#14 Alligator Predator
While the gangsters were hemming and hawing, Jongdu, who had injured his wrist, spoke irritably.
"What the hell are you doing? I'm ditching all this!"
"Yessir."
They probably figured they could just round up their crew and come back for it.
'Like these punks are tougher than Cheoldu?'
His buddy had even taken down an ogre.
The gangsters grudgingly stripped down to nothing.
The wooden clubs they'd brought looked pretty useful too, made of some good, hard wood.
The sound of fabric rustling filled the air.
Best of all, they each coughed up five goblin coins, 30 in total.
"Ugh, let’s go.”
“……”
The gangsters, trying to save face, stomped off, grumbling and cussing under their breath.
"Tsk, morons. I laid it all out for 'em, they're so covered in tattoos, they'll think they're still dressed even when they're buck naked."
Jintae watched them scramble away, all flailing limbs, feeling pretty damn satisfied.
Yep, I'm coming out on top, all thanks to having a good buddy.
Morons. Try me again. I'll strip you bare again.
Jintae, worried they might come back for revenge, decided to stick to Cheoldu like glue and went to find him.
"Huh?"
Cheoldu had already gone to the alligator he had hunted and was trying to hack it apart with a chipped stone.
"Damn it, the stone keeps breaking."
"It's too weak."
The hand-axe he'd made from chipping the stone was sharp, but it was too thin and kept snapping.
"Maybe we should grind it down?"
Just as he was thinking about switching to a ground stone tool, Cheoldu scowled.
"You ain't that hungry."
"Huh?"
"Get a fire going, pronto."
"Fire?"
"Let's just roast the whole damn thing."
"Oh!"
That’s a good idea.
There was no way a stone knife was getting through that thick gator hide. They could probably just rip off the legs and roast those.
Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!
Jintae rubbed the sticks together forever, but all he got was smoke, no flames.
"Let me do it."
Cheoldu took the stick and moved it like crazy.
Fsssssssssh!
The friction was insane, and a spark jumped to the tinder. While he did that, Jintae piled up some rocks to make a fire pit.
Crack!
He had no clue how to gut the thing.
He just ripped off all four gator legs and threw them on the fire.
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"Hehehehe, hehehehe."
Cheoldu’s gaze was fixed on the meat and didn’t move. Jintae glanced at Cheoldu and was startled.
'Dude's eyes were wild!'
Those eyes were full of hunger and obsession...and a look that said, 'Touch this meat and you're dead.'
"Cheoldu, you get three."
"No shit, Sherlock."
"Yeah, yeah."
Jintae looked at the alligator with its limbs torn off, grabbed its tail, and applied force.
Snap.
He heard a snap like a thread breaking, and the tail twitched, but there was no way he was ripping that off with his bare hands.
"Cheoldu, let's rip this tail off and roast it too."
"Good."
Crackling!
Cheoldu just grabbed the tail and yanked, and the whole thing ripped right off.
"Damn, the dude's strength is off the charts now."
Gotta be this strong to go toe-to-toe with an ogre.
Jintae got bummed out, thinking about how he'd been useless against those gangsters earlier.
"How come I'm still so weak even after chowing down on stat stones?"
"Work out."
"Is this even something working out can fix?"
Jintae just stared at Cheoldu, blank.
"Is this just about getting more stat stones?"
'That's not gonna cut it.'
If people can grow to 100, how many actually make it all the way?
Stat stones bump that limit up by 10 or 20, but it's pointless if you don't train.
It's like having a bigger bucket, but the same amount of water. Useless.
"How do you get used to it so fast every time you eat a stat stone?"
"Hehe, it's all that constant training."
Cheoldu had already maxed himself out with training every day. When his 'container' got bigger, he just filled it up like crazy.
The more stat stones he ate, the higher his limit went, which is why Cheoldu was hooked on training.
Ain't it a blast?
"Hehe, work out, Jintae. Speaking of which, wanna spar?"
Cheoldu jumped up, too antsy to wait for the meat, but Jintae waved him off.
"I'm gonna try making a knife. We can hunt with clubs, but we need a decent butcher knife."
We need 5 goblin coins each to get back to Earth.
Those gangster-wannabes had already handed over enough goblin coins, so now it was less about hunting monsters and more about finding food.
'Monsters don't leave bodies behind.'
Instead of bodies, they leave behind weird stuff like 'goblin coins' or 'stat stones.'
He'd heard they sometimes dropped 'equipment' or 'materials,' but who knew?
Anyway, this gator wasn't a monster, apparently. It left a body, which meant meat.
They'd somehow lucked into everything they needed for the next 5 days: 5 coins each to get back, and a food source.
They could just chill for the next 5 days, but humans aren't built to handle being bored.
"Kinda sucks to waste the skin."
Jintae was way more into this kind of stuff than fighting.
Jintae, who'd been checking out the gator's body, suddenly got a gleam in his eye.
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"Cheoldu, can you yank these teeth out?"
"Sure."
"No, shit. Alligator teeth."
Jintae, who nearly got his front teeth knocked in, was grossed out by how salty Cheoldu's hand tasted when it brushed his lips.
"Ugh, crap. Wash your hands, man."
"Hehe, that's what a man smells like."
"Ugh, just get 'em out."
Pop.
Cheoldu yanked out a couple of the really long teeth, then, like he had an idea, ripped out all the rest and made a pile.
They didn't need to worry about bags for the loot.
The tattooed goons had left plenty of clothes behind.
"I'm gonna try making a bone knife out of these."
"Knock yourself out."
Cheoldu shrugged and squatted back down by the fire, tossing in more wood.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.
"Hey, I think this is done."
"Nah, hold on. You wanna get sick?"
"Huuuuh, hoooo."
Cheoldu took a deep breath, eyes glued to the meat.
Sizzle, sizzle, the gator skin burned, stinking up the place with a fishy smell.
"Ain't it cooked by now?"
"That was 10 seconds."
"Man, this is torture."
Cheoldu even felt a little lightheaded.
'Whoa, I'm dizzy!?'
Can't be.
This is just a bullshit headache from being impatient.
What's going on?
'Is it because of the stat stone?'
He'd packed on a ton of muscle in no time.
But he hadn't been getting nearly enough protein, so was this the payback?
Cheoldu couldn't take it anymore, grabbed a hunk of gator meat, and bit in.
"Slurrrp."
Ow, hot!
Gotta push through the pain.
Chew.
Only the outside was kinda cooked, so Cheoldu ripped off the skin and just ate the cooked parts.
But it wasn't enough.
Maybe he could get away with eating the raw stuff?
'People eat raw fish, so what the hell.'
Cheoldu bit into the raw meat too.
Chew, chew.
"Huh? The inside's cooked too?"
"Tastes like tataki. Give it a shot."
"Really?"
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Cheoldu watched Jintae, waiting.
"Ugh, shit. Fishy! Tataki my ass."
That's when Cheoldu spit out the raw meat.
"Heh, nearly puked."
"Damn, you're a freak. Ugh..."
"Hehe."
Still, having gnawed on the cooked bits helped Cheoldu chill out a little.
Crack.
Finally, the meat was cooked through.
"Finally."
"Oh, the cooked stuff's actually pretty good."
The four gator legs were gone in a flash.
"What's that?"
"Bone knife. Whaddya think?"
Jintae looked smug, fishing for a compliment.
"Oh."
"Try slicing up the body with this."
"Okay."
Cheoldu ripped off the thick hide with his hands, then used the bone knife to hack off chunks of meat.
It wasn't exactly razor-sharp, so the meat came off more like it was being torn than sliced, but it worked as a makeshift butcher knife.
"Pretty good, huh?"
"Heh, I'll have to give it a proper sharpening later."
Having a knife made things way easier.
He hacked at the ripped-up meat with the knife, tossed the pieces on the fire, and boom, the whole gator was gone.
"Whoa, I feel human again."
"Right? I feel like I can actually survive now."
Now that his belly was full, he was getting sleepy again, something he couldn't afford earlier.
"What are we going to do now?"
5 days left.
Cheoldu had a simple answer.
"Let's worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. Today, we rest."
"Yeah, let's do it. I'm too beat to do anything else, for real."
"Let's grab one for dinner first."
"Huh?"
Cheoldu grabbed the bone knife Jintae made and dove into the river.
Splash!
They dragged...
Cheoldu and Jintae hauled two gators back toward the portal.
They were heading back to the portal, but they just crashed a little ways from the river.
The area around the portal was supposed to be a safe zone, no monsters, but Cheoldu and Jintae were more worried about those gangsters who'd jumped them earlier than any monster.
It'd be a pain in the ass if they got jumped while they were sleeping.
"Plenty of rocks around the river, but no firewood."
"Those jerks cleaned it out."
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"Hmm, guess we gotta split up?"
"You gonna guard the gators?"
"I will... Oh, shit, look."
Jintae freaked out and pointed toward the refugee camp.
The six goons they'd roughed up earlier were heading their way.
"These punks are back already?"
Cheoldu stepped up to meet them.
They still haven't learned their lesson.
"Come at me."
Cheoldu was getting ready to throw down, but then they suddenly dropped to their knees.
"Please accept us!"
"Huh?"
What the hell is going on?
"They booted us out. We got nowhere else to go. Please, take us in."
"We'll follow you, be your men. Please, take us in!"
Cheoldu looked at Jintae, totally bewildered by these six wannabe-thugs.
"Is this for real?"
"Uh, I have no idea."
The gangsters Cheoldu had smacked around had stomped off, grumbling, and now they were back, begging to be his lackeys.
Jintae whispered to Cheoldu.
"You think they're gonna try to jump us while we're sleeping?"
"Even if they jump us in our sleep, I can handle them."
"No, keep it down. Sigh, forget it."
Jintae gave up on whispering and just said it.
"Seriously, how can we trust these guys? Let's just ditch them."
The gangsters started yelling.
"No!"
"We'll do whatever you say, even if it means dying!"
The gangsters kept begging.
"If you won't take us, just kill us now."
"Y-yeah, kill us."
The younger ones echoed Jongdu's desperate words.
Jintae looked at Cheoldu, totally lost.
"What should we do?"
"Only one thing to do."
"You're gonna take them in?"
"Nah, let's kill 'em."
"Huh?"
Jintae thought he had misheard.
"……!"
The gangsters were shocked too.
Cheoldu sat down cross-legged in front of Jongdu, who looked like the boss.
Even though the guy was kneeling, Cheoldu was still looking down at him.
"……"
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Cheoldu stared into Jongdu's shaking eyes, his face like stone. After a long, silent stare-down, Cheoldu finally spoke.
"Just kidding!"
"……!"
No, you can't say 'just kidding' with a face like that, and expect it to be funny.
Heh.
When Cheoldu chuckled, Jongdu finally relaxed. This guy could intimidate anyone just with a look.
'This guy's the real deal.'
Jongdu felt completely dominated. Maybe this was someone worth following, even if it meant risking everything.
"Alright, tell me why you're here."
"...I'll tell you."
