When the number of quest achievers surpassed four hundred, and the horde of fifty thousand goblins had been whittled down to a mere ten thousand, the Cheon-sa who had been observing from the sidelines finally intervened, a wicked smile spreading across her face.
“Kehehe, this is so amusing. They’re hunting them down so efficiently. Perhaps I should add some more?”
A flutter of her wings seemed to be the signal. In an instant, every goblin corpse littering the meadow vanished.
A wave of confusion washed over the survivors.
“What? What’s happening?”
“The goblin corpses… they’re gone!”
“It’s not just the goblins. All the other bodies disappeared too!”
Their bewilderment, however, was short-lived. Groans of disgust rippled through the crowd as new goblins began to materialize all around them, their gnarled forms filling the empty spaces.
“Kyo-ho-ho-ho! I’ve replenished them to a full fifty thousand. Don’t worry, you won’t run out, so rest assured. Kick-kick-kick!”
Whether she knew it or not, every survivor on that field was cursing the Cheon-sa’s name. They had no choice but to raise their weapons once more, their lives hanging in the balance. The blood-soaked meadow had stolen their screams, leaving only the grim determination to survive.
Achievers: 1,021/5,143
Achievers: 2,129/5,143
Achievers: 3,533/5,143
As the number of quest achievers climbed, the goblin population plummeted. Each time their numbers thinned, the Cheon-sa would clear away the dead and summon a fresh wave.
Five hours must have passed.
Park Jin-ho, who had been sitting on the ground observing the progress window, suddenly rose to his feet as if a silent timer had gone off.
It’s time to wrap this up and go home.
But there was something he had to do first.
Achievers: 5,143/5,143
Finally, the moment came. The quest’s quota was filled. The goblins that had swarmed the meadow suddenly vanished without a trace, as if the entire nightmare had been nothing but a dream.
[Half of the challengers have passed.]
The Cheon-sa’s voice was laced with disappointment.
[Unfortunately, the rest must be annihilated.]
“Wait a minute! Please, Cheon-sa! I just need to kill one more! Please!”
It was then that it happened. All those who had failed to complete the quest dissolved, scattering like motes of dust in the wind. Three thousand people, gone without a trace. The remaining two thousand who hadn't met the quota were simply overrun and killed by the goblins in the final moments.
Sawang-ui came so suddenly, people didn’t even have time to scream.
The achievers, watching from their designated safe zone, swallowed nervously. Their mouths were dry. Had they been any slower, they would have met the same fate. If you didn’t make it into the top half, you were simply erased.
The group that once numbered ten thousand had been culled to a mere five thousand. Sadly, there was nothing Park Jin-ho could have done to save them. It was a fundamental rule of this cursed game, just as the Cheon-sa had said.
“Why the long faces? You survived. Shouldn’t you be happy?” The Cheon-sa tilted her head, then shrugged. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. You all made it, so congratulations. You can go home now.”
At the mention of going home, the crushing tension in the air finally broke. A collective sigh of relief gave way to scattered, shaky laughter.
The Cheon-sa, however, still wore that infuriating smirk. They weren't out of the woods yet.
“I should remind you, though, that Round 2 will be much harder. So you’d better do better next time. Teehee.”
They had only just cleared Round 1, and now they had to face Round 2 in a month. It was an inescapable reality. All their suffering had only bought them a single month of reprieve.
As this realization dawned on them, their faces turned ashen. The Cheon-sa barely suppressed a devilish grin.
“Well then, before you go home, shall we take a look at the rankings?” She spread her wings with a theatrical flourish, and a message box materialized before Park Jin-ho’s eyes.
1st place: Huk-yeong (Lv5, no job) 00:10:21
2nd place: Choi Min-jun (Lv5, no job) 00:16:15
3rd place: Cheon-ma (Lv5, no job) 00:17:07
1st place: Huk-yeong (Lv5, no job) 00:10:21
2nd place: Kim Ji-hoon (Lv5, no job) 00:23:55
3rd place: Heug-yeom-ryong (Lv5, no job) 00:24:43
[Huk-yeong is currently ranked 1st in both overall and Area ESKS45-5.]
[Lowest-tier rare weapon selection ticket (already distributed)]
[Special reward selection box (already distributed)]
[Clear Reward: 1,000 gold (undistributed)]
[You have earned 1,000 gold as a clear reward! Congratulations!]
[You can purchase items from the shop with the gold you've earned.]
[The shop function will be unlocked when you reach level 10.]
Everyone, not just Park Jin-ho, was staring into the empty air. They were all seeing the results.
The others had likely only received the base reward of 1,000 gold. Park Jin-ho, having achieved the top score, had received far more.
So now everyone knows I’m ranked first.
Sure enough, gazes filled with envy and jealousy turned toward Park Jin-ho. Most, however, regarded him with a sense of awe. The gap between his completion time and that of the second-place finisher was so overwhelming that it commanded respect.
It wasn't just the humans who were surprised.
“To think that the first place in the entire area came from my zone… It’s amazing.”
The Cheon-sa’s attention was now fixed solely on Park Jin-ho.
“Huk-yeong? Answer me.”
“How can you be so strong? Did you get some special runes?”
The Cheon-sa cut herself off mid-sentence.
What a foolish question. I almost revealed something I shouldn’t have. It was a clear mistake, a dead giveaway that she couldn’t actually view the players’ status windows.
Of course, Park Jin-ho already knew this from his repeated lives. The Cheon-sa was secretly flustered.
Seizing the opportunity, Park Jin-ho decided to needle her a little.
“If you can see my status window, you should already know what rune I have, right?”
It was a simple, logical question, but the Cheon-sa maintained her composure.
“Then you already know. Did you think I, an Cheon-sa, wouldn’t know your information? I merely asked a question to which I already knew the answer.”
Park Jin-ho knew for a fact that the Cheon-sa had no authority to view a player's status window. Her role was limited to guiding and proceeding with the game; she had no access to personal information. Through his regressions, he had learned a surprising amount about the angels.
This knowledge allowed him to make a bold move. “Can I make one request?”
The other survivors stared, shocked by his audacity.
“I feel like the reward for first place is a little cheap,” Park Jin-ho said, his voice calm and steady. “I wish you had given a better one.”
Negotiating with an Cheon-sa. The sheer audacity of it.