I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 305
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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 305
Ep. 305
As Jia’s stats increased, the number of newly summoned Knights exceeded just over twenty.
I extracted the direct soldiers under the Vice Captain’s command and created a new squad for them.
With this, there were now five squads organized within the Knights.
At the same time, Jia conjured black energy and created useful markers on the map that could be readily utilized.
From now on, troop status could be easily grasped with this.
“With this much, we should have some breathing room in our operations, right?”
At my question, the Vice Captain laughed heartily.
“Of course! Now, excluding those guarding my lord’s territory, we have four full squads, do we not? That’s more than sufficient!”
Now that the Bishop who had threatened the fortress was dead, it was practically possible to commit most of our forces to combat.
And with the Great Spring, we could now fully utilize the Nomads’ strength as well.
I nodded and spoke.
“Right. There must still be those we haven’t found scattered across the plains. Use the troops to methodically gather information while dealing with them. They’re certainly not the type to live quietly.”
“Yes, Master.”
“…Jia, you rest for now.”
Jia’s mouth twitched as if she had something to say, but she offered no further response.
Instead, the Vice Captain tapped her breastplate and spoke.
“I shall receive my lord’s command.”
“Of course, safety is paramount. Any targets that seem beyond our capacity should be set aside for now.”
“Yes!”
Anything the Knights couldn’t handle would automatically become my next target anyway.
I placed three markers on the map in Duobuxini’s territory, the closest region, then spoke.
“Meeting adjourned. Now, everyone attend to your duties.”
The Vice Captain returned into the tower.
“Master, what should I do now…?”
Boom—!
“I said rest.”
Jia was sent back into my inventory by me.
* * *
「The 93rd Floor clear record has been updated.
Location: Korean Tower
ID: Ilgeok
Rank: S+」
After the announcement that Ilgeok had finally cleared the 93rd floor with an S+ rating appeared,
the United States, the world’s undisputed strongest nation in both name and reality, began to move as if its feet were on fire.
A conference presided over by American President Roy Stevens.
While normally it was an important meeting held with numerous topics and heated discussions about future direction, this time’s atmosphere was distinctly different.
There was only one agenda.
The mood was somewhat cautious rather than brimming with passion.
The Minister of Tower Conquest broke the silence and spoke.
“So… are you saying the President wants us to bring Ilgyeok to the United States?”
It had been whispered about within the White House recently, but he never imagined it would actually be true.
How could they possibly bring Ilgyeok—an enigmatic Hunter and arguably the strongest Hunter in history—to America?
Yet Roy Stevens’s resolve was unwavering.
“Is there any other choice?”
Who wouldn’t understand the logic of his words?
Any nation that brought Ilgyeok would see all problems vanish up to the 93rd floor.
America’s tower reached slightly higher, but it was obvious that Ilgyeok catching up to the Hero’s record was merely a matter of time.
The problem was that no one even knew who Ilgyeok was.
“Yes, Mr. President, you’re absolutely right, but fundamentally, we don’t even know who Ilgyeok is…”
As the Minister trailed off uncertainly, Stevens smiled.
“Knowing you’d be in a difficult position, I’ve made secret preparations.”
“???”
Stevens nodded, and the secretary standing beside him quickly handed him a file.
Black in color, it was just a folder, yet equipped with various security measures.
It was a top-secret document that even the Minister rarely had occasion to see.
The Minister cautiously accepted the file, wondering what it could be.
Stevens spoke in a bright voice.
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation has accomplished something significant this time.”
“!!!”
Given the way he spoke, the contents of the file were obvious.
‘They… they’ve discovered Ilgyeok’s identity!’
The Minister hadn’t been idle in trying to uncover information about Ilgyeok either.
In fact, he’d made every effort possible, mobilizing the full resources of the organization.
Yet it had proven impossible.
Baek Seongyun, the Personnel Manager known to handle direct contact with Ilgyeok at the Management Bureau, naturally proved impenetrable.
Even when investigating his superiors, any foreign approach was blocked in advance—South Korea was making desperate efforts to prevent information about Ilgyeok from leaking.
Most importantly, according to the intelligence they’d managed to gather, everyone except Baek Seongyun knew nothing about Ilgyeok’s personal information.
They merely conveyed Ilgyeok’s intentions and passed the government’s requests to Seongnyun.
Of course, that was just for appearances, and information was likely being shared secretly, but it was proof of how firm Korea’s resolve was to protect Ilgyeok.
But what on earth had the Federal Bureau of Investigation done to make Stevens smile so confidently?
Stevens didn’t provide detailed explanations.
He merely added briefly:
“If you won’t tell us, we’ll have to find out ourselves. By any means necessary.”
“…”
All attendees of the meeting, including the Minister of Tower Conquest, fell silent with a low groan.
In other words, they’d used illegal methods.
South Korea wasn’t even a hostile nation—it was an ally of the United States.
Whether it was wiretapping, hacking, or some other covert operation remained unclear, but it was certainly on a different level from the methods the Minister would have chosen.
‘It probably isn’t written in any file either.’
The true circumstances would remain a secret known only to those directly involved.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs carefully opened his mouth.
“Mr. President, but if it becomes known that we obtained intelligence from an allied nation in such a manner, it could create diplomatic complications….”
Fine.
Let’s say we made contact with Ilgeok based on the information Stevens provided.
Korea wouldn’t simply overlook that fact.
What excuse could we possibly offer then?
‘Oh, our informant happened to pass by and noticed Ilgeok was there, so we just had a chat’ — such an excuse would never hold up.
As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would have to bear the fallout, their concerns were understandable.
“Well, they’re an ally, so they should be able to understand and overlook that much, shouldn’t they?”
But Stevens’s attitude was far more brazen than expected.
That was simply how Stevens operated.
He meticulously weighed America’s gains against its losses, and if he determined the gains were substantial, he would push forward regardless of the losses incurred.
This time, he must have judged that bringing Ilgeok to America was far more beneficial than making an enemy of Korea.
However, Stevens’s calculation had a critical blind spot.
The Minister of Tower Conquest continued speaking.
“Yes, I understand. But it’s difficult to take such a massive risk when there’s no guarantee that Ilgeok will even come to the United States.”
What if Ilgeok rejected America’s proposal?
It would be the worst-case scenario.
They would lose the trust of an ally while simultaneously failing to gain any practical benefit.
Recruiting Ilgeok to America transcended mere diplomatic considerations.
From Korea’s perspective, it would be like having their overwhelmingly dominant Rank 1 Hunter stolen overnight.
It meant facing a situation where the opening of the Main Tower became inevitable.
Stevens summarily dismissed all of his aides’ concerns.
“Then we simply present an offer that cannot be refused, don’t we?”
There was a hidden implication in those words.
An offer so compelling that even Ilgeok could not refuse it.
Only America possessed such power.
They merely needed to make Ilgeok aware of that fact.
Gulp—
The Minister of Tower Conquest swallowed hard without realizing it.
‘Would sending that person work….’
Ironically, the perfect candidate for this mission was already forming in the minister’s mind.
* * *
South Korea’s guild industry, which had been growing rigid around Seoul, the metropolitan area, and several major guilds, was beginning to show signs of change.
But just recently, those signs had started appearing more frequently, and soon a piece of news shocking enough to shake the market was delivered.
[ (Breaking News) ‘Ilgeok Guild’ officially launches. Ilgeok Commerce CEO makes official announcement
Details to follow.
└ ?????
└ Why is this happening?
└ How are they even doing that?? ]
People stirred at the mention of “Ilgyeok Guild”—nothing else.
Was Ilgyeok actually creating a guild?
Or was it merely another brand under the Ilgeuk Foundation?
When the results were announced, nearly every prediction proved wrong.
Deokhuun, standing before the cameras, revealed the true nature of Ilgyeok Guild.
“Ilgyeok Guild will launch by consolidating regional guilds that have previously conducted transactions with Ilgyeok Commerce, along with several other guilds that have expressed their intention to participate.”
“So how many guilds in total will be participating?”
“As of today, it’s fifteen guilds.”
While there had been cases of guilds gradually acquiring and merging with one another, never before had such a large-scale alliance been formed.
Deokhuun then introduced the guild leaders in attendance.
The reporters quickly calculated the combined scale of those guilds.
[ Ilgyeok Guild soars to the top five nationally in sheer size alone. Is regional development finally taking off….
└ Top five?
└ That’s seriously incredible;; How did they create such a guild overnight?
└ Praise the godly Ilgyeok!
└ Praise the godly Ilgyeok!
└ But wait, there’s no Ilgyeok in Ilgyeok Guild, right?
└ Hey, don’t be a coward and hit us with facts like that.
└ No no, Ilgyeok exists now. Didn’t the legendary Jia visit the Ilgeuk Foundation last time?
Even without Ilgyeok, as long as we have Gia, we’re good.
└ So what’s left to make fun of now; looks like we can’t even meme about it anymore. ]
Of course, in terms of quality and substance, it couldn’t compare to the major guilds in Seoul, but in sheer size, it had become something no one could ignore.
The alliance guild leader would be elected by the affiliated guild leaders through voting, with no interference from the Ilgeuk Foundation or Commerce during the process.
However, just as before, Ilgyeok Commerce retained the authority to directly audit the guilds to maintain minimum standards.
Since they had branded it as “Ilgyeok Guild,” any transgression by even one person could damage the image of Ilgyeok and Ihyeon himself, so Deokhuun refused to compromise on this condition.
In fact, the guilds themselves were the ones gaining tremendous benefits from this alliance, so no one harbored any complaints.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true—there was one person with grievances.
“Now, we will have remarks from Han Seongcheol, Chairman of the Ilgeuk Foundation.”
‘A guild isn’t some neighborhood convenience store—can you really create one this easily if you want to? And these people don’t even care about their own guilds? They just merge them with something else without hesitation. Are they seriously out of their minds….’
…Even as Seongcheol took the podium after being introduced by Deokhuun, he had to swallow that long list of grievances and smile.
Clap clap clap clap—
Of course, Deokhuun, Jonggeon, and the original members like Iha, who offered thunderous applause, had no idea of Seongcheol’s true feelings.
In any case, after the launch ceremony concluded successfully with only one person dissatisfied.
Deokhuun immediately went to find Ihyeon.
“Brother! Brother!”
“Yeah, I saw the guild launch ceremony. It went well.”
“Thank you!”
Ihyeon assumed Deokhuun had come to make a fuss over his success as he usually did.
“I have a favor to ask!”
“Hm?”
It was surprisingly not what he expected.
Ihyeon tilted his head as he watched Deokhuun make his request with unusual seriousness.
Deokhuun was the type who ordinarily insisted on handling his battles with Ungdo through his own strength alone.
Aside from that one time when he’d asked to borrow the Knights as delivery personnel, he rarely even gave Ihyeon proper status reports.
He said fighting while relying on Ilgyeok’s name on his back didn’t sit right with him.
Given that it was such a rare request from Deokhuun, Ihyeon was ready to agree readily.
“Of course. If it’s your request, I should hear you out. What is it?”
“Really, truly?”
“….”
Should I take it back?
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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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