I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 271

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 271
Ep. 271
Another peaceful day at the One-Strike Service Corps headquarters—or rather, what was now the One-Strike Foundation.
Seongcheol sat in his office as always, chatting casually with the original members of the One-Strike Service Corps.
“Boss, shouldn’t we spruce things up a bit now that we’re a foundation?”
“Otherwise, what’s the difference from before?”
It had been quite some time since the One-Strike Service Corps transformed into a foundation.
Seongcheol became the chairman of the One-Strike Foundation, and most of the original members secured director positions.
Jonggeon, instead of joining the board of directors, took over Seongcheol’s position as commander of the One-Strike Service Corps.
However, despite the separation of the foundation and the service corps, no dramatic changes occurred in such a short time.
They continued using the same building, and their work remained largely unchanged.
It was only natural.
‘I was just buying time with that talk!’
He had boldly spoken of founding a foundation to serve as a platform, saying they couldn’t remain trapped within the small framework of the One-Strike Service Corps, but truthfully, there was no plan beyond that.
As a result, the One-Strike Foundation was essentially an honorary position, except for the project sponsoring Frontier.
“…The One-Strike Foundation hasn’t finished its verification period yet. If we suddenly started living lavishly just because we were founded, we could face backlash. We need to maintain an image of frugality and modesty.”
“Wow! That’s our boss!”
At Seongcheol’s words, the original members exclaimed in admiration and gave him thumbs up.
They seemed convinced for the moment, but Seongcheol didn’t hold great expectations for them.
‘They’ll probably voice the same complaints again tomorrow anyway.’
This was no different from being a kindergarten director managing grown children rather than a foundation chairman.
However, Seongcheol harbored no particular resentment.
He could explain it a hundred times a day if needed; he just hoped they wouldn’t cause any major trouble!
“How many nights do we have to wait before we can drive luxury cars and be called directors, boss?”
“How many nights until we’re sipping wine in a penthouse?”
‘…But this seems to have gone beyond a matter of intelligence.’
Earlier, he’d used a metaphor comparing them to a kindergarten, but somehow it felt like an actual kindergarten now.
Watching the original members spout childish remarks like “how many nights,” Seongcheol barely suppressed a sigh.
“About 3,000 nights?”
“Kyaaaaa!!!”
“That’s… way too long…”
“We’ll grow old and die before that, boss.”
While Seongcheol was enjoying time with the original members.
Suddenly, the outside became extremely noisy.
“Huh?”
Given the lively atmosphere of the One-Strike Service Corps, it wasn’t unusual for the outside to get noisy.
But this time, the commotion seemed to be coming from outside the building, not from within.
‘Did some celebrity show up? Or did another ranker come asking to volunteer?’
Though it wasn’t a common occurrence, it wasn’t entirely unprecedented either, so Seongcheol stood up and looked out the window.
Sure enough, a large crowd had gathered outside, surrounding two people and cheering loudly.
“Who on earth came by this time?”
“Who is it, hyung?”
“Who is it?”
‘…They’re Hunters, aren’t they?’
No matter how dull one might be, these were certainly Hunters of considerable caliber, operating around the 60th to 70th floors.
How could I only realize something was amiss now, with all that commotion outside?
Though I suppose I had no expectations of them to begin with, so there was nothing to be disappointed about.
Seongcheol narrowed his eyes and surveyed the people surrounded by the crowd.
More precisely, it was one person among them who was drawing all the fervor.
The moment Seongcheol recognized her face, he gasped and jumped back.
‘That, that person is!!!!’
Why would she reveal herself in such a shabby place?
Could she have happened to have business in this area?
But she was heading toward this building far too deliberately for that.
Seongcheol shouted toward the original members.
“Emergency! This is an emergency!”
“Huh? A Gate opened instead of someone arriving?”
“Ah, so that’s why you’re screaming like that.”
Good grief, these fools!
Seongcheol, as if asking whom he could trust, dashed outside himself.
Just then, Jonggeon came rushing into the office.
“Hyung! Hyung! It’s all done now!”
Seongcheol thought that perhaps Jonggeon had finally grasped the gravity of the situation.
If he returned the slush funds he’d been skimming now and showed remorse, he might just escape divine punishment!
But then Jonggeon, rushing toward Seongcheol, suddenly cried out:
“We’ve really succeeded now! Jia, the Spirit Jia of One-Strike has come to visit us!”
“?”
Had he lost his mind so much that he confused success with death?
Seongcheol couldn’t fathom why Jonggeon was jumping with such joy.
* * *
The ‘power’ that Ihyeon spoke of.
It was none other than the One-Strike Foundation.
Though Ihyeon had used his ID until now, there had been no real connection between him and the One-Strike Foundation.
But now that he’d faced such a formidable opponent as Ungdo, he intended to properly make his move.
A skilled sniper must sometimes resort to underhanded tactics!
‘And honestly, someone of the Tower Association chairman’s stature wouldn’t call it cowardly to bring in the One-Strike Foundation.’
Thus, Ihyeon sent his two proxies, Deokhuun and Jia, to the One-Strike Foundation.
Jia was proof that they represented One-Strike’s will.
Deokhuun served as a negotiator handling practical matters.
And so, following Ihyeon’s intentions, Deokhuun and Jia entered the One-Strike Foundation.
Deokhuun felt slightly nervous standing before Seongcheol, the chairman of the One-Strike Foundation who looked far more menacing than necessary, the executives under him, and Jonggeon, the captain of the One-Strike Service Corps.
‘They said catching villains is their main job, but their expressions are absolutely fierce.’
On the internet, the One-Strike Service Corps was famous for knowing suspiciously well about villains.
Whether or not that reputation was exaggerated, if you met them on the street and simply called them villains, they would believe it without question.
Meanwhile, Jia maintained her characteristic composure, looking completely unruffled regardless of who stood before her.
‘Even so, shouldn’t the boss himself come to something this important?’
Deokhuun worried that the One-Strike Foundation might respond uncooperatively simply because only representatives had attended.
They had come to propose building an alliance front to confront none other than Park Wungdo.
And the principal party himself was absent from such a crucial meeting!
No matter how much the One-Strike Foundation was a group gathered by fandom for Ihyeon, it was no longer an organization to be taken lightly.
In terms of sheer numbers alone, they had more members than any guild in Korea, and even expanding globally, few organizations surpassed them.
Moreover, since everyone gathered voluntarily to participate, their organizational cohesion was incomparably stronger than any guild.
Even accounting for the fact that the figures included many members from other guilds and thus contained considerable padding, Seongcheol received first-class guild master treatment wherever he went.
So Deokhuun wanted to first obtain understanding on that point.
“Ihyeon sent us as his representatives. We hope you won’t mind…”
“Wooooaahhhhh!!!!”
“It’s Jia!”
“The goddess of the Tower, Jia!”
“Jia with that milky complexion!”
“Waahhh! Mom, I did it!!!”
“Wh-what…?”
But the One-Strike Foundation’s reaction was unexpected.
Who could have imagined that rough-looking men with bulky frames would cry like children upon seeing Jia, tears streaming down their faces in joy?
‘Isn’t this better than if the boss had come himself?’
Deokhuun reconsidered whether his assumptions about the One-Strike Foundation might be slightly off.
Jonggeon grabbed Deokhuun’s hand firmly and nodded.
“No need to apologize at all. Isn’t Ihyeon’s mystique precisely in not revealing himself? Rather, we’re even more delighted that both of you have come!”
“Ah, yes, thank you.”
“Jia! Please give us an autograph!”
“Just take one photo with me!”
“Get lost, you bastard! Don’t you dare put your ugly mug next to Jia!”
“You’re exactly like on TV!”
“You idiot, she’s even prettier in person!”
Although Ihyeon himself didn’t come, the One-Strike Foundation gave their representatives a rousing welcome!
Deokhuun and Jia were practically dragged to Seongcheol’s office.
“Hey, is that… okay?”
“Why?”
“Oh, what? They were our executives, right? Phew, I almost misunderstood.”
Fortunately, since they were original members of the One-Strike Service Corps, they were spared—otherwise they would have been mistaken for innocent citizens being kidnapped and dragged away by a gang.
Sparkle—
Meanwhile, Deokhuun and Jia sat among the Original Members of the One-Strike Service Corps, whose faces brimmed with eager anticipation, and they felt an overwhelming sense of pressure.
‘…Well, come to think of it, Jia is a Spirit, so maybe only I’m feeling this burden.’
It felt like standing on a single boat in a vast ocean where man-eating sharks were constantly circling, waiting for their chance to strike!
Yet there was one person who shared a surprisingly similar emotion with Deokhuun.
‘Isn’t that person the captain? Why does he have that look in his eyes?’
…That person was none other than Seongcheol.
Seongcheol tried to maintain a composed expression, but he couldn’t escape the gaze of Deokhuun, who had weathered countless storms throughout his life.
Deokhuun decided to activate his Appraisal skill just in case.
The result was astounding.
‘Good heavens, how can a person be this dark!’
The Appraisal skill allowed one to see a light that grew stronger in proportion to the hidden value of its target.
Yet Seongcheol was emanating pitch-black darkness instead of light!
Of course, even if the Appraisal skill showed darkness, it didn’t mean that person was plotting some sinister scheme.
After all, a skill that objectively assessed value wouldn’t make such qualitative judgments.
However, when darkness appeared, it meant—
‘…he’s gotten entangled in something completely unrelated to his own abilities or intentions.’
Deokhuun never imagined that Seongcheol could be in such a predicament.
Wasn’t the One-Strike Foundation an organization formed voluntarily by people who revered the spirit of Ilgyeok?
Even with all his experience, Deokhuun couldn’t possibly guess at Seongcheol’s complicated past.
In any case, Deokhuun and Seongcheol found themselves sharing a strange sense of kinship.
‘W-why on earth did the people from the One-Strike side come all the way here? Could they have figured out that we’ve been making money behind the scenes using their name? No, that can’t be it—I should come clean if things go wrong. Besides, Jonggeon was the one who pocketed all the money, not me. If this conversation starts going south, I’ll switch sides immediately….’
Seongcheol certainly had his own rather complicated calculations going on.
In the end, only Jonggeon and the other Original Members of the One-Strike Service Corps were excited.
They seemed to be eagerly anticipating what message Ilgyeok—the driving force they had relied on all this time—was trying to convey.
Sparkle, sparkle—
Their eyes certainly had a pure gleam that didn’t match their appearances at all.
“So, the reason we’ve come here is this.”
Deokhuun opened his mouth to state his business amid that oppressive atmosphere.
Though Ihyeon had sent him, even Deokhuun thought it was such a far-fetched proposal that he wondered, ‘Will this really work?’
It seemed quite disconnected from the purpose of the One-Strike Foundation.
“Deokhuun, please speak freely.”
But with Jia’s reassuring words beside him, Deokhuun squeezed his eyes shut and spoke.
“We wish to bring down the Tower Industry Alliance together with the One-Strike Foundation.”
“??!?!?!!!”
Upon hearing Deokhuun’s words, Seongcheol and the Original Members gasped with their mouths agape.
Perhaps it was because an opponent with a far grander scale than they had anticipated suddenly appeared.
Disbelieving, one of the Original Members stammered out.
“The… Tower… Industry… Alliance…?”
“What is that?”
“I… don’t know….”
“Are they frightening creatures?”
…It wasn’t a matter of scale, but rather that I simply didn’t know much about Tower Practitioners themselves.
‘Should I leave now?’

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————