Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Troll Hunter (4)
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“Really? The way you’re acting says otherwise…….”
“I went out of my way to bring a customer here……. Should we go somewhere else?”
“Just kidding. Just kidding. Looks like you know quite a bit about Cameron Planet. Second generation, huh?”
The gunsmith owner was quick on the uptake. Suhyun looked at him with mild surprise before nodding.
“That figures. How else would you know so much?”
“I’ve been going into the untamed zones with my parents since I was a kid.”
“What?! You did that kind of insane stuff?!”
‘Maybe I should’ve just made up a different lie…….’
The half-baked excuse was bothering the man. Suhyun ignored him and browsed the other gear.
“Let’s start with a blood pouch. There are dozens of ways to hunt trolls, but no hunt goes without one.”
“Blood pouch?”
“It’s gear for storing troll blood.”
“Here, have this one, senior.”
“Why me?!”
“You want to pick the gear yourself then?”
“Fine. Damn it.”
The item Suhyun handed to Kim Chang-sik looked like a leather pouch at a glance, but it had a long, complicated name—low-temperature refrigerated storage device—that no one actually used. Everyone just called it a blood pouch.
Troll blood spoiled easily when exposed to room temperature. The blood pouch was essential gear for maintaining quality when extracting and carrying it.
“For easy blood extraction, you’ll need supports, blades, wires…….”
Suhyun grabbed whatever caught his eye and tossed it to Kim Chang-sik. As Kim Chang-sik caught them one by one, realization dawned on him, and he shouted.
“You didn’t ask me to come along just to be your pack mule, did you?!”
Suhyun said nothing.
“Let’s grab a few smoke grenades too. Not essential for trolls, but you never know……. Got any from Perseus Company? Numbers 3 and 5.”
“You really do have troll hunting experience!”
“If you know that, don’t try to rip me off on the price.”
“I never rip people off! That catalog package from earlier sells pretty well, though.”
Kim Chang-sik, standing there blankly with the gear piled up, got bored and looked around. He felt a bit cheated, but he didn’t feel like grilling Suhyun about it.
There was a saying about overwhelming with skill. That was Suhyun right now. The knowledge and decisiveness Suhyun showed about Cameron Planet made Kim Chang-sik follow him naturally. Suhyun could treat him like a subordinate, and Kim Chang-sik wouldn’t mind at all.
So what if he was being treated like a pack mule? This guy had saved his life on the battlefield, and if the hunt succeeded, he’d make a fortune. He could even put up with being treated like a slave.
“Hey, you’ve got poison here too. What about poison? Something like paralyzing venom could be useful, right?”
The owner and Suhyun both gave Kim Chang-sik pitiful looks. Feeling their stares, he flinched.
“What now?”
“If you poison a troll to catch it, you have to throw away half the blood.”
“Oh……!”
“It’s easier to catch, sure, but hunters catching them to sell almost never use poison.”
Kim Chang-sik blushed and nodded. Suhyun finished picking out the essentials and skimmed the poison list. A smart troll hunter prepared for other monsters even while heading out for trolls. Cameron Planet was a place where you never knew when or where another monster might pop up.
‘Nothing useful here…….’
“Got any poison from Taiyo Company by chance?”
“What?! Are you nuts? Who are you planning to kill?”
“Forget it if you don’t.”
The owner jumped at Suhyun’s question. Watching that, Kim Chang-sik asked in a low voice.
“What’s that about?”
“It’s good stuff, but too dangerous—sales banned. Pretty much everything on Taiyo’s list is prohibited, as I recall. Figures…….”
It was a rough world, but regulations on stuff like this were surprisingly strict. Get caught selling it, and you could kiss your shop goodbye.
‘I wanted at least one poison. Guess I’ll hit the black market later.’
The more weapons, the better—that was Suhyun’s creed. Troll hunting took priority now, so no black market run yet, but he’d grab some when he could.
“No problem if not. We’re about done. Let’s move.”
* * *
The two had finished prepping and re-entered the Calcutta jungle zone. Maybe because it was just the two of them without a team, tension etched Kim Chang-sik’s face.
“There are probably dozens of ways to hunt trolls. I don’t know them all, and I don’t need to. Any method works as long as you catch them.”
“So? Which one are we using?”
“The classic, old-school way.”
“?”
Suhyun pulled a shovel from the gear and tossed it to Kim Chang-sik.
“Dig.”
“…….”
Minutes later, Kim Chang-sik was digging. If it weren’t Suhyun, he never would’ve done this. There was something persuasively compelling about Suhyun’s words. Hard to refuse or get mad about.
“Even so, I’m the senior—no, the veteran here…….”
“I’m not slacking either. I’ll dig traps over there too. And senior? Normally in hunts like this, you split the work precisely by shares. Want to tally ours instead of 50:50?”
“No. Just let me dig.”
Kim Chang-sik turned meek as a lamb. Suhyun had picked the gear, and Suhyun knew all about troll hunting. If he argued details, all he had was carrying the stuff.
“This deep enough?”
“Nice job. There was a path back there—dig one there too.”
“Argh, I may be good with a shovel, but this is too many traps! You really need this many?”
“Not planning to stop at one. One trap for one troll is fine, but we’re grabbing whatever we can.”
‘This guy doesn’t look it, but he’s greedy as hell?’
How many trolls did he plan to catch? Kim Chang-sik grumbled but gripped the shovel again.
“All done! How many you got?”
“On my second one.”
“?!”
Kim Chang-sik looked up in disbelief. Sure enough, Suhyun had a pit dug already.
‘No way I’m slower than him?’
People got fixated on dumb things sometimes. For Kim Chang-sik, a veteran soldier, it was digging speed. Suhyun might know Cameron Planet better, but pure digging? He should be faster.
“No way. You got some other gear? Different shovel?”
“Can’t you see the one I’m holding?”
Kim Chang-sik scanned Suhyun in disbelief. Suhyun gave him a pitiful look.
“Just dig. Why compare speeds?”
“It’s a matter of pride! Anything else, fine, but me slower at digging than you?”
“Wanna race then?”
Fire lit in Kim Chang-sik’s eyes. No way he’d back down from this.
“Deal! I win, you carry the gear back.”
“If I win?”
“Huh? You win?”
Kim Chang-sik hadn’t considered Suhyun winning and paused.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing specific. Just do what I say without backtalk.”
“…Fine.”
It felt humiliating somehow. Kim Chang-sik nodded.
“Start!”
* * *
“No way…….”
“Camouflage it properly up top. People think trolls are dumb, but they’re sneakier than you’d expect.”
With a dazed look, Kim Chang-sik finished up the trap. Suhyun had won by a landslide. Kim Chang-sik had never seen anyone dig like that. It was a human excavator.
“Shouldn’t have suggested a stupid race…….”
To keep it fair, Suhyun had sealed his telekinesis and still crushed him. Pure experience gap. Kim Chang-sik’s relatively peaceful Earth military life versus Suhyun’s brutal grinding on Cameron Planet—the quality differed.
“This good?”
“Perfect. Let’s head up.”
They stashed the gear and climbed a tree. After basic camouflage, Kim Chang-sik asked.
“But do these traps really work? Never heard of hunting like this.”
“Traps like these are tough without knowing trolls inside out. Dig ’em and another monster falls in, or no trolls show? Wasted effort.”
“And you’re different?”
“Obviously. Checked earlier. This is troll territory.”
“How? What’d you check?”
“Saw their shit.”
“…….”
He only remembered walking here, but when did Suhyun scout that? Kim Chang-sik marveled again at his skill.
“Trolls roam, hunt, then return to their lair to eat. Hunting grounds and habitat differ. Rookies track signs to chase trolls; pros head to the lair first and wait.”
“So trolls will come around here?”
“Yep.”
Kim Chang-sik swallowed unconsciously.
“Our gear too light? You didn’t even assemble that sniper rifle.”
“Didn’t buy it for trolls. And we’re fine. Once it’s in a trap, finishing it’s easy.”
“How? Trolls tougher than hell crocs, right? Rifle rounds barely dent ’em…….”
“You’ll see.”
Anyone else, and he’d worry. But Suhyun? Trust came naturally. Kim Chang-sik nodded, anxious.
Thud!
“One snagged. Let’s go.”
Suhyun leaped down lightly and dashed toward the sound. The troll’s sudden roar made locating it easy.
No special devices in the pit trap. Nothing short of heavy stuff hurt trolls much anyway.
Suhyun was confident he could kill it outright. He’d soloed them even before his powers peaked; now? No contest.
-Roooaaarrr!
The trapped troll bellowed in rage, struggling to escape. The pit’s perfect size kept it flailing, unable to climb out.
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