novelDemon Cave Clearing Squad (3)
| ← Ch.071 | Ch.073 → |
Hansen approached me with a somewhat bewildered expression.
The rest of the party was the same way. All of them looked like they were possessed as they came toward me.
"Just what happened?"
"I can't believe it. What did I just see?"
"Are you really level 130?"
What's the point of trying to be modest after showing all of that? Nor did I have any reason to be modest.
Since it ended up like this, I might as well reveal my identity and raise the morale of the party.
"I am a winner of the Chaos Battle."
"Ah, right! You said your name was Kang Hwi Ram, right? No wonder I thought I heard the name before."
"Ah, Kang Hwi Ram! I heard about it too. You are that Kang Hwi Ram?"
They didn't know my face, but they must have heard my name.
Well, to win the Chaos Battle was the dream for all warriors on the continent. Even though I only won the lowest level of the Chaos Battle, my name seems to have spread a decent amount.
"Hold on a bit. Then shouldn't we change the leader? We can't have a Chaos Battle winner being commanded by someone below him."
Why are you suddenly bringing up changing leaders?
There's always someone like this who ruins the moment.
The type of person who tries to suck up to the strong people to get some benefits. The type who have no abilities of their own, but use their words to pretend.
We can't shake the chain of command right now. I didn't have any desire to do so, nor did I really want to pay attention to each member.
Hansen did not have much response. He was overwhelmed with my strength just now that it was difficult for him to say he was going to continue to be the leader.
But Hanka was different. He immediately requested a duel, as if two powerful people could not exist in the same place.
"Kang Hwi Ram. Fight me!"
His huffing breath, loud voice, and the way he was looking at me were all burning with desire.
I could clearly see Hanka's goal.
Hanka and Hansen have the same goal. He wanted to step up in Hansen's place to maintain the current chain of command. Well, I could be wrong.
But it was outside of my interest. I didn't have any desire to fight Hanka, and I had even less desire to be the leader.
The scout position is the one that fits my style.
"I do not fight for no reason. I have no desire to be the leader either."
"Why is there no reason? We need to figure out who is the best."
I was also not very confident. I didn't have any experience with physical battles and didn't have any skills for it either.
"Then you can be the best."
I kept relenting, but Hanka did not change his mind. He continued to stick to me, as if he would not give up until we fought once.
In the end, it ended up as Hanka wanted. He was trying to grab my collar and lift me up, so how could I pretend like nothing was going on?
"Fine. First, let go. If we're going to do it, let's do it right."
With that, we created some distance from each other and started to fight.
But I did not stupidly battle using our strength. This was a battle that would be easy even if I used only 10% of my abilities.
I used a hit and run tactic to attack.
Taat!
Contrary to my concerns, the battle was one sided. Hanka was fast for his size, but he was pretty much a tree standing still in comparison to me.
Hanka tried to swing his fist and grab my clothes, but he missed each time. On the other hand, my attacks were successful 100% of the time.
Papak!
After being beat up for a while, Hanka faced the shame of tripping over my leg as well.
Plop-
"Aigoo!"
It was my overwhelming victory, no matter who was watching.
Once that happened, the prisoners started to push me as the leader.
"Then Kang Hwi Ram is the leader from here on."
"Leader, give us our commands."
I don't think so. I told you I have no desire to be the leader.
But the atmosphere suddenly became tense. All of the prisoners were taking my side and pushing for a leader change.
Hansen looked like he had no choice but to agree either.
Fine then. I will act as the leader.
But not the type of leader you are all expecting me to be. I have my own method of doing things.
"Fine. I will give my first order. I will do the scouting. The rest of you follow after 5 minutes. Hansen will take charge of the main party. The end!"
"......Hmm?"
All of them looked confused. It was because it was no different than when Hansen was the leader.
But they had to follow it because that was my order.
We started to move further into the Demon Cave like that.
***
[Name: Lee Man Bok
Current Occupation: Hanbat Garden Kitchen Manager (Korean Food Specialty Store)
Specialty: Dish Development
Experience: While running a large restaurant, he was developing all sorts of dishes. He developed a dduk-galbi [1] made with beans and developed a dduk-galbi factory......]
It was the file Blue Sky Enterprises sent me.
I was wondering why it was taking them a long time, but it was because they were very thorough with their research. The file related to Lee Man Bok was over 10 pages.
But there was something shocking in the middle.
[Lee Hayeon age 19, Lee Jiyeon age 17, Lee Sarang age 15.
Originally from Sarang Namu [2] Orphanage. Given new names after adoption. ]
'Three of them were adopted children?'
I didn't know. Especially since Lee Hayeon and Lee Jiyeon looked almost identical to their mom. I thought they must be her biological children.
But now that I think about it, they did look a bit different. I only mistakenly thought they looked similar because they were all beautiful.
Lee Man Bok put a lot of love to Sarang Namu Orphanage, aside from the three children, as well. When his business was doing well, he sent a monthly donation of over 1 million won, and even now, when his business has failed, he visits the orphanage with bags of gifts every so often.
He must really like children.
But as I continued to read the file, that must not have been the only reason.
[Created the Han Sarang Scholarship Foundation]
I was sure he had some thought put into it as well. Maybe he might even be having the same type of dream that I have.
He was someone I became more curious about the more I got to know.
It made me pay even more attention to the files related to Lee Man Bok. (TL: This is really stalkerish in my opinion)
'He really has a solid network as well. '
There was no errors in what my mom had said. Famous chefs from tv, Broadcast Network PDs, and press reporters, he was close to all of them.
Based on the network revealed in the document, he seemed to be more of a famous person in the broadcasting world rather than Food Researching world.
Seeing the network of people around Lee Man Bok, I thought it was amazing. It didn't seem like he was that successful of a businessman.
Looking at the information for the company he developed in the past, the capital net worth for it was probably no more than 5, 000, 000, 000 won ($4675000 USD).
Of course, this is a huge amount for the average person, but it wasn't enough to create such a network of people.
'What is his secret?'
The explanation was near the end of the document.
[Father: Lee Soo Bong, 72 years old, Poong Ryu Shik Gek]
I don't know the name Lee Soo Bong, but I have heard a lot about, 'Poong Ryu Shik Gek. '
They are famous for their organic cooking. They show up a lot on TV as well.
Recently, I think I even saw an article about how the Blue House [4] invited Poong Ryu Shik Gek to prepare a luncheon.
There was a picture included as well, and it was the face I had seen on TV.
[Mother: Bae Gum Jah, 69 years old, Korean Royal Court cuisine specialist, originally started as a teacher]
I don't know the name.
But looking at the picture, I feel like I know who it is. I also saw her often on TV. I think I even heard something about how she is the most knowledgeable in Korea when it came to the Korean Royal Court cuisine.
Which means, both of his parents are people who we can claim to be two of Korea's best. Can we call this a golden spoon into the culinary world?
I felt like this was it. If I can make Lee Man Bok mine, his network would come with him, so it shouldn't be too hard to set up the Culinary School.
I need to make some time in the future to meet with him.
But that was not what was important right now. I needed to figure out my course of action first. If I cannot defeat him next time, all of these dreams will end up disappearing into thin air.
I closed the file about Lee Man Bok and opened the, 'Royal Roader Draft Plan, ' again. Specifically, I was looking at the information about, 'Monsters. '
I needed to know a lot more about monsters in order to find the way to defeat him as well.
I focused deeply on the, 'Royal Roader Draft Plan, ' again.
***
"There are too many! Dodge!"
I could hear Eaton's voice behind me.
He's the support magician I added to the scouting party not too long ago. The monsters levels go up the deeper we go into the Demon Cave, and the number of monsters go up as well. Thinking about that, I felt like it might be too much on my own and started to bring him along.
I also wanted to raise Eaton's level. That would make it easier to handle the final boss monster in the end.
But Eaton was not that sharp. His magic level wasn't bad, but his mana control and adaptability was a bit lacking.
Like right now. If it is dangerous, I will dodge on my own. I am continuing the fight because it is doable.
So he should just shut up and properly provide the support magic.
Every time he talks to warn me, I feel the effect of the mana shield getting weaker.
"Retreat."
Just shut up and provide support properly.
I need to sit him down and train him again once I get rid of these guys.
Like Eaton said, there really was a lot of monsters. They continued to push forward even though I was killing off three to four of them every second. They were like a pile of bean sprouts. There were so many monsters that my sword had almost nowhere to go.
But I was not worried. There was something I had prepared for such a situation.
My combo had already reached 70 hits.
In that state, I stabbed the cutlass into the ground.
[Bladestorm!]
A strong wind came out of the sword. It was so strong that it could send everything around me flying.
Crash!
The monsters that were around me all got flung backwards from the wind. The closest ones got pushed back at least 2 meters.
'This is stronger than I thought!'
My magic was only 50. If you use Bladestorm with just this much magic, only a light breeze strong enough to make your hair flutter will be created. (PR: Imagine using deadly sword/magic to make your hair flutter and look handsome)
But with the 70 hit combo multiplying its effect hundreds of times, it created a strong current that was enough to push the monsters back that far.
I finally had some space to relax. I quickly reached into my bag and took out some fire marbles before throwing them to the floor.
Crackle~
A total of five fire marbles created pillars of fire around me.
The monsters backed up in shock. The ones who could not back up because of the monsters behind them ended up burning to death while screeching in pain from the heat.
Roooooooooar-
Some more space was created thanks to the fire pillars. I quickly swung my twin blades again to create a combo.
After about 5 minutes like that, there were no more monsters left to hunt.
Eaton quickly caught up to me.
"Are you okay?"
I turned my head around and stared at Eaton. Almost to the point of glaring.
"......Why are you looking at me like that......?"
You really don't know why? If there were two support magicians, you would have been fired already punk.
"I will decide when to retreat or not. Eaton-nim just needs to focus on providing support magic."
"......Ah! I understand."
Let's leave it there. Nothing good will come from making him feel really bad.
Anyways, there shouldn't be too much left. If this follows the same pattern from the game, I should be able to meet the final boss monster today, or within the next three or four days at the latest.
"Let's rest a bit."
"Yes."
Only the two of us were here. Since we have spent a lot of time like this, I feel like I've gotten much closer to Eaton. Almost to the point where we can share deep conversations.
Of course, I won't be able to tell whether he really is being honest or not.
That was why I wanted to test him once I got the chance. Just how much can I trust Eaton?
Right now was the best time since the boss battle is near.
I lightly asked.
"Have you been in a group with Hansen-nim for a long time?"
"No. this is my first time meeting him."
"The rest of the members as well?"
"Yes."
I did not ask further. I already knew he was lying.
It happened a while ago, but I clearly remember what he said last time.
[Leader Hansen-nim is a brilliant leader. ]
How would you know that if you just met him?
Eaton's expression was too serious for it to be simple lip service. It also didn't make sense for him to provide that lip service to me, instead of directly to Hansen.
That means that there is only one conclusion.
They should have been working together for a long time. All twelve of them. Thirteen if you include Hanka, they are just hiding that fact.
'Just why are they hiding it?'
I'm sure they have their reasons. I just can't let my guard down until I know for sure what that reason is.
More importantly, I need to thoroughly hide the fact that I am questioning their relationship.
"Since we have rested enough, shall we get back up?"
I took the lead again.
The speed was not that fast. It was hard to raise the speed since some difficult-to-handle monsters popped up here and there, and I also slowed my speed down to give the main party enough time to keep up with us.
How long have I been walking for?
"Why are ......?"
I raised my hand toward Eaton.
It was our signal to be quiet.
Since we had already agreed on this signal, Eaton quickly stopped talking. He then followed me and lowered his stance.
I did not start to speak. I sent a signal for Eaton to stay there and slowly moved forward.
I think I moved forward about 100 meters?
'As I thought!'
There was a giant hall. In fact, it was so large that, 'giant, ' was not enough to describe it.
It was big enough to put six soccer fields together. The ceiling was high as well, so it made it feel like a humongous dome stadium.
I was sure. The main hall of the Demon Cave. Which means, the location the final boss monster is waiting for us.
That means it was now time.
Time to get out of this boring Demon Cave.
Also, time for the party members who are hiding something to reveal their true natures.
_______________________________________________
[1] A dish where you pound the meat to look like dduk (Korean word for ricecake)
[2] Literally translates to Love Tree Orphanage
[3] Literally translates to One Love Scholarship Foundation
[4] Korean version of the White House (Presidential residence)
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Translator: Miraclerifle
Proofreader: Borderline Masochist
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