A Space Marine Got a Status Window

Although the space age began after Doctor Space discovered Gate technology, that didn’t mean everything had progressed smoothly from the beginning.

Rather, after traveling enormous distances through the Gates and discovering new planets, numerous problems arose.

‘We want to go there and extract resources, but how do we do it?’

Everyone racked their brains over that question.

It was then that an element called Stium appeared. Batteries made with Stium possessed storage capacity and safety several times greater than solid-state batteries, which until then had been considered the best.

From that moment on, humanity was able to begin rapidly developing space using Stium batteries.

Furthermore, the person who had developed the method for turning Stium into batteries was Doctor Space, and thanks to the discovery of that technology, he had received his eleventh Nobel Prize, specifically the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

In any case, for that reason, most means of transportation currently used in space, especially those that traveled over land, used Stium batteries.

Naturally, military trucks were no exception.

Furthermore, the wheels of military trucks were powered by motors, allowing them to freely switch between front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, or four-wheel drive.

“Drifting, sir?”

“Can you do it?”

“Yes? Ah, yes. Of course I can, sir.”

In short, drifting posed no problem.

Of course, drifting required far more driving skill than most people imagined.

“It’s no problem at all, sir.”

However, for Private First Class Park Boseop, who wasn’t a mere amateur and could already be considered a professional driver, it was a piece of cake.

Even so, Park Boseop had a question.

It was inevitable.

“But I don’t understand why we need to drift, sir.”

On a planet in space, the skill a driver needed wasn’t drifting, but avoiding obstacles while maintaining the highest possible speed.

Even at the training center, that was the only thing they had practiced.

If someone tried to drift, the instructor would immediately appear and shout at them.

“Recruit, do you think you’re playing a video game? Can’t you take this seriously?”

In response to that question, Kim Seojun explained.

“From now on, we have to eliminate the Mogdogs that occupied the destroyed headquarters. Under normal circumstances, we’d just have to keep driving. They’d chase us like dogs.”

At that moment, Kim Seojun pointed toward the sky with one finger.

“But right now, we have a Cyclops up there.”

“Yes?”

Park Boseop looked up at the sky in surprise.

Kim Seojun continued explaining.

“As long as the Cyclops is giving orders, the Mogdogs won’t necessarily chase us. If we want to take out the Mogdogs under those conditions, we’ll eventually have to go around and around inside the headquarters base. That’s why I asked if you could drift.”

Park Boseop immediately understood the explanation.

And the moment he understood it, he screamed inwardly.

‘This is fucking insane.’

Even after grabbing the steering wheel, Park Boseop’s head was still filled with the same thought.

‘This is so insane that not even a lunatic high on Stimpak would do it.’

‘How is this any different from tap-dancing in front of a rabid dog?’

And that was understandable.

Mogdogs weren’t simply rabid dogs.

They were terrifying monsters capable of regarding a Space Marine dressed in a battle suit as little more than an especially tough chew toy.

Driving around headquarters while drifting and dragging monsters like that along with them wasn’t something a sane person could do.

Kim Seojun, who was preparing himself in the cargo bed of the truck, was thinking exactly the same thing.

‘This is fucking insane.’

Even Kim Seojun, who had witnessed all kinds of hell, could count on one hand the number of times he had done something this crazy.

“Phew……”

That was why he let out a sigh.

‘I came here to make money, and on my first day as an NCO, what the fuck am I doing?’

Not for a single moment had he expected things to end up developing this way.

Put another way, that was precisely why he was doing this.

‘No matter what happens, I have to make it back alive. And with my bank account full.’

Kim Seojun needed money to cure his brother, and at the same time, he had to return with his body intact.

And to accomplish that, he now had to rescue that important person.

Naturally, even if hundreds or thousands of Space Marines died, the higher-ups wouldn’t move.

If they wanted a rescue team to be sent, in the end, they would have to save the life of a superior officer.

‘Even if it’s just his corpse.’

If he was already dead, they at least had to recover the corpse so that a rescue team could track its location and come there.

In any case, it was clear what he had to do, and Kim Seojun didn’t waste time worrying unnecessarily in a situation like that.

“Status window.”

He checked his status window.

[Kim Seojun]

— Strength: 12
— Endurance: 18
— Mana: 1
— Skills: X-Ray Vision (F)
— Talents: Dynamic Vision (C)
— Points: 257 pt
— Tickets: None

Naturally, Kim Seojun had immediately used the points obtained from eliminating the Thorn Snakes to buy a Bronze Ticket right there.

In a situation where he didn’t know when a crisis might arise, he wasn’t going to do something like.

‘I’m going to diligently save up my points to buy something good!’

And from that Bronze Ticket, he had obtained 1 point of Endurance.

Of course, he wasn’t looking at the status window now to check something like that.

This was a way of mentally preparing himself.

A kind of autosuggestion.

‘I have a status window.’

After reaffirming his confidence like that, Kim Seojun shouted.

“Move out!”

Vroooooom!

The moment he gave the order, Park Boseop stepped on the accelerator and began speeding forward.

It didn’t take them long to reach the area where the ruined headquarters was located, and the moment they entered, the situation proved even more desolate than what they had seen from afar.

All kinds of buildings had been destroyed, and their debris was scattered everywhere.

Driving through a place like that was already difficult in itself.

However, for Park Boseop, who was now holding the steering wheel, something like that couldn’t even be considered a problem.

It couldn’t be.

Kieeeeeeeeeek!

Because the real problem had just appeared.

“Mogdogs!”

Park Boseop shouted when he saw them.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

And instead of responding, Kim Seojun immediately began pulling the trigger.

[You have eliminated a Mogdog! You have obtained 1 point!]

The six Mogdogs that had appeared were eliminated in an instant by Kim Seojun’s gunfire.

It was impressive.

However, they couldn’t let their guard down.

This had only just begun.

Kieeeeeek!

The Mogdogs that had heard the gunfire began coming from every direction.

Then Kim Seojun said.

“If at any point you think this isn’t going to work, run away immediately.”

Park Boseop didn’t respond.

Kim Seojun wasn’t bothered or offended by that.

On the contrary, he was grateful.

‘I was lucky to find a driver like this.’

It was truly difficult to find a driver capable of focusing absolutely all of his senses on driving.

Of course, Park Boseop was even better than that.

He wasn’t merely capable of concentrating on driving.

He also drove exceptionally well.

And right now, he was proving it.

While dodging the debris, he also skillfully avoided the Mogdogs lunging at them from every direction.

It was then.

Kieeeeeek!

While they were dragging around thirty Mogdogs behind them, thirteen Mogdogs suddenly appeared directly ahead.

Both the front and rear were blocked.

In that situation, Park Boseop’s hands and feet began moving rapidly.

He turned the steering wheel and deliberately made the vehicle skid.

Then, with exquisite control of the accelerator, he began to drift.

Using that drift, he immediately changed direction and stepped on the accelerator again.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

At the same time, Kim Seojun regained his balance and immediately pulled the trigger.

At that moment, Kim Seojun’s eyes widened.

‘No wonder he’s willing to risk his life for racing.’

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the driving skills Park Boseop was displaying at that moment were the best Kim Seojun had ever seen in his entire life.

‘We can do this.’

Furthermore, from Kim Seojun’s perspective, this was the best possible situation.

He no longer had to worry about the Mogdogs catching them from behind.

That meant there was now only one thing Kim Seojun had to focus on.

Rat-tat-tat!

Kim Seojun’s weapon spat fire.

Kieeeeeek!

Along with the sound of gunfire came the shrieks of the Mogdogs.

Screeeeech!

Amid those sounds, the wheels of the military truck could be heard scraping against the ground.

Finally, all that chaos came to an end.

When the Mogdogs could no longer be heard, Kim Seojun told Private First Class Park Boseop.

“Head toward the location the rescue signal is coming from!”

When the space age began, humanity had been convinced of one thing.

In the face of their overwhelming scientific civilization, no extraterrestrial life-form would pose a problem.

However, the Mog shattered that conviction.

Against the existence of the Mog, the weapons humanity was so proud of did not prove particularly effective.

And that wasn’t simply because the Mog were strong.

The reason the Mog were terrifying was that they weren’t simple monsters, but beings capable of using strategies and tactics.

And at the center of all that were the Cyclops.

At first glance, they simply looked like balloons floating through the sky.

The enormous eye located beneath their bellies was grotesque, but they didn’t give off a particularly threatening impression.

However, the Cyclops were one of the reasons the Mog had become humanity’s natural enemies.

Cyclops could communicate with other Cyclops and, through that peculiar sound they emitted, they could also summon other Mog.

That was why Space Marines often said.

The moment a Cyclops screams, hell begins.

Wooooooooong!

And right now, that Cyclops had screamed.

To be exact, it wasn’t a scream.

Cyclops didn’t have mouths.

Therefore, it was a sound produced by the vibration of the Cyclops’s body.

In reality, rather than a sound, it resembled a vibration, and that vibration spread in every direction at an astonishing speed.

That was how powerful it was.

Naturally, humanity had developed devices capable of detecting those powerful vibrations, and those devices were built into the Space Marines’ battle suits.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep!

[Emergency alert! Cyclops alert!]

Kim Seojun’s and Private First Class Park Boseop’s battle suits began issuing violent warnings.

Furthermore, that warning meant they had to flee the place they were in within ten minutes.

Normally, the correct thing to do would have been to flee.

However, Kim Seojun and Private First Class Park Boseop didn’t flee.

Vroooooom!

Park Boseop slammed down on the accelerator and drove at full speed toward the location the rescue signal was coming from.

“It’s here, sir!”

Finally, the moment they reached the location the rescue signal was coming from, Kim Seojun, who was sitting in the passenger seat, immediately opened the door and got out.

Thud!

The heavy battle suit struck the ground hard.

Thud, thud, thud!

And the moment his feet touched the ground, Kim Seojun began running at full speed.

Straight toward the location the rescue signal was coming from.

In reality, that was extremely reckless.

It was practically certain that the person requesting rescue was someone of high rank.

After all, the battle suits of ordinary Space Marines didn’t even have a function for requesting rescue.

The problem was the difficulty of the rescue.

At that moment, the headquarters of the Korean division on planet Amotia was completely devastated.

The remains of the buildings were scattered everywhere.

What if the rescue signal was coming from beneath that debris?

Without heavy machinery, it would be impossible to rescue the person requesting help in the shortest possible time.

And naturally, under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t even be able to know.

It was absolutely impossible to determine at a glance approximately where the person who had requested rescue was located.

That was precisely the reason Kim Seojun had agreed to carry out the rescue.

Because he had something that allowed him to do it.

“X-Ray Vision.”

A skill that allowed him to check the condition of the person requesting rescue.

When Kim Seojun used X-Ray Vision, he began to see beyond the remains of the collapsed buildings.

He couldn’t see through them with absolute clarity.

Everything appeared vague, but that was enough.

It was more than enough to determine whether there was someone among all that debris who needed to be rescued.

And fortunately, the person who had requested rescue wasn’t beneath the debris or underground, but inside something that looked like a container box lying among the wreckage.

‘It’s a shelter.’

Fortunately, the emergency evacuation shelter hadn’t been buried beneath the debris.

It was then.

“Ugh!”

Suddenly, an intense headache struck him, and the semi-transparent world he was seeing returned to its original appearance.

He wasn’t surprised.

He had used X-Ray Vision continuously during the battle, so in a sense, it was only natural that he could no longer continue using it.

Furthermore, that was enough.

Now that he had found the shelter where the person requesting rescue was located, he no longer needed to use X-Ray Vision.

Enduring the brief headache, Kim Seojun approached the shelter and said.

“I’m Sergeant Kim Seojun. I came after receiving your rescue signal. Please open the door.”

He immediately transmitted the message.

However, he received no response.

Kim Seojun didn’t waste time worrying about that.

‘There was a medical suit inside.’

Before X-Ray Vision stopped working, he had managed to vaguely see a white, chrysalis-shaped suit inside the shelter.

Considering that headquarters had suffered an attack brutal enough to leave it completely devastated, there was nothing strange about someone having been injured.

Then there was only one thing to do.

Kim Seojun quickly pulled down the emergency button located beside the shelter door, or more precisely, the lever, and said.

“The person who requested rescue is unresponsive. Requesting that the door be opened.”

It was then.

Psssssssh!

With the sound of escaping air, the shelter door began to open.

Inside the small space, barely ten square meters in size, a medical suit appeared. Kim Seojun immediately released the locking mechanism on the wheels at the bottom of the medical suit and dragged it outside.

He took it to Park Boseop’s military truck, which was ready to flee at any moment.

The moment he saw Kim Seojun appear, Park Boseop immediately opened the driver’s door and got out.

“Sergeant Kim, sir!”

“We’ll load it into the cargo bed.”

“Yes, sir!”

At those words, Park Boseop quickly activated the military truck’s rails, forming a ramp leading up to the cargo bed.

Kim Seojun used that ramp to move the medical suit into the cargo bed.

Immediately afterward, both of them got into the vehicle, one in the driver’s seat and the other in the passenger seat.

Vroooooom!

Park Boseop didn’t want to remain there for another minute, not even another second, so he stepped on the accelerator the moment he got in.

Then he asked.

“Uh, Sergeant Kim Seojun, sir, who is it?”

Deep down, Park Boseop had a hope as he asked that question.

He desperately hoped it was someone of high rank.

It was a rather materialistic way of thinking, but he couldn’t help it.

After all, Park Boseop had also come to that hell because he wanted to make money.

Kim Seojun answered Park Boseop, who was full of expectations.

“I’m still not completely sure, but I think it’s a Major.”

“A Major?”

Park Boseop was surprised by that answer.

“Don’t tell me it’s Major Lee Sunhyeok, sir?”

At that moment, the only Major in the Korean division on planet Amotia was Major Lee Sunhyeok, the division commander.

That meant they had just rescued the highest-ranking person in that entire place!

While Park Boseop rejoiced at that possibility, Kim Seojun told him.

“No, it isn’t Major Lee Sunhyeok.”

“Yes? What do you mean, sir? Isn’t there only one Major in this place?”

“The basic information displayed on the medical suit listed the rank of Major. But the person inside is a woman. And she’s younger than me.”

Those words made Park Boseop feel even more confused.

Kim Seojun, on the other hand, reacted differently.

He didn’t feel any confusion.

“Is that possible, sir?”

“Of course it’s possible.”

Because he knew the answer.

“Psyker Agents receive treatment equivalent to that of a Major by default.”