Agency for Defense Development (1)
― Who is AbsoluteSafetyFirst?
― Why the Twelve Heaven must now become the Thirteen Heaven.
― Shock revelation: AbsoluteSafetyFirst is actually XXX?!
― The sudden series of newly occurring events. What caused them?
― The Administration knows the true identity of AbsoluteSafetyFirst!
― The meteor that fell on Baengnokdam. In truth, it was not a meteor.
― Traces of AbsoluteSafetyFirst found in the Invasion Event and the Birth Event.
…….
…….
Countless articles and broadcasts about Seon Yul were dominating the internet.
Even in the community, posts about Seon Yul and the recent Birth Event continued without pause.
The issue had grown even bigger because footage of the massive explosion on Hallasan remained.
Moreover, this was not something that would simply be joked about online or briefly mentioned in communities before disappearing.
Administrations from various countries were showing interest in this suddenly appeared new noble-class mana user.
Not just noble-class, but almost certainly hyper-ranker-class… perhaps even someone with a very high possibility of growing into a named user, which made the attention even greater.
However, everyone who took an interest arrived at the same conclusion: there was too little information.
Whether it was due to the thorough control of the Republic of Korea Administration or because the user himself was deliberately hiding information as much as possible, the exact reason was unknown, but the information available so far was extremely limited.
It had even reached the point where the World Gate Management Agency had requested information-sharing from the Republic of Korea Administration.
Of course, the Korean Administration refused, citing national autonomy rights of individual administrations.
Each national-level administration possessed a certain degree of autonomy, so they were not required to unconditionally follow US directives.
In fact, most administrations were practically one with their respective governments, so they often prioritized national interests over US directives.
There were almost no countries as openly defiant as China, but if forced to choose between US interests and national interests, nearly every administration would choose its own country.
In any case, the reason other nations were so interested in AbsoluteSafetyFirst was naturally because of the ‘massive Hallasan explosion’ captured on video.
How in the world had he created such an explosion?
Had he really used some sort of meteor-summoning magic?
If so, was that truly an awakened ability?
Those questions lie at the center of global interest.
The mere appearance of a new noble-class user was not the issue… the issue was the ability that the noble-class user had displayed.
It was an ability that could potentially disrupt the balance of power severely.
Therefore, information about that ability had to be uncovered at all costs.
Ultimately, it became a contest between those trying to uncover the truth and those trying to conceal it.
As a result, intelligence operatives from major nations began rapidly deploying into Korea.
Their objective was the same.
AbsoluteSafetyFirst.
In other words… Seon Yul.
***
Seon Yul was aware that the world was noisy because of him.
But he did not particularly care.
Even if the Republic of Korea Administration were completely breached, there was virtually no possibility that his personal information would be leaked, so he paid no attention to whatever others were saying.
Instead, he focused on cooking various dishes inside Absolute Space, trying to unlock additional Heavenly Cuisine recipes.
“They said new recipes often unlock if you cook a variety of dishes… Are the conditions stricter for Heavenly Cuisine?”
Seon Yul was faithfully following every cooking method posted online by Chef Baek Won Jong. There were so many of Chef Baek Won Jong’s recipes that there seemed to be no end to them, making them perfect to try.
He had attempted roughly a hundred different dishes, yet not a single recipe had unlocked.
“Ah, screw it. Let’s stop.”
In the end, Seon Yul gave up. It seemed the activation conditions for Heavenly Cuisine recipes were different after all.
He roughly finished the last dish he had been making, thoroughly cleaned the messy kitchen, and then immediately stepped outside Absolute Space.
Surprisingly, Seon Yul was still on Jeju Island.
He had rented a pension there and was staying temporarily. Of course, most of his real life was spent inside Absolute Space, and the pension was merely rented for convenient access in and out of it… But in any case, he had not returned to Seoul.
Jeju Island was busy returning to normal after everything had concluded.
People were energetically restoring damaged buildings and clearing debris scattered everywhere.
Clearly, people had grown accustomed to situations like this.
Seon Yul took a slow walk along the coastal road.
The reason he had remained in Jeju was simple… he had never once visited Jeju Island in his life.
In fact, before this, Seon Yul had never truly gone on any kind of trip.
His aunt and Junhyuk had always asked him to come along, but he had always refused.
Before awakening, Seon Yul disliked leaving his home… more precisely, the area around the Administration headquarters.
But he had changed for various reasons, and now he physically felt why people went sightseeing.
“The sunshine is nice… the scenery is nice… I feel nice.”
Looking at Jeju’s clear sea, Seon Yul smiled contentedly.
Only now did he truly understand what the word ‘healing,’ so often used online and in broadcasts, actually meant.
Of course, even in such relaxed circumstances, he still wore all his equipment except for the overly conspicuous safety helmet and mithril stealth cloak. And he constantly kept in mind that if anything happened, he would immediately activate Absolute Space (tattoo).
This was part of Seon Yul’s identity and likely would never change.
“Should I just buy a house in Jeju?”
After spending several days on Jeju, Seon Yul fully understood why people moved there to live, and he wondered if he should do the same.
Although he did not currently have enough money in his bank account to buy a house, he could generate cash whenever he wanted.
Selling just a small portion of the intermediate magic stones he possessed could easily generate tens of billions of won.
However, carelessly liquidating that many magic stones would raise suspicion, so he refrained.
The best method would be converting magic stones into literal cash through the Administration, but then the problem would arise when spending it.
For Seon Yul, monetizing magic stones was not a simple matter.
As he walked along the coastal road, he eventually arrived at a small beach with striking white sand.
Sitting on the sand and gazing at the sea, he began organizing the thoughts that had occupied him for days.
“No matter how I think about it… the K9 self-propelled howitzer seems right.”
When considering the introduction of new weaponry, Seon Yul had carefully weighed multiple factors.
Among them, the most important was, of course, destructive power.
All the weapons he currently possessed were, essentially, personal firearms.
Some slightly exceeded the traditional scope of personal arms, but fundamentally, they could not escape the limitations of that category.
So this time, he had considered something with a larger caliber.
Naturally, that led him to 155mm.
And when thinking of 155mm weapons, the K9 came to mind first.
There was actually a different weapon Seon Yul truly wanted.
However, using it required solving several issues—and solving those issues immediately was impossible.
Since that required more long-term deliberation, the most realistic option available now was the 155mm K9.
The documents sent by the Administration even included the K9 weapons system. Astonishingly, they mentioned a far more advanced model than anything Seon Yul had found through his own internet research.
Originally, he had been considering the ‘K9A3,’ which was publicly known to be under development.
But the Administration’s information described an even more advanced stage.
The ‘K9X’ project.
It resembled the American ‘XM2001 Crusader’ project, which the United States had discontinued for various reasons, but ultimately it had been developed into an even more advanced next-generation self-propelled howitzer.
A prototype unit even existed.
Amazingly, it was not just a testbed but a near-complete prototype with all features perfectly implemented.
Mass production had not occurred because by the time it was finished, the world had already entered the mana civilization era, rendering additional production of new self-propelled howitzers unnecessary.
Existing previous-generation K9 units were already sufficient in numbers, so the Ministry of Defense and the government judged that funds would be better allocated elsewhere.
Thus, the ‘K9X’ project was effectively discontinued.
More precisely, it was abandoned, leaving only the prototype stored underground at the Agency for Defense Development.
“I absolutely need the K9X.”
The reason Seon Yul needed the K9X was its highly advanced unmanned artillery system.
He had never fired a 155mm weapon before.
Even if he learned how, older-generation K9 units were extremely difficult to operate alone.
But the K9X was different.
Even from the Administration’s report alone, it was clear this was a weapon Seon Yul could utilize in multiple ways.
However, to receive the K9X as compensation, one issue had to be solved.
Its weight.
The K9X weighed 44 tons empty.
Attaching that to a community mail was impossible… not only due to ridiculous transmission costs, but because sending something that heavy would likely require level 200.
Considering there were not even level 150 users, mailing it was out of the question.
That meant he would have to receive it physically.
But even that ran into Absolute Space’s weight limit for external intake.
At level 10, the maximum intake was 16 tons.
Even if he raised Absolute Space to level 12 using his two available Stigmata points, it would not exceed 20 tons.
Which meant direct reception was impossible.
That left only one method.
Placement through the Omnipotent Store.
The Administration’s report listed the K9X price at approximately 15 billion won.
Since it had stopped at the final experimental stage rather than mass production, the price had not yet been fully realized. The report even noted that with further improvements and mass production systems, the unit cost could drop below 10 billion won.
But what mattered was that its current valuation was 15 billion.
Since the Omnipotent Store typically priced items at roughly half their real-world value, that meant Seon Yul could purchase it for around 70–80kg of intermediate magic stones.
Even so, he would still have to physically see the item and register it in the store.
“Sigh… So I have to see it in person at least once?”
He muttered with a slight sigh.
Contact via mail or phone was very different from meeting in person.
Until now, for various reasons, Seon Yul had avoided meeting anyone in reality as AbsoluteSafetyFirst.
And he still very much wanted to avoid it.
“There’s no choice. If I have to meet someone, it’ll be just one person. Cha Seong Hyeon from the Administration, since he’s been my contact all along.”
If he had to meet someone, it would be only Cha Seong Hyeon.
“So I’ll go to the Agency for Defense Development, inspect the K9X in person, and register it in the Omnipotent Store. And while I’m at it, if possible, I’ll register other new weapons too… That could help later on.”
Considering everything, visiting the Agency seemed wise.
“Then I’ll just request a reasonable amount of intermediate magic stones and cash as compensation.”
That would be beneficial for both him and the Administration.
“About 100kg of intermediate magic stones… and maybe 2 billion won in cash?”
That totaled roughly 12 billion won.
The highest-level missions the Administration normally commissions for users cost about 10 billion won.
So at this amount, Seon Yul was actually being generous.
Of course, the reason for that generosity was to secure support later for what he truly wanted.
But it also meant he no longer saw the Administration solely as something to exploit.
“I’ll contact Cha Seong Hyeon and discuss how to visit the Agency for Defense Development.”
He wanted to meet only Cha Seong Hyeon.
It didn’t seem difficult… he doubted the Administration would expose someone as important as AbsoluteSafetyFirst unnecessarily.
“And I’ll send a mail to the leather artisan Michiko to commission new armor… and once everything’s done, I’ll look for a hunting ground.”
The reason for finding a hunting ground was not rewards.
To level up, he had to kill monsters or conquer gates.
That was routine for any user who had not given up on growth.
“I did see overseas dispatch missions… but revealing my identity would be unavoidable, wouldn’t it?”
Korea was a mana-user powerhouse.
And geographically small.
Combined, this meant gates were rapidly cleared and thoroughly managed.
Ironically, that limited truly free hunting grounds.
The northern dungeon region (former North Korean territory) was the freest… but for Seon Yul, it was somewhat unsatisfying now.
Some zones remained viable, but they were managed either by the Administration or designated factions, making covert hunting uncomfortable.
If anything, Seon Yul most wanted to go to Australia.
Australia had not collapsed like North Korea… but it was half-ruined.
And in central Australia existed a permanent dungeon far more severe, dangerous, and expensive than the northern region.
Globally recognized hyper-rankers were known to frequent it.
“Funny how a safe country becomes a problem.”
He chuckled dryly.
Before awakening, he had liked that Korea was one of the safest countries from gates.
Now, for the opposite reason, he found it inconvenient.
“If I look hard enough, there must be somewhere.”
For now, overseas was postponed.
It wasn’t impossible, but it carried identity exposure risks.
He disliked that.
At level 50, there were still domestic options.
Having organized his thoughts while watching the sea, Seon Yul stood up.
“I’ll be busy for a while.”
Dusting sand off his pants, he returned to the pension.
Then he entered Absolute Space and immediately contacted Cha Seong Hyeon.
Comments (0)