"You`ve got your answer, then." He leans back in his chair. To that, I can give no response. I feel mute. It`s like he isn`t even speaking real words. "I said it to Bach, and I`ll say it again, but whatever happened before the tutorial& it isn`t important, you know? It`s alright."

　　Something bubbles up within me and without acting on any rational thought, without speaking with any logical guidance, I slam my hands on the table so hard he jumps, head flashing towards me, and I roar, "It`s not alright! I killed you! You should hate me for it! Come on, strike me down, I`ll let you get the first hit! You`re level 40-something, right? One hit should be all you need, and then you won`t need to think about me ever again, simple as that!"

　　Panting, I stare down at him, but my mind is still whirling.

　　&Why did I say that? I—I don`t want to die. I don`t care about killing him, he totally deserved that, so why&?

　　He chuckles and I twitch at the sound. "Wh-, what`s so funny?" I think my voice is trembling. I must sound so pathetic.

　　He looks at me, and he smiles. A real one. "You really regret it, don`t you?"

　　&What? What the hell is he-,

　　Standing up, he takes three measures steps towards me, and I stagger backwards in response, almost expecting him to really hit me or something, I did tell him I`d let him do it, and it`s not like I`m a coward or anything, so when he brings up his hand, I stand steadfast, willfully awaiting the darkness with just the slightest tremble.

　　But his hand goes no further. He`s just holding it out. I stare down at it.

　　He waggles it a little. I look up at him. There`s a weird sense of mirth in his eyes that wasn`t there before. "You wouldn`t take it the last time we met. How about it, Ho-Jae? Good game?"

　　I stare at his hand like it`s radioactive. My mind releases a puff of steam.

　　I slap his hand away. "You—you can`t say good game if we haven`t, like, had a rematch or something!"

　　He blinks at me before erupting into a light grin. "What, you want to have a go? Here, now? What level are you even?"

　　My jaw clamps shut. Okay, maybe I didn`t think that one through. I could probably lie, but where`s the point in going into a fight you know you`re going to lose? Grumbling, I look down at the floor. My toes are a weird mixture of blueish skin and dried RED blood. I wiggle my toes a little. "I`m& level eighteen."

　　"See? You`re only at floor 4, so it makes sense that—" he freezes in place, face petrified in sudden realisation. "Hang on. Level eighteen?" Meekly, I nod at him. His pronounced brows furrow deeply and he pinches his chin, looking a lot like a detective figuring out how and why the dog killed the master of the house. In the end, he looks up to me, an immeasurably nerdy glint in his eye. "Describe the past four floors to me. What enemies appeared, what level were they, what were the boss stages like& everything."

　　"...Everything?" I echo.

　　He nods sharply. "Everything."

　　Well, that`s quite the story, but after a little while of piecing together my thoughts and what I remember of most of it, I tell him most of it. About what happened when I first entered the first floor, how I bested the beasts, my brief and/or eternal stay in the lobby and my creative solution to it, what little I can remember of the second floor apart from the colours and the party and the guests, and then finally my most recent adventure. And by the end of it, after an interesting shift through many kinds of emotions—recognition, surprise, understanding, dumbfoundedness, confoundation, second-hand pain and embarrassment, some measure of disgust—he finally ends up at pity. Honestly though, out of all the emotions, pity is the one that I want to see the least.

　　"You& The entire city& you just—?"

　　I nod at him. "It got kinda hectic at the end since I had to finish it before coming here, but I was able to do it in the end and still get a complete clear, though since the gods didn`t like my playstyle, they put me in debt and now I own nothing except a bunch of animal pelts." Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

　　"You don`t even have a weapon? Not even a sword?"

　　"Not a one."

　　He squints at me, his face contorting as if he ate something sour. "This is all& I`d assume you were lying if I didn`t know that this really was the case. I shouldn`t have to say this, but I can`t believe you`re still alive after all of that. I`d give you a weapon, but&" His eyes jump down to my REDdish hands before jumping back up to my face. "—I have a feeling you won`t need it. And even if you did, there`s a fair chance, assuming the Gods don`t like your actions on the next floor, that you`ll lose your points again, including everything in your inventory."

　　I stare at him. "They wouldn`t be that cruel though, right?"

　　For some reason, he`s giving me a look usually reserved for hypocrites and line-cutters. "I`m not going to give any comment on that except for the fact that the God of Cruelty took an interest in you."

　　"Hey, I did nothing to deserve that! I was being humane!"

　　A long pause. "You don`t think there`s a reason why the Gods didn`t appreciate your& creative methods?" I`m not sure how to answer that, so I say nothing. He scratches the back of his head and looks off to the side, his eyes finding a mural on the wall to inspect. "I`m not sure exactly how to tell you this, but some of us on the higher floors have started considering the fact that, um, goblins might be, well& sentient."

　　Sentient? I almost snort. "Well, of course they`re sentient. They speak and everything."

　　Moleman opens his mouth, but just as he`s about to say something that he seems to consider very self-evident, his eyebrows twitch and he looks at me with emotions I can`t recognise. "You& knew? And you still—?"

　　"It`s pretty obvious. But it`s not like it matters, right? When in war, different rules apply. And we are in a war, of sorts. Even if you`re fighting other humans, as long as you have your objective, and as long as that`s the only real choice you have, it doesn`t really matter whether they can talk or not, right?"

　　His mouth opens, closes, and stays closed for about half a minute before finally opening again. "I`m not going to argue you, but, in the future, if you`re facing goblins specifically, maybe just& tone down the—the& creativity."

　　What`s that even supposed to mean? If I hadn`t been creative on the last floor, as he puts it, I would`ve been dead. That`s just how it is. I did nothing wrong and, frankly, it`s very unkind of him to try to make me out as some sort of bad guy here when I really only did what was absolutely necessary.

　　But before I can voice my very rational objections, he continues. "I`m just saying that, as your& caretaker of sorts, it would be bad for the both of us if you broke any rules. Goblins aren`t currently recognised as anything more than enemies and all, but, in the near future, they may very well take on the same importance as us humans. Killing a goblin when it isn`t necessary might be as bad as killing a fellow challenger."

　　I roll my eyes at him. Pssh, sure, whatever. It`s not like he can actually prove whether or not I`ve killed any goblins, and since it isn`t a rule, he can`t try to enforce it, either.

　　"I can tell you`re thinking about still killing them. Please. Didn`t you tell me you had a goblin friend? What would Simel think, huh?"

　　I freeze up. A slight tremble takes my hand so I clench it to make it go away. "I won`t kill Simel, so it`s fine. He`s different."

　　He frowns at me. For some reason, it feels bad.

　　Grumbling, I look down at my feet. "...We`ll see." He smiles and I quickly add, "N-, no promises! If I need to defeat all the goblins to win, then that`s exactly what I`ll do."

　　"Just try to send me a message first and I`ll try to figure out if there`s any alternative, okay? I`ve got a lot of people waiting for me in the wings. I mean, you didn`t get a very good impression of Bach, but she`s good at pulling people together. With her, it wouldn`t be easy to figure out if it`s really necessary to, well, defeat all the goblins. It might not seem like it, but this place actually does reward creative solutions. You`ve seen it yourself, with the Gods."

　　I give him a look. Hm. "You didn`t react too much to them. The gods, I mean."

　　He shrugs. "Bach also has it. The God of Combat took interest in her a while back and even gave her an authority skill. It was a huge deal in the chat. But I guess you weren`t in a place to really keep an eye on it at the time, huh& Anyway, as long as you try not to anger them too much, I think you`ll be fine."

　　"I`m surprised you haven`t written a guide about getting noticed by the god-senpais yet."

　　He chuckles warmly. "If I could, I certainly would have. It`s a very interesting concept, but since I`ve yet to be noticed myself, I can`t say anything for certain. Though, all things considered, I doubt it`s a coincidence that both people I know who`ve experienced this are in the higher difficulties. Whatever the case, as time goes on, I`m sure we`ll learn more about these mysterious all-seeing entities."

　　Hrm. I hope not. Learning more about these voyeurs& sounds like a nightmare. I`m better off not knowing.

　　"Your next floor is the fourth, right? It`s pretty simple, but the floor after that&" Jerked out of my thoughts, I nod for him to continue. He smiles strangely. "Would you like any tips? It`s a pretty straightforward floor, but it might help to have a bit of an idea of what you`re getting into, right?"

　　Slowly, deliberately, I cross my arms. "So far, your guides haven`t been very applicable to my& situation."

　　"Haha, yeah, I`m not surprised. Though&" He frowns. "If there`s one thing I need you to know, then it`s this." He leans in closer to me. I can smell the scent on him. Grassy. Weird. Not sweaty at all. "Don`t fight the minotaur. You`ll die."

　　&Minotaur?

　　He continues. "I`ve seen a lot of challengers enter the fifth floor and not leave it. The first part is fine, but the minotaur& you aren`t meant to win that fight. I don`t think anyone I know has actually tried to fight it and even survived. It`s a death sentence. Just do as the stage requirements say and you`ll be fine. Just please don`t—"

　　Minotaur, huh& I wonder what its meat tastes like? A minotaur is a big beefy cow-man, right? Hmm. The pelt on it has to be insanely good quality. And the beef? I like beef. Beef is the best meat. Always tender, always good. Combine that with a humanoid build and I can`t imagine anything better. The thought is already making me drool&

　　"Hey, hey, hey, don`t do that! Don`t have those thoughts! You aren`t meant to defeat it, that`s like trying to destroy the boulder chasing you in an Aztec temple level! Just&" He makes a sound of actual, genuine frustration as he huffs. "Just be careful, alright?"

　　I look at him.

　　"—Alright. Sure." And, after a pause, "...I will."