Chapter 19: Clash in the Classroom

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Climbing the stairs two steps at a time, I reached the upper floor and caught sight of the back of a small monster crossing the hallway.

‘A goblin?’

‘A goblin in a school? That’s really out of place.’

No time for thoughts—catching the monster was the priority.

Since I was alone, I quietly approached from behind the goblin, which was cautiously walking around.

Crack—

Before the goblin noticed something approaching from behind and turned around, my hand was faster.

I swung the axe I pulled out from my inventory with all my might.

The goblin’s head flew off in an instant, and it collapsed lifelessly.

‘They sent the weakest one as a scout and are hiding inside the classroom.’

I didn’t even have to open the classroom door to sense it.

Even though it’s a D-rank dungeon, if one axe swing could kill it, it must have been a weakling originally.

Since I’m somewhat weaker now, it would’ve taken at least two or three swings.

Dragging the dead goblin, I opened the classroom door and saw goblins lined up sitting at desks.

Before I could be surprised by the bizarre scene, the goblin standing at the teacher’s desk caught my eye.

“Hello.”

Thud, thud—

Smiling with upturned eyes, I greeted them and threw the goblin I was holding at the one in front of me.

The one hit had no time to dodge and flew backward, crashing into the wall.

Tilting its neck left and right once, I alternately pressed my clenched fist with my other hand, making a cracking sound from the bones.

It was time to show off the physical strength I had recovered from running through gates.

Ki-yeok!

The goblin in front screamed as it flew, and the other goblins shouted angrily.

They tried to look threatening by swinging their axes wildly, but I dodged all attacks easily.

“Shahin.”

I didn’t really need to call Shahin, but I did it deliberately.

[Is this a dungeon?]

“Yeah, no need to do anything. Just sit over there and watch.”

Better to have at least one audience than to rampage alone.

Without any questions, Shahin just said [Understood] and perched on the teacher’s desk, looking this way.

The goblins, seeing their comrade unconscious, tried to charge me but hesitated when Shahin appeared.

However, the hesitation was brief, and when Shahin didn’t intervene, they immediately rushed me.

Some excited goblins swung their axes recklessly.

Thwack!

Jumping on the front desk and dodging an axe aimed at my leg, I sat down as another axe flew at me.

It passed over my head, shattered the glass window, and fell into the hallway.

Seizing the chance, I grabbed the ear of a goblin trying to attack me from the side.

Ki-yeok?

The goblin tried to shake my hand off but had no chance.

I stood up and threw it into the middle of the goblin group.

After that, it was a one-sided beatdown against the goblins.

I moved quickly, disarmed all their axes, and threw them into the hallway.

I especially hit those who resisted roughly.


There’s no way monsters are only in one classroom; surely, they wouldn’t be hiding and waiting in every classroom.

Otherwise, they would have rushed out by now.

After dealing with all of them outside, I dragged one surviving goblin and opened the classroom door.

As I expected, goblins that had been hiding poured out into the hallway.

I sent the goblin I was holding to its comrades and asked,

“Where’s your leader?”

Ki-yeok—

I tried to talk it out, but that was hopeless.

It was time to swiftly finish them and kill the boss.

No more wasting time.

Just as I stepped out into the hallway to handle them, I caught sight of a figure.

For a moment, I was confused whether it was a goblin or a human, but the silhouette disappeared behind a wall.

It was definitely a human.

Unlike goblins, he was tall and well-built.

Moreover, I felt a magical aura when he vanished.

Definitely an awakened one.

Could he have recognized me?

Uneasy, I stepped back inside the classroom.

I hadn’t sensed any presence until now, so this meant he was awakened of a higher rank than me.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t have missed any presence while dealing with the goblins, even if they were just D-rank monsters.

My heart grew impatient.

I shouldn’t be fooling around with goblins here.

At this early hour, I never imagined there would be an Awakener who deliberately entered the small gate behind the utility pole.

“What a stupid mistake…”

Blaming myself for the momentary excitement, I quickly disappeared into the shadows.

Shahin did the same, vanishing into the shadows beside me.

As we moved out of the classroom and across the hallway, the man I saw earlier did not appear.

“Did he leave?”

Why did he come in here?

Unless he had some important quest like me, why would a high-ranked Awakener bother to enter a D-rank gate?

Though I wanted to search every floor for him, I didn’t have time.

First, I had to kill the boss, then the gate would close and I’d go outside along with it.

Putting the man aside for now, I observed the goblins’ movements to find where the boss might be.

Going down one floor and passing by the teachers’ office, I sensed a different aura from the goblins before.

Instinctively, I knew the boss monster was here.

Still in shadow form, I quietly slipped into the teachers’ office and saw the boss monster unaware of my presence.

It was bigger than the other goblins I had fought so far.

To avoid being detected by whoever had seen me earlier, I had to quickly kill the boss and leave, so I dispelled the shadow form.

Killing the boss didn’t take long.

It was just bigger than the others.

I dodged the axe, it swung fiercely, rolled my body, ran, stepped on a table in the corner of the office, jumped up, and stabbed its head with a dagger.

It didn’t die instantly — it wrapped its legs around my neck and hung there, but I grabbed its head and snapped it.

Thud—

The boss monster collapsed and a familiar status window appeared.

[<Quest>
Kill the dungeon boss! Lv. 2
9/10
Reward – 1 existing skill (random)]

“Done!”

Just one more dungeon run and I can get another skill.

I don’t know what it’ll be, but I hope it’s necromancy.

If I get necromancy, I’ll have more minions to command, which would make things easier for me.

After the boss was gone, the surroundings gradually changed from the teachers’ office littered with dead goblins to a quiet residential area.

I hurriedly looked around, expecting to come out together.

But contrary to my expectation that the man I saw earlier would be nearby, there was no sign of anyone near where the gate had been.

“If he saw me, that would be bad.”

I quickly looked around, searching for the man, but maybe he had already disappeared, because I didn’t see anyone.

The sky brightening little by little only made me more anxious.

“For now, let’s just go home.”

If I delayed any longer here, not only would the mysterious man see me, but he might also discover that I sneaked out of the house.

“I have to be more careful at the next gate.”

I must always stay alert to whether anyone besides me has come in.

That man who might have seen me—I have to find him someday, no matter what.

I made this vow several times in my mind as I headed home.

By then, the day had fully broken.

***

As usual, Doihyun went out for his early morning walk.

When Choco suddenly crouched and became alert in one direction, Doihyun instinctively concealed his presence.

From far away, the magical energy charging toward him reached the alley where he was hiding, then vanished, and a person appeared.

The woman who showed herself in front of a utility pole in the residential area was dressed in black clothes and wearing a black mask.

She was definitely the phantom thief hunter he had seen before.

Though he’d only seen her twice, her suspicious appearance stood out.

This time, she didn’t mutter anything like “Ugh, what a hassle.”

Without a word, she slipped behind the utility pole and soon disappeared.

Doihyun, holding Choco and perfectly hidden, was startled and revealed himself.

He quickly ran to the utility pole where the woman had been and found a small open gate.

“Could she have gone in?”

Come to think of it, last time she had raided a gate that her guild had won without permission and left the dungeon loot behind.

That phantom thief hunter, who had radiated suspicion from the start.

For the first time in a while, curiosity flickered on Doihyun’s face.

Since he had just gone out for a walk, his home was nearby.

He quickly brought Choco inside, then entered the gate behind the utility pole.

“Ah… a school.”

He wasn’t too fond of school, and to think the dungeon’s interior was a school—it felt a bit off.

Nevertheless, he moved forward looking for the woman he had seen earlier.

He was curious what her purpose was for entering the dungeon.

Her suspicious outfit, sneaking into the dungeon at this hour, and the certainty that she would run away if she noticed his presence—all made him cautious.

Doihyun moved carefully toward the classroom where she was, completely stealthy.

Through the broken classroom window, he saw the back of a smaller woman than he had expected.

What was that?

Inside the classroom beyond the broken window was truly a scene of one-sided violence.

Though her face was hidden from view, the woman was mercilessly beating the goblins.

If she was hitting them that hard, she could probably take them out quickly, but judging by the fact she wasn’t inflicting fatal wounds, it seemed she preferred close combat, even if her rank was unknown.

Someone unknown was sitting at the teacher’s desk—not human, but so beautiful it made Doihyun think of elves from the fantasy novels he read.

Watching this scene, which made no sense by his standards, Doihyun suddenly realized something, his eyes widening.

“So she came out to relieve stress.”

He didn’t plan on watching someone else’s stress relief.

Probably the day she raided the guild that won the auction in Onsaemiro, she had come out to relieve stress just like this.

Her main purpose wasn’t dungeon loot, so she took everything and left it at the guild.

Nodding to himself, Doihyun judged the situation and came to a conclusion.

Without hesitation, he turned and planned to leave the gate area.

The woman would handle the boss on her own; he didn’t need to worry.

At this point, he was just glad he wouldn’t get blamed for interrupting her stress relief by going after the boss himself.

But his plan to leisurely leave was shattered instantly.

She finished dealing with the goblins in the classroom quicker than expected and kicked the door open.

“Where’s your leader?”

Her rough voice cut through Doihyun’s ear as he hid hastily behind a wall.

The tone was like that of a street punk.

Determined not to disturb her stress relief, Doihyun hurriedly turned and headed out through the gate.