A year after the release of John Armstrong, John Armstrong 2 hit the theaters.
John Armstrong, which captivated not just the Empire but the entire world, was able to be released in just a year thanks to overwhelming support from the public.
The key reason why the series could be produced so quickly was the existence of the Sanctuary.
Filming in the Sanctuary didn’t require any editing or CGI, and with the blessings of the priests and the illusion magic from the Tower of Magic, backgrounds could be changed in an instant, eliminating the need to move around.
Thus, filming wrapped up in no time, and before the excitement from the first movie even died down, the second one arrived.
John Armstrong 2: Loaded and Ready.
In short, John 2.
The masterpiece that would shake the world had finally made its appearance.
Charles.
For him, living as an ordinary guard in the kingdom, the John series was nothing short of a turning point in his life.
The battle scenes featuring John seemed to resonate with him, and he managed to earn a special promotion from guard to knight.
Afterward, he enthusiastically recommended the John series to his squires and fellow guards, becoming a devoted follower of the movies.
– I am invincible, and John is God!
And on the day John 2 was released, he took a day off and reserved a first-class seat at the cinema.
With a pounding heart, he sat down and waited for the movie to begin.
Boom!
The movie started with a bang.
A mansion deep in the forest.
The ceiling of that mansion collapsed, and John fell through.
After wiping out the criminal organization that had killed his wife in the first movie, John was now being pursued by corrupt nobles who had been in cahoots with that organization.
Above the ceiling where John had fallen, a knight chasing him leaped down from the upper floor.
Thud!
A knight clad in full armor approached John with a heavy sound.
Bang! Bang!
John’s beloved pistol roared with fire.
However, the bullets that flew with great force merely pinged off the armor with a metallic sound.
Seeing this, Charles bit his lip.
It was frustrating, but that was the limitation of a pistol.
Compared to a crossbow, its smaller size limited the enchantments that could be applied to the bullets, making it impossible to pierce through armor imbued with various magical protections.
Even though Charles imitated John’s tactics, when it came to weapons, he still used a magic crossbow instead of a pistol. The pistol, though romantic, was far too outdated to rely on.
The knight drew a crossbow from his back and fired at John.
The sound of the air being torn filled the theater as John rolled on the ground.
‘Looks like the nobles are serious this time.’
The knight’s gear was a monstrous combination: a BerylM76A anti-material crossbow, recently made by the Beryl Merchant Guild, and armor rated at protection level 5.
In contrast, John had only an old-fashioned pistol and a suit that barely offered any bullet protection.
To anyone watching, it was clear that John was at a disadvantage.
He was busy taking cover from the knight’s crossbow fire while the knight pursued him with the confidence of a hunter.
The entire audience in the theater held their breath, unable to relax amidst the intense chase right from the start.
But as the knight approached John’s cover, something unexpected happened.
John had used the corner to deceive the knight’s line of sight and appeared behind him.
No matter how strong the armor was, once it came down to hand-to-hand combat, it was John’s turn.
John knocked aside the crossbow and wrapped a curtain cord around the knight’s neck.
The knight, in response, managed to slip his fingers between the cord and his neck to keep an airway open, while his other hand fumbled for the dagger at his waist.
But John immediately shifted his stance, locking the knight in an armbar while tightening the curtain cord around his neck, pulling with all his weight as if he were almost lying down.
As the full weight of an adult man pressed the curtain cord against the knight’s throat, the knight struggled for a moment before finally going still.
Only after holding his position for several minutes, ensuring the knight had stopped moving, did John release him.
Bang!
‘As expected!’
The signature move of the John Armstrong series: the finishing shot.
He opened the knight’s visor and fired a bullet before checking the knight’s equipment.
Two daggers and a flare.
He didn’t even glance at the crossbow and immediately started moving again.
After leaving the room where he had tussled with the knight, he passed through the mansion’s reception room and stopped in front of a shotgun mounted on the wall.
‘Could it be?’
Just as the pistol was an outdated weapon, the shotgun was nothing more than a historical relic.
It was the type of old weapon a noble fond of antiquities might carry during hunting season, but it was far from suitable for killing heavily armored elite knights.
Yet John seemed to like the shotgun. He took it down, examined it carefully, and headed toward the storage room.
There, he pulled a saw from a drawer and cut off the shotgun’s barrel.
After inspecting the gun a bit more, he nodded in satisfaction and holstered it before leaving the storage room.
‘Why would he do that?’
Sure, a sawed-off shotgun had its charm, but from a practical standpoint, it was hard to justify.
However, Charles let go of his doubts about John.
After all, John was his god, and his tactical insight was far beyond what Charles could comprehend.
In the ensuing battle, Charles realized the wisdom of John’s actions.
Thud.
With a sound of flesh bursting, the knight’s head disappeared.
The sight of a knight, who had just been giving John a hard time, being obliterated in one shot was nothing short of exhilarating.
John had placed the shotgun under the knight’s chin and fired point-blank.
No matter how advanced technology and armor became, the jaw and neck areas of armor had to remain relatively thin for movement.
Moreover, unlike the pistol, the shotgun could use slugs, allowing for much more magic to be imbued in the shot.
This explained why the sawed-off shotgun was necessary.
With a longer barrel, there would have been no way to get the gun into such close proximity.
Thus, John weakened his enemies with the pistol and finished them off with the shotgun, wiping out an entire squad of knights.
‘The forges will be overwhelmed for a while.’
It was well-known that after the 1 Pen vs. 5 Thugs Scene in the first movie, sales of the pen skyrocketed fivefold at the merchant guild that sold it.
Similarly, the forge that made this shotgun was bound to see a surge in business.
John briefly checked the condition of his gun before boarding one of the knights’ vehicles.
Instead of moving farther away from the noble pursuing him, he headed straight toward the noble’s mansion.
The movie’s title began to surface in Charles’s mind.
John Armstrong 2: Loaded and Ready.
Just hearing the title was enough to send Charles into a euphoric daze.
From then on, the movie was a whirlwind.
It wasn’t all non-stop action.
There were moments that expanded the world-building, breaks to catch your breath, and even bits of humor sprinkled in.
But when it mattered, the intensity was suffocating.
The masterful pacing kept Charles glued to the screen, unable to look away even for a second.
Then came the final highlight.
After wiping out the noble’s entire knight squad all by himself, John reached the noble directly.
“John. Do we really have to go this far?”
Bang.
That was John for you.
He was the kind of man who, instead of wasting time with useless words, could kill three more people.
The shot from John’s gun signaled the start of the final battle.
The surprising thing was that the corrupt noble, Vin, was quite a skilled fighter himself.
A retired former hero.
That title carried significant weight.
He dodged bullets and used his swordsmanship to threaten John.
Under normal circumstances, Charles wouldn’t have worried about John losing.
After all, John was a knight who hadn’t become a hero, but throughout the movie, he had put bullet holes in the foreheads of many heroes who had mocked him.
However, at that moment, no one could be certain of John’s victory.
He had faced too many enemies to get this far, and his body was already in shambles.
The battle was brutal.
John and Vin fought, each trading bone-crushing blows in a desperate struggle.
Compared to the flashy fights earlier, this was a dirty, mud-slinging brawl.
When John finally collapsed and Vin stood alone, the entire theater let out a collective groan.
‘No, this can’t be happening!’
Thankfully, Charles managed to hold on to the last thread of rationality and didn’t scream out loud, but he was practically bouncing in his seat, ready to spring up at any moment.
Then, something unexpected happened.
As Vin approached to finish John off, John, who had been lying on the ground, twisted Vin’s ankle, causing him to fall.
Vin struggled, but what started as a leg hold quickly shifted to an arm lock, then to a chokehold, then back to an arm lock as John coiled around Vin like a snake.
Finally, when Vin made a mistake, John dislocated his shoulder, crushed his knee, and rendered him powerless.
John pulled out the pistol he had holstered and, in an instant, finished Vin off with his signature double tap.
‘Wow…’
Over half of the Empire’s citizens had watched the film, and it had even reached the neighboring kingdoms.
However, in other countries, the first film had only achieved moderate success compared to the Empire-level class.
Yet, that ‘moderate’ success didn’t reflect the depth of its fanbase.
The majority of those who had watched the first film became ardent fans like Charles, spreading the word to those around them.
Thus, when the news of the second film’s release came, it was perfectly timed with the rising fame of the John series.
Having heard so much about the greatness of the first film, many decided to check out the second film, which ended up creating a global sensation.
The commander of the Levin Kingdom’s knights hinted at a new tactical manual inspired by John 2.
The Mage Kingdom noted that the gunplay in John 2 could also be applied to battle mages.
In contrast, the Council of Elders from the Hyphen Kingdom made derogatory remarks about John 2, claiming, “John’s combat style is ours. He’s nothing but an imitator.”
Despite some nonsensical remarks, the general consensus was that John 2 had again created a new paradigm in tactics.
So much so that intelligence agencies from various nations were prepared to go to extreme lengths to uncover the true identity of the actor playing John, flooding the Empire with spies. As a result, the Empire’s counter-intelligence department was overwhelmed.
“So, for the time being, filming is prohibited.”
“Yeah.”
Though there were objections, it was inevitable.
Given that the counter-intelligence department was barely keeping my identity under wraps, if I were to go off and start a new shoot with a “Hee-hee! Footloose!” attitude, my counter-intelligence chief, my uncle, might come after me, pulling out my hair.
Moreover, having been a soldier in a past life, the importance of security was ingrained in my soul, so I had no choice but to heed my father’s advice.
Since the John series was planned to end with the second film, I had only planned for two installments.
For now, I decided to take a break from filming and focus on preparing for the Academy.
“You?”
“Going to the Academy??”
The sage (director) and the seer (screenwriter) of our film crew stared at me with wide eyes.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s surprising that you’re going to the Academy.”
“Why? I told you, I’m still a minor.”
“We thought it was a joke. Look at your build.”
The sage’s remark was valid.
At 180 cm, my impressive frame made it hard for anyone to believe I was a student.
But what can I do?
I’m still a green, not-yet-closed growth-plate minor.
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