Drake Hunt (1)
3.4 kg……
That was the amount of intermediate-grade magic stones Seon Yul had consumed to engrave the entrance of Absolute Space onto the exterior of the large, sturdy iron box now before him.
At first, he had thought around 1 kg would be enough to carve it roughly into place, but he had been completely wrong.
Back when it had been a free service, had he simply opened and closed it over and over without thinking, without even counting the number of times, so he never realized he had opened and closed it this many times?
Or had he just been lucky back then, and it had engraved itself unusually quickly?
He couldn’t know the exact answer. But now, attempting it for the first time since it became a paid service, it had consumed far more magic stones than he had expected.
“Wow… was this originally this difficult?”
Seon Yul shook his head in disbelief.
He had never imagined this task would burn through more than 300 million won’s worth of resources. It was honestly a bit shocking.
“Guess I can’t throw this away anytime soon.”
Seon Yul could open three entrances to Absolute Space.
He had engraved one onto this iron box, leaving him with two.
Two should still be enough for combat, so unless something urgent came up, he decided he would keep this iron box with him.
Once he finished engraving the entrance, Seon Yul opened the iron box and filled it with several boxes of Lee Hyun Ah’s signature Dutch coffee… the kind Jang Jun Hyeok loved most.
After making the preparations, Seon Yul had no intention of revealing his identity to Jun Hyeok, so he kept the message simple, attached the iron box to the mail, and sent it.
[Jang Jun Hyeok. These are supplies sent by Ms. Lee Hyun Ah. She also asked that you please prioritize your own safety above all else.]
Jun Hyeok’s community ID was “IronFistInvincible,” but instead of using that, Seon Yul wrote Jun Hyeok’s real name to add credibility.
With the sender listed as AbsoluteSafetyFirst, Jun Hyeok would be curious enough to open it regardless.
At this point, the ID AbsoluteSafetyFirst was famous enough that there was no way Jun Hyeok wouldn’t recognize it. And since both his real name and his mother’s name were mentioned, there was no way he wouldn’t accept the attached item.
After finishing everything, Seon Yul pressed send.
“The Bureau said they’d process this as a commission… I should probably ask them to raise the reward a bit.”
When Seong Hyeon first contacted him, he hadn’t framed it as repaying a debt. He had simply asked for a commission.
At the time, he had mentioned in passing that the commission reward would be 2 kg of intermediate magic stones as an advance, and 5 kg upon successful completion.
But Seon Yul now thought he should either negotiate for a higher success fee or request ammunition support midway through, like last time. The amount of magic stones he had burned to create this iron box was simply too much to accept the terms as-is.
In any case, that could be discussed after arriving in Jeju.
For now, all that remained was to wait until Jun Hyeok checked his mail.
***
“Hah… hah….”
Jang Jun Hyeok breathed heavily.
Just moments earlier, the users belonging to the Woosung Group had been attacked by Elite Drakes.
More specifically, they were called Stone Drakes… elite drakes with bodies as hard as stone and a special technique that unleashed a storm of stone fragments forward with each flap of their wings.
The Woosung Group had not yet decided whether to withdraw, so they had moved to the outermost edge of the mana field zone to discuss whether to retreat entirely or observe the situation a little longer.
Then, two Stone Drakes ambushed their base camp.
They hadn’t simply swooped down from the sky… they had crept in low, almost crawling along the ground.
Because the group’s vigilance had been focused on the sky, they failed to notice the two Stone Drakes stealthily approaching on all fours.
What followed was chaos.
Two rampaging Stone Drakes stormed through the camp, and Woosung Group users scrambled to suppress them.
After roughly thirty minutes of chaotic battle, they finally managed to eliminate both Stone Drakes.
But the damage was devastating.
Five were dead, and many others were seriously injured.
Jun Hyeok had been relatively fortunate, ending up with only minor injuries across his body. But watching his comrades die before his eyes had shaken him deeply.
Even now, after the battle and cleanup were complete, he was still breathing heavily… his shaken mental state refusing to settle.
Especially because Sang Beom, the partner he had frequently teamed up with recently, had been struck directly by several massive stone projectiles launched by a Stone Drake. His heart had ruptured. He died instantly.
“Damn it….”
Jun Hyeok forced his breathing to steady as he leaned back into a chair.
This wasn’t the first time he had seen a colleague die on the job. But this battle, in particular, felt especially crushing.
“What the hell is going on?”
The group’s leadership had still not issued a withdrawal order even now. Jun Hyeok couldn’t understand it, so he opened the community.
He wanted to see if there were any posts about the current situation in Jeju.
But as soon as he opened it, he noticed a new mail notification and checked it first.
“Huh… AbsoluteSafetyFirst?”
Of course, Jun Hyeok knew who that was.
At this point, it would be strange not to know.
“Sent by Ms. Lee Hyun Ah? What? Why would Mom…?”
The sender was strange, and so was the subject.
And when he opened it, the content was strange too.
There was even an unidentified attached item.
Everything felt odd… but given the content and the sender’s name, there was no way he could ignore the attached item.
He accepted the large iron box attached to the mail.
Then, activating his ability just in case, he cautiously opened it.
Inside were boxes of his all-time favorite treat: his mom’s homemade Dutch coffee.
“…Huh? It really says Mom sent this? And through… that famous AbsoluteSafetyFirst? Does that even make sense?”
Jun Hyeok kept tilting his head.
He couldn’t understand this situation at all.
***
Waiting inside Absolute Space, Seon Yul knew that Jun Hyeok had checked the mail and accepted the attached iron box.
But knowing that didn’t mean he would immediately open the entrance engraved on the iron box.
Even if it was Jun Hyeok, he had no intention of openly revealing his ability.
He planned to wait.
After waiting long enough… once he believed Jun Hyeok was no longer near the iron box, he would open the entrance slightly, observe the surroundings, confirm no one was there, and then fully open it to step out.
Seon Yul waited patiently.
Even if Jun Hyeok discarded the iron box, that was fine.
No… in fact, that might be even better.
“Let’s wait another three hours.”
After checking the time, Seon Yul lay back down on the bed.
Three hours was more than enough time to take a comfortable nap.
***
Tzzzt.
A small hole formed in the iron box that Jang Jun Hyeok had tossed aside in a corner.
From that hole, a smartphone popped out.
The phone slowly rotated, filming in all directions… then slipped back inside.
A few seconds later, the small hole gradually widened until it was large enough for a person to pass through.
Sssshk… Slowly, starting with his head, Seon Yul emerged from the opening.
Just as he had confidently declared to Cha Seong Hyeon, he had arrived in Jeju without anyone’s help.
****
[You have entered the area of influence of the Elite Drake Lair.]
[Mark (Wrath of the Drakes) has been applied.]
“So this is the mark.”
Before coming here, Seon Yul had received and read a detailed report from Cha Seong Hyeon about the situation in Jeju, so he wasn’t particularly surprised at the notification.
“Should I find Jun Hyeok first?”
After stepping out of the iron box, he returned it to Absolute Space and looked around.
It seemed that the Woosung Group had already withdrawn from this location.
“I should inform the Bureau that I’ve arrived and ask about the Woosung Group.”
There was no need for him to personally search for Jun Hyeok. He could gather information about Woosung Group through the Bureau and decide from there.
Seon Yul immediately sent an email to Cha Seong Hyeon.
He informed him that he had arrived in Jeju and asked for an accurate update on the current situation.
He deliberately avoided asking only about Woosung Group to prevent unnecessary suspicion, instead inquiring broadly.
He also subtly included the additional demand he had considered before departure.
Just like before, the Bureau was the one in urgent need… Not him, so the request wouldn’t seem unreasonable.
***
“AbsoluteSafetyFirst has arrived in Jeju.”
Cha Seong Hyeon reported to Director Jeong as soon as he received the mail.
Since no other hyper-ranker had been secured, AbsoluteSafetyFirst was their primary option.
“Already? How is that even possible?”
Director Jeong asked in disbelief. The Bureau’s elite strike force and Commander Go Won Tae had only just reached Mokpo and were about to board the naval patrol boat… yet Seon Yul had already arrived in Jeju.
“I don’t know either. Truly… he’s like an onion. The more you peel, the more something new appears. I think… an extremely special mana user has emerged.”
“Raise AbsoluteSafetyFirst’s management rank to ‘SSS.’ Provide special management and full support.”
At present, AbsoluteSafetyFirst’s management rank was ‘S.’
Even that had originally been ‘A’ before the invasion event; it had been raised several levels afterward.
“SSS? Not SS… but straight to SSS?”
“Sometimes bold investments are necessary. Promote him directly to SSS.”
Even Cha Seong Hyeon, who already held AbsoluteSafetyFirst’s potential in very high regard, was taken aback by the decisiveness of Director Jeong’s order.
“Yes, sir. And… AbsoluteSafetyFirst included additional requests.”
“Unreasonable?”
“No. For an SSS management target, the requests are entirely acceptable.”
“Then grant them. If we’re raising him to SSS, we should provide all the support we can. Maintaining a good relationship with an SSS management target is unquestionably advantageous to us.”
“Yes, sir.”
At present, the Republic of Korea Gate Management Bureau has only two SSS-ranked management targets.
Both had steadily climbed the ranks over several years of consistent cooperation.
Thus, Seon Yul’s rapid rise to SSS was exceptionally unusual.
‘This must be considered a preemptive investment. AbsoluteSafetyFirst… if my instincts are correct, he will undoubtedly become a tremendous mana user!’
Though Director Jeong was not a mana user himself, he possessed extraordinarily sharp intuition… almost like an awakened ability in its own right.
And it was that instinct that had decisively chosen and elevated AbsoluteSafetyFirst.
From this point on, Seon Yul would receive truly substantial support from the Bureau.
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