Episode 8: Recruit Training / Chapter 132: Kundle Tribe (3)
TL: emptycube / ED: Obelisk
"You saw them, right? How were they?"
After the meeting, Baek Seoin stuck right next to Choi Hyuk and asked.
Although he hadn"t told anyone about his "Eyes of Distinction", which he had from the beginning, he told his executives about the "Eyes of the Judge" he inherited from Richard.
Baek Seoin was curious about the evaluation the Eyes of the Judge gave Manta and Hashishi.
However, Choi Hyuk shook his head.
Seeing this, Baek Seoin rubbed his chin as if it was troublesome.
"They didn"t have any symbols? What should we do in cases like this…?"
The reason why Baek Seoin was curious about the symbols wasn"t because he was going to kill them or keep them alive because of them. The laws of the alliance weren"t easily glossed over, and Manta and Hashishi were strong, having reached the level of proficiency as high-ranked warriors. Which was why the Berserkers didn"t have the power to decide whether they would kill them or keep them alive yet. Only, he was planning on deciding whether they should be warier of them or respond positively depending on their symbols.
"But what should we do if they don"t have symbols…"
While Baek Seoin was in thought, Choi Hyuk thought about it simply.
"We can ignore them. It means we can do whatever we want."
Whether they were friend or foe, it was something they could think about when their symbols appeared later. If their symbols never appeared, then they didn"t have to be concerned about that either.
This was how Choi Hyuk comprehended the symbols.
"No, I just wanted to consider the symbols since we don"t know whether doing whatever we want is good or not,"
mumbled Baek Seoin behind him.
"Don"t worry,"
Choi Hyuk said as he looked back slightly.
Meeting his gaze, Baek Seoin felt shivers run down his back. Since some time ago, even if his eyes seemed to glance over him, an afterimage remained like a brand. Choi Hyuk simply looking at him gave a terrifying feeling as though a sword hung over his neck. These shivers didn"t stop quickly.
Was it because he had become a high-ranked warrior? But he didn"t get this feeling from Manta or Hashishi.
"… Is it my Intuition?"
Perhaps this was Baek Seoin"s innate skill "Intuition" peering into Choi Hyuk"s true nature. A rage that could burn the entire world and surge towards the sky. It might be that his "Intuition" felt Choi Hyuk"s extremely dangerous aggression and kept sending him warning signals. Someone whose existence itself was dangerous.
Baek Seoin relaxed because of this as well.
"Yes, yes, we"ll win anyways."
Even though he replied in a joking manner, he was being sincere.
Since there was no way Choi Hyuk would lose.
How would they go about with the recruit training?
This problem brought a heated discussion amongst the Berserker executives, who all had unique personalities.
"d.a.m.n it! Then how are we different from the alliance?"
Lee Jinhee, who was very affectionate and had a very just personality, raised her voice.
Bae Jinman didn"t raise his voice like her but rather tried to persuade Choi Hyuk.
"… Wouldn"t accomplishing a difficult task that others can"t do be a bigger feat than succeeding at something everyone else can?"
On the other hand, Hanke, who prioritized profit, suggested they go with Manta and Hashishi"s methods.
"The shortcut to success isn"t choosing a path of difficulty and greatness, it"s taking the fast and easy path. There"s a reason everyone else does it. Isn"t that right, leader?"
Leah, who had been listening silently, raised her hand.
"I too think that following what other troops are doing and learning from it is better than being too ambitious."
She too was the type who didn"t care about the lives of the aliens.
After listening to their words, Lee Jinhee leaped up and down.
"Ah! Really! There are things you shouldn"t do if you"re human!"
"No? There is nothing a human can"t do."
Lee Jinhee and Leah"s gazes tangled with each other in mid-air.
After quietly observing them, Choi Hyuk abruptly asked,
"So what does Jinhee nuna think? What do you think we should do?"
Lee Jinhee replied as though she had been waiting for this,
"There are a lot of methods! We can found a school! We can even become G.o.ds and lead them!"
There were a few murmurs at her words. A school, G.o.ds? As earthlings, who advanced while being stepped on like dogs, this sort of gentle thought was hard to believe.
"I checked the data! There are tons of examples of this in the alliance! We experienced a harsher training than others from the start! Isn"t it strange? You don"t have to kill your own race or have your homeland destroyed to become stronger! A troop approached them as if they were G.o.ds and trained them as though they were selecting warriors for the G.o.ds! There was even a species who received the approval of the Exalted Wings to reveal their ident.i.ties to the species they were training before they started to teach them step-by-step! They even became strong enough later to join the alliance!"
"Just hearing those methods is a pain… It"s easier to just let them fight each other… But where did you find that data? There weren"t any examples of that in Dark City…"
Handke grumbled, but his voice was quieter than before. It was because he had never imagined that Lee Jinhee would have found data he didn"t know and bring it up here.
"That"s because we"re on the border and there is an especially large number of psychos! I went beyond Laniakea. I went to the "Armored Constellation" that can confidently be considered a city by the alliance! I spent all the Mission Points I had saved up until now as travel expenses! Just going there, there"s an overflowing amount of data. The alliance is a ma.s.sive organization. They aren"t simply a gathering of abnormal people!"
Baek Seoin joined in after Lee Jinhee"s ardent shouts.
"There definitely… is something strange about this as well. I heard that the reason they a.s.sign three troops to train recruits was to promote various methods of training… But the two troops besides us are pursuing methods similar to what we endured. As though… it"s a scheme to make us become the same as them."
The same as them.
There was something that people who were extremely angry and hurt despised. It was "becoming the same as that b.a.s.t.a.r.d". Just thinking about it made them shudder.
However, if, for some unavoidable reasons, they acted in the same way as them, then everything would change from that moment on. The endless rage directed at those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds would slowly simmer down. This was because, once they were in the same position as them, they would gain an "understanding" rather than feel rage or horror. There were even instances when these adverse changes felt like "growth". It would be similar to how a private might think, "I"ll never be like those a.s.sholes!" but might understand "why those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds acted that way" when he became a sergeant.
"The incident this time might, in fact, weaken the justification for our anger."
Baek Seoin said seriously. As the executives knew that Choi Hyuk"s goal was "revenge", they could do nothing but groan. Baek Seoin"s words were reasonable.
They all looked at Choi Hyuk.
Choi Hyuk"s lips slowly became crooked.
A laugh that sounded like air was escaping his mouth flowed out from his lips.
"Same as them? So what?"
He ridiculed.
Baek Seoin felt a terrifying sensation once more.
Choi Hyuk"s att.i.tude was clear.
"Whether I become the same as them or lose my justification, what does that have to do with revenge?"
This was a truly blind thirst for revenge. A pure thirst for revenge that didn"t require any moral emotions. This blindness was also the best virtue Choi Hyuk possessed.
Choi Hyuk, who had been troubled over what sort of att.i.tude he should display, clearly decided on his guidelines.
"Don"t look at anything else. Don"t tarnish your heart. Whether we are the same as them or not, and whether they were right or wrong isn"t important. Killing. Killing every f.u.c.king thing. Only this is important."
If they were still living in the peaceful world of the past, it was a declaration that would label him as a psychopath.
It was also a declaration that directly faced off against Lee Jinhee and Bae Jinman"s opinions. Even if they were to use a reconciliatory gesture, it wouldn"t be because of "respect for life" or "out of moral justification". It was a declaration that the Berserkers wouldn"t act on reasons like those.
Even still, his voice moved the hearts of the executives as though they were under a spell.
Who here hadn"t seen h.e.l.l?
Who here hadn"t witnessed everyone they loved die and felt their entire life crash down on them one morning?
Who here didn"t have nightmares? Who here was sane?
Choi Hyuk"s words were absurd, but at the same time, they gave them a strange sense of satisfaction.
"Killing every f.u.c.king thing."
These words even moved Lee Jinhee and Bae Jinman"s hearts. They even felt ecstasy as if they had taken opium.
Also, the fact that they were moved by those words and that things had changed this way made them sad and angry.
With her eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with tears, Lee Jinhee said as though she felt wronged,
"So, if we do that, what remains?"
Choi Hyuk scratched his head and answered,
"What remains once we kill everything? I don"t know, we"ll have to see once we do."
Silence.
Only silence accompanied his words.
Choi Hyuk, who brought this mood upon them, decided,
"What Jinhee nuna said about a school, I"ll think about it. However, it probably won"t be the type of school you"re thinking of."
{Welcome to the environment control system. Choi Hyuk, in charge of the training. Identification complete. It is the day to commence training. What training would you like to commence?}
"Change the outer appearances of the Berserkers so they look exactly the same as the Kundle Tribe members and scatter them throughout the planet. Have them return tomorrow."
{Understood. It will consume a total of 100,000,000 Mission Points. All expenses for training will be supplied by the alliance. However, you may receive a penalty if your training performance is lacking compared to your expenses.}
"Got it."
Although the system said it as though it was trying to scare him, 100,000,000 Mission Points was a trivial amount in respect to such a ma.s.sive project like training recruits. It was an amount that Choi Hyuk could pay if he slipped up.
While Manta and Hashishi were both planning on using billions of Mission Points each to mine the planet and launch a large-scale slaughter of the same race respectively, Choi Hyuk simply disguised the Berserkers and sent them down to the planet.
"See you tomorrow."
This was simply a preliminary step in preparation for the true start of the training.
The species receiving the training were called the "Kundle Tribe".
Their limbs were thin like string while their bodies were thick like sausages.
"Don"t their appearances look pathetic? What the h.e.l.l?"
Following Choi Hyuk"s order, there was one mission given to the Berserkers scattered throughout the planet.
"Check their personalities… Drag it out of them."
Everyone thought it wouldn"t be hard.
Sinkholes appeared throughout the planet because of the mining of the planet started by Manta, and Hashishi commenced a brutal game where they could never escape unless they killed each other.
Like how Earth had been in the past, this place would be a melting pot of fear and chaos so dragging out their true personalities would be very easy. No, that was what they thought.
However, this was their miscalculation.
"Just what the h.e.l.l is wrong with them?"
The Berserkers scattered throughout the planet grumbled.
Those known as the Kundle Tribe were endlessly at peace.
A Berserker cut off the arm of a pa.s.sing Kundle Tribe member without a word.
"Haa, what"s the matter with you?"
Even though his arm had been cut off, he smiled once as though he was looking at a strange person before going his way. His thin arm had grown back at some point. They didn"t get angry nor did they try to fight them.
Other Berserkers infiltrated Hashishi"s training and incited that they needed to kill each other. The reactions they received were dumbfounding.
"Hey… They"ll disappear when we wake up after sleeping."
"What are you saying?! If we don"t kill, then we"ll cease to exist!"
"Ehh… We won"t die. We won"t."
There was no one more at peace than them.
"I… I want to live!"
When an infiltrated Berserker acted like this and stabbed the bellies and cut off the heads of the Kundle Tribe members who were lying down-
"Huh? Why is that mister acting like that?"
"Let him be. He"ll tire out eventually. Let"s just sleep."
The Kundle Tribe fell asleep as a group.
"What the h.e.l.l?"
The heads and limbs of these sleeping Kundle Tribe members were sucked into their sausage-like bodies. After turning into individual lumps, they stuck to the ground like barnacles. Then their weak karma was energized.
"What the h.e.l.l… Are they completely focused on recovering?"
The karma the Kundle Tribe possessed had strong traces of the recovery property. Their att.i.tude was that this scary incident would have pa.s.sed by the time they woke up. When they fell asleep, nothing could wake them up as if they had lost consciousness.
When they returned, the Berserkers reported everything they heard and observed from the Kundle Tribe. Naro collected and organized all the data.
"The planet of the Kundle Tribe is very hot because it has three suns. That"s why they say early lifeforms either lived underground or in especially cool areas. Then a species that awakened the karma of "recovery" appeared. That was the Kundle Tribe."
"As they possess an outstanding regeneration ability, they might not fear dying anymore. Not only that, but they have no reason to fear their natural enemies as well."
Speaking up to this point, Naro acted like it was collapsing before opening its eyes wide and saying,
"Whatever scary foes they face would either hide underground to avoid the sun or be burned by the suns and die by the time they wake up."
The executives nodded. This was precisely the att.i.tude the Kundle Tribe had. When they perceived danger, they would quickly hibernate.
"It looks like the Kundle Tribe members won"t age or die if they don"t want to thanks to the recovery ability of their karma. That was why their civilization developed in a way to overcome the boredom of their long lives, which is why there are so many weirdly shaped buildings. Rather than out of necessity, they made them out of boredom… Apparently, their cities seem like large antique stores."
This time, Naro acted as though it was absentmindedly making something. Its every hand movement was half-hearted.
"According to the observations of the Berserkers, they can"t devote themselves to one thing. They said that if they bothered people who were working, they would just shrug and leave without showing any lingering attachment to whatever they had been working on until then… They were just doing it for fun. They won"t do it if it became hard."
"Haa…"
Sighs erupted amongst the executives.
"If this is the case, then weren"t the Sur Troops correct? I don"t think there"s any other way besides mining to profit."
Handke said.
They didn"t become angry or fight. They didn"t even show any backbone. They were utterly ill-suited as warriors.
However, Choi Hyuk shook his head.
"No. In this situation, I think the school Jinhee nuna brought up is pretty good."
"A school? When they will probably sleep if things became even slightly difficult or dangerous?"
At Leah"s question, Choi Hyuk shook his head once more.
"I said it already. It won"t be an easygoing school like that."
Choi Hyuk looked down at the Kundle Tribe"s planet below his feet and said,
"You"re saying that they don"t feel fear or anger… Then we just need to teach them in school."
"Pardon?"
A school that taught fear and anger… They felt a chilling feeling for some reason.
Hashishi frowned while Manta smiled.
"As expected, just mining is best. Since we are coming up with a planet mining plan, you just need to help out."
Manta had said that it was safer to simply mine everything than to train them as warriors from the start. At this rate, he was certain to become the greatest contributor of this recruit training.
Hashishi didn"t like it, but he couldn"t find any other way. No matter how vicious his methods were, they simply slept.
"Keung! Keung! Haaa… It can"t be helped. Please take care of me, Manta."
Hashishi decided to yield and work with Manta. This time, Manta looked at the empty seat.
"It looks like Leader Choi Hyuk won"t come?"
Hashishi laughed.
"Let him be. He"s a child who doesn"t know what"s good for him."
Hashishi held Choi Hyuk in complete disregard. However, Manta was looking at Choi Hyuk"s empty seat with a thoughtful expression.
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