Mastering even a single weapon required a great deal of time and effort.
A first-rate swordsman devoted his entire life to swinging a sword, while a martial artist trained their own body into a weapon.
Of course, that did not mean it was impossible to learn multiple weapons.
Even their ancestors had sometimes spent their entire lives training with both the sword and the bow, eventually reaching mastery in each.
But that was—
-Hold on, what did you just say…? You can use more than thirty different types of weapons?
—something that applied to ordinary people, not Hunters.
Park Min-ho was so shocked that he snatched the microphone away and spoke.
“…….”
Kim Si-hyeon gave no answer. Realizing his mistake from the look in Kim Si-hyeon’s eyes, Park Min-ho hurriedly apologized.
-I-I apologize. I am not doubting you….
“…They were all weapons I used regularly.”
Kim Si-hyeon’s slow reply came through.
“…….”
It was difficult to believe.
‘A Hunter’s Mana Circuit resonates with a particular weapon. To properly use mana, a Hunter needs a weapon suited to that resonance.’
Generally, Hunters were known to specialize in only one weapon, with exceptional cases being able to handle perhaps two.
“…But the one I used most often was…”
That was when it happened.
At last, Kim Si-hyeon chose one of the weapons and picked it up.
It was a type of weapon not commonly seen in East Asia.
“This.”
A halberd.
What was the best weapon for dealing with zombies?
There was no question.
‘A shotgun.’
It was essentially a grenade you could fire like a gun. Even someone unfamiliar with firearms could blow a zombie’s head apart as long as it was within close range.
There were plenty of other guns as well.
But firearms had one clear limitation.
‘Ammunition.’
Without bullets, their destructive power dropped drastically.
More importantly, as someone from South Korea, getting hold of firearms had never been easy.
‘There was hardly a weapon I hadn’t tried using.’
My standard for choosing a weapon was simple.
As long as it could smash, pierce, or blow apart a zombie’s skull, it worked.
I had tried swords too.
But human bones did not cut apart that easily.
More importantly, when facing large numbers of zombies, blood and grease coated the blade and damaged the edge. If I did not have enough time for proper maintenance, the sword would often break.
Axes and clubs were somewhat better.
But there was another important factor.
‘Distance.’
That was the advantage of guns and bows.
If a zombie bit you, you became a zombie.
The closer you were, the greater the chance of being bitten. When fighting zombies, a long-reach weapon was not merely recommended.
It was essential.
In that sense—
SWISH.
A halberd was a remarkably complete weapon.
A spearhead at the tip, an axe blade on one side, and even a hook on the other.
Wrap the shaft in wire or run electricity through it, and zombies absolutely loved it.
-…We can check the other weapons later. For now, we will begin the test.
Choi Ji-woong’s voice came through.
-A dummy made of mana will appear. Please deal with it however you like.
No sooner had Choi Ji-woong finished speaking than a grotesquely shaped dummy appeared in the middle of the training ground.
“Oh.”
Interesting.
While staying at the safe house, I had studied this world and learned about monsters.
Creatures that were different from zombies.
And—
‘Mana.’
I had learned about that power as well.
-The Association training ground was built with simulated combat between S-rank Hunters in mind, so please control your strength appropriately. Then….
BEEP-BEEP. BEEP-BEEP.
A warning-like signal sounded.
BEEEEEP!
The instant that piercing tone tore through my ears—
“Hup!”
The dummy had already rushed in and swung a sharp arm at me.
Even while staying at the safe house, I had not skipped physical training for even a single day.
That was the most basic requirement for survival.
But it had been a long time since I had fought.
Even considering every moment since the zombie outbreak began, I had never rested for this long.
And yet—
CLANG!
My body remembered.
It remembered how to survive.
How to move.
CLANG!
The dummy was fundamentally different from a zombie, which was still based on a human body.
So it was true that its grotesque movements and trajectories caught me off guard.
But—
STAB!
In that brief opening, I drove the halberd into the dummy’s chest without hesitation.
CRUNCH!
Then I tore straight through it.
BEEP!
A signal announced the end of the test, and the dummy dissolved into particles and vanished.
“…Something is strange.”
Park Min-ho spoke after watching the test.
He had been so overwhelmed by fear of Kim Si-hyeon that he could barely think straight, but now that they had moved on to actual work, Death’s Illusion seemed to be functioning properly again.
“What is strange?”
Choi Ji-woong asked, looking puzzled.
“His weapon skills are… astonishing. What kind of movements are those?”
The way Kim Si-hyeon handled the halberd had genuinely shocked Park Min-ho.
“I am not even sure you can call that weapon technique.”
Weapon techniques ultimately followed some kind of form.
Methods for responding to a situation.
Methods for creating a situation.
In other words, they were movements fundamentally built around certain ‘situations.’
The better the weapon technique, the more situations it could respond to, and the more situations a single method could prepare for.
But Kim Si-hyeon was different.
“That is… just a beast, isn’t it?”
His movements were closer to instinct.
When a lion hunted a rabbit, there was no special technique involved.
It simply leaped, pounced, and tore into its prey.
Yet the rabbit could never escape that sequence of actions.
“…I cannot even see an opening. I would not know how to fight him.”
“I agree.”
They had both lived as soldiers and as Hunters.
Yet even with all of that experience, the only response they could muster toward Kim Si-hyeon’s weapon handling was sheer astonishment.
“But what exactly is strange?”
Choi Ji-woong asked.
“A Hunter’s most basic requirement.”
Park Min-ho could easily have overlooked it while being crushed by Kim Si-hyeon’s killing intent and mesmerized by his weapon skills.
But he had not missed it.
“There is no mana.”
“……!”
There had not been even the slightest trace of mana in Kim Si-hyeon’s movements.
“What do you mean…? How could he fight the dummy without using mana? It may only be used for testing, but that dummy is still C-rank.”
“Check the graph.”
The graph monitoring mana fluctuations inside the training ground.
“……!”
It was true.
There had not been even the slightest movement on the graph.
“That’s insane!”
-Ah, Hunter Kim Si-hyeon. This is Special Division Director Park Min-ho… speaking.
Overcoming his fear, Park Min-ho picked up the microphone.
-Would you mind running the test with a different weapon?
“…….”
A moment of silence followed.
“All right.”
Permission was granted.
The next weapon Kim Si-hyeon chose was a sword.
BEEEEEP!
He fought the dummy with the sword, then moved on to an axe, a spear, a bow, and even a gun.
BANG!
Kim Si-hyeon had not lied.
Compared to his halberd skills, he was slightly less proficient with the others, but he still handled every weapon at a master level or beyond.
Especially unbelievable was the way he closed the distance against a dummy resistant to bullets, fired four shots into its head and five into its chest at point-blank range, and even reloaded afterward.
It looked like something out of an AI-generated video.
“…There is still no change in the graph.”
And yet not even a trace of mana could be felt throughout the entire process.
-Hunter Kim Si-hyeon.
“……?”
Park Min-ho carefully addressed Kim Si-hyeon once again.
-Could you perhaps… use mana?
And then—
SWISH.
Kim Si-hyeon’s gaze turned toward Park Min-ho.
I knew the Association considered me special.
Because the beings they called Returnees were special.
And because the monsters I had killed on the day I arrived had apparently been useful to the Association.
More than anything—
‘SS-rank.’
Choi Ji-woong had called me an SS-rank Hunter.
After looking into it, I learned that SS-rank Hunters were so rare that there were only a handful in the entire world.
But I knew the truth.
‘I’m not a Hunter.’
Because I could not use mana.
I did not even know what mana was. Even while fighting the dummy, I had not sensed anything at all.
I knew it looked like fine blue particles.
That was all.
“…….”
-I-I apologize.
Park Min-ho apologized.
But I was not the one who deserved an apology.
‘I should be the one apologizing.’
I knew they had mistaken me for a Hunter, yet I had never corrected them.
There was only one reason.
‘…If they find out I have no mana, they might abandon me.’
The warmth of other people after so long.
A comfortable home.
Cold water.
The thought that all of it might vanish in an instant frightened me.
At least in a world overrun by zombies, useless people were treated that way.
‘Was this not enough?’
I had tried to show that I could still be useful by switching between different weapons.
Apparently, that had not been enough.
“I…”
They were good people.
I could not keep deceiving them any longer…….
“Mana…”
That was when it happened.
WEEEEEOOOO, WEEEEEOOOO.
A siren suddenly began to blare.
-What…? What is going on…?!
Choi Ji-woong and Park Min-ho’s urgent voices came through the microphone.
At the same time—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Every door in the training ground slammed shut and locked.
-An anomaly has occurred. An error has occurred in the training system. Repeating: an error has occurred in the training system.
An alarm echoed throughout the Association.
I slowly changed my grip on the weapon.
Unexpected situations always happened.
At the very least—
‘They did not do this.’
I could tell from Choi Ji-woong and Park Min-ho’s shocked expressions.
And from their actions.
-We will get you out immediately! Please, just wait a moment!
That was enough.
As long as they had not betrayed me.
I did not want to be betrayed by people ever again.
No matter what happened at this moment—
‘I will survive.’
HMMMMMM!
Mana particles gathered in the center of the training ground and began taking shape.
I tensed and tightened my grip on the halberd.
Then, the half-formed figure made my heart pound.
THUMP.
Something I could never forget.
No, something that had become inseparable from my life.
“GRRRAAAAGH.”
A zombie.
The moment I saw something I had believed I would never encounter again in this world—
TENSE.
As always, my body moved before my thoughts did.
Smash the zombie’s head.
That was the only thought in my mind as I swung the halberd.
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP—!
Along with the deafening warning alarm—
FLASH!
The entire world went dark.
“…So.”
Association President Kim Jin-cheol carefully spoke as he stared at the report in front of him.
“You are saying the sky split open?”