Firearms.
For most people, they were just tools, precise, lethal, but commonplace.
Soldiers wielded them in war zones, civilians kept them in their drawers for personal safety.
They were part of the modern world, as normal as a car or a cell phone.
But within the universe of heroes, where enchanted swords could cut mountains in half and spears summon thunder with a twist of the wrist, pistols and rifles sounded almost anachronistic. Like toys from a forgotten past.
No one took seriously a fighter who chose a firearm over a magical artifact. No renowned hero used bullets when they could cast spells or wield relics.
Except for one.
Kim Hajin.
With his serene gaze and strategic mind, he shattered that expectation. Using "mundane" weapons and tactics, he climbed step by step to become one of the most feared and respected heroes in the world.
Not by luck. Not by magical talent. But through sheer ingenuity and a bit of hacking.
And yet, in the end... All his effort was erased.
By the damned co-author.
An undignified ending for someone who had been through so much shit.
That same Kim Hajin was now standing in front of me, motionless, his eyes fixed on the gun I had just handed him. It was no ordinary model. It was something I had created with my own hands, using my magical abilities.
He held it as if it were made of glass, a mixture of reverence and disbelief in his eyes.
"Hey!"
I said, crossing my arms as I snapped him out of his daze.
"You're supposed to pick it up, not admire it like it's a relic from the past."
"Ah! C-right."
He pulled himself together, gripping the weapon more firmly, although his gaze was still fixed on every detail of the design.
"I-this... can this really kill a medium grade 5 monster?"
Agent Park Soohyuk asked, watching the scene from the side, his expression oscillating between fascination and skepticism. His eyes went from me to the gun, and then to Hajin, as if he was trying to find some mistake in the whole thing.
"It can. And with the right comb, even high-grade monsters are possible.".
I replied, without exaggeration. I knew what I had built.
"Uh, Theo..."
Hajin frowned, turning the gun in his hand.
"Can't you take the comb out?"
"Ah! Actually, I forgot to tell you."
I walked over to him and pointed to a small, almost imperceptible notch on the side of the metal body.
"I've added a few 'extra features'. Nothing too complex. But to activate everything, you need to drip a drop of your blood here, right on this rune."
"A rune?"
Soohyuk's eyes widened.
"You've mixed ballistic engineering with incantations?"
"Yes, my gift allows me these little feats, it's not much."
And I really wasn't exaggerating, even if it seemed like it, after all, the power I have came from a guy who created a sword capable of destroying an entire Multiverse. So creating a gun was irrelevant.
I shrugged at their stares.
"This weapon recognizes the user by blood and magical signature. No using it if you don't own it. Go ahead..."
"Yes."
He replied, doing as I said without even questioning it.
With calm movements, he took out a compact pocket knife attached to his belt, opened the blade with a metallic snap and made a small cut on the tip of his index finger. Nothing drastic, just enough for a drop of blood to ooze out.
He brought his finger to the rune carved into the side of the weapon, a small inscription almost invisible to the naked eye, pulsing gently now that he felt the proximity of the life energy. As soon as the blood touched the surface, the weapon seemed to react.
A faint glow ran through the body of the weapon, like a pulse, an artificial breath taking shape.
"Now send some of your mana to the weapon as well."
Hajin nodded silently. His eyes fixed on the weapon, and for a brief moment, everything fell silent. He closed his eyes, inhaled slowly, and channeled a thread of mana from the center of his core to the palm of his hand, guiding it with almost non-existent precision, but he still managed it.
"Whew! Ah, that was hard."
Hajin exhaled, waving his hand slightly as if the connection had sucked in more energy than expected.
It was expected, everyone's magical core was inherent from the moment you entered the world of the supernatural, from a very early age it was recommended to work on your core, absorbing and circulating mana every day, but for Hajin who had arrived in this world so recently, his control over his core was still lacking, but it was more than enough.
After the weapon had absorbed the magical power, it glowed again, but this time, a symbol of an eagle eye appeared on Hajin's wrist.
"What's that...?"
Hajin muttered, not hiding his annoyance. His gaze fixed on his own wrist, on the eye-shaped symbol.
"It's a pact with the devil..."
I replied, my face as impassive as it could be.
Hajin stopped. Soohyuk slowly turned his head towards me. The silence that followed was almost uncomfortable.
"..."
"..."
"Just kidding..."
I said, letting out a slight laugh as I saw the two of them tense up.
"That's just a means of protection I've added. No big deal."
Hajin and Soohyuk continued to stare at me, and let out what seemed to be a big sigh.
"Think of it as a magic bag... Where you can take your weapon wherever you want, without having to carry a suitcase."
"What? Really?"
Hajin raised an eyebrow, surprised.
"Huhum."
I nodded.
"Give it a try. Think about putting it away."
He hesitated for a second, looking at the gun in his hand as if he expected it to say something. Then he took a deep breath, concentrated... and simply thought.
In an instant, the gun glowed faintly, the same discreet tone as the crest on his wrist, and quickly disappeared. Not with any fanfare or exaggerated effects. It vanished like smoke blown away by the wind.
A beam of light receded into the symbol on his arm.
Soohyuk's eyes widened.
"Wow. It's really gone."
"It's with you now. This symbol serves as a small subspace, a unique dimensional storage, capable of holding your things."
I explained.
"When you want to use it, just summon it. Quick, practical and stylish. Just like those swordsmen in anime... Only with a gun."
Hajin looked at his own arm, then closed his hand slowly, testing the sensation.
"I don't feel any weight. No mana flow either."
"Because it's not in use. The weapon goes into hibernation, consuming practically no mana."
"Anyway... If you want to see what its other features are, I'll tell you later. If we take any longer, I'll get a huge lecture from Nayun."
"Ah! Right! Let's go."
Hajin replied with a slight smile, already moving forward.
In the next instant, he summoned the weapon again.
It was instantaneous. A subtle glow ran down his arm and, just as fluidly as before, the pistol appeared in his hand
He pointed it at the monsters still below. The distance was more than a hundred meters, but that didn't matter.
Hajin's eyes suddenly shone. A vivid tone and some symbols took over his irises as he activated his
His perception instantly expanded, as if a telescopic lens had been installed directly into his soul. The world slowed down. The monsters that had once seemed distant were now sharp, close, every detail of their forms revealed with absolute precision.
He raised his gun.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Four squeezes of the trigger. Four projectiles enveloped in red energy cut through the air like beams of light.
Each shot found its target perfectly: One between the eyes, one in the neck, one in the eye and the last one going through the skull of an enemy who didn't even have time to understand what was happening.
...