A Space Marine Got a Status Window

“A can of cola?”

When they heard that Kim Seojun had found a can of cola, Park Boseop and Major Lee Hyena were surprised.

But nothing more.

Both of them simply thought that Hawk Eye had passed through that place and that Kim Seojun was truly impressive for managing to discover something like that using a drone.

“Hawk Eye is still alive.”

“What?”

That was why, when Kim Seojun stated with certainty that Hawk Eye was still alive, both of them couldn’t help being confused.

“Uh, Sergeant Kim……”

Neither of them could understand how he could be so certain that Hawk Eye was still alive just from seeing a can of cola.

“I know it’s difficult to understand. So I’ll explain.”

Kim Seojun spoke to both of them.

“The can of cola is embedded in the rock. As if someone had pushed a can of cola into sand. But that isn’t sand, it’s rock.”

At that moment, Major Lee Hyena’s expression changed.

She understood immediately.

That couldn’t be done using physical force.

“It was fixed there while it was in a state of penetration.”

Thanks to that, Kim Seojun was able to deduce what Hawk Eye’s ability was.

The other two were surprised when they understood.

Was Hawk Eye’s mysterious ability, which until then had been surrounded by so many unknowns, the ability to pass through objects?

At the same time, it made sense.

“So that’s why!”

“That was how she could penetrate even Tank Bugs.”

Now they understood the secret behind the ruthless penetration ability Hawk Eye had displayed until then, an ability that ignored the destructive power of weapons and even the laws of physics themselves.

However, Kim Seojun’s reasoning didn’t end there.

“And if Hawk Eye’s ability is penetration, there’s a high probability that Hawk Eye is inside that rock.”

“Huh?”

Kim Seojun had taken that deduction even further.

When the other two heard it, they initially showed surprise.

“Ah!”

But shortly afterward, their faces filled with astonishment.

They could finally imagine it.

A possibility that Hawk Eye had survived.

“But even so…… I mean, Sergeant Kim, even if that’s true……”

‘What if I’m wrong?’

Naturally, there was also the possibility that it wasn’t true.

All of that was nothing more than Kim Seojun’s conjecture.

There was no proof.

Furthermore, if Hawk Eye really was inside a rock, it would be impossible to maintain proper wireless communication with her.

And, above all, Hawk Eye had already been missing for eleven days.

There would be nothing strange about her having entered the rock and died inside it.

Above all, the place where Hawk Eye was located was a rocky mountain packed with hundreds of thousands of Mog.

Entering that place based solely on an insignificant possibility that might be nothing more than a fantasy?

“Searching that place right now is insane.”

Kim Seojun also knew that this was something only a completely deranged lunatic would do.

Even so, there was a very simple reason why he was saying it.

“Except for me.”

Kim Seojun could do it.

As soon as he reached that conclusion, he didn’t hesitate.

He activated Stealth and began carefully ascending the rocky mountain using Teleport.

“X-Ray Vision.”

Then he used X-Ray Vision from a certain distance.

And there, Kim Seojun could clearly see it.

‘She’s there.’

Inside the rock, he could vaguely make out a figure wearing an Agent Suit.

From that moment onward, a race against time began.

Kim Seojun approached the rock Hawk Eye had entered using her penetration ability and struck the surface with the hammer he had prepared.

He sent a signal using space Morse code.

— We’ve come to rescue you.

He transmitted the message.

— Come out within 30 seconds.

‘Thirty.’

After transmitting the message, Kim Seojun began counting down mentally.

As he did so, he made a decision.

If Hawk Eye didn’t move, he would simply leave that place.

He wouldn’t cling to any hope.

And that wasn’t something exclusive to this occasion.

Kim Seojun had lost many comrades in space and had mourned their deaths, but he had never placed importance on their corpses.

He knew there was no point in risking the lives of those who were still alive just to recover a corpse and hold a funeral.

‘Zero.’

And just as the count reached zero.

Swoooosh!

Hawk Eye, who was inside the rock, began to move and emerged from it.

As soon as she came out, she staggered.

After remaining inside the rock for eleven days, her muscles and nerves couldn’t properly perform their functions.

However, her mind was another story.

“Yo……”

As soon as she came out, Hawk Eye immediately opened wireless communication to speak with Kim Seojun.

And as soon as the connection was established, she directly expressed what she was feeling at that moment.

“You fucking lunatic!”

Instead of thanking him, she insulted him.

Upon hearing that, Kim Seojun wasn’t surprised or offended.

On the contrary, he let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m glad to see that you don’t seem to have any serious problems.”

The fact that she reacted that way was proof that Hawk Eye was surprisingly sane.

In other words, Kim Seojun had considered it quite likely that Hawk Eye’s mental state would be bad.

And that was natural.

Remaining motionless inside a rock for eleven days?

That was more than enough to turn a completely normal person into someone with serious mental problems.

Furthermore, Hawk Eye had been in a situation where she couldn’t expect any kind of rescue.

A situation filled only with despair.

The fact that she had endured it anyway demonstrated just how extraordinarily strong her mental fortitude was.

Naturally, unlike her mental state, her physical condition wasn’t good.

At that moment, she would have collapsed if Kim Seojun hadn’t been holding her up.

Furthermore, the visor of Hawk Eye’s helmet had darkened to protect her eyes, which for eleven days had seen nothing but darkness.

‘With this, she should be able to recover her condition in a day or two.’

Even so, it wasn’t something they needed to worry too much about.

Once she entered a medical suit and received treatment, she could recover quickly.

‘Coming to rescue her was the right decision.’

It had been a rescue that was truly worth it.

Naturally, regardless of what Kim Seojun thought, Hawk Eye was on the verge of losing her mind.

“Are you sane? Do you even know what kind of place this is to come all the way here?”

Hawk Eye had never expected anyone to come rescue her.

She couldn’t have expected it.

That wouldn’t be a rescue.

It would be collective suicide, nothing more and nothing less.

That was why, when she had left her final message before going to hunt the Queen, she hadn’t even mentioned the word rescue once.

Her only objective had been to transmit information to those who remained on planet Amotia.

And now someone had come to rescue her?

“Do you want to die?”

That was why she said those words.

Kim Seojun responded.

“I’ve never thought anything like that. I have absolutely no intention of dying. I’ll return to Earth one way or another.”

She could say whatever she wanted about him, but he had absolutely no intention of dying.

“That’s precisely why I came all the way here.”

From Kim Seojun’s perspective, even that situation was the result of making the best possible decision in order to survive.

“If we don’t eliminate the Queen, we’ll all die in the end. And to eliminate the Queen, we need you, Hawk Eye.”

At those words, Hawk Eye stopped saying anything.

Furthermore, that was no longer what mattered.

Hawk Eye had finally come out.

Now what the two of them had to do was escape from there.

And when she thought about that, Hawk Eye felt overwhelmed by the situation.

‘He definitely came all the way here on foot.’

If he had climbed that rocky mountain using a hover bike or a military truck, the place would already have been filled with the shrieks of the Mog.

That meant they had no choice but to leave there silently as well.

‘And he has to get me out of here carrying me like luggage.’

At that moment, Hawk Eye couldn’t be of any help.

Rather, she was like a shackle that would hinder Kim Seojun.

The situation was terrible in every way.

That was why she spoke.

“I’m telling you clearly. If at any point you see that this isn’t going to work, leave me behind and go. Don’t try to star in some movie full of unnecessary humanism.”

Kim Seojun responded.

“I’m confident when it comes to escaping while carrying someone important.”

Hawk Eye laughed at that answer.

“Oh, really? Then how do you plan to escape?”

Kim Seojun didn’t answer the question.

Whirrrrr!

“Hm?”

Instead of answering, he took something out.

“W-Wait. What’s that sound?”

“We’ll escape on a hover bike.”

He took out the hover bike they would use to escape.

A rocky mountain packed with hundreds of thousands of Mog.

Whirrrrr!

The Wulong sped across that mountain at full speed.

Screeeeech!

Naturally, the Mog reacted to the appearance of the hover bike with greater violence than ever.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

The Mogdogs began chasing the hover bike like rabid dogs, and the Thorn Snakes began spitting their thorns.

The physical impact generated by hundreds of thousands of creatures moving simultaneously was staggering.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

The ground began to shake.

It seemed as though an earthquake had begun.

It was an overwhelming situation.

Even veteran Space Marines would have ended up vomiting involuntarily if they hadn’t received a Stimpak.

However, Hawk Eye was different.

“Wow, it’s been a while since I felt a proper Mog Wave.”

Hawk Eye experienced those tremors like a professional surfer looking at an enormous wave.

“Looks like you’ve surfed a few Waves yourself, huh?”

And the same was true for Kim Seojun.

Faced with those overwhelming tremors, Kim Seojun wasn’t particularly shaken.

He was used to it too.

“Yes. I’ve experienced it a few times.”

No.

In a certain sense, Kim Seojun’s experiences had been even more intense than Hawk Eye’s.

Hawk Eye normally watched all of that from a distance.

Kim Seojun, on the other hand, had experienced it right before his eyes.

Hawk Eye knew that Kim Seojun’s words weren’t a bluff.

There was no way she wouldn’t know.

“I thought so from the moment you came to rescue me, but it looks like you’re not exactly normal either.”

At that moment, Hawk Eye was pressed against Kim Seojun’s back like a turtle shell.

That was why she could tell better than anyone whether Kim Seojun was trembling or not.

And at the same time, she understood something else.

“Anyway, thanks to you, I’m going to survive.”

They would manage to escape.

And she had good reason to be certain.

The Wulong Kim Seojun was driving had been modified by Jo Yihyeon and could reach an absurd speed.

And Kim Seojun, who was driving that Wulong, didn’t hesitate even slightly in the face of that overwhelming wave of terror.

It would be difficult for their escape to fail.

“But how did you know? How did you know I was inside that rock?”

Now that she had enough breathing room to talk, Hawk Eye asked that question.

Kim Seojun responded.

“I saw a can of cola.”

“What?”

“I saw a can of cola embedded in a rock. And it was unopened. As soon as I saw it, I thought you, Hawk Eye, would still be alive.”

Upon hearing that, Hawk Eye was dumbfounded.

He had deduced that she was still alive simply from something she had done with the intention of leaving a gravestone?

“But what would you have done if I hadn’t been there?”

Naturally, that question arose in her mind.

Kim Seojun responded.

“Then I would have given up and gone back. That would have been all.”

Upon hearing that answer, Hawk Eye let out an incredulous laugh.

“Are you Korean, by any chance?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, what a coincidence. Last time, I also met a completely fucking crazy Korean. I didn’t expect to run into another one.”

At those words from Hawk Eye, Kim Seojun responded.

“I received the gift you gave me last time.”

“Hm?”

As soon as she heard that response, Hawk Eye finally realized.

“Huh? Are you the one who gave me the cola that time?”

“Yes.”

She was able to remember his voice, and upon realizing it, Hawk Eye let out a long sigh.

“The can of cola I embedded there was actually the one you gave me. Wow, this really could become a movie.”

Kim Seojun didn’t respond to that exclamation.

In truth, from his perspective, the current situation wasn’t exactly good.

Behind him, at least a hundred thousand Mogdogs were running after him like mad.

They might not be as fast as the Wulong, but the pressure they exerted was no small thing.

Above all, Kim Seojun knew.

‘In the end, we’ll have to eliminate them all.’

To survive, simply facing that overwhelming number wouldn’t be enough.

They would have to eliminate them.

At that instant, Kim Seojun’s gaze changed.

In that state, Kim Seojun met up with Park Boseop and Major Lee Hyena, who were waiting inside the military truck.

“Sergeant Kim!”

As soon as they saw him, both of them were delighted.

“Huh? The one behind you……?”

“It’s Hawk Eye.”

And as soon as they saw Hawk Eye clinging to Kim Seojun’s back, they were stunned.

They had trusted him.

They trusted that Kim Seojun would be capable of making the impossible possible.

But when that trust actually became reality, the impact couldn’t have been greater.

“Impressions can wait.”

Kim Seojun spoke to the two of them.

“Park Boseop.”

“Private First Class Park Boseop!”

“Right now, at least a hundred thousand Mogdogs are chasing me.”

As soon as he heard that, Park Boseop’s gaze immediately changed.

“Yes, I’ll drive at maximum speed to headquarters!”

It was time to focus.

“No.”

“What?”

Kim Seojun continued.

“From now on, we’re going to hunt Mogdogs.”

“What?”

Upon hearing that, Park Boseop and Major Lee Hyena showed expressions of disbelief.

Did he intend to face that absurd number now?

However, Kim Seojun saw it differently.

“This is an opportunity.”

Kim Seojun considered the current situation an exceptional opportunity that probably wouldn’t present itself again.

“Right now, the Mogdogs are chasing us instead of protecting the Queen.”

Normally, as soon as a Queen began exerting her presence, the Mog made protecting the Queen their highest priority.

It was extremely rare for only the Mogdogs to separate from the group to pursue a target as they were doing now.

“Only Mogdogs.”

Furthermore, the ones coming after them weren’t Thorn Snakes or Tank Bugs.

They were exclusively Mogdogs.

Enemies that even a military truck could compete with in speed!

“This is a perfect opportunity to reduce the number of Mogdogs. On the other hand, if we don’t eliminate them now, we’ll never get another opportunity like this. The Queen will be much more alert after this.”

From Kim Seojun’s perspective, there was a high possibility that this opportunity to considerably reduce the number of Mogdogs would never present itself again.

Naturally, even after hearing that entire explanation, Park Boseop and Major Lee Hyena couldn’t bring themselves to share his reasoning.

They couldn’t.

Although both of them had been through numerous extreme situations, Kim Seojun’s way of thinking was still on a level far removed from theirs.

However, there was someone different.

“Oh!”

Hawk Eye spoke.

“Sounds fun.”

Hawk Eye, who had been through all kinds of extreme situations, considered Kim Seojun’s choice quite reasonable, in fact.

“I’ll join in too. My body is already starting to respond.”

The other two watched that conversation with expressions of disbelief.

Regardless of that, the preparations were carried out quickly.

Park Boseop took the wheel and got ready.

They waited for the Mogdogs to arrive.

“They’re coming!”

Finally, Park Boseop heard the footsteps of the Mogdog horde and informed the others.

Kim Seojun and Hawk Eye lay down in the cargo bed of the military truck and prepared to fire.

“Since we’re doing this, let’s make a bet.”

Hawk Eye spoke.

“A bet?”

“Yes. It’s more fun if we bet something, isn’t it?”

“Fine. What will we bet?”

Kim Seojun saw no reason to reject Hawk Eye’s proposal.

“The loser has to grant the winner one wish.”

“Fine.”

Upon hearing his answer, Hawk Eye smiled.

“Wow, you’re the second person to accept this bet against me.”

An expression of confidence appeared on Hawk Eye’s face as she spoke.

The absolute confidence that she would be the one to win.

“Huh?”

However, shortly afterward, Hawk Eye saw something.

“But why are you taking out four weapons?”

Kim Seojun was preparing four weapons in the cargo bed.

Kim Seojun didn’t answer.

There was no need.

And he didn’t have time to do so either.

Screeeeech!

The Mogdog horde appeared.

And then Kim Seojun heard.

[Combat has begun.]

[An event mission has appeared.]

[Points obtained during this combat will be multiplied by 3.]

[If you obtain 100,000 points during this combat, you will receive a Diamond Ticket as a special reward!]

The notifications from the Status Window.