Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 93

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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93
Taho suddenly found himself needing to recruit twenty thousand workers. He plastered notices bearing his own name across nearby cities and villages, promising quality meals to anyone who came to work.
“Human trafficking again? He’s not even trying anymore.”
“Anyone who goes won’t come back.”
“They might come back—minus an eye or a kidney.”
“But Taho’s name is on it. Wouldn’t that be safe?”
“You naive fool, how long have you been here? You think that’s real? Someone just forged his name.”
“I’m going anyway.”
“What?! You want to die?!”
“Staying here, I’ll starve to death soon enough. I can’t even eat grass anymore.”
On the first day, only dozens of people who’d half-surrendered to life showed up. Since the workers from Jax’s factory had all returned to their homes, we had no choice but to rely on the notices.
After completing their first day’s work, they returned home and spread the word—easy work, full bellies, and payment to boot.
The second day brought hundreds.
By the third day, we’d exceeded a thousand, and the numbers grew daily. To transport so many day laborers to the site, we had to scrape together every military truck and tour bus available.
“You came to work too?”
“Yes, sir. Please give us work.”
Swarms of malnourished children arrived—whether parentless or simply neglected, their frames skeletal and clothes filthy.
“Fine. I’ll give you work. Taho, gather up some former teachers for me.”
Taho immediately grasped my intention and had people bring over a dozen or so former educators.
“Why are we…?”
The suddenly summoned individuals hesitated uncertainly.
“From now on, you’ll teach these children. That’s your job going forward.”
“Ah, yes!”
With survival itself a struggle, the prevailing attitude dismissed schooling as pointless, and funding dried up—most schools shuttered. The teachers, left without work, had come here as day laborers. Being asked to teach children again felt like an unexpected blessing.
“But studying doesn’t make money. We’d rather work and get paid.”
When I instituted classes, the children protested—not from dislike of learning, but from their desperate need for income.
“Study, and you’ll get meals, shelter, and pocket money. If you don’t like it, go home.”
My blunt words made them exchange glances before they nodded in agreement.
Without proper classrooms, we held lessons on the dirt floor at the edge of the construction site, armed with only a single chalkboard we’d managed to find.
The number of children grew daily. What started as dozens had become hundreds, requiring us to organize them into grades and classes. It had become almost like running an actual school.
“Surprisingly many people learning Korean?”
Bae Na-young had wanted to teach the children Korean, so I’d created a Korean language class. I’d expected only a handful to attend since it was optional, but now hundreds sat before her with notebooks, hanging on her every word.
“Why are the adults here?”
“Chairman, all the development supervisors are Korean. No matter how well we speak English, learning Korean is worth the effort.”
Jae-in, observing beside me, offered the explanation.
“Ah, I see.”
“We’ll need to split the classes. With this many students, proper instruction becomes impossible.”
Meanwhile, the workforce continued swelling, quickly surpassing ten thousand.
“You’re quite resourceful, Chairman.”
Jae-in observed me with a knowing look, dark circles under her eyes from days of insufficient sleep.
“What do you mean?”
“I wasn’t complaining.”
“Hahahaha.”
Jae-in glared at me, but I laughed it off.
Yang President and Rigen’s manufacturing director flew in on a plane to help, and Pablo, who’d been our tour guide in Spain, along with a Cartel member fluent in Korean, followed Jae-in’s instructions to the letter.
Ordinarily, inexperienced people on-site are more hindrance than help. But that’s only true for small numbers. When over ten thousand people tackle repetitive tasks, they finish in no time.
Thousands of bodies did what heavy machinery should have done. Walls that cranes would erect were pulled up by ropes held by workers. They transported dozens of tons of earth and cleared trees and stones with nothing but shovels, axes, and pickaxes to carve out roads.
“Phew… Well, now that we have manpower, running operations in parallel would be more efficient. I’ll divide everyone into five major groups: civil engineering and construction, ogre dismantling, item crafting, cleanup, and support.”
Jae-in sighed as if exhausted, but her work execution was flawless.
When Cartel hunters carved through the tough ogre hide, the dismantling team took the smaller sections and separated them again according to their intended purpose.
The item crafting team then tanned the leather and applied chemical treatments.
The cleanup team collected the remaining waste. Afterward, Bae Na-young and I absorbed all the residual life force and mana to minimize what needed to be incinerated.
The absorption work was tedious, but ever since we’d learned about mana’s effects in North Korea, we’d been more careful. It was more efficient to prevent contamination from the start than to hunt down sick people later and treat them.
Finally, the support team prepared meals for the workers and maintained the dormitory.
It took only one week to establish this system. Normally, companies pursuing profit don’t do the insane thing of hiring dozens of times more workers than necessary or purchasing materials in multiples to shorten timelines. But since the money from Jax’s house didn’t feel like my own, I spent it freely. The money I earned in Mexico would be spent in Mexico, and the income from the completed factory would go straight into my pocket.
I could’ve eaten all of Jax’s money, but my mother once told me that if you greedily try to consume everything alone, you’ll burst. Since I wasn’t in financial need now, it made more sense long-term to maintain goodwill with Mexico rather than take their national funds and create a lifelong enmity. This way, I’d secure future profits too.
That said, problems did exist.
With so many workers, a considerable number ate and slept at the dormitory without actually doing their jobs properly.
“Ahem… Sorry about that. I’ll go have a stern word with them.”
Taho’s face flushed as he moved toward the workers lounging around.
“No, it’s fine.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Doesn’t matter. We’re using a lot of people temporarily right now, but we won’t keep doing this forever. See those two people over there?”
Yang President and Jae-in walked around with notebooks, checking the ID badges hanging around the necks of diligent workers and writing down their names.
“Later, I’ll only hire the people whose names are written down as permanent employees.”
“Ah, I see what you were thinking.”
Of course, we couldn’t have done this alone.
“Here’s a gift~”
Behind America’s S-rank hunter Amy Gibbs, trucks loaded with supplies rolled in one after another.
“Haven’t you left yet?”
“But you haven’t heard my story~?”
“Aren’t you busy?”
“I have a little time~”
“But I’m busy.”
I wasn’t making excuses to send Amy away—I genuinely was swamped. The more I moved around, the more effectively I could deploy people where they were needed.
“Don’t worry about that~”
Behind Amy, heavy machinery and construction workers streamed in as well. With equipment and supply replenishment, the schedule would naturally accelerate—a welcome reinforcement.
“I’m sorry for attacking you~ and grateful that you risked your life to seal the Gate that opened on the American continent~ and I wanted to hear the story from inside the Gate~”
The first two seemed like pretexts; her real motivations appeared to be hearing about what happened inside the Gate and building a friendly relationship.
“That’s fine. But I don’t intend to discuss the abilities of myself and Hunter Bae Na-young.”
I took a brief rest. Amy Gibbs and a bureaucrat from the American Awakener Management Bureau came to hear my account.
“Just two of you took down an Ice Dragon?”
The American Awakener Management Bureau bureaucrat looked at me as if wondering what kind of madman I was.
“We weren’t at full strength. And the real issue isn’t just one dragon. There were countless monsters pouring out after it.”
The bureaucrat’s expression grew tense with concern, while Amy listened without any visible reaction.
“Then, can you still see inside the Gate now?”
“Yes. But I can only see the areas near the Gate’s entrance, not the depths.”
After finishing my explanation, I showed them the Dragon Heart and the Gate Tower components.
“Are you planning to sell them?”
“No. We have our own development team. That’s settled then. We’ll get back to work.”
Construction and operations continued. But people can’t work all the time—they need to live. We rotated three shifts while keeping Saturday evenings free for barbecue parties together.
“Everyone, raise your glasses!”
Taho called out with a booming voice.
“My beloved citizens of Mexico!”
The noisy gathering fell silent.
“We have walked through a dark tunnel. A tunnel with no end in sight. Many thought we would perish in it! They said there was no hope! But! Look at us now! Look at what we are building!”
“Ohhh!”
“We can rise again! No—we can build a Mexico stronger and more prosperous than before!”
“That’s right! Well spoken!”
“There are people who made it possible for us to be here now. They came to a place others had abandoned and didn’t leave when danger struck. Now that the danger has passed, no one would blame them for returning home with what they gained—but instead, they share their gains with us rather than taking them back to their homeland.”
All eyes turned toward our table. Pablo was translating Taho’s words for us.
“My countrymen! To whom do we owe this new future?”
“Señor Lee!”
“Ji-seok!”
Voices echoed from all around.
“This is really unnecessary…”
Taho raised his glass once more.
“Hero of Mexico! Stand!”
The atmosphere was ripe for it, so Bae Na-young and I stood at Taho’s request. Yang Sang-heon, Oh’s Group, and Ye-seul hesitated, unsure if they should stand too, so I gestured for them to join us.
“We shall not forget your courage! Your dedication! To our hero! Salute!”
“Salute!”
Being toasted by thousands of people was an exhilaration I’d never experienced before.
The party continued with people drinking high-proof spirits, grilling meat, and celebrating.
Someone once said that no one knows how to party like Mexicans do. Fast-paced music filled the air as people danced with passionate South American flair.
“Drink with us!”
People kept pouring tequila for me, and the line of those wanting to share a drink seemed endless.
Since I couldn’t get drunk, I accepted every glass.
“Señor! Dance with us!”
After drinking for a while, a Mexican woman grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the dance floor.
She wore a black dress with a plunging neckline and was Adriana, one of Taho’s subordinates. She was one of the few B-rank Hunters among his crew—tall and statuesque with bronzed skin and a toned physique that drew every eye in the room.
Swept up in the heated atmosphere, I found it difficult to refuse and stood up. Just to be safe, I glanced at Bae Na-young, who was naturally prone to jealousy, and she waved me on with a gesture of permission.
“A hero doesn’t need to fixate on just one woman!”
Adriana pulled my hand and led me into the center of the dancing crowd.
“I don’t know how to dance.”
“Just follow my lead!”
Unable to resist her enthusiastic approach, I followed her movements and mirrored those around us. With reflexes that transcended ordinary human limits, it was effortless. As the party’s fervor intensified, the rapid tempo gave way to a slower, more sensual melody.
Then she pulled me close, pressing her body against mine.
“I’ve never met a man like you before.”
Pressed against me, she gazed up with smoldering eyes.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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