Chapter 1

“Uh… wouldn’t it be better to dig in and hold out?”

Lieutenant Kim spoke in a trembling voice. The expressions of several soldiers, including me, twisted into frowns. But a few others nodded at Lieutenant Kim’s words.

“They say our food supplies are completely gone now. In the end, we’ll have to abandon the unit and move.”

“B-But the food… since our unit is in the mountains, we could dig up kudzu roots or go hunting or something…”

“No, that’s not even a real suggestion…”

Corporal Park from the radar squad spoke as if frustrated, but the fear in the soldiers’ eyes did not fade. That was understandable…

* * *

One month ago.

Monsters suddenly appeared in the world, and many people died. We tried to contact the outside of the unit, but not only did normal calls fail, even the unit’s emergency contact network didn’t work, neither the intranet, nor the phones.

Even the military frequencies were completely dead. Anyone could predict that the outside world had gone to hell if even the emergency network wasn’t functioning.

“Still, this place is safe, isn’t it!”

“Up until now, sure.”

A unit located high in the mountains, a place even monsters would have difficulty finding. And above all, the intrusion barriers surrounding the unit.

Those were the reasons our unit had survived until now. Abandoning these advantages and moving was no different from suicide. But now our food was truly running out, and we had to abandon the fortress of the military base and move.

Still, the soldiers seemed excessively afraid.

“Well, whatever. It’s lunchtime, so let’s eat first, okay?”

I needed to feed them.

“Alright, today’s lunch is beef bone soup!”

Beef bone soup, a menu with a decent taste that was popular among the soldiers. The rich meat broth and its high calories were perfect for soldiers who had to do exhausting work. And if you mixed in one special sauce, it was the icing on the cake.

I pretended to sprinkle salt into the boiling beef bone soup and used a skill.

[The Head Chef’s Secret Sauce – Courage]

[Delicious food moves people’s hearts.]

[The courage of those who eat the food increases.]

‘Done.’

The soldiers, their faces full of worry, took spoonfuls of the soup.

Lieutenant Kim also took a spoonful, his face still full of thoughts.

“Anyway, listen while you eat. Slurp, even if we have to go outside, gulp, going out right now is…”

“Are you scared?”

At my words, Lieutenant Kim flinched for a moment.

“Going out… I… go out…”

The sound of spoons dropping to the ground echoed here and there.

Finally, Lieutenant Kim sprang to his feet.

“Go oooout!! I said go out! Go out! Pack your bags right now, you bastards! You’re soldiers, and you’re scared of something like that?! You deer-like assholes!”

At his words, the entire unit began to respond.

“Damn it! Whatever, let’s just go out!”

“I’ve been stuck in the unit and feeling stifled anyway, let’s take a walk and cut down some monster heads!”

“Heh. Perfect as some after-meal exercise.”

“Kieeeeeeeeeeek!!!!”

“Long live the ROK Army!!!”

Listening to the bravest screech of “kieeeeeek” coming from Lieutenant Kim, who had been trembling the most, I smiled with satisfaction.

“People really do need to eat.”

Sergeant Shin Young-jun.

Age 23.

I am the cook responsible for this unit.

* * *

Chapter 1. Awakening

Daily life in the South Korean military is mostly uneventful. Unless there’s an inspection or training, every day is just a repetition of the same routine.

On weekends, at least the unit can take a small break from work and enjoy some rest. But there are departments where that isn’t the case.

“Sergeant Shin? Tonight’s menu is stir-fried squid, but I can’t find any squid.”

“What? How many times have I told you to properly check the supply list…”

“Sergeant Shin, Lieutenant Kim called. He says he doesn’t want to eat the fried mackerel for lunch, and asked if you could make him one more dish.”

“That bastard… haah, just tell him okay.”

The mess hall.

As the saying goes, combat power comes from nutrition, and the supply of that nutrition is the responsibility of the cooks. Meals are also connected to one of the three basic human desires. So whether it’s a weekend or not, there’s not a single day of rest.

If you serve tasteless food or the same food every day, the soldiers’ morale will inevitably hit rock bottom.

The cooks have to prepare a variety of menus every day at a level that’s at least edible. If any problem arises in this process, it all has to be solved with the cooks’ quick thinking.

“I-I’m sorry…”

“Sigh… forget it. The pork belly we set aside last time for the unit dinner, right? Instead of stir-fried squid for dinner, make stir-fried pork belly with that. The guys will like it. They go crazy for pork belly, so don’t forget to personally serve it to them.”

“Yes, sir!”

“And take out some cream and chicken from the fridge. Lieutenant Kim likes noodles, so if you make something like chicken pasta, he’ll probably eat it well.”

That’s roughly how it goes. Even on weekends, there’s no proper rest, and it’s an annoying job.

“At least you don’t have much time left until discharge. You’ve worked hard.”

“Yeah.”

That was the one small consolation, this crap was finally almost over.

I was a Sergeant just a few days away from my pre-discharge leave.

Of course, it’s not like cooks can relax just because they’re close to discharge.

“What are you planning to do after you’re discharged?”

“I don’t know.”

My junior’s question was something any soldier nearing discharge would think about at least once.

What will I do when I go back to society?

Of course, I did have some thoughts.

“I’m thinking of properly learning how to cook and opening a restaurant or something.”

“What? Isn’t the food service industry total hell these days?”

Even though I’m a cook.

I wasn’t someone who cooked from the start.

I just happened to be assigned the cook position. The cooking I first experienced in the military was closer to mass catering than actual cooking. But there was a reason I started wanting to do real cooking.

“Seeing the guys say my food is good makes me feel kind of proud. So I want to learn it properly.”

“Oh, then Sergeant Shin, why don’t you come to the restaurant I used to work at? I’ll teach you well as your senior.”

“Who do you think you’re helping? And I’m not interested in Japanese cuisine, you punk.”

My junior.

Junhyuk had been studying Japanese cuisine in society before enlisting.

The hierarchy in the culinary world is even harsher than in the military. There was no way I was going to enter as the junior of my own junior.

“Japanese cuisine isn’t bad, though.”

“Forget it, and I saw earlier that we’re running low on salt. Go get some from the storage warehouse.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ingredients like salt are stored in the supply warehouse a bit away from the mess hall building.

As I watched Junhyuk head out the back door of the mess hall toward the warehouse, I fell into my own thoughts for a moment.

“Japanese cuisine, huh…”

Maybe learning Japanese cuisine wouldn’t be so bad. Most of the cooking I learned in the military was Korean food, but there was no reason I had to stick to Korean food after discharge.

I hated the idea of entering as my junior’s junior, but learning at another restaurant wouldn’t be bad.

“No, still, the flower of cuisine is Western food.”

As I was thinking that and watching Junhyuk’s back.

Junhyuk opened the back door, and I saw him get pounced on by ‘something’ that jumped out from outside the door.

“Huh?”

At first, I thought someone was playing a prank.

Junhyuk often became the plaything of Sergeants because of his cute appearance, but that thought quickly disappeared. Because that something was biting into Junhyuk’s neck.

“J-Junhyuk!”

“Keu… keheok.”

I was flustered for a moment, but my body moved right away…It didn’t matter what that thing was.

‘I have to save him, quickly!’

I was panicked, but first, I had to save Junhyuk. With that thought, I grabbed a large cooking shovel nearby and lunged forward.

Crack!

I was a beat too late.

Rip, tear!

As the sound of flesh being torn rang out, pale pink something dangled from the monster’s mouth.

I didn’t know much about human anatomy, but…I knew that wasn’t something that was supposed to be torn out of a neck.

‘…Junhyuk is… dead…?’

The unreal scene of the junior I had been talking to just a few seconds ago having his organs scattered around.

At that grotesque sight, I froze in place, gripping the large shovel tightly.

“Sergeant Shin? What was that noise just now… huh?!”

The youngest guy who had been frying mackerel in the corner of the mess hall finally noticed Junhyuk and screamed in shock.

The shout snapped me back to my senses.

‘What the hell is that, damn it…’

Only then did I properly see the creature that had attacked Junhyuk. But seeing it didn’t mean I knew what it was.

If I had to compare it to something, maybe a lizard. Its entire body, including its streamlined face, was covered in thick scales, and it was almost as tall as a human. But unlike a snake, it had sharp teeth, and the hands rummaging through Junhyuk’s body had sharp claws. Its vertically slit reptilian eyes glistened grotesquely as they looked at me.

‘…Is it looking at me?’

‘It heard the youngest scream and looked this way!’

The monster, which had been busy tearing into Junhyuk, slowly raised its body. Anyone could tell it was aiming for its next prey.

How many people in their lives ever experience being in the position of prey?

My hands and feet trembled, and a chilling sensation ran through my entire body.

‘Damn it!’

I saw my junior’s corpse sprawled in a horrific state.

‘I don’t want to end up like that!’

“Hey, youngest!”

“Y-Yes?”

“Grab some tools!”

Leaving the youngest, who hurriedly looked for something that could be used as a weapon, behind.

I swung the large cooking shovel at the monster. A large shovel used for mass cooking is big enough, heavy enough, and solid enough.

If you swing it with real intent, it’s a weapon that could kill a person easily. But…

Clang!

A sound that should never come from a collision between a weapon and an animal rang out.

“Kreuk!”

“Aaah!”

It was as if I had swung it against a wall.

Instead, the arm I used to strike with went numb from the recoil.

I almost dropped the shovel from the pain, but the thought that losing my weapon would be the end flashed through my mind, and I managed to hold on.

‘It’s not even a chunk of steel…!’

Unlike me, who was shaking in pain. The monster seemed completely unfazed by being hit with the shovel and swung its claws at me.

‘Ghk!’

I felt pain in my arm, but because I had pulled my body back the moment I felt it, I barely managed to dodge. But thinking that even a moment later and there would have been another corpse made my heart pound wildly.

‘Those scales! I thought they looked damn thick!’

Their hardness seemed to be far beyond what it looked like.

“C-Sergeant Shin!? What the hell is that thing!?”

The panicked youngest called out to me, but I was just as panicked…Like hell I knew. It would’ve been better if a tiger roaming the mountains had attacked us.

‘Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why does a monster like that even exist in reality?’

Faced with the absurdity of the sudden monster attack, all I could do was curse in my head. The youngest hurriedly brought a large shovel like mine, but it probably wouldn’t mean much.

The monster’s body was completely wrapped in hard scales. It reminded me of a medieval knight in full plate armor.

‘They say that a single man-at-arms in full armor could massacre peasants armed with farm tools.’

Now that I was in the position of the peasants being slaughtered, I could feel it deep in my bones. No matter how much we swung our weapons, it would be a miracle if we even scratched the scales.

‘To deal with such a knight, you either have to exhaust him somehow, or pour boiling oil on him…’

‘Ah, there was a way to deal with it.’

‘Today’s lunch. Fried mackerel fillet…’

I didn’t know if this would work. But I had no intention of standing still and waiting to die.

I threw the large shovel I was holding with all my strength at the monster and hurled my body backward.

“Kuuaaaagh!”

Even though the shovel I threw with all my might hit its head, the monster only flinched slightly, as if that only enraged it.

I felt it charge straight at me.

‘Please, please, don’t be too late!’

In that brief moment when the monster flinched.

I crossed the narrow mess hall and reached the frying pot behind me.

The frying pot where oil was bubbling with fish scraps floating in it. With trembling hands, I grabbed a large ladle nearby and hastily plunged it into the oil.

Splaash!

“Kraaaagh!!!”

I splashed the boiling oil onto the monster that had come close enough that I could reach it with just an outstretched hand.

The proper temperature for frying oil is at least 180 degrees. Even in winter, just passing near a frying station makes you sweat from the heat. The monster that had the boiling oil poured directly onto its face began to writhe in agony.

‘Not yet!’

It looked like it was in agony, but the bastard was still alive. A normal person would have gone into shock from something like that.

But at least I confirmed that the oil attack worked.

I swung the ladle repeatedly, as if to empty the pot of oil entirely.

The heat of the boiling pot.

As I splashed the oil roughly, a few drops splattered onto me too, and they were insanely hot and painful.

‘Please die, please…!’

There was no time to care about that.

I grit my teeth, holding back tears that were starting to leak out.

“Keureuk…”

How many times had I splashed the oil like that?

By the time the mess hall floor was coated in slick oil. The monster that had been writhing in pain calmed down somewhat.

‘D-Did it die?’

It had stopped moving, at least…

‘It could be pretending to be dead.’

If I approached thinking it was dead and it was still alive, that would be disastrous.

I cautiously put some distance between myself and the monster.

“C-Sergeant Shin? Is this thing dead?”

But it seemed I wasn’t the only one thinking that. The youngest approached the monster with his shovel.

“H-Hey! It might still be alive, so be caref—!”

“J-Just checking if it’s really dead…”

Crunch!

As the youngest approached to flip the body over, the monster bit into his leg.

“Kyaaaaak!”

“Hey, youngest!”

I rushed over in a panic, but I had been keeping my distance from the monster just in case.

Riiip…!

By the time I arrived right in front of them, the monster was already tearing into the youngest’s abdomen. It had pretended to be at death’s door…Waiting for careless prey to come close.

‘T-The youngest too…’

Now I was truly the only one left. The fear that I might end up like that made my teeth chatter violently.

‘O-Oil. I need to pour more oil.’

I glanced at the oil pot.

There was no oil left in it anymore. For now, the monster was busy tearing into the youngest, but I didn’t know when it would turn its attention to me.

‘Do I run while it’s distracted? No, if I move recklessly and provoke it…’

As I frantically racked my brain for how to survive.

‘Huh?’

I saw something red on the monster’s back…Exposed between the pitch-black scales, A vividly reddened area.

‘Is that blood… bare skin?’

The monster’s entire body was covered in hard scales. But as a result of being doused in boiling oil repeatedly. The flesh had cooked, the scales had cracked, and the seared skin underneath was exposed in places.

Unlike the hard scales. The skin looked no different from that of an ordinary animal…An obvious weak point.

‘If I try to run and get chased, it’s really the end. In that case…’

While it was distracted by the youngest. It might be better to aim for the weak point.

The exposed skin area wasn’t very large, so hitting it with something like a shovel would probably be meaningless.

‘If I’m aiming for a weak point, I shouldn’t hit it, I should stab it.’

Fortunately, the mess hall had plenty of weapons suitable for stabbing. Trying not to stimulate the monster that was busy eating the youngest.

I covered my mouth with both hands and headed toward the knife rack in the corner of the mess hall. With trembling hands, I took out the longest and sharpest kitchen knife from the rack.

‘Junhyuk. I’m borrowing this.’

Junhyuk’s personal sashimi knife.

It was a knife he cherished, saying it was a gift from his master. A well-maintained blade sharp enough to cut with just a light touch.

“Kreuk, krreuk…”

The monster still seemed busy tearing into the youngest. It was my first time in my life seeing human entrails scattered around.

I felt like I was about to vomit, but I forced myself to endure.

‘Did pouring oil on its face blind it?’

Was it trying to recover nutrients to heal its wounds or something?

The monster seemed busy eating the youngest’s corpse. Thankfully, that made it not too hard to get behind it.

‘The spot to aim for is the neck…’

For any animal, if you injure the neck where the head connects to the body, it dies. There was no way the inside of the scales was also hard enough to deflect a knife, right?

‘One, two…!’

Through the gap where the scales near the neck had split open.

I plunged the sashimi knife in with all my strength.

“Kraaaah!”

Even after coming this far, it still had strength left. The monster struggled violently despite having its neck stabbed.

“P-Please, just die already…”

The oil I had splashed on it was still hot. And every time I was slammed into by the monster’s struggles with its armored body, it felt like being hit by a lump of iron.

“D-Die… you bastard…”

But I couldn’t lose either. Suppressing its resistance with my whole body.

With one hand pressing down on its head, and the other hand driving the sashimi knife in and out of its neck, twisting and gouging.

Every muscle in my body screamed. The painful time stretched on endlessly.

How long had passed like that?

“Keu… keureuk…”

When the strength completely drained from the monster’s violently struggling body. Strange messages appeared before my eyes.

Ding!

『Congratulations on your awakening!』

『Awakened: Shin Young-jun』

『Class: Novice Cook Lv. 1』

『Stats: Strength 9, Agility 10, Mana 8, Luck 9』

『Traits: Lowest-grade Dagger Proficiency, Lowest-grade Cooking Proficiency, Lowest-grade Ingredient Appraisal, Lowest-grade Fire Affinity』

『Skills: Cook’s Eye, Head Chef’s Special Sauce』

『Points: 0 pt』

『Unique talent detected from the awakened.』

『Talent: Large-Scale Cooking』

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“What the hell is this…?”