Gift

It has been about fifty years since towers began appearing all over the world. That was also when people who awakened unique abilities began to be called hunters.

Inside the towers were monsters, and the mana stones that could be extracted from the mana cores they contained were highly valuable. Thanks to them, the energy crisis was largely resolved and magical engineering advanced as well, but there was one problem.

"If the monsters inside aren't dealt with, they eventually overflow and spill out into the world."

"Several countries have already been destroyed because of that. Even China, which used to be very similar to the country where you reside, Yoo Hyun—ahem, Great General—was ultimately destroyed because it couldn't withstand the monsters pouring out."

"China? The circumstances of barbarians like that are none of my concern."

"……."

"Calling itself the center of the world. Even its national name is insolent."

The reason there had been a road sign inside the Petrifying Serpent I discovered in the past seemed to be that it was a creature summoned in the middle of Seoul. If monsters—in other words, magical beasts—also existed on other floors of the tower, that explained why they crossed over into Pamagok as well.

If that was the case, we could simply gather our forces and clean out the tower. But according to An Junhyeon, the situation in Korea was not so simple.

"Our country's awakening rate isn't low. In fact, compared to our population, it's among the highest in the world. However, most of the guilds currently in Korea don't station their headquarters or core forces here."

"You mean they betray the country where they were born? Why?"

"Haaah, that's…… It's not exactly betrayal. It would be more accurate to call it the logic of capital."

The number of players who had awakened abilities was limited. Moreover, the fact that a country could be destroyed if it failed to conquer a tower properly had set the competition between nations ablaze.

When the towers first appeared, Korea did not treat its awakened people particularly well. Foreign capital took advantage of that opening, and the country lost many talented people in an instant.

Of course, there had been some major blunders along the way. In particular, the Defense Ministry's attempt to conscript people who had already completed their military service as awakened soldiers was enough to make even me, who had occasionally taken innocent prisoners and put spears in their hands, click my tongue.

Although Korea had such a regrettable history in many respects, as Yoo Hyun, Grand Marshal of Military Forces of the Cheonyu Empire, I could not simply take their side. To begin with, although it shared the name Earth, this was a different world from the one I had lived in, with monsters and hunters of its own.

"So you're saying you intended to hand our information over to those who turned their backs on the homeland that raised them like parents beneath the heavens."

"Good heavens, no! Our party, as the first discoverers, consists entirely of Koreans, so this place can already only be accessed from Korea! We were merely sounding out the Association and the guild. We hadn't decided which side to give the method of entry to yet……."

"Bunhui, twist their legs a little more."

"Yeees~!"

"Ow! Aaaaaargh!!"

So hidden stages belonged to the country of the player who discovered them first. I did not know what business they had in Pamagok, but if it was a resource they alone could monopolize, its value was extremely high. They would definitely come back.

They would not be foolish enough to act hostile again. In that case, I needed to decide in advance how we would deal with them as well.

In truth, I did not need to think very hard. The answer had already presented itself.

'I suppose we can just keep doing what we've been doing.'

From the perspective of the Empire's people, once a barbarian, forever a barbarian. Besides, the modern Korean hunters were even more astonishing the deeper I looked into them by this world's standards.

They had no distinctions of status, and they did not bow.

They had come from beyond the Outer Regions, from outside the continent where the First Celestial Emperor had established his domain, and they even personally replaced the leader they had elected when he did something wrong?

These were brazen super-barbarians who might appear only once in a millennium. The moment their existence became public, I could practically see the officials in the capital foaming at the mouth and collapsing as they demanded that these people be subjugated immediately.

For now, I decided that only I would know the details about these towers and hunters. It was not especially difficult; all I had to do was keep Bunhui, who had gleefully twisted their legs alongside me, from talking.

"Bunhui, could you come here for a moment?"

"Yes?"

As soon as I returned to my office, I called her over and handed her all the flowers and vases that remained.

When a bouquet large enough to fill her arms was nestled against her, it seemed to restore her freshness. Of course, she was probably thinking only about burning it.

"Great General? What is this……?"

"You can just call me Yoo Hyun. The others do, too."

"Really? Lord Yoo Hyun?"

"Yes. Anyway, good work today."

What would I have done without Bunhui? While inspecting the disguised barbarians one by one on the way to our destination, we might have missed the Biran Party entirely if things had gone wrong.

She had also carried the unconscious prisoners tucked under her arms and climbed up the gorge without complaint, as well as helping with the interrogation. This much of a reward was well deserved. Since she was not a convict serving a sentence, there was nothing else I could give her besides praise.

"You can burn all of that if you want."

"Really? Every last bit of it?"

They were bouquets sent from all walks of life to congratulate me on becoming Great General. Some had even been picked by my subordinates themselves.

The flower resting against Bunhui's chest bore Chunsik's name tag. The flowers were dandelions and lilies.

Their meanings were farewell and unwavering love.

"Of course. It has to be. Don't leave even a trace that they ever existed in this world."

"Eek! I really, really, really like you, Lord Yoo Hyun!"

I felt as though I had already received every confession I was ever going to get from a woman in my lifetime, but I was not happy about it at all. In fact, besides searching for traces of Earth, there had been one other purpose to this patrol.

I wanted to straighten out Bunhui's conduct, even if only a little. She went around telling anyone and everyone that she liked them and acted as though she would grant any request if given something to burn. I had warned her several times, but seeing her scamper away so recklessly made it clear that she still had a long way to go.

There was no helping it. As the saying went, one had to understand something before one could correct it—but who could possibly understand her mental state?

Apparently, it was beyond the purview of a mere commoner like me.

Thinking that, I began dealing with the backlog of work that had piled up during my busy day.

.

.

.

.

Bunhui was living in a residence slightly apart from the military camp. None of Yoo Hyun's subordinates were women, and Yeonri stayed with the other attendants in their quarters, so it was essentially a private residence.

Some people might have felt gloomy about having no friend to eat with, but Bunhui was not that sort of person. There was only one thing that mattered to her: a warm flame to warm her side.

In that respect, she was in a good mood. Today's fuel consisted of half of the freshest chrysanthemums among the flowers, a young arborvitae from behind the residence, and the sable fur she had secretly smuggled away from Yoo Hyun.

"Heehee, heehee~!"

"Oh my, Commander Bunhui."

As she left Yoo Hyun's office with light footsteps and walked down the street, she ran into someone she knew.

It was Granny Yang. She ran a mending shop and made her living repairing government-issued clothing for a fee.

She would also occasionally give Bunhui scraps of leftover fabric.

"You seem to be in a good mood."

"Yes! Today was the best day ever!"

"Is it because a gentleman gave you flowers?"

"Hm?"

She said this with a benevolent smile to Bunhui, who was carrying an armful of flowers and even a vase on her back.

"Giving flowers is, in principle, a way for a man to express his feelings to a woman he has fallen for."

"Oh, really?"

"Since he gave you so many flowers of so many different kinds, he must cherish you very much, Bunhui."

"I've received a lot besides these, though……."

Bunhui tilted her head. The fireballs drifting through her mind under gravity clustered together in one place, and Yoo Hyun's face began to fill the empty space.

His actions came to mind. He had been the only one among the group that came to ruin Pamagok whom he did not punish, and he had even allowed her to come and go freely.

The warmth she had felt when he took her hand and asked her to go on patrol with him, along with the memory of him coming to help her with his wounded body when the barbarians attacked, flowed into her like a muddy current.

"Commander Bunhui is beautiful, and her character is…… Well, you have such a lovely appearance, so I hope you form a good relationship with someone. This old woman will be cheering you on."

"Huh? Oh, okay."

After parting with Granny Yang, another person appeared before Bunhui as she walked along in a daze. It was the peddler she had encountered last time.

"Goodness, Commander Bunhui. I've been looking for you all day, as it happens."

"Hello."

"It's the cotton cloth I mentioned last time. It looks like it'll catch fire beautifully, doesn't it?"

The moment he saw her, he glanced around to check whether Yoo Hyun was nearby, then rushed over and held out the oil-soaked cloth. It was the thing he had mentioned burning before.

"I'll give this to you as a present, so could you do me one small favor? It's nothing difficult. This poor man has gone so long without feeling a woman's warmth that he's lonely. If you could just lend me your hand for a moment……."

"No."

"Pardon?"

He asked again, clearly taken aback.

"W-why all of a sudden……? M-may I ask the reason?"

"Hmm……."

The refusal had sprung out reflexively, without even a moment's thought. Even after turning it over in her mind, she could not clearly identify the reason.

"I don't know."

"Ah……."

"I'll be going now. I have things to do."

Without even taking the cotton cloth, Bunhui walked past the merchant. Her thoughts were more tangled than usual, but all the way back to the residence, the sweet scent of the flowers in her arms reminded her of Yoo Hyun.

She felt strangely happy.

*

Meanwhile, at around the same time, at the Korean Hunter Association.

Park Ingyu, the director of the Strategic Countermeasures Headquarters, was meeting with a mage from the Biran Guild who had come to see them.

"You encountered two residents and…… you're saying our side made the first move?"

"Sniff, that's……."

When Lee Jihye finished her account, someone muttered amid the spine-chilling silence that filled the conference room.

Fucking insane.