Northward (2)

“Did Korea’s special environment create this land of death?”

“That’s right, noona. If the North Korean regime had properly maintained its system, it probably wouldn’t have changed like this.”

“You startled me. Turn on your blinker before cutting in!”

“I just stepped away for a moment. Do I have to turn on a blinker for that too? Seriously.”

Seeing Ayane and Park Dong-jae bickering made them look just like real siblings, so Kang-hoo chuckled.

The thoughts Ayane had while looking at Ground Zero, in other words, the route leading into North Korean territory.

Those were things readers had always brought up often when Kang-hoo had been writing the novel as the original author.

It was not only Kang-hoo’s novel, <The Villain’s Lifestyle Manual After Becoming a Savior>, but other novels were the same.

North Korea was always either ruined, or unification had been completed for some reason and exchanges were underway.

No political force existed, so there were no cases where North Korean territory became a problem. Rather, it was a land of opportunity.

Kang-hoo had not used North Korea simply as a concept like a land of opportunity. He had seasoned it much more heavily.

He had thrown all sorts of foreshadowing for growth into North Korea and loaded it with plenty of mysterious elements as well.

As a result, present-day North Korea had become a land of opportunity for Kang-hoo and also a land whose scale could not even be estimated.

In the original work, he had finished the story without recovering most of the foreshadowing about North Korea, so he had been cursed out heavily.

But now that this was reality…… he had to take as much practical benefit as possible from North Korea.

If there were privileges he remembered but simply passed over, he would regret it again and again later.

Pseut.

Kang-hoo summoned Mumyeong.

Now that he had Blood King’s Blessing, he intended to actively use Mumyeong within the range of its influence.

As the surrounding atmosphere gradually began to change, Ayane and Park Dong-jae also tensed their bodies.

Since they did not know when they might enter combat, carelessness was absolutely forbidden. A surprise attack could happen at any time.

While using the Corrupted Undertaker constellation to check whether there were any hunter corpses within a 250m radius.

He also steadily carried out rear surveillance by continuing to set up Third Eyes behind them as they advanced.

If there were dead hunters, he could take belongings from them, and if they were ambushed, it would usually be from behind.

With Ayane and Park Dong-jae’s scouting added on top of that, it became cross-checking and was perfect.

At that moment.

‘Come to think of it, I didn’t check which country it changed to after conquering the Japanese dungeon.’

Kang-hoo suddenly remembered the Underground Adventurer constellation and opened the constellation window.

Since he had conquered the Japanese dungeon, one location should naturally have been updated in order to maintain three places on the list.

Distracted by parting with Takashi, he had missed the timing to check it. He had also needed to return to Korea quickly.

‘Korea? That worked out well.’

The underground dungeons in Bolivia and Norway had not yet been conquered, so they remained on the list.

Only the Japanese dungeon whose conquest had been completed had changed to a new place, and that place was Korea.

When he checked the detailed information, the location of the underground dungeon where he could enjoy the first-clear bonus was Jeju Island.

If it was Jeju Island, it was under Groo Guild’s jurisdiction. It was a place where there was absolutely no concern about interference from other forces.

If things went well, he could negotiate with Groo Guild regarding the newly discovered underground dungeon and turn it into Kang-hoo’s property.

Or he could use it as a negotiation tool to borrow Groo Guild’s dungeon license. There were various methods.

Having various constellations helped in all sorts of situations. He could also enjoy many small benefits.

‘If I want to increase them properly, I need to catch big fish. Someone like Chae Gwanhyeong, for example. A guy I’ll have to clash with someday.’

At the face of Chae Gwanhyeong that naturally came to mind, Kang-hoo’s expression hardened coldly.

In order to challenge Jang Si-hwan.

He might be able to pass over all other hunters, but he absolutely could not pass over Chae Gwanhyeong.

That was because he essentially volunteered to serve as Jang Si-hwan’s bodyguard and usually moved together with him.

Moreover, although it was not on the level of the Talisman of Resonance, there was also a method for them to instantly move to each other within a radius of about one small city.

Therefore, if he wanted to defeat Chae Gwanhyeong and Jang Si-hwan individually, isolation was essential. He had to tear apart the physical distance between them.

‘Even now, if things go well, Chae Gwanhyeong might be worth trying against. I may not be able to win, but I feel like I could endure.’

He was satisfied with just that.

When he had opened his eyes in Cheongmyeong Detention Center, Jang Si-hwan and Chae Gwanhyeong had felt like beings farther away than the stars in the sky.

It had seemed like he would never be able to reach them, and that he would have to look endlessly upward just to see them.

But now, he felt like he was aligning his eye level with them quite a bit. This was something that had happened in only a few months.

If a similar amount of time was given from now on, then at that time, they would be able to face each other from the same height.

Whiiiiii.

The damp wind unique to Ground Zero, which had begun to blow before he realized it, made Kang-hoo draw attention.

From now on was the warm-up time.

It was a section where they could advance safely as long as they did not make any sudden moves.

Kang-hoo intended to encourage the group and quickly head to Nampo. Dungeon No. 17 was waiting.

There had been several large and small battles during the journey, but there were no situations that could be called crises.

While steadily gaining experience, Kang-hoo’s level rose to 495.

Perhaps because everyone had been seasoned on the battlefield, it definitely did not take long for them to coordinate.

During the conquest process, while watching Ayane and Park Dong-jae’s battles, Kang-hoo noticed changes he found interesting.

Ayane had begun using the Noise Suppression skill. Since she was a gunner who used mana bullets, it was a structure that could silence gunshots.

Noise Suppression was a skill that consumed a great deal of mana, so it was not an easy skill to use.

But it had become possible because she had obtained a Mana Storage Talisman as a zero-grade reward in the conquest she had done together with Kang-hoo before.

Thanks to that, the sniping Ayane carefully attempted was almost inaudible. If the wind blew even slightly strongly, the sound would be lightly buried beneath it.

And in Park Dong-jae’s case, he had gained a skill called Draw.

This temporarily sealed both his and the target’s use of buff and debuff skills together.

It allowed an approach of, if I can’t do it, then neither can you.

Especially in the case of patterned bosses, when they tried to use buff or debuff skills, he could make them into fools.

Like Lee Ye-rin, who had been with him earlier, the growth of these two was pleasing just to watch.

Should he say it made him feel that the proposition that growth naturally followed if one had talent was absolutely unbreakable?

Kang-hoo newly felt the pleasure of “raising” comrades. The pleasure Celestial Assassin felt from him was probably similar.

At that moment.

“Wait. Do you see the flower over there? It’s a flower whose color can’t be specified as one thing. Don’t keep staring at it. Look at it as if brushing past and passing by.”

Kang-hoo pointed at one noticeable flower and spoke.

If one had any concept of beauty, it was a flower one could never simply pass by. It had a fatal charm.

“Ah, that one? I see it!”

“Wow, the flower’s color is so pretty. If you hadn’t said anything, hyung, I might have stared at it blankly.”

At Kang-hoo’s warning, Ayane and Park Dong-jae glanced at the flower as if brushing past it and then turned their gazes elsewhere.

Because they knew well that Kang-hoo did not say things for no reason, they took his “warning” very seriously.

“It’s a flower called Hongmyeonghwa. During the Extreme Period, it gives off a brilliant light and scatters petals, so your eyes are drawn straight to the flower.”

“The flower is the problem, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. The flower has eyes. If you keep staring, the eyes react to your gaze, and the moment you meet them, you can temporarily go blind.”

“Hongmyeonghwa. Hongmyeonghwa.”

Ayane and Park Dong-jae kept repeating it as if reviewing. Since one’s gaze unconsciously went to pretty flowers, they needed the awareness to “consciously” avoid it.

“And there’s one more thing I need to emphasize. From now on, if you see rocks, keep your distance and go around them. Never go close.”

Until now, during their movement, there had been nothing that could be called a rock. At most, there had only been small pebbles.

However, from the moment they heard Kang-hoo’s words, large rocks began to appear one by one in their surrounding field of view.

They had thought of them as spaces that could block sunlight and serve as shelters in case of emergency, but apparently, that was not the case.

Kang-hoo added an explanation.

“During the Extreme Period, Dark Energy is drawn to and sticks to rocks like a magnet. For that reason, there are countless Dark Energy-based insect monsters there. If I explain each species one by one, my mouth will hurt, but anyway, there are a lot of them.”

“Is it a big problem if we’re bitten?”

“Temporary paralysis or hypersomnia. If you end up like that in Ground Zero, it’s hard to avoid death.”

“Wow…… the information Ayane noona and I gathered before coming here didn’t include anything like this. How did you know?”

Park Dong-jae threw out a meaningless question. However, because he was curious every time, it was a question he kept asking.

“Is how I knew important? The fact that it is true is what matters. Dong-jae and Ayane, never forget this.”

“Confirmed.”

“Confirmed!”

There were no doubts. There was only acceptance.

Unlike Park Dong-jae, who seemed to have a slight question mark, Ayane had no doubts at all.

After all, when Kang-hoo had proposed going to North Korea during the Extreme Period, which was assessed as the most dangerous.

Ayane had been certain that there would definitely be a way to prepare for dangerous situations inside Kang-hoo’s head.

The Kang-hoo she saw was someone who prepared more meticulously than anything one could imagine.

Sometimes he showed boldness, but even then, at the foundation, there was “certainty” of victory.

He had never once done something foolish like charging in without a plan or hoping for luck.

“Let’s pass through quickly. The longer we take here, the more things there are to steal our gaze. There are also many rocks.”

“Noona, I’ll cast the maximum Acceleration buff on you, so let’s run!”

Park Dong-jae cast the maximum Acceleration buff on himself and Ayane. He did not cast it on Kang-hoo.

That was because even with his own Acceleration skill right now, Kang-hoo was already moving so fast they could not keep up.

In order to match their spacing.

There had to be a relative nerf where Kang-hoo was intentionally not provided with a buff.

It was a peculiar thing that happened because it was Kang-hoo. If it had been any other hunter, Park Dong-jae would already have been sweating heavily while pouring Acceleration buffs on them.

Like that, they arrived in front of Dungeon No. 17 inside Nampo Direct-Controlled City.

Befitting the old land of North Korea, the surrounding scenery was utterly desolate.

North Korea felt as though it had stopped on Judgment Day, when the hunter era opened.

Since they had passed through the route where he had fought Vincent Meyer on the way here, Kang-hoo felt especially moved.

Quite a bit of time had already passed since Vincent had died.

Even though a comrade belonging to Justice had died, it seemed there were only a few members who knew about his death.

In particular, Takashi, Yu Cheonghwa, and Emilia seemed to know nothing at all.

That meant Jang Si-hwan was intentionally controlling information. For what?

‘He still must have a favorable impression of me.’

It was a conclusion he could reach without difficulty.

Whether it was a prank of fate or not, the guy who should become his greatest enemy seemed to have a rather persistent curiosity about him.

How long would this perilous tightrope-like companionship continue? It did not seem like it would be very long.