[TIME REMAINING: 31:45]
[CURRENT KILLS: 38/50]
My arms had gone numb somewhere around the thirty-second kill.
The courtyard had transformed into an abattoir. Goblin corpses littered the ground in grotesque poses, their green blood mixing with the red of fallen humans to create a sickly brown sludge that covered everything. The dimensional rifts pulsed with sickly light, still spawning monsters at irregular intervals.
Twelve more. Just twelve more kills.
[GOBLIN WARRIOR - LEVEL 5]
This one was bigger than the scouts, wearing better armor and wielding a proper iron sword instead of the rusted scrap metal the others carried. It spotted me immediately and charged with a guttural war cry.
I was too tired to dodge properly. Instead, I angled my body so its sword caught my shoulder instead of my throat. The blade bit deep, sending fresh pain screaming through my nervous system.
[HP: 89/180]
But pain was just information. Ten years of surviving scenarios had taught me to function through worse.
While the goblin struggled to pull its sword from my shoulder, I drove my knife up under its chin. The blade punched through soft tissue and into its brain. The monster went limp.
[YOU HAVE SLAIN: GOBLIN WARRIOR]
[+45 EXP]
[KILLS: 39/50]
"You're going to get yourself killed!"
Han Yuri had been following me for the past ten minutes, alternating between helping with kills and yelling at me for my "suicidal" tactics. She'd managed five kills herself—respectable for someone experiencing their first scenario.
In the original timeline, she'd gotten seven.
"Probably," I agreed, yanking my knife free. Blood fountained from the goblin's neck. "But not yet."
"That's not reassuring!" She brained a goblin scout with her fire extinguisher. The metal cylinder had long since emptied its foam, but it made for a decent club. "What's even the point of killing so many? The quest only requires one!"
I didn't answer. Couldn't explain without revealing things that would make me sound insane.
Because in thirty minutes, everyone who survived will receive their class assignment based on their performance. Warriors, Mages, Assassins, Summoners—the System categorizes people by how they fight. Most will get common classes with limited growth potential. But kill enough, perform well enough, and you can influence what you become. Because the only way to guarantee a Summoner class with growth potential is to know the hidden achievement exists. Because I need to be strong enough to save people who don't know they need saving yet.
Another rift tore open, and three goblins spilled out simultaneously.
[TIME REMAINING: 28:33]
Eleven more kills. Twenty-eight minutes.
The math was tight, but doable.
I activated a skill I'd earned at Level 5—[Sprint]. My body shot forward with supernatural speed, the System enhancing my muscles beyond normal human limits. The first goblin barely had time to raise its weapon before my knife found its throat.
[+30 EXP]
[KILLS: 40/50]
The second goblin swung wild. I ducked under its blade and hamstrung it with a quick slash. As it fell, Yuri's fire extinguisher caved in its skull.
[KILL CREDITED TO: HAN YURI]
The third goblin was smarter. It kept its distance, circling, yellow eyes calculating. In the original timeline, this would've been where my inexperience got me killed. Monsters weren't mindless—they learned, adapted, hunted.
But I'd fought goblins for ten years. I knew every trick, every feint, every desperate gambit they'd try.
I threw my knife.
The goblin dodged—exactly as I'd predicted. The blade whistled past its head, and in that moment of distraction, I closed the distance. My fist, enhanced by seven levels worth of stat points, caught it square in the temple.
Bones crunched. The goblin dropped.
[YOU HAVE SLAIN: GOBLIN SCOUT]
[+30 EXP]
[KILLS: 41/50]
"How are you doing this?" Yuri stared at me, her expression caught between awe and horror. "You fight like—like you've done this before. Like you've been fighting monsters your whole life."
I have. Just not in the life you know.
"Video games," I lied, retrieving my knife. "Lots of video games."
"Bullshit."
I shrugged. Let her think what she wanted. The truth would sound worse.
[TIME REMAINING: 24:17]
The dimensional rifts were spawning fewer monsters now. The Tutorial's spawn rate followed a curve—heavy at the start, tapering off toward the end. If I didn't reach fifty kills soon, I might not get another chance.
I pushed deeper into the courtyard, toward the area where the largest rift still pulsed. Yuri followed, though she kept muttering about crazy people and death wishes.
That's when I saw them.
A group of five people, cornered against the apartment building's wall by a pack of eight goblins. They'd formed a defensive circle, wielding improvised weapons—golf clubs, kitchen knives, a wooden chair leg. They were holding, barely, but I could see exhaustion in every movement.
In thirty seconds, maybe less, one of them would make a mistake. The goblins would break through. At least three of the five would die.
I knew this because I'd watched it happen before, from my apartment window, too terrified to intervene.
One of the cornered people was a middle-aged man in a business suit, his tie loosened and jacket torn. He held a golf club with white-knuckled desperation.
Park Ji-hoon. Scenario 34. He'd died shielding a child from a Wyvern's fire breath.
I was running before I consciously decided to move.
"Where are you—oh, come ON!" Yuri's protest faded behind me as I crashed into the goblin pack from behind.
[Sprint] still had five seconds of duration. I used every one of them.
Knife into the first goblin's spine. Yank it free. Slash across the second one's hamstrings. Duck the third one's sword. Grab its arm, use its momentum to throw it into its companion. Stomp on a fallen goblin's throat.
The pack scattered, confused by the sudden attack from behind.
"Now!" I shouted to the cornered group. "Push forward!"
Park Ji-hoon, to his credit, didn't hesitate. He swung his golf club in a wide arc that caught a distracted goblin in the ribs. The others followed his lead, and suddenly the goblins were the ones being surrounded.
It became a slaughter.
[YOU HAVE SLAIN: GOBLIN SCOUT]
[+30 EXP]
[KILLS: 42/50]
[YOU HAVE SLAIN: GOBLIN SCOUT]
[+30 EXP]
[KILLS: 43/50]
The survivors fought with desperate strength, and I let them take most of the kills. They needed the experience, the levels, the confidence. I'd have other opportunities.
When the last goblin fell, Park Ji-hoon turned to me, breathing hard.
"Thank you. We were—" He swallowed. "Thank you."
I nodded, already looking for the next fight. Seven more kills. Time was running out.
"Wait." A young woman from the group grabbed my arm. She couldn't have been more than nineteen, with blood splattered across her university hoodie. "You're him. The one who killed the big one."
She pointed at the Hobgoblin's corpse, still visible near the fountain.
"That thing killed my brother." Her voice was flat, empty. "He was visiting from Busan. First time in Seoul. First time...."
I didn't know what to say. Didn't have the luxury of time for grief or comfort. But something in her expression—the hollow shock, the disbelief that the world could change so completely in minutes—reminded me of myself, ten years ago.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "But if you want to survive, you need to keep moving. Find a weapon. Get to safety. The Tutorial lasts one hour, then there's a twelve-hour grace period before Scenario #2. Use that time to prepare."
"How do you know that?" Park Ji-hoon asked sharply.
Damn. I'd said too much.
"Lucky guess," I deflected. "Look, I have to—"
[EMERGENCY SPAWN DETECTED]
The notification made my blood run cold.
A new rift tore open—larger than the others, angry red instead of sickly purple. The air around it crackled with energy that made my teeth ache.
[OGRE MARAUDER - LEVEL 12]
[WARNING: ELITE BOSS-TYPE MONSTER]
[SCENARIO DEVIATION: UNPLANNED SPAWN]
"Shit." The word escaped before I could stop it.
This wasn't supposed to happen. In the original Tutorial, only Hobgoblins spawned as boss monsters. Ogres didn't appear until Scenario #6.
Was this because of my regression? Had my actions changed the scenario parameters?
The Ogre stepped through the rift, and it was worse than I remembered. Twelve feet tall, muscles like corded steel, wearing crude plate armor that looked like it had been hammered together from car hoods. It carried a club the size of a telephone pole.
Its beady eyes swept the courtyard and fixed on the largest concentration of people—the group I'd just saved.
It smiled, showing tusks the length of my forearm.
Then it charged.
"RUN!" I screamed.
The survivors scattered. Park Ji-hoon pulled the young woman with him. The Ogre's club came down where they'd been standing, cratering the concrete.
I had seconds to make a decision.
Fight or flight. Face a Level 12 elite boss with my Level 7 stats, or let it rampage through the courtyard, killing everyone who couldn't escape fast enough.
*In the original timeline, I would've hidden. I would've survived while others died.*
*But I didn't come back to repeat my mistakes.*
"YURI!" I shouted. "Get them to safety! Now!"
"What about you?!"
"Just GO!"
I activated [Sprint] again—the cooldown had just finished. My body shot forward, and I slammed my knife into the Ogre's calf with all my momentum.
The blade bounced off its skin with a metallic clang.
"Oh, fuck."
The Ogre turned, faster than something that size had any right to move. Its club swept horizontal, and I barely dropped flat in time to avoid being pulverized.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: EVASION]
A new skill, earned at Level 7. For three seconds, my dodge rate increased by 40%.
Three seconds to not die.
The club came down again. I rolled left. Again. Rolled right. The Ogre roared in frustration and stomped, trying to crush me underfoot.
I scrambled back, my mind racing. This thing was too heavily armored. Too high level. My knife wouldn't pierce its hide, and I couldn't reach any vital points.
But I'd fought Ogres before. Killed dozens of them in later scenarios. I knew their weakness.
The eyes.
I sprinted toward its leg, not away. The Ogre tried to kick me, but I'd expected that—they always tried to kick. I jumped, caught hold of its armor plating, and climbed.
The Ogre thrashed, trying to grab me, but its arms were too bulky to reach its own back. I scrambled higher, fingers finding gaps in the crude armor, pulling myself up toward its shoulders.
It spun in circles, roaring. My grip slipped. I barely caught myself, legs dangling over a twelve-foot drop onto concrete.
Come on, Woo-seok. You've done harder climbs. Remember Scenario 234? That was a fifty-foot climbing section while being shot at.
I hauled myself up, muscles screaming. The Ogre slammed itself against the apartment building, trying to crush me. I felt ribs crack again.
[HP: 54/180]
Almost there.
I reached its shoulder, pulled myself around to face it—
The Ogre's eyes widened in surprise.
"Surprise," I gasped.
And drove my knife into its right eye.
The Ogre's scream could've shattered glass. It reared back, hands flying to its face. I pulled the knife free and stabbed the left eye before it could grab me.
Blinded, the Ogre went berserk. It swung its club wildly, not caring what it hit. I dropped from its shoulder, hitting the ground hard enough to drive the air from my lungs.
[HP: 31/180]
The Ogre stumbled toward the building, toward the sound of screaming survivors. Even blind, it could kill.
I forced myself up. Grabbed a fallen goblin's sword—longer reach than my knife. Ran after the Ogre and slashed at its ankles, hamstrings, any exposed flesh I could find.
Death by a thousand cuts.
The Ogre fell to its knees.
I climbed its back again, raised the sword high, and drove it down into the base of its skull—the gap between helmet and armor.
The blade sank deep.
The Ogre shuddered once.
Twice.
Then collapsed forward like a felled tree.
[YOU HAVE SLAIN: OGRE MARAUDER]
[+2000 EXP]
[BONUS: SOLO ELITE BOSS KILL]
[+3000 EXP]
[LEVEL UP!]
[YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 10]
[LEVEL UP!]
[YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 11]
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: GIANT SLAYER]
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: SOLO ELITE VICTORY]
The notifications flashed, but I barely registered them. I slid off the Ogre's back and collapsed onto the blood-soaked ground, every muscle screaming.
Yuri ran over, Park Ji-hoon and the others behind her. They stared at the Ogre's corpse, then at me, like I'd sprouted wings.
"What..." Park Ji-hoon's voice was hoarse. "What are you?"
I laughed, the sound half-hysterical. "Just a summoner who's very tired."
[TIME REMAINING: 18:24]
Wait.
I checked my kill count.
[KILLS: 44/50]
The Ogre had only counted as one kill despite being worth massive experience. I still needed six more.
And the rifts had stopped spawning.
No. No, no, no. I'd come so close—
[HIDDEN QUEST DETECTED]
[DEFEAT AN ELITE BOSS SOLO DURING TUTORIAL]
[QUEST COMPLETE]
[REWARD: +6 KILL COUNT]
[CONGRATULATIONS!]
[TOTAL KILLS: 50/50]
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: TUTORIAL DOMINATION]
[SPECIAL REWARD EARNED: CUSTOMIZABLE SUMMONING CONTRACT]
The blue window appeared, beautiful and perfect, and I could've kissed it.
I'd done it.
Against impossible odds, with a weaker body and cracked ribs and exhaustion dragging at every limb—I'd actually done it.
"Woo-seok?" Yuri crouched beside me. "Hey. You okay? Please don't die. I hate it when people die."
"Not... dying," I managed. "Just... really need a nap."
[TIME REMAINING: 17:52]
Seventeen minutes until the Tutorial ended. Seventeen minutes until I could use the contract.
Seventeen minutes until I could see Ash again.
My eyes burned with tears I didn't have the energy to shed. After ten years—ten years of regret, of wishing I could go back, of remembering his loyalty and sacrifice—I was finally going to see him again.
This time, I'd raise him right.
This time, we'd both survive.
"Hang on, partner," I whispered to the empty air, to a companion who didn't exist yet. "I'm coming."
The countdown continued, and Jin Woo-seok, the Last Summoner, waited for the moment he could bring back his first and most loyal friend.