Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Don't Touch It
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“Corporal Kim Kwang-sik. Aren’t you upset that I’m acting like this?”
“Not really? I lost the bet. You won. Oh, but it’s because I’m cool like that. If you pulled this on another senior, you’d be in big trouble. Your military life would be screwed.”
Kim Kwang-sik answered as if it were no big deal, then closed his eyes.
‘He’s a weird guy.’
And a fun one too.
‘There was a guy back in Isgard with exactly that personality.’
Kim Min-jun chuckled and headed to the bathroom.
“Ah. No gates or anything popping up? I wanna rank up a bit.”
He’d thought that being at the front lines meant monsters pouring out or gates opening at every chance, but it wasn’t that bad.
“Ah. I’ve done enough private life for two days. Now I wanna go to PFC! Open up! Gate!”
Other hunters would laugh, but Kim Min-jun was dead serious.
-Beep! Beep! Beep!
“Huh? What? For real?”
Right as his words ended, the siren signaling an emergency blared.
“For real?”
Kim Min-jun froze for a moment.
-Duty officer announcing! Emergency situation! Emergency situation! All personnel, rise and prepare!
All hunters were ordered to change into combat gear.
-Middlebats appeared at the fuel depot! I repeat, Middlebats appeared at the fuel depot! Prepare to deploy mana shields immediately!
Gates opening at the front lines happened occasionally.
If it was a relatively easy monster, the five standby support line handled it.
But this time, it was serious enough to wake all the hunters.
‘Middlebats, huh.’
Middlebat.
A bat-type monster about the size of a child.
Its signature move was spitting orb-shaped fireballs from its mouth.
‘If this goes wrong, the whole base could go up in flames.’
If their attacks set off the fuel depot, the damage would be catastrophic.
‘And near the fuel depot, we can’t even shoot.’
Hunters couldn’t fight at full strength without guns or similar weapons.
At best, they could draw the Middlebats’ attention.
If that was all, it’d be lucky, but it was 1 a.m.
Already dark, and tracking their shapes visually would be even harder.
‘At this rate, we’re too late.’
Plus, setting up a mana shield took at least 30 minutes.
No way the Middlebats would wait that long.
‘Please, don’t let anyone else touch them! All the Middlebats are mine!’
Kim Min-jun threw open a window and leaped toward the fuel depot.
He should’ve geared up with his combat helmet and all, but every second counted.
He needed to solo them all and rank up.
“Kieeeek!”
“Come here! Over here!”
Upon arriving at the fuel depot, he spotted two hunters on guard duty.
They were hurling nearby objects to draw the Middlebats’ aggro.
‘Here, I need to pull the aggro my way.’
That aside, weren’t there too many?
This was bad.
Roughly 30 Middlebats in sight.
Without firepower, impossible to clear in time.
‘If I hadn’t come, the base would’ve been halved for sure.’
Kim Min-jun smirked confidently and opened his mouth.
“I’ll draw their attention!”
“What? Aren’t you the new guy from 2nd Company? Fall back now!”
“Hey! What the hell, you didn’t even grab your combat helmet!”
Instead of replying, Kim Min-jun released a bit of demonic energy from his hand.
Ssssh—
“Kieeeek!”
“Kieee!”
The Middlebats circling the fuel depot dove straight at Kim Min-jun.
‘These guys don’t run, huh.’
Perfect.
If he just stalled here, the other hunters would set up the mana shield on the depot.
‘And these are all mine.’
Shing!
Middlebats were nimble.
Tracking them visually required PFC level at least.
Even focusing just on dodging was corporal-level difficulty.
“Why are the monsters acting up like that!”
“Get inside the building! You’ll really die!”
The monsters’ sudden behavior shift.
The PFCs gasped but reported to the duty officer per manual.
Swoosh! Swish!
Pop! Thud!
Sounds of slicing wind in the dark, followed by bursting noises.
“Hey. That guy!”
“Isn’t that Kim Min-jun?”
“What’s he doing alone!”
By then.
Hunters arriving late with mana shield gear stared in shock at the impossible scene.
“Crazy! How many Middlebats are there!”
“Too many! And we can’t shoot near the fuel depot!”
Faced with the horde, the hunters hesitated and fell back.
The moment the monsters entered the base, disaster had already started.
“Shut up and set up the mana shield! Monster dispersal is on the sergeants!”
“Yes, sir! Got it!”
At Sergeant Lee Seung-ho’s command, the hunters snapped to and rushed to the depot with gear.
“Crazy bastard! He’s just in combat fatigues.”
Lee Seung-ho pulled his stun baton and ran toward Kim Min-jun.
‘No way? That lunatic?’
Midst slaying Middlebats.
He spotted Sergeant Lee Seung-ho charging from behind.
“Kim Min-jun! Get low!”
Like hell he’d get low.
‘You stay out of it! They’re all mine! Don’t touch them!’
Instead of answering, Kim Min-jun cast Decay on Sergeant Lee Seung-ho.
“Urk… why’s my stomach… now…”
Intense abdominal pain forced Lee Seung-ho to retreat.
Meanwhile.
Kim Min-jun snatched the stun baton from Lee Seung-ho’s hand.
He could’ve handled it barehanded, but it looked fun.
Zzzzt!
‘Oh. This is pretty good.’
Not a regular baton—a high-voltage stun baton.
Kim Min-jun expertly struck Middlebats one by one.
“Kiiiiiek!”
As time passed, Middlebat corpses piled up.
The last one, furious, gaped its maw wide.
Preparing a close-range fireball.
“Don’t let it fire!”
“Block it!”
Hunters seeing this threw themselves forward.
If the depot blew, most hunters here would be gravely injured.
“Stay back! I’ll handle it!”
Kim Min-jun lunged at the Middlebat.
‘Hey! Middlebat!’
Here you go!
Reaching it in a flash, he jammed the stun baton into its mouth and hit the button.
Zzzzzzt!
“Kiiiiiiiek!”
And with that, the last monster fell.
‘Ah. Perfect.’
Exactly 30.
Couldn’t be cleaner.
‘Wonder if this’ll get me promoted.’
Turning around, he saw seniors activating the mana shield on the depot.
Situation over.
He handed the stun baton back to Lee Seung-ho.
“…What are you?”
Lee Seung-ho and the other hunters stared at Kim Min-jun.
Incredulous looks.
‘What else.’
I’m the black mage who returned from another world, that’s what.
Kim Min-jun smirked at them.
**
The duty officer rushed to the scene the moment he confirmed the situation ended.
A sudden gate, and flying monsters of all things.
“The fuel depot almost blew. Whew.”
Front lines saw this stuff often.
Hence the special radars for monster detection.
Problem was, flying ones sometimes slipped through.
“If our base got breached, monsters would flood in. That would’ve… I’d be stripping my uniform. Damn, my heart.”
Calming his pounding chest, the duty officer reached the depot.
“Man, smell that rat jerky. Who grilled ’em so nice? Wait, why so many? How many total?”
Charred corpses, heads burst open.
‘The shocked ones were the stun baton, heads… how?’
Puzzled, a hunter answered.
“30.”
“…That many? I was told about four.”
The duty officer looked shocked and started counting bodies.
“30, yeah. Where’d they all come from? Radar missed ’em.”
“Sir!”
“Yeah. Lee Seung-ho! Report.”
Spotting Lee Seung-ho with the stun baton, the duty officer spoke.
“You zap the grilled ones? Damn good work. Pitch black out too.”
“No.”
“Huh? Then what?”
At that, eyes including Lee Seung-ho’s turned to one spot.
Kim Min-jun stood there, calm as ever.
“…No way you did it? I’m not joking. Spill properly.”
“When I arrived, Private Kim Min-jun was already fighting the Middlebats.”
“What?”
The duty officer looked dumbfounded.
And Kim Min-jun got there first.
The kid wasn’t even properly geared.
“By the time I got here in three minutes, Private Kim Min-jun had already taken them down.”
“Kim Min-jun.”
“Private! Kim Min-jun!”
“Explain in detail. What happened?”
“I was awake at dawn, so I could respond fast!”
He said he should’ve geared up, but rushed ahead since every second mattered.
“So you killed all 30? Unarmed, how’d you pull aggro?”
“They charged me the second they saw me!”
The murmuring crowd didn’t sound like they thought it was a lie.
‘Lee Seung-ho’s no joker. But 30’s too much?’
The duty officer blankly checked Kim Min-jun’s body.
No scratches after 30 monsters’ focused assault.
Unbelievable.
A mere private did this?
“He took down the last one too. Handled my stun baton great.”
At Lee Seung-ho’s words, the duty officer rubbed his forehead.
‘No regular hunter pulls that off. Need a top officer for it.’
Counter monster attacks without guns?
Impossible for a private.
Straight-up impossible.
The kid had been at the unit days.
‘Gotta report to the company commander… will he buy it?’
A potential mass casualty averted by a private.
The duty officer bear-hugged Kim Min-jun’s shoulders.
“Hey, you rascal! Good job anyway!”
“Private! Kim Min-jun! Thank you!”
Cigarette stench from the duty officer.
Kim Min-jun felt grossed out but endured for now.
**
In the duty officer’s room, Kim Min-jun and Lee Seung-ho sat facing each other.
Duty officer was out briefly.
“Kim Min-jun.”
“Private! Kim Min-jun.”
“Be straight. You re-enlist or something?”
“No!”
“Then you regressed or whatever?”
“No!”
Lee Seung-ho eyed Kim Min-jun suspiciously.