Chapter 31
The moment I stepped out of the Gate, I was showered with an overwhelming flood of attention.
Hmm, this is kind of a new experience for me.
No, wait. Wasn’t it similar when I was first evaluated as an Awakened?
It was, but this was on a whole different level.
Then again, until now, I’d only cleared completely unpopular dungeons without a single rat in sight, so there had been no one around when I came out.
I’d only seen people’s reactions online later, after the global announcement.
But now...
Cheers and whistles were coming from every direction. Some women—and even a few men(?)—looked ready to charge at me.
Ah, no, thank you.
I almost brought out my bacteria without thinking.
Anyway, how was I supposed to get out of here?
This was my first time in a situation like this, so I was a little flustered.
The officials managing the site seemed just as flustered.
I was wondering what to do as the crowd continued to gather.
“So you’re Kim Segyun?”
The woman who’d warned me to hide my necklace and then celebrated reaching 27% right in front of me approached again and asked. I nodded.
Had my name gotten all the way to Russia?
“So you’re not just some rich kid. Wait here a bit. I’ll get you out.”
“... Who are you?”
“I’m not anyone suspicious, so don’t worry.”
She didn’t look suspicious, but I couldn’t exactly trust a stranger in a foreign country.
When she met my narrowed, suspicious gaze, she sighed and said,
“Arina Abramova. That’s my name.”
Well, knowing her name wouldn’t change anything... but at least I knew it now.
As I waited, sirens blared, and a large contingent of police officers poured out.
They parted the crowd and came toward me...
No, more accurately...
They headed for this young woman.
The apparent police commander bowed to her.
What? She’d treated me like some sheltered rich kid, but she was the real rich kid?
“What are you doing? Let’s go.”
“Oh. Right.”
Following their lead, I made it to the police car and climbed in. Only then did I finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Wow, I never knew people cheering could be so scary.
The woman climbed into the police car after me and gave a slight bow.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Hunter Kim Segyun, famous as the world’s best rookie.”
“... When did that happen?”
“Once could be a coincidence, but after that, no one can say that. And now it’s happened three or four times... Who could deny it?”
Put like that, maybe she had a point.
“As head of the Moscow Hunters Association, I’d like to thank you. Of course, you’ll also receive the Hunters Association bounty points posted for the Gate.”
“... You’re the head of the association?”
You?
You look about my age.
Wasn’t the head of an association usually a retired Hunter, like that potbellied old guy in Hawaii?
“You don’t need to look so surprised. It’s thanks to my father.”
Ah, that made sense.
Just how high up was her father, if he could put someone this young in charge of an association?
“You seem to be a Hunter, too.”
“I’m Awakened, but I wouldn’t call myself a Hunter. I hardly ever clear dungeons.”
“Even so...”
You were strong.
From what I’d looked up beforehand, being able to destroy about 27% made her a pretty powerful Hunter by ordinary class standards, though it depended on the class.
“It’s for self-defense. That’s my father’s philosophy.”
Well, that was part of why I wanted to get stronger, too.
Who was it that said strength was like insurance? If you had it, there were fewer times you’d have to suffer an unjust fate.
“If you have time, would you like to come have a meal at my house?”
... Lately, it felt like there were more and more women asking me to go somewhere and do something together.
“You don’t have to, right?”
I’m a little shy around people.
I feel like I’d get indigestion if I ate with someone I’d just met.
Especially someone important.
“It’s not mandatory, but you’ll hear some useful information if you come. If you agree to come, I’ll tell you right now.”
If she was going to go that far, maybe I should accept, pretending to be reluctant.
“Well, one meal isn’t a big deal.”
“Thank you. The information is... the Russian Hunters Association has information about a ‘Star Relic.’”
“How did you know that... Oh, the association.”
Just in case, I’d asked the association to look into information about ‘Star Relics’ and ‘Blood Gold’...
I’d paid about a thousand points for the request.
I hadn’t expected to hear the answer to the request I’d made to the Hawaii Association here.
I didn’t even know information requests were shared with other countries’ associations.
“But if you want to get your hands on it, you’ll have to convince my father.”
Wait, so who was your father?
Also, this car seemed to be heading somewhere strange.
The place we reached after sirens blared and the police cleared a path through the crowd...
It was a scene I recognized all too well from a blog I’d read before coming to Moscow.
“Red Square?”
“Have you been here before?”
“N-No.”
And the building connected to Red Square was...
“Welcome to the Kremlin.”
A building used as the residence of Russia’s supreme leaders, from the emperors of Imperial Russia through the Soviet Union and into the present-day Russian Federation.
The presidential palace.
The Kremlin.
**
If you asked which country was the strongest in the world, nine out of ten people would say the United States.
But if you asked which country was the largest in the world, every single person would say Russia.
No, they had to.
It was a fact. Not knowing that was a failure of basic knowledge.
And being the largest country in the world meant it also had the most Gates.
That was why the Russian Federation could rightly be called the country with the most developed dungeon economy in the world.
I glanced around in a daze, then asked Arina in a small voice.
“Your last names are different. Your last names.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your father’s name is Romanov Abramov, isn’t it?”
I might not have gotten much schooling, but I kept up with the news.
How could I not know the Russian president’s name?
They were similar, but Abramova and Abramov. Different last names.
At my question, she chuckled.
“In Russia, last names change depending on gender. Abramova is the feminine form, and Abramov is the masculine form. They mean the same thing.”
“Oh, man.”
If we’d at least shared the same last name, I might’ve suspected something, but it felt like I’d just been blindsided.
Why did this suddenly turn into the Kremlin?
Under heavy security, I was escorted with her straight into a room.
And there...
It was definitely the guy I’d seen on the news.
The problem was that he was dressed a little unusually.
He was practicing in full heavy armor, with a sword, decked out head to toe in dungeon items.
Arina and I watched without interrupting. Soon, he seemed to finish his training and put away his sword.
The dungeon items disappeared into his inventory in an instant.
He quickly changed into a suit, spotted me, and slowly approached.
This was nerve-racking.
I never thought I’d meet the Russian president before the Korean president.
“I saw the message, Hunter Kim Segyun.”
“Mr. President. How do you do? It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Kim Segyun.”
I bowed slightly at his greeting and shook his hand.
His hand was callused, as if he’d trained relentlessly.
It felt a lot like Zephyros’s hand.
“Our Russian Federation always treats capable Hunters well.”
The land was vast, but its population wasn’t proportionally large.
Naturally, they actively sought to bring in foreign Hunters.
Maybe this was the country where Hunters held the most power.
“If you were willing to become a citizen, I would immediately offer you the best treatment and support you at the national level.”
Wow, this guy doesn’t waste time.
Citizenship right off the bat?
Still, I could understand where he was coming from.
I didn’t know much about international politics, but I did know the basics.
This man had become president in a coup about ten years ago.
He’d originally been the head of the Russian Hunters Association, and he’d mobilized Hunters on a massive scale to overthrow the old regime and seize power.
So he understood the power of Hunters better than anyone.
“I’m sorry.”
Knowing that, I had no choice but to smile and turn him down.
Not that I’d ever planned on taking another country’s citizenship...
Especially not this country’s. That would be even more troublesome.
Hunters should use their strength only in dungeons.
I didn’t want to butcher people in the real world.
But Russia was one of the few countries in the world that used Hunters as an active military force.
Of course, any country might conscript Hunters in wartime or other emergencies, but few countries of any significant size regularly trained them to hunt people instead of dungeon monsters. Russia was one of them.
“Hmm, that’s a shame. I can’t force you.”
Fortunately, he wasn’t as persistent as some people.
He shrugged once, and the three of us headed to the dining room.
There was an enormous table that could have seated dozens of people.
With only three of us sitting there, it looked rather empty, but as the food began to fill the table, it didn’t feel that way at all.
After the three of us shared a meal and had a few rounds of drinks, President Romanov spoke up.
“You’re young, so you may not know this, but do you know I used to own a soccer club?”
“... I’ve heard something about that in passing.”
Was it an English soccer club?
I think I’d heard that soccer was incredibly popular back then.
“It was the early days of Awakening. At first, the power of the Awakened was truly insignificant. Their levels were low, too, so we had no idea there would be so many different kinds of Gates.”
Gates only appear when someone meets the entry requirements.
So in the early days of Awakening, only low-stage Gates would have appeared.
And the by-products obtained from early-stage Gates were almost worthless.
It was no wonder Hunters were looked down on.
“But I saw the potential. I Awakened back then, too, and on that very day I liquidated my soccer club and switched to a dungeon development company. I also recruited several promising Hunters. It was a huge success.”
I knew he was like a cornerstone of Russia’s dungeon economy, but I hadn’t known this story.
“But one day, I realized something. Why should we use this power only in dungeons? We could use it outside, too. The problem was, I wasn’t the only one who realized that. One day, my boss suddenly had me detained and demanded that I hand over all my authority. I wasn’t about to take that lying down.”
President Romanov smiled, took a sip of wine, and looked at me.
“Would you ask me why?”
“... Why?”
“Because we were strong. Me, and the Hunters I led. We were strong. It was ridiculous that the weak dared to tell the strong what to do. I had served that man my whole life, but he was unquestionably weak.”
So that was how Russia’s former dictator, who’d even been nicknamed the Tsar, was ousted.
“That’s how our Russia became a society ruled by the strong.”
“That’s impressive.”
That was just lip service.
Honestly, it was more frightening than impressive.
“There are few people in the world who could become as strong as you. Maybe none.”
President Romanov personally refilled my empty glass and smiled warmly.
“Anyone strong can be respected here and become a star. It wouldn’t be strange for you to become the brightest star of all.”
Seriously, what was with everyone lately?
I thought it was over, but apparently that had only been the beginning.
“I only want to shine inside dungeons.”
“Could a mere dungeon possibly dim your light?”
“For now, the star I need isn’t that kind of star. It’s another one.”
I needed to change the subject.
Perhaps he sensed how desperately I wanted to, because President Romanov burst out laughing and nodded.
“A Star Relic. It’s a top-grade material needed to repair or enhance relic-grade and higher items, isn’t it?”
Is that what it was?
Relic-grade...
Oof, that must be expensive.
“There is definitely a dungeon in our Russian Federation where it’s mined.”
“If you’re going to ask me to become a citizen in exchange, I can’t agree to that. Please make another offer.”
I drew a clear line.
It wasn’t as if Star Relics only came from Russia.
The president gave a wry smile at my firm refusal.
“You’re impatient. I haven’t even gotten to the main point yet. What was it? You said you were Korean, right? Is this fate in its own way?”
Fate?
What did that mean?
“That dungeon in Chelyabinsk is one your country’s company completely ruined before leaving.”
“A company... you mean...”
“Seonggwang Group.”
... Why did this suddenly turn into Seonggwang?
What was this about?
“It’s true that Star Relics are mined in that dungeon, but it’s too dangerous to enter. It’s a real headache for us. Because of it, the pacification effect in the Chelyabinsk region has been broken.”
The pacification effect... could be broken?
After leaving me utterly confused, President Romanov wiped his mouth with a napkin, rose from his seat, and said,
“You can hear the details from my daughter. If you clear that dungeon, I’ll give you 10% of the Star Relics mined over the next five years.”
Ten percent is too little, how about 40%...
No, what was I saying?
I didn’t even know whether I could clear the place.
Negotiations could come later.
I watched him disappear from the dining room for a long while, then shifted my gaze to his daughter, Arina, sitting across from me.
“Would you care to explain?”
What on earth was that ridiculous nonsense?