WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ How an A-Rank Hunter Lives ◈
Chapter 88: Soldiers - [2]
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Not long after, a middle-aged military officer appeared before us.
He was a colonel. He offered me a handshake and grinned warmly.
“You're Hunter Kim Geuk, right?”
“Yes, I'm Kim Geuk. Long live Incheon.”
“Nice to meet you. I'm the regiment commander here!”
“So, Colonel, I heard you wanted to meet us?”
“Yes, well... I heard you're going to clear out the Monsters on Ganghwa Island now. You'll be taking down the Monsters on Manisan first, correct?”
I nodded at the colonel's question.
“Yes. That's where the Monster nest is, right? We need to clear that out first, then deal with the rest step by step...”
“That would be best! So, when you head up Manisan, could you take some of our soldiers with you?”
“Soldiers?”
“Not regular soldiers, awakened soldiers! Superhuman soldiers, I suppose. Something like that!”
Awakened soldiers? I'd never heard that term before, and I blinked.
The colonel continued.
“They'll definitely be helpful! They've all received proper training with portable heavy weapons, apparently meaning Hunter Rifles...”
“So what exactly do you want us to do with these awakened soldiers?”
“Oh, you can have them do anything! They can guide you, provide fire support while you're subduing Monsters...”
So they did not have a specific mission. He just wanted them included in the hunt somehow.
I could understand why he was making the request. Civilian Hunters were about to carry out a clearing operation in this area, something the military should have been doing in the first place. As the local commander, he would be embarrassed to report that his troops had simply stood around and watched.
He probably wanted to report later that they had actively supported the Hunters' work.
Well, I did not care about his reasons.
Even I thought the results we'd achieved so far were incredible. Letting the military join us now would not put our credit at risk, so I nodded without hesitation.
“All right. We'll take the soldiers, so please prepare the people in question...”
The colonel's face immediately brightened, as if he had not expected me to agree so readily.
“Thank you so much!”
“Anyway, we're planning to work until the afternoon. What are you going to do about the soldiers' meals? It will not be easy to send food up the mountain.”
“They can bring combat rations! We'll be counting on you!”
The colonel repeatedly said with a smile that we could make the soldiers do anything, even send them back injured from hard work.
He said that even if they were badly hurt, they could just be sent to a military hospital to see someone with a Healing Ability. I could not tell whether he was joking or serious, so it was hard to react.
Before we climbed Manisan, eleven soldiers joined our Hunters.
They were awakened soldiers, people I had not even known existed in Korea.
“Nice to meet you!”
I greeted the soldiers energetically, but their reply was weak.
“Yes, nice to meet you too...”
When I asked what abilities the soldiers had, every one of them was either a Body Enhancement user or a force-field exoskeleton ability user. It was surprising.
Body Enhancement and force-field exoskeletons might be the most common abilities among A-rank Hunters, but being common did not make them any less valuable. They might look unimpressive in front of someone like me, who had three abilities, but possessing even one was valuable enough to let you strut around the Hunter industry with your shoulders thrown back.
Yet these awakened soldiers had none of the confidence powerful awakened people usually carried.
At least the Body Enhancement soldiers were easy to identify because they were big. As for the soldiers with force-field exoskeletons, I could not tell whether they were superhuman soldiers or troubled soldiers sent to Green Camp.
Their faces were all gloomy. They looked like the sort who would answer in a listless voice, “No...” if asked whether they had been forced to come here.
Unable to stand it any longer, I asked a corporal.
“Is there something you're worried about?”
“No...”
“Don't be like that. If there's a problem, tell me. I won't tell your commander, okay?”
No one answered even after I said that, so I motioned to the cameraman following Naito.
“Hey, put the camera away for a second!”
Only then did the soldiers begin looking at one another, gauging each other's reactions.
Finally, one of them seemed to gather the courage to speak.
“How actively are we supposed to participate in hunting Monsters?”
“Hm? You don't need to participate actively... Are you worried I'll make you stand at the front and shoot?”
One soldier nodded with a grave expression.
“Yes, actually... We don't have much experience hunting Monsters, so we're a little worried about how much you'll order us to do...”
“Oh, you don't hunt Monsters much while you're stationed on Ganghwa Island? Isn't that why you were sent here?”
“We don't really know why we were sent here either...”
“Anyway, if you don't have much hunting experience, just watch. Think of it as hiking and follow along. I won't make you do anything, all right?”
Only then did the soldiers seem relieved. Color finally returned to their faces.
So we climbed the mountain with soldiers who could have been troubled cases or superhuman soldiers. I honestly could not tell.
As we walked, the Hunters chatted.
“Come to think of it, didn't Kang Jun-chi threaten the government before, saying he'd turn everything upside down if they started conscripting awakened people? I thought that was why they did not draft awakened people and introduced the Hunter system instead. So how are there awakened soldiers in the military?”
“Maybe it's fine because they were not conscripted as awakened people. They got drafted, then turned out to be awakened?”
The awakened Hunters, including me, got to work first.
While I spread my mental net in every direction to locate nearby Monsters, Baek Dambi opened a Gate.
Hunters formed a tight ring around the open Gate and prepared a field of fire.
I entered the Gate with Baek Dambi. As I identified the positions of the Monsters inside and outside the Gate, I glanced at the Behemoth, whose presence was unmistakable even from far away.
“Has that Behemoth bastard smeared honey all over Korea or something? Why the hell hasn't it left?”
When I muttered that, Baek Dambi answered.
“Well, apparently Monsters can't just move around inside Gates whenever they want. They say moving through Gates consumes spiritual energy or something. Like how walking for a long time burns calories.”
“Ah, so it spent spiritual calories getting all the way here, and it doesn't want to go back empty-handed?”
“Probably. It might be waiting until an opportunity comes along.”
“Then again, Kang Jun-chi may be scary, but he'll grow old and die someday. Is it waiting inside the Gate until Kang Jun-chi either leaves or dies of old age, then planning to come out?”
Even as we talked, I approached a group of Monsters.
They were unfamiliar Monsters that looked roughly like sloths.
I had Baek Dambi exit the Gate first and give the signal. Then I used Spatial Teleportation with the Monster group.
The moment my vision changed, bullets poured down on me and the sloth Monsters I'd grabbed.
Bullets came flying in from every direction. The three sloth Monsters I'd teleported could not resist at all. Their bodies were immediately riddled with holes, and they died.
This was no longer something the Hunters under my command needed to tense up or be surprised by. We'd repeated this operation to eliminate Monsters inside Gates hundreds of times this month alone.
Still, it must have been shocking for the soldiers seeing it for the first time. I could feel them staring at us from the back with wide eyes.
I grinned and spoke to them.
“What? Is it interesting?”
“More than interesting. It's incredible...!”
“Why? It wasn't even that impressive of a fight.”
“Opening Gates, an ice bear firing an autocannon, Spatial Teleportation... It all looks like real magic...”
Well, my abilities and my ring girl's abilities were flashier than ordinary Body Enhancement or force-field exoskeletons, so they probably did look more like magic.
Naito's cameraman filmed the soldiers' reactions with interest. I was in a good mood too, so I put even more energy into repeating the process.
I pulled Monsters out of the Gate, then the other Hunters waiting outside poured fire on them and killed them...
My hunter team and the other Hunters had worked together for quite a while now, so everyone was perfectly in sync.
Naito seemed relaxed enough to deliver commentary to the camera the instant a Monster died.
“Today as well! Here on Manisan, Hunter Kim Geuk, Incheon's savior, is continuing his Monster sweep! Every time this airs, foreign viewers leave tons of comments asking whether it's fake, or saying that if it's real, Hunter Kim Geuk's price tag of fifty billion won makes no sense!
“Not long ago, I even got an inquiry from someone claiming to be a civil servant in another country. They said they'd reward me if I managed to convince Hunter Kim Geuk to transfer there...!”
Like before, this might have been tedious repetitive work to us, but it seemed astonishing to the soldiers.
As Monster corpses piled up one after another, more amazed reactions came from the soldiers.
“This is fucking awesome...”
As promised, the soldiers only watched from the back. Still, that reaction alone made bringing them here worthwhile.
In other words, making me feel good was more than enough reason to buy them a meal.
As lunchtime approached, I asked the soldiers.
“I went to prison, not the military, so I don't know for sure. But I heard the military used to eat chicken and pizza whenever they had a group dinner. Is that still true? Do you still have pork belly dinners and chicken dinners a lot?”
“No. Not at all since the Gates opened...”
“Then you must miss outside food. Tell me three things you want to eat. I'll order them for lunch.”
Maybe buying expensive food for someone was no longer a common thing in this day and age.
It was not a particularly impressive offer, yet the soldiers' eyes grew huge.
“You're ordering some for us too?”
“Could I enjoy my food while you eat emergency rations next to us? Of course I'm ordering for you. Hurry up.”
“Something that smells strongly, like pork belly, is probably not okay, right?”
“If Monsters smelled it and came over, that'd be even better. We could shoot them more easily. Don't hesitate. Just name anything.”
After much hesitation, the soldiers named chicken, pork belly, and bossam, so I called and ordered all of it.
When the food was delivered at the foot of the mountain, I personally used Spatial Teleportation to bring it up. The Hunters clapped loudly, and the awakened soldiers joined in, so I was showered with applause. That put me in such a good mood that I happily paid for the food.
“Mr. Kim Geuk, I'm benefiting in many ways from broadcasting this wonderful scene too. I could pay for half the food...”
Naito, the richest person here after me, made that offer, but I flatly refused. How dare some non-awakened scrap try that.
* * *
After that, we continued eliminating Monsters inside and outside the Gate without distinction.
Maybe because they were full and in a better mood, or because they were less anxious after I kept my promise not to make them do anything, the soldiers finally began mixing with the Hunters.
Before long, Hunters and soldiers could be seen chatting together.
As we continued hunting, one soldier who had introduced themself as a Body Enhancement user asked me a question.
“Could I try shooting when you hunt a Monster later?”
“Hm? You want to try hunting a Monster?”
“Yes. I'm planning to become a Hunter after I get discharged...”
What a commendable soldier. I smiled sincerely.
“Of course you can! Wait a second, there's a wild Monster in that direction, so you can try against that one...”
I gave them what they wanted. I let the soldier who had volunteered experience hunting a Monster with the other Hunters. The soldier smiled, trembling slightly as the tension left their body. They were probably feeling a rush.
“Anyone else planning to become a Hunter later, step forward now! This is a good opportunity. It's fine if you make mistakes! I can cover everything, okay?”
When I made the same offer to the other soldiers, they began raising their hands one by one and volunteering to join the Monster hunt.
That turned this hunt into a first hunting-experience camp for future A-rank Hunters. I fulfilled my duty as a senior Hunter by letting them carefully approach and shoot wild Monsters several times, so it would become a genuine hunting experience rather than just firing a gun.
After that, it was about time to finish for the day.
On the way down the mountain, one soldier spoke to me.
“Hunter Kim Geuk, when I saw your interview at the military internet café, I thought you were just a crazy person... But you're much kinder than I expected in person. You're a really good person too.”
“How could I dare mistreat an Incheon citizen? Long live Incheon.”
“Ah, I'm from Daegu...”
“You're in Incheon now, so you're an Incheon person. What nonsense are you talking about? Anyway, you'll vote for Park Mihyeong in the upcoming mayoral election, right?”
“What? Yes, definitely... Anyway, you're much more relaxed than I expected. I was surprised in a lot of ways.”
“Was it really that surprising?”
“No, I really was surprised. Honestly, I was pretty worried when we were told to accompany you. I thought we'd get cursed out badly if someone who had only been watching from the back suddenly said they wanted to experience hunting, but that wasn't the case either.”
Then Jang Byeonggon, the most veteran member of my hunter team after Baek Dambi but with even less presence than Jeong Jinyeong, grinned and spoke.
“Ah, if you'd said you wanted to experience hunting with another hunter team, you might have gotten cursed out quite a bit. Most hunter teams are really on edge, you know? It's like how a private first class who makes a small mistake gets chewed out more than necessary in a military unit where everyone's already stressed. The atmosphere is sharp because one wrong move can cost you your life...”
“So this group's atmosphere is unusual?”
“That's right! Everyone here is very relaxed, aren't we? It's been quite a while since anyone died, and as you can see, Mr. Kim Geuk has an incredibly generous personality...”
We were in the middle of chatting happily.
When a living creature blended into the natural environment and stayed perfectly still without doing anything, there were often times my mental net could not detect it. My mental net tended to identify moving objects first.
A Deathclaw must have been hiding motionless in the bushes. Then, when the soldiers at the very back of the group passed by, it suddenly attacked.
I felt the Deathclaw move through my mental net.
The Deathclaw burst from the bushes and pounced on a soldier. I moved without hesitation.
I thrust the Hunter Rifle in my hand forward and used Spatial Teleportation. Only then did one of the soldiers react, letting out a sound that was neither a scream nor a groan.
“Uh...”
I appeared beside the soldier through Spatial Teleportation. At the same time, I raised the Hunter Rifle's muzzle above me.
The muzzle I thrust upward buried itself in the belly of the Deathclaw, which had leaped as high as a person and was about to pounce on the soldier.
When I pulled the trigger, the Deathclaw exploded in midair before it could even swing one hooked claw.
Blood and chunks of flesh that had made up the Deathclaw scattered through the air.
“...uh?”
Footnotes:
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