Despite Goblins being one of the more common monsters, Shiwoon only knew three things about them.
One: they resembled the Goblins in fantasy novels. The monsters were short, green-skinned creatures with a feral intelligence.
Two: their primary weapons were the tools they fashioned out of metal and stone and bone, and the natural weapons of claws and fangs that were bestowed upon them.
Three: in D-rank Portals where Goblins appeared, fatality rates were uncommonly high, at ten to twenty percent. Based on what he had heard, this could be attributed to the Goblins' strategic use of weapons, their intelligence and, most crucially, the misclassification of the rank of the Portal. Goblins were famous for baiting Hunters in by herding other monsters to the Portal while staying out of sight. Despite this, they remained a D-rank threat because they were not very impressive individually.
If Shiwoon had been expecting to enter a D-rank Portal, he would likely have done more research about the little monsters. But he hadn't been. Nobody had ever told him that what you saw through a Portal wasn't always what you got. He supposed it was always a possibility given the way they determined the rank of a Portal. It was still a very painful lesson to be learning on the job.
By his count, there were at least five of them. They kept moving about in the bushes, stirring up leaves to create the illusion of greater numbers, but given the frequency with which they rustled each bush, he thought that there were no more than eight Goblins.
That wasn't good news. Five to eight of them was still a large enough number to wipe him out if they all came at him at once. For whatever reason, however, they were not doing so. Instead, a single Goblin kept leaping at him over and over, more than a match for him, while its companions hid away and pressured him with the sounds of the forest.
Again, the same Goblin launched itself at him, making a long jump before bringing its sword down overhead, using the momentum to insert more force into its blow.
Shiwoon could barely feel his arms anymore. His breaths were hard and he could feel pain all over his body, his muscles straining to keep up. Shiwoon grinded his teeth as he slashed out after just about managing to block the Goblin's blow. It dodged by a hair before trying to stab him. He dodged backwards, evading the attack by a hair.
Neither of them had landed so much as a cut on the other. All the Goblin did was push him into a contest of strength before backing away. It had done this a few times by now. What it was trying to achieve, he wasn't certain. But he knew that whatever it was, it would result in his death. Even if all the Goblin did was to repeat the same head on clash again and again, Shiwoon knew that he would be dead soon enough. A part of him found it absurd that something which was as tall as his ten-year-old cousin would kill him.
He had to do something to change up the fight. There had to be an option still available to him. Risk doesn't matter in this situation, he thought, I have to do something drastic to turn the tides. But what could he do?
Goblins, for all that they were labelled as savages, were not generally fond of allowing their opponents to have the time or leeway to think in the midst of combat. The Goblin leapt at him again, fangs bared in a snarl, and as it raised its sword over its head, Shiwoon finally knew what he had to do.
Shiwoon leapt forward. The Goblin saw this as him letting his guard and continued the arc of its sword, slashing deep into Shiwoon's shoulder flesh.
He allowed the Goblin's sword to sink deep into the meat of his shoulder as he readied himself for a slash. He brought his sword up in a tiring arc, a crescent slash that began near his left leg and ended high above his right shoulder.
The Goblin screamed in pain as it dodged backwards. He could see the blood spilling out from it but he seemed to have missed its major organs. Shiwoon felt a sick taste in his mouth and spat. A globule of blood and snot shot like a bullet to the ground.
Confronted by the possibility of defeat, the Goblin stared absentmindedly at the blood on its hand that it knew belonged inside its body. The blue liquid made the Goblin look like a child that had gotten paint on its fingers.
'This is it.'
Shiwoon knew in that moment he had to make a move, even if his body was screaming defiance. He was so tired. He just wanted to rest. But there would be time for rest later, he told himself. He dashed forward, holding onto the heavy sword in shaking hands, and spun as he neared the Goblin.
In the eye of his mind he saw himself as a whirlwind of blade and death. He turned back after a moment to see that he had managed to cut off the Goblin's head. It had felt like a light swing in the moment but it had been enough. He couldn't help but grin. At the very least, he was making it an even trade of lives.
The other Goblins, who had only been watching up to this point, jumped out of the bushes with pained expressions. They made strange sounds that seemed hurt and frightened and angry. Shiwoon just looked at them. There were five. He thought that he could take down at least one more. But he was exhausted. That clash had taken more out of him than he had realised.
One of the Goblins ran up to him with a sword. He could hear yelps of surprise from the other Goblins behind it. His eyes closed for a moment. Sleep was calling to him and it felt so comfortable and comforting. He was going to die, wasn't he? Still, I can’t rest yet, he thought, I want to die fighting.
Forcing himself to open his eyes caused him to see the sword right about to cut him. Hurriedly, he pulled his own sword up to block, but the blow was too strong and his block was too late and he was sent flying through the bushes and into a solid tree.
There was a familiar sensation akin to when he had first received the Blessing as a blanket of sleep began to cover his mind. In the throes of death he once more felt vitality and strength. A desperate flame flaring up before inevitable death. A voice in his head was yelling at him to get out and back into the world. He wanted to ignore it but it only got louder.
'Are you okay with dying here? In a place like this, having done nothing? Are you?'
He emerged from unconsciousness with a head splitting ache and was greeted again by the sight of descending metal. He brought his sword up and blocked it, barely blocking the sword a few inches away from his neck. The two blades trembled in place. Shiwoon found that the weight the Goblin was putting its blade was lighter than before. Yelling as he pushed with all his might, he got the Goblin off him and managed to stand up again.
The Goblin looked surprised. It yelled something anxiously in its gutter language and its comrades came over. They weren't taking any changes. All five leapt at him at once.
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They were slower now, Shiwoon thought. He charged forward at the Goblin that had tried to kill him, parrying its careless attack and forcing it to the ground by adding to the momentum of its own overhead slash. It’s missed attack carried the Goblin downwards and as it found itself lying on its belly on the ground he stepped on its body and brought his own sword down like a guillotine. A splash of blue painted the soil.
He felt a sudden piercing pain in his leg, looked down and saw the tip of a sword jutting out of his left calf. He lifted his sword up off of the ground, took a step forward, spinned around while raising the sword above his left shoulder, and brought his sword down in another crescent arc that lopped off the head of the Goblin that had just stabbed him.
And then there were three. Three Goblins, looking at him with eyes of fear. The sheen of their eyes made it seem like there were tears. Maybe they were crying. It did not matter to him.
His head was still aching. Was it the sort of pain you felt when you woke up too early? He shook his head, recentered himself. He was in the midst of a battle here.
Neither side dared to make the first move. Shiwoon because there was a sword in his calf and because he was still at a numbers disadvantage, and the Goblins because they had just seen three of their peers brutally murdered. It was a trauma that he couldn't give them the chance to overcome. A thought struck him and he transferred his sword to his left hand and picked up the sword lying on the ground.
It was lighter than the one he was using and much shorter too. He cocked his arm back and flung it at one of the Goblins the same way he had seen an athlete throw a javelin once. The motion felt instinctively right and he thought he could hear the blade sing to him that it would be on target.
The Goblin reacted too slowly to the sword that passed through its head and carried it backwards and downwards before nailing it to the ground.
Of the two Goblins, one stood rooted in place, dazed by the sudden death, while the other leapt at him in a blind fury. He stabbed at the Goblin's face, his sword inserting itself easily into the spot between the Goblin's eyes. The Goblin's club never reached him; it clattered harmlessly on the ground as the Goblin's grip loosened in death.
He lost his grip on his own sword, the sword firmly embedded in the Goblin's corpse that was pulled by gravity to the bloodied soil. He put his right foot forward to step on the body, heaved the sword out, and dashed forward,causing pain to shoot straight up his left leg, before jumping towards the last of the Goblins.
His body remembered the perfect downward slash without his mind having to. As soon as it had been put into the right position, his arms had moved on their own, his breath settling in that moment to a deep calm. He brought down the sword on the Goblin, which tried to block in a panic. He could feel it; press a little harder and he would have the Goblin. Something was crawling inside of him, begging to be set free into the world, and as he put more force into the cut, it slithered into his blade and the sword cleaved through the fragile weapon the Goblin used before cutting a perfect line down the monster.
There was the sound of something breaking in the corpse of the Goblin that had been divided into two halves.
Without warning, a burst of magical energy erupted from the corpse, sending Shiwoon flying yet again into a tree. As he passed out, a sense that something was flowing through him came to him and his mind briefly wondered why he had picked up the habit of flying. And then everything turned dark.
*
Shiwoon could never forget the day he bought the Ocean Eleven. The particular model of the watch he had bought was limited edition - only seven hundred existed in all the world.
He had just left the army and he was searching for a job. Over time, a routine to his days not unlike when he was serving naturally happened. He would wake up every morning at eight, wash up and eat breakfast, and then start applying for jobs and sending out resumes at nine. If there were any scheduled interviews, he would prepare for them by looking up the questions the company would normally ask. If he didn’t, he would stay at home and do all the fun and lazy things he had been missing out on for two years.
A few companies did get back to him. But when they saw him and heard him, all of them seemed to decide that he wasn't the right candidate. He hated that they bothered to express regret at all when they weren't hiring him.
'If you regret it that much, just give me a job! That way, neither of us will have any regrets!'
Though the thought screamed in his head after every rejection, his mouth only allowed pleasant words like 'thank you' and 'I understand' to pass.
He had seen the watch in the department store after a disappointing interview. The interviewers had been cold and it was obvious that they would not be proceeding with him. He had left feeling like the world was falling around him.
It was his habit to window shop after every failure; it reminded him of what he was doing everything for. But when he saw the watch, he knew he had to have it. He had seen it online recently and he had been bewitched even then. The Ocean Eleven, the latest line by Hurin with a limited run.
He pointed to the watch after calling the salesperson over. "How much is it?"
"That watch's price is 12.5 million won (~10,000 USD), sir."
Though her words and her smile were sweet, Shiwoon thought he could see the snide derision in the eyes of the salesperson. So she didn't think he could afford it. That he was worthless. What did she know? Just because he couldn't get a job yet, it didn't mean he was a failure! He was just… he was just a success in the making, that's what it was. Good things take time, he thought to himself, and even great oaks need years to grow.
He looked again at the watch and all the silent promises it hinted at. To be a successful man, you have to act like a successful man, he thought to himself, and successful men wore nice watches like the Ocean Eleven.
"I'll buy it," he said. He thought that he could see the look in her eyes change immediately.
'Surely now you realise how great I am.' He had thought proudly to himself. He remembered wanting to rub it in. But he was a gentleman and gentlemen did not rub it in.
He had paid for it with his credit card, thinking that it was an investment in the man he wanted to be. Shiwoon could distinctly remember feeling like he was someone better than he really was when he put it on for the first time. He thought that the whole world was looking at him in a different light, that everyone was looking at him in the way he wanted to be looked at as he walked down the street.
That night, before he slept, he admired the watch and all of its little features before putting it away and going to sleep. His dreams were sweet and undisturbed and he woke up the next day feeling like he was finally on the road to becoming the person he wanted to be.
*
In the midst of his nightmare, what helped him to escape was a voice that cursed at him while asking him to wake up.
Shiwoon opened his eyes and saw a forest around him. Light, filtered by the thick canopy, fell down with a green tint, and there were all the robust sounds of nature. His body was light and his head hurt. He felt like he was a child again, being piggybacked by his mother after a tiring day at the beach. It is safe now, a whispering voice told him, you can go back to sleep. As he closed his eyes, ready to submerge himself back into his dreams-
"Ah, this punk. Aigoo. Making me carry him like this!"
He heard a woman cursing at him. He opened his eyes again and saw that he was being carried by an unfamiliar woman. Had she been part of the team? He couldn't remember her at that moment. He couldn't remember anything at all. There was a thick fog in his mind, like he had drank too much, and it hindered his thoughts.
It came to him, slowly, that he ought to let the woman know he was awake. She was running and straining herself while carrying him after all. It couldn't have been easy.
"Ah. Miss," he said.
The Hunter continued running. "Good. You're awake."
"You can let me down, senior. I’m awake now." He spoke formally as he couldn't tell her age.
She snorted. "Do you want to limp your way to the Portal? I mean, I'd normally say be my guest, but I don't want your death on my conscience."
"Limp…?" He looked down and saw the sword embedded in his calf. "Ah. Okay."
"I didn't pull it out because I'm not a healer."
"Ah. Alright. Thank you, senior."
She shook her head as she kept running. "What a mess of a Portal," she said under her breath.
Shiwoon looked at the trees they were zooming by. "What a mess," he agreed.
They continued in silence, the woman checking her watch repeatedly and then running even more quickly each time. The lack of conversation, as the woman focused on running and Shiwoon focused on not distracting her, allowed Shiwoon the leisure to observe their surroundings.
Here and there, he could see blotches of blue and red on stained green leaves and beautiful flowers. Scattered corpses of Slimes and Boars were strewn carelessly along their path, along with a handful of Goblins. They were neatly decapitated but not all of them seemed to have been dismembered. It was a show of wasteful opulence. He could practically see the money being left behind. But he didn’t think he could ask the woman to stop. She seemed to be anxious about something, given her running speed and the way she kept looking at her watch. Riding on her back, Shiwoon thought that they were travelling faster than a car cruising in the suburbs, and she showed no signs of tiring.
‘Are E-rank Hunters this fast?’
He had always been under the impression that he was about as strong and fast as a typical E-rank; it seemed he was wrong.
When they first caught a glimpse of the Portal, Shiwoon thought that it was larger than he remembered. It stretched into the sky, a welcoming hum issuing from its mouth. There were human silhouettes beyond it, waving their hands enthusiastically. It looked like a heartwarming reception.
“Shit!” The woman said as she started to run even more quickly.
“What?” Shiwoon asked, surprised by her reaction. And then he realised it at the same time she spoke again.
“The Portal’s collapsing!”