Is this Son Eunseo’s house?
Wow.
Is this because she was the division commander’s daughter?
“Put your hands above your head and don’t move. I clearly warned you.”
Kim Minjun had no intention of following those orders.
Instead of responding, he put his hand into his pocket and began to pull out a piece of paper.
Swoosh!
“I told you not to move!”
At that moment, Son Eunseo charged at him to subdue him.
Oh, quite fast? At this rate, she’ll be promoted to sergeant in no time.
Whish!
Whoosh!
Her hands targeted his nape with precision.
It seemed her aim was to grab the back of his neck and then subdue him.
But…
It’s a thousand years too early.
Kim Minjun effortlessly dodged Son Eunseo’s attack and started scribbling something on the paper.
“What, what the! Are you playing with me right now?”
Meanwhile…
Son Eunseo was surprised by the intruder’s movements.
Initially, she thought he was a civilian and somewhat let her guard down.
But now, even with all her might, she could barely graze his clothes.
That guy, he’s not a civilian!
Given his build, he definitely seemed to be a male.
Definitely a hunter.
Whether he was a civilian hunter or affiliated with the Hunter Army was unclear.
Even if he is a strong civilian hunter, he would still be far below the Hunter Army.
Moreover, the intruder seemed to know the positions of the CCTVs, moving only within the blind spots.
That meant, it was pre-planned.
It’s about time to leave. Better hurry.
Kim Minjun, upon seeing Son Eunseo’s serious expression, casually tossed the note at her.
Swoosh!
“Ugh! What kind of speed is that….”
Having grabbed the glass bottle filled with jewels, he effortlessly jumped over the wall and disappeared.
“Am I to believe I couldn’t stop a thief from stealing right under my nose? And while I’m in the Hunter Army? How much was that worth…?”
Son Eunseo, with a shocked expression, picked up the note the thief had left behind.
[Argh!]
“This son of a bitch! Crazy fucking lunatic!”
As soon as she checked the note, she stomped her foot in frustration.
“I got outdone by someone like that? Aaargh!”
***
Kim Minjun went to a secluded mountain forest to absorb mana.
“Lee Bonggu. Knock your head against the ground.”
– “Argh! I apologize, Sir Kim Minjun!”
Next to him, a crow was banging its head on the ground.
Though things turned out well, the fact was that he still hadn’t given a precise report.
“Mana can usually be found at the frontlines, especially in dungeons….”
Who would have thought this jewel would contain mana?
Moreover, the concentration and quantity were much higher than that of an average monster.
– “If I may say, sir, it seems this jewel was made through a unique process. It feels like a monster containing mana swallowed this jewel, and then it matured inside… That kind of feeling!”
“I know, dude. What I’m curious about now is how to effectively find mana contained in such vessels.”
– “As expected of Sir Kim Minjun! You are indeed looking two steps ahead of me!”
Lee Bonggu promised to search the ends of the earth for it and asked to be entrusted with the task.
“Just do as I say. If you die, that’s the end of it.”
– “Understood.”
Kim Minjun then broke the glass bottle and mercilessly crushed the jewels.
Sssss—
As he did, the dense mana began to leak out from within the jewels.
[You have absorbed a certain level of mana.]
[Mana stat has increased by 1.]
[Mana stat has increased by 1.]
[Mana stat has increased by 1.]
[Mana stat has increased by 1….]
“Wow. That’s a lot.”
The mana absorbed from the dungeon couldn’t compare.
His stats rose in the blink of an eye.
[Mana Singularity has been created.]
[Mana Grasp has been created.]
“Wow. Two skills at once?”
Kim Minjun smiled contentedly and opened his status window.
[Kim Minjun
The founder of the “Seria-noona is my favorite character” church.
Strength: 65
Agility: 65
Stamina: 60
Mana: 30
Owned Skills: Corruption(D), Night Walker(C), Dark Arrow(E), Mana Singularity, Mana Grasp(E), Basic Blunt Weapon Technique(E), Basic Swordsmanship(D), Strength(E), Agility Enhancement(E)
“Nice. The skills keep on increasing.”
Though he was still far from regaining his original power, the Mana Singularity skill was useful for his current life in the Hunter Army.
[Mana Singularity: Changes your mana to be colorless and odorless. Can be turned ON and OFF at any time.]
“The higher the stats, the denser and stronger the mana scent, affecting those around me.”
He was able to control his mana right now, but as he regained his strength, it would naturally leak out.
That would inevitably have a negative effect on the hunters around him.
“And with Mana Grasp too. Lee Bonggu. That’s enough, return to your original position.”
– “Thank you!”
Mana Grasp, in particular, was a utility skill that allowed him to pull a designated target toward him.
Currently, he could only pull a single person, but as the skill level increased, even an ogre could be pulled right in front of him.
“Ah. When it’s too bothersome to grab the remote, I’ll use it once in a while.”
The skill was highly versatile for use in various situations.
“Lee Bonggu, I’ll share some mana with you, so switch to a body that’s more convenient for activity. Turn into something that can fly.”
– “Argh! To be bestowed with so much mana! I’ll dedicate my life to serving you, Sir Kim Minjun…”
“Stop overdoing it. I didn’t give that much. Just take it and go.”
– “Understood.”
In cases like this, where jewels contained mana, he had to be close to detect it.
Night Walker allowed him to sense mana from far away, but it consumed too much mana.
I’ve absorbed so much mana, and after sharing a bit with Lee Bonggu, there’s not much left.
The skill level of Night Walker had increased, so he tried ordering it as a test, but the cost-effectiveness was poor.
– “Wow. With Sir Kim Minjun’s mana! This should be enough to confront monsters!”
Lee Bonggu had already switched from the body of a crow to that of an eagle.
“Good. You stay active outside. If anything happens, report back… No, wait. Return to your original form for a moment.”
– “Understood!”
“You’ve worked hard, so you deserve a reward.”
He reminisced about the times in another world when he bragged about Korean food to his followers repeatedly.
“Let’s go. I’ll show you the taste of Korean food.”
***
Inside a pork soup restaurant in Incheon.
“Excuse me! Could we have two servings of pork soup, please?”
“Yes! Oh, you’re from the Hunter Army! You must have a tough time protecting the country! I’ll make both servings special for you!”
“Thank you.”
Kim Minjun ordered skillfully from the menu and then took a seat.
Lee Bonggu awkwardly looked around before following his lead.
As time passed, the pork soup was served in hot stone pots.
Upon smelling it, Lee Bonggu was shocked.
It was a scent he was experiencing for the first time in his life.
“Is this… the ‘soup’ that Kim Minjun mentioned?”
“Yeah. Don’t even compare it to the stuff we occasionally got in Isgard. That was just garbage. This is real food.”
Lee Bonggu carefully took a spoonful of the soup and began to cry, overwhelmed by emotion.
“Kuhuhuk! Uhuhuhuk!”
His actions drew the attention of the other customers to one Hunter and a man with an exotic appearance.
“Hey, either cry or eat, not both. Can you actually swallow properly while crying?”
Kim Minjun chuckled at him.
“So, how does it taste?”
“It’s really, really delicious!”
Lee Bonggu, like someone who hadn’t eaten for over three days, buried his face in the bowl and devoured the soup.
In Isgard, the staple diet consisted solely of high-calorie, tasteless biscuits.
Dark mages had a hard time even securing that.
Until Kim Minjun reached the top of the dark mage hierarchy, they often struggled with poverty.
“Kuhuk! I definitely want to show this taste to the other disciples.”
“Others would be torn apart trying to cross over. You’re incredibly lucky, you bastard.”
After that, Lee Bonggu ended up emptying three more bowls of soup.
“I’ll be heading off soon, so go around and look for traces of mana.”
“Yes, leave it to me!”
“Don’t venture overseas. If you mess up and get caught, you’ll be dead meat to me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind!”
Lee Bonggu entered a deserted alley and transformed into an eagle, taking flight.
Outside the base, Lee Bonggu; inside, Night Walker.
In time, useful information would naturally come to him.
Ding!
As he was returning to the base, his platoon’s chatroom notifications went off like crazy.
After abolishing the absurd “Only Corporals and above can use smartphones” rule, he had created this chatroom himself.
– Kim Kwangsik: Sergeant Kim Minjun! We’re screwed. The training schedule is insane!
– Kim Kwangsik: The survival training got moved up, and we’re supposed to do it in power suits this time!
– Kim Kwangsik: Moreover, they’re planning to add more training sessions after the survival training! This unit is crazy!
Wondering what the fuss was about, Kim Minjun saw that Kim Kwangsik was panicking about the upcoming survival training.
– Kim Minjun: (emoticon indicating extreme happiness)
– Kim Kwangsik: ?
– Kim Minjun: I want to get promoted to Staff Sergeant quickly.
– Kim Kwangsik: …
– Lee Seungho: Crazy b*stard.
Training soon translated into performance scores.
Unless it was dealing cleanly with emergencies like gate breaches, consistently accumulating performance scores was crucial for promotion.
Emergencies can’t happen all the time, can they?
He was currently a sergeant.
Being promoted from sergeant to a staff sergeant was much harder than going from private to sergeant.
It was a change in designation from an enlisted soldier to a non-commissioned officer.
I wish they’d just skip sleep and do training all the time.
When Kim Minjun returned to the base and inside the barracks, the squad members were sighing deeply.
Loyalty! Sergeant Kim Minjun returning from leave!
“Oh, is that Minjun?”
“Why does everyone look so down?”
“What else? It’s because of the damn survival training.”
“We’ve just finished Hunter Mobility Training! And now the survival training scheduled for six months from now has been moved up?”
“Ah. This is bullshit. Should we just skip the survival training?”
The upcoming survival training was the cause.
Especially the sergeants who were not planning on extending their service were extremely angry.
“Hey, just endure it. If we skip out on survival training, our Hunter pension gets slashed. Try to stick with it unless absolutely necessary.”
“Ah! This is so annoying! Just our luck to be in a division that got marked for unsatisfactory evaluation!”
Because the senior soldiers were so agitated, the junior officers could only watch them cautiously, careful not to provoke them further.
– “The platoon leader announces. Sergeant Kim Minjun, immediately come to the platoon leader’s office.”
After a moment of heavy silence, First Lieutenant Kim Chulmin called for Minjun.
“Loyalty!”
“Oh, it’s Kim Minjun. How was your leave?”
“It was good.”
“You know about the survival training being moved up? This time it’s going to be tougher than before.”
“Is that so?”
After asking about his well-being, Kim Chulmin pulled out a document.
[Hunter Survival Instructor Application Form]
“How about it, do you want to try being a survival instructor?”
