Ground Zero (5)

“Why were you watching me for so long?”

“Just curious.”

“You know that following someone around in Ground Zero without a reason can lead to misunderstandings and fights.”

“It’s okay. I’m good at escaping.”

“So, did your curiosity get satisfied?”

“No, it deepened. Why are you here, anyway? This place has few monsters, and the paths are complicated.”

Jung Yu-ri, as characterized in the original work, was a woman of great curiosity.

Unlike Yun Sang-mi, who often approached Kang-hoo with a clingy demeanor, Jung Yu-ri was genuinely curious about Kang-hoo as a person.

Her gaze felt different.

“You’ve seen it, right? I came here for the Mad Solarkium.”

“I see…”

Jung Yu-ri gazed intently at Kang-hoo, as if wanting to memorize every detail of his face.

It felt like she was seeing someone up close after a long time.

She looked at him with a sense of wonder.

“Anyway, I’d prefer if you didn’t follow me around anymore. Even if you mean no harm, I don’t particularly enjoy being watched.”

“Sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a hunter enter Ground Zero with such pure intentions.”

Her reasons for being there were not entirely pure.

She had also taken a job to track and eliminate Jo Gu-bin.

How the fight with him would unfold, she would only know by fighting. It could turn into a messy brawl.

“How’s the world these days? Is the Jeonghwa Guild still dominating everything? Or has The Abyss landed a blow on them?”

Jung Yu-ri changed the subject.

Her immediate mention of the Jeonghwa Guild indicated her dislike for them, as he remembered.

The anticipation she had for the warlord group, The Abyss, seemed to align with his views.

Kang-hoo decided to slightly decrease the distance between them.

To him, Jung Yu-ri was a figure of strategic importance.

Living in Ground Zero, she had grown rapidly beyond imagination.

Getting closer to her could prove beneficial for future endeavors. It would be a helpful relationship.

So, while Kang-hoo wasn’t usually one to initiate conversations, today he actively engaged with her.

“The entire Seoul is under the control of the Jeonghwa Guild. There are also quite a few satellite guilds outside of Seoul.”

“That’s serious.”

“Do you have personal grievances against the Jeonghwa Guild?”

“A lot. Very much so. There are people I must avenge. But I don’t want to leave here right now.”

“I see.”

“But are you hurt? Why do you look so pale? Does eating Mad Solarkium help?”

Having been frequently asked about his pale complexion, he wasn’t surprised anymore.

He wondered if he should try tanning, but he doubted his naturally pale skin would change dramatically.

“It’s just the way I look.”

“You have an interesting skill set for an assassin. Did you collect good skill books?”

“I’ve gathered them diligently.”

Kang-hoo nodded.

Most of his skills were acquired through skill theft rather than skill books, but there was no need to explain that in detail.

Afterward, Kang-hoo had quite a lengthy conversation with Jung Yu-ri.

He wanted to rest after collecting all the planned Mad Solarkium.

And he wanted to build a certain level of rapport with her.

It was a preparation for the future.

Of course, he didn’t come across as desperately wanting her or being clingy.

He simply listened to her stories and kindly responded to her questions, turning them back to her.

But even that seemed to have given Jung Yu-ri some comfort.

Her loneliness must have been great.

“It’s time to move on.”

“I didn’t expect to have such a long conversation in Ground Zero.”

“Fate is like that. Sometimes it connects unexpectedly, and sometimes it breaks.”

“Will you come back here again?”

“Why?”

“Just… you seem pure. How should I put it? Throughout our conversation, it felt like you were focused only on me.”

“Are other hunters different?”

“Some just look at my body or subtly try to create a secretive atmosphere…”

It’s not unusual.

The quality of hunters coming to Ground Zero couldn’t be great.

It was fortunate if they didn’t end up fighting.

That’s why he seemed to score higher in a ‘relative comparison’.

“And you look sad. Something about your face draws me in.”

“Do I look like I’m about to cry?”

“No, it’s like some people whose eyes are soaked in sadness. Drowning in melancholy.”

He guessed the character setting couldn’t be overcome.

Shin Kang-hoo, the character, was always depicted with deep-seated negative emotions.

So, even if he tried to hide it, it seemed to show in his eyes, actions, or even in the way he spoke.

“Yeah. I’ll come back. I don’t know when, though.”

Kang-hoo didn’t give a definite date, but he made sure to promise to return.

Jung Yu-ri was worth the visit. She would be a lot of help in various ways in the future.

“Please, come back.”

“Yeah. I just hope I won’t be stuttering for a lack of things to say.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“And don’t die.”

Kang-hoo left a word of concern for Jung Yu-ri, seemingly indifferent, and quickly left the place.

Now alone, Jung Yu-ri touched the tree still warm from Kang-hoo’s presence, lost in thought.

Her eyes were filled with many crossing thoughts.

Before dawn.

Having found a suitable cave to catch some sleep, Kang-hoo slept for about 2 hours and started moving with a refreshed body.

The sleep time was ridiculously short compared to the norm, but his condition had improved more than expected.

The abundant mana and natural energy unique to Ground Zero seemed to give him strength unknowingly.

Kang-hoo had already identified the possible location of Jo Gu-bin.

For hunters without prior knowledge of Ground Zero, securing food was the first problem.

Difficulties in gathering or cooking meant they had to hunt monsters that were edible.

However, the places where such monsters were distributed were limited. That’s why they were identifiable.

For instance, the sunflower that sprayed acidic liquid at Kang-hoo was absolutely off-limits for consumption.

The moment someone ate it, paralysis would start from the esophagus, leading to instant death. There was no chance of detoxification.

Eventually, Jo Gu-bin had to head to the limited places where edible monsters could be found, which were nearby.

The last confirmed location for Jo Gu-bin was the Imjin River area.

Kang-hoo was confident that Jo Gu-bin would be in the place he anticipated.

In this unpredictable wilderness, it was unlikely that he would have the courage to wander around causing trouble.

Kang-hoo, who knew Ground Zero well, would be uncomfortable, let alone Jo Gu-bin, who couldn’t afford to be careless.

While moving, Kang-hoo deliberately traveled through rough terrain and slopes.

The Solarkiums that grew along the ‘safe routes’ commonly used by hunters had naturally long been picked clean.

However, there was a higher chance of finding wild Solarkiums in places untouched by hunters.

Thanks to that, he managed to gather a few more Solarkiums, totaling ten spare ones. That was enough.

“……”

Kang-hoo revisited the information about Jo Gu-bin that he had received from Lee Ye-rin.

It was a compilation written by a father who had lost his daughter to Jo Gu-bin.

The handwritten notes in it were filled with resentment, anger, and sorrow in every letter.

Occasional tear stains reflected the despair of a father who had lost his daughter to a murderer.

The feeling of not being able to die until he had witnessed the revenge of his daughter.

Estimated level 150.

Magic type, main ability was freezing.

Not an easy adversary to deal with.

Freezing as an ability could be incredibly threatening, depending on how it was utilized.

Then, a text message from Lee Ye-rin arrived.

[A designated request has come in for Mr. Seon-gyu. The client is the same person who assigned the Gong Tae-su case.]

[The client has a lot of trust in Mr. Seon-gyu. Do you want to accept it?]

Designated request—A request that doesn’t come in often.

It means the client must trust the performer’s skills. If they weren’t certain, they wouldn’t make the request.

But conversely, it also meant a significant reward was promised.

Given it’s a higher-tier request than before, it could be expected to be at least 2.5 billion won.

[First, I need to know the brief details and the amount of the request. I’m busy now, so I’ll look at it later.]

He sent the reply.

There was no need to rush. If Lee Ye-rin was anxious, it was her concern, not Kang-hoo’s.

It seemed there wouldn’t be a need to worry about requests in the future.

Once he starts accumulating designated request clients, he could choose only the types of requests he wanted.

[From this point, 300 meters north is no longer under the jurisdiction of South Korea.]

[The Ground Zero in North Korean territory is essentially unmanaged, so be aware of all incidents and accidents.]

He saw a warning sign.

North Korean land is valuable in the long term.

Dungeons in North Korea are not systematically or regularly conquered, and there are many unknown dungeons yet to be discovered by hunters.

The dungeons known to be in North Korean territory are less than half of the actual number.

However, one cannot freely travel to North Korean land outside of Ground Zero without the approval of the Hunter Public Safety Bureau.

‘There was too much foreshadowing spread about North Korean land in the original work. Now that I think about it, I hardly collected it.’

Kang-hoo, as the original author, smirked at the life he had lived.

He had scattered foreshadowing so aggressively that less than half was collected by the end.

That led to a lot of criticism for poor collection of foreshadowing, especially in conjunction with a traitor’s ending.

‘If it were a novel, just collecting the foreshadowing would be a super-long story. If my life after transmigration becomes a novel, it would be really hard to conclude.’

Kang-hoo chuckled at the absurd idea.

He felt he could easily pen several volumes filled with dungeon tales from North Korea.

Suddenly, he sensed a faint disturbance in the mana around him.

His exceptional mana detection, enhanced by tracking skills, gave him a hint.

He couldn’t discern the identity, but from this point forward, he had to consider the possibility of it being Jo Gu-bin.

Thus, Kang-hoo swiftly chose a tree ahead of him to sidestep for cover.

At this moment, speed or stealth mattered less than effective hiding.

How long had he been moving?

He was close enough now to make out the adversary’s face and attire.

“Keke. I should have arrived at Ground Zero earlier. Strike from behind, and the perpetrator remains a mystery. Kikl!”

A malevolent laugh resounded ominously under the overcast sky.

‘Got him.’

It was indeed Jo Gu-bin.