I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 190
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 190
Ep. 190
Seongnyun had a vague inkling of why Ilgyeok had come to find him.
“Without further ado, I believe you’ve come to me this time regarding a guarantee of safety.”
“Precisely.”
To be honest, both Ihyeon and Seongnyun thought the same thing: “It’s finally happening.”
If safety assurance weren’t necessary, it would be far too obvious that Ilgyeok wouldn’t need to hide his identity any longer.
Seongnyun nodded with a serious expression.
“We are fully prepared on our end. We’ve already completed sufficient consultations with the Presidential Office and the Ministry of Justice. Whatever you ask, we will fulfill it faithfully.”
Seongnyun resolved again and again that he would not change his expression even if the most heinous crimes were confessed from Ihyeon’s lips.
Even if he were the most terrible criminal in the world.
While it would be an endless sin to the victims, if one deliberately covered it up, even the fact that such a crime existed in the world could be erased.
This demonstrated just how great the value of Ilgyeok’s existence was, and the value of those he would save in the future.
“Hmm….”
Ihyeon’s hesitation was palpable even as he made a welcoming sound.
He appeared to be having considerable difficulty speaking.
Seongnyun grew tense as well, quietly watching his lips.
“Actually, I don’t think even a pardon is necessary.”
“Then…?”
Was the matter not as serious as he’d thought?
Either way, Seongnyun was rather relieved.
He could demonstrate his trustworthiness by resolving the request immediately upon hearing it.
Meanwhile, Ihyeon, with an increasingly awkward expression even with his upgraded Dummy rank, confessed.
“I awakened before my discharge from the military, so I hid it and was discharged, but how could we possibly consult with the Ministry of National Defense about this?”
“….”
This was the moment when the massive reason Ilgyeok had hidden his identity all this time was finally revealed to the world!
And Seongnyun, after his silence, opened his mouth.
“Th-that’s all?”
“Yes.”
Ihyeon tilted his head as if to ask why anything more was needed.
‘Honestly, I thought it would be resolved simply by now… but isn’t it a bit rude to be that disappointed?’
It wasn’t as if he’d thought of him as an atrociously heinous criminal.
While Ihyeon was thinking such thoughts, Seongnyun stammered on.
“D-did you not kill anyone before your discharge?”
“No! I was discharged safely.”
“Or perhaps you committed large-scale defense procurement fraud…?”
“I didn’t even receive proper overtime pay….”
‘Then why…?’
Seongnyun was so deflated that he felt completely hollow.
Was he saying that all these people had lost sleep over something as trivial as awakening before discharge?
“What the hell…”
“?”
“…Those Defense Ministry bastards, harassing Ilgyeok over such a trivial reason. Hahaha.”
Seongnyun, seasoned civil servant that he was, managed to correct his words just before things went awry.
Right, it was possible for someone to awaken before discharge and hide their identity.
It was a bit excessive, certainly, but no one could take responsibility for the five years of re-enlistment if things went wrong.
Still, South Korea could not afford to lose Ilgyeok.
If the situation wasn’t resolved properly here and Ilgyeok truly departed for a foreign country as feared, things would spiral beyond control.
‘And when you think about it, isn’t it actually fortunate that the matter is so straightforward?’
The pardon recommendation authority—a privilege of the Management Bureau.
But conversely, it was an authority that burdened both the Management Bureau and the government considerably.
It was essentially the state, which had the duty to discover and punish crimes, stepping forward to turn a blind eye instead.
However, in cases like this involving disputes between government agencies, one should welcome it wholeheartedly—boots off, underwear off, the whole nine yards.
Ihyeon felt reassured seeing Seongnyun’s reaction.
‘Fortunately, my timing was perfect.’
It had been the right call to visit the Management Bureau after reaching the 80th Floor.
Wasn’t this the kind of strong card needed to ask the Defense Ministry to resolve things amicably?
…If Seongnyun heard such thoughts, he would leap up indignantly, perform five and a half somersaults through the air, then strike the back of Ihyeon’s head thirty times while calling it nonsense. But regardless, that’s what Ihyeon believed.
Ihyeon cleared his throat awkwardly, making a small sound.
“Would it be possible, sir?”
“Pardon? Possible?”
Seongnyun’s eyes widened as if asking what kind of question that was.
Was this even a matter of possible or impossible?
Seongnyun was himself a discharged sergeant from the front-line unit!
Not from the Marines or Special Forces, but he certainly knew the maxim: if it can’t be done, make it possible.
Seongnyun stood up abruptly and spoke.
“Shall we move to a different location?”
It seemed the time had come to show this hero of South Korea the power and will of the South Korean government.
Whatever Ilgyeok wanted.
To exaggerate slightly, Seongnyun was prepared to pluck not just stars and the moon for him, but even dismantle the Defense Ministry itself.
‘Ah, if I dismantle the Defense Ministry, I’d naturally obtain the stars as well.’
* * *
Ihyeon, Jia, and Seongnyun ascended one floor from the original secret meeting room and entered a new chamber.
It remained a security facility with stringent protection measures, but the difference was that electronic devices, including mobile phones, were permitted here.
Seongnyun took out his phone and pressed buttons this way and that before showing the screen to Ihyeon.
– National Defense Planning and Coordination Director
“I’ll call right now.”
“Gasp!”
“?”
“Is it… is it alright to call someone of that rank?”
“….”
I stared at my phone screen in shock.
Not the Special Forces Command or Army Headquarters—the National Defense Ministry itself.
And not some low-ranking bureaucrat, but the National Defense Planning and Coordination Director!
…I still harbored tremendous fear and respect toward the prestigious positions within the National Defense Ministry.
‘Is this an act? Or is it real?’
Seongnyun suspected something, despite the hologram, because my shock and fear came through so vividly.
Perhaps I was worried whether a mere Planning and Coordination Director could actually resolve this matter.
After all, someone as cautious as Ilgyeok might want a more authoritative figure to handle it.
Seongnyun asked tentatively.
“Would you like me to call the Minister instead?”
“Whoa whoa whoa! Stop!”
“….”
Well, it was just a brief moment of comedy that unfolded while dealing with someone from a military background.
My reaction clearly revealed that I was no criminal, but rather a loyal former soldier.
Seongnyun proceeded with the original plan and called the National Defense Planning and Coordination Director.
The call was answered before the phone could ring more than a few times.
– Yes, Manager. What brings this call?
“Ah, Director, I’m actually calling to request urgent assistance. Are you alone right now?”
– Yes, yes, go ahead.
“It’s regarding an exemption from the discharged personnel recall law.”
– Ah~ I see, Manager, even you’re coming to me for this. First, please provide the military service number.
“?”
Listening to their conversation, I tilted my head in confusion.
‘How is this proceeding so smoothly?’
The discharged personnel recall law?
That was precisely the law I had dreaded so much—the one that required all Awakeners who had awakened before discharge to serve an additional five years, even if they held civilian status.
Could such a terrifying mandate be exempted with just a military service number?
Uncertain but trusting, I wrote my military service number on the paper Seongnyun handed me.
– Let me see… Yes, it’s been processed.
“Thank you, Director.”
– Yes, thank you for your hard work~
As soon as Seongnyun relayed this, the call ended.
I tilted my head in confusion.
That’s really it?
“It’s done.”
It really was done.
Clap clap clap—
I found myself clapping involuntarily at how swiftly everything had been handled.
“You’re truly remarkable, Manager. I never expected it to be resolved so quickly.”
“Not at all.”
Seongnyun felt unsatisfied despite having resolved Ihyeon’s request.
It was like imagining one hundred but only using the power of one.
“But do you receive requests like this often?”
“Fairly regularly. Since Management Bureau oversight is preferable to re-enlistment, there are quite a few Hunters who make such requests.”
“I-I see. The National Defense Ministry seems to accept readily as well…”
“Yes, of course they’re not without personnel shortages, but the Defense Ministry isn’t the department that primarily enters the Tower, is it? Rather than create unnecessary complications, they prefer to cooperate.”
Ihyeon swallowed hard before asking.
“Then typically, at what floor level would such requests…”
“Hmm? Well, roughly around the 30th Floor… Of course, your conquest rating would need to be around C-rank on average.”
I should have come sooner!
Crash—
That day, my world crumbled.
How long had it been since I cleared the 30th Floor, and I’m only now coming here?!
Meanwhile, Seongnyun offered an explanation as if I could now rest easy.
“No one will be able to identify your true identity. The reason is…”
Ihyeon naturally continued the thought.
“The Personnel Manager won’t be able to access my military service number, and the National Defense Ministry will simply think it’s a routine exemption request.”
“Precisely.”
Seongnyun marveled, thinking this was indeed insight worthy of Ilgyeok.
It could be described as simple double encryption, in a manner of speaking.
Each party could only access certain information, so no one could complete the full picture.
Even by my own assessment, it was a sufficiently secure method.
Of course, if someone was determined to find out, it might be possible, but if that were the case, there was no way for me to respond regardless of what measures I took.
It was safer to build a solid relationship with the Management Bureau instead.
“Well then… Let’s go, Jia.”
Ihyeon began to leave with slightly dragging steps.
Seongnyun immediately grabbed Ihyeon’s arm.
“Wait, just a moment! Are you really leaving?”
“Pardon?”
Ihyeon looked at him with a puzzled expression, wondering why Seongnyun was suddenly doing this.
From Seongnyun’s perspective, he naturally had to stop Ihyeon.
He’d prevented re-enlistment, but there were still many matters left to handle.
Was Ilgyeok’s only reason for visiting the Management Bureau really just to avoid re-enlistment?
Seongnyun found it impossible to believe.
No allowances, no subsidies, no compensation, no other minor requests—and he’s just going to leave like this?
That couldn’t be right.
‘This must be his way of telling us to propose something ourselves.’
Seongnyun’s seasoned mind began working rapidly.
“Is there nothing else you require?”
“I don’t have any requests.”
Ihyeon answered honestly.
Seongnyun had already done enough by preventing my reinstatement—he was my greatest benefactor.
I had never intended to ask for anything more, and I never would.
“That can’t possibly be true!”
“No, I’m saying I don’t need anything….”
Of course, Seongnyun had already made up his mind firmly.
Since he’d already prepared a hundred things, he might as well give them all.
“Please, have a seat. I’ve prepared everything.”
“???”
It was a peculiar situation—the recipient insisted he needed nothing, while the giver was desperate to give.
Ihyeon sat back down at Seongnyun’s strong insistence.
“Now, please read through this carefully.”
Seongnyun pulled out the documents he’d prepared from his file folder and laid them before Ihyeon.
Ihyeon and Jia began reading through the documents blankly.
But the contents were….
“!!!”
Far from ordinary.
Judicial privileges excluding the four heinous crimes, unconditional rental of state-managed items, special tax law application for Hunters, and so on.
And Seongnyun’s documents didn’t stop there—they poured out endlessly like some magical pouch.
Immediate cash support of ten billion won, and by the time similar items kept appearing, Ihyeon finally had to grab Seongnyun’s arm.
“Please, wait just a moment, Personnel Manager.”
“Yes? There’s still much more.”
“How can you waste the people’s tax money like this!”
“?”
Hadn’t the positions just reversed?
“…Ah.”
A beat too late, Ihyeon realized it too and quietly released his grip, calming his excitement.
“Ahem, in any case, this level of special treatment is truly unnecessary.”
For me, it was a natural refusal.
Receiving benefits was fine.
But to receive benefits?
My identity would inevitably become exposed.
Even if they wanted to give me tax benefits, there was the problem of ‘to whom?’, and the simplest cash support faced the same issue.
Surely the state wouldn’t resort to meeting secretly in parks like spies and handing over bags of cash.
To receive official support, I would naturally have to take an official position.
I was reluctant about that.
But Seongnyun tilted his head as if he didn’t understand what I meant.
“It’s not special treatment.”
“?”
I looked at him with an expression that said that made no sense, but there wasn’t a trace of deception in Seongnyun’s eyes.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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