The Military Chef of a Ruined World

Chapter 20

Episode 20: Interrogation (Part 1)

“When I returned after apprehending the awakened individual concealing his identity in the restaurant, I found that the chaos that had erupted in the base had been partially resolved.”

“Whoa, Sergeant Shin Young-joon? What in the world…”

“Ah, sorry. Is it a bit strange to see me like this?”

I had rushed over with the thought that there might have been trouble in the living quarters, but I couldn’t just leave the subdued awakened individual in the restaurant. So, I brought him along.

Other soldiers who saw the scene were horrified.

“…Is that thing… still alive?”

“Well, it seemed like he was in a lot of pain. But he’s unconscious now, so…”

Fundamentally, my profession as a chef wasn’t a combat role. Instead, I was closer to rear support, supporting allies through cooking.

There were two reasons why this was possible:

One was the “Novice Dagger Proficiency” trait.

And the other was the skill “Chef’s Eye.”

“Chef’s Eye is a good skill, but…”

It wasn’t without its drawbacks.

Essentially, what Chef’s Eye showed was how to “prepare” the targeted ingredient.

However, the most common method of preparing meat usually involved first cutting the throat and draining the blood.

While it was useful to be able to quickly identify an enemy’s weakness…

“The problem is that it’s too lethal.”

When I needed to spare someone’s life, it was ambiguous how to do it.

Yet, if I didn’t use this ability, my combat effectiveness would plummet.

Of course, there was the option to strictly focus on rear support, but considering that monsters had started appearing, it was wise to pay attention to my own combat abilities, as I had when facing the first monster that attacked the restaurant.

Even if monsters were targets to be killed immediately, when facing humans like this time, there was a need to spare their lives.

While pondering if there was any way, I remembered something.

“Sashimi.”

More specifically, sashimi served not in a sushi restaurant, but sashimi prepared on the spot by captains who had spent decades on fishing boats.

When you ate fish caught from the sea.

Sometimes, instead of aging the fish by killing it and letting it sit, they would slice it raw right away.

“That’s also a great method of preparation.”

With that thought in mind, I tried using the skill, and the “preparation method” I had hoped for came to mind.

…Though it ended up looking a bit strange.

“S-So, how did it end up like this?”

“Well, yeah. Even though he’s unconscious now, we don’t know when he might wake up and start jumping around. So, properly restrain him and send him to the medical team for treatment.”

After entrusting the guy who had been “prepared alive” to the soldiers, I went to where the other soldiers had gathered.

There were four guys kneeling there, already subdued.

They seemed startled since I brought the unconscious awakened individual with me.

“That, that’s Chan-jung!”

“The strongest among us, Chan-jung, lost to a mere cook…?”

“And in such a gruesome manner… What’s going on with this unit?”

One guy was unconscious, having collapsed, but the rest of them, upon seeing me, started murmuring to each other in shock.

“The strongest?!”

He must have been tasked with extracting information about the unit from me or something like that.

If they’re saying he was the strongest, his rank might have been higher than I thought.

But if they ask if he was strong, honestly…

“Is this really all he’s got?”

Sure, his ability to throw that huge fireball might not work on me, but it could work on others.

However, that’s all there was to it.

In strength.

In skill.

In every aspect, he wasn’t a match for me.

“And he was the strongest among these guys? How weak are they?”

“Actually, it seems like we’ve become too strong.”

Similarly, Gwang-il, who was on the scene, spoke up.

“The average level of these guys seems to be around 3. In our unit, even those who awakened slightly earlier are at least level 5 or 6. Sergeant Shin Yeong joon, didn’t you tell last time that you are over level 10?”

“Well, that’s true.”

“And on top of that, we also have our tokens.”

As an achievement for forming the second clan in Korea, we received a group skill Token.

This token was in the form of a military identification tag that only our clan members can wear, has the effect of fixing stats.

When worn by a level 1 member, it can provide stats similar to those of a level 5 Awakened individual who isn’t wearing it.

It was an incredible advantage.

“Though it’s an item with fixed stats… As individual growth progresses, its efficiency will gradually diminish.”

Generally, buffs can be broadly categorized into two types: fixed stat increases and percentage increases.

The former, fixed stat increases, have a significant impact when basic stats are low.

Increasing a stat from 1 to 2 doubles it, but when it’s already 100, increasing by 1 hardly matters.

Conversely, the latter is more effective when basic stats are high.

Increasing a stat by 100% when it’s at 1 results in an increase of 1, but when it’s at 100, it increases by 100.

The Token falls into the former category.

Later on, who knows…

“Right now, it’s like a cheat item that instantly raises a level 1 to that of a level 5.”

When Gwang-il, the leader of those guys, faced Han-il, who was the strongest in our warrior group, and Han-il, the next strongest, they were quickly defeated.

The leader of those four was instantly defeated when faced with Gwang-il and Han-il who were the strongest warriors in our group.

The rest, being individually weaker than our awakened members, were swiftly dealt with when several of us fought them together.

“Moreover, our members spar with each other whenever they’re not on patrol. Those guys… seem to lack knowledge of how to fight with an Awakened individual’s physical abilities.”

Though they had the confidence of having about five Awakened individuals in their group…

Ultimately, they weren’t that big of a threat to us.

“Our group has become so strong…”

“Frankly, I was worried that something big might happen while I wasn’t around.”

When I heard the plans of the guy while subduing him in the restaurant.

I was greatly shocked at the possibility that others might attack the unit in my absence.

But when I returned, things had been neatly sorted out without me.

“…Now, it seems like there’s no problem even without me. Without my cooking buffs, too.”

“Haha, that’s not true.”

Gwang-il chuckled and continued speaking.

“We did become stronger, but is this really something I did alone?”

“Um…”

“Sergeant Shin fed us and nurtured us, so isn’t that a big part of it?”

Now that he mentioned it…

When the monsters appeared in our unit and I joined forces with other soldiers, a thought occurred to me.

‘I thought I had to feed this unit somehow, didn’t I?’

Physically feeding them food is one thing, but…

Even in other aspects, it seems like I’m accomplishing my goal of somehow keeping the unit nourished.

“Excuse me, soldiers…? What’s going on here…?”

As I was thinking, Lee Sang-ah, the representative of the survivors, approached with a bewildered expression.

Perhaps because she had fought against two opponents before our members intervened, she looked slightly exhausted.

Upon closer inspection, it seemed like she had burns on her arms.

“It seems like your injuries are severe. We have a medic in our unit, so you’ll be treated quickly. Uijun !”

“Yes! Lance Corporal Uiju.”

“Let’s treat this person first.”

“Got it.”

As the medic’s hand glowed, the burns disappeared just by applying it to the injuries.

In a matter of seconds, only new, unscarred skin remained, leaving no trace of injury.

“You… are Awakened individuals. And all of you, too.”

“Not all of us. We’ve only just surpassed half recently.”

“But that’s still over 50 people, right…? Incredible.”

Come to think of it, I realized I had lied to her.

We shared opinions on how to Awaken, thinking there were no Awakened individuals in our unit.

Although it wasn’t a malicious lie on our part, it seemed necessary to explain.

“Lee Sang-ah, you said your Awakened job is a seamstress, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m a chef. There are various other Awakened individuals in different occupations. Medics, priests, warriors, mages…”

“Priests and mages?”

“Yes. Among them, there’s even an astrologer who has limited ability to see the future.” 

I explained why we hid the fact that we were Awakened.

From the day the monsters first appeared in our unit until now.

The truth was, we knew survivors would come, and there was a strange warning among them.

We accepted that warning and hid our Awakenings until we found potential threats.

“Okay, I think I understand… So, most of you are Awakened individuals, and you’re also steadily increasing the number of Awakened individuals stably?”

“Indeed.”

With that, Sang-ah seemed to fall into thought, her words trailing off.

“Anyway, I hope you didn’t misunderstand. There’s no malice behind it.”

“Oh, no! I didn’t misunderstand at all, don’t worry.”

Seeing her lost in thought again, I decided it was best to withdraw for now.

Approaching the restrained individuals again, some soldiers approached me.

“We’ve subdued them, but how should we proceed?”

“Hmm.”

“My personal opinion is that keeping them alive won’t be of much help…”

Keeping them alive won’t be of much help.

That statement implies, essentially.

“No. Killing them is still pending.”

“Why is that?”

“Not good for the soldiers’ morale, nor for the survivors.”

While the soldiers may have killed monsters, they haven’t killed people. Despite growing accustomed to various things during the fights, time hasn’t passed enough for them to accept murder casually.

The survivors are the same.

Even if they are obvious sinners, those who belonged to survivor groups. If they were executed, other survivors would inevitably be frightened.

“But if we keep them alive without killing them, it’ll just drain our resources. If they manage to escape, it’ll be a bigger problem.”

We can’t just let these guys attacking others go scot-free.

“Let’s lock them up in the basement of the cafeteria for now.”

“The basement of the cafeteria… isn’t that the boiler room?”

“Yeah. There should be about seven storage rooms down there. Lock them from the outside, and it should serve as makeshift cells.”

There are a total of seven rooms.

We should be able to detain around five without any issues.

“Since they’re dangerous, pick one awakened fighter from each unit to manage them. I’ll take care of it next time.”

After locking them up in the prison,

I decided to visit the prison the next day.

Then.

“Heh, hehe!”

…Even so, isn’t this a bit too much for a first greeting?

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Translator: One Force

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