Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

063 – Reunion

Among the five clans participating in the Amazon Recovery Operation, the only civilian clan that received a request to participate was the Liberal Clan. Furthermore, the Liberal Clan was participating as a backup strategy for contingency rather than as the main force of this operation. The main role of the primary recovery operation was taken on by the ServiHum Clan, the best Hero Clan in Europe.

In line with the operation established by the ServiHum Clan, the members of the BEF (Brazilian ESP FORCE), a government-affiliated organization responsible for managing awakeners, and the Floresta Clan, once a drug cartel but now the most powerful awakener clan in South America, were assigned to provide left and right backup. Finally, the EDF (Earth Defense Force) members, who had been requested by the Brazilian government to come all the way to the Amazon jungle, took on the central backup role.

Among them, the EDF’s special punitive force members were Myung-jun and James. The team consisted mostly of EDF’s 5th team members who had received intensive training from Ho-chang before. Myung-jun greeted James when an EDF member approached him in a makeshift tent set up for operational planning.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Cha Myung-jun. Has it been nearly six months?”

“Mr. James, it’s been a while.”

Myung-jun recognized his face and greeted him warmly.

“Is instructor healthy?”

“Instructor?”

“Ah! Well, he is as healthy as he can be.”

“Well, even if he is wearing armor suit, asking a person who can tear through monsters with their bare hands about their health might be considered rude.”

“By the way, do you refer to Ho-chang as an instructor?”

“He’s the one who trained us, taking the 5th team, which was considered the weakest in EDF, to the position of a special punitive force. We’ve learned all the knowledge and basic usage of skills from him, having been beaten to the brink of death by him. Now he teaches that knowledge to new awakeners joining EDF.”

“It’s always welcome when strong awakeners join the ranks of humanity.”

Saying that, Myung-jun shifted his gaze toward the dozens of small daggers hanging from the belt around James’s waist. The hilts of these daggers had large rings, ready to be drawn at any time, or at least they seemed to appeal in that way.

In response to Myung-jun’s gaze directed at his waist, James turned to him with a smile.

“I use them with gratitude.”

“While using them, is there anything uncomfortable?”

“A little. Nowadays, the new EDF members are most envious of the exclusive equipment that our 5th team members received. After all, it’s not just any equipment; it’s the equipment directly made by the leader of the Liberal Clan.”

In the final stages of the hellish training, Ho-chang wanted to give a special gift to his “disciples,” the 5th team members who followed his training in silent endurance. Upon hearing this story, Myung-jun, especially for Ho-chang’s “disciples,” personally forged equipment tailored to their abilities one by one.

To James, who possessed the awakened ability of chain manipulation, he gave dozens of small daggers that could be used like chain tops by attaching them to the chains.

Lena, who has the ability to summon lightning, received a spear-shaped wand that simultaneously functions as a lightning rod and voltage booster.

Robert, with the awakened ability to enhance the power of projectiles, received a special revolver capable of firing five different types of bullets, each with different abilities.

And for Earl Brown, who uses a greatsword, Myung-jun, the master smith class within the previous era, remembered how to handle materials and swing a hammer, even though he lost his skill due to his class changing to mechanic after regression. As a result, Myung-jun created four weapons using only his senses and the best materials he had.

The 5th team members who received such equipment from Myung-jun expressed their gratitude by bowing to Myung-jun and Ho-chang until their foreheads touched the ground.

And then, on the plane returning to Korea, Ho-chang asked Myung-jun a question. While it was Ho-chang who had brought up the idea of giving a gift to his “disciples,” he wondered if he could have handed over some appropriate equipment at reasonable price.

In response to Ho-chang’s question, Myung-jun replied with an expression that asked why he was asking the obvious.

‘Ho-chang, you are my right arm and a core member of the Liberal Clan. The item you want to ‘gift’ is something you want to give, so I can’t just throw anything to you. It’s a matter of your dignity.’

After hearing Myung-jun’s explanation that he had taken a great deal of trouble for his sake, Ho-chang responded loudly, “I will follow you for the rest of my life!”

Remembering that moment, Myung-jun smiled and continued his conversation with James.

“Later on, as the Gates and the rank of monsters increase, the current equipment may no longer suffice. So, it’s a good idea for you to think about how to use your awakened abilities diligently. No matter how good a chef’s knife you have, it’s the chef’s skill that completes the cooking.”

“So, right now, the equipment feels like it’s assisting our abilities, but later on, it’s more about us using our abilities to supplement the equipment’s performance. I’ll keep that in mind.”

As the two of them shared a laugh during their conversation, a loud cry came from a little distance away.

“Don’t talk nonsense!”

When Myung-jun and James simultaneously turned their heads to look in the direction of the sound, they saw Pereira, who had a very excited expression and was red in the face, and Orléans, who was sipping tea calmly while sitting there.

“What’s going on?”

Myung-jun whispered, and James smiled as he spoke.

“Well, this is the usual event that usually occurs in joint operations like this. It’s about the issue of leadership in the operation.”

“Wasn’t it agreed that the operation itself would be led by the ServiHum Clan?”

“That was agreed upon. Perhaps what they’re fighting about now is the distribution of spoils.”

“I see.”

Myung-jun nodded. It was a natural story, but the region where the overflow had occurred, except for the difficulty of recovery, was a resource-rich area that could be compared to a treasure trove. In the ServiHum Clan, which represented the Hero Clan, it would be natural for them not to demand any spoils in return for taking on the center role in this punitive operation. Probably, the Brazilian government had handed over the key to the suppression operation to the ServiHum Clan rather than to their own civilian clan for that reason. If the Hero Clan, the ServiHum Clan, known for its heroic achievements, recorded the highest number of suppressions, all of the vast resources generated as a result would become the property of the Brazilian government. The Floresta Clan was objecting to this situation.

“Even though we agreed that the ServiHum Clan would take the lead in this operation, isn’t the proposal to donate all the spoils we acquire for disaster recovery too unreasonable?”

“Aren’t you a Brazilian citizen as well? Many residents were driven out of the jungle due to the overflow situation this time and lost their livelihoods. Moreover, countless residents lost their families. Don’t you think it’s only natural to donate the spoils of this operation for disaster recovery for these victims?”

“That’s something that only people like you, who have big corporate sponsors behind them, could do!”

As Pereira raised her voice in anger, Myung-jun muttered with a puzzled expression.

“Isn’t it just a matter of dividing the materials that came from the monsters we captured?”

James, who had been listening next to them, resolved Myung-jun’s doubt.

“Normally, that’s true, but this time the place where the incident occurred is Brazil, which is the main operating area of the Floresta Clan. Clans that have come from other countries don’t ask for any compensation, but if the civilian clan based in that country demands compensation, how do you think it would look to the citizens?”

“Ah, so what the Floresta Clan is demanding is for the ServiHum Clan to give them a portion of the spoils from this operation, right?”

“That’s exactly it. They have their greed, but they don’t want to taste it.”

“What about the EDF?”

“We have money, so we decided to pay all the spoils we obtain in this operation to the Brazilian government in dollars. However, I understand that a discount is applied to the materials and crystals we collected from the monsters. Perhaps the U.S. government will buy all the spoils obtained from the ServiHum Clan, but…”

Myung-jun chuckled as he looked at James, who was glancing at him as if reading his mind.

“Don’t even dream about it.”

“We’ll pay you the highest market price.”

“We can make much more profit by processing the materials and crystals into weapons and equipment instead of selling them as is. In addition, if we want to process the quantities ordered by government agencies and civilian clans in various countries, we need a huge amount of materials.”

“Ugh… I see. But can the Liberal Clan really obtain such a large quantity of materials in this capture operation? Isn’t it the worst-ranked clan in the current operation ranking? Maybe the clan that enters first will completely exterminate the monsters.”

“If the scale of this overflow was only that much, I wouldn’t have flown all the way to Brazil.”

Myung-jun expected that the state of this overflow would be far more serious than what appeared on the surface. He believed this because the rank of the monsters captured, the size of the occupied areas, and the period of abandonment, as reported by the Brazilian government army, would have suggested that higher-rank Gates had run wild in the depths of the Amazon, where human eyes could not reach. However, other clan leaders who did not know what the true terror of the overflow was stubbornly fought on the front lines, only thinking about their own gains without considering the seriousness of the situation. And the result of their stubbornness was the worst operation that Myung-jun could see, where the most powerful civilian clan in South America and the most powerful Hero Clan in Europe entered the operational area in different directions.

“The Floresta Clan will enter through a land route that passes through the middle of the jungle.”

“The ServiHum Clan will use boats to go up the Amazon River’s tributaries to enter the central area.”

Of course, there were reasons for that as well. Pereira, the leader of the Floresta Clan, had the ability to control trees as she wished, making her abilities maximized in a jungle with many trees. And Orléans Perraudière, the leader of the ServiHum Clan, with the alias of the Master of the River, had the ability to control water, so it was a favorable situation to use his ability in the Amazon River, which had an abundance of water resources. Both were owners of abilities specialized for large-scale battles against a large number of monsters appearing in great quantities, and they had drawn up the operation plan in a direction that would not interfere with each other’s abilities.

And regarding the controversial issue of distributing the spoils, it was concluded that the ServiHum Clan would yield by donating 30% of the spoils they acquired in the name of the Floresta Clan to the Brazilian government. After all, all the spoils were intended to be donated to the Brazilian government for disaster recovery, and it didn’t matter in whose name it was donated.

Instead, Orléans obtained a condition that the Floresta Clan would provide support when the ServiHum Clan was active in South America in the future. He managed to save face by this concession.

Observing this agreement process between the two clans, Myung-jun turned to James, who was next to him, and said, “You’re thinking about eating rice cakes even though you haven’t even thought about it.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s an old Korean saying. It’s used when you’re excited as if something that is not decided with certainty is already confirmed.”

“Are you saying there’s a possibility of a strategy failure?”

ServiHum and Floresta, two of the most powerful clans on the continent, were joining forces for this operation. Even without Myung-jun, it could be said that they accounted for about 20% of the total power of awakeners around the world. However, looking at Myung-jun, who said he couldn’t guarantee the success of the strategy, James began to doubt whether he had chosen the right operation to participate in.

But Myung-jun raised his head to correct James’s misunderstanding. “No. The strategy itself will succeed.”

“Then what’s the problem…”

“What I’m saying is that it’s questionable whether they can clear it with only those guys going in. Even if they fail, I will eventually enter, so there will be no problem in dealing with the overflow.”

“…You seem very confident.”

“It’s just an objective evaluation.”

Saying that, Myung-jun stood up and headed for the boat with the child, Arin, who was preparing to board the boat with a drone received from Myung-jun.

“Oh, Myung-jun…”

“Are you ready?”

“…Yes.”

“No need to say ‘be careful.’ You survived a survival-type Gate alone. You’ll do fine on your own.”

“Heh, you’re worried about me?”

“Gate strategies are completely different from overflows. This will be a different kind of threat where you need to survive during the time limit. Even if you survive for a long time, if you can’t kill the enemy, it’s a never-ending fight.”

“I have to run away as safely as possible from a secure area. That’s my role, isn’t it?”

“That’s right. You got it.”

Myung-jun, saying that, took out a small necklace from his pocket and tossed it to Arin.

Arin looked at Myung-jun with a questioning expression, and Myung-jun chuckled and said, “It’s a personal concealment device. It only lasts for about 30 minutes, but for those 30 minutes, it erases all types of biological traces, from scent to noise.”

“Is this also an equipment under beta testing?”

“Think whatever you want. Use it if it gets dangerous, and if it doesn’t, return it after the operation is over.”

Arin was about to say that she was only planning to explore with a drone from the rear, so she didn’t need a concealment device.

However, Arin, looking at Myung-jun’s serious expression, put the necklace back into her pocket.

“If there’s an unexpected situation, I promise to use it.”

“All right, then. Take care.”

When Myung-jun spoke with a relieved expression, Arin asked, “Myung-jun… Are you really not participating?”

“I’ll be a backup if you fail. So, if you see me at the operation site, it means that the clan that participated first suffered a catastrophic blow. So, when the operation starts, pray in your heart. Please, make it so that you don’t have to see my face.”

Arin tried to respond, but she turned her head when Orléans’s call arrived on time.

Then, she deeply bowed in gratitude to Myung-jun and boarded the boat.

Myung-jun silently watched the boat that started to ascend the river with a rumbling engine.

He looked at the ServiHum Clan members, dressed extravagantly and not fitting the old, battered boat.

And in a voice that no one could hear, he quietly murmured, “I really hope I don’t have to show my face…”

In Myung-jun’s words, there was his ‘sincere’ wish that, even if he had to give up the opportunity to shine in this operation, the operation would proceed smoothly without any mishaps.

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