Chapter 116
Chapter 116
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: Emergency Assembly (4)
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What the hell was my master off doing?
At this age, waiting around like a chick that lost its mother for Yoon to come back was ridiculous.
Yoon must have thought the same and left.
He figured that since I'd lived long enough, I could handle hazing a rookie on my own.
Isaac Lane looked at me and smiled good-naturedly.
"You're as handsome as the rumors say."
"Thank you."
I rubbed my neck and smiled faintly.
Without letting that faint smile fade, I got off the motorcycle. It didn't look like we'd be moving from here anytime soon.
Yoon had told me to find a spot suitable for fighting creatures, but he'd gone off after designating the Black Badger in charge of overseeing it.
The humans had no intention of taking the initiative.
'Is even this my job as the youngest?'
As I pondered that, a senior approached me with a smirk.
The senior shoved my back.
What the hell was this guy's name again?
"You smoke?"
I stared blankly at the man who blew cigarette smoke right in my face.
"No."
"You're hopeless."
Cigarettes didn't taste like much anyway.
I couldn't understand why people inhaled and exhaled air that lacked any kick.
I didn't voice my inner thoughts.
Instead, I looked down at the cigarette he suddenly thrust toward me.
"Put it in your mouth and suck."
Forced cigarette?
I stood still, staring at the cigarette.
As expected, no one stepped in to stop him. After standing motionless for a while, I slowly reached out and took the cigarette.
He'd probably be even happier if I looked reluctant about accepting it.
I clumsily put the white cigarette in my mouth.
"Forcing a smoke on a junior."
Dawson poked the back of the man offering me the cigarette while grinning.
"What era's hazing is this?"
Should I cough for them?
As I thought that, I inhaled the cigarette.
I faked a couple of choking coughs, and the seniors cackled in delight.
I watched their nasty grins, then blew out a puff of smoke.
"You really don't smoke?"
A senior called Lucia Kwon approached.
The way she held her gun with improper form told me plenty.
"You look like you've been smoking forever..."
"Is that so? Thank you."
I smiled good-naturedly.
I pretended not to notice Dawson and his buddy instantly souring their expressions and furrowing their brows. It was somewhat satisfying.
On top of that, the distance to the creatures had closed before I knew it. They were definitely eyeing our vulnerability. They weren't particularly influenced by their kin.
Smart bastards—they had a nose for idiots.
If they attacked, I'd draw my sword no matter what anyone yelled.
As I placed my hand on the hilt, this time a familiar face approached.
Familiar, but someone I'd never spoken to.
"Hildebert."
Silver hair and pale skin.
"Stay by my side."
People turned to Sylvia in a daze.
The seniors' shock was obvious. Leonard's blue eyes went wide. Dawson and his buddy hadn't raised their visors, so I couldn't see their faces, but they were staring at Sylvia in surprise anyway.
Isaac's eyes widened as he looked back at her.
Lucia slowly turned her head.
I was the only one not surprised.
Sylvia, who had approached silently with her helmet tucked under her arm, stopped in front of me.
"Did you hear that properly?"
"Yes."
I looked at the expressionless pale senior and let out a long laugh.
"I'll do that."
It wasn't surprising. She'd been outside the core with me before.
She knew I could draw in creatures.
She clearly liked that trait of mine. It meant more prey to hunt.
Her transparent, glass-bead eyes held a familiar hunger.
"What is it?"
Dawson sure had no fear.
"Keeping him close to split the loot? Didn't know you were into that."
"As if!"
Leonard answered for Sylvia, who ignored him.
The moment I detected the glee and curiosity in his voice, despair hit me. Stop. I didn't want any more attention from these weirdos!
I screamed silently, but the world wasn't on my side.
"Even when Yoon was showing that weird possessiveness, I wondered, but now Sylvia's interested too."
Leonard approached, his bright blue eyes sparkling with joy.
"You're a fun one, huh?"
Leonard grinned as he drew near.
His odd smile triggered a visceral rejection. But I somehow suppressed the urge to take a step back.
"Not at all. Just a uniquely ugly rookie."
I laughed.
"Really nothing special..."
Boom!
The senior tumbled.
It was the one who'd quickly offered his motorcycle to Yoon. He yelped and pitched forward.
You didn't notice that coming?
It wasn't small—it was a larva the size of a person's waist. I couldn't hide my sigh as I drew my dagger, but the seniors ran in the opposite direction from the fallen one.
Everyone except me, Sylvia, and Leonard.
For real?
"Rookie!"
The fallen senior reached out.
"Help me up!"
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
The larva burst.
Sylvia shot the swarming ones.
I yanked the senior to his feet and assessed the situation.
Huge larvae poured out from the wooden building.
They weren't targeting me. Looked like a nest inside the building.
Creatures everywhere.
Harpy-like birds circled in the night sky.
A pack of apes blocked the road we'd come from, heavy presences lurked in the building the seniors fled into—two or three of them.
From the direction Yoon had vanished, toward the road swallowed by darkness, came the suffocating presence of countless creatures.
And my kin too.
"Get inside the building!"
Even so, the senior reloaded his gun the moment he stood and sprayed bullets at the buffalo herd of larvae pouring out.
"You bastards, if you went in, you should provide cover fire!"
"What kind of shit is this."
Leonard laughed, then lowered his visor.
Whoa, he had grenades.
I quickly backpedaled.
Sylvia could handle herself, so I just grabbed the sycophant's collar and dragged him.
KABOOM!
The larva herd scattered.
Rain made of their fluids and proteins fell.
But the sycophant didn't even get to finish cursing.
KABOOM, boom, KABOOM!
Throwing grenades like catch.
The tossed grenades slipped neatly into the building where larvae were swarming out.
I watched the building collapse in the explosions, crushing and bursting the larva herd.
Meanwhile, Sylvia, bored of the larvae, shot down the harpies overhead.
A harpy crashed at my feet.
"The apes aren't coming closer."
I muttered, dodging the falling harpy.
Leonard, playfully picking off remaining larvae, looked up.
"Those don't come near us much."
"Oh, really? They're more harmless than I thought."
"Not sure about you. They just avoid me, Sylvia, and Yoon in particular."
Aha.
I grinned at the creatures that looked like unidentifiable monkeys, gorillas, or chimps.
Smart guys.
They seemed better than the seniors who'd fled.
"Arghhh!"
A sharp scream came from the building behind us where the seniors had run.
"Something's on the walls! On the walls!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Only the sycophant senior reacted to the gunfire from inside.
The pair of sociopaths didn't blink. Sylvia, having shot the hovering harpies right in the foreheads, turned.
She spoke in a bored tone.
"Why don't those things come for you?"
Leonard's gaze flew at me.
Thanks to the lazily approaching presence, I could ignore that intense stare and change the subject with a smile.
"Cool."
Yoon glanced at the messed-up squad and commented flatly.
"Back in under ten minutes, and you're already getting owned by small fry."
"Owned by small fry?"
"Killing nearby pests to avoid the dirty work and save energy. That's what it means."
Ah, so that's why they ran—not out of fear.
As realization made me blink, the sycophant senior bolted straight for Yoon.
This guy was something else.
"Senior! Glad you made it back safe!"
He looked ready to drop to his knees beside Yoon.
"I was so worried!"
Yoon completely ignored him.
The master walked past the man as if he were invisible and stopped in front of us. He didn't even look like he'd drawn his weapon once.
Yoon turned his gaze to the building the seniors had entered.
"Kwon-pye didn't accidentally shoot anyone dead, did she?"
"Kwon-pye?"
"That trash Lucia Kwon."
Aha.
Kwon-pye, short for that trash Lucia Kwon.
I gauged the presences inside the building, then slowly shook my head.
"They're all still alive."
"Too bad."
The master sounded genuinely disappointed.
"That's the one achievement she could hope for."
"Friendly fire?"
"Too harsh—call it mistaken target."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"Squad leader."
Leonard jumped into the conversation with a bright tone.
Yoon and I stared blankly at the blue-eyed Black Badger waving lazily.
The one cheerfully insane bastard.
"Good work."
"Consistently repulsive, you too."
"Thank you."
The senior brazenly took it.
He raised his visor, smiled brightly, then eyed the squad leader rolling his eyes.
Then he asked brightly.
"But when do we start our actual mission?"
***
Finally learned everyone's names.
The sycophant senior's name was Jerry Jones.
The one who'd stuck to Ye-hyeon like glue at the year-end party.
Right now, he was praising Yoon, who was using a master key to open a five-story building.
So that's why he'd stepped away—the master had gone to fetch this. Apparently, master keys were made for firefighters to use in emergencies, stored in boxes somewhere in the city.
No idea how Yoon found the box.
Anyway, he used the master key to open the building door.
After unlocking a structure untouched for decades, he gave a brief explanation.
"Nights are usually more dangerous, but B-6 Zone has unclassified creatures that crawl out for sunlight."
We were currently in Zone 7, with most seniors likely in Zone 5.
Zone 6 lay between.
That was why we'd stopped in Zone 7.
"So if the mission drags on till dawn, don't go into Zone 6. Though it'll end before sunrise anyway."
After the explanation, positions were assigned.
He didn't explain to the squad members, but this was to block creatures drawn to me.
Naturally, no one's preferences were considered.
"First floor: Lucia Kwon. Jerry Jones. Joe McDonald."
"Eep!"
"Ah."
"Third floor: Isaac Lane. Gale Dawson. Masu Sarin."
Sarin was the senior I'd nearly run over with the motorcycle.
"Fifth floor: you two handle it."
Yoon jabbed a finger at Leonard and Sylvia, not even wanting to say their names.
Leonard nodded with a smile. Sylvia just blinked. The others kept their mouths shut. Everyone except Leonard and Sylvia looked unhappy with their assignments.
They just didn't dare say it out loud.
No one would listen anyway.
"Rooftop: me and Hildebert."
Yoon finished his last order and looked up.
"Questions?"
Naturally, no one dumb enough to raise a hand was...
There was.
Lucia Kwon raised her right hand straight up, eyes wide.
"We skipping dinner?"