CRASH.
The flimsy, particle-board door shuddered, a long, vertical crack appearing near the cheap, tin-plated knob.
"M-Meat..." a wet, guttural voice snarled from the other side. "Meat! Give!"
Another heavy, thudding impact. The door's hinges screamed.
Kang Seo-jun stood in the center of his tiny, 2-pyeong room. He did not move. He did not breathe. He simply watched, his new [Monarch's Eyes] active. His vision was a cascade of information, text scrolling over the objects in his room. [Cheap Desk (F-Rank Durability)], [Old Mattress (F-Rank Comfort)].
And on the other side of the door...
[Starving Goblin (F-Rank)] [Level: 1] [State: Famished, Berserk.] [...Analyzing...] [A low-level scavenger monster. Driven by a singular, overwhelming hunger. Weak to... everything. Lacks intelligence. Possesses rudimentary strength exceeding a non-Player human.] [Potential: None.]
In his past life, this was the sound that had sent him scrambling under his desk, weeping. The sound of his neighbor in the next room being eaten while he hid.
Today, Seo-jun felt only a cold, analytical calm.
His stats were all '1'. He was, by any metric, weaker than this Goblin. A direct confrontation was suicide.
CRASH!
The door flew open, torn from its hinges. It clattered to the floor, revealing the creature on the other side.
It was hideous. A meter tall, with sickly green-gray skin, long, stringy black hair, and oversized, milky-yellow eyes. It wore a tattered loincloth. In its hand, it gripped a rusty, broken pipe. Its teeth were a mess of black, sharpened points, and drool dripped from its oversized jaw as it stared at him.
"MEAT!" it shrieked, its voice a piercing, wet sound.
It lunged.
Seo-jun did not retreat. He advanced.
In the ten years of his first life, he had learned one, inescapable lesson: in a fight, hesitation is death. He was a Regressor. He had a decade of combat experience, even if it was the experience of a cornered, terrified rat.
The Goblin, in its 'Berserk' state, was clumsy. It led with its weapon, a wild, overhead swing with the rusty pipe.
Seo-jun, with his 'Agility: 1', couldn't dodge. He didn't try.
He stepped inside the arc of the swing, the pipe whistling over his head. The move was insanely dangerous, putting him chest-to-chest with the monster. The smell of rotten meat and filth washed over him.
The Goblin, surprised by its swing missing, snarled, dropping the pipe and clawing at him with its long, dirty fingernails.
Seo-jun was already moving.
He had no weapon. His Strength was '1'. He couldn't punch it to death.
But he had [Authority]. He had will.
He jammed his thumbs into the Goblin's huge, milky-yellow eyes.
It screamed. A sound so high-pitched it felt like a needle in his brain. It thrashed, its claws raking his arms, drawing blood.
[You have taken 3 damage.] [You have taken 2 damage.] [State: 'Bleeding' (Minor).]
Seo-jun ignored the pain. He ignored the system messages. He shoved. His thumbs buried themselves deep, a hideous, wet popping sound. The creature's head snapped back.
He didn't stop. He hooked his fingers into its jaw, his other hand grabbing its stringy hair, and pulled.
The Goblin was strong. It was a monster. But it was a Level 1 monster. And it was blind.
Seo-jun put his entire, pathetic weight into it, his feet skidding on the cheap linoleum floor. He twisted. There was a dry, cracking sound.
The Goblin's body went limp.
It collapsed at his feet, a twitching, unseeing heap.
[You have slain 'Starving Goblin' (Level 1).] [You have gained 5 EXP.]
Seo-jun stood in the wreckage of his doorway, panting. Blood—his blood, and the Goblin's black, viscous ichor—was dripping onto the floor. His arms were on fire, covered in shallow cuts.
He stared at the body.
He had done it. His first kill. In his past life, he hadn't killed his first monster for three weeks. And he'd had a party with him.
This time, it took three minutes. And he'd done it alone.
A new window popped up. A purple one.
[Target slain by 'Void Monarch'.] ['Devour' skill is available.] [Devour essence of 'Starving Goblin'? Y/N]
Seo-jun's heart hammered. This was it.
"Yes," he whispered.
He reached out his hand, holding it over the corpse.
He felt a pull.
It wasn't a physical thing. It was a cold, hollow sensation in his gut, like a vacuum. A wisp of faint, smoky-purple energy, invisible to anyone but him, rose from the Goblin's corpse. It looked like a thread of heat-haze.
It flowed into his palm, and a feeling of ice shot up his arm and into his chest.
It was the most satisfying, most addicting sensation he had ever felt. It was like drinking ice-cold water on a day of unbearable heat. It was relief.
[Essence of 'Starving Goblin' (F-Rank) has been devoured.] [Your 'Authority' has gained a minuscule amount of experience.] [Your 'Void' has gained a minuscule amount of essence.] [A new skill can be manifested from the 'Void'.] [Current Essence is sufficient for 1 (F-Rank) 'Void Manifestation'.]
Seo-jun's eyes widened. He could... create a skill?
He closed his eyes, focusing on that cold, hollow feeling inside him. He didn't just want to fight with his bare hands. He needed a tool. He needed... control.
He thought of the Goblin, and the force he'd used. He thought of... pushing.
[Manifestation confirmed.] [New Skill Acquired (Class Exclusive): 'Void's Hand' (Level 1)] [Cost: 1 'Void' Essence] [Description: Manifest a small, invisible hand of 'Void' energy. Can push or pull objects with the force of a strong wind. Current weight limit: 5 kg.] [Cooldown: 10 seconds.]
A telekinetic push.
A weak one, to be sure. But it was his. He hadn't learned it. He had made it.
He looked at the corpse. [Monarch's Eyes] showed him its status.
[Starving Goblin (Deceased)] [State: Desiccated, 'Essence' Drained.]
The corpse was... different. It looked mummified. Its skin was gray, cracked, and seemed to have aged a thousand years.
The [Devour] skill didn't just take its essence. It took everything.
A low snarl echoed from down the hallway.
Seo-jun's head snapped up.
He'd been so focused, he'd forgotten. This gosiwon had thirty rooms. Thirty cheap, tiny rooms, packed with terrified, panicking people.
And now, packed with the Goblins hunting them.
Seo-jun looked at the blood on his arms. He looked at his new skill. He looked down the dark, narrow hallway, where the sounds of a new massacre were just beginning.
In his past life, he had hidden. He had prayed for a hero.
The Regressor, Kang Seo-jun, smiled. A cold, thin, hungry smile.
He wasn't a hero. He was just... hungry.
And the hallway was a banquet.
He stepped over the threshold, leaving his old life, and his old, broken door, behind.