The moment Kim Seojun opened his eyes, he was greeted by a familiar ceiling.
The bunker.
He knew it far too well, which let him assess the situation immediately.
We made it to safety.
Major Lee Hyena and Private First Class Park Boseop had carried him somewhere safe after he passed out.
“Haaaaah.”
The instant he reached that conclusion, a sigh escaped Kim Seojun like air leaking out of a tube.
You insane fucking bastard.
What Kim Seojun had done really was completely unhinged.
A Tank Bug was not something a single Space Marine could deal with. It required armored units—and powerful armored forces at that—to have any real chance against one.
Needless to say, Kim Seojun had never done anything that insane before.
This is exactly why Stimpaks are dangerous.
The Stimpaks had played no small part in his decision.
Stimpaks numbed human fear, and Kim Seojun had injected himself with three of them in rapid succession.
Of course, there had been an even bigger reason.
And then there’s the Status Window.
He now possessed abilities that let him face situations like this.
At that thought, Kim Seojun’s eyes changed.
“Status Window.”
He immediately activated it.
And then he saw it.
[Kim Seojun]
His Status Window had changed beyond recognition while he was unconscious.
What the hell is this?
Two tickets and more than seven thousand points had suddenly appeared?
There was only one way that could have happened.
Did I actually kill all three Tank Bugs?
The Bomb Bug explosion might have killed all three Tank Bugs nearby.
There was no other way he could have earned this many points.
……That goes beyond simply being lucky.
Naturally, it was an absurd achievement.
Frankly, Kim Seojun could not even begin to grasp what it meant.
So he did not bother trying.
There was no way for him to know at this point anyway, and he did not particularly need to.
Only one thing mattered right now.
He had received an enormous reward.
And he had gained that ability.
Inventory.
The first emotion Kim Seojun felt upon realizing that was emptiness.
……I reenlisted and put my life on the line because I needed money.
The moment he obtained Inventory, Kim Seojun no longer needed to worry about money.
That was how absurdly powerful the ability was.
Especially in the space age, its value was impossible to overstate.
“Inventory.”
Kim Seojun immediately set about testing it.
The moment he spoke the skill’s name, a box resembling a green hologram appeared before his eyes.
Fifty centimeters wide, fifty deep, fifty high.
Its volume was roughly enough to hold 125 liters of water.
……That’s ridiculous.
It was not exactly large enough to store anything massive.
But Kim Seojun understood how absurd it was to have even that much storage space available at will in the space age.
Fill it with ammunition and shells?
That was enough firepower to stage a terrorist attack on an entire headquarters.
Fill it with oxygen tanks and food?
He could survive alone on a planet for months.
The same applied once he returned to Earth.
Not that he ever would, but if he filled the whole thing with drugs and started smuggling them around, Kim Seojun could change the entire genre of his life.
It was around then that another thought occurred to him.
I should test how things actually go inside.
Just as Kim Seojun was about to place an object into Inventory himself—
“Oh? You’re awake, Sergeant?”
Private First Class Park Boseop appeared.
Their eyes met.
Park Boseop’s eyes were brimming with emotion, damp with tears.
“Private First Class Park Boseop.”
“Yes! Private First Class Park Boseop!”
“Could you give me something to drink?”
“Sir? Ah, yes!”
After seeing the look in Park Boseop’s eyes, Kim Seojun made his request.
Park immediately pulled a small can from a pouch at his waist and handed it over.
Kim Seojun placed it straight into the green holographic Inventory beside him.
“Huh?”
Park Boseop tilted his head.
Kim Seojun looked at him.
“Can you see this?”
“Sir?”
That reaction told Kim Seojun everything he needed to know.
No one but him could see Inventory.
And once something entered it, no one else could see that either.
“Uh…… Sergeant, sir, I…… I can’t see anything.”
Park Boseop finally answered, his thoughts still in complete disarray.
What had just happened could only be described as magic.
“D-Did you just do a magic trick?”
At the question, Kim Seojun took the can back out of Inventory and opened it.
“My ability.”
“Sir?”
Having offered only that brief explanation, Kim Seojun took a drink and soothed his parched throat.
Park Boseop simply stared at him blankly.
“Huh? Uh…… uh!”
Then realization struck, and his face filled with alarm.
“S-Sergeant Kim! A-Are you really allowed to t-tell me something like this?”
Park had finally realized just how outrageous the secret Kim Seojun had casually revealed.
And it truly was remarkable.
Every Psyker possessed different abilities.
That was precisely why they tried to conceal those abilities as much as possible.
And yet Kim Seojun had simply revealed his.
Naturally, Kim Seojun would have preferred to hide it if he could.
“I don’t have time to waste figuring out how to hide this ability in an emergency. If I need it, I’m using it.”
But while other abilities might be concealed, Inventory was not the sort of thing he could realistically keep hidden.
Suppose he concealed it now, then ran out of ammunition during a critical moment.
What was he supposed to do?
Ask Park Boseop, “Could you turn around for a second?”
Then pull a magazine out of Inventory, drop it on the floor, and say, “Oh, look. A magazine was lying here. Lucky me!”
That would be fucking ridiculous.
More importantly, Kim Seojun knew something else.
“And I don’t think Private First Class Park Boseop is the sort of man who’ll go around talking about this.”
The man in front of him was trustworthy.
It was not merely because of the look Park had given him a moment ago.
Even though it had been an order, Park Boseop had willingly risked his life to follow Kim Seojun’s absurd command.
Kim Seojun was simply returning that trust in his own way.
“If you do talk, it’ll be after we get back to Earth. At that point, talk all you want.”
More importantly, any trouble this ability might cause him would only matter if he survived.
It was not worth worrying about yet.
That was Kim Seojun’s judgment.
The alarm gradually faded from Park Boseop’s face.
Trust and emotion quickly took its place.
“I’ll never tell anyone!”
It was then.
“You’re awake?”
Major Lee Hyena appeared.
Major Jan Zabłocki was beside her.
At the sight of them, Kim Seojun started to rise.
Both spoke urgently at once.
“Stay seated!”
“It’s all right! There’s no need to stand!”
Their reactions confirmed Kim Seojun’s suspicion even further.
Things went well.
He had clearly accomplished something significant.
Major Jan Zabłocki, who appeared to be Polish, made that especially obvious from the look on his face.
He was staring at Kim Seojun as though he were a national hero.
And that was not entirely wrong.
On planet Amotia, a headquarters was effectively a country in its own right.
Stopping the Bomb Bugs had been equivalent to saving the nation of Poland.
Kim Seojun did not waste time thinking about that.
“Sergeant Kim Seojun.”
He saluted while still seated.
Jan Zabłocki hurriedly returned the salute and introduced himself.
“Major Jan Zabłocki, Polish Space Forces. Winged Hussars.”
The words Winged Hussars caught Kim Seojun by surprise.
One of the Polish Space Forces’ defining strengths was its hover-bike forces.
And among them, the Winged Hussars were an elite unit that could easily rank among the ten best hover-bike units fielded by any spacefaring nation.
An elite like that is stationed here? Who the hell put crazy ideas in his head?
Kim Seojun briefly wondered why someone like that was on Amotia.
Then he immediately discarded the question.
“Given how urgent the situation is, I’ll get straight to the point.”
That was not what mattered right now.
“The Korean headquarters on Amotia has been wiped out. To evacuate the surviving Korean Space Forces personnel from the planet, we need support from the Polish headquarters. I ask that you lend us your assistance and take us in.”
Jan Zabłocki’s expression immediately changed.
He understood that this was no time to sing the praises of a hero.
The situation was extremely serious.
Jan Zabłocki saluted.
“On my honor, I will repay the man who saved my country.”
The two lowered their saluting hands.
Kim Seojun spoke at once.
“Then let’s get some proper rest first and move out.”
The first thing Kim Seojun did after finishing his conversation with Major Jan Zabłocki was sleep.
He devoured energy gels like a madman and then passed out almost immediately.
When he opened his eyes again, five hours had passed.
And the moment he woke, Kim Seojun realized something.
So Endurance doesn’t just increase stamina. It improves recovery too.
His current Endurance was absurd in more ways than one.
After all, Kim Seojun had gone through a forced march and injected himself with three Stimpaks.
Normally, that was not something a little sleep could fix.
A person in that condition would require proper medical treatment before they could even return to ordinary daily life.
That was how ridiculous his Endurance had become.
Conversely, five hours of sleep would never have been enough for Private First Class Park Boseop or Major Jan Zabłocki to recover properly.
The same was true of Major Lee Hyena.
She had been standing watch so the other three could rest.
Kim Seojun approached her.
“Major, I’ll take over the watch. You should get some sleep.”
“I’m fine. Sergeant Kim should rest more.”
Her answer was blunt.
Kim Seojun replied.
“This is only the beginning. Your combat strength is more important than ever now, which means your rest is important too.”
There was no smile on Kim Seojun’s face.
Proof that this was not mere consideration.
He meant every word.
Lee Hyena recognized that and nodded.
While she went to sleep, Kim Seojun put on his battle suit.
If anything happened, he wanted to be able to head outside and fight immediately.
Shhk.
Once he had even put on his helmet, Kim Seojun spoke.
“Purchase one Bronze Ticket.”
Unlike last time, he bought only one.
The reason was simple.
There could be blanks now.
Once Endurance exceeded 30 points, Endurance from Bronze Tickets might effectively become a wasted result.
He needed to test that first.
[Purchased 1 Bronze Ticket.]
[Your current Endurance is 30 or higher. Endurance will no longer appear as a result.]
[Strength increased by 1 point.]
The notification immediately erased his concern.
No blanks.
The moment Kim Seojun confirmed that, he spoke without hesitation.
“Purchase thirteen Bronze Tickets.”
[Strength increased by 7 points.]
[Magic increased by 5 points.]
[Talent Upgrade Ticket (E) obtained.]
Notifications sounded one after another.
Kim Seojun’s eyes gleamed brighter than ever.
Not a single Silver-grade result had appeared.
But the rewards were so good that it hardly mattered.
More importantly, Kim Seojun still had two tickets left.
“Use Silver Ticket.”
[Skill Upgrade Ticket (D) obtained!]
The moment he saw the reward, Kim Seojun unconsciously clenched his fist.
Perfect!
He had gotten the best possible outcome.
And now only the Gold Ticket remained.
Kim Seojun opened it.
He did not have especially high expectations anymore.
Whatever came out, he had already gained so much that there was no reason to be disappointed.
“Open Gold Ticket.”
Four hours after opening the final ticket—
“Damn, I slept well.”
Everyone was awake.
They immediately prepared to leave.
Their destination was naturally the Polish headquarters.
Once Private First Class Park Boseop got up, he immediately unfolded the map and checked the route there.
It was then.
“Private First Class Park Boseop.”
“Private First Class Park Boseop! What is it, Sergeant?”
Park immediately responded.
Kim Seojun asked him a question.
“How’s the route to the Polish headquarters?”
“The road itself isn’t difficult. The problem is that we have no idea what we might run into along the way.”
“Could we add one more stop?”
“A stop, sir?”
Park Boseop tilted his head.
Was there some nice restaurant worth stopping at on this empty planet?
While Park was entertaining that ridiculous question, Kim Seojun pointed at a spot on the map.
“Huh?”
Park Boseop’s eyes widened the instant he saw it.
“This mine…… Isn’t this the mine those Chinese soldiers were using? Why are we going back there?”
Kim Seojun answered.
“There were supplies we couldn’t take last time.”
“Ah, right!”
Park Boseop nodded.
The situation had been so urgent back then that they had rushed all the way here without even loading most of the supplies they had identified.
“I’ll plot the route right away!”
Those supplies were far too valuable to simply leave behind.
Of course, Park Boseop knew something else.
We still won’t be able to take much.
The military truck they were using was a 2.5-ton vehicle.
The amount of supplies it could actually carry was smaller than one might expect.
Kim Seojun knew that too.
But this time, he did not concern himself with that fact.
Because he could see it.
Four meters wide, four meters deep, four meters high…… If I filled it completely with water, that would be about sixty-four thousand liters.
A C-rank Inventory so enormous that it extended beyond the bunker he was standing inside.