Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 143

143. Magic Bullet (2)

Bang, bang-bang!

Short flashes of light flickered in the dark rock cave. The Kobolds, who had been lying in wait, collapsed, bleeding out instantly.

Several charged, swinging their clubs, but the operatives in black calmly and mechanically shot them down one by one.

“Wow, this actually works.”

“Shhh.”

One of the operatives muttered in surprise, and another immediately silenced him.

The operatives advanced silently. It was different from a typical raid filled with passionate shouts, curses, and yells. Like cold killing machines, they silently pushed deeper into the cave.

Among them, the operative with the cross—who didn’t say a word but perfectly memorized the military hand signals—was exceptionally skilled.

The operatives were curious about his identity, but it was their unspoken rule not to ask questions.

Approximately three hours later, the operatives finally reached their destination. Spotting the Kobold chieftain around the corner, they quietly waited and communicated instructions with hand signals.

The Kobolds were preparing their slings, anticipating a fight, amidst the echoing gunshots.

The appearance of ranged weapons was one of the biggest changes hunters noticed after entering Difficulty: Easy.

One of the operatives leaning against the corner took out a flashbang and tossed it. As the flashbang landed in front of them, the Kobolds preparing their slings turned their attention to it.

Bang. With a tremendous explosion, the flash blinded the Kobolds. The operatives immediately charged in and shot down the Kobolds holding slings one by one.

The still-blinded Kobold chieftain went berserk and began swinging his club wildly.

But that lasted only a moment. As gunfire focused on the Kobold chieftain, the riddled Kobold staggered and collapsed powerlessly.

The operatives exchanged glances. Then, the operative with the cross cut off the Kobold chieftain’s ear and showed it to the bodycam he was wearing.

After putting the Kobold chieftain’s ear in a plastic bag, the operatives all placed their hands on the return stone and teleported back together.

***

Frontline military unit firing range.

Park Gyu watched the video given to him by Hyunwoo in silence for a while.

“This is it. Chief of Staff Park Gyu.”

“…You said they were all non-ability users?”

“Why are you so surprised? Aren’t these the special forces operatives you personally selected? Except for one operative I picked as the leader.”

The operative with the cross.

Park Gyu recalled the operative who had shown remarkable performance.

His skill in handling a pistol was excellent, and he was the only operative who didn’t hesitate to fire. *Of course, being an ability user played a part,* Park Gyu thought to himself.

Park Gyu remained silent, lost in thought. Hyunwoo smiled and snapped his fingers.

A Kobold with its eyes covered was dragged to the military firing range. It was one they had captured when the operatives returned.

Hyunwoo checked if the pistol in the box was loaded and handed it to Park Gyu.

“Try shooting it yourself.”

Park Gyu’s eyes wavered. But he didn’t want to show weakness in front of Hyunwoo, so he eventually grabbed the pistol and approached the Kobold. Then, without hesitation, he pulled the trigger.

The gunshot didn’t ring out.

“You need to release the safety.”

“…….”

If he were from the military, he would have made an excuse that he had never shot a pistol, but Park Gyu was exempt from military service. But Hyunwoo didn’t bother pointing that out. Hyunwoo was also exempt from military service.

Hyunwoo released the safety himself, but Park Gyu hesitated again.

He had already used up all his courage trying to close his eyes and pull the trigger once.

Not many people can directly kill a monster. Among modern people, there are many who can’t even kill a slightly larger bug, let alone a large animal.

Because of this, the percentage of ability users who become hunters is not very high.

Park Gyu’s only experience killing animals would be fishing.

He hesitated and tried to hand the pistol to the officer next to him. But Hyunwoo snatched his hand.

“I’d like you to do it yourself.”

Park Gyu felt a strong pressure in Hyunwoo’s eyes. Hyunwoo decided to gently push him from behind. Holding his hand, aiming the pistol, and then using ‘Dominion’ on Park Gyu [a mind-control ability].

Making him pull a finger was so subtle that it was hard to notice.

The gunshot rang out, and the monster with its head pierced fell on the spot.

“Well done.”

Park Gyu took a deep breath. Hyunwoo smiled.

“It’s an 18-level Kobold from a 2-star dungeon. Chief of Staff Park Gyu is now a full-fledged hunter.”

It was half sarcastic. But Park Gyu didn’t properly hear Hyunwoo’s words, thinking about how he had just ended a life.

It wasn’t guilt, but a kind of pleasure from the sense of domination. People like Park Gyu could easily get into hobbies like hunting.

‘Controlling ability users is also because you want to use that power yourself,’ Hyunwoo mused.

Hyunwoo had no intention of stopping it. Rather, he was going to encourage it.

“Chief of Staff Park Gyu, how is it? Do you feel the power now?”

“Hmm? Ah, uh, amazing. You made this at the All-Powerful Alliance?”

Park Gyu, also a believer in ability user control, was interested in the itemized bullet project that D&W [a fictional company] was trying to create.

They succeeded in making it, but after realizing that it required a huge budget, he also gave up. But Hyunwoo had succeeded in mass-producing this magic bullet.

“Amazing. No other country overseas has succeeded in mass production… How?”

“Through appropriate cost reduction.”

What would Park Gyu’s reaction be if he knew that the crystal moss [a key ingredient for magic bullets] was being mined from a mine where it endlessly sprung up with almost free labor? But it was an unnecessary story to tell.

Park Gyu didn’t like that Hyunwoo seemed to be hiding something, but his mind was already floating.

If he could arm his soldiers with this, he wouldn’t need to rely on insincere and free-spirited hunters.

And the pleasure of killing a monster himself was still tingling in his hand.

“You said you would only supply this domestically. Right. What are the conditions?”

“First of all, as you know, the unit price isn’t cheap, and not many are being manufactured.”

Park Gyu narrowed his eyes. How much was this bastard planning to rip him off that he was starting like this?

“But… only out of a heart for the country, I’m going to charge exactly the cost price of 250,000 won [approximately $200 USD].”

“Per magazine?”

“Just kidding. Per bullet.”

He knew it. Park Gyu was just trying to think as positively as possible.

But 250,000 won per bullet was too much.

Item bullets from D&W that were released on the market were trading for around 900,000 won [approximately $720 USD] at the Korean exchange rate. With D&W ceasing production, even that price was skyrocketing.

Considering that, it was less than 1/3 of the price, but still a crazy price. Especially considering that the 5.56mm NATO rounds used by the Korean army cost 400 won [approximately $0.30 USD] per bullet.

“…Cheaper?”

“If you buy in bulk, cost reduction is possible, so it’s possible for 240,000 won [approximately $192 USD].”

That was a lie.

The biggest part of making magic bullets was crystal moss. Aside from that, the price of the mixing ingredients and technology costs didn’t amount to much.

In other words, Hyunwoo was ripping him off with an absurd price, using national security as bait.

But Park Gyu was not an easy opponent either. He carefully calculated D&W’s technology, the market price of item bullets, the exclusive rights that only Korea could have, and the market price of magic stones to make a reasonable judgment.

“Okay. I’ll buy 10,000 rounds first.”

*Thank you. Sucker… no, customer,* Hyunwoo thought.

Hyunwoo grinned. But Park Gyu hadn’t made an unreasonable decision.

10,000 rounds was only 2.5 billion won [approximately $2 million USD]. It wasn’t a lot of money from the country’s perspective. Especially since it was a product that had undergone field testing, so if necessary, it could be sold to foreign countries at a higher price.

Park Gyu was probably buying it with the intention of filling his own pockets.

But Hyunwoo was looking at something bigger.

The Northern Expedition [a military campaign to reclaim North Korea] was about to begin.

In addition to hunters, a tremendous number of soldiers were needed to recover Pyongyang [the capital of North Korea]. If tens of thousands of soldiers armed with magic bullets were to move, hundreds of thousands more would be needed.

Moreover, as the difficulty increases in the future, there will naturally come a time when greater firepower is needed. At that time, ability users alone will not be able to save everyone.

Around the time when it becomes difficult to kill opponents with pistols, automatic rifles or machine guns will be developed, and the amount of ammunition consumed will increase exponentially.

Instead of ending as a one-off event like in the original history, it will become a market that dominates the world.

“Oh, Chief of Staff Park Gyu, you have to purchase the pistols separately.”

Park Gyu’s face contorted. But Hyunwoo’s goal wasn’t just money.

“However… if you add a few conditions, there might be more room for negotiation on the price of the bullets and pistols.”

“Conditions?”

Hyunwoo finally brought up what he had been hoping for.

“Give up some of the command of the troops during the Northern Expedition.”

Park Gyu’s face instantly changed, and he looked like he had a lot to say. But Hyunwoo cut him off and continued.

“Either way, ordinary soldiers have to receive guidance and advice from hunters. Instead of giving it all to Taesung, give it to us too.”

It was called guidance and advice, but in reality, it was command in the Great Monster War.

Hyunwoo was aiming for that.

Park Gyu still looked dissatisfied, but it was at an understandable level. But Hyunwoo’s demands didn’t end there.

“And I need those conscripted ability users and skilled special forces non-commissioned officers and officers that I mentioned before.”

Park Gyu frowned.

“Special forces? Not that far…”

“Isn’t there a unit like that? A unit that isn’t officially affiliated with the military, isn’t officially a citizen of this country on the surface, and doesn’t have an official name.”

“Where in the world is there a unit like that?”

“Indeed, we understand each other. I need exactly that kind of unit. A unit that the country denies exists. I need it.”

“You watch too many movies…”

“Chief of Staff Park Gyu.”

Hyunwoo put his hands together politely, smiled, and said.

“If you don’t have one, just make one. I’m telling you I need it now.”

***

Outside the firing range, Hyunwoo’s Bugatti, which he had driven onto the base, was parked.

The passing soldiers all looked at the Bugatti with a mixture of envy and jealousy.

Then, at some point, when Hyunwoo opened the door and got into the car, that expression instantly deepened even further.

No matter how you looked at it, he was the same age as them, but he was in complete contrast to them, who were working for pocket change.

Inside Hyunwoo’s car, a man who had come with him was waiting.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Father Johann. A pig was bothering me.”

A level 50, 4-star hunter who rode with him during the Flood at the Severed Head Dungeon.

Johann, a priest and former soldier, was in the car. Johann seemed slightly surprised by Hyunwoo’s words.

“A pig? Does the Korean army use pig targets at the firing range?”

“I wanted to put it on the target, but I didn’t. I almost did, though.”

Johann tilted his head, not quite understanding Hyunwoo’s metaphor.

But Hyunwoo didn’t want to explain to Johann what he thought of his country’s chief of staff. Instead, he decided to get into more practical matters.

“By the way, what did you think of using the gun? Compared to what you used before.”

Johann had a licensed pistol. It was a pistol made by D&W.

Hyunwoo hadn’t seen Johann use it directly in the Severed Head Dungeon, but he had clearly seen the image captured in the video.

It was also the reason why Hyunwoo started to covet D&W.

“The pistol is lighter, so the recoil is a bit stronger, but the power is far superior.”

The operative with the cross in the video shown to Park Gyu was Johann.

“That’s fine, but what about the bullet I gave you specifically, Mr. Johann? I’m curious about that.”

Hyunwoo had given Johann the White Magic Bullet specifically.

Johann nodded with a slightly stiffer expression than before.

“That was… amazing performance. And the fact that you can imbue it with attributes… I knew it was only possible with a very small number of weapons, but it’s amazing that you can imbue it even in these bullets.”

“What attribute did you imbue, Father Johann?”

“Well, I don’t know if I did it right, but I tried to inject healing abilities. It glowed slightly, but getting hit by that bullet didn’t heal the wound. Looking at the cases for some attribute-imbued weapons, I think it might be a light attribute.”

Light attribute. No matter how diverse the types of attributes were, there were definitely some monsters that could be suspected of having specific ‘attributes’.

Even when attacked in the same way, there were cases where they were strong against some attacks and weak against others.

“How is it, does it seem useful?”

At Hyunwoo’s question, Johann answered without hesitation.

“This is a weapon that will change the era.”