PvP (1)
If one were to divide the world of users in simple terms, it could be separated into the ‘World Gate Management Bureau,’ called UG, and the ‘New Humanity User Union,’ called NEU.
However, this distinction did not mean definitively classifying someone as ‘belonging to UG’ or ‘belonging to NEU.’
No matter how large UG was as a single unified faction, there were far more users who did not belong to UG than those who did.
If that was the case for UG, there was no need even to mention NEU.
Thus, such distinctions were usually made in terms of tendencies: users with a UG inclination, or users with an NEU inclination, almost like political leanings.
Naturally, the former, UG, was a faction whose purpose was to preserve the existing world order, block the invasions of Gates, and ultimately seek their complete eradication.
The latter, NEU, agreed with the overarching principle that Gate invasions must be stopped, but did not believe that Gates needed to be eliminated from the world.
NEU claimed that until all humanity awakened as users and became a new species of human, the Gate was a necessary evil.
At the same time, they opposed the idea of managing Gates or users on a national basis. They argued that users worldwide should abandon nationality and operate freely as a new species…users.
Because their fundamental values were entirely different, the two factions and those who supported them were bound to be in conflict.
For now, however, because UG’s power was much larger, serious armed clashes were rare.
It was simply a state in which NEU endured UG’s containment while steadily expanding its power.
But as mentioned earlier, factions were divided by user inclination. If UG were to commit a major mistake and cause a large number of users to turn their backs, NEU could surpass them in size in an instant.
Thus, UG was highly sensitive to user public opinion, and for that reason had no choice but to assume the role of the world’s police.
Only by demonstrating that they managed wayward users and maintained public order could ordinary users with moderate inclinations continue to support UG.
This was also where UG received far more recognition than NEU.
It was for this reason that the Republic of Korea Gate Management Bureau had no choice but to bow first to the unidentified user known as ‘AbsoluteSafetyFirst,’ who was highly likely to become a future Noblesse-class user.
In such sensitive times, if they were to create conflict with a user like this, NEU would never miss the opportunity.
And so, influenced by all of these factors… this request email was created.
[The Republic of Korea Gate Management Bureau requests your cooperation.]
The request email was written in an extremely humble tone.
The commission terms were unconditionally favorable to Seon Yul, and even the difficulty level was relatively low.
“Ogre tendon for 0.4 kg of intermediate-grade magic stone, or 40 million won per piece. Dire wolf fang for 0.2 kg of intermediate-grade magic stone, or 20 million won per piece?”
In the market, ogre tendon traded for 0.2–0.3 kg of intermediate-grade magic stone, while dire wolf fang traded for 0.1–0.15 kg.
Both materials were crafting components for the Ogre Power Gauntlet (OPG), so supply on the market was limited, and prices tended to rise above baseline rates.
But this commission’s reward exceeded even those elevated market prices.
“This is basically… just giving money away. Hmm… I suppose it’s fair to treat it as a gesture of goodwill.”
The Gate Management Bureau even stated that they would officially grant him access rights to the northern dungeon region, writing that he could freely use the official entrance at any time in the future.
Of course, even with such permission, Seon Yul had no intention of using the official entrance. Still, he was no longer technically a poacher illegally hunting in the northern dungeon region.
“Perfect timing. I was thinking about taking on some commissions anyway.”
Seon Yul decided it would be fine to simply accept this goodwill with gratitude.
From the beginning, he had no intention of standing in opposition to the Bureau.
He had become entangled with them unexpectedly during the raid event, making things slightly uncomfortable. But if the Bureau lowered its stance first like this, he was more than willing to restore relations.
‘I’ll accept the request. Just send a short thank-you reply.’
Open displays of emotion were not Seon Yul’s style, so he responded briefly and succinctly.
And of course, he immediately accepted the commission.
The upper collection limit set by the Bureau was 20 ogre tendons and 40 dire wolf fangs.
Which meant… he would be hunting ogres and dire wolves to his heart’s content.
***
As a principle, the Gate Management Bureau prioritized eliminating Gates that appeared in densely populated areas.
As a result, Gates that appeared in uninhabited regions were inevitably deprioritized.
Typically, the Bureau would not handle such Gates directly, instead handing them over to private companies or organizations.
For those companies or groups, eliminating Gates meant obtaining valuable loot, making it profitable. Meanwhile, the Bureau benefited from conserving manpower.
Thus, the public and private sectors cooperated in managing Gates.
This was the reason companies engaged in Gate-related industries, and large guilds had no choice but to maintain good relations with the Bureau.
Due to mana, what had once been the greatest power of the nation, the national defense, had lost nearly all of its former glory. Yet outside Mana’s domain, it still possessed a significant deterrent force.
Therefore, users who still had to live outside the mana domain could not completely ignore a state’s authority.
While old-era weapons were extremely inefficient against monsters, they were still formidable against users.
It was precisely based on this power, the national defense, that nations could still manage Gates at the state level.
This was also why NEU struggled to catch up to UG, no matter how hard they tried.
Of course, nations could not manage users through purely coercive or closed-off methods.
Even if national defense still maintained a degree of deterrence, the world was gradually becoming user-centered.
So nations also sought to maintain good relations with users and to create mutually satisfactory processes and outcomes.
And most users likewise tried not to create unnecessary conflict with the state.
However, at their core, users were prepared. If anyone, even a nation, tried to suppress them even slightly, to rally around the ‘community’ and take collective action.
This was what all users commonly referred to as the ‘basic code of conduct for mana users.’
Outside of such special circumstances, however, users constantly checked and competed against one another, so ordinary disputes never ceased.
There were many different kinds of users in the world. But among the most famous, in Korea, one could name the Twelve Heavens, and on a global scale, the Seven Stars.
The Twelve Heavens and the Seven Stars.
Naturally, Seven Stars covered a broader scope, while Twelve Heavens was the lower tier. The First Heaven among the Twelve Heavens, Han Eol, was both one of the Twelve Heavens and also one of the Seven Stars.
In short, the Twelve Heavens was Korea’s user hierarchy, while Seven Stars was the global user hierarchy.
These hierarchies were similar to the rankings provided by the community, but slightly different.
This was inevitable because among ranked users, there were hidden rankers who appeared in ranking records but rarely acted publicly, making their public evaluations comparatively lower.
From the beginning, the Twelve Heavens and Seven Stars were not officially system-announced rankings via the community… they were hierarchies constructed by people themselves.
Still, since they mostly aligned with official rankings, no one had found fault with these hierarchies thus far.
Typically, users of this caliber commanded a large faction.
And those factions often claimed specific territories as their domains, behaving within them almost like feudal lords.
For various reasons, the state tolerated their exercise of limited autonomy. These implicit relationships were also one method by which UG controlled users.
***
Among the Twelve Heavens, the Eleventh Heaven, White Tiger, had established itself near Mount Baekdu and grown in power since the country of North Korea had disappeared.
He was known as a rare North Korean mana user. From the early days of the Great Cataclysm, he had anticipated North Korea’s collapse and quickly gathered northern users, fleeing with them to the Mount Baekdu region.
As predicted, North Korea ultimately fell, and he immediately negotiated with the Republic of Korea government, whom he referred to as the ‘South,’ to secure autonomous authority near Mount Baekdu.
He thus became the king of Mount Baekdu, and naturally, his influence in the North Korean dungeon region was immense.
The faction he led was called ‘Baekdu Bloodline.’
Just as the former North Korean dictator’s family had called themselves the Baekdu Bloodline, he named his force the same.
Baekdu Bloodline was effectively a guild, with an estimated 100 affiliated members.
By guild standards, it was quite a large organization. Because their tendencies leaned somewhat toward the dangerous side, the Republic of Korea Bureau classified them as a guild under special surveillance.
The Bureau attempted to restrict its activities to the vicinity of Mount Baekdu, but Baekdu Bloodline users continually expanded their territory, operating as far south as the Gaema Plateau.
The problem was that they did not merely hunt monsters in dungeon regions.
In the North Korean dungeon region, numerous users disappeared or died for various reasons.
The Republic of Korea Bureau suspected that some of those disappearances or deaths were due to crimes committed by Baekdu Bloodline.
Investigations were ongoing, but no concrete physical evidence had yet been found. And since White Tiger, the guild head, occupied a seat among the Twelve Heavens, no meaningful punishment could be imposed.
But one thing was certain: Baekdu Bloodline was an extremely dangerous faction.
***
Two years ago, Nam Seung Woo had caused trouble in the South and fled North, joining Baekdu Bloodline. Now he had completely laundered his past and been reborn… as Citizen No. 95 of Baekdu Bloodline.
Because Baekdu Bloodline operated strictly on merit and performance, as long as one proved worthy of staying, no one cared about history.
So for two years, he worked hard for Baekdu Bloodline.
Finally recognized as an official citizen and assigned a citizen number, he could now engage in the long-desired autonomous ‘hunting’ and ‘plundering.’
“Heh, do you know how hard I worked to get this…”
Baekdu Bloodline’s domain stretched south to the Gaema Plateau and north to the Jiandao region.
Officially, Baekdu Bloodline was subject to the Republic of Korea Bureau’s oversight, but in reality, they were also closely connected to the Chinese Bureau.
In other words, they were playing both sides.
Thanks to this balancing act, both China and Korea hesitated to touch Baekdu Bloodline.
This was partly due to the relationship between China and Korea.
Since the rise of the mana civilization, both nations had become among the top five mana powers in the world. They treated the former North Korean region as a buffer zone and sought to minimize direct conflict.
Baekdu Bloodline exploited that gap to act freely within their territory.
It was like two tigers cautiously watching each other, leaving a middle zone where a fox ran rampant.
Nam Seung Woo… Or rather, Citizen No. 95 had clearly witnessed how other Baekdu Bloodline users grew.
They strengthened themselves not only by hunting the monsters overflowing in the North Korean dungeon region, but also by capturing users… arguably prey even more rewarding than monsters.
The reason they could hunt users and grow…
Was because of the PvP (Player vs. Player) system setting… widely cursed by mana users as one of the system’s most rotten features.
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