“They’ve taken the person you brought back to the medics. ...Not quite sure why someone who went out to fight monsters ended up bringing back a person.”
“It’s a long story. I’ll explain later.”
“...Alright.”
After finishing things in the underground tunnels, I returned to our unit’s temporary base. Min-jae hyung was clearly curious about what had happened.
‘It’s not like I can just tell him that a cannibal monster turned back into a human and expect him to just go along with it.’
There was a lot to explain.
“A few hours ago, there was a big earthquake in the city.”
“Hmm?” Min-jae hyung folded his arms, looking serious. “Everyone in our unit, along with some of the awakened residents in the city, felt the tremor. Most chalked it up to a natural disaster, but a few people speculated that monsters might be causing trouble underground. This all happened right when you went down there.”
“Oh.”
“So, just asking, but this...?”
“Yeah. It’s probably because of me.”
“...I thought so.”
Min-jae hyung sighed.
“A battle intense enough to shake the ground—was the monster that strong?”
It was pretty formidable, alright. Just a little below the dungeon boss, the [Pope].
“I’m thinking I should’ve taken more of our unit along...”
“No need. If they’d come, I wouldn’t have been able to use the vampires.”
Min-jae hyung and some of the senior officers knew about the troops I kept in my shadow. But only a handful.
‘A lot of our troops still have strong prejudice against monsters.’
The engineers who worked with Kkamang were slightly more tolerant, but most still saw monsters as enemies. Especially the vampires we hunted down ourselves, some of whom had even killed a few of our own in the process.
“You know how it is—without sunlight, the vampires can be even stronger. They suffered heavy losses in that fight.”
“Then maybe leaving the others behind was the right call. So, did you get what you were after?”
“Thankfully, yes.”
“Well, that’s good.”
As Min-jae hyung nodded, I felt a little guilty.
“Sorry about that.”
“Hm?”
“This mission was really just me going off on my own to clear up my curiosity.”
This underground excursion was mostly about solidifying my understanding of my profession. It was all my call. As our guild leader, I’d taken a pretty big risk for a personal mission. Knowing how straitlaced Min-jae hyung could be, I worried he might disapprove.
“What are you talking about?”
“Uh?”
“The real problem here is that other unit members couldn’t help you. You did nothing wrong.”
Unexpectedly, he had no issues with it.
“You and your job’s abilities are key to our unit’s power.”
“Uh...”
“And if you solved a question about your job, that’s hugely important. If I regret anything, it’s only that the unit couldn’t support you better.”
He was surprisingly positive.
Now that I thought about it, Min-jae hyung had been convinced of my job’s potential from the very start.
‘Maybe he’s got a better instinct for these things than I thought?’
I mean, even I only recently raised my assessment of the Cook job’s value after all of this. Before that, I just saw it as, well, cooking.
All in all, the underground mission was extremely rewarding.
[Quest - Exterminate the Opponent]
[You exceeded the quest goal.]
[Exceeding goal bonus granted.]
[Gate Summoning Ticket]
[Achievement: Miracle Chef]
[A reward for leading the way.]
[Supreme Ingredient: Core of the Millennial Glacier]
[Supreme Ingredient: Drop of the World Stone]
“Haha... haha!”
Quest rewards, plus achievement rewards.
First, for completing [Exterminate the Opponent]. I’d cleared this quest once before, and the reward was a trait enhancement ticket, if I remembered correctly.
“The quest’s called ‘Exterminate,’ but here I am, getting bonus rewards for saving someone and turning them back into a human.”
I’d thought for sure the quest would fail, but it actually worked out. Exceeding the quest conditions also meant better rewards.
[Gate Summoning Ticket]
[Input desired keywords to summon a gate matching them.]
“Hm...”
Gate? Gate...
What does that mean?
I’d understand if it were a dungeon, but I’ve never heard of a gate like this. Not sure how to use it yet, but since it’s a bonus reward, it’s probably worth having.
Then there was the achievement reward, which was simple but solid. And there was no way it was any less valuable than the other rewards.
After all, it’s two [Supreme Ingredients].
“When I earned other achievements, I only got one.”
When I used my cooking to subdue Lieutenant Kim and then Ariella, I received one supreme ingredient each time. But now, two?
“So, this achievement must be that impressive?”
I mean, I did revert someone who’d turned into a monster back to a human. It completely defied the system’s insistence [N O V E L I G H T] that it was impossible. This achievement isn’t comparable to getting someone addicted to my cooking.
The first use that comes to mind for supreme ingredients is, of course, one thing:
[Enhanced Ingredient Identification]
[‘Strength-Enhancing Potion’ Recipe Result]
[Heart of the Dragonling - 10%]
[Holy Blood of the Forgotten Saint - 10%]
[Core of the Millennial Glacier - 10%]
[Drop of the World Stone - 10%]
[Unknown Ingredient - ??%]
“Heh. Heheh.”
I couldn’t hold back my smile.
The ingredients for the Strength-Enhancing Potion—40% of them were now in my possession.
Now that I knew [Divine Power] could turn impossibilities into possibilities, I thought about making the potion even without all the ingredients.
Just before attempting it, though, I paused.
[Divine Power: 2]
[As much Divine Power as you have allows you to turn impossibility into possibility.]
[Warning!]
[Failure will result in the permanent loss of all accumulated Divine Power.]
The Divine Power stat, which rose to 2 after successfully turning a monster back into a human. It seemed the higher the Divine Power, the more you could do. But the warning was clear: any failed attempt would erase the entire stat.
Just before trying to cook it, my intuition as a cook warned me.
“Eh. It won’t work.”
No solid evidence, just a gut feeling. With only 2 Divine Power, it wouldn’t cover the missing ingredients.
Sure, there might be a tiny chance, but that’s a risky gamble.
I considered it and shook my head.
“There’s no need to take a gamble.”
I’d managed to gather 40% of the ingredients without relying on Divine Power. If I keep going, I’ll eventually get them all. Rushing it would just be short-sighted.
“Let’s stick to this pace. I’ll make it one day.”
With supreme ingredients like these—ten in all—they wouldn’t just make one dose. With a Strength-Enhancing Potion needing 1,000 points, having the ability to make it ourselves would boost our troops immensely.
“Hehehe.”
Just thinking about it made me happy.
I initially went underground to get some clarity on my job, but I came back with a ton of unexpected rewards.
After organizing everything, I stood up.
Sure, I earned all that because of my skills, but there was someone who helped me get here.
“A hospital visit’s the least I can do.”
* * *
“Ah, salute! Sergeant Shin is here!”
Well, I say hospital visit, but since we’d taken over an ordinary commercial building as our temporary base...
‘We don’t have a real infirmary here.’
We’d just partitioned off part of the building to use as one. Hardly ideal, but that’s all we had for now.
“Perfect timing, Sergeant Shin.”
“Hm?”
Corporal Sa I-jun, the medic, looked delighted to see me.
“Perfect timing?”
“Ha-ha, you know the patient you brought in?”
“Yeah?”
“She just regained consciousness this morning.”
Oh.
Perfect timing.
Following his lead, I walked into the makeshift infirmary. At the far end was a curtain around a makeshift bed.
“She’s only been awake a short while, but she’s in surprisingly good shape. You might be able to talk with her directly.”
As Sa I-jun opened the curtain, the details appeared:
[Lee Hyun-jin]
[Lv.1 Gluttonous Eater]
Her swollen, monstrous bulk. The scales covering her entire body, the massive horns, the sharp claws, the beast-like roar...
All of it was gone.
Sitting on the bed, gazing blankly out the window, was a woman.
With her stark white hair, she gave off an oddly mystical vibe.
Just a few days ago, she’d been half-monster. But after my hard work, I’d returned her to a human state.
Lee Hyun-jin.
‘This is... strange.’
I felt a bit awkward as I approached her. Noticing me, she looked at Sa I-jun.
“Ah, doctor.”
“How are you feeling, miss?”
“I’m alright. Thanks for taking such good care of me...”
“Glad to hear it.”
She looked surprisingly calm for someone who’d just woken up after everything she’d been through.
“So, who is that with you...?”
Then her gaze landed on me.
“Hello...”
“E-eek...!”
A small scream echoed in the room.
‘...Eek?’
The calmness she’d shown moments before was gone.
“P-please spare me
...”
She let out a shriek and backed away to the corner of the room, ripping out her IV in her haste.
Trembling, she huddled under the blanket, shivering like a leaf in the farthest corner.
“...”
“...”
Sa I-jun looked at me, his wide eyes practically asking, *“What the hell did you do to her?”*
No, really—
“That’s... not what I intended...”
