The Recruitment Sparks

I was already prepared. Prepared to be happy.

How lonely had it been? The mere thought of living out the rest of my days in this corner of a room, never meeting another human being. It was nothing short of horror.

But not anymore, right?

The answer was Agent Hiring. The moment I hit LV 30, I would probably have a companion. A savior who might even solve this 1 HP problem of mine.

Given how things had gone so far, it might not be much help — just like this Shelter, overflowing with pointless welfare perks and not much else. But I don't know that. I don't know how it'll turn out, do I? Having a chance was always better than having none.

This feeling of clogged vessels bursting open, of even the air tasting new. Hope. That was the only word for it.

I opened the closet and stepped through.

My will to train had never been better. A trainee about to leap into becoming a marksman was standing right here.

"Alright..."

Before it began, there was still nothing. Set the location to current position, and I summoned training bots all over the place. Aerial bots, standard bots, miniature bots.

Shunk! Shunk! Shunk!

I set up about thirty or forty of them, and for the first time, I drew the Steady Shooter.

"I'm actually kind of excited?"

The visual difference from the Practice Sniper Rifle was overwhelming. Honestly, it looked so professional I wondered whether I would ever be able to draw out its full performance. The grip was solid, and pleasantly cold. The structure and operation were identical to the Practice Sniper Rifle.

That's a relief, at least.

The magazine held thirty Air Bullets, same caliber. I mounted the MMM and the telescopic scope. I'd outfitted myself with the essentials for survival, more or less. Main gear I would be using for a long time.

From here on, this thing becomes as familiar as my own hands and feet. I'm a Sniper, after all...

The best way to learn was to fire a few rounds and let my body figure it out.

Clack!

Whoa. Listen to that chambering sound.

Even the noise when I worked the bolt was different. A majestic sound that made a man's heart thrum.

"Hooo."

I would snipe the way I would in a real fight. Imagining the gargoyle battle, I put the crosshairs on an aerial bot in the same position. Let the breath out. Squeezed the trigger.

Pssht······

KRAAAAAASH!

"Whoa."

This stability. Like going from a beat-up hatchback to a Mercedes. Far less recoil when I fired, and the whole rifle had a heavy, planted feel that barely reacted to a trembling hand.

So this is what they mean by balance?

I didn't know much about guns, but I could tell this was in a different class. And the impact was incomparably, absurdly huge.

The robot just ceased to exist.

Switching from a practice rifle to a hundred-million-gold professional piece had produced a staggering difference in damage. Even comparing attack values between actual sniper rifles, it wasn't a contest to begin with.

Honestly, I'm not sure the damage increase even means that much. It was already a hundred thousand times. Even the practice rifle had hit with a destructive power that defied common sense. Still, I don't know what kind of enemies might show up later. Higher damage is good, at least.

Fortunately, I'd hit it in one shot, so it didn't look like I needed any extra click adjustment on the scope.

Huh.

I'd expected to struggle a bit adapting to a new rifle. Instead, dropping an aerial bot in a single shot sent my confidence soaring. The feeling that if I put in a little work, I might actually brush the edges of being a proper sniper.

I might actually have a knack for this?

This time I set today's target as a building clearly farther than the gargoyles had been. Honestly, if you can't hit something that far, you're not a real sniper. Far enough that the thought actually crossed my mind.

I generated about ten more aerial bots.

It was far, all right.

Like adding just five kilos at the gym and feeling like you were going to die. Right now, I'd just slapped on twenty. Practice conquered all anyway, and I had a little confidence now, so I went back to shooting.

Pssht······

"Missed, of course."

I kept at it anyway. Missed again. At that kind of distance, I really wasn't hitting anything.

KRAAAAAASH!

"Ohh! I finally hit one!"

Most of them went wide, but a few rounds just barely connected. I tried a few more times after that, but my accuracy barely improved. Thirty to forty percent.

Hitting one or two had felt good at first. Then, at some point, I realized this was nothing to feel good about.

The fact that I hit it sometimes meant there was nothing wrong with the rifle at this range. Which meant the problem was me. I just sucked ass at shooting.

Same position, same aim — sometimes it hit, sometimes it didn't. I can't get a feel for it at all, dammit.

No matter how well I knew the theory of improving accuracy, at this distance even the slightest difference changed the result every time I fired. Breath a little off — miss. Finger pressure a little wrong — miss.

Reality check: complete. Sniping is way too hard.

My confidence sank right back down. For the first time, I felt like I understood what real sniping actually was.

In documentaries, there were so many snipers who could pick off enemies at absurd distances. Real people, too. Compared to that, the distance I was struggling with now... to those people, it would be so close they'd grab their bellies and fall over laughing.

Sniper in job title only. Fuck.

I couldn't even imitate them. And that was while shooting a rifle that was obviously a System-made item, far better than ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what real snipers used.

"Hah... this isn't something a day or two is going to fix."

Okay. Let's just admit it cleanly. Did I think surviving was going to be easy? Did I think a real sniper was something you became after practicing a few times and picking up skills with a click-click? I had to do what I had to do.

Practice.

Pssht······ Pssht······

After throwing myself into it for a long while — Hahh — my accuracy at that distance had climbed to around seventy or eighty percent. Once I just got a little used to the range, the hits started landing in bunches, but...

Would I even have time to adapt in a real fight?

And these were targets that floated still in the air until I hit them. In a real fight, the targets would be flying around like lunatics.

How the hell did I kill those gargoyles with this skill level?

With that thought, I looked at the building where the gargoyles had been.

"That's humiliating as hell."

Close. Really close. I'd only hit them because they were stupidly close. And more than half of those kills had been lucky shots that missed wildly first.

The fact that I find it humiliating means my skill's improved, even if only a little.

When you're a beginner, it feels like your level changes dramatically just from breathing. It would probably be even funnier when I thought back on it later.

I kept practicing, then switched over to a ground target for a moment. There was something I wanted to test. A standard bot, placed on the road. I deliberately picked one that was extremely close. Because I was going to try out Warning.

"Where the hell am I even supposed to use this?"

Still, I had to use it at least once if I ever wanted to apply it later. I activated the skill.

Vmmm...

The Steady Shooter trembled, just barely, and after that I felt nothing in particular.

It was clearly listed on the status window. Let's shoot.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠report of the shot was the same. And then—

"Ohh."

There really was no damage. Originally the thing should have burst apart without leaving a shape, but that standard bot was perfectly fine. Instead, an exclamation mark (!) floated above its head. The mark flashed there for about five seconds, then vanished.

It really doesn't die.

So during the time the exclamation mark was floating there, it was seeing a "damage hallucination"? Since it was a robot, I had no idea if that effect was actually happening. For now, I'd confirmed this much: even if you shot it and hit, it genuinely would not die.

Director Baek Moon-seong, a white-haired old man. Team 1 Leader Kim Chun-gyu, bald. And ranks one through ten had gathered.

With a dry, expressionless face, Cheon Seung-hyuk addressed everyone assembled in the situation room.

"Everyone, please be seated. I'll explain from the beginning."

He was about to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠produce the Seal of Cartibes in his hand when—

"Aigoo."

A man with a gravelly voice let out a groan.

"Director, you ain't even gotten those wounds stitched yet. How long's it been since we took down that Imugi, and you're already pullin' this? What's so damn important?!"

Kim Chi-gon, covered in gang-mascot tattoos, fidgeted with the clutch bag in his hand and snapped in that gravelly voice. The least fitting appearance in the entire Bureau. Anyone would have taken him for a private guild master, but he surprisingly worked diligently as a Certified Hunter. (They paid him a lot.)

A man whose damage and tanking were both overwhelming, so the Bureau was simply grateful to have him.

"Circumstances aren't ideal. I'd ask you to understand."

When Baek Moon-seong soothed him, the effect was tremendous. (They paid him a lot.)

Beside the now-docile thug, a seat still sat empty.

The guild master of Hongmaehwa had not come.

"Haaa."

Kim Chun-gyu let out a sigh. Hongmaehwa is always uncooperative.

A small assassination guild with no interest in gold or compensation. They could produce terrifying instantaneous burst damage, which made them necessary in difficult fights like this one. This time, we bring Hongmaehwa in no matter what. The only real method was appealing to the severity of the situation... but they were a tightly closed-off guild. The worry is anything but small. There was no other way. All he could do was refuse to give up.

Then—

"Can't I stream from here?!"

There was one whose voice had gone past hoarse and into ruined. His manners weren't any easier.

By "stream," he meant a YouTube stream. From here. In this room.

"Absolutely not."

Kim Chun-gyu tried to stop ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him. Number one in the tanker category. Even if he's rude, we have to play along. This wasn't the first or second time, so by now Kim Chun-gyu treated it as a form of greeting. Never easy, no matter how often I see him.

The difficulty started with his appearance. His entire body was covered in fur; he looked every inch a Dokkaebi. Anyone passing him on the street would have sworn he was a monster, but he was in fact a human being. His Awakening had simply been peculiar — and those who awakened that way ended up with temperaments to match, so they had no interest in joining a boring Bureau. They operated among themselves as the private guild Dokgak Village.

Honestly they were such oddballs they had nothing to boast about besides combat power, but either way, they were talent Korea always needed. Just showing up was something to be grateful for...

"Can't I stream? Why not? This is great content, isn't it?"

Kim Chun-gyu's capacity for disbelief was evaporating.

"My subscribers are waiting! I just hit a million, and the numbers are still climbing — if I film this, it'll blow up!"

Kim Chun-gyu's capacity for disbelief vanished entirely.

"Aaaand hello, subscribers!!!"

Kim Chun-gyu had now been stripped of even his last remaining wits.

"······."

He decided to ignore it.

Then a voice reached him that felt as if it were purifying his dirtied ears.

"Turn the stream off. That's a warning."

Yoon So-i, capable of area-of-effect healing, was an essential figure.

"Ah, y-yes. Sorry. Heheh."

Without her, even Dokgak Village took heavy losses in difficult battles. She was the only person here with her head fully screwed on, and Kim Chun-gyu's bald scalp recovered a bit of life.

After Yoon So-i's intervention, the remaining High Rankers stopped making a fuss and began to focus.

"Hunter Cheon Seung-hyuk. You're saying the problem is what you received as the MVP reward?"

Yoon So-i asked, and Cheon Seung-hyuk immediately produced the Seal of Cartibes and delivered the main point.

"Mm."

Yoon So-i, who had been listening, answered first.

The crux of it was this: Cartibes's egg was hidden somewhere, and they had to find it and destroy it before it hatched.

In other countries, after the Seal of Cartibes was discovered, a hatchling had emerged from somewhere in less than a week.

We're already too late.

Before hatching, sequential erosion spread across a wide area, which meant the disaster was already underway.

"We need to find it immediately. I'll say it again: the hatchling's birth means our defeat. Early destruction of the egg is the objective."

The related Villains had a precedent in Necrophilia — a Villain guild that had been put down, but given the situation, they had surely revived. They would start attacking soon. To interfere with the search for the egg.

"You may consider it already begun."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than an ominous message appeared on the status windows of the Bureau personnel, Baek Moon-seong and Kim Chun-gyu included. It was a message that appeared whenever a situation arose, familiar by now — but this time, every word had to be taken seriously.

Not a Gate. Terrorism.

"So the Villain side had already progressed this far beneath the surface. We were late to catch on."

"Regret can wait until after we've dealt with this. It won't be too late then."

"I suppose so."

While Yoon So-i and Cheon Seung-hyuk were about to gather their gear—

"I'll go! I'll go! I'll go!"

Heads turned.

"I'll head out! Skeleton soldiers aren't even hard, you know. I'll take care of the skeletons, so nobody worry! You all go find the egg! The egg!"

Hae-dong's voice rang out, bright and eager. And then he fled the situation room faster than anyone.

He seems especially unhinged today. What's crawling up his ass this time to make him carry on like that?

Watching a dokkaebi who couldn't be controlled at all in a serious situation, the fatigue hit Kim Chun-gyu all at once. And of course he had to be exceptionally talented. Expecting fully organized movement from a private guild was a stretch to begin with.

Kim Chun-gyu's brow furrowed.

"I'll go with him. I don't like the look of this."

Yoon So-i rose from her seat.

"The rest of us need to search for the egg."

Cheon Seung-hyuk, Kim Chi-gon, and the High Rankers all began searching the city.

"Huff. Hah. Huff. Hah."

KUUUUNG— KUUNG—

Hae-dong's body, having fully committed to the transformation in an instant, had grown to roughly three times its size. Jumping power surged insanely upward. He vaulted from building to building, heading for the shared location of the skeleton soldiers.

At the same time he opened the System to start streaming — and the video he'd been watching, Gargoyle Subjugation Footage, was playing, with a dislike already pressed.

"Huff. Hah. Huff. Hah."

His face was naturally fierce, but right now it was several times more furious than usual, and that expression crumpled further every time the views and likes on the gargoyle video climbed.

For a dokkaebi, competitive spirit was life itself.

Still, at first he had even sent a contract to that hunter called Unregistered. Get him on their side, stream together, gather attention, pull all kinds of satisfying pranks — that had been the plan. What came back was silence. Instead, the only thing left was the gargoyle video that had stolen every eye and every scrap of buzz from the YouTube he'd been so happily absorbed in lately.

"Subscribers! This time, I'll show you something myself!!!"

Unlike that video that reeked of being staged, he was going to show them what real strength looked like. Right now.

"Hah. This is fucking hard."

Trying to do it properly, it wasn't going the way I wanted. Still, I'd improved quite a bit. Complete beginners really did get better in a straight line. But—

Kuuung······ Kuuung······

A strange sound from far away. Faint screams, too.

No Gate even opened, so what is that?

It seemed to be happening somewhere very far away, not yet visible to the naked eye. Which somehow made it even more fucking unsettling. It wasn't a Gate, so why was this happening. Don't tell me—

"Necrophilia?! Fuck, I knew it!"

I peeked out the window a crack, but I still couldn't see anything. There seemed to be a fight going on in the distance.

I'm already scared shitless — you make this any scarier and we're all actually going to die. I'm dead serious right now.

I meant it. I would actually kill them. Those bastards.

I picked up the rifle.