I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 3

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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 3
Episode 3
I stepped off the bus.
The Old Apartment Complex stood before me, a sight I hadn’t seen in far too long.
My home.
Despite the considerable time that had passed since my last visit, the only thing that had changed was the season.
“…Wait, now that I think about it, even the season doesn’t seem that different.”
I hadn’t returned home in a year.
Or rather, I couldn’t.
Thinking of my fellow soldiers who couldn’t go home even if they wanted to, I believed that enduring everything I could at the base was the only thing I could do for them.
Looking back now, it seems I was foolish.
After that, my parents came to visit the distant base every month, or at least once every quarter, carving time out of their busy schedules.
I couldn’t know what expression crossed their faces seeing their son who had suffered an accident.
“They’ll be shocked when they see me.”
I told Junghwan I had spoken with my parents, but in truth, I hadn’t.
My parents didn’t know I had been discharged from the Military.
I walked down the familiar path and familiar hallway, then opened the familiar door.
Fortunately, it was evening now.
It was the time when my parents would take turns coming home to prepare dinner.
Ding—
As I pressed the bell, a voice came from inside asking, “Who is it?”
Click—
The door opened, and my mother Minjeong stepped out.
“…Son?”
Despite having no idea I was coming, Minjeong didn’t seem particularly surprised.
It was as if the person she expected had arrived.
I smiled with all my strength and spoke.
“Mom, I’m home.”
It was far easier and more meaningful than smiling at the base.
“…”
Minjeong, who had been silent for a moment, soon responded with an expression similar to mine.
“Yes, welcome home, son.”
I followed Minjeong into the house.
Not much had changed, though like my Bachelor’s Quarters, it seemed a lot of things had accumulated less over the year.
“I just finished cleaning your room today. Go take a look.”
“Ah, yes.”
Minjeong spoke with a proud expression.
I entered the room according to her words.
My room was exactly as I remembered it.
There wasn’t a speck of dust—not even the strictest duty officer could find fault with it.
Perfect timing for cleaning today.
Ihyeon chuckled softly, set down the luggage he’d brought, and began organizing.
“What brings you home? You acted like you’d live in the Military forever.”
Minjeong asked, leaning against the doorframe.
Ihyeon answered casually.
“I’ve been discharged.”
“Really? Are you going to help Dad with his work now?”
Pause—
My hands froze mid-motion.
Truth was, I hadn’t fully organized my thoughts yet.
The awakening had been so sudden, after all.
Whether I should tell my parents about it, how much to reveal if I did, or how long to keep it secret if I didn’t.
But for now, it seemed best to keep it hidden.
I had awakened while still technically in military service, even if I’d been discharged.
If word spread carelessly, there was no telling what pretext they might use to drag me back in.
I had no desire to serve another five years after finally leaving the Military.
‘I need to endure until I’m strong enough. At minimum, I need to establish a position where the Military can’t find any excuse to reclaim me, no matter what. If I can avoid detection, that would be ideal.’
That was the most practical approach.
“No, I don’t think I can help Dad for a while. I’ll lend a hand occasionally, though.”
I was confident about this.
A sniper’s greatest strength lies in maintaining secrecy and concealment.
Minjeong fell silent for a moment, then nodded.
“Alright then. Resting is fine too.”
At that, I shook my head with a serious expression.
“I won’t be resting. I’ll be working.”
“Huh? Where?”
Thud—!
I set a heavy magic stone rifle down beside the bed.
Then I smiled slightly.
“With this.”
“Hmm?”
Minjeong’s head tilted in confusion.
But soon her expression brightened with understanding.
My room had far more commendations from the Military than from school.
“Right, my son shoots well, so you’ll do well in that field too.”
What field exactly, Mother?
It seemed Minjeong had jumped to some conclusion.
Did she think I was giving shooting lectures?
Or becoming an Olympic shooting athlete?
“That’s popular these days. Iron Unit? Your dad and I enjoyed watching it together.”
“Ah.”
The scale seemed far greater than that.
“That’s not quite it.”
“Really? I was wondering if my son was becoming famous.”
Minjeong made a disappointed expression before turning her body toward the kitchen.
‘Mom, my son can’t become famous yet.’
That would mean five more years added to military service.
* * *
Some time passed.
Donghoo, Ihyeon’s father who had relieved Minjeong, returned home.
“Your mother told me. You’ve been discharged?”
“Yes.”
“And you have things to do?”
“Yes.”
“Then that’s settled. I’m going to eat and rest.”
That’s it?
I stared blankly at Donghoo’s back as he turned toward the bathroom with such cool composure.
Of course, being overly emotional would be burdensome, but still—wasn’t this too anticlimactic for a son’s discharge?
I hadn’t just served as an enlisted soldier; I was a professional military officer.
It was possible he was deliberately avoiding stimulating me, but truthfully, Donghoo had always been that kind of person.
The type who waits, assuming there must be a reason if someone doesn’t speak first.
I watched Donghoo eat before returning to my own room.
“Since I’m going to the First Floor tomorrow… I should study in advance.”
It had already been twenty years since Towers appeared.
There were two types of Towers.
The Main Tower, which “opens its doors” if the highest floor isn’t renewed every one hundred days.
And likewise, the Instant Tower, which “opens its doors” if the highest floor isn’t conquered within one hundred days to eliminate the Tower.
There were also randomly opening “doors”—Gates—but those weren’t Towers, so I’d skip them.
The Main Tower could be entered through the system, but the Instant Tower couldn’t be accessed that way, so it wasn’t my concern.
As for the Main Tower, the United States had climbed the highest at 95 floors, while Korea was keeping close pace at 84 floors.
Hunters had accumulated that much experience, and data on the lower floors was abundant.
Of course, such data hadn’t appeared on its own.
The deaths of countless people, and calamities that would remain forever in human history.
Korea too had experienced the Main Tower’s doors opening when it couldn’t break through the wall at the 55th floor.
That was roughly seven years ago.
There were assessments that the shock from that time hadn’t fully recovered yet, so the Main Tower’s opening had to be prevented at all costs.
Several nations where doors opened in succession had been completely destroyed.
Then the Tower would disappear—a blessing in disguise, one might say.
Thinking of such things, I accessed Hunter Now, the largest community for Hunters.
A place that doubled as both a general community and video streaming platform.
I searched for information about the 1st Floor there.
The contents of the 1st Floor were straightforward.
‘Six Goblins and one Goblin Warrior on a Wide Plain.’
If I defeated the Goblin Warrior, the mission would be complete.
Of course, it wasn’t easy to catch only the Goblin Warrior like some coward.
The six Goblins would attack first, and the Goblin Warrior was equipped with decent plate armor.
Once you reached a higher level, you could slice through them like scarecrows, but the 1st Floor was a place where Hunters themselves hadn’t developed their skills significantly.
An Archer Hunter I met during an operation complained that even though she was an archer, she had no choice but to break through with a short sword on this floor.
Hunter Now’s general assessment was similar.
Even though it’s the 1st Floor, don’t be careless and just eliminate them one by one methodically.
Safety is important, so don’t worry about the clear grade.
‘…The highest clear grade for the 1st Floor was also S, right?’
I recalled this.
On each floor, a grade is determined upon clearing.
From F to F+… A, A+, and S.
You can challenge a cleared floor again, and there’s no limit to the number of entries per day.
But the initial clear grade is locked in permanently, giving it special significance.
If you initially clear a floor with an A grade when the previous highest was B, a system notification is sent to all Hunters, but records improved through retries aren’t recognized.
Besides, the 1st Floor is where everyone has just become a Hunter from being ordinary people.
Most prioritized safety even if they received low grades, and if they cleared with a B grade or higher, they’d be treated as promising prospects and could enter decent guilds.
Of course, there were many monsters who cleared the 1st Floor with an S grade.
Most of them rose to S-rank status, and some even reached the position called superhuman.
In other words, the initial grade of the 1st Floor was also a means to prove one’s abilities.
By the way, the Mana Stone reward from clearing one floor is also limited to one time.
Harvesting monster byproducts can only be done once per day.
In other words, entering the Tower more than twice a day was merely for gaining experience and practice.
I watched a terrain simulation video of the 1st Floor that someone had uploaded.
“It starts on a hill… At first, the Goblins won’t notice you, and combat begins only when you attack first or descend the hill.”
My operation was simple.
‘End it in one shot.’
A sniper speaks only through bullets.
The fewer words, the better.
It was a simple terrain with a simple mission, but I began planning the operation as if I were being deployed on a real mission.
My nickname within the 2nd Squad was a bit different.
The guy obsessed with sniping.
For me, who was absorbed in optimizing each and every shot, it was high praise.
And Donghoo, who had been lingering in front of my closed door, heard my murmuring and sent a text to Minjeong.
— Honey… It looks like Ihyeon is about to play a game….—
…Just from the tone of voice, it could have been confusing.
After researching the 1st Floor for a while, I finally went to bed after Minjeong closed the store and came home.
“Ah.”
More precisely, I had just woken up for a moment.
“I need to distribute my stat points.”
I had almost forgotten the most important thing.
* * *
The next morning, I woke up more refreshed than I had in the past year.
The damp air of the quarters was gone.
The fresh atmosphere of a well-maintained room.
“Ahhh!”
I stretched out luxuriously.
‘A new morning, a new life!’
As Junghwan had warned, I had been a soldier until yesterday, so I needed to be careful.
But from today on, I was completely free!
Still lying down, I turned my head to look at my side.
My sniper rifle, which I had placed beside the bed.
No, it wasn’t just a sniper rifle anymore—it was now what I called an Awakened Rifle.
I spoke in a refreshed voice.
“Status window.”
「Choi Ihyeon’s Sniper Rifle
Lv. 1
Firepower: 5
Range: 0
Precision: 2
Stability: 2
Concealment: 0
Rapid Fire: 1
Mana: 5」
The status of the sniper rifle after I finished distributing its stat points.
After analyzing the 1st Floor, I invested in the areas I thought were most necessary.
Naturally, the highest allocation went to Firepower and Mana.
‘I especially had to raise Mana.’
For me, who was always constrained by the limitation of two shots, it was an obvious choice.
I wasn’t sure what effect Mana 1 would have, though.
“Well then, should I head out soon?”
After making simple preparations, I picked up my rifle and left the room.
My mother, Minjeong, who was already awake, acknowledged me as she saw me.
“Huh? Where are you going?”
“Yes, I have somewhere to be.”
As I tried to leave right away, Minjeong grabbed me.
“Wait, wait just a moment.”
“Mother.”
I called out to Minjeong in a low voice.
Minjeong was slightly taken aback.
“Huh? Mother?”
It was unusual for me to call her anything other than “mom.”
“Every man reaches a moment in his life when he must accomplish something great.”
At my serious expression, Minjeong reluctantly released her grip on my wrist.
“Then there’s nothing to be done about it.”
She added one more thing.
“I made kimchi stew. Your father and I will have to eat it alone.”
“But first, I must eat a proper meal to prepare myself.”
I turned and headed straight for the kitchen.
Even the Tower, like Diamond Mountain, was best appreciated on a full stomach.
After finishing my meal, I made my way to an open field near my house.
It was a desolate place where no one came, except for delinquent teenagers.
There was no need to worry about being shaken down by special forces.
‘A place like this is perfect for sneaking into the Tower.’
I was already fully prepared to enter the first floor.
「Would you like to enter the Main Tower 1st Floor of South Korea?」
“Yes.”
As I nodded, a system window appeared.
「You are a regular Awakened One. Entry is restricted.」
I hadn’t expected this.
Surely they wouldn’t set up all those preparations just to block me at the entrance?
“…Really? I can’t go in?”
As I asked in bewilderment, another system window appeared immediately.
「Awakening Item confirmed. Synchronization confirmed. Entering.」
Quite the scare.
My body was instantly transported into the Tower.
A vast plain.
I’m not sure how it’s possible, but the interior of the Tower is composed of different expansive maps like this.
I opened my eyes on a hilltop.
Just as I had confirmed yesterday, six Goblins and one Goblin Warrior were visible.
The Warrior’s armor showed little difference from what I had seen outside the Tower.
It had the strength to deflect rifle rounds with ease.
But.
“None of that applies to me.”
I immediately dropped into a prone position on the hilltop.
I moved stealthily in a crawling position, confirming my location.
Though I had no stealth stat, this was more than enough to keep the Goblins at that distance from noticing me.
‘Guns worked perfectly fine before I even awakened anyway.’
I moved to the optimal position I had identified while watching the simulation footage.
There were minor differences here and there, but nothing significant enough to affect the shot.
Finally, I had secured my position.
The view was clear and the elevation was high.
‘Perfect sightline. No wind. Excellent distance.’
It was as if this place had been designed specifically for comfortable sniping.
For someone like me who had sniped in all manner of hellish conditions, it was almost like lying in bed.
The principle of a mana stone gun is simple.
Infuse the user’s mana, then fire.
That was why my insufficient mana capacity had been such a critical flaw, and conversely, if I had enough mana, it had quite a few advantages over a regular gun.
Slick—
There was a mana injection port where my index finger would touch before firing.
I was about to load it with mana as I always did.
“Huh?”
In that moment, I felt the mana stone gun had changed.
Actually, there was no need to feel it out.
‘Wait, it’s already loaded?!’
The gun was already chambered.
Come to think of it, that made sense.
What had increased was the gun’s mana stat.
Not mine.
In other words, with a mana stat of 5, I could fire using the gun’s mana entirely.
This made the mana stone gun barely different from a regular gun.
But it was too early to get excited.
No, excitement was a sniper’s worst enemy.
There was nothing different from usual.
Goblin Warriors were fairly familiar enemies to me.
The only difference was whether I was inside the Tower or outside.
“Exhale.”
I steadied my mind with a deep breath, then surveyed the front through the scope.
Among the seven goblins, the warrior who stood out with an air of arrogance.
The scope’s crosshair aligned precisely on him.
Still the first floor.
What I needed was.
‘Just one shot.’
Hold breath.
Fire.
BANG———!!!!
“!”
The gunshot rang out far louder than I had anticipated, assaulting my eardrums.
That wasn’t all.
The recoil was also on an entirely different scale than usual.
Startled, I instinctively pulled my cheek away from the rifle.
It seemed to be the effect of Firepower 5.
Although the Mana Rifle used mana instead of gunpowder, it still produced a sound similar to an ordinary gun.
This was because mana was being utilized far too crudely and roughly compared to the system’s official skills.
But I never expected it to change to this degree.
‘So that’s why Concealment exists as a stat.’
I brought my eye back to the scope and examined the results.
However.
“?”
I tilted my head in confusion.
‘…Where did it go?’
The Goblin Warrior that had been visible in the scope just moments ago had vanished without a trace.
Could it have sensed the sniper shot and dodged—?
「Goblin Warrior eliminated.
1st Floor cleared.
Rank: S+」
Apparently not.
「Item ‘Choi Ihyeon’s Sniper Rifle’ leveled up.
Check your status window.」

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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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