Chapter 64
1.
There was a lot of technological assistance that allowed the Space Marines to produce astonishing results on the extreme environment of space.
But the biggest help of all was the stimpack.
Someone once said.
"Stimpacks saved Humanity."
Without stimpacks, Humanity would have long since lost the War against Mog, let alone achieved space development.
Its effects were just that good, and the one who benefited from those effects more than anyone else was Kim Seojun.
In Kim Seojun's case, if it hadn't been for stimpacks, he would have died several times over before even making Private First Class.
He used them more than anyone, and because of that, Kim Seojun knew the terror of stimpacks.
That was why Kim Seojun avoided using stimpacks as much as possible after his Dynamic Visual Acuity reached B-Rank.
Because he could achieve the desired results without using them.
At the same time, there was also fear.
‘If I use it, I don't know what will happen.’
He feared the world he would face the moment he used a stimpack while his Dynamic Visual Acuity was at B-Rank.
Of course, it wasn't that he hadn't used stimpacks at all.
He had used them a few times.
Instead, the moment he used them, Kim Seojun restrained himself as much as possible. To avoid falling into that world, to avoid becoming immersed in it, he applied the brakes whenever he could in those situations.
But not now.
Kim Seojun had to find the Core Cube he had never even seen, or something similar to it, amidst the explosions and fragments of the exploding Gate 7, whose numbers he dared not estimate.
And he had to do it in a split second.
Not immersing himself in the face of such a task?
That was impossible.
Far from hitting the brakes, he was in a situation where he had to step on the accelerator with all his might.
‘There's no other answer.’
Of course, there was no hesitation.
In a situation where everything would be useless if he couldn't find the Core Cube, hoping for a next time was an act of foolishness.
And so, in the slowed-down world, Kim Seojun played a hidden object game to find the Core Cube.
Desperately.
And at that moment, Brigadier General Lee Yeong-Jun also desperately gripped the control stick.
He knew it too.
What kind of talent did Kim Seojun possess?
The world he saw was different.
To help Kim Seojun, Brigadier General Lee Yeong-Jun ultimately had to get as close as possible to the site where the Gate was exploding.
"Now I can kind of feel it."
Furthermore, Brigadier General Lee Yeong-Jun had experience.
"Being together with Staff Sergeant Kim."
The memory of crossing through absurd hells with Kim Seojun not just once or twice, but dozens of times.
Thus, the Spitfire approached the exploding Gate 7, and everyone watched the process with bated breath.
That was all.
No one screamed or made a face filled with terror.
It was a matter of courtesy.
Because they couldn't show a terrified or defeated appearance in front of Kim Seojun and Brigadier General Lee Yeong-Jun, who were risking their lives to save them.
Amidst that consideration, Kim Seojun's eyes moved rapidly.
“No, no, no.”
In the stopped world, Kim Seojun counted the fragments of Gate 7 one by one, like counting grains of sand on a beach.
It was around then.
Kim Seojun felt something.
Namely, a nosebleed flowing from his nose.
The capillaries around his eyes were bursting.
His body was paying the price for using this absurd ability.
But he didn't care.
It wasn't that it didn't hurt.
He simply knew the risks.
If he couldn't find the Core Cube here, this body of his would meet a fate where it wouldn't matter anyway.
‘I didn't come here to die.’
He had to return to Earth no matter what.
And he trusted the era.
The era Kim Seojun now lived in was the space era, an era where eyeballs or other body parts could just be swapped out and replaced.
It was an era where, as long as you had money, you could live a long, disease-free life, and even buy youth.
Thus Kim Seojun gave it his all, and in the meantime, time gradually began to flow.
"Staff Sergeant Kim!"
At the same time, the Countdown had now begun.
"We can't hold out much longer!"
The rushing fragments—the time had come to flee from them, and Kim Seojun did not answer Brigadier General Lee Yeong-Jun's desperate shout.
Thud!
He suddenly collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, and the moment he saw that, Brigadier General Lee Yeong-Jun shouted.
"Retreat!"
2.
One of the terrifying things about Space was that there was no sound.
Of course, it wasn't scary just because it was quiet.
What was scary was that within that silence, things humanity dared not imagine were happening.
Stars exploded, black holes swallowed things up, and massive comets moved at incredible speeds.
Drifting aimlessly through such space was an indescribable agony.
That was the case for those currently aboard the Spitfire.
Inside the aimlessly moving Spitfire, the expressions of everyone on board were stiff.
There was only one thing they were waiting for.
It was for him to wake up as soon as possible.
And the awaited moment arrived.
Kim Seojun opened his eyes.
"Are you awake?"
The moment he woke up, Noah Winston, who had been on standby, immediately spoke.
"4 hours, 55 minutes, and 33 seconds."
She told him the time that had passed while he was unconscious, and having heard what he wanted to hear, Kim Seojun nodded.
Kim Seojun also gladly told them what they wanted to hear.
"I found it."
"What?"
"I found what was believed to be the Core Cube."
The moment they heard those words, silence fell over the Spitfire once again.
It was the words they had expected, the words they had desperately hoped for.
"R-really? You found the Core Cube in that explosion?"
But what Kim Seojun just said was far more unrealistic than all the absurd things he had shown them so far.
It was the same for Kim Seojun.
"I got lucky."
He hadn't known he would be able to find it either.
"Just in case, I looked for things heading toward the planet, things that were unusual and worked."
"What?"
Of course, it wasn't a result relying solely on luck.
"Toward the planet? What do you mean?"
"Doctor Space installed a self-destruct system on the Gate to prevent the Core Cube from being taken. A person like Doctor Space wouldn't just launch the Core Cube into the middle of nowhere."
Kim Seojun had thought about it.
"I figured he would definitely launch it to a place where it could be recovered. Especially since I thought he would have installed a dashcam function on that Core Cube."
"A dashcam?"
"Doctor Space does not tolerate anyone defying him. He retaliates no matter what. So he must have taken measures to unconditionally identify whoever messed with the Gate."
The Core Cube had definitely gone somewhere.
"Going a bit deeper, I expected there would be Doctor Space's team or some kind of facility somewhere on this planet that could recover and store the Core Cube."
Furthermore, there would even be a catcher.
"So I focused my search on things flying toward the planet."
When he finished his explanation, Kim Seojun looked at Jo I-Hyeon, and Jo I-Hyeon, who had her eyes wide open in surprise, answered that gaze.
"Y-you know him better than I do."
her grandfather would have done exactly that.
"Wow, that's amazing."
At Kim Seojun's words, everyone, including Noah Winston, let out exclamations of admiration.
It wasn't simply admiration for what Kim Seojun had accomplished.
"You really are the best. I don't usually say this kind of thing, but you're so reliable."
It was admiration for the fact that Kim Seojun was the one leading them forward in this situation.
Because of that, the moment they let out that admiration, everyone's tension eased to a manageable level.
Now, everyone had a bit of breathing room.
"So which planet did it go to?"
To that question, Kim Seojun answered.
"Planet Kingclench."
"Oh!"
And the moment they heard that answer, a bit more relief spread across everyone's faces.
It was inevitable.
"That's a relief, it's a Red level there, right?"
Planet Kingclench was the first place to begin development within the territory where Gate 7 was located, and at the same time, it was the place where the most people resided.
Furthermore, it was currently the only planet within Gate 7's territory where terraforming operations were underway.
In other words, it was the most livable place within Gate 7's territory.
Of course, Kim Seojun knew.
Having many people meant having many Chinese people, and a long history of development meant China had plenty of time to prepare something.
Above all, Kim Seojun had experienced it.
Cases where a Red Level planet turned into a Yellow level planet overnight, where a next-generation Earth suddenly became a new hell.
But Kim Seojun didn't say anything unnecessary here.
Even if it wasn't just him, the others knew enough anyway.
Above all, even if he said it, nothing would ultimately change.
"Then our next destination is Planet Kingclench. We will secure the Core Cube there."
They ultimately had to go there in order to return home.
"Let's get ready."
Of course, that didn't mean they could go to Planet Kingclench right away.
First of all, the Spitfire couldn't penetrate the atmosphere of Planet Kingclench.
If so, the answer was to secure a landing spaceship or a diving capsule.
It went without saying, but a Landing Spaceship was a very precious thing, and obtaining one was extremely difficult.
There was only one answer: securing a Diving Capsule.
The fortunate thing was that getting a Diving Capsule wasn't all that difficult.
Most space battleships secured a fair number of diving capsules for emergency escape.
"Let's hide for a bit first."
Of course, the very first thing they had to do was to hide from China, which would come after seeing this commotion.
Logically speaking, it wasn't an easy task.
Setting everything else aside, the Spitfire they were currently riding in was far too conspicuous a craft.
So Kim Seojun's group wasn't worried.
Because he had something that ignored that logic.
"Inventory."
With that, Kim Seojun opened his Inventory, and at the same time, he grabbed the control stick.
At that moment, Brigadier General Lee Yeong-Jun gulped.
“Finally!”
Because now, at last, he too had the chance to see the Inventory.
"One person has to get off."
"Huh?"
At Kim Seojun's words, Brigadier General Lee Yeong-Jun spoke in surprise.
"Wait, why? All of a sudden?"
"Excluding me, only up to four people can enter."
At Kim Seojun's explanation, Brigadier General Lee Yeong-Jun spoke with a look full of more regret than ever before.
"...It can't be helped. Wait a second."
He prepared to get off.
No matter what, a general couldn't throw a tantrum saying he wanted to go in just once, could he?
Of course, Noah Winston smiled at Brigadier General Lee Yeong-Jun and said,
"Why would you get off? I can just get off."
And then she immediately headed for the exit, and the moment Noah Winston, who had gone out into space, gave a thumbs up, Kim Seojun grabbed the control stick and slowly moved the Spitfire forward.
Afterward, Brigadier General Lee Yeong-Jun could see it.
"My god!"
The Inventory was the inside of that vast space.
"What are all these? A battle tank? A hoverbike?"
And the things that filled that space.
Inside such a space, Kim Seojun parked the Spitfire.
It wasn't difficult.
In space, using the Inventory maintained a zero-gravity state.
In other words, he just had to leave the Spitfire floating as it was.
Of course, if they went to Planet Kingclench later, some measures would be needed before that, but their current goal was just to create a temporary deception anyway.
"Please stay here for a while."
"Stay here?"
"Yes. There are cola and ramen in that container over there, so eat if you get hungry."
"Wh-what?"
"You like ramen, don't you, Brigadier General?"
And Kim Seojun stepped out of the Inventory, leaving behind Brigadier General Lee Yeong-Jun, who made a more dumbfounded expression than ever at Kim Seojun's subsequent words.
After that, he exited the Inventory.
"You're here?"
In the vast space, within that expanse, a man and a woman wearing only suits faced each other.
In truth, it was a very dangerous thing to do.
Coming out into space wearing only a suit was, in Earth terms, like going out into the middle of the Pacific Ocean riding only a duck-shaped rubber boat.
But there was no tension between the two of them.
They had experienced far too many hardships.
Also, the two of them knew.
When seen from space, these two floating around wearing only suits would look like nothing more than corpses to anyone.
There was absolutely no reason for anyone to take an interest.
So the two of them enjoyed this space walk moderately, and Noah Winston actually did enjoy it.
"Tell me if anything happens. I'm going to get some shut-eye for a bit."
She closed her eyes.
But Kim Seojun couldn't do that.
In that space, Kim Seojun temporarily turned off his microphone function and muttered.
"Status Window."
[Kim Seojun]
- Strength: 92
- Stamina: 92
- Magic Power: 93
- Owned Skills: Clairvoyance (C), Inventory (S), Stealth (C), Teleport (A), Psychokinesis (C), Haste (A)
- Owned Talents: Dynamic Visual Acuity (B), Hawk Eye (A)
- Owned Points: 24,491
- Owned Tickets: 1 Diamond ticket, Random Blessing ticket (Diamond)
Then the Status Window appeared, and there, Kim Seojun immediately used his points without hesitation.
"Purchase 2 Gold Tickets."
[Strength has increased by 2 points.]
A plain notification sounded right away, and Kim Seojun subsequently used the Diamond Ticket as well.
[Hera's Blessing (33 Days) has appeared!]
[All stats increase by 30 percent for 33 days.]
[The Minimum Rank of all skills and talents is set to B-Rank for 33 days.]
And at the notification he heard, Kim Seojun froze right on the spot.
“What?”
Immediately following that, the Status Window Kim Seojun was looking at changed.
His stats increased drastically, and everything that had been C-Rank became B-Rank.
“My god.”
A situation he couldn't have dared to imagine had arrived.
And that wasn't even the end of it.
[You will be able to use Kibisis's Pouch for 33 days.]
[The rank of the Inventory Skill increases by one stage.]
[The rank of the Inventory Skill has become SS-Rank.]
The story of Kibisis, Hera's pouch that the hero Perseus received to hold Medusa's head, is found in Greek and Roman Mythology.
Of course, he couldn't know what that effect was right away.
He couldn't even guess.
What was certain was that he would face something he had never achieved before.
Gulp!
Upon hearing that fact, Kim Seojun swallowed his saliva without realizing it.
He felt astonishment.
“This is a Diamond rank blessing?”
And what was even more surprising was that he currently had in his possession one more thing that could achieve something that amazing.
And Kim Seojun immediately used that amazing thing.
"Use a Random Blessing Ticket."
Then a notification was heard right away.
[Prometheus' Blessing (33 Days) has appeared!]