Chapter 137.

With her father’s sudden appearance, Chae Nayun looked up at me listlessly .

“…Ah, hey, that’s my dad . ”

“Alright, see you later . ”

“N-No, you don’t have to leave . I, I’m not embarrassed to have you here… . ”

“I know . ”

Before we could have a proper talk, the door opened, and a light breeze blew in .

Our heads turned to the door .

Tap, tap .

A man in a full suit walked into the hospital room .

I got up from my chair and greeted Chae Nayun’s father, Chae Shinhyuk . Although I’d seen him several times in the news, this was the first time I was seeing him in person .

“…Hm?”

He looked similar to Chae Nayun but had a sharper impression .

As he was far taller than me, the way he was looking down at me came off as cold .

Chae Shinhyuk was a man whose appearance and aura couldn’t be called ordinary . In truth, however, Chae Shinhyuk wasn’t particularly outstanding as a Hero or a businessman . In fact, as someone of average talent, he spent most of his youth in the shadow of his father .

Despite this, he was able to become the Chae clan’s successor thanks to his righteous character and endless self-cultivation .

“Who’s this?”

Chae Shinhyuk asked .

“Ah, I’m Chae Nayun’s friend . My name is Kim Hajin . ”

“Kim Hajin… . ”

Chae Shinhyuk rubbed his beard and pondered .

“H-He’s just a friend . There’s nothing between us . ”

While Chae Nayun was scratching her cheek in embarrassment, Chae Shinhyuk spoke up .

“I’ve heard of your name . You’re quite well-known in Cube . Your weapon is a gun, I believe?”

“Ah, yes . ”

“I see . ”

Chae Shinhyuk tapped my shoulder .

I forced myself to smile and headed towards the door .

“I’ll let the two of you talk now…”

I wasn’t used to talking to such a bigshot . I spoke as politely as possible, and Chae Shinhyuk returned a big smile .

“Thank you . ”

“No problem . ”

“B-Bye . I’ll message you later . ”

I left the room without replying to Chae Nayun .

As soon as I closed the door behind me, my smartwatch rang .

“Hello?”

—Yes, customer . The items you ordered are ready to be delivered . I’ve called to ask for your address .

Two weeks ago, I ordered items from Essential Armory using the black card Yoo Yeonha gave me .

“Both of them?”

—No, the drones are still being prepared . They will be delivered next week .

I ordered two drones and 3000 12 . 7mm heavy machine gun bullets . Just the bullets came out to about 500 million won in total . They were both items I urgently needed for next week .

“Yes, the delivery address is… . ”

After giving my address, I accessed my laptop with my smartwatch .

There was a setting I needed to create .

I should have about 1532 SP .

With the 2600 SP I gained from killing Chae Jinyoon, 1532 was what remained after creating Dexterity . Right, just by destroying a distorted story, I gained 2600 SP .

Of course, I could have gained more SP by revealing myself as Chae Jinyoon’s murderer, but obviously, that wasn’t something I wanted .

[Current SP – 1572]

“…Hm?”

But when I checked my SP, I had about 40 SP more than what it was in the morning .

“Oh right . ”

I hit my knees .

It must have been because I was named as one of the cadets injured by the magic power explosion .

Without much thought, I walked through the hospital’s lobby and sat down on a bench nearby .

“Desert Eagle, heavy machine gun mode . ”

Tok, tok .

Tapping on my smartwatch’s holographic keyboard, I created a new setting .

===

[Desert Eagle – Heavy Machine Gun Mode]

—Using a small amount of Stigma’s magic power, fuse Aether and the Desert Eagle together to form a heavy machine gun .

[With many additional functionalities added onto the Desert Eagle, the amount of SP required increases . ]

[1500 SP will be used . ]

===

“…That’s a lot . ”

A heavy machine gun modeled after the M2 .

It was larger than an assault rifle and displayed a far greater destructive power . It was a weapon of war, in every sense of the word .

But since it could only be used situationally, it shouldn’t be worth 1500 SP…

“Hm . ”

After pondering for some time, I tried to increase the amount of Stigma’s magic power required for the mode change .

[—Uses 1 . 5 streaks of Stigma . ]

[1100 SP will be used . ]

The cost was reduced by a whole 400 SP .

“…This is good enough . ”

Next week, I had to conquer a Dungeon with Kim Suho . With the Book of Truth, I found out that its last stage was ‘defense’ . Both for this Dungeon and for future episodes, I had to get this heavy machine gun .

I hit ‘save’ .

**

On the other hand, Yoo Yeonha dragged her exhausted mind to her home in Seoul .

“Oh, my daughter Yeonha! How was your—”

“It was okay . I’m going to bed . ”

Leaving behind her father who was looking at her worriedly, Yoo Yeonha buried herself in her blanket .

The thoughts swirling around her head didn’t disappear .

In fact, they only became more chaotic as time went on .

Kim Hajin and Chae Jinyoon .

Chae Nayun and Kim Hajin .

Did Kim Hajin really kill Chae Jinyoon?

If so, why?

And did he kill Chae Jinyoon? Or did he have to kill Chae Jinyoon?

Tok, tok .

A sudden knock on the door interrupted her train of thought .

—Um, Yeonha? Are you hurt?

Her father asked from the other side of the door .

“…I’m fine . ”

—Really? I cut some fruits for you…

“It’s okay . I’m full . ”

—… .

The presence behind the door disappeared .

Soon, when Yoo Yeonha was trying to refocus her thoughts, an uninvited voice rang out .

—Yeonha~ do you want me to make you some ramen~?

“Ah, geez, just leave me alone—!”

—Huk, huuuk… .

Yoo Yeonha shouted at the door and dug into her bed .

She could feel Yoo Jinwoong’s disappointment, but as far as she was concerned, it was partly his fault that she was worrying about all this . He had to be punished too .

“… . ”

After Yoo Jinwoong disappeared completely, Yoo Yeonha recalled everything she saw today .

If Kim Hajin really killed Chae Jinyoon, what would the reason be?

Could it be that he figured out the truth of the Kwang-Oh Incident on his own?

No, that was impossible .

Not even her information guild was able to gather any information on the Kwang-Oh Incident . She was only able to find out the truth because of her father’s diary .

Kim Hajin surely couldn’t have found out the truth on his own…

“Wait, the Truth Agency…?”

Yoo Yeonha shook her head .

There were truths that information guilds could discover and truths that information guilds couldn’t discover . The Kwang-Oh Incident most certainly belonged to the latter .

Plus, it just didn’t add up .

If Kim Hajin really knew the truth, there was no way he would treat her so kindly .

From this conceited doubt came a suspicion .

What if he forgave her? What if her efforts(?) appeased his anger?

“…No . ”

That still didn’t make sense .

If he forgave her, Chae Nayun, then Chae Jinyoon should have also been forgiven .

“What if there was another reason…?”

If Kim Hajin really murdered Chae Jinyoon and had a motive for it… the only person who might know about it was…

“Yoo Jinhyuk . ”

He was also the one who first found out about Kim Hajin’s tattoo . In that case, there was a chance he knew more about it . Yoo Yeonha quickly made a call .

[You are unable to call the receiver because your number has been blocked . ]

“…Hah?”

Yoo Yeonha was dumbstruck . With her face red, she murmured in a daze .

“You blocked me?”

I’ll tell Dad!

As she was gritting her teeth in anger, she had a sudden thought .

“Blocked…”

The fact that Yoo Jinhyuk blocked her gave her a sense of assurance .

‘Why would he block me? He doesn’t even know that I saw Kim Hajin’s tattoo…’

As far as she was concerned, Yoo Jinhyuk had to have blocked her because he was trying to hide something from her . ”

“… . ”

Yoo Yeonha thought hard under her blanket .

But soon, the door suddenly shot open .

“Yoo Yeonha, get up . ”

A cold voice rang out .

Feeling a chill run down her back, Yoo Yeonha peeked her head out of her blanket .

Her mother, Jin Yeojung, was glaring at her sharply .

“M-Mom?”

“What did you do? Your father is drinking soju calling out your name . ”

“Eh? No, I didn’t do any—”

“Yeah, right . Come out and apologize . ”

“Ah, but I’m in the middle of something impor—”

“Hurry up!”

“…Ah, wait, aah . ”

Jin Yeojung dragged Yoo Yeonha out of the room .

**

Weekend .

I arrived at a nameless Dungeon with Kim Suho . It was a stage-type Dungeon hidden in a swamp, filled with giant alligators .

Because I didn’t know much about this Dungeon, I was worried at first . But now that I had Kim Suho with me and mapped out most of the Dungeon with the Book of Truth, I was fully confident in coming out of this Dungeon unscathed .

Kim Suho and I were a cheat-like combination .

I guess you could say we filled each other’s weaknesses .

Each stage of the Dungeon had dozens of mob monsters and one boss-level monster . I could easily take care of the small fries, letting Kim Suho conserve his stamina for the boss .

With Kim Suho’s Sword Saint magic power, all boss monsters were cut in half like tofu .

“This looks like the final stage . ”

Advancing smoothly, we arrived at the final stage, which had a slightly different atmosphere than the previous stages . In front of our eyes was an open field that was silent and full of war clouds .

Kim Suho pulled out Misteltein . Then, a message popped up in front of our eyes .

[Final Stage – survive for 30 minutes against an army of high-intermediate grade-8 monsters . ]

“…High-intermediate rank?”

“Whoo!”

Kim Suho frowned, but I cheered . Just like the Book of Truth said, the final stage was a defense stage, which was advantageous for me .

“Surviving for 30 minutes . Does that include…”

“Them?”

Kim Suho and I turned around . Behind us were three high school girls trembling in fear . I asked Kim Suho .

“Do you think they’re NPCs or real people?”

“…I’m not sure . ”

“Geez, we’re not NPCs!”

They seemed to have overheard us as one of them shouted courageously .

“We’re cadets from the Agent Military Academy!”

“…Okay, okay . ”

NPCs existed in some Dungeons and Towers, which were products of the Otherworld . Naturally, NPCs were generally people of that world, not high school girls from Earth .

“I’ll set up a bunker just in case . ”

“A bunker?”

I consumed one streak of Stigma and crafted it into the shape of a bunker .

I learned highly precise ways of using Stigma after I obtained Dexterity . Although Stigma’s magic power manifested according to my will, dexterity was needed for me to materialize what I pictured in my head .

“Wow, what’s this!?”

The bunker I created resembled the bunker from the famous game, Starcraft .

“Stay inside . ”

“Yes!”

“Thank you!”

The high school girls quickly scurried inside .

“Wow, that’s amazing . How long can it last?”

“It’s not that strong . I only used one… er, a little bit of magic power . But it should be enough to protect them from being caught in crossfire . ”

With the bunker protecting the girls, Kim Suho looked more relaxed .

“Alright, get ready . It looks like they’re coming . ”

Clack, clack .

From the silent field, a countless number of monsters began to appear . Ghouls, zombies, banshees, flesh golems… they were all undead monsters .

“30 minutes . ”

I took out the Desert Eagle and set an alarm on my smartwatch .

“…Kim Suho, have you played a game like this?”

“Hm?”

“In tower defense games, waves of monsters get stronger as time goes on . ”

I transformed the Desert Eagle into assault rifle mode .

“I’ll deal with the front, so you deal with the monsters in the back . You can dodge my bullets, right?”

“As long as you aren’t shooting too wildly . ”

“Don’t worry . ”

I fixed the assault rifle on the ground and infused more of Stigma’s magic power into it .

The assault rifle then grew in size and transformed into a heavy machine gun on a tripod .

“Oh? Isn’t that new?”

“It’s a bit stronger than an assault rifle . Should I shoot first? Or do you want to lead?”

“You can go ahead . I’ll dodge your bullets on my own . ”

“Alright, run!”

Paat!

Kim Suho shot forward faster than my bullets .

“…Scan . ”

I murmured softly and held the heavy machine gun .

This weapon of mass destruction hindered the movement of its user and prevented precise aiming . However…

Tududududu—!

Its destructive power was more than enough to cover its flaws .

The barrel of the gun flashed white . Bullets shot forward like cannon shells, each striking three to four monsters .

Koooong—!

One magazine carried 300 bullets, and the gun had a firing rate of 1300 bullets per minute .

In other words, it was entirely possible to use up all the bullets I brought in just 3 minutes .

However, I purposely maintained a slow speed . One reason was to avoid hitting Kim Suho, and the other was to hit several enemies with each bullet .

Clang, clang, clang—

Bullet casings rained down on the ground .

Chwiing—!

Then suddenly, a claw shot towards me . The magic power reinforcement seal on my obsidian bracelet easily blocked such weak attacks .

“Kueeek—!’

Next, I caught sight of a quick ghoul running towards me . Because of its unexpectedly quick speed, I activated Bullet Time .

The world slowed down and my consciousness sped up .

Hunter Ghoul . It was an intermediate-rank monster that was quicker than many monsters at its level .

It seemed to have figured out that my attacks were mostly low flying, as it even jumped up cleverly .

However, no matter how smart and quick it was, a mob monster was a mob monster .

In an instant, I twisted the machine gun’s handle at a sharp angle and fired . Two curving bullets shot forward and pierced the Hunter Ghoul’s head .

“Keuk!”

With its head blown up, it fell to the ground .

But as I was focused on the Hunter Ghoul, the progress of battle became messier .

Thankfully, Kim Suho was holding back the stronger monsters in the back .

With Bullet Time still active, I twisted the machine gun’s aim once again .

Fanning the machine gun in a cone, I fired in all directions .

Dudududu—

The enemy lines were in shambles due to my calculated barrage of bullets .

A bullet pierced through a ghoul’s chest and blew up a zombie’s head . Bits and pieces of flesh and brain fluid splattered . The zombie and ghoul fell on their knees without moving more than a single step .

It couldn’t be good for the mental health, even for undead monsters .

**

I used up around a thousand bullets . As planned, I took care of the small fries, and Kim Suho joined the fray and cut down the elites . Then, after 30 minutes of battle, the final stage came to an end .

We approached the bunker behind us .

“Hey, you guys there…?”

However, the high school girls who should have been inside were gone .

Kim Suho murmured with a sigh .

“…They were NPCs . ”

“Yeah . ”

Modern people who appeared in Dungeons as NPCs . Fully knowing what that meant, we couldn’t express our joy of beating the Dungeon .

“…Hajin, look over there . ”

On the ground where Kim Suho pointed were three beads huddled together like the high school girls .

“Ah . ”

Those who died in Dungeons sometimes became NPCs . These beads were all that remained of them .

===

[Low-intermediate rank Pink-colored Soul Bead]

—Created by condensed soul of a life killed inside the Dungeon .

===

Soul Beads were used as materials for magic seals and magic enchantments . Even low-intermediate rank beads would easily sell for hundreds of millions in Violet Banquet .

I looked at Kim Suho . He was looking at me too .

Neither of us seemed too keen on using these beads .

“…What should we do?”

Kim Suho asked .

“We’ll have to give them back . To their family members . ”

That was the best solution .

“Right . ”

Although we easily came to a decision, we couldn’t be happy . We knew fully well what these beads meant to parents who lost their children .

“Let’s open up that chest first . ”

I walked towards the chest sitting in the middle of the open field . Kim Suho soon followed after me .

“Oh, there’s more than one this time!”

There were three items inside .

A bow, a wrist protector, and a leather belt .

They were all sand-colored, as though they formed a set together .

“Ah, this is it . ”

“Hm? You know about them?”

“…No, it’s nothing . ”

[Blessed Bow of Horus]

[Egyptian Archer’s Wrist Protector]

[Leather Belt for the Strong]

The bow and wrist protector were supposed to become the main equipment of Valerion, an executive of the Djinn group ‘Sin’ .

I glanced at Kim Suho who was staring at the contents of the chest . I asked in a cheerful voice .

“How should we split these~?”

“Hm?”

Kim Suho looked at me and smiled .

“I’ll leave it to you . You’re the one who found this place, and it was thanks to you that we beat the final stage . ”

“Okay . ”

To be honest, Kim Suho didn’t need the bow or the wrist protector . After all, he was a close-range combatant . The only item that suited him was the leather belt, but there was just one problem…

“…You take this leather belt . ”

“You’re taking the other two?”

Although I knew Kim Suho didn’t mean anything by it, I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty .

This leather belt was an artifact for training .

===

[Leather Belt for the Strong] [Ancient Artifact]

—When used, a maximum of 1000 jin can be added to the wearer’s body .

—Increases physical growth of its wearer .

===

“Can’t you read the item description?”

Although I was using my Gift, Observation and Reading, to see item descriptions, other people could see item descriptions without relying on Gifts . The only requirement was to be Enlightened and to have the special stat ‘insight’ .

“Oh, Enlightenment? I’m bad at these things, so I need to get items appraised . ”

“I see . ”

“So, how do you use this leather belt?”

Kim Suho picked up the leather belt while smiling joyfully .

I suddenly felt sorry .

“It’s… for training . ”

“Training?”

But unlike what I expected, Kim Suho’s eyes sparkled like he found a treasure .

“Y-Yeah, if you wear it, your body will get heavier . Look over there, you can change the weight too . ”

“Oooh . ”

Kim Suho exclaimed in awe . However, my expression darkened . He was only making me feel worse .

“It’s kind of like a portable gravitation room… but it’s actually a bit better . It’s an ancient artifact that speeds up your physical growth . ”

“R-Really? That’s amazing! You’re giving this to me?”

“…What I’m taking are better . ”

To be honest, they were not only better, but incomparably better .

===

[Blessed Bow of Horus] [Ancient Holy] [Ghost attribute]

A bow blessed by Horus, son of the ancient Egyptian god, Osiris .

—Power of Horus

*Arrows shot with this bow are endowed with sacred flames .

*Sacred flames are particularly powerful against evil spirits .

*By imbuing magic power into the bow, you can create an ‘arrow of healing’ .

—Sun of Horus

*From 6 a . m . to 6 p . m . , the user of this bow will receive improved vision .

—Moon of Horus

*From 6 p . m . to 6 a . m . , the user of this bow can move with quieter footsteps .

===

An artifact bow with three options .

I carefully picked up the bow . I would have felt bad enough just taking this, but there was an additional unexpected benefit .

[Your Gift, ‘Master Sharpshooter’, links with ‘Sun of Horus’ and ‘Stigma’ . ]

[When you activate Sun of Horus while holding the Blessed Bow of Horus, it will fuse with your low-rank Gift ‘Thousand-Mile Eyes’ and allow you to use ‘Eye of Horus’ for 5 seconds . ]

[Eye of Horus]

—Your vision extends far beyond the horizon, piercing through the feelings of people and laws of the universe .

“… . ”

While all sorts of jaw-dropping messages were popping up, Kim Suho asked innocently .

“Oh right, Hajin, you’re good with bows too, right?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I am…”

“That’s great! You got yourself a bow, and also… a wrist protector, I think?”

He was too pure… .

Feeling extremely sorry, I stared at Kim Suho .

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