Matan’s Shooter

『”I told both of you to stop.”』

“Got it.”

“Hmm.”

Lee Jiwon found himself unable to either escape or attack. He felt confident in a 1:1 against Ram Hwajung.

Although winning might be difficult, he believed he absolutely wouldn’t lose.

However, it was a different story if a dragon interfered.

He briefly measured the situation before sheathing his sword. After all, he hadn’t come here to fight.

“Then, can the dragon tell me? Where’s the 2nd job change?”

His interest lay solely in the 2nd job change.

Wandering around newly opened terrains instead of going to 〈Laputa〉, he had come across Ram Hwajung, who was widely advertised by Ram Hwayeon as having completed the 2nd job change. He decided to talk to her, hoping for a clue.

“…2nd job change?”

“〈Find the space that doesn’t exist in this world, discover the rift in space〉… Others can simply hunt or do something, but this game’s balance is insanely off.”

Stuck on the first quest, he had no choice but to grasp at any straws he could find.

He had guessed the space that doesn’t exist in this world meant ‘unrevealed terrains’, and that had brought him here from 〈Laputa〉, but he had no success here either.

In that sense, Lee Jiwon hit the jackpot.

Ram Hwajung suddenly inhaled sharply, and the dragon’s expression slightly changed.

“…”

『The rift of space? Abyssal—』

“Don’t say it.”

Ram Hwajung spoke faster than ever before.

“Huh? What’s that?”

But Lee Jiwon couldn’t miss such a change.

Above all, the brief word uttered by Arzenmacht.

There’s only one place with such a descriptor anyway.

“Abyss… Abyssal Maw?”

Lee Jiwon mentioned the location he knew. Ram Hwajung and Arzenmacht didn’t respond.

That was enough for him.

“Thanks!”

Hearing the word ‘the rift of space’, he’d gotten a hint.

Not from some fellow user, but from a dragon!

Before Ram Hwajung could cast a space barrier, the second-ranked Magic Swordsman had already completed his teleportation.

“Idiot!”

『Ugh, hmph.』

Ram Hwajung punched Arzenmacht, maintaining his dragon form, on the toe.

* * *

“Uwoooo—!”

“Kroo, Kkooook!”

Two-headed ogres and four-armed trolls charged towards Lee Jiwon, but he didn’t bat an eye.

“Yup~ Go away~ 〈Sparking Bird〉. Hooo…”

Carefully blowing into the wind with his hands clasped, a bird appeared.

It took the form of a small bird, but its true nature couldn’t be seen clearly.

It was a mass of electricity, endlessly sparking and crackling.

Zap—!

Electric birds flew towards the large monsters approaching Lee Jiwon, and monsters, at least twice and up to four times his size, fell to the ground from just a single electric spark bird.

The place where Bluebeard awakened was treated merely as a dungeon for hunting large monsters.

Many curious users had visited, but nothing special ever happened.

“With no monsters, there’s no one around.”

Moreover, this place was structured like layers of a dungeon. The floor where Bluebeard had awakened was particularly neglected because there were no monsters here.

“Well… it must be here.”

Finally arriving at the last floor, Lee Jiwon began to closely observe the area he had already seen once before.

The crystal ball where Bluebeard had awakened was now completely empty.

The only things illuminating the place were the torches left by users who had come and gone, and some scattered fragments of the shattered crystal ball—treated as non-collectible items—were lying around.

Lee Jiwon’s gaze quickly swept across the entire area and focused on one spot.

A massive darkness behind the crystal ball.

The darkness absorbed all light to the point of confusing the eyes and vision of the beholder, and he fixed his stare on it.

“The Abyssal Maw… Why didn’t I think of this? Am I an idiot?”

He then grasped the sword he hadn’t unsheathed since coming down here.

As Lee Jiwon carefully observed the color of the sword being drawn from its scabbard, he placed the blade in front of the Abyssal Maw and marveled.

When he juxtaposed the two pitch-black entities, the only visible part was the hilt.

If the hilt had not been visible or he hadn’t felt it in his hand, he might not even have realized he was holding the sword.

“Find a space that doesn’t exist in this world, discover the gap in space… and then—”

Lee Jiwon walked cautiously towards the Abyssal Maw.

He felt as if his entire body might be sucked in completely, and he reached the final boundary illuminated by the torches. He raised his sword.

“—Insert the key to enter.”

Lee Jiwon aimed his black sword at the Abyssal Maw.

He knew the length of his sword even without looking.

Thus, he did not worry about whether he was aiming correctly or whether the tip of the blade had already entered.

Because the action he was about to take was exactly that.

Lee Jiwon slowly inserted his sword into the Abyssal Maw.

Users could not tell whether it was a wall or something else.

However, if they saw Lee Jiwon’s sword sliding in smoothly as if cutting through tofu, they would have many questions about the physical nature of the Abyssal Maw.

As soon as the sword was fully inserted, black energy burst from the Abyssal Maw.

“What is—”

It swallowed Lee Jiwon whole.

Triumphant fanfare echoed in Lee Jiwon’s mind.

“Argh— what is this!?”

Lee Jiwon was too shocked to speak in his usual manner.

He had no time to properly check the fanfare of accomplishment.

Just moments ago, there had been Bluebeard’s crystal ball behind him.

But now?

There was definitely a glowing red crystal ball, but it was not behind him. Moreover, it differed from Bluebeard’s in one significant way.

Something was inside it.

Lee Jiwon recognized it.

“… Pyrot-Cocri!”

Because he was one of the few users in the Sacred Alliance who knew this fact.

‘Is this Pyrot-Cocri’s— Peklo City?’

Lee Jiwon quickly scanned his surroundings. However, there was no proper space.

There was only a small area containing the glowing red crystal ball and the Abyssal Maw facing it.

‘Was it the Ice City? No one mentioned that. Or is it the power of the Platinum Dragon?’

Everything else around was frozen solid.

Because Luger and Kidd, who hadn’t heard from Leeha about the Queen of Ice and Snow Spirits, couldn’t report it to the Sacred Alliance, Lee Jiwon was also unaware of it.

Anyway, even though everything around was frozen, he could move.

He could move to the glowing red crystal ball where Pyrot-Cocri was.

So, his task must be to destroy it!

“Soul Blue—”

Lee Jiwon was prepared to slice the crystal ball before him, casting a skill. However, at that moment, Pyrot-Cocri inside the glowing red crystal ball opened her eyes.

『Who are you? Who opened the Abyssal Maw? If I had been a little slower, Grandpa Le or hyung Ghibrid would have noticed!』

“—Ack!”

There were only two users who had met anyone inside the crystal balls, whether it was Bluebeard or Ghibrid.

Bluebeard’s Luger and Ghibrid’s Chiyou.

Excluding them, it could be said that there were none such as them. Therefore, even Lee Jiwon couldn’t be sure if he could act within the crystal ball.

“Kolok, kolok!”

Lee Jiwon hastily canceled his skill casting and performed an intense coughing act.

Pyrot-Cocri watched him closely from within the crystal ball.

To be precise, she wasn’t looking at Lee Jiwon but at the sword he was holding.

『Indeed… there was a key, huh? If you know how to handle that, you’d be quite strong for a human.』

Lee Jiwon also stopped coughing at that moment.

“Do you know Sol Blade?”

『Sol? Kkihihit! Do you even know what Sol is?』

“…It’s an ability that harnesses the energy of the sunspots, emitting extreme heat and light. A sword capable of handling thermal energy, emitting in the form of high heat and light. Unlike usual fire or electric magic, it has a characteristic black color… is that right?”

Most electric magic, which emits a blinding light, was usually white.

Special entities like Blaugrunn used variations of light in cyan or blue hues containing white.

Heat, similarly, often manifested in yellow or red, with stronger skills occasionally turning white or blue.

Black mana particles were usually considered skills akin to those of warlocks, dark mages, or dark mages.

They were typically linked with skills that involved curses, illusions, or psychological attacks, all utilizing dark energy.

As Lee Jiwon had stated, he understood that no one used skills involving heat and light in ‘black.’

『Sunspots? Whatever that is… it’s important to know that Sol doesn’t only mean the sun. Kkihihit! You are only seeing one side of the coin!』

“Then?”

『It’s the base that supports everything in this world… the lowest foundation. The last time, the three oppas were amusing, and you are amusing too.』

Lee Jiwon knew that ‘three oppas’ referred to the Three Musketeers, including Leeha, but he didn’t have the luxury to ponder that now.

“The lowest foundation?”

『If the sun is the brightest thing at the highest place, sol is the opposite! The darkest at the lowest place. It’s something indescribable by darkness alone. That is Sol.』

Pyrot-Cocri laughed.

Then, she began to move slowly within the crystal ball, as if moving through water.

Lee Jiwon flinched at her slow movements, but Pyrot-Cocri did not attack him.

『Do you know what I like the most?』

“Dunno.”

Pyrot-Cocri stretched her right hand and extended two fingers.

『Kkihihit! Theme game! Your choice!』

Her fingers formed a V.

* * *

Leeha was in the office of Gaza City, processing the backlog of approvals.

When he anticipated being absent for a long time, he delegated everything to a butler NPC. However, it wasn’t a perfect system, so regular checks were necessary.

“I really have to maintain an efficiency above 90% for city administration. After spending 15 straight hours getting to ‘my house’, I can’t even rest…”

The highest efficiency attained through complete delegation to NPCs was 80%.

To Leeha, that was sufficient, but he had no choice.

‘〈Partisan〉, who grumbles about being busy, always comes by once in a while to check, as if inspecting homework.’

After learning city administration from her, Ram Hwayeon would not allow any sloppiness. She would drop by Gaza City occasionally with the peculiar reasoning that shoddy management wasn’t acceptable.

“Of course! Every city I manage operates at 121% efficiency! Even when I’m busy and leave it to Jachung, it hits 97%! So if you’ve learned from me, Ha Leeha, how could you not achieve at least 90%!? I’ve told you numerous times that income increases significantly above 95%, and you still can’t get it right!”

Just like today.

“I know, I know. Could you stop nagging already…”

“What!? Are you dissatisfied with something? Should I leave now?”

“I’m not dissatisfied, teacher.”

Grumbling Leeha bowed politely, and Ram Hwayeon’s mood slightly improved.

In fact, inspecting Gaza City’s status was just a pretext.

When else could she see Leeha, with whom she could no longer hunt?

‘Geez, I thought we could see each other occasionally once he crossed into the New Continent, but all he does is…’

For Ram Hwayeon, it was merely an excuse to create an opportunity to meet, apart from occasional whispers if she could make requests.