Chapter 42

The Ghost of the Mart (3)

『Ingredient Appraisal』

『Blue Droplet』

『Quality: High』

The target that made this text appear, was none other than an utterly ordinary-looking snack bag.

A “something-or-other droplet,” huh.

Not exactly a name you’d expect to be stuck on a bag of chips.

I casually shifted my body in front of it boldly.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

“Sergeant Shin? Did you call for us?”

When I said that while standing in front of the snacks, the soldiers who had been keeping watch nearby answered instead.

‘Sorry, but I’m going to ignore you guys for a moment.’

“Hey, you.”

“What are you doing—”

“Huh, this bastard’s got some nerve, doesn’t he?”

“Huh?”

Pointing exactly at the snack bag, I thrust my kitchen knife forward and said, “You’ve been found out, you little shit.”

That was the moment.

Paaahk!!!

The snack bag twisted grotesquely, and something like gray spikes burst out, aiming straight for my head.

“W-What the hell!”

“Sergeant Shin!?”

The soldiers who had been watching my strange behavior were thrown into panic at the sight, but…

‘If you’re expecting it, it’s not that hard to dodge!’

I avoided the spikes, and instead swung my knife at the snacks.

Squish!

The feeling was… how should I put it…It was similar to cutting into jelly.

『You have obtained experience points.』

Drip… drip…!

The appearance of the ordinary-looking snack bag changed. A silver-gray, jelly-like substance slid down from the shelf in the snack aisle.

“Sergeant Shin? What on earth is that?”

“The true identity of the ghost.”

“Huh?”

‘A ghost, my ass.’

Now that I’m looking at it, it’s ridiculous.

“No wonder it was hard to see, with camouflage this good.”

“You’ve been talking in riddles this whole time, we really don’t—”

“Camouflage.”

『‘Chef’s Eye’ is activated.』

『You have obtained ‘Low-Grade Cooking Manual – Processing Method for Blue Droplet.’』

『Processing Method for Blue Droplet.』

『The Blue Droplet is a demonic lifeform with the habit of mimicking its surroundings to lure prey.』

『In its original, non-camouflaged form, it consists of a silver-gray body made up of large amounts of liquid and a central core where magic power is concentrated. Some classify it as a subspecies of slime, but since it can regenerate as long as the core remains intact, the prevailing opinion is that it cannot truly be considered a slime.』

『The key to processing lies in the core at the center, which is essentially the droplet’s true body.』

“It’s not some ghost. It’s just camouflage, so good it’s creepy. Blending perfectly into the surroundings.”

“You mean this jelly thing?”

“Yeah. You just thought you couldn’t see it. In reality, it was right there in plain sight. It just looked exactly like the surrounding objects.”

After perfectly assimilating into the environment, it attacks prey from blind angles when they pass nearby.

The reason there were no additional attacks when we stopped was simple, there just happened to be none of them around us at that moment.

‘So they let you lower your guard while camouflaged, lure you deeper inside, and then start hunting.’

When prey panics at invisible attacks and tries to run, these things, blended into the environment, attack the humans running past like traps.

The reason the siblings survived was partly thanks to the adults’ sacrifice, but largely because they didn’t pass through the spots where these things were hiding.

They were just lucky.

“And those guys were unlucky.”

I hate to repeat something I said not long ago, but, Enemies that rely on hiding and stealth?

If they were actually strong, they wouldn’t need to do that in the first place, the fact that they resort to tactics like this means…

‘They’re not confident in a head-on fight!’

I raised my voice as I looked around at the soldiers.

“The weakness is simple! There should be a black, jelly-like core in the center of their transparent bodies! Destroy that and it’s over!”

“Huh? That’s easier said than done.”

“If we can’t tell which ones are monsters, knowing the weakness doesn’t help!”

“Leave that part to me.”

After confirming there were no more monsters on the shelf in front of me,

I scattered the snacks on the floor and stepped on top of them.

Then I surveyed the entire store.

『Aluminum』

『Glass Fiber』

『Filament』

『Synthetic Fiber』

『Blue Droplet』

“Gwang-il!”

“Yes! Corporal Jeon!”

“The dairy fridge next to you! Attack it!”

“Die!”

The unit members still had the ‘Courage’ I’d cooked up for them. The soldiers still looked a little shaken by the revelation of what the monsters really were, but once the order was given, they moved without the slightest hesitation.

Jeon Gwang-il hurled his fist at the refrigerator without a second thought.

Puwoook!

His fist sank deep into the inside of the fridge.

“There’s something in here!”

When he pulled his hand back out, a black sphere was clenched in his fist.

That thing was the monster’s core.

Crunch!

He crushed the core with the strength of his grip. The refrigerator itself then turned into silver-gray jelly and slumped down onto the floor.

“Target neutralized!”

“Good job, you bastard! Next, Byung-min!”

“Private Lee Byung-min!”

“The table in front of you! Smash it!”

“Charge! Charge!!!”

Crunch!

Inside the mart, among the stacks of merchandise, the monsters that had hidden themselves while disguising their forms,

Crack!

Squelch!

Squish…!

One by one, lost their cores and collapsed into formless puddles on the floor.

“…Just who are you, Sergeant Shin.”

“How are you even able to tell these things apart?”

Even as they were killing the monsters, the soldiers who hadn’t been able to identify them until just moments ago were staring at me in amazement.

‘Sorry, but I don’t have the luxury to answer those looks right now.’

“Next is Han-il!”

It’s a good thing that, unlike Chef’s Eye, the Ingredient Appraisal trait doesn’t consume magic power. Otherwise, I’d probably have passed out again.

After we had dealt with a considerable number of Blue Droplets,

Paaahhhk!

Suddenly, a loud sound echoed throughout the entire store.

“W-What was that?”

“What do you think? Look over there.”

“Ah.”

The source of the sound was quickly identified. The monsters that had been hiding all over the place by disguising themselves as objects…

“Looks like they finally realized there’s no point in hiding anymore.”

They revealed their silver-gray true forms.

“My god.”

“There were this many hiding in here?”

Once they all dropped their camouflage, what appeared before us were, at the very least, dozens of massive jelly-shaped monsters.

If these things were overwhelmingly powerful individuals, we might have had to stuff the food I made straight into their mouths like we did when we fought ‘Mac’ before.

“They dropped their camouflage, what were they expecting to achieve?”

“It’ll be easier to hunt them like this!”

These things’ problem was their camouflage ability.

They weren’t actually that strong…Just as we were about to charge in without hesitation,

“H-Huh?”

“These guys are transforming into something again!”

All the jellies began to wobble, and their forms changed drastically.

The shape they took was one we found quite familiar.

“Is that… a person?”

“They look female, sir.”

Holding a sword and a shield, a woman in her late twenties to early thirties.

She had a fairly muscular build for a woman.

The slightly strange part was, aside from the sword and shield, her outfit was completely modern. She was dressed like a career woman in a worn-out suit.

“Auntie Sun…”

Suyeon muttered under her breath at the sight.

What?

“That thing is Auntie Sun?”

“Huh?”

“…She looks a bit young to be called an auntie, doesn’t she?”

“Well, you know, to kids, anyone over twenty is an auntie, right?”

Auntie Sun, that was the name of the leader of the survivor group Suyeon had belonged to.

“She was an awakened warrior-type, right?”

“Yes.”

‘I see.’

“Hiding is pointless, and fighting in jelly form is awkward.”

“So they chose a form more suitable for combat, huh.”

There had to be a reason they chose that form. Maybe they could only take on the appearance of prey they had personally hunted?

They wouldn’t bother transforming just for appearances’ sake. That form was probably the strongest one they could assume.

“I don’t know for sure, but their combat power is probably similar to the original.”

“All of them… at that number?”

The number of monsters before our eyes, was about the same as our side, maybe slightly more on theirs.

In other words, we had to think of this as fighting an equal number of awakened warrior-types.

“That was a stupid move.”

“W-We should run away—”

“Huh? Why would we?”

“Auntie Sun was an awakened one! And there are dozens of them like that! We might not even be able to escape…”

‘Come to think of it, that woman was said to be pretty strong among the survivors, a combat-specialized warrior-type awakened. But sorry…’

“Kukuk, now it’s finally getting a little fun!”

“Try entertaining us a bit more!”

Crunch!

Baaang…!

The monsters that imitated those so-called formidable awakened warriors were being sliced apart by our soldiers.

“…Huh?”

“See? I told you.”

I spoke calmly to Suyeon, who was at a loss for words at the sight.

“That was a stupid move.”

If they were going to copy someone, they should’ve copied Gwang-il instead. A warrior-type awakened who was famous for being strong among survivors?

“That’s not exactly a phrase that suggests anything our soldiers would lose to, is it?”

We didn’t spend all that time in the mountains for nothing.

Levels raised by hunting lizards. Combat skills honed by a hundred awakened soldiers sparring with each other and tempered in real battles. Equipment made from the hides of lizards that could even withstand bullets and on top of that, the buffs from my cooking.

Sorry, but, for a single famous awakened individual to catch up to this, the gap is just way too big.

* * *

The battle ended without any danger whatsoever.

And since we won the fight, it was time for loot.

“Look at this! There’s a ton of rice here!”

“The fresh foods are all spoiled so they’re unusable, but we should be able to take the packaged side dishes.”

“When was the last time I saw ramen?”

Food.

“Toilet paper! It’s toilet paper!”

“Thank god. We can preserve our human dignity now…”

Daily necessities.

“It’s not a pharmacy, so there are only basic over-the-counter meds.”

“At this point, even this much is a blessing. More than anything, getting bandages and alcohol is huge.”

Medical supplies.

“Tch… haa…”

“I missed this taste.”

Even luxury items like cigarettes.

‘Jackpot.’

Considering we had a group of over a hundred people, even these would eventually run out, but at least we could put out the immediate fire.

‘No, this is way more than just putting out an immediate fire, isn’t it?’

The siblings standing dazed in the corner, I almost wanted to pinch their cheeks or something.

While the soldiers were loading the goods into the vehicles…

“Sergeant Shin?”

“Oh. You’re back?”

“The empty bottles you asked for. We brought them.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

“No, it’s nothing to thank us for, but…”

I had asked a few soldiers to gather some empty bottles.

“What are you going to use these for?”

“Mm. You’ll see.”

The empty bottles the soldiers brought…Into them, I started stuffing,

Plop…!

The silver-gray jelly spread across the floor,

『Blue Droplets』.

“Sergeant Shin? Don’t tell me you’re planning to use that for cooking too?”

“Oh. You’re pretty sharp.”

“Ugh…”

The soldiers recoiled in disgust. Even so, each of them held a bottle in one hand and squatted down, they started picking up the jellies together.

“The texture when you touch it, and the way it looks… no matter how you look at it, it’s like jelly. Are there really dishes that use something like this?”

“Recipes are something you can just make if you need them. Well, I’ll have to try making one myself too.”

No matter how you look at it, this was a monster that had camouflage abilities.

“If I cook it right, I think I could make something pretty incredible.”

As I was doing that…

“Yeong-jun.”

“Huh? What is it, hyung.”

Minjae came walking over from afar.

He smelled of cigarettes, like he’d just enjoyed one for the first time in a while.

“You’re planning to use these guys as ingredients too?”

“For now? Even if the result turns out worse than expected, it’s not like we’re losing anything.”

“Hmm. In that case… come over here for a second.”

“Huh?”

I followed Minjae to where he gestured.

There, several soldiers from the mage squad were standing.

“What is it?”

“You’ll see if you look inside there.”

Wondering what he meant, I stepped closer. What the soldiers were surrounding came into view.

“…Don’t tell me.”

“Just like you’re thinking.”

It was silver-gray jelly similar to what we had been collecting so far.

The difference was…

“It’s alive.”

“More or less.”

The core was still intact. It couldn’t move around actively, but it did seem to be alive.

“More or less? You usually kill them when you kill them. How did it end up like this?”

“Well. Since the mages and I aren’t confident in close combat, we attacked with magic. We were able to incapacitate them, so they couldn’t fight anymore, but…”

“But since you couldn’t blast the core directly, you couldn’t kill them, and they ended up just being subdued like this?”

“Pretty much. I thought it might help when you cook them.”

‘Hmm…’

I recalled the ‘Processing Method’ I had obtained with Chef’s Eye.

『Some classify it as a subspecies of slime, but since it can regenerate as long as the core remains intact, the prevailing opinion is that it cannot truly be considered a slime.』

‘The core is the key, and the rest isn’t that important, huh.’

If that’s the case, then the nutrition might also be concentrated in the core.

“Let’s take them.”

“Huh?”

“Is it okay to take living monsters with us?”

“These things’ means of attack were entirely through that silver-gray jelly. The core itself was just the weak point.”

The core was the main body, but it probably didn’t have any combat ability.

“I feel like the main body might have all the nutrition concentrated in it. If we can keep them fresh, I’d like to.”

“Well. If that’s your judgment, Sergeant.”

There were a few more monsters that Minjae and the mages had subdued.

We put their cores into bottles and sealed the openings.

‘…They won’t dry up and die if we keep them like this, right?’

After wrapping everything up, just as we were about to board the vehicles and return to base,

“…”

I saw Suyeon and Su-hyeok.

They were still standing there, staring at us blankly.

“What’s with that look? Like you’ve lost your mind.”

“…Those monsters. They really were about as strong as Auntie Sun.”

“Ah, yeah, that seems about right.”

“There were dozens of Auntie Suns, and yet they didn’t stand a chance…”

“Huh?”

“Oh, n-no, it’s nothing.”

Suyeon spoke while tightly holding her younger brother’s hand.

“I think this was a good trade.”

“Heh.”

“We gained a lot thanks to you too. Call it a win-win.”

“As promised, you’ll let us join the unit as members, right?”

“Yeah. But no free rides.”

Being under protection and actually joining were different things.

“Soon, you’ll have to pick up a weapon too. It probably won’t even take that long.”

You can’t just protect kids forever.

This world had become like this. Even if we want to protect you, there will be situations where we can’t.

You have to gain the strength to protect yourself.

“When we were with the survivor group, we didn’t freeload either.”

“I-I didn’t either!”

“Kukuk. Is that so.”

Come to think of it, the way she swung that axe at me back then was pretty fierce.

I had a feeling these kids would make good soldiers.

At the very least, I’d have to make them capable of pulling their own weight.

Of course, the awakening process would have to be carried out as safely as possible.

Now that I think about it, we had a temporary base in the form of official housing, even if it wasn’t perfect.

With vehicle modifications, our mobility had become relatively less restricted. And with the food and daily necessities we obtained today, we’d be able to hold out for a while.

‘Hmm…Things are a little more comfortable now.’

In that case…

“Since we’re on the topic, let’s start tomorrow.”

“…Huh?”

Finally…It feels like it’s time to start increasing the number of awakeners.