Episode 04
D-ranked middle-aged man Choi Kang-sik was fighting his own desperate battle.
Clang!
He was still using an emergency hammer.
A palm-sized hammer—yet somehow he had managed to kill five goblins with it.
Just as he thought he might actually survive—
“Fuck!”
The hammer snapped clean in two.
The goblins didn’t wait.
Five or six of them leapt from car roof to car roof, closing in.
Purple tongues lolled obscenely from their mouths, crimson pupils dripping malice.
Choi Kang-sik—and the civilians behind him—felt their knees go weak.
“Kyaaah!”
Cold sweat gathered at Choi Kang-sik’s temples.
A D-rank Awakened could maybe handle two or three goblins.
More than that was hopeless.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
A slideshow of memories flashed by.
So this is how it ends.
The civilians hiding behind him screamed.
Choi Kang-sik blinked, then opened his eyes.
In the next instant—
A shadow fell over him and the civilians.
The back of a young man.
Seo Won-seok.
Slash!
A dagger burst upward from a goblin’s jaw and pierced straight through its skull.
Skewered like kebab meat, the goblin convulsed before its limbs went slack.
Without hesitation, Seo Won-seok hurled the dagger—goblin and all.
Splash!
The goblin plunged into the Han River, blood painting the air as it fell.
“On the right!”
A civilian shouted.
At the same moment, Seo Won-seok drove his knee forward.
Crack!
The sound of a skull shattering rang out as another goblin collapsed lifelessly.
Without even catching his breath, Seo Won-seok turned to Choi Kang-sik.
“That car next to you!”
“H-huh?”
“Check the trunk!”
Choi Kang-sik glanced sideways.
Inside the slightly open trunk of a sedan—
A silver rod gleamed brilliantly.
Golf clubs.
At that moment, a middle-aged man came running, panting. The car’s owner.
“You can’t!”
“Can’t, my ass! We’re about to die!”
“Th-they’re limited edition! Time-limited!”
“You want your lifespan to be time-limited too?!”
They said all great quotes were born on construction sites.
Apparently, that was true.
The car owner fiddled nervously with his gold ring, scrambling for excuses—
but the moment he made eye contact with a goblin, he backed off.
Choi Kang-sik looked from him back to Seo Won-seok.
“Hey! I’ll help—!”
As if on cue, a goblin lunged and bit into Seo Won-seok’s shoulder.
The creature reared its head back, chewing on a mouthful of torn flesh.
Choi Kang-sik swung the golf club.
A direct hit.
The goblin’s skull caved in and it crumpled to the ground.
“You idiot!”
Choi Kang-sik grabbed Seo Won-seok’s shoulder—then instinctively pulled his hand back.
Sticky blood coated his palm.
“…A-are you okay…?”
He couldn’t bring himself to shake him.
Afraid he’d collapse if he did.
But it seemed his worry was misplaced.
“I think… I’m fine.”
Seo Won-seok pulled his bloodless lips into a smile.
“No, no way—there’s so much blood!”
Choi Kang-sik lowered his gaze.
Blood pooled across the asphalt, following cracks in the road, flowing toward Seo Won-seok.
The moment it reached his shoulder, it seeped into the wound.
Bubble… bubble.
The torn flesh frothed—and then regenerated.
〈Lifelong Contract: Offering Activated〉
Han Bi-yeol → Seo Won-seok
Transferred EXP: +1,247 (x4.3 multiplier)〈Seo Won-seok’s level has increased: 3 → 4〉
〈All stats +1, plus event bonus +1〉
The wound closed.
Sensing something wrong, the goblins began to retreat hesitantly.
Thanks to the standoff, they finally had room to breathe.
Seo Won-seok looked across the bridge.
As expected—
He’s having the time of his life slaughtering them.
His eyes met Han Bi-yeol’s.
“Tch.”
Tch?
Even while tearing through goblins, the man never stopped watching Seo Won-seok.
“Hey. Hey.”
The middle-aged man elbowed Seo Won-seok in the side.
“What are you, anyway?”
Choi Kang-sik was clearly trying not to show it.
Seo Won-seok smirked.
“Seo Won-seok.”
“…Huh? That’s it? Just introductions?”
“We might die on the same day, same hour. Seems polite.”
“What is this, a brotherhood oath?!”
A reverse brotherhood oath, more like.
“I can’t die today. Tomorrow’s the apartment lottery results. I want to own a home before I die, damn it.”
“…Hah.”
“Name’s Choi Kang-sik. Just call me Choi.”
“Yes, sir.”
“…I said Choi. Whatever.”
Choi Kang-sik planted the golf club upside-down into the asphalt and rested both hands on it.
The car owner looked like he was about to faint.
He’s deliberately drawing aggro.
So attention wouldn’t fall on me.
After getting screwed over so many times in my past life, I prided myself on reading people.
This man was trustworthy.
Maybe I could be a little honest.
“I don’t really know what my ability is. I didn’t lie about my rank either.”
“Then what, a second awakening?!”
“I don’t know.”
“…Yeah. That needs a proper test anyway. Fine. More important thing is surviving, right?”
I nodded.
With a solid B-rank Hunter present, even repeated gate breaks shouldn’t be fatal—
Especially when the monsters are just goblins.
Sooner or later, Han Bi-yeol would kill the host hobgoblin himself.
And if civilian casualties piled up too high, even a B-rank couldn’t escape public backlash.
Hunters feared public opinion more than monsters.
Reputation directly determined their price.
“He’s really taking his time.”
“….”
“Blond, curly-haired types are all trash! Spitting image of a leech! That’s a Hunter?”
From our perspective—people halfway in the industry—it was infuriating.
Civilians looked at that man with admiration.
Unaware he was gambling with their lives for profit.
It was deception, plain and simple.
Crunch.
Survival alone wasn’t enough.
I needed to destroy Han Bi-yeol’s public image.
And drag down the other Hunters watching from the sidelines.
I have a plan.
I forced my clenched jaw open.
“Mr. Choi.”
“Hm?”
“Can you protect the civilians here?”
“Of course. I even got new gear. Leave it to me.”
He pounded his chest with his fist. It sounded like a drum.
The golf club owner’s face darkened further.
“You there. Come out.”
The car owner flinched.
“M-me?”
“Not you. The person behind the guy with the gold ring.”
“…Behind me—ah! W-who are you?!”
The car owner jumped aside, revealing someone crouched behind him.
Short hair—almost masculine.
But when she lifted her head—
A woman.
A tomboyish civilian stood up slowly, hands clasped behind her back.
“You’re a reporter, aren’t you?”
“…How did you know?”
I walked over and held out my hand.
“Give it.”
“G-give what?”
Thick-skinned.
As expected.
She was exactly the type.
In my past life, she’d tormented my brother relentlessly.
Her name was Gi Ja-ryeong.
A reporter from HTN.
She had spewed malicious articles about my brother.
Ironically, after his death, she changed completely.
She published article after article questioning the suspicious death of an A-rank Hunter.
At first, it was probably just for attention.
But she followed the trail.
Eventually—
She reached the truth.
The people who killed my brother.
At that point, she even tried to contact me.
I refused.
Then one day, one of her articles changed my mind.
I contacted her instead.
Not long after, we finally met again.
In black and white.
“Give it to me before I take it.”
“…Take what?”
“The camera.”
She hesitated.
Electronics normally failed near gates—common knowledge.
But reporters?
They were war veterans who chased headlines into battlefields.
Broadcast stations had found a way.
“This.”
I pressed a button beside the shutter.
A chip popped out.
“Don’t!”
I slipped past her as she lunged, pocketing the chip.
“Magic-stone SD card confiscated.”
“…How do you know that?”
Only then did her expression change.
Gone was the naïve look.
A cold, professional reporter stared back.
“My family once suffered because of a reporter.”
“Give it back. That person isn’t me.”
True—but irrelevant.
“If you want it back, let’s make a deal.”
“That’s blackmail.”
“Mr. Choi! We’ve got a civilian trying to leave!”
She frowned.
But what could she do?
One step out, goblins everywhere.
Without us, she’d be torn apart in a minute.
“…Let’s hear it.”
“Good choice. It won’t be bad for you either.”
I explained.
Her eyes slowly lit up. She even licked her lips.
“I’ll do it. No—please, let me.”
“Then hand it over. I bought that on loan.”
“One year’s salary.”
“And you’ll need to take photos.”
“Don’t pretend.”
I nodded at her clutch bag.
“You’ve got a spare.”
“…!”
A real reporter never carried just one.
“Who… are you?”
“We’ll get to know each other later.”
I walked past her.
“If the deal goes through, I’ll return it.”
I won’t.
Interest on past-life suffering needed collecting.
I returned to Mr. Choi.
The goblins were moving again—driven toward us by Han Bi-yeol.
The hobgoblin lurked among green light fissures, approaching.
Too early.
I stood beside Mr. Choi.
“Hold them for a few minutes.”
“I can do that. Don’t know your plan, but—”
“Protecting civilians is already more than enough.”
“Self-sacrificing little brother beats me.”
“…Little brother?”
“Didn’t we swear brotherhood earlier?”
There was weight in his voice.
“Fine.”
He smiled, spitting into his hands and gripping both golf clubs.
Gi Ja-ryeong crouched in the shadows.
A light blinked at her fingertips.
A camera.
“Kyaaaah!”
The goblins charged.
So did I.
Pain shot through me as I blocked with crossed arms.
I ran—straight for the hobgoblin.
I threw the daggers I’d reclaimed.
They sliced into flesh. Paralysis followed.
Goblin venom causes paralysis.
But I kept moving.
Han Bi-yeol froze.
“…How…?”
He muttered that he avoided goblin poison too.
∴ As long as the lifelong contract exists, the vassal cannot inflict additional harm upon the master.
Yes.
Like the goblins—
I had coated my blades with my blood.
Any goblin that stabbed me entered a lifelong contract with me.
They couldn’t paralyze me.
“Kyaa—!”
I pushed forward, ignoring injuries.
Han Bi-yeol realized my goal.
“You dare… steal my EXP event?!”
He surged forward, killing goblins in his way.
My freshly leveled body closed in on the hobgoblin.
One cut to the neck was enough.
It was a host—linked mentally to the goblins.
A gate break isn’t an anomaly for nothing.
I thrust my blood-stained blade.
The hobgoblin stabbed back with its staff.
“Stop right there!”
Han Bi-yeol’s hand grabbed my collar.
A three-way standoff on the Hanju Bridge.
Let’s see who’s faster.
Thunk.
A wet sound.
The hobgoblin collapsed.
“You son of a bitch!!”
I was too exhausted to resist as he grabbed me.
“From the start—you pissed me off! Sabotaging me?! I’ll kill you where no one—!”
Click.
The sound drew his eyes.
Click.
Gi Ja-ryeong stood there, eyes sharp as a wolf’s.
Han Bi-yeol finally looked around.
I was drenched in blood.
He was holding me by the collar, blade in hand.
Too many witnesses.
“…Is he really a Hunter?”
“That guy ran out to save us…”
“Didn’t he say something about EXP?”
“Careful what you say.”
“N-you…!”
Then—
A staff jabbed into my thigh.
We looked down.
The dying hobgoblin twitched, stabbing once more—then went still.
Dead.
A fatal wound.
No.
The break was ending. I’d die before it did—
〈A vassal has violated the lifelong contract〉
Violation: The vassal inflicted additional harm upon the master.
〈A penalty is imposed upon the vassal〉
〈The vassal is deceased; penalty transferred to its kin〉
〈Target: Goblin Entity 156 — Sentence: Death〉
〈Activation condition: Utterance〉
“D-death…?”
The goblin that stabbed me exploded like a water balloon.
I turned.
Each goblin that had cut me—
Pop.
Pop, pop, pop!
They burst one by one.
Blood flooded the bridge and poured into the Han River.
〈Warning to all vassals〉
〈The lifelong contract is absolute〉
Han Bi-yeol went pale.
Blood swallowed the bridge.
And the river below.
