Chapter 16 – Hunt

===================

Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

Hunt.

Naturally, hunting existed in this apocalyptic world as well.

If the quarterly subjugations had a significant meaning in securing safety and procuring ingredients, hunting in this world was merely a pastime for the upper class.

In a way, it could be said to have the same meaning as hunting in reality.

Shooting and killing distant monsters with a sniper rifle from a tower prepared for high-ranking officers.

That was hunting in this world.

Betting on who could hunt more monsters within a time limit from a safe space was the typical method of hunting.

However, the hunting I was about to do from now on was not like that.

I was going to do a real hunt.

A hunt that was not for the purpose of amusement or betting, but truly to obtain meat.

“I have no intention of putting on airs by offering dishes made with meat hunted by others within the safe zone.”

“Are you serious?”

Meursault, who was dressed in thick clothes, asked me as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Going out of the zone to hunt? The two of us?”

Even when I dressed up warmly saying I was going to hunt, Meursault probably just passed it off, thinking a young child was paying attention to his attire to enjoy the romance of hunting.

Even when he went to Commander Hayden to report that he would go hunting with the young master, he probably never dreamed that the hunt he would do would be like this.

Seeing me head not to the tower but to the outskirts of the zone, and further and further outward, he felt suspicious and asked, ‘Where are we going right now?’, and only when I answered, ‘To hunt,’ did Meursault realize the reality.

“Unbelievable… with just a single gun… with a kid like that…”

As we went out of the zone, stepping deeply into the accumulated snow, Meursault’s pitiful muttering continued to be heard from behind.

Of course, I was skilled in this kind of hunting, familiar with the surrounding geography, and knew the safe zones and monster habitats that even a ten-year-old child could hunt in.

For Meursault, who had absolutely no idea how much or what I knew, it was natural to panic.

However, if Meursault had known in advance that I was going to do a real hunt, Commander Hayden would have never allowed it.

“Meursault, we haven’t even come that far from the zone yet.”

“I stay at the absolute rear even during subjugation battles.”

Ah, right.

This guy was a staff officer type.

No, but even though he was a soldier in name, was it okay for him to show how scared he was in front of a child like this?

“If something goes wrong with Master Heydam, I will really die…!”

Ah, so he was not afraid of the monsters, but of dying at the commander’s hands.

Out of options, I began to make up stories to soothe Meursault.

“Ever since my slum days, when food ran short, I would go hunting with the kids. I know up to where is safe and whether it’s a monster a kid like me can catch or not, so don’t worry.”

“Is that so…? Ah, that’s why your marksmanship… Huh? But they clearly said it was your first time…”

I was startled, but I did not panic.

“How could there be guns in the slums? I only caught monsters that could be taken down with a club or a steel pipe.”

Of course, what we were hunting today couldn’t be dealt with using a club or a steel pipe, which was why we brought a gun.

Only then did Meursault follow quietly behind me with an understanding face.

Honestly, there wouldn’t have been any difficulty hunting even without Meursault.

But since it would cause an uproar if I suddenly disappeared, I had brought him along as a formal guardian.

And I also needed someone to testify to my heroic tale.

In any case, I wanted to go out to the subjugation battle as quickly as possible.

To do that, I had to prove it.

That I was a warrior who was fit to participate in the subjugation battle.

“This place looks good.”

Only when we arrived at a spot where small footprints, seemingly belonging to a small monster, remained did we stop walking.

Meursault’s expression visibly brightened upon checking the footprints.

“Indeed, with this size, it shouldn’t be dangerous.”

After giving Meursault a smile, I piled up snow next to the path the monster traveled to make a cover where the two of us could hide.

After making the cover, I intentionally walked far away and then performed the task of walking backward to return to my original spot without ruining the footprints I had left behind.

This was to prevent the monster from finding it suspicious that the footprints suddenly cut off.

Once we covered our bodies with snow as well, and dug a hole in the firmly piled snow cover to secure the firearm, the preparations for the hunt were complete.

…Was it just my imagination that Meursault, lying face down covered in snow with me, seemed somewhat excited?

Then again, it must be a new experience for him too…

“I’ll do the hunting, so Meursault only needs to step in if the monster doesn’t die in one shot.”

“But, I am not that good at shooting.”

“You just need to aim for the legs instead of the jewel, or fire warning shots to keep it from coming close.”

“If it’s just that much, anytime.”

Since I also placed biscuits in front of the cover as bait, now we just had to wait for the prey to appear.

“…….”

How much time had passed?

What was unexpectedly surprising was that, even though this kind of hunting must have been a first for Meursault, he endured for a longer time than expected without breaking his posture.

But as time passed further, just when he, who had been holding out in the name of being a soldier, finally began to tremble with the hand holding the firearm.

That was exactly when the monster appeared.

Large for a normal rabbit.

No, a monster almost the size of a dog.

A rabbit with stag antlers growing on its head scurried along the remaining footprints and began to approach right in front of the cover where we were hiding.

“Oh… with that, I could even catch it with my bare hands.”

What a hunting newbie.

‘Be quiet.’

Giving him a warning by mouthing the words, I watched the monster in front of me while holding my breath as much as possible.

The horned rabbit, which approached cautiously, looked around, sniffed the biscuit, bit a little of it, and slowly began to chew.

‘Why like that. So slowly?’

Since Meursault asked me by only mouthing the words, I also mouthed the words back to answer him.

‘Poison. Checking.’

These kinds of small monsters had very high intelligence.

Large monsters had strong physical stats to begin with, so they didn’t need to use their brains, but the smaller the monster, the quicker they had to be to survive.

Having confirmed that there was no poison in the biscuit, the horned rabbit began to speed up slightly and devour it.

As I just stood by and watched, Meursault looked at me with a puzzled face.

‘Hunt. Aren’t you doing it?’

‘Not my prey.’

‘Pardon?’

‘Wait.’

Meursault had a face that showed he didn’t know the reason, but he quietly held his breath.

The prey I was targeting was not this kind of small monster.

What I was truly targeting was a medium-sized monster that fed on these small monsters.

And what such medium-sized monsters liked was the smell of blood.

Taking advantage of the moment when the horned rabbit was absorbed in eating the biscuit, I took out the knife I had hidden inside my sleeve.

And stabbed the back of my hand.

“This is crazy!”

It was a sound blurted out in shock by Meursault, who had been watching to see what I was going to do when I pulled out the knife.

Startled by that sound, the horned rabbit noticed our presence and tried to run away, but it was already too late.

Because at the moment Meursault made the sound, I had already reached my hand out of the hole while keeping my body hidden and grabbed the horned rabbit’s antlers.

“Kieeeek!”

Along with the single scream of the horned rabbit struggling to escape from my grasp, the smell of blood seeping from the back of my hand began to spread over the snowy field.

How long did the horned rabbit’s struggling continue?

Dudududu…….

The heavy sound of running, rushing over as it caught the scent of blood, was heard from beyond.

The reason this zone was relatively safe was because a territorial monster inhabited it.

The hippo-pig, which had the body of a hippo and the hooves of a pig, was a formidable creature that devoured everything within its territory.

The reason the horned rabbit fell for something like a biscuit was also because there was nothing to eat around here.

However, since the hippo-pig ran away when it saw humans, it had to be lured out by using a small monster as bait like this.

That was also the reason why I used my own blood instead of Meursault’s.

Monsters could estimate the size of the bleeding individual just from the smell of blood.

If I had spilled Meursault’s blood, it would have been wary and not approached.

The same logic applied to not killing the horned rabbit and using its blood.

If we had fired a gun, it wouldn’t have approached after smelling the gunpowder.

And we had to draw attention by making it scream like this so that the hippo-pig could quickly pinpoint the location and rush over.

Judging that a small animal was roaming its territory while injured upon smelling the blood, the hippo-pig was rushing straight toward us, not even knowing it was heading to its deathbed.

The red jewel embedded right in the center of the charging hippo-pig’s forehead flashed in the sunlight.

Five seconds before the hippo-pig entered the range of my gun… three seconds… one second.

[Activating title ‘Magic Bullet Marksman’.]

After letting go of the antler I was holding, I stood up from behind the cover and aimed the muzzle at the charging hippo-pig.

The moment the hippo-pig spotted a human, panicked, and slowed down.

Bang—

A single shot was enough to shatter the jewel on the hippo-pig’s forehead.

The massive body collapsed sideways, and Meursault looked at me with a face filled with shock and awe.

I gave Meursault a grin as I looked at him.

“What are you doing? Go drag it over. The first dinner is a pork belly party.”

* * *

There was a reason for choosing pork belly as the menu for the first dinner.

The players who fell into this world were basically Koreans, unless a foreign user who happened to be in Korea had dropped by that convenience store.

If so, my thought was that they would naturally react to Korean food.

Of course, players couldn’t enjoy meals.

Because of that, the expressions of NPCs and players would be divided even more clearly.

Since a player facing a pork belly party they couldn’t enjoy would undoubtedly have a sorrowful expression.

It was only natural to prepare a dish that any Korean possessed in this world couldn’t help but react to.

I also thought about chicken, but…

Since there was a separate Chicken zone, making chicken in the Cola zone would damage the zone’s prestige, so it wasn’t a good idea.

And because I wasn’t the type to be good at cooking.

Compared to that, how simple of a dish was pork belly?

Since you just had to cut the meat and grill it.

Meursault asked what pork belly was, but I ignored him.

Thus, the day of the pork belly party… no, the dinner with kids my age finally arrived.

A dining spot with children my age, prepared by the commander in keeping his promise to me.

Even if they were kids my age, the number wasn’t large, so the barbecue party was held inside the mansion.

Instead of sitting down to eat on purpose, we chose the method of receiving and eating the grilled meat while standing.

I asked the servants to pretend not to know me, at least during the meal.

On the surface, it was to hide my identity so that the kids could eat comfortably.

But the real reason was to make it easier for CornerHoney and Taejung, who knew my face, to approach and talk to me.

“You’re pretty good, huh? Coming up with this kind of idea.”

The first one to approach me was CornerHoney.

Reunited after several weeks, CornerHoney, who seemed so childish at first, had become a bit mature.

Thinking that he had matured quite a bit, I brought over and introduced Taejung, who was making a sorrowful face in front of the pork belly without any suspicion.

“What? Taejeongtaesebeyonce?”

CornerHoney immediately began to fit.

“I wasn’t the only helper? You entered the mansion before me? Then I didn’t even have to enlist, you crazy son of a…!”

This bastard hadn’t matured at all.