"You really went all out on me, like I told you to... Damn it hurts."
"...."
Damn. It really did hurt like hell.
Before the sparring began, I had a bit of confidence. Sure, as a chef, I didn’t have much in the way of combat skills, but my base stats were impressive due to perks like **[Absolute Taste]** and the abilities I’d gained from my encounters with Ariella.
But any confidence I’d had evaporated about five seconds after we started. It was a one-sided beatdown.
“Sergeant Shin,” Jeon said, his expression cold as he looked down at me sprawled on the floor.
“Yeah, yeah. What do you want?”
“Please, give it your all.”
“As if I wasn’t already!” I retorted.
"Do you really think I don’t know your true strength, Sergeant? Holding back like this is just an insult to me.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, even lying there in pain.
"Hey, Jeon," I said, forcing myself to sit up, "want to see something interesting?"
I reached into my pack and pulled out a few combat rations.
‘Always pretending to be invincible gets tiring. Maybe I can show a bit of vulnerability to this guy.’
I selected four different types of rations and popped them all into my mouth at once.
“What are you doing, sir?”
Typically, a person could only benefit from the effect of one dish at a time. Eating multiple types didn’t grant additional buffs. But for me, things were different.
Thanks to **[Absolute Taste (Enhanced)]**, I could stack the effects of multiple dishes.
**[Active Effects - (4)]**
“...!”
As the effects kicked in, I felt power surging through my entire body—strength, agility, magic. And with the kind of traits a chef shouldn’t even have.
Finally, Jeon’s expression lit up, thinking the real fight was about to begin.
“Kuhhh...”
“?”
But the pain hit me, and it was like nothing I’d felt before. My whole body was throbbing with agony.
“Sergeant Shin! What’s going on?!”
“I told you I’d show you something interesting,” I wheezed, extending my arm to show him what was happening.
“Is... your muscle tissue twisting?”
I could feel it myself—my muscles were twisting and tearing.
"It’s amusing, right? Feels like I’m dying here."
It was the price of cramming my body with excessive buffs.
Because of **[Absolute Taste]**, I already received an amplified version of any dish’s effects. But with four amplified dishes in one go, my body couldn’t handle the strain.
"This... this is what happens to a non-combat role when they try to grow stronger," I explained.
"...."
Jeon stared at my trembling arm, sweat forming on his brow.
“Truthfully, under normal circumstances, eating this much would make my body explode.”
“What?! Explode? How...?”
“I can barely manage because of something unique to me. If not, I would have blown apart long ago.”
The burden of excessive buffs was enormous. Despite my high stats, I shouldn't have been able to endure it. The only reason I could withstand it was because of **Ariella’s blood**.
The time I drained Ariella to the brink unintentionally brought me closer to the nature of a vampire. As a result, I gained a regenerative ability that could partially offset the damage caused by these buffs.
“When I fight, this is what happens to me. Enduring this each time I go into battle? Yeah, no thanks. I’m a support role, after all.”
Even though my regenerative power could partially help me withstand the buffs, relying on it felt risky. If I leaned too much on this power, one day, I might cross the line and become a full-fledged vampire.
“Besides, you’ve dealt with plenty of crises through cooking alone,” Jeon noted.
“Well, I am good at cooking, even if I’m terrible at fighting,” I chuckled.
Jeon wasn’t amused. He watched me with a serious expression, but I shrugged it off and leveled with him.
"Jokes aside, the truth is, I can’t do anything alone."
"...."
“I can hold my own briefly, sure. Like you said, I could become stronger than you, even if only for a short time. But there are clear drawbacks.”
The moment the cooking buffs wore off, my combat ability would drop to somewhere in the middle range of our warrior corps or even lower.
"If you soldiers weren’t fighting beside me, I’d have been a corpse long ago."
"I see," Jeon said, finally nodding, though he still seemed conflicted.
“Understood.”
“You say that, but you still look dissatisfied.”
“Oh... it’s just... I still feel like I’m not strong enough.”
“Hey, listen—”
“Sergeant Shin, isn’t the reason you go through all this trouble because the rest of us aren’t strong enough to handle things on our own?”
"...Well, yeah."
If my soldiers were stronger, I wouldn’t need to worry so much about preparing and enhancing meals. Just regular buffs would suffice.
But becoming that strong wasn’t easy.
“Strengthening to that degree isn’t something you can achieve overnight. You’re already more than strong enough, Jeon.”
“It’s nothing compared to what you’ve achieved, sir.”
"...."
I could ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) sense the frustration and urgency weighing on Jeon’s mind. It was embedded deep, something not easily shaken off.
‘The guy’s already strong enough, yet he’s so anxious.’
I’d made it clear he was necessary, but his dissatisfaction was a separate issue.
Unfortunately, he was comparing himself to me, and that’s a tough standard to measure up to.
There was one simple, effective solution that came to mind, but I hesitated.
‘Should I use cooking?’
Using a dish filled with **[Courage]** turned Jeon from a timid soldier into a berserker. Right now, he was just frustrated about his perceived shortcomings. If I prepared a dish with my full strength and used **[Special Sauce]** liberally, I could probably erase all his feelings of inadequacy.
But I didn’t want to do that. Making him a berserker had already altered his personality drastically. He’d gone from a mild-mannered guy to a fierce, reckless fighter. Even if it was for survival, altering someone’s personality like that wasn’t something I was comfortable with.
“I won’t go that far unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
Thankfully, he seemed to have understood my point to some extent.
“I get it now, sir. I realize that I am helping you.”
“Well, I’m glad you understand that.”
“My apologies for worrying you.”
“Don’t apologize for that. If anything, apologize for beating the hell out of me.”
At least he seemed to understand that he was helpful, so I wasn’t too worried about him. Knowing he’d avoid putting himself at unnecessary risk for my sake was reassuring.
“Sergeant Shin,” Jeon called.
“Yeah?”
“I... I want to get stronger.”
"...."
His dissatisfaction with himself was something I couldn’t resolve. If he wanted to be so strong that I didn’t need to fight, he’d have to get there on his own.
“I’ll become so strong that you’ll never have to lift a finger to fight, sir. No matter what.”
If becoming strong was the only way to resolve this, then I just needed to trust and wait for him to reach that level.
---
Afterward, I held a few more counseling sessions with other soldiers. Once those were done, I made my way to the **[Hospital Lv.2]**.
Inside, a few people noticed me and started to get up.
“Oh, please, stay lying down,” I said, gesturing for them to rest.
They weren’t our soldiers, nor were they awakened allies who had fought alongside us in the city defense.
“You saved us from those monsters. We should be bowing to you.”
These people were slave soldiers forced to drive the monsters’ war machines. The monsters had fled too quickly to retrieve their slave soldiers, so they were left for us to rescue.
“We’re sorry... We were threatened with death if we didn’t follow orders.”
"Threatened? You mean those monsters spoke Korean?"
“Well, not all of them. But there were some who called themselves shamans, skinny, bony creatures.”
Ah, those creatures who’d used some kind of spell to create a path across the river. I’d been caught off guard by that.
“Seems some of them learned language just to enslave humans,” he continued.
I already knew that some monsters could learn languages, but the fact that they’d enslaved humans was new.
“Could you tell me more about where you came from?”
“Of course, we’ll tell you everything.”
They painted a grim picture of the western side of Gangwon Province, where the monsters had taken control of about half of the cities. Those who resisted were killed, and others were enslaved.
“So they kill the ones who resist and enslave the rest?”
“Not exactly. They killed everyone who resisted, but that doesn’t mean they spared everyone who surrendered.”
“?”
“Only those deemed ‘useful’ were enslaved. The rest were...” He trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.
I fell silent, my stomach sinking.
‘There were already so few survivors. Is the west essentially wiped out?’
If everyone had been enslaved, we might have had a chance to rescue them, but it sounded like very few humans even survived as slaves.
“How are the enslaved treated?”
“Some are beaten or killed if they disobey, but they’re mostly kept alive if they have some use.”
I
supposed it was a relief, at least for now, that they weren’t immediately killing their slaves. But that situation couldn’t last forever. Eventually, we’d have to reclaim the territory they occupied.
---
“And how’s the situation now?” I asked Minjae hyung.
“Like Taejun predicted, there’s no sign of a large-scale offensive. But...” Minjae pointed to several spots on the map. “There have been skirmishes with groups of Greenmanes. Thanks to the Lesser Dragon Soldiers, we managed to repel them.”
“Looks like they’re resorting to that.”
Just as Taejun had suspected, the monsters seemed to have decided our fortress was too challenging to breach. With our defenses and the Lesser Dragon Soldiers, we were well-prepared for an assault. So they’d chosen a different tactic—guerrilla warfare.
Thanks to their sheer numbers, guerrilla tactics didn’t require much in terms of command. They just spread out and ambushed people in the surrounding area.
“With the Lesser Dragon Soldiers, we can increase patrols, so the damage isn’t severe yet,” Minjae said.
“Even minor damage adds up over time,” I replied.
These guerrilla attacks would continue until we took the fight to their base. But attacking a fortified base typically required three times the defending force.
“...Can we even do that?”
Right now, the odds felt insurmountable.
‘There just aren’t enough humans left alive.’
Even if we gathered all the survivors, our numbers were limited. Breaking past that would require each soldier to become incredibly strong.
“Even with high levels and advanced equipment, could they ever reach that level?”
Although our unit was among the strongest compared to other awakened, closing the gap with the Greenmanes still seemed impossible.
Just then, a soldier came in and interrupted our meeting.
“Sergeant Shin, I’m sorry to disturb you, but a merchant is here to speak with you.”
“A merchant?”
“Yes, he mentioned he has something important to discuss.”
A merchant had come to our base. Not just any merchant—one I recognized.
“You know, the one who provided you with information last time.”
“Oh, right, the one who mentioned the Glutton’s location.”
“Lieutenant Kim has been meeting with him, but thought it might be beneficial for you to join the conversation.”
“Hmm.”
I think his name was Sanghyup. He was the one who’d tipped us off about the Glutton’s whereabouts. Since he’d been helpful, I figured I might as well hear what he had to say.
---
“I’m Lee Sanghyup,” the merchant introduced himself, shaking hands with Lieutenant Kim.
“So, what brings you to our base?” Lieutenant Kim asked, his tone formal.
“Well, I was considering heading out on a trade expedition.”
Lieutenant Kim, putting on airs as the “face of our unit,” was a bit much to watch.
“A trade expedition?”
“Yes. I thought perhaps I could receive some assistance...”
So that was why he came to us. He wanted help with a trading expedition.
“And where exactly would you be going?”
Lieutenant Kim asked the same question I had.
‘Is there anywhere left for a trade route?’
The world was filled with monsters, and there were barely any humans left to trade with.
“This is confidential information,” Sanghyup replied, lowering his voice. “But... north of here, in Yanggu County, there’s a large group of people. They might even rival your forces in strength.”
“...!”
“If they’re as strong as they seem, there’s plenty of trade potential.”
Sanghyup continued talking to Lieutenant Kim, but his words didn’t fully register with me. Only one thing mattered.
‘A group comparable to ours?’
The biggest issue on my mind was how to increase our power as a unit. With limited people and slow growth, we needed something more.
And there was one clear way to quickly build strength.
An alliance.
Combining forces with another powerful group.
“Of course, I’m not asking for help for free. I believe we can offer mutually beneficial...”
“Let’s go,” I cut in.
“Excuse me?”
Sanghyup turned, his eyes wide.
“Let’s join that trade expedition together.”
______________________
TL NOTE: Please don't skimp on the stars and likes of the translation - it inspires me and gives me the strength to write more. Thank you~!
