Chapter 91
The more I listened to Lee Seong-hyeok's explanation, the clearer it became.
The thought kept circling through my mind: Ah, so that's the Gate.
Unlike me, whose expression had grown serious, Zephyros was thoroughly drunk. Grinning, he asked Lee Seong-hyeok,
“So, did you get your revenge later?”
“Revenge...? What revenge are you talking about?”
“You know, that sort of thing. Haven't you ever done it? Going back to clear a Gate you couldn't handle when you were low-level after you've become high-level. You don't get a clear rating, but it's still satisfying.”
A clear rating was only awarded if your level was within five levels of the Gate's. But being more than five levels above it didn't make entry impossible.
Of course, there were exceptions depending on the Gate's characteristics, but most could still be entered.
So, as Zephyros had said, it was now common among high-level Hunters nearing Level 69 to breeze through Gates below their level.
They couldn't raise their levels any further because of level control, but they still had to run Gates...
So they quickly ran low-level Gates more than five levels below them.
“Ah, you mean that? Unfortunately, this Gate was unusual. It was a level-scaling Gate.”
“... A variable-level Gate, level scaling? A level-scaling Gate?”
“That's what the imperialists call it, I hear.”
Zephyros's eyes widened, and Senior Choi Kang, who'd been chewing on chicken breast, gaped in surprise, too.
A level-scaling Gate.
I'd heard of those, too.
“I heard they're an extremely rare type of Gate worldwide...”
“They're the best Gates there are for Hunters to grow in.”
That made sense.
The monsters' levels would rise to match my own...
“There used to be about four in the world.”
“Now there are five.”
So North Korea had kept such a rare Gate under wraps all this time?
That's North Korea's isolationism for you...
At any rate, if it was a level-scaling Gate...
That meant the lowest point was now, didn't it?
Given the nature of my class, my level had almost no direct correlation with my combat strength, unlike other classes.
Of course, leveling up would improve things like my control and mana limits, and those would affect my strength. But that was only compared to other classes, where people said level was everything.
The direct factors that actually increased my combat strength were new types of bacteria and relic-grade items.
In other words...
The easiest way for me to clear a level-scaling Gate was...
To do it at the lowest level possible.
The problem was...
How?
I couldn't just cross the border into North Korea, could I?
And reunification wasn't going to happen overnight, either.
Could I negotiate with the North Korean government peacefully?
... When they're making such a fuss over the guy who took down their fighter jets?
Now that we'd accepted Lee Seong-hyeok's defection, relations with North Korea were bound to freeze over rapidly.
But we couldn't send Lee Seong-hyeok back north just because they wanted us to, either.
“... So in the end, I'd have to force my way in.”
While I was muttering to myself,
“Whoa!”
A face suddenly appeared right in front of me, and I toppled backward in surprise.
“What kind of sinister plan were you cooking up this time to get that startled?”
“... Haha.”
“Spit it out. Don't make me clean up another mess later.”
... You could fool a ghost, but not this guy.
When I had no choice but to tell him I needed to clear the Aoji Gate, he said,
“Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind? You want to clear a top-secret Gate on North Korean soil?”
“Yes.”
“Beep. Severe Mystery addiction detected. This isn't one of those cases, is it?”
“... It's not that. It's just... Hmm, how should I explain it? Could I say it's related to my class?”
“Why does it have to be...”
“I know. Why does it have to be?”
That was the perfect way to describe the situation.
Even if it were in the Amazon or some remote part of Africa, it wouldn't be this much of a problem.
Why did it have to be North Korea?
And this was happening right now, when relations between North and South had rapidly cooled because Lee Seong-hyeok defected.
Ah, of course, if it weren't for Lee Seong-hyeok, I wouldn't even have known about it, would I?
In that case, I couldn't really complain about it.
“Great Comrade Kim Segyun.”
“... Could you leave out ‘Great’?”
“Comrade Kim Segyun.”
“Yes.”
“I do not recommend it. That place is too dangerous.”
“Gates are always dangerous.”
“No, that's not what I mean.”
He shook his head emphatically.
After sighing and gulping down his drink, he continued,
“The inside is hell, but... the outside is even worse. Aoji used to be a labor camp for political prisoners, but now it's a prison for anti-regime Hunters.”
“Anti-regime Hunters...”
“Think about it. What's the easiest way to put Hunters to forced labor?”
Zephyros answered for me.
“Make them run dungeons. You get materials out of it, too.”
“Exactly. And it would be even better if troublesome anti-regime Hunters died in the process. But if the Gate's level were fixed, low-level Hunters couldn't enter, and high-level Hunters wouldn't die inside.”
Zephyros, Senior Choi Kang, and I all went rigid at the same time.
“They're using a level-scaling Gate...”
“To purge dissidents?!”
... It would be efficient.
Hunters of every level could enter, and the Gate was nearly impossible to clear.
“The ‘Hellstones’ found inside are quite useful materials. Of course, exports are blocked by sanctions... But where is Hamgyongbuk-do? It borders China and Russia. At the border markets, the Russians and Chinese buy them all up.”
“So it's a source of foreign currency for North Korea and a way to purge dissidents... Anyway, security must be tight.”
“It's probably the most heavily guarded place in the Republic after Pyongyang. And...”
And? There's more?
“... In an emergency, the Republic's nuclear weapons are set to detonate.”
“... What?”
Had I heard him right?
“Nuclear what? You're talking about the nuclear weapons I know, right? The North Korean language is so different.”
“You heard correctly.”
This was getting worse by the minute.
Nuclear... weapons.
“In case the dissidents rebel, a tactical nuke will detonate if even the slightest thing goes wrong.”
Zephyros stared at him with his mouth hanging open in disbelief and said,
“That's near the border, isn't it? It even borders both Russia and China.”
“... That's right.”
“They didn't even consider the diplomatic consequences? They planted a nuclear weapon in a region bordering multiple countries?”
“It's a small tactical nuke, so the area would be outside its direct blast radius. And the Supreme Leader's... no, the dictator's thinking is that diplomatic friction is better than letting dissidents escape.”
“As expected, that bastard's not just crazy—he's completely off his rocker.”
Zephyros shook his head, then looked at me and gave me a firm warning.
“Absolutely not. No matter how strong you are, you can't survive a nuke. A nuke.”
“I don't plan on getting hit by one, either.”
Getting nuked was enough when I was playing StarCraft.
But I couldn't exactly give up so easily...
I'd have to think for a while about what to do.
But then...
3,000% fire resistance.
Radiation shielding.
Athena.
Sacrificial Offering.
And lastly, Pope Alois's Circlet, which nullified damage severe enough to kill me...
Why me?
Why did it feel like I wouldn't die even if I got hit by a nuke...?
**
Langley, Virginia, USA.
If you asked Americans to name the most famous thing in this wealthy town, one of the richest in the country, they'd all name the same government agency.
It was the headquarters of the CIA, the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States.
An elegant Rolls-Royce came to a stop at the entrance to its headquarters.
The person who stepped out of the car door opened by a bodyguard was an old man with white hair.
The one there to greet him was...
“Kaiser, thank you for making the trip.”
“The plane did all the hard work. The Director's looking better and better.”
Astonishingly, it was the top official at the CIA.
The Director of the CIA.
“Haha... It's better than living the life of a Hunter, where every day could be my last.”
“Heh-heh. Let's go inside.”
Though he was a guest, Kaiser strode confidently toward the Director's office as if he knew the place well.
Naturally, Kaiser took the seat of honor in the Director's office, while the Director sat in the seat right below him.
“So, Hunter Lee defected to South Korea from North Korea, was that it?”
“Yes, that's right. It's a little disrespectful, but people call him ‘the People's Kaiser.’ Though it's mostly meant as mockery. Still, his abilities are fairly impressive, considering the North Korean government poured all its resources into him.”
“The People's Kaiser... I've heard of him. But why are you suddenly reporting this to me?”
“Well... Would you take a look at this first?”
With that, satellite footage began playing.
It showed a Crusader using their abilities.
It was hard to make out clearly from satellite footage, but Kaiser, a powerful Crusader himself, could tell.
“... Not bad.”
To be honest, Kaiser was surprised.
The man's power was almost comparable to Kaiser's own, back when his faith had completely faded.
“Yes, this footage is from five years ago. And this one... is from very recently.”
“This isn't satellite footage.”
“We obtained it from the South Korean government.”
Kaiser nodded and gestured for him to play the footage.
It showed the man barely managing to block a tank shell and struggling under machine-gun fire.
As a fellow Crusader, Kaiser recognized it at once.
‘His faith has faded... He's lost his faith.’
Kaiser clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“So, why are you showing me this?”
“Ah, there's one last thing I'd like to show you.”
The last thing to watch was...
“This footage was sent to us by one of our moles inside South Korea's National Intelligence Service.”
It showed Lee Seong-hyeok undergoing various tests.
But, unbelievably...
“......!!!”
Compared to when he'd defected...
No, he was incomparably stronger than even in the footage from five years ago.
He'd regained nearly all of his power—and then some.
“H-How is this possible?”
Lee Seong-hyeok was almost as powerful as Kaiser, whose strength he'd only managed to recover with great difficulty by drinking the liquor...
Kaiser's hand trembled as he watched Lee Seong-hyeok, who might even have become stronger than that.
“How?! Just how...!”
“The CIA has obtained this footage, too.”
It showed the scene on the plain near the Military Demarcation Line again.
At the moment when Lee Seong-hyeok was talking with Kim Segyun...
Lee Seong-hyeok's body suddenly swelled up.
His muscles had regained their strength.
Then he flung himself flat on the ground and shouted,
─I bow to Great Comrade Kim Segyun! Long live Great Comrade Kim Segyun!
The words were translated in real time and delivered to Kaiser's ears through a translator necklace.
The words translated in his ears were...
‘My great Messiah, Kim Segyun. I bow to you! Long live Kim Segyun!’
The instant he heard that, Kaiser shuddered as if electricity had surged through his whole body.
“Did I hear that right?”
“Yes. We believe there's a significant connection between Kim Segyun and Lee Seong-hyeok regaining their strength. Perhaps the rumors going around...”
“The Messiah class.”
That absurd class he'd only ever suspected might exist.
“It was real?”
So what was he supposed to do now?
Go to Kim Segyun and bow down like that?
Kaiser?
“... That won't do.”
He'd earned and maintained his position through his image as the undisputed number one and the protector of America.
If Kaiser himself went and bowed his head to a mere Hunter from Korea...
‘Even if I got my strength back, everything else would be over.’
Then he'd have to find another way.
A deal was the only option.
“I've seen enough.”
The Director's words stopped Kaiser as he rose from his seat, his expression grim.
“Kaiser, it seems we have a bargaining chip for negotiating with Kim Segyun.”
“What?”
“Do you happen to know Aoji?”