The Military Chef of a Ruined World

Chapter 16

In games, there are mainly two ways to increase ability levels.

Fixed-value increase and percentage increase.

‘With the token, it was a fixed-value increase.’

Fixed-value increases show more significant effects when the base abilities of the user is low.

Conversely, percentage increases show greater effects when the base abilities of the user is high.

And the ability of Lieutenant Kim, who just awakened, is precisely…

‘A percentage increase!’

If the token can instantly elevate the abilities of weaker unit members to a usable level, then Lieutenant Kim’s ‘Novice Command’ will exhibit higher efficiency as the base abilities of the unit members will increase by 10%.

Moreover…

Percentage increase buffs include fixed-value increase buffs in their calculations.

Since our unit already secured fixed-value increase buffs through the token, Lieutenant Kim’s abilities practically soared.

But that’s not all.

[Achievement: Irresistible Taste]

[Succeeded in completely controlling one person through cooking]

[This is one of the greatest achievements attainable as a chef]

[As a reward for the achievement, [Top Quality Ingredient: Dragon Heart] will be provided]

[You have acquired a massive amount of experience points]

[You will be promoted.]

[Apprentice Novice Chef lv. 10 → Junior Chef lv. 1]

[Achievement unlocked]

[Apprentice Novice Chef lv. 10]

“I didn’t level up for ages.”

I was puzzled by the level that hadn’t been increasing for a while.

But upon reaching level 10 and then immediately being promoted, it all makes sense.

‘Promotions are supposed to be tough.’

Firstly, I leveled up, and thereafter I checked if there were any changes to the stats after becoming a Junior Chef.

Firstly, the basic stat has increased.

This occurred with every level up but was slightly different now.

‘Stats used to increase by 1 with each level up, now they’re up by 2.’

Perhaps it’s because of the promotion.

It seemed that the stat increases per level up had also increased.

But that’s not all.

[Novice Grade Cooking Skills →Junior Grade Cooking Skills]

[Novice Grade Fire Resistance → Junior Grade Fire Resistance]

***

‘All the novice grade abilities have changed to junior grade abilities.’

The various abilities I had.

Novice grade Knife Proficiency, novice grade cooking skills, and so on.

All abilities, previously at the novice grade have now advanced to the junior grade.

Even at the novice grade, those abilities showcased mastery in their respective fields.

With those abilities advancing to the next level, I couldn’t even guess how much they’ve improved.

And finally…

[Skill – Combat Rations (new)]

[Sometimes in life, circumstances prevent us from having a proper meal]

[Soldiers participating in combat are a prime example! Enhancing the taste of combat rations for morale boosting during field operations has been a key task for all military leaders]

[If they discover you, they’ll want to recruit you no matter what!]

[Now it is possible to manufacture combat rations for field use]

[Combat rations, while slightly inferior in stats compared to regular meals, are easy to carry due to their long shelf life and compact size. Taste is guaranteed as well]

Combat rations.

The same items that Lieutenant Kim found agonizingly tasteless.

“Well, it’s tough to provide meals to every soldier when the battle intensifies.”

Combat rations created by this skill are different from those of regular military units.

Although they may be slightly inferior to regular meals, the increase in stats is undeniable.

And depending on the chef’s skill, the taste is also guaranteed.

“Not bad.”

This skill seems quite useful.

What’s important is that I’ve achieved significant growth in my own way.

And, I’ve also succeeded in making Lieutenant Kim surrender.

Now, onto the next step.

“Sergeant Shin Young-joon. It’s about time…”

“Yeah. We just finished preparing on our end as well.”

The survivors who came to our unit.

I’m ready to engage in conversation with them.

“Lieutenant Kim, I trust you understand what I’ve explained?”

“Leave all the talking to the soldiers, and I’ll just nod along in the background… Okay, no, I got it.”

Lieutenant Kim has become completely submissive after eating my cooking.

Now he was perfectly obedient to my commands.

The sudden change in Lieutenant Kim, from being difficult to manage to suddenly becoming compliant, surprised everyone in the unit.

“Please mind your manners.”

“Hmm, uh, understood…”

Though I was recognized as a leader among the soldiers.

But ultimately it was Lieutenant Kim who held the highest command in our unit.

So, for external activities, Lieutenant Kim was decided to represent our unit.

Rather than me, a mere cook, Lieutenant Kim, with his reasonably plausible rank, seemed more fitting to outsiders.

Not because Lieutenant Kim lacked any actual competency or diligence, but rather…

Lieutenant Kim had the charm of a capable officer in appearance, speaking well and adept at political maneuvering, despite lacking in actual work performance.

Since Lieutenant Kim now couldn’t be satisfied without my cooking, there was no need to worry about him causing trouble without it.

“That habit of trying to be respectful to a soldier. It would be great if that could also be achieved.

Anyway, the first external task for Lieutenant Kim after his forced change of heart was…

Engaging in a dialogue with the survivors.

‘It may seem heartwarming to call it a dialogue.’

Both the soldiers and I considered this dialogue as a battle conducted through words.

‘Among them, there might be those who could pose a threat to us.’

Survivors who fled from the monsters.

Though they were victims and vulnerable, it didn’t mean they were trustworthy or benevolent.

‘We must be cautious.’

According to Taejun’s message, for some reason, we had to conceal our abilities from them.

So, our strategy for this conversation was simple.

‘Reveal as little information about ourselves and gather as much information as possible.’

With that in mind, we prepared ourselves mentally and entered the designated room.

“Hello. I’m Sergeant Lee Min-jae, in charge of this meeting.”

“Not Lieutenant Kim?”

“Lieutenant Kim will also participate in the meeting. However, since Lieutenant Kim is in charge of command, he suggested that those of us who handle fieldwork would be better suited to engage in discussions with the survivors.”

“Oh, I see.”

For now, Min-jae hyung stepped forward as our representative.

As the most educated member of our unit, smart and eloquent, Min-jae hyung tried to promote me as the leader, but after I commanded as the leader, he eventually agreed to represent us.

‘He accepted the leadership position, but that doesn’t mean he’s willing to take on all the annoying tasks. Anyway…’

We asked them to nominate representatives to participate in this conversation.

Since conversing with over twenty survivors individually could become unnecessarily complicated.

Thus, on our side, we had the most senior soldiers from each department, including Lieutenant Kim and Min-jae hyung.

And on their side, five men and women participated.

‘Did they send one person from each dormitory?’

Our third-floor dormitory was allocated entirely, with five people assigned per room.

I made sure that friends could share the same room, so it seemed like they sent one representative per room.

I glanced around, wondering if there was anyone here who asked about the number of battalions our unit had, but unfortunately, they didn’t seem to be present.

“I wonder if we can communicate well with ordinary soldiers.”

“These soldiers gathered here are the highest-ranking soldiers in each department responsible for the unit’s operations. If you have any questions or requests, feel free to ask.”

“Well, if there’s anything to ask… then just one thing.”

As expected, there was someone who pointed out that Lieutenant Kim didn’t appear as their representative.

A middle-aged man with a rather imposing stature.

While his appearance was intimidating, his attitude was outrageously arrogant, making him far from a respectable figure.

‘There are people like this sometimes.’

Those who consider themselves almost like superiors to soldiers because their taxes pay the soldiers’ salaries.

The man in front of us seemed to be one of those people.

“It’s not like that.”

“If it’s not like that, then what is it?”

“Mr. Park Gwon-chang!”

Though Park Gwon-chang seemed eager to argue, another survivor’s voice interrupted his tirade.

It was the young woman who first requested a conversation with us.

“Mr. Park, these people took time out of their busy schedules to meet with us. I understand your frustration, but it might be best to remain quiet for now.”

“…Fine.”

Mr. Park seemed to be a bit hot-headed, to put it nicely, or to put it not so nicely, it was as if he had ants in his pants.

Despite someone else interrupting his speech, Mr. Park showed slight dissatisfaction but ultimately acquiesced.

Through his reaction, it became apparent who the real representatives among the survivors were.

‘Based on appearance alone, I couldn’t have imagined.’

The woman, who looked to be in her mid-twenties at most.

She was the leader of the survivor group.

“I’m sorry. Mr. Gwon-chang has a bit of a fiery personality.”

“That’s okay. It’s true that we have our own issues. But as I said, there was no malicious intent…”

“I understand. Given the circumstances, it can’t be helped. My name is Lee Sang-ah. I used to work at a small tailor shop before this incident broke out.”

Fortunately, unlike Park Gwon-chang, Sang-ah, who seemed to be the representative, had a somewhat softer attitude.

“Well then, you mentioned you had something to say to us… but before that, could you explain how you ended up here in the mountains?”

“How we ended up here?”

“Yes. I know it’s a bit of a strange question, but our unit is quite remote. So, knowing why you came all the way here might be important.”

“Oh, I see.”

That wasn’t necessarily a lie.

Our unit was located in a deep mountainous area.

It took about an hour by car to get to the city from the mountain, a first-class secluded unit.

Due to its extreme isolation from society, the soldiers were granted extra leave to compensate, and the accessibility was poor.

So, it would be essential to know why they ended up here.

“Well, you see… as you all know, about two weeks ago, suddenly, monsters appeared. At the same time, all communication methods like the internet, TV, and phones were cut off.”

“That’s right.”

The situation during the appearance of the monsters seemed similar to ours.

“Attacked by various monsters, and even people who were attacked by the monsters became zombies over time… It caused tremendous chaos.”

Hmm, we were certainly in quite a bit of chaos too.

…

Huh?

‘It sounded similar, but I heard a different word.’

Zombies.

Didn’t they say zombies?

“Zombies?”

It wasn’t just me who thought that; another senior soldier sitting next to me casually questioned.

‘Hey, wait a minute!’

We shouldn’t show our surprised expressions before them.

“Yes. Is there a problem with zombies?”

Min-jae hyung hurriedly tried to smooth things over.

“Oh, no. In our unit, we don’t use the word ‘zombies’.”

“Hmm… But they definitely looked like zombies… So, what do we call them here?”

“…We call them ‘walkers’.”

Well, there was a drama that called them that.

“I see. Seems like many people here like dramas. I enjoyed that drama too. So, should we call them walkers too?”

“No, upon reflection, ‘zombies’ seems more accurate. We’ll go with that.”

“Well, anyway, as I was saying-”

It was a somewhat awkward excuse, but fortunately, it passed without much suspicion.

The senior soldier who had spoken out in surprise seemed to feel sorry, lowering his head and remained quiet.

‘While our situations seemed similar… there were some significant differences.’

Sang-ah’s story continued.

In summary, they had fled from various monsters and zombies, joined other survivors along the way, and had grown to their current size.

During their search for a safe place, one of the survivors mentioned, ‘By the way, there’s a military base on a nearby mountain.’

“That was me.”

The person who said that was a familiar face.

Someone else called for him.

‘Grandpa Park?’

When we escorted the survivors to their living quarters.

He was the old man who complained and suggested that the survivors should be put on the lower floors and the soldiers on the third floor.

“I have a friend who works in construction. He said he went to work at a military base, and it turned out that the base was in my neighborhood. I heard that there was a military base deep in these mountains, but that’s all I knew.”

“So, we decided to check out the base that Grandpa Park mentioned. That’s how we ended up here.”

There was nothing particularly strange about their story.

However, there were a few things that bothered our unit members.

‘Firstly, zombies.’

Our unit’s original strength was about 300 personnel.

Excluding officers and soldiers on leave, there were around 200 soldiers stationed in the unit.

On the day the monsters attacked, half of them were killed by the monsters.

But among them, not a single soldier turned into a zombie.

‘While our unit has referred to this situation as an apocalypse, we’ve never called it a zombie apocalypse.’

It’s not surprising, as there were no zombies in our unit.

On the surface, when people die, they’re said to become zombies and rise, but such a thing hadn’t happened in our unit.

Another point of confusion was the ‘various monsters.’

The only ones who attacked our unit were those lizard monsters.

But according to Sang-ah’s explanation, all kinds of monsters appeared and rampaged in the city below the mountain.

While zombies could be dealt with if they were numerous, like strong, robust men, without guns, there was no way to deal with most monsters.

“The problem with zombies is their numbers. A strong awakened could easily deal with them, but without a gun, there was no way to deal with most monsters.”

This part could still be somewhat guessed.

‘Until we took over the area, these mountains were the lizard creatures’ territory.’

The lizard creatures were also monsters that could tear humans apart without a gun.

Perhaps the lizard creatures drove out other monsters as they occupied the mountains.

If you didn’t know their weaknesses, they were powerful monsters with impenetrable scales.

And finally.

“Excuse me, but last time I saw, there were no weapons, not even guns or knives. All you had that time were iron pipes at most.”

“Yes.”

“How did you manage to get through between those monsters and zombies?”

“I thought someone would ask that question.”

After saying that, Sang-ah took a deep breath and spoke with a tense expression.

“I know it’s hard to believe… but I awakened psychic abilities.”

It seemed like she had prepared herself before speaking.

From our perspective, it was the expected statement.

Of course, there couldn’t be no awakened individuals.

“Among our 25 members, I’m the only one awakened.”

“Really?”

She was so candid about their abilities that it made us wonder if we were the bad guys trying to hide them.

A woman who confidently boasted about their powers.

“Thanks to those psychic abilities, we were able to break through the zombies and make it this far.”

“…”

“Of course, it’s not easy to believe.”

Seeing our slightly startled reactions to their open display of power, she reached into her pocket as if she thought we didn’t believe in psychic abilities and pulled something out.

What she pulled out in her hands were scissors.

They were large scissors, though not huge, compared to ordinary ones, about the size you could hold with one hand.

“These are tailoring scissors. They’re used for sewing curtains and such, so they’re quite large compared to regular scissors.”

“I see.”

“And, um, excuse me.”

After saying that, she brought the scissors down onto the wooden desk we were sitting at.

And then…

Slice.

The scissors effortlessly cut through the wooden desk.

It was a quite surreal sight, reminiscent of when I proved the existence of awakening by cutting through a wooden desk with a kitchen knife.

“Something about this situation felt familiar.”

When I cut through the wooden desk with a kitchen knife, proving the existence of awakening.

It was quite similar in various ways.

“As always, I was working at the tailoring shop, and then some people who didn’t look like they were alive attacked the shop… I stabbed a zombie’s head with these scissors, and a message popped up saying I awakened as a seamstress, gaining various abilities. Thanks to that, I could cut off a zombie’s head with a single snip.”

“Impressive… So, is Sang-ah the only one with such abilities?”

While the survivors were honest about the awakened individuals, Min-jae hyung seemed to maintain an attitude of concealment regarding our side’s awakening.

“Yes. I awakened right after killing a zombie, but others didn’t. Another awakened person we met when encountering another survivor group had killed a zombie and awakened, but I’m not sure what the exact conditions are.”

Are zombies different from lizards?

Lizards had a 100% chance of awakening as long as the condition of killing up close was met.

But for some reason, there were cases where killing zombies didn’t result in awakening, unlike lizards.

As a result, among the group of about 25 survivors, Sang-ah was the only awakened individual, and the rest moved under Sang-ah’s protection.

That’s why she became the leader of the survivors.

“But…”

Sang-ah, who openly declared herself as the group’s sole awakened individual.

She extended her helping hand to others with her abilities.

She didn’t seem like a bad person.

But the words left by Taejun implied that there were people here who could harm us.

Non-awakened individuals didn’t seem like they could cause much harm.

But the man who asked me about my profession.

He asked similar questions to a few other soldiers afterward, so I can be sure.

That question was clearly aimed at finding out whether we were awakened or not.

In that case… isn’t there only one answer?

“They’re hiding it.”

There are awakened individuals who have awakened their abilities and hiding inside this group by mixing themselves with non-awakened civilians.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Translator: One Force

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