I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 280
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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 280
Ep. 280
[ One-Strike Knight Order Effect? One-Strike Goods, Byproduct Market Share Breaks Through 5%! ]
[ One-Strike Goods, Their Innovation is One-Strike ]
The following article was news that would have made Deokhuun absolutely delighted to hear.
A 5% market share placed them squarely among major corporations, and considering One-Strike Goods had only recently launched, it was nothing short of astounding growth.
Deokhuun, who had boasted so confidently that I should simply trust him.
I recalled our first meeting and let out a quiet chuckle.
Myself, afraid my identity would be exposed, unable to immediately sell even the few magic stones I had, distributing them bit by bit.
And Deokhuun back then, a small-time businessman dealing only with a handful of individual Hunters.
The fact that these two people had come together and were now shaking Korea was nothing short of remarkable.
But this was certainly Deokhuun’s domain.
I hadn’t appointed him as my agent alongside Jia for nothing.
So what should I, Ihyeon, do now?
“You all ready?”
“Of course! Of course!”
“I shall follow you, Master.”
“Chirp chirp chirp.”
I needed to fulfill my role as their lord, as One-Strike.
I smiled as I looked at my reliable subordinates, brimming with confidence as always.
Since crushing the Dokkaebi on the 85th floor, the Spirits had completely shed their trauma, filling me with warmth.
Blue, who had joined afterward, seemed to be gradually adapting to life with me and the rest of the family.
Now I had to step into a new world.
“Tomorrow is the day.”
A space that only a handful of Hunters, including the Hero, had ever set foot in—a realm so unexplored it would be no exaggeration to call it virgin territory.
The true 90-level floors awaited us.
That day, the 9 o’clock news carried this headline.
– Good evening, viewers. The Administrative Bureau has made an official announcement that tomorrow, One-Strike, ranked first, will attempt to conquer the 91st floor. All eyes are on whether One-Strike can succeed in a single attempt as before…
Just as it always happened whenever One-Strike entered a new tier, there were certainly reactions of anxiety.
– Yes, Professor. Of course, it’s joyful that Korea has produced a 90-level Hunter, but there are also concerns, aren’t there?
– That’s correct. Well… Currently, Seo Suyeon, ranked second, remains on the 89th floor. According to well-informed sources, Seo Suyeon has entered a rest period with no plans to challenge the 90th floor for some time. If the 90-level floors prove more difficult than expected in this situation, what happens next? There are concerns that the Timer has been used too recklessly thus far…
The 90-level floors were simply too high.
Given that, such reactions from certain quarters were, in a sense, natural.
Under normal circumstances, the internet would have erupted in heated debate over whether One-Strike could penetrate the 90-level floors as before or not.
But the public opinion on the video streaming site broadcasting the news live was quite different.
[ └ Ugh, I’m tired of this now;;]
└ Real talk;; Every time we go to a new floor, I’m genuinely worried, I really don’t think it’ll work this time~
└ But seeing Seo Suyeon enter a rest period too, this time seems a bit…
└ Yes, member Suyeon Angel who didn’t even get the 89th floor contribution reward~
└ Ahem, let’s support sustainably. Your cafe nickname has been tracked and your account suspended, got it? Comparing Hunters with each other is a no-no
Haha, isn’t suspending a one-room cafe’s activities these days the same as violating human rights??
People were gradually becoming accustomed to the character known as Ilgyeok.
Ihyeon didn’t find this sensation unpleasant.
‘It’s as if I’m slowly carving out my place in this world.’
Adolescence was always a period of growth, so I’ll set that aside.
After the accident I experienced shortly after becoming an adult, I had been wandering and drifting without truly establishing myself.
Now I had finally found my proper role and stability.
Click—
At the root of it all was certainly my sniper rifle, which I had awakened to quite by accident, but equally important was something else.
“Son, are you going into the 91st floor tomorrow?”
“Yes, Father. Since it’s my first time entering the 90s floors, I need to get a feel for the atmosphere.”
“I see….”
“Please don’t overexert yourself. If it feels dangerous, come back out anytime. Your mother and I worry about you more than we do about the tower opening.”
“Of course. Even if everyone in the world criticized you, your mother and I will always be on your side, you know?”
The role my parents played was equally significant—they had steadfastly maintained their small place while thinking of their son during my period of wandering.
I still hadn’t forgotten the state of my room on the day I returned from service, as immaculate as if I’d used it just yesterday.
And now.
“Please don’t worry, Mother, Father. We will protect the Master’s safety with our very lives.”
“Mmm~ I’ll protect you better than the Armor Fox~ I’m a body that has now grasped the secrets of the sword~”
“Beep beep beep. Given current combat capabilities, I marginally exceed both spirits by approximately 3.928%….”
“Hehe, yes, I’ll trust in you all.”
Jia, Elsie, and Blue, who could truly be called my new squad members.
Friends like Suyeon and Deokhuun.
The One-Strike Knight Order—bumbling at times, but reliable once battle begins.
There were people who gave me their wholehearted support despite never having seen my face even once.
This was my place.
I rose from the sofa and spoke.
“If I’m going into the 91st floor tomorrow, I need to get good sleep tonight. Let’s turn in early. Mother, Father, sleep well too.”
“Yes. Sleep well, you all.”
“Sleep well, sir.”
“Good night!”
I tidied up and returned to the annex with my subordinates.
Spirits and golems didn’t really need sleep, but I still wanted to settle my mind in the quiet atmosphere.
I lay in bed, pulled the blanket over myself appropriately, and began mental imagery training in advance for the 90s floors that would unfold starting tomorrow….
“…Cool.”
“Master, are you asleep already?”
“It’s commendable that the Master isn’t excessively tense.”
“Really, the Master is made of steel wire~ How can you not be even this nervous?”
I had intended to, but these days with so much on my mind—what with Ilgyeok’s assets and everything else—I fell into a deep sleep in an instant.
Or perhaps it wasn’t simply due to my fatigue alone.
Gleam—
Elsie shrugged her shoulders and stepped outside, while Jia carefully closed the door so as not to disturb my sleep—unaware of the brilliant blue light that flickered across my forehead in that fleeting moment.
* * *
「Entering the Main Tower, ??? Floor.」
“Huh?”
The moment I lay down to sleep, a notification window appeared, catching me slightly off guard.
‘Now it’s summoning me before I even enter the tower.’
There had been instances before where I entered floors marked with ‘???’ but those were either times I willingly entered or at least when I was already inside the Main Tower.
This was different—being abducted like this, whisked away the moment I was about to fall asleep while standing outside the tower, had never happened before.
It was proof of how deeply connected I had become with the tower and its system.
At the same time, I had a premonition.
Despite the sudden summons, nothing dangerous would befall me.
There was no logical basis for this.
However, if this were truly a floor where I had to hunt monsters and clear challenges, even the Main Tower wouldn’t be able to drag people away so arbitrarily.
How long did I drift through that hazy, dreamlike sensation?
After blinking several times, the scenery before my eyes finally shifted.
A place I knew well.
A military shooting range.
I knew exactly one entity in the Main Tower capable of summoning me to such a place.
“…Watchman?”
“Hey there!”
As expected.
The moment the word “Watchman” left my lips, a familiar voice reached my ears.
I turned around to see someone who looked exactly like me, grinning as he stared at me.
I furrowed my brow and asked, “Now you’re dragging people away even when they’re trying to sleep?”
The Watchman responded with a mischievous expression, slinging an arm around my shoulder.
“Us? Strangers? Nah, now we’re arm-in-arm, and boom! We go together~”
“And last time, I’m pretty sure you said this would be the last time.”
The moment this anomaly occurred, I realized the Watchman was the only one capable of pulling off something like this, but that didn’t mean I welcomed it.
I still didn’t know the full details about the Watchman and the Overlord.
‘Something about seeing this guy just rubs me the wrong way.’
The Watchman’s very existence didn’t sit well with me.
“Yeah, that’s because I’m mimicking you too accurately.”
“…How did you hear my thoughts?”
“This is inside your dream and within the tower.”
You could call it the uncanny valley, perhaps.
Or maybe it was just the natural discomfort one feels seeing someone too similar to oneself.
In any case, the Watchman released his arm from my shoulder and spread both hands wide.
“Like you said, last time was supposed to be the last, but surprise~ Turns out I had more energy left than I thought?”
“I know I said last time was the last time, like you said, but surprise~ I had more energy left than I thought?”
“….”
I, Ihyeon, a man who once conquered the tower’s peak, found myself at a loss for words as I observed the cheerful Watchman before me.
“Hey, if you keep making such a scary expression, it’s kind of embarrassing, you know.”
The Watchman feigned a hurt expression, though it hardly seemed to matter.
“You’ve climbed quite high now, so I was trying to tell you about things you still don’t know, but if you’re going to be so cold about it, I’ll just leave.”
“Go ahead, let me hear it.”
The grumbling Watchman’s smile widened as he watched me take the bait before he’d even finished speaking.
“You should’ve responded like that from the start~”
“You’re quite similar to Elsie.”
“Huh? Oh, thanks. She’s like my little sister. Really cute.”
That was meant to irritate me.
I decided to simply stay quiet, worried the Watchman might actually get upset and leave.
“So, what were you planning to tell me?”
“Are you ready to get to the main point now?”
I nodded firmly.
I gave a resolute nod.
Though it seemed the Watchman had brought me here through some suspicious method, depending on what information he was about to share, this could be an extraordinarily important meeting.
‘Besides, it would be an error to think meeting someone of the Watchman’s caliber could be unimportant.’
A brief silence fell between us.
The Watchman opened his mouth with a bitter smile.
“You probably have a rough sense of it by now, but the truth is the tower is being generated across countless dimensions.”
“That would make sense.”
The Watchman’s words rang true.
After all, each floor of the tower itself could be considered a different dimension.
Moreover, the very existence of Spirits proved this fact.
Jiana and Elsie’s former master certainly wasn’t from Earth.
And for the tower or system to have suddenly appeared only on Earth would be unreasonable given how meticulously designed and transcendent they are.
It was more rational to believe they spanned across numerous dimensions—perhaps all dimensions.
“Intelligent beings from all those dimensions are competing right now to climb the tower in their respective dimensions. Earth is relatively late to the game.”
“So reaching the tower’s peak means becoming either a Watchman or an Overlord.”
“Exactly! Though it’s less about choosing when you reach the top, and more about being influenced by the path you’ve walked so far—but really, it amounts to the same thing.”
“I see.”
I nodded in understanding.
There was nothing significantly different from what I already knew.
The reason Roel kept calling me a “Watchman’s follower” and showing hostility.
‘It’s because I’m already walking the path toward becoming a Watchman.’
The likelihood of me suddenly reaching the tower’s summit and declaring “I will become an Overlord” was never particularly high.
According to Erubein, from the 90s onward, one apparently undergoes formal verification of their qualification to see the tower’s end.
That statement was likely connected to this as well.
Though I couldn’t be certain since I hadn’t entered the 90s yet.
“Of course what you know isn’t much different from the truth~ After all, the Tower has already hinted at plenty of information for you.”
“I’m aware of that too.”
“Is that so? Then let me ask you something out of curiosity. I’ll answer it specially for you.”
I studied the Watchman’s face carefully.
‘It seems like he’d answer anything if I just asked.’
It didn’t feel like any particularly special opportunity.
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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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