The Military Chef of a Ruined World - Chapter 73.2

“But why are they attacking us? We’re both human.”

“Maybe they judged us to be monsters in human form… After all, that slime-like guy did transform into a human.”

The point of confusion for us was this:

The attempt to capture military bases was not our first.

We had already succeeded in recapturing the ammunition depot.

But.

‘It was called capturing the military base, but we never actually clashed with the military, and had no intention to.’

Of course, we had expected to face off against the monsters occupying those places.

But for some reason, this tank battalion, as a military unit, is now hostile towards us.

In that case.

“If they really are the surviving soldiers, how should we respond?”

Right.

This is the problem.

“Should we try to let them know we’re not the enemy?”

“They’re raining artillery at us even if we just approach, and the radio’s been dead since the Apocalypse. How can we?”

If they really are the surviving soldiers other than us,

We mustn’t be hostile, as they would be our allies.

Then why are they attacking us?

‘Are they really mistaking us for monsters?’

The variety of monsters is countless, after all.

They might have been severely harmed by monsters disguising themselves as humans in the past.

As the soldiers were pondering,

“Maybe it’s not a bad idea to just attack them.”

“What?”

Corporal Seo Su-hyeok spoke up.

“After all, it was the other side that initiated the attack first.”

“But even so, attacking fellow soldiers is a bit… questionable, isn’t it?”

“To be honest, we’re not exactly regular soldiers either. What was the mission given to us as soldiers?”

Our unit is the 423rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion under the 12th Corps.

The unit’s mission is:

To monitor approaching enemies through radar, both from the coast and the air,

and to defend against enemy attacks on the radar.

“Ever since we abandoned the radar defense and came down from the mountains, we’ve basically been deserters, haven’t we?”

This guy.

He’s boldly poking at the sore spot of our unit.

“I agreed that maintaining military discipline helps with group order, but… as for feeling a sense of belonging towards them as fellow members of the national military, I don’t think that’s the case.”

“….”

“What we need are the tanks required to exterminate the vampires. If they refuse to provide those and instead attack us, the options become simple. Either we concede, or… we compel them to concede.”

‘Compel them to concede.’

I had this feeling before as well.

This guy.

His thinking is a bit too extreme, focused solely on efficiency.

Emotions.

Pangs of conscience.

He’s the type who would do anything as long as it’s advantageous, without caring about those things.

“Rejected.”

I’m sorry, but his opinion is rejected.

“Why?”

“If it were just a regular infantry unit, maybe. But the risk of engaging a tank battalion is too high.”

“Don’t you know how many awakened ones are gathered here? True, we were caught off guard by the unexpected attack initially, but if we prepare properly and go in, those normal humans-.”

“…The principle of us not attacking humans is still valid, though.”

“That was only for innocent civilians. The fight against the plunderers before-.”

“Until we accurately determine the circumstances of their attack on us, we can’t judge them to be the same as those plunderers.”

Of course.

I don’t intend to simply say “it can’t be done” without any solutions.

Negating without any alternative proposals won’t help solve the problem at all.

Just as I was about to explain my own idea to the guy,

“…You’re obsessing over useless matters.”

“What did you say, you punk?”

He brought up that remark.

“It seems Captain Shin is unaware that he is leading over 100 people.”

“I’m aware of that, which is why I’m saying a frontal assault has too much risk if they are an intact military unit.”

“Someone who claims to be aware is doing the same thing as before?”

‘The same thing as before’?

I wondered what he was talking about.

“Wasn’t it just the division commander recklessly risking his life to save two soldiers? Do you think that’s a reasonable thing to do?”

He brought that up here.

‘….’

I discreetly averted my gaze.

The two soldiers who had just regained consciousness were visible. They seemed to have realized we were talking about them and fidgeted even while receiving treatment.

“And at the ammunition depot too. You nearly got blown up in the explosion, didn’t you?”

“….”

“Even when dealing with the plunderers, and during the dungeon raids, as a rear support role that didn’t need to be on the front lines, you still went out alone, didn’t you? Since the missions succeeded, it was swept under the rug. That was irresponsible behavior.”

I did get an earful, especially during the dungeon raids.

I had done it because I was confident it would succeed, but

I had gone solo since I figured persuasion wouldn’t work.

My mistake was correct.

“If those two die, we’d only have lost two soldiers. Regrettable, but that would have been the extent of it.”

“….”

“But if you die?”

The death of the guild leader.

That would not be the end of it.

One of the core capabilities of our unit is the wide area buffs I provide through my cooking.

The loss of the guild leader and the resulting chaos and loss of those buffs?

It would cut the Legion combat power by more than half.

“That’s a fair point.”

We agree too, said some other soldiers.

If it had been a normal situation, I wouldn’t have intervened directly.

However, at the ammunition depot and during the dungeon raids,

I was the only one who could resolve the problems.

This time as well, I’m the only one who can rush to rescue the soldiers.

No.

There is one more person besides me.

“If you were so concerned about my well-being, you could have gone to rescue the soldiers yourself instead of stopping me.”