– “After Sir Kim Minjun had traveled through dimensions, the Saintess was the first to come to us.”
“Really? She didn’t harm you guys, did she?”
If that had been the case, he thought he would return to Isgard and kill her.
Dark mages were basically a despised profession with poor performance.
While other professions could recover their depleted strength just by resting, dark mages had to acquire new mana.
This was because using skills as a dark mage consumed mana which, unlike in other professions, did not recover.
Even at his peak, there had been no exceptions in this regard.
I gave them a warning like that, but I guess it was just talk, huh.
Before returning to Earth, Kim Minjun had demanded better treatment and recognition for dark mages.
The king promised to keep his word.
– “Oh. Sir Kim Minjun. Even on Earth, you were worried about us!”
Lee Bonggu checked his expression and cried as if he were moved.
“Shut up!”
“Be quiet and tell me what happened next.”
– “Ah, my apologies. I got carried away with him. The saintess asked our followers to perform a dimensional travel to bring Sir Kim Minjun back.”
So, they had neatly given up on the surface but were playing tricks behind the back, huh.
“Go on.”
– “Of course, not just anyone can perform dimensional travel. When we said it was beyond our power…”
Lee Bonggu trembled, seemingly filled with rage.
– “She threw the statue of Lady Seria! How could a saintess commit such a cruel act!”
“A big statue? Or a small one?”
– “The smaller one.”
“Really? That saved her life, then.”
The big statue had been earnestly sculpted by the followers, while the small one was a crudely made statue by himself.
The quality was overwhelmingly higher for the bigger one.
– “Ah, the other believers are fine. They were too scared to directly provoke Sir Minold.”
“Is that so? Anything else?”
– “No. I have told you everything I know.”
Kim Minjun crossed his arms and fell into thought.
The Saintess tried to bring me back…
He knew all too well how difficult dimensional travel was.
To take on such a huge penalty, just because I am needed…
Unless it was for war, there hardly seemed a need for that.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter. There are no ones in Isgard who can perform dimensional travel.
The Saintess was an exception, capable of using dimensional travel, but only targeted toward people from other worlds like himself.
The penalty for summoning someone from another world is significant. They said it would take at least 100 years to summon someone after me.
Moreover, even if a way to travel through dimensions had been found, finding Earth’s coordinates would have been more difficult.
Lee Bonggu is an exception because he’s not normal.
If he told Lee Bonggu to return to the other world, the guy would risk death to do so.
Such was the blind obedience of the followers.
“As you know, I’m running low on mana. So, prioritize searching for places like dungeons. I’ll think about your rank when I get a promotion.”
– “Yes! Leave it to me!”
With those words, Lee Bonggu soared high into the air.
“Hey. Keep an eye on him. Stop him if he does anything foolish.”
Sssss-
The Night Walker promised to take care of him and then hid underground.
“One night and two days felt like just 1.2 seconds. I barely did anything and it’s already time to return.”
Might as well gorge on jjajangmyeon.
***
104th Division.
After the Hunter Mobility Training ended, the division commander and battalion commanders gathered for a meeting.
The officers were flipping through the PowerPoint slides on the beam projector in response to the battalion commanders’ nods and gestures.
Their meeting covered the intensity of this training, the combat power of the division, and future training policies.
“This Hunter Mobility Training was definitely more intense than the last one… but nearly 80% of the privates and private first classes dropped out midway.”
The division commander skimmed the report and spoke.
The battalion commanders listened attentively, tense.
“What’s the point of training like this? If they can’t even complete the training properly, what’s the meaning? Can they even clear a dungeon like this?”
The division commander threw the report down fiercely.
“Commanders… Is this how you’re going to do your jobs? It’s one thing for the corporals and sergeants, but why are the privates and private first classes such a mess?”
“Sorry, sir!”
“You need to do well so that the soldiers below you can do well, don’t you think? Am I wrong?”
“No, sir! Sorry, sir!”
“Make sure you do better in the future.”
“Yes, sir!”
The conclusion was that among the Hunter units, the 104th Division’s training results were unsatisfactory.
It made no sense for the combat power of the soldiers at the front lines to be low.
The division commander instructed them to pull forward the additional training planned for later to address this.
For the soldiers, Hell Gate was already a certainty.
“Ah. And about Corporal Kim Minjun mentioned last time. How did he do during the training?”
As the topic shifted to Kim Minjun, the division commander’s mood slightly softened.
“Yes! Excluding factors for squad deduction, he scored perfectly! According to the supervisor’s report, he performed the role of the squad leader as well.”
“And from the middle, he even carried Corporal Son Eunseo through the training?”
“Yes, sir! At the final point, he even single-handedly dealt with the Black Claws himself!”
The battalion commander’s report made the division commander’s lips curl slightly.
“Right. The division commander over there was blasting me with calls saying his daughter got hurt. If it weren’t for Corporal Kim Minjun, he wouldn’t have been able to sleep that night.”
The division commander continued reading the report silently, then said,
“Solo eradication of an irregular in the monster rat habitat. Handled a gate that appeared during civilian support on his own. And while on leave, at that. This Hunter Mobility Training was almost perfect. Any objections to him being promoted to Sergeant?”
“No, sir!”
There could be no objections.
The fact that the division commander brought up the subject meant that Kim Minjun’s promotion was more than halfway confirmed.
“Division commander, but… Corporal Kim Minjun has been promoted by exception twice already, including this time.”
The battalion commander of the 2nd Battalion replied subtly.
His words implied that Kim Minjun was too conspicuous.
“I know.”
The division commander replied as if to say not to worry.
“He hasn’t been assigned to the unit for long, yet he’s been promoted twice. He passed the promotion exam with a perfect score. And on top of that, his strength stat exceeds 60, doesn’t it?”
“Yes! That’s correct!”
“Sigh. It’s such a shame. If only Kim Minjun had gone to college, I would’ve found a way to make him an officer.”
“That’s right! Educational background used to matter in the past, but I don’t think it’s as important now!”
At that, the other battalion commanders hastily agreed.
“Other units have already taken notice. Do you understand what I mean?”
“Yes!”
The division commander meant that Corporal Kim Minjun was an exceptionally valuable asset to the unit, and under no circumstances should he be transferred out.
That was the reason for his special promotion at this time.
“This makes it twice that he’s been specially promoted in a short period. There won’t be any who wouldn’t want to bait him. That’s why we’re pinning the sergeant stripes on him.”
Units like the Special Force Hunter Brigade or the Special Hunter Task Force were especially bound to pounce.
“Our unit is already positioned at the very front lines. Dungeons keep appearing, and gates open at any time. Losing an excellent hunter to another unit would be a significant loss for us.”
The division commander’s gaze shifted towards the battalion commander of the 2nd Battalion.
The battalion commander quickly responded.
“Yes! I will personally keep an eye on Corporal Kim Minjun!”
“Good. Report to me directly if there’s any contact. For now, it should be fine. Those guys won’t dare to transfer a sergeant so easily.”
“Yes!”
The meeting went on late into the night.
**
The day after Kim Minjun returned from his leave.
“It’s outtttttttt!”
“That guy’s gone crazy again.”
“Gone crazy my ass. Just hurry up and get dressed in your combat uniform.”
While the hunters were preparing for their morning routine, Corporal Kim Kwangsik entered the barracks with a piece of paper.
“Guys! The quarterly performance results are out!”
“Oh? Is that the performance sheet? It came out pretty early this time?”
“Let me see it quickly.”
At the mention of the performance sheet, the seniors crowded around Kim Kwangsik.
Performance Sheet.
It was a scoreboard that converted the soldiers’ performance into numbers.
The evaluation items included the hunter’s military life attitude, diligence, performance in dungeons, training scores, etc., covering more than ten categories.
“Ah, just don’t get my leave cut, please.”
“Whew, I’m safe with this.”
“Ugh, I’m barely hanging on.”
The squad members quickly scanned their scores.
Naturally, lower scores meant penalties like restrictions on leave, while higher scores entitled one to rewards like special leave.
“…But this is Minjun’s, right?”
The seniors checked Kim Minjun’s performance score and their mouths fell open in astonishment.
“I knew he was good at everything, but to this extent?”
“How many points did he get to make you react like that? Wow!”
“That’s insane. Is this even a possible score?”
Kim Minjun’s performance score was 99 points.
Even Sergeant Lee Seungho, known to be skilled among sergeants, was around 70 points.
Considering the average performance scores of ordinary hunters ranged from 50 to 60 points, it was a monstrous score.
“Man. If our squad hadn’t received deductions during the Hunter Mobility Training, it would’ve been a perfect score?”
“Minjun even carried Corporal Son Eunseo on his back, don’t they give an extra point for that?”
“Seriously, you were born with physical strength. You were fine throughout the training.”
The seniors marveled at Kim Minjun’s score sheet.
“Corporal Kim Minjun. Thank you.”
“You’re definitely confirmed for a reward leave. Anyway, thanks to you, our squad has benefited a lot.”
However, the person himself was slightly disappointed for not receiving a perfect 100.
The 1-point deduction must’ve been from the trap zone. There shouldn’t be any other factors for deduction.
He had performed exceptionally well in the training conducted every four years, but he did not know it would lead to a special promotion.
Special promotions are quite subjective after all.
The definite thing was to personally handle and prevent a dangerous situation from occurring.
Ah. I wish gates would burst open like last time with the Middlebat.
Kim Minjun hoped for gates to open frequently.
– “The platoon leader announces. Members of the 2nd squad of the 2nd platoon are to briefly stand by in the barracks.”
As the hunters were about to leave the barracks, Kim Chulmin’s voice came, instructing them to wait inside.
“What’s going on?”
“We just had a meeting not too long ago.”
“But listening to the platoon leader’s voice, he seems to be in a good mood?”
The squad members tilted their heads in confusion and waited inside as instructed.
Click!
“Kim Minjun!”
“Corporal Kim Minjun!”
Shortly after, First Lieutenant Kim Chulmin entered with an excited expression.
In his hand was a sergeant’s rank insignia.
