Chapter 345

〈 Chapter 345 〉 Part 1, Chapter 15, Section 3

Even though the division of borders lost its meaning following North Korea’s collapse, people naturally still thought of Korea’s northern border as the 38th parallel – DMZ.

It had been a long time since Seoul was fully reclaimed, and now they’d even uprooted all traces of monsters from northern Gyeonggi Province and Gangwon-do. Instead of military bases, newly awakened heroes now resided in Paju, Yeoncheon, Cheorwon, and Goseong. Towns like Sokcho, Chuncheon, and Uijeongbu were once again becoming livable.

At the forefront of this effort was the Blue Wind Sect.

The Hunter Guild Blue Wind Sect hunted down and defeated every B and A-rank monster that came south of the 38th parallel. They embarked on expeditions beyond the DMZ to old Kaesong and northern Gangwon-do, defeating monsters there. The corpses and cores of these monsters flowed directly into the roots of Korea’s economy.

Because of this, people began to dream of instant riches.

– Being a hunter could make you filthy rich if you do it right, right?

Before the establishment of the Blue Wind Sect, Sun Icheol’s government strongly disliked the idea of superhumans running rampant outside of controlled areas.

– Those with special abilities must naturally dedicate themselves to the nation and its people.

They were forced to register with the association and become heroes. Some superhumans hid their powers completely out of fear.

Sun Icheol labeled them all as potential villains, and even those who used their powers to help others were captured as villains, some joining the Pine Tree Corps.

But things are different now.

With the fall of Sun Icheol, the spirit patrons of New Seoul who supported him began losing their foothold. Gradually, the power concentrated in New Seoul started dispersing to Seoul and Busan.

Seoul became the holy land of hunters,

And Busan became the gathering place for heroes.

Through the capital relocation, rapidly growing New Seoul began to decline, but no one tried to stop it.

– The government welcomes the registration of superhumans as hunters.

The criminalization of unregistered use of superpowers has been abolished.

The obligation for constant exposure of magical patterns upon hunter registration has been scrapped.

Hunter license acquisition fees have been exempted.

A tax reduction on profits from core and byproduct sales for the first six months of hunting activity.

Starting from the highest authority in New Seoul, the government itself began implementing policies friendly to hunters. To the point where people worried they might start creating official hunter guilds, superhumans were increasingly revealing themselves as hunters.

The deciding factor was the residents of Seoul.

When five thousand D to B-ranked Water Elemental superhumans, enough to be called “Water Touch Heavens,” appeared, firing magic bullets from modified K-2 rifles to flatten the area around Kaesong, people everywhere began aspiring to become hunters.

The opening of the Great Hunter Era.

And at the center of this new era was Seoul, with the flow converging towards Yeouido.

***

<12:55 PM, Blue Wind Sect Headquarters Conference Room>

“If we capture Nuclearian, I think there won’t be any more monsters coming out of the old North Korean territory.”

I was stuck in a dilemma. Sure, people were suddenly eager to become hunters and hunt the monsters flooding in, but cutting off the source would greatly disappoint the hunters.

Monsters themselves won’t stop appearing. Through localized small-scale dimensional gates, anywhere from one to over ten Tera creatures spill over to Earth.

‘Basically, it’s like the entire world has dimensional gates.’

From places humans can’t close, monsters pour out across the globe. Someday, we’ll have to close them all, but that’s way off in the future.

‘If worse comes to worst, I can manage by opening my own dimensional gate.’

Like Azidahaka uses a monster as a medium to open a gate to Tera, I can also open one using the Cube.

‘Meh, anyway, cores will eventually flood in.’

There’s no need to cause trouble over geographical issues. I straightened my clothes and opened the door to the conference room.

“Sorry, did you wait long?”

“We’re starting at 1 PM, so we’ve got one minute left.”

Gaeul waved her hand to dismiss the stopwatch floating from Magical Gear.

“Well, here on time? Hand over the core.”

“Guh… Lately, I haven’t earned any cores…”

The officers seemed to have made another bet about my arrival time. I sat at the head of the table and scanned the faces of the officers.

Deokbae Jo, Ji Hwa Kim, Gaeul Cheon.

Cheonseong Ryu, James Lee, Yu I-shin.

These were the founding members of the Blue Wind Sect and currently the busiest five people in the world. Except for one bald guy who doesn’t work.

Click.

The hour hand pointed exactly to 1 PM. Skipping complicated formalities, I immediately cut to the chase.

“The Round Table meeting has been postponed. After the August 15th Nuclear Incident, we’ve got two weeks off until the 30th. So, let’s brainstorm. Where should we go on vacation?”

“…….”

The officers fell silent, staring at me with expressions suggesting they hadn’t expected this.

“Why?”

“Director, allow me to ask a question first.”

Ji Hwa Kim broke the silence.

“Does ‘two weeks off’ mean we’re actually going on vacation for two weeks, or are you planning some covert operation disguised as a vacation?”

“Oh, that was ambiguous.”

I summoned a calendar in front of everyone. From August 16th to August 29th, I marked the exact 14-day period in red.

“We’re all off during this time. Thanks to Gawein disappearing, our schedule is floating. Not like we can go chasing after spirits right now; we haven’t seen even a hint of those guys yet.”

“……Is Gaeul now using clones too? Is this really something that would come out of his mouth?”

“This is the real deal.”

“These guys give us vacations and still act like this.”

Though I momentarily considered canceling the vacation altogether, I restrained myself with great magnanimity.

“We’re really taking a break. Just before September, we need to catch our breath. If you wish, you can all continue working in your respective locations.”

“Heh heh, thank you kindly, but I’ll pass.”

Cheonseong Ryu reclined comfortably in his chair, laughing brightly. As the mayor of Seoul, he was managing the increasing population, administrative tasks, and overseeing the hunters settling in Seoul.

“Gungsung, will you join me on an expedition to Gangwon-do during the vacation? This time, I feel like I might reach S-rank.”

“Ahhh, shut up…”

Gungsung and Yu I-shin nervously chewed their fingernails. Thanks to the Power of Tubulus inside them, they temporarily reached S-rank but dropped back to A+ because Tubulus kept consuming their magic power.

“And I’m already getting flak for wandering around alone lately…”

“You got criticized for being greedy with cores.”

Although she hasn’t received a title yet, Yu I-shin, who briefly reached S-rank, earned the nickname “Core Pig.” Because she ate E-rank cores to reach S-rank, she was now someone the Blue Wind Sect hesitated to take into battle.

“Hwang Sung doesn’t crave cores, so you two seem like a perfect match.”

“No way. If I live with Hwang Sung, secretaries and reporters will follow. And then people will see me disappear again? That’s not happening.”

“Piglet obsessed with cores.”

“Director, can I kill him?”

“Jo Deokbae has been like this for a while, so calm down. It’s your fault for looking at A-rank cores greedily in front of others.”

“……Sigh.”

Yu I-shin covered her face with both hands, while Ji Hwa Kim patted her thigh affectionately. Their displays of affection were already commonplace even in the officer meetings.

“So, Hwang Sung is going to Gangwon-do for training. What about the rest of you?”

“Just relax individually during the vacation?”

Gaeul tilted her head while checking the calendar.

“No group outings planned?”

“Isn’t arranging schedules inconvenient?”

“What’s inconvenient for you? If you just set the date, a truckload of people will gladly follow.”

“……That’s true.”

During the previous trip to Busan, I didn’t do anything, and Yuhwa Eun and Gaeul Cheon handled everything.

‘The hot springs were nice.’

Soaking in the hot spring water at dawn was one of the rare peaceful experiences in this world. Had any heroine walked in that day, something surely would have happened.

“……Hmm.”

Let’s all go on a trip together, secretly summon Chang-yeom to enjoy a date at the resort. With barriers set up, no one will know.

“Then, let’s plan for a 2-night, 3-day trip from the 26th to the 28th. On the 29th, everyone rests, and on the 30th, prepare for the Round Table.”

“Just picking dates arbitrarily, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Got it. There’s still two weeks left, so the rest will clear their schedules accordingly.”

“The rest?”

I felt uneasy at Gaeul’s vague statement. She shrugged and glanced around.

“There are plenty of others who want to come besides those here, right?”

“……”

Could she really be inviting everyone? A chill ran down my spine.

“I, um, what about the officers’ plans first? Let’s decide the location and specific times for the group workshop later. What are you all planning to do individually?”

I already knew Ryu Cheonseong and Yu I-shin’s plans. Using Magical Gear, I quickly organized the officers’ vacation plans.

# <Hwang Sung> Ryu Cheonseong, Monster hunting to reach S-rank.

# <Gungsung> Yu I-shin, Core acquisition to maintain stable S-rank.

“Chun Gaeul, what about you?”

“I’ll play with Garura, but I plan to visit New Seoul briefly for personal matters. Nothing harmful to the Blue Wind Sect.”

“Hmm… Understood. You’ll handle it well, so I’m not worried.”

# <Phantom> Chun Gaeul, Plans to stay in Seoul. Brief visit to New Seoul for unspecified personal reasons.

“What about Architect?”

“……”

James silently sipped his canned beer, glaring at me sharply. After staring at me for a while, he finally spoke.

“I’ll tell you this clearly—there won’t be any vacation for me. Why? Because if you cause destruction somewhere, I’ll be running around fixing it again. Like Moscow, like the Taj Mahal in India. Isn’t that right?”

“……”

Though silent, Architect was undoubtedly capable. Since the completion of Galaxy University, he’d been traveling around restoring buildings in northern Gyeonggi, Gangwon-do, and various other places.

“It’s fine this time. Anyway, Pyongyang’s land is already destroyed, so there’s nothing to restore.”

“Are you sure you won’t mess up somewhere else and call me again?”

“…I’ll avoid such incidents. You know what Hikari is working on, right?”

“…Sigh, alright. Boss, am I really trusting you to take a proper vacation? Are you sure you’re setting a tight schedule?”

Thus, Architect’s tightly scheduled vacation was simple.

# <Architect> Watch one drama per day, complete one season.

“…Such a fitting schedule for you.”

“Don’t stop me, boss. I need to make a list of what to watch starting today.”

“Go ahead.”

Though I feel sorry for Architect, if I cause trouble later and call him, I won’t feel too bad. If he really wants to, he can watch to his heart’s content after defeating Seongju.

“Boss seems to be thinking something strange.”

“You’re right.”

“…Damn, I’ll need to keep two days free.”

Architect gritted his teeth in frustration, while the other officers mourned for him.

“Then, Lighthouse, what about you?”

“As for me… Hmm.”

Ji Hwa Kim glanced at Yu I-shin. Seeing his magic power draining in real-time, Yu I-shin was about to throw a tantrum but calmed down upon catching Kim’s gaze.

“My goodness, hahaha…”

Her expression was akin to that of a female praying mantis devouring her mate post-mating. I sent a private message to Ji Hwa Kim via Magical Gear.

[Just how bad is it?]

[Feels like being sucked into a rotating vacuum cleaner.]

“Ho ho.”

Who would have thought Tubulus’ power would be this intense? Even Yunsa Park Ra-on, who subdued Tubulus and reclaimed stolen power, felt the same way.

# <Lighthouse> Ji Hwa Kim, Rest in Seoul. Nights spent resting with lover Yu I-shin.

‘With this, it’s pretty much done.’

“Except for you.”

“……Ah. Me?”

Jo Deokbae, who had been dozing off with his arms crossed, lazily scratched his chin.

“Eh… Can’t I just follow you around and sightsee?”

“Is that your vacation plan?”

“That sounds like the most fun.”

“……”

What to do…

“Would wearing earrings be okay?”

“Eng.”

“Then, do as you please.”

Jo Deokbae decided to spend the vacation period as my earring. Or rather, I’ll just use him as a footrest. If I wear earrings, someone will probably ask where I got them.

And about three hours later.

Each officer had detailed their vacation plans, and I leaned back comfortably in my chair listening to them.

Everyone was living busy lives, and they needed a break.

“Alright, everyone disperse. No more work today, so let’s wrap up.”

As I spoke, the officers stood up one by one. I immediately grabbed Deokbae’s hoodie.

“Except you.”

I abducted Deokbae and teleported to New Seoul.