Chapter 22
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Missing (1)
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Time flowed slowly, like a video playing at low speed. Amid it all, he thought.
‘If only I could move like I normally do here….’
In a world that had suddenly begun moving sluggishly.
Lee Min-jun’s mind alone retained its normal speed, racing to find a way out of the situation.
And then….
[$월#인 @^# 사용%) %견을 @#(&*]
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[Error corrected.]
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[Transcendent Will recognizes the user’s intent.]
[Confirming the narrative of the ‘Time Restrictor.’]
The System responded to Lee Min-jun’s determination, which transcended the constraints of time.
Ding!
[You have acquired the skill ‘Time Discrepancy Lv.1.’]
At that moment, his body, which had felt as constricted as if he were moving underwater, began to gain freedom bit by bit.
It was the sensation of absolute time stretching out long, allowing him to move within it.
A bizarre feeling, as if he alone in the world could swim through another realm.
Of course, it didn’t mean he could move at absurd speeds or anything dramatic like that.
The gaze lingering on a spot, the direction his body moved, the shift of his shoulders, the rotation of his pivoting foot—tiny hints like these let him anticipate the enemy’s attacks.
Though slower than his overheated thoughts, his body moved just a touch faster than his opponent’s actions.
As the exchange in the pitch-black dead of night grew faster and faster, Baek Ki-hyuk began retreating step by step.
Eventually, the heel of the backpedaling bastard reached the greatsword embedded in the ground.
‘…?!’
Clearly, the enemy was on the defensive, and his own attacks had the momentum.
But… a sudden chilling sensation gripped Lee Min-jun’s ankle.
‘…Something’s up.’
The moment Lee Min-jun eased off pressuring Baek Ki-hyuk, bracing for some unexpected variable.
Sure enough, a damp, dark energy suddenly began constricting his body from all sides.
* * *
‘What the fuck did this bastard eat all of a sudden?’
Baek Ki-hyuk muttered under his breath, barely keeping up with Lee Min-jun’s accelerating movements.
At first, the guy had clearly shown inferior stats.
In strength, speed, defense—Baek was several levels ahead, and even if the bastard was investing his survival time into stats, it was still within what Baek had anticipated.
He’d planned to toy with him lightly before crushing him… but at some point, the guy’s movements changed, and Baek started getting pushed back.
Kclang! Kkagak!
‘Damn it…. This guy who couldn’t even properly block my attacks—’
The one who’d clumsily deflected his fierce strikes was growing monstrous with every exchange, now pulling off smooth parries where their swords met without any impact.
Even when he switched tactics to suppress with the shotgun, the bastard somehow sensed it and relentlessly chased, forcing close-quarters blade work.
If he kept getting pushed like this, an unthinkable end might await. The thought crept up slyly.
‘Fuck…. I held back because it burdens the body too much….’
He hesitated briefly but decided quickly.
There was no time for deliberation now.
Like unleashing a wild horse from its reins, Baek Ki-hyuk released the mana rampaging near his heart.
Hwaaak—
Proof that he had evolved beyond others, distinct from mere humans.
As the mana imparted by the Star Lord surged through his body, an intoxicating euphoria dominated his mind.
The bastard swinging his blade like a madman must have sensed the crisis, pausing for a moment. Baek didn’t miss it, deploying his apostle to cling to Lee Min-jun.
Using that opening, he gathered his boiling power into the shotgun and aimed.
“…Just die already!!”
Even then, the bastard stepped forward bit by bit, grabbing the nearby greatsword and raising it high as if to swing.
Convinced this attack would decide everything, Baek instinctively poured all his remaining mana into pulling the trigger.
He vaguely thought a pale light wave, opposite to his own mana, flickered from the ridiculously large steel tube—but the shot was already fired, beyond his control. There was nothing more he could do.
He could only pray the bastard fell to this strike.
Kwa-gagagagaga-!!
In the instant the inky energy burst from the muzzle in a straight line.
Even in that slowed flow of time, Baek Ki-hyuk saw the bastard’s body move.
But the sinister energy bullet reached him nonetheless.
At the same time, the greatsword brimming with light slammed into the ground, blotting out Baek’s rapidly darkening vision.
As if a star from the night sky had plummeted to earth.
Blinding light filled the athletic field.
* * *
Starlight in the night sky.
That cold flame blazed dazzlingly from the greatsword.
The star bearing the power of exorcism fell like a shooting star, purging evil and carving a massive crater in its place.
As the damp dawn breeze swept away the dust everywhere, the only thing visible was a masterless shotgun.
Ding!
[You have killed the demon Baek Ki-hyuk and absorbed 2,178 hours.]
[You have completed the quest!]
[You have acquired the reward!]
[With the completion of your body, the corresponding Star Force (星力) will be gra-]
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“…Hoo.”
Exhausted after pouring out everything, Lee Min-jun ignored the flurry of system windows and collapsed to the ground.
He couldn’t even twitch a finger.
“…Min-jun! S…nap out of it…!”
“Jo…!”
Through his flickering vision, like a dying fluorescent bulb, he saw his comrades rushing over in a distorted world.
They too had fought a hard battle, their bodies a mess, but for some reason, So-hee and Dong-gil were growing blurrier.
His eyelids grew heavier.
Holding that massive greatsword felt like a lie now, and his thoughts drifted from reality toward peace.
The fading world soon turned pitch black.
* * *
When Lee Min-jun came to, the sun was high in the sky, warm spring sunlight pouring through the classroom window in the afternoon.
“Oh?! Min-jun! You okay?”
“…Ugh. No, my head feels like it’s splitting.”
“Here, have some water.”
Lee Min-jun drained the bottle So-hee handed him and slowly pieced together yesterday’s memories.
He remembered charging at the guy aiming the gun, swinging the sword down, and then some system message popping up….
“What happened? Is Baek Ki-hyuk dead?”
“You don’t remember? You slashed him with that white-glowing sword, pow pow pow—”
“…So it’s handled?”
“Yes!”
His memory of the end was hazy, but good results were all that mattered.
Thinking that, Lee Min-jun looked around.
“But where’s Uncle Dong-gil?”
“He went to clean up the mess you left behind. Bury the bodies, gather their food supplies…. Oh! He said to tell him right away when you woke up! Wait here, I’ll get him!”
So-hee chattered on like that before dashing outside.
Alone in the classroom, Lee Min-jun replayed his memories again.
‘At the end, my body transformation reached 100%, and… I got a new skill?’
Opening his status window, he saw the rewards from the day’s events converted into survival time and skill levels.
「[Status Window]
Name: Lee Min-jun (Gold)
Title: First Apostle Slayer
Survival Time (ST): 8,011 hours
Karma: +7.0
Stats
[Strength Lv.15] [Stamina Lv.15] [Agility Lv.15] [Star Force (星力) Lv.1]
Passive Skills: [Apostle's Nemesis Max], [Apostle's Predator Lv.8], [Pesticide Lv.5]
Active Skills: [Shadow Step Lv.5], [Space Domination Lv.2], [Time Discrepancy Lv.1]」
‘…8,011 hours?’
Lee Min-jun hurriedly checked the system logs.
Baek Ki-hyuk alone had held 2,178 hours, and the 19 including Yoon A-rin and Lee Jin-won added up to about 1,800 hours.
‘How many people did those bastards kill to hoard this much time without even hunting monsters?’
Sure, he was a killer too, but it stung to be lumped in with those who slaughtered innocents.
‘Demon.’
He distinctly remembered the message when killing Baek Ki-hyuk: killed a demon.
Yeah, they were demons…. He was different from them.
Repeating it to himself like a mantra to soothe his mind, Lee Min-jun organized the new info and checked the rewards as usual.
‘The demons are humans like Baek Ki-hyuk who turned monstrous. But what the hell did he do to become like that….’
He pondered seated, but without knowing the guy’s past, he couldn’t pinpoint the cause.
What was clear… from the nuance and how he commanded other apostles, demons were harmful to humans, never helpful.
And from his identity to apostles and marks—everything tied back to the Star Lord.
‘If not for that last skill and the energy in the sword, I’d have been in danger…. I need to get stronger. Even more.’
The skill that let him move fast in slowed time.
[Time Discrepancy Lv.1]: Stretches 1 second into 3 seconds’ length. Fatigue on the body accumulates at 5 times the altered time. (Consumes 500 hours of survival time per minute)
A technique manipulating time, godlike enough that “incredible” didn’t suffice.
But the backlash matched its power.
The cost alone was so high it couldn’t be used often, but having a lifesaver for crises was reassuring in itself.
Moreover, considering the message about gaining ‘Star Force (星力)’ upon completing body transformation and what followed… he wouldn’t struggle against the same foe again unless in a pinch.
‘So this is Star Force…?’
Lee Min-jun gripped his dagger beside the bed made from desks.
The moment he willed Star Force into the perfectly fitting handle, radiant waves of light rippled around the blade.
‘Not a power I can sustain long.’
With Star Force at Lv.1 in his status, exhaustion hit hard soon after manifesting it.
Lee Min-jun mulled over the light before setting the dagger down and checking his survival time.
It had piled up unexpectedly, but now it needed investing for survival.
“So, what to buy this time.”
With plenty of survival time, he eyed pricier, better items and opened the Space Market’s armor tab.