Stalking

I was in the 41st place, and I assumed it was based on how many monsters you killed. I thought I would rank higher because I killed the wolf.

But by looking at this, I guess it doesn't count. Therefore, my 41st place made sense, as I really didn't kill any monsters this time. Only when I had to step in to save the four idiots did I kill monsters.

So my ranking made sense. But who was Kim Hanja? It's a girl's name, so I assume it's the girl with the sports jacket, as she is the next strongest after me.

So Kim Hanja was her real name.

However, I was thinking of something different: if there was a ranking, there should also be rewards based on those rankings.

And as I thought, another announcement came.

[Congratulations for clearing the floor!]

[Your rewards]:

- Weapon Selection

Your rewards' was a little ironic, as there was only one reward here.

It was probably because of my low ranking that I was only allowed to get this reward.

As I clicked on weapon selection, another screen showed up.

[Pick a weapon]

- Sword

- Axe

- Dagger

- Spear

- Bow

- …

A bunch of weapons showed up, and I noticed that all the weapons there were weapons that we fought with on the field.

So the weapons we fought with were not permanent? But I guess they are making up for it by letting us choose a weapon here.

As I clicked on the sword, the transparent window disappeared, and another window appeared.

[The sword will appear when you leave the floor.]

Sigh.

"I guess this is all I get from killing the wolf," I said jokingly.

Obviously, I knew that it was because of the number of monsters that I killed on this floor. So the reward was very fitting. But what does it mean that it will appear after I leave the floor?

Do I have an inventory that it can spawn in?

"Inventory," I whispered as I thought about the inventory mechanic you had in videogames.

[You have not unlocked this feature yet.]

I guess we get the inventory later on. But what do I do now?

I have never gotten this far, and I didn't regress when I lost the optional boss challenge.

[You will be returned to earth]

As I saw the announcement, something else popped up.

[Perfect clear was not achieved.]

[Skill activation]

- Perfect Clear[X]

[Returning to the moment you first entered this floor] 

"Well, what did I expect". I laughed and my vision went dark.

As I stood up, I saw all the other people slowly waking up. That's how I knew that I had regressed again.

But there was another thing I could conclude now, which was that my skill would forcefully activate even after I cleared the floor.

It directly told me that 'perfect clear was not achieved'. So that means there is a way to perfectly clear this floor, which I obviously didn't achieve.

That didn't matter, as now I had to make another plan. I don't care about taking a break anymore; I felt very close to clearing the floor. But at the same time, it also felt very distant.

There were still so many things I didn't know. Why are there different goblins? Why do goblins in the north shoot with bows and arrows? Why were there traps and a mana potion in the south?

Some of these things are probably not even important for clearing the floor.

I had an idea that the optional boss has a very important part in perfectly clearing this floor.

I still hadn't explored the mountain, and I still didn't know what happened to the elite forest after the new elite goblins replaced the normal goblins.

I was thinking of all my problems and questions. My eyes suddenly drifted to Park Jihye.

I also don't know what happened to her after the first night. The best way to solve my problems is by tackling them one by one.

First, I was very curious about what happened to Park Jihye. Luckily, I just have to wait till night comes to see what she is going to do.

With that plan in mind, I waited.

*****

Night fell, and I saw Park Jihye stand up to leave the field.

As I saw her enter the west side of the forest, I knew that it was time to move.

I followed her from a long distance so she wouldn't notice me. She really didn't do anything except continue to walk forward. She avoided every monster without getting their attention.

Soon we were out of the forest, and I saw her walk toward the mountain.

'F*ck'

When we were in the forest, I could hide within my surroundings. But now that we were out of the forest, this was impossible to do.

Only straw houses and a long, grassy field would be on the way to the mountain.

These were impossible to hide in. So I had to make a different plan. I had to climb the trees, and when I saw her enter the forest by the mountain, I would quickly sprint there.

'Yes, that could work'.

Before I touched the tree, I remembered when I got poisoned on the south side of the forest.

Luckily, it was only the trees on the south side, close to the wooden house, that were poisoned. All the other trees were not poisoned.

As I climbed up to the tree, I could finally see far enough. The forest was visible, and I saw Park Jihye slowly walk toward it.

Here I waited until she was right at the edge, and I climbed down to quickly sprint towards the forest.

After 5–10 minutes, I was finally at the entrance, and I quickly entered the elite forest.

After running inside the forest, I quickly found her. And I saw she was still going towards the mountain.

I hid in my surroundings as I slowly followed her.

'Why is she so determined to go towards the mountain?'

I couldn't understand, but as we reached the foot of the mountain, I saw her climb up the mountain.

There were a lot of trees on the mountain, so it was easy to hide.

In all my regressions, I did try to climb the mountain, but there were no monsters, so I saw no point in continuing to climb it.

But seeing that she was going to climb it, it was also advantageous for me. I could find out what was on top of the mountain that I hadn't explored before.

We climbed higher and higher. I don't know how much time has passed, but it must have been a long time.

If I hadn't had to follow her, I would have reached the top a long time ago. But she was still climbing, and slowly I noticed that she was getting tired.

For a normal person to walk a long distance and at the same time climb a big mountain It was a very hard task; therefore, it made sense to be exhausted.

But why was she so determined to get to the top?

I continued to follow her in secret, my presence as hidden as the wind.

The higher we climbed, the more the air grew thinner and colder.

We were about to reach the summit, and as I looked behind me.

On the horizon, I could visibly see the first hints of sunrise as it painted the sky with strokes of pink and orange.

'Wow, that is beautiful'. I should have climbed this mountain earlier.

At the same time, I saw the field, which looked like a small circle from this distance.

I looked at her again, and this time every step she took was confident. She soon reached the peak that was getting brighter every second.

And as she stood there, her hair fluttering in the wind and her whole body bathing in the golden glow, she stood there for around a minute and suddenly

She vanished.