Not All Heroes From Earth Are Bad [EN]: Chapter 33

“(Hero-nim, Hero-nim, Hero-nim, Hero-nim!)”

“What.”

“Congratulations on your promotion! You’re a company commander now!”

Rachel said, needling him.

Choi Hyun-seok stared at Rachel.

“Didn’t you used to harp on about the duties of a hero?”

Rachel had been horrified when Choi Hyun-seok said he would become a slave owner.

Now he was a commander in the Demon King’s army, and instead of cursing him, she was congratulating him?

At Choi Hyun-seok’s question, Rachel smiled brightly.

“I’ve given up now! Let’s just get ahead here!”

“Haa… I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Choi Hyun-seok wore a tired expression.

“Where are we going now?”

“We need to check on the mess hall first.”

There wasn’t much time.

Hemis had ordered him to get the mess hall up and running by tomorrow.

“Let’s see… one day should be enough to reorganize the unit, right? Start operating the mess hall normally from the day after tomorrow.”

He couldn’t bring himself to ask for more time while she was pushing her huge lips at him.

Thanks to that, Choi Hyun-seok was heading to the mess hall despite the late hour.

“Today, we’ll figure out the situation in the mess hall, and tomorrow, we’ll finish the reorganization. We absolutely have to start hunting the day after tomorrow.”

“Ooh! Our company commander. You’re quite charismatic!?”

“Why are you being so extra today?”

“Hmph! Hmph! Hmph!”

Rachel crossed her arms and huffed three times in a row.

“What’s wrong with her…”

Choi Hyun-seok shook his head.

It seemed best to just leave her alone.

“We’re here.”

While he was thinking this and that, he arrived at the mess hall before he knew it.

He opened the familiar door and saw the desolate mess hall.

“No one’s…”

Choi Hyun-seok stopped talking.

“Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!”

An ominous sound was coming from one side of the mess hall.

He crept toward the direction of the sound.

“Crunch crunch! Slurp slurp!”

At the end, there was a cook greedily eating something.

‘Combat power is 2500. Lower than me.’

After confirming the hierarchy with the combat power meter, Choi Hyun-seok immediately took action.

“Hey, you bastard!!!”

Choi Hyun-seok kicked the cook in the back.

“Ku-eok!”

The cook rolled away from the sudden blow and crashed into the wall.

“What, what is it!?”

“What are you doing, eating food at this hour? Huh!?”

“Choi, Choi Hyun-seok…?”

The cook recognized Choi Hyun-seok.

“Ahem, from now on, call me Mess Hall Commander.”

Choi Hyun-seok held out the parchment.

It was an order appointing Choi Hyun-seok as the Mess Hall Company Commander.

“Words! Don’t know!”

“From today, I am the Mess Hall Commander. The Corps Commander ordered it.”

“Aha!”

The cook easily understood.

“So why are you eating like a stray cat at this hour… No, that’s not it. Hey! What’s your name?”

“Gollum!”

Gollum was over 2m tall, skinny, and had a hunched back.

Although he was very large, he was bald and resembled a friend who liked rings in many ways [a reference to the character Gollum from “The Lord of the Rings”].

“Gollum. Gather all the cooks. Right now.”

“Gollum.”

“Anyway, gather the cooks, you idiot.”

“Don’t want to.”

“Why?”

“Gollum doesn’t listen to weaklings.”

“Okay. I understand.”

Choi Hyun-seok nodded at Gollum’s words.

Then he kicked him in the shin with all his might.

Thwack!

A crisp sound rang out.

Because he hit him with magic, Gollum felt pain as if his leg was breaking.

“Now, who’s the weakling?”

“G, Gollum can’t admit it…”

Thwack!

“I’ll, I’ll go right now.”

Thwack!

“Kakh! I said I’d go, so why, why are you hitting me!?”

“I just don’t like that a Gollum dared to defy me.”

Choi Hyun-seok said with an evil smile.

Gollum started crawling with tears in his eyes.

“Gollum… hurts… leg hurts!”

It seemed like it would take quite a while to bring all the cooks while hobbling along.

***

Choi Hyun-seok roughly checked the remaining food supplies.

In the meantime, cooks began to gather one by one.

Choi Hyun-seok quickly scanned them with the combat power meter.

‘Average combat power is 2,000. The highest one is about 3,500.’

Originally, cooks had very high average combat power.

But fortunately or unfortunately, they had become much weaker than before.

‘Fortunately, it seems like there won’t be a problem controlling them…’

The problem was the number of cooks.

‘Why are there so few?’

Even though he had told them to gather all the cooks, only about thirty had gathered.

It was too few, at least.

Choi Hyun-seok frowned and looked at Gollum.

“Is this it? Is everyone here?”

“Y, yes…”

Gollum said while still sitting down.

“You should say, ‘Yes, sir’?”

Choi Hyun-seok said with a fierce smile.

Gollum nodded his head quickly.

“Yes, sir!”

“Good! Everyone, focus.”

Choi Hyun-seok clapped his hands to get their attention.

Now that all the cooks were gathered, it was time to get to the point.

“You all have familiar faces. You know who I am, right?”

“Choi Hyun-seok.”

“Choi Hyun-seok. Human. Makes delicious meat.”

“Delicious human.”

Choi Hyun-seok suddenly raised his hand.

“Hey, you there.”

“…”

“The guy who just said ‘delicious human.’ Yeah, you. Come out here.”

An orc walked out with a sullen face.

“Do I look like a delicious human to you?”

“Yes.”

At the same time as the answer, a lightning-like low kick landed!

Thwack!

The orc grabbed his leg and sat down in one go.

“Do I look like a delicious human to you?”

“That…”

The orc’s eyes quickly scanned Gollum.

It wasn’t difficult to figure out the situation.

If he got hit a few more times, he would become crippled too.

“I don’t think so. You don’t look delicious.”

Thwack!

“Why, why are you hitting me!?”

“I don’t like the words ‘you don’t look delicious’ either.”

Leaving the orc, who was looking at him with the most unfair eyes in the world, behind, Choi Hyun-seok looked at the cooks again.

He held out the order.

“Here! This is the Corps Commander’s order. As you can see, it says that I will be appointed as the Mess Hall Commander from now on.”

In fact, Choi Hyun-seok didn’t even know what was written on the order.

Because he couldn’t read.

He was just saying it because he heard that’s what it said.

“So when you call me, call me Mess Hall Commander. Got it?”

“Yes…”

The cooks reluctantly nodded.

In the short time he hadn’t seen them, Choi Hyun-seok, who used to smile and grill meat for them, had turned into a tyrant.

“Who’s the smartest guy here?”

At Choi Hyun-seok’s question, the cooks began to whisper.

“Kardone was smart.”

“You idiot. Kardone died yesterday.”

“Moliom is smart.”

“Moliom is stupid.”

“Moliom is smart!”

“Moliom is a complete idiot.”

A mess quickly broke out.

“Everyone, shut up!”

“…”

The situation was immediately resolved with one loud voice.

“Okay. You there.”

Choi Hyun-seok called out to a cook he had been watching.

‘That guy spoke the most fluently earlier.’

In a short moment, Choi Hyun-seok had caught everything the cooks were saying.

“What’s your name?”

“It’s Cron.”

“Good. Cron. Do you remember when Kulkan was alive?”

“Yes.”

“How many cooks were there then?”

“Um…”

Cron repeatedly folded and unfolded his fingers.

“I think there were over 300.”

“Yeah. That’s what I remember too. But why are there only this many now?”

When he faced Queen Talas, there were only about 100 cooks there, including Kulkan.

Even if they were all killed at that time, there should still be 200 left.

“They all died.”

“How did that happen?”

“They went hunting and were attacked by monsters.”

“Ah…”

Choi Hyun-seok nodded without realizing it.

It was a situation he didn’t even need to see.

‘Because there was no head, it wasn’t managed properly.’

Kulkan was quite smart for a member of the Demon King’s army.

His combat power was also 35,000, so he was skilled.

But in the Talas incident, Kulkan and the elite cooks, including the vice-chief, died all at once.

No matter how strong the remaining cooks were, they weren’t as strong as monsters.

They must have rushed in recklessly and caused a mass slaughter.

“Haa… the situation is more serious than I thought.”

He was already getting a headache.

‘Even if we can go hunting by recruiting new cooks… what about the cooking?’

The cooks’ main tasks were two things.

Hunting and cooking.

Anyone can hunt, but not cook.

Since it was the food that the executives ate, cooking required skilled techniques.

“Cron.”

“It’s Cron.”

“Anyway, who’s the best cook here?”

“Um… it’s Gollum.”

“Really?”

Choi Hyun-seok looked at Gollum, who was sitting on the floor, with surprised eyes.

“Gollum.”

“Yes.”

“From now on, you are the vice-chief. Anyone who has a complaint, speak up now.”

“…”

“Good.”

Choi Hyun-seok smiled satisfactorily.

“Now everyone, go back. It’s going to be busy from tomorrow. Get some rest.”

Today’s work was over.

From tomorrow, he would have to recruit new cooks.

‘I can do it…’

Today, Choi Hyun-seok was sure.

He had become stronger.

‘Let’s pick only the easiest guys to handle.’

A typical strong-to-the-weak! He was going to show them what a despicable tyrant was all about.

***

The next day.

Choi Hyun-seok left Bobo’s house as soon as it was light.

“Bobo! Let’s go for a walk!”

A fun walk with Bobo! Or not.

He was moving to recruit new cooks.

The reason he was taking Bobo with him was to threaten the other party if necessary.

“Hek, hek!”

Without knowing the zookeeper’s dark intentions, Bobo followed Choi Hyun-seok with a happy face.

“Hero-nim. Where are you going to start?”

“Well… now that I’m actually trying to gather soldiers, I’m at a loss.”

All Hemis had said was that she would give him the authority to recruit soldiers.

She didn’t explain specifically where, how, how many, or who to recruit.

“It’ll work out somehow.”

“I guess so.”

“If all else fails, we can hide behind Bobo and threaten them.”

“Wow, a hero who proudly says such despicable things. You’re the worst.”

“What’s new.”

“I guess so.”

It was ridiculous to argue about being despicable or evil now.

He was a hero and a dedicated fairy who had already given up everything a long time ago.

“Okay. Let’s start with that guy.”

Choi Hyun-seok pointed to a soldier.

He was a muscular soldier with a mole-like face.

“Why that mole of all people?”

“He looks easy to handle.”

To be exact, his combat power was easy to handle.

[ Combat Power: 1931 ]

Choi Hyun-seok nodded as he checked the combat power displayed on his goggles.

“Not too high, not too low, just right.”

If the combat power is too high, it’s difficult to handle.

However, if the combat power is too low, it’s useless.

In that sense, a combat power between 1500 and 3000 is the most appropriate.

“Aha! Hero-nim, you’re quite smart.”

“I’m not just quite smart, I’m just smart.”

Choi Hyun-seok and Rachel approached the soldier while making pointless jokes.

“Hey. You there.”

Choi Hyun-seok called the soldier.

The soldier looked around and pointed at himself.

“Yeah. Mole. I’m talking about you.”

At the word mole, veins popped out on the soldier’s face.

Choi Hyun-seok continued without paying attention.

“You’re going to be a cook.”

“A cook?”

“Yeah. I’ll feed you delicious food until you burst.”

The mole soldier was momentarily flustered by the sudden offer.

Then he suddenly frowned fiercely.

“No! By the way, human. How dare you call me Digdon a mole?”

“Huh? You don’t want to be a cook?”

“I said no!”

“That’s strange…”

Choi Hyun-seok wore a puzzled expression.

He thought they would be ecstatic and rush to become cooks, but it was unexpected.

“I’ll tear your mind apart!”

The mole soldier, angry at being called a mole, suddenly swung his fist.

Choi Hyun-seok lightly tilted his head to avoid the punch.

“Well, if you don’t want to, there’s nothing I can do…”

At the same time, a low kick exploded!

Thwack!

The mole wore a dumbfounded expression at the pain of his thigh burning.

“You’re going to be a cook.”

“I said I don’t w…”

Thwack!

“Are you going to be a cook?”

Choi Hyun-seok kicked him without even listening to the answer.

Thwack!

The mole sat down with an unfair face.

“Why, why are you hitting me without even listening to my answer!? I’ll do it! I’ll be a cook!”

Even at the words that he would be a cook, Choi Hyun-seok shook his head.

“No. That’s not it.”

“What is it!? I said I’d be a cook as you wanted, so what’s the problem!?”

“Say ‘Please make me a cook’ with a more desperate face.”

“…”

At that moment, the mole realized.

This guy is crazy.

If he wanted to live, he had to do as he was told.

“You’re not going to do it?”

“Please! Please pick me as a cook!”

Perhaps the mole’s desperation had reached him.

Choi Hyun-seok grinned.

“Well, if you want it that badly, I can’t help it! I’ll let you do it!”

Leaving the mole, who had lowered his head with a desperate face, behind.

Rachel came up and said.

“Hero-nim! I was surprised. You’re a complete master of negotiation!?”

At the compliment, Choi Hyun-seok rubbed his nose with his finger.

“Well, this much is a piece of cake.”

“At this rate, we’ll be able to pick everyone today!”

“Good. Let’s go!”

Hero Choi Hyun-seok and dedicated fairy Rachel took a fighting pose with energy.