The Military Chef of a Ruined World - Chapter 424



Only Noblemtl

Episode 424 Level.

“This is Seoul.”

“How long has it been since I last set foot on Seoul soil?”

Bam- and.

The body that had been lightly jumping into the sky touches the ground.

It seems like I entered Seoul from Gangwon-do without any problems.

‘I don’t think it’s because of my mood…’

A strange sense of discomfort that suddenly occurred.

I haven’t been feeling well lately.

It felt a little different than before.

I was concerned about the source of that sense of discomfort.

Nothing really came to mind.

“… … That’s strange.”

“uh?”

Private Seo Su-hyeok looked around and said with a frown.

“You think it’s strange?”

“Sergeant Shin, don’t you think something is strange? Here… … .”

The guy said, nodding at the surrounding scenery.

A normal road should be filled with the corpses of monsters and traces of all kinds of battles.

That road is now.

“Isn’t it just so normal?”

“Hmm.”

Certainly, as Private Seo Su-hyeok said.

The roads of Seoul were strangely kept clean.

“That’s definitely true.”

Where we came from.

The roads in Gangwon-do were just a mess.

On the other hand, I felt a little out of place on a road this clean.

“… … ?”

but.

“Sergeant Shin?”

“uh?”

“Where are you going without talking?”

“… … Huh?”

I don’t know why.

I didn’t really care about the sense of discomfort that Private Seo Su-hyeok mentioned.

“What is that?”

no.

Rather than saying I don’t care, what should I say?

“I have something to do.”

“yes?”

I walked absentmindedly.

There is a strange sense of discomfort here.

The condition of that road.

It was true that everyone was concerned.

-… … It is a command… … .

That’s not important right now.

-… … Check… … .

I am driven by one thought that dominates my mind.

He turned towards the object of his thoughts.

“Lieutenant Kim.”

“uh?”

The commander of our unit.

Lieutenant Kim Hyeon-seok.

We had a conversation while traveling to Seoul.

He’s not someone who has a lot of work to do right now.

I am.

[Command Order]

[Check Commander Level]

I felt like I needed to check his level.

“What, what is it? Why are you suddenly staring at me like that?”

“… … .”

“Youngjun?”

[Food ingredient identification (reinforcement)]

and.

After checking that level, I frowned and opened my mouth.

“Lieutenant Kim. Let me ask you one thing.”

“Uh, uh uh.”

“You, when on earth… … .”

That makes sense.

His level is shown in [Ingredient Identification (Reinforcement)].

“Are you level 30… …?”

“Huh? What are you talking about? My level is 29… … .”

[Lv.30]

[Commander of the Vanity]

“Huh? What is this?”

Because I had reached 30.

* * *

Before coming here.

I definitely had a conversation with Lieutenant Kim.

His level, which I checked on my way to Seoul, was 29.

‘It’s quite a high level.’

There were a few in the Legion who were stuck at that level 29 wall.

The most representative example was another leader, Lee Sang-ah.

‘The next person expected to reach level 30 after Jeon Gwang-il and Seo Su-hyeok was Lee Sang-ah.’

She was a fairly high level Awakener even before she joined our unit.

After joining, he took charge of all the non-awakened members and production workers in the unit and became one of the most key figures.

Lieutenant Kim, of course, was the one who reached level 29 faster than any other Awakened who was currently stuck at level 29.

Perhaps, Captain Lee Sang-ah will break through the level 30 wall within a few days.

however.

“Please answer. When did you reach level 30?”

“No, that’s… … Huh? When on earth… … .”

Lieutenant Kim Hyeon-seok, a completely unexpected character.

I reached level 30 before that idealistic leader.

“What is this… …?”

Without any warning.

suddenly.

“I, I don’t know either.”

“When was the last time you checked the status screen?”

“Surely yesterday… … I habitually opened the status window and checked it every night before going to bed. I was level 29 then.”

“Do you know how much experience you have?”

“Uh, well.”

The situation we were in was quite similar to a game.

Unfortunately, since it wasn’t a complete game, there was no experience bar or anything like that.

The only thing you can do is check how much experience you have gained based on the size of the sense of satisfaction that is welling up in your body, and you can only guess how much is left until you reach the next level.

“I intuitively knew that there wasn’t much time left… … but I thought that it would take at least 2-3 weeks to break through this level 30 wall.”

“You mean it was like that until yesterday?”

“Oh, oh, oh. I kept it short because I’ll have a lot to do in Seoul.”

Since it was something I came up with by feeling, there was bound to be some degree of error.

But, no matter what.

I have never heard of a case where an experience point that I thought would take 2-3 weeks to gain was filled after a few hours of sleep.

‘what?’

If you think about it.

It was also strange that I suddenly wanted to check Lieutenant Kim’s level.

But the level of Lieutenant Kim that was confirmed like that has changed.

“In what cases does Lieutenant Kim gain experience?”

“Huh? Well, I’m a commander, so it’s time for me to act like a commander.”

Although all Awakened people can gain experience through hunting.

In addition, there were various ways to gain experience points.

Production workers produce… … .

That is, in my case, I gain experience by cooking or by having someone who eats the food participate.

In Lieutenant Kim’s case, that would be command.

“When you successfully command a battle, negotiate with other forces, or demonstrate your abilities as a commander… … something like that?”

“… … .”

“It’s not exact, but it seems like the more you lead a large group and your reputation as a commander becomes known to the outside world, the more experience points you gain. As you know, I’m not a very good leader… … but thanks to my position as the leader of the legion, I leveled up quickly compared to my abilities.”

It is said that Lieutenant Kim’s personal abilities have become outstanding after awakening.

It wasn’t comparable to the already outstanding Lee Sang-ah.

Even so, the reason he was able to reach a similar level to her was because he was the commander of a large force called the Legion…

It was because others feared the commander of that force.

“But nothing like that happened yesterday, right?”

“None. To gain this much experience… … Well. How many times would I have to encounter and negotiate with large forces?”

Lieutenant Kim Hyeon-seok said this.

I looked into the empty space before my eyes.

“… … Youngjun.”

“yes?”

“The points… are decreasing.”

He said with a slightly trembling voice.

“Not only that. Your stats have gone up a bit compared to how much you’ve leveled up.”

“What is that?”

“Just looking at these numbers… … After leveling up, it looks like you bought some ability potions with points and drank them… … .”

In those eyes.

A little bit of fear creeps in.

“The problem is, I never did that.”

“… … .”

“Well, I was thinking of investing my points in potions when I got them… … but that stat that went up was the one I was trying to raise… … Oh my, it went up by 3. I would have cheered if I had raised it with potions.”

The stats you can get from ability potions are between 1 and 3.

As he said, it was a happy thing that it went up by 3.

“What is it, Youngjun… … ?”

“Lieutenant Kim.”

“What the hell is happening to me?”

He was not at all happy.

He was speaking in a tearful voice.

‘… … Even I, who am not a party to this, find this surprising.’

From the perspective of Lieutenant Kim Hyeon-seok, who experienced such a sudden change.

It was natural to feel fear of an unidentified phenomenon.

“If you hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have noticed the change until I checked my stats while I was sleeping tonight!”

“Lieutenant Kim, please calm down.”

“Calm down! This is, this is like.”

He looked at me with trembling eyes and said.

“It’s like I’ve lost a few weeks’ worth of memory… … .”

“… … .”

I thought, wiping my face.

Certainly, to explain what happened to Lieutenant Kim just now.

‘The few hours between last night and this morning.’

In the meantime.

Because Lieutenant Kim had to experience several weeks’ worth of events.

“… … First, eat this and calm down.”

“That’s right! This is something that needs to be calmed down… …!”

“Ah~”

[of calm emotions-]

“Hoooo… … I get it. It’s not something that can be done if you get excited.”

After I calmed down Lieutenant Kim, I continued speaking.

“First of all, the fact that you’ve leveled up is a good thing.”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

“As you level up, you’ll probably gain new traits and specializations. Forget about the bad parts and just focus on learning those new abilities for now.”

“……okay.”

No matter how calm you become, your complicated feelings won’t be sorted out all at once.

I decided to give him time to sort things out.

“Now that I’ve come to Seoul… … I guess I should keep going.”

“Yes. Lieutenant Kim’s role is important.”

“Whew… …! I’ll try.”

Lieutenant Kim let out a sigh.

My unit and I started heading back into Seoul.

* * *

I thought as I walked toward the center of Seoul.

‘My experience level… has also… increased… me?’

Because it’s something that is filled with feeling.

I wasn’t even sure if my experience level had increased or not.

‘The amount of experience required from level 40 is beyond imagination. Even if you had leveled up, it probably wouldn’t have been noticeable.’

It’s like pouring a cup of water into a large bathtub and finding out whether it has expanded or not.

Based on my condition, it seemed unreasonable to compare me to Lieutenant Kim.

Thinking about what happened to Lieutenant Kim right now won’t change anything.

and.

As I was walking with that thought in mind.

“Stop! Stop!”

We are those who approach us from far away.

‘… … Water defense.’

He joined the soldiers of the Capital Defense Command.

“Welcome! Welcome back, heroes!”

After joining the Capital Defense Command.

We were guided by them.

Entering Seoul under that guidance.

We were astonished.

‘A city this complete.’

Something you couldn’t see in Gangwon-do.

A city whose past appearance has been perfectly preserved.

What happened to Lieutenant Kim was also shocking.

The appearance of this city that I see now is equally shocking.

“Now in Seoul, the survivors are gathered together and working in different groups. The Capital Defense Command, including me, is one of them.”

The person who guided us was a middle-aged man named Lieutenant General Kim Myeong-hwan.

Because he has such a generous personality.

They didn’t even think of hiding the favor they had for us.

‘Lieutenant General Kim Myeong-hwan is a good person.’

A nearly perfectly preserved cityscape.

Numerous soldiers from the reserve forces moving under the command of Lieutenant General Kim Myeong-hwan.

Even the massive number of armored vehicles protecting the border of Seoul from afar.

At least as of now.

The Seoul side seemed to have done a pretty good job of preventing this destruction.

‘… … The problem is.’

licking.

The feeling you get when you stick your tongue out slightly and lick the air.

This unpleasant taste.

I was just worried because I didn’t know the cause.

* * *

like that.

After spending the night, we headed to Yeouido with the guidance of the water defense team.

“That’s where our main base is located.”

Yeouido, visible from afar, was surrounded by a tall, large wall-like structure.

Although it was difficult to see the inside in detail, the tall buildings visible from afar looked quite normal, just like the Seoul scenery I had seen so far.

“Loyalty. Are you here?”

“Hmm. Loyalty. I came back after completing the mission.”

We were able to arrive at the Yeouido barrier without any major incidents.

Then, the people guarding the barrier came out and looked at us and muttered with surprised expressions.

“That means… …the people behind you.”

“That’s right.”

“… … I will open the door quickly!”

As the soldier said that, he disappeared for a moment.

The door in the barrier opens slowly.

“Okay, let’s go inside.”

“yes.”

“Your accommodations have already been prepared. The other forces will probably come here as soon as they arrive. After waiting for a day or two, we will hold a meeting with the representatives of the other forces… … .”

The view of Yeouido seen through the open barrier.

Just like the rest of Seoul.

‘It’s so… clean.’

It’s so much so that I wonder if they’re really going to suffer the same destruction as us.

It appeared to be perfectly preserved.

and.

When I saw that sight, I muttered to myself.

‘Something.’

We came as their guests at their invitation.

There was nothing strange about the sight of the barrier being opened without a hitch.

but.

‘Strange… …but.’

The barrier opened without any special events.

The scenery inside is so pristine.

I couldn’t help but feel a great sense of discomfort at that sight.

‘There are more than one or two feelings of discomfort I’ve felt since coming here.’

If there were only one or two.

Maybe I tried to ignore it and move on.

Since I haven’t been feeling well lately, I might have just ignored it, thinking it might just be my personal delusion.

but.

‘Not now.’

An order to check the level of Lieutenant Kim suddenly came into my head.

As a result, Lieutenant Kim’s level suddenly increased.

A strange sense of awkwardness and discomfort that I felt from the moment I arrived here.

and.

“Lieutenant General Kim Myeong-hwan.”

“Huh? You are… … Private Shin Young-jun. What’s going on?”

“There’s one thing I’d like to ask you.”

I’ve been so nervous since earlier.

My abilities might be exposed.

There is something strange among the Awakened that they were unable to ask about because it was too rude.

“It seems like there are too few Awakened ones here.”

“… … .”

Even the number of awakened ones is so small.

It’s a strange thing, but if there were one or two, I could have overlooked it.

When the numbers reach this level, the story changes.

“Can you tell me why?”

If it hadn’t been for what happened to Lieutenant Kim, it might have just been overlooked.

Now, a strange certainty was taking hold within me.

‘There’s something different here.’

That something.

I have to check.