The Cook of a Perished World - Chapter 32
Episode 32 Article (4)
Quiik.
The glass door of the old official building opens and an unpleasant friction sound spreads.
Did the residents of the official residence sense the entry of an outsider?
Kruk….
Kahaak.
The sounds of heavy breathing began to echo from all directions.
Even for people with fairly good hearing, it would be nearly impossible to determine the origin of each sound in this place.
but.
“Is it there!”
If it were a monster’s hearing that surpassed that of a human, it would be a different story.
The soldier who entered ahead plunged his sword into the closet near the entrance.
OK.
Wow.
A zombie whose body was grotesquely crumpled in a closet.
The body of the successor, who was scheduled to return from vacation, collapsed in half.
A soldier plunges a knife into the head of a zombie that was trying to attack him even with his torso cut in half.
The reason why the enemy’s location could be accurately detected from sounds echoing from all directions.
It is thanks to this characteristic.
[Characteristic: Sensitive hearing (deterioration)]
[Extremely sensitive hearing that only some races are born with. A small sound coming from several kilometers away, or the footsteps of ants coming from the battlefield. There is no way to be free from these sensitive ears.
[However, side effects may appear due to deterioration.]
Hearing that only some races are born with.
Of course, it is not a characteristic that it originally had.
A dish I made.
Effect of [Well-grilled Alaur earlobe with calm emotions from a junior chef].
‘When I made a dish with lizard meat. ‘I did it just in case.’
A phrase that appears when eating a dish made with lizard meat
[The magic power of the ‘Steel Lizard’ contained in the dish seeps into the body. Physical resistance increases significantly.]
Cooking containing magical power.
It is understandable that cooking performance improves.
But suddenly, physical resistance increased significantly.
‘The first thing that comes to mind is the lizards’ hard scales. And leather.’
The hypothesis I came up with was this:
Perhaps the scales and leather were so strengthened by the magic power of the lizards.
And if you cook with monster meat, the influence of magical power remains in the dish and provides physical resistance to those who eat it.
‘then. What about monsters with different characteristics?’
It’s half a gamble.
We don’t even know exactly how the effects of magic appear.
Even if my hypothesis was correct, I couldn’t know what characteristics would be reflected in the dish.
There is at least one way to prove my hypothesis.
‘If they are monsters whose characteristics are blatantly obvious. ‘You can guess what you’re going to get.’
Alaur eavesdrops.
Both the appearance and the characteristics learned through the eyes of a chef.
‘A monster whose stats are clearly limited to hearing.’
If my hypothesis is correct.
I was hoping that I would be able to get a hearing-related buff through Alaur’s cooking.
And sure enough.
The prediction was as accurate as a ghost.
Succeeded in temporarily acquiring the characteristic of ‘sensitive hearing (deterioration)’.
The problem is the word (deterioration) attached to the characteristic.
The question is, what kind of side effects are there?
“great!”
The soldier who finished off the zombie looked at me with sparkling eyes and said.
“I think I can tell exactly where the enemy is just by sound! “This is possible just by eating the dish…!”
A soldier amazed by the effectiveness of my cooking.
I am both grateful and proud.
I’m proud, though.
“Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
why? how who who who who who who who?? men and horses.”
The phrase (deterioration) appears to have been added because the magic power and characteristics of other monsters were forcibly drawn from it.
The side effects were simple.
“My ears are going to break, damn it.”
“Ah. “I’m sorry.”
My ears really hurt as if they were going to break.
It’s good that your hearing has become more sensitive.
It seems that brain function is not optimized to match the heightened sensitivity of hearing.
‘The world. It feels like it’s full of sound.’
To the extent that you can hear small sounds that you wouldn’t normally have noticed.
Voices that would normally sound normal rang loudly like thunder.
‘I’m glad it’s only a little painful.’
I wondered what would happen if the effect of that characteristic was reduced due to deterioration.
Fortunately, it had no effect on the effect at all.
My unit members and I were silent.
We nodded while making eye contact.
A full-scale war of subjugation of the official residence.
no.
It was the beginning of cleaning.
* * *
-Kaaaaagh!
“It’s noisy, Sergeant Jang!”
Kwasik.
Let’s become able to accurately determine the location of zombies through sensitive hearing.
In the first place, dealing with zombies that had no special combat power was a simple task, if not difficult.
How many buildings have been cleaned like that?
My squad members and I moved on to clean the next building.
However, there were people already gathered in front of the next building.
“Is Youngjun here?”
“It seems like Sergeant Shin’s speed was similar.”
Two other squads.
We had agreed to split into squads and clear the building, each starting from a different direction.
But the fact that all three squads are gathered here.
“Is this the last building?”
“I think so.”
Last building.
Compared to other official buildings, this place feels strangely modern.
This is for executives.
Among them, it was a lodging for officers, not non-commissioned officers.
“Then we will enter.”
Soldiers entering, speaking in low voices.
Several buildings have already been cleaned without any difficulty.
There was no hesitation.
Kaaaaak….
Kwasik.
Cleaning began from the first floor of the building, cutting off the heads of former unit members.
Cleaning progressed quickly and we were able to quickly reach the final third floor.
When I arrived at the third floor, I opened the next door with my squad members.
A familiar sound of heavy breathing could be heard coming from inside.
I opened the door thinking it was another executive zombie.
When I looked inside, I couldn’t help but flinch for a moment.
Wow…
What was in the room was the same zombies as the ones we had cut down so far.
But there is one difference.
“Battalion Commander.”
That zombie is the battalion commander of our unit.
It was Major Kwak Han-jung.
‘Battalion Commander… Now that I think about it, you said that because of your children’s studies, your family is in Seoul and you are living alone as a wild goose dad at the unit’s official residence.’
A story I heard in passing during my military service passes through my head.
A gaunt-looking battalion commander wearing yellow sleeveless shirts and drooling.
When I saw that, all sorts of thoughts came to mind.
The person who would have originally been in command of our unit.
He is different from the indecisive Lieutenant Kim.
Even though the soldiers could be irritated at times, everyone acknowledged his ability as a commander.
The person who should have been in my place is now like this.
“Let me handle it-”
“No.”
I reached out my hand and stopped a squad member from trying to deal with it without thinking about it.
There’s no particular reason.
“I do it.”
Cutting down the commander of the 423rd Battalion.
I thought it was something I had to do as the guild leader of the Steel Legion.
Sreung.
He took out a kitchen knife in his left hand and approached the battalion commander’s zombie.
Open the blade of your right hand and place it diagonally near your forehead.
Then he straightened his back and opened his mouth.
“Loyalty.”
Salute to the battalion commander.
“Sergeant Shin Young-jun. “Can you excuse me for a moment?”
“Keeeeee…?”
listen to my voice
Major Kwak Han-jung’s half-blown face is tilted towards me.
“Keek!!!”
“Then I assume you have given permission.”
“…Keeeeeeeeek!!!”
“Excuse me?”
Major Kwak Han-jung runs towards him screaming.
I held the kitchen knife diagonally in front of his neck.
[Level Dagger Skill]
That was enough.
Suddenly,
the rotten head of the battalion commander falls to the floor.
The fallen body no longer moved.
‘Whoa.’
My feelings become strangely complicated.
I took a rag out of my pocket and was wiping away the rotten blood on the kitchen knife.
I felt strange gazes from behind my back.
“….”
Let’s look back.
Soldiers who had no idea when they had gathered were standing in front of the door.
These people are looking at me and the corpse of the battalion commander.
‘hmm.’
What should I say about sending the battalion commander directly?
It was like my own little ritual.
Did the soldiers who were watching also roughly guess the meaning of this action?
These people are watching me with stern expressions.
I decided to give them an order.
As the apparent commander of this unit.
“The battle is over. “Let’s sort it out.”
“yes!”
* * *
That was the end of the zombie cleanup of the official residence.
But there was still some cleaning left to do.
‘First of all, I added [Sauce of Calm Emotions] to Alaur meat. But the bad feeling stays for a long time.’
Among the zombies, many of them were close friends of the unit members when they were alive.
If you just skip it, the aftertaste won’t be very good.
I gave an order to my troops.
“Gather the bodies of the dead unit members in the center of the vacant lot of the official residence. “Please collect the dog tags separately as well.”
“All right.”
“Is there a reason to gather them all in one place?”
I nodded to the soldier’s question.
“We have to hold a funeral.”
Together with the soldiers, we began the task of collecting the bodies and retrieving the dog tags.
Before starting work, I sent a guild message and contacted Seo Soo-hyuk, who was waiting at the farmhouse.
By the time all bodies and dog tags had been recovered.
Former unit members and survivors gathered at the official residence.
“I’ll light it on fire.”
“request.”
Hwareuk.
The corpses gathered in one place are set on fire.
There is no one who has the time or knowledge of proper etiquette to hold a funeral according to etiquette.
The funeral was held informally.
“Major Kwak Han-jung. Captain Choi Jae-hyuk. “Lieutenant Ahn Kyung-su-”
Standing in front of the burning corpses, I recited the names written on the dog tags one by one.
“-Long sentence private.”
After saying the last name.
“They were all great soldiers.”
The funeral was held in an informal manner.
I turned around and looked at the members of the unit who were attending the funeral.
There were many soldiers whose eyes were red as if someone close to them had died.
The survivors looking at it also had stiff faces, probably because they thought it was not someone else’s story.
match!
I clapped my hands to get the unit’s attention on me.
He said in a loud voice.
“Since the funeral was held, everyone must have gone to a good place. “Don’t regret it anymore.”
I feel sorry for those who died.
There is no time to worry any more about them.
“From now on, we will only focus on those of us who survived. “Do you understand?”
“…yes!”
There may be some very sad soldiers, but they all seem to understand what I mean.
The soldiers, who were in a depressed mood, answered loudly as if they had never done so before.
Maybe some of the people who went on vacation are still alive.
Excluding that emergency, we are the last survivors of the 423rd Battalion.
As long as we survive, the unit’s legacy will not be cut off.
“Let’s get to work right away. The official residence was quite messy. Let’s start with cleaning. “Oh, it’s not zombie cleaning, it’s real cleaning.”
“Tsk tsk. “We know.”
“Oh, and there was a stream near the official residence, right? Some people take out a few plastic bottles from inside and get some water. also-.”
After clearing away any lingering feelings about the dead through funerals.
Work to turn the official residence into a temporary headquarters began in earnest.
Unit members busily starting work as if they had never been sad.
“If you collect trash, you can burn it later.”
“Incredible.”
“huh?”
He’s giving orders like that.
Before I knew it, Lee Sang-ah approached me and started talking.
“Amazing?”
“Because I have also led a survivor group. How can you do that? “It’s almost awe-inspiring, isn’t it?”
ah.
Could it be that you are saying this after seeing him leading the soldiers?
“I feel like I’m going to shrink to death doing something I’ve never done before. what.”
“If you’re this good at something you’ve never done before, doesn’t that mean you have talent?”
“Because I’m really embarrassed. “Let’s stop.”
Even things like funerals were really embarrassing.
I did it because it had to be done.
She continued speaking as if it didn’t matter how I felt.
“The same goes for the effects of cooking. “I wish it were someone like you leading our group of survivors.”
But the content was a little dark.
“Then no one would have died.”
“Have you already forgotten what I ordered?”
“yes?”
I slowly moved my chin and pointed to a corner of the vacant lot.
The survivors she led were cleaning the official residence.
“Focus only on those who survived. No matter who died in the past. Because he survived and became a member of our unit. “Think first about doing well as a member of the unit.”
“…yes. sorry.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. instead.”
I gently hand over the item I was holding to her.
It was a large water container.
“Is there a stream over there? “Get some water from there, Captain Lee Sang-ah.”
“…yes.”
Because you are now a member of my unit.
Shouldn’t you work hard?