The Sniper Hides His Eyes

Every hunter carves out their own legend. Some become the guardians of an entire nation, while others are remembered as heroes who led humanity forward. Even the great figures recorded in history books pale in comparison to their achievements. Yet even those people struggle against one particular foe.

The World Boss.

These entities are on a completely different level from the monsters that pour out of Gates. They are catastrophes. Disasters that no single country’s military could hope to stop, calamities that demand the world unite in a raid to defeat them.

But I was the one who ended that catastrophe.

With a single pull of the trigger.

“……”

Grim Reaper. Quite the grandiose title. Titles were like scars that revealed the path a hunter had walked. The more intense the title, the greater the proof of their strength.

Hunters with “god” in their titles are basically the strongest in the world, aren’t they?

Since I couldn’t see, I listened to the radio a lot. Stories drifting through the static. Among them, the ones mentioned most often were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the handful of national-power-level hunters called “gods.”

And now that was me.

All I did was lift a finger.

With one little click, the rewards had poured in. Two tickets. Bundles of paper. A blue orb. And a hundred golden coins. They all settled neatly into my inventory window.

But.

Was this good?

For soloing something that powerful, doesn’t this feel a little… shabby?

I had no idea. I was someone who had lived my life groping through the world. A shut-in who barely left his room couldn’t possibly know the ins and outs of the hunter industry. I had no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠frame of reference to judge whether these rewards were incredible or pathetic.

I’m curious. Should I try using them?

I started with the equipment draw ticket.

Flash!

The moment I used the ticket, ten cards shot out. They floated gently in the air and slowly circled around me. All of them had the same back design. The figure of the ‘Immortal Knight’ I had defeated was vividly engraved on them.

It looked like I had to pick one.

What should I choose?

I stared at them for a long time. But they all had the exact same pattern. How was I supposed to tell them apart?

Since it’s a World Boss reward, something good should come out, right?

I had no way of knowing which choice would be the best. This was giving me decision paralysis.

After thinking for a moment, I belatedly remembered that I possessed clairvoyance.

I smacked my own head.

“…Idiot. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Why didn’t I think of that sooner?”

The instant I opened my eyes, the world exploded into me. A flood of information overwhelmed my vision. The texture of objects, their structure, their hidden secrets—everything was laid bare. A headache like thunder roaring inside my skull crashed over me.

Maybe because my level had gone up a bit, it was less painful than before. But still.

“Ugh.”

It was still agonizing. The entire world was pressing down on me so heavily I wanted to just close my eyes again. Seeing too much was a pain I couldn’t handle. I still couldn’t control this ability freely.

But.

I couldn’t give up on card gacha.

“So what if my head and eyes hurt? As long as I can choose, that’s enough.”

If I looked in a mirror right now, it might say [Status: Pickled in Dopamine].

Just as I was about to peer through the cards—

“……?”

I stared blankly at the message that appeared before my eyes. What the hell was this?

My private little festival of card gacha had been interrupted by the System. The secrets inside the cards were now hidden even from my eyes. This was straight-up sabotage.

“No way.”

I frowned in disappointment. The only thing I could see now were faint, blurry colors spreading across each card. Each one shimmered with a dreamy hue—black, gold, purple, red, blue…

How am I supposed to choose based on color alone?

Five of them were white, so white was probably the most common and worthless grade. That meant I still had to pick one from the rest.

Let’s go with black.

It was the color that suited me best, after all—a person who had lived his entire life in darkness.

I lightly tapped the card with my fingertip. The black light writhed like a living creature. The dark wave flowed along my finger and coalesced into a single shape at my fingertip.

“Oh.”

The effect was flashy. I had a strong feeling I’d hit the jackpot.

The item had a title attached. I had never heard of anything like it. Emotions Dyed in Ash. It wasn’t quite on the level of Grim Reaper, but it still sounded grandiose. I was sure I’d pulled something amazing, yet all its stats were hidden.

It seemed I wouldn’t be able to use it without appraising it first. I let out a small chuckle.

Good thing I have clairvoyance.

Appraisal? Who needs it.

I opened my eyes again. The weapon was laid completely bare before me.

The weapon’s form was hazy, its edges blurred like heat haze. If you didn’t know what it was, it would look like gray smoke rising. And on top of that, it was a parasitic hunter weapon.

Shhhk!

There was no time to stop it.

“Oh my.”

Asadia quietly wrapped around the handgun I was holding. Like a living being, like something trying to devour my weapon, it flowed over the surface of the pistol like water. In that brief moment, the handgun transformed into an entirely different weapon.

The barrel stretched out long and sleek, its surface etched with ash-gray patterns. Darkness spread across it like light. As if the weapon had become one that could fire darkness itself. The small, light revolver had now become a full-sized sniper rifle.

“This… is way too big?”

The end of the barrel looked like it would touch the ground, and the body was as thick as my chest. I wasn’t even sure I could handle something like this. It wasn’t heavy, though. On the contrary, the grip felt strangely perfect, as if it had been made for me.

I barely managed to grasp the handle with both hands. Excitement and confidence slowly rose inside me. I could feel my emotions heightening. Some kind of power was accumulating within Asadia. A hot thrill that began at my fingertips spread through my arms and across my entire body.

Just holding it stacks the effect?

My eyes could accurately read even the changes in my own body. Before me, my current status appeared in visual form.

I felt overflowing with power, yet at the same time I was walking a precarious tightrope—afraid I might be swept away by that very power.

I flung the weapon away.

The moment I let go, the burning energy that had been boiling inside me vanished in an instant. My whole body felt hollow. It was like a river that had overflowed in my hands had suddenly run dry.

…I really need to be careful with this.

This power was undeniably seductive. An ordinary person would have been swallowed by Asadia, lost in that scorching elation, without even realizing how many stacks they had or how close they were to ‘Domination.’ That must have been how even Achilles had become addicted to this power and ultimately lost himself.

But I was different.

I could see my own emotions. Thanks to my clairvoyance, I could tell exactly how many Elation stacks I had and how close I was to the Domination state. Seeing too much was a problem, but at least I could handle this weapon.

When I thought about how I would have become Asadia’s prey without the ability to read my own emotions, a slight chill ran down my spine.

“But did it really have to be a sniper rifle?”

How was I supposed to carry something like this around? I felt a little disappointed.

Then, as if it had understood my words, Asadia changed back into revolver form.

It really was an easy-to-understand creature.

***

In the skill gacha, nine out of ten cards were white. The white cards floated around me as if mocking me. I had been expecting a World Boss reward, but white?

“This is seriously too much.”

The moment I hung my head in disappointment, the only card with a different color caught my eye. Blue.

“…Let’s believe in this one.”

…Calm?

At first I was disappointed by the name alone, but as I read the description, I gradually began to feel the true value of this skill.

Not a bad pull at all.

After obtaining the Calm skill, it became much easier to control the emotions that had surged like flames with every stack. The gauge increase per stack was about 4%. In theory I could go up to 25 stacks, but for safety’s sake, 20 stacks seemed like a reasonable compromise.

If I handled it well, this would be an incredibly good weapon.

Next were the scrolls. It was common knowledge that the lower the success rate, the better the potential effect.

“Why are they all just failures?”

Skill Enhancement Scroll (1%/Failure) × 1

Skill Enhancement Scroll (10%/Failure) × 10

Equipment Enhancement Scroll (1%/Failure) × 1

Equipment Enhancement Scroll (10%/Failure) × 10

Of course I used clairvoyance on all of them. My eyes could even observe probability itself, so I saw straight through the true nature of the scrolls. Every single one of them was filled with nothing but the fate of failure.

Still, I couldn’t just throw them away.

Out of 22 scrolls, not a single one succeeds. I should sell them later if I can.

The fact that they were all duds would be my little secret.

What am I supposed to do with this essence?

A single blue orb floated alone in my inventory window. It looked special, but for some reason it didn’t catch my eye. Whenever I looked at draw tickets or scrolls with my clairvoyance, dopamine would explode inside me, but this one didn’t trigger that urge at all.

Well, it’s probably nothing special.

Still, curiosity always draws out something. When I took the orb out, it was only the size of a fingernail. I had no idea what such a tiny thing rolling around in my palm could possibly be used for.

Even so, it was a World Boss reward. It had to be extraordinary, right?

Just as I steeled myself for the headache and prepared to use clairvoyance on it—

Hahyang-i, who had been lying at my feet, suddenly lifted her head.

“Woof!”

“Hahyang, what are you— Hey! That’s not a snack!”

I reached out in a panic, but it was already too late. The blue orb disappeared into Hahyang-i’s mouth in the blink of an eye. All I could do was stare at the scene in utter disbelief.

Hahyang-i had spoken. Or more precisely, it was someone else’s voice borrowing Hahyang-i’s body.