Chapter 23
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Missing (2)
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From this fight, he realized two things: guns were dangerous after all, and enemies weren't limited to just Apostles.
‘Even with a high Stamina level offering some defense, I can't be free from bullets piercing vital spots. Like the heart, for instance….’
In this battle, he'd sacrificed non-vital areas to push through, but he couldn't keep walking that tightrope forever.
Having keenly felt the need for armor, Min-jun immediately opened the armor tab to acquire a breastplate.
“What item can I get this time?”
Having unintentionally acquired a large amount of Survival Time, Min-jun browsed the item list with eager anticipation.
「[Acceleration Boots]
Price: 3,200 hours
Grade: Uncommon
Required Stats: Agility Lv.10
Description: Leather boots that increase the user's movement speed. The effect scales with Agility level.」
「[Restoring Brigandine]
Price: 2,800 hours
Grade: Uncommon
Required Stats: Stamina Lv.10
Description: A leather armor with minor self-repair functionality.」
“……Not really to my liking.”
The effects were decent enough, but the performance relative to price was lacking, and he doubted how much protection such leather armor would offer against giant monsters' attacks. It didn't sit right with him. Min-jun scrolled down the list to check for others.
Sure enough, there were the 'Ownerless' prefixed armors.
They were priced as the cheapest among Uncommon-grade items.
“Right, experience is the best teacher. With all this Survival Time, I might as well get a full set.”
Thinking that, Min-jun paid a total of 4,000 hours to purchase the [Ownerless Breastplate] and [Ownerless Boots].
At that moment.
His greatsword and armors resonated, and with a faint glow, new text appeared in the item info windows.
* * *
Dr-r-rk—
The infirmary door slid open as two people rushed in.
“Good grief, how does our team leader keep coming back looking like a total wreck every other day? Seriously! I bet you gave your parents hell when you were a kid!”
Dong-gil smacked his back while scolding him, and So-hee stood behind with an "oh no" expression.
“…I grew up an orphan.”
““….””
Min-jun's response suddenly chilled the atmosphere, leaving an awkward silence.
“Ahem… You know what I mean. Anyway, while cleaning up, I found this item along with the essentials. Take a look.”
The item Dong-gil pulled out was the shotgun that Baek Ki-hyuk had used.
Instead of a hand, it had been mounted on the monster's body, so the barrel was made of its pitch-black exoskeleton, and a long bayonet was attached below the two horizontally aligned muzzles. It was clearly a high-end gun at a glance.
“Isn't this the gun Baek Ki-hyuk used? It doesn't work on Apostles anyway, right?”
“I thought so too, but hey! Check it with 'Item Info' first.”
At Dong-gil's urging, Min-jun took the shotgun and murmured "Item Info."
“…Huh?”
「[Shotgun Infused with the Power of the Stars]
Grade: Rare
Required Stats: Star Power Lv.1
Description: Once tainted by magic, but purified by the power of the stars. It can hold Star Power and reacts to Demonic Beings.」
‘A Rare-grade item?’
A Rare-grade item that had been drooling mere moments ago now gleamed before his eyes.
‘Star Power? This is perfect for me.’
Min-jun examined the shotgun this way and that, then casually asked Dong-gil.
“Can I have this?”
“Of course! You earned it, so you should use it. Besides, we don't have this Star Power thing, so we can't even wield it.”
“…Then I'll really take it?”
So-hee, standing beside him, nodded as well, so Min-jun picked up the dagger nearby and swung it without hesitation.
Klang!
But the dagger couldn't even scratch the shotgun.
“Hmm, in that case…”
Stroking his chin, Min-jun summoned Star Power like before and swung the dagger again.
Shk—
The shotgun's long barrel snapped in half, turning it into a sawed-off shotgun.
Min-jun hooked his finger on the trigger guard, spun it once, and opened his mouth.
“Now it's finally usable.”
Min-jun slung the shortened shotgun on his leather sling and patted it, prompting So-hee, who had been quietly watching him from behind, to speak.
“But Min-jun, did you buy new items? You look like a medieval knight.”
“Yeah, just got this new breastplate and boots. Fighting guns made me realize I need armor.”
With that, Min-jun checked the item info for his new breastplate and boots.
「[Ownerless Breastplate]
Price: 2,000 hours
Grade: Uncommon
Required Stats: Stamina Lv.10, Strength Lv.10
Proficiency: (0/100)
Description: A breastplate once used by someone. Thinner than a pauldrons, but layered with thin iron plates, offering considerable defense.
*Set Effect: Borrows some of the power from its former owner. When proficiency reaches mastery, the armor reveals its new form.」
「[Ownerless Boots]
Price: 2,000 hours
Grade: Uncommon
Required Stats: Stamina Lv.10, Agility Lv.10
Proficiency: (0/100)
Description: Lower body armor once used by someone. Appears heavy but fits well, allowing free movement.
*Set Effect: Borrows some of the power from its former owner. When proficiency reaches mastery, the armor reveals its new form.」
What he'd bought on a whim to satisfy his collector's itch had turned into unexpected luck.
Covering himself in 'Ownerless' items had triggered a set effect.
It mentioned borrowing some power from the original owner, but since it wasn't a title or skill, there were no specific details on the effect—he'd have to use it to find out.
‘But what's this proficiency? Teasing me with expectations.’
Of course, as low-grade items, he didn't expect much, but who knew? It could be a jackpot.
Suppressing his excitement, Min-jun turned to So-hee and Dong-gil.
“By the way, there's something I want to tell you both.”
He broached the topic and explained his thoughts.
Through this incident, he'd come to think they needed to level up the others too, so how about staying here, hunting Apostles until everyone reached Silver grade with 'Minimum Qualification,' then moving out? That was the main point.
So-hee and Dong-gil, having done a lot of thinking from the battle themselves, readily agreed.
* * *
About half a month passed like that.
The group, intensely focused on Apostle hunting for quite some time, made significant progress in stats and items.
Dong-gil and So-hee raised their combined stat levels to 30, cleared the main quest, and earned 'Minimum Qualification' and Silver grade as rewards.
It wasn't comparable to Min-jun, who had already completed his physical transformation, but the two, now hooked on Apostle hunting, showed a completely transformed proficiency.
Dong-gil bought a two-handed sword and leveraged his kendo specialty as a melee DPS, while So-hee, who was surprisingly strong, wanted to help others and took on the healer-cum-tank role.
They mainly hunted Larvae over the trickier Hornets, and their combo worked well enough that they could even take down Giant Larvae easily when encountered by chance.
Only then did Min-jun suggest it was time to depart.
No longer threatened by regular Apostles, their mobility was unrestricted, and the route simplified.
Even detouring slightly to avoid Stars where Star Lords resided, it took less than half a day for the group to reach Songpa Police Station.
“Uncle, is this really the place? No signs of life.”
“Nah, they're probably putting on a show to welcome me…”
Min-jun's group stood at the police station entrance, peering into the silent building.
Dong-gil brushed off So-hee's dubious words nonchalantly, but even he dragged out his response, inwardly uneasy.
“Come on, let's go in. Our team members must be waiting with bated breath for their glorious team leader.”
Dong-gil shook off the anxiety with empty banter and opened the glass front door.
Kiiiiik—
“….”
Leaving the seemingly in-need-of-repair door behind, they entered the lobby, greeted only by silence.
The pristine interior lacked any signs of life, amplifying the eerie feeling.
Sensing something wrong, Dong-gil's steps quickened, and he rushed to the second floor, roughly flinging open the door marked 'Detective Division.'
Papers spread across desks.
Chairs positioned messily, as if their occupants had just stepped away.
A whiteboard filled with scribbles.
An unidentified flower blooming in a pot on the visitor table.
Traces of human hands everywhere, yet not a shadow of the people themselves.
“…No way. That can't be.”
Shaking his head, Dong-gil began searching the station like a madman.
The Police Administration office opposite the Detective Division, the Security and National Defense offices on the third floor, the Traffic Division on the fourth.
Nowhere could he find the colleagues he so desperately missed.
Finally, the top floor, the fifth.
There stood an ornate wooden door with a plaque reading 'Police Chief's Office.'
“….”
In the silence, Dong-gil swallowed hard and opened the door.
Click—
As the handle turned and the door cracked open, a foul stench wafted out, assaulting their noses.
A mix of fishy rot and sewage sludge.
Dong-gil pinched his nose but flung the door wide open.
“Good heavens…”
So-hee's quiet gasp beside him froze their bodies.
The once tidy white walls of the Police Chief's office were smeared with yellowish pus, and the floor was piled with Hornet corpses.
And in the midst of that hellscape was a 'rift' as if space itself had been torn apart.
It held a deep abyss-like darkness, exuding a suction-like magic that made staring too long feel like being pulled in… The sheer wrongness kept the three from stepping inside readily, until Dong-gil suddenly recalled his superior and took the first step.
Squelch—squelch—
Crushing the sticky corpses underfoot, they advanced, spotting a silhouette slumped over a luxurious desk beyond the glow.
“Hyung!”
In his urgency, an old nickname slipped out, but Dong-gil was too frantic to notice.
Kicking aside the Hornet corpses in his path, he reached it: a single corpse in a neat uniform.
Skin that once brimmed with life was now shriveled like a mummy, and its unfocused eyes were cloudy like a dead fish's.
“Hyung…? Chief Jong-moo? No, you were fine just a while ago… Why here… No, fuck, why! Why are you here like this!”
Calling the deceased's name, he shook the body, but the lifeless form wouldn't rise. Dong-gil collapsed with sobbing wails.
Min-jun stepped past him and gently lifted the left arm of what had once commanded the station, checking the wrist.
00.
‘As expected….’
He'd seen this type of corpse before. The first day this world turned to hell.
A thug who'd had his time stolen by Larvae had died like this.
‘That means the presumed police chief here likely died from Survival Time depletion too… Huh? What's this?’
Mid-thought, lifting the left hand revealed a note.
The letter started in neat, pressed script but devolved into frantic scrawls toward the end, as if chased by someone…
“….”
Min-jun quietly read the letter's opening and placed a hand on Dong-gil's heaving shoulder.