Chapter 52

52 Group C

Hick!

“Ouch!”

They were battling with a B-class Lycan Wolf. The giant with a wolf head collapsed, its bones completely crushed, and its shape unrecognizable.

As if angry at the death of its kind, another Lycan Wolf aimed an attack at Jeong Seon-kyung.

“You’re a bother.”

She raised her ax with an annoyed gesture. The Lycan Wolf was immediately split vertically even without the blade touching it.

Spit—

She roughly spat out a cigarette butt that had no filter left. She took out a new one and looked around as she placed it in her mouth.

There had been about sixty monsters attacking them, but they had almost been wiped out.

Pajik!

“Yaaam.”

On the other side of the field, Shim Seung-seop yawned as he shot out an electric shock. The spear of thunder that was fired from his fingertips pierced through a Gados.

The giant lizard monster burned to death, screeching in pain.

It was the last monster.

Jeong Seon-kyung frowned.

“What the hell are you doing in the middle of the night? Annoying.”

“But these woke me up.”

Song Han-gil replied with a nice smile.

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Jeong Seon-kyung looked like she was too lazy to answer back. She radiated her Karma in all directions, wiping away the dirt from her body.

“It’s not time for work yet, is it? I’m going back to sleep.”

“No, Seon-kyung. We’re moving.”

When the leader Boo Young-geon spoke in a dry tone, Seon-kyung expressed her discomfort without any filters.

“No, why?”

“There are monsters here. How can we continue sleeping here?”

“They’re nothing but peasants, so who cares? I don’t think any more will come out.”

“I’m moving. Porters, please pack up.”

“…Anyway, that’s in bad taste. Tsk!”

Boo Young-geon easily ignored her complaints and issued orders. They were used to this kind of thing. Seon-kyung could do nothing but curse quietly.

The three porters, including Byeong-gap, hurriedly cleared the campsite. Two of them rolled up the tents and supplies and piled them up in their backpacks, while the other one cleaned up skillfully.

“Um…”

Boo Young-geon was lost in thought as he looked into the map. His eyes were full of motivation.

He approached the porters.

“How much food is left?”

“There are two meals left.”

Byeong-gap, who was in charge of food and various daily necessities, answered immediately.

“When will we get supplies?”

“17 hundred hours today. The point of contact is at Area 16.”

This time, Kim Dae-yeop, who was in charge of the radio, answered. Boo Young-geon glanced at the monster’s body, frowning a little as if he saw something he didn’t like.

“Oh, where did these things come from? Is there more…? Let’s just sort it out in the 19th spot. We have to do it anyway.”

He muttered to himself.

Boo Young-geon spoke up again, looking at the busy porters.

“What do you think? Shall we go to Area 19 now, do the mission, and then go down to Area 16? Would that be better?”

‘Why are you asking us that?’

Byeong-gap found it a little absurd. The other porters also had a lukewarm response.

Well, it wasn’t much of a big deal. Captain Boo Young-geon had little communication with the members of the attack squad. He only spoke to the porters when he had to share his opinions with them.

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It had been three weeks since the operation began, but it was like this every time.

“Oh, I guess so. You have to work. Dae-yeop, please radio the headquarters and check if there are any remaining monsters in Area 18.”

“Yes, sir.”

And, as usual, he came to a conclusion all by himself and left them.

“……”

Porter Jung Ho-yun was in the middle of folding a tent with Byeong-gap. He stared blankly at Boo Young-geon’s back and turned to Byeong-gap.

“Wasn’t the initial plan to wait here and then go down for supplies? I thought we weren’t moving today.”

“I know. I thought so, too.”

“If we go to Area 19 now, we won’t be able to organize everything in time.”

“I guess you got the right idea.”

“Eh. At least we were able to take a break for a while.”

Jung Ho-yun let out a small sigh.

The campsite was quickly cleaned up. They had been working together for the past three weeks, and their hands and feet were now in sync.

Byeong-gap sighed and checked the electronic watch on his wrist. It was only 5:35 am.

“We’re moving. We’re going to recapture Area 19 right away.”

“Excuse me, sir. Do you know it’s not organized yet?”

“We can go ahead and do it.”

“Oh yes? Well then, it will be fine.”

Han Chang-hoon, who served as a healer and supporter in the attack squad, quickly agreed. The rest of the crew didn’t even think about speaking up.

‘What kind of combination is this?’

Group C’s attack squad, where Byeong-gap belonged, was extremely individualistic. All of them had blunt personalities, and they only tried to maintain a business relationship with each other.

From the looks of it, this was all there would be.

In a way, he felt unmotivated, but they were definitely top-notch in terms of skills, so they had no troubles to this day.

“Dae-yeop. Have you contacted headquarters?”

“Oh, yes. An object that looked like a monster colony was observed in Area 18-5. As soon as we get the specific coordinates, I will spread the word.”

“Really? Then we’ll go to 18-5 first.”

“I’m going to smoke a cigarette.”

“Sure.”

“Ko Byeong-gap.”

Jeong Seon-kyung called out to Byeong-gap. She put her index and middle fingers up to her mouth, gesturing for them to smoke.

Byeong-gap nodded and approached her, and the two went a little further away from the party.

Jeong Seon-kyung glared at Boo Young-geon from an angle he wouldn’t see and started to voice out some harsh words.

“Oh, you bastard. You have been scratching my temper since this morning.”

“…And why?”

“He’s ignoring me.”

Byeong-gap and Jeong Seon-kyung were the only smokers in Group C, so they naturally became close. The problem arose there. When Seon-kyung and Byeong-gap went off to smoke, she always complained.

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It was fine to listen to after a day or two, but after three weeks, scabs were sitting on his ears.

“Tell him not to ignore you, then.”

“Ha! Even if I say that, will he say, ‘Yes, I see.’ I don’t think he’ll even listen to me. I don’t want to come to work and fight for nothing.”

‘What am I supposed to do?’

She was as sharp as her hair cut to her jawline. She was 31 years old, the oldest in the group, while Boo Young-geon competed for first or second place behind her.

“Tsk! And no matter what it looks like, he won’t fold. He’s the leader.”

“Is it okay to gossip?”

“Oh, look at him. This is not backstabbing, we’re just talking.”

“True…”

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Byeong-gap just sighed and shook his head. At times like this, he missed the Goblins of Ashvilam. Those gentle kids never blamed others.

“But I’m glad you’re here. You’re lucky and you can communicate well. And you smoke.”

‘It’s not that I’m the only one who talks to you; I’m the only one who listens to your complaints.’

No matter how close they were, she was an S-class hunter. It was necessary to ensure that a line was drawn between them.

Byeong-gap shook off the burnt cigarette and put it out.

“Let’s get going.”

“Why? One more puff.”

“That’s how you die early. Even while fighting monsters earlier, you’ve already smoked five or six sticks.”

“Hey, if I’m going to die, I’d be dead already. I’ve been smoking since I was eighteen.”

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“It’s pride. I will go first.”

“Oh fine, let’s go!”

Seon-kyung followed Byeong-gap with a displeased face.

They joined the group and began to walk diligently.

***

Not all S-class hunters were born as slaughter tanks. There was a time when they were also first-time hunters, and there was even a time when they trembled against monsters far below their ranks. But it didn’t take them long to realize their strength, and after about three years of experience, they had no qualms about slaughtering.

‘That’s awesome.’

In that sense, Group C was professional.

They were the strongest butchers that existed only to kill monsters. Not a single gesture during battle was wasted. Every finger they lifted was part of a series of actions to kill the monsters.

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“Ah!”

“Awk!”

These were top monsters that killed about a hundred civilians each, but the S-class hunters slaughtered such predators for fun.

The gap between the top and the top was almost the difference between a lake and the sea.

The monsters never even tried to resist. All Byeong-gap had to do was watch their decapitated heads fly away from a distance.

He had been worried when he first heard that he would be in the same group as S-class hunters because he thought all kinds of danger would strangle his neck. But it was all just an unrealistic worry of his heart.

Byeong-gap simply carried their luggage, provided meals for the attack squad, prepared their beds, and stood on guard.

There was no need to bother collecting magic stones. This was because the following cleanup team would do it for them.

‘I don’t know if I can accept the two billion won just by doing this.’

He even thought about that because he didn’t do anything much. But of course, he had no intention of refusing the pay.

“We’ll have breakfast and move on to Area 19. Please prepare a meal.”

“Yes.”

Byeong-gap and the other two porters diligently prepared their meal. It was just warming up ready-to-eat preserves, nothing special. In less than five minutes, the meal was prepared. The hunters silently approached and ate the tasteless combat food.

‘They eat well without saying anything.’

Byeong-gap felt that many of his prejudices had been broken during this expedition.

S-class hunters were considered mystical, but he found them no different than himself. He looked at them eating the tasteless vegetable bibimbap without saying anything. They were true professionals.

“Oh, Eunji. Are you awake? Huh? I’m eating. Come on, don’t hurt yourself? I’m not hurt. Yeah. I miss you.”

Shim Seung-seop, the long-distance dealer who dealt with lightning, had his smuggled cell phone in his hand at all times unless he was in combat. It was only recently that Byeong-gap realized that the woman on the phone changed every time.

Shim Seung-seop constantly spoke on the phone, but he never spoke a word of a private conversation with his teammates.

“Mr. Byeong-gap, have you eaten all the salted red pepper paste?”

“Yeah. It was all I ate yesterday.”

“Oh, no. I can’t swallow this without red pepper paste. I don’t know what to say.”

Han Chang-hoon. A man who spoke a good Gyeongsang-do dialect. He was in charge of local broadcasting in Group C with Song Han-gil.

“Chang-hoon, I don’t use red pepper paste. Would you like to have mine?”

“Oh, can I? Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m on a low-sodium diet.”

“Oh, thank you very much.”

“Ko Byeong-gap. Let’s go get a cigarette.”

“I’m not yet done eating.”

“Why are you so slow? Hurry up and finish eating.”

“I just started.”

“…I’ll be going, so come right away.”

Jeong Seon-kyung was a sassy woman.

She was a crazy woman who would finish sixty packs of cigarettes every time their supply was replenished. When she opened her mouth, the lingering scent of smoke wafted out.

Looking at each individual, they all played separately rather than harmoniously. But once a battle began, they moved organically as if they were one body.

It was a wonderful thing, in a way.

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After their small breakfast, Group C moved on to Area 19 to find and kill hidden monsters.

“We’ll go around 19-2 at 13 hundred hours before getting our supplies.”

The leader, Boo Young-geon, said. No one answered, and no one cared about it.

Group C performed its mission silently and cleared the area at a frightening speed. The place swept by the party was full of monster corpses, so the nickname of driving death was a good fit.

Group C, who successfully cleaned up the area until 19-2, went back the way they came to receive supplies.

By the time they reached Area 16, there were already other groups there.