
The penalty made one minute feel like an hour — a truly mysterious and torturous experience.
'Never want to feel that again…'
Thanks to the emergence of dungeons, that kind of suffering had become rare.
Sure, the number of goblins they had to kill had increased, but it wasn't something to worry too much about.
Dungeons would spawn over a hundred goblins at a time, and with guns in hand, hunting them was a breeze.
As long as they could endure the deafening gunfire that shook the caves, there was nothing difficult about it.
Baek Seung-yeop said arrogantly,
"Fine, fine. I guess you guys would be pretty anxious without me, so I'll tag along."
Moon Ji-hoon barely managed to keep a straight face as he responded.
"Thanks, Seung-yeop."
The twins weren't tolerating Baek Seung-yeop's attitude just because of the party size restriction.
Before dungeons existed — when renting firearms wasn't an option — he had helped them a lot. Back in those days, they had to face goblins in close combat with makeshift spears, and Baek Seung-yeop had been a huge help in many ways.
'I owe him, so I'll just endure it!'
When he thought about everything Baek Seung-yeop had done for them back then, this level of arrogance was something he could tolerate.
"Let's head outside for now."
The three exited the dungeon through the portal and approached the staff member waiting nearby. Normally, this would be the time to return their guns, headlamps, and other gear.
But—
"Can we go for another round right away?"
Dungeon raids were usually scheduled in hourly blocks since it took most parties around 40 to 50 minutes to complete one.
But Baek Seung-yeop's team, with their endless experience in goblin hunting, had finished the dungeon in under 20 minutes.
Which is why they could even make such a request.
And since this wasn't the first time, the staff member nodded without hesitation.
"It's possible."
"Then, I'll leave it to you."
After checking their equipment and refilling their spare magazines with live ammunition, they were immediately redeployed into the dungeon.
"Let's go."
The three of them entered the dungeon again and completed their mission in just over 20 minutes, just like before.
After returning their firearms and gear to the staff in charge, they confirmed their dungeon raid reservation for the next day and then parted ways.
"See you tomorrow."
"Yeah."
"Okay~"
Before heading home, Moon Ji-hoon asked Moon Sang-hoon,
"Should we buy something?"
"Hmm~ Meat~?"
"Meat sounds good. Let's grill some meat for dinner."
They headed to the store on the first floor, browsing around for anything else to buy besides alcohol and meat.
Since they were essentially forced to hunt goblins every day, their financial situation was much better than most. Each goblin yielded around 5,000 to 6,000 won, and the two of them hunted over a hundred goblins daily.
That meant they earned over 500,000 won a day.
Even after deducting the costs for equipment rental and ammunition, each of them still brought in a net profit of over 200,000 won per day.
Thanks to that, they didn't have to worry about spending money.
They loaded up on drinks, meat, soda, and snacks and got into the elevator.
When they arrived home, their mother welcomed them warmly.
"My boys are home? What did you bring this time?"
"We brought meat."
"Let's grill some meat~!"
After putting away the groceries, Moon Ji-hoon headed straight to the master bedroom's shower and let the warm water run over him.
"Phew… now I feel alive."
After a quick shower, as he came out, he heard the sound of running water from the bathroom near the living room.
When he opened the door while roughly drying his hair with a towel, he saw Moon Sang-hoon sitting in the bathtub, soaking.
"Bathing again?"
"Feels good, you know~"
"Anyway, good work today."
"You too~"
Technically, Moon Ji-hoon was the older one, but neither of them paid attention to such trivial things. They had been like friends since birth.
Moon Ji-hoon slumped into his computer chair, almost lying down, and stared blankly out the window.
'The sky's pretty.'
Lately, Moon Ji-hoon found himself thinking from time to time—
Maybe things are better now than they were before.
It had gotten tough when monsters first appeared in the world.
He remembered those extreme days when electricity and water were cut off, and food and water supplies started running out, with no way to go outside.
But everything changed when a man named Kim Jae-hyun appeared.
The concept of a "safe zone" was introduced, and they could use it to hunt goblins.
Once their achievements were recognized, they were allowed access to electricity, water, and gas again, and life regained some stability.
Though there was a difficult time due to a quest penalty, things had become incredibly convenient ever since dungeons appeared and they could hunt goblins with guns.
'At least it's better than back then.'
Compared to when he graduated from a second-rate university and worked at a small company for a pitiful salary, life now felt better.
'Back then, there wasn't even a glimpse of hope.'
Each day felt more like surviving than living.
But now, each day was filled with vitality.
'I hope it stays like this…'
Suddenly, the face of the person who had brought this peace to them came to mind.
'If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have been able to dream of peace like this.'
Moon Ji-hoon genuinely liked the stability he had now.
So, thinking of that person, he prayed sincerely.
'Please, let this peace continue…'
At that moment—
Wooooong—
"…Huh?"
Light radiated from Moon Ji-hoon's body.
Along with it, he felt energy overflowing throughout his body.
As the light faded, Moon Ji-hoon murmured absentmindedly.
***
"What was that…?"
He didn't yet know.
That, contrary to what he wished for, spectacular events awaited him in the near future.
[Citizen Moon Ji-hoon's loyalty has reached 100.]
[Citizen Moon Jihoon has been registered as a retainer.]
[Retainer capacity limit has increased.]
Just as I was eating the oil pasta that Seo Yejin had made for me, a system window popped up in front of me.
'Who was Moon Jihoon again?'
I spent a moment trying to recall who this guy was—the person who somehow reached 100 loyalty without any warning or prompting.
Then I remembered.
"Ah!"
He was one of the twins who used to hang around that thug Baek Seungyeop.
He was also one of the guys I assigned daily goblin hunting quests to through the system.
He was the one who ran off on his own during the Cyclops hunt.
'But suddenly his loyalty hit 100?'
While I was still baffled, Seo Yejin called out to me.
"Oppa, what's wrong? Does it taste weird?"
"Huh?"
I looked at Seo Yejin, who was watching me with a worried expression, and reassured her.
"No, it's not that. Something just came up. Yejin, give me a moment."
"Okay. Take your time."
Reaching 100 loyalty wasn't something that happened easily.
To a certain point, loyalty and trust could rise quickly just through regular interaction with me, but the higher it got, the harder it was to increase.
Especially hitting 100 loyalty—it usually required some kind of special event to trigger.
'Manage Retainers, Moon Jihoon'
I immediately checked his stats.
***
Name: Moon Jihoon (Lv. 30) [+]
Title: [Twenty-First Follower] [Goblin Slayer]
Trust: 89 Loyalty: 100
Awakening Ability: Frost Emission
EXP Share Rate: 0% (+200%)
★ Quest Assignment Available
Frost Emission (Grade A)
Expels frost in all directions by consuming mental energy.
I wasn't exactly sure how the ability worked until I saw him use it, but just from its A-grade classification, I knew it was a decent power.
'Eye of the Absolute'
Moon Jihoon was sitting in a chair, completely naked, as if he'd just gotten out of the shower.
He must have already completed the daily goblin hunting quest, since there were no active quests currently assigned.
'Perfect!'
I immediately assigned him a quest to use his ability.
The moment the quest was assigned—
"W-What? What is this…?"
I saw Moon Jihoon freak out as he read the quest details. He must've thought he'd been assigned another goblin hunting quest.
I used the Ring of Communication to speak to him directly.
[Hello, Mr. Moon Jihoon.]
"Eeek!"
Moon Jihoon was startled by my sudden voice, and ended up falling backward in his chair.
I calmly continued speaking to him.
[Please check the quest details again.]
"U-Uh… Are you… that person?"
[That person?]
For a split second, I recalled the high-ranking vampire who had once referred to "that person."
As my tone sharpened, Moon Jihoon hurried to explain.
"T-The one on the 30th floor…! I-I'm sorry! I couldn't remember your name!"
He bowed deeply while still completely naked.
[Please check the quest details.]
"Y-Yes, sir!"
Moon Jihoon checked the quest window again and tilted his head in confusion.
"Frost Emission…?"
And at that moment—
Crack crack crack
Sharp chunks of ice began to shoot up from around his body.
The room he was in quickly filled with cold air as everything around him started to freeze over.
"H-Hey?!"
Seeing that, I made up my mind.
'This is way too good of an ability to waste on goblin hunting!'
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]