Chapter 11
First, the NPC.
NPCs were the people who lived inside the Tower.
By completing their requests, climbers could raise their clear evaluation score.
Just like in his previous life, Seong-un headed toward a hut near the center of the village.
It was slightly larger than the ordinary huts around it.
Inside, an old man who looked to be in his mid-to-late seventies was cleaning fish caught from the nearby river.
"Sir, are you there?"
Seong-un carefully stepped inside.
The old man turned and stared at him.
"A climber?"
"Yes."
The NPCs knew about the Tower.
They also knew about climbers.
However, all memories from outside the Tower had been erased.
Can they ever escape from this prison-like place?
Normally, even their free will disappeared, leaving them completely devoted to fulfilling their roles as NPCs.
But a tiny number of NPCs constantly yearned for freedom and looked at climbers with deep envy.
That was only natural.
They knew they were trapped inside a repeating flow of time.
"All right. But why did you come looking for me?"
Seong-un needed to choose his words carefully.
Depending on what he said, he could either gain a large amount of bonus evaluation points or almost none.
He slowly opened his mouth.
"I'd like to make a deal."
"A deal?"
The old man tilted his head.
Someone suddenly appearing and proposing a deal seemed to spark a little interest in him.
"Don't you want to leave this place?"
"Heh. What nonsense. Save your breath and leave."
The old man looked away.
The slight interest that had appeared in his eyes vanished.
Only emptiness remained.
"Then let me change the question."
"I told you to leave."
"I can let you die."
"!"
I can let you die.
At those words, the old man's head immediately turned back toward Seong-un.
His trembling eyes proved that the words had struck exactly where intended.
[NPC Information]
-Nickname: Hudin
-Resident of the Village of Beginnings
Resident Hudin.
When he'd first regained awareness, he had been cleaning this hut.
Every memory from before that had disappeared.
From then on, Hudin had lived as a member of the village.
What is this sense of déjà vu?
His life had been peaceful.
But eventually, Hudin realized that the same life was repeating.
Once he realized that, satisfaction turned into unbearable disgust.
Let me out of here!
He had tried countless times to end his own life.
But every time, horrible pain worse than death itself seized his entire body.
And now someone was telling him this endless life could finally end?
"If you don't want it, I'll find someone else."
Seong-un turned without hesitation.
The old man hurriedly rose from his seat.
"W-Wait! I'll make the deal! What do you want from me?!"
[Bonus score has been added.]
It worked.
Seong-un lightly clenched his fist and turned back toward the old man.
That man was ultimately an NPC.
In other words, once he fulfilled his assigned role, he could disappear at any time.
That NPC is the first stepping stone toward EX-rank.
To obtain EX-rank on Floor 1, Hudin had to be the first NPC he dealt with.
"I heard you've tried many ways to escape from this place. Is that true?"
"...Yes. But all of them were useless."
Hudin muttered with empty eyes.
"I need the Goblin Chief's headband."
"How do you know I have that?"
The moment Seong-un named the item exactly, Hudin's eyes widened slightly.
Seong-un grinned and shrugged.
"I'm the man who has the answer you've been searching for all this time. Knowing something like that is basic."
A short silence followed.
"Wait here."
After making up his mind, Hudin walked toward the corner of the hut and brought over a small wooden box.
It looked exactly like the box Seong-un remembered from his previous life.
Seong-un accepted it while recalling his memories.
Inside was a torn red headband, neatly folded despite its damaged condition.
[Bonus score has been added.]
The Goblin Chief's Headband.
Obtaining the headband itself was merely part of the mechanism.
How could an ordinary village resident realistically possess an item belonging to the goblin leader?
Hudin's role ended the moment he handed it over.
"This is it."
"Now tell me. How can I die?"
Hudin asked with a desperate expression.
Seong-un gave him a short answer.
"Your role is finished."
"My role?"
"Yes."
That should be enough for him to understand.
"...I see."
As if he finally understood, Hudin smiled and slowly nodded.
Seong-un returned the smile and quietly left the hut.
When he reached the village entrance, two adult men were fighting desperately against ten goblins.
This is where it begins.
The first stage was helping these men and wiping out the initial goblin group.
[Lv. 2 Goblin]
Seong-un pulled the Asgard Sword from his inventory and dashed forward.
[Swordsmanship Mastery]
-Type: Passive
-Rank: E
-Maximum Growth Rank: SS
-Your swordsmanship becomes sharper.
-Sword attack power increases by 2%.
-On hit, 1% chance to seal healing for 10 minutes. Excludes the user.
Swordsmanship Mastery.
The skill he'd obtained from the Book of the Sword.
It increased sword attack power by two percent.
And whenever he inflicted a sword wound, there was a one-percent chance that the target's healing would be sealed for ten minutes.
This will become ridiculously powerful once it grows too.
It was already an excellent skill.
Later, it would become even more absurd.
"Kerrrk!"
Goblin.
He had hunted countless goblins in the small Tower and the Tutorial.
The prey was the same.
But the hunter was different now.
Before, Seong-un had cut them down with nothing but a self-defense dagger.
Now, he held the A-rank Asgard Sword.
Slash.
Seong-un swung his sword and mercilessly cut off a goblin's head.
"Kerk?!"
When one of their companions lost its head in a single exchange, the other goblins froze in shock.
That was their mistake.
They should've defended immediately if they wanted to survive even a little longer.
Seong-un moved several steps and cut through the waist of his next target.
The goblin was split cleanly in two.
"Kerrrk!"
"Kerk!"
The goblins tried to retreat.
Too late.
By the time they'd reached that decision, seven were already dead.
Seong-un leisurely finished the last three and flicked the blood from his blade.
The fight was over.
"Whoa..."
"What the hell?"
