The place where Seo Jung-woo’s house once stood had been destroyed years ago. It wasn’t a monster that did it, but rather an artillery shell fired to kill a monster that had fallen here and exploded.

In this world, houses collapsing like that is a common occurrence. When that happens, people usually defeat the monster and then rebuild their homes.

However, no one rebuilt in this area. Several small monster gates had opened here before, and people considered such land to be unlucky. Naturally, no one wanted to spend money rebuilding, and the land remained unsold.

The moment he returned to this world, a Fang Frog jumped out. Normally, his detection skill would catch such a creature before it leaped, but since he had suddenly appeared, the frog had instinctively attacked before he could detect it.

It didn’t matter. The speed at which he drew his pistol was far faster than a low-rank monster like a Fang Frog could leap.

Seo Jung-woo pulled the trigger, aiming at the Fang Frog’s head. With a sharp sound, the armor-piercing round shot out of the barrel. The supersonic bullet tore through the air and lodged into the Fang Frog’s head.

The armor-piercing round, designed for penetration, successfully pierced the monster’s tough hide. However, the Fang Frog’s skull was so hard that the pistol’s armor-piercing bullet couldn’t penetrate it.

He had deliberately aimed for the head, despite knowing that the pistol bullet wouldn’t pierce the skull. It wasn’t meant to kill but to keep the creature in check.

The frog, which had leaped high, was pushed backward by the impact of the bullet.

Monsters don’t die easily. Some are so tough that bullets can’t pierce them, others are so large that bullets barely deal any damage, and some are simply too fast to hit.

The Fang Frog was one of those fast-moving monsters, leaping not just horizontally but also vertically, making it difficult to shoot.

Almost no monster dies from a single pistol shot. Even for a low-rank monster like the Fang Frog, its tough skull was enough to withstand an armor-piercing round.

A pistol is a basic self-defense weapon, easy to carry, but not a primary attack weapon.

The Fang Frog, which had been knocked back in midair and hit the ground, suddenly sprang high into the sky as if it had never been shot. One of the Fang Frog’s attack patterns was to jump high before plunging down to bite a person’s head.

Seo Jung-woo raised his pistol to follow the upward leap of the Fang Frog. The creature entered his aim in an instant. He pulled the trigger.

Unlike the skull, bullets easily lodged into the torso. The armor-piercing round pierced the tough hide of the Fang Frog and embedded itself into its internal organs. The impact pushed the frog even higher in the air.

Seo Jung-woo steadily raised his aim while pulling the trigger. In an instant, five armor-piercing rounds buried themselves in the airborne Fang Frog’s body.

Each bullet that hit caused the Fang Frog to be pushed back slightly in the air. When Seo Jung-woo finally stopped firing, the frog fell lifelessly to the ground.

One small monster was confirmed dead. Even excluding the first shot aimed at its skull for control, the five armor-piercing rounds that struck its body were more than enough to kill a single frog.

But Seo Jung-woo didn’t lower his guard. There was no guarantee that only one Fang Frog was here.

His detection skill picked up another presence.

‘There’s more.’

Suddenly, another Fang Frog burst out from the undergrowth in an ambush. It leaped from a closer distance and at a lower angle than the previous one. Instead of jumping upward, it flew low, aiming for Seo Jung-woo’s legs—like an arrow shooting toward him.

Seo Jung-woo had already switched his pistol’s firing mode to full-auto.

He held down the trigger, firing at the incoming Fang Frog.

Unlike before, the armor-piercing rounds fired in rapid succession.

The airborne Fang Frog was struck repeatedly, crashing to the ground. But Seo Jung-woo didn’t release the trigger. The bullets kept raining down, striking from above. The Fang Frog was torn apart in an instant by the continuous fire.

The magazine emptied. The pistol’s slide locked back with a metallic click.

He pressed the magazine release button with his finger while pulling a new magazine from his left hand. The moment the empty magazine dropped, he swiftly inserted the fresh one and immediately pushed the slide back into place.

The sound of metal components locking together signaled that a new armor-piercing round had been chambered.

Switching back to semi-auto mode, he fired three more rounds into the first Fang Frog he had taken down. It was better to ensure a monster was dead than to save a few bullets.

Now, his detection skill picked up nothing.

Instead, other people were approaching.

Seo Jung-woo turned to his right. Five soldiers were cautiously approaching while maintaining vigilance over the surroundings.

All five were wearing military uniforms. The uniforms themselves were made of durable, defensive material, supplemented with stab-resistant vests, limb guards, combat helmets, and transparent goggles.

The transparency of the goggles was to ensure their eyes and the area around them were visible. This was to clearly signal that they were real humans, not humanoid monsters. The goggles also had attachable sunglasses for light protection. Their helmets had slots for mounting night vision devices, but since it was daytime, they weren’t equipped.

Seo Jung-woo examined their armament.

‘Two riflemen. One light machine gunner. One grenade launcher specialist. One shotgunner.’

The assault rifles had 50-round high-capacity magazines. The light machine gun had a 100-round magazine, its armor-piercing rounds more powerful than those of the rifles. The grenade launcher specialist carried a six-round 40mm grenade launcher, and the shotgunner used a 12-round automatic shotgun.

All five carried a compact 63cm rocket launcher on their backs.

‘A standard Army lower-rank monster suppression team.’

He had expected that using his dimensional teleportation skill would bring him back to his original world. But that assumption was based on existing gate-related theories. There had been a small chance he might end up in a completely different world.

Fortunately, the formation of the soldiers before him was one he was very familiar with.

Among the five soldiers, three continued to secure the perimeter, while two approached him. A sergeant, identified by his rank insignia, stepped forward and began to explain the situation to him.

“A low-rank small gate opened nearby, and Fang Frogs jumped out. The basic subjugation operation is complete, and the gate has been closed. Our platoon is currently sweeping up the remaining monsters.”

A little distance away, several members of the subjugation team could be seen searching the surroundings.

Seo Jung-woo clicked his tongue.

“Another gate opened near here. No wonder no one wants to buy this land.”

“By the way, who are you?”

“I used to live in the house that originally stood here. I still own this land.”

Technically, he was the son of the landowner.

“Ah.”

The sergeant immediately understood. Right now, a gate had opened, and the military's subjugation operation was underway, but under normal circumstances, this was not a restricted area. Civilian control was standard during subjugation operations, but he now understood why this man was not subject to that restriction.

“By any chance, are you a teleportation ability user? You seemed to appear out of nowhere.”

What he had awakened was a skill that allowed him to travel between parallel dimensions. It was fundamentally different from ordinary teleportation.

Seo Jung-woo realized that, to others, his skill would look like teleportation.

“That’s correct.”

“Wow!”

The sergeant exclaimed in admiration.

Teleportation was a rare skill.

Even outside of combat, teleportation was extremely useful. With that skill, one could move long distances in an instant. If the cooldown was short enough, there was no need for conventional transportation, and the user could treat the entire teleportation range like their front yard.

Its value in combat was even greater.

The sergeant asked.

“What will you do with the Fang Frogs you hunted?”

By default, the rights to a monster belonged to the person who hunted it. Even though the military was currently conducting a subjugation operation, a teleportation skill user could not be considered to have intentionally violated the control zone.

Fang Frogs weren’t valuable monsters; they were just low-rank creatures. A rare skill user had no reason to deliberately cross military lines to hunt them.

Since there was no intent to violate, and he had not caused any issues in combat, his hunting rights were recognized as usual.

Seo Jung-woo glanced at the bullet-riddled Fang Frog. The bullets had been concentrated on the torso, leaving the legs intact.

Fang Frog meat was mainly used for food, particularly the legs.

But he had no interest in that kind of meat right now. He had eaten plenty of good food throughout the day, and his bag was stocked with beef and other provisions. He had no desire to eat tasteless monster meat.

“Take it. No, just record it as a hunt by your team for performance results.”

The sergeant’s face brightened.

“Are you sure?”

“You’re working hard serving in the military, consider it a gift. It reminds me of my time in the army.”

“We’ll gladly accept!”

Seo Jung-woo had served in the special forces for awakened individuals, where he had faced far more dangerous battles than these soldiers. But suffering in the military was the same no matter where one was.

After Seo Jung-woo left, a corporal spoke to the sergeant.

“Wow. Did you see his shooting? That guy must have a firearm skill.”

The sergeant pointed at the Fang Frog.

“He fired in full-auto mode at a leaping frog, and look where the bullets landed. All of them hit the torso, and none hit the legs. That has to be a firearm skill. Training alone could never make someone that precise.”

“A rare teleportation skill combined with a firearm skill. That’s a double skill set. Wow.”

“It might even be a triple.”

“Huh?”

“The first frog was at a distance. But the second one ambushed him at close range, and he wasn’t even surprised—just shot it immediately. He must have sensed its killing intent and reacted. He definitely has a detection skill too.”

The corporal was genuinely envious.

“Wow. A triple skill set. We haven’t even awakened a single skill.”

“Not just any triple. A rare teleportation skill combined with a combat-oriented awakening and a firearm skill. That’s an insane combination.”

“Is it really that impressive?”

“It covers both offense and escape. The firearm skill lets him take down monsters effectively, the detection skill prevents him from being ambushed, and if he ever gets surrounded, he can just teleport to a safe spot.”

“Wow. Now that you say it like that, it really is amazing.”

The sergeant looked regretfully in the direction Seo Jung-woo had disappeared.

“That skill combination is at a named level. I should’ve asked for his name and gotten an autograph.”

As Seo Jung-woo walked, he pulled out his phone. A signal bar appeared on the screen, indicating that he was back in range.

He called Seo Sora. She answered immediately, her voice urgent.

– Oppa! What’s the situation?

“I’m safe. I teleported to a place with no signal, so I couldn’t contact you.”

– Huh? But you’re in range now?

“I’ll explain in person. It’s not something to talk about over the phone.”

– Where are you now?

“Our old house.”

– That place has signal. Did a disruption monster appear nearby?

“I’ll explain when we meet. But how long was I out of contact?”

– 3 minutes and 27 seconds.

“Huh? Not 24 hours?”

– What?

He calculated the time.

“3 minutes and 27 seconds?”

He had spent a full 24 hours in the other world before returning.

“Time didn’t pass the same way. It reset to the departure point.”

Since 2000, when gates first opened, astrophysics had evolved into a new form. Dimensional theories were now part of everyday knowledge.

“So space coordinates are variables, but time remains constant.”

That meant he could return to that world again.

“Tomorrow, I’ll know for sure.”