[You have hunted a goblin.]
The moment he heard that notification, Park Jin-soo pulled the axe out from where it was lodged in the fallen goblin corpse's head.
Fwoosh!
A stream of blood shot up, covering Park Jin-soo’s face. He casually wiped the blood away with a scrap of cloth from his waist. Even after wiping it, his face was still completely red.
It was because countless splatters had eventually stained his face with blood. But Park Jin-soo didn't care. 'Even if I’m covered in blood, it all disappears when I go outside.
This place is truly strange.' The only ways to take things obtained in the Tower outside were to either equip the items or put them in the Inventory. In other words, even if his entire body was drenched in blood, the moment he stepped outside the Tower, everything related to the goblin blood vanished.
It was like an automatic bath.
"Heave-ho."
After a simple wipe of the blood, Park Jin-soo grabbed the goblin corpse by its feet and dragged it away. Then he casually tossed the corpse on top of the pile of goblin bodies he had already amassed. 'Another mountain complete.'
A smile spread across Park Jin-soo’s lips as he looked at the mountain of corpses he had created. Of course, it wasn't a smile of satisfaction from the slaughter he had wrought. Park Jin-soo was, indeed, not a normal person, but he was by no means the kind of man who took pleasure in defiling corpses or playing with them.
It had been the same when he was committing his serial murders. He enjoyed torturing criminals who deserved to die, making those bastards weep and snot run down their faces, but once they were dead, he lost interest. They were just trash that was a pain to dispose of.
There was no way such a man would have suddenly developed a hobby of stacking corpses. 'With this, this area is also conquered.' The reason for building the mountain of corpses was a method to reduce the goblins' territory.
'To think they wouldn't even show their faces when their comrades were screaming their heads off.' After running a few experiments on the goblins, Park Jin-soo had learned that they didn't have a speck of camaraderie.
On the contrary, if a fellow goblin screamed or if they saw the corpse of their own kind, they would flee the area with all their might. That gave Park Jin-soo an idea. If he were to deliberately create a scene that would horrify the goblins, then they wouldn't even come near the place.
It was like lighting a mosquito coil. Just as mosquitoes wouldn't come near a place where a coil was lit, Park Jin-soo used the mountains of goblin corpses to drive away other goblins. He was gradually shrinking the area where the goblins could move within the Tower.
He was herding the goblins into one place. He was doing something no Hunter had ever attempted, or even thought of, before. Of course, this too was not done with any grand purpose in mind.
'The only way to show off my abilities is to catch a lot of them.' Funnily enough, Park Jin-soo was working this hard for the sole reason of looking good for the Comet Guild. And that reason wasn't to repay some great debt of gratitude either.
'I have to avoid going back to prison, no matter what.' He never wanted to go back. To Park Jin-soo, prison was hell.
Though that was what prisons were designed for, other inmates ate warm meals, exercised as much as they wanted, smoked cigarettes with money they'd scammed from people on the outside, and even bribed guards to get fried chicken, each pursuing their own form of pleasure. But for Park Jin-soo, there was none of that.
'Having to stay still in front of those sons of bitches was torture.' No, it was worse.
There were bastards who should have been beaten to death on the spot, laughing and boasting, 'Hey, you know, I swindled 100 billion won, and about a dozen people killed themselves because of me, but I hired a lawyer who used to be a presiding judge, so I only got a five-year sentence, can you believe it?
20 billion won a year, is that for real?' And he had to just stare blankly at scum like that? Even worse, he had to watch them get out on a Liberation Day pardon or as a model prisoner, not even serving out their pitifully short sentences?
It was enough to drive him mad. But now there was a chance to get out of such a prison. He couldn't possibly refuse it.
'And then there's the Supervisor.' Moreover, Park Jin-soo knew that Lee Ji-soo's eyes were filled with contempt and wariness when she looked at him. He wasn't unhappy about that fact.
'She must be a good person.' From Park Jin-soo's perspective, for her to react that way to a serial killer like him was proof that she had lived with proper values and a righteous life. Park Jin-soo liked people like that.
At the very least, they didn't make his life difficult. In any case, to earn recognition from under Lee Ji-soo's contemptuous gaze, he needed to produce extraordinary results. That was why Park Jin-soo was currently slaughtering goblins so diligently.
'I hope the Comet Guild is satisfied.' - That bastard is insane. The moment Kim Jeong-bin was told he had a call from Lee Ji-soo and picked up the receiver, the first thing he heard was a very harsh remark. - He's a crazy son of a bitch!
"Miss Lee Ji-soo, please calm down. I know who you're talking about, but I can't understand if you speak so emotionally." - That's because!
Only then did Lee Ji-soo take a deep breath and calm down before continuing her story. The moment Kim Jeong-bin heard about the results Park Jin-soo had produced, his eyes began to shine brighter than ever before. - His mental state is not normal.
"Yes, he isn't ordinary." - Sending a person like this into the Tower is insane.
"I'm sorry, but I don't agree with that." - Excuse me?
Kim Jeong-bin had been waiting.
"What I've felt while watching the Tower for five years is that the Tower cannot be properly conquered by common-sense people alone."
He needed someone who could go beyond common sense. In that sense, the results Park Jin-soo had shown were beyond expectations. - Are you saying you're going to accept that serial killer as a Comet Guild Hunter?
"Did he violate the test conditions?" - What?
"To hunt 200 goblins in 24 hours. Wasn't that the condition of the test?"
Hearing that, Lee Ji-soo did not answer.
"You said the goblin mountains that were found were each made up of about 100 goblin corpses, and that three such mountains were discovered, didn't you? Doesn't that mean he hunted at least 300 goblins?"
It was a sound argument. - I was against it. Faced with that argument, the only thing Lee Ji-soo could do was to stand by her own opinion.
"Yes, I'll keep that in mind."
The moment the call ended, Chief Secretary Kim Jeong-bin picked up the electronic cigarette from his desk and stood up. He then moved to the smoking room outside his office and immediately put the e-cigarette to his lips. He was more excited than he had been in a long time.
'It's been a while since I've had something to look forward to.' He had been waiting. 'I wonder what kind of results Park Jin-soo will bring.'
[You have hunted a goblin.]
Kieeeek!
The hunting notification and a goblin's scream.
Fwoosh!
Amidst the sounds, Park Jin-soo relentlessly struck down goblins with the axe in his hands. His axe split nothing but skulls, perfectly. It was an astonishing feat.
A goblin's skull was weaker than a human's, but it was still a hard bone. And a round one at that. Striking down on such a skull was an act that could easily cause the axe to slip if done incorrectly.
Even when splitting firewood, a flat piece of wood, if you didn't aim properly, the axe could slip or the wood could launch like a missile. But Park Jin-soo performed the task with surprising ease. It was as if a god had declared, 'Park Jin-soo, your talent is splitting skulls!'
However, the most terrifying talent Park Jin-soo possessed was that even while repeating this truly nauseating task, one that could easily cause psychological trauma, he felt not a hint of mental shock, not even boredom.
As a serial killer, Park Jin-soo was a subject that profilers and psychiatrists desperately wanted to study, and in observing him, they were able to discover several unique traits.
"Mr. Park Jin-soo is extremely single-minded. When he sees a goal, he gains meaning only from heading towards that goal like a racehorse. He doesn't feel boredom or fatigue in the process. To put it nicely, he's persistent. To put it badly, he gets tunnel vision. Of course, the extent of it is on a different level from ordinary people. An ordinary person can't run until they vomit blood. But Mr. Park Jin-soo runs even while vomiting blood. If someone were to crush his legs, he would try to crawl to his destination."
One of those traits was this personality of his. And right now, Park Jin-soo's goal was to catch as many goblins as possible on the 1st floor.
[You have slain a goblin!]
And so, Park Jin-soo hunted goblins without rest. He only stopped when 19 hours, 33 minutes, and 33 seconds had passed since he entered the 1st floor.
[You have slain a goblin!]
The moment he killed the goblin, Park Jin-soo heard a notification that was different from usual.
[You have slain 10,231 goblins.]
[You have slain all the goblins on the 1st floor.]
[You are the first to have slain all the goblins on the 1st floor. A Green Egg will be provided as a special reward.]
[You have slain all the goblins on the 1st floor. A Ticket to Challenge the Floor King has been provided.]
Hearing the notifications, Park Jin-soo rolled his eyes a few times. He thought to himself. 'What is all this?'
He had no idea what was going on. 'A Green Egg? Do I just eat it?
And what's a Ticket to Challenge the Floor King?' At that point, the first thing Park Jin-soo did was lie down on the floor. Since it said he had killed all the goblins, it meant there was no threat.
With that, Park Jin-soo closed his eyes for now. He took a rest. He opened his eyes three hours later.
"Ugh."
Only then did the fatigue he hadn't been aware of begin to envelop his entire body. Park Jin-soo then tapped his left chest once. The Inventory appeared.
And he could see two new items sitting there.
[Return Ticket X1] [Green Egg X 1] [Ticket to Challenge the Floor King X 1] Seeing them, Park Jin-soo rolled his eyes once more.
At this point, Park Jin-soo reflected on himself. 'Once I get out, I need to gather some basic information, even if it means getting an earful.' He realized he didn't know a single thing about this place called the Tower.
'I vaguely heard there are things like levels and skills. How do I activate them?' Right now, the only things he knew how to do in the Tower were to activate his Inventory and to enter and exit the Tower by tearing a Ticket.
Just then, Park Jin-soo reached into his Inventory and pulled out an item. - Grade: Green - Effect: When eaten, you will randomly acquire a Green Grade talent. - Untradable The moment he saw the item window that popped up, Park Jin-soo rolled his eyes again.
'I don't know what it is, but if it's untradable, it means only I can use it.' Park Jin-soo didn't hesitate. 'Well then, I'll just eat it.'
He immediately poked a small hole in the Green Egg with his bottom canine and sucked out the contents. 'Ah, was I supposed to eat it whole? Does eating it like this have no effect?
Did I screw it up?' A serious worry suddenly struck him, but fortunately, what he feared did not happen.
[You have acquired the Green talent .]
"Oh!"
Park Jin-soo let out a sound of admiration at the notification he heard. 'But what is Weakness Detection? How do I check this?
Does another window not pop up?' Of course, Park Jin-soo didn't know exactly what he had obtained. He was just admiring the fact that there was no problem.
He then took out the second item. - Grade: Blue - Effect: Allows you to challenge the Floor King. If you hunt the Floor King, you can conquer the floor. - Untradable The moment he saw the item that appeared, Park Jin-soo's eyes narrowed. Naturally, he had no idea what this item was.
But Park Jin-soo didn't ponder it for long. There was no way he, who knew nothing, would find an answer by racking his brain here. More importantly, Park Jin-soo had an easy way to solve his questions.
'There's nothing left to hunt anyway, so I'll just go out and ask.' Park Jin-soo took out the last remaining item in his Inventory, the Return Ticket, and tore it. His world changed in an instant, and soon, Park Jin-soo was back in the space he had seen before coming to the Tower.
At the same time, he could see them.
"Huh?"
Dozens of soldiers aiming their guns at him. The moment he saw them, Park Jin-soo reflexively raised both hands and spoke.
"Don't shoot, I'm innocent."
Then he added a statement in his own defense.
"Well, not exactly innocent, I do have a murder charge, but..."
It was then.
"Everyone, stand down."
A man appeared from between the gun barrels. It was Kim Jeong-bin.
"Mr. Park Jin-soo."
"Ah, Mr. Kim Jeong-bin!"
At the sight of him, Park Jin-soo immediately bowed his head deeply. Then he spoke.
"Did the Ministry of Justice issue my execution order? So the day has finally come. Still, a country that executes murderers, I like that. Oh, but don't they usually feed death row inmates whatever they want before they die? If possible, I'd like some fried chicken drumsticks. Is that possible?"
As if he had been expecting this day, Kim Jeong-bin replied to his unhesitating last wish with a stern expression.
"I have just one question. How many goblins did you hunt?"
"Uh, I'm not sure? It did tell me I passed 10,000." "Was it 10,231?"
"Huh? That's right! But how did you know that?"
Kim Jeong-bin answered his follow-up question.
"When a special achievement is accomplished in the Tower, it's broadcasted to all Hunters as a global announcement."
"Really? Should I have been more careful?"
To the question that followed, Kim Jeong-bin smiled and said.
"Not at all. In fact, I was desperately hoping you would do just this."
With his words, Kim Jeong-bin extended his hand.
"Then I will ask you once more. Will you accept my offer?"
At that question, Park Jin-soo took his hand, smiled, and said.
"Yes, I will kill diligently from now on! No, I mean, I will work diligently!"
The two of them shook hands.
"Ah."
Just then, Park Jin-soo seemed to remember something and spoke.
"Um, can I ask one more question?"
"Yes."
"What is a right to challenge the Floor King?"
The moment he received that question, Kim Jeong-bin showed a flustered expression for the first time.
"... What did you just say?"