Back alleys near Songjeong Beach.
"Tsutsutsutsutsu...."
Despite the heat, an old man in a fur hat rolled up his eyes and made a weird sound.
A big rat in one hand.
No—a filthy rat-shaped plush. One arm was torn off, stuffing poking through the hole.
Go Gyeongsu, who’d been watching, paused a beat and asked:
"Well? Can you feel anything?"
"...Nirvana."
Ah, this junkie.
Thinking that, Go Gyeongsu gestured to his subordinate.
The old man—an occult specialist who went by Night Owl—took the psych booster, chewed the Nirvana, and swallowed it dry.
"Khm, khm, hmm. Khh."
After a few rapt little moans, Night Owl fished out a gas mask, pulled it over his face, and let out rough breaths—sss—hoo—
"Sir."
"That way."
Night Owl pointed deeper into the alley.
"Are you sure?"
It was meant as a confirmation, but Night Owl turned his head silently for a moment, then shifted his finger.
"It’s moving. Now that way. Slowly, that way."
"Damn. Fine. Everyone brought the paint rounds?"
"Yes."
They’d packed paint guns as secondary arms.
They fired plastic capsules filled with pigment...
Nonlethal toys you’d see in survival games, but the "paint" Go Gyeongsu had prepared was real blood.
Goblins fear blood. Gum up its movement with blood, then finish with the primaries.
"Good. Unmuzzle the dogs."
"Woof! Woof!"
War dogs.
Not a codename.
Dogs’ eyes can catch uncanny things, and a dog’s barking weakens a goblin’s power.
Guided by Night Owl, Go Gyeongsu and his men sprinted through Songjeong’s backstreets.
"Hahk—hoo—damn."
Park Gwangrim was in a bind.
After running and running, he’d hit a dead end. That can’t be right.
Bzzzzzeeee—
He stoked his mana and re-cast [Dowsing],
But the pendulum on his fingertip judged this filthy, dark dead end to be a Life Gate.
"Too many people, too hot, gulls screeching, streets a maze—"
He rattled off gripes about Busan like a burst of dialect.
"What the hell are you babbling about?"
Rrrrumble—
Thickset thugs blocked the dead end.
As their faces drew close, Park Gwangrim’s expression darkened.
Damn it—mistake. Mistake.
On Kim Sinhwa’s request, Park Gwangrim was searching for a goblin named Seocheonsle.
Following his [Dowsing], he’d reached Songjeong Port—and there he’d found something unexpected.
"In a sense, I think I secured intel that would help Mr. Kim Sinhwa, but..."
In the process he’d been spotted by the New World Crew, who controlled the area.
Even if he’d gotten the info—if he couldn’t deliver it, it wouldn’t help Kim Sinhwa at all.
If I beg right now, will they end it with a beating or two?
"You little bastard from that country—what hole did you crawl into here from!"
Ah, that, I can’t let slide.
Whirr-r-r-r-r-r-r—
Park Gwangrim’s pendulum traced a glittering arc as it flew.
Shhhrrrkk—
The silver thread tethering the pendulum whipped around the neck and face of the brute who’d spat slurs about his origins.
"Argh! You little—!"
If he pulled with full force, he could take the head off at the neck—but he wasn’t ready for the fallout...
Cre-e-eak!
As the silver thread tightened, the brute’s body and head spun like a top. Blood sprayed in all directions.
"Grk—"
Neck twisted, the brute collapsed and convulsed on the ground. Even if he woke, he’d be in a neck brace for a while.
"All right, who wants a turn next?"
He bluffed, but the thugs only grew meaner.
"This won’t do."
Park Gwangrim had no combat-tuned ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ abilities. He could drop one or two with an ambush, but these numbers were hopeless.
Rrrrrrr—
Footsteps.
More? Then he was really sunk.
Along with them—dogs?
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
At last Park Gwangrim couldn’t hold back a curse.
"You maniacs! You let the dogs loose just to get me?"
"What dog crap are you spewing!"
"Whatever—grab that Chinese bastard!"
"Just mind that string of his and he’s nothing!"
The thicknecks drew their arms up like a boxer’s guard to cover head and neck and crept closer.
"D-don’t come!"
Park Gwangrim backed up, face drained.
Contrary to what they thought, his reaction wasn’t fear of their muscle.
It was those identical stances. Identical outfits. Identical tattoos.
"Dammit, those same faces!"
Ahhh! Here too! The same faces! The same faces! Scary. Scary. Scary...
Mumbling like that, Park Gwangrim edged back.
The same thing had happened a little while ago at Songjeong Port.
A strange phobia that had somehow taken root in his head—call it a twin phobia—had made him slip up in ways he normally wouldn’t.
Thunk.
A hard wall against his back.
Driven to despair, he finally hurled the notebook where he’d recorded what he’d seen and heard in Busan—over the wall.
Whip—
Thud.
"Ow!"
A voice from beyond the wall.
Of all things, someone back there had been hit by the flying notebook.
"What’s this? Aha? A mana-stone wedged between the pages. Bahahaha—now that’s funny. So that’s why it hurt? Bahahahaha!"
A man’s voice, laughing big like he’d been dragged into a joke.
Fwoo-oo-oo-oo-oom!
Wind whooshed from beyond.
A human silhouette rose above the high wall.
Magic so bright and lavish it washed the dark backstreet in gold.
"Hey-hey! Who dares throw such a thing at the Golden Captain’s head!"
Park Gwangrim’s pendulum started spinning again.
Realizing what was happening, he shouted in a rush:
"No way! Are you truly the Golden Captain? Guardian of the Golden Hall, keeper of dream-gold! The strongest goblin! The dewdrop that gleams brightest in the Seocheon Flower Field!"
At his desperate cry, Seocheonsle shrugged and guffawed, clearly pleased.
"Oho—reciting this one’s titles one after another—good fellow, Mr. Kim."
"P-please help me!"
"This one should help Mr. Kim?"
Tilting his head, Seocheonsle lifted the notebook.
"My memory’s foggy—did this one ever promise to help whoever struck this one’s head with this book?"
"N-no! I’m from Mr. Kim Sinhwa! You’re Mr. Kim Sinhwa’s friend, aren’t you?"
"Aha, Mr. Kim? Mr. Kim is friends with Mr. Kim?"
"Y-yes! Truly."
He offered no proof, but Seocheonsle, with goblin blitheness, accepted it without a doubt.
"Bahahahaha! Then Mr. Kim is also this one’s friend!"
He hopped up on the wall, flipped, and said:
"Now—what would you have this one do!"
"Well..."
Park Gwangrim slowly turned his head to the New World Crew’s thicknecks.
"Who’s that deranged clown?"
"Golden Captain? For real?"
"N-no way?"
Skepticism creased the thugs’ faces.
A golden flash cracked across the dark alley—
Thump-tack! Boom! Crunch!
"Bahahahaha!"
Heave-ho!
"Bahahahahaha!"
That distinctive laughter echoed from afar.
"Over there!"
"Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!"
Go Gyeongsu and the Wild Guns Security strike team sprinted with the dogs.
"Sss—ha—danger... dangerous... stop, stop!"
Suddenly Night Owl grabbed Go Gyeongsu’s belt and shrieked.
"What? Sir, what is it?"
"Danger. Sss—ha—get out of here. Something scary is coming!"
Through the gas mask window, Night Owl’s eyes shook with fear.
"What is it—goblin-related?"
"No—no—"
Sensing things were wrong, Go Gyeongsu started to signal his men—
KRAAAAAAAAA-BOOM!
An absurd detonation.
Dirt plume towering into the sky.
A person fell from above.
"Wh-what the—!?"
"You, what the hell are you? Out walking the dogs?"
A woman’s voice.
As the dust settled and the view cleared—Go Gyeongsu felt his knees go weak.
All our boys’ visas are fine, right? No one’s on an overstay?
Oh, right—after the Foreigners Administration raided Vasiliisa the other day, we cleaned all that up.
Realizing he had nothing to fear in front of the [Foreigners Administration], he could stand a bit easier before Yang Seoho.
"We’re a private security outfit contracted by Cure Medical Care."
At "Cure Medical Care," Yang Seoho’s brow creased. Go Gyeongsu’s knees went watery again.
"A security outfit?"
"Yes."
"What’s your name—your affiliation?"
"Go Gyeongsu of Wild Guns Security."
"Ah, yeah?"
Yang Seoho turned over the clues she had.
"Kim Sinhwa."
He’d proclaimed ties to Cure Medical Care.
"Songjeong Port."
Someone was prepping smuggling—or stowaways—there.
"Street racers."
Incidents exploding in parallel to drag her gaze.
"A security outfit?"
Near [Songjeong Port], on [Cure Medical Care] orders, fully armed, carrying out some [use of force]?
"Maybe I start by knocking you around?"
Having reached a conclusion that would make Go Gyeongsu scream, Yang Seoho said to him:
"Not a giant-breed dog club meet-up?"
"The dogs..."
"Who told you to go off-leash like this with no muzzles?"
"Huh?"
"Because of bastards like you, owners of large dogs get grief, don’t they? Right?"
"Th-that’s—hey, muzzles! Muzzles!"
Muzzles and leashes snapped on in a hurry.
Yang Seoho nodded and asked again.
"Where are you going?"
"W-we, at Cure Medical Care’s request... ah, no."
Carrying guns was illegal too—but with Cure’s pull, they could probably skate. Thinking that, Go Gyeongsu decided to go hard.
"You don’t have the authority to ask us that. Client confidentiality..."
"Mm. But you and I—we’re close."
"Uh... huh?"
"So we’re, like, close enough to share secrets. Right?"
"Uh... no."
"No?"
"I mean..."
"Hey—come closer. Don’t back up. You guys too, close up. You—your name was Gyeongsu, right?"
"Mm—why are you using my name so freely..."
"Why so distant, Gyeongsu? You and big sis are close, right? Right?"
"Mm..."
"Mm?"
"It’s not that..."
"There aren’t any secrets between you and big sis, are there? Hm? Right?"
A little earlier.
Songjeong Port.
"Why isn’t the Team Leader here yet?"
"He’s not picking up."
"Knew it."
Shin Woojin raked his hair with a growling sound. At last he sighed and flared his mane like a lion’s.
Between the strands, one by one, huge round eyes opened. Expanding his detection, Shin Woojin sensed something off inside Songjeong Port.
"There is something... but it’s a dud."
He’d met Kim Sinhwa before.
Kim Sinhwa wasn’t anywhere near here.
"This is within our weight class. Move."
"Yes, sir!"
Shin Woojin stormed the port with a fully armed squad of combat civil servants.
"All right—hands where I can see them! Foreigners Administration!"
With a chorus of "Uwah?!" the sailors, stevedores, fishermen—and a number of conspicuously sketchy types—froze.
Skipping past the flustered serfs, Shin Woojin went straight to one spot.
Small, suspicious cargo crates being offloaded from a grimy fishing boat.
"Open it."
A burly sailor stepped down off the boat, rumbling a nasty breath.
"Grnnk—j-just a moment! This—this has nothing to do with the Foreigners Administration!"
"Open it."
The sailor trembled, cold sweat slick on his skin.
"Bahahaha! Aid from the King of Ten Thousand Gold!"
"K-keep your voice down!"
Park Gwangrim hurried to shush Seocheonsle.
"Fine, fine. Understood, Mr. Kim. We’ve gotten far enough—don’t worry, keep talking. What was at that port?"
Not fully trusting this reckless goblin, Park Gwangrim even cast [Dowsing]—and only after confirming no trackers besides Yang Seoho were near did he speak.
"Gold."
"Gold?"
At mention of something tied to the Golden Hall, Seocheonsle’s face lit up.
"Yes—but not the noble, purifying gold that comes from the Golden Hall. It was gold tainted by the darkness of the deep sea, laden with a vicious curse."
"Hmm—was it."
"The criminals at Songjeong Port were moving that gold to Cure Medical Care."
"Cursed gold, eh..."
"Does that ring any bells?"
"Bahahaha—of course! It finally links to what the King of Ten Thousand Gold commanded."
Though the goblin had saved his life, Park Gwangrim still wasn’t used to Seocheonsle’s extreme cheer and looked doubtful.
"The King of Ten Thousand Gold said there’s such a thing as a dragon’s den in this land."
"A... dragon’s den?"
"Yes. Beneath this land a dragon is imprisoned. To free it, they’re gathering gold and blood."
"What on earth... ah!"
Not a simple fairy tale.
If he took the "dragon" Seocheonsle mentioned as an [Abyssal Being], it connected to what Kim Sinhwa had said.
"Come to Busan in six days."
"On that day I will open the lid of the Bottomless Pit together with Cure Medical Care. From that pitch-black abyss will pour beasts like swarms of ravenous locusts."
"Right—after the gold comes the blood. Soon, thanks to those Mr. Kims, innocent Mr. Kims will be in an uproar."
Seocheonsle stopped laughing and spoke with the authority of the King of Ten Thousand Gold.
"Hey, Mr. Kim."
"Y-yes!"
"When is Mr. Kim coming?"
Park Gwangrim blinked in confusion and asked back:
"W-which Mr. Kim do you mean?"
