Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Leather Gathering (3)
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Creak—thud!
The sound came from behind them.
Seeing the entrance to Animal Forest slam shut, a few people muttered with hardened expressions.
“…Reminds me of that Starter Forest mess.”
“What kinda stunt are they pulling this time?”
The 300 cadets from the 50th Cohort proceeded cautiously.
Just as they stepped into the outskirts of Animal Forest—
They halted abruptly.
What stopped them was a male cadet from the 49th Cohort, sporting a yellow epaulet.
“Th-that’s a 49th Cohort senior.”
“Wh-what’s he doing here?”
The sudden appearance of a 49th Cohort senior.
Those who remembered the nightmare of the Dragon Capture Hunt froze instinctively.
But the more composed ones quickly noticed something off.
“What’s that?”
“…Rabbit ears?”
On the 49th Cohort senior’s head.
There was a long, pure white headband adorned with rabbit ear decorations.
As everyone blinked at the bizarre, absurd sight—
The rabbit-eared 49th Cohort senior facing the 50th Cohort averted his gaze sideways.
He gritted his teeth and spat out a single word.
“Th… thump.”
“…….”
Silence fell instantly.
Then came another word.
“…Thump.”
All sorts of emotions flashed in the listeners’ eyes.
‘That guy’s embarrassed, right?’
‘Ugh, gross.’
Dumbfounded stares flew from all directions.
Under the barrage of gazes—some clearly mocking—his real ears turned beet red.
Finally, unable to take it—
“Thump!”
He spun around and bolted.
A few stared blankly at the sight before exchanging incredulous words.
“So the 49th Cohort’s the rabbits? Those… 49th Cohort guys?”
“Rabbits are supposed to be our hunting targets, right?”
“…Yeah?”
That’s when someone tossed a question to the group.
“Did you see? He didn’t even have a weapon. Rabbits are herbivores, so maybe they can’t attack us?”
“…….”
A hush fell over them.
In the quiet, everyone thought the same thing.
‘I dunno what’s really going on here, but…’
One thing was clear.
‘This is our chance to pay back that humiliation from the Dragon Capture Hunt!’
Memories of being tormented by the 49th Cohort seniors as prey flooded back vividly.
One person shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Grab that bastard!”
Dozens surged after the lone rabbit.
“Woooah!”
“Get him!”
Strange war cries filled the air as the leather gathering kicked off in earnest.
* * *
Waaaaah!
Like soldiers charging into enemy lines with morale sky-high.
Or possessed by some spirit, the 50th Cohort cadets stormed into the forest after the rabbit guy.
Not everyone, though.
Only about 100 charged into Animal Forest.
Of the 300, around 200 hung back, quietly observing.
Yuri was among them.
‘Yoram’s up to their weird antics again.’
They’d told them to gather leather from beasts they’d released.
Turned out, they’d released people in beast costumes instead.
It clicked then.
‘Of course. Otherwise, that flimsy fence makes no sense.’
Just as Yuri suspected, the rickety fence that couldn’t hold even one rabbit wasn’t meant to contain beasts—it was just a boundary marker.
‘Hmm… so we’re hunting people, not beasts, in the end.’
The glasses guy said there were five animals in this forest.
Rabbit, deer, wolf, bear, tiger.
‘Looks like they set it up so none of ’em are easy catches.’
The 1,000-point rabbit was a 49th Cohort cadet.
So what the hell were the higher-point ones?
Especially the 5 million-point tiger.
It was obvious that one was meant to be untouchable.
‘Yeah, figures. Yoram wouldn’t hand out points that easy.’
Yuri clicked his tongue and scanned the surroundings.
Excluding the first wave of chargers, plenty had slipped into the forest stealthily.
Solo movers were mostly gone by now, leaving about 100.
These were the ones who’d learned caution after figuring out what Yoram was like.
They wouldn’t charge blindly without knowing Yoram’s tricks—instead, they were scouting the situation and recruiting allies.
‘Makes sense. Teaming up is safer than going solo. But the catch is splitting points with your partners…’
Not exactly appealing from Yuri’s perspective.
‘Where’re those two?’
He looked around but didn’t spot Arin or Ppopi.
‘Did they really get pissed off?’
Or had they given up?
He’d expected them to approach first about teaming up, but they seemed to be going solo or sticking just to each other.
For Yuri, it meant no annoying entanglements—a good outcome.
“Alright, time for me to move too…”
Before it got too late, Yuri started toward the forest but paused as something hit him.
‘Wait… if the animals here are 49th Cohort cadets…?’
A scene flashed in Yuri’s mind.
Hesitant Teresa, reluctant to explain the Leather Gathering quest.
Dodging the question in the end and fleeing.
‘No way…?’
A small suspicion bloomed, quickly turning to certainty. A sly grin spread across Yuri’s face.
“Oh man, this’ll be fun. Gotta go tease my Tessha senior.”
Yuri bounded toward the forest, light and joyful as a rabbit.
* * *
One rabbit guy dashed through the forest.
Dozens of 50th Cohort cadets chased right behind.
Eyes rolled back in frenzy, they bellowed.
“We’ll get you!”
“Just you wait till we catch you! We’ll strip that hide right off!”
It was technically about stripping hides, but in the moment, it sounded downright murderous.
The chase dragged on, but the gap with the rabbit barely closed.
Some couldn’t keep up and fell behind, leaving only about a dozen.
“Damn! How’s this rabbit so fast?!”
“Rabbits are fast by nature, duh?”
The rabbit guy zigzagged through the trees.
Fearing he’d slip away, the 50th Cohort widened their net.
‘Herd him one way!’
‘Don’t let him break through!’
After tightening the encirclement in their 49th Cohort rabbit hunt—
“Gotcha.”
“Heh heh, no escape now.”
Finally, a dozen 50th Cohort cadets trapped the rabbit guy.
Panic was clear on the 49th Cohort rabbit’s face.
“Th… thump.”
He tried darting through gaps, but 50th Cohort blocked him every time.
“Heh, well now, senior… er, Mr. Rabbit? Hand over that hide nice and easy.”
The net tightened relentlessly, and the 49th Cohort rabbit despaired.
No openings anywhere.
As he let out a long sigh, about to give up—
Meeeh!
A sudden sound made the 50th Cohort look around in confusion.
The 49th Cohort rabbit’s face lit up, though.
Meeeh!
The bleat came again.
With it, someone burst from the bushes on the side of the net.
“Meeh! How dare you torment our cute little bunny!”
The newcomers gawked at the odd cry and outfit.
“…Horns?”
The new arrival was another yellow-epauleted 49th Cohort cadet.
Burly and muscled, but wearing a headband shaped like deer antlers made of twigs.
“…Deer antlers?”
“Looks like it.”
“But why’s a deer going ‘meeeh’? Isn’t that a goat?”
“How should I know? Maybe deer bleat like that.”
A brief debate erupted over the deer guy and his call.
One cut in sharply.
“You idiots, if we were gonna nitpick cries, we’d have done it with the rabbit’s ‘thump’ too!”
“…True. You’re kinda smart.”
With the cry debate settled, they warily eyed the new deer.
“He’s armed.”
Unlike the unarmed rabbit, the deer held a weapon.
But he hadn’t drawn it since arriving.
Just stood there, arms crossed, watching.
As time stretched, the 50th Cohort grew puzzled.
“What’s his deal? Not attacking?”
Someone muttered.
“Wait, rabbits are herbivores, and deer are too, so…?”
He trailed off, but everyone knew the rest.
‘Maybe neither can attack us?’
The 50th Cohort exchanged glances.
‘What now?’
‘Deer hide’s 5,000 points, right?’
They’d naturally formed the net after others dropped off during the rabbit chase.
But they weren’t a real team.
If anything, they were rivals who’d charged after the same rabbit.
Now a deer—five times the rabbit’s value—stood before them.
Inevitably, greed sparked action.
The 50th Cohort closest to the deer in the net.
“The deer’s mine!”
He swung his sword and lunged.
“Thump!”
The rabbit seized the opening and bolted.
“You bastard!”
“Hey!”
“Damn, stealing the lead! Now what?!”
As the others panicked—
Clang!
A sharp metallic ring echoed.
It came from the deer and the charging 50th Cohort.
The cadet’s eyes widened as his sword bounced off hard.
“Huh? Wh-what? I thought he couldn’t attack!”
The deer guy sneered back.
“Even the gentlest deer gets pissed if you swing first.”
Veins bulged on the deer’s sword arm, turning the 50th Cohort’s face ashen.
“W-wait a sec…”
His voice trembled.
But words alone couldn’t stop the deer’s wrath.
MEEEEH!
“GYAAAH!”
The goat-like bleat mixed with a human scream, echoing through the forest corners.
* * *
Around the time some cadets were flying from the enraged deer’s horns—
Yuri, who’d entered the forest, soon spotted a rabbit.
Another yellow-epauleted male cadet.
“Whoa, a rabbit.”
The rabbit guy, hands in pockets, sauntering along, flinched at Yuri.
His darting eyes screamed he was about to run.
Yuri spat on the ground.
“Hey, ugly rabbit dude? Surrender that hide willingly, and we avoid a big bloody mess. No need to tire each other out, so hand it over nice.”
He delivered it like a pro who’d done this a dozen times.
Even after just once or twice, Yuri’s delivery—pronunciation, intonation, emphasis—was flawless.
“Come on, come here.”
Yuri waved his pale hand invitingly at the rabbit.
But despite the courtesy, the rabbit made the wrong choice.
“Th, thump!”
Seeing him dash off, irritation bloomed on Yuri’s face.
“God, what a pain.”
Yuri’s features twisted delinquently.
Whoosh!
His form shot like a cannonball, catching the rabbit.
He seized the rabbit’s back in an instant.
“I said…”
He leaped up.
“No tiring each other out!”
Both feet slammed into the rabbit’s back.
“Guh—guwek!”
The rabbit tumbled forward with a weird yelp, vanishing into the bushes.
Thud.
“Whew!”
Yuri flipped in midair, landing stylishly, and smoothed his bangs with a short breath.
“Seriously, they never listen when you’re nice.”
Yuri shoved his hands back in his pockets and stepped into the bushes to claim his prize.
“Meeh! I’m a deer!”
“…….”
“Meeeh— who dared crumple our cute bunny like used toilet paper and toss him…?”
Yuri peeked cautiously toward the familiar voice beyond the bushes.
His eyes locked dead-on with the antlered 49th Cohort cadet.
“…….”
“…….”
A brief silence hung between them.
“…Fuck, this crazy rabbit bastard.”
The antlered 49th Cohort cursed at the sight of the unconscious rabbit-eared comrade who’d rolled right to his feet.
“If you’re gonna drop dead, do it alone… why drag a psycho hunter along?”
The 49th Cohort deer guy scowled in utter annoyance.
Yuri, meanwhile, waved cheerfully at him.
“Jerry senior, long time no see!”