Chapter 106: Chapter 106

‘Bah. It doesn’t matter how strong that guy is. I have the dagger given to me by my constellation.’

Jules fiddled with his weapon, a dagger that had been injected with a constellation’s power. Its terrible poison could kill anyone with a small scratch! Jules decided to attack Choi Yeonseung first, but not because Choi Yeonseung looked the strongest. Rather, it was because Jules didn’t know his abilities that well. In addition, martial artists were famous for close combat...

‘... What is he doing anyway?’

***

Izidor of the New York Fires was quite kind to Choi Yeonseung. They were competitors now that they were in here, but...

Choi Yeonseung helped Izidor’s clanmate. Treating their benefactor coldly didn’t suit his personality.

“Wouldn’t it be better to stick together until you meet your clan’s hunters? Wandering around alone in a dungeon is suicidal.”

No matter how strong a hunter was, they still had to sleep and rest. Dungeons were dangerous alone. Even in this glade, the clans gathered in groups of twos and threes. If a monster appeared, they wouldn’t step up unless their clanmates were being attacked.

“Isn’t it okay to be alone?”

However, Choi Yeonseung had spent over ten thousand years wandering around the Abyss—a place where he would’ve died if his senses weren’t strong enough to wake up and react as soon as the enemy approached! Choi Yeonseung calmly told him how he truly felt, but...

It sounded different to Izidor.

-As an Icarus clan hunter, I don’t want to owe another clan anything!

‘He is very thorough. The Icarus clan’s rules are probably strict. It is Dragon Hwang’s clan, after all.’

According to the public interest, the news, and articles, Dragon Hwang was a pleasant playboy who enjoyed life, but... n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Hunters with a bit of brain never thought that way. No one was as terrifying as Hwang Gyeongryong. A person couldn’t reach the B-grade world unless they were a genius. Moreover, only chosen monsters could climb even higher and get into the A-grade world. To top it all off, A-grade hunters could only get the title of S-grade after making outstanding achievements.

An S-grade hunter could never be weak.

... Of course, that would only make Choi Yeonseung think, ‘Aren’t the rules too lax?’

“You have confidence. However, I’m worried. You did Arenas a favor, so I hope you accept my help in return.”

“I see... I will accept it, then.” Choi Yeonseung shrugged.

He didn’t intend to refuse this person’s request to repay him. Izidor looked Choi Yeonseung up and down. From what he could see, this hunter likely lost his luggage when he came in.

“You’ve lost all your supplies.”

“Huh? Ah. My smartphone and... another smartphone…. and things like the smartphone?”

Choi Yeonseung still wasn’t used to advanced electronics. Among the various dungeon exploration equipment, he only knew the name of the smartphone! Izidor was slightly taken aback.

“...T-That’s not what I meant. Anyway, I’m thirsty. Take a seat. I’ll brew you some coffee.”

Izidor meant food and drinks by ‘lost supplies.’?One of the most important things in a raid was food. Most people took their food supplies for granted until they either lost or depleted them. In fact, most of the hunters here were slightly dirty and thin. Everyone had lost a lot of supplies, so they consumed things sparingly. The clans that had brought a bit of food with them were fortunate, while those without any had to endure by drinking water.

“You must be hungry. Take some of this as well.”

Izidor took out a packaged dungeon food and held it out. It contained crackers, pickled meat, candy, chocolate, and more. People normally wouldn’t eat these packs outside dungeons, but... They were worth a thousand gold here. In fact, the other hunters were surprised to see him give one away.

Was he a pushover?

“I-Izidor. The food...”

“It’s fine. I’ll just take this from my share.”

“Sob!”

Arenas turned red with regret. Izidor gave away valuable clan food because of him.

“Let me be the one to starve!”

“No. It hasn’t been long since you’ve recovered, so you have to eat. The situation isn’t so bad that you have to starve. Don’t worry.”

The New York Fires hunters nodded in agreement. Some of the hunters had slightly dissatisfied and regretful expressions. They had been rationing their food so much already. However, they respected Izidor’s instructions.

... After all, they owed Choi Yeonseung, who used healing magic on their colleague without hesitation.

“If you cherish it so much, you don’t have to give it to me.” Choi Yeonseung refused.

“?!”

“Think about it carefully, Hunter Choi Yeonseung. What if you get hungry later?”

Flustered, Arenas tried to stop him. However, it was simply meaningless for him. Choi Yeonseung could survive even if he didn’t eat or drink!

“As far as I know, none of you have eaten or drunk, have you?”

“Everyone has been saving up supplies.”

“Are you hungry enough to chew on branches or swallow rocks?”

“N-No. We aren’t.”

“Our meeting has to be fated. I’ll make you something to eat.”

“? !”

It wasn’t just the New York Fires. The hunters from other clans also turned their heads. Did this hunter find supplies?

“Did you find food?”

“Huh? Ah. No. That’s not what I meant. I’m going to treat you with what I found here.”

“...... ”

It was only then that the hunters realized Choi Yeonseung was holding a strange package in his hands. Their faces filled with surprise when he opened it. No matter how they looked at it, it had to be monster meat that seemed to have been recently obtained.

“That... Isn’t that... ”

“It’s the two-headed chaos dog’s meat.”

“The two-headed chaos dog... Wait, that’s not important right now. Is that even edible?”

A starving hunter had tried to eat it before but failed. It was as hard as a piece of wood, and not even fire could cook it. If they ate the wrong thing, they could die from poisoning.

“It is.”

“... Wasn’t there a hunter who tried to cook and eat it but failed?”

“If so, then he simply didn’t cook it properly.”

“......”

Izidor wondered if he should stop Choi Yeonseung or not. Choi Yeonseung saved his colleague, so he shouldn’t swear at him, should he? The other clans’ hunters were already whispering.

-That hunter is an Abyss returnee. Isn’t he crazy?

-Are all 1st-generation hunters like that?

-No. My grandfather’s friend is a 1st generation hunter, but I’ve never heard of such a thing from him.

“Just wait. I’ll cook it and let you have a taste.”

“N—No...”

“This meat alone would suck, though. Are there any other monsters around here?”

There was no way such a wide dungeon was only inhabited by two-headed chaos dogs. This place had to be the home of other monsters as well.

“I saw a red-horned turtle in the swamp over there...”

“You lunatic. Why would you tell him that?”

Another hunter berated his companion.

Red-horned turtles were E-grade monsters. They weren’t that strong and were certainly a much easier opponent than two-headed chaos dogs. However, it could release poisonous gas and had tenacious durability. Among the E-grade monster, it was one of the annoying ones. The hunters saw a Red-horned turtle in the swamp and immediately realized they couldn’t drink the water in it. Hence, they didn’t bother killing it. Nothing good could come from wasting their strength and magic power right now.

“A red-horned turtle? Oh. That’s great.”

“...G-great? Are you going to eat it?”

He hated the thought of eating that stinking bastard.

“No. I don’t like its meat that much. I hate the aftertaste.”

“I see. I’m glad—What?”

“You make it sound as if you’ve eaten it before.”

“Their eggs are useful ingredients.”

“T-Their eggs are useful?”

The hunters’ bewildered reaction dumbfounded Choi Yeonseung.

“You don’t know about that? What have you been doing with your hunter life so far?”

The other hunters became flustered when Choi Yeonseung suddenly criticized them.

Did... did we do something wrong?

I don’t think we did anything wrong...

Some dungeon monsters and plants were treated as delicacies by gourmets, but those were very rare cases. After killing a monster, they usually dismantled its corpse to study it, not to find out how to make a delicious meal out of it. Hence, most people naturally didn’t know how to eat them. However, Choi Yeonseung had been studying Abyss recipes for over 10,000 years in the Abyss. He had experience cooking a bit of everything.

“Just wait. I’ll get it.”

“Wait...!”

Approximately an hour passed. Choi Yeonseung brought back big eggs with a satisfied expression.

The New York Fires hunters looked tired.

“I-Izidor. Should we eat that?”

“......”

Izidor looked stunned. Even an experienced and seasoned hunter like him didn’t know what to say.

Meanwhile, Choi Yeonseung immediately started preparing a dish. He lit a fire, cut the meat with the orichalcum knife, took out seasoning from the subspace necklace, and kneaded the seasoned meat so the seasoning would soak properly into the meat.

Right now, Choi Yeonseung’s subspace necklace contained rare meats from the Abyss and spices and simple ingredients available on Earth. He planned to save the former, but he could use a lot of the latter since he could easily go out and buy them.

“...... ! Wait... ”

Izidor looked at Choi Yeonseung with a shocked expression.

“Is that a subspace artifact?”

Artifacts that provided subspace storage. It was rare, but it wasn’t surprising. In fact, Izidor had a small subspace golden bracelet that provided a space the size of a large backpack. However, he filled it with potions to prepare for any situation.

... On the contrary, Choi Yeonseung was taking out various seasonings such as salt, pepper, and sugar from it. Were his eyes deceiving him?

“What? Is this the first time you’ve seen a subspace artifact?”

“N-No, it isn’t. I just thought I was mistaken because you took out seasonings from it.”

“You weren’t. I can gather ingredients in dungeons, but I can’t get seasonings.”

“......”

He had a point, but...

Izidor couldn’t close his mouth as he watched Choi Yeonseung generously pour a combination of seasonings, including salt, sugar, and pepper, over the meat.

‘It would be nice if it had a slightly spicy taste, so I’ll add some Cheongyang peppers as well. With this much preparation, they won’t say they can’t eat it anymore, will they?’

Choi Yeonseung didn’t just marinate the meat in seasoning. He also softened the meat by releasing internal energy from his fingertips. This process was essential to eat the Abyss’ monsters. Otherwise, many of their parts would be too hard or tough to eat. Choi Yeonseung called this ‘internal energy ripening.’

‘...I-Is he really using his skills for cooking? ’

The strong power coming from Choi Yeonseung’s fingertips made Izidor shudder. This human...

How serious was he about cooking?