A Veteran Player is Needed in the Apocalypse

Chapter 21. Awareness

After the barbecue party, I began basic training with Taejong.

Unlike BangguseokYeoBo, who had honed his basic training in the military, Taejong, merely a servant of the mansion, had no time for training. So, I called him to join us.

“…Why are you so good at this?”

Taejong’s shooting skills were the worst.

But his physical skills were no joke.

Although he was still young, his fundamentals were solid, almost… at a professional level.

At my words, Taejong gave a sheepish smile.

“I used to exercise a bit…”

A bit? That was an understatement.

“But you’re more surprising, hyung. Did you exercise before the possession?”

“Not at all. I was a complete slacker.”

My solid fundamentals were thanks to the ‘title’ I inherited as a former zone strategist.

Of course, this title didn’t directly enhance my physical abilities.

While it could raise certain NPCs’ favor or increase proficiency, separate training was required to improve physical abilities.

Even the title ‘Marksman of the Magic Bullet’ I obtained by capturing a medium-sized monster didn’t enhance my physical abilities.

The ‘Marksman of the Magic Bullet’ title was earned by hitting a monster’s jewel ten times consecutively with one shot each.

When wearing this title, the first six bullets would never miss, but the seventh bullet would always hit the player’s most cherished person, which was a kind of curse.

In essence, it didn’t enhance physical abilities but influenced the player’s ‘luck.’

In the game, the ‘most cherished person’ usually meant the NPC with the highest favorability, so it wasn’t much of a disadvantage.

I would raise the favorability of unnecessary NPCs and use them as sacrifices for the ‘Marksman of the Magic Bullet’ title.

There were many comments saying even Satan would cry at such a strategy, but those who commented probably did the same as me.

‘But this isn’t a game.’

If the NPC with the highest favorability towards me died, the one most likely to get hit by the seventh bullet now would be Commander Hayden.

If other players were included, the situation could change.

While BangguseokYeoBo didn’t hold any favorability, Taejong had strong goodwill towards me.

Conversely, it could target someone I genuinely cherished rather than an NPC I worked to increase favorability.

In that case, it would be Commander Hayden or Meursault who would die.

I felt sorry for Taejong, but those two were more crucial to me than any other players at the moment.

Despite the risks, I used the ‘Marksman of the Magic Bullet’ title to showcase my shooting skills to Meursault.

‘Three shots on the target, one on the boar, so two shots left.’

Honestly, my basic shooting skills weren’t that bad without using such a title.

After all, the title required hitting a gem the size of a fingertip embedded in a monster’s body ten times consecutively.

For stationary targets, I only used the title’s help for the first shot; the rest I hit on my own.

I had used two more shots on moving targets as well.

The safest method would be to enhance my physical abilities, including shooting, through personal training and stop using the ‘Marksman of the Magic Bullet’ title altogether…

‘I’m curious who the seventh bullet will hit if I fire it.’

Though I knew testing it on a person was wrong, I couldn’t help but want to try it since it wouldn’t necessarily kill them.

‘Should I create the ‘Marksman of the Magic Bullet’ title for Taejong and see if the seventh bullet comes for me?’

Even if it did, I knew how to avoid fatal injuries.

For now, I put this problem aside.

The important thing was that the title alone couldn’t cover physical abilities, especially stamina.

Using auxiliary titles like ‘SSS-Class Trainee’ to boost physical abilities through a little training was possible, but basic training shouldn’t be neglected.

“Even though you were a slacker, you handle your body so well… I knew you could do anything, hyung.”

…After finishing the morning training with Taejong, who seemed to respect me even more.

In the afternoon, I tested various foods to enhance the player’s healing abilities.

The result was that meat, especially canned or jerky, was far more effective than cookies or regular meat.

‘Should I make something like the starvation pills from martial arts novels?’

It was fortunate that compressed foods were more effective.

While I had an inventory that allowed me to carry a large amount of food without it spoiling, Taejong and BangguseokYeoBo, who couldn’t access the status window, were limited in the food they could carry.

They also faced the issue of their food spoiling… I hadn’t checked if spoiled food could still be healed.

I’d have to test it with BangguseokYeoBo at the next regular meal.

‘If even spoiled food could be healed.’

What would the system consider ‘food’?

I tried to convince myself that a stone was ‘food’ and brought it to my mouth, but it didn’t turn into blue particles and disappear like other foods.

This meant the system had a clear definition of food…

‘I’ll look into that later… For now, I need to prepare portable food.’

This world also had combat rations.

However, since they were only issued to soldiers, I hadn’t seen any yet as I wasn’t officially enlisted.

The mansion servants were just that, not soldiers, and the combat rations in Cola Zone were managed by a separate agency, making it difficult to obtain them through the servants.

In this case, I had to use an NPC.

Luckily, Meursault was on probation.

“Meursault, do you have any combat rations?”

When I asked Meursault, who was still busy with paperwork despite being on probation due to manpower shortage, he looked at me with an incredulous face.

“Why that face?”

“You’re the first person to come and extort combat rations from me, sir.”

His tone had become increasingly rough since our last hunting trip.

He’d need to earn some merit in a suppression battle and get promoted to speak respectfully to me.

“But I don’t have any combat rations.”

“Why? Because you’re not a combat soldier?”

“I don’t go to the battlefield, but mainly because they taste terrible. I think I only ate combat rations when I was a private.”

Meursault said this and then looked at me intently.

“I don’t know why someone like you, who doesn’t go to the battlefield, is suddenly looking for combat rations…”

After thinking for a moment, Meursault nodded.

“Since I have something to check, would you like to visit the research lab together?”

The research lab.

The full name of the lab Meursault mentioned was the Zone Security Research Lab, where they developed military supplies excluding weapons, such as combat rations and uniforms.

I only wanted to check the effectiveness of combat rations, but visiting the lab to see if they had the technology to create something like starvation pills for players wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Why was Meursault making such a proposal now?

“I was going to go after my probation was lifted, but if I go with you, sir, I can handle it faster.”

He needed an excuse to visit the lab during his probation.

I didn’t know what Meursault’s ‘business’ was, but as soon as we faced the military police at the checkpoint before entering the lab, I froze.

The military police, who had a blank expression, saluted Meursault but had a single tear rolling down his cheek.

However, I wasn’t surprised by the tearful face itself.

It was because I recognized the NPC.

‘The son of the deceased Major General Batom.’

But this NPC wasn’t originally a lab guard.

Had his position changed after Major General Batom died?

“I’m sorry about your father.”

I thought Meursault was a real psychopath, but Batom’s son replied calmly.

“No, I’m sorry for showing such a disgrace. You may proceed inside.”

I knew NPCs had families too, but…

This was the first time I’d faced the family of an NPC I’d killed and seen them cry.

In reality, not just in the game.

After passing through the checkpoint and entering, there was a long silence until Meursault spoke first.

“It might be meddling, but…”

What was he about to say?

“I thought it might make you feel a bit better. Batom abandoned him as soon as he was born.”

I stopped walking and looked back at Meursault, who also stopped and continued.

“When that soldier was born, Batom wasn’t a major general yet. So, the soldier grew up as an orphan and only recently found out Batom was his father. Still, he seems to cry for his father.”

Batom’s abandoned son… Was that a setting?

While I knew the names and positions of NPCs, I didn’t know their histories.

The fact that Meursault shared this unnecessary information to make me feel better was more surprising than Batom’s abandonment of his son.

“There’s one good thing.”

“What is it?”

“I was ordered to deal with him if he held any grudge against you. Seeing only resignation on his face, it’s a relief that an innocent young man doesn’t have to die.”

Was his ‘business’ executing a rebel?

…I had thought of Commander Hayden as a duke of the north.

Was I possibly the child of some northern dictator?