Chapter 7

. Increasing the Number of Awakeners (4)

“How on earth did you do it?”

“Ah, I just cooked something tasty for him! Listened to what he had to say! That’s all, I’m telling you?”

It was good that I had successfully awakened Gwang-il, but maybe because the effect was too good.

Sergeant Lee Minjae didn’t seem to believe what I was saying.

“You had that kind of persuasive talent in you…”

“Hyung, people’s hearts are all like that. Even if they’re worn out and scared. Eat a good meal, vent everything that’s piled up inside, nice and freely. Then it all loosens up, I’m telling you? You can’t ignore the power of listening.”

“I-Is that how it works?”

No, of course not. It was the effect of my skill, 『The Head Chef’s Special Sauce』.

‘…But I can’t reveal that.’

This wasn’t like the 『Lowest-Grade Dagger Mastery』 I’d shown people.

『The Head Chef’s Special Sauce』 manipulates people’s emotions.

At first, I thought it would just slightly improve or worsen someone’s mood, so I didn’t think much of it…But after seeing Corporal Jeon today, this was on a whole different level.

You could practically call it temporary personality remodeling.

‘It could be dangerous if this gets out.’

For now, it’s better to keep it hidden.

“…Hey, do you know what job Jeon Gwang-il ended up getting?”

“What is it?”

“He became a Berserker. They say he even got a trait where his combat power increases in exchange for his sanity.”

“…”

That wasn’t what I intended.

‘It was supposed to be courage, courage… Why did it turn out like that?’

If I had to guess, it was probably because the drug effect was too strong.

『This dish is made for a specific target. If the corresponding target consumes the dish, the dish’s effect is increased.』

There was a line like this on the dish I fed to Gwang-il.

‘When I used it to reassure the soldiers, it was 100 servings, and this time it was just 1 serving.’

It might not have been a hundredfold increase, but the effect must have been amplified.

Even in games, single-target buffs are usually stronger than area buffs. What Gwang-il showed was probably the result of getting way too much courage.

“…Gwang-il was big to begin with and looked like he’d be good at fighting. Maybe he had talent in that direction.”

“That gentle guy?”

Lee Minjae still seemed suspicious, but there was no way I could tell him the truth.

“Anyway, from now on, send any soldiers who are up for Awakening to me. It’s a dangerous thing, so at least we should feed them something special.”

“Is that okay? We’re not exactly swimming in food, you know?”

“Most of the remaining food is emergency preserved rations anyway. The other ingredients will rot if we don’t use them quickly. There are fewer mouths to feed because so many people died, right? If we want to use up the fresh ingredients before they go bad, we actually have to feed people a lot.”

Military rations are largely divided into three types. Regular meals made from ingredients supplied two or three times a week.

Combat rations meant to be eaten in the field. Emergency rations piled up in Warehouse Type 1. Emergency rations are stockpiled in large quantities in case supply lines are cut off due to sudden war.

The downside is that since they’re for emergencies, the menu is monotonous and limited.

Mostly canned curry, black bean sauce, and soups.

As for combat rations… there’s no need to even mention the quality.

In practice, the only thing that can be called a proper meal is the regular food, but with supplies cut off.

‘The time when we can serve proper meals won’t last long.’

So it was better to feed people as much as we could without holding back. On top of that, emergency rations and combat rations don’t really involve any “cooking” process. It was questionable whether I could even make use of my ‘Cook’ job with those.

* * *

And so, increasing the number of Awakened in the unit began.

It wasn’t smooth sailing.

“Did you just kill it?”

“Yes. The resistance was too strong, so we had no choice… I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for, you did well.”

The monsters kept attacking the unit, and although the soldiers managed to fend them off. It wasn’t easy to whittle them down to the point where soldiers could approach and just deal the ‘finishing blow.’

‘Their vitality is too tough.’

It wasn’t for nothing that Taejun got hit by a counterattack from a monster. Even after pumping nearly ten bullets into them, many monsters thrashed about on the brink of death, refusing to let anyone get close.

If another soldier were to get injured by a monster like Taejun did, the unit’s morale would plummet. Awakening had to be carried out safely above all else, so the speed at which Awakened increased was inevitably slow.

Still, if you could call it an anomaly, there was a change.

The next one chosen to Awaken after Gwang-il was Corporal Seo Su-hyeok from the transport unit. Unlike Corporal Jeon, Corporal Seo Su-hyeok accepted Awakening without resistance. And then…

“My job says Shooter. But… what is this?”

Once again, messages appeared before my eyes.

『Party Formed!』

『You have successfully formed the minimum combat unit, a 『Party (5 members)』.』

『Large Region – ROK’s third party.』

『Small Region – ROK.17’s first party.』

『Achievement Unlocked – Let’s Get Together!』

『You have succeeded in forming a party faster than others!』

『A reward is given to those who are ahead of the curve.』

『3rd Place Reward – Growth Potion x10』

The reward was given immediately. Ten pills per person appeared before the eyes of the Awakened.

『Growth Potion』

『For a certain period of time, experience gain rate is increased by 500%.』

“…It’s getting more and more like a game.”

Party, the minimum standard unit mobilized to clear instance dungeons in games. It varies by game, but five people is exactly the size of a ‘party.’

“So five people… me, you, Taejun, Gwang-il, and Su-hyeok. That’s five, right?”

“I guess so? It’s kind of strange that Taejun is included even though he’s still unconscious in the infirmary.”

Gwang-il, who had also been watching the messages, spoke up.

“I’m more concerned about that ‘3rd place’ line.”

“Why?”

“If we’re third, that means there are first and second. Doesn’t that mean there are people in situations similar to ours? So probably outside the unit too, there are monsters…”

“Well…”

That was true.

“Sigh, I wonder what happened to my parents.”

Inside the unit, there were still quite a few soldiers who thought, ‘Maybe the monsters only attacked our unit?’

But judging from these messages, it was clear that there were at least other regions outside the unit facing similar situations. In the worst case, the families of the unit members might have also been swept up in monster attacks.

“Let’s not think only in the worst direction. It’s worrying what’s happening outside, but worrying doesn’t let us do anything. Our safety comes first, doesn’t it?”

“That’s true, but…”

“If they’re even giving achievement rewards, it probably means we’re quite ahead of others. Once our safety is secured, it won’t be too late to think about the rest.”

At that moment, Corporal Seo Su-hyeok, who had been listening quietly, frowned and spoke.

“This really rubs me the wrong way.”

“Hm?”

“Five people? There are more than a hundred survivors in the unit. Are you saying those who haven’t Awakened don’t even count as people?”

“…”

“Only the Awakened are treated as people? I Awakened to survive, sure, but this is pretty damn annoying.”

He wasn’t wrong. It was already disorienting enough that the world had suddenly changed. And in that changed world, non-Awakened humans weren’t even being counted as humans.

“By the way, you said your Awakened job was Shooter, right? How are your traits?”

“Um, Beginner Shooter. The trait says accuracy and power are enhanced when shooting.”

Come to think of it, Corporal Seo Su-hyeok had always been famous in the unit for his shooting skills.

“But shooting? We’re Awakening because we’re worried we’ll run out of bullets, though?”

“Ah, right?”

“…”

“…”

Fortunately, it wasn’t meaningless.

“Those monsters, even if you hit them with ten bullets, they still run wild. But Corporal Seo Su-hyeok’s bullets put them into critical condition with just two shots.”

Reducing the number of bullets needed to take down a monster meant saving bullets.

For the time being, Corporal Seo Su-hyeok was assigned the role of taking down monsters.

After that, increasing the number of Awakened continued.

“Is it my turn? Whew… alright.”

Like Corporal Seo Su-hyeok, some soldiers accepted Awakening without much complaint. And then there were those who, like Gwang-il, were trembling in fear and unable to move.

“H-Hng… I can’t do it… We’re all going to die…”

In such cases.

“Whoa, whoa. Calm down. Let’s eat something and talk.”

“Kheheh, let’s go! A glorious death awaits us!”

The solution was to serve them a special meal infused with a bit of courage.

“You…”

Every time I took someone away saying I’d persuade them, they came back brimming with courage. Sergeant Lee Minjae’s gaze grew a bit sharper each time he saw that, but…

‘For the unit’s cohesion, it can’t be helped.’

『Awakened: Shin Young-jun』

『Job: Novice Cook Lv. 1』

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

『Traits: Lowest-Grade Dagger Mastery, Lowest-Grade Cooking Mastery, Lowest-Grade Ingredient Appraisal, Lowest-Grade Fire Affinity』

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

『Points: 82pt』

『Talent: Large-Scale Cooking』

While Awakening the unit members like that, I also checked my own abilities.

First, the points.

“82? When did I rack that many up?”

I vaguely remembered seeing messages saying points increased when hunting monsters or cooking and feeding people.

It seemed the points had piled up quite a bit. In games, when you hear points, the place to use them is…

“…Point Shop?”

『Point Shop』

『Hard Rye Bread – 10pt』

『Ordinary Steel Sword – 30pt』

『Ordinary Shield – 30pt』

.

.

.

When I called out the name just in case, the Point Shop appeared before my eyes.

True to its name, there seemed to be various items, but nothing looked useful to me. They might be useful for combat classes like warriors or mages.

‘Rye bread… at least it means we won’t starve to death?’

The fact that there was food at all was meaningful, but the price was pretty steep.

If the time came when we had to live off that rye bread for three meals a day, I’d probably have to gather points pretty diligently.

I kept scrolling down to check what other items were available.

The most important thing I looked for was whether there were bullets, but it didn’t seem like guns or ammo were on the list.

At the very bottom, though, there were these.

『Stat Increase Potion (Strength)』 – 1,000pt

『Stat Increase Potion (Agility)』 – 1,000pt

『Stat Increase Potion (Mana)』 – 1,000pt

『Random Skill Book』 – 3,000pt

“I don’t know how good they are, but damn, they’re expensive…”

Items that could raise stats or grant new skills. Unfortunately, at present, the prices were completely out of reach.

Someday, I’d be able to buy them.

‘Next, skills and traits.’

『The Head Chef’s Special Sauce』, which tampered with the emotions of whoever ate the dish, was already proving its worth.

『Cook’s Eye』, which let me see how to process and cook targets, I’d more or less confirmed its effect, so I skipped over it.

『Lowest-Grade Dagger Mastery』

After testing it, I found I could lightly cut through solid logs with a sashimi knife. Not only that, but after sparring a bit with Gwang-il, who had Awakened as a ‘Berserker.’

“Did you used to work as a thug outside or something?”

“What are you talking about?”

Even though I’d never been in a fistfight in my life, let alone knife fighting, combat using a dagger felt naturally familiar, as if my body remembered it.

If this was only lowest-grade, what kind of things could you do at upper-grade?

It was a little scary.

『Lowest-Grade Fire Affinity』

I grabbed a hot pot with my bare hands, and it didn’t bother me.

I even tried putting my hand into open flames, and after about thirty seconds, it got hot and I quickly pulled my hand out.

『Lowest-Grade Ingredient Appraisal』

『Lowest-Grade Green Onion: An ordinary green onion with poor freshness and quality.』

It was literally a trait that let me see descriptions of ingredients. Thanks to this, I found out that all the ingredients supplied to the mess hall were lowest-grade.

‘Is this really a country?’

Fortunately, most of the ingredients that the cooks had separately bought were mid-grade, and occasionally there were even high-grade ingredients.

『Lowest-Grade Cooking Mastery』

I heard about this one from others.

“Young-jun, what the hell did you do to the food?”

“Minjae hyung? Why? Does it taste bad?”

“No, the taste is way better. More than that, it’s like I feel stronger somehow… To be blunt, my stats went up.”

“Ah.”

The stat bonuses like Strength +3 written on the finished dishes were starting to actually apply.

“Other people don’t seem to notice it, though.”

“It says it increases specific stats, right? Maybe soldiers who haven’t Awakened don’t even have stats to begin with, so they can’t feel it?”

Ah, that might be it.

To receive the effect of increasing stats, the target had to have ‘stats’ in the first place.

“At first I was like, what the hell is going on. But no matter how I think about it, it’s your cooking.”

On top of that, from what I heard. It seemed that the effects of eaten dishes didn’t appear as separate system messages.

Minjae hyung said he felt mysteriously stronger right after eating. He only confirmed the change after checking his status window.

‘Unless you have some special ability like my Ingredient Appraisal trait, the system probably doesn’t tell you about the effects of food.’

That made sense.

If it did, people would have talked about it the moment I used the ‘Special Sauce.’

“So how does it feel, really?”

“Honestly, it’s huge. My original Strength stat was 9, and it went up by 3. That’s 30% just numerically, and in terms of how it feels, it’s way more than that.”

There are plenty of games where you get buffs from eating food. But the size of that buff depends on the game. From Minjae hyung’s impression, at least in the ‘game’ we were in, the Cook class seemed pretty damn strong.

“If buffs like this are applied to the whole unit… you might end up being the core of our unit, Young-jun.”

“Come on, I’m just a mess hall soldier.”

After checking my abilities to some extent. And as the number of Awakened in the unit smoothly surpassed ten.

“Sergeants. You should come take a look at this.”

“What is it?”

“Th-There’s a monster!”

“Lizards? We should be getting used to those by now…”

“No, it’s a monster on a completely different level from those guys!”

An anomaly had appeared.