chapter 138

It seems they were slowly preparing dinner outside as well.

However, there was no way that the group rations that came out here would be delicious.

We took out the ingredients prepared in the van and cooked simply outside of the tent. Of course, the cooking was done by the cook Jang Moon-bok and I only watched.

I could still hear Kelby eating away at the items.

His eating speed was pretty fast but it seems it’s still taking quite some time as the amount is significant.

“Where did you learn how to cook?”

“Ah. I was originally a cook.”

Jang Moon-bok said. I was thinking that his way of using his hands wasn’t normal, it turns out he was working in a related job.

Thinking about it, Cho Young-gu and Han Joon-suk also worked in the cooking field. Were they not able to cook because they were part of the fried chicken business I wonder.

“Isn’t it difficult to find fresh ingredients outside? It would be difficult to make it taste good.”

“I have a secret know how you see.”

He laughed and poured the powder in a large container into the pot.

“Wait. Isn’t that ramen powder?”

“Do you have proof?”

“Kuk.”

The powder in the container had all disappeared already.

However, there was bound to be some left even if it was poured out.

I sweeped up the remaining powder and put it on my tongue.

“This is ramen powder.”

“Cheh. I got caught. So do you hate it?”

“No, do you have more? I seriously like ramen.”

“There is a lot if you look in the blue box in the van. As expected, it’s ramen for a Korean.”

With the tent as the center, a savory smell of synthetic seasoning spread.

Kelby’s proficiency surpassed 60. This guy’s maximum size was also 2 meters high to the shoulder.

His current figure was more like a huge doll than a short limbed beast. He was coiled up in Yeon-gyeong’s bosom and fallen asleep.

Ah. I’m so jealous.

I woke Yeon-gyeong up and sent Kelby with Park Han-bum. She opened her mouth with a worried look.

“It should be okay right?”

“If it’s about Kelby you don’t need to worry. He can’t die anyway.”

“That true but.”

Probably can’t help worrying even if you know that.

The next day.

Park Han-bum who returned had located the Chungho Group’s general location.

The location was a hill about 10km away from here.

He said that they were hiding by digging underground tunnels. For 2,000 or so people so fit underground, it was certainly impressive.

It was probably not something made recently but something that had been made over time. It wasn’t something that could be done in a few days after all.

If it was like that, then it would have been difficult to find them even with dozens of eagles. Nothing can be seen from above after all.

“With this, we have an idea of how they create their bases. It was also the reason why it was difficult to figure out their location.”

The Chungho Group was preparing before the government team came.

The government team did their own preparations but it was insignificant compared to those guys. There was a difference starting from the desperation.

Soo-ah held her tongue.

“They want to live here so badly, can’t we just let them live here?”

“This is the problem with women. Do you even know how dangerous it is if the back is lost while the enemy is still in the front?”

Manager Kim butted in while clicking his tongue.

“Like Manager Kim’s hair? It’s a complete annihilation if you lose your back hair while you don’t have any front hair.”

“Why are you bringing my hair into this?”

“Eh. It’s just a comparison. Comparison. Don’t you know metaphor?”

To think a difficult word like that would come out of Soo-ah’s mouth. Even I didn’t know if that word was right.

“Manager Kim’s way of expressing it was a bit overboard but it’s not wrong. It’s like that when thinking about the number of China’s hunters. Also…… I said this before but no matter how much crap Manager Kim says just don’t mess around with his hair.”

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

Soo-ah bowed down to Manager Kim. At that, Manager Kim got flustered and waved his hands.

“No, it can happen…… The team leader is just being too sensitive. Don’t worry about it.”

“Right? Seonbae oppa does have a fussy spot.”

“Yeah yeah. He originally had a weird personality.”

They suddenly got along and started dissing me.

Maybe I unconsciously frowned but the two started fake coughing and closed their mouths.

Did I have such a fussy personality? Wasn’t it not?

I think that I’m more normal than Soo-ah who comes into someone else’s home and eats everything.

Well. Whatever. When did I ever care about such things.

The Chungho Group had almost doubled from their original 3,000. It was unimaginable how many more would rush in. They are basically saying that they would just keep a line at the front and hit from the back.

It was something possible because of the sheer number of hunters China had.

No matter how superior our hunters were, the numbers had to be matched to some degree. If the ones with ability fight in the front then the back will be a fight between the weak guys but we severely lack in that area you see.

We had to eliminate the Chungho Group as fast as possible and block off their route of entering.

“But there’s something I’m curious about.”

Cho Young-gu said.

“What is it?”

“How on earth are the Chungho Group coming in?”

“Wasn’t it confirmed that they were coming in through fishing boats?”

It was all said before. This guy.

“But how were the fishing boats able to come here without any resistance. Even if it’s short distance, the sea is home to many monsters that we do not know about.”

Of course, Cho Young-gu was right. The reason the fishery went out of business was because of the sea monsters in the first place. Maritime trade being impossible was because of them too.

It had already been decades since the maritime business got annihilated after boats weighing several tens of thousands of tons sunk while crossing the ocean.

However, the answer was unexpectedly simple.

“They are crossing over while risking their lives. It’s not like they will be attacked with 100% certainty after all. It can be seen that they are being attack one or two time out of ten so on the other hand, they are successful eight or nine times out of ten so there was nothing preventing them.

“The reason to come here while doing all that is…….”

“There are too many hunters in China. While the dungeons have disappeared, now is their most desperate of times.”

“Ahh. I see.”

I nodded my head as I finally understood.

For now, I decided to talk to Eum Young-hyeon about eliminating the Chungho Group.

If it became a cooperation then my share would decrease but I was planning on yielding this time around.

Team 2 needed to earn something as well. If I yielded now then there would definitely be profit later.

The hunter world’s neighborhood becomes smaller the higher you go and connections become as important as ability you see.

Since he’s a normal level 7 hunter and is middle aged, he is bound to have quite a few connections.

“Is it there?”

Eum Young-hyeon said. I nodded my head.

We had currently come out first to inspect the enemy territory.

The soldiers were standing by in a place 3km away and I had spread the monsters to eliminate the guards.

The hill had holes everywhere like an ant hill with soldiers hiding in each hole.

It was hidden well to the point that it couldn’t be seen easily with the naked eye.

“I can feel the presence of people inside. They number about 2,000.”

Park Chan-hyeong said. The reason for bringing him was to grasp the unseen base. There were many uses for the Detection skill.

“2,000 you say…… That means all of the ones that ran away are here.”

Eum Young-hyeon said while stroking his beard.

“I think it would be better to ambush them before they notice what’s going on. If the numbers are similar then this side has the upper hand after all. We can see it as a good chance.”

Eum Young-hyeon nodded at my words.

We immediately began marching forward once we returned to the base.

Once we arrived at the enemy base, we found that the hill was completely empty.

“What happened?”

Eum Young-hyeon said while confused. There could be many reasons. We might have been caught by recon members or there could be a traitor on our side.

“Seonbae oppa, look at that.”

“Hm?”

Soo-ah gave me the phone. Government team 2’s movements were all being made public on the Hunter Market site.

– We are currently on our way to get the Chungho Group. If this goes well I’ll buy everyone pizza.

– Let’s line up ahead of time.

– Let’s line up ahead of time (2).

– Won’t they run away after looking at this?

– You think they will have people that know Korean?

– You trying to fuck things up? Won’t you be punished if the plan fails?

There were dozens of comments under it. Because it was on the popular threads page, if the Chungho Group checked the bulletin board there was no way they wouldn’t know. I was thinking that this was worrying but it seems it actually got caught.

In the end, Eum Young-hyeon exploded.

“Get the bastard that put this up!”

While he was shouting like that a phone call suddenly came.

Eum Young-hyeong who had received the call while boiling with rage suddenly had a stiff expression. I got a bad feeling.

“What happened?”

“Team 3…… has lost.”

I really didn’t know why things were happening left and right.

It made me feel like it was something of the past that Korea was the strongest in raids. I sighed thinking about what would have happened if it wasn’t for me.

Block the ambush for team 1, strike the back while team 2 was getting destroyed, and now I had to be the savior for team 3?

“What in the world happened?”

“It seems they were even at first. Then the teams that were holding the backline suddenly started running away and the morale plummeted and got taken down just like that…….”

Eum Young-hyeon’s expression was bitter. Listening to the story, it seems like the decisive factor was the discontent towards the alternative service team making three different teams.

It was a situation where they would have broken up even without Han Jung-ho’s urging.

“They didn’t have good attitudes and there were also many conflicts that we couldn’t see. There was the case of the alternative service workers who had a higher average level treating the normal hunters like servants. That is why they were separated but they still had their abilities so I thought they would fight well to some degree but to think they would run away.”

He let out a long sigh after saying so.

The situation was really bad. Of the 2,000 alternative service workers, the ones that were able to run away alive were 500. The rest were surrounded and isolated.

Checking the additional information, it seems government team 1 that went to help got isolated with them.

The good thing was that they weren’t caught as captives. It seems the Chungho Group is seeking to negotiate with our government instead of needlessly increasing the number of casualties by rashly fighting.

The thought of lieutenant Son Aram flashed by.

I tried calling her a few times but her phone was currently off. If the Milworm I put on her was still doing its job then it might still be underground.

In such a situation, it was probably impossible to call her before that. There was no choice but to wait for now.

“It might be a good thing. There would be no need to do these kinds of small scale battles if a ceasefire happened through giving them some of the land.”

It flowed towards the direction that Soo-ah had said before. Giving them a part of the land and having them hunt only there. However, my thoughts were different.

“Chinese hunters will keep pouring in. There is no way they would just keep hunting in their designated location. The battle will be ignited again and if they try to push in from there then it will be several times more difficult than now.”

“However, you know as well that there’s no other way.”

“That is the problem.”

The two let out a deep sigh. Methods of mobilizing the entire monster army also had its limits.

More than anything, the Chungho Group currently had the power to completely wipe out team 3.

If they were attacked halfheartedly then it would just cause problems when negotiating.

“Right. By the way…….”

Eum Young-hyeong continuously sighed and continued talking.

“It seems the team 3 hunters that ran away are coming this way.”

“They sure are shameless. What, are they asking us to at least give them food.”

“That not it, it seems like they want to cooperate with our team to rescue team 3…….”

“If they were going to do so then why did they run away in the first place? I can’t understand.”

They ran away and they want to fight together now?