Chapter 94
The spy incident originating from the NIS sent shockwaves through the public.
For citizens who had thought, ‘What spies? What agents?’ it was enough of a shock to sound the alarm over national security.
Praise for the Kang Min-guk administration, which had dealt with it, was perhaps only natural.
Still, allowing spies to infiltrate was undeniably a failure, so the already unpopular opposition seized on that point.
“Excessive praise for President Kang Min-guk must be avoided! At any rate, spies have exposed a hole in our national security!”
“The opposition believes a hearing on this matter is necessary!”
But...
“It has been reported that four of the seven spies were recruited under the previous administration, and three under the administration before that.”
At the police announcement, the opposition parties all cowered.
They made a faint demand to verify whether the investigation had been conducted properly, but for the time being, they quieted down.
If they dug into it for no reason and it turned out to be a failure of their own party’s former administration, their already rock-bottom approval ratings could plummet even further.
On the other hand...
─What? So it wasn’t the Kang Min-guk government’s fault after all?
└Fucking hell, the opposition’s full of shit.
└So they keep obstructing everything and throwing tantrums like that?
─President: Kang Min-guk. Defender of the Nation Hunter: Kim Segyun.
└What a lineup. I feel damn secure.
└Mr. Kim Gu, are you watching...
─I really hope Kang Min-guk gets one more term...
└Even if they amend the constitution, he’d have to step down once before running again lol
└There’s a law like that?
└Yeah, apparently, to prevent dictatorship, an amendment doesn’t apply to the president in office when it’s made.
└Damn, what a shame.
In South Korea, which had suffered from dictatorship...
Kang Min-guk’s approval rating had soared so high that talk of allowing a second term was beginning to surface—an extremely rare occurrence.
**
“It’s hard to catch you these days.”
As befitted the head of an intelligence agency, Zephyros had moved into the NIS director’s residence near Seocho-gu instead of his Seongsu-dong mansion.
The place had stringent security and all kinds of anti-surveillance equipment installed.
“Don’t even ask. It’s seriously brutal.”
“I get that, but what about my Gate?”
“Just wait a little, you punk. The operation proposal’s already been submitted to the President.”
“An operation? You’re making it sound so grand.”
“Hey, did you think sneaking into North Korea, clearing a dungeon, and getting out with the loot would be easy? Anyway, good timing. Get the briefing first. Then you’ll have a sense of what we’re dealing with. You’re the one who has to go in, after all.”
“All right.”
We took an official car with Zephyros and entered the NIS headquarters.
I never thought I’d be coming here so often...
Security was five times tighter than usual, but our car was waved right through.
“Oh, take this.”
“What’s this?”
“Your civil servant ID. I had one made, just in case.”
“... Am I an NIS employee?”
I was startled to see an ID card identifying me as an employee of the National Intelligence Service.
What the hell, am I 007?
“It’s just to make it easier for you to get in. People will recognize you, sure, but it’d be a pain to get authorization every time, wouldn’t it?”
“I don’t exactly want to come here that often...”
“Heh-heh. With me here, you think you can just not come?”
“Tch.”
I gave an awkward smile and put the ID card in my pocket.
Then, when we entered a conference room inside NIS headquarters...
“Oh? Mr. Lee Seong-hyeok.”
“Great...”
“Leave that part out.”
“Comrade Segyun.”
Lee Seong-hyeok was in the middle of pointing out various places on a map to NIS employees.
“What were you doing?”
“I was looking at satellite photos of Aoji and explaining the hazards there.”
“Explain it to him again, too.”
“Yes, hyung.”
He’s gotten so used to calling him hyung.
“The one they call the ‘Warden’ is the most dangerous of the lot. She’s one of the five who were called the Republic’s standard-bearers alongside me.”
Aeminai meant ‘woman,’ right?
But a warden...
That’s ominous.
“What’s her ability?”
“She was called the Horseman of Pestilence.”
“Pestilence?”
... That’s my specialty.
Could that woman be one, too?
“Of course, she doesn’t actually use pestilence.”
What, I got worried for nothing.
“Then...”
“She uses poison. She can freely manipulate all kinds of toxins. She possesses the trait ‘Immunity to All Poisons.’ That’s why she’s a crazy bitch who keeps a ton of poison in her stomach.”
“Poison, huh...”
Maybe she and I are somewhat similar.
“That woman poisons every Hunter there. Unless they receive periodic antidotes, they’ll die horribly.”
... I take back what I said about being similar.
She really is crazy.
“That woman also oversees the smuggling of Hellstones out through the entrance. I hear she’s amassed a lot of wealth in the process.”
“And the nuclear bomb or whatever...”
“She manages that, too. I believe she has the authority to detonate it, but... I don’t know the details.”
“Things would get a lot easier if we just dealt with her.”
“Don’t take it lightly.”
Zephyros spoke from behind me.
“What if the detonation switch is linked to her heartbeat?”
“... Is that possible?”
“Entirely. Never heard of a dead man’s switch?”
“Hmm.”
“There’s a much bigger problem.”
“Y-Yeah, a huge one.”
A sigh escaped both of them.
What could it be?
“This guy.”
“Who is he?”
He was an ordinary-looking North Korean man.
“Choi Hyeok-pil. He’s one of the five Hunters, too. In effect, he’s the Republic’s secret weapon.”
“... Is he that strong?”
“His combat ability isn’t particularly strong, but...”
“He’s a spatial teleporter. The President’s Office was thrown into an uproar.”
“... What?”
So what?
Sure, teleportation was rare...
“Not short-range. Long-distance teleportation.”
“Gasp.”
That’s beyond rare.
It was an ability that had never existed before.
No, why the hell is that in North Korea? Is this a joke?!
“There is a limit to the distance. With his current ability, South Korea is probably the farthest he can reach. That’s why the Republic won’t reveal him.”
“He’d need to reach at least Japan to exert pressure internationally.”
“Spatial teleportation... Whoa.”
That means he can drop forces behind enemy lines.
Since the Age of Awakening began, the strength of small elite forces had become even more apparent.
But it seemed that wasn’t the end of it.
“There’s an even bigger problem.”
“The problem being...”
“An unstoppable nuclear weapon. Imagine him teleporting a nuke right into the middle of Seoul.”
“That’s insane.”
Missiles or bombers...
could be intercepted.
But a nuclear weapon delivered by teleportation?
“If his ability could reach America, North Korea would probably already be strutting around the international stage, making all sorts of threats.”
“The problem is, even his current ability is a disaster for our country.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“... So if I go there and stir things up, in the worst case, they could retaliate by dropping a nuke in the middle of Seoul.”
“I believe they wouldn’t go that far. But even if they did, we have no way to respond right now.”
This wasn’t even about going to Aoji and doing something anymore.
“Where is that bastard Choi Hyeok-pil?”
“Pyongyang.”
This was hopeless.
Still, I couldn’t just charge into Pyongyang.
Of course, I might be able to take on all of Pyongyang...
But overconfidence was always dangerous.
Hunters always kept at least one trick up their sleeves, and unless I could handle all the variables, I had to be cautious.
Besides, if he simply escaped using his teleportation ability while I was dealing with Pyongyang...
“What are the activation conditions for his ability? Are there any restrictions?”
“Five times a day. Once he uses it, he can’t use it again for one minute. That’s what he says, anyway, so we can’t be sure. He can bring about five people along.”
“Even if he’s exaggerating by about double, he still can’t reuse it for around thirty seconds.”
Then...
Hmm.
“One of the five Hunters is at Aoji, one is in Pyongyang... What about the rest?”
“All the others live in Pyongyang.”
“I thought so. Mr. Seong-hyeok said he was in Pyongyang, too. Then in an emergency, he’d bring those Hunters along and use spatial teleportation to go suppress the threat. A rebellion or the appearance of hostile forces, for example.”
“How did you know? That’s right.”
Don’t mutter, ‘As expected of Great Comrade Kim Segyun...’ while gazing at me with sparkling eyes. It’s embarrassing.
“There is one way.”
“... A way?”
“There is?”
“Yes. If I openly storm Aoji, wouldn’t Choi Hyeok-pil come with the other three and use spatial teleportation? He has to bring them along himself, right?”
“That’s true, but...”
Just as I expected.
With someone like that around, they could all stay in Pyongyang and control the whole country.
“Then we just have to subdue Choi Hyeok-pil at that moment.”
Zephyros stared blankly, as if turning my words over in his mind for a moment, then...
“You crazy bastard! You’re saying you’ll take on North Korea’s five strongest Hunters at the same time!”
“You said one of them was noncombat personnel.”
“Four or five, what’s the difference?! They’re not people you can underestimate! Even if Choi Kang, the strongest, goes with you...”
“You two can’t come.”
That’s a terrible thing to say.
“What? Then who are you taking?”
“I can’t take anyone, in case a nuclear weapon goes off. And why would someone like you, the Director of the NIS, go there? Senior Choi Kang, maybe, but not you.”
There’s only one person suited for this job.
“I’ll go alone.”
Because I’m the only one who could endure it if, by some chance, a nuke went off.
**
At first, everyone treated my declaration as insane.
I admit it.
If someone told me they wouldn’t die even if a nuke went off, I’d think the same.
Still, I revealed my hidden cards one by one to Zephyros and persuaded him, and he had no choice but to accept it.
“I accept that you won’t die even if a nuke goes off. But those five North Korean Hunters...”
“Four.”
“Right, let’s say one is noncombat personnel and set them aside. What are you going to do about fighting the other four?”
“If I won’t die from a nuke, do you think I’d lose to people?”
“......”
It sounded like a fallacy, but somehow it was strangely convincing, and Zephyros was dumbfounded.
In the end, Zephyros, persuaded, sighed and said,
“So now I have to persuade the President.”
“Heh-heh, good luck.”
“... This is driving me crazy. I’m getting old, I’m getting old.”
As a result, thanks to Zephyros’s vigorous persuasion, the President’s Office reluctantly gave permission.
For the Kang Min-guk administration, it was an enormous gamble.
In the worst case, they could lose Kim Segyun and suffer a retaliatory nuclear strike from North Korea.
After much deliberation, the President gave his approval and called me.
─It might seem right at first glance to prohibit the operation for the sake of the country. But as President of the Republic of Korea, I couldn’t help but worry that preventing Hunter Kim Segyun from growing could prove to be a shortsighted decision. Please prove that I made the right choice.
“I’ll keep that in mind, Mr. President.”
Having obtained even the President’s approval, I was...
“Hunter Kim Segyun, we’ll reach the nearby coast shortly. The UDT is standing by as well.”
“Yes, understood.”
... aboard the Republic of Korea’s first nuclear-powered submarine.
I had originally planned to fly in from somewhere nearby, but satellite images confirmed that a large number of radar surveillance systems had been added to the Aoji area.
The culprit was probably... America.
As diplomatic friction arose over the spy investigation, they must have leaked information to North Korea to improve their negotiating position at the same time.
Otherwise, there’d be no reason for radar stations to be packed around such an unremarkable Gate.
No matter how poor North Korea’s radar systems were, with this many, it would be difficult to infiltrate without being detected.
Based on the NIS’s assessment that infiltrating overland from the coast was better than a high-altitude insertion, I was now traveling aboard a nuclear submarine toward the nearby waters.
Once I boarded a small special-operations submersible with the UDT through the nuclear sub’s torpedo tube, it shot through the dark sea with a soft plunk.
We reached the coast, and the UDT returned to the nuclear submarine in the submersible.
There wasn’t much they could do even if they stayed behind.
I waited on the shore for a while, and before long, I saw a small flashlight blinking at regular intervals.
When I headed toward it, a skinny man in a North Korean officer’s uniform glanced around and whispered,
“Come this way.”
He was a HUMINT asset planted by the NIS—in other words, a spy.
He led me to a small shack near the coast.
When he lifted the dusty floor covering inside, there was a door leading underground.
I entered the pitch-dark basement.
“You folks really are crazy, aren’t you? You’ve lost your minds.”
“... I’ve heard that a lot.”
I’d really like to stop hearing that.
I’m perfectly sane.
I’d thought everything through before coming, tsk.
“Do you even know where you’re going?”
“I know exactly where I’m going, so just lead me there.”
“Ugh, all right. But...”
“Ah.”
I took a few items out of my inventory and handed them to him.
They were junk items to me, but very useful in North Korea.
They were worth a great deal, too.
“Is this enough?”
“... That’s too much.”
“Then guide me even more safely.”
I could endure a nuke, but I couldn’t risk the Hunters inside, who might be innocent.
Fighting the North Korean Hunters was the worst-case scenario.
The best outcome would be to go in as cautiously as possible, handle things, and come back.
But then...
... A mana fluctuation?
My mana pool had grown so large that I was gradually becoming sensitive to the flow of mana around me.
And what I sensed right now...
was a rather enormous fluctuation of mana happening nearby.
I immediately scattered bacteria to gather information about the surroundings.
The shack was already surrounded by a large number of soldiers.
And leading them was...
a woman.
“... Choi Hwa-jeong.”
The poison-wielding Hunter, one of the North Korean top Hunters I’d already been briefed about.
She was there.
“... A betrayal.”
“......!”
The North Korean officer stared wide-eyed at me, then dropped to his knees.
“P-Please spare me! Please, I’m begging you! I was threatened, so I had no choice...!”
His body...
began to bubble and melt from the heart outward.
“A-Aaaah! Aah! Help! Help!”
His body soon became incapable of even screaming, and the officer melted away without a trace.
... I didn’t do that.
I slowly climbed back up to the shack and went outside...
“I was gonna kill both of you reactionaries, but it looks like one of you is still in one piece.”
“Poison Hunter Choi Hwa-jeong.”
“Just as I’d heard, the South Joseon reactionary is no ordinary opponent.”
She looked to be in her early thirties.
But in reality, she was over fifty.
“I wouldn’t believe a word from those American imperialists, even if they swore the sky was green—but this time, they were right.”
So the information had been leaked by America after all.
Seriously... once I’m done dealing with North Korea, I’ll have to do something about America, too.
If they keep making things such a nuisance, that is.
“I wanted to handle you alone and earn the General’s favor all to myself, but it looks like that won’t work.”
When she glanced over her shoulder...
four silhouettes appeared as the space behind her warped.
“I’ll make you regret daring to enter the Republic alone, you South Joseon brat.”
Hmm, well, about that...
“All right, everyone! Everyone... Everyone...?”
When her allies failed to appear even after she waited, she cautiously turned around, and...
“Aaaah!”
She screamed and sank to the ground.
Because...
only scattered remains were left, fluttering away as dust.
They weren’t so weak that they should’ve gone down that easily.
But...
right after spatial teleportation...
since they had exposed their most vulnerable state before my eyes...
no matter how powerful their defenses were, there was no avoiding being devoured by Gluttony while they were defenseless.
They had no chance of surviving.
No matter how many items they were given or how much they were raised...
without sparring or fighting against a top-class Hunter, they would inevitably be vulnerable in combat against people.
All in all, against these frogs in a well, all I needed was...
less than five seconds.
Just as I was thinking that...
[Sacrificial Offering defends against an unknown attack!]
... What?
Then, as my vision warped, what I saw before my eyes...
was nothing but empty air.
Wait, then was this...
an illusion?
[Sacrificial Offering defends against an unknown attack!]
[Sacrificial Offering defends against an unknown attack!]
[Sacrificial Offering defends against an unknown attack!]
I hadn’t even noticed when it was cast.
It seemed I’d been caught in an illusion.
Judging by the unseen attacks that kept flying at me...
fortunately, they weren’t all that powerful, so it seemed Sacrificial Offering could defend against them for a while.
And the way to counter illusions was obvious to me.
You can cast an illusion on one person, but...
“You can’t cast an illusion on tens of trillions of individuals.”
I had a loyal legion of tens of trillions who could act as my eyes instead.
I closed my physical eyes and shifted my senses.
The five Hunters surrounding me came into view.
Let’s take out the most troublesome one first.
As soon as I reached out, one of them disappeared without even getting a chance to scream.
Along with the futile end of...
‘Illusionist’ Lee Jeong-ho, who had manipulated thirty million North Korean citizens with false visions.
The illusion covering my eyes lifted just like that.
“Hello, North Korean Hunters?”
The Hunters looked back at me as I greeted them cheerfully, their eyes clouded with utter confusion.