I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - GLSR Chapter 3 (Part 1)

Lee Hyun got off the bus.

In front of him stood the old apartment complex he hadn’t seen in a long time.

His home.

Despite it having been so long since his last visit, the only thing that had changed was the season.

“…Actually, now that I think about it, not even the season’s really changed.”

It had been a year since Lee Hyun last came home.

No—he hadn’t been able to.

He thought that, for the sake of his platoon members who couldn’t go home even if they wanted to, staying strong at the base was the only thing he could do for them.

Looking back, it was probably foolish.

Since then, his parents had taken time out of their busy schedules every month—at least once a quarter—to visit him at his far-off unit.

He couldn’t imagine what kind of expression he must have had back then, after the incident.

“They’ll be surprised, won’t they.”

He had told Junghwan he spoke with his parents, but in truth, he hadn’t.

His parents didn’t know he had been discharged.

Lee Hyun walked down a familiar path, along a familiar hallway, and opened a familiar door.

Fortunately, it was around dinnertime.

This was the time his parents would usually return home in rotation and eat dinner.

Ding-dong—

He rang the bell, and a voice came from inside: “Who is it?”

Click—

The door opened, and there stood Lee Hyun’s mother, Minjeong.

“…Son?”

Even though she had no idea he was coming, Minjeong didn’t seem all that surprised.

As if she had simply thought, ‘Of course he’s come.’

Lee Hyun smiled with all his strength and said,

“Mom, I’m home.”

It was much easier—and more meaningful—than smiling at the base.

“……”

Minjeong was silent for a moment, then gave a similar expression and replied,

“Welcome home, son.”

Lee Hyun followed Minjeong into the house.

Not much had changed. Like his barracks dorm, it seemed the clutter had been reduced over the past year.

“Just cleaned your room today, actually. Go take a look.”

“Ah, okay.”

Minjeong spoke with a proud look.

Following her words, Lee Hyun entered his room.

It was exactly the same.

There wasn’t even a speck of dust—enough to pass inspection by the pickiest duty officer.

Guess it really had just been cleaned today.

Lee Hyun chuckled, set down his luggage, and began organizing.

“What brings you home? You were acting like you’d live in the military forever.”

Minjeong leaned on the doorframe and asked.

Lee Hyun replied casually,

“I got discharged.”

“Really? You going to help your dad at the store now?”

Pause—

Lee Hyun’s hands stopped moving.

The truth was, he hadn’t fully sorted his thoughts yet.

His awakening had come too suddenly.

Should he tell his parents? If so, how much? And if he decided to keep it a secret, for how long?

But for now, he had to keep it hidden.

Though he was discharged, the awakening happened while he was still technically a soldier.

If word spread and reached the wrong ears, he might be dragged back under some flimsy pretext.

He had no desire to serve another five years after finally getting out.

‘I need to hold out until I get strong enough. At least until I can feign ignorance no matter what the military says. Best case—no one finds out at all.’

That was the ideal scenario.

“No, I don’t think I can help Dad for now. Maybe occasionally.”

Lee Hyun spoke with confidence.

For a sniper, secrecy and staying undetected was everything.

Minjeong paused, then nodded.

“Alright, then. Resting is good too.”

But Lee Hyun shook his head seriously.

“I’m not going to rest. I’ll be working.”

“Huh? Where?”

Thud—!

Lee Hyun placed the heavy mana rifle next to his bed.

Then smiled brightly.

“With this.”

“Hmm?”

Minjeong tilted her head.

Then, as if realizing something, her face lit up.

His room had far more certificates from the military than from school.

“Right, you’re good with a gun. I’m sure you’ll do great with that.”

And just what “line of work” do you think I’m in, Mom?

Lee Hyun figured she had wildly misread the situation.

Did she think he’d be teaching shooting classes?

Or maybe become an Olympic sharpshooter?

“That one show is popular these days, right? Iron Squad? Your dad and I really enjoy it.”

“Ah.”

Yeah… this was on a whole different scale.

“It’s not quite like that.”

“Really? I thought my son was about to become famous.”

Minjeong looked slightly disappointed, then turned toward the kitchen.

Mom, your son really shouldn’t become famous yet.

Otherwise, it’d be five more years in the military.

A little time passed.

Lee Hyun’s father, Dongho, came home to swap shifts with Minjeong.

“Heard from your mom. You got discharged?”

“Yes.”

“And you’ve got something to do?”

“Yup.”

“Then that’s good. I’m going to eat and rest.”

That’s it?

Lee Hyun stared at Dongho’s back as he casually turned toward the bathroom.

Sure, making a big fuss could be awkward, but wasn’t this a little too lukewarm? His son had just left the military.

And it wasn’t like he’d just served as a conscript—he’d been a professional soldier.

Maybe he didn’t want to stir things up on purpose… but honestly, this was just Dongho’s personality.

He was the type who didn’t pry unless the other person spoke first.

Lee Hyun watched him eat, then returned to his room.

“I’ll be heading to the first floor tomorrow… I should do some studying.”

It had been 20 years since the Towers appeared.

There were two types:

The Main Tower, which “opens its doors” every 100 days if its top floor isn’t conquered.

And Instant Towers, which also open every 100 days if not cleared, but disappear afterward.

There were also random Gates that opened sporadically, but those weren’t Towers, so—pass.

The Main Tower could be entered through the system, but Instant Towers couldn’t, so Lee Hyun wasn’t interested in those.

The U.S., which had climbed the furthest, had reached the 95th floor of its Main Tower. Korea was at the 84th floor—keeping pace well.

That meant a lot of experience had been gathered, and there was an abundance of data on the lower floors.

Of course, that data didn’t come cheap.

It had cost many lives and brought disasters that would go down in human history.

Even Korea had suffered an open-Tower event when it failed to clear the 55th floor.

That was around seven years ago.

It was still said that the damage hadn’t fully recovered, which meant preventing a Tower opening was critical.

Some countries that experienced chain-opening events were completely destroyed.

If you could call the disappearance of the Tower a silver lining, maybe.

Thinking on that, Lee Hyun accessed HunterNow, the largest Hunter community.

It served as both a forum and a video streaming site.

He searched for information on the first floor.

The content was simple.

“A wide plain with six goblins and one goblin warrior.”

If you defeated the goblin warrior, the mission was complete.

Of course, sniping just the warrior and skipping the others wasn’t easy.

Translatin_Otaku

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