Chapter 11: The Unyielding Spirit of Kang Ju-ho

Kim Jun couldn’t possibly fail.

Earth was bound to crumble.

The only question was when.

Before being ousted from the position of General Manager, he had to bring Earth to its knees.

Whoosh!

Kang Ju-ho swung his hammer, striking the side of the last stone goblin with force.

Thud!

-!@%@$

The stone goblin let out a shriek and collapsed, ending the battle.

Normally, they would have exchanged words like “Good job” or “Well done.” But after the long battle, both Kang Ju-ho and Kim Seok-ju were too exhausted to speak.

Silently, they collected the dropped items.

As Kang Ju-ho started walking, Kim Seok-ju followed suit.

Soon, Kang Ju-ho spotted another group of stone goblins and stopped.

Kim Seok-ju halted as well. As if by unspoken agreement, they exchanged a glance before splitting up to scout the surroundings—one to the right, one to the left.

“Nothing here,” Kim Seok-ju reported.

“Same here,” Kang Ju-ho replied.

After confirming no other groups were nearby, Kang Ju-ho began approaching the stone goblins. There were six in total.

When they first arrived at the Stone Goblin Forest, they would have avoided such a group.

But after countless battles, Kang Ju-ho, now level 28, was confident he could take on eight goblins at once, let alone six.

“Physical Enhancement, Attribute Enchantment.”

[Physical attack power increased by 24% for 3 minutes.]

[Weapon enchanted with water attribute for 3 minutes.]

[Shield equipped.]

[Shield enchanted with water attribute for 3 minutes.]

Kim Seok-ju’s buffs had grown even stronger.

-!@%!@

-#@$%^$

The stone goblins noticed Kang Ju-ho and charged with guttural roars.

Kang Ju-ho remained unfazed.

Since reaching level 26, the stone goblins had never fallen into a stunned state, a situation he’d already experienced multiple times.

Kang Ju-ho charged toward the goblins.

“Attribute Shackles!”

At the same time, Kim Seok-ju cast Attribute Shackles.

A stream of water shot from his staff, bypassing Kang Ju-ho and binding the goblins’ bodies.

The goblins struggled to break free.

Kang Ju-ho reached them and charged at the nearest goblin, leading with his shield.

Boom!

-!@%$

The goblin hit by the shield bash let out a cry as it was sent flying.

The moment it hit the ground:

-Stone Goblin Blood x1

A drop window appeared.

Having killed one in a single blow, Kang Ju-ho moved to the next closest goblin and swung his hammer.

The goblin, bound by the water stream, could neither dodge nor block.

Thud! Splash!

-@%!@

As the hammer struck, the water exploded, and the goblin let out what seemed like a scream.

Kang Ju-ho continued swinging his hammer.

Thanks to Kim Seok-ju’s increased proficiency, the Attribute Shackles’ duration had extended from 13 to 20 seconds.

Kang Ju-ho planned to take down at least two goblins, including the one he was attacking, within those 20 seconds.

[Critical Hit!]

[Critical Hit!]

Luck was on his side—two consecutive critical hits. Kang Ju-ho felled the goblin in just four strikes.

Moving to the next goblin, he thought, I might even get three.

The goblins were clustered closely together, taking only about a second to move between them.

If things went well, he could take down three.

His prediction was spot-on.

As the third goblin fell, the water shackles dissipated, and the two remaining goblins, now free, charged at Kang Ju-ho.

Having faced three goblins at once before, Kang Ju-ho handled the two with ease and soon ended the battle.

[Level Up!]

As the final goblin fell, a level-up message appeared. Kang Ju-ho checked the time.

‘3:50…’

Only 10 minutes remained until the promised logout time of 4:00.

“Shall we call it a day?”

Kang Ju-ho asked Kim Seok-ju.

“Yeah, let’s head to bed!” Kim Seok-ju checked the time and nodded enthusiastically.

“You’re logging out outside the forest, right?”

“Yeah, the chance is low, but we might run into a boss monster.”

Logging out in a safe area was standard practice.

Even if it took extra time, they had to exit the forest to log out.

Sure, they were handling stone goblins with ease, thanks to weapon and attribute advantages and buffs. But a boss monster was a different story.

If they logged out in the forest to save time and encountered the Great Stone Goblin King upon logging back in, they’d likely die quickly.

Death penalties included item drops, stat reductions, and a 12-hour login restriction.

Item drops only applied to players with high crime rates, so that wasn’t a concern.

Stat reductions could be recovered with time.

But a 12-hour login ban was dangerous, especially in the early stages when momentum was critical.

Kang Ju-ho and Kim Seok-ju began walking out of the forest.

As they walked, Kang Ju-ho opened his character window.

Character Name: Kang Ju-ho

Nation: Paraville Kingdom

Class: Blacksmith

Level: 29

Experience: 1%

Health: 4250

Mana: 200

Hunger: 62%

Strength: 70

Agility: 11

Stamina: 85

Wisdom: 10

Bonus Stats: 5

‘Better put these in stamina again.’

Considering the next hunting ground, it was time to focus entirely on stamina.

Attack power could be supplemented with good weapons and Kim Seok-ju’s buffs.

Kang Ju-ho allocated all bonus stats to stamina and closed the character window.

“See you at 10!”

“Alright, take care!”

Having reached the forest’s edge, Kang Ju-ho and Kim Seok-ju exchanged farewells and logged out.

As soon as Kang Ju-ho emerged from the capsule, he headed straight to his computer.

Though tired, there was something he needed to check: Earth’s official website.

Less than a day after the game’s launch, countless posts had likely been uploaded, some containing valuable information.

Kang Ju-ho accessed the site and navigated to the “Popular Posts” board.

He was stunned.

“20 pages? For popular posts…?”

There were far too many.

To appear on the popular posts board, a post needed either 500,000 views, 5,000 likes, or an admin’s selection.

“Did they go overboard?”

With 20 posts per page, 20 pages seemed excessive for the first day, making him wonder if the admins had been overly generous with their selections.

But upon checking the views and likes, Kang Ju-ho realized it wasn’t the admins’ doing.

Most posts had over a million views and 10,000 likes, and their titles indicated they were informational posts about Earth, mostly user-generated.

“If the popular posts are like this…”

He trailed off, imagining the sheer volume of posts on the general and national boards.

He couldn’t muster the energy to check.

Kang Ju-ho quickly skimmed the titles of the popular posts: hunting routes, efficient hunting methods, special quests, class evaluations, and more. After reviewing them all, he muttered with a hint of surprise,

“So, no special classes, huh?”

He’d expected at least one post about special classes, but there wasn’t a single one.

“Reading everything is too inefficient…”

He’d mostly just skimmed titles, only reading a few useful posts in detail, yet 30 minutes had already passed.

“No choice but to wait a week…”

With a reluctant tone, Kang Ju-ho thought of Legion, a premium information site.

Legion offered high-quality information for the top 20 games by market share and could provide data for lower-ranked games upon request.

Naturally, they had created an Earth board, though no information had been posted yet.

Legion dealt only in premium information, and even with their impressive data-gathering capabilities, they couldn’t produce high-quality insights for a game just one day old.

Posts would start appearing after a week of data collection.

Kang Ju-ho decided to endure the inefficiency of checking popular posts for the next week and closed the website.

He then checked the guild chat to see how his guildmates were doing. Fortunately, there were no notable issues.

Satisfied with the smooth progress, Kang Ju-ho smiled, closed the chat, and headed to bed.

The agreed meet-up time was 10:00. He needed to sleep as soon as possible.

***

-Long time no see. Five big ones. And I’ll tear up the contract. Details over the phone. Text me when you’re free to talk.

“Heh, as expected,” Kim Jun chuckled as he read the message.

He’d worked for Jang Seok-ho on several jobs before and had anticipated contact regarding Earth.

“Seems more urgent than I thought.”

The timing was unexpected.

He’d assumed it would take a few days, but the situation seemed pressing.

“But causing a ruckus won’t be enough…”

Having already started playing Earth, Kim Jun felt the game was too robust to collapse unless something catastrophic happened.

“Whatever. As long as I get the money and the contract voided.”

He had no intention of refusing. Five million and a canceled contract were on the line.

“Gotta warm things up first, right?”

Kim Jun set his phone down, with no immediate plans to respond.

The game had only been out for a day.

He hadn’t grown his character or built influence yet—far from ready to disrupt the game.

Agreeing to the job now would only lead to nagging.

Kim Jun planned to bide his time until he’d grown stronger and gained influence.

Standing up, he returned to the capsule and logged back into Earth.

Upon logging in, Kim Jun checked the minimap to locate his party members and started walking.

Soon, he reached them.

His party was engaged in a close battle with four orcs.

“I’m here!”

Kim Jun shouted with a wide grin.

“Where’s Ha-yeon?”

Only three party members were fighting: the tank Jang Jun-hyuk, the healer Choi Yoon-seul, and the archer Seo Jin-yong.

The mage, Jung Ha-yeon, was missing.

“Help first!”

Jang Jun-hyuk shouted.

Kim Jun jumped into the fray.

The balanced fight tipped decisively in their favor with his arrival.

Soon, all four orcs lay defeated.

“Ha-yeon went to the bathroom,” Jang Jun-hyuk explained after the battle.

“Oh, got it,” Kim Jun nodded.

“I was gonna wait for Ha-yeon to tell you,” he said, pausing his nod and grinning.

“I got the call.”

“Already?” Jang Jun-hyuk raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, seems urgent.”

“How much they offering?”

Choi Yoon-seul asked, eyes sparkling.

Kim Jun held up his right hand, fingers spread wide.