Chapter 88: Dungeon Raid (2)
[‘Thanks to Korea for Saving Russia’ – Vladimir Zhukov Expresses Gratitude Toward Korea]
[Crystal Guild Master Shin Soo-jeong and the Information-Classified Hunter Defeat Russia’s Disaster]
[‘Is Korea Becoming the Strongest Hunter Nation?’ – Urgent Reassessment of Korean Hunter Power Needed After This Russian Disaster Subjugation]
[‘How Did Korea Become a Hunter Powerhouse?’ – Exclusive Interview with Yoon Soo-ho, President of the Korean Awakener Association]
Yoon Soo-ho, scrolling through the articles on his tablet, frowned the moment his own face appeared on screen.
Seeing this, Chae So-young asked with a worried expression.
“President-nim, is something wrong?”
“Ah, it’s nothing serious.”
Yoon Soo-ho shook his head. Chae So-young stepped closer, glanced at the tablet, and said,
“Oh, it’s the article about President-nim’s interview?”
“I didn’t actually do much, yet I’m the only one getting all the attention. It feels like something’s off.”
Ever since this year began, he had held countless press conferences and interviews as Association President.
It had started right after the secret agent Psycho appeared like a comet.
At first, following Psycho’s request, he—the Association President—had stepped forward publicly.
Psycho was someone who could not reveal his identity.
But as these situations kept repeating, even he couldn’t help but feel burdened.
“Why do you say you didn’t do anything? You hosted the International Federation conference here in Korea, negotiated with Hunters from all over the world…”
Chae So-young rattled off a long list, but in the end, none of those things would have even been attempted without Psycho.
“All of those things happened because of Psycho. There isn’t a single one I accomplished purely with my own strength.”
Lately, Yoon Soo-ho had started thinking this way.
It was no longer enough to just play the media game—he felt the time had come for him to step up and take real action himself.
Of course, even now he was leading the clearing of dungeons that appeared in Korea, but their danger levels were low, so the impact wasn’t particularly great.
“Even Psycho didn’t do everything with his own strength alone, right? Without the cooperation of the Association, the Intelligence Department, and various other countries, would any of it have been possible?”
“……”
For a moment, Yoon Soo-ho almost answered “yes.”
Because Psycho possessed enough raw combat power to handle everything single-handedly without anyone’s help.
The only reason he bothered to work together with others was to help them grow.
Yoon Soo-ho still couldn’t fully grasp Psycho’s true intentions, but at least it wasn’t anything bad for him.
“Sure, strength can solve a lot of things, but not everything in the world is solved by power alone, is it?”
At Chae So-young’s words, Yoon Soo-ho nodded while adding something meaningful.
“But since Psycho has started revealing his identity little by little, who knows what will happen from here on out.”
A sudden thought occurred to Yoon Soo-ho.
If Hunters around the world learned exactly what kind of person Psycho was…
Would they really be able to disobey him?
‘I don’t think anyone would choose to be compressed into dust.’
At the very least, Yoon Soo-ho himself would not.
Just then, Chae So-young checked her watch and asked,
“Ah, it’s time. Shall we head out?”
***
“Thank you for making time despite how busy you must be.”
“No need. I had to come anyway.”
Yoon Soo-ho replied to Jeong Bo-hoon’s greeting and stepped into the conference room.
Jin-young, who had arrived earlier and was already seated, spoke up immediately.
“Soo-ho, you’re late.”
“…I arrived ten minutes before the appointed time.”
“But you’re still later than me.”
“……”
Yoon Soo-ho gave up on retorting and silently took his seat.
Jeong Bo-hoon shot Jin-young a brief glare before turning to Yoon Soo-ho.
“One person still hasn’t arrived yet, and we have some time left, so please rest for a bit.”
“Thank you. By the way… the Director of the National Intelligence Service’s term is ending soon, isn’t it?”
Yoon Soo-ho changed the subject.
“As expected of someone who used to be in politics—you’re even paying attention to things like that.”
“It’s nothing else, but considering how much credit the Intelligence Department has earned recently, wouldn’t it make sense for you to be appointed as the next Director?”
“A Hunter as Director of the NIS… That’s the kind of statement the political world would absolutely hate.”
Jeong Bo-hoon shook his head with an awkward smile.
Even now, the political sphere was extremely reluctant to place Hunters in key government positions. Especially the higher the Hunter grade, the more so.
Even Yoon Soo-ho, who had once been Korea’s top star Hunter, had not received a nomination for public office, and there wasn’t a single Hunter serving as a minister or in the NIS Director position.
The one exception was that the Intelligence Department of the NIS had a relatively high average Hunter grade. But since they were different from ordinary civil servants, they were considered an outlier.
The official justification was that allowing Awakened individuals—who possessed military power on a completely different dimension from ordinary people—to also hold public authority would cause chaos in social order.
Those who had originally been in politics and then Awakened were only allowed to keep their positions if they refrained from Hunter activities.
Of course, even without entering politics, Hunters already wielded tremendous influence in society.
They had simply reached a tacit agreement to maintain at least a minimal boundary when stepping into each other’s domains.
“Of course there would be backlash, but even the political world can’t just pretend not to see the achievements the Intelligence Department has made.”
Jin-young, who had been listening to Yoon Soo-ho, interjected.
“Watching you gently coax our Director-nim, it’s clear you’ve got some ulterior motive.”
“It’s nothing else—just that when carrying out external activities in the future, it would be good to have the NIS Director accompany us.”
“Well, that does make some sense. But you’re trying to divert the attention that’s all focused on you, right? An NIS Director would naturally draw far more public recognition than an Intelligence Department Director.”
Jin-young hit the nail on the head, causing Yoon Soo-ho’s eyebrow to twitch.
Just as he was about to counter—
“Ah, everyone’s already here.”
Shin Soo-jeong finally entered the conference room.
“Long time no see, Hunter Shin Soo-jeong.”
“Nice to see you, Director Jeong.”
After exchanging greetings with Shin Soo-jeong, Jeong Bo-hoon sat back down and spoke.
“First of all, I’m truly glad that the mission in Russia was successfully completed and that everyone returned safely.”
“Thank you. It was all thanks to the agent-nim.”
Shin Soo-jeong said while looking at Jin-young.
Jin-young then spoke up.
“Let’s get straight to the point, Director.”
“Are you aware that an unidentified mana trace appeared in the sky above the heart of the Volgograd Contaminated Zone at that time?”
“Huh? No. I didn’t sense anything at all.”
Shin Soo-jeong opened her eyes wide, as if hearing this for the first time.
There had indeed been a massive trace left in the sky, yet it was so faint that even she hadn’t noticed it.
“I consulted with the CIA, and they said they’ve observed a similar case exactly once before.”
“Where did they see it?”
This was something Jin-young was also curious about.
When he first heard it from the Imposter at the Russian site, he had thought it strange as well.
“From the future that the Prophet saw.”
“The future?”
Shin Soo-jeong furrowed her brow as she asked, and the expressions of the others weren’t much different.
“There is one piece of information that the CIA has not yet made public to the world: the Second Great Cataclysm.”
The information regarding the Second Great Cataclysm that Prophet Michelle had foreseen was known only to the highest-ranking officials in the United States.
Federation Chairperson Hannah Adams, Association President Kyle Anderson, the CIA Director, and the President of the United States.
But now that information exchange with Korea had begun, this was the first time the details of the Second Great Cataclysm were being shared with Korea.
Of course, Jin-young already knew the related information.
Just before his regression, Hannah Adams had spoken about it while calling for global unity.
He had also heard about it separately when he met Michelle during the General Assembly.
In contrast, Yoon Soo-ho and Shin Soo-jeong were hearing this for the first time today.
“The Great Cataclysm refers to the appearance of Dungeon Gates and the awakening of humans, right? Does the ‘Second’ mean something like that is going to happen again?”
Shin Soo-jeong asked with worry in her voice, yet her eyes sparkled with curiosity as the questions poured out.
“I don’t know exactly what will happen. The Prophet judged that it was still too early to fully disclose all the information about the Second Great Cataclysm.”
“I see. That’s a shame.”
“Anyway, the important point is that before the Second Great Cataclysm occurred, a massive release of mana appeared in the sky above a contaminated zone—taking the form of something like a gate.”
Yoon Soo-ho, who had been listening quietly, muttered,
“Hm… It might be the opening of a dungeon with a danger level on a completely different dimension.”
“A Disaster-grade dungeon…?”
Shin Soo-jeong’s expression hardened as she caught his murmur.
Jin-young shook his head.
“It’s not a Disaster-grade dungeon.”
“How do you know that?”
“I heard it from Michelle.”
In truth, he had seen it before his regression, but he roughly glossed over it.
“The conclusion is that the Second Great Cataclysm might arrive sooner than expected.”
“……”
While everyone fell silent and sank into thought,
Jin-young recalled the events of that time.
The Heavenly Thunder God Sword had asked the Red Knight about the ‘Heavenly Demon,’ which caused the unidentified eyeball to appear.
If that had been a fragment of the Heavenly Demon, it might have been attempting to open a passage to invade this world.
Thanks to the Heavenly Thunder God Sword swiftly destroying the eyeball, it had ended without incident.
‘But it’s certain that this incident has accelerated things.’
『That’s exactly why a useless demonic sword like this should be discarded immediately.』
The tentacle spoke in a forceful tone. It seemed the Heavenly Thunder God Sword was rampaging around in the sub-space again.
The Heavenly Thunder God Sword had brought up the topic of the Heavenly Demon, which led to this situation, but even without that, what happened would have happened anyway.
Jin-young had no intention of blaming the sword specifically.
‘That could be true. That guy turned out to be more useful than I expected.’
Jin-young had confirmed the usefulness of the Heavenly Thunder God Sword during this Russia incident.
Things that would be annoying for him to handle personally but too dangerous to just leave alone.
When the massive space fleet appeared back then, the Heavenly Thunder God Sword’s performance had prevented civilian casualties.
The biggest advantage was that it could move on its own without Jin-young having to control it with psychokinesis.
『Then how about taking it out and carrying it around openly?』
‘Then it would be noisy for me.’
『I’ll take charge at night, and you take charge during the day—how about that?』
‘Ah, I’ve got a good idea.’
While Jin-young was bickering with the tentacle—
“Prophet Michelle wants to meet you again because of what happened in Russia.”
Jeong Bo-hoon said, turning to Jin-young.
“I was actually thinking of meeting her before heading to the raid anyway. Perfect timing. Tell her to come as soon as possible.”
“She’s already on her way, apparently. Speaking of the raid—do you plan to form an attack party?”
“Of course. There are some kids I need to put through the wringer.”
Jeong Bo-hoon flinched when Jin-young’s gaze landed on him.
“Surely not…”
“Don’t worry, Director-nim, it’s not you. We need someone to stay behind and protect this place. For starters, I’m planning to take our Association President.”
“Me?”
Not only Yoon Soo-ho but everyone else looked shocked.
“If all of Korea’s top forces leave, who’s going to guard this place?”
“There’s the strongest Hunter from before Yoon Soo-ho’s revival, isn’t there?”
Jin-young said while turning to Shin Soo-jeong.
“I’m always ready to give my all… but if a Prophet shows up, I don’t think I can handle it alone.”
Shin Soo-jeong was certainly strong, but she was nowhere near comparable to the Prophets of GODS.
Jin-young replied nonchalantly.
“Why do you think you’d be alone?”
Shwoot—
A legendary sword among legendary swords was summoned right in the middle of the conference room.
―Another unfamiliar face here, huh? Then allow this one to introduce—
“Here, get along well with this guy.”
Jin-young ignored the Heavenly Thunder God Sword’s introduction and sent it toward Shin Soo-jeong.
―We meet quite often, young lady. This can no longer be called coincidence; it must be fate…
“……”
Shin Soo-jeong inwardly thought she’d rather guard the place alone.
***
“I have no face to show you, Father.”
“……”
A man knelt on one knee before the Godfather and bowed his head.
The Godfather had never expected to hear news of Prophet Yulia Müller’s disappearance this quickly.
She must have been caught by that false prophet from Korea—so while it was called a disappearance, she was effectively dead.
He had thought that with Yulia, whom he had personally strengthened even further, plus the Red Knight, even a false prophet would struggle.
It had been his complete misjudgment.
If this had been his main body instead of a clone, would he have made the same judgment?
The Godfather, currently in clone form, entertained the thought, but it was a meaningless hypothetical.
In any case, what had happened had already happened—he had to clean up the mess somehow.
“Have you informed Edgar and Liliana?”
“Yes. The Disaster operation has already been halted, and they will arrive here soon.”
“The redhead?”
“He has already arrived. Shall I bring him?”
The Godfather gave a slight nod, and the man quickly left the room.
A short while later, he returned with a man whose red hair was grown out messily.
The redhead, eyes brimming with madness, looked at the Godfather and grinned widely.
“Hehehe… Father. You’ve finally called for me.”
“There is a task I can entrust only to you, the finest of my creations. From now on, your responsibility will be the heaviest.”
“Ahh… Please favor me even more, Father.”
The redhead clasped his hands together as if in prayer and spoke in an earnest, pleading voice.
“Seize complete control of all relay zones.”
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