Chapter 152
Chapter 152
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: There's Something Special About Mages (10)
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“Troll?”
“Yes, but there might have been other monsters besides the troll. No, the chances are high that there were. As soon as the problem arose, we evacuated according to the manual, so we couldn’t properly confirm...”
If the opponent was a monster, the first line of defense was to evacuate underground once breached. With all the external cameras and recording devices destroyed, the people inside could only make rough guesses.
“It’s a relief the damage was less than expected. The government side was bracing for the worst-case scenario.”
“Whew, we really thought we were done for. We had no idea if the monsters had left, so we kept holding out, but our supplies were running out... If the monsters had held on just a bit longer, we would’ve lost our minds.”
Choi Jae-ho, who had been listening to their conversation, spoke up.
“Team Leader Kim Suhyun, if it’s alright, I’d like to check the other base first. Some of my company’s team members might be there...”
“Ah, I didn’t think of that. Shall we go together?”
“No, you don’t need to. From what I’m hearing about the situation, it’s probably similar there too.”
“Yeah, we got in touch before the communication facilities went down, and it seemed like the people at the other bases had evacuated properly too.”
Choi Jae-ho gave a light greeting and led his team members toward the other base nearby. Suhyun began slowly walking around, checking the signs of destruction.
The other staff were frantically working to restore the most urgent facilities. When they spotted Suhyun approaching, they hurriedly straightened their clothes and bowed.
“Ah, keep doing your work. I’m just looking around.”
“Yes, sir!”
The traces left by monsters and the traces made to look like monster damage were distinguishable. Others might not know, but Suhyun was an expert in that area.
“Hmm.”
Tooth marks left on the facilities, dents from blunt impacts, claw marks... It wasn’t just trolls. And it wasn’t disguised as monsters either. This couldn’t be faked.
It was a definite fact that monsters had attacked.
‘But something feels off.’
Monsters didn’t pay much attention to human facilities. What they hunted were humans themselves, not the facilities around them. They wouldn’t smash everything one by one so persistently just because the humans had fled.
‘Am I being too sensitive? Because of that fake gate explosion, the monsters went berserk and smashed everything in sight...? No, even that doesn’t fit.’
This felt more like the work of intelligent beings. Destroying communication facilities first to isolate them. Suhyun thought of other-race terrorists. Dark Elves could certainly command monsters.
But he quickly dismissed the idea. Other-race terrorists always showed certain precursors before acting. There were none here. They wouldn’t just appear out of nowhere.
So then?
“Shaina, about the monster taming techniques that Dark Elves use.”
“Huh?”
“Is that technique something other humans could learn?”
“Uh...”
Shaina pondered the unexpected question for a moment before answering.
“Probably? The technique itself isn’t that difficult. It’s just that there aren’t many practitioners.”
“Practitioners?”
“There’s no fixed rule; it’s just passed down from those who know it.”
Unlike humans, who systematically recorded knowledge, other races often passed it down this way. As a result, records would disappear after just a few generations sometimes.
“And it varies a lot by person. Those with talent pick it up after a few tries, but those without never get the hang of it, no matter how much they practice.”
“You were the talented type, then?”
“I wasn’t terrible.”
A faint sense of pride showed on Shaina’s face. Just looking at how excellently she commanded the tiger Suhyun had brought proved her skill.
“Humans could learn it? Then...”
“Why do you ask?”
“The results feel too much like humans directing monsters rather than monsters acting on their own. There aren’t many factions that could pull this off. China had Dark Elves in their region too, right? If they passed on the technique, it’s not impossible.”
“Nah, no way.”
“Why not?”
“This scale means it wasn’t just one or two monsters, but even we can’t command them on that level.”
“China can. You still don’t know their scale. Factoring in costs to funding and capturing monsters, it’s well within the realm of possibility. The rampaging local monsters would’ve helped too...”
“But if it was China, why’s there no one around? They smashed the facilities, so shouldn’t they have eliminated the people too?”
“That’s what I’m wondering.”
Everything else could be speculated or roughly guessed, but this stumped even Suhyun. Why had they vanished after securing the situation?
He could understand not attacking directly. If the attackers had indeed used monsters, they’d want it pinned on the monsters. If it was revealed as human work, retaliation would come immediately.
But no one being there didn’t make sense. A force capable of commanding monsters would gamble on a fight even against a rescue team—that was China’s style.
‘Not China? But they wouldn’t back off this quietly... No way they fled the moment they heard a rescue team was coming, right?’
Suhyun didn’t think he’d unwittingly hit the truth. Even without China, teams pulling off operations like this were sensitive to results. Failure meant immediate reprimands from above. Few could stay detached under that pressure.
“Well... Let’s search the surroundings more and check things out.”
-Roar!
“Uwaaah!”
“?”
“Why are there so many?!”
-Team Leader Kim Suhyun, Team Leader Kim Suhyun! We have a problem!
“...Looks like I need to go help.”
It seemed the surrounding monsters weren’t quite finished yet.
* * *
After helping Jindo Dog Team 2 deal with the horde of monsters and rescuing the personnel from the other nearby bases, the mercenaries could finally take a break.
“How should we handle the watch? As usual? Or split into halves?”
“No, we’re sitting this one out.”
“?”
Suhyun nodded toward the mercenaries behind him. They were the new recruits.
“They’ll handle all the watch.”
“Eh, is that okay?”
“That’s what the government assigned them for, right? You think the government would stick us with dead weight and wash their hands of it after giving orders? They’re there to be used as much as possible.”
“That’ll bruise their pride.”
“Pride? We already talked it over beforehand. You think opportunities like this to learn come cheap? Can’t even buy them with money. They chose this themselves, so no need to baby them.”
The three team leaders were chattering busily about something. From their lip movements, it looked like they were arguing about watch duty.
‘Doesn’t matter.’
He didn’t fully trust them. Suhyun had already personally checked the surroundings.
There really was no one else.
‘Feels like I’m haunted. Why are they gone?’
What remained were an oddly high number of monsters. If the ones controlling them had released them and fled, that would make sense. He still didn’t know why they fled, though.
“Thank you. Team Leader Kim Suhyun. Please have some of this.”
“It’s nothing. Just doing what needed to be done.”
When one of the staff members came to express gratitude, Suhyun politely accepted. The staffer, seeing the mage Suhyun treat him so courteously, left with an impressed expression.
“What’s up? You want something from that guy?”
“...Can’t I just be nice?”
When the squad members reacted like that, Suhyun grumbled in exasperation.
“It’s just image management. No point in getting prickly with people we don’t need to antagonize.”
“You didn’t used to do that.”
“Situation’s changed.”
Suhyun had always preferred lurking in the shadows, stabbing enemies in the back. So he hadn’t liked revealing himself much either.
But this incident had made it clear.
He could no longer hide. Even if he tried, he wouldn’t be able to. The titles he held were too powerful. Like a needle poking out of a pocket, Suhyun was fated to be known.
“Since I got labeled Pyongyang’s hero or whatever this time, it’ll only get worse. The first time’s the hardest; once you’re out there, everyone gets hyped and props you up. Better manage the image if you don’t want backlash. You guys watch it too.”
“Huh? Why us...”
“Can’t the team leader be the hero and we just keep living easy and debauched like always?”
“Wanna die?”
Kim Chang-sik flinched at Suhyun’s words.
“Don’t worry. Even if you wanna live debauched, I’ve already told the reliable squad members, so good luck.”
Kim Chang-sik unconsciously turned his head. Seo Kang-seok, Park Su-yong, and Lee So-hee were looking at him and nodding.
“N-No way...”
“Yeah. From now on, you’ll be sticking with me, just so you know.”
“Su-yong hyung, you can’t do this!”
“You’re the one who can’t, you punk. More importantly, didn’t you say you have someone you’re seeing?”
“Oh, right.”
“That was just her blackmailing me!”
“Not just blackmail. She’s got the chairman behind her.”
As the topic turned against him, Kim Chang-sik hurriedly changed the subject.
“So, team leader, what’s the plan going forward?”
“We’ll contact once the communication facilities are restored, then clean up the surrounding monsters. There’s an abnormal number, so we can’t just leave. After cleanup, the locals should handle it.”
“He’s changing the subject.”
“Shut it, you brats.”
“Monster cleanup won’t be that hard anyway. No need to tense up. It’ll be over quick.”
“Yes, sir!”
* * *
“Kim Suhyun? Kim Suhyun?! This guy again!”
“Well...”
“And the agent we sent gets caught right away! Wu Shangkai, are you even doing your job properly?!”
“I’m sorry.”
There wasn’t much he could do in front of his furious superior. Just bow his head and wait for the storm to pass.
“Do you know what I went through at the banquet yesterday? Liu Shen’s team succeeded in taking down that giant monster, and I had to hear how our side failed and got our agent caught! Wu Shangkai, do I deserve to hear that?”
“No, sir. I’m sorry.”
“Explain in detail.”
“As you know, the one in charge this time, Xiao Mei, is extremely cautious by nature...”
“She’s just cowardly. Does she think she can keep running back alive forever?”
“Even so, there aren’t many with her level of experience. Internally, she’s a bit...”
“I know. She’s still useful.”
“And it wasn’t a complete failure. We confirmed that monster taming works in real combat, and we destroyed all their facilities except inside the base. They won’t produce anything proper for a while. We could call it half a success—no, even two-thirds...”
The superior nodded at Wu Shangkai’s words. He wasn’t an idiot. Ideally, they should’ve eliminated the personnel too and made the area unusable for a while. It wasn’t really a success worthy of the term.
But flattery always sounded good. He gestured for him to continue.
“And not getting caught by them is huge. As you know, Kim Suhyun is a disaster. Even Liu Shen’s plan got exposed by him and fell apart, right? But we weren’t detected. Xiao Mei handled it well.”
“Getting lucky while fleeing and calling that...? Did she take a bribe or something?”
“N-No way! It’s just that among the teams we can deploy, talent like hers is rare...”
“Ah, ah, I get it. Calm down. Still, I’d prefer someone who fights with real power over a coward who always runs like her. Like Liu Shen... or a true powerhouse like Zhen Luo Gong. Hope that request to send Zhen Luo Gong goes through this time.”
“It will.”
“Enough flattery. Back to Kim Suhyun—another plan ruined because of him. Sending the agent failed too, right? What do you think?”
Wu Shangkai swallowed hard. He’d prepared his excuses long ago.