Chapter 16

Hunting

Hunting.

Naturally, hunting existed even in this apocalyptic world.

Quarterly subjugation campaigns were conducted to secure the area and obtain food supplies, but hunting in this world was little more than entertainment for the upper class.

In that sense, perhaps it served much the same purpose as hunting in reality.

A tower was prepared for high-ranking officers, who used sniper rifles to shoot monsters from a distance.

That was what hunting meant in this world.

The standard method was to remain in a safe location and compete to see who could kill the most monsters within a set time.

However, that was not the kind of hunting I intended to do.

I was going to hunt for real.

Not for amusement or sport, but to genuinely obtain meat.

“I have no intention of staying safely inside the zone and taking credit for serving food made from meat someone else hunted.”

“Are you serious?”

Dressed in thick winter clothing, Meursault repeatedly asked me in disbelief.

“You intend to leave the zone to hunt? Just the two of us?”

When I had first said I wanted to go hunting and dressed warmly, Meursault had probably assumed I was merely an excited child dressing the part to enjoy the romance of the hunt.

Even when he reported to Commander Hayden that he would be taking the young master hunting, he could never have imagined it would be like this.

As he watched me head not toward the hunting tower but toward the outskirts of the zone—and then farther beyond—he finally became suspicious.

When he asked, “Where exactly are we going?” and I replied, “Hunting,” reality finally struck him.

“This is absurd... With only one rifle... and a child that small...”

After leaving the zone, we trudged through the accumulated snow while Meursault’s pitiful muttering continued behind me.

Naturally, I was highly experienced with this kind of hunting.

I also knew the surrounding geography, the safe areas, and the habitats of monsters weak enough for even a ten-year-old child to hunt.

But Meursault had no idea how much I knew, so it was understandable that he was panicking.

Still, if he had known beforehand that I intended to hunt for real, Commander Hayden would never have granted permission.

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

“I stay in the rearmost lines even during subjugation campaigns.”

Oh, right.

This guy was a staff-officer type.

Still, he was technically a soldier. Was it really acceptable for him to show this much fear in front of a child?

“If anything happens to Lord Haydam, I really will die...!”

Ah.

He wasn’t afraid of the monsters.

He was afraid Commander Hayden would kill him.

With no other choice, I began inventing a story to reassure him.

“Back when I lived in the slums, whenever food ran short, the other children and I would go hunting. I know which areas are safe and which monsters a child like me can handle, so don’t worry.”

“Is that so...? Ah, then that explains why your shooting was so... Wait. But you clearly said it was your first time...”

I flinched internally but remained calm.

“Do you think there were guns in the slums? We only hunted monsters weak enough to kill with clubs or metal pipes.”

Of course, the monster I planned to hunt today couldn’t be killed with a club or metal pipe, which was why I had brought a gun.

Only then did Meursault look convinced and begin following quietly behind me.

Truthfully, I would have had no difficulty hunting without him.

But if I suddenly disappeared, there would be an uproar, so I had brought him along as my nominal guardian.

I also needed someone to testify about my heroic performance.

In any case, I wanted to participate in a subjugation campaign as soon as possible.

To do that, I needed to prove myself.

I had to show that I was capable of fighting in one.

“This should be a good place.”

We finally stopped after reaching an area marked by tiny footprints that appeared to belong to a small monster.

Meursault’s expression brightened visibly when he inspected them.

“If it is this small, it certainly should not be dangerous.”

I smiled at him, then piled snow beside the monster’s trail to create a blind large enough for both of us to hide behind.

After finishing the blind, I deliberately walked a long distance away.

Then, without disturbing the tracks I had already made, I walked backward until I returned to the blind.

That way, the monster would not become suspicious upon noticing that the footprints abruptly ended.

We covered ourselves with snow as well, dug a small hole through the firmly packed blind, and fixed the rifle in place.

The hunting preparations were complete.

...Was it my imagination, or did Meursault seem strangely excited as he lay beside me beneath the snow?

Well, this was probably a new experience for him too.

“I’ll handle the hunting. You only need to intervene if the monster doesn’t die in one shot.”

“But I’m not particularly skilled with firearms.”

“Just shoot the legs instead of the gem, or fire warning shots to prevent it from approaching.”

“That much I can certainly manage.”

We had also placed biscuits in front of the blind as bait.

Now all we had to do was wait for the prey to appear.

How much time passed?

What surprised me was that, although this had to be Meursault’s first time hunting in this manner, he maintained his posture far longer than I had expected.

However, as more and more time passed, even he—who had stubbornly held out in the name of being a soldier—eventually began trembling in the hand gripping his gun.

That was when the monster appeared.

It was large for an ordinary rabbit.

No, it was almost the size of a dog.

A rabbit with deer antlers growing from its head scampered along the tracks and approached the blind where we were hiding.

“Oh... We could probably catch that with our bare hands.”

What a hunting novice.

‘Be quiet.’

I silently mouthed the warning and held my breath as I watched the monster.

The horned rabbit approached cautiously, looked around, sniffed the biscuit, took a small bite, and began chewing very slowly.

‘Why is it eating so slowly?’

Meursault mouthed the question, so I silently answered.

‘Checking. For poison.’

Small monsters like this were highly intelligent.

Large monsters possessed overwhelming physical strength and therefore had little need to think, but smaller monsters had to be perceptive if they wanted to survive.

Once it had apparently confirmed that the biscuit wasn’t poisoned, the horned rabbit began eating more quickly.

When I continued watching without acting, Meursault looked at me in confusion.

‘Aren’t you going to hunt it?’

‘Not my prey.’

‘What?’

‘Wait.’

Meursault still looked baffled, but he silently held his breath.

The prey I wanted wasn’t a small monster like this.

My real target was a medium-sized monster that preyed upon smaller creatures.

And what medium-sized monsters loved most was the smell of blood.

While the horned rabbit was absorbed in eating the biscuit, I pulled a knife from inside my sleeve.

Then I stabbed the back of my hand.

“You’re insane!”

Meursault, who had been watching to see what I intended to do with the knife, cried out in horror.

Startled by the sound, the horned rabbit noticed us and tried to flee.

But it was already too late.

The moment Meursault shouted, I had already remained hidden and reached through the hole to grab one of its horns.

“Kieeek!”

The horned rabbit shrieked as it struggled to escape my grasp.

At the same time, the scent of blood from the back of my hand began spreading across the snowy field.

How long did the horned rabbit continue thrashing?

Thud, thud, thud, thud...

From the distance came the heavy sound of something charging toward us, drawn by the smell of blood.

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

The Hippoboar—a creature with the body of a hippopotamus and the hooves of a pig—was a fearsome monster that devoured everything within its territory.

The horned rabbit had fallen for something as simple as a biscuit precisely because there was no food left nearby.

However, Hippoboars fled whenever they saw humans.

That was why they had to be lured out with a smaller monster as bait.

It was also the reason I had used my blood instead of Meursault’s.

Monsters could estimate the size of an injured creature from the scent of its blood alone.

Had I used Meursault’s blood, the Hippoboar would have become wary and refused to approach.

I had not killed the horned rabbit and used its blood for the same reason.

If we had fired a gun, the smell of gunpowder would have frightened the Hippoboar away.

The rabbit needed to scream and attract attention like this so the Hippoboar could quickly pinpoint its location and come running.

Believing that a small wounded animal was wandering through its territory, the Hippoboar charged directly toward us without realizing it was entering its own grave.

The red gem embedded in the center of its forehead flashed beneath the sunlight.

Five seconds until it entered my rifle’s effective range...

Three seconds...

One.

[Activating the title “Magic Bullet Shooter.”]

I released the horn and rose from behind the blind, aiming my rifle at the charging Hippoboar.

The instant it noticed the human in front of it and slowed in confusion—

Bang.

One bullet was all it took to shatter the gem in its forehead.

Its massive body toppled sideways.

Meursault stared at me with a mixture of shock and reverence.

I gave him a broad grin.

“What are you waiting for? Go drag it over. Our first banquet is going to be a pork belly party.”

There was a reason I had chosen grilled pork belly as the menu for the first banquet.

Unless a foreign player who happened to be in Korea had visited that convenience store, the players transported into this world were fundamentally Korean.

Naturally, I expected them to react to Korean food.

Of course, players could not truly enjoy eating.

That was precisely why their expressions would differ so clearly from those of NPCs.

Any player forced to stare at a pork belly party they could not enjoy would undoubtedly look devastated.

It was only natural to prepare a dish that no Korean transported into another world could possibly ignore.

I had considered fried chicken as well...

But there was already a separate Chicken Zone.

Making fried chicken in the Cola Zone would damage the zone’s pride.

Besides, I wasn’t particularly good at cooking.

By comparison, how simple was grilled pork belly?

All you had to do was slice the meat and grill it.

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

And so, at last, the day of the pork belly party arrived.

Or rather, the banquet with children my own age.

Commander Hayden had kept his promise and arranged a meal with the other children.

There weren’t many children my age, so the barbecue party was held inside the mansion.

Instead of having everyone sit at tables, I deliberately chose a format where they would stand and receive freshly grilled meat.

I also asked the servants to pretend not to know me during the meal.

On the surface, the reason was that I wanted to conceal my status so the children could eat comfortably.

The real reason was to make it easier for Stay-at-Home-Wife and Taejeong, who already knew my face, to approach and speak to me.

“You’re pretty good. I can’t believe you thought of something like this.”

Stay-at-Home-Wifey was the first to approach me.

After reuniting with him for the first time in several weeks, I noticed that he seemed slightly more mature than before.

Believing he had finally grown up a little, I introduced him without suspicion to Taejeong, who was staring at the pork belly with a miserable expression.

“What? Taejeong Taese Beyoncé?”

Stay-at-Home-Wife immediately threw a fit.

“I thought I was your only helper! He got into the mansion before me? Then I never even needed to enlist, you fucking—!”

This bastard hadn’t matured at all.