There was only one reason why Sung Su-ho had wanted the right to conquer North Korea.
Level up right away.
At this point, North Korea was the hunting ground where one could gain the most experience.
Even though it is a field dungeon, no guild can monopolize it.
In other words, if Suho could just get there, he could lead the Shadow Legion without worrying about complicated things and just focus on leveling up.
But North Korea is North Korea.
‘… … It’s not a place that just anyone can go to if they want to.’
Even though the world had come to this point, South and North Korea were still in a state of armistice, and the war was not over yet.
Moreover, North Korea is a region that is even more difficult to access due to its special circumstances.
If we are to talk about a special situation, it is exactly the same as the Rocktac Field that Suho visited this time.
The Rocktak Field was a gigantic monster field that was created when dungeon breaks that occurred simultaneously were not stopped in time. Its area gradually expanded until it eventually crossed the border of a neighboring country.
This is where the problem arises.
Since one monster field was located in the territory of two countries, hunters entering and leaving the field often encountered hunters from other countries while hunting demons.
In that case, there is almost a 100 percent chance that a conflict over vested interests will escalate into an armed conflict.
Even within the same country, competition between guilds is fierce, so how much worse must it be in different countries?
But hunters are walking weapons of war.
The armed conflict between hunter guilds of different nationalities on the border was the beginning of a war in the true sense of the word.
“… … But North Korea is in a much more complicated situation than the Rocktak Field. You know that, right?”
“Yes, I know.”
Suho nodded silently and listened to Chief Lee Se-hwan’s detailed explanation.
To summarize, it is like this.
1) Immediately after the cataclysm, North Korea became a monster field.
2) The area gradually expanded up and down over time.
3) The lower part was blocked by South Korean hunters, but the upper part ended up crossing the Chinese border.
… … Up to this point, the situation was exactly the same as at the Rocktak Field, but North Korea had one more problem entangled here.
4) At that time, the monster field that started in China also crossed the border into North Korea.
“Rather, China has far more monster fields than North Korea. This time, India was the same, but countries with large land masses are more likely to have monster fields.”
In fact, if you think about it, there aren’t many countries in the world as safe as Korea.
The fact that the country itself is not very large means that if a dungeon break occurs, it is easy for hunters to rush over and deal with it in a timely manner.
But for a country with a large land area, it is not as easy as it sounds.
Although the larger the population, the greater the number of hunters, countries like China, India, and Russia had very far physical distances between their gates.
Hunters from such countries often miss the dungeon break timing no matter how much they run around sweating.
So in the end, there was no question of who would go first… … .
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5) The monster field that started in North Korea and the monster field that started in China ended up merging in the middle.
“In this situation, China can now claim that the territory of North Korea, which is connected to their Monster Field, is their land.”
The North Korean government has disappeared, and North Korea has now become an ownerless land.
It’s a truly no man’s land.
That is why, from China’s perspective and South Korea’s perspective, the moment they invade a North Korean field, they can immediately claim it as their land by simply planting a flag there.
“The moment you enter North Korean territory, you have to keep in mind the possibility of clashing with Chinese hunters. No, you have to assume that you will clash. China is determined to swallow up North Korean territory. Well, our country is in the same position.”
Hororok.
Chief Lee Se-hwan took a sip of his mixed coffee and continued speaking with a bitter expression.
“But the North Korean problem has suddenly become bigger in scale these days.”
“You speak Russian.”
“Yeah. I see you watched the news.”
Lee Se-hwan said, crumpling up the paper cup.
North Korea borders not only China to the north, but also Russia.
Until now, the monster field had not expanded to the Russian side, but recently it has even crossed the Russian border.
The result is right now.
It’s a three-way battle.
“Nowadays, North Korea, China, and Russia are engaged in a fierce territorial dispute over a giant monster field that straddles each other’s borders.”
This was the very reason why Chairman Woo Jin-cheol personally went to North Korea.
In fact, compared to China and Russia, North Korea was a very small landmass, and the real conflict was between China and Russia.
But if we let our guard down even for a moment in Korea, we would soon find ourselves with either a Chinese or Russian flag planted on North Korean soil.
“Initially, Chairman Woo Jin-cheol’s goal was to avoid conflict between the two countries and protect only North Korea. However, it seems that it is not as easy as expected, as he has not been back for several months already.”
“… … .”
Suho seemed to know why Woojincheol was having a hard time.
‘Void Gate.’
A dimensional gap that is bound to occur in a large field where multiple dungeons overlap.
There was a very high probability that the Itarim Apostles were attempting to invade Earth from all over the world through that hole.
[Your Majesty, I think you absolutely must go to North Korea, even if it is not just for leveling up.]
Feeling the gravity of the situation, Berga whispered to Suho.
A super-large field that stretched across North Korea, China, and Russia was rare even worldwide.
With that much overlap, it wouldn’t have been strange at all if Itarim’s apostles were already walking around there.
After finishing his explanation, Chief Lee Se-hwan asked Su-ho with a genuinely worried expression.
“Knowing all this, do you really want to go to North Korea? Not only will you have to fight the demons, but you’ll also have to fight the Chinese and Russian hunters.”
“Yes, it doesn’t matter.”
Lee Se-hwan asked back with an expression of even greater incomprehension at the answer that came straight out of Su-ho’s mouth.
“Why on earth do you want to go? If you’re lucky enough to reawaken to S-class, you could just quietly work in Korea and make money and popularity. There are plenty of dungeons to conquer in Korea anyway.”
He sincerely wanted to dissuade Suho from making a decision.
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It was a big reason that Suho was the son of a senior he respected, but he also did not want to send such an outstanding talent to North Korea and get involved in a dangerous and complicated situation.
But Suho had no intention of changing his decision.
And instead of answering, she stared into his face and asked him a question.
“Chief Lee Se-hwan, you said you were my father’s colleague in the past, right?”
“okay.”
“I had forgotten, but it suddenly came to mind. When I was young, I once asked my father, ‘Why did you become a police officer?’”
“… … !”
As soon as he heard those words, Lee Se-hwan’s expression hardened.
And then, reflexively, the conversation I had with Sung Jin-woo came to mind.
-Why did you become a police officer?
-Ah… … I… … .
“Do you know what my father said in response to that?”
“… … Because you want to catch a bad guy?”
“no.”
“Oh, no? Then?”
“It’s just a hobby.”
“… … ?!”
Suho responded with a grin, ignoring Lee Se-hwan’s greatly embarrassed reaction to those words.
I had really forgotten about it for so long, why did I only remember it now?
“My hobby is being a police officer.”
At that time, I couldn’t understand my father’s answer at all, thinking it was just a joke…
“My specialty is hunting.”
It was only after Su-ho found out what his father’s real job was that he finally realized the true meaning of the answer.
Sigh.
“I’m going to do that too.”
-I’m going to do that now.
“… … !”
Why is that?
The answer from Sung Jin-woo that was engraved in Lee Se-hwan’s memory and the unique smile he had at that time are now overlapping with Su-ho’s words and expression.
* * *
There are two steps involved in granting the government permission to attack North Korea.
The first is the approval of more than five S-class hunters in the country.
The reason, of course, was the struggle for power between guilds.
At the same time, he wanted to prove his worth by showing off his strength to S-class hunters, fearing that just anyone would dare go to that dangerous place.
Only after that was passed was the second stage, ‘public opinion’.
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And actually, the first round is difficult, but once the first round is passed, the second round is bound to happen somehow.
And today.
In order to test Seongsuho, all the S-class hunters in the country began to gather one by one at the Hunter Association after finishing their busy schedules.
I’m curious to know who the new S-class Hunter is, and to test whether he’s worthy of going to North Korea.
Among them was the representative of the Hyunmu Guild, who had a bad relationship with Suho in many ways.
“Are you that Seongsuho?”
“… … ?”
“Nice to meet you. I am S-class hunter Hyunmu Kang.”
Hyunmu Kang, who arrived at the association before anyone else, shook Suho’s hand.
With a meaningful smile.
His gaze scanned the figure of Suho, who had been causing great damage to his guild and other matters.
‘I was holding out for it, but it’s too bad. It would be different if it was an S-class. It would be much more advantageous to take it over to our side.’
Hyunmu Kang was internally typing on his calculator, and with an even wider smile on his face, he forcibly grabbed Suho’s hand and shook it.
“Hahaha. Well, now that we’re both S-class hunters, let’s forget about the little things that happened in the past. So how much do you want?”
“What does that mean?”
At Suho’s puzzled expression, Hyunmu Kang’s eyes sparkled with an even more meaningful expression.
“We’ve been on an aggressive sales spree lately. Enough with the North Korea nonsense, how about you join our guild? We’ll give you as much as you want as a deposit. How about a skill rune that lets you summon two additional summons?”
“… … .”
“Oh, your expression is frozen. Of course. It’s a rune that a summoner would naturally desire. Ah, if I had become an S-class hunter this time, I might not have known that such a rune existed.”
Hyunmu River had just come out of an S-class dungeon.
A situation where information is lacking in many ways.
That’s why I was even more confident.
‘If you’re an S-class summoner, you wouldn’t dare refuse my offer. A rune like this is something that can’t be bought with money.’
Hyunmu Kang had no doubt that one more S-rank hunter would be added to his guild today.
