Max Talent Player

I closed my eyes, concentrating on the hologram window that only I could see. Even with my eyes closed, I could clearly see the window. I looked at it again with my full attention, but the Status Window was as unbelievable as ever.

[Status Window]

Name: Kim Hyukjin (Player)

Level: 1

Title: –

Strength: 10

Intelligence: 12

Agility: 11

Perception: 11

Constitution: 10

Willpower: 13 (+30)

‘These are my stats?’ They were higher than expected. ‘What’s going on?’

No, they were way too high.

‘Why’re they so high?’

Those numbers didn’t make any sense.

‘Fist King So Yoohyun’s stats at the time of the tutorial were somewhere around an average of 9.’

The strongest Player in the world’s starting stats were around 9, but my stats were obviously around 11. So what did that mean? Even the lowest stats, Strength and Constitution, were set at a whopping 10, higher than the average of the Tutorial Ender, the Fist King.

‘And my Willpower is 43…?’

Considering that ‘(+30)’ was tagged on, I guessed that this was the temporarily increased value from ‘Calm Observer’s Eye’. It wasn’t the sort of value a level 1 Player should have, something you should never even have the chance to see during the Tutorial. Even without the ‘Calm Observer’s Eye’ buff, a starting Willpower stat of 13 was incredibly high.

‘My Intelligence was this high?’

The higher your starting stats, the more advantageous it was in the System. In essence, that was the domain of Intelligence. Level ups were the domain of manual labor and effort, but the growth that came with each level up was the domain of Intelligence and Perception.

‘I really don’t get it.’

It was just yesterday that I received a ‘No Talent’ evaluation.

[No Talent.]

It was clearly written on the paper.

‘Did something change when I returned to the past?’

I didn’t know. It was still hard to say. For now, I knew that my starting stats were higher than the Fist King’s, which meant my chances of surviving had dramatically increased.

‘Taking into consideration the fact that each point of starting stats makes a big difference… I’m in a really advantageous position.’

Just then—

Thump! Thump!

The inside of the bus began to shake. I didn’t open my eyes.

‘They’ve got clubs.’

The bus was a conditional Safe Zone. As long as we didn’t excite the Goblins, it would be safe. For now.

I heard the voices of the men.

“H-Holy shit…!”

“The hell is that?”

How many of the eight people here could survive? I cracked open my eyes, taking a very small, very faint look.

‘One person?’ Or maybe two? ‘It could even… be none.’

Through the windows of the bus, I could see green monsters jumping outside. The Goblins were only about one meter tall, but they could leap over two meters in the air. They battered the windows with their clubs, and the glass began to crack.

‘Stay calm.’

Maybe thanks to ‘Calm Observer’s Eye’, I was able to examine the situation far more calmly than expected.

Crack!

The window finally shattered. Soon, the Goblins would stream in. I quietly glanced at my watch.

‘The bus earned us five minutes.’

This time was the reason I didn’t let the bus driver open the door. Just five minutes. I thought it would be good if I had just five minutes more.

“F-F-Fuck off, you monsters!”

“Uwahhh!”

I closed my eyes again.

‘I guess staying still isn’t something you can do by just being told.’

It was simple if you imagined that a one-meter cockroach was walking around in front of you. The Goblin right there was far bigger than one meter and was even armed, and it was a creature that relished killing. Anyone who didn’t freak out just because they were told to stay still was out of the norm. I squeezed my eyes shut and bit my lips.

‘It would be better not to look.’

My starting stats might be high, but I wasn’t strong enough to face a Goblin swarm. I could picture the situation without seeing it. The guys had probably already perished to the crude hands of the Goblins. It was possible they had been ripped to pieces. A disgusting smell wafted over me. It was the Goblins’ body odor.

I heard footsteps, and the voices of the monsters.

Kikik! Kikikikik! Kikikik!

I also heard the screams of the woman in the rearmost seat, an ear-splitting cry.

“H-Help! Help! Kyaaak!”

Something splattered onto me. Something hot ran down my cheek. I had the feeling that the liquid was red.

‘This is… blood.’

It seemed one of the Goblins even had a sword, evidenced by the sharp sound of flesh being sliced. That bloody, wet sound was so revolting I never wanted to hear it again.

Even with the assistance of Calm Observer’s Eye, it was so terrible that I struggled to hold on.

My limbs were trembling, but I stayed as calm as possible. If I crumbled or panicked here, I would die just like the others. I recalled the picture of my mom, the one who had consoled me yesterday. Don’t worry. I’ll live well. I’ll do my best. That’s what I resolved to do last night.

‘I want to live.’

Kiik?

The sound came from right next to my ear.

The Goblins came close to me, the sole survivor. Something cold touched my shoulder.

‘Might be a palm…’

It felt like one, a small palm. The palm of a green-skinned monster touched my shoulder. Fascinated by me, the creature pressed its nose on my cheek and sniffed. The rank breath of the Goblin clambering on my body was truly disgusting. I supposed my nausea.

‘Dammit.’

Not a single scream could be heard. Everyone here had probably died. I didn’t have the strength to protect them, and they didn’t have the strength to protect themselves.

‘This is terrible.’

They began to grope my body. One of them licked my shin with its long tongue. I could feel my pants eroding a little because of its acidic saliva. Some even poked my cheeks with claws that must be incredibly dirty, as if playing with a toy.

‘I only need to hold out for five more minutes.’

A total of ten minutes. I needed to hold out without making a sound for just ten minutes. After that, I would be in the clear for a moment. That was a fact well-documented in Fist King So Yoohyun’s memoir and a strategy I had seen many times on Youtube.

Each and every second felt so very long. The Goblins using me as a jungle gym felt like giant cockroaches crawling on my body.

After what felt like an eternity, I heard another notice.

* * *

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ has begun to take an interest in you.]

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ wishes to give you a chance.]

Yet another Guardian had become interested in me, which now made a whopping two Guardians. One was the ‘Nameless Observer’, and the other was the ‘Courageous Lion King’. The ‘Courageous Lion King’ was also a Guardian I already knew.

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ wishes to bestow you an Open Beta Advantage.]

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ has gifted you ‘High Strength Elixir’.]

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ looks forward to your ‘courage’.]

I wasn’t happy about it.

‘The Courageous Lion King.’

The notoriety of this Guardian was particularly high, even among the many Guardians. The ‘Courageous Lion King’ was very famous as a Guardian that imposed reckless courage, challenge-seeking, and useless zeal on Players, whether that meant Players died or not. He was a wicked Guardian who cared not a whit for the pain of a Player in a dangerous situation.

The only thing that mattered to him was that Players had ‘courage’ and ‘challenged’ hardship head-on. It didn’t matter to him if that challenge resulted in death—He was a perverted bastard who simply enjoyed the process.

‘If I were to act courageously here…’

I would be eaten alive by the Goblin swarm surrounding me. In order to survive, I had to clearly differentiate when to be brave and when not to be, and right now, it was the latter.

‘You dirty Goblin bastards.’

I upped my concentration. While these Goblins were crawling over my body, running their dirty tongues over me and prodding me all over with their dirty fingers, I had to focus on something else, or I would go insane.

‘Focus.’

Kikik! Kikik! Kiiik?

One of the Goblins licked my ear. At that moment, my focus cracked. I felt every hair on my body stand on end. My ear stung immensely from the acid in their saliva. It felt like my ear was melting.

‘Argh…!’

[The gifted ‘High Strength Elixir’ has arrived.]

[For the duration of the Tutorial, gifted items will be automatically sent to your Inventory.]

[Would you like to access your Inventory?]

I bit down hard on my lower lip in order to keep myself from making a sound. Any movement or sound would be fatal right now. The moment I moved or made a sound, the conditional Safe Zone would shatter, and I would meet the same fate as the eight other people on this bus.

I knew exactly how to access my Inventory.

‘Inventory.’

You just had to think it in your head. My eyes were closed, but the Inventory hologram was clearly displayed before me. It wasn’t something you saw with the physical eye, but a perception fed to the brain to make it appear as if you were looking at it with your eyes.

[High Strength Elixir]

The Courageous Lion King’s gift. An Open Beta Bonus, it will take effect for ten minutes.

Temporarily increases Strength by 6.

‘Plus 6?’

You gained 2 bonus stats with each level up. I heard you could gain more bonus stats by satisfying special conditions, but in any case, the base number you got was two.

‘If I use this…’ I made the mental calculation. ‘It’d be like leveling up three times.’

My current level was 1. If my Strength was increased by 6, it would be like me being level 4 after only raising my Strength stat with every level.

‘My starting stats are way higher than normal Players.’

Players of the highest level averaged around 9 for starting stats, and I had an even higher average. With that in mind, while I was under the effect of this potion, I figured I would be something like a level 5 or 6 Player.

‘Goblins can normally be hunted at around level 6.’

The ‘Courageous Lion King’ most likely gifted me the ‘High Strength Elixir’ after taking this into consideration. It might have been that he wanted to see the flailing of a pathetic level 1 Player, a struggle that lasted ten minutes.

‘You perverted bastard.’

I really didn’t like the Courageous Lion King. However, there was another item in my Inventory, one of the items distributed to all Players at random, aka a starter item.

[Rusted Iron Sword]

An iron sword covered in rust. You shouldn’t expect much killing power from it.

Attack Power: 2~5

It was an extremely shabby item, but it was still much better than nothing. If I used the High Strength Elixir and the Rusted Iron Sword, I might be able to hunt Goblins. But as I had repeatedly emphasized, this wasn’t the time to fight. I could not hunt the Goblin swarms on my own.

‘If I wait a little longer, the Goblin’s attack will stop for a moment.’

I didn’t know exactly how long, but it was probably something like two or three minutes longer. Afterwards, the Goblins would disappear. If the Fist King So Yoohyun’s records were correct, at least.

As if to prod me onwards, I heard another notice.

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ looks forward to your courage.]

I did my best to ignore the notice. It was true that catching the eye of a Guardian was a favorable thing for a Player. But you couldn’t survive if you always acted according to the desires of a Guardian. That much was an established fact. Taking what should be taken and refusing what should be refused was the right call. When I stayed motionless, my eyes still closed, another notice rang in my ear.

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ requests a trade with an Intermediate Administrator.]

That was the moment where things began to derail. That moment.

Various thoughts whirled in my head. The disposition of the Courage Lion King. The nature of the Tutorial Field. The potential trades a Guardian could request from an Intermediate Administrator. Like a puzzle coming together, all the pieces connected one by one in the head of me, Kim Hyukjin.

‘Piecing everything together…’

I knew what kind of picture the Courageous Lion King wanted to see.