Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: What Happened in the Calcutta Jungle Zone (4)
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However, they weren’t his subordinates. What was so pretty about them that he’d take care of them? Besides, it was obvious they’d shoved their position forward to avoid taking losses. On Cameron Planet, you had to look after your own life.
“Understood. We’ll do that.”
After Lee So-hee returned, she said exactly what Suhyun had instructed. Choi Jae-ho nodded as if he’d expected as much. His judgment that she wouldn’t back out over something like this had been spot on.
“But keep in mind that we’re taking the most dangerous spot.”
“Ah. Of course. That much is...”
Choi Jae-ho immediately grasped what Lee So-hee meant. Being out front meant they wanted some perks in return. He could easily yield something minor like skipping night watch.
“What are you doing?”
“Camouflaging. Camouflage.”
“Does camouflage even work against monsters?”
It made sense against human enemies, but against monsters, smearing it on your face like Suhyun was doing held little meaning. Monsters detected people more through smell and sound than sight.
“Of course we have to mask our scent too. Come on, everyone over here.”
Suhyun suddenly started spraying everyone, and they all recoiled with disgusted looks.
“What is this stuff?”
“We have to wipe out our scent before going in. The idiots always think it’s no big deal and skip it because it’s a hassle—that’s just plain stupid.”
The pre-entry preparations. Choi Jae-ho watched Uncle Jo Company’s mercenaries closely as they chattered away. He nudged one of his men in the ribs.
“Huh?”
“What are you doing, idiot? Watch and learn. You think we hired those guys just to share our own supplies with them?”
The reason for calling in Uncle Jo Company matched almost exactly what Jo Seung-hyun had predicted. Resupplying power armor, and know-how for dealing with Calcutta Gorillas. He didn’t care about the former, but the latter would come in handy.
“That spray seems to work well around here. Perseus Company stuff?”
“Nope. It’s got no branding on it.”
“No way it’s a custom blend, right?”
Even masking your scent against monsters required complex methods. It wasn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Some monsters actually noticed you faster if you erased your smell completely.
That’s why you needed products tailored to specific regions and monsters—and that info was gold. From Choi Jae-ho’s perspective, who believed Uncle Jo Company knew something special for Calcutta Gorillas, that spray looked like a secret weapon.
“But what is this stuff?”
“It’s that Perseus Company spray we bought last time, modded up.”
“Then why change the casing?”
“It’s a bit of mystique marketing.”
“??”
“You’ll see later.”
The basics of business: make the other guy desperate to have it. No need to tell them it was off-the-shelf. Suhyun thought that as he pocketed the spray.
‘Not sure if it’ll work, but might as well spray it on.’
They didn’t seem to realize Suhyun’s team was practically green on Cameron Planet. Probably because most had military experience, and reports of them escaping a Calcutta Gorilla unscathed led to the misconception.
He’d milk that misconception for all it was worth while it lasted.
‘Speaking of which, I should hit the black market sometime.’
In his previous life, being in the military meant he could scrounge even restricted items. To reliably fool monsters, Suhyun tinkered with most gear himself.
From air fresheners to smoke grenades and poisons, mixing and improving chemicals with personal know-how—that was called “blending” among them. Suhyun was always unrivaled in that area.
But even he couldn’t create something from nothing. He needed base materials. Some were military-only...
Suhyun trusted the Korean military.
‘No way that stuff hasn’t hit the black market. Bastards.’
Selling military supplies on the sly was a lucrative side hustle on Cameron Planet. Especially restricted items.
“About done?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s move with Team Leader Lee So-hee’s power armor at the center. No need to go in a straight line. One on each side of the power armor, split the rest into two groups for front and back. If monsters come from behind, halt but don’t break formation. If from the front, just keep advancing.”
Suhyun issued orders naturally. And everyone followed just as naturally. Only after positioning did someone mutter in realization.
“But why’s he the one giving orders?”
* * *
Before starting the operation, Suhyun had considered several scenarios based on how things might unfold. That way, he could respond quickly even to surprises.
The variable in this op was the Calcutta Gorilla’s reaction.
First scenario: The Calcutta Gorilla recognizes Suhyun, goes berserk with rage, and charges straight at him.
‘Works for me.’
No matter how strong it was, Suhyun was confident he could take a single Calcutta Gorilla. Superpowered users were always monsters’ natural predators. Back then, he’d killed them with weak powers; now he had two, boosted firepower to boot.
‘The moment it charges, lock its limbs with telekinesis and melt it with the power armor. Done.’
Second: The Calcutta Gorilla doesn’t recognize Suhyun.
Then they’d likely suffer the same fate as Jindo Team or Code Green. Spotting a tough opponent, the Gorilla would send monsters their way.
Suhyun had learned farsight magic, but he wasn’t sure he could spot the Gorilla first. Farsight wasn’t omnipotent. It expanded vision powerfully, but focusing on distance meant narrowing elsewhere. Checking 360 degrees was impossible.
Great for scouting destinations ahead from afar while moving, but not for preemptively sniping monsters stalking from unknown angles. Monsters tracked via smell and sound over sight.
The female’s sense of smell was duller, but still sharper than a human’s.
‘Long game in that case.’
Killing dispatched monsters would eventually draw the Gorilla out. High intelligence or not, it was still a monster. It wouldn’t hold back forever.
And if so...
‘Not my fault.’
Jindo and Code Green would take the first hits. They didn’t know it, but they were the real bullet sponges now.
Third: The Gorilla recognizes him but doesn’t charge, opting for a prolonged battle instead.
That was the worst case. A monster with that kind of patience was terrifying, and Suhyun’s team would end up as bait. To counter, he’d camouflaged his face and scent. Even it wouldn’t notice easily.
“Hey. Hey.”
“What?”
Suhyun was at the front, repeating scout-with-farsight-then-advance. Someone tapped his back. Kim Chang-sik.
“Calcutta Crocodile Bird. What do we do?”
“...Don’t shoot.”
“What? You sure?”
“Hardly anyone knows about Calcutta Crocodile Birds. If they knew from behind, they’d shoot from behind.”
In this chaotic jungle, no one would imagine a random flying bird summoning monsters unless they knew beforehand. Suhyun had learned about them purely by chance.
The unaware just chalked collisions up to bad luck, never figuring out why.
Giving that info away for free to those guys? Wasteful. This force could handle any monsters they’d encounter here anyway.
“Just stay alert, everyone. Shouldn’t be too dangerous.”
The team nodded at Suhyun’s words. They’d gotten a real feel for Cameron Planet’s ways from that.
Info was hoarded like it was lethal, assigned real value. Sharing freely would be the weird thing. Only true skill earned survival here.
“But... doesn’t that mean he just gave us that info for free?”
“Yeah?”
“You two there. No chit-chat. Think monsters are a joke?”
“Ah. Sorry.”
The pair in back shut up at Suhyun’s callout. Facing danger, his demeanor was utterly different from usual. His face turned stone-cold, his voice dripped ice. An aura of authority that brooked no backtalk.
“Monster! Monster!”
Comms crackled from the rear. As if anticipating it, Uncle Jo Company’s mercs smoothly halted and turned.
“Need backup?”
“No... we’re good. Just Calcutta Hell Crocodiles! We can handle it.”
Team Leader Oh Byung-hwan’s voice. Code Green at the rear was under attack, clearly. But not panicked.
“Can’t rule out surprises, so we’ll join up. Uncle Jo folks, follow us.”
“Got it.”
“What, calling everyone for hell crocs?”
“They got burned bad before.”
Suhyun answered Kim Chang-sik’s mutter. That first failure likely lingered deep in their minds. Keeping loose formation against “easy” monsters and getting picked off one by one—that humiliation didn’t fade easy.
‘But this wasn’t the Gorilla; it was the croc bird...’
Suhyun followed, constantly checking the rear for contingencies.
By arrival, the fight was wrapping up. Code Green mowed down the tough hell crocs with prepped heavy weapons and power armor might. Overkill firepower, almost.
“Whoa... they take ’em down like that?”
“Easiest way, usually. We didn’t have that gear back then, so we improvised.”
Overwhelming firepower and strength, ignoring noise or attention—pure military doctrine. Plenty of merc teams did the same.
But Suhyun preferred finding weaknesses, biding time, then silent strikes linking superpowers. On Cameron Planet, noise never helped.
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