A Real Headache in Korea
Anyway, watching them go at it among themselves like that, making me mutter "What the hell is that, weeaboo?" under my breath—maybe that's why. It didn't feel like it'd be particularly helpful to me, that much I was sure of. Or maybe it's because after that near-death scramble in the Tower, I've gotten a bit hazy as a cyber ghost? Either way, I figured there wasn't much point in sticking around, so I shoved the community window aside for now.
"Alright then, let's see what kinda reward pops up for first place on floor 1, shall weee?"
Time to claim my very first Tower clear reward. But as I rummaged through the message windows for the reward claim, a nagging unease crept in deep down.
And for good reason. The "equipment" listed in my status window was just the bare guns themselves, nothing more. As the status window had shown before, they needed separate ammo, just like real guns.
The silver lining? While scrolling the community on a whim, I'd pulled out the K-something rifle I had equipped, deliberately disassembled it completely—or smashed some parts—and tested shoving it back in and out of my body.
Equipment Damage Detected!
Repair time for 'equipped' gear stored in the body varies by size, complexity, and damage level!
Equipment with 70%+ loss cannot be repaired and will be forcibly unequipped!
"Oh, so it gives me a helpful tooltip like that?"
Thank god. As long as it wasn't total annihilation-level damage, it'd repair anything. Sure, repair time varied by size, complexity, and damage... but still.
"A pretty hefty 7.62mm machine gun like this gets fixed in 5 seconds flat. Even with nearly half the parts smashed."
Unless I ended up with something insane like a tank or a ship—or some unheard-of hyper-complex gadget—guns would be back to 100% in 5-6 seconds tops. Perfect for my main arsenal.
At first, with no hints or anything, I'd whined and sobbed a bit over it—not my finest moment. But looking back now, it felt pretty damn decent.
...Right after that thought.
"...Hngaaah, Stockholm syndrome!"
I snapped out of it with some twisted epiphany, shaking my head wildly side to side while yelling "Crazy talk!"
But here's the real kicker. I'm not in the US or Russia, where wild animals roam alongside monsters. This is Korea, where the max output is just mana-overdosed roe deer or boars. Guns are one thing...
...but even scrounging bullets is a massive pain in the ass. No joke. Sure, the status window fixes guns perfectly, down to reassembly...
But ammo? No auto-repair. Consumables gotta be bought, absorbed, or equipped separately. Zero recovery on that front.
How desperate do you gotta be? Of course, the guns' mass doesn't change—10-15kg hunks of metal. Swinging one around could club goblins like the ones I fought into next week...
"If you're a hunter who taps out at floor 5, just quit already."
Those goblin punks were literal trash mob fodder, bottom of the barrel even in the Tower. I couldn't rely on "kinda hurts a lot" against their standards. The need for bullets burned in my brain.
Plus, monsters with Mana Shields aside, guns still worked fine on normies and state militaries. Sneak into a nearby base, yoink some ammo...
"Nah, that's not just insane—it's straight-up being an asshole."
Poor duty officers and grunts would wake up to "ammo stolen by a hunter," collapse on the spot. The CO's head would roll mentally. But before that, infiltrating a functional base to steal? Not sane.
At this point... I had to admit.
"...Am I really this stressed about no bullets?"
Realizing I'd spiraled into those deranged thoughts naturally meant I was a bit off mentally.
That realization made me hit the item message's claim button without hesitation. My head was stuffed with "How do I fix this?"
Button pressed. The roulette spun like some dead mobile gacha game's wheel.
Trrrrng... ding!
Pam-paka-pam!
"Hngk."
A bombastic fanfare blasted into my unguarded ears. I flinched hard, letting out a pathetic groan.
Hardcore Mode 1st Place Reward Claimed!
◈ Supplies up to 50 rounds of ammo for any firearm at once.
◈ All ammo is special rounds effective against monsters.
◈ 1-minute cooldown after use.
◈ Can only recharge after all existing ammo is depleted!
"...They call this an Infinite Magazine?"
It popped out like it was waiting, bold as brass: Infinite Magazine. Just like the community said—one of my top wishes granted. Made the status window feel suspiciously on-the-nose.
Whatever. It was exactly what I needed right now. The chaos and jitters filling my head evaporated, replaced by... omnipotence? Nah, too fancy. Call it surging confidence.
And unlike the forceful kidnapping at the start...
"Ah, didn't see that in the main community."
Learned some Tower system quirks—handy guidance in weird spots. Unlike the bullshit start, I was fired up to dive in properly prepped this time.