A Space Marine Got a Status Window

One of the warnings recruits enlisting as Space Marines heard most often during their training concerned the end of a battle.

“Never let your guard down. Even if the battle is over, don’t relax. The vitality of the Mog is extremely tenacious. One you thought was dead could suddenly get back up and devour you.”

Kim Seojun had learned that warning in the most painful way possible.

That was why, even when it seemed that the battle was over, he never let his guard down easily.

And he wasn’t the only one.

Lee Hyena and the others did exactly the same.

As they looked at the corpses of the Mogdogs and Thorn Snakes, none of them spoke the words that would announce the end of the battle.

“It looks like the battle is over.”

In that situation, the one who practically declared the end of the battle was Park Boseop.

And as soon as they heard those words, everyone began to relax.

They knew.

“I can’t hear anything at all, sir.”

If Park Boseop, who was now a Psyker and possessed that special hearing ability, said so, they could trust him.

Of course, even then, Kim Seojun didn’t completely let his guard down.

He still didn’t declare the end of the battle.

[Combat has ended.]

Only when the Status Window confirmed it did Kim Seojun finally speak.

“The battle is over.”

“Phew!”

At that instant, Park Boseop let out an extremely long sigh.

Lee Hyena did the same.

She dropped straight to the ground and spoke.

“It’s been a long time since I had a day when I regretted becoming a Psyker.”

Everyone agreed with her.

Kim Seojun was no exception.

He looked at the landscape stretching out before him, covered with the corpses of Mogdogs and Thorn Snakes.

‘We did something insane.’

In truth, the scene itself wasn’t particularly surprising.

In the war against the Mog, a legion of ten thousand Mog wasn’t small, but it couldn’t be considered particularly large either.

For a Mog legion to truly be called a large legion, it had to contain at least one hundred thousand individuals.

Even occasions when they exceeded one million weren’t as rare as one might think.

And among all recorded wars, the largest number had reached 13.22 million Mog.

During his years on active duty, Kim Seojun had also fought against Mog legions exceeding one hundred thousand individuals and even groups exceeding one million.

And that wasn’t particularly extraordinary either.

On planets that had not even received a proper classification yet, unexplored planets rather than planets designated for resource exploitation, it was extremely common for enormous numbers of Mog to gather.

And those were precisely the kinds of planets Kim Seojun was usually sent to.

In any case, Kim Seojun had already seen overwhelming numbers of Mog.

‘But eliminating all of this with only four of us……’

However, this was the first time he had faced a legion of nearly ten thousand Mog using only one battle tank and one Psyker.

‘I was planning to run if I saw that this wasn’t working…….’

Naturally, Kim Seojun had never intended to carry the battle through to the very end.

Nor had he set any grand objective.

He had simply considered the situation favorable.

The explosion of the Tank Bugs had thrown the Mog legion into chaos, and because of that confusion, the Thorn Snakes had been unable to position themselves properly.

Kim Seojun had considered that an opportunity.

Mogdogs were fearsome, but without proper support from the Thorn Snakes, they weren’t too difficult to face.

Lee Hyena, for example, could face hundreds or even thousands of them as long as they were only Mogdogs.

The same was true of the battle tank.

A battle tank wasn’t invincible against Mogdogs, but if its objective was simply to hold out, it could do so perfectly well.

For many reasons, there didn’t seem to be any reason to avoid the confrontation.

‘Before the effects of the Stimpak wear off.’

Above all, from the perspective of Kim Seojun, who had used a Stimpak, the most beneficial thing was to eliminate as many Mog as possible while its effects lasted.

That was all.

His plan had simply been to eliminate a few more and retreat if the situation began to worsen.

Nothing more.

But then it had been just a little more.

And then another little bit.

Once more.

Just one more time.

And in the end, they had carried the battle through to its conclusion.

Not even Kim Seojun had expected such a result.

And the reason they had managed to accomplish something like that was simple.

“You two really are incredible, sir!”

“You’re the incredible one, Private First Class Park Boseop.”

“What? Me, sir?”

“That’s right.”

Park Boseop.

He had demonstrated why.

“Without you, achieving this result would have been impossible.”

That was no exaggeration.

“Your driving skills were absurd.”

Kim Seojun had never considered himself a bad driver either.

But his skills were primarily in the realm of speed, not evasion.

Park Boseop was different.

Inside a battle tank, a space where the field of vision was inevitably extremely limited, Park Boseop had managed to perfectly understand everything happening around him.

He had maneuvered between the Mogdogs lunging at them from every direction without allowing them to surround the vehicle.

“Come on, it wasn’t that impressive, sir.”

“Dodging the Thorn Snakes’ spikes was definitely impressive.”

“Ah, even I was surprised by that, sir.”

He had even demonstrated the absurd ability to dodge the attacks of Thorn Snakes that had already taken position to fire.

“I just heard the sound and suddenly backed up. I didn’t even know I’d actually manage to dodge it, sir.”

It was something he had been able to do thanks to his ability as a Psyker.

But Kim Seojun knew.

Simply because a Psyker possessed an ability didn’t mean they could use it like that.

Furthermore, a battle tank already produced an enormous amount of noise on its own, and they had been completely surrounded by Mogdogs.

On top of that, Kim Seojun had been continuously firing shells from the battle tank and constantly using the machine gun as a secondary weapon.

Detect the sound of a Thorn Snake amid that kind of chaos and react in time?

Only Park Boseop could do something like that.

And thanks to him, Kim Seojun hadn’t needed to worry about anything else.

He had only needed to shoot.

“That’s precisely why it’s impressive.”

[Beginning reward calculation.]

As soon as Kim Seojun finished that brief sentence, the notification rang in his ears.

He immediately regained his focus.

‘This is going to be huge.’

From this point onward, dozens of notifications really should have rung consecutively in his ears.

[Due to the large number of notifications, only the total points will be displayed.]

[You have obtained a total of 73,463 points.]

‘Ah.’

However, at that brief notification, Kim Seojun was momentarily stunned before accepting it.

Anyway, from his perspective, the details didn’t matter much.

Even if the Status Window had made a mistake in its calculations, would arguing over every detail make the Status Window say something like, “It seems we made an error in the calculation! We’re sorry! As an apology, we’ll discreetly add 100,000 points, so please don’t report us to the Consumer Protection Agency or the media!” and correct it?

Naturally, that would never happen.

Above all, at that moment, the small details weren’t important to Kim Seojun.

So he spoke first.

“Let’s return to headquarters.”

As he spoke, Kim Seojun opened his Inventory again.

Then he put the battle tank inside that enormous Inventory and took out a military truck.

Everyone looked at it in amazement and, at the same time, felt that everything was finally over.

“Private First Class Park Boseop, I know you’re tired, but I’m counting on you to get us back to headquarters.”

“Yes, get some good rest, sir!”

Kim Seojun and Lee Hyena practically collapsed into the cargo area.

Lee Hyena couldn’t withstand the exhaustion washing over her and immediately closed her eyes.

Kim Seojun was in the same condition.

He felt as though he could fall asleep at any moment.

So, after turning off the microphone, he spoke.

“Status Window.”

He had to finish everything he needed to do before closing his eyes and losing consciousness.

[Kim Seojun]

— Strength: 33
— Endurance: 33
— Mana: 23
— Skills: X-Ray Vision (D), Inventory (A), Stealth (F)
— Talents: Dynamic Vision (C), Hawk Eye (E)
— Points: 73,641 pt
— Tickets: Skill Upgrade Ticket (A)

After looking at his Status Window, Kim Seojun’s gaze changed.

He had spent all 5,000 points he had previously obtained from eliminating the Lightweight-class Cyclops on Bronze Tickets, which had increased his Mana by 10 points.

‘I can probably only buy seven more Bronze Tickets.’

And once his Mana reached 30 points, there was a high probability that he would no longer be able to increase any of his stats through Bronze Tickets.

That prediction soon became reality.

[You have purchased 7 Bronze Tickets.]

[Your Mana has increased by 7 points.]

[All your stats have reached 30 points. You can no longer purchase Bronze Tickets.]

Kim Seojun felt somewhat disappointed by that notification.

‘No new skill or rank increase came out.’

Considering the cost-effectiveness of Bronze Tickets, ideally, he would have obtained as many skills and rank increases as possible through them.

‘From now on, I’ll only be able to use Silver Tickets.’

Naturally, Kim Seojun spent his remaining points buying as many Silver Tickets as he could.

[You have purchased and used 23 Silver Tickets.]

[Your Mana has increased by 5 points.]

[Your Endurance has increased by 6 points.]

[Your Strength has increased by 9 points.]

[You have obtained a Skill Upgrade Ticket (D).]

[You have obtained a Talent Upgrade Ticket (D).]

Of the twenty-three, twenty-two had produced Silver-grade rewards.

However, Kim Seojun didn’t feel any disappointment.

It was impossible for him to feel disappointed.

Because he immediately heard this.

[Congratulations! You have obtained a Platinum-grade reward!]

[You have obtained the skill Teleport (F)!]

“What?”

As soon as he heard it, Kim Seojun involuntarily flinched.

“What the hell?!”

Kim Seojun shouted, and upon realizing what he had just done, he immediately checked his surroundings.

Fortunately, his microphone was turned off, and Lee Hyena, who was in front of him, remained with her eyes closed and half asleep.

Thanks to that, no one noticed his surprise or asked him anything.

The only thing he could hear was this.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

[Your heart rate has increased.]

The sound of his own heart pounding like crazy.

That was how surprised Kim Seojun was.

‘Could it really be that Teleport?’

If that skill really was what Kim Seojun was imagining, then what he would be able to do from now on would be on a completely different level from everything he had shown until now.

‘Wait.’

Furthermore, Kim Seojun still had that.

‘I still have the Skill Upgrade Ticket.’

A hidden card capable of raising any skill directly to rank A.

There were many reasons to think it over carefully.

However, Kim Seojun didn’t keep thinking about it.

He didn’t have the strength to do so.

‘Here it comes.’

He felt that he had finally reached his limit.

It was natural.

He was already completely exhausted from the Stimpak and the prolonged battle, and on top of that, he had just received an enormous shock.

Just as the notification indicated, his heart had skipped a beat.

His body was already at its limit, and he had just subjected it to another sudden shock.

It would be strange to expect him to keep holding out.

And that prediction soon became reality.

Thud!

Kim Seojun’s body trembled and collapsed.

“Huh? Sergeant Kim!”

Park Boseop shouted hurriedly upon hearing the impact.

Lee Hyena, who had already opened her eyes, laid Kim Seojun down on the floor and spoke.

“There’s no problem. The best thing for Sergeant Kim Seojun is for us to reach headquarters as quickly as possible.”

Vroooooom!

At those words, Park Boseop didn’t respond.

He simply floored the accelerator.

Their efforts paid off.

When Kim Seojun opened his eyes again, he was in the infirmary of the Polish headquarters.

“Sergeant Kim Seojun!”

Then he heard it.

“We have a serious problem!”

Park Boseop was running toward him with a rigid expression.

Seeing him, Kim Seojun wasn’t surprised.

He wasn’t surprised at all.

“It doesn’t look like the Polish headquarters is in danger.”

“What?”

“If a Mog legion were attacking the Polish headquarters right now or Chinese troops were approaching, you wouldn’t have waited until I woke up to come here.”

Of course, saying that didn’t mean Kim Seojun considered the situation unimportant.

It was precisely the opposite.

Park Boseop was making this much of a commotion even though the Polish headquarters wasn’t in danger?

Then there was a high probability that the problem was on an even larger scale.

“Then what happened?”

“Well…… Jennifer Jo sent another signal requesting rescue.”

And that prediction soon became reality.

“But the contents…… I think it would be better if you listened to it yourself.”

Kim Seojun nodded, and Park Boseop immediately played the recorded file.

Then Kim Seojun heard it.

— This is the American headquarters, this is the American headquarters. I’m Jennifer Jo. I don’t care who you are, I’m requesting rescue.

It was a rescue request whose contents weren’t much different from the one they had heard earlier.

The same request was repeated three more times.

It was then.

— Fuck!

Suddenly, a curse in Korean was heard.

Then the person claiming to be Jennifer Jo continued.

— Do you think you’ll get away unscathed if I die?! I’m the only person capable of repairing the damaged Gate! If I die, you’re finished too! So if you want to survive, save me! There isn’t much oxygen left here either! In 120 hours, I’ll be finished too!

After those violent words, Park Boseop stopped playing the file.

His expression had hardened even further.

Previously, Kim Seojun and Lee Hyena had considered it highly likely that the claim that this was Jennifer Jo was a lie.

“W-Well, Sergeant Kim. If this really is true…….”

But if there was even a possibility that all of that was true, then the moment Jennifer Jo died, they might also lose their chance to return to Earth.

It was then.

“Everyone!”

Lee Hyena suddenly appeared and spoke.

“Jennifer Jo has sent a new signal requesting rescue.”

Immediately afterward, she played the recorded file.

— I’ll give you proof that I really am Jennifer Jo. China is researching a Feather-class Cyclops on planet Amotia. The reason for the research? For space peace. China wants to artificially manipulate the Mog’s attack and retreat orders using a Cyclops for the sake of space peace! If they succeed, I’m sure it’ll contribute tremendously to space peace! And I’ll never be able to travel to China again!

To anyone else, that would have sounded like absurd nonsense.

But for the three people gathered there, it was different.

As soon as he heard it, Kim Seojun became convinced.

The probability that it really was Jennifer Jo was extremely high.

“……We’ll hold a meeting to plan her rescue.”

The time had come to seriously consider how to save her.