Chapter 18
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[Treasure Hunt (2)]
To Younghee Baek by phone I scolded him for being difficult, and after a while, I got a call from his father.
-Team Leader Lim. Are you feeling okay?
Baek Chang-su’s voice was full of worry.
“it’s okay. “I’m a little tired, but…”
-It’s okay! I heard everything from Younghee.
On the other side of the phone, Baek Chang-su sighed.
-Common sense tells us that if you catch a monster of that size, there is no way it will be okay. Of course, I know how you feel…
“Yes?”
What did this guy eat poorly?
What on earth do you know?
-When I was young, I pretended to be okay even when I was having a hard time, and I pretended to be fine even when I was in pain. At the time, I thought that was truly manly….
He was suddenly recalling memories, but I couldn’t sympathize with him at all.
“I don’t think so. “If I’m tired, I rest, and if I’m sick, I go to the hospital first.”
-haha. You must be embarrassed to have your true feelings revealed. The bravado you show when you are young is evidence of youth. I understand everything.
This guy seems to be completely mistaken about something.
Even though I couldn’t be bothered to refute it, I roughly agreed.
“Ah, well… But what are you calling about?”
-I hope from now on I won’t overdo it like I did yesterday. Aren’t you the person who will shoulder the future of our guild along with Younghee?
I didn’t want to shoulder the future of the guild, and I especially didn’t want to be with Baek Young-hee.
-So I talked to Younghee.
“Ah, yes…”
Such an annoying old man.
I wanted to hang up quickly when I was done talking.
-Please rest for a few more days.
“Oh yes yes… yes?”
I suddenly wondered what this meant and asked Baek Chang-soo in a serious voice.
-Anyway, it will be difficult to carry out the mission normally until the team composition is properly completed. Younghee said it would take about three days.
“I heard that too, but…”
– So, it means rest for three days and come back in perfect physical condition.
At that moment, I said, “Long live the CEO!” I barely held back from almost shouting.
And I asked back carefully.
“Three days? Is that really okay?”
-of course.
I answered quickly, wondering if Baek Chang-soo would change his words.
“thank you! Then get some rest and I’ll see you in three days.”
-And me…
Baek Chang-soo’s voice suddenly became quiet.
He spoke softly, as if in a whisper.
-Just spar with me sometime when you have time…
This guy still hasn’t let go of his regrets.
Fortunately, at that time, a voice on the other side of the cell phone said, “Daddy-!!” A shout was heard.
It was obvious who the owner of the voice was.
-Hmm! We’ll talk about that later. Then, Team Leader Lim! See you in three days!
Baek Chang-soo quickly hung up the phone.
He is probably being mistreated by his daughter right now.
“Three days…”
Suddenly, I had three days of vacation.
In the meantime, the guild will recruit people to work for me and Team 7, and Baek Young-hee will personally handle the recruitment of Wang Gu-ho.
Of course, I had no intention of just playing and eating until then.
“hey. kid.”
Lily, who was looking at a picture book for studying Korean, turned to me with a sulky face.
“why?”
The little boy was still sulking at me because of what happened at lunch.
Of course, there was a simple way to solve that problem.
“Shall we go eat something delicious for dinner?”
Twitch.
The swollen cheeks moved.
But even the little boy had pride in his subjects, he said bluntly, turning his head to the side.
“I’m not hungry.”
“really? Are not you hungry? “Not one?”
“…I’m not really hungry.”
There was a clear hint of concern in his voice.
I shook my head as if there was nothing I could do.
“it’s a shame. I was planning to go eat something really delicious. “It’s just as delicious as chicken…”
At that moment, Lily shouted with a face that made no sense.
“Something as delicious as chicken? lie!”
I grinned and looked at the clueless little boy.
“Kid. The world is wide and there is a lot of food. “There are foods on this planet that are equal to or better than chicken.”
Gulp.
Lily swallowed and jumped up from her seat.
Then he jumped in front of me and shouted.
“Let’s go eat that!”
“He said he wasn’t hungry.”
“I’m hungry again!”
“Are you going to listen to me carefully from now on? “Are you enjoying the food I cooked?”
“…….”
“Look at this? “You are exercising your right to remain silent at such an important time?”
After a while, Lily sighed and said.
“okay. “I’ll eat what you made too… Phew…”
It was a very unpleasant sigh, but I, being an adult, decided to endure it.
“Let’s go eat that delicious food quickly!”
“for a moment.”
I said, placing my hand on the forehead of the fussy little boy.
“There is a proverb in our country like this.”
I don’t know if this is exactly a Korean proverb.
It may not seem like it.
After all,
“He who does not work must not eat.”
“yes? what is that?”
I said with a grin.
“You have to work first before you can eat.”
After a while, I left the tent with a disapproving little boy by my side.
Today I was planning on going on a treasure hunt that I had put off.
***
We left the tent and moved around quite a bit.
Outside the control area, there are wild animals, criminals, and the further you go, the more monsters there are.
I held the little boy by my side and ran, avoiding the monster as much as possible.
Whick! Swish!
Most of the monsters outside the control area were those that appeared during the First Gate.
At that time, the surviving monsters were forming groups or living in their own territories.
Some of them even multiplied and increased their population.
Just like those guys I see right now.
“…there are more than I thought.”
I was looking at the village of Uruk through a telescope on a hill.
Uruk. A bipedal monster with gray skin.
Although they were weaker than Orgos or Trolls, they were a warlike race that acted in groups and killed any other creatures that entered their territory.
I looked at the village through a telescope and estimated their number.
“Approximately 200 or so.”
About a year from now, the government will form a large-scale punitive force and wipe out that village.
At that time, I was included in the punitive force consisting of superhumans and the military.
Of course, I didn’t do much in that battle.
Because it was just one of the many supporting roles in the punitive force.
But I clearly remembered what happened at that time.
“There’s a treasure hidden inside.”
I was looking at the huge stone statue in the center of Ukr Village.
It was a stone statue of a roaring warrior, and it glowed softly even at night.
A relic from another dimension that came from the First Gate.
The treasure I was trying to get was inside that stone statue.
“The problem is how to get to that place…”
The location of the stone statue is in the center of the village.
Moreover, the Uruks were holding up that statue as if it were a statue of a god.
I looked around the village with a telescope and talked to Lily next to me.
“kid. “I’m not really looking forward to it, but do you have any opinions?”
“…….”
Since there was no answer, I glanced to the side and saw that Lily was looking around, not at the village.
For some reason, he seemed restless.
“…Do you need to pee? Who wants to go over there and come?”
“That’s not it!”
The little boy pinched my side hard. And then I kept my mouth shut, as if I was annoyed.
Otherwise, why are you making such a fuss?
I stood up, rubbing the pinched spot.
“For now, wait here. “I will try to infiltrate by myself.”
Slurp.
It’s been a while since I used [Stealth].
My appearance assimilated into the surrounding scenery and I hid inside the Uruk village.
If there was a magic alarm device or something, I would have been more careful, but there was no way there was such a thing in Uruk Village.
It was easier to sneak into the village than I thought.
Walking carefully so as not to make any noise, I gradually approached the stone statue in the center of the village.
“…….”
There are about ten of them standing guard around the statue.
If you do your best, you may be able to quickly kill them and take items from the statue and escape before you are surrounded.
…Shall we do it here?
It was a time when I couldn’t make a decision and was clenching and unclenching my fists.
Crrrrr!
With a soft cry, a huge Uruk walked out of the large hut to the left of the statue.
It’s twice as big as the other guys.
An Uruk with white fur, not gray.
As he walked out, the other Uruks stepped aside and whined.
“…….”
The moment I saw that white Uruk, an old memory came to mind.
In the past, in the punitive force, more than 50 people were torn to death by that guy’s hands.
He was the leader of this village and an incredibly strong mutant.
Crrrrr….
The white guy walked up to the statue, bared his teeth and looked around.
It seemed like he sensed my presence.
Of course, my personality [stealth] is not an absolute ability.
Any superhuman or monster with sensitive senses could have sensed my presence.
Of course, if I had fully recovered my skills, I could rip that guy’s head off right before my eyes.
…That’s still a long way off.
I quietly took a step back.
Fortunately, he couldn’t pinpoint my location, so I was able to get out of the village safely.
“Phew…”
When I returned to the hill, I sighed and canceled my hiding.
The first attempt is a failure.
“What happened?”
Lily looked at me and asked with a sullen expression.
“There are too many boundaries. And that white guy…”
To be honest, it’s still difficult to fight head-on.
If you do a sneak attack, the probability of success is about half. However, the risk of failure is too great.
You will be surrounded by as many as 200 enemies in an instant.
After thinking about this and that, I came up with a new method.
“kid. “Let’s set a fire and draw their attention.”
After a while, flames erupted from the outskirts of Uruk Village.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
The Uruks who saw this came rushing in.
They screamed and threw dirt at the fire, saying they were going to put it out.
Slurp.
I took that opportunity to approach the statue again.
There was a little arsonist on my back.
Right now, with my [Stealth], I was able to cover at least one kid.
Of course, you have to be several times more careful than when you are alone.
As I approached the statue, I saw that all the guards around it were preoccupied with the flames.
Fortunately, the white guy wasn’t visible either.
Now, if you just take the object out of that statue…
Crrrrrrr!
“…….”
I reflexively turned around at the sound coming from behind me.
At that moment, the white guy’s eyes met mine and I said,
“Hmph!”
The moment Lily took a breath, her hiding was broken.
“Kaaaaaaan-!!”
I screamed as I looked at the white bastard rushing towards me while roaring.
“Fuck you!”
I immediately turned around and ran until my soles were sweaty.
The white guy and his subordinate Uruks were screaming and chasing us.
It took about 10 minutes to run away like that.
After barely getting rid of them, I lay down on the floor and caught my breath.
“Haa… haa….”
The second attempt also failed.
Should I just go somewhere else instead of there?
I thought about that for a moment, but then quickly shook my head.
“There is no choice. Fortunately, this is the least difficult place…”
“Here! “Here!”
At that time, the little boy who was comfortably riding on my back while I was running away looked around and shouted.
I looked at the kid with a puzzled expression.
“What is here?”
“This is where I crossed the dimensional gate!”
I was wondering why you were looking around so much earlier. That was it.
Lily crossed the dimensional gate from the continent of Gaia and came to Earth, where she met me and became my number one subordinate.
Now that I think about it again, I am a huge benefactor to this little boy.
This guy was being chased by criminal gangs before he met me, and if I hadn’t saved him then…
…Wait a minute.
“Then is there a hideout for those bad guys around here?”
Lily pointed in one direction with her little finger.
“There’s that cave over there. When I came out of the gate, I was inside that cave, but those guys tried to catch me, so I ran away.”
I looked back and forth between the cave Lily had mentioned and the direction we had fled.
I never would have thought that a criminal organization’s hideout and a monster village were just 10 minutes away.
If you do this well…
“Have you seen how many people are in the cave?”
“I think there are over 100 people…”
“The number is just right.”
As an idea occurred to me, a smile grew on my face.
[Treasure Hunt (2)] End
ⓒ Ganjjajang