A Public Servant Hunter Who Exploits Skill Combinations – Chapter 21
Translated by: Hanzo
Chapter 21: MT (2)
30 years ago.
“Then I wish you good luck!”
The moment Choi Jung-gang departed, everyone was left dumbfounded.
“What? This is really an MT?”
“Hey, this must be a joke, right? What kind of MT is this?”
“I practiced a dance thinking there will be a talent show… but….”
“Well, they’ll probably come to pick us up after some time. Let’s just hang out and have fun for now.”
The students, without much thought, began spreading out the food they had brought and started drinking.
Even those who had found the situation suspicious were swept up in the mood and let their guard down, enjoying the MT.
How much time had passed?
That’s when the ant monsters appeared.
From that point on, it began.
The ant hell.
The scattered students had no choice but to gather again at the initial meeting place.
The scent of food had continuously drawn the ants in.
And their target wasn’t just the food.
After two days and nights of taking turns fighting the ants, Ha Seung-woo finally spoke.
“Let’s move forward.”
“What? What makes you think there’s anything ahead for us?”
Someone protested, but it wasn’t like they could stay in that spot forever.
“So you’re saying we should just keep fighting the swarm of ants here?”
“And who are you to tell us what to do?”
The group divided between those who wanted to advance and those who thought it was too dangerous to do so.
“How long are we going to just fight ants here? Didn’t Teacher Choi Jung-gang say we couldn’t leave until we completed the ‘mission’?”
“So, you’re saying we have to clear the mission to leave this island?”
“That’s right.”
“And how do you know what the mission is?”
“There are ants. Maybe the mission is to get rid of the boss monster, in other words, we just need to eliminate the queen ant. If you don’t want to go, stay behind.”
Some stuck to their positions and refused to move, while most began moving forward.
Those who took the lead paved the way, fighting off the ants as they went.
But the number of ant monsters showed no sign of decreasing.
Even by rough estimates, they must have already killed thousands.
Even after slashing and killing endlessly, new swarms of ants kept appearing.
Those with physical enhancement abilities became physically exhausted, and those with sensory abilities were mentally worn out.
It felt like all the mana within their bodies was being completely depleted.
They fought in turns, conserving their energy.
They ate while walking, and when their food ran out, they picked unknown fruits hanging from the trees to stave off hunger.
Gradually, a few began to get annoyed.
Some wanted to turn back, others said they could swim off the island if they knew how, and some even suggested calling their parents—though, of course, no phone signals worked.
Some wanted to climb trees to avoid the ants and wait it out there.
The group became chaotic. There was no semblance of unity.
Watching them, Ha Seung-woo spoke.
“I’ll say it again—if you want to quit, then quit.”
But he shouldn’t have said it that way.
Because of that, fewer than 100 out of the 215 participants followed him.
Jung Tae-sung was among those 100.
Though his legs were aching and his stamina nearly depleted, he figured it was better to move than to stay still.
As the battle with the ants dragged on, more and more people dropped out.
When the number of those who could continue into the forest dwindled, only 30 remained by the end.
The rest had all returned to the original starting point.
Because it was the safest place.
It was only when they reached the island’s edge that they learned the truth.
The real ant nest started from there.
After four days of breaking through the ant swarms, they finally arrived, only to meet a massive queen ant.
The queen ant monster itself was a C-rank.
However, because the queen ant was in its egg-laying phase, it had almost no attack capabilities.
It was merely a monster with a strong defensive shell.
If everyone worked together, it could easily be defeated.
But the group that made it this far was far too small in number.
From the starting point on the uninhabited island to the ant nest, everyone had to work together, as the inside of the ant nest was a complex maze. Finding the queen ant together was crucial.
Only then could they defeat it quickly.
In the end, although they barely managed to take down the queen ant, they failed the mission.
Because they lacked unity.
That was the main purpose of the MT.
Together, united, as one.
The MT was essentially an assignment designed to teach this lesson.
Remembering how they had captured the queen ant with just 30 people made me chuckle.
It felt like a distant memory, like a fleeting recollection of the past.
And now, I was back at that very scene.
But this time, not as a mere extra.
Still, was it really necessary to go about this so strenuously?
If the purpose was unity, then wasn’t it enough to just make them work together?
“Hey, guys, why don’t you take out all the snacks you brought?”
“A snack party?”
I responded to Jun-hyuk, who was grinning widely.
“Yeah, it’s a snack party, but we’re not the main characters.”
I ripped open a bag of snacks and walked over to a wide open space, scattering the snacks on the ground.
“What are you doing!? Why are you throwing away the snacks?”
Some of the students, puzzled by my actions, asked.
“You guys should scatter some here and there too.”
“···.”
Then, I used the rocks the others had brought to build walls.
“We’re running out of rocks….”
“If we don’t have any, we’ll just make some.”
There’s no shortage of mana users, after all.
***
I gathered special ability users.
Mixing soil from the ground with water, I turned it into mud, used resin as a substitute for glaze, and shaped it into molds with rocks.
With magic, I quickly produced the bricks.
Even with poor materials, the power of mana made it possible to produce bricks faster than a factory.
And with 200 people working together, the base camp was completed in no time.
Seo Ye-rin, who had been watching my actions, asked.
“Can you at least tell us what you’re doing?”
“Don’t you feel anything?”
“Feel what?”
“Does it feel like we’re the only ones on this island?”
“...!?”
It seemed Seo Ye-rin had only just sensed the presence of monsters.
“Mon-Monsters!?”
At Seo Ye-rin’s words, the surrounding students began to stir.
“What? Monsters? I thought we were here for an MT?”
“Is the mission hunting monsters?”
“Are there really monsters here?”
“How can you even sense something like that?”
Seo Ye-rin’s next words froze everyone in place.
"There are so many of them…"
"....!?"
"What kind of ridiculous school is this!?"
Someone shouted angrily, but no one responded.
What’s so strange about being told to hunt monsters at a Hunter Academy?
Being a hunter wasn’t just about fighting inside the academy building.
"Jun-hyuk, give me your bag."
"Huh? Why my bag?"
When I took a bottle out of Jun-hyuk’s bag, Seo Ye-rin asked,
"What’s that?"
"Alcohol."
"You’re not saying we should start drinking now, right…?"
"Why? Do you want a drink?"
"No. Why did you take out the alcohol, then?"
"For preparation."
I stood up and spoke to the others.
"If you brought any alcohol, take it out now."
Seo Ye-rin, who had been silently watching my actions, raised a question.
"Did you know this was going to happen?"
This girl’s sharper than she looks.
Feigning ignorance, I replied nonchalantly,
"No way, I just guessed. Would the Hunter Academy really plan for us to spend a whole week just drinking and having fun? Usually, an MT is one or two nights, maybe three at most. This might turn into a survival game. Something like that?"
"…Why didn’t anyone realize? You’d think someone would’ve given a heads-up beforehand."
"It’s a rule not to spoil things. This is part of the training and education, and spoiling it would make it less fun, right?"
"True, I guess that makes sense."
No, it’s way more fun this way.
They say you see as much as you know, and the more you know, the more fun it is.
"Is there anyone here with a sensory-type ability that includes transformation?"
A few raised their hands.
"Can you transform the alcohol in these bottles into something like oil or pure alcohol? If not, just evaporating the water will work too."
"That’s possible."
"Then, I’m counting on you."
***
Before long, in the distance, ants began to appear.
"Mo-Monsters!"
At someone’s cry, I calmly said,
"Don’t freak out. They’re just ant monsters."
"But… they’re so big!"
"Yeah, they are pretty big."
"Where are they headed?"
The ants weren’t coming toward us but moving in a different direction.
Toward the spot where I had scattered all those snacks.
"They… they’re eating the snacks?"
"How many ants are there…?"
The sight of the countless black swarm of ant monsters made the kids gasp in horror.
"Alright, physical types, take a bottle of alcohol each."
At my instruction, they each picked up a bottle.
"When I count to three, throw them over the ants. Sensory types, hit the bottles midair with fireballs before they fall."
"No way…"
In response to Seo Ye-rin’s comment, I replied,
"That’s right. If we’re on an MT, shouldn’t we have a campfire?"
"What?"
"One, two, three!"
All kinds of bottles flew toward the swarm of ants.
"Sensory types!"
As soon as I shouted, brilliant magic bursts erupted from the hands of about 100 sensory-type students.
They had practiced this relentlessly during training sessions.
Long-distance target practice with magic.
This much was a piece of cake for them.
The bottles exploded, shards embedding themselves in the ants’ backs.
And the liquid inside the bottles, following the law of gravity, spilled onto the ground.
The party was on fire.
Fwoooosh!
I could almost hear the shrieks of the ants.
Massive flames surged into the sky.
The heat radiated around us, and the air was filled with the stench of burning ants.
Burning alive—said to be the most agonizing death.
The ant monsters screamed as they collapsed over the snacks.
Those that hadn’t caught fire fled in a frenzy.
"Long-range types! Take care of the fleeing ants!"
Archers and mages sprang into action, shooting down the retreating ants.
<Looks like we’re eating out today!>
Said the worm, rapidly stretching toward the dead ants.
Meanwhile, I planted torches into the ground around the base camp to keep the ants away.
After being scorched so badly, the smell of oil and sight of fire would keep them at bay for a while.
The first round was over.
"Jun-hyuk, bring me what I asked for."
Jun-hyuk, staring blankly at the flames, muttered with a defeated expression,
"My alcohol…"
Jun-hyuk, slumping his shoulders, set down the bag he was carrying, drawing everyone’s attention.
"What’s this? Tents?"
"Nope."
Ziiip.
As the zipper opened, dozens of shovels were revealed.
From small hand shovels to larger ones.
"What are these for?"
I answered their questions.
"We’re going to dig."
The task I gave these future heroes, the hunters who would one day protect the nation, was… digging.
Ironically, half of them were hunters ranked higher than me in the past.
Among them were guild leaders and individuals who had saved countless lives.
But so what?
At least now they didn’t have to exhaust themselves fighting ants.
If it weren’t for me, they’d be stuck in this ant hell for the entire week.
Perhaps impressed by the results I had shown so far, they obediently followed my instructions.
And these hunters, with strength far beyond that of ordinary humans, didn’t find digging with shovels all that difficult.
After digging silently for some time, one of the classmates hesitantly spoke to me, as if a question had been nagging at him.
"Um… Tae-sung? We’re digging like you said, but… can you at least tell us why?"
There was no reason not to tell him.
I squatted down to meet his eye level and said,
"Well, the monsters here are ants, right?"
"Yeah."
"As you know, ants are only F-rank monsters. But because of their sheer numbers, they’re effectively classified as D-rank."
"We learned that in class."
"Then did you also learn how to deal with ants?"
He seemed to think for a moment before answering as if he had just remembered.
"We have to catch the queen ant…"
"Bingo."
But it seemed his curiosity wasn’t entirely satisfied.
"What does digging have to do with the queen ant…?"
I pointed my index finger down toward the ground.
"Right beneath your feet. The queen ant is probably sleeping down there."
"Huh?"
With a soft smile, I added,
"So, just keep digging."
....
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