Omniscient Punching Bag (2)

I leveled the sniper rifle at the eyes of Rex as he roared amid the jungle. Part of me wanted to put a round clean through his skull in one shot… but I didn't feel like ending a creature people called the protagonist of a certain movie that easily.

Yeah. This is respect. Respect for the star of a dinosaur movie.

So instead of taking his life outright, I resolved to take his eye, and squeezed the trigger.

Bang!!

Thwip!

KRAAAAAAAGH—!!!

A single bullet left the sniper rifle and punched through Rex's eye with zero deviation. Permanently robbed of one of the two eyes he used to see the world, the beast loosed a howl of pure agony and lashed its massive tail in every direction like a tantrum.

Whoosh!

"Aaaaagh!!"

"S-save me!"

And of all the rotten luck, two men fleeing from Rex caught that thrashing tail full-on and went flying into one of the jungle's enormous trees.

Crash!

Crunch.

One of them slammed into the trunk nape-first; the sound of a spine snapping was unmistakable. Instant death, most likely.

"Gahhk! Cough…!"

The remaining man was lucky enough to hit back-first, so he didn't die on the spot—but he was in no shape to celebrate. He'd already been a bloody mess from being chased by Rex, and after the tail sent him into the tree, blood poured freely from his mouth.

"Ow… is that my fault?"

In the original webtoon those guys died to Rex's tail swipe anyway. Still, I hadn't expected a half-blinded Rex thrashing wildly to catch them. Truly unlucky bastards.

After thrashing for a while under the pain and loss of an eye, Rex finally stilled. His remaining eye blazed with scarlet light as he locked onto me and let out a low growl.

Grrrrrrrr…!

"I'm not tasty. That person over there is."

I quietly pointed at Kim Dokja with my index finger. She stared at me with the blank face of someone who couldn't believe what she'd just heard. Then her face flushed crimson with pure rage, and she bellowed at me like she was the one roaring.

"Hey! Is that what you say?! Clean up your own mess, you bastard!!"

"Huh? Are we dropping the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠formal speech now? How exciting…."

"Y-you…!"

Kim Dokja's face crumpled so hard I didn't know a human face could fold like that. Noted for later: when Kim Dokja gets angry, she drops the polite speech.

Then I saw her start walking toward me, and I urgently shouted at Lee Gilyoung.

"Gilyoung! Stick to Dokja-ssi as close as you can! Or I'm dead!"

"Gilyoung, be a good boy? Hop down for a second. I think we need to feed that guy to Rex today…."

"Uh… uh…?"

Lee Gilyoung looked back and forth between me and Kim Dokja with a thoroughly confused expression.

GROOOOOOOOAR!

Apparently unhappy that I was ignoring him to chat with Kim Dokja, Rex unleashed a roar that hit my eardrums like a direct assault.

The moment Rex's roar hit me, every hair on my body stood on end and goosebumps raced across my skin.

"Everyone, get clear!"

I yelled for the party to dodge. Nobody moved. I stared at them in confusion and asked,

"Uh… are you all not running?"

"Well……."

"Sorry, Oppa. He's not aiming at us right now."

"Huh? What do you mean…."

At Jung Heewon and Lee Jihye's words, I turned back toward Rex. He was still staring only at me.

"……………."

…………….

I tried moving left, then right, then diagonally. Rex didn't budge. His gaze stayed locked on me alone.

"Is he only targeting me right now?"

"If someone permanently blinded one of your eyes, that person would probably be the only thing you could see, Jinwoo-ssi."

Jung Heewon looked at me like I was an idiot.

"Aren't any of you going to help me?"

"We'll help if it gets dangerous."

"Yeah… like Unnie said, if it gets dangerous I'll help, Oppa."

Neither Jung Heewon nor Lee Jihye was on Rex's hit list, so they watched me with leisurely expressions. I tore my eyes off them and looked at Kim Dokja.

"Hmph…!"

The second our eyes met, Kim Dokja snorted and whipped her head away. Devastating.

"Gilyoung won't abandon me, right?"

"Uh…."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Gilyoung, that thing's a no-no. We're going over there."

"U-uh…? I'm not that little, Noona…."

Kim Dokja scooped Lee Gilyoung into her arms and retreated. Gilyoung could only hang there, looking helplessly back and forth between us with thoroughly confused eyes. And honestly…

What even was this situation? It felt weirdly like a furious wife grabbing the kid and heading back to her parents' house. Hard to put into words.

KRAAAAAH!!

"Huh?"

Rex roared and charged straight at me. As that enormous body barreled forward, trees throughout the jungle shattered and toppled in its path.

"Yeah, when something that huge comes at you, it's pretty damn terrifying."

If that massive body hit me dead-on, even my Endurance 15 durability would leave me critically injured for sure. Which meant there was only one answer.

"Run!"

Without another word I bolted toward the party. They froze for a second, mouths hanging open as they stared at me.

"What are you doing?! Aren't you running?!"

My shout snapped them out of it. They spun around and sprinted in the opposite direction from Rex.

"Aaaaah! Why are you coming this way, Jinwoo Oppa?!"

"She's right! Why this way of all places?!"

"We live together, we die together!!"

"You damn Oppa!!"

"This bastard's actually insane!!"

"When this is over, you'd better be ready, Jinwoo-ssi!"

Lee Jihye, Jung Heewon, and Kim Dokja all screamed at me with furious faces after hearing that.

I ran toward them for a few strides, then cut hard and flung myself in the opposite direction. Rex wheeled to follow me.

Everyone else was out of the danger zone. Kim Dokja glared at me as I got chased, set Lee Gilyoung down, and drew Unbreakable Faith.

"Hoo—."

"Wait, Unnie! Are you seriously about to fight that thing?"

"If we want an exit, we have to take it down."

"An exit?"

"Did you forget? This is inside a movie. So we need a proper ending…."

Jung Heewon cut in and interrupted her.

"Hey, Dokja-ssi. Could we maybe wait a little longer?"

"…What?"

"That guy's behavior earlier was way too shameless. Let's just leave him for a bit?"

"………Should we?"

Kim Dokja's eyes sparkled like she found Jung Heewon's suggestion extremely tempting.

"Heewon-ssi?! Dokja-ssi?!"

I stared at the two of them with a thoroughly betrayed expression.

"Honestly, there's not a single person I can trust!"

No—actually, this works out perfectly.

I scanned the messages from the party and the Constellations, eyes gleaming. Then I glanced at the building visible through the jungle where Rex had first burst out.

Sprint for the Central Research Lab. Right before I arrive, detonate a flashbang to blind Rex and the Constellations for a second, slip ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠inside during the opening, and swipe about ten Enhancement Ampoules.

Plan locked in, I bolted toward the Central Research Lab visible through the trees.

"Damn it! This is exactly why I didn't want to follow! I had a bad feeling about this!"

I put on the most desperate expression I could manage as I cut through the jungle where Rex had emerged and raced for the lab.

KRAOOOOO!!

Not far behind, a heavy thud, thud, thud closed in. That was obviously the sound of Rex's massive bulk charging after me for a meal.

Purchase one flashbang from the General Store.

I'd already flashbanged the Constellations once before. If I just openly pulled one out and threw it, they'd close their eyes or look away and dodge it.

I needed to blind Rex and the Constellations at the same time, so I carefully opened a My Room door in the empty air beside me, stuck my hand inside, pulled the pin on the flashbang, and clenched it tight.

Almost there.

I sprinted like a madman toward the Central Research Lab. Arrival was close—only about four hundred meters left—so I put a little more pressure on the flashbang in my fist.

"Hey, Constellations."

"Sorry. They say the storm always comes twice."

I gathered every Constellation's gaze, then yanked my hand out of the My Room door and flung the flashbang behind me.

Fweeeeeee!

KRAAAAAAGH—!?

Something detonated behind me, and Rex roared in pure panic.

"Rex! Stay right there like a good boy?! I'll just grab what I need real quick and then I'll eat you up nice and tasty!"

With that, I made it safely into the Central Research Lab. True to the name, the place was enormous. Except—

Kiiirk?

Kiirrrk?

Kwek! Kwek!

"Why the hell are there raptors inside the lab?"

I'd been racing through the building looking for the stat Enhancement Ampoules when five raptors suddenly appeared right in front of me. I'd never seen these monsters in the webtoon, so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I froze for a second—then snapped out of it and smashed a raptor's skull open with Groll's Bone Axe, sending it straight to heaven.

"Extraction, byproducts."

I cleaned up the raptors fast, extracted the byproducts, and went back to tearing through the lab. At last, in one of the rooms, I found the Enhancement Ampoules.

"Finally found them."

A transparent cabinet full of those beautiful Enhancement Ampoules.

"This changed a little too…."

Finding them inside a clear cabinet was fine. The problem was the count didn't match the webtoon.

"Thirty-two…?"

The original webtoon only had twenty Enhancement Ampoules. Here there were thirty-two. And there was one more difference: the location.

I'm pretty sure the ampoules were in some kind of office or lab room….

The ones I'd found were stashed in what looked like a storage room, so I stared at them for a moment, puzzled.

"………………."

Whether the location and quantity had changed because Ways of Survival becoming reality rewrote things, or whether these were ampoules Kim Dokja simply never found, I had no idea. Either way, more was better.

"Tsk…."

Finding the ampoules was great, but it had taken too long.

The Constellations hit by the flashbang had already recovered their vision. The ones with good reaction speed had closed their eyes or turned away. And a few sharp ones who'd sensed I was plotting something from the start had never been flashbanged at all—so they'd watched me combing the lab for something the entire time.

Hope they don't snitch to the party. For now, let's just grab all these ampoules….

I started collecting every Enhancement Ampoule from the transparent cabinet.

"……………Hmm."

No—first, get every stat to 20.

With the Battle of Myeongnyang and the fight against Yoo Joonghyuk coming up, I needed those stats at 20. I cracked open the Endurance, Magic Power, Agility, and Strength ampoules and chugged them one after another.

"Urgh… so full…."

Downing twenty bottles of potion in one go had filled me with liquid. My stomach was bloated.

"Apple flavor, blueberry flavor, Powerade flavor, green tea flavor."

These potions really came in a wild variety of tastes.

"I've grabbed everything I need… time to head out?"

I'd spent way too long in the lab hunting for ampoules. The sooner I got back to the party, the less they'd worry—or get suspicious.

I turned my steps toward the exit, ready to leave the research lab and rejoin the others.