~~~
The next ten minutes transformed Jin into a whirlwind of focused destruction.
"Alright, Jin. Time to become a proper protagonist instead of background extra number three thousand and whatever."
He attacked his room like someone who'd read way too many apocalypse survival guides during sleepless hospital nights. The Vienna poster came down first, crumpled into the trash with venomous satisfaction.
"Fucking cheerful tourist trap," he muttered, grinding the poster under his heel. "Should've said 'Come die in Vienna! Bring the whole family!' Truth in advertising at its finest."
God, I'm getting more bitter by the minute. Cancer really did a number on my personality, didn't it?
Under his bed, wrapped in an old blanket like some kind of medieval treasure hoard, Jin found his first real score. Basic trainee armor—leather reinforced with metal plates at vital points. Not military grade, but infinitely better than street clothes when facing whatever horrors the cult planned to unleash.
"Thank you, original Jin, for being a paranoid little prepper." He held up the armor, examining the craftsmanship as inherited memories surfaced. "This is actually decent quality. Saved up for months to buy this after... after Mom and Dad died."
So he no I was planning on hitting a dungeon solo.
Makes sense.
Grieving teenager with a death wish and something to prove.
The armor fit snugly over his slim frame. Jin flexed his shoulders, testing the range of motion, throwing a few practice punches at the air.
"Not the best, but I'll manage." He nodded with satisfaction.
"And the weight distribution... damn, this actually feels protective instead of restrictive. Finally, something that makes me feel less like monster food."
I'm starting to get a lot more anxious now that the moment is creeping closer... fuck, deep breaths, Jin.
You've got this. You survived cancer; you can survive this discounted bullshit.
A few protein bars went into his pack alongside the ones he'd found earlier, creating a respectable emergency food supply.
"Money, food, protection," he said, ticking off items on his fingers like some kind of survival checklist. "The holy trinity of apocalypse survival. Now what else did you hide, original Jin?"
Behind a stack of textbooks on basic combat theory and dungeon ecology, Jin discovered something that made him pause and immediately question his predecessor's priorities.
Really, original Jin? Computers and phones exist for a goddamn reason!
A collection of adult magazines sat hidden like guilty secrets, carefully wrapped in plastic bags to protect them from moisture.
"Ahhh!!" Jin flipped through the first one, grimaced at the dated photography, and tossed the entire stack into the trash. "The world's about to end, and you're worried about hiding your porn stash. Teenage boys are the same in every universe, apparently."
Though I can't judge too harshly. I was probably just as horny at sixteen... and now I'm back to being sixteen.
Great.
"Great. I've lived my entire adult life absent from these hormones, and now that I finally have them again, I don't have time to enjoy the feelings."
"Focus, Jin…" he muttered, shaking his head in disbelief. "Save the world first, worry about... other things later."
It seems like my obsession with hoarding useful things followed me into my new life, too.
At least this time it might actually save me.
…
His uncle and aunt's room yielded far better treasures. The bedroom screamed retired military—sparse furniture arranged with obsessive neatness, everything in its designated place serving a clear purpose.
"Now this," Jin whistled appreciatively, running his fingers along the perfectly made bed corners, "this is what I'm talking about. Uncle Marcus knows his shit."
A safe stood in the corner like a metal monolith, imposing and promising. Jin's inherited memories provided the combination without hesitation.
Uncle Marcus always used Mom's birthday for everything important. Sentimental old soldier.
"Let's see... zero-four-one-seven..." The safe's electronic lock beeped softly, red light shifting to green. "Come on, Uncle. Show me what you've been hiding from Aunt Sarah."
The safe's electronic lock beeped softly, red light shifting to green with a satisfied click.
"And we're in business."
The safe's contents made Jin's pulse quicken and his grin widen like Christmas morning.
An enchanted firearm gleamed under the room's harsh lighting, its surface practically humming with contained power. The weapon radiated menace, its barrel inscribed with runes that seemed to shift and writhe when Jin wasn't looking directly at them.
"Holy fucking shit."
Jin lifted the gun with reverent hands, feeling the weight of serious military hardware.
"These runes... this is combat-grade enchanted weaponry. Military issue."
This is what I'm talking about! This is actual game-changing equipment!
Ten rounds of matching enchanted ammunition sat in a foam-lined case beside the pistol, each bullet practically radiating lethality and expensive craftsmanship.
"I'm armed and dangerous now." Jin's grin widened as he checked the weapon's weight and balance, muscle memory from the original Jin's training guiding his movements.
Behind the gun, another sword waited in a custom scabbard. This one sang when Jin drew it from its sheath—literally sang, a low harmonic note that made his teeth ache and his bones vibrate with sympathetic resonance.
"Oh, hooo you beautiful, deadly piece of steel," he breathed, staring at the blade in genuine amazement.
The blade gleamed with the telltale shimmer of high-grade enchantment, patterns of light dancing across its surface like captured lightning frozen in metal.
"Uncle Marcus, I apologize for the emergency looting," Jin said to the empty room, hefting the singing sword with growing confidence. "But these beauties would be reduced to rubble soon anyway, so it's better I use them than let them go to waste."
Wait... by that logic, shouldn't I loot stores too? Get my hands on anything useful before it all goes to hell?
"No... no, let's not go down that path just yet," Jin shook his head firmly. "Advanced tracking systems would tag me with a criminal record faster than I can say 'apocalypse survival,' and that would burn all my paths if I actually manage to survive this mess and decide to lie low."
Plus, those damn fate readers and seers the author wrote about would probably send people after me if I deviated too far from the expected timeline.
The shit they did just to keep the timeline on track was absolutely fucked up.
I do not want that kind of attention.
Not yet.
Jin shuddered as he remembered reading about the protagonist's discovery of a seers' compound in volume seven—the things they did to people who threatened their precious predetermined fate still gave him nightmares.
"Yeah, I can't do anything that screams 'I know what's coming.' Those bastards probably already know about the calamity but decided it was a necessary evil to maintain their precious timeline balance."
"Fuck fate readers and their kin… Those bastards probably know about the calamity but decided that it was a necessary evil to look away?"
"I promise I'll fuck them for sure."
"I will—
A roll of cash thick enough to choke a horse occupied the safe's bottom shelf.
Jin paused just for a moment, and then he pocketed it without counting, but the weight suggested serious emergency funding.
"Money is always good."
"With this, I should have enough to grab a few essential pieces before shit hits the fan."
"But was this an emergency fund?"
"Bug-out money? Or did Uncle have expensive hobbies I don't want to think about?"
What was I even thinking? Please tell me Uncle Marcus wasn't sneaking off to red light districts in a black hoodie, handing out these crisp new bills like some kind of—no.
Nope. Not going there.
Military pension. Perfectly normal military pension savings.
"Yup, that sounds right!"
Jin's thoughts continued to spiral into uncomfortable territory until opening the medicine cabinet revealed something completely unexpected that made him freeze in place.
Oh, what the fuck is this now?
Nestled between bottles of aspirin and antacid tablets sat a small vial of liquid that practically screamed 'expensive magical bullshit' in Jin's enhanced senses. The liquid inside swirled with its own inner light, shifting colors like an oil slick made of starlight.
"Is this... is this a healing potion?" Jin's voice cracked with disbelief as he lifted the vial to examine it closely. "Strong… yeah, this is rare at least. Nice!"
I can take a few risks now to get my Mantle sorted.
Jin carefully tucked the healing potion into his pack's most secure pocket, treating it like the liquid gold it probably was.
If there's one thing I learned from reading ten volumes of this series, it's that the author loves hiding crucial resources in the most obvious places.
And this apartment is starting to feel less like a death trap and more like a survival cache.
"Let's keep digging. Time's still ticking, and I've got a city to not die in."
The warning bells continued tolling in the distance, but Jin no longer heard them as a death knell.
Now they sounded like a starting gun.
~~~