Kyle: So⊠it appears that this novel is actually cursed. I have to go to the army starting from February 12th and will most likely be unable to continue translating while there. I believe I will be returning sometime in September 2020. Unless I am able to access a computer regularly while I am there, I will not be translating, and the vacations are irregular. Therefore, I will most likely continue translating once my time at the army is completely over. I hope that someone else will pick this up while I am gone, but at the same time, I am also worried that the quality will be bad, making me have to retranslate it. In any case, thank you to everyone that has been reading my translations until now. Let us just hope that J can finish editing all the chapters by the time I get back.
J: I wonder about thatâŠ. And I will also be going to the army sometime this summer. Going to the army later than Kyle even though I am the older brotherâŠ. Anyway, this chapter is not edited (sorry).
[We are currently getting ready for battle. I am not sure about the location but I have heard that about 1 thousand or so hunters that seem to be the Chungho Group are nearby. That is why we are in the process of cutting down trees to prevent ambushes.]
It was faster than I thought. Up until the morning they said that the battles were sporadic but it seems they are starting to clash with the Chungho Group for real in that time.
Comments flooded the chatting screen.
â Have you fought with the Chungho Group yet?
[I havenât fought yet but the people that tried fighting them said that it was uninteresting. Itâs said that they have level 3 hunters as well but their skills are not good. Itâs said that it feels like they just picked up items and came here.]
â Then it should be easy to win. Pacheongeom, arenât you profitting too much? Donât you not battle since youâre just a crowd control user.
[I picked crowd controlling specifically to broadcast. I am 3rd grade in Taekwondo and 3rd grade in Kendo.]
â Bluffing is real hahaha
â Pacheongeom actually seemed to fight well though? Itâs said that he was the boss during high school.
â Howâs that related to this? How scary do you think the front liner hunters are. Itâs not possible to compare to some delinquent from high school.
â Itâs possible as long as you have money so what bullshit are you saying. A person I know is the son of an upstart rich family and he was just wearing around level 4 equipment.
â Donât you need at least 5b to have a full set of level 5 equipment? And they gave that to a kid?
â Moron. Isnât not one or two days that people have been using items to avoid taxes.
[I will ban you if you swear. Please refrain from swearing. Ah. It seems we are fighting now?]
The broadcasting camera turned and bustling noises could be heard from the forest.
Soon, the sound of weapons clashing and shouting could be heard. It seems a fight has broken out.
However, it was weird that a mere 1,000 Chungho group members would pick a fight with the 5,000 government team.
Unless they werenât idiots, there was no way they wouldnât know about this sidesâs movements. In addition to that, this information was all over the internet right now.
BJ Pacheongeomâs streaming continued. The guy used a wide area slowing skill and turned the camera towards himself.
[Did you see them run away? Kuku.]
â Canât see cause the quality sucks.
â What happened yo?
[They acted up and all ran away. We are planning on pursuing them after seperating into three teams. It seems team 1 that was in the middle will be going first.]
â It seems like a trap to destroy one part at a time though? Arenât they picking a fight and running away on purpose?
â It seems like that to me too? It feels like theyâre trying to decrease the troops and then surround them.
â You idiots saw too much History of the Three Kingdoms. Who would move like that during a battle between hunters? These guys arenât even military so do you really think that would go that smoothly? The Chungho Group is a bunch of delinquents anyway. They just acted up and ran away after getting beaten badly.
â Certainly, not like some chinks would be able to use such tactics. (Kyle: Koreans donât exactly like China not that all Koreans think like this or dislike them this severely.)
â No, even so, itâs weird.
â They lack the skills in the first place. It seems they lack the brains as well.
There were all kinds of predictions and swears pouring out on the chatting screen.
BJ Pacheongeom was cheering with an overly excited voice that they won. Either way, it was an obvious response since some form of reward would be given.
âHow is it going?â
Han Joon-suk said after approaching. I lightly frowned.
I didnât have a good feeling about this.
â1,000 Chungho Group members started a fight and then retreated before even 10 minutes passed.â
âThat isâŠâŠ.â
âItâs weird right?â
The Chungho Group that we fought before werenât such a disorderly mob. Of course, it could be said that their individual skills were lacking.
However, they were a group that had the level of leadership that allowed tactical movement.
Such a group got beaten to the point that they had to retreat in a mere 10 minutes?
They were people that blindly sacrificed their lives while fighting us. There was no way those guys would run away after 10 minutes.
It seemed Han Joon-suk thought the same thing as me as he nodded his head.
âNo matter how you look at it, thereâs a high chance that itâs a trap.â
I was wondering what to do when suddenly, a wise man time came.
If I wanted to help then I should have joined the government team in the first place; it would be hilarious if I were to step up now and order them to do this and that.
In reality, it didnât really matter whether the forest region went to China or our country.
It wasnât like I had been attacked in a dungeon because that was in China. In the first place, the bunch known as hunters were people that could instantly change into robbers if there was no one watching them.
If the Chungho Group won in this battle, then the only thing that changes is that the hunters I fight in the forest region is the Chinese.
It might be ease my mind more that way too.
Letâs not think about useless things and strengthen items.
I gestured to call Soo-ah.
âDid you call?â
âTake this.â
I tossed her an earring. It was an item that would solve her snoring problems.
Mute Earring (1) : Erases the sound in a certain radius. Able to prevent the use of various magic and technique usage.
I had 900 EP and all so it wasnât like it was going to be a burden.
But her response was strange.
A teardrop travelled down Soo-ahâs cheek.
Wrong. This girl finally lost it. Ah damn. The amount of items and skills invested in her was mind boggling. I did think that this was going to happen some time but it was too fast.
âSeonbae oppa, so you did know.â
I knew what?
What bullshit is this, I was going to ask but I got a chill so I closed my mouth.
âAs expected, seonbae oppa is a more careful man than I thought.â
âHmâŠâŠ well, yeah.â
Just in case, I tried asking.
âWhat about the others?â
âIt doesnât seem like anyone knew. How am I? Iâm pretty right?â
She wore the earring and turned her head so that I could see it well.
The silver earring that was made into the shape of lips matched Soo-ahâs face type quite well.
âAh. Yeah. It looks good. But, about todayâŠâŠ.â
âToday? Did you prepare a birthday party?â
It was her birthday as expected. Should I say that I was really lucky. There was the thing I received before too so it would have been troublesome if it passed just like that.
âAh. I got to know it a bit late so I couldnât prepare that. Sorry.â
âHehe. Itâs okay. I got a present after all. I also have something to give you.â
âWhat is it.â
âClose your eyes.â
This progression was dangerous. I desperately shook my head and opened my mouth.
No, I will keep my eyes open so just give it to me. I feel like I will be surprised no matter what you give me.â
âAh. Just do as I say just for today. Do you think that I will kiss you or something?â
ââŠâŠ Okay.â
She was an impressive person. She had completely blocked all escape routes with a single phrase.
I lightly closed my eyes. If this girl showed even the slightest weird behavior then I was planning on quickly opening my eyeâŠâŠ.
*Kiss*
Huh?
I got flustered and opened my eyes wide. However, Soo-ahâs figure was already gone. I unconsciously brought my hand to my lips. The feeling left behind was too vivid.
Iâm going to go crazy, this.
I was able to make two low level items become level 7 items with the Strengthening Stones I had. After contemplating I decided on the two items.
One was the Bloody Sword.
I did had the Aura Blade skill so it was possible to use the thing itself as a weapon but as a low level item the blood sucking ability was useless.
It wasnât able to do as much damage as I thought to the Black Tiger too.
However, the blood sucking ability of the Bloody Sword itself was a good option to the point that it was cheating.
I determined that changing this to level 7 would be more efficient than any other item.
The second was Soo-ahâs Arachne Armor. I will say this ahead of time but itâs definitely not like itâs because I have ulterior motives or something.
Itâs a decision I made due to how useful the Arachne Armorâs supporting ability is.
The spider webs were good for both offense and defense. Besides that, it had functions like trapping a prey or protecting allies and it could also be used as an alternative to rope if we didnât have any, making it useful in various ways.
Also, I was planning on upgrading the items of the rest of my allies to level 6.
âEveryone besides me and Soo-ah, please select about one level 6 item and two level 5 items. I will upgrade all the ones that you have chosen. Also, if you canât choose then please tell me. We can just strengthen the one with a good option.â
Upgrading the item a person originally had had the advantage of being a item the person was used to.
However, in the case of someone like Cho Young-gu whoâs main equipment was a no name, then it was better to buy a level 1 item from the Delta Store and upgrade that instead.
âI canât get a level 5 right?â
Soo-ah raised her hand. She asked with a really oblivious face. Was she unaffected by what she did just now I wonder.
âYes, because youâre getting a level 7. Instead, you can made a level 4. Tell me if you want to upgrade something.â
âYes sir.â
Like that, they decided among themselves what they wanted to upgrade.
I started upgrading them on spot if they brought the items they wanted to upgrade.
There were plenty of Strengthening Stones and ores so the upgrading itself went on smoothly.
From the side, Delta Team 2âs Jang Moon-bok was looking at that sight as if it was amazing.
âWhat does strengthening mean?â
âItâs making the level of an item higher.â
Soo-ah said.
âIs such a thing possible?â
âBecause itâs seonbae oppa. Heâs able to do anything you see.â
âThatâs envious.â
âWouldnât you guys be able to do so if you work hard?â
As Soo-ah gave off a positive nuance, fire was lit in Jang Moon-bokâs eyes.
âI will work harder!â
âOf course itâs not definite. Even if it looks like that, incredibly expensive ingredients go in after all.â
A laugh came out unintentionally looking at Soo-ah giving empty promises.
Those guys had no choice but to cling to her since she tossed them some hope after disciplining them.
It was almost visible to the naked eye that she was exquisitely burrowing into a personâs heart but the person herself probably didnât know.
Certainly, it wasnât something I should be saying. Since it seems Iâve been suffering since some time ago.
We upgraded the items overall. I was a bit out of it due to doing too many things at once but the greatest change was that my teammatesâ weapons were all changed to level 6.
Besides that, I upgraded the low level items they were wearing for their passive effects to level 5 and level 4.
There were also things besides the ones that we originally had that were newly bought and upgraded.
Infinite Quiver (5) : Arrows are provided infinitely. The supply rate is fast. Can fire two arrows at once.
Phoenix Armor (5) : A summoning type armor. Defense increases by 100%. In case it gets destroyed, it gets despawned and can be respawned immediately.
Leather Boots of Charging (5) : Etherizes a person and allows movement through obstacles. While in ether state the physical damage received is decreased by 70%. Receives extra 30% magic damage.
In order, Yeon-gyeongâs Infinite Quiver, Cho Young-guâs Phoenix Armor, and Park Han-bumâs Leather Boots of Charging.
They are using these that were originally level 1 items bought and immediately upgraded to level 5.
As they were originally new items, they got new options on top of the original options so they got good abilities.
After finishing the strengthening like that, the large amount of Strengthening Stones disappeared in moments.
It was feeling like suddenly becoming poor after being rich but it was a fact that it looked meager compared to what I got.
Even if all of that was combined it couldnât be compared to the Delta Store use currency 900 EP and the Aura Blade skill.
Thinking about it, I got a level 7 upgrade too.
I did ponder for a bit whether I was being too greedy but my party members were all satisfied just checking that the performance of their items increased.
âI can finally use the Stalker again.â
Han Joon-suk raised the bow with a content expression.
The level 5 Dragon Killer that he was using until now was good as well, but the one that he truly like was the sniping use bow Stalker as expected.
It seems he was pretty happy about being able to use it by upgrading it after not being able to due to it being too weak as a level 2 bow.