Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: Harsh Conditions Training - 1
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‘Wow. So this is what you brought. Better than nothing. Good job.’
Shhh.
In response to his praise, the creature replied that it could pull off stuff like this anytime.
Ever since the Night Walker skill’s rank had gone up not long ago, it boasted top-notch scouting ability even with minimal mana.
‘A Monster Box.’
The item Night Walker had fetched was a Monster Box.
It looked like a tiny box just big enough for a single ring on the outside, but the moment you opened it, out popped a monster.
‘Let’s check the color. Blue, huh.’
Up until three years ago, civilians used to pop these open out of curiosity and get themselves killed.
They were that flashy in color, after all.
Of course, these days, thorough safety education had pretty much eliminated those kinds of accidents.
‘Blue means… a mid-tier disposal difficulty monster.’
By the book, the instant you acquired a Monster Box, you were supposed to turn it in to the unit.
It was the perfect item for securing a live monster sample to study.
‘If they’d given me a decent performance score for it, I would’ve.’
Kim Minjun decided to pocket this item for himself.
Way better to just handle the monster than scrape by with some piddly performance points.
‘I’ll use whatever’s inside for skill testing whenever I’m bored.’
**
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pahm.
Dawn, 6 a.m.
The reveille trumpet blared through the barracks.
“Ughhh…”
“Ah… My mental’s about to break…”
“Hearing that trumpet just makes me wanna sigh…”
The squad members in Barracks 2 moved even more sluggishly than usual as they straightened their bedding.
They’d had such a fun, fulfilling vacation that the backlash was hitting hard.
Getting to drink and hang out with female hunters, even crash overnight.
Would an opportunity like that ever come around again?
“Full day of harsh conditions training today, morning and afternoon…”
“Argh. Why’d it have to be harsh conditions on a cold day like this?”
“I’m dead…”
And on top of that, today was the harsh conditions training day the company commander had announced in advance.
The squad let out heavy sighs as they changed into their combat uniforms.
“We’re not regular grunts—why are you hunters moving like molasses? Hustle up! Anyone who’s late, I’ll give personal one-on-one PT gymnastics.”
“Gasp!”
“Get dressed quick! Quick!”
But it didn’t last long.
Thanks to Kim Minjun’s playful warning, the squad was out of the barracks in under five minutes.
“Attention, all!”
“Attention!”
The duty day had begun.
The hunters assembled in front of the parade ground for the training scheduled that day.
“Today, the entire company! We’ll conduct harsh conditions training! Morning: harsh conditions shooting. Afternoon: monster response under harsh conditions!”
The instructor pointed to the power suits and special gear laid out to one side.
‘Harsh conditions training, huh… Should be fun.’
Hunter troops—enlisted and officers alike—received the exact same training.
Sure, it might change once you hit major or above, but up to captain in this unit, everyone joined in without exception.
‘Wonder if stuff like that’ll wear me out.’
Kim Minjun quickly scanned the ranked-up training gear.
Power suits weighing nearly 100 kg.
Special gear twice as heavy as standard loadouts.
On harsh conditions training days, hunters donned that gear and headed to the shooting range.
‘Halfway sprint, then duck walk the rest of the way, crawling prone.’
The distance from the parade ground to the range wasn’t far.
But.
The moment training kicked off, most hunters arrived at the range totally spent.
That’s how much stamina the drill was designed to burn.
‘That’s what harsh conditions training is all about.’
A drill made to test if you could still perform at a certain level even when exhausted.
No idea who came up with it, but he approved.
Of course, this level of intensity wouldn’t tire him out.
“Alright! First platoon, get ready to move out! Any hunters feeling like they’ve got gas left in the tank, the instructor will give you extra training!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Understood!”
Tweet!
With the instructor’s whistle, the hunters—kitted out in all their gear—took off en masse.
“Huff… huff!”
“Haaak! Hek!”
Ten laps around the parade ground, then off to the range.
The hunters wore deathly expressions as they dragged their bodies forward.
‘These guys are pros at faking it.’
Kim Minjun chuckled to himself, watching the hunters heaving for breath.
Naturally, more than half of them still had plenty of stamina left.
The reason they put on such a show of exhaustion was simple.
To avoid catching the instructor’s eye.
“Alright. Duck walk from here up! Move it, move it!”
“Ugh…”
“Kwaaa…”
Of course, that didn’t last.
The moment they started duck-walking up the sloped hill, groans poured from the hunters’ mouths.
Duck-walking was easy enough for hunter troops on its own, but tack on all that heavy gear, and it was a different story.
“From here to the range, advance prone! Execute!”
“Execute!”
“Ex… execute…”
And it didn’t stop there—they went prone.
The hunters felt their minds reel as they finally reached the range.
“Hmm… Good. Everyone into the shooting lanes and prep to fire…”
Mid-inspection of the hunters, the instructor’s gaze locked onto one spot.
One hunter didn’t look winded at all.
“Hold up. You there. Sergeant Kim Minjun.”
“Sergeant Kim Minjun!”
There stood Kim Minjun, face serene.
“You don’t look tired at all. That right?”
“Yes, sir! Spot on!”
“Hmm… Alright then. Prone crawl back and forth from here to that end over there.”
“Understood!”
At the instructor’s order, Kim Minjun began prone-crawling the nearly 300-meter distance back and forth.
“Whoa…”
“Even the fittest officers are half-dead by this point, but Sergeant Kim’s still fresh as a daisy?”
Five minutes into Kim Minjun’s extra training.
The hunters gaped at the sight.
His prone speed stayed steady, his expression pure relaxation.
“Nah. Even for Sergeant Kim, ten more minutes and he’ll tire out, right? Look at the weight on his back.”
“True. Prone back-and-forth like that. I say five minutes tops.”
Awed by his freakish stamina, the hunters still bet he’d flag soon.
“…How long’s it been?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
Their predictions went wide of the mark.
Even twenty more minutes passed, and he showed no sign of tiring.
“Ng… What now.”
The watching instructor let out a groan at the unexpected snag.
Harsh conditions training was meant to simulate the worst scenarios.
But Sergeant Kim Minjun showed no fatigue even under max intensity.
‘Drag this out any longer, and the troops’ll recover their stamina.’
Ten more minutes ticked by, and Kim Minjun was still raring to go.
The instructor finally decided to push ahead with the drill.
“Sergeant Kim Minjun! That’s enough—fall back in! Rest of you hunters, hands on that far line and back! First one back wins!”
Of course, he hadn’t forgotten the troops had recovered some in the meantime.
“Commence firing from prepared lanes!”
Moments later.
At the instructor’s command, harsh conditions shooting began.
“Hoo… ha…”
“Haaak…”
The hunters panted raggedly, waiting for the targets to rise.
Whish!
Target sheets mimicking monster shapes flashed into view.
Bang! Bang!
The hunters squeezed their triggers without missing a beat.
“Huff! Argh… Missed more than half.”
“Phew. Safe.”
The harsh conditions shooting dragged on for a while.
Some hunters sighed in relief at the end, while others hung their heads glumly.
That’s because harsh conditions shooting was competitive, unlike standard quals.
Fall below the Hunter Army’s benchmark, and you’d repeat the whole day’s ordeal from scratch tomorrow.
Meaning two rounds of hell training.
So the hunters gritted their teeth, fighting to stay focused.
“What was the cutoff for retake?”
“Eighty points and up passes. Below that, full retake.”
“Ugh. Retake’s pure hell.”
Plus, standard shooting had fixed targets, but harsh conditions had them popping up randomly.
It demanded peak focus and reflexes when your stamina was shot.
“Hey. Which squad’s that?”
A brutal qual—nearly seventy percent of every ten failed.
Up to now, most squads had more than half their hunters fail, but Second Platoon, Second Squad was different.
“Whoa… That squad got six passes?”
“Insane. They train extra or what?”
Starting with Corporal Lee Seung-ho, Corporal Lee Dong-jin, Corporal Kim Kwang-sik—six squad members cleared the bar.
“What? Six of our squad passed?”
“Yeah. Thought we’d lose more than that.”
Even they hadn’t expected it, tilting their heads.
“Guess being under Sergeant Kim rubs off—our skills just keep climbing.”
“True. Our squad’s been grinding hard lately.”
The squad nodded at Corporal Lee Dong-jin’s words.
Lately, their training sessions had been extra brutal.
“How many emergencies we been through already? Know what the next platoon calls us? The Cursed Squad.”
And that was just the start.
They’d weathered crisis after crisis and come out on top, time and again.
Those experiences piled up, sharpening their edge for training.
“Argh… Sixty points.”
“This harsh shooting felt even rougher than usual. Whew.”
Meanwhile.
Officers who’d finished shooting lamented their low scores in gloomy tones.
Harsh conditions training was intense enough that even officers struggled.
Around forty percent of every ten needed retakes.
“Tch. Been slacking on PT lately, I guess. Retake for me.”
Even Lieutenant Kim Cheol-min fell a hair short of passing.
“Phew. My squad pulls those scores, and here I am, the platoon leader… Gotta reflect on that.”
Smacking his lips in regret, he stepped out of the lane.
“Sir. I’ll rack up enough points for both of us.”
Watching him go, Kim Minjun declared he’d ace it and headed to a lane.
“…Obviously you’ll perfect it, you monster. Doesn’t even look like you broke a sweat.”
Lieutenant Kim Cheol-min muttered to himself, eyeing the guy who still looked pristine.
“Commence firing from prepared lanes!”
The officers’ harsh conditions shooting kicked off.
Every officer in the lanes now—Kim Minjun excepted—was a former hunter NCO.
Meaning their skills far outstripped regular troops.
Bang! Bang!
“Ugh…”
“Whoa… What the hell…”
But.
Even they had to throw in the towel against Kim Minjun’s marksmanship.