Cracks

Ko Byeong-gap’s favorite and number one treasure, the 15-year-old car, rolled its wheels vigorously. Although it had grown hot with over 10 degrees celsius since it was released, it was still very much alive thanks to his good management.

… Of course, even when its speed was over 90 km/h, the car was dancing.

The place he was currently heading to was a remote place in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province. There stood an E-rank crack which consisted of F-class or lower subordinate monsters and E-class boss monsters. Needless to say, the risk was higher than that of F-rank cracks.

However, the G-F monsters were his usual, and the boss E-class monsters could be easily defeated with a gun, so the difference wasn’t that big in terms of the level of difficulty.

Just enough ammunition had to be prepared as the number of monsters increased to 30.

About an hour and a half after leaving downtown Seoul, Ko Byeong-gap arrived at his destination. The crack was at the foot of the mountain near the roadside, so he had to park his car on the shoulder and walk for a while. He soon arrived at the location of the crack.

“It’s already quite festering.”

Cracks devastated their surrounding land. The same was true there. The ground was dry and crumbly, and the grass and trees were limp because they were lifeless.

That crack occurred only two days ago. Even though it had only been two days, nature had already been damaged, and it wasn’t uncommon for crops and livestock to be slaughtered due to cracks in farmhouses or livestock houses.

People in that industry, including the hunters, liked more cracks since they meant more money. However, every time that happened, someone always shed tears of blood from behind.

“Huh, if I die here, when will I be found?”

He smoked a cigarette as usual and did his final check.

Actually, that expedition wasn’t for subjugation. His main purpose was to capture Goblins to be used as workers.

There were about 30 F-class monsters that could come from E-rank cracks. Common among the monsters were Squids, Horned Wolves, Douduri, Earth Dwarves, and Goblins.

“I wish Goblins would be here.”

Ko Byeong-gap, who crushed his cigarette butt with his foot, and threw himself into the crack. He went into the world in an instant.

The gloomy sky imitated the world behind it. The air felt strangely uncomfortable. Ko Byeong-gap firmly gripped his rifle and glanced at his vicinity.

There were no monsters to be caught right away. When he confirmed that he was safe, he immediately opened the door to Ashvilam.

The twelve Goblins he was waiting for popped out. There stood the eleven Hob Goblins and the Giant Goblin.

He didn’t summon the other 22 Goblins. They had to be taking turns mining crystals at that time.

“Let’s go.”

“Yep!”

Ko Byeong-gap led the twelve Goblins forward. It was a series of sloping hills. The road wasn’t even paved because it was a place where people usually didn’t come and go. The terrain was the worst. That was why hunters tended to avoid cracks in the mountains.

Of course, it didn’t apply to Ko Byeong-gap, who had money as his top priority. He was used to hiking and went without hesitation. It was the same for the Goblins. Even though they walked barefoot without shoes, they were excited and followed Ko Byeong-gap.

“Did you dig for crystals?”

“A lot. I dug a lot.”

“How much did you dig?”

“Uh… Uh…”

Gobung folded his fingers one by one and began counting. Ko Byeong-gap grinned and stopped him.

“Okay, man. I’ll check it later and find out.”

“Yes…”

“By the way, it’s time for the monster to…”

“Whoosh!”

“You show up as soon as my words are finished, but you’re beating me up.”

The monster that appeared was a Douduri, a plant-type monster. To describe a Douduri, it was about 150 centimeters tall.

However, a Douduri didn’t have a head that any creature should have. Their shoulders were empty, and organs such as eyes, nose, and ears weren’t present. Only a huge mouth hung on their abdomen to show off its presence.

Those guys boasted a lot of menacing strength. It was easy for them to branch human bones.

On the contrary, their movement was sluggish enough like they were drunk, and compared to an animal, they were like sloths. So, their hunting difficulty was on the easy side. He just needed to be vigilant.

“Kereuk!”

The Hob Goblins were on the lookout for the Douduris, swinging their clubs.

Ko Byeong-gap aimed his gun at the Douduris but then withdrew it. There were the Goblins, so he didn’t need to waste ammunition in an old-fashioned way.

“Be careful. You’ll die if you’re caught.”

“Yes, sir!”

The Goblins jumped out. Each of them began to ravage the enemies with their club of bones.

Basically, Goblins were monsters that were known for being quick-witted. Thanks to that, the Douduris and Goblins matched well.

If he brought the Normal Goblins, they would’ve had to attack a Douduri several times to give effective damage, but the Hob Goblins were pretty strong.

Each time they swung with their clubs, fragments fell from the body of the Douduris.

“Huh!”

“Ugh! Ugh!”

The Giant Goblin, Turka, wasn’t outplayed. With a height of more than two meters and a weight of nearly 100 kilos, his force was enough to destroy the body of a Douduri with a single blow.

Tadang Tangtang!

Ko Byeong-gap filled the gaps in the attacks of the Goblins. Including his subjugation days, he had already held a gun for five years. He shot the Douduris in their hearts without wasting a single bullet.

It took only about 15 minutes for 20 Douduri to be wiped out. It was several times faster than usual.

‘Isn’t it so easy to hunt with Goblins?’

No matter how easy a Douduri was, it wouldn’t have been that easy if he brought Normal Goblins with him.

The Hob Goblin was an E-class monster, while the Giant Goblin was a D-class. It was annoying when he saw them as enemies, but he felt a little reassured to have them as allies.

“Go and collect the magic stones.”

“Yep.”

They were able to take on all the chores, such as cutting out the magic stones. Compared to before, the fatigue level was significantly lower.

‘Being the Goblin Lord is very convenient.’

He couldn’t believe how he gained the infinite trust and loyalty of the Goblins just because he became the Goblin Lord. He didn’t know what it meant to become the Goblin Lord, but now that he thought about it, it was amazing.

After all the magic stones were collected, Ko Byeong-gap was briefly lost in thought whether he wanted to complete the crack subjugation or to go out to search the crack for Goblins.

The agony wasn’t long. Since he had to make money anyway, he decided to see the end of it all.

“Come on, let’s move!”

“Yep!”

Ko Byeong-gap and the twelve Goblins went on to the other side of the world without hesitation.

* * *

“Argh!”

More than a dozen bullets flooded the face of Devil Wood, the world’s boss. The Devil Wood swung its bragging stem whip and fell without a blink.

When the Boss Monster died, the world began to collapse. Ko Byeong-gap hurriedly packed its magic stone and escaped.

He checked his watch with a cigarette in his mouth. The subjugation was over in 2 hours.

“That was quick. I would’ve taken half a day.”

He had only used up about 60 rounds of ammunition, and there was still a lot of potion left.

“Shall we turn one more round?”

Two cracks in a day. He wouldn’t even have tried it before.

In the past, his average monthly total was between 13 and 15. In other words, he went to a subjugation every other day.

Even if he went to just one crack, his body would be exhausted of its strength, as well as his ammunition and potions. However, with a strong support group of the Goblins, it was worth trying two cracks in one day.

Ko Byeong-gap took out his cell phone and looked around for nearby cracks. He ran through the Hunternet and meticulously examined the map. Soon, a coordinate came into his eyes.

It was only a 20-minute drive from his current location. The risk of the crack was an E rank. Its location and ranking were good, but…

“Huh, it hadn’t been attacked for 16 days?”

There was one catch. The point was that the crack hadn’t been attacked on its 16th day. It hinted at the possibility that the crack was a

The crack was like cancer. If left alone, it would spread and grow bigger and bigger. That meant that even the lowest F-rank cracks could be upgraded to C and D ranks if they continued to decay.

The reason why variants were dangerous was that they could only be recognized by entering them. It wouldn’t show up at all on its surface.

Usually, mutations occurred in cracks that had been in existence for more than three weeks. Therefore, the crack left unattacked for three weeks would cause an investigation from the association to re-evaluate its rank.

‘It hasn’t been more than three weeks…’

It didn’t cross the critical point set by the association, but he was still reluctant. Why? Since the crack that drove Ko Byeong-gap to the brink of death a few days ago was 11 days old.

A crack could become a variant in less than two weeks ago, so what was to say about a crack left unattacked for 16 days?

‘Let’s see, where else could I look?’

Ko Byeong-gap folded his mind and looked for other cracks, but even as his cigarette got shorter and shorter, nothing came out of his attempt.

‘The closest one is in Hongcheon. A round trip would take more than three hours.’

He had a bitter taste. Would he rather choose a safe but far away crack or a crack that was close but risky?

His worries didn’t last long. Ko Byeong-gap’s heart was inclined toward the unattacked rift.

‘It was dangerous last time because I wasn’t too careful. But now, I have Goblins.’

Even if the E-rank crack had mutated, the Goblin wouldn’t die without a fight. He hurriedly got into the car before it was too late.

Twenty minutes later, Ko Byeong-gap pulled over under a quiet overpass.

As he advanced about 200 meters along a stream overgrown with weeds due to drought, he was able to identify a crack near the sewer.

He checked his watch, and it was already 3:50 pm. There was a lot of time left before the sun went down. He quickly finished inspecting his equipment and hurriedly entered the crack.

What he did as soon as he entered the back world was to check the karma meter.

‘So far, everything’s clear.’

Another characteristic of variants was that the energy distribution in the world wasn’t constant.

Last time, he overlooked that point and was briefly besieged by the Goblins. Two mistakes were unacceptable.

Ko Byeong-gap vowed to check the karma meter from time to time. He called out the Goblins once again and worked.

“Listen, if I say run away, move on immediately to Ashvilam. I’m just going to leave anyone who’s lagging behind.”

“Okay, sir.”

Ko Byeong-gap and the Goblins carefully teased their feet.

The Hob Goblins took the lead and scrambled through the weeds. When they advanced about ten minutes like that, they were able to encounter a monster.

The problem was the monster was dead.

‘Horned Wolf?’

It was an F-class monster, a Horned Wolf. More than 20 Horned Wolves were lying on the floor.

After ordering the Goblins to stop, Ko Byeong-gap examined the body of a horned wolf. It had a bullet wound, and its stomach was torn.

It meant that someone had entered the rift first.

‘’I can’t believe someone got here first.”

There was an implicit rule among hunters. A crack would yield to the one who took it first. Ko Byeong-gap was one of the hunters who obeyed the rules. There was no good in causing trouble with other hunters.

He lifted himself with a bitter taste.

“Get out of the way… Hmm?”

He sensed a strange atmosphere. The Goblins were all looking in one direction.

“You guys… What’s wrong?”

“Lo… Lord. Over there. Something…”

“What?”

A chill ran down his spine as Ko Byeong-gap looked in the same direction. However, there was nothing but a lush weed. So what was that creepy feeling?

He put his eyes on the scope mounted on the gun. The world he saw with the 4x scope was a little different from before.

Something was running that way!

‘A person?’

It was a person. A frightened woman running away from her death, and it was a D-class monster, a Thunder Wolf, that was following her.

“Oh my God!”

Ko Byeong-gap reflexively spat out the curse words.

The moment he tried to take his eyes off the scope and tell the Goblins to run away, his eyes spotted another foreign entity.

A White Goblin was riding on the wolf’s back.