Chapter 17
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Way of Life (3)
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“Wouldn’t this solve everything? Captain, you’ve got plenty of time left, don’t you?”
“You want me to shoot myself? But if you take all my time, do you think the others will just sit back? Even if you shoot me, you and your little brother are dead.”
“We kill the captain and split the time that comes out.”
“Get a grip. You, me, Jin-won—we’re all murderers. We’ve all gone as far as we can go. Share the time nicely? You think that’s possible? The moment that no-harm clause breaks down, even if the others don’t, your brother’s definitely dead.”
As Baek Ki-hyuk finished speaking, Lee Jin-won waggled his gun barrel, urging him to lower his weapon.
After a tense standoff lasting over a minute in silence, Yoon A-rin let out a sigh first and lowered her gun.
“Ha…. Let me say it one more time. Captain, you’re such bad luck.”
Yoon A-rin spat the words at him like she was chewing them up, then hoisted her burly brother Doo-sik and stormed out the front door.
Now, just Baek Ki-hyuk and Lee Jin-won remained in the apartment living room.
Baek Ki-hyuk handed his gun to his underclassman and continued.
“Jin-won, she’s suspicious, so tail her and keep an eye on her. And it’ll probably come around to your turn, so get ready.”
“Huh? I still have plenty of survival time left—”
“Jin-won.”
Baek Ki-hyuk cut off his underclassman and leaned in close to his face and ear.
“I said I’d take care of you…. What, do I have to beg you to eat some of my time?”
“…No.”
“You know what kind of ‘guy’ I am, right?”
“…”
“If you know, then let’s do this right, kid.”
“Yes, Captain. Sorry. But… what about the youngest?”
“Him? They’ll probably kill him. He’s just like us…. I was stingy about sharing time, but this works out fine.”
As Baek Ki-hyuk whispered into Lee Jin-won’s ear, his pupils wrinkled and split into compound eyes.
* * *
“Baek Ki-hyuk, you bastard. You think I’d dance to your tune?”
That guy had definitely thrown her out as bait to gauge the prey’s reaction.
Three club members had already gone to the other side that way.
“But why couldn’t he shoot?”
In truth, killing the captain and stealing his time was the surest way.
The guy had quite a bit of it.
‘His stamina level can’t be over Lv.5 no matter how high it is.’
At that level, a gun would be more than enough to kill him…. But every time she thought about pulling the trigger, that ominous gut feeling that she’d be the one to die wouldn’t go away.
“Fine, focus on the prey in front of me first. I’ll deal with you later, Baek Ki-hyuk.”
Having rationalized it that way, Yoon A-rin headed toward Mang-san High School, unaware that this would prove to be an even bigger mistake.
* * *
Drip. Drip.
Green ichor slid down the greatsword.
“Hoo.”
Lee Min-jun let out a short sigh and steadied his stance again.
Having confirmed the group safely inside the school, he no longer held back and charged back into the swarm of bees.
Whoooom—!
The greatsword cleaved through the air with a heavy whoosh, smashing the bees to pieces that plummeted to the ground. New messages popped up relentlessly in the corner of his vision.
[Body Transformation Rate: 73.4%]
[Strength, Stamina, and Agility levels have increased by 1.]
The body transformation rate seemed to rise the more he moved or fought, steadily climbing until it hit 73.4% and boosted his stats further.
The corners of Lee Min-jun’s mouth naturally curved upward.
He was exhausted and tired, sure, but thinking that the more grueling it got, the more his stats rose actually lifted his spirits.
‘How long has it been since I lived like this?’
Normally, you’d be furious at a disaster crashing in unannounced, but he’d adapted to this life—and was even satisfied with it.
At least now, he wasn’t some terminal patient with a one-year clock he couldn’t do anything about. He had a body that could fight monsters, live longer, healthier.
He’d grown numb to getting hurt, grown used to battles spraying blood, and this body that had barely held a kitchen knife before now wielded a massive sword like an old friend.
How to step forward with the front foot for a horizontal slash to maximize power.
The range to swing for a smooth follow-up.
How to adjust the slash angle.
Where power peaked based on arm trajectory.
No one taught him, but wielding the sword had become as natural as breathing.
Whooosh—!
Thanks to that, even as the bees swarmed wildly, Lee Min-jun silently swung his massive “iron lump.”
In tune with the sword, focused solely on “slashing,” the flying bees fell like autumn leaves.
The system chimed nonstop about killing apostles and harvesting survival time, but Lee Min-jun ignored it.
No, he was too immersed to notice.
‘Horizontal here.’
‘Dodge right, then forward.’
Lee Min-jun’s immersion didn’t scatter as time passed.
* * *
‘Is this the last one?’
Screeeeech—Crunch!!
After quite some time and a mighty swing that shattered the giant bee’s chittering mandibles,
Lee Min-jun could finally look around.
“Huff… huff….”
He stabbed the greatsword into the ground and collapsed onto his butt. The swarm that had blackened the surroundings now lay scattered on the ground.
[You have experienced Flow State.]
[You have obtained a clue to a new swordsmanship!]
[Through the clue’s influence, you comprehend the active skill ‘Space Domination’!!]
Only then did Lee Min-jun check the piled-up messages.
796 hours—no, 2,388 hours thanks to the Star Ground effect.
From killing exactly 189 bees and 2 queen bees. Plus, he’d gained a skill.
The Star Ground hadn’t let him down.
‘You can get skills this way too?’
He’d thought they only came from Space Market purchases or titles, but apparently not.
[Space Domination Lv.1]: When equipped with a ‘sword,’ reduces movement and attack speed of all lifeforms within 10m radius (except caster) by 15%. (Consumes 5 hours of survival time per minute)
It guzzled 5 hours per minute, but an on/off skill like this seemed endlessly versatile.
‘Combined with [Pesticide], it’d be insane. Hmm, anyway…. I’m gonna catch hell for this.’
Checking his body, his ragged clothes from prior fights were shredded, and his body was covered in gashes and bruises.
His natural recovery had improved, but he needed So-hee’s treatment.
“Whew, no helping it.”
Lee Min-jun sighed lightly, stomped over the bug corpses, and headed into the school.
* * *
“Ugh! Am I the one who can’t survive?!”
Jung So-hee grumbled as she stitched Lee Min-jun’s arm with surgical thread and needle from the nurse’s office cabinet.
“Eek….”
At his wince, she smacked his back with a sharp slap and glared.
“I told you to fight sloppy and run! You took down all of them?! Does Min-jun-ssi have three or four lives?”
“Like I felt last time, the leader’s guts are way too far out of his belly.”
Sung Dong-gil, checking the unconscious student on the next bed, chimed in on So-hee’s rant.
But ignoring their barbs, Lee Min-jun replied calmly.
“It was within what I could handle fully. Some damage is inevitable.”
As he spoke, he gazed at the star-shaped brand on his palm.
The blood that had seeped from his wounds upon encountering the apostles was hardening, threatening to cover his palm.
“If I just dodged, I’d never survive another Star Lord encounter.”
“No! Even so…. Hoo. At least think of us worrying. Your body’ll break down before then.”
“…I’ll consider it.”
So-hee applied clean gauze to the stitched wounds and handed him a new hiking outfit from her backpack.
“Here, change into this.”
“…”
Lee Min-jun took the hiking clothes, glancing between her and Dong-gil.
Thinking about it now, his old life had been utter loneliness, yet in this world, he’d met people who cared.
It felt ironic, strangely warm and unfamiliar.
And because of that, he felt he needed to send them away soon.
He had no choice with the brand, but they didn’t need to shoulder such risks to grow.
He couldn’t fully accept their feelings or give his own.
He just hoped to be good companions until parting.
“…”
Lee Min-jun took the clothes with a serious expression and slipped behind the curtain on the patient bed.
“We didn’t check on the leader’s side and just nagged too much, huh.”
“Yeah. Feels kinda bad now….”
As the two whispered,
A commotion erupted from behind the curtain.
* * *
A moment later…
When Lee Min-jun emerged from behind the curtain,
So-hee and Dong-gil’s faces twisted horribly.
“W-Wait, Min-jun-ssi…? Th-That… weird getup is what?”
“Uh, um…. Didn’t So-hee-ssi give me something like this earlier?”
“N-No?”
“I agree on minimizing damage. So I bought some armor.”
Lee Min-jun’s look was bizarre: orange hiking clothes topped with massive dark pauldrons.
Seeing his satisfied expression, they held their tongues, then whispered as low as possible so he couldn’t hear.
“Wow…. Horrifying.”
“Min-jun-ssi’s fashion sense wasn’t that bad before? Must be—”
They both stared at Lee Min-jun’s palm.
“That thing affecting his head too?”
“Maybe…. Or after nearly dying once, he stopped caring about anything but performance.”
Contrary to the growing misunderstanding, Lee Min-jun loved his new armor. He was so fixated on its options that he even liked the look.
「[Ownerless Pauldron]
Price: 2,000 hours
Grade: Uncommon
Required Stat: Stamina Lv.10
Info: A massive iron lump pauldron once used by someone. Seems specialized in smashing foes with its sheer weight over defensive role.」
Buying it left him broke with only 255 hours left, but no regrets.
‘Great value.’
Other armor at that price had various effects and seemed functionally superior, but mostly thin plates or chainmail.
Fine if fighting humans mainly.
But his future foes were giant monsters.
He needed tough, high-defense gear, not fancy effects.
‘And the weight-to-price ratio feels like it saves money… er, time.’
Finally, the prefix “Ownerless.”
One he’d eyed since getting the greatsword.
Items like this usually revealed true value later.
Lee Min-jun had dumped all his saved time into that potential.
Even if it flopped against monsters with its base specs, it’d still be useful.
‘Definitely the best choice.’
As if to prove it, So-hee and Dong-gil gaped, eyes glued to his pauldrons.
‘They’ve got good eyes.’
Lee Min-jun felt proud inwardly, but his face hardened seeing the boy he’d rescued still on the bed.
His uniform chest tag read [Park Sun-woo]. The kid was unconscious, breathing shallowly.
“So-hee-ssi. ‘Sun-woo’? How’s that kid doing?”
Snapping to at the question, So-hee approached and touched his forehead.
“The wounds are bad enough, but his vitality’s so drained the fever won’t break. Would be good to feed him porridge, but our food’s just canned goods and ramen.”
“Hmm….”
Lee Min-jun paced the nurse’s office, arms crossed.
Too coincidental.
Attacked alone in the road’s middle, gunshots right after saving the student, now stuck treating him.
Like gears meshing perfectly in someone’s plan.
Suspicious, but no need to voice it.
No point sharing needless worry, and cynical thoughts were his alone.
Rustle.
As Lee Min-jun paced in the silent room,
Park Sun-woo on the bed stirred, drawing their eyes with bedding sounds.
Nightmare-ridden, he twitched slightly, dry lips moving…. Then his eyes snapped open, and he bolted upright.
“Gasp… gasp….”
Panting roughly, calming gradually, he seemed to notice the stares.
““….””
Silence lingered briefly, then Sun-woo kicked off the bed to flee—but Lee Min-jun was faster.
Thud.
Lee Min-jun pinned his shoulders, forcing him back down.
Trapped, Sun-woo glared up briefly, then averted his terrified eyes.
They were a deep crimson, stained like with blood.