We returned to the barracks; after realizing we had no way to summon the rewards that we had earned, 

We figured we might as well return to the mess hall, even though we couldn’t use the rewards immediately; there might come a day when we could. 

Lunchtime had long passed, and it was about time to return to the mess hall to prepare dinner. 

“But I doubt other soldiers are even thinking about going to the mess hall; they’re probably too exhausted.” 

“Is that so?” 

“It’s probably better to just grab some combat rations and eat. You should take a break too.” 

Following Min-jae’s advice, we decided to take a brief rest. 

“Yeah, I guess I should also take a day off.” 

I said it, but… 

I had been working too hard all this time. 

Being the only cook left, I had to handle all the cooking by myself, not to mention making buff dishes for the awakened and special meals for the mentally weak soldiers. 

I had gone through all sorts of hardships. 

Still, there was a sense of fulfillment in it. 

‘And that sense of fulfillment isn’t just because of the mood.’ 

[Awakened: Shin Young-joon] 

[Occupation: Novice Cook Lv. 9] 

[Attributes: Strength 12, Agility 13, Magic 10, Luck 10] 

[Specialties: Novice Grade Dagger Mastery, Novice Grade Cooking Skills, Novice Grade Ingredient Identification, Novice Grade Fire Affinity] 

[Skills: Chef’s Eye, Chef’s Special Sauce] 

[Points: 1,032pt] 

There was a tangible satisfaction in those numbers. 

“I’m level 9 now!” 

I had been steadily gaining experience points. 

Whether it was hunting monsters or completing dishes. 

And recently, I discovered another source of experience. 

[Someone who has enjoyed your meal has excelled in battle] 

[The Chef’s reputation is spreading far and wide. Increase in experience points] 

If someone who ate my cooking excelled in battle thanks to that buff… 

That became experience points for me too! 

“Thanks to that, I gained a lot from yesterday’s battle.” 

With each level up, my stats also increased. 

Now, I had reached the stats that were only possible to achieve by eating buffed dishes when I was at level 1. 

I was saving them just in case I needed them in the future. 

I had accumulated quite a lot of points too. 

According to other awakened I asked, there was no one in the unit with higher points or levels than mine. 

“My growth is going well. After yesterday’s fight, the number of lizard attacks on our unit has decreased by half, and the awakening of the unit members is also progressing well…” 

Everything was going smoothly. 

When monsters first appeared, all I could think of was not wanting to die like this. 

But now, I feel a bit relaxed. 

Considering all the struggle that I went through to prepare for the war. 

I was getting a sense of fulfillment. 

Even if it might only be a brief period of peace. 

If we continued to handle things well like this in the future… 

“Hey, Young-joon!” 

In the midst of these thoughts… 

Someone called my name. 

There weren’t many people left in the unit who would call me by my name. 

Thinking it might be Min-jae, I turned my head in the direction of the voice. 

“Are you here?” 

I managed to maintain a miraculously composed expression. 

“Lieutenant Kim…” 

“You’ve done well! Good job!” 

The one who called me was Lieutenant Kim. 

He was both the company commander of our unit and currently the only remaining officer. 

In other words… 

He was currently the highest-ranking officer. 

“Well, it’s nothing. It’s just what I had to do.” 

“But how many people can do what’s expected of them? Huh? Have some confidence man!” 

His words were a bit rough. 

But in reality, what he said was a compliment. 

If it hadn’t been Lieutenant Kim who said those words, I might have felt good about it. 

“Those who can’t do what’s expected of them.” 

It had been over ten days since the monsters appeared. 

Soldiers gathered to fight the monsters. 

We increased the number of awakened. 

We tried to awaken the excluded. 

We built defenses around the barracks. 

We patrolled the area. 

And we even fought the lizard chieftain. 

During these ten days… 

Lieutenant Kim did the following: 

[.] 

To put it into words: 

Nothing. 

He simply did nothing. 

During these ten days, surprisingly enough… 

Lieutenant Kim didn’t do a single thing! 

When he decided we needed to increase the number of awakened… 

“Sure, let’s do that.” 

When we gathered supplies near the barracks and built defenses… 

“It’s nice to see everyone working hard.” 

When the lizard chieftain was first discovered… 

“There’s such a monster? We should be cautious. I might have to wait for contact from a superior unit. I’ll leave it to you guys.” 

His words sounded inspiring, but ultimately, he delegated all the work to the soldiers. 

No. 

It would have been better if he had simply delegated everything to the soldiers and called it a day. 

After the monsters first appeared… 

Our unit had casualties, but no deaths. 

However… 

We had two missing soldiers. 

“The ones that Lieutenant Kim insisted on sending to make contact with the higherups.” 

Since we couldn’t communicate via wired or wireless means… 

They were sent out to make contact. 

But they haven’t returned even after ten days. 

The anger among few soldiers who were close with those two was palpable. 

They didn’t hesitate to speak openly about how Lieutenant Kim had killed them himself with that suicidal mission. 

Well, at least he was an officer. 

Despite being a commander and conducting extensive patrols, Lieutenant Kim always made efforts to gain favor. 

In my case, it went something like this: 

“Hey, Young-joon, you’ve been working hard. Thanks for today’s lunch! Ah… We have fried chicken today…? That’s a bit… How about you make some pasta for me instead?” 

Rejecting the meal offered with careful consideration and insisting on ordering a special food instead. 

If someone had any sense, they’d wonder how someone could do such things without any hesitation. 

Thanks to this, I ended up using expensive ingredients like olive oil and minced garlic even though they were already scarce. 

I had to make Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with them. 

Due to incidents like these, Lieutenant Kim’s evaluation within the unit was at its lowest. 

It wasn’t great even before the monster showed up. 

“It was as if he was continually testing the depths of a new low, descending vertically each day.” 

And now, he came to say something again. 

Sure enough. 

“I heard today we’re skipping the mess hall and having combat rations. Why don’t we cook something for ourselves?” 

As expected, his intention was clear. 

“Sorry. I’m a bit tired right now, and we also need to save some supplies. Cooking just for ourselves might draw some attention.” 

“Oh, don’t worry about that. If anyone has something to say, tell them to come to me. I’m an officer, after all.” 

I wanted to say something, but… 

“And why are you laughing? Did you think I didn’t know you guys sometimes cook for yourselves?” 

“Excuse me?” 

What’s he talking about now? 

It’s already hard enough to save the little supplies we have. 

“You guys are cooking for those about to awaken, aren’t you? Last time, you were cooking properly for the awakening candidates.” 

Oh, my goodness. 

I didn’t expect him to catch on to this. 

“So, you’re boosting their morale with food, right? But how much can food really boost their abilities…” 

His words were just excuses. 

Lieutenant Kim muttered, seemingly annoyed, that we were just cooking for our friends. 

“I can’t believe he’s nitpicking over this.” 

Lieutenant Kim, seemingly more upset, outrightly opened the door and left. 

I felt helpless seeing him vent his anger like that. 

Despite appearances, he’s the only officer left in our unit. 

Even if he seems useless now, it’s not an exaggeration. 

The outside world’s military still exists. 

And someday, when we make contact with them. 

He’ll become incredibly important. 

“That ‘buff’ is actually quite significant.” 

“Ah, forget it. It’s too dirty; I won’t eat it.” 

It’s absurd, but… 

Lieutenant Kim was infuriated, seemingly more angry. 

“You’re not just favoring your friends, are you?” 

Lieutenant Kim said abruptly before leaving. 

I couldn’t help feeling dumbfounded by his outburst. 

“Seeing him throwing tantrums I was craving for a cigarette. But strangely enough I have never smoked before.” 

My head was pounding strangely, and… 

Someone opened the door and came in. 

Knock, knock. 

“Sergeant Shin Young-joon? You don’t look too good.” 

“Lieutenant Kim came and went…” 

“Ah…” 

It was Corporal Jeon Gwang-il. 

“Well, who knows what he said, but… Anyway, thank you for your hard work.” 

“Don’t mention it. Ugh… really.” 

“Well, if there are difficult times then that also means there will be good times soon, right?” 

“Huh?” 

As I sighed because my headache wouldn’t go away… 

He suddenly smiled and said that. 

“Sergeant Park Taejun is awake.” 

“…!” 

My classmate had gained his consciousness. 

*** 

“You’re not facing any health issues, but there might be some difficulty in walking.” 

“Was it tough even with the healers and priests?” 

“Yes… If we had treated you right after you were injured, it might have been possible, but completely healing wounds that have been around for over ten days was impossible. I’m sorry.” 

“Oh, no, no, you don’t need to apologize, thank you. You’ve worked hard.” 

Upon hearing the news that Taejun had woken up… 

I hurriedly went to the unit’s medical office. 

“My only classmate.” 

Corporal Park Taejun. 

The most senior soldiers in this unit after Lieutenant Park 

and… 

We had even planned to get discharged together. 

But a day before our leave, he was attacked by a monster. 

He was the first one to express his willingness to awaken when I told him that killing the monster could trigger it. 

Unfortunately, at that time, we didn’t know how resilient those lizard monsters were. 

He was still conscious even when the monster tore down his leg, causing severe injuries. It was only later when he lost consciousness after losing too much blood and due to immense pain. 

He woke up only now. 

“It was a serious injury, with bones visible.” 

Even then, Uijun the medic awakened continued to provide care, changing bandages and such. 

But Uijun was a physical therapy major. 

He wouldn’t know how to treat wounds where bones were exposed. 

Preventing it from worsening was the best he could do. 

And then, in the last battle, Uijun awakened as a healer. 

Together with a priest awakened, they started treating him. 

And the result? 

Half-success. 

Although it’s difficult for him to walk, there are no health issues. 

‘At least that’s the best they can do for now.’ 

“Hey, Park Taejun. Long time no see.” 

“Are you here?” 

“I feel like we met just yesterday.” 

As we opened the door to the sickbay and entered, Taejun, looking a bit frail, greeted me. 

“Are you really getting better? How many fingers can you see?” 

I wiggled my index finger in front of Taejun’s eyes. 

“One.” 

“You mean two, right? Bastard you are still not fine in your head” 

“Sergeant Shin Young-joon… You shouldn’t make fun of the patient.” 

“Haha. Crazy guy.” 

After exchanging casual greetings, I briefed Taejun on what has happened in the unit during his time on the bed.  

From the day he passed out to the current situation. 

I told him about everything and the crazy experience we went through. 

There were many ups and downs, but for now, things seemed fairly stable. 

Since the mountain range became our territory, monster attacks have decreased by more than half. 

Even though we had taken out the Lizard Chieftain, attacks still occurred, which was puzzling. 

They didn’t seem to be following orders. 

I guess they are just the remnant soldiers trying to attack us and take over our base. 

With quite a few Awakening users in our ranks now, we could easily subdue the lizards that came our way. 

We use those subdued lizards as materials for further Awakening. 

So, the situation was pretty stable overall. 

“Yeah. We went through a lot while you were lying there.” 

“Haha.” 

“All you have left now is to enjoy the good life. Lucky bastard.” 

“You don’t need to be so considerate, Young-joon.” 

Sergeant Park Taejun looked me in the eye as he spoke. 

“Have you already forgotten? I’ve also Awakened.” 

“How could I?” 

Even though he got bitten by a monster and passed out he still ended up awakening. 

“There’s no way everything’s fine just because the monsters have decreased.” 

In the end, we couldn’t contact the outside world. 

We were running generators for power. 

“And the generator’s power isn’t unlimited. There’s probably also a food shortage. In this situation, can I just sit here and eat?” 

He didn’t bring it up because even if one more Awakened couldn’t walk, the situation wouldn’t change much. 

*Sigh* 

“Okay, then let me ask. What did you Awaken as?” 

Since things had turned out like this, I decided to ask about the things I had been curious about. 

“A warrior? No, considering your personality, you’d probably lean towards being a mage.” 

“A mage, huh. It’s similar, but a bit different.” 

If it’s not a mage, then it’s probably a warrior type. 

A profession that doesn’t mean much to a guy with injured legs – 

“Astrologer.” 

“Huh? An Astrologer?” 

“Hmm.” 

“What’s that?” 

“According to the explanation, it’s about peering the heavens, and observing the movement of the stars to predict the rise and fall of fortune.” 

Taejun started explaining vaguely, but it was so incomprehensible from the beginning that I could only stare blankly. 

“Never mind. It’s too complicated. I don’t understand it even as the person involved.” 

“Ahem.” 

“Instead, take me outside for a bit.” 

“Outside?” 

At Taejun’s request, I brought the wheelchair from the corner of the sickbay made Taejun in it, and then we went outside the building. 

“Our unit has some good things.” 

Late at night. 

The moon and stars were shining beautifully in the sky. 

“There are no lights around and we’re on a high mountain, so you can see the stars really well.” 

“Well, our unit’s scenery is quite pretty.” 

“Thanks to that, I found out two things.” 

Huh? 

Two things? 

“Guests will come, tomorrow” 

Guests? 

Suddenly, what- 

“And… It’s better to hide your claws.” 

* * * 

At first, I didn’t know what that meant, but the next morning, I found out right away. 

“Is that, is that real? There’s a military unit!” 

“I told you so! Look over there! There are soldiers too!” 

“Mommy!” 

“Sujin, we’re safe now…” 

It had been 11 days since the monsters attacked our unit. 

Now survivors have appeared.