There were things to prepare before crossing into the parallel dimension. Seo Jung-woo stopped by a supermarket near the police station.

“No matter how many times I see it, it’s amazing. I can’t believe such rare things are piled up like this.”

He swept snacks, bread, and Spam into the basket. These were mostly for Seo Sora.

“Ah, I should get a gift for Mr. Cheol-woo too.”

He recalled Park Cheol-woo complaining about drinking synthetic coffee on the battlefield.

Just then, he spotted something suitable. He bought a bottle of freeze-dried instant coffee that could be mixed with water.

Before he knew it, his basket was full. He couldn’t show these snacks to anyone in the other world. But his bag was in the office.

“Hmm. It’ll be a problem if I cross over like this.”

Nearby, he saw a stall selling cheap bags. He bought a large, inexpensive bag and stuffed all the newly purchased snacks inside.

Now, he was ready to cross over.

The next issue was location. If he had no baggage, he could use a restroom to cross over. But it would look suspicious if he walked into a restroom with a large bag and came out empty-handed.

He decided to head home first. His home in this world was close to the police station.

The house was empty.

The skill’s cooldown time had already been reset.

“Let’s go.”

He activated the parallel dimension teleportation skill.

In an instant, his surroundings changed.

He had arrived at the same spot where he had caught the Fang Frog last time.

There were barely any intact houses in the area. Instead, there were collapsed ruins and overgrown grass. This part had been turned into a wasteland by artillery bombardment, but about 200 meters away, the houses were still intact.

Here, he didn’t have to worry about being seen when he appeared.

The teleportation skill was rare, but it was so well-known that people only admired it rather than finding it strange.

Now that he had crossed into the parallel dimension, he had to stay here for at least 24 hours. By the time he returned, it would still be lunchtime in the other world.

“Let’s head home first.”

On the bus ride home, he called Park Cheol-woo. The call didn’t connect.

Seo Sora’s eyes sparkled as she pulled items out of the bag.

“Wow, that’s a lot!”

Seo Jung-woo picked up a large bag of snacks and handed it to her.

“They say it’s made from potatoes. It looked tasty, so I bought it.”

Seo Sora took the bag.

“Wow, the snacks are huge!”

Excited, she tore open the bag.

First, the nitrogen escaped.

She stared into the bag, then looked up at Seo Jung-woo.

“I think this is defective. The bag is huge, but there’s barely anything inside.”

Seo Jung-woo was also taken aback.

“Of all things, I picked a defective one. I’ll bring back a full one tomorrow.”

Seo Sora popped a snack into her mouth. It was salty and savory.

“There’s not much, but it’s delicious!”

“If there’s one thing this world has over the other, it’s food. Everything here tastes amazing.”

“I want to visit.”

“If I could take you, I would.”

The parallel dimension was incomparably safer than this world. Since Seo Sora’s identity existed in both worlds, as long as their activities didn’t overlap, two of them could live under the same identity.

“It’s just that there’s no way to bring you over.”

Teleportation was a personal skill. As long as he could carry it, he could transport a large bag full of weapons, but he couldn’t bring a person—let alone a dog or a cat.

“Even in the same three-dimensional coordinate system, teleporting others isn’t possible. Taking someone along to a parallel dimension is obviously out of the question.”

Seo Sora continued munching on the snack and responded.

“I know.”

Seo Jung-woo asked, “Park Cheol-woo—do you know where he is right now? I tried calling, but he’s not answering. He’s probably fighting somewhere again.”

“I’ll find out.”

After licking the last bits of snack powder off her fingers, Seo Sora made a few calls. It wasn’t hard to locate him.

“He’s at the Jeokseong Gate in northern Gyeonggi Province.”

“Of all places… He really only goes to the most monster-infested areas.”

“But why are you looking for Park Cheol-woo?”

“The Seo Sora from the other world is going to sing ‘If We Could Meet Again.’ He wrote that song.”

The Seo Sora of this world widened her eyes.

“Huh? Over there?”

“Yeah. Crazy, right? I didn’t know this before, but you actually have talent as a singer. Apparently, her goal is to be a skilled vocalist. She’s not a singer yet, but she’s going to debut with that song. Since you have the same talent, why not try becoming a singer here too?”

“Hmm…”

Seo Sora pondered for a moment before quickly coming to a decision.

“I’ll wait and see if she succeeds first. That’s more efficient.”

“You two are so alike, but in times like this, you’re completely different.”

“Huh?”

“The Seo Sora over there just jumps in headfirst.”

“That’s inefficient.”

Near the Jeokseong Gate in northern Gyeonggi Province, Hunter Park Cheol-woo pulled the trigger of his automatic rifle.

The armor-piercing bullets broke the sound barrier, striking the Blade Mantis’s carapace. These rounds could pierce thin steel plates, but they couldn’t penetrate the monster’s exoskeleton.

Insect-type monsters had such tough exoskeletons that even rifle bullets often couldn’t get through. Still, the shots weren’t useless—the impacts cracked the carapace.

Park Cheol-woo kept firing. As the armor-piercing rounds flew in rapid succession, the rifle’s barrel kicked upward.

He gripped the vertical foregrip tightly, pushing down to control the recoil. His whole body trembled from the force.

The 50 rounds in the magazine depleted rapidly.

“Kieeek!”

The human-sized Blade Mantis screeched and tried to lunge at him. But under the relentless barrage, it couldn’t close the distance. All it could do was flail its razor-sharp forelegs while being pelted with bullets.

No matter how hard an insect monster’s carapace was, it wasn’t invincible. The Blade Mantis was about the size of a human, meaning its exoskeleton wasn’t too thick.

Park Cheol-woo was an experienced hunter. The range was close. Even with rapid fire, few bullets missed. The carapace shattered, and the armor-piercing rounds burrowed inside.

Suddenly, the magazine was empty. At the same time, the Blade Mantis collapsed, spraying bodily fluids.

Park Cheol-woo panted heavily.

“Huff… Huff… No one said these things were showing up.”

For Blade Mantises, 40mm grenades were much more effective than rifle rounds.

He was deep in enemy territory, conducting reconnaissance alone. It was a difficult and dangerous mission, so he hadn’t brought a grenade launcher operator.

He did have a single-shot grenade launcher attached to his rifle, but he had already used the two emergency grenades on other monsters. To reduce weight, he had discarded the single-shot grenade launcher as well.

As he removed the empty magazine, he realized that his rifle wasn’t in normal condition.

“Did I shoot too much earlier?”

What he was using was a caseless rifle developed in this world. Without casings, bullets became lighter, allowing him to carry more ammunition and equipment.

The key component of this caseless rifle was the heat dissipation plate, which quickly expelled heat from the chamber. This chamber and heat dissipation plate couldn’t be made with ordinary metal. They had to be crafted from an alloy that occasionally dropped from mineral-type monsters, and that alloy was both rare and extremely expensive.

Because of this, standard soldiers were issued traditional rifles with casings. Even among hunters who purchased their own weapons, only a few could afford the expensive caseless rifles.

But now, his heat dissipation plate had reached its limit. If he inserted a new magazine like this, a misfire could occur. However, he couldn’t afford to wait for the plate to cool down.

He pressed the heat dissipation plate release button with his right hand. With a clank, the plate detached. As he pulled a spare heat dissipation plate from his tactical vest, he muttered,

“Doing this alone is really tough—”

Suddenly, Park Cheol-woo spun around. A new Blade Mantis had appeared from the side.

“Damn it!”

He hadn’t changed the magazine yet. And without the heat dissipation plate, his caseless rifle wouldn’t fire properly. Even if he loaded a new magazine, he couldn’t take down the Blade Mantis in this state.

The Blade Mantis lunged at him. There was no time to reload.

He immediately dropped his rifle and drew his handgun like lightning. Before the Blade Mantis could swing its forelimbs, he fired repeatedly.

A handgun wasn’t as accurate as a rifle, and accuracy dropped even more when firing in rapid succession. Still, the distance was so close that about half of the armor-piercing rounds hit the Blade Mantis’s body. But breaking through the Mantis’s tough exoskeleton with handgun rounds was difficult.

In an instant, the 20-round magazine was emptied. The Blade Mantis staggered back slightly.

Park Cheol-woo ejected the empty magazine and grabbed a fresh one.

The Blade Mantis charged again, raising its forelimbs high. The blade-like limbs gleamed in the light.

He hadn’t finished reloading.

Park Cheol-woo realized it.

‘I can’t dodge this.’

Suddenly, sparks flew from the Blade Mantis’s forelimbs in rapid succession. The blade jerked to the side.

Armor-piercing rounds continued to fly in. The first two bullets deflected the blade, and the next three lodged into the joints where the blade connected to the forelimb.

The Mantis’s joints were protected by thinner exoskeletons compared to the rest of its body. Each time a bullet struck the joint, the exoskeleton shattered. After just three shots, the joint snapped, and the forelimb was severed.

“Kieeek!”

The Blade Mantis screamed, raising its other forelimb. But armor-piercing rounds struck its other joint in rapid succession. The exoskeleton shattered, and the second forelimb dropped to the ground.

Now missing its deadly blades, the Blade Mantis opened its mouth wide, revealing sharp teeth.

“Kaaargh!”

Armor-piercing rounds shot straight into its open mouth. Its head snapped backward, exposing the joint connecting the head to the body. Bullets struck that weak point as well.

In just four shots, the exoskeleton was destroyed, and its neck broke. The Mantis’s head, still bearing sharp fangs, rolled off its body and hit the ground with a thud. Its body, missing its forelimbs, thrashed briefly before collapsing.

Park Cheol-woo finished reloading his handgun and surveyed the surroundings.

‘A shooter with an awakened gunmanship skill!’

No matter how much an ordinary person trained, they couldn’t consistently hit a monster’s weak points like this. A single well-aimed shot was possible, but doing so in rapid fire was impossible.

Yet the shots that had just flown in had been fired in controlled bursts, with the trigger being pulled briefly each time. Not a single bullet had missed. Only someone with an awakened gunmanship skill could do that.

‘And at a high level, too.’

Even among those who had awakened gunmanship skills, the skill’s effectiveness depended on its proficiency and level. A beginner, even with an awakened skill, couldn’t shoot like this.

Suddenly, another Blade Mantis leaped out from the forest nearby.

Park Cheol-woo quickly turned his handgun toward it.

But before he could pull the trigger, armor-piercing rounds struck the Mantis’s forelimbs, severing them, and then sliced through its head in an instant.

‘He even predicted the ambush from a hidden monster! Does he have a detection skill too?’

Awakened abilities weren’t common. And among them, those who possessed gunmanship or detection skills were even rarer.

There were all kinds of skills in the world—some minor ones that slightly increased strength or improved eyesight for a short time, and others as rare as teleportation. Gunmanship and detection were among the few skills specialized for combat.

And Park Cheol-woo knew someone who possessed both.

“Seo Jung-woo?”

Seo Jung-woo emerged from the forest and called out,

“Uncle, I keep telling you, fight with a little more caution.”

“So it is you.”

Seo Jung-woo grinned.

“Bet you’re real happy to see me in a situation like this, huh?”

Park Cheol-woo holstered his handgun. He picked up his rifle, swapped out the heat dissipation plate, and inserted a fresh 50-round armor-piercing magazine.

Seo Jung-woo waited until Park Cheol-woo had finished preparing before replacing his own magazine.

Once their weapons were fully operational, Park Cheol-woo extended his fist.

“Damn right I’m happy. I thought I was gonna die.”

Seo Jung-woo lightly bumped his fist against it and said,

“With your skills, you probably would’ve survived somehow. Maybe lost an arm or something, though. But why did you come this deep alone?”

Park Cheol-woo pointed at the sky. The clouds in the sky seemed to waver like heat haze.

“If you look closely, the spatial distortion zone of the gate has protruded this way.”

Seo Jung-woo clicked his tongue.

“Tsk. They’ve started expanding their territory.”

Hunter Park Cheol-woo, the composer of If We Could Meet Again, smirked.

“Someone had to come in and assess the situation. I volunteered.”