Ch 95
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 95
It's already been a month since I came to Korea.
I told the old man I'd only stay in Korea for two months, but I was planning to move to nearby Japan or China in a few days if it got boring. However, there's more to see than I expected, the people are kind, and it seems like a pretty decent country.
Italian doesn't work at all, but English communicates fairly well, and even when I clumsily speak Korean by recalling childhood memories, everyone understands and likes it.
Moreover, as expected, blood can't be deceived—most of the food suited my taste well.
Especially that Kimchi Jjigae dish that brought back memories of what my mother used to make when I was young, so it was quite good.
Of course, there were things that didn't suit my taste.
Cheonggukjang, was it? It looked similar to Doenjang Jjigae on the outside, but only the appearance was similar—it had a stench like feet that hadn't been washed for at least six months.
I thought this was the worst, but there was something even more severe.
A week ago, when I stopped by a Makgeolli house after mountain climbing, the uncles and aunties gave me a piece of something called Hongeo to try, and I thought it was bathroom naphthalene.
How on earth do they eat such things...
Well, except for those two things, everything else was fine.
Having spent a month exploring Seoul and nearby cities, I think I'll head to the provinces starting tomorrow.
I'm looking forward to it since they say Jeolla Province has delicious food and Gyeongsang Province has many big cities with plenty to see.
Come to think of it, there's a city called Tongyeong that's called the Naples of Korea—I definitely need to visit there once.
I was thinking I should head in for the day and was about to get up when... Huh?
"I didn't order this."
The bartender put down a cocktail I didn't order in front of me.
"The gentleman over there sent it."
Wow, there are still people who pull this old-fashioned pickup routine these days.
Still, I looked in the direction the bartender pointed to see who it was, and there was an ugly man grinning at me.
"For your information, that gentleman is the owner of this building."
"So what?"
If it's about money, I have more than enough to spare.
"Huh? No, I was just..."
"I'll pay the bill. And I won't drink this, so throw it away or send it back—handle it however you want."
Looking like an Orc that got its face punched five times by an Ogre, not knowing its place.
I paid and came out, but that Orc bastard who was grinning at me earlier followed me.
"Wait a moment."
Greasy British English.
"What?"
"Didn't you like the cocktail? You're exactly my type, so I sent it..."
"I'm not interested, so don't talk to me."
"You're so cold. What country are you from?"
"I don't think there's any reason I need to tell you that."
"Playing hard to get makes me like you even more. I'm Go Dong-hyeok, Vice Guild Master of Sangmu Guild. You look like you're alone, how about having another drink with me?"
Sangmu Guild?
Although this is a vacation rather than work, since I was going abroad, I had memorized the names of famous Korean Hunters and major guilds.
But Sangmu wasn't among them, so it must be some nobody guild, how absurd.
"Why would I drink with you? I told you I'm not interested."
"If we have a drink together, maybe interest that wasn't there before might develop?"
"Even if I drank not just one drink but a whole case of whiskey, that wouldn't happen, so stop..."
I was about to tell him to get lost when the Orc bastard suddenly grabs my wrist.
"I'm being nice about this, but you shouldn't ignore people like that. Since you came alone, you must be lonely. How about just one drink between lonely people?"
Has this Orc bastard really gone crazy?
While traveling around Korea, there were a few cases where men asked for my number or tried to talk to me, but they all backed off cleanly when I showed my rejection...
As expected, all Hunter bastards are trash.
"Let go of this right now!"
I tried to shake him off, but since he's probably a physical enhancement-type Hunter, I can't win with strength alone.
"If you just come up and have one drink with me, I'll let you go, okay? Stop playing hard to get and come up nicely."
Haa, I have no choice.
TUK!
I looked around, confirmed there were no CCTVs, and used sleep magic to knock down the Orc.
I thought about just leaving, but seeing my swollen wrist, I couldn't do that.
I did tell the old man I wouldn't cause trouble during vacation, but I didn't say I'd endure this kind of dog-like situation.
While pondering how to deal with this Orc bastard, I remembered the new magic I had completed before coming to Korea.
Drain of Poison Bomb.
As the name suggests, it's a delayed-effect poison magic that, when activated, spreads poison instantly, kills the target, and creates poison gas in the surroundings, a very interesting magic.
There are quite many restrictions on its use, so I haven't been able to properly experiment with it yet... This worked out well.
Come to think of it, he said he was the Vice Guild Master of some Sangmun or whatever guild, so if the timing works out well, I might be able to send quite a few Hunters to the afterlife.
***
"Everyone eat lunch and we'll depart again at 12:30, so make sure to return to the vehicles by 12:20."
"Yes."
"Class president, what are you going to eat for lunch? The boys are going to Gimbap Hell to eat pork cutlet."
"I don't mind anything. Should we look around?"
"I searched while coming earlier, and there's a snack bar just a little way after crossing the crosswalk. How about Tteok Twi Soon?"
"Snack food sounds great. Let's ask Jeong-yeon and Hye-ji if they want to eat together too."
Yeon-su and I are close since we're in the same class, but Hye-ji and Jeong-yeon are from different departments and classes, so I met them for the first time today.
It was awkward at first and we're still not completely close, but since we'll be traveling together for the next five days, I thought it would be good to get a bit closer, so Yeon-su and I went to suggest eating together.
Both of them said it was good, so we came to the snack bar together.
"It's been so long since I've had this."
"Excuse me, auntie, don't you have liver?"
"Liver? I do have it, but I thought young students wouldn't eat it, so I only gave you blood sausage."
"I really love it. Yeon-su, don't you eat liver?"
"No, I like it too."
"I like it too."
"Then I'll slice some liver for you too."
"Thank you."
Maybe it's because it's been a while since I've had snack food, but it's really delicious.
"Hye-ji, why aren't you eating? Don't you like snack food?"
"No, snack food is what I like most... My stomach feels a bit off."
Her expression wasn't good earlier when we were moving the corpse, she seems to have a weak stomach.
"Is it because of the corpse?"
"I keep thinking about it. Are you all okay?"
"I've seen so many through VR. Doesn't the magic class do VR lessons?"
"We did a few times, but it's my first time with an actual corpse."
"It's our first time with an actual corpse too, but the smell is really the worst, though it's still bearable."
"I found it a bit gross too, but that's all money."
"Yeon-su's right. You'll get used to it as you do it, so eat at least a little. You need to conquer it again in the afternoon."
"Okay."
"Rather than that, I'm more concerned about the Hunter uncle who's accompanying us."
"Who?"
"The person who's the Vice Guild Master."
"Go Dong-hyeok Hunter? Jeong-yeon, do you like that type? He's completely ugly."
"What are you saying? I don't have any fetish for ugly men. Who would like an uncle who looks like an Orc?"
"Then what do you mean you're concerned?"
"That person's gaze is a bit strange."
"Gaze?"
"You too? I felt it too. From the first time I saw him, he was looking us over in a creepy way, which gave me goosebumps."
"Maybe it just felt that way because he's ugly?"
"Could that be it?"
"I don't think it's a misunderstanding. I wasn't going to say anything since I might have heard wrong... But when we were cleaning up the corpse earlier, only that person went out to make a phone call. I couldn't hear clearly, but he seemed to be talking about how kids these days develop well and whether he should hit on one, stuff like that."
"Seriously? That's completely disgusting."
"Shouldn't we tell the teacher to change him?"
"Did you hear it clearly? If you heard wrong, it might just cause problems."
"I'm not certain..."
"Then you might have heard wrong. Anyway, our teacher is coming from tomorrow, so it'll be fine."
"I wish tomorrow would come quickly. I was so happy to be in the same group as the handsome Kang Shin-hyeok teacher."
"Teacher Kang isn't just handsome, he's also capable and has a lot of money."
"Right. That's why he often buys snacks. Minha and Yeon-su are lucky."
"I wish I had a boyfriend like Teacher Kang, I'd have no other wishes."
"There probably isn't anyone like Teacher Kang?"
"Then you could just date Kang Shin-hyeok teacher."
"What would be lacking for Teacher Kang to meet you, Hye-ji? If he wanted to, he could even date celebrities."
"True... He's incredibly popular, so he probably wouldn't meet ordinary people. Last White Day, Teacher Kang's desk was completely a mountain of candy."
"Right. I saw it too."
"Does Teacher Kang not have a girlfriend?"
"Well, when I asked before, he said he didn't."
"Wasn't he dating Senior Kim Se-jin?"
"An article came out saying that wasn't true."
"I don't know who it'll be, but I'm completely envious."
Our teacher is really popular.
"Even if we finish all this, we'll have plenty of time left. How about a cafe after we're done? I saw many cafes when coming earlier."
After eating snack food and stopping by a cafe, we returned to where the car was parked on time.
We drove for about 20 minutes, got out of the car, and walked up the mountain a bit to see the portal and soldiers standing guard, but... Huh?
The color is different from the portal we conquered in the morning.
"What? It's not F-grade but E-grade. Hey, when did this change?"
"The color changed about 40 minutes ago, so we reported it upstairs."
"40 minutes ago? So that's why it wasn't synced. We're out of luck. Pan-su, quickly check if there are any other F-grade 10-person portals."
"Just a moment. Uh... There are no portals assigned to our guild in this area, and there's one about 40 minutes away."
"40 minutes? Is that in Gyeonggi Province? Then it'll be too late... Let's just do this one."
"Uh... Excuse me, since it's the students' first day, wouldn't it be better to go to an F-grade even if it takes a bit longer?"
"What's wrong with the first day? Looking at how they fought in the morning, they all did well. There's not much difference between F-grade and E-grade anyway."
"That's true, but just in case there might be problems, wouldn't it be safer to go cautiously?"
"What problems? It's just an E-grade 10-person. I could clear it alone in under an hour, and I'll help more. Back in my day... We went to many E-grade practicals even in our second year."
"Still, since it's the first day..."
"Such a frustrating guy! What do you juniors think? The practical results are reflected in grades, right? I'll give everyone generous evaluations."
"Really? I think it'll be fine."
"I think it'll be fine too. Even though it was VR, I've fought C-grade monsters."
I was keeping quiet just in case, but everyone seems to be in favor.
It should be okay, right?
"Pan-su, our juniors are much better than you. If you're that worried, I'll go in first to take a look and come out, so you wait here with the juniors."
"Ah, understood."
I wondered if this was okay, but he really went in alone, and after waiting about 15 minutes, he came back.
"Is it okay?"
"Of course it's okay. There was one Orc that evolved into a Shaman and was healing sick Orcs. I took care of the Shaman."
"Aren't there more? The grade is still the same."
"There are about three regular Orcs that it healed. Well, they're all old Orcs with wrinkled faces, so I left them. That much is fine for experience."
"Right. What about other monsters?"
"There are about four groups of 4-5 sick Orcs each, and about two small groups of around 4 Gnolls? That much is nothing."
"With that much, I could clear it in less than an hour too."
"Right. Okay, everyone, let's go in."
I was a bit nervous since it's E-grade, but except for the 3 Orcs, they're all monsters that appear in F-grade portals, so it should be fine.
The hunting actually went really smoothly.
Maybe it's because we matched our breathing once in the morning, but in one hour we defeated all the Gnoll groups, two groups of sick Orcs, and all 3 regular Orcs.
The regular Orcs were definitely faster and stronger than the sick Orcs, but thanks to Go Dong-hyeok Hunter personally driving them one by one, it was actually easier than the sick Orc groups.
"Okay, attention. I went ahead to check, and there are only two groups of sick Orcs left, so shall we try handling them all at once this time? Magicians prepare trap magic, and 2 juniors who want to try the driving role, raise your hands."
The other kids seem a bit tired and are being cautious, but I immediately raised my hand.
Since we do running every day in swordsmanship class, I'm really confident when it comes to running.
Yeon-su and Jae-hyeon from the same swordsmanship class also raised their hands, but Jae-hyeon and I were chosen.
Following the direction Go Dong-hyeok Hunter told us, I could really see 4 Orcs, so I threw the stone I had brought in advance.
THUNK!
He said it didn't matter if I missed, but luckily it hit the one in the middle right in the head.
KROOK! KROO-ROOK!
KROOK! KROO-ROOK?
Those stupid guys seemed not to notice me and were about to fight among themselves, so I shouted, and only then did they start chasing me.
They're all sick Orcs, so they're incredibly slow. I was worried they might give up while chasing me, so I looked back occasionally while running to check on them.
We were almost there, but there's green fog that I hadn't seen until just now.