The True Transparent Arrow

Mu-hyuk's eyes narrowed.

Check info.

He checked the special skill.

The corner of Mu-hyuk's mouth twitched. Rudolph the user's core item had just fallen into his hands.

Lucky break.

He couldn't use it himself, but its value was limitless.

With this...

A wicked idea flashed through his mind.

He shook his head and scanned the battlefield. Even with Rudolph dead, the PK users moved with mechanical precision, showing no hint of panic.

Since he couldn't overwhelm them outright yet, Mu-hyuk rushed into the fray.

"Grk!"

He picked them off one by one.

Thud.

Of course, he didn't miss the dropped items either.

Even as they thrashed about desperately, it meant nothing to Mu-hyuk. His skeletons would simply be resummoned once time passed.

Go ahead, kill as many as you like.

In exchange, he took their lives.

A short while later.

Having cleaned up, Mu-hyuk checked the items one by one.

"Huh...?"

"What's up?"

"Oh, this T-shirt."

"T-shirt? Didn't know they had those."

Sung Min-woo quickly lost interest and checked other items on the ground.

Mu-hyuk glanced at him and said,

"I'm keeping this one."

"Sure."

He equipped the T-shirt right away.

Status window check.

The boosted stats were just what he'd hoped for.

Meanwhile.

The respawned Rudolph let out a guttural roar.

"Argh, damn it!"

As his surging frustration subsided, his phone rang.

"What? They're all wiped? Ha, total noobs. Hang up!"

He immediately called Asrahan.

(He's dead, huh.)

"Yeah, I'm dead, you bastard."

(What now?)

"What do you mean? Call the whole guild."

(All of them?)

"Obviously!"

(Hmm, not thrilled about that.)

"You psycho, you called first!"

(Only 'cause of all those summons.)

"Whatever, bye!"

Hanging up, Rudolph had no clue how to kill the next 24 hours.

Excluding a few early-game deaths, he'd never died since. This was a real pickle.

"Sigh, so damn boring."

He called the girl he'd been seeing lately and grabbed lunch with her.

Still time to burn, he wandered into a nearby department store and bought whatever caught his eye. The problem? The boredom only piled up higher.

The tightness in his chest crawled up to his throat.

He couldn't take it anymore.

"This sucks. I'm out."

"Huh? Oppa, what?"

"Leaving."

"A-already?"

"Yeah. Text later."

He left the stunned girl behind and hopped into his car in the department store parking lot.

Back home, he flopped onto the bed, TV on, staring blankly at the screen. At least time passed equally for everyone.

Evening came before he knew it.

"Hm?"

Flipping channels, he suddenly stopped.

It was featuring Mu-hyuk.

"Ugh, damn it. Pissing me off again."

Getting utterly crushed by him had bruised his ego bad.

It ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was just a slip-up. Yeah, a slip-up.

Self-soothing, he focused on the screen.

Yeah, those skeletons!

Totally broken, unbalanced as hell.

Too strong. Way too strong.

What kind of class balance is this? He logged into the Illusion homepage and submitted an inquiry.

Curses and complaints would just backfire. Better to crush them with logic and facts.

He skimmed his draft.

Perfect.

Hit send. Minutes later...

Ding.

A response arrived. He checked it hastily.

Rudolph was utterly dumbfounded.

What kind of response is that...?

Basically, no intervention planned.

Tch, whatever!

Frowning, he slammed the laptop shut.

Thud.

Back to the TV.

Mu-hyuk discovering treasure.

The fierce monster battles.

His face twisted at the preview.

Ah, damn it.

Asrahan and Rudolph made brief appearances.

That meant one thing.

The PK attempt backfiring would air next week.

Trembling with rage, he pulled an all-nighter. Only as dawn broke did Rudolph finally crash.

The next day.

The 24-hour penalty lifted, and Rudolph logged into Illusion first thing to check what he'd dropped.

What did I drop?

At first, nothing seemed missing.

"Huh...?"

Then he realized one item was gone.

No way. Must be a mistake.

Shaking his head, he inspected his Transparent Arrows one by one.

With each check, Rudolph's face grew paler.

No, impossible.

Out of all those items, and countless copies—how could the main body drop?

The odds were astronomically low. He checked repeatedly, but the main body never appeared.

"It's gone, gone, gone!"

An absurd nightmare had come true.

"Ah... aaaah...."

He felt himself sinking into a swamp of despair.

The more he struggled, the deeper it pulled.

An inescapable void of frustration.

"......"

Even curses failed him now.

Just one thought.

Yeah, Mu-hyuk.

Find that user. Nothing else mattered.

What then? He'd figure it out after ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tracking him down.

Rudolph lifted his head and moved, eyes half-dead.

At the same time.

Asrahan rummaged through his inventory too. His recently acquired sleeveless T-shirt was gone. Mu-hyuk must have it.

He'd planned to hunt him down anyway to win. Now, retrieving the shirt added fuel to the fire.

Yet Asrahan didn't look annoyed—instead, he grinned with genuine delight.

"Even tastier now."

He muttered the incomprehensible words.

*

A chill ran down his spine.

What the hell...?

He frantically scanned around, but nothing stood out.

Hm, imagination?

Still, it left a bad taste.

Ugh.

Shivering, Mu-hyuk checked his summons' visions one by one. Searching for hidden treasures, but nothing special.

Mental fatigue was setting in; his head felt heavy. Finally thinking to rest, he leaned against the wall.

"It's a huge issue, right?"

"Homepage's blowing up too?"

"Yeah, looks like you saw it too, Min-woo."

"Of course! Gotta watch!"

Sung Min-woo laughed heartily.

His booming voice drilled into Mu-hyuk's ears uninvited.

"Issue?"

His curious mutter drew Yura and Sung Min-woo's attention.

"Oh? Not checking summon visions anymore?"

"On break."

"You should've said so."

They approached.

"Uh, well."

This is why...

Mu-hyuk grumbled inwardly and clammed up.

"Saw last night's Illusion's World?"

"Yeah."

"The treasure find and item stats blew up. Even rankers who were just watching jumped in late."

"Rankers?"

"Yeah, but they're pretty late to the party."

"We don't know how many more resets are ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠left, but yeah."

Yura chimed in.

"What do you think?"

"Hm."

"Pretty" didn't cover it.

Way too late.

Odds of finding treasure now? Slim to none.

Two resets left max.

Shortest: 5-6 days. Longest: 10. Then the dungeon vanishes for good.

How many treasures in that time? One at best.

"Tough for them."

"Right?"

Latecomer rankers could be ignored.

"Alright, shall we keep going?"

"Ah, yeah!"

At Kim Min-ho PD's words, everyone stood.

They'd scouted most paths via summons, so they skipped monster-free stretches.

Normally, they'd check nooks manually, but with Skull Snakes, the summons searched more thoroughly than humans. No need for double-checks.

They pressed on relentlessly.

At forks, they picked one path. They even lightly greeted passing users.

Then.

Mu-hyuk suddenly kicked off the ground.

Whoosh.

Wind Step—too fast to track.

He stopped before a user. Murderous glare, like he'd draw his sword and decapitate any second.

"Look up."

The robed user raised his head.

Red eyes.

Infamy over 200.

These guys.

Sung Min-woo, arriving late, bellowed.

"That jerk from yesterday?"

"Probably."

"Holy crap, these punks!"

Production staff rushed over, faces furious.

"Whoa, bold. Picking a fight again after yesterday?"

"Wanna see blood? Let's end him."

The red-eyed man made a pitiful face and spoke.

"W-wait a sec."

"......"

"Not here to fight this time."

"Not fighting?"

"Yeah, the guild master wants to meet you..."

Mu-hyuk smirked faintly at the words.

Got it.

The Transparent Arrow, no doubt.

No need to meet.

Letting them stew longer benefited him.

"He said to meet?"

"Yes."

As Mu-hyuk slowly sheathed his sword, the PK user's face brightened. But his next move darkened it. Wind cloaked the blade, visible even to the naked eye.

Boom!

The man flew back from the impact.

"L-listen to me...!"

"Don't wanna."

Mu-hyuk unleashed a barrage.

Storm slash, storm slash.

The PK user died without another word.