Su-ho deliberately routed through North Korea and headed for Seoul.
Then, when he reached a certain point, he spotted a familiar cluster of mana.
It was the Association’s Special Division personnel.
“Iron Horse, let’s head over there.”
“Neigh!”
The Special Division mbers were found in Kaesong.
Good grief, after I road around that much and they’re still in Kaesong.
But this was normal speed.
No matter how much they swept through field monsters with special stick bombs, the entirety of North Korea was still teeming with an enormous {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} number of monsters.
The bus was parked in an empty building for cover, and Su-ho descended onto the rooftop, hid the Iron Horse, then knocked on the bus door.
“It’s . Open up.”
“......Chief?”
He identified himself on purpose so they wouldn’t panic, then knocked.
At that, the Special Division mbers burst out from inside and welcod Su-ho.
“Chief!!”
“Boss!!”
They poured out in a rush.
Su-ho swept his gaze over them.
Thankfully, it seed no one was injured.
Still, just in case, he asked Kim Geon.
“Everyone all right?”
“Yes, no casualties, no injuries.”
“Right. The Second Cataclysm kicking off all of a sudden must’ve scared you, huh? With comms dead and everything.”
“Yes. So we first found a safe zone, hid the bus, and have been on standby. Once comms co back, we were going to contact the Association.”
That’s Kim Geon for you.
This kind of situation was a first for him too—he must’ve been rattled in many ways, but he kept his composure like a team leader and took care of his team.
“Good work. I ca because I was worried about you.”
“As expected of you, Chief. But how did you get here? We didn’t hear your bike.”
“I rode a horse.”
“Sir?”
“I an it. Anyway, I don’t see the reporter?”
By reporter, he ant Jo Jin-hwi.
In fact, Su-ho knew Jo Jin-hwi was in Seoul right now.
Though he’d co here as the Special Division bus driver under the additional role of embedded war correspondent, he was still a civilian and had articles to write, so he’d been going back and forth to Seoul at intervals.
Which was why Su-ho had asked him to distribute the footage.
But he feigned ignorance.
Otherwise it would look odd.
“The reporter is in the rotation window, so he’s popped into Seoul for a bit.”
“Ah, already ti for that? Well, good timing then. For a civilian like him, being in Seoul is better than being here.”
“I think so too.”
“More importantly, once the cataclysmic effect dies down, stop what you’re doing and head back to the Association for now.”
“Sir? Back to the Association?”
“Yeah, the Second Cataclysm has started. Because of this, the Purification-Unification Operation will probably be put on hold.”
“Understood. Then what about you, Chief?”
“I’ll go on ahead to Seoul and prep a few things.”
“Will you be all right on your own?”
“Who’d be all right? Kid, who are you worrying about? I’m fine.”
“Ha-ha, understood.”
“Okay, anyone else have questions?”
At Su-ho’s question, Seo Gyo-won shot his hand up.
“Yeah, Gyo-won? What is it?”
“Could you stay with us for a bit before you go?”
“Why?”
“I’m scared.”
“What? Oh, co on.......”
At Seo Gyo-won’s words, Su-ho couldn’t help a snort of laughter.
Fair enough.
It’s his first Second Effect—being scared is natural.
But from experience, nothing happens during the Second Effect that warrants major worry.
‘And even if it does, it’s all stuff I can cover.’
They wouldn’t show it, but most of them were surely anxious.
After a brief thought, Su-ho summoned Guiyeong.
“Guiyeong.”
Shrrrk.
Summoned, Guiyeong sat quietly beside Su-ho.
Pointing at Guiyeong, Su-ho said,
“Say hello. This is one of my new summons, Guiyeong. I’ll leave him here, so don’t worry too much. If anything happens, I’ll swap positions and show up imdiately. Oh, and he hardly talks, so don’t expect replies.”
“Uh, you can do that too?”
“Yeah. What can’t I do?”
The Second Cataclysm had begun.
He’d just assassinated Russia’s KGB 13th Directorate chief, and China’s chairman and top Standing Committee mbers—there was no reason or need to keep hiding his strength anymore.
So if asked, he planned to answer coolly and move on.
There was no one left in this world who could stop Su-ho except the system itself.
‘To be blunt, even if several countries piled on like Xiang Yu did in the past, I’m at the level where I can take them alone.’
It was a bit of a sha he hadn’t reached purple-color stats before the mid-Cataclysm arrived, but compared to his past life, his growth rate was absurd.
Su-ho continued.
“Oh, and once you get back to the Association, I was going to tell the Director in advance anyway, but...... as far as you’re concerned, you didn’t see today, okay?”
“Sir? What do you an?”
“Exactly what I said. You’re my subordinates, so I made ti to show my face—but because the Second Cataclysm just started, for a while... no, maybe for quite a long while, the whole world will be in chaos. Power, comms, and transport are down, and odds are high the criminals who’ve been waiting for this will be running wild.”
“Then.......”
“Cleaning that up will take a good while. That’s why I told you to return. For similar reasons, it’ll take quite so ti for the Purification-Unification Operation to resu. In the anti, I’ll attend to other business. But I’ll be moving alone, so it’ll all be unofficial. If I suddenly vanish, won’t you worry?”
“Chief.......”
“Don’t make those faces. Partly I showed up to put you at ease, but I’m also telling you in case sothing cos up—help on the sly. Once the comms network is restored, do your best to take my calls. Don’t call first. For reference, I’ll have it processed as if I stayed in the North and went missing.”
“Yes, understood!”
“Good. No more questions, right?”
“None!”
“Okay, then good work, and... Iron Horse!”
“Neigh!”
At Su-ho’s call, the Iron Horse descended from the rooftop.
“Huh?”
“A horse?!”
“It has wings?”
“Pegasus...?”
Mounting the Iron Horse, Su-ho grinned at Kim Geon.
“I told you—I ca on a horse.”
“Ah... I didn’t think you ant a literal horse.”
“I didn’t lie. Anyway, hold the fort while I’m gone. I’m off.”
“Yes, sir. Take care.”
The Iron Horse kicked off the ground and took to the air.
After that, Su-ho quickly flew and entered Seoul.
‘Sa ss here as well.’
With communications, power, and transport paralyzed, Seoul was pandemonium.
It would take so ti to restore all that.
During that process, new Gates might form and existing Gates might rampage; the Purification-Unification Operation might be delayed far longer than expected.
‘Not that it has anything to do with .’
That kind of restoration isn’t the Grand Hunter Association’s job.
It’s the job of the state and corporations.
The Association’s duties are managing Hunters and Gates, and hunting monsters.
Besides, before the Second Cataclysm ca, Su-ho had already cleared all the sealed Gates in Korea, so the damage here would be far less than in other countries.
After checking the ti, Su-ho headed straight for the Association.
The Association, too, was in chaos.
Su-ho imdiately used Colorless Solitude to slip inside, then went looking for Jeong Cheol-min.
Fortunately, Jeong Cheol-min was in his director’s office.
“Director?”
“Wh—who are you?”
“Shh.”
Su-ho pressed his index finger to his lips and approached Jeong Cheol-min.
“I ca quietly.”
“What are you? Did you just co down from the North?”
“Put like that, it sounds like I defected.”
“You brat, is now the ti for jokes?”
“Yikes, you must be really shaken. Don’t worry. I’m here to help stabilize things.”
“Stabilize? What’s that supposed to an?”
As he drew the blinds over the office windows and locked the door, Su-ho spoke.
“I just checked on our guys at the Kaesong Industrial Complex and ca over.”
“The guys? Already?”
“Yes. They’re all fine. They secured a safe zone, parked the bus, and are on standby.”
“Any injured or dead?”
“None. Everyone’s fine. And if there were, I’d have healed them.”
“Right... of course you would’ve handled it. Whew, thank goodness. With even the comms network completely down, I was scared out of my mind. But—why did all the electronics suddenly die when the ground didn’t even flip over?”
“The system ddled. Sa as during the First Effect. Back then, sure, the land, sea, and sky all flipped.”
“And now? Are you the only one who’s seen it? The sky’s black and the ground keeps rumbling. It wouldn’t be strange if anything happened!”
“True. But nothing will happen. Even if the ground rumbles intermittently, at most there’ll be a few small landslides in weak zones like in Gangwon-do, and that’ll be it.”
“What? How can you be so sure?”
“There’s a way I know. Have I ever given you bad intel?”
“That’s true, but... hey, even so, this is a cataclysm. Are you really that confident?”
“I drew conclusions based on information I gathered while moving around alone. You can trust it.”
“Moving around alone?”
At that, Jeong Cheol-min frowned briefly, then raised a finger.
“Hey, Ahn Su-ho.”
“Yes, Director.”
“Be honest. You didn’t just co from the North, did you?”
“Sir?”
“My gut says you’re the guy who went to Russia and took Alexei’s head. No—frankly, in terms of pure force, you’re the guy who could take the U.S. President’s head if you wanted. And you pop to far-off places like you’re riding a delivery jet. And you’re telling you only ca from the North?”
“I did co from the North. I checked on the guys. But, as you suspect, I didn’t only co from the North.”
“Then where else did you co from?”
“I was going to tell you everything anyway. Maybe not anyone else, but I have to tell you, Director, or I won’t feel right.”
There’s no such thing as absolute, and no secret lasts forever—but to Su-ho, who ca from the future, Jeong Cheol-min was soone thoroughly vetted.
So he could bare everything to him.
Even the fact that he’d co from the future.
But there was no need to go that far—he’d share only to a reasonable line.
Too much information can isolate and tornt a person.
‘Besides, soone needs to stay at the desk and provide support.’
Jeong Cheol-min pulled out a cigarette and stuck it in his mouth.
“What is it?”
“Huh—no smoking indoors?”
“Who’s going to care about that right now? Forget it and talk.”
“Okay, short version then.......”
Starting with capturing the Lizardn of the Yalu, Su-ho laid out everything: how he’d tied up with Japan’s Sumiyoshi Guild and taken Chairman Yasuda as a direct disciple, used him to target Japan’s top Gate—the Imperial Palace Gate—then, the mont the Second Cataclysm broke out, assassinated China’s chairman and the top Standing Committee mbers.
“......What?”
“You heard right. As for killing the Chinese chairman, I happened upon intel and discovered sothing called the Necromancer Project, and......”
He appended reasons for the assassinations of China’s high officials grounded in facts—just enough.
He was confident he could make it convincing.
It was all stuff anyone would find convincing.
Besides, Jeong Cheol-min already knew about the assassination of Russia’s KGB 13th Directorate chief.
He wasn’t the type to look at this through tinted glasses.
“......So you did that just now, checked on the guys in Kaesong, and then ca here?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ha.......”
A breath of hollow laughter.
He was so dumbfounded he couldn’t even speak.
After a mont of silence, Jeong Cheol-min wordlessly took out another cigarette and put it in his mouth.
“You crazy bastard.......”
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