Seo Jung-woo went out to the neighborhood bus stop to meet Lee Seon-hwa, carrying only a pistol. The same went for Lee Seon-hwa and the high school student, Jung Hyun-soo.

Seo Jung-woo did have a small grenade, but against anything stronger than a low-tier monster, his firepower was insufficient.

Lee Seon-hwa spoke.

“Even when those Fang Frogs attacked, I was startled. Are there even stronger ones?”

“These guys just got dragged along when the real one appeared. The real one is still out there.”

Seo Jung-woo pointed at the carcasses of the Fang Frogs.

“If they were just wandering around and happened to run into us, then fine. But if they were running away from something else and ended up here, then we have a serious problem. Let's head home first.”

“Yeah! There’s lots of weapons there, it’s easy to defend, and the food is great.”

Their new home even had a personal underground shelter.

Seo Jung-woo took the lead. Lee Seon-hwa held her pistol in hand and followed closely behind.

Seo Jung-woo looked back at Jung Hyun-soo.

“Why aren't you coming?”

Jung Hyun-soo, who had been standing there blankly, was startled and asked, “I can come too?”

“You plan to stay here and fight alone? You’re braver than you look. Good luck with that.”

“No! I'm actually a coward!”

Jung Hyun-soo quickly moved behind Lee Seon-hwa.

Seo Jung-woo walked quickly, skipping unnecessary vigilance. Moving fast was better than moving cautiously, thanks to his detection skill.

Lee Seon-hwa followed right behind.

Jung Hyun-soo, trailing at the back, naturally had a view of Lee Seon-hwa’s shoulders and waist. Without realizing it, his gaze traveled downward to her hips and legs.

‘Wow. Seeing her in real life, her figure is incredible...’

Seo Jung-woo suddenly frowned and spun around. He grabbed Lee Seon-hwa’s arm, pulling her aside while aiming his pistol at Jung Hyun-soo.

Jung Hyun-soo flinched in shock.

“N-no! I didn’t do it on purpose! I was just following behind, and it was in my line of sight! I swear!”

“Get down!”

Jung Hyun-soo immediately dropped his pistol and lay flat on the ground.

“I’m telling the trut—”

Seo Jung-woo pulled the trigger. The pistol roared, sending armor-piercing rounds flying just over Jung Hyun-soo’s head and into the space behind him.

“Kreeeek!”

A monster shrieked from behind.

The first few rounds pierced its belly. The monster instantly dropped to the ground. The remaining bullets hammered into its back.

In an instant, twenty armor-piercing rounds had been fired. None had missed. Every bullet embedded itself in the monster’s body.

“Damn it!”

The monster that appeared was massive.

Fang Frogs were about the size of large dogs, but this one was as big as a sedan.

Larger monsters usually had thicker hides. The armor-piercing rounds did lodge into its back, but they didn’t penetrate deeply. The thinner belly skin had been pierced, but a few bullets weren’t enough to take down such a massive creature.

‘As expected, my firepower is too weak.’

Another problem arose. The magazine that had just been emptied was his spare. He had no more extras.

The monster, which had been lying flat, began to rise. It had two arms, two legs, a long tail, and a crocodile-like snout.

“Kraaah!”

Jung Hyun-soo turned to look and screamed.

“Ahhh! It’s a Sawtooth Croc!”

The Sawtooth Croc bent its legs—a posture right before a charge.

If that thing rushed forward, Jung Hyun-soo, who was at the back, would be the first to get bitten. Its jaws could tear through steel plates. A human body would be severed instantly.

Seo Jung-woo’s magazine was empty, but there was another pistol on the ground—the one Jung Hyun-soo had dropped when he hit the deck.

Seo Jung-woo quickly picked it up and fired at the Sawtooth Croc.

Armor-piercing rounds fired in rapid succession.

The Sawtooth Croc, just about to pounce, curled up instead. It had learned that getting hit in the belly hurt.

The rounds lodged into its back.

While keeping it pinned down with more shots, Seo Jung-woo searched for a weak spot.

‘The hind legs!’

He ran to the side while firing. The front of the leg joints was tough, but the sides had thinner skin. The bullets pierced that spot.

Holes were drilled into the croc’s leg joints, and finally, its leg gave out with a snap.

“Kreeek!”

His magazine emptied again. Seo Jung-woo shouted at Jung Hyun-soo.

“Magazine!”

Jung Hyun-soo panicked.

“I-I don’t have any! That was all the ammo!”

Seo Jung-woo turned to Lee Seon-hwa.

“Seon-hwa!”

She tossed him a small pink pistol while shouting.

“I don’t have any spare magazines either!”

Seo Jung-woo caught the gun.

“Get up! We’re retreating!”

Jung Hyun-soo scrambled to his feet.

The Sawtooth Croc, unable to use one of its hind legs, still refused to give up and began dragging itself forward. Despite its injury, it was still fast. But with its main leg crippled, it was now slower than a running human.

However, Seo Jung-woo did not run. While aiming the pink pistol at the crocodile monster, he retreated at a similar pace.

Jung Hyun-soo asked with a frightened expression.

“Hyung, wouldn’t it be better to just run? That thing can’t even use one of its legs.”

“That thing isn’t the problem.”

“Huh?”

“I thought it was a disruption monster, but it’s not. It’s just taking the bullets and enduring them. That’s just a regular monster. It doesn’t have the ability to interfere with the gate detection radar.”

“Huh? Then…”

Lee Seon-hwa spoke up.

“There’s another one, isn’t there?”

Jung Hyun-soo was immediately gripped by fear.

“A-another one?”

At that moment, Seo Jung-woo’s detection skill briefly picked up a killing intent before it disappeared.

‘That bastard… it’s watching us right now!’

There was no way a monster and a human could communicate.

Even if they couldn’t communicate, it was still possible to guess the opponent’s intentions by watching their actions. Seo Jung-woo had always fought by predicting the next move based on a monster’s movements.

But the same applied to monsters as well.

‘It realized that we noticed it.’

The moment he realized that, he shouted briefly and dashed toward the sawtooth crocodile.

“Stay right there!”

The two who were about to follow him stopped in their tracks.

As Seo Jung-woo charged, the sawtooth crocodile leaped toward him as well. Its jaws did not open. That was because of its experience of having its belly and legs pierced by bullets. Afraid that opening its mouth would allow bullets to be lodged inside, it kept its jaws shut as it lunged.

The sawtooth crocodile intended to latch onto him first before biting.

Seo Jung-woo slid to the side and pulled the trigger.

Lee Seon-hwa’s pink pistol was smaller than those of Seo Jung-woo or Jung Hyun-soo. It only had a magazine capacity of twelve rounds. She had already fired two shots at the fang frog earlier, leaving ten rounds.

All ten bullets embedded themselves in the sawtooth crocodile’s belly. The armor-piercing rounds pierced the leather and lodged inside. The firing mechanism was pulled back.

Although the attack had inflicted significant damage, it still wasn’t enough. The sawtooth crocodile endured the shock of its belly being pierced and continued to charge at Seo Jung-woo.

The distance rapidly closed.

The sawtooth crocodile opened its jaws wide to bite Seo Jung-woo.

Seo Jung-woo swiftly dodged sideways, avoiding the bite, and tossed a small grenade into the gaping maw. It was a tiny grenade, only 8 cm long and 3 cm thick.

“Eat this!”

The small grenade entered the sawtooth crocodile’s stomach. Instead of biting down on Seo Jung-woo, its jaws clamped down on empty air.

Seo Jung-woo immediately leaped backward. The crocodile started to rise to chase after him.

Suddenly, the small grenade inside the monster’s stomach exploded.

The sawtooth crocodile’s leather swelled up like a balloon. As its skin swelled to the brink of bursting, it reached its limit and shrank rapidly. Flames erupted from its mouth.

The crocodile crashed to the ground.

Jung Hyun-soo raised his fist high the moment the monster was engulfed in flames and collapsed.

“We got it!”

Lee Seon-hwa urgently shouted.

“Behind you!”

Seo Jung-woo already knew. He had sensed the killing intent from behind.

He had already realized that the other one was hiding nearby when he first sensed the killing intent earlier.

‘Stealth skill.’

When he had sensed the killing intent earlier, he had pinpointed the direction and looked, but he couldn’t see anything. If it weren’t for a high-level stealth skill, there was no way he wouldn’t be able to see it even when he knew exactly where to look.

The fact that Lee Seon-hwa screamed meant that the creature had finally deactivated its stealth skill and was preparing to attack.

He also understood why it was attacking now.

‘It must have been waiting for my bullets to run out.’

That meant one thing.

‘A monster smart enough to realize that a gun can’t fire anymore once the firing mechanism is pulled back.’

He had used three pistols while fighting the sawtooth crocodile. And each time, he had emptied the magazine before switching weapons.

‘I showed it three times, so it definitely caught on.’

The killing intent suddenly intensified.

At that moment, Seo Jung-woo flung his body sideways. A spear struck the spot where he had just been.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, he spun around.

A bipedal monster stood behind him. It was over two meters tall, with a bulk much larger than a human’s. Several large fangs protruded from its mouth.

The monster was holding a staff. One end was sharpened like a spear, while the other end was twisted in an elaborate design.

‘As expected, a shaman monster!’

The monster swung its staff widely and let out a piercing shriek.

“Kiiiaaaah!”

“Is this bastard laughing at me? Do you think you’ve won?”

“Kaak! Kaak!”

“You’re getting way too full of yourself. But do you know something?”

Seo Jung-woo ejected the empty magazine and reloaded with the one he had used earlier against the fang frog. The pistol grip was short, so the magazine protruded slightly from the bottom.

“You didn’t see this, did you? There are still a few rounds left in the magazine I loaded before you arrived.”

Four rounds remained.

He had never shown the shaman monster that he was swapping magazines. There had been no gunshots from elsewhere either, so there was no way it could have known what a magazine was.

Even when taking down the sawtooth crocodile, he had deliberately fired until the magazine was empty. He had done it on purpose to deceive the shaman monster.

The shaman monster, realizing the purpose of the magazine, twisted its face in frustration and extended its staff.

But Seo Jung-woo was faster in pulling the trigger. The armor-piercing round burrowed into the shaman monster’s throat.

“Kiiiek!”

One shot wasn’t enough to kill it.

“Monsters with stealth skills…”

He fired another armor-piercing round into the same spot on the monster’s throat. The moment the second bullet struck the fresh wound, blood splattered.

“... have weak hides.”

The shaman monster collapsed from the two gunshots.

Seo Jung-woo aimed at the fallen monster’s open mouth and pulled the trigger. The armor-piercing round pierced through the roof of its mouth.

The shaman monster’s body convulsed for a moment before going limp.

He left the last bullet in the chamber. If another monster appeared, he needed at least one shot left to shove the gun into its mouth and fire.

Lee Seon-hwa rushed over the moment the situation was over.

“Oppa, are you okay?”

“This kind of thing is a piece of cake for me.”

Jung Hyun-soo collapsed onto the ground.

“Ugh… I-I thought I was going to die.”

Seo Jung-woo called the Gate Response Center. The same person he had spoken to earlier picked up immediately.

– Yes! Agent!

“Not an agent, a sergeant. And a reservist at that.”

– Yes! Agent. The emergency response unit is already on its way. They’ll contact you as soon as they arrive. If you could join the operation—”

“It’s taken care of.”

– Pardon? What…?”

“The shaman monster. Bipedal type. It had a stealth skill, specifically a high-level camouflage ability. I don’t know the exact type of magic it used yet, but it must have had a spell to conceal the gate. Given how quick-witted it was, it’s likely it had other spells as well.”

– What? What?”

“Send a magic analysis expert as well. It might have already done something to this area.”

– Agent, don’t tell me you handled this alone…?

“Oh, and I also took down a sawtooth crocodile—”

Suddenly, Lee Seon-hwa collapsed to the ground. Seo Jung-woo turned toward her.

His expression hardened. Lee Seon-hwa’s face was pale.

“Seon-hwa!”

“Ah… Oppa, now that the tension is gone, I feel dizzy. Let me rest for a bit.”

Seo Jung-woo quickly turned to Jung Hyun-soo.

Sitting a short distance away, Jung Hyun-soo was also deathly pale, sweating profusely.

Seo Jung-woo immediately shouted into his phone.

“Send the medical team first!”

– What? Are there injuries? What’s the situation? I’ll dispatch an ambulance immediately!

“Send a medevac helicopter right no— huh?”

A new thought struck him.

He lowered the phone and turned toward the shaman monster. With only one bullet left, he hadn’t performed a finishing shot, but it didn’t seem alive.

‘That bastard did something before it died.’

But whatever it was, it hadn’t affected Seo Jung-woo. He was in perfect condition.

‘A spell that works on others but not on me?’

He examined the shaman monster. Its body showed no abnormalities. But its staff caught his eye.

He took a closer look at the staff.

‘This staff isn’t in good shape. It looks like it was used for a major spell.’

If it had been an offensive spell, that would have been better. If it had been cast elsewhere, it wouldn’t affect this location. He hadn’t even given it a chance to cast anything here.

‘It cast a spell before coming here, yet Seon-hwa and Hyun-soo are affected. But I’m not.’

Several possibilities crossed his mind. One of them stood out.

“A curse?”

His high mental resistance made him immune to curses.

Seo Jung-woo shouted into the phone.

“Lock down the area!”

– What? Lockdown?”

“There’s a curse lingering in this area. Block entry and send an expert who can lift curses immediately!”

– B-but there are very few specialists who can operate in a contaminated area—”

“Find one!”