17 Episode 17 - Creation of a Clan, Part II (2/2)
- You can acquire the power of Mud Troll at the time of ingestion [the Vitality of Troll].]
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Kim Tae-hoon looked at the orange jewel on his smartphone, a picture of the monster stone of the Mud Troll, and he looked at the orange jewel on his palm.
”All gathered.” Lieutenant Kim Soo-ji said, keeping her posture straight as always.
As she spoke, the twenty-three survivors of the 1121 unit gathered together.
Looking at them, Kim Tae-hoon started talking with an orange jewel in his hand.
He started talking about the incident at the supermarket, of the mark of an Awakener, and of the monster stone, and the dragon.
”This is the reality we're in,” he finished. Everyone who heard the story kept their mouths shut and remained silent.
'Is this really real? Is it possible? Am I dreaming?'
'Will Mom and Dad be okay?'
'Shit, I've got a month before I was discharged from the military! A month! Why would this ever happen to me?'
The present situation did not even give them room to be embarrassed, and Kim Tae-hoon did not give them time to think.
”I'm done with all the information, and I'll start with my personal story.”
”I will take all the monster stones from the monsters that you hunted here.”
The one-sided notice gave everyone a blank look. 'What is he talking about?'
”If it's a monster stone, it's an item that raises the stats of Awakeners!”
Kim Tae-hoon clearly told them the importance of the monster stones.
After dissecting one of the collected Goblin bodies, he removed the monster stone from its heart and took a picture of it on his smartphone and showed it to them.
He even said that monster stones would replace gunpowder in the future war.
He also said he would monopolize all the monster stones, which could be obtained from the dead monsters.
It was like telling them that a jewel was valuable, and he would take them all.
”Wait, wait a minute…”
”You just said that the monster stones were valuable.”
”If it's a monopoly, you are going to eat all of them, aren't you? Clearly, the monster bodies in the military base were caught by us!”
Instinctive questions popped out all over.
”What is your life worth?” Kim Tae-hoon stopped their questions with a short word.
The soldiers went quiet. Kim Tae-hoon continued his speech, staring at them.
”This is the price of the information. If you raise your hand, I will give you the right to speak.”
No one raised their hand, of course.
The value of their lives and this information was not cheap at all, and it was also clear that they owed Kim Tae-hoon their lives. It was not a time to be cheap.
”Do you need more time to raise your hands?”
But more importantly, it was the fact that the lives of those who remained now depended on Kim Tae-hoon.
Kim Tae-hoon was an umbrella.
If someone dropped out from under the umbrella because of antagonism, then they had to face the monsters on their own. If they faced a monster like a Mud Troll after leaving Kim Tae-hoon, it meant that the life he barely saved would become a wasteful lump of manure!
”I suppose there's no objection to my opinion.”
Above all, only two of the soldiers who had survived, one of whom was Lieutenant Kim Soo-ji, had the Mark of an Awakener.
For the remaining twenty-one, monster stones were like a pearl necklace on a pig's neck.
A pearl necklace on a pig's neck means that a thief who coveted the necklace may catch and kill him at any time.
”Then there is no debt going forward.”
Kim Tae-hoon gave final notice to the silent ones, and at the same time, he swallowed the orange jewel from the Mud Troll that he held in his hand.
”Ah ...”
”Monster Stone …”
It was a gesture that announced the deal was over.
With this, Kim Tae-hoon was now the owner of hundreds of monster stones that had been killed all over the 1121 unit. Whether he ate the monster stones or sells them, it is now at his discretion.
The survivors, in return, no longer need to owe Kim Tae-hoon a debt of life.
”What I am doing now is a new proposal.”
Of course, the fact that they needed an umbrella of Kim Tae-hoon had not changed.
”From now on, I will be creating a clan, and I will be taking applicants who will serve as my clan members, not as soldiers.”
Everyone was surprised at this proposal.
'What?'
'Clan?'
The same was true of Lieutenant Kim Soo-ji.
'What, what the hell!'
She thought that Kim Tae-hoon would act as their commander in the name of the army. But this way, did he want to start a private organization?
At that moment, Lieutenant Kim Soo-ji could only recall...
Five years ago, she passed the entrance exam to the military academy, visited the army headquarters and talked with her grandfather.
”That is Major General Chang Young-sung, who greeted me a little while ago. If you graduate from the military academy and become a soldier, avoid meeting him personally and publicly. There is nothing good with being tied up with him in any way.”
It was the first warning that her grandfather, Brigadier General Kim Jae-ryong ever gave her.
”I ask you, what does the word clan mean?” she spoke out.
”It will be a private organization that moves with my orders and instructions, not the military's instructions or orders.”
”And you mean ... you intend to use the military's weapons for your own benefit?”
”If it's in your private interest to work hard to survive, you can judge it that way.”
At the word 'to survive', Kim Soo-ji had to keep her mouth shut. As soon as she was silent, no one else could speak. With their mouths shut, they fell into the agony of choice.
'Leave the army and join a private organization? A private organization using military weapons? What crime will be applied? Desertion? Rebellion?'
'I can't die like this. If I want to live anyway, I'd better take out a gun or a grenade.'
'But if I get caught...'
Accepting Kim Tae-hoon's proposal was actually a criminal act. It is a criminal act so great that they could not easily measure the sentence. They had no choice but to suffer over the choice.
However, Kim Tae-hoon did not even give them the opportunity to agonize over their choices anymore.
”Those who do not like my offer will be survivors, and they survive on their own.”
At his words, no one was worried about the choice anymore.
The first Clan in Korea, consisting of 26 people, including Kim Tae-hoon, was created that way.